四签名 14寻求解答（1）（在线收听）

Chapter 3 In Quest Of A Solution

第三章 寻求解答

It was half-past five before Holmes returned.

一直等到五点半钟，福尔摩斯方才回来。

He was bright, eager, and in excellent spirits, a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression.

他精神勃勃，非常兴奋，足见他在这最难解的问题当中已经发现了曙光。

"There is no great mystery in this matter," he said, taking the cup of tea which I had poured out for him;

他拿着我给他倒的一杯茶，说道："这件案子没有多大神秘，

"the facts appear to admit of only one explanation."

这些事实似乎只有一个解释。"

"What! you have solved it already?"

"什么！你已经把真相搞清楚了吗？"

"Well, that would be too much to say. I have discovered a suggestive fact, that is all.

"还不能这么说。不过我已经发现了一个有提示性的事实，

It is, however, very suggestive. The details are still to be added.

是一个极有用的线索，当然还需要把一些细节拼凑起来。

I have just found, on consulting the back files of the Times,

我刚刚从旧的《泰晤士报》上面找到

that Major Sholto, of Upper Norwood, late of the Thirty-fourth Bombay Infantry, died upon the twenty-eighth of April, 1882."

住在上诺伍德的前驻孟买陆军第三十四团的舒尔托少校在一八八二年四月二十八日去世的讣告。"

"I may be very obtuse, Holmes, but I fail to see what this suggests."

"福尔摩斯，或许我的脑筋迟钝，可是我不了解这个讣告对本案有什么提示的作用。"

"No? You surprise me. Look at it in this way, then. Captain Morstan disappears.

"你真不了解吗？没想到。那么咱们这样来看这个问题吧。摩斯坦上尉失踪了。

The only person in London whom he could have visited is Major Sholto.

在伦敦，他可能去拜访的只有舒尔托少校一个人，

Major Sholto denies having heard that he was in London. Four years later Sholto dies.

可是舒尔托少校竟说毫不知道他曾来伦敦。四年以后，舒尔托死了。

Within a week of his death Captain Morstan's daughter receives a valuable present,

他死后不到一个礼拜，摩斯坦上尉的女儿就收到了一件贵重的礼物，

which is repeated from year to year and now culminates in a letter which describes her as a wronged woman.

以后每年收到一次。现在又收到了一封信，竟说她是一个受了委曲的人。

What wrong can it refer to except this deprivation of her father?

除了她丧失了自己的父亲之外，还有什么委曲呢？

And why should the presents begin immediately after Sholto's death

还有，为什么仅仅在舒尔托死后的几天里，才开始有礼物寄给她？

unless it is that Sholto's heir knows something of the mystery and desires to make compensation?

莫非舒尔托的继承人知道其中的秘密，想要借着这些礼物来弥补他们先人的罪愆？

Have you any alternative theory which will meet the facts?"

你对以上的事实还有什么不同的见解吗？"

"But what a strange compensation! And how strangely made!

"为什么这样弥补罪愆呢！方法太离奇了！

Why, too, should he write a letter now, rather than six years ago?

再说，他为什么现在才写信，而不在六年以前呢？

Again, the letter speaks of giving her justice. What justice can she have?

还有，信上说要给她公道。她可以得到什么公道呢？

It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive.

要说是她父亲还活着，那未免太乐观了。

There is no other injustice in her case that you know of."

可是你又不知道她还受过什么别的委曲。"

"There are difficulties; there are certainly difficulties," said Sherlock Holmes pensively;

"确实是有难题，是有一些费解的地方。"福尔摩斯沉思道，

"but our expedition of to-night will solve them all.

"但是今天晚上咱们走一趟，就可以全都明白了。

Ah, here is a four-wheeler, and Miss Morstan is inside. Are you all ready?

啊，来了一辆四轮马车，摩斯坦小姐正在里边。

Then we had better go down, for it is a little past the hour."

你准备好了吗？咱们最好赶快下去，时间已经稍晚一些了。"