福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第7章Part7

The proceedings seemed to have come to a definite end so far as he was concerned; for one had only to look at that granite face to realize that no peine forte et dure would ever force him to plead against his will. The deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice. Mrs. Douglas had been standing listening at the half opened door, and now she entered the room.
"You have done enough for now, Cecil," said she. "Whatever comes of it in the future, you have done enough."
"Enough and more than enough," remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. "I have every sympathy with you, madam, and should strongly urge you to have some confidence in the common sense of our jurisdiction and to take the police voluntarily into your complete confidence. It may be that I am myself at fault for not following up the hint which you conveyed to me through my friend, Dr. Watson; but, at that time I had every reason to believe that you were directly concerned in the crime. Now I am assured that this is not so. At the same time, there is much that is unexplained, and I should strongly recommend that you ask Mr. Douglas to tell us his own story."
Mrs. Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words. The detectives and I must have echoed it, when we were aware of a man who seemed to have emerged from the wall, who advanced now from the gloom of the corner in which he had appeared. Mrs. Douglas turned, and in an instant her arms were round him. Barker had seized his outstretched hand.
"It's best this way, Jack," his wife repeated; "I am sure that it is best."
"Indeed, yes, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes, "I am sure that you will find it best."
The man stood blinking at us with the dazed look of one who comes from the dark into the light. It was a remarkable face, bold gray eyes, a strong, short-clipped, grizzled moustache, a square, projecting chin, and a humorous mouth. He took a good look at us all, and then to my amazement he advanced to me and handed me a bundle of paper.
"I've heard of you," said he in a voice which was not quite English and not quite American, but was altogether mellow and pleasing. "You are the historian of this bunch. Well, Dr. Watson, you've never had such a story as that pass through your hands before, and I'll lay my last dollar on that. Tell it your own way; but there are the facts, and you can't miss the public so long as you have those. I've been cooped up two days, and I've spent the daylight hours--as much daylight as I could get in that rat trap--in putting the thing into words. You're welcome to them--you and your public. There's the story of the Valley of Fear."
"That's the past, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes quietly. "What we desire now is to hear your story of the present."
"You'll have it, sir," said Douglas. "May I smoke as I talk? Well, thank you, Mr. Holmes. You're a smoker yourself, if I remember right, and you'll guess what it is to be sitting for two days with tobacco in your pocket and afraid that the smell will give you away." He leaned against the mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar which Holmes had handed him. "I've heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I never guessed that I should meet you. But before you are through with that," he nodded at my papers, "you will say I've brought you something fresh."
Inspector MacDonald had been staring at the newcomer with the greatest amazement.

看來從他那裏再也弄不出什麼來了，因爲只要望一望他那剛毅頑強的面容，就會明白，即使對他施以酷刑，也絕不會使他違背自己的心意。然而，正在這時，一個女人的話聲，打破了這場僵局。原來，道格拉斯夫人正站在半開的門外聽我們談話，現在她走進屋裏來了。
“你對我們已經很盡力了，塞西爾，"道格拉斯夫人說道，“不管這個事將來結局如何，反正你已經竭盡全力了。”
“不只很盡力，而且過分盡力了，"歇洛克·福爾摩斯莊重地說道，“我對你非常同情，太太，我堅決勸你要信任我們裁判的常識，並且自願完全把警探當知心人。可能我在這方面有過失，因爲你曾通過我的朋友華生醫生向我轉達過你有隱私要告訴我，我那時沒有照你的暗示去做，不過，那時我認爲你和這件犯罪行爲有直接關係。現在我相信完全不是這麼回事。然而，有許多問題還需要說清楚，我勸你還是請道格拉斯先生把他自己的事情給我們講一講。”
道格拉斯夫人聽福爾摩斯這麼一說，驚奇萬狀，不由得叫出聲來。這時我們看到有一個人好象從牆裏冒出來一樣，正從陰暗的牆角出現並走過來，我和兩個偵探也不由得驚叫了一聲。道格拉斯夫人轉過身，立刻和他擁抱起來，巴克也抓住他伸過來的那隻手。
“這樣最好了，傑克，"他的妻子重複說道，“我相信這樣最好了。”
“是的，確實這樣最好，道格拉斯先生，"歇洛克·福爾摩斯說道，“我斷定你會發現這樣最好。”
這個人剛從黑暗的地方走向亮處，眨着昏花的眼睛站在那裏望着我們。這是一張非同尋常的面孔——一雙勇敢剛毅的灰色大眼睛，剪短了的灰白色鬍鬚，凸出的方下巴，嘴角浮現出幽默感來。他把我們大家細細打量了一番，後來，使我驚訝的是，他竟向我走來，並且遞給我一個紙卷。
“久聞大名，"他說道，聲音不完全象英國人，也不完全象美國人，不過卻圓潤悅耳，“你是這些人中的歷史學家。好，華生醫生，恐怕你以前從來沒有得到過你手中這樣的故事資料，我敢拿全部財產和你打賭。你可以用自己的方式表達它，不過只要你有了這些事實，你就不會使讀者大衆不感興趣的。我曾隱藏了兩天，用白天的時光，就是在這種困難處境中所能利用的時光，把這些事寫成文字的東西。你和你的讀者大衆可以隨意使用這些材料。這是恐怖谷的故事。”
“這是過去的事了，道格拉斯先生，"歇洛克·福爾摩斯心平氣和地說道，“而我們希望聽你講講現在的事情。”
“我會告訴你們的，先生，"道格拉斯說道，“我說話的時候，可以吸菸嗎？好，謝謝你，福爾摩斯先生。假如我記得不錯的話，你自己也喜歡吸菸。你想想看，要是你坐了兩天，明明衣袋裏有菸草，卻怕吸菸時煙味把你暴露了，那是一種什麼滋味啊。”道格拉斯倚着壁爐臺，抽着福爾摩斯遞給他的雪茄，說道：“我久聞你的大名，福爾摩斯先生，可從來沒想到竟會和你相見。但在你還沒有來得及讀這些材料以前，"道格拉斯向我手中的紙卷點頭示意說，"你將會說，我給你們講的是新鮮事。”
警探麥克唐納非常驚奇地注視着這個新來的人。