马斯格雷夫礼典09（在线收听）

“‘“He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes, he is  gone, he is gone!” She fell back against the wall with shriek after shriek of  laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden hysterical attack, rushed to the  bell to summon help. The girl was taken to her room, still screaming and  sobbing, while I made inquiries about Brunton. There was no doubt about it that  he had disappeared. His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no one  since he had retired to his room the night before, and yet it was difficult to  see how he could have left the house, as both windows and doors were found to be  fastened in the morning. His clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his  room, but the black suit which he usually wore was missing. His slippers, too,  were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have  gone in the night, and what could have become of him now?

“‘Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there was no  trace of him. It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old house, especially the  original wing, which is now practically uninhabited; but we ransacked every room  and cellar without discovering the least sign of the missing man. It was  incredible to me that he could have gone away leaving all his property behind  him, and yet where could he be? I called in the local police, but without  success. Rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn and the  paths all round the house, but in vain. Matters were in this state, when a new  development quite drew our attention away from the original mystery.

“‘For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious, sometimes  hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with her at night. On the  third night after Brunton's disappearance, the nurse, finding her patient  sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in the arm-chair, when she woke in the  early morning to find the bed empty, the window open, and no signs of the  invalid. I was instantly aroused, and, with the two footmen, started off at once  in search of the missing girl. It was not difficult to tell the direction which  she had taken, for, starting from under her window, we could follow her  footmarks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere, where they vanished  close to the gravel path which leads out of the grounds. The lake there is eight  feet deep, and you can imagine our feelings when we saw that the trail of the  poor demented girl came to an end at the edge of it.

“‘她说：“他走了，没有人看见他。他不在房里。啊，是的，他走了，他走了！”雷切尔 说着，靠在墙上，发出一阵阵尖声狂笑，这种歇斯底里的突然发作，使我一毛一骨悚然，我 急忙按铃叫人帮忙。仆人们把姑一娘一搀回房去。我向她询问布伦顿的情况，她依然尖一叫 着，一抽一泣不止。毫无疑问，布伦顿确实不见了。他的一床一昨夜没有人睡过，从他前夜 回房以后，再没有人见到过他。也很难查明他是怎样离开住宅的，因为早晨门窗都是闩着的 。他的衣服、表，甚至钱钞，都在屋里原封没动，只有常穿的那套黑衣服不见了。他的拖鞋 穿走了，长统靴子却留下来。那么管家布伦顿夤夜到哪里去了呢？他现在又怎么样了呢？

“‘我们当然把整个庄园从地下室到阁楼都搜索了一遍，可是连他的影子都没有。正如我说 过的，这是一所象迷宫一样的老宅邸，特别是那些古老的厢房，现在实际上已无人居住。可 是我们反复搜查了每个房间和地下室，结果连失踪者的蛛丝马迹也没有。我很难相信他能丢 弃所有财物空手而去，再说他又能到什么地方去呢？我叫来了当地警察，但也无济无事。前 夜曾经下过雨，我们察看庄园四周的草坪与小径，依然徒劳无益。情况就是这样。后来事情 又有了新进展，把我们的注意力从这个疑一团一上引开了。

“‘雷切尔-豪厄尔斯两天来病得很厉害，有时神志昏迷，有时歇斯底里，我便雇了一个护 一士给她陪夜。在布伦顿失踪后的第三个夜晚，护一士发现病人睡得香甜，便坐在扶手椅上 打盹，第二天大清早醒来，发现病一床一上空空如也，窗户大开，病人已无影无踪。护一士 立即叫醒了我，我带领两个仆人立即出发去寻找那个失踪的姑一娘一。她的去向并不难辨认 ，因为从她窗下开始，我们可以沿着她的足迹，毫不费力地穿过草坪，来到小湖边，在这里 ，足迹就在石子路附近消失了，而这条石子路是通往宅旁园地的。这个小湖水深八英尺，我 们看到可怜的疯姑一娘一的足迹在湖边消失，当时的心情就可想而知了。