巴斯克维尔的猎犬 回忆（1）

 

Chapter 15 - A Retrospection

第十五章 回顾

It was the end of November, and Holmes and I sat, upon a raw and foggy night, on either sideof a blazing fire in our sitting-room in Baker Street. Since the tragic upshot of our visit toDevonshire he had been engaged in two affairs of the utmost importance, in the first of which hehad exposed the atrocious conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandalof the Nonpareil Club, while in the second he had defended the unfortunate Mme. Montpensierfrom the charge of murder which hung over her in connection with the death of her step-daughter,Mlle. Carere, the young lady who, as it will be remembered, was found six months later alive andmarried in New York. My friend was in excellent spirits over the success which had attended asuccession of difficult and important cases, so that I was able to induce him to discuss the detailsof the Baskerville mystery. I had waited patiently for the opportunity for I was aware that hewould never permit cases to overlap, and that his clear and logical mind would not be drawn fromits present work to dwell upon memories of the past. Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer were, however,in London, on their way to that long voyage which had been recommended for the restoration ofhis shattered nerves. They had called upon us that very afternoon, so that it was natural that thesubject should come up for discussion.

那已经是十一月底了， 一个阴冷多雾的夜晚， 在贝克街的寓所里， 福尔摩斯和我在起居室中坐在熊熊的炉火两旁。 在我们到德文郡去经历了那场结局悲惨的案件之后， 他已又办了两件最为重要的案子。 在第一件案子里， 他揭发了阿波乌上校的丑行， 因为他与出名的“无匹俱乐部” 纸牌舞弊案有关； 而在第二件案子里， 他保护了 不幸的蒙特邦歇太太， 使她免于身负谋害其丈夫前妻之女卡莱小姐的罪名——这个大家都还记得的年轻小姐， 在那件事发生了六个月之后依然活着， 而且还在纽约结了婚。 我的朋友因为在一连串困难而又重要的案件里获得了成功， 故而精神奕奕， 因此我才能诱使他谈起了 神秘的巴斯克维尔案的详情。 我一直在耐心地等待着这个好机会， 因为据我所知， 他是不允许各案互相搅扰的， 以免他那清晰的头脑由于回想过去的事而分散对目前工作的注意力。 亨利爵士和摩梯末医生都在伦敦， 正准备出发作一次长途旅行， 以便恢复爵士那深受刺激的神经。 就在那天下午， 他们来拜访了我们， 因此， 很自然地谈起了这个问题。

"The whole course of events," said Holmes, "from the point of view of the man who calledhimself Stapleton was simple and direct, although to us, who had no means in the beginning ofknowing the motives of his actions and could only learn part of the facts, it all appearedexceedingly complex. I have had the advantage of two conversations with Mrs. Stapleton, and thecase has now been so entirely cleared up that I am not aware that there is anything which hasremained a secret to us. You will find a few notes upon the matter under the heading B in myindexed list of cases."

“事情的全部过程，”福尔摩斯说， “从自称为斯台普吞的那人的观点来看是简单明了的。

虽然对咱们说来， 一开始的时候无法得知他那些行动的动机， 就连事实也只能知道一部分，因此就使得全部经过显得极为错综复杂了 。 我和斯台普吞太太已经谈过两次话了 ， 这个案件现在已经完全搞清楚了， 我不知道还会有什么不解之谜。 在我那带有索引的案件统计表的Ｂ字栏里， 你能找到几条有关这件事的摘记。”