诺伍德的建筑师（26）（在线收听）

The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a policeman upon each side of him.

“It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more,” he whined incessantly. “I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed myself in order to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure that you would not be so unjust as to imagine that I would have allowed any harm to befall poor young Mr. McFarlane.”

“That's for a jury to decide,” said Lestrade. “Anyhow, we shall have you on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder.”

“And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the banking account of Mr. Cornelius,” said Holmes.

The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.

“I have to thank you for a good deal,” said he. “Perhaps I'll pay my debt some day.”

Holmes smiled indulgently.

“I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very fully occupied,” said he. “By the way, what was it you put into the wood-pile besides your old trousers? A dead dog, or rabbits, or what? You won't tell? Dear me, how very unkind of you! Well, well, I dare say that a couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for the charred ashes. If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve your turn.”

那个恶棍在自己的起居室里坐着，两旁各站着一个警察。

“那是一个玩笑，我的好先生——一个恶作剧，没有别的用意，”他不停地哀告，“我向你保证，先生，我把自己藏起来只是为了知道我的失踪会带来什么影响。我相信你不至于认为我会让年轻的麦克法兰先生受到任何伤害吧。”

“那要由陪审一团一来决定，”雷斯垂德说，“不管怎样，即使不是谋杀未遂，我们也要控告你密谋罪。”

“你大概就要看到你的债主要求银行冻结柯尼利亚斯先生的存款了，”福尔摩斯说。

奥德克吃了一惊，转过头来恶狠狠地看着我的朋友。

“我得多谢你啦，”他说，“也许总有一天我会报答你的恩惠。”

福尔摩斯不计较地微笑了一下。

“我想今后几年里你不会有时间干别的了，”他说，“顺便问一下，除了你的裤子以外，你还把什么丢进了木料堆？一条死狗？几只兔子？或者是别的东西？你不愿意说出来？哎，你多不客气呀！没关系，我想有两只兔子就足够解释那些血迹和烧黑了的骨灰了。华生，如果你要写一篇经过的话，你不妨说是兔子吧。”