诺伍德的建筑师（22）

Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.

“I don't know whether you are playing a game with us, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” said he. “If you know anything, you can surely say it without all this tomfoolery.”

“I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so you must not grudge¹ me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the straw?”

I did so, and, driven by the draught², a coil of grey smoke swirled³ down the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.

“Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade. Might I ask you all to join in the cry of ‘Fire!’? Now, then; one, two, three—”

“Fire!” we all yelled.

“Thank you. I will trouble you once again.”

“Fire!”

“Just once more, gentlemen, and all together.”

“Fire!” The shout must have rung over Norwood.

It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened. A door suddenly flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the end of the corridor, and a little, wizened⁴ man darted⁵ out of it, like a rabbit out of its burrow⁶.

“Capital!” said Holmes, calmly. “Watson, a bucket of water over the straw. That will do! Lestrade, allow me to present you with your principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre.”

The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement⁷. The latter was blinking in the bright light of the corridor, and peering at us and at the smouldering fire. It was an odious⁸ face—crafty, vicious, malignant⁹, with shifty, light-grey eyes and white eyelashes.

雷斯垂德的脸已经开始变红。他生气了。

“我不明白你是否在跟我们开玩笑，歇洛克·福尔摩斯先生，”他说，“如果你知道些什么，你满可以讲出来，用不着做这种毫无意义的举动。”

“我向你保证，我的好雷斯垂德，我做每一件事情都是有完全理由的。你可能记得几小时以前你好象是占了上风的时候，你跟我开了点玩笑，那末现在你就别不让我来点排场呀。华生，你先开窗户，然后划根火柴把麦秸点着，可以吗？”

我照他的话做了。烧着的干麦秸噼啪作响，冒出了火焰，一股白烟给穿堂风吹得在走廊里缭绕。

“现在咱们看看能不能给你找出那个证人来，雷斯垂德。请各位跟我一起喊'着火了'好吗？来吧，一，二，三——”

“着火啦！”我们都高声叫喊。

“谢谢。请你们再来一下。”

“着火啦！”

“先生们，还要来一次，一起喊。”

“着火啦！”这一声大概全诺伍德都听到了。

喊声刚落，就发生了惊人的事情。在走廊尽头的那堵看起来是完整的墙上，突然打开了一扇门，一个矮小、干瘦的人从门里冲出来，象是一只兔子从它的地洞里蹦了出来似的。

“好极了！”福尔摩斯沉着地说，“华生，往麦秸上浇一桶水。这就行啦！雷斯垂德，请允许我给你介绍。这就是你们的那个失踪的主要证人约纳斯·奥德克先生。”

雷斯垂德十分吃惊地望着这个陌生人。走廊的亮光晃得他不停地眨眼。他盯着看看我们，又看看仍在冒烟的火堆。那是一张可憎的脸：狡诈，邪恶，凶狠，长着两只多疑的、浅灰色的眼睛。

1 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

2 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

3 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

4 wizened   

adj.凋谢的；枯槁的

参考例句：

• That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
• Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人，头发鬈曲灰白。

5 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

7 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

8 odious   

adj.可憎的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• The judge described the crime as odious.法官称这一罪行令人发指。
• His character could best be described as odious.他的人格用可憎来形容最贴切。

9 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。