Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
单词提示
1.priory 修道院
2.secretary 秘书
3.ivy 常春藤
4.chump 笨蛋
原文
Chapter 2: Dr Huxtable's Story
"My school, The Priory School near Mackleton is the best school for young boys in England," began Dr Huxtable,
"we have the sons of Lord Solmes, Lord Lever, and of many other important people.
Three weeks ago, Mr. James Wilder, the Duke of Holderness's secretary, came to see me.
The duke, he said, wanted to send his son, the 10-year-old Lord Saltire, to my school.
On 1 May,young Lord Saltire arrived.
He's a nice boy, and he soon began to like school life and to make friends.
His life at home, you see, was not very happy.
We all know about the duke and his wife, the Duchess, of course, now lives in the south of France.
She left the duke about three months ago, I think.
But the boy loved his mother and was very unhappy when she left.
Because of this, the duke sent him to my school.
And after two weeks with us, he was much happier.
Then on the night of 13 May, he disappeared.
The way to his bedroom is through another, larger room.
Two older boys sleep there.
One of them never sleeps very well, and he heard and saw nothing that night.
So young Arthur did not go out through that room.
His window was open and there is ivy all up the wall of the house.
It is easy to get out of the window and down the ivy to the ground.
So we think that he went out that way.
He was in his usual school things; we think a short black coat and dark blue trousers.
We looked all through his room very carefully, but we found nothing strange, nothing unusual.
When I learnt the news at 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning, I called everybody into the big schoolroom, then we learnt more bad news.
Heidegger, the German teacher, was missing too.
His room is not far from Arthur's room.
Heidegger went down the ivy.
We know this because we found his footprints on the ground under the window.
We know too,that he was only in his coat, trousers and shoes, because we found his shirt and his socks on the floor of his room, and he took his bicycle with him.
Heidegger came to the school a year ago.
He's a good teacher, but the boys don't like him because he isn't very friendly.
So Mr. Holmes,we have two missing people, it's now Thursday and there's still no news of them."
Holmes took out a little notebook and began to write things down.
"The boy didn't go home, of course?" He said.
"No, no,we asked at Holderness Hall at once," said Dr Huxtable, "the duke is very afraid for his son,and I am the unhappiest man in England. Mr. Holmes, you are a famous detective,please help me."
"You make things very difficult for me," Holmes said, "how can I find marks in the ivy or on the ground after three days? Why didn't you come to me at once?"
"Because of the duke," Dr Huxtable said, "he doesn't like people talking about his unhappy family life."
"And what are the police doing?"
"Well,they heard about a boy and a young man at the station early on Tuesday, they looked for them and last night they found them in Liverpool. But it was a man and his son going to visit a friend. We lost three days because of that. Andlast night, I couldn't sleep, so I took the first train down to London this morning."
"Well, Dr Huxtable, some more questions," said Holmes, " did the boy take German lessons?"
"No, so he didn't know the German teacher well, then he probably never spoke to him,"said Dr Huxtable.
"Emmm", said Holmes, "does the boy have a bicycle?"
"No."
"Was any other bicycle missing?"
"No."
"So did the German teacher ride away on his bicycle in the night with the boy on his back?"
"I don't think so."
"But what happened to the bicycle? Now, what about visitors? Did the boy have any visitors the day before?"
"No."
"Did he get any letters?"
"Yes, one letter from his father."
"Do you open the boy's letters? Dr Huxtable."
"No."
"Then how do you know that the letter was from the father?"
"I know the duke's handwriting and he says that he wrote a letter to his son."
"Did the boy get any letters from France?"
"No, I never saw any."
"Do you understand me? Dr Huxtable," Holmes said, "did someone take the boy away, or did the boy go freely because he had a letter from France?"
"Perhaps?I don't know," said Dr Huxtable, "he only had letters from his father,I think."
"Were father and son very friendly?"
"The duke is not chump, not a very friendly man, Mr. Holmes. He's not a bad father, but he is a government minister and has a lot of things to do."
"So the boy felt more friendly to his mother?"
"Yes."
"Did he say that?"
"No."
"Did the duke tell you that?"
"Oh no,the duke never talks about things like that."
"So how do you know?"
"Mr.James Wilder, the duke's secretary told me."
"I see,"said Holmes, "that last letter of the duke. Where is it now?"
"The boy took it with him," Dr Huxtable said, "it's not in his room. Mr.Holmes."
"Our train leaves in half an hour, right?" said Holmes.
He looked at me, "Watson, let's get ready and go off to the north with Dr Huxtable,perhaps we can find some answers to this mystery."
翻译
第二章：赫克斯特博士的故事
“我的学校——位于马克勒顿附近的修道院公学，是英格兰最适合男孩就读的学校，”赫克斯特博士开始说道，
“我们的学生中有索尔姆斯勋爵、莱弗勋爵的子女，以及许多其他重要人物的子弟。
三周前，霍尔德诺斯公爵的秘书詹姆斯·怀尔德先生来看过我。
他说，公爵想把他的儿子——十岁的萨蒂里勋爵送到我的学校来。
5 月 1 日，年轻的萨蒂里勋爵到了这里。
他是一个很可爱的孩子，很快他就开始喜欢上学生活，并交到了朋友。
你瞧，他在家里的生活并不愉快。
当然，我们都了解那位公爵和他的夫人——公爵夫人如今住在法国南部。
我想，她大约三个月前离开了公爵。
但这个孩子爱他的母亲，母亲离开时他非常难过。
因为这个原因，公爵把他送到了我的学校。
在我们这里待了两周后，他变得开心多了。
然后在 5 月 13 日的晚上，他失踪了。
他去卧室的路要经过另一个较大的房间。
那里住着两个年长的男孩。
其中一人晚上睡得不太好，那天晚上他什么也没听到也没看到。
所以年轻的阿瑟没有从那个房间出去。
他的窗户是开着的，房子的墙上爬满了常春藤。从窗户爬出去，沿着藤蔓滑到地面是很容易的。
所以我们认为他是从那个方向出去的。
他当时穿着平常上学时穿的衣服；我们猜测是一件短款的黑色外套和深蓝色的长裤。
我们仔细地在他的房间里搜查了一遍，但没有发现任何奇怪或不寻常的东西。
周二早上七点我得知这个消息时，把大家召集到了大教室里，然后我们又听到了更多的坏消息。
德国教师海德格尔也失踪了。
他的房间离阿瑟的房间不远。
海德格尔是沿着藤蔓下去的。
因为我们发现窗下的地上有他的脚印，所以我们知道这一点。
我们也知道他只穿着外套、长裤和鞋子，因为我们在他的房间里找到了他的衬衫和袜子，而且他还带着自行车。
海德格尔一年前来到这所学校。
他是一位好老师，但学生们不喜欢他，因为他不太友好。
所以，福尔摩斯先生，我们有两个人失踪了，现在已经是星期四了，还没有他们的消息。”
福尔摩斯拿出一个小笔记本，开始写东西。
“这个男孩没有回家，对吧？”他说。
“不，不，我们立刻就去了霍尔德内斯庄园，”赫克斯特博士说道，“公爵非常担心他的儿子，而我是全英国最不开心的人。福尔摩斯先生，您是一位著名的侦探，请帮帮我吧。”
“你让我很为难。”福尔摩斯说，“过了三天，我怎么能在常春藤上或地上找到痕迹呢？您为什么不早点来找我呢？”
“因为公爵的缘故，”赫克斯特博士说道，“他不喜欢人们谈论他不幸的家庭生活。”
“那警察在做什么呢？”
“嗯，周二一大早他们就在局里听说了一个男孩和一个年轻人，就去找了他们，昨晚他们在利物浦找到了他们。但那是个男人和他的儿子，他们去拜访一位朋友。我们因为这个耽搁了三天。昨晚我睡不着，所以今天早上我坐第一班火车去了伦敦。”
“赫克斯特博士，还有些问题要问您，”福尔摩斯说道，“那个男孩上过德语课吗？”
“没有，所以他和德语老师不太熟，然后他可能从没和他说过话，”赫克斯特博士说道。
“嗯...”福尔摩斯说到，“那男孩有自行车吗？”
“不。”
“还有其他自行车丢失了吗？”
“不。”
“那位德国老师是不是在夜间骑着自行车带着那个男孩离开了呢？”
“我不这么认为。”
“但是那辆自行车后来怎么样了呢？再来说说访客们的情况吧。那天早上，那个男孩有没有接待过什么访客呢？”
“不。”
“他收到过信件吗？”
“是的，有一封是他父亲寄来的信。”
“您会打开这个男孩的信件吗？赫克斯特博士。”
“不。”
“那你怎么知道这封信是父亲写的呢？”
“我知道公爵的笔迹，而且他说他给儿子写过一封信。”
“这个孩子从法国收到过信吗？”
“没有，我从未见过。”
“你明白我的意思吗，赫克斯特博士？”福尔摩斯说道，“是有人把这个孩子带走的，还是因为有来自法国的信，这个孩子能自由离开呢？”
“也许吧。我不知道，”赫克斯特博士说道，“我觉得他只有父亲的信。”
“父子俩关系很亲密吗？”
“公爵可不是个傻瓜，也不是个很友善的人，福尔摩斯先生。他不是个坏父亲，但他是个政府官员，有很多事情要处理。”
“所以这个孩子对他的母亲更亲近些？”
“是的。”
“他说过这话吗？”
“不。”
“公爵跟你说过这事吗？”
“没有啊，公爵从不谈论这类事情。”
“那你又是怎么知道的？”
“是詹姆斯·怀尔德先生告诉我的，他是公爵的秘书。”
“我明白了，”福尔摩斯说道，“公爵的最后一封信。现在它在哪里？”
“那个孩子把它带走了，”赫克斯特博士说，“不在他的房间里。福尔摩斯先生。”
“我们的火车半小时后就要开了，对吧？”福尔摩斯说道。
他看着我，“华生，咱们准备好跟赫克斯塔普医生一起向北出发吧，也许我们能找到答案。”
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