牛津書蟲系列 化身博士 1 The mysterious door

1 一扇神秘的門

Mr Utterson the lawyer was a quiet， serious man. Hewas shy with strangers and afraid of showing his feelings. Among friends， however， his eyes shone with kindnessand goodness.And， although this goodness never found itsway into his conversation， it showed itself in his way of life.He did not allow himself many enjoyable things in life. He ateand drank simply and， although he enjoyed the theatre，hehad not been to a play for twenty years. However， he wasgentler towards other men' s weaknesses，and was alwaysready to help rather than blame them. As a lawyer， he was often the last good person that evil-doers met on their way toprison，or worse. These people often carried with them memories of his politeness and fairness.

律師厄特森先生是個不愛說話、一本正經(jīng)的人。在陌生人面前，他非常靦腆，不愛流露自己的情感，可當(dāng)著朋友，他的眼睛總閃爍著關(guān)心與真誠的光芒，雖然這種真與善在他說的話中不大找得到，可在他的待人處世中一點一滴都沒有漏掉。在生活上，他從不放縱享樂，吃喝也很隨意、簡單;即使很喜歡看戲，他也有20年沒有進過劇院了?？墒?，他對別人的缺點卻是寬容得不能再寬容了，總是想著去幫助他們而不是責(zé)備他們。作為一名律師，他經(jīng)常是罪犯走進監(jiān)獄或者踏上黃泉之前見到的最后一個好人，這些人的心里會一直保留對他的溫文爾雅和公正無私的記憶。

Mr Utterson's best friend was a distant cousin calledRichard Enfield，who was well known as a fun-loving 'manabout town'.Nobody could understand why they werefriends， as they were different from each other in every way.They often took long walks together，however， marchingthrough the streets of London in companionable silence.

厄特森先生最好的朋友是他的一個遠房表親，叫理查德·思菲爾德。這個人是城里出名的“愛熱鬧”，交際場里的老手。誰也搞不明白他們?yōu)楹尉尤皇桥笥?，他們可真有天壤之別。但他們卻經(jīng)常一起散步，一走就是好遠，穿過倫敦的街道，安安靜靜地做著伴。

One of these walks used to take them down a narrow sidestreet in a busy part of London. It was a clean， busy， friendlystreet with bright little shops and shiny doorknockers. Nearthe end of this street， however， stood a dark， mysterious，windowless building.The door had neither bell nor knockerand looked dusty and uncared for. Dirty children played fearlessly on the doorstep， and nobody ever opened the door todrive them away.

有一次，他們散步走到倫敦鬧市區(qū)一條狹窄的背街上。這條街干凈、熱鬧，人們也和善，一家家亮亮堂堂的小商店，門環(huán)锃明透亮。但是就在街道的盡頭，有一幢陰暗、神秘、沒有窗戶的樓房，門上既沒有鈴也沒門環(huán)，還到處是灰，顯然已好久沒人打掃了。臟兮兮的孩子們在門口瘋玩瘋鬧，也沒人開門轟他們走。

One day，as Mr Enfield and his friend passed the building，Mr Enfield pointed to it.'Have you ever noticed that place?'he asked.'It remindsme of a very strange story.'

一天，他倆走過這幢房子，恩菲爾德指著問道：“你注意過那兒嗎?它讓我想起一個奇怪的故事。”

'Really?'said Mr Utterson.'Tell me.'

“哦，是嗎?”厄特森先生說，“給我講講。”

'Well，'began Enfield，'I was coming home about threeo'clock on a black winter morning，when suddenly I saw twopeople.The first was a short man who was walking along thestreet，and the second was a little girl who was running as fastas she could. Well，the two bumped into each other and thechild fell down.Then a terrible thing happened.The mancalmly walked all over the child's body with his heavy boots，and left her screaming on the ground.It was an inhuman thingto do.I ran after the man， caught him and fetched him back.There was already a small crowd around the screaming child.The man was perfectly cool， but he gave me a very evil look，which made me feel sick in my stomach.The child's familythen arrived， and also a doctor. The child had been sent tofetch the doctor for a sick neighbour，and was on her wayhome again.

“好吧。”恩菲爾德先生開始講了，“那是個冬天的早上，天黑漆漆的，大概3點鐘吧，我正要回家，突然看見兩個人。頭一個是個矮個子，正沿著街邊走，第二個是個小姑娘，跑得很急。兩個人一下撞到了一起，小孩兒摔倒了。接著，可怕的事發(fā)生了，那個人穿著沉甸甸的靴子，冷冷地從孩子身上壓了過去，小姑娘躺在地上尖叫著。做這種事真殘忍。我從后面追上來，抓住那人，把他拽了回來，這時一小群人也圍到了又哭又叫的孩子身邊。那個人非常鎮(zhèn)靜，一臉漠然，還狠狠地瞪了我一眼，真是讓我反胃。孩子的家人這會兒也趕到了，還來了一個醫(yī)生。原來小姑娘是去請醫(yī)生給鄰居家病人看病的，她正要回家。

'“The child is more frightened than hurt，”said thedoctor—and that， you would think， was the end of the story.But， you see，I had taken a violent dislike to the short man.So had the child's family—that was only natural.But the doctor， who seemed a quiet， kindly man， was also looking at ourprisoner with murder in his eyes.

“'孩子與其說是傷著了不如說是嚇著了。'醫(yī)生是這么說的。你也許以為故事到這里就該結(jié)束了。可是你想，我對那個小個子十分厭惡，小姑娘的家人也一樣——當(dāng)然，這很正常，可連醫(yī)生(他看上去那么和善、安靜)，也盯著那個罪犯看，好像恨不能把他給殺了。

'The doctor and I understood each other perfectly.Together we shouted at the man， and told him we would tell this story all over London so that his name would be hated.

“我和醫(yī)生彼此心照不宣，都沖著那人大聲指責(zé)，并聲稱要讓整個倫敦都知道這事，讓人人都唾棄他的名字。

'He looked back at us with a proud，blach look.“Nameyour price，”he said.

“他陰森森地瞪了我們一眼，還是一副不可一世的樣子，'開個價吧，'他說。

'We made him agree to a hundred pounds for the child' sfamily. With another black look， the man led us to that doorover there.He took out a key and let himself into thebuilding.Presently he came out and handed us ten pounds ingold and a cheque for ninety pounds from Coutts's Bank. Thename on the cheque was a well-known one.

“我們讓他答應(yīng)付給孩子家100英鎊。他又翻了我們一眼，把我們領(lǐng)到那邊的那扇門口，掏出鑰匙，進了樓。不一會兒，他又出來了，遞給我們10鎊金幣和一張康茨銀行的支票，上面寫著90英鎊，支票上的名字是大家都很熟的人。

'“See here，”said the doctor doubtfully，“it isn't usual for aman to walk into an empty house at four in the morning andcome out with another man's cheque for nearly a hundredpounds.”

“'你看，'醫(yī)生滿腹懷疑地說，'夠奇怪的，早上4點，一個人走進一所空房子，然后又拿著另一個人簽名的支票出來了，足足快100鎊呢!'

'“Don't worry，”said the man with an ugly look，“I'll staywith you until the banks open，and change the chequemyself.”

“'放你的心吧，'一臉兇相的矮個子說，'我和你們等著銀行開門，看我自己兌錢好了。'

'So we all went off， the doctor and the prisoner and myself，and spent the rest of the night at my house.In the morningwe went together to the bank. Sure enough， the cheque wasgood， and the money was passed to the child's family.'

“我們離開那兒，醫(yī)生、罪犯和我到我家挨過了后半夜。到了早上，我們一道去了銀行，支票是真的，沒問題，錢很快就轉(zhuǎn)給小姑娘家了。”

'Well，well，'said Mr Utterson.

“哦，是這樣，”厄特森先生說。

'Yes，'said Enfield，'it's a strange story.My prisoner wasclearly a hard， cruel man. But the man whose name was onthe cheque was well known all over London for his kind andgenerous acts.Why would a man like that give his cheque to acriminal?'

“是啊!”恩菲爾德說，“這事真怪。明明肇事者是個冷酷、殘忍的家伙，可簽支票的人卻是倫敦有名善良、慷慨的人。這樣的人怎么會把支票給一個罪犯呢?”

'And you don't know if the writer of the cheque lives inthat building?'asked Mr Utterson.

“你們也不知道支票的主人是不是住在那幢房子里?”厄特森先生問。

'I don't like to ask，'said his friend.'In my experience，it's not a good idea to ask too many questions，in case the answers are ugly，violent ones.But I've studied the place alittle.It doesn't seem like a house. There's no other door，and the only person who uses that door is the man I've just described to you.There are three windows on the side of thehouse，which look down onto a small courtyard.The windowsare shut，but they're always clean.There's a chimney too，which is usually smoking.So somebody must live there.'

“我可不喜歡問，”他的朋友說，“根據(jù)我的經(jīng)驗，提太多的問題可沒什么好的。萬一得到的答案既令人厭惡又令人不安，那該如何是好?但我還是稍微研究了一下那個地方。它看起來不像一所房子，沒別的門，唯一使用那扇門的人就是我剛才和你講的那個家伙。房子一側(cè)有三扇窗戶，可以看到下面的小院，窗戶都關(guān)著，但一直干干凈凈的。還有個煙囪常冒著煙，所以肯定有人在那兒祝”

The two men continued on their walk. Then Utterson brokethe silence.

兩個人接著走下去，厄特森忽然說：

'Enfield，'he said，'you're right about not asking toomany questions.However，I want to ask the name of the manwho walked over the child.'

“恩菲爾德，你那條規(guī)矩挺不錯，就是別問太多問題。盡管如此，我還是想問問踩著孩子身體走過去的那個人叫什么。”

'Very well，' said Enfield.'He told us his name wasHyde.'

“當(dāng)然了!”恩菲爾德說，“他告訴我們他叫海德。”

'What does he look like?'

“他什么模樣?”

'He's not easy to describe， although I remember him perfectly.He's a strange-looking man.He's short，but has astrong， heavy body.There's something wrong with his appearance，something ugly and unpleasing—no，somethinghateful.I disliked him at once.'

“這一下子可說不好，雖然我清清楚楚記得他長得什么樣。他長得很怪，個子又矮，身體粗壯，他的相貌哪兒有點不對勁，讓人感到丑陋，不舒服——不，是讓人憎惡的那種。我一看到他，馬上就不喜歡他。”

Mr Utterson thought deeply.'Are you sure he used a key?'he asked.

厄特森先生想了好一會兒，問道：“你肯定他用了鑰匙嗎?”

'What do you mean?'asked Enfield in surprise.

“瞧你問的!”恩菲爾德一臉詫異的樣子。

'I know it must seem strange，'said his friend.'But yousee， if I don't ask you the name on the cheque， it's because Iknow it already…'

“我知道我這么問有點怪，”朋友說，“可你想，我并沒問你支票上簽的是誰的名字，因為我心里已經(jīng)明白了……”

'Well， why didn't you tell me?'said his friend rathercrossly.'Anyway， he did have a key， and he still has it. Isaw him use it only a week ago.'

“那你怎么不早說呢?”朋友不無惱怒地說，“甭管怎么說，那家伙的確有鑰匙，上禮拜我還看見他開門來著。”

Mr Utterson looked at him thoughtfully，but said nothingmore.

厄特森先生心事重重地看了他一眼，但沒再多說什么。