孤身骑车人（3）

“Excuse me,” said Holmes; “when was this interview? ”

“Last December—four months ago.”

“Pray proceed.”

“Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person.  He was for ever making eyes at me—a coarse, puffy- faced, red-moustached young man, with his hair  plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought  that he was perfectly hateful—and I was sure that  Cyril would not wish me to know such a person.”

“Oh, Cyril is his name!” said Holmes, smiling.

The young lady blushed and laughed.

“Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical  engineer, and we hope to be married at the end of the  summer. Dear me, how did I get talking about him? What  I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was perfectly  odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older  man, was more agreeable. He was a dark, sallow, clean- shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and a  pleasant smile. He inquired how we were left, and on  finding that we were very poor he suggested that I  should come and teach music to his only daughter, aged  ten. I said that I did not like to leave my mother, on  which he suggested that I should go home to her every  week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year, which was  certainly splendid pay. So it ended by my accepting,  and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles  from Farnham. Mr. Carruthers was a widower, but he had  engaged a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly  person, called Mrs. Dixon, to look after his  establishment. The child was a dear, and everything  promised well. Mr. Carruthers was very kind and very  musical, and we had most pleasant evenings together.  Every week-end I went home to my mother in town.

“The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the  red-moustached Mr. Woodley. He came for a visit of a  week, and oh, it seemed three months to me! He was a  dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but to me  something infinitely worse. He made odious love to me,  boasted of his wealth, said that if I married him I  would have the finest diamonds in London, and finally,  when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized me  in his arms one day after dinner—he was hideously  strong—and he swore that he would not let me go until  I had kissed him. Mr. Carruthers came in and tore him  off from me, on which he turned upon his own host,  knocking him down and cutting his face open. That was  the end of his visit, as you can imagine. Mr.  Carruthers apologized to me next day, and assured me  that I should never be exposed to such an insult again.  I have not seen Mr. Woodley since.

“请原谅，"福尔摩斯说道，"你们是什么时候见面的？”

“去年十二月，已有四个月了。”

“请继续讲下去吧。”

“我看伍德利先生讨厌得很，他是一个面孔虚胖、一脸红一胡一子的粗一暴的青年，头发披散在额头两边，总是向我挤眉弄眼。我认为他十分可憎，我相信西里尔一定不乐意我认识这个人。”

“噢，西里尔是他的名字！"福尔摩斯笑容满面地说道。

那姑一娘一满面通红，笑了笑。

“是的，福尔摩斯先生，西里尔·莫顿，是一个电气工程师，我们希望在夏末结婚。哎呀，我怎么扯其他来了呢？我想说伍德利先生十分讨厌，而那位年纪老些的卡拉瑟斯先生可比较有礼貌。虽然他脸色土黄，脸刮得光光的，沉默寡言，但举止文雅，笑容可掬。他询问了我们的境况，发现我们很穷困，便要我到他那里教他那十岁的独生女儿。我说我不愿离开母亲，他说我可以在每周末回家去看她。他答应给我每年一百镑，这当然是十分优厚的酬金了。所以最后我答应了，来到离法纳姆六英里左右的奇尔特恩农庄。卡拉瑟斯先生丧妻鳏居，他雇用了一个叫狄克逊太太的女管家来照料家事，这位老妇人老成持重，令人品敬。那个孩子也很可一爱一，一切也都如意。卡拉瑟斯先生十分和善，热衷于音乐，我们晚上在一起过得很高兴，每逢周末我回城里家中看望母亲。

“在我的快乐生活中，头一件不顺心的事就是一脸红一胡一子的伍德利先生的到来。他来访一个星期，哎呀！对我来说简直如同三个月。他是一个可怕的人，对别人横行霸道，对我更肆无忌惮。他作了许多丑态表示一爱一我，吹嘘他的财富，说如果我嫁给他，我就可以得到伦敦最漂亮的钻石。最后，当我始终对他不加理睬时，有一天饭后他抓住我把我抱在怀里——他有可恶的牛劲——发誓说如果我不吻他，他就不放手。这时正好卡拉瑟斯先生进屋，把他从我身边拉开。为了这事，伍德利和东道主翻了脸，把卡拉瑟斯打倒在地，脸上弄出个大口子。伍德利的来访至此结束，第二天卡拉瑟斯先生向我道歉，并保证绝不让我再受这样的凌一辱。从那以后我再没见到伍德利先生。