赖盖特之谜07

“The conviction that the crime is a very peculiar¹ one. Perhaps our visit now  may do something to make it less obscure. I think that we are both agreed,  Inspector², that the fragment of paper in the dead man's hand, bearing, as it  does, the very hour of his death written upon it, is of extreme importance.”

“It should give a clue, Mr. Holmes.”

“It does give a clue. Whoever wrote that note was the man who brought William  Kirwan out of his bed at that hour. But where is the rest of that sheet of  paper?”

“I examined the ground carefully in the hope of finding it,” said the  Inspector.

“It was torn out of the dead man's hand. Why was some one so anxious to get  possession of it? Because it incriminated him. And what would he do with it?  Thrust it into his pocket, most likely, never noticing that a corner of it had  been left in the grip of the corpse³. If we could get the rest of that sheet it  is obvious that we should have gone a long way towards solving the mystery.”

“Yes, but how can we get at the criminal's pocket before we catch the criminal? ”

“Well, well, it was worth thinking over. Then there is another obvious point.  The note was sent to William. The man who wrote it could not have taken it;  otherwise, of course, he might have delivered his own message by word of mouth.  Who brought the note, then? Or did it come through the post?”

“I have made inquiries,” said the Inspector. “William received a letter by  the afternoon post yesterday. The envelope was destroyed by him.”

“Excellent!” cried Holmes, clapping the Inspector on the back. “You've seen  the postman. It is a pleasure to work with you. Well, here is the lodge⁴, and if  you will come up, Colonel, I will show you the scene of the crime.”

“结果就是我确信这一犯罪行为是很奇特的。或许我们眼下这次访问可以使它多少明朗一些 。警官，我认为我们两个人都同意，死者手中的这张纸片上面写着的时间，正是他死去的时 间，这一点是极为重要的。”

“这就给我们提供了一个线索，福尔摩斯先生。”

“这确实给我们提供了一个线索。写这张便条的人，就是要威廉-柯万在那个时间起一床一 的人。可是这张纸的那一半在哪里呢？”

“我仔细地检查了地面，希望能找到它。”警官说道。

“它是从死者手中撕去的。为什么有人那么急切地要得到它呢？因为它可以证明他的罪行。 撕下以后他又怎么处理它呢？他把它塞一进衣袋里，很可能没有注意到有一角纸片还抓在死 者手里。如果我们能够得到撕走的那片纸，显然，对我们解一开这个谜大有帮助。”

“是的，可是我们没有捉到罪犯，怎能从罪犯的衣袋里得到它呢？”

“啊，啊，这是值得仔细考虑的。而且还有另外一点也很明显。这张便条是给威廉的。写便 条的人是不会亲自一交一给他的，不然的话，他当然可以把内容亲口向他说了。那么，是谁 把便条带给死者的呢？或许是通过邮局寄来的？”

“我已经查问过了，”警官说道，“昨天下午，威廉从邮局接到一封信。信封已经被他毁掉 了。”

“好极了！”福尔摩斯拍了拍警官的背，大声说道，“你已经见过邮差了。和你一起工作， 我非常高兴。好，这就是那间仆人住房，上校，如果你愿意进来，我把犯罪现场指给你看。 ”

1 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

2 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

3 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

4 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。