福尔摩斯回忆录(中文导读英文版)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：王勋,纪飞,（英）阿瑟·柯南·道尔

出版社：清华大学出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

福尔摩斯回忆录(中文导读英文版)试读：

前言

阿瑟柯南道尔（Arthur Conan Doyle，1859—1930），英国著名侦探小说家、剧作家，现代侦探小说的奠基人之一，被誉为“英国侦探小说之父”。

柯南·道尔于1859年5月22日出生于爱丁堡，1881年获爱丁堡大学医学博士学位。博士毕业后，柯南道尔以行医为职业。1885年，柯南道尔开始创作侦探小说《血字的研究》，并于1887年发表在《比顿圣诞年刊》上。1890年，柯南·道尔出版了第二部小说《四签名》，并一举成名。次年，他弃医从文，专事侦探小说的创作，陆续出版了以福尔摩斯为主人公的系列侦探小说：《波希米亚丑闻》、《红发会》、《身份案》、《恐怖谷》、《五个橘核》、《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》等。1902年，他因有关布尔战争的著作被加封为爵士。1930年7月7日，柯南道尔逝世于英国。

柯南道尔一生共创作了60多篇以福尔摩斯为主人公的侦探小说，他塑造的福尔摩斯形象其实就是正义的化身。福尔摩斯已成为世界上家喻户晓的人物、侦探的象征，印在全世界不同种族、不同肤色的人心中。福尔摩斯是一个栩栩如生、有血有肉的形象。他活动在伦敦大雾迷漫的街道上、普普通通的公寓里，似乎随时都可能跟走在街上的读者擦肩而过，因此使人感到十分亲切可信。福尔摩斯善于运用医学、心理学、逻辑学，尤其是他的逻辑推理能力令人叹为观止。他又十分注重调查研究，并且对案子极其热情，认真负责这些使他的侦探本领到了神鬼莫测的境地。柯南道尔通过福尔摩斯探案故事，惩恶扬善，宣扬善恶有报、法网难逃的思想。小说中所涉及的医学、化学、生物学、犯罪学、法学知识以及探案和侦察方法，即便是对今天的侦探工作也具有一定的借鉴作用。

柯南道尔以福尔摩斯为主人公的系列侦探小说出版100多年来，一直畅销至今，被译成世界上几十种语言，是全世界公认的侦探小说名著。在中国，福尔摩斯系列侦探小说是最受广大读者欢迎的外国文学之一。目前，在国内数量众多的福尔摩斯侦探小说书籍中，主要的出版形式有两种：一种是中文翻译版，另一种是英文原版。而其中的英文原版越来越受到读者的欢迎，这主要是得益于中国人热衷于学习英文的大环境。从英文学习的角度来看，直接使用纯英文素材更有利于英语学习。考虑到对英文内容背景的了解有助于英文阅读，使用中文导读应该是一种比较好的方式，也可以说是该类型书的第三种版本形式。采用中文导读而非中英文对照的方式进行编排，这样有利于国内读者摆脱对英文阅读依赖中文注释的习惯。基于以上原因，我们决定编译“福尔摩斯经典探案系列”丛书，该系列丛书收入了柯南道尔的《血字的研究》、《四签名》、《福尔摩斯冒险史》、《福尔摩斯回忆录》、《福尔摩斯归来》、《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》、《恐怖谷》、《最后的致意》、《新探案》等经典之作，并采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中，我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓，也尽可能保留原作故事主线。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前，可以先阅读中文导读内容，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。我们相信，该经典著作的引进对加强当代中国读者，特别是青少年读者的科学素养和人文修养是非常有帮助的。

本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、左新杲、黄福成、冯洁、徐鑫、马启龙、王业伟、王旭敏、陈楠、王多多、邵舒丽、周丽萍、王晓旭、李永振、孟宪行、熊红华、胡国平、熊建国、徐平国、王小红等。限于我们的文学素养和英语水平，书中难免不当之处，衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。银色马/Silver Blaze导读

早餐时，福尔摩斯对华生说，今天他要去达木耳那里。华生知道他是为温赛克斯杯大赛中有希望夺冠的马失踪及驯马师被杀一案去的，表示希望一起去。一个小时后，他们已坐进驶往艾克斯的火车。

福尔摩斯告诉华生他在星期二收到了马的主人罗斯上校和办理此案件的格里格莱探长的电报，他们请求协助。但福尔摩斯觉得这匹英国第一名驹不会藏得太久，昨天就应该有杀害约翰史崔克的人的消息，但没想到只有拘捕费兹诺辛普森的消息。

银色马现在五岁，曾是这次温赛克斯杯最有希望夺冠的马匹。虽然它的赌注只有三比一，但还是有很多人为它下了赌注。福尔摩斯介绍说上校为此也做了许多防范措施，约翰史崔克曾跟上校做了五年骑师和七年驯马师。马厩里共有四匹马，有三个马童轮流在下面值班，其余两个睡在上面堆草的阁楼上。

约翰史崔克和夫人没有小孩，在距马厩二百码的小别墅里居住。房子四周比较荒僻，野外居住着一些流浪的吉卜赛人。案发那天晚九点多，女仆伊德丝给守候在马厩的马童纳德亨特送晚饭，马厩中不允许喝饮料，只有一盘咖喱羊肉。

女仆快到马厩时，一个绅士模样、拿着一根粗手杖的三十岁的男子拦住了她。让她把一张折着的白纸交给马童，就可得到一笔钱。她吓坏了，赶紧跑到递晚餐的窗口，亨特正在小桌旁坐着。这时，那人也过来了，他向亨特打听参赛马匹银色马及亚红棕驹的情况。

亨特知道他是探听赛马消息时，就到马厩另一边去放狗。女仆跑回了屋子，一分钟后亨特带着狗过来时，那人已不见了。华生问福尔摩斯马童出来时锁门没有，福尔摩斯告诉他门是锁着的。

案发那晚一点时，史崔克太太见丈夫在穿衣服，他说自己要到马厩去看看。外面下着雨，他穿着雨衣走了。早上七点还没见丈夫回来，史崔克便和女仆到马厩，见亨特昏睡在椅子中，驯马师和马都不在里面。

两个睡在阁楼上的马童马上起来，他们一起去找失踪的人。在离马厩不远的金雀花丛上发现了史崔克的外衣，他躺在低洼处，头部被钝器打烂，腿部有一个被利器割伤的伤口，右手拿一把沾满血迹的小刀，左手抓一条红黑色相间的丝领巾。女仆说是头天晚上来马厩的陌生人的，后来亨特也确定了。

大家都怀疑陌生人在窗前向羊肉中下了药，事后也检查出里面有鸦片粉，警方对此人提出了悬赏通缉。

案子由格里格莱探长负责，他很快就抓到了陌生人费兹诺辛普森。此人受过良好的教育，喜欢赌马。他承认那晚曾去马厩，但声明与此案无关，但是说不清领巾在被害人手中的原因。

听完了叙述，华生认为，驯马师身上的伤有可能是自己弄的，福尔摩斯也认为极有可能。根据警方的推测，费兹诺辛普森对马童下了药，拿着复制的钥匙开了马厩，牵出了马，但碰到了驯马师，他们发生了搏斗。辛普森用手杖打驯马师的头部，然后把马藏了起来，或许马在他们搏斗时跑掉了。

福尔摩斯和华生到达车站时，上校和探长在等他们，随后他们坐进了四轮马车。探长告诉福尔摩斯，辛普森有对马童下药的嫌疑，并且他那粗重的手杖可以当武器。史崔克的刀伤是自己摔倒时割伤的。

福尔摩斯却认为，辛普森没必要把马带走，在马厩里把它弄伤就可以了。再说在这陌生的地方，他能把马藏哪儿？鸦片粉又是从哪里弄来的呢？探长推测，辛普森可能和吉卜赛人有联系，把马让他们带走了。而鸦片粉可能是他去塔维德克时买的，警方第二天也搜查了赛马热门的驯马师修赖斯布郎的马厩，也没有结果。

这时，马车停在了小别墅前，福尔摩斯要检查史崔克口袋里的物品。他们一起来到客厅，探长拿出一个铁箱，里面有火柴、半截蜡烛、一个烟斗和装着烟丝的小袋子、几张纸和铅笔盒、一把刻有卫斯公司伦敦字样的象牙手柄小刀。华生告诉福尔摩斯那是做白内障手术时用的刀。探长告诉他们史崔克太太告诉他们刀是丈夫在离开房间时顺手拿的。

在那几张纸中，其中一张是上校的指示；一张是由庞德街李修瑞尔夫人开给威廉德比歇尔的三十七英镑十五先令的富人服装店的账单。史崔克夫人证实德比歇尔是丈夫的一个朋友，福尔摩斯感到这件礼服实在不便宜。

他们出来时，史崔克太太问抓到凶犯没有。这时，福尔摩斯说在一个宴会中见过她，当时她穿着一件鸽灰色丝礼服。史崔克太太告诉他认错人了，自己没有那样的衣服。

他们来到发现尸体的地方，探长拿出准备好的史崔克的一只靴子、辛普森的鞋子及一只马蹄铁，福尔摩斯趴在地上检查起来。他在地上找到了烧了一半的火柴棒，并表示希望在野地里熟悉一下。上校有点不耐烦，就准备先和探长回去。福尔摩斯告诉上校，可以让银色马继续保留在参赛名单上，然后就分手了。

在路上，他告诉华生吉卜赛人的性格是不会让麻烦惹上自己的，所以犯人不可能绑架马，而马是群居动物，它会自然回到国王场或麦坡顿。于是他们开始在野外寻找马蹄印，终于找到了和马蹄铁相吻合的马蹄印。他们一直追踪到了通往麦坡顿马厩的柏油路上。

这时一个马童拦住了他们，因为此地禁止闲逛。福尔摩斯向马童做出了一个掏钱的姿势，并问他自己如果早上五点钟来拜访修赖斯是否合适。马童告诉他修赖斯总是起得很早，他们会被他发现的。

这时一个粗暴的人拿着狩猎棒出来告诉他们，这里不欢迎陌生人。福尔摩斯在他耳边说了些话，那人红着脸请福尔摩斯到里面谈。二十分钟后他俩出来，修赖斯保证按福尔摩斯说的做。

在回去的路上，福尔摩斯告诉华生马在修赖斯那里，他根据修赖斯的鞋印和习惯，知道修赖斯早上起来看到了银色马，就把它牵到了马厩，并把它进行了伪装，想把它藏到比赛结束。现在他为了保住脸面才会听自己的。但为了惩罚上校的傲慢，福尔摩斯决定先不告诉上校这件事。

当他们表示要回城时，看到了探长惊奇和上校轻蔑的表情。福尔摩斯要了一张史崔克的相片，并对上校保证他的马会准时参加星期二的比赛。

四天后他们如约在车站与罗斯上校去看了比赛。上校因为到现在还没见到马而非常焦急，他对福尔摩斯认为自己到时会认不出银色马这件事表示生气，并说自己相信他的话，把另一匹马撤出了比赛。

这时赛马出场，前五匹都不是银色马，第六匹由上校的骑师骑着出来，但上校没看到马身上的白额斑。比赛开始了，上校的马最终夺得了第一。

他们走到马栏旁，福尔摩斯告诉上校，用酒精擦洗马的脸部和腿部后，他的银色马就现出原形了。上校为自己以前的怀疑表示了歉意，并表示希望能抓到凶手。福尔摩斯表示已经抓到了，凶手就站在自己身边。上校对他的玩笑表示了极大的愤慨。福尔摩斯指了指上校身后的马。

当晚他们回伦敦时，在火车包箱里，福尔摩斯告诉华生他从一开始就注意到了马童吃的咖喱羊肉，如果别的食物放了鸦片粉，是容易吃出来的，他就不会再吃了。而那晚恰巧加了咖喱，这真是太巧了，而辛普森不能决定他们那晚吃咖喱，只有史崔克夫妇能决定，并且只有马童的晚餐里有鸦片粉。

马厩里有一条狗，而案发那晚狗并没叫，所以牵马人应是狗熟悉的人。福尔摩斯就认为这人是史崔克，因为有些驯马师会押了很大的赌注，赌自己的马输。最后死者手中有一把刀，这是想在马的后腿腱子处割一道别人看不出来的小口，这样马腿会有一点跛，所以他要把马拉到外面进行，这就用上了火柴和蜡烛。

福尔摩斯在检查史崔克的东西时，发现了那个账单，一个男人是不会把别人的账单放在自己口袋里的。他就巧妙地问出史崔克太太并没有这个账单所买的衣服。福尔摩斯认为史崔克可能还有第二个家，于是拿着他的照片去了服装店。老板认出他就是顾客德比歇尔，一个十分偏爱昂贵衣服的夫人是他的妻子，显然史崔克因为那个女人负了债务。

案发时，他脱下外衣把马带到洼地，这样远处不会看到灯光，并捡到了辛普森的领巾。当他擦亮火柴时，马受到了惊吓，踢到了他的前额，而刀子正好割到了他的大腿。后来马跑到一个地方，被一个人照顾了起来。

这时，他们到了车站，福尔摩斯邀请上校到住所做客。am afraid,Watson,that I shall have to go，”said Holmes as wesat down together to our breakfast one morning.“I

“Go！Where to？”

“To Dartmoor；to King's Pyland.”

I was not surprised.Indeed,my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed up in this extraordinary case,which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England.For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted,charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco,and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks.Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent,only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner.Yet,silent as he was,I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was brooding.There was but one problem before the public which could challenge his powers of analysis,and that was the singular disappearance of the favourite for the Wessex Cup,and the tragic murder of its trainer.When,therefore,he suddenly announced his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama,it was only what I had both expected and hoped for.

“I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the way，”said I.

“My dear Watson,you would confer a great favour upon me by coming.And I think that your time will not be misspent,for there are points about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one.We have,I think,just time to catch our train at Paddington,and I will go further into the matter upon our journey.You would oblige me by bringing with you your very excellent field-glass.”

And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter,while Sherlock Holmes,with his sharp,eager face framed in his ear-flapped travelling-cap,dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which he had procured at Paddington.We had left Reading far behind us before he thrust the last one of them under the seat and offered me his cigar-case.

“We are going well，”said he,looking out of the window and glancing at his watch.“Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles an hour.”

“I have not observed the quarter-mile posts，”said I.

“Nor have I.But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty yards apart,and the calculation is a simple one.1 presume that you have looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the disappearance of Silver Blaze？”

“I have seen what the Telegraph and the Chronicle have to say.”

“It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence.The tragedy has been so uncommon,so complete,and of such personal importance to so many people that we are suffering from a plethora of surmise,conjecture,and hypothesis.The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact-of absolute undeniable fact-from the embellishments of theorists and reporters.Then,having established ourselves upon this sound basis,it is our duty to see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special points upon which the whole mystery turns.On Tuesday evening I received telegrams from both Colonel Ross,the owner of the horse,and from Inspector Gregory,who is looking after the case,inviting my coperation.”

“Tuesday evening！”I exclaimed.“And this is Thursday morning.Why didn't you go down yesterday？”

“Because I made a blunder,my dear Watson-which is,I am afraid,a more common occurrence than anyone would think who only knew me through your memoirs.The fact is that I could not believe it possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain concealed,especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north of Dartmoor.From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he had been found,and that his abductor was the murderer of John Straker.When,however,another morning had come and I found that beyond the arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson nothing had been done,I felt that it was time for me to take action.Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday has not been wasted.”

“You have formed a theory,then？”

“At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case.I shall emunerate them to you,for nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person,and I can hardly expect your coperation if I do not show you the position from which we start.”

I lay back against the cushions,puffing at my cigar,while Holmes,leaning forward,with his long,thin forefinger checking off the points upon the palm of his left hand,gave me a sketch of the events which had led to our journey.

“Silver Blaze，”said he，“is from the Somomy stock and holds as brilliant a record as his famous ancestor.He is now in his fifth year and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the turf to Colonel Ross,his fortunate owner.Up to the time of the catastrophe he was the first favourite for the Wessex Cup,the betting being three to one on him.He has always,however,been a prime favourite with the racing public and has never yet disappointed them,so that even at those odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him.It is obvious,therefore,that there were many people who had the strongest interest in preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of the flag next Tuesday.

“The fact was,of course,appreciated at King's Pyland,where the colonel's training-stable is situated.Every precaution was taken to guard the favourite.The trainer,John Straker,is a retired jockey who rode in Colonel Ross's colours before he became too heavy for the weighing-chair.He has served the colonel for five years as jockey and for seven as trainer,and has always shown himself to be a zealous and honest servant.Under him were three lads,for the establishment was a small one,containing only four horses in all.One of these lads sat up each night in the stable,while the others slept in the loft.All three bore excellent characters.John Straker,who is a married man,lived in a small villa about two hundred yards from the stables.He has no children,keeps one maidservant,and is comfortably off.The country round is very lonely,but about half a mile to the north there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air.Tavi stock itself lies two miles tothe west,while across the moor,also about two miles distant,is the larger training establishment of Mapleton,which belongs to Lord Backwater and is managed by Silas Brown.In every other direction the moor is a complete wilderness,inhabited only by a few roaming gypsies.Such was the general situation last Monday night when the catastrophe occurred.

“On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as usual,and the stables were locked up at nine o'clock.Two of the lads walked up to the trainer's house,where they had supper in the kitchen,while the third,Ned Hunter,remained on guard.At a few minutes after nine the maid,Edith Baxter,carried down to the stables his supper,which consisted of a dish of curried mutton.She took no liquid,as there was a water-tap in the stables,and it was the rule that the lad on duty should drink nothing else.The maid carried a lantern with her,as it was very dark and the path ran across the open moor.

“Edith Baxter was within thirty yards of the stables when a man appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop.As she stepped into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she saw that he was a person of gentlemanly bearing,dressed in a gray suit of tweeds,with a cloth cap.He wore gaiters and carried a heavy stick with a knob to it.She was most impressed,however,by the extreme pallor of his face and by the nervousness of his manner.His age,she thought,would be rather over thirty than under it.

“‘Can you tell me where I am？'he asked.‘I had almost made up my mind to sleep on the moor when I saw the light of your lantern.'

“‘You are close to the King's Pyland training stables，'said she.

“‘Oh,indeed！What a stroke of luck！'he cried.‘I understand that a stable-boy sleeps there alone every night.Perhaps that is his supper which you are carrying to him.Now I am sure that you would not be too proud to earn the price of a new dress,would you？'He took a piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket.‘See that the boy has this to-night,and you shall have the prettiest frock that money can buy.'

“She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner and ran past him to the window through which she was accustomed to hand the meals.Itwas already opened,and Hunter was seated at the small table inside.She had begun to tell him of what had happened when the stranger came up again.

“‘Good-evening，'said he,looking through the window.‘I wanted to have a word with you.'The girl has sworn that as he spoke she noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his closed hand.

“‘What business have you here？'asked the lad.

“‘It's business that may put something into your pocket，'said the other.‘You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup-Silver Blaze and Bayard.Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a loser.Is it a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the other a hundred yards in five furlongs,and that the stable have put their money on him？'

“‘So,you're one of those damned touts！'cried the lad.‘I'11 show you how we serve them in King's Pyland.'He sprang up and rushed across the stable to unloose the dog.The girl fled away to the house,but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through the window.A minute later,however,when Hunter rushed out with the hound he was gone,and though he ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of him.”

“One moment，”I asked.“Did the stable-boy,when he ran out with the dog,leave the door unlocked behind him？”

“Excellent,Watson,excellent！”murmured my companion.“The importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up.The boy locked the door before he left it.The window,I may add,was not large enough for a man to get through.

“Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned,when he sent a message to the trainer and told him what had occurred.Straker was excited at hearing the account,although he does not seem to have quite realized its true significance.It left him,however,vaguely uneasy,and Mrs.Straker,waking at one in the morning,found that he was dressing.In reply to her inquiries,he said that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses,and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see that allwas well.She begged him to remain at home,as she could hear the rain pattering against the window but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his large mackintosh and left the house.

“Mrs.Straker awoke at seven in the morning to find that her husband had not yet returned.She dressed herself hastily,called the maid,and set off for the stables.The door was open；inside,huddled together upon a chair,Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute-stupor,the favourite's stall was empty,and there were no signs of his trainer.

“The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the harness-room were quickly aroused.They had heard nothing during the night,for they are both sound sleepers.Hunter was obviously under the influence of some powerful drug,and as no sense could be got out of him,he was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the two women ran out in search of the absentees.They still had hopes that the trainer had for some reason taken out the horse for early exercise,but on ascending the knoll near the house,from which all the neighbouring moors were visible,they not only could see no signs of the missing favourite,but they perceived something which warned them that they were in the presence of a tragedy.

“About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat was flapping from a furze-bush.Immediately beyond there was a bowl-shaped depression in the moor,and at the bottom of this was found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer.His head had been shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon,and he was wounded on the thigh,where there was a long,clean cut,inflicted evidently by some very sharp instrument.It was clear,however,that Straker had defended himself vigorously against his assailants,for in his right hand he held a small knife,which was clotted with blood up to the handle,while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat,which was recognized by the maid as having been worn on the preceding evening by the stranger who had visited the stables.Hunter,on recovering from his stupor,was also quite positive as to the ownership of the cravat.He was equally certain that the same stranger had,while standing at the window,drugged his curried mutton,and so deprived the stables of their watchman.As to the missing horse,there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the struggle.But from that morning he has disappeared,and although a large reward has been offered,and all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on the alert,no news has come of him.Finally,an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad contained an appreciable quantity of powdered opium,while the people at the house partook of the same dish on the same night without any ill effect.

“Those are the main facts of the case,stripped of all surmise,and stated as baldly as possible.I shall now recapitulate what the police have done in the matter.

“Inspector Gregory,to whom the case has been committed,is an extremely competent officer.Were he but gifted with imagination he might rise to great heights in his profession.On his arrival he promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally rested.There was little difficulty in finding him,for he inhabited one of those villas which I have mentioned.His name,it appears,was Fitzroy Simpson.He was a man of excellent birth and education,who had squandered a fortune upon the turf,and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London.An examination of his bettingbook shows that bets to the amount of five thousand pounds had been registered by him against the favourite.On being arrested he volunteered the statement that he had come down to Dartmoor in the hope of getting some information about the King's Pyland horses,and also about Desborough,the second favourite,which was in the charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables.He did not attempt to deny that he had acted as described upon the evening before,but declared that he had no sinister designs and had simply wished to obtain first-hand information.When confronted with his cravat he turned very pale and was utterly unable to account for its presence in the hand of the murdered man.His wet clothing showed that he had been out in the storm of the night before,and his stick,which was a penang-lawyer weighted with lead,was just such a weapon as might,by repeated blows,have inflicted the terrible injuries to which the trainer had succumbed.Onthe other hand,there was no wound upon his person,while the state of Straker's knife would show that one at least of his assailants must bear his mark upon him.There you have it all in a nutshell,Watson,and if you can give me any light I shall be infinitely obliged to you.”

I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which Holmes,with characteristic clearness,had laid before me.Though most of the facts were familiar to me,I had not sufficiently appreciated their relative importance,nor their connection to each other.

“Is it not possible，”I suggested，“that the incised wound upon Straker may have been caused by his own knife in the convulsive struggles which follow any brain injury？”

“It is more than possible；it is probable，”said Holmes.“In that case one of the main points in favour of the accused disappears.”

“And yet，”said I，“even now I fail to understand what the theory of the police can be.”

“I am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave objections to it，”returned my companion.“The police imagine,I take it,that this Fitzroy Simpson,having drugged the lad,and having in some way obtained a duplicate key,opened the stable door and took out the horse,with the intention,apparently,of kidnapping him altogether.His bridle is missing,so that Simpson must have put this on.Then,having left the door open behind him,he was leading the horse away over the moor when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer.A row naturally ensued.Simpson beat out the trainer's brains with his heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife which Straker used in self-defence,and then the thief either led the horse on to some secret hiding-Place,or else it may have bolted during the struggle,and be now wandering out on the moors.That is the case as it appears to the police,and improbable as it is,all other explanations are more improbable still.However,I shall very quickly test the matter when I am once upon the spot,and until then I cannot really see how we can get much further than our present position.”

It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock,whichlies,like the boss of a shield,in the middle of the huge circle of Dartmoor.Two gentlemen were awaiting us in the station-the one a tall,fair man with lion-like hair and beard and curiously penetrating light blue eyes；the other a small,alert person,very neat and dapper,in a frock-coat and gaiters,with trim little side-whiskers and an eyeglass.The latter was Colonel Ross,the well-known sportsman；the other,Inspector Gregory,a man who was rapidly making his name in the English detective service.

“I am delighted that you have come down,Mr.Holmes，”said the colonel.“The inspector here has done all that could possibly be suggested,but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to avenge poor Straker and in recovering my horse.”

“Have there been any fresh developments？”asked Holmes.

“I am sorry to say that we have made very little progress，”said the inspector.“We have an open carriage outside,and as you would no doubt like to see the place before the light fails,we might talk it over as we drive.”

A minute later we were all seated in a comfortable landau and were rattling through the quaint old Devonshire city.Inspector Gregory was full of his case and poured out a stream of remarks,while Holmes threw in an occasional question or interjection.Colonel Ross leaned back with his arms folded and his hat tilted over his eyes,while I listened with interest to the dialogue of the two detectives.Gregory was formulating his theory,which was almost exactly what Holmes had foretold in the train.

“The net is drawn pretty close round Fitzroy Simpson，”he remarked，“and I believe myself that he is our man.At the same time I recognize that the evidence is purely circumstantial,and that some new development may upset it.”

“How about Straker's knife？”

“We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in his fall.”

“My friend Dr.Watson made that suggestion to me as we came down.If so,it would tell against this man Simpson.”

“Undoubtedly.”He has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound.Theevidence against him is certainly very strong.He had a great interest in the disappearance of the favourite.He lies under suspicion of having poisoned the stable-boy；he was undoubtedly out in the storm；he was armed with a heavy stick,and his cravat was found in the dead man's hand.I really think we have enough to go before a jury.”

Holmes shook his head.“A clever counsel would tear it all-to rags，”said he.“Why should he take the horse out of the stable？If he wished to injure it,why could he not do it there？Has a duplicate key been found in his possession？What chemist sold him the powdered opium？Above all,where could he,a stranger to the district,hide a horse,and such a horse as this？What is his own explanation as to the paper which he wished the maid to give to the stableboy？”

“He says that it was a ten-pound note.One was found in his purse.But your other difficulties are not so formidable as they seem.He is not a stranger to the district.He has twice lodged at Tavistock in the summer.The opium was probably brought from London.The key,having served its purpose,would be hurled away.The horse may be at the bottom of one of the pits or old mines upon the moor.”

“What does he say about the cravat？”

“He acknowledges that it is his and declares that he had lost it.But a new element has been introduced into the case which may account for his leading the horse from the stable.”

Holmes pricked up his ears.

“We have found traces which show that a party of gypsies encamped on Monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took place.On Tuesday they were gone.Now,presuming that there was some understanding between Simpson and these gypsies,might he not have been leading the horse to them when he was overtaken,and may they not have him now？”

“It is certainly possible.”

“The moor is being scoured for these gypsies.I have also examined every stable and out-house in Tavistock,and for a radius of ten miles.”

“There is another training-stable quite close,I understand？”

“Yes,and that is a factor which we must certainly not neglect.As Desborough,their horse,was second in the betting,they had an interest in the disappearance of the favourite.Silas Brown,the trainer,is known to have had large bets upon the event,and he was no friend to poor Straker.We have,however,examined the stables,and there is nothing to connect him with the affair.”

“And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of the Mapleton stables？”

“Nothing at all.”

Holmes leaned back in the carriage,and the conversation ceased.A few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red-brick villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road.Some distance off,across a paddock,lay a long graytiled outbuilding.In everyother direction the low curves of the moor,bronze-coloured from the fading ferns,stretched away to the skyline,broken only by the steeples of Tavistock,and by a cluster of houses away to the westward which marked the Mapleton stables.We all sprang out with the exception of Holmes,who continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the sky in front of him,entirely absorbed in his own thoughts.It was only when I touched his arm,that he roused himself with a violent start and stepped out of the carriage.

“Excuse me，”said he,turning to Colonel Ross,who had looked at him in some surprise.“I was day-dreaming.”There was a gleam in his eyes and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced me,used as I was to his ways,that his hand was upon a clue,though I could not imagine where he had found it.

“Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the crime,Mr.Holmes？”said Gregory.

“I think that I should prefer to stay here a little and go into one or two questions of detail.Straker was brought back here,I presume？”

“Yes,he lies upstairs.The inquest is to-morrow.”

“He has been in your service some years,Colonel Ross？”

“I have always found him an excellent servant.”

“I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in his pocketsat the time of his death,Inspector？”

“I have the things themselves in the sitting-room if you would care to see them.”

“I should be very glad.”We all filed into the front room and sat round the central table while the inspector unlocked a square tin box and laid a small heap of things before us.There was a box of vestas,two inches of tallow candle,an A D P brier-root pipe,a pouch of sealskin with half an ounce of longcut Cavendish,a silver watch with a gold chain,five sovereigns in gold,an aluminum pencil-case,a few papers,and an ivoryhandled knife with a very delicate,inflexible blade marked Weiss＆Co.，London.

“This is a very singular knife，”said Holmes,lifting it up and examining it minutely.“I presume,as I see bloodstains upon it,that it is the one which was found in the dead man's grasp.Watson,this knife is surely in your line？”

“It is what we call a cataract knife，”said I.

“I thought so.A very delicate blade devised for very deli cate work.A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition,especially as it would not shut in his pocket.”

“The tip was guarded by a disc of cork which we found beside his body，”said the inspector：“His wife tells us that the knife had lain upon the dressing-table,and that he had picked it up as he left the room.It was a poor weapon,but perhaps the best that he could lay his hands on at the moment.”

“Very possibly.How about these papers？”

“Three of them are receipted hay-dealers'accounts.One of them is a letter of instructions from Colonel Ross.This other is a milliner's account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by Madame Lesurier,of Bond Street,to William Derbyshire.Mrs.Straker tells us that Derbyshire was a friend of her husband's,and that occasionally his letters were addressed here.”

“Madame Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes，”remarked Holmes,glancing down the account.“Twenty-two guineas is rather heavyfor a single costume.However,there appears to be nothing more to learn,and we may now go down to the scene of the crime.”

As we emerged from the sitting-room a woman,who had been waiting in the passage,took a step forward and laid her hand upon the inspector's sleeve.Her face was haggard and thin and eager,stamped with the print of a recent horror.

“Have you got them？Have you found them？”she panted.

“No,Mrs.Straker.But Mr.Holmes here has come from London to help us,and we shall do all that is possible.”

“Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time ago,Mrs.Straker？”said Holmes.

“No,sir；you are mistaken.”

“Dear me！Why,I could have sworn to it.You wore a costume of dove-coloured silk with ostrich-feather trimming.”

“I never had such a dress,sir，”answered the lady.

“Ah,that quite settles it，”said Holmes.And with an apology he followed the inspector outside.A short walk across the moor took us to the hollow in which the body had been found.At the brink of it was the furze-bush upon which the coat had been hung.

“There was no wind that night,I understand，”said Holmes.

“None,but very heavy rain.”

“In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furzebush,but placed there.”

“Yes,it was laid across the bush.”

“You fill me with interest.I perceive that the ground has been trampled up a good deal.No doubt many feet have been here since Monday night.”

“A piece of matting has been laid here at the side,and we have all stood upon that.”

“Excellent.”

“In this bag I have one of the boots which Straker wore,one of Fitzroy Simpson's shoes,and a cast horseshoe of Silver Blaze.”

“My dear Inspector,you surpass yourself！”Holmes took the bag,and,descending into the hollow,he pushed the matting into a more central position.Then,stretching himself upon his face and leaning his chin upon his hands,he made a careful study of the trampled mud in front of him.“Hullo！”said he suddenly.“What's this？”It was a wax vesta,halfburned,which was so coated with mud that it looked at first like a little chip of wood.

“I cannot think how I came to overlook it，”said the inspector with an expression of annoyance.

“It was invisible,buried in the mud.I only saw it because I was looking for it.”

“What！You expected to find it？”

“I thought it not unlikely.”

He took the boots from the bag and compared the impressions of each of them with marks upon the ground.Then he clambered up to the rim of the hollow and crawled about among the ferns and bushes.

“I am afraid that there are no more tracks，”said the inspector.“I have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards in each direction.”

“Indeed！”said Holmes,rising.“I should not have the impertinence to do it again after what you say.But I should like to take a little walk over the moor before it grows dark that I may know my ground to-morrow,and I think that I shall put this horseshoe into my pocket for luck.”

Colonel Ross,who had shown some signs of impatience at my companion's quiet and systematic method of work,glanced at his watch.“I wish you would come back with me,Inspector，”said he.“There are several points on which I should like your advice,and especially as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove our horse's name from the entries for the cup.”

“Certainly not，”cried Holmes with decision.“I should let the name stand.”

The colonel bowed.“I am very glad to have had your opinion,sir，”said he.“You will find us at poor Straker's house when you have finished your walk,and we can drive together into Tavistock.”

He turned back with the inspector,while Holmes and I walked slowlyacross the moor.The sun was beginning to sink behind the stable of Mapleton,and the long sloping plain in front of us was tinged with gold,deepening into rich,ruddy browns where the faded ferns and brambles caught the evening light.But the glories of the landscape were all wasted upon my companion,who was sunk in the deepest thought.

“It's this way,Watson”said he at last.“We may leave the question of who killed John Straker for the instant and confine ourselves to finding out what has become of the horse.Now,supposing that he broke away during or after the tragedy,where could he have gone to？The horse is a very gregarious creature.If left to himself his instincts would have been either to return to King's Pyland or go over to Mapleton.Why should he run wild upon the moor？He would surely have been seen by now.And why should gypsies kidnap him？These people always clear out when they hear of trouble,for they do not wish to be pestered by the police.They could not hope to sell such a horse.They would run a great risk and gain nothing by taking him.Surely that is clear.”

“Where is he,then？”

“I have already said that he must have gone to King's Pyland or to Mapleton.He is not at King's Pyland.Therefore he is at Mapleton.Let us take that as a working hypothesis and see what it leads us to.This part of the moor,as the inspector remarked,is very hard and dry.But it falls away towards Mapleton,and you can see from here that there is a long hollow over yonder,which must have been very wet on Monday night.If our supposition is correct,then the horse must have crossed that,and there is the point where we should look for his tracks.”

We had been walking briskly during this conversation,and a few more minutes brought us to the hollow in question.At Holmes's request I walked down the bank to the right,and he to the left,but I had not taken fifty paces before I heard him give a shout and saw him waving his hand to me.The track of a horsc was plainly outlined in the soft earth in front of him,and the shoe which he took from his pocket exactly fitted the impression.

“See the value of imagination，”said Holmes.“It is the one qualitywhich Gregory lacks.We imagined what might have happened,acted upon the supposition,and find ourselves justified.Let us proceed.”

We crossed the marshy bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile of dry,hard turf.Again the ground sloped,and again we came on the tracks.Then we lost them for half a mile,but only to pick them up once more quite close to Mapleton.It was Holmes who saw them first,and he stood pointing with a look of triurnph upon his face.A man's track was visible beside the horse's.

“The horse was alone before，”I cried.

“Quite so.It was alone before.Hullo,what is this？”

The double track turned sharp off and took the direction of King's Pyland.Holmes whistled,and we both followed along after it.His eyes were on the trail,but I happened to look a little to one side and saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back again in the opposite direction.

“One for you,Watson，”said Holmes when I pointed it out.“You have saved us a long walk,which would have brought us back on our own traces.Let us follow the return track.”

We had not to go far.It ended at the paving of asphalt which led up to the gates of the Mapleton stables.As we approached,a groom ran out from them.

“We don't want any loiterers about here，”said he.

“I only wished to ask a question，”said Holmes,with his finger and thumb in his waistcoat pocket.“Should I be too early to see your master,Mr.Silas Brown,if I were to call at five o'clock to-morrow morning？”

“Bless you,sir,if anyone is about he will be,for he is always the first stirring.But here he is,sir,to answer your questions for himself.No,sir,no,it is as much as my place is worth to let him see me touch your money.Afterwards,if you like.”

As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from his pocket,a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand.

“What's this,Dawson！”he cried.“No gossiping！Go about your business！And you,what the devil do you want here？”

“Ten minutes'talk with you,my good sir，”said Holmes in the sweetest of voices.

“I've no time to talk to every gadabout.We want no strangers here.Be off,or you may find a dog at your heels.”

Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer's ear.He started violently and flushed to the temples.

“It's a lie！”he shouted.“An infernal lie！”

“Very good.Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it over in your parlour？”

“Oh,come in if you wish to.”

Holmes smiled.“1 shall not keep you more than a few minutes,Watson，”said he.“Now,Mr.Brown,I am quite at your disposal.”

It was twenty minutes,and the reds had all faded into grays before Holmes and the trainer reappeared.Never have I seen such a change as had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short time.His face was ashy pale,beads of perspiration shone upon his brow,and his hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like a branch in the wind.His bullying,overbearing manner was all gone too,and he cringed along at my companion's side like a dog with its master.

“Your instructions will be done.It shall all be done，”said he.

“There must be no mistake，”said Holmes,looking round at him.The other winced as he read the menace in his eyes.

“Oh,no,there shall be no mistake.It shall be there.Should I change it first or not？”

Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing.“No,don't，”said he，“I shall write,to you about it.No tricks,now,or-”

“Oh,you can trust me,you can trust me！”

“Yes,I think I can.Well,you shall hear from me tomorrow.”He turned upon his heel,disregarding the trembling hand which the other held out to him,and we sct off for King's Pyland.

“A more perfect compound of the bully,coward,and sneak than Master Silas Brown I have seldom met with，”remarked Holmes as we trudged along together.

“He has the horse,then？”

“He tried to bluster out of it,but 1 described to him so exactly what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that I was watching him.Of course you observed the peculiarly square toes in the impressions,and that his own boots exactly corresponded to them.Again,of course no subordinate would have dared to do such a thing.I described to him how,when according to his custom he was the first down,he perceived a strange horse wandering over the moor.How he went out to it,and his astonishment at recognizing,from the white forehead which has given the favourite its name,that chance had put in his power the only horse which could beat the one upon which he had put his money.Then I described how his first impulse had been to lead him back to King's Pyland,and how the devil had shown him how he could hide the horse until the race was over,and how he had led it back and concealed it at Mapleton.When I told him every detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin.”

“But his stables had been searched？”

“Oh,an old horse-faker like him has many a dodge.”

“But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now,since he has every interest in injuring it？”

“My dear fellow,he will guard it as the apple of his eye.He knows that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe.”

“Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely to show much mercy in any case.”

“The matter does not rest with Colonel Ross.I follow my own methods and tell as much or as little as I choose.That is the advantage of being unofficial.I don't know Whether you observed it,Watson,but the colonel's manner has been just a trifle cavalier to me.I am inclined now to have a little amusement at his expense.Say nothing to him about the horse.”

“Certainly not without your permission.”

“And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the question of who killed John Straker.”

“And you will devote yourself to that.”

“On the contrary,we both go back to London by the night train.”

I was thunderstruck by my friend's words.We had only been a few hours in Devonshire,and that he should give up an investigation which he had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to me.Not a word more could I draw from him until we were back at the trainer's house.The colonel and the inspector were awaiting us in the parlour.

“My friend and I return to town by the night-express，”said Holmes.“We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful Dartmoor air.”

The inspector opened his eyes,and the colonel's lip curled in a sneer.

“So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker，”said he.

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.“There are certainly grave difficulties in the way，”said he.“I have every hope,however,that your horse will start upon Tuesday,and I beg that you will have your jockey in readiness.Might I ask for a photograph of Mr.John Straker？”

The in spector took one from an envelope and handed it to him.

“My dear Gregory,you anticipate all my wants.If I might ask you to wait here for an instant,I have a question which I should like to put to the maid.”

“I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London consultant，”said Colonel Ross bluntly as my friend left the room.“I do not see that we are any further than when he came.”

“At least you have his assurance that your horse will run，”said I.

“Yes,I have his assurance，”said the colonel with a shrug of his shoulders.“I should prefer to have the horse.”

I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he entered the room again.

“Now,gentlemen，”said he，“I am quite ready for Tavistock.”

As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the door open for us.A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes,for he leaned forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve.

“You have a few sheep in the paddock，”he said.“Who attends to them？”

“I do,sir.”

“Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late？”

“Well,sir,not of much account,but three of them have gone lame,sir.”

I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased,for he chuckled and rubbed his hands together.

“A long shot,Watson；a very long shot，”said he,pinching my arm.“Gregory,let me recommend to your attention this singular epidemic among the sheep.Drive on,coachman！”

Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion's ability,but I saw by the inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused.

“You consider that to be important？”he asked.

“Exceedingly so.”

“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention？”

“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”

“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”

“That was the curious incident，”remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train,bound for Winchester to see the race for the Wessex Cup.Colonel Ross met us by appointment outside the station,and we drove in his drag to the course beyond the town.His face was grave,and his manner was cold in the extreme.

“I have seen nothing of my horse，”said he.

“I suppose that you would know him when you saw him？”asked Holmes.

The colonel was very angry.“I have been on the turf for twenty years and never was asked such a question as that before，”said he.“A child would know Silver Blaze with his white forehead and his mottled off-foreleg.”

“How is the betting？”

“Well,that is the curious part of it.You could have got fifteen to one yesterday,but the price has become shorter and shorter,until you canhardly get three to one now.”

“Hum！”said Holmes.“Somebody knows something,that is clear.”

As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grandstand I glanced at the card to see the entries.

We ssex Plate[it ran]50 sovs.each h ft with 1000 sovs.added,for four and five year olds.Second，￡300.Third，￡200.New course（one mile and five furlongs）。

1.Mr.Heath Newton's The Negro.Red cap.Cinnamon jacket.

2.Colonel Wardlaw's Pugilist.Pink cap.Blue and black jacket.

3.Lord Backwater's Desborough.Yellow cap and sleeves.

4.Colonel Ross's Silver Blaze.Black cap.Red jacket.

5.Duke of Balmoral's Iris.Yellow and black stripes.

6.Lord Singleford's Rasper.Purple cap.Black sleeves.

“We scratched our other one and put all hopes on your word，”said the colonel.“Why,what is that？Silver Blaze favourite？”

“Five to four against Silver Blaze！”roared the ring.“Five to four against Silver Blaze！Five to fifieen against Desborough！Five to four on the field！”

“There are the numbers up，”I cried.“They are all six there.”

“All six there？Then my horse is running，”cried the colonel in great agitation.“But I don't see him.My colours have not passed.”

“Only five have passed.This must be he.”

As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighing enclosure and cantered past us,bearing on its back the well-known black and red of the colonel.

“That's not my horse，”cried the owner.“That beast has not a white hair upon its body.What is this that you have done,Mr.Holmes？”

“Well,well,let us see how he gets on，”said my friend imperturbably.For a few minutes he gazed through my fieldglass.“Capital！An excellent start！”he cried suddenly.“There they are,coming round the curve！”

From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight.The six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered them,but halfway up the yellow of the Mapleton stable showed to the front.Before they reached us,however,Desborough's bolt was shot,and the colonel's horse,coming away with a rush,passed the post a good six lengths before its rival,the Duke of Balmoral's Iris making a bad third.

“It's my race,anyhow，”gasped the colonel,passing his hand over his eyes.“I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it.Don't you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough,Mr.Holmes？”

“Certainly,Colonel,you shall know everything.Let us all go round and have a look at the horse together.Here he is，”he continued as we made our way into the weighing enclosure,where only owners and their friends find admittance.“You have only to wash his face and his leg in spirits of wine,and you will find that he is the same old Silver Blaze as ever.”

“You take my breath away！”

“I found him in the hands of a faker and took the liberty of running him just as he was sent over.”

“My dear sir,you have done wonders.The horse looks very fit and well.It never went better in its life.I owe you a thousand apologies for having doubted your ability.You have done me a great service by recovering my horse.You would do me a greater still if you could lay your hands on the murderer of John Straker.”

“I have done so，”said Holmes quietly.

The colonel and I stared at him in amazement.“You have got him！Where is he,then？”

“He is here.”

“Here！Where？”

“In my company at the present moment.”

The colonel flushed angrily.“I quite recognize that I am under obligations to you,Mr.Holmes，”said he，“but I must regard what you have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult.”

Sherlock Holmes laughed.“I assure you that I have not as sociated you with the crime,Colonel，”said he.“The real murderer is standing immediately behind you.”He stepped past and laid his hand upon the glossy neck of the thoroughbred.

“The horse！”cried both the colonel and myself.

“Yes,the horse.And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was done in self-defence,and that John Straker was a man who was entirely unworthy of your confidence.But there goes the bell,and as I stand to win a little on this next race,I shall defer a lengthy explanation until a more fitting time.”

We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as we whirled back to London,and I fancy that the journey was a short one to Colonel Ross as well as to myself as we listened to our companion's narrative of the events which had occurred at the Dartmoor training-stables upon that Monday night,and the means by which he had unravelled them.

“I confess，”said he，“that any theories which I had formed from the newspaper reports were entirely erroneous.And yet there were indications there,had they not been overlaid by other details which concealed their true import.I went to Devonshire with the conviction that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit,although,of course,I saw that the evidence against him was by no means complete.It was while I was in the carriage,just as we reached the trainer's house,that the immense significance of the curried mutton occurred to me.You may remember that I was distrait and remained sitting after you had all alighted.I was marvelling in my own mind how I could possibly have overlooked so obvious a clue.”

“I confess，”said the colonel，“that even now I cannot see how it helps us.”

“It was the first link in my chain of reasoning.Powdered opium is by no means tasteless.The flavour is not disagreeable,but it is perceptible.Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the eater would undoubtedly detect it and would probably eat no more.A curry was exactly the medium which would disguise this taste.By no possible supposition could this stranger,Fitzroy Simpson,have caused curry to be served in the trainer's family that night,and it is surely too monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along with powdered opium upon the very night when a dish happened to be served which would disguise the flavour.That isunthinkable.Therefore Simpson becomes eliminated from the case,and our attention centres upon Straker and his wife,the only two people who could have chosen curried mutton for supper that night.The opium was added after the dish was set aside for the stable-boy,for the others had the same for supper with no ill effects.Which of them,then,had access to that dish without the maid seeing them？

“Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance of the silence of the dog,for one true inference invariably suggests others.The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the stables,and yet,though someone had been in and had fetched out a horse,he had not barked enough to arouse the two lads in the loft.Obviously the midnight visi tor was someone whom the dog knew well.

“I was already convinced,or almost convinced,that John Straker went down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out Silver Blaze.For what purpose？For a dishonest one,obviously,or why should he drug his own stable-boy？And yet I was at a loss to know why.There have been cases before now where trainers have made sure of great sums of money by laying against their own horses through agents and then preventing them from winning by fraud.Sometimes it is a pulling jockey.Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means.What was it here？I hoped that the contents of his pockets might help me to form a conclusion.

“And they did so.You cannot have forgotten the singular knife which was found in the dead man's hand,a knife which certainly no sane man would choose for a weapon.It was,as Dr.Watson told us,a form of knife which is used for the most delicate operations known in surgery.And it was to be used for a delicate operation that night.You must know,with your wide experience of turf matters,Colonel Ross,that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of a horse's ham,and to do it subcutaneously,so as to leave absolutely no trace.A horse so treated would develop a slight lameness,which would be put down to a strain in exercise or a touch of rheumatism,but never to foul play.”

“Villain！Scoundrel！”cried the colonel.

“We have here the explanation of why John Straker wished to take thehorse out on to the moor.So spirited a creature would have certainly roused the soundest of sleepers when it felt the prick of the knife.It was absolutely necessary to do it in the open air.”

“I have been blind！”cried the colonel.“Of course that was why he needed the candle and struck the match.”

“Undoubtedly.But in examining his belongings I was fortunate enough to discover not only the method of the crime but even its motives.As a man of the world,Colonel,you know that men do not carry other people's bills about in their pockets.We have most of us quite enough to do to settle our own.I at once concluded that Straker was leading a double life and keeping a second establishment.The nature of the bill showed that there was a lady in the case,and one who had expensive tastes.Liberal as you are with your servants,one can hardly expect that they can buy twenty-guinea walking dresses for their ladies.I questioned Mrs.Straker as to the dress without her knowing it,and,having satisfied myself that it had never reached her,I made a note of the milliner's address and felt that by calling there with Straker's photograph I could easilydispose of the mythical Derbyshire.

“From that time on all was plain.Straker had led out the horse to a hollow where his light would be invisible.Simpson in his flight had dropped his cravat,and Straker had picked it up-with some idea,perhaps,that he might use it in securing the horse's leg.Once in the hollow,he had got behind the horse and had struck a light；but the creature,frightened at the sudfden glare,and with the strange instinct of animals feeling that some mischief was intended,had lashed out,and the steel shoe had struck Straker full on the forehead.He had already,in spite of the rain,taken off his overcoat in order to do his delicate task,and so,as he fell,his knife gashed his thigh.Do I make it clear？”

“Wonderful！”cried the colonel.“Wonderful！You might have been there！”

“My final shot was,I confess,a very long one.It struck me that so astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate tendon-nicking without a little practice.What could he practise on？My eyes fell upon thesheep,and I asked a question which,rather to my surprise,showed that my surmise was correct.

“When I returned to London I called upon the milliner,who had recognized Straker as an excellent customer of the name of Derbyshire,who had a very dashing wife,with a strong partiality for expensive dresses.I have no doubt that this woman had plunged him over head and ears in debt,and so led him into this miserable plot.”

“You have explained all but one thing，”cried the colonel.“Where was the horse？”

“Ah,it bolted,and was cared for by one of your neighbours.We must have an amnesty in that direction,I think.This is Clapham Junction,if I am not mistaken,and we shall be in Victoria in less than ten minutes.If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms,Colonel,I shall be happy to give you any other details which might interest you.”黄脸人/The Yellow Face导读

一天，福尔摩斯和华生散步回来，童仆告诉他们有位先生已经等了半小时，刚刚还在屋里不停地走动，现在出去了。一会儿，那位先生还要再来。

他们走进房间看到那人忘在那里的烟斗。福尔摩斯看着这个两次用银箍修补过的带着琥珀烟嘴的烟斗，说此人非常珍视自己的烟斗。他抽八便士一盎司的烟，说明他不在乎钱。根据烟斗烧焦的痕迹，看出他习惯在油灯或煤气灯上点烟，并是个习惯用左手的人，从烟嘴上的牙痕可以看出他牙齿很好。

这时，楼梯上传来脚步声，一会儿，进来了一个三十多岁穿着很讲究的人。他对自己没敲门进来感到不好意思，随后便坐到椅子上。他告诉福尔摩斯自己需要福尔摩斯帮忙，是关于自己妻子的。“格兰孟罗先生——”福尔摩斯还没说完，他跳起来叫道：“你怎么知道我的名字！”

福尔摩斯告诉他自己是从他帽子衬里上看到的。

孟罗先生告诉福尔摩斯自己和妻子艾菲已结婚三年，这三年她对自己真是一心一意。她今年二十五岁，从小是在美国亚太兰长大的，后来嫁给了希布隆律师，并有一个女儿，她丈夫和女儿在一次黄热病中去世，她带着四千五百英镑的资金回到英国，半年后他们结了婚。

孟罗先生是做蛇麻草生意的，每年有七，八百英镑的收入。他们在北堡租了一套年租金八十英镑的房子，除了前面有一套空的别墅外，附近没有其他人家。

结婚时，妻子不顾孟罗先生反对，将全部财产归于他名下。在六个星期前，她向孟罗先生要了一百英镑，并说以后会对他解释的，他也没再问。

上礼拜的一个傍晚，孟罗先生散步时发现，前面的别墅里来了一户人家，他走近看到一张青白色的脸正在楼上窗口看自己，随后突然消失了。他在那里停留了有五分钟时间，后来走到门口敲了敲门，一个高个子瘦女人开了门，他问他们是否需要帮助，女人冷冷地拒绝了，并把门关上了。

那晚他听到房内有动静，发现妻子正在穿衣服，看到她很紧张的样子出了房间，他看了一下表是三点钟。大约有二十分钟，她回来了。孟罗先生问她到哪里去了，她吓了一跳，她的手在发抖。她说自己感觉很闷，到外面吸了点新鲜空气。但可以明显看出她说的不是实话。

第二天，孟罗先生去城里办事，回来已经一点钟了。看到妻子从别墅的门里出来，她看到他时，脸色苍白，说是来看新邻居有什么需要帮忙的。

这之后，孟罗先生在家待了两天。第三天他去城里，提前坐火车回来了。女仆告诉他他妻子出去散步了，还不由得朝那幢别墅看了一眼。他冲了出去，看到妻子和女仆回来。孟罗先生到了那里，直接推开了那里的房门，里面没人。在一个雅致的房间里，壁炉上方挂着他妻子的照片。

福尔摩斯又问了孟罗先生一些问题，他说自己不能确定窗口的脸是男人还是女人，而妻子是近两个月前拿走的一百英镑，火灾中她的文件都被烧毁了。她是火灾后要了一份死亡证明书，她从没收到过从美国来的信，也从未提出过想去美国看一下的要求。

福尔摩斯让他回去，告诉他如发现别墅里面有人，不能强行进入，发个电报过来就行了。

送走孟罗先生之后，福尔摩斯分析说这个女人遭到了前夫的敲诈，她在美国结了婚，丈夫是个某种病的患者。于是她脱离了他，并伪造了假的死亡证明，回来后又结了婚。后被她前夫或与前夫有瓜葛的女人发现，写信要挟要揭穿她。于是她要了一百英镑想收买他们，但没成功，后来他们又住进了附近的别墅。她想劝说他们让自己过平静生活，但没成功，又被丈夫碰到两次，最后一次当丈夫直接进入别墅时，他们从后门躲到了外面的树林里，但今晚去里面肯定有人。

这时，他们收到孟罗的电报，并说今晚七点在火车站接他们。到车站时，孟罗已在等他们。他决定今晚要直接闯进去，让福尔摩斯和华生两个给他作个证人。

他们直接来到那幢别墅前，院子大门并未关上。这时，孟罗的妻子从黑影里出来，拦住孟罗让他相信自己。孟罗推开她走了进去，里面的老女人试图阻拦也被推开了，他们很快来到亮着灯的房间。

一个穿着红外套的女孩脸朝里坐在桌旁，当她转过身时，露出一个奇异的脸，福尔摩斯过去揭下面具，一个黑女孩露了出来。孟罗惊奇万分，不知道发生了什么。这时，他的妻子过来告诉他自己的丈夫死了，但她的孩子活了下来。

她把挂在胸前的银坠子打开，露出一个非常俊美的非洲血统的男子头像。妻子这才告诉他她和前夫结婚后生了女儿露西，她继承了父亲的血统，当时她的健康状况不允许迁动，便让忠心的苏格兰女仆照顾，而自己从没想遗弃她。遇到孟罗之后她怕失去他，才没有提孩子。

后来她知道孩子很好，便给她们寄了一百英镑。告诉她们这里有一幢别墅，让她们白天不要出来，并给孩子带上了面罩。当听说别墅有人时，激动得当晚就去了。

孟罗沉默了一会儿，抱起孩子亲吻了一下，拉着妻子回家去了。

福尔摩斯告诉华生，以后每当发现他再过分自信时，请他对自己说北堡。n publishing these short sketches based upon the numerouscases in which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners Ito,and eventually the actors in,some strange drama,it is only natural that I should dwell rather upon his successes than upon his failures.And this not so much for the sake of his reputation-for,indeed,it was when he was at his wit's end that his energy and his versatility were most admirable-but because where he failed it happened too often that no one else succeeded,and that the tale was left forever without a conclusion.Now and again,however,it chanced that even when he erred the troth was still discovered.I have notes of some half-dozen cases of the kind；the adventure of theMusgrave Ritual and that which I am about to recount are the two which present the strongest features of interest.

Sherlock holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's sake.Few men were capable of greater muscular effort,and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen；but he looked upon aimless bodily exertion as a waste of energy,and he seldom bestirred himself save where there was some professional object to be served.Then he was absolutely untiring and indefatigable.That he should have kept himself in training under such circumstances is remarkable,but his diet was usually of the sparest,and his habits were simple to the verge of austerity.Save for the occasional use of cocaine,he had no vices,and he only turned to the drug as a protest against the monotony of existence when cases were scanty and the papers uninteresting.

One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the Park,where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms,and the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves.For two hours we rambled about together,in silence for the most part,as befits two men who know each other intimately.It was nearly five before we were back in Baker Street once more.

“Beg pardon,sir，”said our page-boy as he opened the door.“There's been a gentleman here asking for you,sir.”

Holmes glanced reproachfully at me.“So much for afternoon walks！”said he.“Has this gentleman gone,then？”

“Yes,sir.”

“Didn't you ask him in？”

“Yes,sir,he came in.”

“How long did he wait？”

“Half an hour,sir.He was a very restless gentleman,sir,a-walkin'and astampin'all the time he was here.I was waitin'outside the door,sir,and I could hear him.At last he outs into the passage,and he cries，‘Is that man never goin'to come？'Those were his very words,sir.‘You’ll only need to wait a little longer，’says I.‘Then I’11 wait in the open air,for I feel halfchoked，’says he.‘I’11 be back before long.’And with that he ups and he outs,and all I could say wouldn’t hold him back.”

“Well,well,you did your best，”said Holmes as we walked into our room.“It's very annoying,though,Watson.I was badly in need of a case,and this looks,from the man's impatience,as if it were of importance.Hullo！that's not your pipe on the table.He must have left his behind him.A nice old brier with a good long stem of what the tobacconists call amber.I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces there are in London？Some people think that a fly in it is a sign.Well,he must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a pipe behind him which he evidently values highly.”

“How do you know that he values it highly？”I asked.

“Well,I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and sixpence.Now it has,you see,been twice mended,once in the wooden stem and once in the amber.Each of these mends,done,as you observe,with silver bands,must have cost more than the pipe did originally.The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money.”

“Anything else？”I asked,for Holmes was turning the pipe about in his hand and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way.

He held it up and tapped on it with his long,thin forefinger,as a professor might who was lecturing on a bone.

“Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest，”said he.“Nothing has more individuality,save perhaps watches and bootlaces.The indications here,however,are neither very marked nor very important.The owner is obviously a muscular man,left-handed,with an excellent set of teeth,careless in his habits,and with no need to practise economy.”

My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way,but I saw that he cocked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.

“You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a sevenshilling pipe？”said I.

“This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce，”Holmes answered,knocking a little out on his palm.“As he might get an excellent smoke for half the price,he has no need to practise economy.”

“And the other points？”

“He has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas-jets.You can see that it is quite charred all down one side.Of course a match could not have done that.Why should a man hold a match to the side of his pipe？But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting the bowl charred.And it is all on the right side of the pipe.From that I gather that he is a lefthanded man.You hold your own pipe to the lamp and see how naturally you,being right-handed,hold the left side to the flame.You might do it once the other way,but not as a constancy.This has always been held so.Then he has bitten through his amber.It takes a muscular,energetic fellow,and one with a good set of teeth,to do that.But if I am not mlstaken I hear him upon the stair,so we shall have something more interesting than his pipe to study.”

An instant later our door opened,and a tall young man entered the room.He was well but quietly dressed in a dark gray suit and carried a brown wideawake in his hand.I should have put him at about thirty,though he was really some years older.

“I beg your pardon，”said he with some embarrassment，“l suppose I should have knocked.Yes,of course I should have knocked.The fact is that I am a little upset,and you must put it all down to that.”He passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is half dazed,and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair.

“I can see that you have not slept for a night or two，”said Holmes in his easy,genial way.“That tries a man's nerves more than work,and more even than pleasure.May I ask how I can help you？”

“I wanted you advice,sir.I don't know what to do,and my whole life seems to have gone to pieces.”

“You wish to employ me as a consulting detective？”

“Not that only.I want your opinion as a judicious man-as a man of the world.I want to know what I ought to do next.I hope to God you'll be able to tell me.”

He spoke in little,sharp,jerky outbursts,and it seemed to me that to speak at all was very painful to him,and that his will all through wasoverriding his inclinations.

“It's a very delicate thing，”said he.“One does not like to speak of one's domestic affairs to strangers.It seems dreadful to discuss the conduct of one's wife with two men whom I have never seen before.It's horrible to have to do it.But I've got to the end of my tether,and I must have advice.”

“My dear Mr.Grant Munro——”began Holmes.

Our visitor sprang from his chair.“What！”he cried，“you know my name？”

“If you wish to preserve your incognito，”said Holmes,smiling，“I would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining of your hat,or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom you are addressing.I was about to say that my friend and I have listened to a good many strange secrets in this room,and that we have had the good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls.I trust that we may do as much for you.Might I beg you,as time may prove to be of importance,to furnish me with the facts of your case without further delay？”

Our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead,as if he found it bitterly hard.From every gesture and expression I could see that he was a reserved,self-contained man,with a dash of pride in his nature,more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them.Then suddenly,with a fierce gesture of his closed hand,like one who throws reserve to the winds,he began：

“The facts are these,Mr.Holmes，”said he.“I am a married man and have been so for three years.During that time my wife and I have loved each other as fondly and lived as happily as any two that ever were joined.We have not had a difference,not one,in thought or word or deed.And now,since last Monday,there has suddenly sprung up a barrier between us,and I find that there is something in her life and in her thoughts of which I know as little as if she were the woman who brushes by me in the street.We are estranged,and I want to know why.

“Now there is one thing that I want to impress upon you before I go any further,Mr.Holmes.Effie loves me.Don't let there be any mistakeabout that.She loves me with her whole heart and soul,and never more than now.I know it.I feel it.I don't want to argue about that.A man can tell easily enough when a woman loves him.But there's this secret between us,and we can never be the same until it is cleared.”

“Kindly let me have the facts,Mr.Munro，”said Holmes with some impatience.

“I'll tell you what I know about Effie's history.She was a widow when I met her first,though quite young-only twentyfive.Her name then was Mrs.Hebron.She went out to America when she was young and lived in the town of Atlanta,where she married this Hebron,who was a lawyer with a good practice.They had one child,but the yellow fever broke out badly in the place,and both husband and child died of it.I have seen his death certificate.This sickened her of America,and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner,in Middlesex.I may mention that her husband had left her comfortably off,and that she had a capital of about four thousand five hundred pounds,which had been so well invested by him that it returned an average of seven per cent.She had only been sixmonths at Pinner when I met her；we fell in love with each other,and we married a few weeks afterwards.

“I am a hop merchant myself,and as I have an income of seven or eight hundred,we round ourselves comfortably off and took a nice eighty-pound-a-year villa at Norbury.Our little place was very countrified,considering that it is so close to town.We had an inn and two houses a little above us,and a single cottage at the other side of the field which faces us,and except those there were no houses until you got halfway to the station.My business took me into town at certain seasons,but in summer I had less to do,and then in our country home my wife and I were just as happy as could be wished.I tell you that there never was a shadow between us until this accursed affair began.

“There's one thing I ought to tell you before I go further.When we married,my wife made over all her property to me-rather against my will,for I saw how awkward it would be if my business affairs went wrong.However,she would have it so,and it was done.Well,about six weeks agoshe came to me.

“‘Jack，'said she，‘when you took my money you said that if ever I wanted any I was to ask you for it.'

“‘Certainly，'said I.‘It's all your own.'

“‘Well，'said she，‘I want a hundred pounds.'

“I was a bit staggered at this,for I had imagined it was simply a new dress or something of the kind that she was after.

“‘What on earth for？'I asked.

“‘Oh，‘said she in her playful way，‘you said that you were only my banker,and bankers never ask questions,you know.'

“‘If you really mean it,of course you shall have the money，'said I.

“‘Oh,yes,I really mean it.'

“‘And you won't tell me what you want it for？'

“‘Some day,perhaps,but not just at present,Jack.'

“So I had to be content with that,though it was the first time that there had ever been any secret between us.I gave her a check,and I never thought any more of the matter.It may have nothing to do with what came afterwards,but I thought it only right to mention it.

“Well,I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from our house.There is just a field between us,but to reach it you have to go along the road and then turn down a lane.Just beyond it is a nice little grove of Scotch firs,and I used to be very fond of strolling down there,for trees are always a neighbourly kind of thing.The cottage had been standing empty this eight months,and it was a pity,for it was a pretty two-storied place,with an old-fashioned porch and a honeysuckle about it.I have stood many a time and thought what a neat little homestead it would make.

“Well,last Monday evening I was taking a stroll down that way when I met an empty van coming up the lane and saw a pile of carpets and things lying about on the grass-plot beside the porch.It was clear that the cottage had at last been let.I walked past it,and then stopping,as an idle man might,I ran my eye over it and wondered what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us.And as I looked I suddenly became aware that a face was watching me out of one of the upper windows.

“I don't know what there was about that face,Mr.Holmes,but it seemed to send a chill right down my back.I was some little way off,so that I could not make out the features,but there was something unnatural and inhuman about the face.That was the impression that I had,and I moved quickly forward to get a nearer view of the person who was waching me.But as I did so the face suddenly disappeared,so suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the darkness of the room.I stood for five minutes thinking the business over and trying to analyze my impressions.I could not tell if the face was that of a man or a woman.It had been too far from me for that.But its colour was what had impressed me most.It was of a livid chalky white,and with something set and rigid about it which was shockingly unnatural.so disturbed was I that I determined to see a little more of the new inmates of the cottage.I approached and knocked at the door,which was instantly opened by a tall,gaunt woman with a harsh,forbidding face.

“‘What may you be wantin'？'she asked in a Northern accent.

“I am your neighbour over yonder，'said I,nodding towards my house.I see that you,have only just moved in,so I thought that if I could be of'any help to you in any——'

“‘Ay.We'll just ask ye when we want ye，'said she,and shut the door in my face.Annoyed at the churlish rebuff,I turned my back and walked home.All evening,though I tried to think of other things,my mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the rudeness of the woman.I determined to say nothing about the former to my wife,for she is a nervous,highly strung woman,and I had no wish that she should share the unpleasant impression which had been produced upon myself.I remarked to her,however,before I fell asleep,that the cottage was now occupied,to which she returned no reply.

“I am usually an extremely sound sleeper.It has been a standing jest in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night.And yet somehow on that particular night,whether it may have been the slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not I know not,but I slept much more lightly than usual.Half in my dreams I was dimly consciousthat something was going on in the room,and gradually became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was slipping on her mantle and her bonnet.My lips were parted to murmur out some sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this untimely preparation,when suddenly my half-opened eyes fell upon her face,illuminated by the candle-light,and astonishment held me dumb.She wore an expression such as I had never seen before-such as I should have thought her incapable of assuming.She was deadly pale and breathing fast,glancing furtively towards the bed as she fastened her mantle to see if she had disturbed me.Then,thinking that I was still asleep,she slipped noiselessly from the room,and an instant later I heard a sharp creaking which could only come from the hinges of the front door.I sat up in bed and rapped my knuckles against the rail to make certain that I was truly awake.Then I took my watch from under the pillow.It was three in the morning.What on this earth could my wife be doing out on the country road at three in the morning？

“I had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in my mind and trying to find some possible explanation.The more I thought,the more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear.I was still puzzling over it when I heard the door gently close again,and her footsteps coming up the stairs.

“‘Where in the world have you been,Effie？'I asked as she entered.

“She gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke,and that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest,for there was something indescribably guilty about them.My wife had always been a woman of a frank,open nature,and it gave me a chill to see her slinking into her own room and crying out and wincing when her own husband spoke to her.

“‘You awake,Jack！'she cried with a nervous laugh.‘Why,I thought that nothing could awake you.'

“‘Where have you been？'I asked,more sternly.

“‘I don't wonder that you are surprised，'said she,and I could see that her fingers were trembling as she undid the fastenings of her mantle.‘Why,I never remember having done such a thing in my life before.The fact isthat I felt as though I were choking and had a perfect longing for a breath of fresh air.I really think that I should have fainted if I had not gone out.I stood at the door for a few minutes,and now I am quite myself again.'

“All the time that she was telling me this story she never once looked in my direction,and her voice was quite unlike her usual tones.It was evident to me that she was saying what was false.I said nothing in reply,but turned my face to the wall,sick at heart,with my mind filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions.What was it that my wife was concealing from me？Where had she been during that.strange expedition？I felt that I should have no peace until I knew,and yet I shrank from asking her again after once she had told me what was false.All the rest of the night I tosed and tumbled,framing theory after theory,each more unlikely than the last.

“I should have gone to the City that day,but 1 was too disturbed in my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters.My wife seemed to be as upset as myself,and I could see from the little questioning glances which she kept shooting at.me that she understood that I disbelieved her statement,and that she was at her wit's end what to do.We hardly exchanged a word during breakfast,and immediately afterwards I went out for a walk that I might think the matter out in the fresh morning air.

“I went as far as the Crystal Palace,spent an hour in the grounds,and was back in Norbury by one o'clock.It happened that my way took me past the cottage,and I stopped for an instant to look at the windows and to see if I could catch a glimpse of the strange face which had looked out at me on the day before.As I stood there,imagine my surprise,Mr.Holmes,when the door suddenly opened and my wife walked out.

“I was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her,but my emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her face when our eyes met.She seemed for an instant to wish to shrink back inside the house again；and then,seeing how useless all concealment must be,she came forward,with a very white face and frightened eyes which belied the smile upon her lips.

“‘Ah,Jack，'she said，‘I have just been in to see if I can be of anyassistance to our new neighbours.Why do you look at me like that,Jack？You are not angry with me？'

“‘So，'said I，‘this is where you went during the night.'

“‘What do you mean？'she cried.

“‘You came here.I am sure of it.Who are these people that you should visit them at such an hour？'

“‘I have not been here before.'

“‘How can you tell me what you know is false？'I cried.‘Your very voice changes as you speak.When have I ever had a secret from you？I shall enter that cottage,and I shall probe the matter to the bottom.'

“‘No,no,Jack,for God's sake！'she gasped in uncontrollable emotion.Then,as I approached the door,she seized my sleeve and pulled me back with convulsive strength.

“‘I implore you not to do this,Jack，'she cried.‘I swear that I will tell you everything some day,but nothing but misery can come of it if you enter that cottage.'Then,as I tried to shake her off,she clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty.

“‘Trust me,Jack！'she cried.‘Trust me only this once.You will never have cause to regret it.You know that I would not have a secret from you if it were not for your own sake.Our whole lives are at stake in this.If you come home with me all will be well.If you force your way into that cottage all is over between us.'

“There was such earnestness,such despair,in her manner that her words arrested me,and I stood irresolute before the door.

“‘I will trust you on one condition,and on one condition only，'said I at last.‘It is that this mystery comes to an end from now.You are at liberty to preserve your secret,but you must promise me that there shall be no more nightly visits,no more doings which are kept from my knowledge.I am willing to forget those which are past if you will promise that there shall be no more in the future.'

“‘I was sure that you would trust me，'she cried with a great sigh of relief.‘It shall be just as you wish.Come away-oh,come away up to the house.'

“Still pulling at my sleeve,she led me away from the cottage.As we went I glanced back,and there was that yellow livid face watching us out of the upper window.What link could there be between that creature and my wife？Or how could the coarse,rough woman whom I had seen the day before be connected with her？It was a strange puzzle,and yet I Knew that my mind could never know ease again until I had solved it.

“For two days after this I stayed at home,and my wife appeared to abide loyally by our engagement,for,as far as I know,she never stirred out of the house.On the third day,however,I had ample evidence that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from this.secret influence which drew her away from her husband and her duty.

“I had gone into town on that day,but I returned by the 2：40 instead of the 3：36，which is my usual train.As I entered the house the maid ran into the hall with a startled face.

“‘Where is your mistress？'I asked.

“‘I think that she has gone out for a walk，'she answered.

“My mind was instantly filled with suspicion.I rushed upstairs to make sure that she was not in the house.As I did so I happened to glance out of one of the upper windows and saw the maid with whom I had just been speaking running across the field in the direction of the cottage.Then of course I saw exactly what it all meant.My wife had gone over there and had asked the servant to call her if I should return.Tingling with anger,I rushed down and hurried across,determined to end the matter once and forever,I saw my wife and the maid hurrying back along the lane,but I did not stop to speak with them.In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over my life.I vowed that,come what might,it should be a secret no longer.I did not even knock when I reached it,but turned the handle and rushed into the passage.

“It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor.In the kitchen a kettle was singing on the fire,and a large black cat lay coiled up in the basket；but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen before.I ran into the other room,but it was equally deserted.Then I rushed up the stairs only to find two other rooms empty and deserted at the top.There was no one atall in the whole house.The furniture and pictures were of the most common and vulgar description,save in the one chamber at the window of which I had seen the strange face.That was comfortable and elegant,and all my suspicions rose into a fierce,bitter flame when I saw that on the mantelpiece stood a copy of a full-length photograph of my wife,which had been taken at my request only three months ago.

“I stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely empty.Then I left it,feeling a weight at my heart such as I had never had before.My wife came out into the hall as I entered my house；but I was too hurt and angry to speak with her,and,pushing past her,I made my way into my study.She followed me,however,before I could close the door.

“‘I am sorry that I broke my promise,Jack，'said she，‘but if you knew all the circumstances I am sure that you would forgive me.'

“‘Tell me everything,then，'said I.

“‘I cannot,Jack,I cannot，'she cried.

“‘Until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage,and who it is to whom you have given that photograph,there can never be any confidence between us，'said I,and breaking away from her,I left the house.That was yesterday,Mr.Holmes,and I have not seen her since,nor do I know anything more about this strange business.It is the first shadow that has come between us,and it has so shaken me that I do not know what I should do for the best.Suddenly this morning it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me,so I have hurried to you now,and I place myself unreservedly in your hands.If there is any point which I have not made clear,pray question me about it.But,above all,tell me quickly what I am to do,for this misery is more than I can bear.”

Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinary statement,which had been delivered in the jerky,broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme emotion.My companion sat silent now for some time,with his chin upon his hand,lost in thought.

“Tell me，”said he at last，“could you swear that this was a man's face which you saw at the window？”

“Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it,so that it is impossible for me to say.”

“You appear,however,to have been disagreeably impressed by it.”

“It seemed to be of an unusual colour and to have a strange rigidity about the features.When I approached it vanished with a jerk.”

“How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds？”

“Nearly two months.”

“Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband？”

“No,there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death,and all her papers were destroyed.”

“And yet she had a certificate of death.You say that you saw it.”

“Yes,she got a duplicate after the fire.”

“Did you ever meet anyone who knew her in America？”

“No.”

“Did she ever talk of revisiting the place？”

“No.”

“Or get letters from it？”

“No.”

“Thank you.I should like to think over the matter a little now.If the cottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty.If,on the other hand,as I fancy is more likely,the inmates were warned of your coming and left before you entered yesterday,then they may be back now,and we should clear it all up easily.Let me advise you,then,to return to Norbury and to examine the windows of the cottage again.If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited,do not force your way in,but send a wire to my friend and me.We shall be with you within an hour of receiving it,and we shall then very soon get to the bottom of the business.”

“And if it is still empty？”

“In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with you.Good-bye,and,above all,do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it.”

“I am afraid that this is a bad business,Watson，”said my companionas he returned after accompanying Mr.Grant Munro to the door.“What do you make of it？”

“It had an ugly sound，”I answered.

“Yes.There's blackmail in it,or I am much mistaken.”

“And who is the blackmailer？”

“Well,it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable room in the place and has her photograph above his fireplace.Upon my word,Watson,there is something very attractive about that livid face at the window,and I would not have missed the case for worlds.”

“You have a theory？”

“Yes,a provisional one.But I shall be surprised if it does not turn out to be correct.This woman's first husband is in that cottage.”

“Why do you think so？”

“How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one should not enter it？The facts,as I read them,are something like this：This woman was married in America.Her husband developed some hateful qualities,or shall we say he contracted some loathsome disease and became a leper or an imbecile？She flies from him at last,returns to England,changes hername,and starts her life,as she thinks,afresh.She has been married three years and believes that her position is quite secure,having shown her husband the death certificate of some man whose name she has assumed,when suddenly her whereabouts is discovered by her first husband,or,we may suppose,by some unscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid.They write to the wife and threaten to come and expose her.She asks for a hundred pounds and endeavours to buy them off.They come in spite of it,and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that there are newcomers in the cottage,she knows in some way that they are her pursuers.She waits until her husband is asleep,and then she rushes down to endeavour to persuade them to leave her in peace.Having no success,she goes again next morning,and her husband meets her,as he has told us,as she comes out.She promises him then not to go there again,but two days afterwards the hope of getting rid of those dreadful neighbours was too strong for her,and she made another attempt,taking down with her the photograph which had probably been demanded from her.In the midst of this interview the maid rushed in to say that the master had come home,on which the wife,knowing that he would come straight down to the cottage,hurried the inmates out at the back door,into the grove of firtrees,probably,which was mentioned as standing near.In this way he found the place deserted.I shall be very much surprised,however,if it is still so when he reconnoitres it this evening.What do you think of my theory？”

“It is all surmise.”

“But at least it covers all the facts.When new facts come to our knowledge which cannot be covered by it,it will be time enough to reconsider it.We can do nothing more until we have a message from our friend at Norbury.”

But we had not a very long time to wait for that.It came just as we had finished our tea.

The cottage is still tenanted[it said].Have seen the face again at the window.Will meet the seven-o'clock train and will take no steps until you arrive.

He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out,and we could see in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale,and quivering with agitation.

“They are still there,Mr.Holmes”said he,laying his hand hard upon my friend's sleeve.“I saw lights in the cottage as I came down.We shall settle it now once and for all.”

“What is your plan,then？”asked Holmes as he walked down the dark tree-lined road.

“I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the house.I wish you both to be there as witnesses.”

“You are quite determined to do this in spite of your wife's warning that it is better that you should not solve the mystery？”

“Yes,I am determined.”

“Well,I think that you are in the right.Any truth is better than indefinite doubt.We had better go up at once.Of course,legally,we areputting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong；but I think that it is worth it.”

It was a very dark night,and a thin rain began to fall as we turned from the high road into a narrow lane,deeply rutted,with hedges on either side.Mr.Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward,however,and we stumbled after him as best we could.

“There are the lights of my house，”he murmured,pointing to a glimmer among the trees.“And here is the cottage which I am going to enter.”

We turned a comer in the lane as he spoke,and there was the building close beside us.A yellow bar falling across the black foreground showed that the door was not quite closed,and one window in the upper story was brightly illuminated.As we looked,we saw a dark blur moving across the blind.

“There is that creature！”cried Grant Munro.“You can see for yourselves that someone is there.Now follow me,and we shall soon know all.”

We approached the door,but suddenly a woman appeared out of the shadow and stood in the golden track of the lamplight.I could not see her face in the darkness,but her arms were thrown out in an attitude of entreaty.

“For God's sake,don't,Jack！”she cried.“I had a presentiment that you would come this evening.Think better of it,dear！Trust me again,and you will never have cause to regret it.”

“I have trusted you too long,Effie，”he cried sternly.“Leave go of me！I must pass you.My friends and I are going to settle this matter once and forever！”He pushed her to one side,and we followed closely after him.As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front of him and tried to bar his passage,but he thrust her back,and an instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs.Grant Munro rushed into the lighted room at the top,and we entered at his heels.

It was a cosy,well-furnished apartment,with two candles burning upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece.In the corner,stooping over a desk,there sat what appeared to be a little girl.Her face was turned awayas we entered,but we could see that she was dressed in a red frock,and that she had long white gloves on.As she whisked round to us,I gave a cry of surprise and horror.The face which she turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint,and the features were absolutely devoid of any expression.An instant later the mystery was explained.Holmes,with a laugh,passed his hand behind the child's ear,a mask peeled off from her countenance,and there was a little coal-black negress,with all her white teeth flashing in amusement at our amazed faces.I burst out laughing,out of sympathy with her merriment；but Grant Munro stood staring,with his hand clutching his throat.

“My God！”he cried.“What can be the meaning of this？”

“I will tell you the meaning of it，”cried the lady,sweeping into the room with a proud,set face.“You have forced me,against my own judgment,to tell you,and now we must both make the best of it.My husband died at Atlanta.My child survived.”

“Your child？”

She drew a large silver locket from her bosom.“You have never seen this open.”

“I understood that it did not open.”

She touched a spring,and the front hinged back.There was a portrait within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent looking,but bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.

“That is John Hebron,of Atlanta”said the lady，“and a nobler man never walked the earth.I cut myself off from my race in order to wed him,but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it.It was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather than mine.It is often so in such matches,and little Lucy is darker far than ever her father was.But dark or fair,she is my own dear little girlie,and her mother's pet.”The little creature ran across at the words and nestled up against the lady's dress.“When I left her in America”she continued，“it was only because her health was weak,and the change might have done her harm.She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant.Never for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child.But when chance threw you in my way,Jack,and I learned to love you,I feared to tell you about my child.God forgive me,I feared that I should lose you,and I had not the courage to tell you.I had to choose between you,and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl.For three years I have kept her ex istence a secret from you,but I heard from the nurse,and I knew that all was well withher.At last,however,there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more.I struggled against it,but in vain.Though I knew the danger,I determined to have the child over,if it were but for a few weeks.I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse,and I gave her instructions about this cottage,so that she might come as a neighbour,without my appearing to be in any way connected with her.I pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the daytime,and to cover up her little face and hands so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighbourhood.If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise,but I was half crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.

“It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied.I should have waited for the morning,but I could not sleep for excitement,and so at last I slipped out,knowing how difficult it is to awake you.But you saw me go,and that was the beginning of my troubles.Next day you had my secret at your mercy,but you nobly refrained from pursuing your advantage.Three days later,however,the nurse and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at the front one.And now tonight you at last know all,and I ask you what is to become of us,my child and me？”She clasped her hands and waited for an answer.

It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence,and when his answer came it was one of which I love to think.He lifted the little child,kissed her,and then,still carrying her,he held his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.

“We can talk it over more comfortably at home，”said he.“I am not a very good man,Effie,but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being.”

Holmes and I followed them down the lane,and my friend plucked at my sleeve as we came out.

“I think”said he，“that we shall be of more use in London than in Norbury.”

Not another word did he say of the case until late that night,when he was turning away,with his lighted candle,for his bedroom.

“Watson，”said he，“if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little overconfident in my powers,or giving less pains to a case than it deserves,kindly whisper‘Norbury'in my ear,and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.”证券交易所职员/The Stock-Broker’s Clerk导读

华生结婚后，买了潘丁顿区联排别墅中的一幢。房主原来也是开诊所的，但由于年龄大、身体欠佳而导致生意不好，便把房子转让了。

六月的一个早晨，早餐后，华生正在那里看《英国医药专刊》，门铃响起，福尔摩斯先生来访。当他俩谈起华生收集的案例时，福尔摩斯问华生，对今天去伯明翰有没有兴趣，华生表示愿意去，只要把自己的诊所交给也是开诊所的邻居照管就行。

福尔摩斯说华生的身体不好，问他现在怎样，华生说已经好了，并奇怪福尔摩斯是怎么看出来的。福尔摩斯告诉华生自己看华生穿着一双新拖鞋商标还没掉，可鞋底有烧焦的痕迹。如果鞋子湿了的话，商标一定会掉。所以应该是脚伸到火上烤造成的，而一个健康的人是不会在六月天这样做的。

华生恍然大悟，于是他给邻居写了个字条，并上楼告诉了太太，然后到门口与福尔摩斯会合。福尔摩斯向华生介绍了委托人豪派夸福特，华生看他戴着丝质礼帽，一身整洁的黑西装，看起来是一个精明的人。

他们坐进头等车厢后，福尔摩斯让派夸福特将他的经历又讲了一遍。

豪原来在考克森及伍德豪斯公司工作，今年春天公司倒闭了。虽然老板为他写了很好的推荐信，但一直没找到工作。

后来，他应聘毛森及威廉姆斯大证券行，得到了回信，让他星期一去面试。那天傍晚，房东太太拿着“亚瑟宾那财务代理人”的名片进来。他没听说过这个人，但还是让那人进来了。来的是一个头发、眼睛和胡子都是黑色的中年人。

来人对他的情况很了解，并说以前考克森的经理派克经常夸豪，还对他目前对市场了解的情况进行了考察。亚瑟觉得豪在毛森做办事员太委屈了，劝他别去毛森，去就任法国中部五金有限公司业务经理，公司下设一百三十四个分行，还不包括在布鲁塞尔和圣诺模的分行。豪说没听说过这个公司，来人说这个公司一直保持低调，哥哥哈里宾那为创始人，自己也加入了董事会，哥哥让自己找一个薪水低又有能力的人，派克先生提到了豪，他便来了。但他们现在只能给他五百英镑一年，另带有百分之一的佣金。

那人给了豪一百英镑，作为预支的薪水，并让他明天到伯明翰科波莱街一百二十六号B座公司的临时办公室找他哥哥，并给他一封交给他哥哥的信，还让他写了一个愿意出任这家公司经理的声明。最后亚瑟让豪不要去辞退毛森的工作，由自己去帮他解决，豪答应了。

第二天豪很早来到伯明翰，把东西送到了旅馆，然后来到一百二十六号B座，它是在两个商店中间的巷道内，那座房子被隔成了许多小间，供人租用。底下的墙上写着租用人的名字，但没亚瑟说的这个公司。

这时，过来一个人和他头天见的亚瑟一模一样，只是没有胡子而头发颜色也稍浅些，他自称自己是哈里宾那。核准了豪的身份，那人解释说，房子是上星期才租的，公司名字还没写上。说着他们便顺着楼梯来到顶层，有两间布满灰尘的小房间。里面只有两把椅子和一张小桌子、一个账本和一个纸篓。

豪把信交给了哈里，哈里说他被录用了。以后负责巴黎的仓库，将英国运来的陶器分送到法国的一百三十四家代理商，现在的工作是将巴黎商业名人录有关五金销售者的名字写下来，星期一中午交给他。

豪对公司的印象很坏，但想到已经拿到钱，便开始工作。星期日写了一天，到星期一他只写到H。中午他在那间房里找到了雇主，哈里让他继续做。一直到昨天星期五，才做完全部的工作。

哈里又让他抄写一份卖陶器的家具店名录。他发现哈里和他弟弟一样，左边第二颗牙镶有金牙。他想弟兄俩可以长得很像，但在同一部位镶同样的牙却不能理解，他感觉他们是同一个人。可对他们的做法感到不理解。豪希望福尔摩斯能跟他去伯明翰。

福尔摩斯表示会和华生以找工作的名义去见一下哈里宾那先生。于是，傍晚七点，他们三人走向公司办公室。这时，豪派夸福特发现前面买晚报的就是哈里宾那先生，已经走进办公室楼梯。

他们跟着上到五楼，敲门后进去，看到哈里宾那哭丧着脸，豪介绍说和福尔摩斯他们是朋友，福尔摩斯他们想在公司找个差事。福尔摩斯称自己是会计师，而华生是办事员。哈里情绪有些激动，表示一有结果就会通知他们的，让他们先离开。这时，豪对他说，他们是约好到这里来的。哈里平静了一些，让他们等三分钟，然后从门的另一头过去，关上了门。他们不知道他去里面干什么。

这时，里面传出了声音，等了一会儿，又传出喀喀作响和木头敲击的声音。他们几个便一起把门撞开，发现那人用自己的吊带把自己吊在了里面角落门的钩子上。

他们赶紧把他放下来，进行了抢救，终于使他脱离了危险。豪对让他来这里仍不理解。福尔摩斯告诉他，他们让豪写的声明，是想要

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