《福尔摩斯探案集·红发会》第15节
“‘Certainly,’ I answered. “‘Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain.’ He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune. “Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopædia Britannica. Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pope’s Court. “Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o’clock he bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, and locked the door of the office after me.
注释摘要
杰贝兹·威尔逊讲完了他如何被当场录用，带着狂喜跟斯波尔丁回家。然而这一节真正的趣味不在狂喜，而在狂喜之后的那个夜晚。 单从字面看，这一段的叙事节奏很值得留意。威尔逊先是写他得意得几乎说不出话，然后只隔了一句话，情绪就急转直下：到家之后，他翻来覆去想了一整天，到了傍晚已经意志消沉。他自己把自己的好运气给推理掉了。这是典型的华生式转述——他忠实地记下当事人说的…