Little did I think how soon the words of Holmes would be realized, or how strange and sinister would be that new development which opened up an entirely fresh line of investigation. I was shaving at my window in the morning when I heard the rattle of hoofs and, looking up, saw a dog-cart coming at a gallop down the road. It pulled up at our door, and our friend, the vicar, sprang from it and rushed up our garden path. Holmes was already dressed, and we hastened down to meet him.

私はほとんど分かっていなかった / ホームズの話がどれほど早く実現されるか / それにいかに新しい展開が奇妙で邪悪かを / それが完全に新しい捜査の方向性を開く◆私が朝、窓辺で髭を剃っていると / 蹄のカチカチいう音が聞こえた / 目を上げると / 馬車が道を疾走してやってきていた◆馬車は私たちの戸口で停まり / そして友人の司祭が / それから飛び降りて庭の小道を駆け上がってきた◆ホームズはすでに服を着替えていた / そして我々は急いで彼に会いに駆け下りた

Our visitor was so excited that he could hardly articulate, but at last in gasps and bursts his tragic story came out of him.

司祭は非常に興奮していて何を言っているかわからなかった / しかし遂にあえぎと激しい興奮の間から彼の惨劇の話が姿を現した

“We are devil-ridden, Mr. Holmes! My poor parish is devil-ridden!” he cried. “Satan himself is loose in it! We are given over into his hands!” He danced about in his agitation, a ludicrous object if it were not for his ashy face and startled eyes. Finally he shot out his terrible news.

「我々に悪魔がのりうつりました / ホームズさん！ / 哀れな私の教会区に悪魔が乗り移りました」 / 彼は叫んだ◆「魔王が放たれました！ / 我々は彼の手に引き渡されました！」 / 彼は興奮してあたりを飛び跳ねた / こっけいな姿だった / 彼の顔が蒼白で目が飛び出していなければ◆遂に彼は恐ろしい知らせを早口で言った

“Mr. Mortimer Tregennis died during the night, and with exactly the same symptoms as the rest of his family.”

「モーティマーさんが昨夜死にました / 彼の他の家族と全く同じ症状で」

Holmes sprang to his feet, all energy in an instant.

ホームズはさっと立ち上がった / 一瞬で活力をみなぎらせて

“Can you fit us both into your dog-cart?”

「あなたの馬車に我々二人が乗れますか？」

“Yes, I can.”

「ええ / できます」

“Then, Watson, we will postpone our breakfast. Mr. Roundhay, we are entirely at your disposal. Hurry – hurry, before things get disarranged.”

「では / ワトソン / 朝食は後にしよう◆ラウンディさん / 私たちは完全にあなたのおっしゃるとおりにします◆急ぎましょう / / 急ぎましょう / 現場が荒らされる前に」

The lodger occupied two rooms at the vicarage, which were in an angle by themselves, the one above the other. Below was a large sitting-room; above, his bedroom. They looked out upon a croquet lawn which came up to the windows. We had arrived before the doctor or the police, so that everything was absolutely undisturbed. Let me describe exactly the scene as we saw it upon that misty March morning. It has left an impression which can never be effaced from my mind.

その下宿人は司祭の家の二間を借りていた / 二つの部屋はそれだけで一つの一角にあった / 上下に◆下の階は大きな居間になっていて / 上の階は寝室だった◆部屋は窓の下までつながるクローケー場の芝地に面していた◆我々は医者や警察よりも先に到着した / だから全ては完全に乱されていなかった◆その現場を我々が見たとおり、正確に説明しよう / あの謎の三月の朝◆それは私の心に決して拭い去れない印象を残した

The atmosphere of the room was of a horrible and depressing stuffiness. The servant who had first entered had thrown up the window, or it would have been even more intolerable. This might partly be due to the fact that a lamp stood flaring and smoking on the centre table. Beside it sat the dead man, leaning back in his chair, his thin beard projecting, his spectacles pushed up on to his forehead, and his lean dark face turned towards the window and twisted into the same distortion of terror which had marked the features of his dead sister. His limbs were convulsed and his fingers contorted as though he had died in a very paroxysm of fear. He was fully clothed, though there were signs that his dressing had been done in a hurry. We had already learned that his bed had been slept in, and that the tragic end had come to him in the early morning.

部屋の空気は恐ろしく気分が悪くなるくらいむっとしていた◆最初に入った使用人は窓を開け放していた / そうでなければもっと耐えられなかっただろう◆これは部分的にはこの事実によるものかもしれなかった / 真ん中のテーブルにおいてあるランプが燃えて煙を出しているという◆その横に死んだ男が座っていた / 椅子にもたれかかり / 細い顎鬚を突き出し / 眼鏡は額にせり上がり / 痩せた黒い顔は窓の方に向けられ / 同じように恐怖にゆがんだ顔になっていた / 彼の死んだ妹の顔に残されていたのと◆四肢は捻じ曲がり指はよじれていた / 彼が恐怖の痙攣の中で死んだかのように◆彼はきちんと服を着ていた / しかし彼は慌てて服を着たような様子があった◆我々はすでに彼のベッドに寝た後がある事を確かめていた / そしてこの惨劇が朝早いうちに彼に訪れたことを

One realized the red-hot energy which underlay Holmes’s phlegmatic exterior when one saw the sudden change which came over him from the moment that he entered the fatal apartment. In an instant he was tense and alert, his eyes shining, his face set, his limbs quivering with eager activity. He was out on the lawn, in through the window, round the room, and up into the bedroom, for all the world like a dashing foxhound drawing a cover. In the bedroom he made a rapid cast around and ended by throwing open the window, which appeared to give him some fresh cause for excitement, for he leaned out of it with loud ejaculations of interest and delight. Then he rushed down the stair, out through the open window, threw himself upon his face on the lawn, sprang up and into the room once more, all with the energy of the hunter who is at the very heels of his quarry. The lamp, which was an ordinary standard, he examined with minute care, making certain measurements upon its bowl. He carefully scrutinized with his lens the talc shield which covered the top of the chimney and scraped off some ashes which adhered to its upper surface, putting some of them into an envelope, which he placed in his pocketbook. Finally, just as the doctor and the official police put in an appearance, he beckoned to the vicar and we all three went out upon the lawn.

人は、ホームズの沈着な外見の裏に赤く熱いエネルギーが潜んでいたと気づいただろう / 突然の変化が彼に訪れたのを見た時 / 彼が死の部屋に足を踏み入れた瞬間◆一瞬で / 彼は緊張して身構え / 目は輝き / 顔は引き締まり / 四肢は、熱心な行動力に震えた◆彼は芝生の上に出た / 窓を通って中に入り / 部屋を回り / 寝室に上がり / 巣に引き寄せられて駆け出す猟犬そっくりだった◆寝室で / 彼は素早く見回し、最後に窓を開け放った / これは彼に新しい興奮の種を与えたように見えた / 彼はそこから体を突き出し / 興味と喜びに大きな歓声を上げた◆その後彼は階段を駆け下り / 開いた窓から出て / 芝生にさっと這いつくばり / バネのように起き上がるともう一度部屋に飛び込んだ / 全て、獲物が直ぐ近くにいるハンターのようなエネルギーで◆ランプ / それはごく普通の標準品だったが / 彼は入念に注意を払ってそれを調べた / 受け皿の高さを正確に測って◆彼は拡大鏡で慎重に調べた / 煙突の上を覆う雲母のカバーを / そして上の方の表面にこびりついた灰のようなものを削り落とし / その一部を封筒に入れ / それを手帳の間に挟んだ◆最期に / 医者と警察が姿を現すと同時に / 彼は司祭と私を手招きし、我々三人は芝生の上に出た

“I am glad to say that my investigation has not been entirely barren,” he remarked. “I cannot remain to discuss the matter with the police, but I should be exceedingly obliged, Mr. Roundhay, if you would give the inspector my compliments and direct his attention to the bedroom window and to the sitting-room lamp. Each is suggestive, and together they are almost conclusive. If the police would desire further information I shall be happy to see any of them at the cottage. And now, Watson, I think that, perhaps, we shall be better employed elsewhere.”

「私は調査がまったく無意味でなかったと言えて幸いです」 / 彼は言った◆「私はここに残って警察と事件について話すことはできません / しかし私は非常に感謝します / ラウンディさん / もしあなたが警部に私からよろしくと伝えて / 彼の注目を寝室の窓と居間のランプに向けていただければ◆それぞれが示唆的ですが / 両方が合わさるとほとんど決定的です◆もし警察の方がもっと情報を欲しいと思うなら / 私は家でどなたにでも喜んで会います◆とりあえず今は / ワトソン / 僕は思う / 多分 / 別のところで仕事をする方がいい」