马龙叹了口气，摇了摇头，向女仆示意。“好吧，你最好去报警。告诉他们这所房子里发生了一起谋杀案。”
Malone sighed, shook his head, and signaled to the maid. “All right, you’d better call the police. Tell them there thes in the house.”
女仆机械地答道：“是，先生。” 然后匆匆忙忙地沿着走廊离开了。
The maid said, “Yes, sir,” automatically, and scuttled down the hall.
马龙拿出一支雪茄，开始极其小心地慢慢拆开包装，突然他看了一眼尸体，又把雪茄放回了口袋。
Malone took out a cigar, began to unwrap it slowly and with exquisite care, suddenly glanced at the dead man, and put it back in his pocket.
“以后你们会发现这很有用。” 他非常随意地说，“如果在警察到来之前，你们先把你们的说法都统一一下，这将会省去你们很多的麻烦。”
“You’ll find it helpful later,” he said very casually, “if, before the police get here, you get your stories straight. It’ll save you a lot of bother,”
迈克尔?文宁看起来很惊讶，甚至还有一点恼怒。“你不会认为警察会问我们很多问题吧？”
Michael Venning looked surprised and a trifle annoyed. “You don’t fancy the police will need to ask us a lot of questions, do you?”
海伦说：“你会惊讶于警察能问出的问题。你最好接受马龙的建议。”
Helene said, “You’d be amazed at the questions the police can ask. You’d better take Malone’s advice.”
“但是听着。” 文宁说。“我们当中谁都没见过这个家伙。我甚至还没有被介绍给他认识过。”
“But look here,” Venning said. “None of us had even met the beggar. I’d never been introduced to him.”
“警察，” 马龙疲倦地说，“从来不会把没有正式介绍过当作无罪的证据。” 他冷冷地看着文宁。“这个人刚死还不到几分钟。无论如何也不会不超过半小时。那么，在你们刚才进屋之前，你在哪里？”
“The police,” Malone said wearily, “have never accepted lack of a formal introduction as proof of innocence.” He looked at Venning coldly. “This man has only been dead a few minutes. Less than a half-hour, anyway. Where had you been before you came in the house just now?”
文宁皱起眉头。“哦，好吧，如果您认为有必要的话。我和我妻子在外面散步，就在湖滨大道上。我们午饭后就出去了。伊迪丝想去买点东西，然后我们走到了公园又走了回来。”
Venning frowned. “Oh, very well, if you think that it’s necessary.” He pronounced it “necess’ry.” “My wife and I were walking, out on the Drive. We went out immediately after lunch. Editha wanted to do a bit of shopping, and then we walked up to the Park and back.”
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