牛津書蟲系列 化身博士 3 The Carew murder

3 The Carew murder

3 卡魯命案

One night in London，nearly a year later， a servant girlwas sitting at her bedroom window， looking out at themoonlit street. She saw a tall， handsome old man with whitehair coming along the street，and a shorter，younger manwalkingtowardshim.The old man spoke politely to theyounger one. He seemed， the girl said later， to be asking hisway. Then the girl looked more closely at the younger manand recognized him.

差不多一年以后，一天晚上在倫敦，一個女仆坐在她臥室的窗臺邊，看著灑滿月光的街道。這時，她看到一位滿頭白發(fā)、個子高高、面容矍鑠的老人沿著馬路走過來，迎著他走過來的是一個身材矮孝年紀(jì)稍輕的人。老人彬彬有禮地和那人說著話，據(jù)女仆后來講，他好像在問路，然后女仆又轉(zhuǎn)眼看了看那個年輕人，認(rèn)出了他。

'It was Mr Hyde， 'she said later.'He once visited my master.'

“是海德先生，”女仆后來講，“他到主人家來拜訪過一次。”

Mr Hyde， the girl said， was carrying a heavy stick. He wasplaying with it impatiently as he listened to the old man. Thensuddenly he seemed to explode with anger.

那姑娘說，海德先生手里拿著一根沉甸甸的手杖，一邊很不耐煩地把玩著，一邊聽著老人的話。突然間，他的怒氣一下子爆發(fā)了。

'He was like a madman，'the servant girl said.' He shookhis stick at the old man，who stepped back in surprise. Thenhe hit the old man violently with the stick and knocked him tothe ground. He beat the helpless body again and again. I couldhear the bones breaking… It was so terrible that I began tofeel ill.Then everything went black and I don't remember anymore.'

“他好像瘋了一樣，”女仆回憶道，“沖老先生揮著手杖，老先生往后一縮，非常驚訝，接著他抄起手杖，舉起來就打，把老先生打倒在地。他拼命用手杖狠揍無助的老人，我都聽見了骨頭碎裂的聲音……這太可怕了，我覺得一陣難受，眼前一片漆黑，就什么也不知道了。”

It was two o'clock in the morning before she was consciousagain， and able to call the police. The murderer had disappeared，but the dead man was still lying on the ground withthe murder weapon beside him.The stick had broken in themiddle， and one half still lay beside the murdered man. Thepolice decided that the murderer had carried away the otherhalf.A gold watch and a purse were found in the dead man'spockets， but no cards or papers— except a letter addressed toMr Utterson.

等她蘇醒過來，已是凌晨2點了，她去報了警，兇手早已逃之夭夭。尸體還躺在地上，旁邊就是兇器。手杖從中間斷開了，一半滾落在尸體旁邊，另一半警察斷定是兇手拿走了。在死者衣袋里發(fā)現(xiàn)了一塊金表和一個錢包，但沒有名片或任何紙張，只有一封信，上面寫的是厄特森先生的地址和姓名。

A policeman brought this letter to the lawyer the nextmorning.Together they drove to the police station where thebody had been taken.

警察第二天一早就把信交給了律師，他們一起趕到警察局，尸體還在那兒停放著。

A police inspector showed him the body.

警長帶他看了尸體。

'Yes，I recognize him，'said Mr Utterson heavily.'He isSir Danvers Carew.'

“不錯，我認(rèn)識他，”厄特森先生心情沉重地說，“他是丹佛斯·卡魯爵士。”

'Thank you， sir，'said the inspector.'And do you recognizethis?' He showed Mr Utterson the broken stick and told himthe servant girl's story.

“謝謝您，先生，”警長說，“您也認(rèn)識這個嗎?”說著他拿出折斷的手杖讓厄特森先生看，又給他講了女仆看到的情況。

Mr Utterson knew the stick at once.'That's HenryJekyll's stick!'he said to himself.'I gave it to him long ago.'

厄特森先生一下認(rèn)出了手杖，“是亨利·杰基爾的手杖!”他自言自語地說，“是我老早以前送給他的。”

'Is this Hyde a short， evil-looking man?'he asked.

他問：“這個海德先生是不是個相貌兇狠的小矮個?”

'That's how the servant girl described him， sir，'agreed theinspector.

“女仆是這么說的，先生，”警長附和道。

'Come with me，'said Mr Utterson to the inspector.'Ithink I know where he lives.'

“跟我來，”厄特森先生對警長說，“我想我知道他住在哪兒。”

Mr Utterson led him to the address on Mr Hyde' s visitingcard.It was in a poor part of London，in a dirty street full ofcheap bars and eating-houses. This was the home of HenryJekyll's favourite friend—the man who would inherit Jekyll'squarter of a million pounds.

厄特森先生把他帶到海德先生名片上的地址，在倫敦的貧民區(qū)，在一條到處是低級酒館和飯館的街上，這就是亨利·杰基爾心愛的朋友的家，而且他還要繼承杰基爾的25萬英鎊!

An old servant opened the door.Under her silvery hair wasa smooth face with a false smile and evil eyes， but she was polite enough.

一個老女仆開了門，滿頭白發(fā)下面是一張光滑的臉，帶著虛飾的微笑和不懷好意的眼神，但不管怎么說，她還算客氣。

'Yes，'she said，'Mr Hyde lives here.But he's not athome. My master came in very late last night.He left againafter only an hour.'

“是啊，”她說，“海德先生是住在這兒，可這會兒他不在家。昨晚主人很晚才回來，可不到一個小時就又走了。”

'Was that unusual?'asked the inspector.

“這樣的事很少發(fā)生，是嗎?”警長問。

'Not at all，'replied the servant.'He's often away，andfrequently stays away for months at a time.'

“才不呢!”仆人答道，“他經(jīng)常出去，一走就是好幾個月。”

'We would like to see his flat，'said Mr Utterson.

“我們想看看他的房間，”厄特森先生說。

'Oh，I can't do that，sir—'began the servant.

“哦!那可不行，先生——”女仆說。

'This gentleman is a police inspector，'said Mr Utterson.

“這位先生可是警察局的警長，”厄特森先生說。

'Ah!' said the servant，looking unnaturally pleased aboutit，' Mr Hyde's in trouble!What's he done?'

“啊!”女仆叫了一聲，看起來不同尋常地高興，“海德先生出麻煩了!他干了什么?”

Mr Utterson and the inspector looked at each other.'Hedoesn't seem a very popular person，'said the inspector.Heturned to the servant.'Now please let us in and we'll have alook around.'

厄特森先生和警長彼此看了看。“海德不太得人心啊!”警長說，接著又對女仆說：“那么請允許我們進去看一看。”

Mr Hyde had only two rooms in the house.These were extremely comfortable and in excellent taste，with beautiful pictures on the walls and rich carpets on the floor.Everythingwas wildly untidy，however，and the fireplace was full of halfburnt papers. Among these the detective found part of acheque book.He also found the other half of the murderweapon.

在這幢房子里，海德只用了兩個房間，都布置得十分舒適，品味高雅，墻上掛著漂亮的畫，地上鋪著厚厚的地毯。但屋里卻滿地狼藉，壁爐里都是快燒盡的紙片，在這個紙片堆里，警長發(fā)現(xiàn)了支票簿的一部分，還找到了另一半兇器。

'Excellent!'he said.'Now let's visit the bank and see ifthey recognize this cheque book.'

“太好了!”他說，“現(xiàn)在就去銀行，看他們能不能認(rèn)出這個支票簿來。”

Sure enough， the bank held several thousand pounds in anaccount in the name of Edward Hyde.

確實，銀行的一個戶頭上以愛德華·海德的名字存了幾千英鎊。

'We've got him now， sir，'said the inspector.'We've gotthe murder weapon，and we've got his cheque book. Now weonly need his description on the“Wanted”notices.'

“先生，他已經(jīng)在我們手心里了，”警長說，“有兇器，有支票簿，現(xiàn)在只要在'通緝令'上描述清楚他的相貌特征就行了。”

This was not so easy. There were no photographs of thewanted man and no two people could agree about his appearance.They all agreed on one thing， however.'An evil man，sir，'the servant girl said.'You could see it in his face.'

這可不那么容易。沒有通緝犯的照片，能描述他外貌的人，說法又都不一樣。只有一點大家都同意，那就是，像女仆所說的：“他是個邪惡的人，從他的臉上一下子就能看出來。”