马斯格雷夫礼典16（在线收听）

“I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my investigation. I  had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had found the place referred to  in the Ritual; but now I was there, and was apparently as far as ever from  knowing what it was which the family had concealed with such elaborate  precautions. It is true that I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but  now I had to ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been  played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down upon a keg in  the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over.

“You know my methods in such cases, Watson. I put myself in the man's place  and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how I should myself  have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this case the matter was  simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite first-rate, so that it was  unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal equation, as the astronomers  have dubbed it. He knew that something valuable was concealed. He had spotted  the place. He found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man  to move unaided. What would he do next? He could not get help from outside, even  if he had some one whom he could trust, without the unbarring of doors and  considerable risk of detection. It was better, if he could, to have his helpmate  inside the house. But whom could he ask? This girl had been devoted to him. A  man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's  love, however badly he may have treated her. He would try by a few attentions to  make his peace with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his  accomplice. Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their united  force would suffice to raise the stone. So far I could follow their actions as  if I had actually seen them.

“But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work the raising  of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had found it no light job. What  would they do to assist them? Probably what I should have done myself. I rose  and examined carefully the different billets of wood which were scattered round  the floor. Almost at once I came upon what I expected. One piece, about three  feet in length, had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were  flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some considerable  weight. Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they had thrust the chunks  of wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening was large enough to  crawl through, they would hold it open by a billet placed lengthwise, which  might very well become indented at the lower end, since the whole weight of the  stone would press it down on to the edge of this other slab. So far I was still  on safe ground.

“华生，到现在我依然承认，我那时曾经对我的调查感到失望。在我按照礼典的暗示找到这 个地方时，我曾经指望解决这个问题。可是现在我已身在此地，显然远未能弄清这一家族采 取如此一精一心筹划的防范措施，究竟为着什么。诚然我是搞清楚了布伦顿的下场，可是现 在还得查明他是如何遭到这个下场的；而那个失踪的姑一娘一在这件事情上又起了什么作用 。我坐到墙角的一个小桶上，仔细地思索着这整个案件。

“遇到这样的情形，你是知道我的处置方法的，华生。我替这个人设身处地想一想，首先衡 量一下他的智力水平，尽力设想我自己在同一情况下该怎么办。在这一情况下，事情就来得 很简单，因为布伦顿是个绝顶聪明的人，不必考虑他观察问题会出什么‘个人观测误差’（ 这里是借用了天文观测人员的一个术语），他知道藏着宝物，便准确地找到了地方，发现石 板盖太重，单人无法挪动。下一步怎么办？就算他在庄园以外有信得过的人吧，那要求此人 帮助，也得开门放他进来，要冒被人发觉的重大危险。最好的办法是在庄园内部找个助手。 可是他能向谁求助呢？这个姑一娘一曾经倾心一爱一过他。男人不管对女人多坏，他也始终 不承认最后会失去那女人的一爱一情。他可能献几次殷勤，同姑一娘一豪厄尔斯重归旧好， 然后约好共同行动。他俩可能夜间一同来到地下室，合力掀一开石板。至此我可以追述他们 的行动，犹如耳闻目睹一般。

“不过要揭起这块石板，对于他们两个人，并且其中一个是妇女，还是过于吃力。因为就连 我和那个五大三粗的苏塞克斯警察合力去干也不觉得是轻快事呢。他们挪不动石板怎么办？ 要是我的话应该怎么办呢？我站起身来，仔细地查看了地面四下乱放着的各种短木。我几乎 立刻看到了我料到会有的东西。一根约三英尺长的木料，一端有明显的缺痕，还有几块木头 侧面都压平了，好象是被相当重的东西压平的。很显然，他们一面把石板往上提，一面把一 些木头塞一进缝隙中，直到这个缝隙可以爬进一个人去，才用一块木头竖着顶一住石板，不 让它落下来。因为石板重量全部压在这根木头上，使它压在另一块石板边缘上，这就使得木 头着地的一端产生了缺痕。至此我的证据仍然是可靠的。