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Inspector MacDonald smiled, and his eyelid quivered as he glanced towards me.
麦克唐纳警官微微一笑，他向我瞥了一眼，眼皮连连眨动着。
"I won't conceal from you, Mr. Holmes, that we think in the C.I.D. that you have a wee bit of a bee in your bonnet over this professor.
"不瞒你说，福尔摩斯先生，我们民间犯罪调查部都认为你对这位教授有一点儿偏见。
I made some inquiries myself about the matter. He seems to be a very respectable, learned, and talented sort of man."
关于这件事，我曾经亲自去调查过。他很像是一个非常可敬的、有学问的、有才能的人啊！"
"I'm glad you've got so far as to recognize the talent."
"我很高兴你们竟赏识起这位天才来了。"
"Man, you can't but recognize it! After I heard your view I made it my business to see him. I had a chat with him on eclipses.
"老兄，人们不能不佩服他啊！在我听到你的看法以后，我就决心去看看他。我和他就日蚀的问题闲谈了一阵。
How the talk got that way I canna think; but he had out a reflector lantern and a globe, and made it all clear in a minute.
我想不起来怎么会谈到这上面去的，不过他那时拿出一个反光灯和一个地球仪来，一下子就把原理说得明明白白了。
He lent me a book; but I don't mind saying that it was a bit above my head, though I had a good Aberdeen upbringing.
他借给了我一本书，不过不怕你笑话，尽管我在阿伯丁受过很好的教育，我还是有些看不懂。
He'd have made a grand meenister with his thin face and gray hair and solemn-like way of talking.
他面容瘦削，头发灰白，说话时神态严肃，完全可以当一个极好的牧师呢。
When he put his hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father's blessing before you go out into the cold, cruel world."
在我们分手的时候，他把手放在我肩上，就像父亲在你走上冷酷凶残的社会之前为你祝福似的。"
Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands.
福尔摩斯格格地笑着，搓着手。
"Great!" he said. "Great! Tell me, Friend MacDonald, this pleasing and touching interview was, I suppose, in the professor's study?"
他说道："好极了！好极了！麦克唐纳，我的朋友，请你告诉我，这次兴致盎然、感人肺腑的会见，我想大概是在教授的书房里进行的吧。"
"That's so."
"是这样。"
"A fine room, is it not?"
"一个很精致的房间，不是吗？"
"Very fine -- very handsome indeed, Mr. Holmes."
"非常精致--实在非常华丽，福尔摩斯先生。"
"You sat in front of his writing desk?"
"你是坐在他写字台对面吗？"
"Just so."
"正是这样。"
"Sun in your eyes and his face in the shadow?"
"太阳照着你的眼睛，而他的脸则在暗处，对吗？"
"Well, it was evening; but I mind that the lamp was turned on my face."
"嗯，那是在晚上；可是我记得当时灯光照在我的脸上。"
"It would be. Did you happen to observe a picture over the professor's head?"
"这是当然的了。你可曾注意到教授座位上方墙上挂着一张画吗？"
"I don't miss much, Mr. Holmes. Maybe I learned that from you. Yes, I saw the picture -- a young woman with her head on her hands, peeping at you sideways."
"我不会漏过什么的，福尔摩斯先生。也许这是我从你那里学来的本领。不错，我看见那张画了--是一个年轻的女子，两手托着头，斜睨着人。"
"That painting was by Jean Baptiste Greuze."
"那是让·巴普蒂斯特·格罗兹的油画。"
The inspector endeavoured to look interested.
警官努力显得很感兴趣。
"Jean Baptiste Greuze," Holmes continued, joining his finger tips and leaning well back in his chair, "was a French artist who flourished between the years 1750 and 1800.
"让·巴普蒂斯特·格罗兹，"福尔摩斯两手指尖抵着指尖，仰靠在椅背上，继续说道，"他是一位法国画家，在1750年到1800年之间是显赫一时的。
I allude, of course, to his working career. Modern criticism has more than indorsed the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries."
当然，我是指他绘画生涯说的。和格罗兹同时代的人对他评价很高，现时的评价，比那时还要高。"
The inspector's eyes grew abstracted. "Hadn't we better..." he said.
警官双眼显出茫然不解的样子，说道："我们最好还是..."
"We are doing so," Holmes interrupted.
"我们正是在谈这件事情啊，"福尔摩斯打断他的话说。
"All that I am saying has a very direct and vital bearing upon what you have called the Birlstone Mystery.
"我所说的这一切都与你所称之为伯尔斯通之谜的案件有非常直接和极为重要的关系。
In fact, it may in a sense be called the very centre of it."
事实上，在某种意义上可以说正是这一案件的中心呢。"
MacDonald smiled feebly, and looked appealingly to me.
麦克唐纳用求助的眼光看着我，勉强地笑了笑。
"Your thoughts move a bit too quick for me, Mr. Holmes. You leave out a link or two, and I can't get over the gap.
"对我来讲，你的思路转动得有点太快了，福尔摩斯先生。你省略了一两个环节，可我就摸不着头脑了。
What in the whole wide world can be the connection between this dead painting man and the affair at Birlstone?"
到底这个已死的画家和伯尔斯通事件有什么关系呢？"
"All knowledge comes useful to the detective," remarked Holmes.
"一切知识对于侦探来说都是有用的，"福尔摩斯指出道。
"Even the trivial fact that in the year 1865 a picture by Greuze entitled La Jeune Fille a l'Agneau fetched one million two hundred thousand francs
"1865年时，格罗兹一幅题名为'牧羊少女'的画，在波梯利斯拍卖时，卖到一百二十万法郎，
more than forty thousand pounds -- at the Portalis sale may start a train of reflection in your mind."
论英镑也在四万以上--即使这样一件琐细的小事，也可以引起你的无限深思呢。"
It was clear that it did. The inspector looked honestly interested.
显然，这确实引起警官的深思，他认认真真地注意听着。
"I may remind you," Holmes continued, "that the professor's salary can be ascertained in several trustworthy books of reference. It is seven hundred a year."
"我可以提醒你，"福尔摩斯继续说下去，"教授的薪金可以从几本可靠的参考书中判断出来，每年是七百镑。"
"Then how could he buy..."
"那他怎能买得起..."
"Quite so! How could he?"
"完全是这样！他怎能买得起呢？"
"Ay, that's remarkable," said the inspector thoughtfully. "Talk away, Mr. Holmes. I'm just loving it. It's fine!"
"啊，这是值得注意的，"警官深思地说，"请你继续讲下去吧，福尔摩斯先生，我真爱听极了，简直太妙了！"
