马斯格雷夫礼典19

“‘Ah, that is a question that will take some time to answer.’ And with that I  sketched¹ out to him the whole long chain of surmise² and of proof which I had  constructed. The twilight³ had closed in and the moon was shining brightly in the  sky before my narrative⁴ was finished.

“‘And how was it then that Charles did not get his crown when he returned?’  asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic⁵ into its linen⁶ bag.

“‘Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall probably  never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave who held the secret  died in the interval⁷, and by some oversight⁸ left this guide to his descendant  without explaining the meaning of it. From that day to this it has been handed  down from father to son, until at last it came within reach of a man who tore  its secret out of it and lost his life in the venture.’

“And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have the crown down  at Hurlstone—though they had some legal bother and a considerable sum to pay  before they were allowed to retain it. I am sure that if you mentioned my name  they would be happy to show it to you. Of the woman nothing was ever heard, and  the probability is that she got away out of England and carried herself and the  memory of her crime to some land beyond the seas.”

“‘啊，这个问题就需要花费一些时间来回答了。’说着，我把我所作的推测和论证从头到 尾地对他说了一遍，直到夜色朦胧，皓月当空，我才把那故事讲完。

“‘那为什么查理二世回国后，不来取王冠呢？’马斯格雷夫把遗物放回亚麻布袋，问道。

“‘啊，你准确地指示了我们也许永远也不能解决的一个问题。可能是掌握这个秘密的马斯 格雷夫在此时去世，而出于疏忽，他把这个做指南用的礼典传给后人而没有说明其含义。从 那时到今天，这个礼典世代相传，直到终于出了一个人，他揭开了秘密，并在冒险中丧生。 ’

“这就是马斯格雷夫礼典的故事，华生。那王冠就留在赫尔斯通——不过，他们在法律上经 过一番周折，又付了一大笔钱才把王冠留下来。我相信，只要你一提我的名字，他们就会把 王冠拿给你看。而那个女人，一直是音讯全无，很可能她离开英国，带着犯罪的记忆逃亡国 外去了。”

1 sketched   

v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The historical article sketched the major events of the decade. 这篇有关历史的文章概述了这十年中的重大事件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sketched the situation in a few vivid words. 他用几句生动的语言简述了局势。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 surmise   

v./n.猜想，推测

参考例句：

• It turned out that my surmise was correct.结果表明我的推测没有错。
• I surmise that he will take the job.我推测他会接受这份工作。

3 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

4 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

5 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

6 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

7 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

8 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。