“I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my investigation. I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there, and was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the family had concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down upon a keg in the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over.

「実を言うとこの時 / ワトソン / 僕は自分の調査にがっかりしていた◆僕はこの事件が解決すると計算していた / 儀式書が言及する場所をいったん見つければ / しかし今我々はそこに達し / しかしどうやら、それが何か知るところから遠い場所にいた / この一門がこんなに手の込んだ用心をして隠したものが何か◆僕がブラントンの運命に関して明らかにしたのは事実だったが / しかし今僕はどのようにしてその運命が彼に降りかかったかを確かめる必要があった / そして失踪した女性がこの件にどのように関っているかを◆僕は部屋の隅にあった樽に腰を降ろし / 事件全体を注意深く考えた」

“You know my methods in such cases, Watson. I put myself in the man’s place, and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this case the matter was simplified by Brunton’s intelligence being quite first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He knew that something valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place. He found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move unaided. What would he do next? He could not get help from outside, even if he had someone whom he could trust, without the unbarring of doors and considerable risk of detection. It was better, if he could, to have his helpmate inside the house. But whom could he ask? This girl had been devoted to him. A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman’s love, however badly he may have treated her. He would try by a few attentions to make his peace with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his accomplice. Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their united force would suffice to raise the stone. So far I could follow their actions as if I had actually seen them.

「君はこういう場合の僕の方法を知っているだろう / ワトソン◆僕は自分自身をこの男の立場に置き / そして / 最初に彼の知能を念頭に置いて / 僕は自分が同じ状況下にあればどのようにするかを想像しようとした◆この事件では / ブラントンの知能が完全に第一級なので事態は単純化されていた / それによって何も考慮に入れる必要がなくなった / 天文学者が呼ぶところの観測の個人差を◆彼は何か価値のある物が隠されている事を知った◆彼はその場所を見つけた◆彼はそれを覆う石が / 一人の男が助けを借りずに動かすにはちょっと重すぎると分かった◆彼は次にどうするか / 彼は外部の手助けを借りれなかった / もし彼に誰か信頼できる人間がいたとしても / 扉を開けて招き入れて発見されるという途方も無い危険を冒さずには◆その方がよかった / もし出来るなら / 家の中の者を協力者とする方が◆しかし誰に頼めるか / この女性は彼にぞっこんだった◆男と言うものは何時でもなかなか気付かないものだ / 彼が最終的に女性の愛を失ってしまっていると / どんなに女性にひどい扱いをしていても◆彼はちょっとした思い遣りを示して彼女との仲を修復しようとしただろう / それから彼は彼女を共犯者として取り込んだ◆彼らは一緒に夜間にあの地下室に行っただろう / そして二人の力は石を持ち上げるのに十分だっただろう◆ここまでは彼らの行動を実際に見たかのようにたどれる」

“But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work, the raising of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had found it no light job. What would they do to assist them? Probably what I should have done myself. I rose and examined carefully the different billets of wood which were scattered round the floor. Almost at once I came upon what I expected. One piece, about three feet in length, had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some considerable weight. Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up, they had thrust the chunks of wood into the chink until at last when the opening was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by a billet placed lengthwise, which might very well become indented at the lower end, since the whole weight of the stone would press it down on to the edge of this other slab. So far I was still on safe ground.

「しかし彼ら二人にとって / 一人は女性だった / これは大変な作業だったに違いない / この石を持ち上げるというのは◆頑強なサセックスの警官と僕の二人でも全く簡単なことではなかった◆これを補助するのに彼らはどうしたか？ / おそらく僕がやったようにしたに違いない◆僕は立ち上がって慎重に色々な薪を調べた / 床に散らばっている◆すぐに予想していたものが見つかった◆一本は / 約3フィートの長さの / 片側の端に非常にへこんだ跡がついていた / ほかの数本は横が平らになっていた / 何か非常に重いもので圧縮されたように◆明らかに / 彼らが石を引き揚げる時に / 彼らは薪を隙間に詰め込んだ / 最後に開口部が這って入れる程の大きさになるまで / 彼らはその開口部を一本の薪の差し渡しを使って固定しただろう / それが下部で非常な凹みを作ることになったかもしれない / 全ての石の重さがそれをおし下げただろうから / 別の厚板の端に向かって◆ここまではまず間違いないだろう」

“And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton. The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presumably – since they were not to be found – and then – and then what happened?

「そして次に僕はどのようにこの真夜中の事件を再構成すればよいか？ / 明らかに / 穴に入れるのは一人だけだ / そしてその人物はブラントンだ◆女性は上で待っていたはずだ◆ブラントンはそれから箱の鍵を開け / その中身を手渡した / 中身はまだ見つかっていないので、推察になるが / / そしてそれから / / そしてそれから何が起きたか？」

“What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate Celtic woman’s soul when she saw the man who had wronged her – wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected – in her power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman’s figure still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover’s life out.

「くすぶっていた復讐の火が / 突然炎となって燃え上がった / この情動的なケルト女性の心に / 彼女が自分にひどい仕打ちをした男を見た時 / / ひどい仕打ちをしたのだろう、おそらく / 我々が思うよりもはるかに / / 彼女の手の中にあるのを / 偶然だったのだろうか / 薪が滑って / 石が彼の墓となる場所にブラントンを閉じ込めたのは / 彼の運命に関して黙っていた事だけが彼女の罪だったのか？ / それとも彼女の手の突然の一撃が支えを弾き飛ばし / 厚板を元の場所にドスンと落としたのか / そうだとしても / 僕には見えるようだ / 宝物を抱えたままの女性の姿が / 曲がりくねった階段を狂ったように駆け上がり / 彼女の耳にはおそらく鳴り響いていた / 後ろからくぐもった叫び声と / 狂ったように石の厚板を叩く音が / その板は彼女の不誠実な恋人の命を窒息させて奪う」

“Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the mere. She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the last trace of her crime.

「これが秘密だった / 彼女の真っ青な顔の / 彼女の動揺した神経の / 次の日の朝のヒステリックな笑いの◆しかし箱の中には何が入っていたのか？ / 彼女はそれをどうしたのか？ / もちろん / それは古い金属と小石に違いない / マスグレーヴが湖から引き揚げた◆彼女はそれを湖に投げ込んでいた / 彼女の犯罪の痕跡を取り除く最初の機会に」