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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, A CASE OF IDENTITY 1

A CASE OF IDENTITY 1

“My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.”

“And yet I am not convinced of it,” I answered. “The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic.”

“A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect,” remarked Holmes. “This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.”

I smiled and shook my head. “I can quite understand your thinking so,” I said. “Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. But here”—I picked up the morning paper from the ground—“let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first heading upon which I come. ‘A husband's cruelty to his wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude.”

“Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,” said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. “This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.”

He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it.

“Ah,” said he, “I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers.”

“And the ring?” I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.

“It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my little problems.”

“And have you any on hand just now?” I asked with interest.

“Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest. They are important, you understand, without being interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that I may have something better before very many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken.”

He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell.

“I have seen those symptoms before,” said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. “Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de cœur. She would like advice, but is not sure that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts.”

As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him.

“Do you not find,” he said, “that with your short sight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?”

“I did at first,” she answered, “but now I know where the letters are without looking.” Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. “You've heard about me, Mr. Holmes,” she cried, “else how could you know all that?”

“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?”

“I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

“Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?” asked Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the ceiling.

Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Mary Sutherland. “Yes, I did bang out of the house,” she said, “for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank—that is, my father—took it all. He would not go to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to you.”

“Your father,” said Holmes, “your stepfather, surely, since the name is different.”

“Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself.”

“And your mother is alive?”

“Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. They got £ 4700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have got if he had been alive.”

I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.

“Your own little income,” he asked, “does it come out of the business?”

“Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4½ per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can only touch the interest.”

“You interest me extremely,” said Holmes. “And since you draw so large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely upon an income of about £ 60.”

“I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day.”

“You have made your position very clear to me,” said Holmes. “This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. “I met him first at the gasfitters' ball,” she said. “They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

“I suppose,” said Holmes, “that when Mr. Windibank came back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball.”

“Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything to a woman, for she would have her way.”

“I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

“Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if we had got home all safe, and after that we met him—that is to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house any more.”

“No?”

“Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin with, and I had not got mine yet.”

“But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see you?”

“Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there was no need for father to know.”

“Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that we took. Hosmer—Mr. Angel—was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall Street—and—”

“What office?”

“That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know.”

“Where did he live, then?”

“He slept on the premises.”

“And you don't know his address?”

“No—except that it was Leadenhall Street.”

“Where did you address your letters, then?”

“To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of.”

“It was most suggestive,” said Holmes. “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?”

“He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare.”

“Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, returned to France?”

“Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the very morning of the wedding.”

“It missed him, then?”

“Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived.”

“Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the Friday. Was it to be in church?”

“Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became of him.”

“It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,” said Holmes.

“Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gives a meaning to it.”

“Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?”

“Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw happened.”

“But you have no notion as to what it could have been?”

“None.”

“One more question. How did your mother take the matter?”

“She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter again.”

“And your father? Did you tell him?”

“Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night.” She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob heavily into it.

“I shall glance into the case for you,” said Holmes, rising, “and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life.”

“Then you don't think I'll see him again?”

“I fear not.”

“Then what has happened to him?”

“You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can spare.”

“I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle,” said she. “Here is the slip and here are four letters from him.”

“Thank you. And your address?”

“No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell.”

“Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your father's place of business?”

“He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of Fenchurch Street.” “Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it to affect your life.”

“You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back.”

For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she might be summoned.

A CASE OF IDENTITY 1 UN CASO DE IDENTIDAD 1 UM CASO DE IDENTIDADE 1 ДЕЛО ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ 1

“My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. Мы не осмелились бы представить себе вещи, которые на самом деле являются простыми обыденностями существования. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.” Если бы мы могли вылететь из этого окна рука об руку, зависнуть над этим великим городом, аккуратно сдвинуть крыши и заглянуть в странные вещи, которые происходят, странные совпадения, планы, противоречия, чудесные цепи. событий, работая через поколения и приводя к самым выдающимся результатам, она сделала бы всю беллетристику с ее условностями и предвиденными выводами самой пресной и бесполезной». Якби ми могли вилетіти з того вікна, взявшись за руки, зависнути над цим великим містом, обережно знімати дахи та підглядати за дивними речами, які відбуваються, дивними збігами, плануваннями, суперечливими цілями, чудовими ланцюгами подій, що проходять через покоління та призводять до найвідвертіших результатів, це зробило б усю фантастику з її умовностями та передбаченими висновками найбільш несвіжою та збитковою».

“And yet I am not convinced of it,” I answered. -- И все же я не убежден в этом, -- ответил я. “The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. «Случаи, всплывающие в газетах, как правило, достаточно откровенны и вульгарны. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic.” В наших полицейских сводках реализм доведен до крайних пределов, и все же результат, надо признаться, не очарователен и не артистичен».

“A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect,” remarked Holmes. «Для создания реалистичного эффекта необходимо использовать определенный отбор и осмотрительность», — заметил Холмс. “This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. «Этого недостает в полицейском отчете, где больше внимания уделяется банальностям магистрата, чем деталям, которые для наблюдателя заключают в себе жизненную сущность всего дела. «Цього бракує в поліцейському звіті, де, мабуть, більше уваги приділяється банальностям судді, ніж подробицям, які для спостерігача містять життєву суть усієї справи. Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.” Будьте уверены, нет ничего более неестественного, чем обыденность». Повірте, немає нічого такого неприродного, як буденність».

I smiled and shook my head. “I can quite understand your thinking so,” I said. — Я вполне понимаю, что вы так думаете, — сказал я. “Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. «Конечно, в качестве неофициального советника и помощника всех, кто совершенно озадачен, на трех континентах, вы соприкасаетесь со всем странным и причудливым. But here”—I picked up the morning paper from the ground—“let us put it to a practical test. А вот, — я поднял с земли утреннюю газету, — давайте проверим ее на практике. Here is the first heading upon which I come. Вот первый заголовок, на который я наткнулся. ‘A husband's cruelty to his wife.' «Жестокость мужа по отношению к жене». There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. Там полколонки печатного текста, но я знаю, не читая, что все это мне прекрасно знакомо. There is, of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. Есть, конечно, другая женщина, выпивка, толчок, удар, синяк, сочувствующая сестра или хозяйка. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude.” Самый грубый из писателей не мог бы придумать ничего более грубого». Найгрубіший із письменників не міг би вигадати нічого більш грубого».

“Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,” said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. -- Действительно, ваш пример неудачен для вашего аргумента, -- сказал Холмс, беря бумагу и просматривая ее глазами. “This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it. «Это дело о разводе Дандаса, и, как оказалось, я занимался прояснением некоторых мелких моментов в связи с ним. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Муж был трезвенником, другой женщины не было, а поведение, на которое жаловались, заключалось в том, что у него вошло в привычку заканчивать каждый прием пищи, вынимая вставные зубы и швыряя их в жену, что, согласитесь, некрасиво. не то действие, которое может прийти в голову обычному рассказчику. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.” Понюхайте нюхательный табак, доктор, и признайте, что я превзошел вас своим примером.

He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the centre of the lid. Он протянул свою табакерку из старого золота с огромным аметистом в центре крышки. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it. Его великолепие так контрастировало с его домашними обычаями и простой жизнью, что я не мог не прокомментировать его.

“Ah,” said he, “I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. -- Ах, -- сказал он, -- я забыл, что не видел вас несколько недель. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers.”

“And the ring?” I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.

“It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my little problems.” — Оно было от правящей семьи Голландии, хотя дело, в котором я им служил, было настолько деликатным, что я не могу доверить его даже вам, которые были достаточно любезны, чтобы записать одну или две из моих маленьких проблем.

“And have you any on hand just now?” I asked with interest. — А у вас есть что-нибудь под рукой прямо сейчас? — спросил я с интересом.

“Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest. «Где-то десять или двенадцать, но ни один из них не представляет интереса. They are important, you understand, without being interesting. Они важны, понимаете, но не интересны. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. Действительно, я обнаружил, что обычно в незначительных вещах есть поле для наблюдения и для быстрого анализа причин и следствий, которые придают очарование исследованию. The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. Чем крупнее преступление, тем оно проще, ибо чем крупнее преступление, тем, как правило, более очевиден мотив. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest. В этих случаях, за исключением одного довольно сложного вопроса, о котором мне сообщили из Марселя, нет ничего, что представляло бы какой-либо интерес. It is possible, however, that I may have something better before very many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken.” Возможно, однако, что я получу что-нибудь получше, прежде чем пройдет очень много минут, потому что это один из моих клиентов, или я сильно ошибаюсь.

He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Он поднялся со стула и стоял между полуоткрытыми жалюзи, глядя вниз на унылую лондонскую улицу с нейтральными тонами. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. Оглянувшись через его плечо, я увидел, что на тротуаре напротив стоит крупная женщина с тяжелым меховым горжеткой на шее и большим завитым красным пером в широкополой шляпе, кокетливо сдвинутой набок на манер герцогини Девонширской. ухо. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Из-под этих огромных доспехов она нервно и неуверенно поглядывала на наши окна, в то время как ее тело раскачивалось взад и вперед, а пальцы теребили пуговицы на перчатках. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell. Вдруг, нырком, как пловец, выходящий из берега, она поспешила через дорогу, и мы услышали резкий звон колокольчика.

“I have seen those symptoms before,” said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. “Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de cœur. «Качание на тротуаре всегда означает дело души. «Коливання на тротуарі завжди означає affaire de cœur. She would like advice, but is not sure that the matter is not too delicate for communication. Она хотела бы совета, но не уверена, что дело не слишком деликатное для общения. And yet even here we may discriminate. И все же даже здесь мы можем различать. When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Когда женщина серьезно обижена мужчиной, она больше не колеблется, и обычным симптомом является обрыв провода звонка. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. Здесь мы можем принять, что речь идет о любви, но что дева не столько сердится, сколько смущена или опечалена. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts.”

As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Пока он говорил, в дверь постучали, и мальчик в пуговицах вошел, чтобы объявить мисс Мэри Сазерленд, а сама дама вырисовывалась за его маленькой черной фигуркой, как торговое судно с полными парусами за крохотной лоцманской лодкой. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him. Шерлок Холмс приветствовал ее с непринужденной любезностью, которой он отличался, и, закрыв дверь и склонив ее в кресло, оглядел ее с присущим ему мельчайшим и в то же время рассеянным взглядом.

“Do you not find,” he said, “that with your short sight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?” «Не находите ли вы, — сказал он, — что с вашей близорукостью слишком много печатать на машинке?»

“I did at first,” she answered, “but now I know where the letters are without looking.” Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. «Сначала знала, — ответила она, — а теперь я знаю, где буквы, не глядя». Затем, внезапно поняв весь смысл его слов, она резко вздрогнула и подняла глаза со страхом и удивлением на своем широком добродушном лице. “You've heard about me, Mr. Holmes,” she cried, “else how could you know all that?” — Вы слышали обо мне, мистер Холмс, — воскликнула она, — иначе откуда бы вы могли все это знать?

“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. -- Ничего, -- рассмеялся Холмс. — Мое дело — знать. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. Возможно, я приучил себя видеть то, что другие упускают из виду. If not, why should you come to consult me?”

“I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had given him up for dead. — Я пришел к вам, сэр, потому что услышал о вас от миссис Этередж, мужа которой вы так легко нашли, когда полиция и все остальные сочли его мертвым. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much for me. О, мистер Холмс, я бы хотел, чтобы вы сделали для меня то же самое. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel.” Я не богат, но все же у меня есть сотня в год, не считая того немногого, что я зарабатываю на машине, и я бы все отдал, чтобы узнать, что сталось с мистером Хосмером Энджелом.

“Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?” asked Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the ceiling. — Почему ты так торопился ко мне посоветоваться? — спросил Шерлок Холмс, сложив кончики пальцев и глядя в потолок.

Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Mary Sutherland. Снова испуганное выражение появилось на несколько пустом лице мисс Мэри Сазерленд. “Yes, I did bang out of the house,” she said, “for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank—that is, my father—took it all. «Да, я выскочила из дома, — сказала она, — потому что меня разозлило то, как легко мистер Уиндибэнк, то есть мой отец, забрал все это. He would not go to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to you.” В полицию он не пошел, и к вам не пошел, и вот, наконец, так как он ничего не делал и все твердил, что ничего плохого не было, это меня взбесило, и я остался со своими вещами и сразу пришел к вам».

“Your father,” said Holmes, “your stepfather, surely, since the name is different.” -- Ваш отец, -- сказал Холмс, -- ваш отчим, конечно, потому что фамилия другая.

“Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself.”

“And your mother is alive?”

“Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Мне не очень понравилось, мистер Холмс, когда она так скоро после смерти отца снова вышла замуж за человека, который был почти на пятнадцать лет моложе ее. Father was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Отец был сантехником на Тоттенхэм-Корт-роуд и оставил после себя неплохой бизнес, который мать вела с мистером Харди, бригадиром; но когда мистер Уиндибэнк приехал, он заставил ее продать дело, потому что он был очень высококлассным, будучи путешественником в винах. They got £ 4700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have got if he had been alive.” Они получили 4700 фунтов стерлингов за расположение и проценты, что было далеко не так много, как отец мог бы получить, будь он жив».

I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Я ожидал увидеть Шерлока Холмса нетерпеливым под этим бессвязным и бессвязным повествованием, но, напротив, он слушал с величайшей концентрацией внимания.

“Your own little income,” he asked, “does it come out of the business?” «Ваш небольшой доход, — спросил он, — получается из бизнеса?»

“Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ned in Auckland. Он совершенно отдельный и был оставлен мне моим дядей Недом в Окленде. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4½ per cent. Он находится на складе Новой Зеландии, выплачивая 4½ процента. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can only touch the interest.” Сумма была две тысячи пятьсот фунтов, но я могу коснуться только процентов.

“You interest me extremely,” said Holmes. — Вы меня чрезвычайно интересуете, — сказал Холмс. “And since you draw so large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every way. — А так как вы получаете такую большую сумму, как сто в год, с тем, что вы зарабатываете в придачу, вы, несомненно, немного путешествуете и всячески балуете себя. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely upon an income of about £ 60.” Я считаю, что незамужняя дама может очень хорошо жить при доходе около 60 фунтов стерлингов».

“I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with them. - Я мог бы обойтись и меньшими средствами, мистер Холмс, но вы понимаете, что, пока я живу дома, я не хочу быть для них обузой, и поэтому они пользуются деньгами как раз в то время, когда я остаться с ними. Of course, that is only just for the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. Мистер Уиндибанк ежеквартально получает проценты и отдает их матери, и я обнаружил, что вполне могу обойтись тем, что зарабатываю на машинописной машинке. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day.”

“You have made your position very clear to me,” said Holmes. — Вы очень ясно изложили мне свою позицию, — сказал Холмс. “This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. «Это мой друг, доктор Ватсон, перед которым вы можете говорить так же свободно, как и передо мной. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. Румянец залил лицо мисс Сазерленд, и она нервно теребила бахрому своего жакета. “I met him first at the gasfitters' ball,” she said. «Впервые я встретила его на балу газослесарей, — сказала она. “They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. «Отцу присылали билеты, когда он был жив, а потом потом вспомнили о нас и отослали маме. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. Он бы очень разозлился, если бы я захотел присоединиться к угощению воскресной школы. Він би розлютився, якби я так сильно захотіла приєднатися до недільної школи. But this time I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to prevent? Но на этот раз я собирался идти, и я пойду; по какому праву он имел препятствовать? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all father's friends were to be there. Он сказал, что народ не годится для нас знать, когда все друзья отца должны быть там. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. И он сказал, что мне нечего надеть, когда у меня есть лиловый плюш, который я даже не доставала из ящика стола. At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel.” В конце концов, когда уже ничего не помогало, он уехал во Францию по делам фирмы, но мы поехали, мама и я, с мистером Харди, который раньше был нашим мастером, и именно там я встретил мистера Хосмера. Ангел».

“I suppose,” said Holmes, “that when Mr. Windibank came back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball.” -- Я полагаю, -- сказал Холмс, -- что, когда мистер Уиндибэнк вернулся из Франции, он был очень раздражен тем, что вы отправились на бал.

“Oh, well, he was very good about it. — О, ну, он был очень хорош в этом. He laughed, I remember, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything to a woman, for she would have her way.” Помнится, он засмеялся, пожал плечами и сказал, что женщине нечего отказывать в чем-либо, потому что она добьется своего».

“I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel.”

“Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if we had got home all safe, and after that we met him—that is to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house any more.” Я встретил его той ночью, и он позвонил на следующий день, чтобы спросить, все ли мы добрались до дома, и после этого мы встретились с ним, то есть с мистером Холмсом, я дважды встречал его на прогулке, но после этого отец вернулся снова, и мистер Хосмер Энджел больше не мог приходить в дом.

“No?” "Нет?"

“Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. — Ну, ты же знаешь, что отцу ничего подобного не нравилось. He wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. У него не было бы посетителей, если бы он мог помочь, и он говорил, что женщина должна быть счастлива в своем семейном кругу. But then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin with, and I had not got mine yet.” Но ведь, как я говорил маме, женщине для начала нужен свой круг, а у меня своего еще не было».

“But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? — А как насчет мистера Хосмера Анхеля? Did he make no attempt to see you?”

“Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each other until he had gone. «Ну, отец через неделю снова уезжает во Францию, а Хосмер написал и сказал, что будет безопаснее и лучше не видеться, пока он не уедет. We could write in the meantime, and he used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there was no need for father to know.” Я отнес письма утром, так что отцу не нужно было об этом знать».

“Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?” — Вы были помолвлены с этим джентльменом в это время?

“Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that we took. Hosmer—Mr. Angel—was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall Street—and—” Энджел — работал кассиром в конторе на Лиденхолл-стрит — и…

“What office?”

“That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know.” — Это хуже всего, мистер Холмс, я не знаю.

“Where did he live, then?”

“He slept on the premises.” — Он спал на территории.

“And you don't know his address?”

“No—except that it was Leadenhall Street.”

“Where did you address your letters, then?”

“To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for. — В почтовое отделение на Лиденхолл-стрит, чтобы его оставили до востребования. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come between us. Он сказал, что если их пришлют в контору, все остальные клерки будут подшучивать над ним из-за того, что у него есть письма от дамы, поэтому я предложил напечатать их на машинке, как он сделал свое, но он этого не сделал, потому что он сказал, что когда я их писал, казалось, что они исходят от меня, но когда они печатались на машинке, он всегда чувствовал, что между нами встала машина. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of.” Это только покажет вам, как он любил меня, мистер Холмс, и те мелочи, о которых он думал.

“It was most suggestive,” said Holmes. «Это было весьма многообещающе, — сказал Холмс. “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. «Для меня давно стало аксиомой, что мелочи бесконечно важны. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?” Можете ли вы вспомнить какие-нибудь другие мелочи о мистере Хосмере Энджеле?

“He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. — Он был очень застенчивым человеком, мистер Холмс. He would rather walk with me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be conspicuous. Он предпочитал гулять со мной вечером, чем днем, потому что сказал, что ненавидит бросаться в глаза. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Он был очень уединенным и джентльменским. Even his voice was gentle. Даже голос у него был нежный. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. Он сказал мне, что в молодости у него была ангина и опухшие железы, и это оставило у него слабое горло и нерешительную, шепотную манеру речи. He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare.” Он всегда был хорошо одет, очень опрятен и прост, но глаза у него были слабые, как и у меня, и он носил затемненные очки от яркого света».

“Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, returned to France?”

“Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever happened I would always be true to him. Он был ужасно серьезен и заставил меня поклясться, положив руки на Завет, что что бы ни случилось, я всегда буду верен ему. Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Мать сказала, что он был совершенно прав, заставив меня поклясться, и что это было признаком его страсти. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder of him than I was. Мать с самого начала была вся в его благосклонности и любила его даже больше, чем я. Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all right with him. Потом, когда заговорили о женитьбе на неделе, я стал расспрашивать об отце; но они оба сказали, чтобы не обращать внимания на отца, а только сказать ему потом, и мать сказала, что она уладит с ним все. I didn't quite like that, Mr. Holmes. Мне это не очень понравилось, мистер Холмс. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the very morning of the wedding.” Мне показалось забавным, что я должен просить у него разрешения, так как он был всего на несколько лет старше меня; но я не хотел ничего делать втихаря, поэтому я написал отцу в Бордо, где у компании есть французские конторы, но письмо вернулось ко мне в самое утро свадьбы.

“It missed him, then?” — Значит, он упустил его?

“Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived.” "Да сэр; потому что он отправился в Англию как раз перед тем, как она прибыла.

“Ha! «Ха! that was unfortunate. это было неудачно. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the Friday. Was it to be in church?” Было ли это в церкви?»

“Yes, sir, but very quietly. — Да, сэр, но очень тихо. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Спасителя недалеко от Кингс-Кросс, а потом мы должны были позавтракать в церкви Св. Pancras Hotel. Отель Панкрас. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the street. Хосмер приехал за нами в экипаже, но поскольку нас было двое, он посадил нас обоих в него, а сам сел в квадроцикл, который оказался единственным другим извозчиком на улице. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one there! Мы доехали до церкви первыми, и когда подъехал квадроцикл, мы ждали, пока он выйдет, но он так и не вышел, а когда извозчик слез с будки и посмотрел, там никого не было! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. Извозчик сказал, что не может себе представить, что с ним стало, потому что видел, как он садился, своими глазами. That was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became of him.” Это было в прошлую пятницу, мистер Холмс, и с тех пор я ни разу не видел и не слышал ничего, что могло бы пролить свет на то, что с ним стало.

“It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,” said Holmes. -- Мне кажется, с вами очень постыдно обошлись, -- сказал Холмс.

“Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Он был слишком хорошим и добрым, чтобы оставить меня в таком состоянии. Why, all the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. Да ведь все утро он говорил мне, что, что бы ни случилось, я должен быть прав; и что, даже если произойдет что-то совершенно непредвиденное, чтобы разлучить нас, я всегда должен помнить, что я был ему клятвой, и что он рано или поздно потребует свою клятву. It seemed strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gives a meaning to it.” Это казалось странным разговором для свадебного утра, но то, что произошло с тех пор, придает ему смысл.

“Most certainly it does. «Конечно, да. Your own opinion is, then, that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?” Значит, по вашему мнению, с ним произошла какая-то непредвиденная катастрофа?

“Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would not have talked so. Я думаю, что он предчувствовал какую-то опасность, иначе он бы так не говорил. And then I think that what he foresaw happened.” И тогда я думаю, что случилось то, что он предвидел».

“But you have no notion as to what it could have been?” — Но вы не представляете, что это могло быть?

“None.”

“One more question. How did your mother take the matter?”

“She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter again.”

“And your father? Did you tell him?”

“Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. "Да; и он, казалось, думал вместе со мной, что что-то случилось и что я снова услышу о Хосмере. As he said, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church, and then leaving me? Как он сказал, какой интерес может быть у кого-то в том, чтобы привести меня к дверям церкви, а затем оставить меня? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about money and never would look at a shilling of mine. Так вот, если бы он занял у меня деньги, или если бы он женился на мне и получил мои деньги на себя, может быть какая-то причина, но Хосмер был очень независим в деньгах и никогда не посмотрит на мой шиллинг. And yet, what could have happened? И все же, что могло случиться? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night.” She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob heavily into it. О, это сводит меня с ума при одной мысли об этом, и я не могу сомкнуть глаз по ночам». Она вытащила из муфты маленький носовой платок и начала тяжело рыдать в него.

“I shall glance into the case for you,” said Holmes, rising, “and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. -- Я займусь для вас делом, -- сказал Холмс, вставая, -- и не сомневаюсь, что мы придем к какому-нибудь определенному результату. Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell upon it further. Пусть тяжесть этого вопроса ляжет на меня сейчас, и не позволяйте своим мыслям задерживаться на нем дальше. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life.” Прежде всего постарайтесь, чтобы мистер Хосмер Энджел исчез из вашей памяти, как он исчез из вашей жизни.

“Then you don't think I'll see him again?”

“I fear not.” — Я не боюсь.

“Then what has happened to him?” — Тогда что с ним случилось?

“You will leave that question in my hands. — Вы оставите этот вопрос в моих руках. I should like an accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can spare.” Я хотел бы получить точное его описание и все его письма, которые вы можете мне предоставить.

“I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle,” said she. — Я давала ему объявление в «Кроникл» в прошлую субботу, — сказала она. “Here is the slip and here are four letters from him.”

“Thank you. And your address?” А ваш адрес?

“No. "Нет. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell.” 31 Lyon Place, Камберуэлл.

“Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your father's place of business?”

“He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of Fenchurch Street.” «Он ездит на Westhouse & Marbank, крупных импортеров кларета с Фенчерч-стрит». “Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. Вы очень четко изложили свое утверждение. You will leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it to affect your life.” Пусть весь инцидент будет запечатанной книгой, и не позволяйте ему влиять на вашу жизнь».

“You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be true to Hosmer. Я буду верен Хосмеру. He shall find me ready when he comes back.”

For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect. Несмотря на нелепую шляпу и бессмысленное лицо, в простодушной вере нашего гостя было что-то благородное, что вызывало наше уважение. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she might be summoned. Она положила на стол свою маленькую пачку бумаг и ушла, пообещав вернуться, когда бы ее ни позвали.