孤身骑车人（7）

The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering  gorse, gleaming magnificently in the light of the  bright spring sunshine. Behind one of these clumps I  took up my position, so as to command both the gateway  of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon either  side. It had been deserted when I left it, but now I  saw a cyclist riding down it from the opposite  direction to that in which I had come. He was clad in a  dark suit, and I saw that he had a black beard. On  reaching the end of the Charlington grounds he sprang  from his machine and led it through a gap in the hedge,  disappearing from my view.

A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist  appeared. This time it was the young lady coming from  the station. I saw her look about her as she came to  the Charlington hedge. An instant later the man emerged  from his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and  followed her. In all the broad landscape those were the  only moving figures, the graceful girl sitting very  straight upon her machine, and the man behind her  bending low over his handle-bar, with a curiously  furtive suggestion in every movement. She looked back  at him and slowed her pace. He slowed also. She  stopped. He at once stopped too, keeping two hundred  yards behind her. Her next movement was as unexpected  as it was spirited. She suddenly whisked her wheels  round and dashed straight at him! He was as quick as  she, however, and darted off in desperate flight.  Presently she came back up the road again, her head  haughtily in the air, not deigning to take any further  notice of her silent attendant. He had turned also, and  still kept his distance until the curve of the road hid  them from my sight.

I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I  did so, for presently the man reappeared cycling slowly  back. He turned in at the Hall gates and dismounted  from his machine. For some few minutes I could see him  standing among the trees. His hands were raised and he  seemed to be settling his necktie. Then he mounted his  cycle and rode away from me down the drive towards the  Hall. I ran across the heath and peered through the  trees. Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey  building with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the  drive ran through a dense shrubbery, and I saw no more  of my man.

石南地带开满一丛丛的黄色金雀花，在灿烂的春日骄一陽一下闪闪发光。我在灌木丛后选好隐身之处，以便既能观察庄园大门，又能看到两边长长的一大段路。我离开大路时，路上空无一人，现在有个人品着车从对面向我来的方向奔去。他穿着黑色服装，我见他蓄有黑一胡一子。他来到查林顿宅地尽头，跳下车来，把车推进树篱的一处豁口，在我的视线中消失了。

过了一刻钟，第二个骑自行车的人出现了。这次是那位姑一娘一从火车站来。我见她骑到查林顿树篱时四下张望。过了一会儿，那男人从藏身处走出来，跳上自行车，尾随着她。在那辽阔的如画风景中，只有这两个人影在活动。那位仪态端庄的姑一娘一笔直地A骑在车上，她身后的男人却低伏一在车把上，一举一动都带有莫名其妙的鬼鬼祟祟的形迹。她回头看到他，便放慢了速度。他也放慢了速度。姑一娘一下了车，他也立即下车，在她身后有二百码的距离。那姑一娘一的下一步动作却是出奇不意地迅猛，她突然扭转车头紧蹬一阵，径直向他冲了过去。然而，他也象那姑一娘一一样迅速，不顾一切拼命地逃脱了。她又立刻返回大路，傲然地昂着头，不屑再去置理那不声不响的尾随者了。他也转过身来，依然保持着那段距离，直到转过大路我看不到他们为止。

我依然呆在藏身之处，这样作是很恰当的，因为那个男人马上又露面了，他不慌不忙地骑车返回来。他拐进庄园大门，下了车。我看他在树丛中站了几分钟，举起双手，似乎在整理他的领带。然后又上车从我身旁经过，向对着庄园的车道骑去。我跑出石南灌木地带，从树林缝隙望过去，可以隐约看到远处那座古老的灰楼和它那些矗一立的都铎式烟囱，可惜那条车道穿过一片浓密的灌木丛，我再也看不到那个人了。