《福尔摩斯探案集·红发会》第22节
We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with “JABEZ WILSON” in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbroker’s, and, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step in. “Thank you,” said Holmes, “I only wished to ask you how you would go from here to the Strand.”
注释摘要
在这一节里，福尔摩斯与华生离开了贝克街，进入城市实地的勘查阶段。叙述借华生之眼描绘出一条清晰的行动线：他们乘坐地铁抵达阿尔德斯门，步行至萨克斯-科堡广场。华生用几个极富质感的形容词勾勒出广场的样貌——它是一个憋闷、窄小、带着勉强维持体面却又掩饰不住衰败相的地方。四排灰扑扑的两层砖房围着一块有围栏的空地，草地长满杂草，几丛褪色的月桂树在烟气弥漫的空气里艰难活…