"Who?" The tinkerer unchained the door, opened the door a crack, blocked the candlelight with his hand, and looked out.

"Open the door," someone outside replied, "We're patrolling Conch City, and we've been called by you today." ”

Hearing this, the little tinkerer felt much more relieved, and he opened the door widely, and a fat man in a coat appeared, and the man did not say a word, but wiped his shoes on the mat, and walked in calmly, as if he had arrived at his own home.

"Send someone out and replace my fellow, do you hear me, young man?" The patrol commanded, "He's waiting for the horses at the cart." Do you have a garage here to drive the car in and park it for five minutes and ten minutes? ”

The little tinkerer replied in the affirmative, and pointed to the outside of the house, and the fat man turned back to the garden gate, and helped his companion to drive the carriage in, and the little tinkerer looked very admiring, and lit them on the side.

After settling the car, they went back to the house, and were let into a living room. The two detectives took off their coats and hats, and only then did they show their true colors.

The man who knocked on the door was of medium build, of strong physique, in his mid-fifties, with shiny black hair cut short, a half-cut sideburns, a round face, and a pair of alert eyes. the other was red-haired, skinny, and wore long boots, and his appearance was really flattering; A nose facing the sky looks sinister.

"Tell you to be in charge, the patrol is coming, do you hear?" The more robust one wiped his hair and placed a pair of handcuffs on the table. "Oh. Good evening, sir. Can I speak to you privately, if you will? ”

The words were addressed to Mr. Qian, who had just appeared. The gentleman made a gesture for the tinkerer to go down, and he led the two ladies in and closed the door.

"This is the mistress of the house." Mr. Qian pointed at Mrs. May and said.

The patrol bowed. The master invited him to sit down, and he put his hat on the floor, sat down on the chair himself, and motioned for Dafoe to do the same. The latter gentleman seemed unfamiliar with the rules of high society, or he felt too uncomfortable on such occasions—both must prevail—and the muscles of his limbs twitched one after the other, and he had just sat down and scrambled to shove the head of his cane into his mouth.

"Well, about this robbery here, sir," said the patrolman, "what is the detail?" ”

Mr. Qian obviously wanted to buy time, and he explained the story in great detail, adding a lot of nonsense, while Mr. Patrol seemed confident, nodding to each other from time to time.

"Well, the servants are talking about a child here, what's going on?" Patrol said.

"Nothing at all." The doctor replied, "It is pure nonsense that a frightened servant thought that he had also participated in this attempted burglary." ”

The Patrolman nodded approvingly, fiddling with the handcuffs nonchalantly, as if he were holding a pair of castanets. "What's the child's name? What did he say about his situation? Where did he come from? Didn't it fall from the sky, sir? ”

"Of course not," replied the doctor, glancing nervously at the two ladies. "I know the whole thing about him, and we can talk about it later. I suppose you'd be happy to go and see where the thieves got their hands first, right? ”

"Well," replied the patrolman, "we'd better survey the scene before examining the servants." This is the old rule of handling cases. ”

They immediately set up the lights, and the patrol, accompanied by all the rest, came to the hut at the end of the corridor, looked out the window, and then walked through the meadow, and looked in through the window.

After that, he held up a candle to inspect the window panels, then inspected the footprints with a lantern, and poked a fork in the bushes for a while.

When the matter was done, the whole audience held their breath and watched them return to the villa. Lao Li and the little pot maker were ordered to play their roles again in the thrilling story of the previous night, and they played them at least six or seven times.

There was only one major plot of self-contradiction in the first pass, and there were only a dozen or so in the last pass. After this result, the patrol went out and held a long consultation, compared to which, in terms of secrecy and seriousness, many famous doctors can only be regarded as child's play in the consultation of the most complex diseases.

At the same time, the doctor walked impatiently around the next room, and Mrs. May and Jin Xiu looked at him with anxious expressions.

"It's nerve-wracking," he said after a brisk walk in countless circles, "and I'm helpless." ”

"No," said Jin Xiu, "if you tell these people the truth of this wretched child, he should be absolved." ”

"I doubt it, dear miss," the doctor shook his head, "and I don't think he'll be pardoned, whether or not he tells them. In a word, they will say, what does he do? A child who ran away from home. Judging by the mundane reasons and possibilities alone, his story is very suspicious. ”

"Do you believe it or not, really?" Jin Xiu didn't let him go any further.

"I'm sure that, as bizarre as the story is, maybe I'm doing this whole old fool." The doctor replied, "In any case, I am afraid that it is not appropriate to tell such a story to a seasoned policeman." ”

"Why not?" Jin Xiu asked.

The doctor replied, "Because there are many things to be seen in this matter according to their eyes." The child was able to prove only those parts that seemed to be unfavorable to him, but not the beneficial aspects. These bastards, they're going to ask what the reason is, what the reason is, and they don't believe anything. According to his own account, you see, he had been hanging out with a gang of thieves for some time and had entered the police station on suspicion of pickpocketing a gentleman's wallet. Then he was forcibly abducted from the gentleman's house and taken to a place where he could neither say anything nor point to the north, south, north, south, or north, and where he had no vagueest impression of what was going on. The men seemed to treat him like a treasure, and whether he wanted to or not, shoved him through the window and planned to rob a house. Then, just as he was about to wake up the people in the house, and was about to do this thing that would clear him of all charges, a butler rushed out halfway and shot him. It's as if he didn't want to let him accumulate some virtue for himself. You still don't understand all this? ”

"Of course I understand," Jin Xiu couldn't help but smile as she looked at the doctor's anxious look. "Still, I don't see anything in it that would condemn the poor child."

"Yes," replied the doctor, "of course not." May God bless you women's discernment. Your eyes look at only one aspect of any problem, whether it is good or bad, that is, always keep their eyes on what comes to mind first. ”

The doctor recounted his experience, put his hands in his pockets, and began to pace up and down the room again, faster than before.

"The more I pondered about it," said the doctor, "the more I felt that if we told these people about this child's true experience, we would be in great trouble." I'm sure no one will believe it. Even if they can't do anything to him in the end, just drag him down and publicize all the doubts that may arise, your charitable plan to save him from the sea of suffering will still encounter great obstacles. ”

"What then?" Jin Xiu shouted, "Oh my God, oh my God! What did they bring these people for? ”

"yes, what are you doing!" Mrs. May exclaimed, "To put it bluntly, I wish they wouldn't come here." ”

"It seems to me," Mr. Qian sat down calmly, as if he was about to let go, "We can only be cheeky and try it and persevere to the end." Our purpose is noble, and we are understandable for doing so, and it is a great blessing that the child has obvious symptoms of fever and should not talk too much. We have to make full use of it, and if we can't solve the problem, we're done. In. ”

"Yes, sir," said the patrolman, who walked into the room, followed by his colleague, who didn't bother to say more, but closed the door tightly. "This is not a premeditated incident."

"What the hell premeditated events?" The doctor was impatient.

"Ladies," said the patrolman, turning to the two ladies, as if sympathetic to their solitude, and contemptuous of the doctor's ignorance, "we call the involvement of useful men a premeditated robbery. ”

"No one doubted them in this case." Mrs. Mei said.

"It may well be, ma'am," replied the patrolman, "that they may have taken part in it." ”

"Judging by the statements, it's more likely." The patrol said.

"We found out that it was done by people from the city," the patrol continued, "because the means were top-notch." ”

"It's very beautiful, indeed." His colleague whispered.

"There were two people involved," the patrol continued, "and they had a small child with them, just look at the size of the window." That's all that can be said for now. We're going to see this kid you've settled upstairs now, if we can. ”

"Maybe they'd better have something to drink first, Mrs. May?" The doctor was radiant, as if he had a new idea.

"Oh! Really! Jin Xiu exclaimed eagerly, "As long as the two of you are willing, you can do it immediately." ”

"Miss, thank you." The patrol lifted his sleeves and wiped his mouth, and said. "To do this is to let the population do it. Whatever you want, miss. Don't let you get too much of a burden. ”

"Shall I have something?" The doctor asked, and followed the young lady towards the food closet.

"A little wine, sir, if you have to drink it after all," replied the patrolman, "it's cold enough to come from Conch City, ma'am, and I've always found it very good at warming people's minds." ”

This interesting insight was addressed to Mrs. Merley, who listened very modestly. Just as he was saying this, the doctor slipped out of the room.

"Ahh The patrol said, "I've seen a lot of things in this business. ”

"It's kind of like this one, isn't it?" The patrol responded, "That time it was the big chimney, and he did it." ”

"What's going on?" Jin Xiu couldn't wait to ask, and she would encourage the two unwelcome guests if they showed any signs of being in a good mood.

"It was a robbery, miss, and almost no one knew it," said the patrolman, "and there was one called the Great Chimney—"

"A big chimney means a big nose, miss." Another patrolman chimed in.

"Of course Mademoiselle knows, doesn't she?" The patrol asked, "Why are you interrupted, man?" There was a big chimney who opened a tavern. He had a small courtyard, and many of his younger sons liked to go there and watch cockfights and so on. I've seen a lot, and it's taken a lot of thought to arrange these pastimes. At that time, he had not yet joined any parishion. One night, he was robbed of a few dozen taels of silver, and in the middle of the night he was stolen from his bedroom by a tall man with a black blindfold, who hid under his bed, and when he got his hands on it, he jumped out of the window, which was only one story high. His hand was very neat, but the big chimney was also very neat, and he woke up when he heard the noise, jumped out of bed, picked up his shotgun, and shot him, alarming the neighbors. They immediately shouted and looked, and found that the great chimney had struck the robber, and there was blood all the way, until there was a fence far away, and there was no way to see it. Anyway, he had already run away with the silver. He lost his money this time, and was very depressed, and wandered around the streets for three or four days, pulling his hair desperately, and many people were afraid that he would go to find a short-sightedness.

One day, he came to the bureau in a panic and talked for a while. He said he saw the guy walk past his house yesterday morning. Between ten and eleven o'clock in the evening, he walked over again. So the patrol hid behind a small red curtain in the tavern, and did not even take off his hat, as long as he said hello, he could rush up immediately. It was late at night, and he was smoking his pipe, when suddenly the big chimney roared: 'Here it is! Catch the thief! Kill! The patrol rushed out, and saw the big chimney shouting all the way, and ran down the street with his life. The big chimney kept running, and people gathered around it, and everyone was shouting, 'Catch the thief!' The big chimney shouted to itself like crazy. The patrol had just turned around a street corner, but there was no other figure in sight, so he turned around quickly, and when he saw a bunch of people there, he rushed in: 'Which one is the thief?' ''I'm fucking. The chimney said, 'I let him run again.' It was strange, but there was no one to be seen, so they went back to the tavern.

The next morning, the patrol came to the old place, and looked out from behind the curtains, just to find a tall man with a black blindfold, who himself had a pain in his eyes. Eventually, he closed his eyes and relaxed for a while. At that moment, he heard the chimney cry: 'Here he is!' And he rushed up again, and the chimney had gone half the street, twice as far as it had been yesterday, and the man was gone. Half of the neighbors thought that it was the lantern ghost who robbed the big chimney and kept teasing him, and the other half of the neighbors said that the big chimney was played crazy by the ghost.