赖盖特之谜09（在线收听）

My poor friend's face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful expression. His  eyes rolled upwards, his features writhed in agony, and with a suppressed groan  he dropped on his face upon the ground. Horrified at the suddenness and severity  of the attack, we carried him into the kitchen, where he lay back in a large  chair, and breathed heavily for some minutes. Finally, with a shamefaced apology  for his weakness, he rose once more.

“Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a severe illness,”  he explained. “I am liable to these sudden nervous attacks.”

“Shall I send you home in my trap?” asked old Cunningham.

“Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like to feel sure.  We can very easily verify it.”

“What was it?”

“Well, it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of this poor  fellow William was not before, but after, the entrance of the burglary into the  house. You appear to take it for granted that, although the door was forced, the  robber never got in.”

“I fancy that is quite obvious,” said Mr. Cunningham, gravely. “Why, my son  Alec had not yet gone to bed, and he would certainly have heard any one moving  about.”

“Where was he sitting?”

“I was smoking in my dressing-room.”

“Which window is that?”

“The last on the left next my father's.”

“Both of your lamps were lit, of course?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“There are some very singular points here,” said Holmes, smiling. “Is it not  extraordinary that a burglary—and a burglar who had had some previous  experience—should deliberately break into a house at a time when he could see  from the lights that two of the family were still afoot?”

“He must have been a cool hand.”

“Well, of course, if the case were not an odd one we should not have been  driven to ask you for an explanation,” said young Mr. Alec. “But as to your  ideas that the man had robbed the house before William tackled him, I think it a  most absurd notion. Wouldn't we have found the place disarranged, and missed the  things which he had taken?”

“It depends on what the things were,” said Holmes. “You must remember that we  are dealing with a burglar who is a very peculiar fellow, and who appears to  work on lines of his own. Look, for example, at the queer lot of things which he  took from Acton's—what was it?—a ball of string, a letter-weight, and I don't  know what other odds and ends.”

“Well, we are quite in your hands, Mr. Holmes,” said old Cunningham.  “Anything which you or the Inspector may suggest will most certainly be done.”

我那可怜的朋友的脸上，突然现出极为可怕的表情。他的两眼直往上翻，痛得脸都变了形。 他忍不住地哼了一声，脸朝下跌倒在地上。他突然发病，又那么厉害，把我们吓了一跳。我 们急忙把他抬到厨房里，让他躺在一把大椅子上。他吃力地呼吸了一会儿，终于又站了起来 ，为自己身一体虚弱而感到羞愧和抱歉。

“华生会告诉诸位，我生了一场重病罢刚复元。”福尔摩斯解释道，“这种神经一痛很容易 突然发作。”

“是不是用我的马车把你送回家去？”老坎宁安问道。

“唉，既然我已经到了这里，有一点我还想把它摸清楚。

我们能够很容易就查清它的。”

“是什么问题呢？”

“啊，据我看来，可怜的威廉的到来，很可能不在盗贼进屋之前，而在盗贼进屋之后。看来 你们只是想当然地认为，虽然门被弄开了，强盗却没有进屋。”

“我想这是十分明显的，”坎宁安先生严肃地说道，“呃，我的儿子亚历克还没有睡，如果 有人走动，他是一定能够听到的。”

“他那时坐在什么地方？”

“我那时正坐在更衣室里吸烟。”

“哪一扇窗子是更衣室的？”

“左边最后一扇窗子，紧挨着我父亲卧室的那一扇。”

“那你们两个房间的灯自然都亮着的罗？”

“不错。”

“现在有几点是很奇怪的，”福尔摩斯微笑着说道，“一个盗贼，而且是一个颇有经验的盗 贼，一看灯光就知道这一家有两个人还没睡，却有意闯进屋里去，这难道不奇怪吗？”

“他一定是一个冷静沉着的老手。”

“啊，当然了，要不是这个案子稀奇古怪，我们也就不会被迫来向你请教了，”亚历克先生 说道，“不过，你说在威廉抓住盗贼以前，盗贼已经进了这间屋子，我认为这种看法简直荒 唐可笑。屋子不是没有被搞乱，也没有发现丢东西吗？”

“这要看是什么东西了，”福尔摩斯说道，“你不要忘记，我们是跟这样一个强盗打一交一 道——他很不简单，看来有他自己的一套办法。你看看，他从阿克顿家拿去的那些古怪东西 ，都是些什么呢？一个线一团一，一方镇纸，还有一些我不知道的其它零星东西。”

“好了，我们一切都托付给你了，福尔摩斯先生，”老坎宁安说道，“一切听从你或警官的 吩咐。”