1.Midnight Visitor(1050)

Passage One

The story was first published in a magazine called Cillier's on June 17, 1939. It was later included in a book called "Mystery and More Mystery," edited by Robert Arthur and released by Random House in 1963. This book tells a thrilling tale of an agent's typical yet perilous day.

这个故事最初发表在1939年6月17日的《Cillier’s》杂志上。后来，它被收录在一本名为《神秘与更多的神秘》的书中，这本书由罗伯特·阿瑟编辑，1963年由兰登书屋出版。这本书讲述了一个特工典型而又危险的一天的惊心动魄的故事。

Midnight Visitor

Robert Arthur

【1】Ausable did not fit the description of any secret agent Fowler had ever read about. Following him down the corridor of the gloomy French hotel where Ausable had a room,Fowler felt disappointed, It was a small room on the sixth floor, and hardly a setting for a romantic figure.

【2】Ausable was, for one thing, fat. Very fat. And then there was his accent. Though he spoke French passably, he had never altogether lost the New England accent he had brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago.

【3】“You are disappointed," Ausable said wheezily over his shoulder. “You were told that I was a secret agent, a spy, dealing in espionage and danger. You wished to meet me because you are a writer, young and romantic. You thought you would have mysterious figures in the night, the crack of pistols, drugs in the wine.”

【4】“Instead, you spent a dull evening in a French music hall with a sloppy fat man who.instead of having messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties, gets only an ordinary telephone call making an appointment in his room. You have been bored!” The fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter.

【5】“You are disillusioned," Ausable told him. “But take cheer, my young friend. Before long you will see a paper, a quite important paper for which several men and women have risked their lives, come to me in the next-to-last step of its journey into official hands.Someday soon that paper may well affect the course of history. There is drama in that thought, don't you think?” As he spoke, Ausable closed the door behind him. Then he switched on the light.

【6】And as the light came on, Fowler had his first real thrill of the day. For halfway across the room, a small automatic pistol in his hand, stood a man.

Ausable blinked a few times.

“Max,” he wheezed, “you gave me quite a start. I thought you were in Berlin. What are you doing in my room?”

Max was slender, not tall, and with a face that suggested the look of a fox. Except for thegun, he did not look very dangerous.

【7】“The report,” he murmured. “The report that is being brought to you tonight concerning some new missiles. I thought I would take it from you. It will be safer in my hands than in yours.”

【8】Ausable moved to an armchair and sat down heavily, “'I'm going to raise the devil with the management this time, I am angry," he said grimly, “This is the second time in a month that somebody has gotten into my room off that confounded balcony!” Fowler's eyes went to the single window of the room. It was an ordinary window, against which now the night was pressing blackly.

【9】“Balcony?” Max asked curiously. “No, I had a passkey, I did not know about the balcony.It might have saved me some trouble had I known about it.”

【10】“It's not my balcony," explained Ausable angrily. “'It belongs to the next apartment.” He glanced explanatorily at Fowler. “You see," he said. “This room used to be part of a large unit, and the next room through that door there used to be the living room. It had the balcony, which extends under my window now, You can get onto it from the empty room next door, and somebody did, last month. The management promised to block it off. But they haven't.”

【11】Max glanced at Fowler, who was standing stiffly a few feet from Ausable, and waved the gun with a commanding gesture. “please sit down," he said. “We have a wait of half an hour, I think.”

【12】“Thirty-one minutes," Ausable said moodily, “The appointment was for twelve-thirty. I wish I knew how you learned about the report, Max."

【13】The little spy smiled evilly. “And we wish we knew how your people got the report. But,no harm has been done. I will get it back tonight, What is that? Who is at the door?”

【14】Fowler jumped at the sudden knocking at the door. Ausable just smiled. “That will be the police," he said. “'I thought that such an important paper should have a little extra protection. I told them to check out on me to make sure everything was all right.”

【15】Max bit his lip nervously. The knocking was repeated.

“What will you do now, Max?" Ausable asked. “If I do not answer the door, they will enter anyway. The door is unlocked. And they will not hesitate to shoot.

【16】Max's face was black with anger as he backed swiftly toward the window; with his hand behind him, he opened the window and put his leg out into the night. “Send them away!" he warned. “I will wait on the balcony. Send them away or I'll shoot and take my chances!”

【17】The knocking at the door became louder and a voice was raised. “Mr. Ausable! Mr Ausable!”

【18】Keeping his body twisted so that his gun still covered the fat man and his guest, the man at the window swung his other leg up and over the window sill. The doorknob turned. Swiftly Max pushed with his left hand to free himself and drop to the balcony. And then as he dropped he screamed once, shrilly.

【19】The door opened and a waiter stood there with a tray, a bottle and two glasses.

“Here is the drink you ordered, sir,” He set the tray on the table, uncorked the bottle and left the room.

【20】White-faced and shaking, Fowler stared after him. “But... but... what about... the police?” he stammered.

【21】“There never were any police,” Ausable sighed. “Only Henry, whom I was expecting.“But what about the man on the balcony?” Fowler began.“No,” said Ausable, “he won't return.”

第一课

暗夜访客

【1】奥萨博不符合福勒所读过的任何秘密特工的描述。跟着他走到奥萨博住的那家阴暗的法国旅馆的走廊里，福勒感到很失望。那是六楼的一间小房间，不适合浪漫的人物居住。

【2】首先，奥萨博很胖。非常胖。然后是他的口音。虽然他的法语说得还过得去，但他的新英格兰口音一直没有完全改掉，这是他20年前从波士顿带到巴黎来的。

【3】“你失望了，”奥萨博扭头喘着气说。“有人告诉你，我是一个秘密特工，一个间谍，从事间谍活动和危险。你想见我是因为你是个作家，年轻又浪漫。你以为夜里会有神秘人物出现，会听到枪声，会听到酒里有毒品。”

【4】“相反，你和一个邋遢的胖子在法国音乐厅度过了一个无聊的夜晚。他没有收到黑眼睛美女塞到他手里的信息，而是接到了一个普通的电话，在他的房间里预约。你太无聊了!”胖子一边笑一边打开房门，站到一边让这位沮丧的客人进来。

【5】“你的幻想破灭了，”奥萨博告诉他。“不过，放心吧，我年轻的朋友。过不了多久，你就会看到一份文件，一份非常重要的文件，几位男女为之冒着生命危险，在它进入官方手中的最后一步，来到我这里。不久的将来，这份文件很可能会影响历史的进程。你不觉得这种想法很戏剧性吗?”说着，奥萨博随手关上了门。然后他打开灯。

【6】天亮了，福勒这一天第一次感到了真正的兴奋。因为在房间的中间站着一个人，手里拿着一支小型自动手枪。

奥萨博眨了几下眼睛。

“麦克斯，”他喘着气说，“你吓了我一跳。我以为你在柏林。你在我的房间里干什么?”

麦克斯身材修长，个子不高，长着一张看起来像狐狸的脸。除了那把枪，他看上去并不十分危险。

【7】“报告,”他低声说道。“今晚给你们带来的报告是关于一些新型导弹的。我想把它从你手里夺走。它在我手里要比在你手里安全。”

【8】奥萨博挪到一把扶手椅旁，重重地坐了下来，“这次我要去找管理人员的麻烦了，我很生气，”他严肃地说，“这是一个月内第二次有人从那个讨厌的阳台上爬进我的房间了!”福勒的目光落在房间的一扇窗户上。这是一扇普通的窗户，现在黑夜正贴着它。

【9】“阳台?”马克斯好奇地问。“不，我有钥匙，我不知道阳台的事。如果我早知道的话，也许会省去一些麻烦。”

【10】“这不是我的阳台，”奥萨博生气地解释道。“它属于隔壁公寓。”他解释地瞥了福勒一眼。“你看，”他说。“这个房间曾经是一个大单元的一部分，穿过那扇门的下一个房间曾经是客厅。它有一个阳台，现在延伸到我的窗户下面，你可以从隔壁的空房间上去，上个月就有人这样做了。管理部门答应封锁它。但他们没有。

【11】马克斯瞥了福勒一眼，他僵硬地站在离奥萨博几英尺远的地方，并用命令的手势挥动着枪。“请坐，”他说。“我想我们得等半个小时。”

【12】“31分钟，”奥萨博郁郁不乐地说，“约定是12点半。我真希望知道你是怎么知道这份报告的，麦克斯。”

【13】小间谍邪恶地笑了。“我们希望知道你的人是怎么得到这份报告的。但是，并没有造成任何伤害。我今晚就拿回来，那是什么?谁在门口?”

【14】福勒听到突然的敲门声跳了起来。奥萨博只是笑了笑。“那将是警察，”他说。“我认为如此重要的文件应该有一点额外的保护。我让他们来检查一下，确保一切正常。”

【15】马克斯紧张地咬着嘴唇。敲门声又响了。

“你现在要做什么，麦克斯?”奥萨博问。“如果我不应门，他们还是会进来的。门没锁。他们会毫不犹豫地开枪。

【16】麦克斯迅速退向窗户，气得脸都黑了;他把手放在背后，打开窗户，把腿伸到黑夜里。“把他们赶走!”他警告说。“我在阳台上等着。把他们打发走，否则我就开枪，碰碰运气!”

【17】敲门声更响了，有人说话了。“奥萨博先生!奥萨博先生!”

【18】站在窗边的那个人扭着身子，使他的枪仍然盖着那个胖子和他的客人，他把另一条腿抬起来，越过窗台。门把手转动了。麦克斯迅速地用左手推了推，挣脱了自己，掉到了阳台上。当他倒下时，他尖叫了一声，非常尖锐。

【19】门开了，一个服务员站在那里，拿着一个托盘，一个瓶子和两个杯子。

“这是您点的饮料，先生。”他把托盘放在桌上，打开瓶塞，离开了房间。

【20】福勒脸色苍白，浑身发抖，盯着他的背影。“但是……但是…是什么……警察吗?他结结巴巴地说。

【21】“根本就没有警察，”奥萨博叹了口气。“只有亨利，我正期盼着他呢。“但是阳台上的那个人呢?”福勒开始了。“不，”奥萨博说，“他不会回来了。”