蓝色列车之谜13

Chapter 13  VAN ALDIN GETS A TELEGRAM ,On the afternoon of the 15th February a thick yellow fog had settled down on London. ,Rufus Van Aldin was in his suite at the Savoy and was making the most of the atmospheric conditions by working double time. Knighton was overjoyed. He had found it difficult of late to get his employer to concentrate on the matters in hand. When he had ventured to urge certain courses, Van Aldin had put him off with a curt word. But now Van Aldin seemed to be throwing himself into work with redoubled energy, and the secretary made the most of his opportunities. Always tactful, he plied the spur so unobtrusively that Van Aldin never suspected it. ,Yet in the middle of this absorption in business matters, one little fact lay at the back of Van Aldin's mind. A chance remark of Knighton's, uttered by the secretary in all unconsciousness, had given rise to it. It now festered unseen, gradually reaching further and further forward into Van Aldin's consciousness, until at last, in spite of himself he had to yield to its insistence. ,He listened to what Knighton was saying with his usual air of keen attention, but in reality not one word of it penetrated his mind. He nodded automatically, however, and the secretary turned to some other paper. ,As he was sorting them out, his employer spoke: ,For a moment Knighton was at a loss. ,"You mean about this, sir?" He held up a closely written Company report. ,"No, no," said Van Aldin, "what you told me about seeing Ruth's maid in Paris last night. I can't make it out. You must have been mistaken." ,"I can't have been mistaken, sir, I actually spoke to her." ,"Well, tell me the whole thing again." ,