1 The Murder of Ronald Adair

The Empty HOUSE

空房子

Chapter 1 The Murder of Ronald Adair It was the spring of 1894 and the whole of London was reeling as details emerged about the appalling murder of Mr. Ronald Adair. How I wished that my late friend Sherlock Holmes was still here, for there was a strangeness and mystery to this crime that I know would have appealed to the great detective. Three years had passed since Holmes's death. During a violent struggle with his arch enemy, Professor James Moriarty, above the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, they had both plunged to their doom in its foaming waters. Now all I had left were my memories of a dear friend, and a treasure trove of stories about our adventures together. My years spent with Holmes had also left me with an enduring interest in crime, and every day I scoured the newspapers for accounts of unsolved thefts and murders. Sometimes I even

那是1894年的春天，罗纳德·阿代尔先生骇人听闻的谋杀案的细节浮出水面，整个伦敦都在震惊。 我多么希望我已故的朋友歇洛克·福尔摩斯还在这里啊，因为我知道这桩案子既离奇又神秘，一定会引起这位大侦探的兴趣。 福尔摩斯去世已经三年了。 在瑞士的莱辛巴赫瀑布上，在与他的死敌詹姆斯·莫里亚蒂教授的激烈搏斗中，他们俩都掉进了泡沫四溅的水中。 现在，我所剩下的只有对一位亲爱的朋友的回忆，以及我们一起冒险故事的宝库。 我和福尔摩斯在一起的这些年也使我对犯罪产生了持久的兴趣，每天我都在报纸上搜寻那些尚未侦破的盗窃案和谋杀案的报道。 有时我甚至

tried using Holmes's techniques to unravel them, though without much success. The murder of Ronald Adair held a particular fascination for me, and I read very carefully the evidence presented at the inquest. All day long, as I went on my rounds visiting patients, I turned the case over in my mind. Yet I could not work out how the murder was done, let alone who did it.

试图用福尔摩斯的手法来解开谜团，但收效甚微。 罗纳德·阿代尔的谋杀案对我特别有吸引力，我非常仔细地阅读了审讯时提供的证据。 一整天，我在巡视病人的时候，脑子里都在反复思考这个案子。 然而，我不知道谋杀是如何进行的，更不用说是谁干的了。

Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth, governor of one of the Australian colonies. Adair's mother returned to England from Australia in the summer of 1893 to have an operation on her eye. She, Ronald, and her daughter Hilda lived together at 427 Park Lane in London. Ronald quickly became friendly with the elite of London society. He was, as far as I can tell, a popular young man with no enemies. In the autumn of that year, he became betrothed to a Miss Edith Woodley, but the engagement was broken off by Christmas. There were no hard

罗纳德·阿代尔是澳大利亚殖民地总督梅努斯伯爵的次子。 1893年夏天，阿代尔的母亲从澳大利亚回到英国，接受眼部手术。 她、罗纳德和她的女儿希尔达一起住在伦敦公园巷427号。 罗纳德很快与伦敦社会的精英交上了朋友。 据我所知，他是一个受欢迎的年轻人，没有敌人。 那年秋天，他与伊迪丝·伍德利小姐订了婚，但到圣诞节时婚约取消了。 没有困难

feelings about this on either side and the two remained friends. Those who knew him described Adair as quiet-spoken, modest, and easygoing. There seemed nothing about his life or character to suggest the man might meet a violent end. Yet death came to him in a most strange and brutal form between the hours of ten and eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894. Ronald Adair was fond of card games. He was a member of three London card clubs and played nearly every day, though rarely for high stakes. On the day of his death, he played two rounds of

双方对此都有感情，两人仍然是朋友。 认识他的人都说他说话安静、谦虚、随和。 从他的生活或性格来看，似乎没有任何迹象表明他可能会以暴力告终。 然而，在1894年3月30日晚上10点到11点20分之间，死亡却以一种最奇怪、最残酷的方式降临在他身上。 罗纳德·阿代尔喜欢纸牌游戏。 他是伦敦三家纸牌俱乐部的会员，几乎每天都玩，不过很少下高额赌注。 在他死的那天，他打了两轮

whist at the Bagatelle Club, one in the afternoon and another after dinner. His fellow players— Mr. Henry Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Sebastian Moran—said later there had been no big winners or losers that day. Adair may have lost five pounds, no more, which would have meant nothing to a man of his wealth. He was a cautious player by nature, though he did occasionally win big. On one occasion, with Colonel Moran as his partner, he won as much as ￡420 in a single round. On the evening of his death, Adair returned from his club at exactly ten o'clock. His mother and sister were out visiting a relative. The servant

在Bagatelle俱乐部打惠斯特，一次在下午，另一次在晚饭后。 他的队友——亨利·默里先生、约翰·哈迪爵士和塞巴斯蒂安·莫兰上校后来说，那天没有大赢家或大输家。 阿代尔可能只瘦了五磅，仅此而已，这对像他这样富有的人来说根本不算什么。 他天生是个谨慎的选手，虽然他偶尔也会赢大钱。 有一次，他和莫兰上校搭档，一回合就赢了420英镑。 死的那天晚上，阿代尔十点整从俱乐部回来。 他的母亲和妹妹外出拜访亲戚去了。 仆人