【前情回顾】：

就在大家对凶案更加摸不着头脑之时，福尔摩斯似乎已经理清了头绪。他描述出了凶手的形象特点，并且认为墙上血字是德语“复仇”的意思。说完这一切，他便扬长而去，前去下一处调查证人。

【今日翻译】：

“I’ll tell you one other thing,” he continued, smiling.
“Leathers(穿皮靴的人) and Square-toes(穿方头鞋的人) came in the same cab(马车), and they walked down the pathway(小路) together as friendly as possible—arm-in-arm.
When they got inside, they walked up and down the room—or rather, Leathers(穿皮靴的人) stood still while Square-toes(穿方头鞋的人) walked up and down.
I could read all that in the dust, and I could also read that as he walked Square-toes(穿方头鞋的人) grew more and more excited.
That is shown by the large steps.
He was talking all the while, and becoming more and more upset.
Then the tragedy(悲剧) occurred.
I’ve told you all I know myself now, and the rest remains to be revealed(揭示).
However, we have a good working basis to start on.”
“我再告诉你一件事，”小伙伴愉悦的继续说，
“皮靴人和方头靴人坐着同一辆马车来的，并且他们是肩并肩——就像好朋友那样——走过那条小路。
进了屋子后，他们也是走来走去——或者，至少方头靴是走来走去，皮靴的一直站着。
这些我从尘土中都能看出来，而且还能看出来方头靴越走越激动。
因为他的步伐越来越大。
他一直在说，并且越说越沮丧。
然后惨案发生。
我知道的都告诉你了，剩下的就是证据证明了。
不过至少，我们有了一个好的开始。”

Then the cab(马车) stopped, and we had arrived at Audley Court, which was not an attractive place.
The narrow passage led us into a courtyard covered with flagstones and lined by sordid(破烂的) houses.
We picked our way among groups of dirty children, and through washing-lines of stained(满是污痕的) clothes, until we came to Number 46,
whose door had a small slip(片) of brass(铜制品) on which was written the name—Rance
The officer appeared, looking a little irritable(烦躁的) at being disturbed(打扰) in his sleep.
然后马车停了，我们已经到了目的地，就是看上去有些破败。
我们穿过狭窄的通道，里面一堆石碑，和一排破房子。
里面有一帮脏孩子，我们跟他们问明了路，穿过一排挂满脏衣服的晾衣架，终于找到了46号，门上挂着一块儿铜牌，刻着名字——Rance。
警员来开门，不过看起来好像被打扰了好眠，很不爽。

“I made my report at the office,” he said.
Holmes took a gold coin from his pocket and played with it.
“We thought that we should like to hear it all from your own lips,” Holmes said.
“I will be most happy to tell you anything I can,” Rance answered with his eyes upon the little gold coin.
“Just let us hear it all in your own way as it happened.”
“老子已经提交过相关报告了！”警员不耐的嚷嚷。
Holmes从口袋里掏出一块儿金硬币，扔上扔下。
“我们更想从你的口中听到事情经过。”
“好的好的，我很高兴告诉你们所有我知道的。”警员两眼紧盯那枚被抛上抛下的金硬币。
“好，期待你的事情经过。”

Rance sat down on the sofa.
“I’ll tell it to you from the beginning,” he said.
“My time is from ten at night to six in the morning.
At eleven there was a fight at the ‘White Hart’, but except for the fight, everything else was quiet.
At one o’clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street talking.
Maybe about two or a little after—I thought I would take a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road.
It was dirty and lonely.
Not a soul did I meet all the way down, though a cab(马车) or two went past me.
I was walking down when suddenly a light caught my eye in the window of that same house where the murder happened.”
警员坐在沙发上，“我从开始说吧，
我的巡逻时间是从晚上10点到第二天早上6点，
11点的时候，听到‘White Hart’里有打斗声，除了这个，再没其他声音。
大概1点时候，开始下雨，正巧我见到了另一位警员Harry Murcher ，我们就一起站在Henrietta 街的一个街角聊天。
大约两点左右，我觉得我得去Brixton 路看看情况是否都正常。
整条街又脏又寂静。
整条路我连一个魂都没看到，偶尔有那么一辆么两辆马车路过。
正走的时候，发生凶案的那个屋子里的亮光，吸引了我的注意力。”

“There was no one in the street?”
“Not a living soul, sir, nor as much as a dog.
Then I pushed the door open.
All was quiet inside, so I went into the room where the light was burning.
There was a candle on the mantelpiece(壁炉台)—a red one—and by its light I saw—”
“街上一个人都没有？”
“一个活物都没见，哪怕一只狗。
然后我推开门。
里面很安静，所以我进了那个亮着灯的屋子。
那屋子里有个壁炉台，上面有一节红蜡烛在燃烧，然后我就看见——”

“Yes, I know all that you saw.
You walked round the room several times, and you knelt(跪下) down by the body, and then you walked through and tried the kitchen door, and then—”
John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened(受惊吓的) face and suspicion(疑惑) in his eyes.
“恩我知道你看到了什么。
你在屋子里走了几圈，在尸体旁跪下过，还绕过尸体准备去厨房看看，然后还——”

“Where were you hidden to see all that?” he cried. “It seems to me that you know much more than you should.”
Holmes laughed and threw his card across the table to the officer.
“Don’t arrest(逮捕) me for the murder,” he said.
“I am one of the hunters and not the wolf.
Mr. Gregson or Mr. Lestrade will answer for that.
Go on, though. What did you do next?”
“卧槽你怎么知道的！你当时藏在哪里！你要是不在现场肯定不知道这些！”警员大叫。
Holmes又蜜汁微笑，扔出了自己的名片，“别抓我，我不是凶手。我是猎人（侦探）不是猎物（凶手）。
Gregson和 Lestrade 能够证明。
继续，然后你做了什么？”

Rance sat back on the sofa, and continued.
“I went back to the gate and blew my whistle.
That brought Murcher and two more to the spot.”
“Was the street empty then?”
“Well, it was, as far as anybody that could be of any use goes.”
“What do you mean?”
警员有做回沙发上，继续讲。
“我走回门口，吹哨子召集小伙伴。然后，Murcher 警员和另两位警员就来了。”
“街道上还是没人？”
“有和没有一个样。”
“什么意思？”

The officer began to smile.
“I’ve seen many a drunken(喝醉的) chap(家伙) in my time,” he said, “but never anyone so drunk as that man.
He was at the gate when I came out, leaning(倚靠) up against the fence, and singing at the top of his voice.
He couldn’t stand, far less help us.”
“What sort of a man was he?” asked Sherlock Holmes.
警员笑了。
“我见过好多个醉鬼，但是还没见过醉成这样的。
我出来的时候，他正好在大门口，脸贴着墙的倚靠着，大声嚎歌。
站都站不稳，更别说帮我们。”
“他是个什么样的人？”Holmes问。

John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated(被激怒) at this question.
“He was an unusually drunk sort of man,” he said.
“We would have taken him to the police station if we hadn’t been so busy.”
“His face—his dress—didn’t you notice them?” Holmes broke in impatiently(不耐烦地).
“I should think I did notice them, seeing that I had to stand him up between me and Murcher.
He was a tall chap(家伙), with a red face.”
警员有点被这个问题激怒了，“他就是一个醉得厉害的醉鬼，要是我们不忙的话，肯定把他带回警局。”
“他的脸，装束，等等这些你都没注意么？”Holmes也不耐烦了。
“我还是注意了一下，毕竟他站在我和Murcher警员之间。他个子挺高，脸挺红的。”

“That will do,” cried Holmes. “What became of him?”
“We had enough to do without looking after him,” the policeman said, in an indignant(愤慨的) voice.
“I’ll bet(打赌) he found his way home all right.”
“How was he dressed?”
“A brown coat.”
“You didn’t happen to see or hear a cab(马车) after that?”
“No.” “There’s a gold coin for you,” my companion said, standing up and taking his hat.
“哦，然后呢？他干了什么？”
“我们忙的要死，谁顾得上管他。”警员很愤慨的大吼，“他肯定就直接回家了！”
“他穿的什么？”
“一件棕色的外套。”
“那之后你没看到或是听到一辆马车么？”
“没。”
“这是你的金币。”小伙伴说着就站起来，戴上了他的帽子。

“I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the force.
The man whom you held in your hands is the man who holds the clue(线索) of this mystery(谜题), and whom we are seeking.
Come along, Doctor.”
We started off for the cab(马车) together, leaving the officer confused(困惑的).
“我估计，Rance警员，你大概很难再警察这条路上走远。
你碰到的那个男的，是这个谜题最关键的线索，也是我们正在找的嫌疑人。走吧，医生。”
我们坐着马车走了，独留警员一脸懵逼。

“The fool,” Holmes said, bitterly, as we drove back to our home.
“I am rather in the dark still.
It is true that the description of this man is consistent(一致的) with your idea of the murderer in this mystery(谜题).
But why should he come back to the house after leaving it? That is not the way of criminals.”
“真是傻逼。”路上，Holmes痛惜的低咒了一句。
“我还是不明白。
就算这个男的和你的描述都相吻合。
但是他为啥在离开后又回到案发现场？正常罪犯都不会这么做吧。”

“The ring, man, the ring. That was what he came back for.
If we have no other way of catching him, we can always bait(引诱) our line with the ring.
I will have him, Doctor—I’ll bet(打赌) you two to one that I have him.
This is the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet(猩红色).
That’s what we should call it.
There’s the scarlet(猩红色) thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel(解开) it, and isolate(理清楚) it, and expose(暴露) every inch of it.”
“戒指。他回来拿戒指。
我们要是没有别的办法抓他的话，倒是可以用这枚戒指引诱他。
我肯定能抓到他。我跟你打赌，赌注二比一。
这是我目前遇到过的最有趣的罪案：血字的研究。
我们就叫它这个。
在平淡无光的生命力，谋杀案就是一条穿插入其中的红色丝线。我们的任务就是解开它，搞清楚，然后将每一处细节都曝光在阳光下。”

over，不定时翻译。