《福尔摩斯探案集·铜山毛榉案》第19节
“I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their conversation I have gathered that they have been married about seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her father’s young wife.
注释摘要
维奥莱特·亨特的叙述到了铜山毛榉的第一天。这一段表面上是家常的人物素描，实际上却在不动声色地拆掉一个旧假设，同时布下几个新疑点。 她一进门就先推翻了贝克街的那番猜想：鲁卡斯尔太太不是疯子。这个信息来得很快，几乎是抵达当晚就做出了判断。福尔摩斯和华生在伦敦时，面对一百二十镑年薪、剪头发、穿指定衣服这几条怪异条件，只能推测女主人精神失常，丈夫为了不让妻子被送进…