诺伍德的建筑师（13）（在线收听）

“Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father was away in search of his son. The mother was at home—a little, fluffy, blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation. Of course, she would not admit even the possibility of his guilt. But she would not express either surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre. On the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the police, for, of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it would predispose him towards hatred and violence. ‘He was more like a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,’ said she, ‘and he always was, ever since he was a young man.’

“‘You knew him at that time?’ said I.

“‘Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better, if a poorer, man. I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard a shocking story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was so horrified at his brutal cruelty that I would have nothing more to do with him.’ She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife. ‘That is my own photograph,’ she said. ‘He sent it to me in that state, with his curse, upon my wedding morning.’

“‘Well,’ said I, ‘at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left all his property to your son.’

“‘Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or alive,’ she cried, with a proper spirit. ‘There is a God in Heaven, Mr. Holmes, and that same God who has punished that wicked man will show in His own good time that my son's hands are guiltless of his blood.’

“Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which would help our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it. I gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.

“去了，华生。我到了那里，很快就发现死去的奥德克是个不可小看的恶棍。麦克法兰的父亲出去找儿子了，他母亲在家。她是个蓝眼睛、个子矮小、愚昧无知的妇女，恐惧和气愤使她不停地发一抖。当然，她认为她儿子简直不可能犯罪，可是她对奥德克的遭遇既不表示惊讶，也不表示惋惜。恰恰相反，她谈起奥德克时流露的那种深恶痛绝的样子，等于她不自觉地在支持警方的理由。因为要是她儿子曾经听过她这样谈论奥德克的话，那就会自然而然使他产生憎恨和干出暴行。'奥德克以前与其说是人，倒不如说是个恶毒狡猾的怪物，'她说。'从年轻的时候起，他一直就是一个怪物。'

“那时候您就认识他？'我说。

“'是的，我很熟悉他。其实，他是最早向我求婚的一个。谢谢老天我还有眼力离开他，跟一个也许比他穷、但是比他好的人结了婚。在我和奥德克订婚以后，听人讲其他怎样把一只猫放进鸟舍里去。他这种残酷无情的举动使我厌恶极了，再也不愿跟他有任何往来。'她从写字台一抽一屉里翻出一张女人的照片，脸部给刀划得支离破碎。'这是我自己的相片，'她说，'在我结婚的那天上午，他为了诅咒我，把它弄成这样给我寄来了。'

“'不过，'我说，'至少他现在宽恕你了，因为他将全部财产都留给了你的儿子。'

“'我儿子和我都不要约纳斯·奥德克任何东西，不管他是死是活，'她郑重其事地大声说，'天上有上帝呀，福尔摩斯先生。上帝已经惩罚了这个坏人，到时候上帝也会证明我儿子手上没有沾他的血。'

“我还试了追寻一两个线索，但是找不到有助于我们的假设的东西，有几点恰恰同我们的假设相反。最后我放弃了，去了诺伍德。