“It can’t be a coincidence,” he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room; “it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence. The very pills which I suspected in the case of Drebber are actually found after the death of Stangerson. And yet they are inert. What can it mean? Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible! And yet this wretched dog is none the worse. Ah, I have it! I have it!” With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier. The unfortunate creature’s tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning.

「偶然という事はあり得ない」 / 彼は遂に叫んだ / 椅子から跳ね起きて部屋を荒々しく行ったり来たりしながら / 「これがただの偶然と言う事は不可能だ◆僕がドレバーの事件で疑っていたその丸薬が / スタンガーソンの死のあとで正確に見つかった◆しかしそれは無害だ◆どういう意味だ？ / 僕の推理の連鎖は間違いでは絶対にありえない◆それは不可能だ / しかしこの哀れな犬は悪くならない◆あ / 分かった！ / 分かった！」 / 激しい喜びの金切り声をあげて彼は箱に飛んで行き / もう一つの丸薬を二つに割り / 溶かし / ミルクを加え / テリアの前に置いた◆不幸な動物の舌がそれに触れるか触れないかで / 四肢が痙攣し / 硬直して死んだ / 稲妻に打たれたかのように

Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. “I should have more faith,” he said; “I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation. Of the two pills in that box, one was of the most deadly poison, and the other was entirely harmless. I ought to have known that before ever I saw the box at all.”

シャーロックホームズは長い息をし / 額の汗を拭った◆「もっと確信を持たなければ」 / 彼は言った / 「僕は今までに知るべきだった / 長い推理の連鎖に矛盾する出来事が表れた時 / それは常に何か別の解釈の余地があることを示している◆この箱の中の二つの丸薬のうち / 一つは非常に致死的な毒薬で / もう一つは完全に無害だ◆僕はこの箱を眼にする前に分かっておくべきだったのに」

This last statement appeared to me to be so startling that I could hardly believe that he was in his sober senses. There was the dead dog, however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct. It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away, and I began to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.

この最後の一言は私には非常に驚くべきもので / 私はほとんど彼が正気なのか信じ難かった◆しかし、ここに死んだ犬がいる / 彼の推定が正しかった事を示す◆私の心の霧は次第に晴れて行くようだった / そして私にはぼんやりと曖昧な真実に対する理解が生まれ始めた

“All this seems strange to you,” continued Holmes, “because you failed at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real clue which was presented to you. I had the good fortune to seize upon that, and everything which has occurred since then has served to confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions. It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.”

「これら全ては君達には奇妙に見えるだろう」 / ホームズは言った / 「君達は捜査の開始時点で失敗したから / 君達に提示されていた一つの重要な点を理解する事に◆僕は幸運にもそれを捕まえ / それ以降に起きたことは全て / 僕の最初の想定を再確認させた / そして、もちろん、論理的なつながりをなした◆それゆえ君達を当惑し事件をより曖昧にさせたものは / 僕には光明を与え、僕の結論を強化したのだ◆奇妙さと謎を取り違えるのは間違いだ◆最も当たり前の犯罪はたいてい最も謎めいている / そこから推理を引き出しうる新しい、特別な特徴がないからだ◆この殺人は果てしなく解決が難しかっただろう / もしこの犠牲者の死体がただ道端に横たわっているのが見つけられれば / こういう風変わりで人騒がせな付属物が一切無く / それらが事件を注目すべきものにする◆これらの奇妙な詳細は / 事件をより複雑にするどころか / 実際は事件をより簡単にした」

Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address with considerable impatience, could contain himself no longer. “Look here, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” he said, “we are all ready to acknowledge that you are a smart man, and that you have your own methods of working. We want something more than mere theory and preaching now, though. It is a case of taking the man. I have made my case out, and it seems I was wrong. Young Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair. Lestrade went after his man, Stangerson, and it appears that he was wrong too. You have thrown out hints here, and hints there, and seem to know more than we do, but the time has come when we feel that we have a right to ask you straight how much you do know of the business. Can you name the man who did it?”

この話を非常にイライラして聞いていたグレッグソンは / これ以上自分を押さえきれなかった◆「ちょっと、シャーロックホームズさん」 / 彼は言った / 「我々は皆あなたが頭がいいと認めるのにやぶさかではない / そしてあなたは自分の方法を持っているということに◆しかし、我々は今、理論や説教以上の何かが欲しいのです◆例えば犯人を捕まえる事です◆私は自分なりに事件を理解した / しかしそれは間違っているようです◆シャルパンティエ青年はこの第二の事件にかかわる事は出来なかった◆レストレードはスタンガーソンを追った / そして彼も間違っていたようです◆あなたはちょくちょく意味ありげなことを言っている / そして我々以上に知っているようだ / しかし我々がずばり聞いて良いと思う頃になりました / この事件に関してどれくらい知っているのかを◆犯人の名前を言ってもらえませんか？」

“I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right, sir,” remarked Lestrade. “We have both tried, and we have both failed. You have remarked more than once since I have been in the room that you had all the evidence which you require. Surely you will not withhold it any longer.”

「グレッグソンの言う事は正しいと思わざるを得ません」 / レストレードが言った◆「我々は二人ともやってみた / そして二人とも失敗した◆あなたは私がこの部屋に来てから一度ならず言った / あなたは必要とした証拠を全て手にしたと◆これ以上隠し立てするべきではないでしょう」

“Any delay in arresting the assassin,” I observed, “might give him time to perpetrate some fresh atrocity.”

「殺人犯を逮捕するのが遅れると」 / 私は言った / 「新しい残虐行為を行う時間を与えるもしれない」

Thus pressed by us all, Holmes showed signs of irresolution. He continued to walk up and down the room with his head sunk on his chest and his brows drawn down, as was his habit when lost in thought.

このように我々全員に圧迫され / ホームズの決意は揺らぎを見せた◆彼は部屋を行ったり来たりし続けた / 顎を胸に置き、眉をひそめて / 彼が考えあぐねた時にする習慣で

“There will be no more murders,” he said at last, stopping abruptly and facing us. “You can put that consideration out of the question. You have asked me if I know the name of the assassin. I do. The mere knowing of his name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly to do. I have good hopes of managing it through my own arrangements; but it is a thing which needs delicate handling, for we have a shrewd and desperate man to deal with, who is supported, as I have had occasion to prove, by another who is as clever as himself. As long as this man has no idea that anyone can have a clue there is some chance of securing him; but if he had the slightest suspicion, he would change his name, and vanish in an instant among the four million inhabitants of this great city. Without meaning to hurt either of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider these men to be more than a match for the official force, and that is why I have not asked your assistance. If I fail, I shall, of course, incur all the blame due to this omission; but that I am prepared for. At present I am ready to promise that the instant that I can communicate with you without endangering my own combinations, I shall do so.”

「これ以上の殺人はないだろう」 / 彼は遂に言った / 突然立ち止まり、顔を上げて◆「その考えは問題外だと思っていい◆君は僕に殺人犯の名前を知っているか聞いた◆知っている◆しかし、彼の名前を知っているというのは小さな事だ / 彼を逮捕する力に比べれば◆僕は本当にまもなくそうできると思っている◆僕の計画によって逮捕出来るという見込みが十分にある / しかし、それには微妙な対応が要求されるのだ / 我々が相手にしているのは抜け目の無い自暴自棄な男だからだ / 彼には手助けを受けている / 僕はある機会で分かったのだが / 彼と同じように賢い別の男に◆この男が誰かに手がかりを掴まれていると気づかない限り / 彼を逮捕できる可能性がある / もし彼がほんの僅かでも疑いを持てば / 彼は名前を変え / すぐに姿を消すだろう / この大都会の四百万人の住民の中に◆君達の気分を害するつもりはないが / 僕は言わざるを得ない / 僕はこの男達は警察の手に余ると考えていると / それが僕が君達に助力を頼まない理由だ◆もし僕が失敗すれば、もちろん / この怠慢によってあらゆる非難を蒙るだろう / しかし僕は覚悟の上だ◆現在のところ / こう約束するつもりだ / 僕自身の采配を危険にさらすことなく、君達と連携する事ができればただちに / 僕は必ずそうするつもりだと」

Gregson and Lestrade seemed to be far from satisfied by this assurance, or by the depreciating allusion to the detective police. The former had flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while the other’s beady eyes glistened with curiosity and resentment. Neither of them had time to speak, however, before there was a tap at the door, and the spokesman of the street Arabs, young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and unsavoury person.

グレッグソンとレストレードは到底満足していないようだった / この約束にも / 警察にを見くびったあてつけにも◆グレッグソンは亜麻色の髪の生え際まで真っ赤になり / レストレードは好奇心と憤りにビーズのような目をギラギラさせていた◆しかしどちらも話す間はなかった / 扉を叩く音があり / そして浮浪少年の代表者、ウィギンズが / 卑しく不愉快な風采で現れた