福爾摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第5期:福爾摩斯先生(5)

"You seem to be a walking calendar of crime," said Stamford with a laugh.

斯坦弗不禁大笑起來，他說："你好象是犯罪案件的活字典。

"You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the 'Police News of the Past.'"

你真可以創(chuàng)辦一份報紙，起名叫做' 警務(wù)新聞舊錄報'"。

"Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger.

"讀讀這樣的報紙一定很有趣味。"福爾摩斯一面把一小塊橡皮膏貼在手指破口上，一面說，

"I have to be careful," he continued, turning to me with a smile, "for I dabble with poisons a good deal."

"我不得不小心一點，"他轉(zhuǎn)過臉來對我笑了一笑，接著又說，"因為我常和毒氣接觸。"

He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong acids.

說著他就伸出手來給我看。只見他的手上幾乎貼滿了同樣大小的橡皮膏，并且由于受到強酸的侵蝕，手也變了顏色。

"We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a high three-legged stool,

"我們到你這兒來有點事情，"斯坦弗說著就坐在一只三腳高凳上，

and pushing another one in my direction with his foot.

并且用腳把另一只凳子向我這邊推了一推，接著又說，

"My friend here wants to take diggings; and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you,

"我這位朋友要找個住處，因為你正抱怨找不著人跟你合住，

I thought that I had better bring you together."

所以我想正好給你們兩人介紹一下。"

Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me.

福爾摩斯聽了要跟我合住，似乎感到很高興，

"I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would suit us down to the ground.

他說："我看中了貝克街的一所公寓式的房子，對咱們兩個人完全合適。

You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?"

但愿您不討厭強烈的煙草氣味。"

"I always smoke 'ship's' myself," I answered."

我回答說："我自己總是抽'船'牌煙的。"

That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?"

"那好極了。我常常搞一些化學(xué)藥品，偶爾也做做試驗，你不討厭嗎？"

"By no means."

"決不會。"

"Let me see–what are my other shortcomings? I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end.

"讓我想想——我還有什么別的缺點呢？有時我心情不好，一連幾天不開口；

You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right.

在這種情形下，您不要以為我是生氣了，不久就會好的。

What have you to confess now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together."

您也有什么缺點要說一說嗎？兩個人在同住以前，最好能夠彼此先了解了解對方的最大缺點。"

I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull pup," I said,

聽到他這樣追根問底，我不禁笑了起來。我說："我養(yǎng)了一條小虎頭狗。

"and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy.

我的神經(jīng)受過刺激，最怕吵鬧。每天不定什么時候起床，并且非常懶。

I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."

在我身體健壯的時候，我還有其他一些壞習(xí)慣，但是目前主要的缺點就是這些了。"

"Do you include violin playing in your category of rows?" he asked, anxiously.

他又急切地問道："您把拉提琴也算在吵鬧范圍以內(nèi)嗎？"

"It depends on the player," I answered. "A well-played violin is a treat for the gods,a badly played one..."

我回答說："那要看拉提琴的人了。提琴拉得好，那真是象仙樂一般的動聽，要是拉得不好的話..."

"Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh.

福爾摩斯高興地笑著說："啊，那就好了。

"I think we may consider the thing as settled,that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you."

如果您對那所房子還滿意的話，我想咱們可以認為這件事就算談妥了。"

"When shall we see them?"

"咱們什么時候去看看房子？"

"Call for me here at noon tomorrow, and we'll go together and settle everything," he answered.

他回答說："明天中午您先到這兒來找我，咱們再一起去，把一切事情都決定下來。"

"All right–noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand.

我握著他的手說："好吧，明天中午準時見。"

We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.

我們走的時候，他還在忙著做化學(xué)試驗。我和斯坦弗便一起向我所住的公寓走去。

"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford,

"順便問你一句，"我突然站住，轉(zhuǎn)過臉來向斯坦弗說，

"how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?"

"真見鬼，他怎么會知道我是從阿富汗回來的呢？"

My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little peculiarity," he said.

我的同伴意味深長地笑了笑，他說："這就是他特別的地方。

"A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out."

許多人都想要知道他究竟是怎么看出問題來的。"

"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my hands. "This is very piquant.

"咳，這不是很神秘嗎？"我搓著兩手說，"真有趣極了。

I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. 'The proper study of mankind is man,' you know."

我很感謝你把我們兩人拉在一起。要知道，真是'研究人類最恰當(dāng)?shù)耐緩竭€是從具體的人著手'" 。

"You must study him, then," Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye.

"嗯，你一定得研究研究他，"斯坦弗在和我告別的時候說，

"You'll find him a knotty problem, though. I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye."

"但是你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，他真是個難以研究的人物。我敢擔(dān)保，他了解你要比你了解他高明得多。再見吧！"

"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance.

我答了一聲："再見！"然后就慢步向著我的公寓走去，我覺得我新結(jié)識的這個朋友非常有趣。