住院的病人08（在线收听）

“My first feeling, as I have just said, was one of pity and horror. My second,  I fear, was rather one of professional satisfaction. I made notes of my  patient's pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity of his muscles, and  examined his reflexes. There was nothing markedly abnormal in any of these  conditions, which harmonized with my former experiences. I had obtained good  results in such cases by the inhalation of nitrite of amyl, and the present  seemed an admirable opportunity of testing its virtues. The bottle was  downstairs in my laboratory, so leaving my patient seated in his chair, I ran  down to get it. There was some little delay in finding it—five minutes, let us  say—and then I returned. Imagine my amazement to find the room empty and the  patient gone.

“Of course, my first act was to run into the waiting-room. The son had gone  also. The hall door had been closed, but not shut. My page who admits patients  is a new boy and by no means quick. He waits downstairs, and runs up to show  patients out when I ring the consulting-room bell. He had heard nothing, and the  affair remained a complete mystery. Mr. Blessington came in from his walk  shortly afterwards, but I did not say anything to him upon the subject, for, to  tell the truth, I have got in the way of late of holding as little communication  with him as possible.

“Well, I never thought that I should see anything more of the Russian and his  son, so you can imagine my amazement when, at the very same hour this evening,  they both came marching into my consulting-room, just as they had done before.

“‘I feel that I owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt departure  yesterday, doctor,’ said my patient.

“正如我刚才所说的，我最初的感觉是既怜悯又害怕。后来，我的职业兴趣占了上风。我记 下了病人的脉搏和体一温一，试了试他肌肉的强直程度，检查了他的反应能力，哪一方面都 没有发现与我以前所诊断的这种病例有不一致的现象。在过去这样的病例中，我使用烷基亚 硝酸吸一入剂，曾经取得了良好的疗效。现在似乎正是试验它疗效的极好机会。这个药瓶在 楼下我的实验室里，于是，我丢下坐在椅子上的病人，跑下楼去取药。找药耽误了一些时间 ，大约五分钟吧，然后我就回来了。可是室内却空空如也，病人已不知去向，可想而知，我 是多么惊讶了。

“当然，我首先就跑到候诊室，他儿子也不在了。前门已经关上，可是没有上锁。我那个接 待病人的小听差是一个新来的仆役，并不机灵。平时他总是等在楼下，等我在诊室按铃时， 他才跑来把病人领出去。他也没听到什么，这件事就成为一个不解之谜了。不多久，布莱星 顿先生散步回来了，可是我一点也没有向他说起这件事，因为，老实说，近来我尽量少和他 一交一谈。

“啊，我想我再也不会见到这个俄罗斯人和他儿子的影子了，所以，在今天夜晚，也是在那 个时候，他们两个人象昨天那样，又来到我的诊室时，你们可以想象，我是多么惊讶了。

“‘昨天我突然离开，我觉得实在是太抱歉了，医生，’我的病人说道。