“Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the neighbourhood McCarthy kept two servants–a man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the families. Now for the facts.

「ボスコムバレーはロスちかくの田舎だ / ヘレフォードシャーの◆この地方で一番の大地主は / ジョン・ターナー氏だ / 彼はオーストラリアで資産を築き / 何年か前にこの故郷に帰って来た◆彼が持っているハザリーの農場の一つを / チャールズ・マッカーシー氏に貸していた / 彼も以前オーストラリアに住んでいた◆二人はオーストラリアで知り合っていた / だからそれは不自然ではない / 彼らが居住地を決めるとき / 出来る限り近くに居を構えたことは◆ターナーの方が明らかに裕福だった / だからマッカーシーは賃借人となった / しかしどうやらそれでも / 完全に対等の関係だったようだ / 彼らがしばしば会う時は◆マッカーシーには一人の息子がいた / 18歳の少年だ / そしてターナーは同い年の一人娘がいた / しかし彼ら自身はどちらも妻に先立たれた◆彼らは近くの家族とは付き合いを避けてきたようだ / そして隠居生活をしていた / しかしマッカーシー親子はスポーツ好きで / よく近くの競馬に顔を出していた / マッカーシーには使用人が二人いた、男と若い女だ◆ターナーの使用人は多く / 少なくとも6人前後いた◆これが僕がこの家族に関して得られた情報の全てだ◆さて次に何が起きたかだ」

“On June 3d, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came back alive.

「6月3日 / これは / この前の月曜日だ / マッカーシーはハザリーの家を午後3時ごろ出た / そしてボスコム池に歩いて行った / それは小さな池で / ボスコムバレーを流れ下る小川が広がって出来た◆彼は午前中、ロスを使用人と一緒に出た / そして彼は使用人に急がないといけない / 3時までに行かなければならない大事な約束があると◆彼はその約束から生きて帰ってこなかった」

“From Hatherley Farmhouse to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.

「ハザリー農場からボスコム池までは四分の一マイルだ / その間二人の人間が彼が通り過ぎるのを見ている◆一人は年配の女で / 名前はわからないが / もう一人はウィリアム・クローダー / ターナー氏に雇われた猟場の番人だ◆二人ともマッカーシー氏は一人で歩いていたと証言している◆猟場の番人はそれに加えて / マッカーシー氏が通った数分以内に / 彼は息子のジェームズ・マッカーシーを目撃した / 銃を手に持って同じ方向に行く◆この男の信じる限りでは / その時父親の姿は見えていた / そして息子は彼を追っていた◆彼はそのことはそれ以上考えなかった / その夜、悲劇が起きたと聞くまで」

“The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son’s gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of ‘wilful murder’ having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court.”

「マッカーシー親子は目撃されている / 猟場番人のウィリアム・クローダーの視界から消えた後に◆ボスコム池は周りを鬱蒼とした木に囲まれている / ちょっとした草とアシが池辺に生えている◆14歳の少女、ペイシャンス・モランという / ボスコムバレー農園の番小屋管理人の娘が / 花を摘みにこの森に来ていた◆彼女は供述している、そこで彼女は見た / 池に近い森の外れで / マッカーシー親子を / そして、二人は激しい言い争いをしているように見えたと◆彼女は父が息子に対して激しい言い方をしているのを聞き / そして息子は父親を殴るかのように手を上げたを見た◆彼女は二人の激しさに非常に怖くなり / 家に逃げ帰ってすぐ母親に話した / マッカーシー親子がボスコム池の近くでいるところから逃げてきた / そしてケンカになりそうで怖かったと◆そのことを言うか言わないかの時に / マッカーシーの息子が小屋に走ってきて言った / 父親が森の中で死んでいるのを見つけたと / そして管理人の助けを借りたいと◆彼は非常に興奮していた / 拳銃も帽子もなかった / 彼の手と袖口には新しい血の跡があった◆彼の後をついて行き / 池の近くの草の上に死体が横たわっているのを見つけた◆頭部は何か重たい鈍器で何度も打たれていた◆そのような傷は / 与えられた可能性が高い / 息子の銃の台尻によって / 死体から二三歩以内の距離の草地にあるのが見つかった◆このような状況で / 息子は直ちに逮捕され / 故殺の評決が下され / 火曜日の調査で / 水曜日にロスの治安判事の元に送られ / 彼はこの事件を巡回裁判に任せた◆これらが事件の主な確認された事実だ / 検死裁判と治安判事裁判の前に警察が明らかにした」

“I could hardly imagine a more damning case,” I remarked. “If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here.”

「これ以上有罪になりそうな事件は想像できないな」 / 私は言った◆「もし状況証拠が犯人を示す事件があるなら、これはまさにそうだ」

“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,” answered Holmes thoughtfully. “It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of the neighbouring land-owner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with ‘A Study in Scarlet’, to work out the case in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home.”

「状況証拠は非常に気をつけなければいけない」 / ホームズは慎重に答えた◆「それが一つの事をまっすぐ指し示しているように見えるかもしれない / しかしもし見方をほんの少し変えると / 同等の確かさで全く別の物を差していると気付くかもしれない◆しかしこれは認めなければならない / この事件は青年にとってとてつもなく深刻だ / そして実際に彼自身が犯人だという可能性も非常に高い◆しかし近所の人間の何人か / その中にターナー嬢がいる / 近くに住む地主の娘だ / 彼らは息子の無実を信じている / そして彼らはレストレードを動かして / 君も彼を「緋色の研究」の関係で覚えているかもしれない / この事件に駆り出した◆レストレードは / ちょっと当惑し / この件を我々に投げかけてきた / そのおかげで / 二人の中年の紳士が西に向かって時速50マイルで疾走しているわけだ / 家で静かに朝食を消化する換わりに」