福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part15
"Perhaps some day you will do me justice. If you only realized--"
"There is no need why Dr. Watson should realize," said Barker quickly. "As he has himself said, it is no possible business of his."
"Exactly," said I, "and so I will beg leave to resume my walk."
"One moment, Dr. Watson," cried the woman in a pleading voice. "There is one question which you can answer with more authority than anyone else in the world, and it may make a very great difference to me. You know Mr. Holmes and his relations with the police better than anyone else can. Supposing that a matter were brought confidentially to his knowledge, is it absolutely necessary that he should pass it on to the detectives?"
"Yes, that's it," said Barker eagerly. "Is he on his own or is he entirely in with them?"
"I really don't know that I should be justified in discussing such a point."
"I beg--I implore that you will, Dr. Watson! I assure you that you will be helping us--helping me greatly if you will guide us on that point."
There was such a ring of sincerity in the woman's voice that for the instant I forgot all about her levity and was moved only to do her will.
"Mr. Holmes is an independent investigator," I said. "He is his own master, and would act as his own judgment directed. At the same time, he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials who were working on the same case, and he would not conceal from them anything which would help them in bringing a criminal to justice. Beyond this I can say nothing, and I would refer you to Mr. Holmes himself if you wanted fuller information."
“也許有那麼一天你會公平地對待我，只要你瞭解……”
“華生醫生沒有必要了解什麼，"巴克急忙說道，“因爲他親口說過，這不干他的事嘛。”
“不錯，"我說道，“那麼，我就告辭了，我還要繼續散步呢。”
“華生先生，請等一等，"婦人用懇求的聲音大聲喊道，“有一個問題，你的回答比世上任何人都更有權威，而這個答案對我卻有重大關係。你比任何人都更瞭解福爾摩斯先生，瞭解他和警署的關係。假使有人把一件事祕密告訴他知道，他是不是絕對必須轉告警探們呢？”
“對，問題就在這裏，"巴克也很懇切地說道，“他是獨立處理問題，還是全都要和他們一起解決？”
“我真不知道該不該談這樣一個問題。”
“我求你，我懇求你告訴我，華生醫生，我相信你一定能有助於我們，只要你在這點上給我們指點一下，你對我的幫助就太大了。”
婦人的聲音是那麼誠懇，竟使我霎時忘掉她的一切輕浮舉動，感動得只能滿足她的要求。
“福爾摩斯先生是一個獨立的偵探，"我說道，“一切事他都自己作主，並根據自己的判斷來處理問題。同時，他當然會忠於那些和他一同辦案的官方人員，而對那些能幫助官方把罪犯緝拿歸案的事情，他也絕不隱瞞他們。除此以外，我不能說別的。如果你要知道得更詳細，我希望你找福爾摩斯先生本人。”
