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Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinary statement,
福尔摩斯和我聚精会神地静听这件离奇的故事，
which had been delivered in the jerky, broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme emotion.
这个人异常激动，讲得断断续续。
My companion sat silent now for some time, with his chin upon his hand, lost in thought.
我的伙伴，一只手托着下巴，静静地坐在那里，陷入沉思。
"Tell me," said he at last, "could you swear that this was a man's face which you saw at the window?"
"请告诉我，"他终于说道，"你能保证你在窗户上看到的面孔是一张男人的面孔吗？"
"Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it is impossible for me to say."
"我每次看到这张面孔，距离都比较远，所以不能肯定。"
"You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it."
"但你显然对这张面孔的印象是很不好的。"
"It seemed to be of an unusual colour and to have a strange rigidity about the features. When I approached it vanished with a jerk."
"它似乎颜色很不自然，而且面貌呆板得奇怪。但我走近时，就猛然不见了。"
"How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?"
"你妻子向你要一百镑，到现在有多长时间了？"
"Nearly two months."
"大约有两个月了。"
"Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?"
"你看到过她前夫的照片吗？"
"No, there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, and all her papers were destroyed."
"没有，在他死后不久，亚特兰大着了大火，她的所有文件都烧掉了。"
"And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it."
"可是她有一张死亡证，你说你看到过是吗？"
"Yes, she got a duplicate after the fire."
"是啊，在这场火灾以后，她拿到了一份副本。"
"Did you ever meet anyone who knew her in America?"
"你可曾遇到过在美国认识她的人吗？"
"No."
"没有。"
"Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?"
"她有说过要再去吗？"
"No."
"没有。"
"Or get letters from it?"
"或者接到过那里的来信吗？"
"No."
"没有。"
"Thank you. I should like to think over the matter a little now. If the cottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty.
"谢谢你。现在我要把这件事情稍微想一想。如果这所别墅现在仍然空着，我们就有些难办了。
If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were warned of your coming and left before you entered yesterday,
不过，我想很可能，昨天在你进去以前，里面的住户得到警告，所以事先躲开了，
then they may be back now, and we should clear it all up easily.
现在可能又回屋了，我们不难把它查清楚。
Let me advise you, then, to return to Norbury and to examine the windows of the cottage again.
我劝你返回诺伯里，再观察一下那所别墅的窗户。
If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited, do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me.
如果肯定里面有人居住，你不必硬闯进去，只要拍一个电报给我和我的朋友就可以了。
We shall be with you within an hour of receiving it, and we shall then very soon get to the bottom of the business."
我们收到电报，一小时就赶到你那里，很快就可以查个水落石出。"
"And if it is still empty?"
"假如那别墅现在还空着怎么办呢？"
"In that case I shall come out tomorrow and talk it over with you.
"这样的话，我明天去，然后再和你商量。
Good-bye, and, above all, do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it."
再见，不过重要的是，在没有弄清原委之前，你不要再烦恼了。"
