福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第5章Part5

"And he had been married five years. You must have returned about the time of his marriage."
"About a month before. I was his best man."
"Did you know Mrs. Douglas before her marriage?"
"No, I did not. I had been away from England for ten years."
"But you have seen a good deal of her since."
Barker looked sternly at the detective. "I have seen a good deal of HIM since," he answered. "If I have seen her, it is because you cannot visit a man without knowing his wife. If you imagine there is any connection--"
"I imagine nothing, Mr. Barker. I am bound to make every inquiry which can bear upon the case. But I mean no offense."
"Some inquiries are offensive," Barker answered angrily.

"It's only the facts that we want. It is in your interest and everyone's interest that they should be cleared up. Did Mr. Douglas entirely approve your friendship with his wife?"
Barker grew paler, and his great, strong hands were clasped convulsively together. "You have no right to ask such questions!" he cried. "What has this to do with the matter you are investigating?"
"I must repeat the question."
"Well, I refuse to answer."
"You can refuse to answer; but you must be aware that your refusal is in itself an answer, for you would not refuse if you had not something to conceal."
Barker stood for a moment with his face set grimly and his strong black eyebrows drawn low in intense thought. Then he looked up with a smile. "Well, I guess you gentlemen are only doing your clear duty after all, and I have no right to stand in the way of it. I'd only ask you not to worry Mrs. Douglas over this matter; for she has enough upon her just now. I may tell you that poor Douglas had just one fault in the world, and that was his jealousy. He was fond of me--no man could be fonder of a friend. And he was devoted to his wife. He loved me to come here, and was forever sending for me. And yet if his wife and I talked together or there seemed any sympathy between us, a kind of wave of jealousy would pass over him, and he would be off the handle and saying the wildest things in a moment. More than once I've sworn off coming for that reason, and then he would write me such penitent, imploring letters that I just had to. But you can take it from me, gentlemen, if it was my last word, that no man ever had amore loving, faithful wife--and I can say also no friend could be more loyal than I!"
It was spoken with fervour and feeling, and yet Inspector MacDonald could not dismiss the subject. "You are aware," said he, "that the dead man's wedding ring has been taken from his finger?"
"So it appears," said Barker.

“他再婚已經有五年了。你一定是在他結婚前後那年回來的吧。”
“大約在他結婚前一個月。我還是他的男儐相呢。”
“道格拉斯夫人結婚以前，你認識她嗎？”
“不，我不認識她。我離開英國已經有十年了。”
“可是從那以後，你常常和她見面吧？”
巴克嚴肅地望着那個偵探。 “從那時期，我常常和她見面，"巴克回答道，“至於我和她見面，那是因爲你不可能去拜訪一個朋友，而不認識他的妻子。假使你想象其中有什麼牽連……”
“巴克先生，我什麼也沒有想象。凡是與這案件有關的每一件事，我都有責任查問。不過，我不打算冒犯你。”
“有些責問就是無禮的，"巴克怒氣衝衝地答道。

“這只不過是我們需要了解一些事實，弄清這些事實對你和大家都有好處。你和道格拉斯夫人的友情，道格拉斯先生完全贊成嗎？”
巴克臉色更加蒼白，兩隻有力的大手痙攣似地緊握在一起。“你沒有權力問這樣的問題！"他大聲喊道，“這和你所調查的事情有什麼關係呢？”
“我一定要提這個問題。”
“那麼，我拒絕回答。”
“你可以拒絕回答，不過你要知道，你拒絕回答本身就是回答，因爲你如果沒有需要隱瞞的事，你就不會拒絕回答了。”
巴克繃着臉站了一會兒，那雙濃重的黑眉皺起來，苦思不已。然後他又微笑着擡起頭來說道：“嗯，不管怎麼說，我想諸位先生們畢竟是在執行公事。我沒有權力從中阻梗。我只想請求你們不要讓這件事再去煩擾道格拉斯夫人了，因爲她現在已經夠受的了。我可以告訴你們，可憐的道格拉斯就是有一個缺點，就是他的嫉妒心。他對我非常友愛——沒有人對朋友比他對我更友愛了。他對妻子的愛情也非常專一。他願意叫我到這裏來，並且經常派人去找我來。可是如果他的妻子和我一起談話或是我和他妻子之間好象有些互相同情的時候，他就會大發醋勁，勃然大怒，馬上說出最粗野的話來。我曾不止一次爲此發誓不再到這裏來。可是事後他又給我寫信，向我表示懺悔，哀求我，我也只好不計較這些了。不過，先生們，你們可以聽我說一句結論性的話，那就是，天下再也沒有象道格拉斯夫人這樣愛丈夫、忠誠於丈夫的妻子；我還敢說，天下也沒有比我更忠誠的朋友了。”
話說得熱情洋溢、感情真摯，然而警官麥克唐納還是沒有轉移話題，他問道：“你知道死者的結婚戒指被人從手指上取走了吧？”
“看來象是這樣，"巴克說道。