It was late when my train pulled into the station. For several minutes I sat in the waiting room, not knowing what to do. I knew it was a mistake to be carrying such a large sum of money on my person at that time of night, but I had no choice in the matter. I had hoped to get to my Paris bank before it closed for the day, but my train had been caught behind a wreck2 and I was delayed.
Across the street from the railroad station stood a second-class hotel outlined in the dim light of a gloomy3 street lamp. There was no question about it—I knew that I must get off the street as soon as possible. I had heard many stories of innocent people being waylaid4 and robbed in these darkened streets.
I decided to try the hotel.
When I crossed the street and entered the lobby5, I discovered that most of the first floor was used as a gambling house. Through glass doors I saw many people at the tables playing cards and throwing dice6, and I heard the faint sounds of spinning roulette7 wheels.
My first thought was of the risk of sleeping all night in a gambling house; my second was the danger of being on the streets of Paris alone. But I had slept in worse places than this on my travels, and I knew I had to make the best of it8.
Out of force of habit9 I felt for the money belt around my waist, and I buttoned my coat carefully. The night clerk gave me a room and I climbed the stairs, walked a long hallway, found the room, and locked myself in. Immediately I felt safer—anyway, I was glad to be off the streets. Still I had fears, and I wished the money were safe in a bank vault10.
I could not put the fears out of my mind11. I looked under the bed and in the closet, and I tried the fastening on the window. Then, satisfied that I had done my best for my own safety, I took off my outer clothing, put my money belt under my pillow, and went to bed.
I soon felt that I could not go to sleep. Moreover, I could not even close my eyes. I was wide awake and every nerve was alert. I tossed and rolled and tried every position on the bed, yet sleep would not come. I groaned12, knowing that I was in for13 a sleepless night.
What could I do? I had no book to read. I had no medicine that would make me sleep. I thought of all kinds of bad things. I raised myself on my elbows and looked about the room, which was lighted with beautiful moonlight that made strange shadows. The more I looked at the shadows, the more fearful I became.
The bed I was lying on was a large four-poster, covered with a canopy14 that rested on the posts. The canopy had a valance15 and side curtains that enclosed the bed completely, but I had drawn the curtain aside when I first got into the room. There was a dressing table, together with a tall chest of drawers, a washstand16, and two straight chairs. Near the bed stood an armchair on which I had laid my clothes and necktie.
On a sidewall in full view17 and fully lighted by the moon was a strange-looking picture. It was a painting of a Spanish gentleman wearing a tall hat. The crown of the hat was shaped like a cone18, topped with five feathers. I smiled for the first time that night, knowing that today only a woman would wear that kind of hat. The fellow had every appearance of a villain19, and he looked upward as though he faced a judge or the gallows20.
For some reason the beautiful moonlight reminded me of a peaceful valley in England. Then I remembered a charming young lady and the good time we had had at a picnic, followed by a drive along country lanes. I most certainly must have been dreaming, for I suddenly found myself looking hard at the picture again.
Looking for what?
Good heavens! What had happened? Where were the feathers on the hat? I could no longer see the feathers. The hat was gone!
I looked again. I watched the man's face slowly disappear above the top of the bed. Now I could see only the point of his chin; finally his chest and waist. Was I dreaming? Was I mad? Was the picture being pulled up from my sight, or was the bed canopy moving down?
My heart seemed to stand still21. A deadly coldness stole over me as I turned my head around on the pillow, trying to see whether or not the bed was moving. The next look in the direction of the picture was enough. The valance of the bed had now passed below his waist. And surely and slowly I saw the figure in the picture and the bottom of the frame disappear.
I am not a timid person, but as I looked up toward the canopy and realized it was slowly moving down upon me, I felt helpless. It was intended that the bed would smother22 me where I lay.
I looked up, speechless and breathless. Down and down—without a sound came the top of the bed23, and still my fears seemed to bind me faster and faster to the mattress24 on which I lay. Down, down it came until I could smell the dusty odor25 of the canopy. In a few moments I would be dead—smothered to death by a strange bed.
In an effort to save my life, I moved at last. There was just enough room for me to roll sideways off the bed onto the floor. There I lay quietly, and with the sweat dripping from my face, I watched the canopy come down slowly.
Down it came to press tightly against the mattress. It was so close that there was not room now to squeeze26 my hand between it and the mattress.
I could see now that it was no ordinary bed canopy. It was a thick, broad mattress fastened to a stout27 frame. In the middle of the frame was a huge wooden screw like those used in wine presses. The screw reached down from a hole in the ceiling. The frightful apparatus worked smoothly without a sound. As I looked on, I could not breathe, I could not move; but as I began to recover the power of thinking, I realized the awful danger I had escaped. Why was I to be the victim of murder? Had the unseen eyes watched me hide my money? Surely there was no other reason to kill me.
Suddenly the canopy began to move once more. The villains who worked the machine from the room above evidently thought they had finished with me. Slowly and quietly the canopy rose to the top of the four bedposts.
Now, for the first time, I was able to move. I put on my clothes quickly, expecting any moment to have the door burst open and the thugs28 try to make a quick end to their bad business.
It was my intention to get out of the room alive. Looking out of the window, I saw a drainpipe29. I knew that I could slide down the pipe and escape. I raised the window slowly without making a sound. I had already got one leg over the windowsill30 when I remembered the money belt. I went back for it. I was now determined to escape alive and save my money too.
Once outside the window, it was a small trick to slide down the drainpipe, and I hurried away to a police station.
I told my story to the captain of police. He immediately ordered an investigation. Every person within the building was held and questioned. The villains were caught before the night was over.
After I identified the room and the strange bed, the captain led the way into the room above. He stamped on the floor and then ordered the floor boards to be taken up. Lights were brought, and we saw a deep cavity31 between the floor of this room and the ceiling of the room below. Here was the place the robbers had worked the screw that lowered and raised the bed canopy. A secret passageway led to a hallway closet.
Later, as I gave a full report of my experience to the police captain, I asked, “Do you think that anybody has been murdered in that bed in the same way that they tried to kill me?”
“Without a doubt,” he said. “I have often seen drowned men laid out at the morgue32 in whose pockets suicide notes were found, saying that they had lost everything at a gaming table and could not go home to face the truth. Evidently many of the poor victims had won heavily and had been persuaded to spend the rest of the night in the room and were smothered to death in their sleep. Later their bodies were thrown into the river after the murderers had written suicide notes and had placed them in the pockets of the victims.”
“How did the villains suspect me?” I asked.
“The clerk had some reason to think you had money. He passed the word along33. You are a lucky man, sir. And you have helped to expose an awful thing.”
1. William Wilkie Collins 威廉·威尔基·柯林斯（1824-1899），英国小说家。
2. be caught behind a wreck (火车)因事故而误点
3. gloomy adj. 黑暗的，未照明的
4. waylay v. 拦截
5. lobby n. 门厅，前厅
6. throw dice 掷骰子
7. roulette n. 轮盘赌
8. make the best of 充分利用
9. out of force of habit 出于习惯
10. bank vault 银行金库，银行保险库
11. put...out of one's mind 使某人忘却（某事）
12. groan v. 发出呻吟或叹息
13. be in for...免不了遭受
14. canopy n. （宝座、床、人等上方的）华盖，天篷
15. valance n. 短帷幔，挂布
16. washstand n. 脸盆架
17. in full view 看得见的
18. cone n. 圆锥体
19. villain n. 恶棍，流氓
20. gallows n. 绞刑架
21. stand still 停止不动
22. smother v. 使窒息，闷死
23. Down and down...the bed: 状语down放于句首并重复，是使语气生动有力的强调用法；本句主语倒装在谓语came之后。
24. mattress n. 床垫，褥垫
25. odor n. 气味
26. squeeze v. 挤
27. stout adj. 粗厚的，强壮的
28. thug n. 恶棍，暴徒
29. drainpipe n. 排水管
30. windowsill n. 窗沿，窗台
31. cavity n. 洞，穴
32. morgue n. 停尸房，太平间
33. pass the word along 传话；通风报信