马斯格雷夫礼典10（在线收听）

“‘Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the remains,  but no trace of the body could we find. On the other hand, we brought to the  surface an object of a most unexpected kind. It was a linen bag which contained  within it a mass of old rusted and discolored metal and several dull-colored  pieces of pebble or glass. This strange find was all that we could get from the  mere, and, although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know  nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton. The county  police are at their wits' end, and I have come up to you as a last resource.’

“You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this extraordinary  sequence of events, and endeavored to piece them together, and to devise some  common thread upon which they might all hang. The butler was gone. The maid was  gone. The maid had loved the butler, but had afterwards had cause to hate him.  She was of Welsh blood, fiery and passionate. She had been terribly excited  immediately after his disappearance. She had flung into the lake a bag  containing some curious contents. These were all factors which had to be taken  into consideration, and yet none of them got quite to the heart of the matter.  What was the starting-point of this chain of events? There lay the end of this  tangled line.

“‘当然，我们立即打捞，着手寻找遗体，但是连一尸一体的影子也没能找到。另一方面， 却捞出一件最意料不到的东西，那是一个亚麻布口袋，里面装着一堆陈旧生锈和失去光泽的 金属件，以及一些暗淡无光的水晶和玻璃制品。我们从湖中捞取的除此奇怪的物品之外，再 无其它。此外，虽然昨天我们竭尽一切可能进行搜索、查询，可是对雷切尔-豪厄尔斯和理 查德-布伦顿的命运，仍然一无所知。区警局已经智穷力竭。我只好来找你，这是最后一着 了。’“华生，可想而知，我是多么急不可耐地倾听着这一连串离奇事件，极力把它们串到 一起，并找出串连所有事件的共同主线来。管家不见了，女仆也不见了，女仆曾经一爱一过 管家，不过后来又有理由怨恨他。姑一娘一是威尔士血统，一性一情急躁易怒。管家一失踪 ，她就立刻万分激动。她把装着怪东西的口袋投进湖中。这些都是需要考虑到的因素，但是 没有一个因素完全触及问题的实质。这一连串事项的起点是什么呢？现在只有这一连串错综 复杂事件的结尾。