The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 63 Memoirs (4) ([-])
One day in early spring, Holmes unexpectedly became free, and had time to accompany me for a walk in the park.At this time, the elms have sprouted green shoots, and the tops of the chestnut trees have begun to sprout new five-petal leaves.We wandered in silence for two hours, as is fitting for two intimate friends.It was almost five o'clock when we got back to Baker Street.

"Excuse me, sir," said our little servant, opening the door, "a gentleman has come to see you."

Holmes glanced at me complainingly.

"No afternoon walk!" said Holmes. "Has the gentleman gone, then?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you not invite him in?"

"Please, sir, he has been in."

"How long has he been waiting?"

"He waited half an hour, sir. He seemed agitated, and kept pacing up and down the room, stamping his feet. I waited outside the door, sir, and I could hear him. Finally, he came out into the passage "Isn't he going to come back?" and that's what he said, sir. I said, "Wait a little longer, please." And he said, "I'll wait outside. I'm here. I'm going to be suffocated, I'll come back later." After saying that, he left, and I couldn't keep him."

"Well, well, you have done well," said Holmes, as we entered the room. "This is very exasperating, Watson. I really need a case now. Judging by the impatience of this man Well, this seems to be an important case. Now! The pipe on the table is not yours, it must have been left by that man. It is a fine briar pipe, with a long stem, of the kind the tobacconist calls Made for amber stuff. I don't know how many real amber cigarette holders there are in the city of London. Some people think the one with the flies embedded in it is real amber. Hey, he left his precious pipe , which shows that he must be very upset."

"How do you know he cherishes this pipe?" I asked.

"Well, the original price of this pipe, as I understand it, was only seven shillings and sixpence, but, you see, it has been repaired twice, once on the wooden handle and once on the amber stem. You can see , the silver hoops are used for each repair, which is much higher than the original price of the pipe. This man would rather repair the pipe than spend the same money to buy a new one, which shows that he must cherish this pipe very much .”

"Have you noticed any other signs?" I asked, as Holmes was turning his pipe over and examining it with peculiar thoughtfulness.

Holmes took up his pipe and flicked it with his long thin forefinger like a professor giving a lesson in animal skeletons.

"Pipes are sometimes of great importance," said Holmes. "Nothing reveals a man's personality so much as his watch and shoe-laces. But this pipe is neither obvious nor important. The pipe's The owner was clearly an athletic man, left-handed, with good teeth, careless and well-to-do."

My friend said these words without thinking, and I saw him squinting at me, and I knew he was looking to see if I understood why he was inferring that.

"Do you think he's a rich man if he smokes a seven-shilling pipe?" I asked.

"It's Grosvenors, eightpence a ounce," said Holmes, knocking his pipe in his hand to produce a little tobacco. "At half the price he can smoke good cigarettes. It shows that he is financially well off."

"So, what about the other points?"

"He was used to lighting his pipe over oil and gas burners. You could see the pipe was charred on one side, which obviously wouldn't have happened with a match. How could a match burn the side? But you It is impossible to light a pipe on a lamp without burning the pipe. And only the right side of the pipe is charred, so I presume he is a left-handed man. Now you light your pipe on the lamp and you will see , because you are right-handed, naturally the left side is closer to the flame. Sometimes you may not light a cigarette like this, but it is accidental after all. So we can only think that he is left-handed. The amber cigarette holder has been bitten through, indicating that he is strong and has good teeth .If I am not mistaken, I have heard him come upstairs, and soon we shall be dealing with much more interesting problems than this pipe."

After a while, the door opened, and a tall young man walked in.He was dressed in smart dark gray and held a brown fedora hat.I'd guess his age is around 30, but he's a few years older than that.

"Excuse me," he said embarrassedly, "I think I should knock first. Yes, I should knock first. But I'm so upset, please forgive my rashness." He put his hand on his forehead, Unable to support himself, he turned around and fell on the chair.

"It can be seen that you have not closed your eyes for a night or two," said Holmes kindly. "This is indeed more debilitating than work, and even more debilitating than pleasure. How can I help you?"

"I want your advice, sir. I'm completely at a loss. My whole life is out of order."

"Do you want me to be a consulting detective?"

"Not only that. You are a man of knowledge and experience, and I need your advice. I want you to tell me what to do."

He spoke incoherently, with shortness of breath and a trembling voice, and it seemed to me that he had difficulty even speaking, that he was trying to suppress his emotions.

"It's a very difficult thing to deal with," he said. "It's a family scandal. It's especially embarrassing to discuss your wife's behavior with two strangers. It's just horrible. But I I have reached the point where I am helpless, and I have to ask others for advice.”

"My dear Mr. Grant Munro ..." began Holmes.

Our guest jumped up from his chair.

"What?" he said aloud. "You know my name?"

"If you wish to conceal your identity," said Holmes, smiling, "I advise you not to write your name on the inside of your hat, or to turn your hat inside when you visit. I was just about to tell you that in the My friends and I have heard many strange and mysterious things in this room, and we have been able to bring peace to many anxious people. I am sure we can do the same with you. Time is precious, please take it Hurry up and tell me what happened."

Our guest seemed very distressed, and put his hand to his forehead again.I could tell from his expression that he was a man of few words and steady personality. He was a man with a little pride in his nature, and he would rather keep his sorrow to himself than express it.Later, he suddenly made up his mind, clenched his fists, stopped keeping secrets, and said:

"The thing is, Mr. Holmes, that I am a married man, and have been married for three years. During these three years, my wife and I have lived as happily as any other couple. Since last Monday, there has suddenly been a gap between us. I find that I don't understand some of her life and thoughts, as if she is a strange woman. We are estranged. I want to know why.

"But there is one thing I must let you know before I go on, Mr. Holmes. Effie loves me, please believe that. She loves me with all her heart, and loves me even more now. Feel it, there is no doubt about it. A man can easily sense a woman's love for him. However, there is a secret among us, and until this secret is clear, it is difficult for our lives to go back to the way it was before. "

"Mr. Munro, please tell me the truth," said Holmes impatiently.

"Let me tell you what I know about Effie's past. When I first met her, she was only 25 years old. Although she was still very young, she was already a widow. Her name was Mrs. Hebron She went to the United States when she was a child and lived in the city of Atlanta. She married Hebron, a lawyer there. He had a lot of customers. They had a child. Both her husband and the child died of the local epidemic of yellow fever. I have seen Hebron's death certificate. It made her hate America so much that she returned home with her maiden aunt and settled at Pinnall, Middlesex. I need to add that her husband left Her vast estate, about forty-five hundred pounds, was invested by her husband during his lifetime, at an average rate of seven per cent a year. When I met her, she was only six months at Pinnall, and we fell in love at first sight. Married a few weeks later.

"I am a hop merchant, and earn seven or eight hundred pounds a year. We have a little cottage in Norbury at eighty pounds a year, and we live comfortably. Our little place is quite country, though so close to the town. Near our residence, there is a small hotel and two houses, and there is a single-family villa near the field in front of our door. In addition, there is only a house halfway to the station. Due to my occupation, I I only go into town for errands in certain seasons, and I usually don't have to go into town in the summer. So my wife and I enjoy ourselves in our country house. I tell you, it never happened to us before this disaster happened. anything unpleasant.

"One more thing, one more thing I must let you know before I go on. When we got married, my wife transferred the entire property into my name. It wasn't my intention, because I thought Once my business fails, it's hard to turn around. But she insisted on doing it and I just let her go. Ah, she came to me about six weeks ago.

"'Jack,' said she, 'when you accepted my money, you said I could ask you for it whenever I wanted it.'

"'Yes,' said I, 'that was your money in the first place.'

"'Yes,' said she, 'I want a hundred pounds.'

"I was surprised to hear that because I thought she just wanted to buy a new dress or something like that.

"'What the hell is going on?' I asked.

"'Oh,' she said jokingly, 'you said you were just my bank clerk, and you know bank clerks never ask customers that kind of question.'

"'Of course you can get the money if you want it,' I said.

"'Ah, yes, I really need the money.'

"'Can you tell me what you plan to do with the money?'

"'Jack, I'll tell you in a few days, not now.'

"So I did. It was the first secret between us as a couple. After I gave her a check, I never asked about it. It may not have anything to do with what happened next, but I think I still It's better to say it all.

"I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from where we live. There is a field between our place and the cottage, but if you want to go to the cottage, you have to go along the road to the opposite side, and then go around To a lane, past the lane. Next to the cottage, there is a thick Scotch fir tree, where I often walk. It is always pleasant to walk in the woods. It is a pity that eight months , the cottage was never inhabited. It was a splendid two-story house, with a quaint verandah, surrounded by honeysuckle. I often stopped there, and often thought how pleasant it would be to live there.

"Well, as I was walking down this road last Monday evening, I happened to see an empty caravan driving down the lane, and there was a pile of rugs and other things on the grass beside the porch. Apparently the cottage was rented I went out. I walked over and pretended to observe casually for a while, trying to find out who had become our new neighbor. I suddenly felt that someone was watching my actions through the upper window of the small villa.

"Mr. Holmes, because I was far away from that person, I didn't see the other person's appearance clearly, but cold sweat broke out on my back. At that time, the appearance of that person gave me the impression that it was not like a human face. .I stepped forward quickly, trying to get a better look at the person who was watching me. But when I got closer, the face suddenly disappeared. I stood and thought for a full 5 minutes, intending to take what I saw Analyze it. Because of the distance, I am not sure of the gender of the man. But the complexion of the man left a deep impression on me. It is stiff and unnatural, frighteningly unnatural, like blue-gray chalk. Feeling very disturbed, I decided to go and see the new occupants of the cottage. I knocked on the door, and the door was opened immediately by a tall, thin woman. The woman was frighteningly ugly.

"'What's the matter with you?' she said with a northern accent.

"'I'm your neighbor across the street,' I motioned my head towards my place, 'I see you've just moved in, I'll see if I can help you with anything...'

"'Well, we will ask you when we need your help,' she said, and closed the door. I was so annoyed at how I was To think about something else, but I keep thinking about the weirdo behind the window and that rude woman. My wife is a timid and excitable woman, so I decided not to tell her about it, I don't want to let She shared my troubles. Before going to bed, I told her that the cottage was now rented out, but she didn't answer.

"I usually sleep very hard. Nothing can wake me up at night. My family often laughs at me like this. But this night, I don't know if it was stimulated by this incident or other reasons. I slept soundly." Not as dead as usual. In a daze, I felt that someone was moving in the room. When I saw my wife was dressed, cape and hat, I murmured to her this dissatisfaction. A well-timed gesture raised objections. I was speechless with astonishment when I saw my wife's face in the light of the candle. Her expression was one I had never seen before, and it could never be feigned. She Pale and short of breath, she watched me furtively as she fastened her cloak to see if she had awakened me. Then she slipped softly out of the room, thinking I was still asleep. After a while, I heard the creaking of the sharp door hinges. I sat up in bed and tapped my hand on the bed rail to make sure I was in a dream. I checked the watch under my pillow. It was three in the morning It's one o'clock. My wife is out alone at three o'clock in the morning. What on earth is she doing?

"I sat still for 10 minutes, thinking about it over and over again, trying to find some reasonable explanations. The more I thought about it, the more strange it became. As I was thinking about it, I heard the door softly. It closed and my wife came upstairs.

"'Where were you at midnight, Effie?' I asked as soon as she came in.

"She was startled when I questioned her like this, and she gave a sudden scream. This scream of unspeakable guilt bothered me more than anything else. My wife was always a sincere and straightforward woman. Woman, it hurts my heart to see her sneaking into her house, and her panic in the face of her husband's questioning.

"'Jack, you're awake!' she cried, with a forced smile. 'Why, I thought nothing could wake you.'

"'Where have you been?' I demanded more severely.

"'No wonder you're surprised,' she said. I saw her fingers tremble as she unbuttoned her cloak. Chest tightness, desperate for fresh air. If I don't go out, I think I'll really pass out. I stood outside the door for a few minutes, and I'm fully recovered now.'

"When she spoke, she never dared to look me in the face, and her voice was completely out of the usual tone. This showed that she was lying. I didn't answer, and turned my face to the wall sadly. Thousands of malicious guesses and doubts filled my heart. Brain. What is my wife hiding from me? Where has she gone out in such a strange and mysterious way? I don't think I will be at ease until I find out the truth about it. After she lied to me, I I don't want to ask her any more. I tossed and turned all night, uneasy, guessing, and the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't understand.

"I was supposed to be in town the next day, but I was too distraught to take care of business. My wife seemed as distraught as I was, and she kept watching my face. From her confused look , I can tell she already knows I don't believe her, she's in a mess right now. We didn't say a word at breakfast. Immediately after breakfast, I went for a walk so I could clear my head in the fresh morning air .

"I walked as far as Crystal Palace, stayed there for an hour, and it was one o'clock in the afternoon when I got back to Norbury. As I passed the cottage, I stopped and looked at the windows to see if I could see To the man who spied on me. Mr. Holmes, what a surprise I must have been when I stood there when the door of the cottage was flung open and my wife stepped out.

"I was too shocked to speak when I saw her, but when our eyes met, my wife seemed more disturbed than I was. For a moment, she seemed to want to retreat to the villa subconsciously. She realized that she could no longer Hiding, she walked forward, her pale face and terrified eyes were not commensurate with the forced smile.

"'Ah, Jack,' she said, 'I just came over to see if I could help my new neighbors. Why are you looking at me like that? Jack, you're not mad at me, are you?'

"'So,' said I, 'were you here last night?'

"'What do you mean?' she cried.

"'I am quite sure that you were here last night. Who were they? You came to see them in the middle of the night?'

"'I've never been here before.'

"'How could you lie to me?' I yelled. 'Your voice has changed. Have I kept something from you? I'm going in and set this straight.'

"'No, no, Jack, for God's sake! Don't go in there,' she said breathlessly, overwhelmed with excitement. When I reached the door, she grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled I pull back.

"'Please don't do it, Jack,' she cried, 'I promise I'll tell you all about it in a few days, and if you go in now, you're only asking for trouble and doing no good.' I broke free from her hand, she hugged me tightly, begging bitterly.

(End of this chapter)