福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part11
"No, I cannot say. He went from his dressing room, and I did not hear him go. He did the round of the house every night, for he was nervous of fire. It is the only thing that I have ever known him nervous of."
"That is just the point which I want to come to, Mrs. Douglas. You have known your husband only in England, have you not?"
"Yes, we have been married five years."
"Have you heard him speak of anything which occurred in America and might bring some danger upon him?"
Mrs. Douglas thought earnestly before she answered. "Yes," she said at last, "I have always felt that there was a danger hanging over him. He refused to discuss it with me. It was not from want of confidence in me--there was the most complete love and confidence between us--but it was out of his desire to keep all alarm away from me. He thought I should brood over it if I knew all, and so he was silent."
"How did you know it, then?"
Mrs. Douglas's face lit with a quick smile. "Can a husband ever carry about a secret all his life and a woman who loves him have no suspicion of it? I knew it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in his American life. I knew it by certain precautions he took. I knew it by certain words he let fall. I knew it by the way he looked at unexpected strangers. I was perfectly certain that he had some powerful enemies, that he believed they were on his track, and that he was always on his guard against them. I was so sure of it that for years I have been terrified if ever he came home later than was expected."
"Might I ask," asked Holmes, "what the words were which attracted your attention?"
"The Valley of Fear," the lady answered. "That was an expression he has used when I questioned him. 'I have been in the Valley of Fear. I am not out of it yet.'--'Are we never to get out of the Valley of Fear?' I have asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual. 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,' he has answered."
"Surely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?"
"I did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his head. 'It is bad enough that one of us should have been in its shadow,' he said. 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real valley in which he had lived and in which something terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell you no more."
"And he never mentioned any names?"
"Yes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident three years ago. Then I remember that there was a name that came continually to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror. McGinty was the name--Bodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered who Bodymaster McGinty was, and whose body he was master of. 'Never of mine, thank God!' he answered with a laugh, and that was all I could get from him. But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear."
"There is one other point," said Inspector MacDonald. "You met Mr. Douglas in a boarding house in London, did you not, and became engaged to him there? Was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious, about the wedding?"
"There was romance. There is always romance. There was nothing mysterious."
"He had no rival?"
“不，我說不清楚。因爲他是從更衣室下樓的，我沒有聽到他走出去。因爲他怕失火，所以每天晚上都要在莊園裏繞一圈。我只知道他唯一害怕的東西就是火災。”
“道格拉斯夫人，這正是我想要談到的問題。你和你丈夫是在英國才認識的，對不對？”
“對，我們已經結婚五年了。”
“你聽到他講過在美洲發生過什麼危及到他的事嗎？”
道格拉斯夫人認真地思索了一會兒才答道，“對，我總覺得有一種危險在時刻威脅着他，但他不肯與我商量。這並不是因爲他不信任我，順便說一句，我們夫妻一向無比恩愛，推心置腹，而是因爲他不想叫我擔驚受怕。他認爲如果我知道了一切，就會驚惶不安。所以他就不聲不響了。”
“那你是怎麼知道的呢？”
道格拉斯夫人臉上掠過一絲笑容，說道：“做丈夫的一生保守着祕密，而熱愛着他的女人卻一點也覺察不出，這可能嗎？我是從許多方面知道的：從他避而不談他在美洲生活的某些片段；從他採取的某些防範措施；從他偶爾流露出來的某些言語；從他注視某些不速之客的方式。我可以完全肯定，他有一些有勢力的仇人，他確知他們正在追蹤他，所以他總是在防備着他們。因爲我深信這點，所以這幾年來，只要他回來得比預料得晚，我就非常驚恐。”
“我可以問一句嗎？"福爾摩斯說道，“哪些話引起你注意呢？”
“'恐怖谷'，"婦人回答道，“這就是我追問他時，他用的詞兒。他說：‘我一直身陷"恐怖谷"中，至今也無從擺脫。''難道我們就永遠擺脫不開這"恐怖谷"了嗎？'我看到他更失常時曾這樣問過他。他回答說，'有時我想，我們永遠也擺脫不了啦。'”
“你想必問過他，‘恐怖谷'是什麼意思吧？”
“我問過他，可是他一聽就臉色陰沉，連連搖頭說：‘我們兩個人中有一個處於它的魔影籠罩之下，這就夠糟糕的了。''但願上帝保佑，這不會落到你的頭上。'這一定是有某一個真正的山谷，他曾在那裏住過，而且在那裏曾有一些可怕的事情在他身上發生——這一點，我敢肯定——其它我就再沒有什麼東西可以告訴你們的了。”
“他從沒有提過什麼人的名字嗎？”
“提到過的。三年前，他打獵時出了點意外，在發燒中，曾經說過胡話。我記得他不斷說起一個名字，他說的時候，很是憤怒，而且有些恐怖。這人的名字是麥金蒂——身主麥金蒂。後來他病好了，我問他，身主麥金蒂是誰，他主管誰的身體？他哈哈一笑回答說，‘謝天謝地，他可不管我的身體。'我從他那裏得到的全部情況也就是這些了。不過，身主麥金蒂和'恐怖谷'之間一定是有關係的。”
“還有一點，"警官麥克唐納說道，“你是在倫敦一家公寓裏和道格拉斯先生相識的，並且在那兒和他訂的婚，是嗎？關於你們的婚事，有什麼戀愛過程，有什麼祕密的或是神祕的事嗎？”
“戀愛過程是有的，總是要有戀愛過程的。可是沒有什麼神祕的。”
“他沒有情敵嗎？”
