巴斯克维尔的猎犬 回忆（2）

 

"Perhaps you would kindly give me a sketch of the course of events from memory."“也许你愿意根据记忆把全案的梗概谈一谈吧。”

"Certainly, though I cannot guarantee that I carry all the facts in my mind. Intense mentalconcentration has a curious way of blotting out what has passed. The barrister who has his case athis fingers' ends and is able to argue with an expert upon his own subject finds that a week or twoof the courts will drive it all out of his head once more. So each of my cases displaces the last, andMlle. Carere has blurred my recollection of Baskerville Hall. To-morrow some other little problemmay be submitted to my notice which will in turn dispossess the fair French lady and the infamousUpwood. So far as the case of the hound goes, however, I will give you the course of events asnearly as I can, and you will suggest anything which I may have forgotten.

“我当然愿意谈一谈罗， 虽然我不能保证全部事实都能记住， 思想的高度集中很能淹没对于过去的记忆。 一个正在处理案件的律师能够就本案的问题和一个专家进行辩论， 可是经过一两个星期的法庭诉讼之后就又忘得精光了。 因此， 在我的脑子里， 后来的案子不断地代替了以前各案的地位， 而卡莱小姐的事也就模糊了我对巴斯克维尔庄园案案情的回忆。 明天也许又要来了什么小问题了， 同样也会代替了美丽的法国姑娘和臭名远扬的阿波乌两案的地位。 可是关于猎狗这个案件， 我倒愿意尽可能正确地把它告诉你们， 如果我遗忘了 什么的话，你们再加以补充。

"My inquiries show beyond all question that the family portrait did not lie, and that thisfellow was indeed a Baskerville. He was a son of that Rodger Baskerville, the younger brother ofSir Charles, who fled with a sinister reputation to South America, where he was said to have diedunmarried. He did, as a matter of fact, marry, and had one child, this fellow, whose real name isthe same as his father's. He married Beryl Garcia, one of the beauties of Costa Rica, and, havingpurloined a considerable sum of public money, he changed his name to Vandeleur and fled toEngland, where he established a school in the east of Yorkshire. His reason for attempting thisspecial line of business was that he had struck up an acquaintance with a consumptive tutor uponthe voyage home, and that he had used this man's ability to make the undertaking a success. Fraser,the tutor, died however, and the school which had begun well sank from disrepute into infamy.

The Vandeleurs found it convenient to change their name to Stapleton, and he brought the remainsof his fortune, his schemes for the future, and his taste for entomology to the south of England. Ilearned at the British Museum that he was a recognized authority upon the subject, and that thename of Vandeleur has been permanently attached to a certain moth which he had, in his Yorkshiredays, been the first to describe.

“我的调查毫无疑问地证实了 ， 那巴斯克维尔家的画像并没有骗人， 那个家伙确是巴斯克维尔家的人， 他就是那个查尔兹爵士的弟弟罗杰· 巴斯克维尔的儿子。 罗杰曾带着极坏的名誉逃到南美洲去， 传说他在那里没有结婚就死了。 实际上， 他结了婚， 并且生了 一个小孩。

这个小家伙和父亲同名， 他和一位哥斯达黎加的美人贝莉儿· 迦洛茜娅结了婚， 在一次偷取了大批公款之后， 他就改名凡戴勒逃到英格兰来了。 在这里， 他又在约克郡的东部开办了一所小学。 他所以想搞一下这种事业是因为他在归途中偶尔结识了一个患有肺病的教师， 他想利用这人的能力作一番成功的事业。 可是这位福瑞泽教师死了， 弄得这学校由名誉不佳直到变得臭名远扬了。 凡戴勒夫妇感觉最好还是改姓斯台普吞， 于是他就带着剩下的财产， 带着未来的计划和对昆虫学的爱好迁到英格兰南部去了。 我由大英博物馆得知， 他在这一门学问里还是个公认的权威呢， 而且有一种飞蛾是由于他在约克郡居住时期首先发现的， 所以也就永久以凡戴勒为名了 。