6 Mr. Abe Slaney

Chapter 6 Mr. Abe Slaney We stared at Sherlock Holmes in utter amazement. "Why should he come here?" I asked. "Because I invited him." "But wouldn't your invitation arouse his suspicions and cause him to take flight?" "Not if my calculations are correct... In fact, if I'm not mistaken, here he is right now." We looked out of the window to see a tall, handsome man with a black beard walking toward the front door. Dressed in a flannel suit and Panama hat, he swaggered up the drive as if the place belonged to him. The doorbell chimed with a loud confidence and Holmes said: "I think, gentlemen, we should position ourselves behind the door. Keep your handcuffs at the ready, Inspector, and leave the talking to me."

第六章亚伯·斯兰尼先生我们惊愕地盯着歇洛克·福尔摩斯。 “他为什么要到这里来？”我问。 “因为我邀请了他。”“可是你的邀请不会引起他的怀疑，使他逃跑吗？”“如果我没算错的话…… 事实上，如果我没记错的话，他现在就在这儿。” 我们向窗外望去，看见一个高大英俊、留着黑胡子的男人朝前门走来。 他穿着法兰绒西装，头戴巴拿马帽，大摇大摆地走上车道，好像这个地方是属于他的。 门铃自信地响亮地响了起来，福尔摩斯说道：“先生们，我想我们应该站在门后。 警官，准备好你的手铐，让我来说话。”

We did as advised and waited in silence for a minute—one of those minutes that seemed more like ten. Then the door opened and Abe Slaney stepped in. In an instant, Holmes appeared out of the shadows and pointed a pistol at him, and the inspector slipped the handcuffs over Slaney's wrists. It happened so quickly that Slaney was powerless before he fully knew what was going on. He glared at us with a pair of blazing black eyes, then burst into bitter laughter. "Well, gentlemen, this is a surprise," he drawled in an American accent. "I came here at

我们按照建议做了，静静地等了一分钟——其中的一分钟更像是十分钟。 然后门开了，亚伯·斯兰尼走了进来。 刹那间，福尔摩斯从暗处出现了，用手枪指着他，警官把手铐套在了斯兰尼的手腕上。 事情发生得如此之快，以至于在斯兰尼完全了解发生了什么之前，他已经无能为力了。 他用一双乌黑发亮的眼睛怒视着我们，然后爆发出一阵苦笑。 “嗯，先生们，这真是个惊喜，”他用美国口音慢吞吞地说。 “我是在

the request of Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me she's in on this. Did she help set a trap for me?" "Mrs. Cubitt is seriously injured and may not recover," said Holmes. The man uttered a harsh cry that rang through the house. "You're crazy!" he yelled. "It was the Englishman who got hurt, not Elsie. Who would've hurt little Elsie? I may have threatened her, God forgive me, but I'd never touch a hair on her pretty head. Now stop it with your lies. Tell me she ain't hurt!" "She was found badly wounded by her dead husband's side."

应希尔顿·丘比特夫人的要求 别告诉我她也参与了。 她帮我设了圈套吗？”“夫人。 丘比特伤势严重，可能无法恢复。” 那人发出一声刺耳的叫声，响彻整个房子。 “你疯了！” “受伤的是那个英国人，不是埃尔西。 谁会伤害小埃尔西？ 也许我威胁过她，上帝原谅我，但我绝不会碰她漂亮的头发。 别再说谎了。 告诉我她没有受伤！”“她被发现在她死去的丈夫身边受了重伤。”

Slaney sank with a deep groan onto the sofa and buried his face in his manacled hands. For five minutes he said nothing. Then he raised his head and spoke calmly: "I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen. I shot the man out of self- protection because he shot at me. But if you think I could've hurt that woman, then you don't know either her or me. You see, Elsie and me were engaged to be married. The Englishman had no business coming between us. She was promised to me, and I was only claiming my right." "She broke off her relationship with you when she found out what sort of man you are," said Holmes coldly. "She fled from America to get away from you. You followed her here and tried to force her to abandon the husband she loved. As a result, you caused the death of a good man and drove his wife to attempt suicide. That's what you've done, Mr. Slaney, and you'll answer for your actions before the law." "If Elsie dies, I don't care what becomes of me," said Slaney. Then he noticed the note lying crumpled in his palm and a gleam of suspicion entered his eyes. "Say, if the lady's that badly

斯兰尼深深地呻吟了一声，倒在沙发上，用戴着手铐的双手捂住脸。 他沉默了五分钟。 然后他抬起头，平静地说：“先生们，我没有什么要向你们隐瞒的。 我开枪是出于自我保护，因为他朝我开枪。 但如果你认为我会伤害那个女人，那你既不了解她也不了解我。 你知道，我和埃尔西是订了婚的。 那个英国人不该插在我们中间。 她已经答应嫁给我了，我只是在要求我的权利。” 福尔摩斯冷冷地说："当她发现你是什么样的人时，她就断绝了和你的关系。 “她从美国逃出来就是为了摆脱你。 你跟踪她来到这里，试图强迫她抛弃她深爱的丈夫。 结果，你害死了一个好人还逼得他妻子企图自杀。 这就是你所做的，斯兰尼先生，你要在法律面前为你的行为负责。” “如果埃尔西死了，我才不管我怎么样呢，”斯兰尼说。 然后他注意到那张纸条揉成一团放在他的手掌里，他的眼睛里闪过一丝怀疑的光芒。 “喂，如果那位女士病得那么严重

hurt, who wrote this note?" He tossed it onto the table. "I wrote it to bring you here." "You? That's impossible. No one on Earth outside The Joint knows the secret of the dancing men." "What one man can invent, another can discover," said Holmes. "I brought you here with that message, and a police wagon will soon be arriving to take you to Norwich. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cubitt is suspected of having murdered her husband. The least you can do is make it clear to the world that she was in no way responsible for his tragic end."

赫特，这张纸条是谁写的？”他把它扔到桌子上。 “我写这封信是为了把你带到这儿来。” “你?这是不可能的。除了酒吧，地球上没有人知道跳舞的人的秘密。” 福尔摩斯说："一个人能发明的东西，另一个人也能发现。 “我带着这个消息把你带到这儿来，一辆警车很快就会来把你带到诺维奇。 与此同时，库比特太太被怀疑谋杀了她的丈夫。 你至少可以向全世界表明，她与他的悲惨结局没有任何关系。”

"I'd be glad to," said Slaney. "As you say, it's the least I can do." Inspector Martin reached for his pad and pen as Slaney made his confession. "I've known Elsie since she was a child," he began. "There were seven of us in a Chicago gang called The Joint, and Elsie's dad was the boss. He was a clever man, was old Mr. Patrick. It was he who invented that writing, which looked like a kid's drawing unless you had the key to it. "Elsie grew to hate the business. She'd been engaged to me and would have married me if I'd got myself an honest job. I wouldn't do that though, and one day she gave us all the slip and

“我很乐意，”斯兰尼说。 “正如你所说，这是我最起码能做的。” 当斯兰尼认罪时，马丁探长伸手拿起他的便笺簿和笔。 “我从埃尔西还是个孩子的时候就认识她了，”他开始说。 “我们有七个人在芝加哥的一个叫‘联合’的团伙里，埃尔西的爸爸是老大。 老帕特里克先生是个聪明人。 是他发明了这种文字，除非你有钥匙，否则它看起来就像一个孩子的画。 埃尔西越来越讨厌这一行了。 她已经和我订了婚，如果我能找到一份诚实的工作，她就会嫁给我。 但我不会那么做，有一天她把我们都甩掉了