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At last Thomson managed to make Mr and Mrs Betts believe that he would not say anything about what he had seen. By that time he had missed his train but he decided to go into town and spend the night at the Station Hotel.
最后汤姆森还是让贝茨夫妇相信了他不会把自己见到的一切说出去。这时他已经错过了那趟火车，可他决定去镇上，在火车站旅馆过夜。
Before he went, Mr Betts told him what little he knew.
他临走前，贝茨先生给他讲了自己知道的一点儿情况。
'They say he used to be the innkeeper here many years ago, and he worked with the thieves who robbed and murdered travellers on the heath. That's why he was hanged——in chains, they say, up at the gallows on that white stone you saw. Yes, the fishermen pulled the gallows down, I bleieve, because they saw it out at sea, and they said it kept the fish away. We heard all this from the peple who sold us the inn. “You keep that room shut up, ”they said, “but don't move the bed out, and you'll find there won't be any trouble. ”And we haven't had any trouble. He hasn't once come out into the house, though who knows what he might do now? I've never seen him myself, and I don't want to. But I do hope you'll keep it a secret, sir. If word gets out, people won't want to come and stay here, will they?'
“人们说多年前他是这家旅店的老板，和那些在荒原上抢夺和谋杀旅行者的小偷们同谋一起干坏事，所以被人——据说用链子——吊死在你看见的那块白石头上的绞架上。是啊，我想后来那些渔夫们把绞架拆了下来，因为他们在海上就能看见，他们说鱼一见到它就跑。这些都是从卖给我们旅店的人们那里听来的。'你们把那间屋子的门窗关好，'他们说，'别把床搬出来，就不会有什么麻烦。'我们确实也没遇到什么麻烦。虽然谁也不知道现在他会干什么，但是此前他从来没出来过。我从来没看见过他，而且也不想看见。不过，先生，我确实希望你能保守这个秘密。如果传出去，人们就不会想到这儿来住了，对吧？”
The promise of silence was kept for many years. I heard the story when Mr Thomson, now an old man, came to stay with my father. I was told to take him up to his room, but when we got there, Mr Thomson stepped forward and threw the door open himself. He stood there in the doorway for some moments, looking carefully into every corner of the room.
多年来汤姆森先生一直信守诺言，没有将此事说出来。如今他已经年迈，来看望我的父亲我才听到了这个故事。我奉命带他上楼到他的房间去。一到那儿，他便走上前去自己用力推开了门。他在门口站了会儿，仔细看了看房间的每一个角落。
Then he turned to me.'I beg your pardon,'he said.'A strange way to behave, I know. But there is a very good reason for it.'
接着他转向我。“对不起，”他说，“这么做很怪，却是很有理由的。”
A few days later I heard what the reason was, and you have heard it now.
几天后我听说了其中的理由，您现在也听说了。
