女人向前走了几步。即使隔着一段距离，他也能看出她那布满皱纹、憔悴的脸曾经很美。他想起马龙对莫娜?麦克莱恩家客人的描述，意识到这可能是伊迪莎?文宁。

The woman took a few steps forward. Even at a little distance he saw that her lined, haggard face had once been beautiful. He remembered Malone’s descriptions of Mona McClane’s house guests and realized that this might be Editha Venning.

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“你是谁？” 她微微皱着眉头问道。

“Who are you?” she asked, frowning slightly.

“我是杰克?贾斯特。”

“I’m Jake Justus.”

“哦，我从莫娜?麦克莱恩那里听说过你。”

“Oh, I’ve heard of you from Mona McClane.”

“你是文宁夫人，对吧？”

“You’re Mrs. Venning, aren’t you?”

她点点头，眼睛望着他身后的云。

She nodded, looking past him at the clouds.

“我看到门开着，” 杰克说，“我就想进来看看这里。希望你别介意。”

“I saw the gate was open,” Jake said, “and I thought I’d just take a look at the place here. I hope you don’t mind.”

她摇摇头。

She shook her head.

“我对园林设计很感兴趣。” 杰克告诉她。

“I’m very interested in landscape gardening,” Jake told her.

她似乎并不在意。她似乎并不反对他在这儿，事实上，她似乎几乎是欢迎他。她又点了点头，慢慢地，好像他已经把一切都解释得很令人满意了。

She didn’t seem to care. She didn’t seem to object to his presence, indeed, she seemed almost to wele it. She nodded again, slowly, as though he had explained everything satisfactorily.

“我来这儿……” 她停顿了一下，犹豫了一会儿，然后说，“我在找东西。”

“I came out here—” She paused, hesitated a moment, and then said, “I’m looking for something.”

“也许我能帮你。” 杰克礼貌地说。

“Perhaps I can help you,” Jake said politely.

她用她那巨大而又悲伤的眼睛盯着他，好像她已经忘记了他是谁。

She stared at him with her immense, tragic eyes as though she had already forgotten who he was.

杰克等了一分钟，然后说：“我能帮你吗？”

Jake waited a minute and then said, “May I help you?”

“我在找……”—— 她又犹豫了一下 ——“我丈夫的坟墓。”

“I’m looking”—again she hesitated—“for my husband’s grave.”

杰克眨了眨眼。“恐怕我不知道那在哪里，” 他温柔地说，“我以前从没来过这儿。不过我很乐意帮你找。”

Jake blinked. “I’m afraid I don’t know where that is,” he said gently. “I’ve never been out here before. But I’ll be glad to help you look.”

她感激地对他笑了笑。“请吧。我一个人在这儿有点害怕。而且我从莫娜那里听说过你，所以我们并不是真正的陌生人。” 笑容消失了。“我想是在这条路下去，穿过树林。”

She smiled at him gratefully. “Please do. I’m a little timid about being here alone. And I have heard about you from Mona, so we aren’t really strangers.” The smile faded. “I think it’s down this way, through the trees.”

小主，

他们沿着小路走了至少二十步，杰克才突然意识到她刚才说了什么。

They had gone at least twenty steps down the path before Jake suddenly realized what she had said.

她丈夫的坟墓。

Her husband’s grave.

据他所知，迈克尔?文宁还活着，而且显然身体非常健康。

The last he had heard, Michael Venning was alive and apparently in the best of health.

他在想在这种情况下该怎么办。这个女人似乎知道自己在做什么。或者她真的知道吗？他有一个令人不安的想法，在已经发生了两起谋杀案之后，他可能正和一个疯女人单独在这片阴暗的树林里。她看起来也很强壮。

He wondered just what to do under the circumstances. The woman seemed to know what she was doing. Or did she? He had an unnerving thought that he might be alone in these gloomy woods with a madwoman, just after two murders had already been mitted. She looked good and strong, too.

他抑制住一种冲动，没有喊出来问：“对不起，文宁夫人，但你确定你在找的是你丈夫的坟墓吗？”

He resisted an impulse to call out and ask, “Pardon me. Mrs. Venning, but are you sure it’s your husband’s grave that you’re looking for?”

他甚至更强烈地抑制住转身向大门狂奔而去的冲动。

He resisted an even stronger impulse to turn around and run like hell for the gate.

文宁庄园边上的树林变得更加茂密了。由于二十年来一直处于半荒废状态，这里长满了灌木丛和野草。杰克发现，回头看时，他只能勉强看到草坪和那座木屋的模糊轮廓。

The woods that bordered the Venning estate grew thicker. Half neglected as they had been for twenty years, they were heavy with underbrush and weeds. Jake discovered that, looking back, he could just barely see the lawn and only a vague outline of the wooden mansion.

在他前面，文宁夫人突然停了下来。

Ahead of him, Mrs. Venning paused suddenly.

“有人在我之前来过这里。”

“Someone has been here ahead of me.”

杰克看向她指的地方。雪地上有很深的脚印，是男人的脚印。看起来好像有人从这里经过，而且不止一次，而是好几次。

Jake looked where she was pointing. There were heavy tracks in the snow, a man’s tracks. It looked as though someone had passed through here, not once, but several times.

“是园丁吗？” 他满怀希望地提议道，“管理员？”

“A gardener?” he suggested hopefully. “Caretaker?”

她摇了摇头。“冬天有一个管理员，但他只照看房子。除非……”—— 她皱起眉头 ——“他也在找同样的东西，否则没人会来这里。”

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She shook her head. “There’s one caretaker in the winter but he only looks after the house. No one would ever e out here unless”—she frowned—“he was looking for the same thing.”

杰克刚刚还不舒服地怀疑伊迪莎?文宁疯了，现在又更不舒服地怀疑她是清醒的。

Jake’s unfortable suspicion that Editha Venning was mad was followed by an even more unfortable one that she was sane.

“也许你想回去？” 他焦急地问道。

“Perhaps you’d like to go back?” he asked anxiously.

“不。我想自己去看看。”

“No. I want to see for myself.”

她继续穿过树林，沿着雪地上已经有的脚印走。犹豫了一会儿，杰克跟在她后面。他希望留下这些脚印的人现在已经走了。

She went on through the trees, following the tracks already made in the snow. After a moment’s hesitation, Jake followed her. He hoped that whoever had made those tracks was gone now.

有一两次她停下来片刻，好像在倾听。杰克也停了下来。这片树林冷得让人不舒服。他希望自己有杯喝的，哪怕是安迪?阿赫恩的杜松子酒也好。他希望海伦在这儿。或者他希望自己在世界上的任何其他地方，而海伦也在那儿。

Once or twice she paused for a moment, as though listening. Jake paused, too. These woods were unfortably cold. He wished he had a drink, even Andy Ahearn’s gin. He wished Helene were there. Or he wished he were anywhere else in the world, and Helene were there, too.

一大丛茂密的灌木突然出现在他们面前，挡住了去路。他隐隐希望他的同伴现在会回去。然而，她看了一会儿这个障碍，发现了一个开口，显然是之前的访客挤过去的地方，然后继续往前走。杰克叹了口气，跟在后面。

A heavy clump of bushes suddenly appeared to bar their progress. He had a faint hope that his panion would turn back now. Instead, she examined the obstruction for a moment, discovered an opening where the previous visitor had evidently pushed his way through, and went on. Jake groaned and followed.

在灌木丛的另一边，他突然停住了脚步。伊迪莎?文宁站在一个被灌木丛环绕的小空地上，正低头看着一个坟墓。

At the other side of the bushes, he stopped dead in his tracks. Editha Venning was standing in a little clearing hedged by the bushes, and she was looking down on a grave.

这是一个敞开的坟墓，而且是空的。

It was an open grave, and an empty one.