6 Father and Son

Chapter 6 Father and Son We all took turns to examine again the little scrap of paper with its seven words, and I was filled with awe at the thought of how much Sherlock Holmes had managed to discover from it. "Having got this far with the note," Holmes continued, "the next step was to visit the scene of the crime to see if there was anything there that might help us. I went up to the house with Inspector Forrester and checked everything thoroughly. From my examination of the corpse, I was able to determine with absolute confidence

我们大家轮流把那张写着七个字的小纸条重新看了一遍。想到歇洛克·福尔摩斯竟从中发现了那么多东西，我心中充满了敬畏。 福尔摩斯接着说：“对纸条的调查已经进行到这里，下一步就是到犯罪现场去看看那里是否有什么可以帮助我们的东西。 我和福雷斯特探长一起去了房子，把一切都彻底检查了一遍。 从我对尸体的检查中，我可以绝对有把握地断定

that the bullet was fired from a revolver from a distance of around four yards. This proved that Alec Cunningham had been lying when he said the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. "Father and son both agreed on the place where the burglar escaped through the hedge into the road. Just beyond the hedge is a broad ditch, which is muddy at the bottom. Yet there was no sign of boot marks in the ditch. This made me sure that the Cunninghams had lied and there never had been a burglar at their house that night. "Inspector Forrester was with me at the time and he saw all that I did, yet so convinced was he

子弹是从左轮手枪射出的距离大约有四码。 这证明亚历克·坎宁安说枪声响起时两人正在搏斗是在撒谎。 父亲和儿子对窃贼穿过树篱逃到路上的地点达成了一致。 篱笆后面是一条宽沟，沟底是泥泞的。 然而沟里却没有靴子的痕迹。 这使我确信坎宁安一家说了谎，那天晚上他们家从来没有贼。 “福雷斯特探长当时和我在一起，他看到了我所做的一切，但他是如此确信

that the Cunninghams were innocent, he failed to draw the obvious conclusion. I say this not as a criticism, but merely to demonstrate how our prejudices can sometimes blind us to the truth. "By now, the time had come for me to start thinking about a possible motive for the crime. Why had the Cunninghams killed William Keegan? Why did they fake a burglary at their house? And were they also responsible for the real burglary at Mr. Acton's a few nights earlier? "At this point in my thinking, I remembered something you told us, Colonel. You said there

坎宁安一家是无辜的，但他未能得出明显的结论。 我说这些并不是批评，而仅仅是为了证明我们的偏见有时会使我们看不见真相。 “到现在为止，是时候让我开始思考犯罪的可能动机了。 坎宁安夫妇为什么要杀威廉·基冈？ 他们为什么假装家里被盗了？ 那几天前在阿克顿先生家发生的盗窃案也是他们干的吗？ “在我想到这里的时候，我想起了你告诉我们的一些事情，上校。 你说过

had been a lawsuit going on between Mr. Acton and the Cunninghams. It occurred to me that they had broken into Acton's house in order to steal some document that might be important to their case." "Precisely so," said Mr. Acton. "I have a legal claim on half their estate, and I have a document that proves it. If they'd got hold of that document and destroyed it, our whole case would have been wrecked. Fortunately, the paper is safely stored in a strongbox at my solicitors."

阿克顿先生和坎宁安夫妇正在打官司。 我突然想到，他们闯进阿克顿家是为了偷一些可能对他们的案子很重要的文件。” “正是这样，”阿克顿先生说。 “我对他们一半的财产有合法的所有权，我有一份文件可以证明这一点。 如果他们拿到了那份文件并销毁了，我们整个案子就毁了。 幸运的是，这些文件被安全地存放在我律师事务所的一个保险箱里。”

"There you have it," said Holmes, smiling. "We now have a motive for the original burglary. It was a dangerous, reckless plan—most probably young Alec's idea. Having found nothing, they tried to make it look like an ordinary burglary by carrying off whatever items they could lay their hands on. "That much was clear enough. What I still didn't understand was the involvement of William Keegan, and why they ended up killing him. To answer that, I needed to get hold of the missing part of the note. I was certain Alec had torn it out of Keegan's hand and thrust it in the

福尔摩斯微笑着说："这就对了。 “我们现在有了最初入室盗窃的动机。 这是一个危险而鲁莽的计划——很可能是小亚历克的主意。 由于什么也没找到，他们就把能找到的东西都拿走了，试图把它伪装成一起普通的入室盗窃案。 这一点很清楚。 我仍然不明白的是威廉·基冈的参与，以及为什么他们最后杀了他。 为了回答这个问题，我需要找到纸条上缺失的部分。 我敢肯定是亚历克从基冈手里把它扯下来塞进了

pocket of his dressing gown, but was it still there? To find out, I decided to return to the house. "The Cunninghams joined us, you'll remember, while we were standing outside the side door. It was vital that they shouldn't know about the scrap of torn paper, otherwise they'd immediately destroy the rest of the note. Inspector Forrester was on the point of telling them about it when, by a lucky chance, I collapsed and fainted, thereby changing the conversation." "Are you telling me all our concern was for nothing and you faked your fainting fit?" cried the colonel, laughing.

他的晨衣口袋里，但它还在吗？ 为了找到答案，我决定回到房子里。 “你应该记得，我们站在侧门外面的时候，坎宁安一家也来了。 最重要的是，他们不应该知道那张撕破的纸片，否则他们会立即毁掉纸条的其余部分。 福雷斯特探长正要告诉他们这件事，这时，很幸运地，我昏倒了，因此改变了话题。” “难道你是说，我们的担心毫无意义，你还装出昏厥的样子？”上校笑着叫道。