福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第9章Part6

The girl sank her face into her hands. "I wish to heaven that you had been first!" she sobbed.
McMurdo was down on his knees before her in an instant. "For God's sake, Ettie, let it stand at that!" he cried. "Will you ruin your life and my own for the sake of this promise? Follow your heart, acushla! 'Tis a safer guide than any promise before you knew what it was that you were saying."
He had seized Ettie's white hand between his own strong brown ones.
"Say that you will be mine, and we will face it out together!"
"Not here?"
"Yes, here."
"No, no, Jack!" His arms were round her now. "It could not be here. Could you take me away?"
A struggle passed for a moment over McMurdo's face; but it ended by setting like granite. "No, here," he said. "I'll hold you against the world, Ettie, right here where we are!"
"Why should we not leave together?"
"No, Ettie, I can't leave here."
"But why?"
"I'd never hold my head up again if I felt that I had been driven out. Besides, what is there to be afraid of? Are we not free folks in a free country? If you love me, and I you, who will dare to come between?"
"You don't know, Jack. You've been here too short a time. You don't know this Baldwin. You don't know McGinty and his Scowrers."
"No, I don't know them, and I don't fear them, and I don't believe in them!" said McMurdo. "I've lived among rough men, my darling, and instead of fearing them it has always ended that they have feared me--always, Ettie. It's mad on the face of it! If these men, as your father says, have done crime after crime in the valley, and if everyone knows them by name, how comes it that none are brought to justice? You answer me that, Ettie!"
"Because no witness dares to appear against them. He would not live a month if he did. Also because they have always their own men to swear that the accused one was far from the scene of the crime. But surely, Jack, you must have read all this. I had understood that every paper in the United States was writing about it."
"Well, I have read something, it is true; but I had thought it was a story. Maybe these men have some reason in what they do. Maybe they are wronged and have no other way to help themselves."
"Oh, Jack, don't let me hear you speak so! That is how he speaks--the other one!"
"Baldwin--he speaks like that, does he?"

姑娘雙手掩着臉，嗚咽地說：“天哪，我多麼願意你是先來求婚的啊！”
麥克默多當即跪在她的面前，大聲說道：“看在上帝面上，伊蒂，那就按你剛說的那樣辦吧！你難道願意爲了輕輕一諾而毀滅你我一生的幸福嗎？我心愛的，就照你的心意辦吧！你知道你剛纔說的是什麼，這比你任何允諾都要可靠。”
麥克默多把伊蒂雪白的小手放在自己兩隻健壯有力的褐色大手中間，說道：
“說一聲你是我的吧，讓我們同心合力應付不測。”
“我們不留在這兒吧？”
“不，就留在這兒。”
“不，不，傑克！"麥克默多這時雙手摟住她，她說道，“決不能在這兒。你能帶我遠走高飛嗎？”
麥克默多臉上一時現出躊躇不決的樣子，可是最後還是顯露出堅決果敢的神色來。“不，還是留在這兒，"他說道，“伊蒂，我們寸步不移，我會保護你的。”
“爲什麼我們不一起離開呢？”
“不行，伊蒂，我不能離開這兒。”
“到底爲什麼呢？”
“假如我覺得我是被人趕走的，那就再也擡不起頭來了。再說，這兒又有什麼可怕的呢？我們難道不是一個自由國家裏的自由人嗎？如果你愛我，我也愛你，誰敢來在我們中間插手呢？”
“你不瞭解，傑克，你來這兒的時間太短了。你還不瞭解這個鮑德溫。你也不瞭解麥金蒂和他的死酷黨。”
“是的，我不瞭解他們，可是我不怕他們，我也不相信他們！"麥克默多說道，“我在粗野的人羣裏混過，親愛的，我不光是不怕他們，相反，到頭來他們總是怕我——總是這樣，伊蒂。乍看起來這簡直是發瘋！要是這些人，象你父親說的那樣，在這山谷中屢次爲非作歹，大家又都知道他們的名字，那怎麼沒有一個人受法律制裁呢？請你回答我這個問題，伊蒂！”
“因爲沒有人敢出面對證。如果誰去作證，他連一個月也活不了。還因爲他們的同黨很多，總是出來作假證說被告和某案某案不沾邊。傑克，肯定說這一切你會自己看出來的！我早知道美國的每家報紙對這方面都有報道。”
“不錯，我確實也看到過一些，可我總以爲這都是編造出來的。也許這些人做這種事總有些原因。也許他們受了冤屈，不得已而爲之吧。”
“唉，傑克，我不愛聽這種話！他也是這樣說的——那個人！”
“鮑德溫——他也這麼說嗎？是嗎？”