-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Джон Джон Бакен
-
- Тридцать девять ступеней
-
- Стр. 73/83
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
By
half-past
three
I
was
tearing
past
the
moonlit
hedgerows
of
Kent
,
with
MacGillivray
's
best
man
on
the
seat
beside
me
.
A
pink
and
blue
June
morning
found
me
at
Bradgate
looking
from
the
Griffin
Hotel
over
a
smooth
sea
to
the
lightship
on
the
Cock
sands
which
seemed
the
size
of
a
bell-buoy
.
A
couple
of
miles
farther
south
and
much
nearer
the
shore
a
small
destroyer
was
anchored
.
Scaife
,
MacGillivray
's
man
,
who
had
been
in
the
Navy
,
knew
the
boat
,
and
told
me
her
name
and
her
commander
's
,
so
I
sent
off
a
wire
to
Sir
Walter
.
After
breakfast
Scaife
got
from
a
house-agent
a
key
for
the
gates
of
the
staircases
on
the
Ruff
.
I
walked
with
him
along
the
sands
,
and
sat
down
in
a
nook
of
the
cliffs
while
he
investigated
the
half-dozen
of
them
.
I
did
n't
want
to
be
seen
,
but
the
place
at
this
hour
was
quite
deserted
,
and
all
the
time
I
was
on
that
beach
I
saw
nothing
but
the
seagulls
.
It
took
him
more
than
an
hour
to
do
the
job
,
and
when
I
saw
him
coming
towards
me
,
conning
a
bit
of
paper
,
I
can
tell
you
my
heart
was
in
my
mouth
.
Everything
depended
,
you
see
,
on
my
guess
proving
right
.
He
read
aloud
the
number
of
steps
in
the
different
stairs
.
"
Thirty-four
,
thirty-five
,
thirty-nine
,
forty-two
,
forty-seven
,
"
and
"
twenty-one
'
where
the
cliffs
grew
lower
.
I
almost
got
up
and
shouted
.
We
hurried
back
to
the
town
and
sent
a
wire
to
MacGillivray
.
I
wanted
half
a
dozen
men
,
and
I
directed
them
to
divide
themselves
among
different
specified
hotels
.
Then
Scaife
set
out
to
prospect
the
house
at
the
head
of
the
thirty-nine
steps
.
He
came
back
with
news
that
both
puzzled
and
reassured
me
.
The
house
was
called
Trafalgar
Lodge
,
and
belonged
to
an
old
gentleman
called
Appleton
--
a
retired
stockbroker
,
the
house-agent
said
.
Mr
Appleton
was
there
a
good
deal
in
the
summer
time
,
and
was
in
residence
now
--
had
been
for
the
better
part
of
a
week
.
Scaife
could
pick
up
very
little
information
about
him
,
except
that
he
was
a
decent
old
fellow
,
who
paid
his
bills
regularly
,
and
was
always
good
for
a
fiver
for
a
local
charity
.
Then
Scaife
seemed
to
have
penetrated
to
the
back
door
of
the
house
,
pretending
he
was
an
agent
for
sewing-machines
.
Only
three
servants
were
kept
,
a
cook
,
a
parlour-maid
,
and
a
housemaid
,
and
they
were
just
the
sort
that
you
would
find
in
a
respectable
middle-class
household
.
The
cook
was
not
the
gossiping
kind
,
and
had
pretty
soon
shut
the
door
in
his
face
,
but
Scaife
said
he
was
positive
she
knew
nothing
.
Next
door
there
was
a
new
house
building
which
would
give
good
cover
for
observation
,
and
the
villa
on
the
other
side
was
to
let
,
and
its
garden
was
rough
and
shrubby
.
I
borrowed
Scaife
's
telescope
,
and
before
lunch
went
for
a
walk
along
the
Ruff
.
I
kept
well
behind
the
rows
of
villas
,
and
found
a
good
observation
point
on
the
edge
of
the
golf-course
.
There
I
had
a
view
of
the
line
of
turf
along
the
cliff
top
,
with
seats
placed
at
intervals
,
and
the
little
square
plots
,
railed
in
and
planted
with
bushes
,
whence
the
staircases
descended
to
the
beach
.
I
saw
Trafalgar
Lodge
very
plainly
,
a
red-brick
villa
with
a
veranda
,
a
tennis
lawn
behind
,
and
in
front
the
ordinary
seaside
flower-garden
full
of
marguerites
and
scraggy
geraniums
.
There
was
a
flagstaff
from
which
an
enormous
Union
Jack
hung
limply
in
the
still
air
.
