《蓝色圣甲虫》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Medico-legal practice is largely concerned with crimes against the person, the details of which are often sordid, gruesome and unpleasant. Hence the curious and romantic case of the Blue Scarab (though really outside our specialty) came as somewhat of a relief. But to me it is of interest principally as illustrating two of those remarkable gifts which made my friend, Thorndyke, unique as an investigator: his uncanny power of picking out the one essential fact at a glance, and his capacity to produce, when required, inexhaustible stores of unexpected knowledge of the most out-of-the-way subjects.

法医学实务大多涉及针对人身的犯罪，其细节往往卑劣、可怖而令人不快。因此，蓝圣甲虫这桩离奇而富有浪漫色彩的案子（虽说其实并不属于我们的专业范围）倒让人略感宽慰。但在我看来，它之所以有趣，主要是因为它印证了我朋友桑代克之所以成为独一无二的侦查者的两种非凡天赋：他那近乎超自然的眼力，一眼便能挑出唯一关键的事实；以及他在需要时能拿出无穷无尽、出人意料的冷僻知识。

It was late in the afternoon when Mr. James Blowgrave arrived, by appointment, at our chambers, accompanied by his daughter, a rather strikingly pretty girl of about twenty-two; and when we had mutually introduced ourselves, the consultation began without preamble.

下午晚些时候，詹姆斯·布洛格雷夫先生按约定来到我们的事务所，同行的还有他的女儿，一个约莫二十二岁、相当出众的漂亮姑娘。我们彼此介绍过后，咨询便直接开始了。

“I didn’t give any details in my letter to you,” said Mr. Blowgrave. “I thought it better not to, for fear you might decline the case. It is really a matter of a robbery, but not quite an ordinary robbery. There are some unusual and rather mysterious features in the case. And as the police hold out very little hope, I have come to ask if you will give me your opinion on the case and perhaps look into it for me. But first I had better tell you how the affair happened.

「我在信里没有细说，」布洛格雷夫先生说。「我想还是不说的好，免得您不肯接这个案子。事情其实是一桩盗窃案，但又不是寻常的盗窃案。案子里有些不同寻常、颇为神秘的成分。既然警方几乎不抱什么希望，我就来请教您对这案子的看法，也许还请您替我查一查。不过我先得把事情的经过讲给您听。

“The robbery occurred just a fortnight ago, about half-past nine o’clock in the evening. I was sitting in my study with my daughter, looking over some things that I had taken from a small deed-box, when a servant rushed in to tell us that one of the outbuildings was on fire. Now my study opens by a French window on the garden at the back, and, as the outbuilding was in a meadow at the side of the garden, I went out that way, leaving the French window open; but before going I hastily put the things back in the deed-box and locked it.

「盗窃发生在整整两周前，晚上九点半左右。我当时正和女儿坐在书房里，翻看我刚从一只小契据箱里取出来的几份东西，忽然一个仆人冲进来，说我们的一间附属房屋着火了。我的书房有一扇落地窗通向后面的花园，而着火的那间屋子在花园旁边的一片草地上，所以我就从那条路出去，让落地窗开着。但走之前我匆匆把那些东西放回契据箱，锁上了。

“The building—which I used partly as a lumber store and partly as a workshop—was well alight and the whole household was already on the spot, the boy working the pump and the two maids carrying the buckets and throwing water on the fire. My daughter and I joined the party and helped to carry the buckets and take out what goods we could reach from the burning building. But it was nearly half an hour before we got the fire completely extinguished, and then my daughter and I went to our rooms to wash and tidy ourselves up. We returned to the study together, and when I had shut the French window my daughter proposed that we should resume our interrupted occupation. Thereupon I took out of my pocket the key of the deed-box and turned to the cabinet on which the box always stood.

「那间屋子，我一半用作杂物间，一半用作工坊，当时已经烧得很旺，全家人也都已到了现场，男仆在压水泵，两个女佣提着水桶往火上泼水。我和女儿也加入进去，帮忙提桶，把能够得着的物件从着火的屋子里搬出来。可我们花了将近半个小时才把火完全扑灭，随后我和女儿各自回房去洗手整理。我们一同回到书房，我关上落地窗后，女儿提议继续刚才被打断的事。于是我从口袋里掏出契据箱的钥匙，转向那只一向放着箱子的柜子。

“But there was no deed-box there!

「可契据箱不在那儿了！

“For a moment I thought I must have moved it, and cast my eyes round the room in search of it. But it was nowhere to be seen, and a moment’s reflection reminded me that I had left it in its usual place. The only possible conclusion was that during our absence at the fire, somebody must have come in by the window and taken it. And it looked as if that somebody had deliberately set fire to the outbuilding for the express purpose of luring us all out of the house.”

「有一瞬间我以为是自己把它挪了地方，便环顾房间四处寻找。可哪儿都看不见它，稍一回想，我便想起我是把它留在原处的。唯一可能的结论是：我们不在、去救火的那段时间里，有人从窗户进来把它拿走了。而且看样子，那个人是故意放火烧了那间附属房屋，目的正是要把我们全家都引出屋子。」

“That is what the appearances suggest,” Thorndyke agreed. “Is the study window furnished with a blind or curtains?”

「从表面迹象看，确实如此，」桑代克表示同意。「书房那扇窗户有百叶帘或窗帘吗？」

“Curtains,” replied Mr. Blowgrave. “But they were not drawn. Any one in the garden could have seen into the room; and the garden is easily accessible to an active person who could climb over a low wall.”

「有窗帘，」布洛格雷夫先生答道。「不过没有拉上。花园里任何人都能看见屋里。而那花园，对一个能翻过低矮围墙的灵活的人来说，是很容易进去的。」