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遭遇了丧父和婚变之后的Lucy很快去世了,发誓报仇的Hope追杀仇人到了伦敦,犯下了这桩案子。
Chapter 31
Our prisoner's furious resistance did not apparently indicate any ferocity(暴行)in his disposition(倾向)towards ourselves, for on finding himself powerless, he smiled in an affable manner, and expressed his hopes that he had not hurt any of us in the scuffle(扭打).
"I guess you're going to take me to the police-station," he remarked to Sherlock Holmes.
"My cab's at the door. If you'll loose my legs I'll walk down to it. I'm not so light to lift as I used to be."
Gregson and Lestrade exchanged glances as if they thought this proposition rather a bold one; but Holmes at once took the prisoner at his word, and loosened the towel which we had bound round his ancles.
He rose and stretched his legs, as though to assure himself that they were free once more.
I remember that I thought to myself, as I eyed him, that I had seldom seen a more powerfully built man; and his dark sunburned face bore an expression of determination(坚决)and energy which was as formidable(令人敬畏的)as his personal strength.
"If there's a vacant place for a chief of the police, I reckon you are the man for it," he said, gazing with undisguised admiration at my fellow-lodger(同租房客). "The way you kept on my trail was a caution."
"You had better come with me," said Holmes to the two detectives.
"I can drive you," said Lestrade.
"Good! And Gregson can come inside with me. You too, Doctor, you have taken an interest in the case and may as well stick to us."
I assented(同意)gladly, and we all descended together. Our prisoner made no attempt at escape, but stepped calmly into the cab which had been his, and we followed him.
Lestrade mounted(爬上)the box, whipped(鞭打)up the horse, and brought us in a very short time to our destination.
We were ushered into a small chamber where a police Inspector noted down our prisoner's name and the names of the men with whose murder he had been charged.
The official was a white-faced unemotional man, who went through his duties in a dull mechanical way.
"The prisoner will be put before the magistrates(地方法官)in the course of the week," he said; "in the mean time, Mr. Jefferson Hope, have you anything that you wish to say? I must warn you that your words will be taken down, and may be used against you."
"I've got a good deal to say," our prisoner said slowly. "I want to tell you gentlemen all about it."
"Hadn't you better reserve that for your trial?" asked the Inspector.
"I may never be tried," he answered. "You needn't look startled. It isn't suicide I am thinking of. Are you a Doctor?" He turned his fierce dark eyes upon me as he asked this last question.
"Yes; I am," I answered.
"Then put your hand here," he said, with a smile, motioning with his manacled wrists(束缚着的手腕)towards his chest.
I did so; and became at once conscious of an extraordinary throbbing(跳动的)and commotion which was going on inside.
The walls of his chest seemed to thrill and quiver(颤抖)as a frail building would do inside when some powerful engine was at work.
In the silence of the room I could hear a dull humming and buzzing noise which proceeded from the same source.
"Why," I cried, "you have an aortic aneurism(主动脉瘤)!"
"That's what they call it," he said, placidly. "I went to a Doctor last week about it, and he told me that it is bound to burst before many days passed.
It has been getting worse for years. I got it from over-exposure and under-feeding among the Salt Lake Mountains.
I've done my work now, and I don't care how soon I go, but I should like to leave some account of the business behind me. I don't want to be remembered as a common cut-throat."
The Inspector and the two detectives had a hurried discussion as to the advisability of allowing him to tell his story.
"Do you consider, Doctor, that there is immediate danger?" the former asked.
"Most certainly there is," I answered.
"In that case it is clearly our duty, in the interests of justice, to take his statement," said the Inspector. "You are at liberty(许可), sir, to give your account, which I again warn you will be taken down."
"I'll sit down, with your leave," the prisoner said, suiting the action to the word.
"This aneurism of mine makes me easily tired, and the tussle we had half an hour ago has not mended matters.
I'm on the brink of the grave, and I am not likely to lie to you. Every word I say is the absolute truth, and how you use it is a matter of no consequence to me."
With these words, Jefferson Hope leaned back in his chair and began the following remarkable statement.
He spoke in a calm and methodical(有系统的)manner, as though the events which he narrated were commonplace enough.
I can vouch(担保)for the accuracy of the subjoined account, for I have had access to Lestrade's note-book, in which the prisoner's words were taken down exactly as they were uttered.
"It don't much matter to you why I hated these men," he said; "it's enough that they were guilty of the death of two human beings—a father and a daughter—and that they had, therefore, forfeited(丧失)their own lives.
"After the lapse of time that has passed since their crime, it was impossible for me to secure a conviction(定罪)against them in any court.
I knew of their guilt though, and I determined that I should be judge, jury, and executioner(刽子手)all rolled into one.
You'd have done the same, if you have any manhood in you, if you had been in my place.
"That girl that I spoke of was to have married me twenty years ago. She was forced into marrying that same Drebber, and broke her heart over it.
I took the marriage ring from her dead finger, and I vowed that his dying eyes should rest upon that very ring, and that his last thoughts should be of the crime for which he was punished.
"I have carried it about with me, and have followed him and his accomplice over two continents until I caught them.
They thought to tire me out, but they could not do it. If I die to-morrow, as is likely enough, I die knowing that my work in this world is done, and well done.
They have perished, and by my hand. There is nothing left for me to hope for, or to desire.
"They were rich and I was poor, so that it was no easy matter for me to follow them.
When I got to London my pocket was about empty, and I found that I must turn my hand to something for my living.
Driving and riding are as natural to me as walking, so I applied at a cab owner's office, and soon got employment.
"I was to bring a certain sum a week to the owner, and whatever was over that I might keep for myself.
There was seldom much over, but I managed to scrape along somehow.
"The hardest job was to learn my way about, for I reckon that of all the mazes that ever were contrived(谋划), this city is the most confusing.
I had a map beside me though, and when once I had spotted the principal hotels and stations, I got on pretty well.
"It was some time before I found out where my two gentlemen were living; but I inquired and inquired until at last I dropped across them.
They were at a boarding- house at Camberwell, over on the other side of the river.
"When once I found them out I knew that I had them at my mercy. I had grown my beard, and there was no chance of their recognizing me.
I would dog them and follow them until I saw my opportunity. I was determined that they should not escape me again.
"They were very near doing it for all that. Go where they would about London, I was always at their heels.
Sometimes I followed them on my cab, and sometimes on foot, but the former was the best, for then they could not get away from me.
"It was only early in the morning or late at night that I could earn anything, so that I began to get behind hand with my employer.
I did not mind that, however, as long as I could lay my hand upon the men I wanted.
"They were very cunning(狡猾的), though. They must have thought that there was some chance of their being followed, for they would never go out alone, and never after nightfall.
"During two weeks I drove behind them every day, and never once saw them separate.
Drebber himself was drunk half the time, but Stangerson was not to be caught napping.
I watched them late and early, but never saw the ghost of a chance; but I was not discouraged, for something told me that the hour had almost come.
My only fear was that this thing in my chest might burst a little too soon and leave my work undone.(1552 words)
-今日短语-
1. exchange glances互使眼色
2. make no attempt at不企图做…
3. be ushered into被领进…
4. at liberty自由,随意
5. suit the action to the word怎么说就怎么做
6. vouch for担保,保证
7. secure a conviction确定…有罪
8. at sb's mercy任凭某人摆布;完全依靠某人
9. at one's heels紧跟着某人
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