海军协定（42）（在线收听）

“Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the place where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got over without the least chance of any one in the house being able to see me. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled from one to the other—witness the disreputable state of my trouser knees—until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons just opposite to your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaited developments.

“The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when she closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.

“I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned the key in the lock.”

“The key!” ejaculated Phelps.

“Yes, I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on the outside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She carried out every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly without her cooperation you would not have that paper in you coat-pocket. She departed then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting in the rhododendron-bush.

“不错，可是我特别喜一爱一这么干。我选择了长着三棵枞树的地方，在这些枞树掩蔽下，我走了过去，屋子里没有一个人能看到我。我蹲伏一在旁边的灌木丛中，从一棵树匍匐前进到另一棵——我裤子膝盖破成这样就是证明，一直爬到你卧室窗户对过的那丛杜鹃花旁边。我在那儿蹲下来，等候事情的发展。

“你房里的窗帘还没有放下，我可以望见哈里森小一姐坐在桌旁看书。她合上书关牢百叶窗退出卧室时，已是十点一刻了。

“我听到她关门，清楚地听到她用钥匙锁门的声音。”

“钥匙？”费尔普斯突然喊道。

“对，我事先吩咐过哈里森小一姐，在她就寝时，从你的卧室外面把门锁上，并且亲自拿着钥匙。她一丝不苟地执行了我的各项命令，肯定说，要是没有她的合作，你就不会找到你上衣口袋中的那份文件了，后来她走开了，灯也熄了，我依旧蹲在杜鹃花丛中。