福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第5章Part7

"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."

“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。”

作者簡介：

亞瑟·柯南·道爾（1859——1930）英國傑出的偵探小說家、劇作家。生於蘇格蘭愛丁堡，父親是一位政府建工部的公務員。柯南·道爾自幼喜歡文學，中學時任校刊主編。畢業於愛丁堡醫科大學，行醫10餘年，收入僅能維持生活。後專寫偵探小說。《血字的研究》幾經退稿才發表，以《四簽名》聞名於世。1891年棄醫從文，遂成偵探小說家。代表作有《波西米亞醜聞》《紅髮會》、《五個橘核》等。1894年決定停止寫偵探小說，在《最後一案》中讓福爾摩斯在激流中死去。不料廣大讀者對此極端憤慨，提出抗議。柯南道爾只得在《空屋》中讓福爾摩斯死裏逃生，又寫出《巴斯克維爾的獵犬》、《恐怖谷》等偵探小說。塑造的福爾摩斯已成爲世界上家喻戶曉的人物。就連福爾摩斯的辦公地點——倫敦貝克街221號B也成了旅遊景點。

導言：

《百年孤獨》內容複雜，人物衆多，情節離奇，手法新穎。馬爾克斯在書中溶匯了南美洲特有的五彩繽紛的文化。他通過描寫小鎮馬孔多的產生、興盛到衰落、消亡，表現了拉丁美洲令人驚異的瘋狂歷史。小說以“彙集了不可思議的奇蹟和最純粹的現實生活”榮獲1982年諾貝爾文學獎。

伯爾斯通莊園的主人不幸慘遭殺害，死狀奇慘無比，頭顱幾乎被槍擊得粉碎，四周血肉模糊，慘不忍睹！屍體旁邊留有卡片，上面潦草地寫着“V.V.341”的字樣。這令案子更爲撲朔迷離：這張卡片難道是兇手留下來的嗎？它代表什麼意義？“恐怖谷”曾令道格拉斯惴惴不安。“恐怖谷”究竟是個怎樣的地方？道格拉斯的死與“恐怖谷 ”又有什麼關係？
福爾摩斯，偵探的代名詞；沒有他，就沒有偵探文學和偵探文化——新星出版社傾力打造《福爾摩斯探案全集（圖注本）》，根據公認最權威英譯本重新翻譯，配以五百幅原版配圖、兩千餘條專業學者註釋、五十餘篇延伸閱讀、六十篇註釋筆記，爲中國福迷鑄就世界上最權威、最經典的福爾摩斯探案全錄。
阿瑟·柯南·道爾（Arthur Conan Doyle，1859—1930），英國著名偵探小說家、劇作家，現代偵探小說的奠基人之一，被譽爲“英國偵探小說之父”。