黑彼得（13）

“Well, I will tell you,” he said. “Why should I not? And yet I hate to think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life. Did you ever hear of Dawson and Neligan?”

I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes was keenly interested.

“You mean the West-country bankers,” said he. “They failed for a million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall, and Neligan disappeared.”

“Exactly. Neligan was my father.”

At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed a long gap between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey pinned against the wall with one of his own harpoons. We all listened intently to the young man's words.

“It was my father who was really concerned. Dawson had retired. I was only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to feel the shame and horror of it all. It has always been said that my father stole all the securities and fled. It is not true. It was his belief that if he were given time in which to realize them all would be well and every creditor paid in full. He started in his little yacht for Norway just before the warrant was issued for his arrest. I can remember that last night when he bade farewell to my mother. He left us a list of the securities he was taking, and he swore that he would come back with his honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him would suffer. Well, no word was ever heard from him again. Both the yacht and he vanished utterly. We believed, my mother and I, that he and it, with the securities that he had taken with him, were at the bottom of the sea. We had a faithful friend, however, who is a business man, and it was he who discovered some time ago that some of the securities which my father had with him have reappeared on the London market. You can imagine our amazement. I spent months in trying to trace them, and at last, after many doublings and difficulties, I discovered that the original seller had been Captain Peter Carey, the owner of this hut.

他说：“好吧！我告诉你们。没有隐瞒的必要。可是我很不愿意让旧的流言蜚语又重新传开。你听说过道生和乃尔根公司吗？”

从霍普金的面孔我看出他从未听说过，但是福尔摩斯却显得很感兴趣。

他说：“你是说西部银行家们吗？他们亏损了一百万镑，康沃尔郡的一半的家庭全破了产，乃尔根也失了踪。”

“是的，乃尔根是我父亲。”

我们终于得到了一点肯定的东西，可是一个避债潜逃的银行家和一个被自己的鱼叉钉在墙上的彼得·加里船长之间，有很大的距离。我们全都专心地听这个年轻人讲话。

“事情主要涉及到我父亲。道生已经退休了。那时我刚刚十岁，不过我已经能够感受到这件事带来的耻辱和恐惧。人们一直说我父亲偷去全部证券逃跑了。这不符合事实。我父亲深信要是给他一些时间，把证券变成现款，一切全可以好起来，并能偿清全部债务。在传票刚发出要逮捕我父亲之前，他乘他的小游艇动身去了挪威。我还记得他在临走前的晚上，向我母亲告别的情景。他给我们留下一张他带走的证券的清单，并且发誓说他会回来澄清他的名声，信任他的人是不会受累的。可是从此以后再也没有得到他的消息。他本人和游艇全无音信。我母亲和我认为他和游艇以及他所带的全部证券全沉到海底了。我们有一位可靠的朋友，他也是一个商人。是他不久以前发现伦敦市场上出现了我父亲带走的证券。我们是多么惊讶，你是不难想象出来的。我用了几个月的时间去追查这些证券的来源，经过许多波折和困难，我发现最早卖出证券的人便是彼得·加里船长，这间小屋的主人。