Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 4 Memoirs 4
In the course of the short stories adapted from these cases, I naturally wrote in much more detail about his successes than his failures.The reason why I want to do this is not to take Holmes' reputation into account, but because where Holmes fails, no one else can succeed, and such a story will never have an end.The fact is that even if he makes mistakes, he can finally figure out the truth of the matter through hard work.Of these cases the Musgrave Ceremony and the story I am now about to enter are the most fascinating.

Holmes often took part in physical exercise, but not for the purpose of exercising his body.He regards blind exercise as a waste of energy, so he has always paid little attention to things that have nothing to do with his profession.But he himself was full of energy.Holmes has no major vices, except for the occasional injection of cocaine.He turned to narcotics mainly to relieve the dull monotony of life.

One day in early spring, Holmes had nothing to do but walked with me in the park.We didn't return to Baker Street until almost five o'clock.

The little servant opened the door and said, "Oh, sir, a gentleman came to see you just now."

Holmes looked at me complainingly, and said: "It is all your fault. By the way, the gentleman has gone, then?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you not invite him in?"

"Please, he also came in."

"How long did he wait?"

"He was very restless and kept pacing up and down and stomping his feet. After about half an hour, he walked into the hallway and yelled: 'He doesn't want to come back?' I said: 'Please wait.' He said again: "Then I'll go outside and wait, and I'll come back later, I'm almost suffocated to death!" After he finished speaking, he left, and I couldn't keep him."

As we entered the room, Holmes said: "Watson, this is very exasperating. He must have a big case to deal with. Well, the pipe on the table was left behind by that man. This briar pipe has a really long stem." I don't know how many real amber-holders there are in London, but he should have left such a precious pipe here. He must be quite upset."

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

"I guess the original price of this pipe was no more than seven shillings and sixpence, but the wood handle and the amber mouth have been repaired once each, and the silver bands are used for each repair, which is more than the original price of the pipe. Much. A man who would rather have his pipe repaired than pay the same money for a new one must show that he cherishes it."

"Any other discoveries?" I asked.

He said: "Except for watches and shoelaces, there is nothing that reveals a person's personality more than a pipe. But this pipe is neither obvious nor important. The owner of the pipe must be left-handed and have a good set of teeth. , careless, rich and strong."

I asked, "Does a rich man take a seven-shilling pipe?"

Holmes cracked a bit of tobacco in his hand and said: "This is Grosvenor cigarettes for eightpence a ounce. With half of that, he can smoke very high-grade cigarettes. Doesn't he have money?" "

"Then how to determine the other points?"

"From the fact that one side of the pipe was charred, it can be deduced that he had a habit of lighting his pipe on an oil lamp and a gas burner. If he tried to light a cigarette on an oil lamp, the pipe would probably be charred. As for the idea that he is left-handed, then It's because the burnt side is just the right side of it. You could try lighting your pipe over a lamp, and since you're right handed, you'll know that the flame is closer to the left side of the pipe. So I'm sure he's a Left-handed. I say he is strong and strong and has good teeth because I saw that Amber's mouth was bitten through. Well, we can now study some more interesting problems than this pipe, because I have I heard him coming upstairs."

After a while, a tall young man pushed the door open and came in, holding a wide-brimmed brown fedora hat and wearing a plain and elegant dark gray suit.Age may be around 30.

Embarrassed, he said, "Excuse me, I should have knocked first. Because I'm really flustered." He put his hand on his forehead, and slumped back in his chair.

Holmes said kindly, "You must have been up for a night or two. How can I help you?"

"Sir, my world is falling apart. I don't know what to do. I need your advice."

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

"More than that, I need your guidance. You have a lot of knowledge and experience, so I hope you can tell me how I should go next."

When he spoke, his breath was short of breath, his voice trembled, and his sentences were broken, as if he was trying to suppress his feelings all the time.

He said: "No one is willing to talk about their housework to outsiders, especially discussing their wife's behavior with two strangers. What's more annoying is that I have reached the point where I have no choice but to ask others for help." .”

Holmes said: "Dear Mr. Grant Munro..."

The visitor jumped up and said loudly, "How did you know my name?"

Holmes said with a smile on his face: "If you still want to hide your name and identity in the future, I advise you not to write your name on the inside of your hat, or don't wash your hat inside when you visit others again." Please tell me the whole story as soon as possible."

The visitor seemed to feel pain, and he put his hand on his forehead again.Suddenly, as if determined not to keep the secret any longer, he said with a firm gesture of clenched fists, "Mr. Holmes, I have been married for three years. During this time, I have been married like any married couple." Same, we live happily, without any conflicts. But since last Monday, I have found that I know very little about her in life and thought. Our lives have been hindered, and we have become a little estranged. Things That's it, I really don't know what's going on.

"But I want to let you know that Effie loves me very much. Don't misunderstand me. You know that it's easy for a man to find out that a woman loves him, but now there's a secret between us. If you figure it out , we can restore our relationship."

Holmes became impatient: "Mr. Munro, please get to the point quickly."

"When I met Effie for the first time, she was only 25 years old. Her ex-husband, Mr. Hebron, had died. Since she was very young, she had settled in Atlanta, USA. There, she married a successful lawyer. Hebron, and had a child. Later, her husband and child died of yellow fever. She returned to Pinnar, Middlesex, to live with her unmarried aunt. In addition, her former husband stayed Inherited £[-], and she got seven per cent interest on his investments during his lifetime. We were married a few months after we met.

"My annual income of seven or eight hundred pounds comes from my hop business. In Norbury, we rent a small cottage at an annual rent of 80 pounds, and live a very comfortable life. Due to the needs of work, I We only come into town on errands during certain seasons. So we can have a lot of fun in the house, and we haven't had any unpleasantness at all before that.

"Also, when we got married, my wife put all her assets in my name. At her insistence, I did as she said. About six weeks ago, she came to me and said:' Jack, you said I could take the money I gave you anytime I wanted.' I said: 'Of course.' 'Well, I want a hundred pounds.' I was very surprised because I had the feeling she just wanted Asked for a new dress or something like that. I asked, 'What the hell is going on?'

"She joked: 'Oh, you're just my bank custodian, you're the kind of person who can't ask people.'

"I said: 'Of course you can take the money if you want it, but do you really need it?'

"'Of course, I need the money urgently.'

"'Can you tell me the purpose?'

"'No, I'll tell you in a few days.'

"Even though I gave her a check as well, this was the first secret between us as a husband and wife.

"There was a little cottage very close to us, with a field in the middle. The only way to get to the cottage was to go along the road to the opposite side, and then turn around a lane. A thick Scotch fir tree grew on the cottage. On the other side of the building, I usually take a walk there. It is a pity that this small villa has not been lived in for eight months. And I often wander around this two-story small building, imagining the comfortable feeling of living there .

"Last Monday night, I walked over to see who the villa was rented to. But at the same time, I suddenly saw a face in the upper window looking at me.

"I seemed to be in a cold sweat on my back at the time, although I didn't see the face clearly at the time. The only impression was that the face was a bit unnatural and not very human-like. In order to see who it was, I hurried forward Walking. But the face suddenly disappeared. I can't tell whether it is a man or a woman, because it is too far away from me, but I deeply remember the color of that face: chalky blue-gray Unnatural and frighteningly rigid. I decided to check out the new occupants. I knocked on the door, and a thin, extremely tall, ugly, and forbidding woman opened the door for me, and then , asked with a northern accent: 'What do you want to do?'

"I nodded towards my house and said, 'I'll live next to you, see if I can help you.'

"'When I need it, I will come to you!' I was so annoyed that I was interrupted, and I turned around and went home. That night, I just told her that there were people living in the small villa before going to bed. , but she did not speak.

"Normally, nothing would wake me up. But that night, perhaps a little thrill of that sort of thing or something, as I was half asleep, I felt my wife get dressed and put on her I put on a bamboo hat and a hat, and kept moving around the room. But when the candlelight shone on my wife’s unusually pale face, I was so surprised that I couldn’t speak. Because she was short of breath and was buttoning her hands. While tightening the cloak, he secretly checked to see if he would wake me up, and then slipped out quietly. After a while, I heard the sound of the hinge of the door. This kind of thing had never happened before. I looked at my watch, yes It's three o'clock in the morning, and at this time, what is my wife going to do?

"After sitting for about 10 minutes, I kept looking for some plausible explanations. Just when I thought about it more and more, the door was gently closed again, and she came upstairs again.

"As soon as I saw her, I asked: 'Effie, where have you been?'

"She frightened and screamed, and there was an indescribable guilt in that scream, which bothered me all the more. Seeing someone as straightforward and sincere as my wife The woman slipped into the house quietly, and I was very chilled.

"She forced a smile and said aloud: 'Jack, you're awake, I don't think I woke you up.'

"I asked more sternly: 'Where have you been?'

"She quickly said: 'I felt stuffy and wanted to get some air. If I was in the room, I would have fainted. In a few minutes, I fully recovered.'

"Her voice, which was quite different from usual, showed that she was telling lies. My mind was filled with a thousand malicious surmises and suspicions. I felt that I must find out, or I would have no peace. But I didn't want to hear another lie, so I didn't ask her anything. But that night, I kept guessing, and the more I thought about it, the more confused I became.

"The next day, I was so annoyed that I didn't want to go to the city to do business. I saw that she had lost her mind, and I knew I didn't believe her lies. So we didn't talk at breakfast. After dinner, in order to think about this Question, I immediately went out for a walk.

"After walking to Crystal Palace, it was an hour before I returned to Norbury at about one o'clock. As I passed the cottage, I stopped and looked at the windows to see if I could I found that strange face yesterday. At this moment, my wife just came out of the small villa. Mr. Holmes, can you imagine my surprise at that time?

"When I saw her, I couldn't say a word. My wife seemed more excited than I was. Originally, she wanted to go back to the villa again, but when she saw that it would not help, she walked away with a pale face. over here.

(End of this chapter)