血字的研究 40一线光明(4)（在线收听）

Sherlock Holmes's earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting some startling effect.

福尔摩斯认真的态度已经使我们深信不疑了，我们都静静地坐在那里，留心地看着那只狗，并期待着某种惊人的结果发生。

None such appeared, however.

但是，什么特别现象也没有发生，

The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor the worse for its draught.

这只狗依旧躺在垫子上，吃力地呼吸着。很明显，药丸对它既没有什么好处，可也没有什么坏的影响。

Holmes had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without result, an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features.

福尔摩斯早已掏出表来瞧着，时间一分钟一分钟地过去了，可是毫无结果，他的脸上显得极端懊恼和失望。

He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the table, and showed every other symptom of acute impatience.

他咬着嘴唇，手指敲着桌子，表现出十分焦急的样子。

So great was his emotion that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had met.

他的情绪极为激动，我的心中也不由得替他难过。可是这两位官方侦探的脸上却显出讥讽的微笑，他们很高兴看到福尔摩斯受到了挫折。

"It can't be a coincidence," he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room;

"这不可能是偶然的事，"福尔摩斯终于大声地说出话来，一面站了起来，在室内情绪烦躁地走来走去，

"it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence.

"绝不可能仅仅是由于巧合。

The very pills which I suspected in the case of Drebber are actually found after the death of Stangerson.

在锥伯一案中我疑心会有某种药丸，现在这种药丸在斯坦节逊死后真的发现了。

And yet they are inert. What can it mean? Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible!

但是它们竟然不起作用。究竟是怎么一回事？肯定地说，我所做的一系列的推论绝不可能发生谬误！绝不可能！

And yet this wretched dog is none the worse. Ah, I have it! I have it!"

但是这个可怜的东西并没有吃出毛病来。哦，我明白了！我明白了！"

With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier.

福尔摩斯高兴地尖叫了一声，跑到药盒前，取出另外一粒，把它切成两半，把半粒溶在水里，加上牛奶，放在狗的面前。

The unfortunate creature's tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb,

这个不幸的小动物甚至连舌头还没有完全沾湿，它的四条腿便痉挛颤抖起来，

and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning.

然后就象被雷电击毙一样，直挺挺地死去了。

Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

福尔摩斯长长地吁了一口气，擦了擦额头上的汗珠。

"I should have more faith," he said; "I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.

"我的信心还不够坚强；刚才我就应当体会到，如果一个情节似乎和一系列的推论相矛盾，那么，这个情节必定有其他某种解释方法。

Of the two pills in that box, one was of the most deadly poison, and the other was entirely harmless.

那个小匣里的两粒药丸，一粒是烈性的毒药，另外一粒则完全无毒。

I ought to have known that before ever I saw the box at all."

其实在我没有看到这个小盒子以前，早就应该推论到的。"

This last statement appeared to me to be so startling that I could hardly believe that he was in his sober senses.

我认为，福尔摩斯最后所说的这段话过于惊人，很难使人相信他是神智清醒的。

There was the dead dog, however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct.

但是死狗又明明地摆在眼前，证明他的推断是正确的。

It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away, and I began to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.

我似乎觉得我脑子里的疑云已逐渐消失，我开始对于案子的真象有了隐隐约约的认识。

"All this seems strange to you," continued Holmes, "because you failed at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real clue which was presented to you.

福尔摩斯继续说道："这一切你们听来似乎都觉得奇怪，因为你们在开始侦查的时候，就没有领悟到摆在你们面前的那个惟一正确线索的重要性。

I had the good fortune to seize upon that, and everything which has occurred since then has served to confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence of it.

我幸而抓住了这个线索，此后所发生的每件事都足以用来证实我最初的设想，这些事也确是逻辑的必然结果。

Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions.

因此，那些使你们大惑不解并且使案情更加模糊不清的事物，却会对我有所启发，并且能加强我的论断。

It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery.

把奇怪和神秘混为一谈，这是错误的。

The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn.

最平淡无奇的犯罪行为往往却是最神秘的，因为它看不出有什么新奇或特别的地方，足以作为推理的根据。

This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable.

如果这个案子里被害者的尸体是在大路上发现的，而且又没有任何使这个案子显得突出的那些超出常轨和骇人听闻的情节，那么，这个谋杀案解决起来就要困难得多了。

These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so."

所以说，情节奇特不但丝毫没有增加解决案子的困难，反而使办案的困难减少了。"