绿玉皇冠案 37失而复得(8)

"It is an old maxim¹ of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains², however improbable, must be the truth.

"我记得有一句古老的格言说道，当你排除了不可能的情况后，其余的情况，尽管多么不可能，却必定是真实的。

Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, so there only remained your niece and the maids.

我知道，一定不是你将皇冠拿到下面来的，所以剩下来只有你的侄女和女仆们。

But if it were the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in their place?

但是如果是女仆们干的事，那为什么你的儿子愿意替她们受过呢？

There could be no possible reason.

这里没有可以站得住脚的理由。

As he loved his cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should retain her secret

正因为他爱他的堂妹，所以他要保守她的秘密，这样解释就很通了。

the more so as the secret was a disgraceful one.

更因为这秘密是一件不光彩的事，他就越要这样做。

When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture³ became a certainty.

当我记起你说过曾经看到她在那窗户那里，后来她见到那皇冠时便昏过去，我的猜测便变成十分肯定的事实了。

And who could it be who was her confederate?

但是，是谁可能成为她的共谋者呢？

A lover evidently, for who else could outweigh⁴ the love and gratitude⁵ which she must feel to you?

显然是一个情人，因为还有谁在她心上可以超过她对你的爱和感恩之情呢？

I knew that you went out little, and that your circle of friends was a very limited one.

我知道你深居简出，你结交的朋友为数有限。

But among them was Sir George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reputation among women.

而乔治·伯恩韦尔爵士却是其中之一。我以前曾听到过他在妇女当中臭名昭著。

It must have been he who wore those boots and retained the missing gems⁶.

穿着那双皮靴并持有那失去的绿玉的人一定是他。

Even though he knew that Arthur had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was safe,

尽管他明白阿瑟已经发觉是他，他依然认为自己可保无虞，

for the lad could not say a word without compromising his own family."

因为这小伙子只要一词之吐露，就不能不危及他的家庭。"

1 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

4 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

5 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

6 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。