巴斯克维尔的猎犬 回忆（3）

 

"We now come to that portion of his life which has proved to be of such intense interest to us.

The fellow had evidently made inquiry and found that only two lives intervened between him anda valuable estate. When he went to Devonshire his plans were, I believe, exceedingly hazy, butthat he meant mischief from the first is evident from the way in which he took his wife with him inthe character of his sister. The idea of using her as a decoy was clearly already in his mind, thoughhe may not have been certain how the details of his plot were to be arranged. He meant in the endto have the estate, and he was ready to use any tool or run any risk for that end. His first act was toestablish himself as near to his ancestral home as he could, and his second was to cultivate afriendship with Sir Charles Baskerville and with the neighbours.

“咱们现在谈到他的那一段生活， 确实会使咱们感到极大的兴趣。 那家伙显然是在经过调查之后发现了， 只有两个人有碍于他获得庞大的财产。 我相信， 在去德文郡的时候， 他的计划还很模糊， 可是从他带着自己的太太而又使她以妹妹的身分出现这一点来看， 显然他从一开始就是居心不良的。 虽然他可能还没有确定整个阴谋的细节， 可是显然他已想到将她用作钓饵了。 他下定决心要把财产弄到手， 为了达到这一目 的， 他不惜采用任何手段或是冒任何危险。 他的第一步行动就是， 首先把自 己的家安置在邻近祖宅的地方， 愈近愈好。 第二步就是培养起与查尔兹· 巴斯克维尔爵士和邻人们的友情来。

"The baronet himself told him about the family hound, and so prepared the way for his owndeath. Stapleton, as I will continue to call him, knew that the old man's heart was weak and that ashock would kill him. So much he had learned from Dr. Mortimer. He had heard also that SirCharles was superstitious and had taken this grim legend very seriously. His ingenious mindinstantly suggested a way by which the baronet could be done to death, and yet it would be hardlypossible to bring home the guilt to the real murderer.

“准男爵亲口告诉了 他关于家族的猎狗的传说， 因此也就为自 己铺了一条死亡的道路。

斯台普吞——我就还这样称呼他吧——知道了老头的心脏很衰弱， 稍一惊吓就能致死， 这些都是他从摩梯末医生那里知道的——他还听说， 查尔兹爵士很迷信， 并且十分相信那个可怕的传说。 他那灵敏的头脑马上就想出了 一个办法， 既可置准男爵于死地， 而且又几乎没有可能追究真正的凶手。