《福尔摩斯探案集·红发会》第28节
“Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right,” said the stranger with deference. “Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber.” “I think you will find,” said Sherlock Holmes, “that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will be some £ 30,000; and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands.” “John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He’s a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London. He’s a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He’ll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I’ve been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him yet.”
注释摘要
这一段发生在贝克街221B，华生按约定于晚上九点一刻赶到，进门时福尔摩斯正与两个人交谈。其中一人华生认得，是苏格兰场的官方警探彼得·琼斯；另一个则是陌生人，瘦长脸、神情忧郁，戴一顶极亮的帽子，穿一件体面到令人窒息的礼服外套。这人就是梅里韦瑟先生，某家银行董事，福尔摩斯今夜行动的同伴之一。 福尔摩斯招呼众人出发，琼斯用猎狗的行话打趣，说他们又要“成对狩猎”了…