We happenedthen to cross the street, and the traffic prevented us from speaking. WhatColonel MacAndrew had told me seemed very improbable, and I suspected that Mrs.Strickland, for reasons of her own, had concealed from him some part of thefacts. It was clear that a man after seventeen years of wedlock did not leavehis wife without certain occurrences which must have led her to suspect thatall was not well with their married life. The Colonel caught me up.

"Ofcourse, there was no explanation he could give except that he'd gone off with awoman. I suppose he thought she could find that out for herself. That's thesort of chap he was. "

"What isMrs. Strickland going to do?"

"Well, thefirst thing is to get our proofs. I'm going over to Paris myself. "

"And whatabout his business?"

"That'swhere he's been so artful. He's been drawing in his horns for the last year."

"Did hetell his partner he was leaving?"

"Not aword. "

说到这里我们正好过马路，过往车辆把我们的谈话打断了。麦克安德鲁告诉我的事听起来很难令人相信，我怀疑思特里克兰德太太根据她自己的理由把一部分事实隐瞒着没对他说。非常清楚，一个人结婚十七年不会平白无故地离家出走的，这里面一定有一些事会使她猜想两人的夫妻生活并不美满。我正在思忖这件事，上校又从后面赶上来。

“当然了，除了坦白承认自己是同另外一个女人私奔之外，他是无法解释这件事的。据我看，他认为早晚她会自己弄清楚的。他就是这样一个人。”

“思特里克兰德太太打算怎么办？”

“哈，第一件事是抓到证据。我准备自己到巴黎去一趟。”

“他的买卖怎么办？”

“这正是他狡诈的地方。一年来他一直把摊子越缩越小。”

“他告诉没告诉他的合股人他不想干了？”

“一句也没透露。”