1 Reginald Musgrave

THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL.

马斯格雷夫仪式。

Chapter 1 Reginald Musgrave I've noticed an odd quirk in the character of my friend, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. For a man with such a neat and tidy mind, he tends to create an awful lot of mess. As his fellow lodger, this can be fairly exasperating. The man keeps his notes and coins in a Persian slipper. His unanswered letters are impaled by a jackknife to our wooden mantelpiece. I frequently find the results of his chemical experiments in the butter dish.

第一章雷金纳德·马斯格雷夫我注意到我的朋友，著名侦探夏洛克·福尔摩斯的性格有一个怪癖。 对于这样一个头脑整洁的人来说，他往往会制造很多混乱。 作为他的室友，这可能相当令人恼火。 这个人把纸币和硬币放在一只波斯拖鞋里。 他那些未回信的信被一把折刀刺在我们的木制壁炉架上。 我经常在黄油盘里发现他的化学实验结果。

Worst of all are the documents and relics from his past cases. He never throws anything out, and they build up in stacks in every corner of the room. One winter's night in February 1888, as we sat before the fire, I finally decided to confront him about this. "You have to throw out some of this old stuff, Holmes," I said. "Very soon there won't be enough space around here for us." "You're quite right, Watson," he said. "We'll start with my earliest cases, shall we?" He

最糟糕的是他过去案件的文件和遗物。 他从不扔掉任何东西，它们成堆地堆在房间的每个角落。 1888年2月的一个冬夜，我们坐在火炉前，我终于决定和他当面谈谈这件事。 “福尔摩斯，你得把这些旧东西扔掉，”我说。 “很快这里就没有足够的空间容纳我们了。” “你说得很对，华生，”他说。 “我们从我最早接手的案子开始，好吗？”他

dragged a wooden box out of a corner, opened its sliding lid, and took out its contents: a crumpled piece of paper, a wooden peg with a ball of string attached, and three rusty metal discs. Looking at these objects, his face fell. "Actually, I don't think I can throw these out, old friend," he said. "They're all I have left to remind me of the adventure of the Musgrave Ritual." "I don't remember that one," I said, immediately interested. "It was one of my very earliest cases—from before your time." "Would you care to tell me about it?" "What about the big clear out?" he smiled mischievously. "That can wait," I said, settling myself more comfortably in my seat. So, Holmes told me the story... This adventure happened shortly after my arrival in London (he began). I was living in

从角落里拖出一个木箱，打开滑动的盖子，拿出里面的东西：一张皱巴巴的纸，一个系着绳子的木栓，还有三个生锈的金属圆盘。 看着这些东西，他的脸沉了下来。 “实际上，我想我不能把这些扔掉，老朋友，”他说。 “它们是我唯一能让我想起马斯格雷夫仪式冒险经历的东西了。” “我不记得了，”我说，立刻产生了兴趣。 “这是我最早的一个案子——在你那个时代之前。” “你愿意告诉我吗？”“大清场怎么样？”他调皮地笑着。 “那可以等一等。”我说着，在座位上舒服地坐了下来。 福尔摩斯给我讲了这个故事…… 这件事发生在我到伦敦不久之后（他开始说）。 我住的地方

Montague Street at the time. One morning, in October 1879, I received a visit from an old college acquaintance by the name of Reginald Musgrave. I hadn't seen him in four years, but he hadn't changed at all. He still dressed very fashionably and had the manners and bearing of an aristocrat, which wasn't surprising, for that's what he was. The Musgraves are one of the oldest families in England and they've lived on their estate at Hurlstone in western Sussex for centuries. "How are you, Musgrave?" I asked him after we'd shaken hands.

当时在蒙塔古街。 1879年10月的一天早晨，我接待了一位大学里的老朋友，他叫雷金纳德·马斯格雷夫。 我已经四年没见过他了，但他一点也没变。 他的穿着仍然很时髦，举止和仪态都像个贵族，这并不奇怪，因为他本来就是贵族。 马斯格雷夫斯家族是英格兰最古老的家族之一，他们在苏塞克斯西部赫尔斯通的庄园里生活了几个世纪。 “你好吗，马斯格雷夫？”握过手后我问他。

"Busy," he replied. "My father died two years ago, and since then I've had my hands full managing Hurlstone. Holmes, I remember back at university being amazed at the way you could deduce things from tiny clues. I've heard you've started using these methods to help out some of your old chums." This was true. My crime-fighting career had yet to take off at this stage, but I'd solved a couple of small cases brought to me by my fellow students. "Listen, old boy," said Musgrave, "I wonder if you can help me out. We've had some very strange goings-on at Hurlstone recently and it's got everyone baffled, including the police." "Please go on," I said eagerly, for I was keen to see if my methods could succeed in a case where others had failed.

“忙，”他回答。“我父亲两年前去世了，从那以后，我一直忙于管理赫尔斯通。 福尔摩斯，我记得在大学的时候我很惊讶你能从微小的线索推断出事情。 我听说你开始用这些方法来帮助你的一些老朋友。” 这是真的。在这个阶段，我的打击犯罪的事业还没有开始，但我已经解决了几个同学带给我的小案子。 “听着，老伙计，”马斯格雷夫说，“不知道你能不能帮我一把。 赫尔斯通最近发生了一些非常奇怪的事情，每个人都很困惑，包括警察。” “请继续，”我急切地说，因为我很想看看我的方法是否能在别人失败的情况下成功。