Not long after that night, we were looking through the Gazette, an evening newspaper, when we saw this:
那天晚上之后不久,我們閱讀一份叫《新聞傳播》的晚報(bào)時(shí)看到了這樣一則新聞:
TERRIBLE MURDERS
恐怖的兇殺案
At about three o'clock this morning people living in the St. Roch Quarter were woken from sleep by a number of terrible screams. The screams came from the fourth floor of a house in the Rue Morgue, which belongs to a Madame L'Espanaye, and her daughter, Mademoiselle Camille L'Espanaye.
今早,大約凌晨3點(diǎn)鐘時(shí),居住在圣·羅奇地區(qū)的人們被一陣凄厲的尖叫聲驚醒了。尖叫聲是從位于莫爾格街的一所房子的五樓傳來的,這所房子的主人是一位名叫埃斯巴耐的夫人以及她的女兒,卡米耶·埃斯巴耐小姐。
Eight or ten of the neighbours, and two policemen, ran to the house. There was no answer to their knocking, so they broke down the door. When they got into the house, the screams stopped, but while they were running up the stairs, they could hear two angry voices at the top of the house. When they arrived at the second floor, the voices stopped and everything was silent. The neighbours hurried from room to room but found nothing until they came to a large room at the back of the house on the fourth floor. This room was locked, with the key on the inside. They broke the door open and saw in the room something which was both horrible and astonishing.
八個(gè)或是十個(gè)鄰居和兩名警察立即趕到了那所房子。他們敲門,卻沒人應(yīng)答,于是他們把門強(qiáng)行撞開。在他們進(jìn)入房子時(shí),尖叫聲停止了,可是就在他們跑上樓的時(shí)候,他們聽見了房頂上傳來的兩個(gè)憤怒的聲音。跑到三樓時(shí),聲音消失了,一切都安靜了下來。鄰居們從一個(gè)房間沖向另一個(gè)房間,卻一無所獲,直到來到五樓房子后部的一個(gè)大房間。房門被鎖住了,并且是從里面反鎖著。撞開門后,他們看到了房間里令人震驚而可怕的一幕。
Chairs and tables were broken and lay in pieces everywhere. There was one bed, and the mattress from it was now on the floor in the middle of the room. In front of the fireplace on the floor was a razor, with blood on it, and some long grey hair, with blood on the end. Also on the floor were three large silver spoons, and two bags, which contained nearly four thousand francs in gold. A small strong-box was found under the mattress. It was open, with the key in the lock, and contained only a few old letters.
桌椅全部被弄壞了,并且七零八落散得滿地都是。房間里有一張床,床墊被扔到了屋中間的地板上。壁爐前的地板上有一把帶血的剃刀,還有幾撮發(fā)根帶血的灰色長發(fā)。另外,地板上還有三把大銀勺,兩只裝有價(jià)值將近4,000法郎黃金的袋子。在床墊底下還發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)小小的保險(xiǎn)箱。箱子敞開著,鑰匙插在鎖孔里,里面只有一些已經(jīng)讀過的信。
At first they thought there was nobody in the room, but when they looked up the chimney, they found (horrible to describe!) the dead body of the daughter, head downwards. It was difficult to pull the body out because the chimney was so narrow. The body was still warm. There were deep cuts on the face, and around the neck there were dark bruises and the marks of fingers.
起初他們還以為房間里沒有人,可是當(dāng)他們從煙囪里向上瞧時(shí),竟然發(fā)現(xiàn)了(簡直是慘不忍睹!)老太太女兒的尸體,尸體頭朝下。由于煙囪過于窄小,尸體好不容易才被拽了出來。尸體尚帶余溫,臉上有很深的傷口,頸部有黑紫色淤青和手指的掐痕。
The neighbours looked in all the other rooms, then went down into the small yard at the back of the house. There they found the dead body of Madame L'Espanaye. Her neck was very deeply cut, and when they tried to lift her, the head fell off. There were terrible bruises all over the body.
在查看了其他所有房間后,鄰居們來到房子后面的一個(gè)小院子。在那里他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了埃斯巴耐夫人的尸體。她的脖子幾乎被切斷,在被抬走時(shí),尸體的頭掉了下來,而且尸體全身滿是可怕的傷痕。
At the moment, the police say, there are no answers to this horrible mystery.
警方說目前還無法破解這樁令人發(fā)指的迷案。