赖盖特之谜13

His words were cut short by a sudden scream of “Help! Help! Murder!” With a  thrill I recognised the voice as that of my friend. I rushed madly from the room  on to the landing. The cries, which had sunk down into a hoarse¹, inarticulate  shouting, came from the room which we had first visited. I dashed in, and on  into the dressing-room beyond. The two Cunninghams were bending over the  prostrate² figure of Sherlock Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both  hands, while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant  the three of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his feet,  very pale and evidently greatly exhausted³.

“Arrest these men, Inspector⁴,” he gasped⁵.

“On what charge?”

“That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan.”

The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment. “Oh, come now, Mr. Holmes,”  said he at last, “I'm sure you don't really mean to—”

“Tut, man, look at their faces!” cried Holmes, curtly⁶.

Never, certainly, have I seen a plainer confession⁷ of guilt⁸ upon human  countenances⁹. The older man seemed numbed¹⁰ and dazed with a heavy, sullen  expression upon his strongly-marked face. The son, on the other hand, had  dropped all that jaunty¹¹, dashing style which had characterized him, and the  ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyes and distorted his  handsome features. The Inspector said nothing, but, stepping to the door, he  blew his whistle. Two of his constables¹² came at the call.

“I have no alternative, Mr. Cunningham,” said he. “I trust that this may all  prove to be an absurd mistake, but you can see that—Ah, would you? Drop it!”  He struck out with his hand, and a revolver which the younger man was in the act  of cocking clattered¹³ down upon the floor.

“Keep that,” said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it; “you will find it  useful at the trial. But this is what we really wanted.” He held up a little  crumpled¹⁴ piece of paper.

“The remainder of the sheet!” cried the Inspector.

“Precisely.”

“And where was it?”

“Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear to you  presently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return now, and I will be  with you again in an hour at the furthest. The Inspector and I must have a word  with the prisoners, but you will certainly see me back at luncheon¹⁵ time.”

他的话还没讲完，突然传来一阵尖一叫一声，“来人啊！来人啊！杀人啦！”我听出这是我 朋友的声音，不禁一毛一骨悚然。我发疯似地从室内冲向楼梯平台。呼救声低下来，变成嘶 哑的，含混不清的喊叫，从我们第一次进去的那间屋里传来。我直冲进去，一直跑进里面的 更衣室。那坎宁安父子二人正把歇洛克-福尔摩斯按倒在地上，小坎宁安正用双手掐住埃尔 摩斯的喉咙，那老坎宁安似乎正扭住他的一只手腕。我们三个人立即把他们从福尔摩斯身上 拉开。福尔摩斯摇摇晃晃地站起来，面色苍白，显然已经筋疲力尽了。

“赶快逮捕这两个人，警官，”福尔摩斯气喘吁吁地说道。

“以什么罪名逮捕呢？”

“罪名就是谋杀他们的马车夫威廉-柯万。”

警官两眼盯着福尔摩斯直发愣。

“啊，好啦，福尔摩斯先生，”警官终于说道，“我相信，你不是真的要……”

“咳，先生，你看看他们的脸！”福尔摩斯粗一暴地大声说道。

的确，我还从来没有见过这样一种自认有罪的面部表情。

那老的似乎呆若木鸡，坚定的脸上现出沉痛愠怒的表情。另一方面，那儿子却失掉了原有的 活泼态度，变得象凶神恶煞一般，双目露出困兽般的一逼一人凶光，已没有丝毫文雅神气。 警官一言不发，走向门口，吹起了警笛。两名警察应声而至。

“我只好这样，坎宁安先生，”警官说道，“我相信这一切可能都是一场可笑的误会，不过 你可以看到——啊，你想干嘛？放下它！”他举手打去，亚历克准备击发的手槍咔哒一声被 打落在地。

“别动，”福尔摩斯说道，从容地用脚踩住手槍，“它在审讯时才有用。可这才是我们真正 需要的呢。”他举起一个小纸一团一说道。

“那张纸被撕走的那部分！”警官喊道。

“一点也不错。”

“在哪里找到的？”

“在我预料它所在的地方找到的。我马上就把整个案子给你们讲清楚。上校，我认为你和华 生现在可以回去了。我最多一小时就会和你们再次见面。我和警官要讯问罪犯几句，但在午 餐时我一定会赶回去的。”

1 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

2 prostrate   

v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的

参考例句：

• She was prostrate on the floor.她俯卧在地板上。
• The Yankees had the South prostrate and they intended to keep It'so.北方佬已经使南方屈服了,他们还打算继续下去。

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 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。

5 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 curtly   

adv.简短地

参考例句：

• He nodded curtly and walked away. 他匆忙点了一下头就走了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The request was curtly refused. 这个请求被毫不客气地拒绝了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

8 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

9 countenances   

n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持

参考例句：

• 'stood apart, with countenances of inflexible gravity, beyond what even the Puritan aspect could attain." 站在一旁，他们脸上那种严肃刚毅的神情，比清教徒们还有过之而无不及。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• The light of a laugh never came to brighten their sombre and wicked countenances. 欢乐的光芒从来未照亮过他们那阴郁邪恶的面孔。 来自辞典例句

10 numbed   

v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His mind has been numbed. 他已麻木不仁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was numbed with grief. 他因悲伤而昏迷了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 jaunty   

adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意

参考例句：

• She cocked her hat at a jaunty angle.她把帽子歪戴成俏皮的样子。
• The happy boy walked with jaunty steps.这个快乐的孩子以轻快活泼的步子走着。

12 constables   

n.警察( constable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The constables made a desultory attempt to keep them away from the barn. 警察漫不经心地拦着不让他们靠近谷仓。 来自辞典例句
• There were also constables appointed to keep the peace. 城里也有被派来维持治安的基层警员。 来自互联网

13 clattered   

发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He dropped the knife and it clattered on the stone floor. 他一失手，刀子当啷一声掉到石头地面上。
• His hand went limp and the knife clattered to the ground. 他的手一软，刀子当啷一声掉到地上。

14 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

15 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。