歪唇男人 24拜访圣克莱尔夫人(4)

Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanized. "What!" he roared.

福尔摩斯从椅子上跳了起来，好象触了电一样。"什么？"他咆哮道。

"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paper in the air.

"是的，今天，"她微笑地站着，高高地举起一张小纸条。

"May I see it?" "Certainly."

"我可以看看吗？""当然可以。"

He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently.

他急切地抓住那张纸条，在桌子上把它摊开，挪过灯来，专心地审视。

I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder.

我离开座椅，从他背后注视那张纸。

The envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark and with the date of that very day,

信封的纸很粗糙，盖有格雷夫森德地方的邮戳，发信日期就是当天，

or rather of the day before, for it was considerably¹ after midnight.

或者说是前一天，因为此时已过了午夜很久了。

"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your husband's writing, madam."

"字迹潦草，"福尔摩斯喃喃自语，"肯定这不是您先生的笔迹，夫人。"

"No, but the enclosure is."

"是的，可是信却是他写的。"

"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and inquire as to the address."

"我还觉得，不管是谁写的信封，他都得去问地址。"

"How can you tell that?"

"您怎能这么说？"

"The name, you see, is in perfectly² black ink, which has dried itself.

"这人名，您看，完全是用黑墨水写的，写出后自行阴干。

The rest is of the grayish colour, which shows that blotting-paper has been used.

其余的字呈灰黑色，这说明写后是用吸墨纸吸过的。

If it had been written straight off, and then blotted³, none would be of a deep black shade.

如果是一起写成，再用吸墨纸吸过，那末有些字就不会是深黑色的了。

This man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before he wrote the address,

这个人先写人名，过了一会儿，才写地址，

which can only mean that he was not familiar with it.

这就只能说明他不熟悉这个地址。

It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.

这自然是件小事，但是没有比一些小事更重要的了。

Let us now see the letter. Ha! there has been an enclosure here!"

现在让咱们来看看信吧。哈！随信还附了件东西呢！"

1 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 blotted   

涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干

参考例句：

• She blotted water off the table with a towel. 她用毛巾擦干桌上的水。
• The blizzard blotted out the sky and the land. 暴风雪铺天盖地而来。