“So much for the lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, cross-legged, with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the common crowd of mendicants, and so, too, does his wit, for he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest.”

「インド人水夫の主人についてはもういいだろう◆次にこの不気味で体の不自由な人物だが / 彼はこのアヘン窟の三階に住んでいた / そして彼が間違いなく最後の人物だ / ネビル・セント・クレアの姿を見た◆彼の名前はヒュー・ブーン / そして彼の恐ろしい顔は / シティによく出向く人なら誰でもなじみのものだった◆彼は乞食を生業としている / 警察の規制を逃れるために / 彼は蝋マッチの商売をしているふりをしているが◆スレッドニードル街から少し離れたところの / 左手に / ある / 君も気が付いているかもしれないが / 壁に小さな奥まった場所がある◆ここに / 彼は腰を降ろし / 足を組み / マッチを申し訳程度、膝に置き / 哀れな見世物となって / ちょっとした慈悲の雨が降る / 脂ぎった革の帽子に / 彼の側の道に置かれている◆僕もこの男には何度か会っている / 仕事上で彼と知り合いになるとは思ってもみなかった頃に / そして僕は成果に驚いた / 短い時間に彼が上げる事ができた◆彼の見た目は / 分かるだろうが / 非常に特徴的で / だれも彼を見ずに通り過ぎることはできない◆モジャモジャのオレンジ色の髪 / 恐ろしい傷で醜くなった青ざめた顔 / それは / その収縮で / 上唇の端がめくれあがっている / ブルドッグのような顎 / 鋭い目つきの黒い目 / これらが髪の色と奇妙なコントラストをなしており / 全てが、沢山の普通の乞食の中で彼をひときわ目立たせている / それに加えて / 彼の才気も働いている / どんなからかいにもすぐに返答を返す / 通行人から彼に掛けられる◆こういう男だ / 我々が今、アヘン窟に下宿していると知ったのは / 最後に見た男となった / 我々が探している紳士を」

“But a cripple!” said I. “What could he have done single-handed against a man in the prime of life?”

「しかし、体が不自由なのだろう！」 / 私は言った◆「壮年の男をたった一人で何ができる？」

“He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others.”

「足を引きずって歩いているところは不自由だが / それ以外の面で見れば / 彼は力もあり栄養も行き届いているようだ◆確実に、君の医学的経験から言っても / ワトソン / 彼の片足の衰えはしばしば / 他の部分の並外れた強さで補われる」

“Pray continue your narrative.”

「続きを話してくれ」

“Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful examination of the premises, but without finding anything which threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes during which he might have communicated with his friend the lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Mrs. St. Clair’s assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.

「セント・クレア夫人は失神した / 窓の血を見て / そして警官によって馬車で家に運ばれた / 彼女の存在は / 警察の捜査に何の役にもたたないので◆バートン警部 / 彼がこの事件の担当になった / 彼は非常に注意深く家を調べた / しかし手がかりになるようなものは何も見つけられなかった◆ブーンをすぐに逮捕しなかったという一つのミスを犯した / 彼は何分間か余裕があった / その間に友達のインド水夫と話をすることが出来た / しかしこの失敗はすぐに修復された / そして彼は拘束されて取調べを受けた / 彼を有罪に出来る証拠は何も発見できなかったが◆彼のシャツの右袖に血の跡があったのは事実だ / しかし彼は右指を示した / 釘で切っていた / そして彼は血はそこから出たと説明した / そして彼はちょっと前に窓にいたので / そこで見つかった血の跡は / 疑いなく同じところから出たものだと◆彼はきっぱりと否定した / ネビル・セント・クレア氏を見たことを / そして断言した彼の部屋に服があったのは / 警察と同様彼にとっても謎だと◆セント・クレア夫人の申し立てに対しては / 彼女が確かに夫を窓で見たという / 彼は彼女がおかしくなっていたか夢を見ていたと主張した◆彼は連れて行かれた / 大声で抗議したが / 警察署に / 警部が家に残っている間 / 引き潮になると新しい手がかりが得られるという期待で」

“And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair’s coat, and not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do you think they found in the pockets?”

「そしてその通りになった / しかし警察は泥の上に彼らが見つけるのではと恐れていたものはみつけられなかった◆それはネビル・セント・クレアの上着だった / ネビル・セント・クレアの死体ではなく / 潮が引いて現れた◆そしてポケットの中にどんなものが見つかったと思う？」

“I cannot imagine.”

「想像もつかない」

“No, I don’t think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with pennies and half-pennies –421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked away into the river.”

「そうだろう / 君が当てられるとは思えない◆全部のポケットに１ペニーと半ペニー硬貨が詰められていた / 421枚の一ペニー硬貨と270枚の半ペニー硬貨が◆これが潮に流されていかなかったのは不思議ではなかった◆しかし人間の体は状況が違う◆波止場と家の間には激しい渦がある◆この重石を付けられたコートが残ったらしかった / 衣服から抜けた体が河に吸い込まれた」

“But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?”

「しかし僕が聞いた話では / 他の服は全部部屋で見つかった◆死体には上着しか着せられてなかったのか？」

“No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the pockets to make sure of the coat’s sinking. He throws it out, and would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the window when the police appeared.”

「いや / しかし事実の辻褄が合うようにできるかもしれない◆こう仮定してみよう / このブーンという男がネビル・セント・クレアを窓から投げ落とした / この行為を見ることができた人間はいないと◆彼はどうしただろうか / もちろん彼はすぐにこう考えただろう / 証拠の服を取り除かねばならないと◆彼は上着を掴んで / それから / それを外に投げ捨てようとした / その時それが沈まずに漂うのではないかとふと思った◆時間はほとんど無かった / 階下の揉み合いを聞いたから / 妻が強引に上がろうとした時の / そしてもしかすると / 彼は既に聞いていた / インド人水夫の共謀者から / 警官が道を走ってくると◆一瞬も無駄にすることはできない◆彼は急いで行った / どこか秘密の隠し場所に / 乞食の成果を貯めていた / そして彼は全ての硬貨を詰め込んだ / ポケットの中に詰め込める限りの / 上着が沈むのを確実にするために◆彼はそれを外に投げた / 他の衣類も同じようにしただろう / もし階段を駆け上がってくる足音を聞いていなかったら / しかしただ警官が現れるまでに窓を閉じる時間しかなかった」

“It certainly sounds feasible.”

「それはもっともらしく聞こえるな」

“Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before been anything against him. He had for years been known as a professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the questions which have to be solved – what Neville St. Clair was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance – are all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot recall any case within my experience which looked at the first glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties.”

「さて / もっといい案が出るまで、これを作業仮説としよう◆ブーンは / すでに君に言ったように / 逮捕されて警察署に連れて行かれた / しかし見つけられなかった / 彼に対して不利なものは◆彼は何年も乞食で暮らしていると知られていたが / しかし彼の生活は非常に穏やかで無害なものらしかった◆そこに現在の事件が起きた / そして解かねばならない問題が / / ネビル・セント・クレアはアヘン窟で何をしていたのか / そこで彼に何が起きたのか / 彼は今どこにいるのか / そして、ヒュー・ブーンはこの失踪にどう関っているのか / / これは全部今までのところ解決にはほど遠い◆僕は認める / 僕の経験のなかで思い出せない / 最初見た時は非常に単純で / しかしこのような困難を提供したものは」

While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.

シャーロックホームズが奇妙な出来事の連続を詳しく述べている間に / 我々はロンドンの郊外を駆け足で通り過ぎていた / 最後のまばらな家を通り過ぎるまで / 両側が田舎の生垣になっている道を揺られながら進んでいた◆彼が話し終えた時、しかし / 我々は2つの散在した村を通り過ぎた / いくつかの明かりがまだ窓にともっている