住院的病人17（在线收听）

“How about this rope?” he asked.

“It is cut off this,” said Dr. Trevelyan, drawing a large coil from under the  bed. “He was morbidly nervous of fire, and always kept this beside him, so that  he might escape by the window in case the stairs were burning.”

“That must have saved them trouble,” said Holmes, thoughtfully. “Yes, the  actual facts are very plain, and I shall be surprised if by the afternoon I  cannot give you the reasons for them as well. I will take this photograph of  Blessington, which I see upon the mantelpiece, as it may help me in my  inquiries.”

“But you have told us nothing!” cried the doctor.

“Oh, there can be no doubt as to the sequence of events,” said Holmes. “There  were three of them in it: the young man, the old man, and a third, to whose  identity I have no clue. The first two, I need hardly remark, are the same who  masqueraded as the Russian count and his son, so we can give a very full  description of them. They were admitted by a confederate inside the house. If I  might offer you a word of advice, Inspector, it would be to arrest the page,  who, as I understand, has only recently come into your service, Doctor.”

“The young imp cannot be found,” said Dr. Trevelyan; “the maid and the cook  have just been searching for him.”

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

“He has played a not unimportant part in this drama,” said he. “The three men  having ascended the stairs, which they did on tiptoe, the elder man first, the  younger man second, and the unknown man in the rear—”

“My dear Holmes!” I ejaculated.

“Oh, there could be no question as to the superimposing of the footmarks. I had  the advantage of learning which was which last night. They ascended, then, to  Mr. Blessington's room, the door of which they found to be locked. With the help  of a wire, however, they forced round the key. Even without the lens you will  perceive, by the scratches on this ward, where the pressure was applied.

“On entering the room their first proceeding must have been to gag Mr.  Blessington. He may have been asleep, or he may have been so paralyzed with  terror as to have been unable to cry out. These walls are thick, and it is  conceivable that his shriek, if he had time to utter one, was unheard.

“Having secured him, it is evident to me that a consultation of some sort was  held. Probably it was something in the nature of a judicial proceeding. It must  have lasted for some time, for it was then that these cigars were smoked. The  older man sat in that wicker chair; it was he who used the cigar-holder. The  younger man sat over yonder; he knocked his ash off against the chest of  drawers. The third fellow paced up and down. Blessington, I think, sat upright  in the bed, but of that I cannot be absolutely certain.

“这条绳子是怎么回事？”他问道。

“是从这上面割下来的，”特里维廉医生从一床一底下拖出一大卷绳子，说道，“他非常害 怕火灾，身边总是保存着这东西，以便在楼梯燃一烧时，他可以从窗户逃出去。”

“这东西倒给凶手们省去了很多麻烦，”福尔摩斯若有所思地说道，“不错，案情是非常清 楚的，如果到下午我还不能把发案的原因告诉你，我就感到奇怪了。我要把壁炉台上布莱星 顿这张照片拿去，这将有助于我的调查工作。”

“可是你什么也没告诉我们！”医生叫道。

“啊，事情发生的前后经过情况是明白无疑的，”福尔摩斯说道，“这里面有三个人：那个 年轻人，老人和第三者，对第三者的身份，我还没有线索。前两个人，不用我说，就是那假 装俄罗斯贵族以及他儿子的人，所以我们能够十分详尽地叙述他们的情况。他们是被这所房 子里的一个同伙放进来的。如果我可以向你进一句忠言的话，警长，那就应当逮捕那个小听 差。据我了解，他是最近才到你的诊所当差的，医生。”

“这个小家伙已经找不到了，”特里维廉说道，“女仆和厨师刚才还找过他。”

福尔摩斯耸了耸肩。

“他在这出戏里扮演的角色并非不重要，”福尔摩斯说道，“这三个人是踮着足尖上楼的， 那个老人走在前面，年轻人走在中间，那个来历不明的人走在后面……”

“我亲一爱一的福尔摩斯！”我突然喊道。

“啊，至于脚印上摞脚印，那是毫无疑问的了。我可以辨认出他们昨天晚上的脚印。后来， 他们上了楼，来到布莱星顿的门前，他们发现房门锁上了。然而，他用一根铁丝去转动里面 的钥匙。你们甚至不用放大镜，也可以从这把钥匙榫槽上的划痕看出，他们是从什么地方使 的劲了。

“他们进入室内，第一步一定是把布莱星顿先生的嘴给塞住。他可能已经睡着了，或者被吓 瘫了，喊不出声来。这里的墙很厚，可以想象，即使他有可能喊一两声，他的呼救声也是没 人能听到的。

“显然，他们把他安置妥当以后，就商量了一番，这种商量可能具有起诉的一性一质。它一 定进行了相当一段时间。因为正是在这段时间，他们吸了这几支雪茄烟。老人坐在那张柳条 椅子上，他一抽一烟时用的是雪茄烟嘴。年轻人坐在远处，他把烟灰磕在了衣柜的对面。第 三个人在室内踱来踱去。我想，这时布莱星顿正笔直地坐在一床一上，不过对这一点我还不 能绝对肯定。