The Thirty-Nine Steps. Selected Stories / 39 ступеней. Избранные новеллы. Джон Бакен

explains things. Lots of people invited me to their houses, but they weren't interested in me. They asked me a question or two about South Africa, and then told me about their own affairs. A lot of ladies asked me to tea, and that was the worst thing of all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, healthy, with enough money to have a good time, but doing nothing all day. I had almost decided to go back to Africa because I was the most bored man in the United Kingdom.

      That afternoon I had been thinking about investments just to give myself something to work on, and on my way home I went into my club. I had a drink and read the evening papers. There was an article about Karolides, the Greek Premier. I liked the chap. He was a big man in South-Eastern Europe, and he played a fair game too. As I understood, they hated him in Berlin and Vienna, but not in London. I remember thinking that I could get a job in those parts of Europe. For example, Albania sounded like an interesting place.

      At about six o'clock I went home, dressed, had dinner at the Cafe Royal[5], and went into a music-hall. It was a silly show, and I did not stay long. The night was fine and clear as I walked back to the flat I had rented. The busy crowds went past me, and I envied the people for having something to do. There and then I finally decided I would give the Old Country just one more day to get me into something; if nothing happened, I would go back to Africa.

      My flat was on the first floor in a new block. There was a staircase, a porter and a lift-man, but there was no restaurant or anything like that. Each flat was quite isolated from the others.

      I was just unlocking the door when I noticed a man standing right next to me. I had not seen him coming, and the sudden appearance made me start[6]. He was slim, with a short brown beard and small blue eyes. I knew him as the person living in a flat on the top floor because I had sometimes met him on the stairs.

      'Can I speak to you?' he said touching my arm. 'May I come in for a minute?' He could hardly control himself.

      I opened my door and let him in. As soon as he walked in, he rushed to check my back room.

      'Is the door locked?' he asked nervously. 'I am very sorry, but you look like the man who will understand. I've been thinking about you all week when things got worse. Will you do me a favor?[7]'

      'I'll listen to you,' I said. 'That's all I can promise.' The behavior of this nervous little fellow worried me.

      There were drinks on a table, so he made himself a whisky-and-soda and drank it quickly.

      'I'm sorry,' he said, 'I'm a bit shocked tonight. You see, I happen to be dead at this moment.[8]'

      I sat down in an armchair and lit my pipe.

      'What does it feel like?' I asked. Now I was sure that I was dealing with a madman.

      He smiled a little. 'I'm not mad yet. Let's say I've been watching you, and I believe you're an honest man. I think I can trust you. I need help, and I want to know if I can count on you.'

      'Well,just tell me your story,' I said, 'and then we'll see.'

      He paused for a moment and then told me the strangest tale. I didn't even understand it at first, and I had to stop him and ask questions. But here it is.

      He was a well-off American, and after college he had decided to see the world. As a war correspondent, he wrote a bit for a Chicago paper, and spent a year or two in South-Eastern Europe. He had learned the languages and got to know the society in those parts. He mentioned many names that I knew from the newspapers. He had been interested in politics, he told me. He was a sharp fellow who always wanted to get to the roots of things[9]. But he got a little further than he wanted.

      Behind all the governments and the armies there was a big movement going on, organized by very dangerous people. Most of the people in that movement were the financiers and educated anarchists that make revolutions. He had learned about it by accident; it fascinated him, so he went further and then got caught.

      He told me some queer things – things that happened in the Balkan War[10], how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, and why certain men disappeared. The aim of the whole conspiracy was the conflict between Russia and Germany, he said. When I asked why, he said that the anarchists thought it would give them their chance. They were behind it, and they hated Russia, too.

      'Do you understand?' he cried. 'They are everywhere; they are ruling the world just now!'

      'If so,' I said, 'then your anarchists have lost.'

      'Yes and no,' he said. 'They'll win because they got a bigger thing than money, a thing that couldn't be bought – the old fighting instinct of man. But they haven't played their last card yet, and if I cannot stay alive for a month, they are going to play it and win.'

      'But I thought you were dead,' I said.

      He smiled. 'I'm coming to that, but I've got to tell you about a lot of things first. If you read your newspaper, I guess you know the name of Constantine Karolides?'

      I started because I had been reading about him that very afternoon.

      'He is the man that can ruin all their games. He is the one big brain in the whole show, and he is also an honest man. That's why he has been marked down[11], and I found out the way they're going to get him. That knowledge is deadly. That's why I had to die.'

      He had another drink, and I mixed it for him because I was getting interested in the story.

      'They can't get him in his own country because he has a bodyguard. But on the 15th of June he is coming to this city. The British Foreign Office[12] is holding a big International tea-party on that date. Karolides is the main guest, and if my friends do what they have planned, he will never return to his country.'

      'That's simple,' I said. 'You can warn him.'

      'And play their game?' he asked. 'If he does not come, they'll also win. He's the only man that can sort things out.'

      'What about the British Government?' I said. ' They're not going to let their guests be murdered. Tell them, and they'll take measures.'

      'No. Even if they doubled the police force, Constantine would still be in danger. My friends want a big occasion, with the eyes of all Europe on it. He'll be killed by an Austrian, and there'll be enough evidence to show the involvement of Vienna and Berlin. It will all be a lie, of course, but it will look bad enough to the world. But it's not going to happen if there's one man who knows it, alive, right here, in London, on the 15th of June. And that man is going to be me, Franklin P. Scudder.'

      I was beginning to like the little chap. 'Where did you find out this story?' I asked.

      'I heard it first in an inn in Tyrol[13]. Then I collected my other clues in a shop in Buda[14], in a club in Vienna, and in a little bookshop in Leipzig[15]. I got its last details ten days ago in Paris. I can't tell you all now. When I was quite sure, I decided to disappear, and so I came to this city incognito. I left Paris as a young French-American, and I sailed from Hamburg as a diamond merchant. In Norway I was an English student, but when I left Bergen I was a cinema-man.

      Then I came here and till yesterday I was feeling pretty happy. Then… Then I saw a man standing in the street outside this block. I used to stay in my room all day, and only get out after dark for an hour or two. I watched him from my window, and I thought I recognized him. He came in and spoke to the porter. When I came back from my walk last night, I found a card in my letter-box. It had the name of the man I didn't want to meet.'

      I think that the look in his eyes and the fear on his face told of his honesty. I asked him what he did next.

      'I realized that I was finished, and that there was only one way out. I had to die. If they knew

5

Пятизвёздочный отель в Лондоне.

6

заставило меня вздрогнуть

7

Не могли бы вы мне кое в чём помочь?

8

Получается так, что я сейчас мёртв.

9

хотел докопаться до сути

10

конфликт на Балканах

11

зд. его судьба предрешена

12

министерство иностранных дел

13

Тироль – регион на западе Австрии.

14

Буда – часть города Будапешт в Венгрии.

15

Лейпциг – город в Германии.