驼背男人17（在线收听）

“But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on the other side of the street. Good-bye, Wood. I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday.”

We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner.

“Ah, Holmes,” he said: “I suppose you have heard that all this fuss has come to nothing?”

“What then?”

“The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case after all.”

“Oh, remarkably superficial,” said Holmes, smiling. “Come, Watson, I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more.”

“There's one thing,” said I, as we walked down to the station. “If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this talk about David?”

“That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting. It was evidently a term of reproach.”

“Of reproach?”

“Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You remember the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba? My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel.”

“如果不是那样，那也不必把死者过去所做的丑事重新翻腾出来。你现在既然已经知道，三十年来，他因为过去做了坏事一直受到良心的责备，至少也该满意了。啊，墨菲少校走到街那边了。再见，伍德。我想了解一下昨天以来又发生什么事没有。”

少校还没走到街拐角处，我们就及时赶上了他。

“啊，福尔摩斯，”少校说道，“我想你已经听说这件事完全是庸人自扰了吧。”

“那么，是怎么回事呢？”

“刚刚验完一尸一体。医生证明，上校的死是由中风引起的。

你看，这不过是一件十分简单的案子。”

“啊，不可能再简单了，”福尔摩斯笑容可掬地说道，“华生，走吧，我想奥尔德肖特这里已经没有我们的事了。”

“还有一件事，”我们来到车站时，我说道，“如果说她丈夫的名字叫詹姆斯，而另一个人叫亨利，她为什么提到大卫呢？”

“我亲一爱一的华生，如果我真是你所喜欢描述的那种理想的推理家，那么，从这一个词我就应该推想出这全部故事。这显然是一个斥责的字眼。”

“斥责的字眼？”

“是啊，你知道，大卫有一次也象詹姆斯-巴克利中士一样偶然做了错事。你可记得乌利亚和拔示巴［大卫和乌利亚以及拔示巴：《圣经》中记载，以色列王大卫为了攫取以色列军队中赫梯人将领乌利亚之妻拔示巴为妻，把乌利亚派到前方，乌利亚遇伏被害——译者注］这个小笔事吗？我恐怕我对《圣经》的知识有一点遗忘了。但是你可以在《圣经》的《撒母耳记》第一或第二章去找，便可以得到这个故事了。”