《福尔摩斯探案集·波希米亚丑闻》第16节
At three o’clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house shortly after eight o’clock in the morning. I sat down beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend’s amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
注释摘要
本节的时间轴在隔日下午三点，华生如约返回贝克街，但福尔摩斯竟已外出近七小时。叙述者华生的位置在此处表现得非常清晰：他只能坐在壁炉边等，什么也不知道，只能借房东太太一句简短的口信来揣度友人的动向。而他那段关于自己“已经深深被这桩调查所吸引”的自白，很值得留意。他一面承认此案不像《血字的研究》那样带着凶杀与阴森的特质，一面又强调委托人地位的尊崇赋予了案件一种独…