侠盗罗宾汉

Chapter 8: Alan a'Dale

Robin and Marian were walking through the forest when they saw a young man sitting near a river. He was playing a lyre and singing a sad song.

"Who are you and why are you singing this sad song?" asked Robin.

"My name is Alan of Barnsdale, but people call me Alan a'Dale. I am very unhappy because I love a girl called Alice. She loves me too. But her father wants her to nurry a rich old baron . The marriage is tomorrow at Papplewick Church." The young man was so unhappy that he started to cry.

Robin and Marian looked at each other. Marian remembered her similar situation some time ago. Then Robin said, "I want to help you, Alan a'Dale.

I have a plan! Come with me!"

Early the next morning, Robin sent his best archers to Papplewick. They hid inside the church and all around it.

Robin, Friar Tuck and Alan a'Dale disguised themselves as simple peasants. Then they went to Papplewick. They entered the church and sat down.

At midday, the bishop and the rich old baron entered the church. Then Alice arrived with her father. She wore a white dress and she had flowers in her hair. She was beautiful, but very sad and pale .

When the bishop began the marriage ceremony , Robin stood up and said,

"My lord, an ugly old man cannot marry this beautiful young woman.

Winter cannot marry spring!"

"What!" cried the bishop. "Sit down and be silent! 'There is no love between that old man and this young woman. You must not marry them."

The bishop was furious. He cried, "Guards, arrest this peasant immediately!"

At that moment, Robin's men stood up and pointed their bows and arrows at the guards. The guards did not move. The bishop ran out of the church.

Alan a'Dale ran to Alice and embraced her. "My sweet Alice, I want to marry you!" Alice was very happy and said, "You are the only man I want to marry!"

Friar Tuck married the happy couple at Papplewick Church.

Then everyone returned to Sherwood Forest to enjoy the wedding banquet . Alan a'Dale and Alice lived in Sherwood Forest with Robin,

Marian and the outlaws.

Chapter 9: A Stranger in the Forest

One evening Robin was hunting in the forest. He saw a knight riding an old, tired horse. The knight wore the red cross of the Crusader.

"Good evening, young man," said the knight. "What is the name of this forest?"

"This is Sherwood Forest, sir," answered Robin.

"I have come from the Holy Land. I was there for many years. I fought many wars against the Turks. Now I am very tired and hungry," said the knight.

Robin said, "Brave knight, come and eat with me and my men. You can stay with us tonight."

"Thank you for your offer. I am happy to accept it."

The two men rode through the forest together. Robin told the stranger about greedy King John and his wicked sheriff. He told him how the poor people suffered. He explained why he became an outlaw. The stranger listened carefully.There was a good meal of roast pork that evening. The stranger liked the merry company of Robin, Marian and the outlaws. He talked about his adventures in the Holy Land.

At the end of the meal, Robin stood up and said, "Let us drink to good King Richard, and to his return!"

Everyone cheered and drank to good King Richard and to his return.

Then the stranger stood up, took off his head-covering, and said, "My friends, I must tell you the truth. I am not a knight. I am your King Richard,also called the Lionheart!"

There was silence for a moment. The surprise was so great!

Then everyone at the table cheered and cried, "Welcome home, King Richard!"

Everyone knelt down. Robin said, "We thank God for King Richard's return."

"I am a lucky king. I have loyal people," said King Richard, with tears in his eyes. "I know that my brother John and his men are dishonest and greedy. Now I am here to punish the bad and bring justice to all."

King Richard looked at everyone and said, "You are not outlaws anymore. You are now free men and all friends of mine. Robin, the lands of Locksley are yours again! You can all leave Sherwood Forest and live as free men." There was great excitement in the air.

That night, King Richard slept in Sherwood Forest. The following morning he rode to Nottingham with Robin, Marian and his friends of Sherwood Forest.

When the Sheriff saw them, he ran away and never returned!

After the King's return, Robin, Marian and Little John went to Locksley.

They lived a long and happy life. Some of the outlaws returned to their old homes and villages. Some went looking for adventure. Others became soldiers in the King's army.

In everyone's heart, there was a beautiful memory of the years spent in Sherwood Forest.

福尔摩斯

Part Two

When she had left, I asked Holmes about the case.

'The young woman is quite interesting, but her little problem is not very difficult or unusual. Would you mind reading me the description of Hosmer Angel?'

I then read it to Holmes:

Missing, a gentleman called Hosmer Angel. About 5ft. 7 in tall. He's strongly built withblackhair,blacksideboardsandmoustache;he'sa little bald inthecentre;hewearsdarkglasses;andhe'sgotaspeech defect . He has got a sallow complexion.Hewaswearingablackcoat,

black waistcoat, grey trousers and brown boots. Please contact Miss Sutherland etc. etc.

'That is enough,' said Holmes. 'Now look at these letters which Hosmer wrote to her. What do you see?'

'They are typed,' I said.

'Not only that, but the signature is typed too. The point about the signature is very suggestive — in fact, we can call it conclusive .'

'Of what?'

'My dear fellow, can't you see how important this fact is to the case?'

'No, I can't,' I replied, 'unless Hosmer didn't sign his letters because he didn't want to be legally responsible for what he promised.'

'No, that was not the point,' said Holmes, 'but now I will write two letters which will solve this mystery. One of the letters is to Mr Windibank's firm in the City , and the other one will be to Mr Windibank himself to ask him to come here to meet us tomorrow evening at six o'clock.'

A few minutes before six the next day I returned to Baker Street. When I walked in, Holmes was doing chemistry experiments.

'Well ,have you solved it? 'I said as I walked into the room . 'Yes ,it was the bisulphate of baryta .'

'No, Miss Sutherland's mystery!' I cried.

'Oh, that! I thought you were asking me about the chemistry experiment.

There was never any mystery in the matter. The only problem is that the scoundrel did not do anything illegal, so he can't be punished.'

'Who was Hosmer Angel, and why did he abandon Miss Sutherland?'

But Holmes did not have time to answer me, because just then we heard someone knock at the door, and then someone walking towards Holmes'

room.

'This is the girl's stepfather. He wrote to me to say that he was corning,'

said Holmes.

The man who entered the room was a strongly built fellow without sideboards or moustache, with a sallow complexion and he looked at us with a pair of penetrating grey eyes. He was wearing a black top-hat.

'Good evening, Mr James Windibank,' said Holmes. 'I believe this is the typed letter that you wrote to me to say that you were corning here!'

'Yes, sir. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has troubled you about this little problem. Also I don't like other people knowing about our family misfortune . Anyway, I don't think that you will ever find this Hosmer Angel.'

'On the contrary,' said Holmes quietly, 'I am almost certain that I will find him.'

Mr Windibank started violently, and dropped his gloves. 'I am happy to hear that,' he said.

'It is a curious thing,' remarked Holmes, 'that a typewriter is just as distinctive as a man's handwriting. For example, in this letter of yours, I can see that this  of the 'r' has a slight defect . There are also fourteen other characteristics of your typewriter. '

'We write all the letters in the office with this typewriter,' said Mr Windibank.

'And now,' continued Holmes, 'I will show you what is really very interesting. In fact, I am thinking about writing a book on the typewriter and its relation to crime.'

Mr Windibank jumped out of his chair and picked up his hat. 'I cannot waste time over this ridiculous talk. If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you have caught him.'

'Certainly,' said Holmes, walking over to the door and locking it. 'I let you know that I have caught him.'

'What! Where?' shouted Mr Windibank becoming white, and looking around like a rat in a trap.

'You can't get away, Mr Windibank,' said Holmes. 'This case was really very easy. Now sit down and we can talk about it.'

Mr Windibank fell back into the chair.

'I did not do anything illegal,' he stammered .

'I am afraid that you are right. But, Mr Windibank, it was a cruel, selfish and heartless trick. Now, let us look at what happened,' said Holmes.

Then Holmes sat down and began to talk.

'The man marries a woman older than himself for her money. He can also use the money of the daughter as long as the daughter lives with him and the mother. The daughter has a lot of money so it is important not to lose it.

But the daughter is friendly and affectionate , so it is clear that she will soon find a husband. At first this man tells the daughter that she cannot go out, but this will not solve the problem forever. Then one day the daughter says that she wants to go to a ball. What does the clever stepfather do then?

With the help of the wife, he disguises himself . He wears dark glasses, and puts on a fake moustache. Then he changes his voice and speaks very softly. He is even more certain that his plan will work because the girl is short-sighted . Then at the ball this man keeps away other lovers by becoming the girl's lover himself.'

'It was just a joke at first,' groaned Mr Windibank. 'We didn't think that the girl would fall in love.'

'Yes, that is probably true,' continued Holmes. 'But the girl really fell in love, and you decided to take the situation to the extreme . You began to see her often, and the mother said that she liked him very much. Then you decided to ask Miss Sutherland to marry you so that she would never again think about other men. But it was difficult for you to pretend to go to France every time Miss Sutherland had to see Mr Angel. You had to end the situation dramatically. In some way, you had to keep Miss Sutherland from thinking about other men in the future. Therefore, you made her promise on the Bible, and you told her that something could happen on the very morning of the wedding. You took her to the church, but obviously you could not marry her. You disappeared by using the old trick of entering one door of a cab and walking out the other. I think this is the chain of events, Mr Windibank!'

'Yes, maybe that is true,' replied Mr Windibank, 'but I did not do anything illegal, and now you are breaking the law because you will not let me leave this room.'

'You are right. You did not do anything illegal,' said Holmes as he unlocked and opened the door, 'but you really deserve to be punished, and I would like to do it.'

Then Holmes picked up a riding-crop, but Mr Windibank ran out the door and out of the house.

'Now, he certainly is a cold-blooded scoundrel!' said Holmes laughing.

'That fellow will continue doing worse and worse crimes until he does something really bad and finishes on the gallows . In any case, this case had some interesting points.'

'I cannot completely follow your reasoning in this case,' I said.

'Well, it was clear from the first, that Mr Hosmer Angel had a very good reason for his actions, and that the only man who could really profit from the situation was the stepfather: he wanted to keep the hundred pounds a year.

Then it was very suggestive that Mr Windibank and Mr Hosmer Angel were never together, and so were the dark glasses, the soft voice and the moustache; they all suggested a disguise. The final point was the typed signature. This made me think that the handwriting of the man must be very familiar to Miss Sutherland, and that if she saw even a small portion of it,

she would recognise it.'

'And how did you verify these ideas?' I asked.

'First I wrote to Mr Windibank's firm. In the letter I described Mr Angel after I had eliminated everything that could be a disguise, like the glasses,

the moustache and the voice, and I asked them if they had an employee like that.

They wrote back to me and said that I had described Mr James Windibank.

Then I wrote to Mr Windibank to invite him here, and as I expected he typed his reply to me. Then I compared his letter with the letters of Mr Angel.

Voila tout !'

'And Miss Sutherland?' I asked.

'If I tell her, she will not believe me,' replied Holmes.

'Maybe you remember this Persian saying, "It is dangerous to take a tiger cub from its mother, and it is dangerous to take a delusion from a woman."