Page 320 - 血字的研究·四签名(外研社双语读库) (福尔摩斯探案全集)

harmless tradesman canvassing for orders. We had to pay a
large sum to hush the matter up. My brother and I used to

think this a mere whim of my father's, but events have since
led us to change our opinion."

“可是我们确实知道，有一些秘密——有一些恐怖的事——悬在我

父亲心里。他非常害怕一个人独自出门，长期雇着两个职业拳击手为
本地治里别墅看门。今天为你们赶车的那个威廉斯就是其中一个。他

曾经是英国的轻量级拳击冠军。我们的父亲从来没有告诉过我们他在
怕什么，不过，他对装有木腿的人非常戒备。曾经有一次，他打伤了

一个装木腿的人，后来证实这个人只是一个来谈生意的寻常商人。我
们不得不赔一大笔钱来摆平此事。我和哥哥曾经认为，这只是父亲的

一时冲动，但事情的发展让我们改变了看法。”

"Early in 1882 my father received a letter from India
which was a great shock to him. He nearly fainted at the

breakfast-table when he opened it, and from that day he
sickened to his death. What was in the letter we could never
discover, but I could see as he held it that it was short and
written in a scrawling hand. He had suffered for years from

an enlarged spleen, but he now became rapidly worse, and
towards the end of April we were informed that he was
beyond all hope, and that he wished to make a last
communication to us."

“一八八二年初，他收到了一封从印度寄来的信，那让他十分震
惊。他一打开信，几乎就在早餐桌前晕倒了，从那天起，他就病了，

直到病死。那封信的内容我们不得而知，但父亲拿着信的时候，我看
出信很短，字迹也很潦草。他多年患着脾脏肿大的病，这一下，病情

很快就恶化了，到了四月底，我们被告知他已没有希望了，他要对我
们做最后的交代。”

"When we entered his room he was propped up with
pillows and breathing heavily. He besought us to lock the
door and to come upon either side of the bed. Then
grasping our hands he made a remarkable statement to us