跳舞的小人（16）

He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch above the bottom.

“By George!” cried the inspector. “How ever did you see that?”

“Because I looked for it.”

“Wonderful!” said the country doctor. “You are certainly right, sir. Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must have been present. But who could that have been and how could he have got away?”

“That is the problem which we are now about to solve,” said Sherlock Holmes. “You remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that on leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of powder I remarked that the point was an extremely important one?”

“Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you.”

“It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as the door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder could not have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in the room was necessary for that. Both door and window were only open for a very short time, however.”

“How do you prove that?”

“Because the candle has not guttered.”

“Capital!” cried the inspector. “Capital!”

“Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the tragedy I conceived that there might have been a third person in the affair, who stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot directed at this person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure enough, was the bullet mark!”

“But how came the window to be shut and fastened?”

“The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window. But, halloa! what is this?”

It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table—a trim little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and turned the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of England, held together by an india-rubber band—nothing else.

他突然转过身去，用他的细长的指头，指着离窗户框底边一英寸地方的一个小窟窿。

“一点不错！"警长大声说，"您怎么看见的？”

“因为我在找它。”

“惊人的发现！"乡村医生说，"您完全对，先生。那就是当时一共放了三槍，因此一定有第三者在场。但是，这能是谁呢？他是怎么跑掉的？”

“这正是咱们就要解答的问题，"福尔摩斯说，“马丁警长，您记得在那两个女仆讲到她们一出房门就闻到火药味儿的时候，我说过这一点极其重要，是不是？”

“是的，先生。但是，坦白说，我当时不大懂您的意思。”

“这就是说在打槍的时候，门窗全都是开着的，否则火药的烟不会那么快吹到楼上去。这非得书房里有穿堂风不行。可是门窗敞开的时间很短。”

“这您怎么来证明呢？”

“因为那支蜡烛并没有给风吹得淌下蜡油来。”

“对极了！"警长大声说，"对极了！”

“我肯定了这场悲剧发生的时候窗户是敞开的这一点以后，就设想到其中可能有一个第三者，他站在窗外朝屋里开了一槍。这时候如果从屋里对准窗外的人开槍，就可能打中窗户框。我一找，果然那儿有个弹孔。”

“但是窗户怎么关上的呢？”

“女主人出于本能的第一个动作当然是关上窗户。啊，这是什么？”

那是个鳄鱼皮镶银边的女用手提包，小巧一精一致，就在桌上放着。福尔摩斯把它打开，将里面的东西倒了出来。手提包里只装了一卷英国银行的钞票，五十镑一张，一共二十张，用橡皮圈箍在一起，别的没有。