最后一案（14）（在线收听）

My dear Watson [it said]:

I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall be able to free society from any further effects of his presence, though I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to you, however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this. Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., done up in a blue envelope and inscribed “Moriarty.” I made every disposition of my property before leaving England, and handed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe me to be, my dear fellow,

Very sincerely yours,

Sherlock Holmes

A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other's arms. Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation. The Swiss youth was never found again, and there can be no doubt that he was one of the numerous agents whom Moriarty kept in his employ. As to the gang, it will be within the memory of the public how completely the evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed their organization, and how heavily the hand of the dead man weighed upon them. Of their terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings, and if I have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career it is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to clear his memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known.

我亲一爱一的华生（信上写道）：承蒙莫里亚蒂先生的好意，我写下这几行书信，他正等着对我们之间存在的问题进行最后的讨论。他已向我概述了他摆脱英国警察并查明我们行踪的方法。这更加肯定地证实了我对他的才能所作的极高评价。我一想到我能为社会除掉由于他的存在而带来的祸害，就很高兴，尽避这恐怕要给我的朋友们，特别是给你，我亲一爱一的华生，带来悲哀。不过，我已经向你解释过了，我的生涯已经到了紧要关头，而对我来说，再没有比这样的结局更使我心满意足的了。诚然，如果我对你彻底坦白说，我完全知道迈林根的来信是一场骗局，而我让你走开，是因为我确信，一系列类似的事情会接踵而至。请告诉警长帕特森，他所需要的给那个匪帮定罪的证据放在字首为Ｍ的文件架里，里面有一个蓝信封，上写“莫里亚蒂”。在离开英国时，我已将薄产作了处理，并已付与我兄迈克罗夫特。请代我向华生夫人问候，我的朋友。

你忠诚的歇洛克-福尔摩斯

余下的事几句话就能说清楚。经过专家进行现场勘察，毫无疑问，这两人进行过一场搏斗，其结果在这种情况下只能是两人紧紧地扭打在一起，摇摇晃晃地坠入裂罅。毫无找到他们的一尸一体的希望，而当代最危险的罪犯和最杰出的护法卫士将永远葬身在那旋涡激荡、泡沫沸腾的无底深渊中。后来再没有人见到那个瑞士少年，他分明是莫里亚蒂雇用的爪牙。

至于那个匪帮，大概公众都还记得，福尔摩斯所搜集的十分完整的罪证，揭露了他们的组织，揭露了死去的莫里亚蒂的铁腕对他们控制得是多么严密。在诉讼过程中，对他们那可怕的首领的详情很少涉及，而现在我之所以不得不把他的罪恶勾当和盘托出，这是由于那些枉费心机的辩护一士们妄想用攻击福尔摩斯的手段来纪念莫里亚蒂，而我永远把福尔摩斯看作我所知道的最好的人，最明智的人。