巴斯克维尔的猎犬 回忆（10）

 

"I have already told you that your reports reached me rapidly, being forwarded instantly fromBaker Street to Coombe Tracey. They were of great service to me, and especially that oneincidentally truthful piece of biography of Stapleton's. I was able to establish the identity of theman and the woman and knew at last exactly how I stood. The case had been considerablycomplicated through the incident of the escaped convict and the relations between him and theBarrymores. This also you cleared up in a very effective way, though I had already come to thesame conclusions from my own observations.

“我已经告诉过你了 ， 你的报告都能很快地送到我的手里， 因为它们一到贝克街马上就被送到库姆· 特雷西来了。 那些报告对我有极大的帮助， 特别是有关斯台普吞身 世的碰巧是真实的那篇。 我已能证明就是那个男人和那个女人了 ， 并且总算准确地知道了 我应当怎样去了解。 那个逃犯和他与白瑞摩之间的关系确曾使案情相当复杂化起来， 这一点已被你用很有效的办法澄清了， 虽然我也通过自 己的观察得到了同样的结论。

"By the time that you discovered me upon the moor I had a complete knowledge of the wholebusiness, but I had not a case which could go to a jury. Even Stapleton's attempt upon Sir Henrythat night which ended in the death of the unfortunate convict did not help us much in provingmurder against our man. There seemed to be no alternative but to catch him red-handed, and to doso we had to use Sir Henry, alone and apparently unprotected, as a bait. We did so, and at the costof a severe shock to our client we succeeded in completing our case and driving Stapleton to hisdestruction. That Sir Henry should have been exposed to this is, I must confess, a reproach to mymanagement of the case, but we had no means of foreseeing the terrible and paralyzing spectaclewhich the beast presented, nor could we predict the fog which enabled him to burst upon us atsuch short notice. We succeeded in our object at a cost which both the specialist and Dr. Mortimerassure me will be a temporary one. A long journey may enable our friend to recover not only fromhis shattered nerves but also from his wounded feelings. His love for the lady was deep andsincere, and to him the saddest part of all this black business was that he should have beendeceived by her.

“当你在沼地里发现了我的时候， 我已把全部事实都弄清了， 可是我还没有足以拿到陪审官面前去的罪证， 甚至那晚斯台普吞企图谋杀亨利爵士， 但结果却杀死了不幸的逃犯的事实都难以证明他有杀人罪。 看样子除了 当场捉他之外是别无他法了， 而要这样做， 咱们就得利用亨利爵士作为诱饵， 使他处于单身行路和显然受不到任何保护的状况之下。 咱们就这样做了， 虽然使咱们的委托人受到了严重的惊吓， 可是咱们终于凑全了罪证， 并把斯台普吞驱向了毁灭。 使亨利爵士暴身于危险之中， 我承认， 这只能说是我在处理此案过程之中的一大缺点， 可是咱们无法预知， 那畜生竟会显出那样可怕和骇人欲绝的样子， 咱们也无法预知那使它能那么突然地向我们窜来的大雾的出现。 咱们的任务的完成是付出了代价的， 可是专家摩梯末医生向我保证说， 这一代价的影响只是暂时的。 一次长途旅行， 不仅能够恢复咱们朋友深受打击的神经， 并能医治他那心灵上的创伤， 他对那位女士的爱情是深挚的。 对他说来，在这件倒霉的事情里， 最使人伤心的就是， 他竟也受了她的骗。