福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part10
"By its light you saw that some terrible incident had occurred?"
"Exactly."
"You at once rang for help?"
"Yes."
"And it arrived very speedily?"
"Within a minute or so."
"And yet when they arrived they found that the candle was out and that the lamp had been lighted. That seems very remarkable."
Again Barker showed some signs of indecision.
"I don't see that it was remarkable, Mr. Holmes," he answered after a pause. "The candle threw a very bad light. My first thought was to get a better one. The lamp was on the table; so I lit it."
"And blew out the candle?"
"Exactly."
Holmes asked no further question, and Barker, with a deliberate look from one to the other of us, which had, as it seemed to me, something of defiance in it, turned and left the room.
Inspector MacDonAld had sent up a note to the effect that he would wait upon Mrs. Douglas in her room; but she had replied that she would meet us in the dining room. She entered now, a tall and beautiful woman of thirty, reserved and self-possessed to a remarkable degree, very different from the tragic and distracted figure I had pictured. It is true that her face was pale and drawn, like that of one who has endured a great shock; but her manner was composed, and the finely moulded hand which she rested upon the edge of the table was as steady as my own. Her sad, appealing eyes travelled from one to the other of us with a curiously inquisitive expression. That questioning gaze transformed itself suddenly into abrupt speech.
"Have you found anything out yet?" she asked. Was it my imagination that there was an undertone of fear rather than of hope in the question?
"We have taken every possible step, Mrs. Douglas," said the inspector. "You may rest assured that nothing will be neglected."
"Spare no money," she said in a dead, even tone. "It is my desire that every possible effort should be made."
"Perhaps you can tell us something which may throw some light upon the matter."
"I fear not; but all I know is at your service."
"We have heard from Mr. Cecil Barker that you did not actually see--that you were never in the room where the tragedy occurred?"
"No, he turned me back upon the stairs. He begged me to return to my room."
"Quite so. You had heard the shot, and you had at once come down."
"I put on my dressing gown and then came down."
"How long was it after hearing the shot that you were stopped on the stair by Mr. Barker?"
"It may have been a couple of minutes. It is so hard to reckon time at such a moment. He implored me not to go on. He assured me that I could do nothing. Then Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, led me upstairs again. It was all like some dreadful dream."
"Can you give us any idea how long your husband had been downstairs before you heard the shot?"
“你就從燭光中看到了發生的可怕事情嗎？”
“不錯。”
“你就馬上按鈴求援了嗎？”
“對。”
“他們來得非常快嗎？”
“大概在一分鐘之內就都來了。”
“可是他們來到的時候，看到蠟燭已經熄滅，油燈已經點上，這似乎有點奇怪吧。”
巴克又現出有些猶豫不決的樣子。
“福爾摩斯先生，我看不出這有什麼奇怪的，"停了一下，他才答道，“蠟燭光很暗，我首先想到的是讓屋子更亮一些。正好這燈就在桌子上，所以我就把燈點上了。”
“你把蠟燭吹滅的嗎？”
“是的。”
福爾摩斯沒有再提什麼問題。巴克不慌不忙地看了我們每個人一眼，轉身走出去。我覺得，他的行動似乎反映着對立情緒。
警官麥克唐納派人給道格拉斯夫人送去一張紙條，大意是說，他將到她臥室去拜訪，可是她回答說，她要在餐室中會見我們。她現在走進來了，是個年方三十、身材頎長、容貌秀美的女子，沉默寡言，極爲冷靜沉着。我本以爲她一定悲慘不安、心煩意亂，誰知卻完全不是那樣。她確實面色蒼白而瘦削，正象一個受過極大震驚的人一樣，可是她的舉止卻鎮靜自若，她那纖秀的手扶在桌上，和我的手一樣，一點也沒有顫抖。她那一雙悲傷、哀怨的眼睛，帶着異常探詢的眼光掃視了我們大家一眼。她那探詢的目光突然轉化成出豈不意的話語，問道：“你們可有什麼發現麼？”
這難道是我的想象麼？爲什麼她發問的時候帶着驚恐，而不是希望的口氣呢？
“道格拉斯夫人，我們已經採取了一切可能的措施，"麥克唐納說道，“你儘可放心，我們不會忽略什麼的。”
“請不要吝惜金錢，"她毫無表情、心平氣和地說道，“我要求你們盡一切力量去查清。”
“或許你能告訴我們有助於查清這件案子的事吧？”
“恐怕說不好，但我所知道的一切，都可以告訴你們。”
“我們聽塞西爾·巴克先生說你實際上沒有看到，也就是說，你並沒有到發生慘案的屋子裏面去，對嗎？”
“沒有去，巴克讓我回到樓上去了。他懇求我回到我的臥室去。”
“確實是這樣，你聽到了槍聲，而且馬上就下樓了。”
“我穿上睡衣就下樓了。”
“從你聽到槍聲，到巴克先生在樓下阻攔你，中間隔了多少時候？”
“大約有兩分鐘吧，在這樣的時刻是很難計算時間的。巴克先生懇求我不要前去。他說我是無能爲力的。後來，女管家艾倫太太就把我扶回樓上了。這真象是一場可怕的惡夢。”
“你能不能大體上告訴我們，你丈夫下樓多久你就聽到了槍聲？”
