住院的病人13（在线收听）

“And no advice for me?” cried Blessington, in a breaking voice.

“My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth.”

A minute later we were in the street and walking for home. We had crossed Oxford  Street and were half way down Harley Street before I could get a word from my  companion.

“Sorry to bring you out on such a fool's errand, Watson,” he said at last.  “It is an interesting case, too, at the bottom of it.”

“I can make little of it,” I confessed.

“Well, it is quite evident that there are two men—more, perhaps, but at least  two—who are determined for some reason to get at this fellow Blessington. I  have no doubt in my mind that both on the first and on the second occasion that  young man penetrated to Blessington's room, while his confederate, by an  ingenious device, kept the doctor from interfering.”

“And the catalepsy?”

“A fraudulent imitation, Watson, though I should hardly dare to hint as much to  our specialist. It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I have done it myself.”

“And then?”

“By the purest chance Blessington was out on each occasion. Their reason for  choosing so unusual an hour for a consultation was obviously to insure that  there should be no other patient in the waiting-room. It just happened, however,  that this hour coincided with Blessington's constitutional, which seems to show  that they were not very well acquainted with his daily routine. Of course, if  they had been merely after plunder they would at least have made some attempt to  search for it. Besides, I can read in a man's eye when it is his own skin that  he is frightened for. It is inconceivable that this fellow could have made two  such vindictive enemies as these appear to be without knowing of it. I hold it,  therefore, to be certain that he does know who these men are, and that for  reasons of his own he suppresses it. It is just possible that to-morrow may find  him in a more communicative mood.”

“Is there not one alternative,” I suggested, “grotesquely improbably, no  doubt, but still just conceivable? Might the whole story of the cataleptic  Russian and his son be a concoction of Dr. Trevelyan's, who has, for his own  purposes, been in Blessington's rooms?”

I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an amused smile at this brilliant  departure of mine.

“你不给我一些指教吗？”布莱星顿颤声大叫道。

“我对你的指教就是请讲真话，先生。”

一分钟以后，我们已经来到街上，向家中走去。我们穿过了牛津街，走到哈利街时，我才听 到我的朋友发话。

“把你带出来为这样一个蠢人白跑一趟，真是抱歉，华生，”福尔摩斯终于说道，“可是归 根结底，这也是一个很有趣的案子。”

“我可看不出什么来，”我坦率地承认道。

“啊，显然，有两个人，或许还要多一些，不过至少是两个人，为了某种原因，决心要找到 布莱星顿这个家伙。我心中毫不怀疑，那个年轻人两次都闯入了布莱星顿的房间，而他的同 伙则用了一种巧妙的手段，使医生不能进行干涉。”

“可是那强直一性一昏厥是怎么回事呢？”

“那是骗人的，华生，在这方面，我不想向我们的专家讲得太多。要装这种病是很容易的。 我自己也这样做过。”

“那么后来又怎样呢？”

“完全是碰巧，布莱星顿两次都不在屋。他们所以选择这样不平常的时刻来看病，显然是确 信候诊室里没有别的病人。然而，这个时间恰好是布莱星顿散步的时间，这似乎说明他们对 布莱星顿的日常生活一习一惯不十分了解。当然，如果他们只是为了偷盗，他们至少会设法 搜索财物。此外，我可以从他的眼神里看出来，他已经被吓得魂不附体了。不能想象这个家 伙结下了这样两个仇敌，他会不知道。因此，我确信，他知道这两个人是什么人，而由于他 本身的缘故，他隐瞒不说，很可能明天他就会吐露真情了。”

“难道没有另外的一种情况吗？”我说道，“毫无疑问，这几乎是不大可能的，不过还是可 以想象的。会不会是特里维廉医生自己居心不一良，闯进了布莱星顿室内，而编造出这个患 强直症的俄罗斯人和他的儿子的全部故事呢？”

我在汽灯光下看到我这想法引起了福尔摩斯的哂笑。