《福尔摩斯探案集·歪唇男人》第34节
“I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served upon me for £ 25. I was at my wit’s end where to get the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight’s grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. “Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at £ 2 a week when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my secret was safe in his possession.
注释摘要
圣克莱尔的自白从这里开始进入最核心的部分。他写完了关于乞丐生态的系列报道，本来可以把整件事当作一段猎奇的职业经历封存起来。转折点是一桩极其日常的麻烦：他为朋友在票据上背书担保，结果朋友违约，一张二十五英镑的令状送到了他自己手上。这一笔钱在今天的读者看来或许不多，但在维多利亚时代的中下层，二十五英镑大致相当于一个熟练职员将近三个月的薪水，对每周挣两英镑的记者…