福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第2章Part3
"We are doing so," Holmes interrupted. "All that I am saying has a very direct and vital bearing upon what you have called the Birlstone Mystery. In fact, it may in a sense be called the very centre of it."
MacDonald smiled feebly, and looked appealingly to me. "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. What in the whole wide world can be the connection between this dead painting man and the affair at Birlstone?"
"All knowledge comes useful to the detective," remarked Holmes. "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--more than forty thousand pounds--at the Portalis sale may start a train of reflection in your mind."
It was clear that it did. The inspector looked honestly interested.
"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."
"Then how could he buy--"
"Quite so! How could he?"
"Ay, that's remarkable," said the inspector thoughtfully. "Talk away, Mr. Holmes. I'm just loving it. It's fine!"
Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration--the characteristic of the real artist. "What about Birlstone?" he asked.
"We've time yet," said the inspector, glancing at his watch. "I've a cab at the door, and it won't take us twenty minutes to Victoria. But about this picture: I thought you told me once, Mr. Holmes, that you had never met Professor Moriarty."
"No, I never have."
"Then how do you know about his rooms?"
"Ah, that's another matter. I have been three times in his rooms, twice waiting for him under different pretexts and leaving before he came. Once--well, I can hardly tell about the once to an official detective. It was on the last occasion that I took the liberty of running over his papers--with the most unexpected results."
"You found something compromising?"
"Absolutely nothing. That was what amazed me. However, you have now seen the point of the picture. It shows him to be a very wealthy man. How did he acquire wealth? He is unmarried. His younger brother is a station master in the west of England. His chair is worth seven hundred a year. And he owns a Greuze."
"Well?"
“我們正是在談這件事情啊，"福爾摩斯打斷他的話說，“我所說的這一切都與你所稱之爲伯爾斯通之謎的案件有非常直接和極爲重要的關係。事實上，在某種意義上可以說正是這一案件的中心呢。”
麥克唐納用求助的眼光看着我，勉強地笑着說：“對我來講，你的思路轉動得有點太快了，福爾摩斯先生。你省略了一兩個環節，可我就摸不着頭腦了。到底這個已死的畫家和伯爾斯通事件有什麼關係呢？”
“一切知識對於偵探來說都是有用的，"福爾摩斯指出道，“一八六五年時，格羅茲一幅題名爲'牧羊少女'的畫，在波梯利斯拍賣時，賣到一百二十萬法郎——論英鎊也在四萬以上——即使這樣一件瑣細的小事，也可以引起你的無限深思呢。”
顯然，這確實引起警官的深思，他認認真真地注意聽着。
“我可以提醒你，"福爾摩斯繼續說下去，“教授的薪金可以從幾本可靠的參考書中判斷出來，每年是七百鎊。”
“那他怎能買得起……”
“完全是這樣！他怎能買得起呢？”
“啊，這是值得注意的，"警官深思地說，“請你繼續講下去吧，福爾摩斯先生，我真愛聽極了，簡直太妙了！”
福爾摩斯笑了笑。他受到人家真誠的欽佩時總是感到溫暖——這可以說是一個真正的藝術家的性格。他這時問道：“到伯爾斯通去的事怎麼樣了呢？”
“我們還有時間呢，"警官瞅了一下表說，“我有一輛馬車等在門口，用不了二十分鐘就可以到維多利亞車站。可是講起這幅畫來，福爾摩斯先生，我記得你曾經對我說過一次，你從來沒有見到過莫里亞蒂教授啊。”
“對，我從來沒有見到過他。”
“那你怎麼能知道他房間裏的情形呢？”
“啊，這可是另外一回事了。我到他房中去過三次，有兩次用不同的藉口等候他，在他回來之前，就離開了。還有一次，啊，我可不便對一個官方偵探講了。那是最後一次，我擅自把他的文件匆匆檢查了一下，獲得了完全意外的結果。”
“你發現了什麼可疑的東西嗎？”
“一點也沒有。這正是使我驚奇的地方。不管怎樣，你現在已經看到這張畫所具有的意義了。它說明莫里亞蒂是一個極爲富有的人。他怎麼搞到這些財富的呢？他還沒有結婚。他的弟弟是英格蘭西部一個車站的站長。他的教授職位每年是七百鎊。而他竟擁有一張格羅茲的油畫。”
“嗯？”
