心结网
热门搜索：
- 校园
- 哲理
- 励志
- 爱情
- 生活
- 爱情
- 亲情
- 友情
Later,we went on to Sir Henry's hotel.He was pleased to see us,but rather angry because another of his shoes had disappeared.This time it was one shose of an old pair.I could see that holmes found this both interesting and strange.He thought about it for a few moments,but said nothing ex cept that he did not understand why a second shoe had been stolen.
At lunch,Sir henry told Holmes that he had decided to go to Baskerville Hall.
'I think you have decided to do the right thing,'said Holmes.'I know somebody is following you.If someone tries to harm you in London,it will be hard to stop him or catch him afterwards.In the country we have a better chance.'
Holmes went on to tell them about what we had seen that morning.Then he asked Dr Mortimer if anyone with a large black beard lived in or near Baskerville Hall.
'Yes,said Dr Mortimer,'Barrymore,Sir Charles'butler,has a black heard.'
'We must check whether Barrymore is in London or at Baskerville Hall,'said Holmes.'I shall send a telegram to Bar rymore at the Hall,which will say:“Is everything ready for Sir Henry?”Then I'll send another telegram to the local post of fice.This one will say:“please put telegram to Mr Barrymore into his own hand.If he is away,please return telegram to Sir Henry Baskerville.”I'll give your address at this hotel.We shall know before evening whether Barrymore is in Devonshire or not.'
'Barrymore and his wife have a very fine home and nothing to do while the family is not living in the Hall,'said Sir Henry.
'That's true,'said Holmes.'Did the Barrymores receive anything from Sir Chades'will?And did they know that they would get some money when he died?'
'Yes,'said Dr Mortimer.'They each received￡500,and Sir Charles told everyone what he had written in his will.'
'That's very interesting,'said Holmes.
'I hope you don't suspect everyone who got something from the will,'said Dr Mortimer.'I received￡1000.'
'Indeed!'said Holmes.'And who else received money?'
'A lot of people received a little money.He gave a lot of money to a number of hospitals.The rest all went to Sir Henry,who received￡740000.'
'I had no idea it was so much,'said Holmes in surprise.
'The Baskerville lands are worth about one million pounds,' Dr Mortimer said.
'Dear me,'said Holmes.'A man could kill for that much.One more question.If something happened to our young friend here,who would get Baskerville Hall and all its lands?'
'Well,as you know,Sir Charles had two brothers.Sir Henry is the only son of Sir Charles'younger brother.The youngest brother of the three,Roger,was a criminal.The police wanted him,so he had to leave England.They say he looked exactly like the family picture of old Sir Hugo,who first saw the Hound.He was the same kind of man,too.He went to South America,where he died of a fever.So if Sir Henry died,Baskerville Hall would go to James Desmond,who is a cousin of the Baskervilles.James Desmond is an old man,who lives in the north of England.His life is very simple and he would not want to be rich.'
'Thank you,Dr Mortimer,'said Holmes.'Now,Sir Henry,I agree that you should go to Baskerville Hall as quickly as pos sible.But you must not go alone.I myself cannot leave London at the present time.I am working on another case.I am trying to save one of the most important men in England from a diffi cult situation.I hope my friend Watson will go with you.If there is danger,you could not have a better man by your side.'
Sir Henry and I were both very happy with this idea.So we arranged to travel to Devonshire on the following Saturday.
Just as we were leaving Sir Henry's room,he gave a cry and got down on his knees by the table.
'Here's my brown shoe that was lost,'he said,reaching un der the table.
'That's very strange,'said Dr Mortimer.'We both
searched the room before lunch,and it wasn't under the table then.'
None of the people who worked at the hotel could explain how the shoe had got back into the room.
So we had another mystery.On the way back to Baker Street in the taxi,Holmes sat thinking deeply.All through the afternoon and the evening he went on thinking silently,and smoking pipe after pipe.
Just before dinner,a telegram arrived.It was from Sir Henry and said:'Have just heard that Barrymore is at the Hall.'
'So we don't have the answer to the mystery of the man with the beard,'said Holmes.'But perhaPS we shall soon have an answer to another question.'
At that moment the door bell rang.It was the driver of the bearded man's taxi.
'I got a message that you wanted to see me,'said the driver.'I hope there's nothing wrong.'
'No,no,my good man,'said Holmes.'In fact I'll give you some money if you can answer my questions clearly.Tell me all about the man in your taxi this morning.He was watching this house at ten o'clock and then told you to follow the two gentlemen who came out of it.'
The taxi driver was surprised at how much Holmes seemed to know.He answered:'The man told me that he was a detec tive,and that I should say nothing about him to anyone.'
'This is a serious business,'said Holmes,'and you will be in trouble if you try to hide anything.What can you tell me?'
'The man told me his name,'said the driver.
Holmes looked like a man who has just won an important game.'That was not very clever of him,'he said.'What was his name?'
'His name,'said the taxi driver,'was Sherlock Holmes.'
I have never seen my friend look more surprised Then he laughed loudly.'Tell me where be got into your taxi and everything that happened.'
We already knew most of what the taxi driver told us.But we learned that after we had lost sight of the taxi,it had gone to Waterloo Station,where the man had caught his train.The taxi driver said that the man was welldressed and had a black beard and pale face.He was about forty and not very tall.The driver did not know the colour of the man's eyes.
Holmes gave the man a pound,and sent him away.Then he said:
'We have a very clever enemy,Watson.He is winning the game at the moment.We have no answers at all to the strange things that have happened in London.I hope you are more suc cessful at Baskerville Hall,but I am not happy about sending you there.There is too much danger in this case.'
之后，我们继续向前走，到了亨利爵士下榻的旅馆。他见到我们很高兴，可是又因他的另一只鞋也失踪了而相当生气。这次丢的是一只旧鞋。我可以看出，福尔摩斯发现这件事既有趣又古怪。他斟酌了片刻，可是除却说明他不明白为何又被偷了一只鞋之外只字未说。
午餐时，亨利爵士告诉福尔摩斯他已决定去巴斯克维尔庄园。
“我认为您的决定是正确的，”福尔摩斯说道。“我知道有人在盯您的梢。如果他想在伦敦加害您的话，那我们将很难阻止他或在事后捕获他。但在乡下我们的机会就会大一些了。”
福尔摩斯接着告诉他们我们早上所见到的事情。然后，他问摩梯末医生巴斯克维尔庄园之内或附近是否住有留着又黑又长的胡子的人。
“有的，”摩梯末医生道。“白瑞摩，查尔斯爵士的总管，就留着黑胡子。”
“我们必须验证一下白瑞摩此时是在伦敦还是在巴斯克维尔庄园里，”福尔摩斯说道。“我将给在巴斯克维尔庄园的白瑞摩发封电报，就说：‘是否已为亨利爵士准备好了一切？’然后，我再给当地的邮局发封电报。这上面就说：‘发给白瑞摩先生的电报务交其本人。如若不在，请寄回亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士。’我则把您下榻的这个旅馆的地址附上。晚上以前我们便会知道白瑞摩在不在德文郡了。”
“我们家的人不住在庄园里时白瑞摩和他妻子可就有很好的住处而又闲着无事可做了，”查尔斯爵士说道。
“那是实情，”福尔摩斯道。“白瑞摩夫妇从查尔斯爵士的遗嘱得到了什么没有？他们是否知道他一死他们就能拿到一笔钱呢？”
“是的，”摩梯末医生说道。“他俩每人得了500英镑；查尔斯爵士生前还将遗嘱的内容告诉了众人。”
“这事很有意思，”福尔摩斯说道。
“我希望您不要对每一位从查尔斯爵士的遗嘱那儿得到好处的人都加以怀疑，”摩梯末医生说道。“我得了1000英镑呢。”
“是嘛！”福尔摩斯说道。“那么还有谁也得到钱了呢？”
“许多人得到了一小笔款子。他把许多钱给了许多家医院。余产全归亨利爵士所有。他得了74万英镑。”
“我真没想到会有这么多，”福尔摩斯惊讶地说道。
“巴斯克维尔家族的地产价值大约一百万英镑，”摩梯末医生说道。
“天啊，”福尔摩斯说道。“一个人为了这个会杀人的。还有一个问题，假若我们的这位年轻朋友发生不测的话，那么将由谁来继承巴斯克维尔庄园及其地产呢？”
“哦，如您所知，查尔斯爵士有两个兄弟。亨利爵士是查尔斯爵士的弟弟的独生子。兄弟三人中最小的那个罗杰是个罪犯。警察局想缉拿他，于是他不得不离开了英国。人们说他长得和家中的老雨果爵士即最初见到那个猎犬的那位的画像一模一样。他和雨果还是同一类人。他去了南美，在那儿死于黄热病。因此，要是亨利爵士不在了的话，巴斯克维尔庄园将归他的表兄詹姆斯·戴斯蒙所有。詹姆斯·戴斯蒙年事已高，住在英格兰北部。他的生活非常简朴，也不想成为富豪。”
“谢谢您，摩梯末医生。”福尔摩斯说道。“现在，亨利爵士，我同意您尽快前往巴斯克维尔庄园了。可是，您决不能单独去。我目前尚不能离开伦敦。我正在办理另一宗案子。我正在想方设法制止英格兰的一位极其重要的人士陷于危险的处境之中。我希望我的朋友华生能与您一同前往。如果您的情况危急，则没有比他更好的人选陪在您身边了。”
我和亨利爵士对这个主意都感到很高兴。因此我们安排在接下来的星期六动身前往德文郡。
就在我们正要离开亨利爵士的房间时，他叫喊了一声并在桌边跪下了。
“这正是我丢了的那只棕色的鞋子，”他说道，同时把手伸向桌子底下。
“那真是太怪了，”摩梯末医生说道。“午饭前我们已查找过这屋子了，那时它还不在桌子底下。”
这样我们又有了一个疑团。我们乘出租马车回贝克街时，福尔摩斯一直在坐着沉思。整个下午乃至傍晚他都一声不吭地思考着，抽了一烟斗又一烟斗的烟。
就是晚饭前，来了一封电报。那是亨利爵士发来的，上面说：“顷悉白瑞摩现在庄园。”
“因此，我们并没有找到关于那个蓄胡须的人的疑团的答案，”福尔摩斯说道。“可是，我们没准很快便会找到另一个疑团的答案。”
这时门铃响了。来者是蓄胡子的那人乘坐的那辆出租马车的车夫。
“我接到通知说您想见我，”车夫说道。“我希望我没有什么做错之处。”
“没有，没有，好伙计。”福尔摩斯说道。“如果你能清楚地回答我的问题，事实上我就会给你一些钱。告诉我今早乘坐你的马车的那个人的所有情况。他在10点时监视这幢房子，后来又让你尾随从这儿出来的两位绅士来着。”
车夫对福尔摩斯看似掌握了很多情况而感到惊诧。他回答道：“那人曾对我说他是位侦探，还对我说不许对任何人讲关于他的事情。”
“这是一件很严重的事情，”福尔摩斯说道。“如果你想对我隐瞒什么的话，你就要倒霉了。你能告诉我什么呢？”
“这人告诉了我他的名字，”车夫说道。
福尔摩斯就像刚刚赢得了一场重大比赛的人一样。“那他可真不太精明，”他说道。“他（说他）叫什么名字啊？”
“他的名字，”车夫说道，“是歇洛克·福尔摩斯。”
我从来没有看到我的朋友那样吃惊过。然后，他纵声大笑起来。“告诉我他在什么地方搭上你的车的以及都发生了些什么事情。”
车夫告诉我们的大多数事情我们都已经知道了。可是我们还得知，在我们那时看不见了马车之后，马车去了滑铁卢车站，那个人在那儿上了火车。车夫说那人衣着考究，留着黑胡须，脸色苍白。他大约四十岁年纪，身材不算太高。车夫不知道那人的眼珠的颜色。
福尔摩斯给了他一英镑，然后把他打发走了。接着他说道：
“我们这次搞上了个狡猾的对手，华生。目前来看他是赢了。我们对在伦敦发生的那些怪事毫无答案。我希望你在巴斯克维尔庄园要顺当些，可是派你去那儿我可真是不放心。这宗案子有着太多的危险。”