福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part13
He came back in a moment to say that Barker was in the garden.
"Can you.remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last night when you joined him in the study?"
"Yes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his boots when he went for the police."
"Where are the slippers now?"
"They are still under the chair in the hall."
"Very good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know which tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which from outside."
"Yes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with blood--so indeed were my own."
"That is natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very good, Ames. We will ring if we want you."
A few minutes later we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him the carpet slippers from the hall. As Ames had observed, the soles of both were dark with blood.
"Strange!" murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and examined them minutely. "Very strange indeed!"
Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in silence at his colleagues.
The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings."Man," he cried, "there's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the window himself. It's a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that you said it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation. But what's the game, Mr. Holmes--what's the game?"
"Ay, what's the game?" my friend repeated thoughtfully.
White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction. "I said it was a snorter!" he cried. "And a real snorter it is!"
艾姆斯一會兒就回來了，告訴我們巴克先生在花園裏。
“艾姆斯，你可記得昨晚你和巴克先生在書房時，他腳上穿的是什麼？”
“記得，福爾摩斯先生。他穿的是一雙拖鞋。在他要去報警時，我才把長統靴子交給他。”
“現在這雙拖鞋在哪裏？”
“現在還在大廳的椅子底下。”
“很好，艾姆斯，我們要知道哪些是巴克先生的腳印，哪些是外來的腳印，這當然很重要了。”
“是的，先生。我可以說我注意到了那雙拖鞋上已經染有血跡了，連我的鞋子上也是一樣。”
“根據當時室內情況來看，那是很自然的。很好，艾姆斯。如果我們要找你，我們會再拉鈴的。”
幾分鐘以後，我們來到書房裏。福爾摩斯已經從大廳裏拿來那雙氈拖鞋。果然象艾姆斯說的那樣，兩隻鞋底上都有黑色的血跡。
“奇怪！"福爾摩斯站在窗前，就着陽光仔細察看，自言自語道，“真是非常奇怪！”
福爾摩斯象貓似地猛跳過去，俯身把一隻拖鞋放在窗臺的血跡上。完全吻合。他默默地朝着幾個同事笑了笑。
麥克唐納興奮得失去體統。他用地方口音象棍棒敲在欄杆上一樣喋喋不休地講起來。他大聲喊道：“老兄！這是毫無疑義的了！是巴克自己印在窗上的。這比別的靴印要寬得多。我記得你說過是一雙八字腳，而答案就在這裏。不過，這是玩的什麼把戲呢，福爾摩斯先生，這是什麼把戲呢？”
“是啊，這是什麼把戲呢？"我的朋友沉思地重複着麥克唐納的話。
懷特·梅森捂着嘴輕聲地笑着，又以職業上特有的那種滿意的心情搓着他那雙肥大的手，滿意地大聲叫道：“我說過這樁案子了不起。果真一點不假啊。”
