福尔摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第5期:福尔摩斯先生(5)

"You seem to be a walking calendar of crime," said Stamford with a laugh.

斯坦弗不禁大笑起来，他说："你好象是犯罪案件的活字典。

"You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the 'Police News of the Past.'"

你真可以创办一份报纸，起名叫做' 警务新闻旧录报'"。

"Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger.

"读读这样的报纸一定很有趣味。"福尔摩斯一面把一小块橡皮膏贴在手指破口上，一面说，

"I have to be careful," he continued, turning to me with a smile, "for I dabble with poisons a good deal."

"我不得不小心一点，"他转过脸来对我笑了一笑，接着又说，"因为我常和毒气接触。"

He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong acids.

说着他就伸出手来给我看。只见他的手上几乎贴满了同样大小的橡皮膏，并且由于受到强酸的侵蚀，手也变了颜色。

"We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a high three-legged stool,

"我们到你这儿来有点事情，"斯坦弗说着就坐在一只三脚高凳上，

and pushing another one in my direction with his foot.

并且用脚把另一只凳子向我这边推了一推，接着又说，

"My friend here wants to take diggings; and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you,

"我这位朋友要找个住处，因为你正抱怨找不着人跟你合住，

I thought that I had better bring you together."

所以我想正好给你们两人介绍一下。"

Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me.

福尔摩斯听了要跟我合住，似乎感到很高兴，

"I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would suit us down to the ground.

他说："我看中了贝克街的一所公寓式的房子，对咱们两个人完全合适。

You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?"

但愿您不讨厌强烈的烟草气味。"

"I always smoke 'ship's' myself," I answered."

我回答说："我自己总是抽'船'牌烟的。"

That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?"

"那好极了。我常常搞一些化学药品，偶尔也做做试验，你不讨厌吗？"

"By no means."

"决不会。"

"Let me see–what are my other shortcomings? I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end.

"让我想想——我还有什么别的缺点呢？有时我心情不好，一连几天不开口；

You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right.

在这种情形下，您不要以为我是生气了，不久就会好的。

What have you to confess now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together."

您也有什么缺点要说一说吗？两个人在同住以前，最好能够彼此先了解了解对方的最大缺点。"

I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull pup," I said,

听到他这样追根问底，我不禁笑了起来。我说："我养了一条小虎头狗。

"and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy.

我的神经受过刺激，最怕吵闹。每天不定什么时候起床，并且非常懒。

I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."

在我身体健壮的时候，我还有其他一些坏习惯，但是目前主要的缺点就是这些了。"

"Do you include violin playing in your category of rows?" he asked, anxiously.

他又急切地问道："您把拉提琴也算在吵闹范围以内吗？"

"It depends on the player," I answered. "A well-played violin is a treat for the gods,a badly played one..."

我回答说："那要看拉提琴的人了。提琴拉得好，那真是象仙乐一般的动听，要是拉得不好的话..."

"Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh.

福尔摩斯高兴地笑着说："啊，那就好了。

"I think we may consider the thing as settled,that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you."

如果您对那所房子还满意的话，我想咱们可以认为这件事就算谈妥了。"

"When shall we see them?"

"咱们什么时候去看看房子？"

"Call for me here at noon tomorrow, and we'll go together and settle everything," he answered.

他回答说："明天中午您先到这儿来找我，咱们再一起去，把一切事情都决定下来。"

"All right–noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand.

我握着他的手说："好吧，明天中午准时见。"

We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.

我们走的时候，他还在忙着做化学试验。我和斯坦弗便一起向我所住的公寓走去。

"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford,

"顺便问你一句，"我突然站住，转过脸来向斯坦弗说，

"how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?"

"真见鬼，他怎么会知道我是从阿富汗回来的呢？"

My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little peculiarity," he said.

我的同伴意味深长地笑了笑，他说："这就是他特别的地方。

"A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out."

许多人都想要知道他究竟是怎么看出问题来的。"

"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my hands. "This is very piquant.

"咳，这不是很神秘吗？"我搓着两手说，"真有趣极了。

I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. 'The proper study of mankind is man,' you know."

我很感谢你把我们两人拉在一起。要知道，真是'研究人类最恰当的途径还是从具体的人着手'" 。

"You must study him, then," Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye.

"嗯，你一定得研究研究他，"斯坦弗在和我告别的时候说，

"You'll find him a knotty problem, though. I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye."

"但是你会发现，他真是个难以研究的人物。我敢担保，他了解你要比你了解他高明得多。再见吧！"

"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance.

我答了一声："再见！"然后就慢步向着我的公寓走去，我觉得我新结识的这个朋友非常有趣。