6 The Black Pearl

Chapter 6 The Black Pearl Lestrade and I sat in awed silence for a moment, then we both broke into spontaneous applause, like an audience after the climax of a drama. Holmes flushed and gave a little bow. "That's the Borgia pearl?" cried Lestrade. "The one that's been missing for more than a year?" "The very one," said Holmes. "As you know, it's the most famous pearl in the world, owned by the Prince of Colonna. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by its

第六章黑珍珠雷斯垂德和我在肃然起敬的沉默中坐了一会儿，然后我们都自发地鼓掌，就像观众看完一出戏剧的高潮一样。 福尔摩斯涨红了脸，微微鞠了一躬。 “那是波吉亚珍珠吗？”雷斯垂德叫道。 “失踪一年多的那个？”福尔摩斯说道："就是他。 “你知道，它是世界上最有名的珍珠，属于科隆纳王子。 雷斯垂德，你一定还记得这件事引起的轰动吧

disappearance from the prince's bedroom, and the failure of the police to recover it. At the time, we suspected the princess's maid. She had a brother in London, but we failed to find any solid evidence connecting either of them to the crime. "The maid's name was Lucretia Venucci, and I have no doubt that this Pietro, who was murdered two nights ago, was the brother. I looked up the dates in my archive of old newspapers and it turns out the pearl disappeared two days before the arrest of Beppo at the workshop of Gelder & Co., an event that took place at the very moment when these busts were being made.

从王子的卧室里消失，警察没能找到它。 当时，我们怀疑是公主的女仆。 她有个哥哥在伦敦，但我们没能找到任何确凿的证据证明他们俩与犯罪有关。 “女仆的名字叫卢克丽霞·维努奇，我毫不怀疑，两天前被杀的这个皮埃特罗就是她的哥哥。 我在我的旧报纸档案里查了一下日期，原来那颗珍珠是在贝波在盖尔德公司的车间被捕的两天前消失的，这件事就发生在这些半身像制作的那一刻。

"Now do you see how it all connects? Beppo was probably Pietro's accomplice in the theft of the pearl, and then he stole it from him. So Beppo had the pearl, but at the same time he was being pursued by the police for another crime. He made for the factory where he worked, knowing he only had a few minutes to conceal this valuable jewel before they arrested him. "Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in the passage. One of them was still soft. Beppo, a talented workman, quickly made an opening in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and with a few touches, closed up the hole. It was an

“现在你明白这一切是如何联系在一起的了吧？” 贝波很可能是彼得罗盗窃珍珠的帮凶，然后他从彼得罗那里偷走了珍珠。 因此，贝波得到了珍珠，但与此同时，他正因另一项罪行而被警察追捕。 他向他工作的工厂走去，他知道在他们逮捕他之前，他只有几分钟的时间来隐藏这颗珍贵的珠宝。 走廊里晾着六个拿破仑的石膏模型。 其中一个还是软的。 贝波是个很有天赋的工匠，他很快地在湿石膏上开了一个口，把珍珠放进去，然后轻轻几下，就把洞封上了。 这是一个

excellent hiding place—no one could possibly find it. "But Beppo was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and during that time the six Napoleons were sold to customers across London. The busts were identical, and he had no way of telling which one contained his treasure except by smashing them open. Even shaking them would tell him nothing, because the plaster was wet when he dropped in the pearl and so the pearl probably got stuck to it—which is, in fact, what happened. "Beppo didn't despair. With the help of a cousin who works at Gelder & Co., he found out the names of the shops that had bought the busts —Harrison's Art and Antiques and Harding Brothers. He managed to get a job at Harrison's, and that way tracked down three of the Napoleons. The pearl wasn't in any of them. "Then he turned his attention to Harding Brothers. Through one of their Italian employees, he was able to discover where the other three busts had gone. First on his list was Mr. Horace Harker. He was followed there by Pietro

绝佳的藏身之处——没人可能找到它。 但贝波被判入狱一年，在此期间，六辆拿破仑被卖给了伦敦各地的顾客。 两个半身像是一模一样的，他没有办法分辨出哪一个是他的宝藏，除非把它们打碎。 即使摇晃它们也不能说明什么，因为当他把珍珠扔进去的时候，石膏是湿的，所以珍珠很可能粘在上面了——事实上，事情就是这样发生的。 Beppo没有绝望。在一个在盖尔德公司工作的表兄的帮助下，他查到了购买半身像的商店的名字——哈里森艺术古董店和哈丁兄弟店。 他设法在哈里森餐厅找到了一份工作，并通过这种方式找到了三个拿破仑。 珍珠都不在里面。 然后，他把注意力转向了哈丁兄弟。 通过他们的一个意大利雇员，他发现了另外三个半身像的下落。 名单上的第一位是贺拉斯·哈克先生。 彼得罗跟在他后面

Venucci, his former accomplice. They fought and Beppo killed him." "If Pietro knew Beppo, why carry his photograph?" I asked. "As a way of tracing him. He could show people the photograph of Beppo and ask if they had seen him. After the murder, I calculated that Beppo would probably want to speed up his operations, fearing that the police would redouble their efforts to find him. I knew by this time he was looking for something inside the busts, since he carried it to a garden overlooked by a streetlamp, but I wasn't yet certain it was the pearl.

Venucci，他以前的同伙。 他们打了起来，贝波杀了他。” “如果皮埃特罗认识贝波，为什么要带着他的照片？”我问。 “作为一种追踪他的方式。他可以给人们看贝波的照片，问他们是否见过他。 谋杀发生后，我估计贝波可能想加快行动速度，担心警察会加倍努力找他。 这时我知道他是在半身像里找什么东西，因为他把东西拿到了一个有路灯照耀的花园，但我还不能确定那就是珍珠。

"Of course, he may have found what he was seeking in Harker's bust. He had a one-in-three chance of striking lucky, which meant there was still a reasonable possibility that he hadn't. "If the Harker bust proved empty, he was bound to target the Chiswick one next, as it was closer to London. I warned the occupants of the house to expect him, and then along we went, with very happy results. By this time, I knew he was seeking the Borgia pearl—the name of the murdered man linked one event to the other. There remained just one more bust—the Reading one—and I knew the pearl had to be in there. I bought it in the presence of the owner, and here it lies."

“当然，他可能在哈克的半身像里找到了他要找的东西。 他命中幸运球的几率是三分之一，这意味着他仍然有可能没有命中。 如果哈克的缴获被证明是空的，他肯定会把下一个目标对准奇斯威克，因为那里离伦敦更近。 我警告房子里的人等着他，然后我们就走了，结果非常愉快。 这时，我知道他在寻找波吉亚珍珠——被谋杀者的名字把这两件事联系在一起。 只剩下一张半身像了——雷丁的那张——我知道珍珠一定在里面。 我当着主人的面买了它，现在它就躺在这里。”