住院的病人12

He relit the stair gas as he spoke¹, and we saw before us a singular-looking man,  whose appearance, as well as his voice, testified to his jangled nerves. He was  very fat, but had apparently² at some time been much fatter, so that the skin  hung about his face in loose pouches³, like the cheeks of a blood-hound. He was  of a sickly color, and his thin, sandy hair seemed to bristle⁴ up with the  intensity⁵ of his emotion. In his hand he held a pistol, but he thrust it into  his pocket as we advanced.

“Good-evening, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “I am sure I am very much obliged to you  for coming round. No one ever needed your advice more than I do. I suppose that  Dr. Trevelyan has told you of this most unwarrantable intrusion into my rooms.”

“Quite so,” said Holmes. “Who are these two men Mr. Blessington, and why do  they wish to molest⁶ you?”

“Well, well,” said the resident patient, in a nervous fashion, “of course it  is hard to say that. You can hardly expect me to answer that, Mr. Holmes.”

“Do you mean that you don't know?”

“Come in here, if you please. Just have the kindness to step in here.”

He led the way into his bedroom, which was large and comfortably furnished.

“You see that,” said he, pointing to a big black box at the end of his bed. “ I have never been a very rich man, Mr. Holmes—never made but one investment in  my life, as Dr. Trevelyan would tell you. But I don't believe in bankers. I  would never trust a banker, Mr. Holmes. Between ourselves, what little I have is  in that box, so you can understand what it means to me when unknown people force  themselves into my rooms.”

Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning way and shook his head.

“I cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me,” said he.

“But I have told you everything.”

Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust. “Good-night, Dr.  Trevelyan,” said he.

他一边说着一边把楼梯上的汽灯又点着了，我们看到面前站着一个面貌奇特的人。从他的外 表和说话的声音看来，他确实神经过度紧张。他很胖，可是显然过去有一段时间，他比现在 还要胖得多，所以他的脸如同猎犬的双颊一般，耷一拉着两只松一弛的肉一袋。他脸色苍白 ，那稀疏的土黄色的头发似乎由于感情激动而竖一立起来。他手中拿着一支手槍，我们向上 走时，他把手槍塞一进了衣袋。

“晚安，福尔摩斯先生，”他说道，“我非常感激你到这里来。没有人比我更需要你的指教 了。我想特里维廉医生已经把有人非法闯入我房一中的事告诉你了。”

“不错，”福尔摩斯说道，“那两个是什么人？布莱星顿先生，他们为什么要有意捉弄你？ ”

“唉，唉，”那位住院病人神情不安地说道，“当然，这很难说。你也很难指望我能回答这 样的问题，福尔摩斯先生。”

“你是说你不知道吗？”

“请到这里来，请吧。请赏脸进来一下。”

他把我们领进他卧室里。房间很宽绰，布置得很舒适。

“你们看看这个，”他指着他一床一头那只大黑箱子说道，“我并不是一个很富有的人，福 尔摩斯先生，特里维廉医生可能已经告诉你了。我一生中除了这次投资外，再也没投过资。 可是我不信任银行家，我从不信任银行家，福尔摩斯先生。你别跟别人说，我所有的那点钱 都在这只箱子里。所以你可以明白，那些不速之客闯入我的房子，对我的影响是多么大了！ ”

福尔摩斯疑惑地望着布莱星顿，摇了摇头。

“假如你想欺骗我，我是不可能给你出什么主意的。”福尔摩斯说道。

“可是我已经把一切都告诉你了。”

福尔摩斯厌恶地挥了挥手，转过身来说道：“晚安，特里维廉医生。”

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 pouches   

n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋

参考例句：

• Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

5 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

6 molest   

vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏

参考例句：

• If the man continues to molest her,I promise to keep no measures with the delinquent.如果那人继续对她进行骚扰，我将对他这个违法者毫不宽容。
• If I were gone,all these would molest you.如果没有我，这一切都会来骚扰你。