6 Mr. Clay’s Clever Plan

Chapter 6 Mr. Clay's Clever Plan In the early hours of the morning, Holmes and I sat in his room in Baker Street in front of a blazing hearth and he explained to me how he had solved the case. "It was clear to me from the start," he said, "that the whole business of the Red-Headed League was a ruse. The villains had to find an excuse to get our friend the pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours each day. It was a curious method they chose, for sure, but it's hard to think of a better one. I imagine Clay noticed

第六章克莱先生的妙计凌晨时分，福尔摩斯和我坐在贝克街他的房间里，对着熊熊燃烧的壁炉，他向我解释他是如何破案的。 “我从一开始就很清楚，”他说，“红发会的整个事情都是一个诡计。 坏蛋们不得不找个借口，让我们的当铺老板朋友每天离开几个小时。 他们选择的方法确实很奇怪，但很难想出更好的方法。 我想克莱注意到了

that his accomplice shared the same shade of hair as Mr. Wilson and this inspired the idea. True, they had to pay him four pounds a week, but what was that compared to the thousands they stood to gain if their plan succeeded? "So they placed an advertisement in the paper. One of the rogues rented an office while the other persuaded Wilson to apply for the job. That way they managed to ensure that he was out of his shop for four hours every day." "At what point did you know the assistant was involved?" I asked. "When Wilson told us that he was only paying him half wages, I knew the man must have another motive for taking the job." "But how did you guess what that motive was?" "I assumed there was something he wanted in the house that couldn't be obtained anywhere else. What this might be I had no idea. Wilson admitted his business was not doing very well, and I don't imagine he has much that's worth stealing. But then I remembered the assistant's fondness for taking photographs and his habit of

他的同伙和威尔逊先生有同样的发色，这激发了他的想法。 诚然，他们不得不每周付给他四英镑，但这与计划成功后他们将获得的数千英镑相比又算得了什么呢？ 于是他们在报纸上登了一则广告。 其中一个无赖租了一间办公室，另一个则说服威尔逊申请这份工作。 通过这种方式，他们设法确保他每天有四个小时不在店里。” “你是在什么时候知道那个助理牵涉其中的？”我问。 “当威尔逊告诉我们他只付给他一半的工资时，我就知道这个人接受这份工作一定另有原因。” “可是你是怎么猜到他的动机的呢？”“我猜想他在家里有什么东西是别的地方买不到的。 这可能是什么，我不知道。 威尔逊承认他的生意做得不太好，我想他没有多少值得偷的东西。 但后来我想起了店员对拍照的喜爱和他的习惯

vanishing into the cellar to develop them. I began to wonder if there was something else, besides photography, that was drawing him down there. "I knew by then the man we were dealing with. When Wilson mentioned the white acid scar on his forehead, I concluded at once that this was John Clay, one of the coolest and most daring criminals in London. But what could he be doing in the cellar that would take him many hours a day for months on end? I could think of

消失在地窖里培养他们。 我开始怀疑，除了摄影，是不是还有别的什么东西把他吸引到这里来。 “那时我已经认识我们要对付的人了。 当威尔逊提到他额头上的白色酸疤时，我立刻断定这就是约翰·克莱，伦敦最冷酷、最大胆的罪犯之一。 但他在地窖里做什么，要每天花好几个小时，一连好几个月呢？ 我能想到的

nothing else except that he was digging a tunnel to some other building. "That was as far as my reasoning had taken me when we paid our visit to Coburg Square. You will remember I surprised you by beating my stick upon the pavement. I was checking to see whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind the building. The sound of my stick told me it was not in front.

只知道他在挖一条通往别的大楼的隧道。 这就是我们参观科堡广场时我的推理。 你会记得我在人行道上用棍子打了你一下，吓了你一跳。 我在检查地下室是延伸到大楼的前面还是后面。 我的手杖发出的声音告诉我它不在前面。

"Then I rang the bell and, as I'd hoped, the assistant answered it. Though I'd never set eyes on him before and was naturally curious about his appearance, I scarcely glanced at his face. It was his knees I wanted to examine. They were worn, wrinkled, and stained, as might be expected after hours of burrowing.

然后我按了按门铃，正如我所希望的那样，店员来开门了。 虽然我以前从未见过他，自然对他的外貌很好奇，但我几乎没有看他的脸。 我想检查的是他的膝盖。 它们磨损了，皱巴巴的，沾满了污渍，这是经过几个小时的挖掘后可以预料到的。

"The only question that remained was what they were burrowing for. A short amble to the street running behind the house provided the answer. I worked out, by checking the order of the shops on that street, that the building directly behind Wilson's house was a bank. "After the concert this afternoon, I called upon Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police, and then Mr. Merryweather, and everything was arranged." "But how did you know they would make their attempt tonight?" I asked. "When they closed the office of the Red- Headed League, that meant they no longer cared about Mr. Wilson being in the house. In other

“唯一的问题是它们挖洞是为了什么。 沿着房子后面的街道走了一小段路，答案就出来了。 我查了一下这条街上商店的排列顺序，发现威尔逊家正后面的那栋楼是一家银行。 “今天下午音乐会结束后，我去了伦敦警察厅的总部苏格兰场，然后去了梅里韦瑟先生，一切都安排好了。” “可是你怎么知道他们今晚会动手呢？”我问。 “当他们关闭红发会的办公室时，这意味着他们不再关心威尔逊先生在家里。 在其他