《福尔摩斯探案集·波希米亚丑闻》第3节
One night—it was on the twentieth of March, 1888—I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.
注释摘要
时间是一个极具体的刻度：一八八八年三月二十日。这种精确在福尔摩斯故事里并非偶然，它不仅是编年体的仪式感，更是在告诉读者——这是一份可以核对的记录，华生医生在坚持他的职业习惯。他刚从病人那里出诊回来，这个短语"a journey to a patient"里藏着两层信息：第一，他已经离开了与福尔摩斯同住的时光，重新开始行医；第二，那个年代的医生出诊意味着真要…