5 Night Trip to Chiswick

Chapter 5 Night Trip to Chiswick A four-wheel carriage arrived at our door at eleven, and we drove to the south side of Hammersmith Bridge, where Holmes asked the driver to wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road of large, detached houses. One of these was Laburnum Villa. Its occupants must have gone to bed because all the windows were dark, save for the fanlight over the hall door, which threw a yellow semicircle onto the garden path. A wooden fence separated the property from the road. It threw a deep shadow on its inner side, where we crouched. "I fear we may have a long wait," said Holmes. "Let's be thankful at least that it's not raining."

第五章夜间奇斯威克之旅一辆四轮马车十一点到达我们家门口，我们驱车来到哈默史密斯桥的南边，福尔摩斯请车夫在那儿等着。 走了一小段路，我们来到一条僻静的路上，两旁都是独立的大房子。 其中之一是拉布纳姆别墅。 屋子里的人一定已经睡觉了，因为除了门厅门上的扇光外，所有的窗户都是黑的，扇光在花园的小路上投射出一个黄色的半圆形。 一道木栅栏把房子和道路隔开。 它的内侧投下了一道深深的阴影，我们就蹲在那里。 福尔摩斯说："恐怕我们要等很久了。 “至少让我们庆幸没有下雨。”

Our wait, however, did not prove lengthy. It ended abruptly and without warning as the garden gate swung open and a small, agile figure darted swiftly up the path. We watched as it dodged past the fanlight's reflection and disappeared into the black shadow of the house. There followed a long pause, during which we held our breath. Then a gentle creaking came to our ears, the sound of a window being opened. The noise ceased and there was silence. The fellow must have made it inside the house.

然而，我们的等待并不漫长。 花园的大门打开了，一个敏捷的小身影迅速地窜上小路，这一切戛然而止，毫无征兆。 我们看着它闪过扇光的倒影，消失在房子的黑影里。 接着是一阵长时间的沉默，我们屏住了呼吸。 接着，一阵轻微的嘎吱声传到我们耳中，那是一扇窗户被打开的声音。 噪音停止了，一片寂静。 那家伙一定是进了屋子。

Through the blind of another window, we glimpsed the flash of a lantern. "Let's get over there," whispered Lestrade. "We'll nab him as soon as he climbs out." But before we could move, the man reemerged. In the glow of the fanlight, we saw he had something under his arm. He glanced around, seemingly reassured by the silence, then turned his back on us and laid down the object. The next moment, we heard a sharp tap, followed by a clatter. The man was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't hear our footsteps as we stole across the lawn toward him. Like a tiger

透过另一扇窗户的百叶窗，我们瞥见了一盏灯的闪光。 “我们到那儿去吧，”雷斯垂德低声说。 “他一爬出来，我们就抓住他。” 但在我们移动之前，那个人又出现了。 在扇光的照耀下，我们看到他腋下夹着什么东西。 他环顾四周，似乎对周围的寂静感到放心，然后转身背对我们，放下了那件东西。 下一刻，我们听到一阵急促的敲击声，接着是咔哒声。 那人太专注于他正在做的事情，以致于他没有听到我们穿过草坪向他悄悄走来的脚步声。 像一只老虎

ambushing its prey, Holmes leapt on the man's back. Lestrade and I seized his wrists and the handcuffs were fastened. Turning him over, we saw the furious features of the man in the photograph. Yet Holmes wasn't paying attention to our prisoner—he was squatting on the path, carefully examining the remains of the object the man had stolen from the house. It was a bust of Napoleon, identical to the other ones and also broken into fragments. Carefully, Holmes held up each shard to the light, but they looked no different to any other shattered plaster.

福尔摩斯伏击了它的猎物，跳到了那人的背上。 雷斯垂德和我抓住他的手腕，铐上了手铐。 把他翻过来，我们看到了照片中那个人愤怒的表情。 然而福尔摩斯并没有注意到我们的犯人——他正蹲在小路上，仔细地检查着那人从房子里偷走的东西的残骸。 这是一尊拿破仑的半身像，和其他半身像一模一样，也被打碎了。 福尔摩斯小心翼翼地把每一块碎片拿出来对着光，但它们看起来和其他碎石膏没有什么不同。

Just then, the front door opened and the owner of the house, a smiling, rotund figure, stepped out. "Mr. Josiah Brown, I presume," said Holmes. "Indeed, and you, I take it, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes. I received your note by express messenger and locked every door as you advised. I'm glad to see you've got the rascal. Can I offer you gentlemen some refreshment?"

就在这时，前门开了，房子的主人，一个面带微笑的圆滚滚的身影走了出来。 福尔摩斯说道：“我想您是乔赛亚·布朗先生吧。” "是的，我想您就是歇洛克·福尔摩斯先生吧。 我通过快递收到了你的信，并按照你的建议锁上了每一扇门。 我很高兴看到你抓住了那个流氓。 我给你们两位先生倒点点心好吗？”

We politely declined, as Lestrade was anxious to get his captive to a secure cell. Within a few minutes, our cab had been summoned and we were on our way back to London. The prisoner refused to say a word, but simply glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair. At the police station, a search of his clothing revealed nothing, save a few shillings and a long, sheathed knife with blood on its handle. "My informant knows all these fellows," said Lestrade. "We'll soon put a name to him. You'll find my Mafia theory will turn out to be right in the end. All the same, I'm obliged to you, Mr. Holmes, for helping us lay our hands on him tonight. I confess I don't understand it all yet." "There are one or two loose ends that we'll need to tie up before the case is solved," said Holmes. "If you would come once more to my rooms at six o'clock tomorrow, I shall lay it all out for you. You'll see that this case includes some features that make it quite unique in the history of crime. Watson, if you ever decide to write up any more of my adventures for

我们婉言谢绝了，因为雷斯垂德急于把他的俘虏送到安全的牢房里去。 几分钟后，我们的出租车被叫来了，我们在回伦敦的路上。 囚犯拒绝说一句话，只是用他那乱蓬蓬的头发的阴影瞪着我们。 在警察局，搜查了他的衣服，除了几先令和一把柄上有血的带鞘的长刀外，什么也没发现。 “我的线人认识这些人，”雷斯垂德说。 “我们很快就会给他取个名字。 你会发现我的黑手党理论最终是对的。 尽管如此，福尔摩斯先生，我还是很感激你今晚帮助我们抓住了他。 我承认我还不完全明白。” 福尔摩斯说：“在破案之前，我们还需要解决一两个问题。” “如果你明天六点钟再到我的房间来，我就把一切都告诉你。 你会发现这个案子的一些特点使它在犯罪史上非常独特。 华生，如果你决定再写我的冒险故事