马斯格雷夫礼典17（在线收听）

“And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? Clearly, only  one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton. The girl must have waited  above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presumably—since  they were not to be found—and then—and then what happened?

“What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this  passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had wronged her—wronged  her, perhaps, far more than we suspected—in her power? Was it a chance that the  wood had slipped, and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had become his  sepulchre? Had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some  sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing  down into its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure  still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the winding stair,  with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams from behind her and with  the drumming of frenzied hands against the slab of stone which was choking her  faithless lover's life out.

“Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals of  hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been in the box? What had  she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old metal and pebbles which  my client had dragged from the mere. She had thrown them in there at the first  opportunity to remove the last trace of her crime.

“For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter out. Musgrave  still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern and peering down into  the hole.

“‘These are coins of Charles the First,’ said he, holding out the few which  had been in the box; ‘you see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual. ’

“‘We may find something else of Charles the First,’ I cried, as the probable  meaning of the first two question of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me. ‘Let me  see the contents of the bag which you fished from the mere.’

“We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I could understand  his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at it, for the metal was  almost black and the stones lustreless and dull. I rubbed one of them on my  sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my  hand. The metal work was in the form of a double ring, but it had been bent and  twisted out of its original shape.

“现在的问题是我如何重现那天夜里发生的事情。很显然，这地窖只能钻进一个人，那就是 布伦顿。姑一娘一一定是在上面等候。然后布伦顿打开了木箱，把箱子里面装的东西递上去 （因为他们未被发现），后来，后来发生了什么呢？

“我想，或许那个一性一情急躁的凯尔特族姑一娘一一见亏待过她的人（或许他待她比我们 猜想的还要坏得多），可以任自己摆一布的时候，那郁积在心中的复仇怒火突然发作起来？ 或者是木头偶然滑倒，石板自己落下，把布伦顿关死在自找的石墓之中，而她的过错只是隐 瞒真情未报？还是她突然把顶木推开，让石板落回洞一口？不管是什么情况，反正在我眼前 ，似乎现出一个女人抓住宝物，拚命奔跑在曲折的阶梯上，充耳不听背后传来的闷声瓮气的 叫喊声，以及双手疯狂捶打石板的声音，正是那块石板窒死了那个对她薄幸的情一人。

“难怪第二天早晨她面色苍白，吓得发一抖，歇斯底里地笑个不停；原来秘密就在于此。可 是箱子里又是什么东西呢？这些东西和她又有什么关系呢？当然，箱子里一定是我的委托人 从湖里打捞上来的古金属和水晶石了。她一有机会就把这些东西扔到湖中，以便销赃灭迹。

“我在那里坐了二十分钟左右，一动也不动，彻底思考着案子。马斯格雷夫依然站在那里， 面色苍白，摆一动着提灯，向石洞里凝视着。

“‘这些是查理一世时代的硬币，’他从木箱中取出几枚金币，说道，‘你看，我们把礼典 写成的时间推算得完全正确。’

“‘我们还可以找到查理一世时代其他的东西，’我突然想到这个礼典的头两句问答可能是 什么涵义，便大声喊道，‘让我们来看看你从湖里捞出的口袋里装的东西吧。’

“我们回到他的书房，他把那些破烂东西摆在我面前。一见那些破烂，我就明白他并不看重 它们，因为金属几乎都变成黑色，石块也暗无光泽。然而我拿起一块用袖子擦了擦，它在我 手中，竟然象火星一样闪闪发光。金属制品样式象双环形，不过已经折弯扭曲，再不是原来 的形状了。