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"But the gunshot was apparently the cause of death. Therefore the shot must have been fired some time earlier than we are told.
"不过致死的原因，很明显是枪杀。所以，开枪的时间比他们所说的要早许多。
But there could be no mistake about such a matter as that.
事情经过就是这样，这是决不会错的。
We are in the presence, therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the two people who heard the gunshot -- of the man Barker and of the woman Douglas.
因此，我们面临的是一种蓄意合谋，是由两个听到枪声的人，也就是巴克这个男人和道格拉斯夫人这个女人干的。
When on the top of this I am able to show that the blood mark on the windowsill was deliberately placed there by Barker,
首先，只我能证明窗台上的血迹是巴克故意印上去的，
in order to give a false clue to the police, you will admit that the case grows dark against him.
目的是给警方造成假线索时，你也就会承认，这一案件的发展变得对他不利了。
Now we have to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually did occur.
现在，我们必须向自己提出一个问题：凶杀究竟是在什么时间发生的呢？
Up to half-past ten the servants were moving about the house; so it was certainly not before that time.
直到十点半钟，仆人们还在这屋里来来往往，所以谋杀肯定不是在这之前发生的。
At a quarter to eleven they had all gone to their rooms with the exception of Ames, who was in the pantry.
十点四十五分，仆人们都回到了下处，只有艾姆斯还留在餐具室。
I have been trying some experiments after you left us this afternoon,
你在下午离开我们以后，我曾作过一些试验，
and I find that no noise which MacDonald can make in the study can penetrate to me in the pantry when the doors are all shut.
发现只要房门都关上，麦克唐纳在书房不管发出多大声音，我在餐具室里也休想听到。
It is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's room.
然而，女管家的卧室就不同了。
It is not so far down the corridor, and from it I could vaguely hear a voice when it was very loudly raised.
这间卧室离走廊不远，当声音非常响时，我在这间卧室是可以模模糊糊地听到的。
The sound from a shotgun is to some extent muffled when the discharge is at very close range, as it undoubtedly was in this instance.
在从极近距离射击时--本案无疑是如此--火枪的枪声在某种程度上消声了。
It would not be very loud, and yet in the silence of the night it should have easily penetrated to Mrs. Allen's room.
枪声不会很响，但在寂静的夜晚艾伦太太卧室是能听到的。
She is, as she has told us, somewhat deaf; but none the less she mentioned in her evidence that she did hear something like a door slamming half an hour before the alarm was given.
艾伦太太告诉我们她有些耳聋，尽管如此，她还是在证词中提到过，在警报发出前半小时，她听到砰的一声象关门的声音。
Half an hour before the alarm was given would be a quarter to eleven.
警报发出前半小时当然是十点四十五分。
I have no doubt that what she heard was the report of the gun, and that this was the real instant of the murder.
我确信她听到的就是枪声，那才是真正的行凶时间。
If this is so, we have now to determine what Barker and Mrs. Douglas, presuming that they are not the actual murderers,
假如确实如此，我们现在必须查明一个问题：假定巴克先生和道格拉斯夫人不是凶手，
could have been doing from quarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down, until quarter past eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the servants.
那么，十点四十五分他们听到枪声下楼，到十一点一刻他们拉铃叫来仆人为止，这段时间里他们俩都干了些什么。
What were they doing, and why did they not instantly give the alarm?
他们在干些什么呢，为什么他们不马上报警呢？
That is the question which faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone some way to solve our problem."
这就是摆在我们面前的问题，这个问题一经查明，就向解决问题前进了几步。"
"I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding between those two people.
"我也相信，"我说道，"他们两个是串通一起的。
She must be a heartless creature to sit laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder."
道格拉斯夫人在丈夫死后不到几小时，竟然听见笑话就坐在那里哈哈大笑，那她一定是个毫无心肝的东西了。"
"Exactly. She does not shine as a wife even in her own account of what occurred.
"不错。甚至当她自己讲述案情时，也不象个被害人的妻子。
I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind, as you are aware, Watson,
华生，我不是一个崇拜女性的人，这一点你是知道的，
but my experience of life has taught me that there are few wives, having any regard for their husbands, who would let any man's spoken word stand between them and that husband's dead body.
可是我的生活经验告诉我，那种听了别人的话就不去看她丈夫尸体的妻子，很少是把丈夫放在心上的。
Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her.
华生，要是我娶妻的话，我一定愿意给我妻子灌输一种感情，当我的尸体躺在离她不远的地方时，她决不会随管家妇走开。
It was badly stagemanaged; for even the rawest investigators must be struck by the absence of the usual feminine ululation.
他们这种安排非常拙劣，即使是最没有经验的侦探，也会因为没有出现通常会有的妇女尖声悲号的场面而感到吃惊的。
If there had been nothing else, this incident alone would have suggested a prearranged conspiracy to my mind."
即使没有其它原因，单凭这件小事也会使我认为这是预谋。"
