《安澜老爷子的晚安故事》-宝藏与背叛,贪婪与爱情,科学与诡计的交织（中）
可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】咨询课程or加入社群，查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~
“If you think it's necessary,” he replied hesitantly. "To continue my story, I locked the bureau again with Brunton's key and was about to leave when he came back and stood before me.
‘Mr. Musgrave, sir,’ he said hoarsely, ‘I can’t handle disgrace. I've always been proud, and disgrace would destroy me. My blood will be on your head if you drive me to despair. If you can't keep me after what happened, let me give you notice and leave in a month, as if it's my choice. I could handle that, Mr. Musgrave, but not being cast out in front of everyone I know.’
‘You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton,’ I replied. ‘Your behavior has been terrible. But as you've been with us for a long time, I don't want to publicly disgrace you. A month is too long, though. Leave in a week, and you can give any reason you like.’
‘Only a week, sir?’ he cried. ‘At least give me two weeks!’”
“A week,’ I said again, ‘and you can consider yourself lucky to be let off so lightly.’
‘He slouched away, looking broken, while I put out the light and went back to my room.
‘For the next two days, Brunton worked diligently as if nothing had happened. I didn't mention what occurred and waited to see how he would explain his absence. But on the third morning, he didn't show up after breakfast, which was unusual. As I left the dining room, I bumped into Rachel Howells, the maid. She had recently recovered from an illness and looked pale and weak, so I scolded her for working.”
“‘You should be resting,’ I said. ‘Come back to work when you feel better.’
‘She gave me a strange look and said, “I'm fine, Mr. Musgrave.”
‘We'll see what the doctor says,’ I replied. ‘You should stop working for now. When you go downstairs, just tell them I want to see Brunton.’
‘The butler's gone,’ she said.
‘Gone? Where?’
‘He's gone. No one has seen him. He's not in his room. Oh, yes, he's gone, he's gone!’ She collapsed against the wall, laughing and crying, while I hurried to ring the bell for help. They took her to her room, still sobbing, while I asked about Brunton. He had vanished. His bed hadn't been slept in, and no one had seen him since the night before. But all the doors and windows were locked in the morning. His clothes, watch, and money were in his room, but his black suit was missing. His slippers were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where could Brunton have gone, and what happened to him?”
“We searched the house thoroughly, but found no trace of him. It's a huge old house, especially the original wing, which is mostly empty. We checked every room and cellar but found nothing. It seemed impossible for him to leave all his belongings behind. I called the local police, but they couldn't find him either. It had rained the night before, so we looked for footprints in the lawn and paths, but found nothing. While we were still puzzled about Brunton, another mystery emerged.”
“Rachel Howells had been very ill for two days, sometimes delirious, sometimes hysterical. A nurse was hired to watch over her at night. On the third night after Brunton disappeared, the nurse fell asleep in the armchair and woke up in the early morning to find the bed empty, the window open, and no sign of Rachel. I woke up immediately, and with the footmen, we went to look for her. We followed her footprints to the lake, where they disappeared near the gravel path leading out of the grounds. The lake is eight feet deep, and you can imagine our shock when we saw her trail ending at the edge of it.”
“We used drags to search the lake but found no body. However, we found a linen bag containing rusty metal pieces and dull-colored pebbles. That was all we found, and despite searching and asking around, we still don't know what happened to Rachel Howells or Richard Brunton. The local police are stumped, so I've come to you as a last resort.”
