马斯格雷夫礼典03（在线收听）

“These,” said he, “are all that I have left to remind me of the adventure of  the Musgrave Ritual.”

I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never been able to  gather the details. “I should be so glad,” said I, “if you would give me an  account of it.”

“And leave the litter as it is?“ he cried, mischievously. “Your tidiness  won't bear much strain after all, Watson. But I should be glad that you should  add this case to your annals, for there are points in it which make it quite  unique in the criminal records of this or, I believe, of any other country. A  collection of my trifling achievements would certainly be incomplete which  contained no account of this very singular business.

“You may remember how the affair of the Gloria Scott, and my conversation with  the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first turned my attention in the  direction of the profession which has become my life's work. You see me now when  my name has become known far and wide, and when I am generally recognized both  by the public and by the official force as being a final court of appeal in  doubtful cases. Even when you knew me first, at the time of the affair which you  have commemorated in ‘A Study in Scarlet,’ I had already established a  considerable, though not a very lucrative, connection. You can hardly realize,  then, how difficult I found it at first, and how long I had to wait before I  succeeded in making any headway.

“When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just round the  corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling in my too abundant  leisure time by studying all those branches of science which might make me more  efficient. Now and again cases came in my way, principally through the  introduction of old fellow-students, for during my last years at the University  there was a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods. The third of  these cases was that of the Musgrave Ritual, and it is to the interest which was  aroused by that singular chain of events, and the large issues which proved to  be at stake, that I trace my first stride towards the position which I now hold.

“这些，”他说道，“都是我留下来以便回忆马斯格雷夫礼典一案的。”

我曾经听他不止一次提到这件案子，可是始终未能探悉详情。“如果你详细讲给我听，”我 说道，“那我真是太高兴了。”

“那么这些杂乱东西还照原样不动了？”福尔摩斯调皮地大声说道，“你的整洁又不能如愿 了，华生。可是我很高兴在你的案例记载中，能把这件案子增加进去。因为这件案子不仅在 国内犯罪记载中非常独特，而且我相信，在国外也极为罕见。如果搜集我那些微不足道的成 就，却不记载这件离奇的案子，那就很不完备了。

“你当然记得‘格洛里亚斯科特’号帆船事件，我向你讲了那个不幸的人的遭遇，我和他的 谈话，第一次使我想到职业问题，而后来侦探果然成了我的终身职业。现在你看我已经名扬 四海了，无论是公众，还是警方都普遍把我当作疑难案件的最高上诉法院。甚至当你和我初 一交一之际，即我正进行着你后来追记为‘血字的研究’一案的时候，虽然我业务并非十分 兴隆，但已有了很多主顾了。你很难想象，开始我是多么困难，我经历了多么长久的努力才 得到了成功。

“当初我来到伦敦，住在大英博物馆附近的蒙塔格街，闲居无事，便专心研究各门科学，以 便将来有所成就。那时不断有人求我破案，主要都是通过我一些老同学介绍的。因为我在大 学的后几年，人们经常议论我和我的思想方法。我破的第三个案件就是马斯格雷夫礼典案。 而那使我兴致昂然的一系列奇异事件以及后来证明是事关重大的办案结局，使我向从事今天 这一职业迈出了第一步。