"This is aterrible thing, " he said, the moment we got out into the street.

I realised thathe had come away with me in order to discuss once more what he had been alreadydiscussing for hours with his sister-in-law.

"We don'tknow who the woman is, you know, " he said. "All we know is that theblackguard's gone to Paris. "

"I thoughtthey got on so well. "

"So theydid. Why, just before you came in Amy said they'd never had a quarrel in thewhole of their married life. You know Amy. There never was a better woman inthe world. "

Since theseconfidences were thrust on me, I saw no harm in asking a few questions.

"But doyou mean to say she suspected nothing?"

"Nothing.He spent August with her and the children in Norfolk. He was just the same ashe'd always been. We went down for two or three days, my wife and I, and Iplayed golf with him. He came back to town in September to let his partner goaway, and Amy stayed on in the country. They'd taken a house for six weeks, andat the end of her tenancy she wrote to tell him on which day she was arrivingin London. He answered from Paris. He said he'd made up his mind not to livewith her any more. "

"Whatexplanation did he give?"

"My dearfellow, he gave no explanation. I've seen the letter. It wasn't more than tenlines. "

"Butthat's extraordinary. "

“真太可怕了，”我们刚刚走到大街上，他马上开口说。

我看出来，他同我一起出来目的就是想同我继续谈论这件他已经同他的小姨子谈了好几小时的事。

“我们根本弄不清是哪个女人，你知道，”他说，“我们只知道那个流氓跑到巴黎去了。”

“我一直以为他们俩感情挺不错。”

“是不错。哼，你来以前，阿美还说他们结婚这么多年就没有吵过一次嘴。你知道阿美是怎样一个人。世界上没有比她更好的女人了。”

既然他主动把这家人的秘密都告诉我，我觉得我不妨继续提出几个问题来。

“你的意思是说她什么也没有猜到？”

“什么也没猜到。八月他是同她和孩子们一起在诺佛克度过的。他同平常日子一模一样，一点也没有反常的地方。我和我妻子到他们乡下过了两三天，我还同他玩过高尔夫球。九月，他回到城里来，为了让他的合股人去度假。阿美仍然待在乡下。他们在乡下房子租了六个星期，房子快满期以前她给他写了封信，告诉他自己哪一天回伦敦来。他的回信是从巴黎发的，说他已经打定主意不同她一起生活了。”

“他怎样解释呢？”

“他根本没有解释，小朋友。那封信我看了。还不到十行字。”

“真是奇怪了。”