住院的病人06（在线收听）

“This was the strange proposal, Mr. Holmes, with which the man Blessington  approached me. I won't weary you with the account of how we bargained and  negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house next Lady Day, and starting in  practice on very much the same conditions as he had suggested. He came himself  to live with me in the character of a resident patient. His heart was weak, it  appears, and he needed constant medical supervision. He turned the two best  rooms of the first floor into a sitting-room and bedroom for himself. He was a  man of singular habits, shunning company and very seldom going out. His life was  irregular, but in one respect he was regularity itself. Every evening, at the  same hour, he walked into the consulting-room, examined the books, put down five  and three-pence for every guinea that I had earned, and carried the rest off to  the strong-box in his own room.

“I may say with confidence that he never had occasion to regret his  speculation. From the first it was a success. A few good cases and the  reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to the front, and  during the last few years I have made him a rich man.

“So much, Mr. Holmes, for my past history and my relations with Mr.  Blessington. It only remains for me now to tell you what has occurred to bring  me here to-night.

“Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed to me, a state  of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary which, he said, had been  committed in the West End, and he appeared, I remember, to be quite  unnecessarily excited about it, declaring that a day should not pass before we  should add stronger bolts to our windows and doors. For a week he continued to  be in a peculiar state of restlessness, peering continually out of the windows,  and ceasing to take the short walk which had usually been the prelude to his  dinner. From his manner it struck me that he was in mortal dread of something or  somebody, but when I questioned him upon the point he became so offensive that I  was compelled to drop the subject. Gradually, as time passed, his fears appeared  to die away, and he had renewed his former habits, when a fresh event reduced  him to the pitiable state of prostration in which he now lies.

“这就是那个叫布莱星顿的人向我提出的奇怪的建议，福尔摩斯先生，我不再叙述我们怎样 协商、成一交一的事，以免使你厌烦。结果是，我在报喜节［报喜节：每年三月二十五日为 报喜节，报喜天使加百列将耶稣降生告知圣母玛利亚的节日——译者注］搬进了这个寓所， 并按他所提出的条件开始营业。他自己也搬来同我住在一起，做一个住院的病人。他的心脏 衰弱，显然，他需要经常治疗。他自己住用了二楼两间最好的房子，一间用作起居室，一间 用作卧室，他脾气古怪，深居简出，闭门谢客。他的生活很不规律，但就某一方面而言，却 又极其有规律。在每天晚上的同一时刻，他都到我的诊室来检查账目。我赚的诊费，每一畿 尼他给我留五先令三便士［一畿尼为二十一先令，一先令为十二便士，四分之一畿尼正好是 五先令三便士——译者注］，其余的他全部拿走，放到他自己屋内的保险箱里。

“我可以非常自信地说，对这项投机生意，他永远也用不着后悔。一开始，生意就很成功。 我出色地处理了几个病例和我在附属医院的声望，使我很快就出了名，近几年来，我使他变 成了一个富翁。

“福尔摩斯先生，我过去的经历以及和布莱星顿先生的关系，就是这些。我要告诉你的，现 在只剩下一个问题，就是发生了什么事使我今晚来此求教。

“几星期之前，布莱星顿先生下楼来找我。我似乎觉得，他的心情异常激动。他提到在伦敦 西区发生了一些盗窃案，我记得，他当时显然毫无必要那么激动，他声明说，我们应当把门 窗加固闩牢，一天也不能耽误。在这一星期里，他坐立不安，不断向窗外张望，就连他午餐 前一习一以为常的短暂的散步，也停止了。他的一举一动给我一个印象，他对什么事或是什 么人怕得要死，可是当我向他问到这件事时，他变得非常无礼，于是我就不再谈这件事了。 时间一天一天地过去，他的恐惧似乎逐渐消失了，他又恢复了常态。可是新近发生的一件事 情，又使他处于目前这种可怜而又可鄙的虚弱状态。