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"Nothing has been touched up to now," said Cecil Barker. "I'll answer for that. You see it all exactly as I found it."
"到现在为止，什么也没有动过，"塞西尔·巴克说道，"我保证，你们所看到的一切完全和我发现时一模一样。"
"When was that?" The sergeant had drawn out his notebook.
"这事发生在什么时间？"警官掏出笔记本来。
"It was just half-past eleven. I had not begun to undress, and I was sitting by the fire in my bedroom when I heard the report.
"当时正是十一点半。我还没有脱衣服。我听到枪声时，正坐在卧室壁炉旁取暖。
It was not veryloud -- it seemed to be muffled. I rushed down -- I don't suppose it was thirty seconds before I was in the room."
枪声并不很响--好像被什么捂住了似的。我奔下楼来，跑到那间屋子时，也不过半分钟的功夫。"
"Was the door open?"
"那时门是开着的吗？"
"Yes, it was open. Poor Douglas was lying as you see him. His bedroom candle was burning on the table. It was I who lit the lamp some minutes afterward."
"是的，门是开着的。可怜的道格拉斯倒在地上，和你现在看见的一样。他卧室里的蜡烛仍然在桌上点着。后来过了几分钟，我才把灯点上。"
"Did you see no one?"
"你一个人也没看见吗？"
"No. I heard Mrs. Douglas coming down the stair behind me, and I rushed out to prevent her from seeing this dreadful sight.
"没有。我听见道格拉斯太太随后走下楼来，我连忙跑过去，把她拦住，不让她看见这可怕的景象。
Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, came and took her away. Ames had arrived, and we ran back into the room once more."
女管家艾伦太太也来了，扶着她走开。艾姆斯来了，我们又重新回到那屋里。"
"But surely I have heard that the drawbridge is kept up all night."
"可是我肯定听说过吊桥整夜都是吊起来的。"
"Yes, it was up until I lowered it."
"是的，在我把它放下以前，吊桥是吊起来的。"
"Then how could any murderer have got away? It is out of the question! Mr. Douglas must have shot himself."
"那么凶手怎么能逃走呢？这是不可能的！道格拉斯先生一定是自杀的。"
"That was our first idea. But see!"
"我们最初也是这样想的，不过你看！"
Barker drew aside the curtain, and showed that the long, diamond-paned window was open to its full extent.
巴克把窗帘拉到一旁，让他看那已经完全打开的玻璃长窗。
"And look at this!" He held the lamp down and illuminated a smudge of blood like the mark of a boot-sole upon the wooden sill.
"你再看看这个！"他把灯拿低些，照着木窗台上的血迹，像一只长统靴底的印痕。
"Someone has stood there in getting out."
"有人在逃出去的时候曾站在这里。"
"You mean that someone waded across the moat?"
"你认为有人蹚水逃过护城河了吗？"
"Exactly!"
"不错！"
"Then if you were in the room within half a minute of the crime, he must have been in the water at that very moment."
"那么，如果你在罪案发生后不到半分钟就来到屋中，罪犯当时必然还在水里。"
"I have not a doubt of it. I wish to heaven that I had rushed to the window!
"我毫不怀疑这点。那时我要是跑到窗前就好了！
But the curtain screened it, as you can see, and so it never occurred to me.
可是正象你刚才看见的那样，窗帘遮住了窗户。
Then I heard the step of Mrs. Douglas, and I could not let her enter the room. It would have been too horrible."
所以我没有想到这点。后来我听到道格拉斯太太的脚步声，我可不能让她走进这间屋子。那情况简直太可怕了。"
"Horrible enough!" said the doctor, looking at the shattered head and the terrible marks which surrounded it.
"实在太可怕了！"医生看着炸碎的头颅和它四周的可怕血印说。
"I've never seen such injuries since the Birlstone railway smash."
"从伯尔斯通火车撞车事件以来，我还没见过这样可怕的重伤呢。"
"But, I say," remarked the police sergeant, whose slow, bucolic common sense was still pondering the open window.
"不过，我看，"警官说道，他那迟缓的、被那乡巴佬的常识局限住了的思路仍然停留在洞开的窗户上面。
"It's all very well your saying that a man escaped by wading this moat, but what I ask you is, how did he ever get into the house at all if the bridge was up?"
"你说有一个人蹚水过护城河逃走，是完全对的。不过我想问你，既然吊桥已经吊起来，他又是怎么走进来的呢？"
"Ah, that's the question," said Barker.
"啊，问题就在这里啊，"巴克说道。
"At what o'clock was it raised?"
"吊桥是几点钟吊起来的呢？"
"It was nearly six o'clock," said Ames, the butler.
"将近六点钟时，"管家艾姆斯说。
"I've heard," said the sergeant, "that it was usually raised at sunset. That would be nearer half-past four than six at this time of year."
"我听说，"警官说道，"吊桥通常在太阳西下的时候吊起来。那么在一年中这个季节，日落应该是在四点半左右，而不会是六点钟。"
"Mrs. Douglas had visitors to tea," said Ames. "I couldn't raise it until they went. Then I wound it up myself."
"道格拉斯太太请客人们吃茶点，"艾姆斯说道，"客人不走我是不能吊起吊桥的。后来，桥是我亲手吊起来的。"
"Then it comes to this," said the sergeant: "If anyone came from outside -- if they did
"这样说来，"警官说道，"如果有人从外面进来--假定是这样
they must have got in across the bridge before six and been in hiding ever since, until Mr. Douglas came into the room after eleven."
那他们必须在六点钟以前通过吊桥来到，而且一直藏到十一点钟以后，直到道格拉斯先生走进屋中。"
"That is so! Mr. Douglas went round the house every night the last thing before he turned in to see that the lights were right.
"正是这样！道格拉斯先生每天晚上都要在庄园四周巡视一番。他上床睡觉以前最后一件事是察看烛火是否正常。
That brought him in here. The man was waiting and shot him.
这样他就来到这里，那个人正在等着他，就向他开枪了。
Then he got awaythrough the window and left his gun behind him. That's how I read it; for nothing else will fit the facts."
然后丢下火枪，越过窗子逃跑了。我认为就是这样；除此以外，没有任何其它解释能与眼前的事实相符。"
