《福尔摩斯探案集·蓝宝石案》第14节
When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held it against the light. “It’s a bonny thing,” said he. “Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil’s pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison? I’ll lock it up in my strong box now and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it.” “Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?” “I cannot tell.” “Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had anything to do with the matter?”
注释摘要
送走门房彼得森之后，福尔摩斯把宝石举到灯下端详。这段独白与对话，在情节上完成了一次重要的换挡：原本被视为一件街头杂货般平凡小事的旧帽与肥鹅，现在忽然被一颗价值连城的蓝宝石重新定义了分量。福尔摩斯首先赞叹宝石的美，随即话锋一转，用一段近乎沉思式的议论将它定义为“犯罪的焦点和核心”——“每颗好宝石都是如此。它们是魔鬼最心爱的诱饵。”他追溯这颗宝石的身世：不到二…