皮漏斗之谜（14）（在线收听）

“I expected that you would have a lively night of it,” said he. “You took it out of me in return, for that scream of yours wasn’t a very pleasant sound at two in the morning. I suppose from what you say that you have seen the whole dreadful business.”

“What dreadful business?”

“The torture of the water—the ‘Extraordinary Question,’ as it was called in the genial days of ‘Le Roi Soleil.’ Did you stand it out to the end?”

“No, thank God, I awoke before it really began.”

“Ah! it is just as well for you. I held out till the third bucket. Well, it is an old story, and they are all in their graves now, anyhow, so what does it matter how they got there? I suppose that you have no idea what it was that you have seen?”

“The torture of some criminal. She must have been a terrible malefactor indeed if her crimes are in proportion to her penalty.”

“Well, we have that small consolation,” said Dacre, wrapping his dressing-gown round him and crouching closer to the fire. “They WERE in proportion to her penalty. That is to say, if I am correct in the lady’s identity.”

“How could you possibly know her identity?”

For answer Dacre took down an old vellum-covered volume from the shelf.

“我早就猜到你会度过一个有声有色的夜晚，”他说。

“不过你也够可以的了，半夜两点的尖叫无论如何不能算是悦耳的声音。听你这么说，你应该看见那桩恐怖事件的整个经过了。”

“什么忍怖事件？”

“水刑一一就是太阳卫山时代所谓的非常刑罚。

你坚持到最后了吗"

“没有，谢天谢地，在真正开始之前我就醒了。"

“噢！那样对你也好。我一直看到第三桶。唉，那是个古老的故事，那些人现在都躺在各自的坟墓里了，至于每个人是怎么个死法，已经无所谓了。我想，你大概不知道你看见的究竟是怎么回事吧？"“是给一个犯人用刑。如果她的罪恶应该处以那种刑罚，那她可就不是一殷的罪犯了。”

“嗯，的确不一般，"达克说着，把长袍往身上裹了裹，又往炉火边读了凑。“刑罚确实不算过分，如果我没搞错那位女子的身份的话，”

“你怎么会知道她的身份呢？”

达克没说话，从书架上取下一本牛皮封面的旧书。