“Ah，”he said,“your words a gre e with th e fa cts
“啊，你说的和我这儿记录的事
he re . But the brig we nt down on the twe nty - s e ve nthof June . It is now a ugus t the twe nty - fourth. The re isa spa ce ，Mr Ba lfour of a lmos t two months . How doyou e xpla in this ?”
实完全一致。不过，那条双桅船是6 月27 日遇险的，今天已经是8 月24 日了。这中间几乎相隔两个月，巴尔福先生。你能把这点讲清楚吗?”
“I mus t know o ne thing firs t，s it，”I replid.“Am Ita lking to a frie nd？”
“先生，我先得弄清楚，我是不是在和一位朋友讲话?”我说。
“I ca nnot be your frie nd ，”he replied,“if yo u donot te ll me e ve rything . A young ma n ought to trus t hise lde rs .”
“你要是把一切告诉我，我才能成为你的朋友。年轻人应该信赖长辈。”他说。
“Yo u mus t not forge t，s ir，”I said，that I trustedmy uncle and Captain Hoseason. And I believe thatmy uncle employs you.”
“先生，请您不要忘记，我原来对我的叔叔和霍西森船长也是信赖的。而且我知道你是我叔叔雇的律师。”我说。
He laughed. Then he looked at me with respect.
他听完笑了起来。然后他怀着敬意看着我，说：
“No，n o，”he said“I wa s ，inde e d，your u ncle ’sma n of bus ine s s ，but ma ny things ha ve ha pp e ne d inthe pa s t two months . One da y Mr Campbe lt came intomy office to a sk for you. I ha d ne ve r he a rd of you ，butI ha d known your fa the r . Mr Ebe ne ze r s a id tha t heha d . s e e n you. He told us he ha d give n you a la rges um of mone y. You ha d gone to Europe to finish you re duc a tion . Mr Campbe ll s a id he ha d re ce ive d n o le tte rfrom you . Mr Ebe n e ze r told him you we re le a ving thepa s t be hind you . He s a id it wa s your wish . I don ’tthink a nyon e be lie ve d him，”Mr Rankeillor continued.
He smiled.“Inde e d ，he wa s a n gry with me
“不，不，我过去确实是替你叔叔办事的。可是，最近两个月内发生了许多事。有一天，坎贝尔先生来到我的办公室，向我打听你的消息。我从来没有听说过有关你的事情，可我认识你父亲。埃比尼泽先生说他见过你，给过你一大笔钱。
你到欧洲上学去了。他说他没有收到过你一封信，埃比尼泽先生告诉他说你要忘记过去，说那是你的愿望。我看当时谁也不相信他的话。”
兰基勒先生微微一笑，接着说：“实
be c a us e I que s tione d him. He did not employ me a fter tha t. Mr Campbe ll a nd I knew tha t s ome thin g wa swrong. But we ha d no pro of. The n Ca pta iu Hos e a sonc ame . He s a id you ha d be e n drowne d . We knew the ntha t your unc le ha d lie d ，But if you we re de a d ，wec ould do nothing .”
际上，因为我向他提出了一些疑问，他就生了我的气。从那以后，就不再雇用我了。坎贝尔先生和我都知道这件事有点古怪，可我们没有证据。后来，霍西森船长来了，说你被淹死了。那时我们就知道你叔叔讲的是谎话。可是，万一你死了，我们可就什么办法也没有了。”
I felt now that I could trust him.
这时，我明白他是可以信赖的，便说道：
“S ir，”I said,“if I te ll yo u my s tory，I mus t p ut afrie nd ’s life in your ha nds . P romis e me tha t he will bes a fe . For my own bus ine s s ，I will tru s t you.”
“先生，我要是告诉您我的经历，一位朋友的生命可就全靠您了，您得保证他的生命安全。至于我个人的事嘛，我就托付给您了。”
He gave me his promise with a serious face. 他一本正经地向我作出保证。
“But，”he said,“ple a s e remembe r I am a la wyer. If you ha ve ba d a ny troub le with the law，s a y littlea bou t it.”
他 说：“不过，请记住，我是律师。你要是有什么触犯法律的事，尽量不要对我讲。”
I told him my story from the first. He closedhis eyes and listened. Sometimes I thought he wasasleep. But no！he heard everything and rememberedeverything - even strange names of Highlandplaces. When I spoke of Alan Breck，he movedsharply in his seat. Of course all Scotland hadheard of Alan and the Appin murder and the offerof the towarde.
我从头到尾把自己的经历讲了一遍。他闭着眼睛听我讲。有时我以为他睡着了，可实际上，他逐字逐句都听清楚了，也都记住了，甚至连高地一带那些稀奇古怪的地名也记住了。我讲到艾伦·布雷克的名字时，他的身子猛然在椅子上动了一下。当然罗，苏格兰所有的人都听说过艾伦这个名字，听说过亚品的凶杀案和悬赏捉拿一事。
“Name no ，name s of Highla nde rs ，Mr Ba lfour，”
he said.“Ma ny a re a ga ins t the law. But I do not he a rve ry we ll. I don’t think I he a rd the name of your frie nde xa ctly. Le t us ca ll him Mr Th omson ，a nd the n the rewill be no diffic ulty.”
他说：“巴尔福先生，不要具体讲高地人的名字。他们许多人都是与法律背道而驰的。我的耳朵不好使，我想我没有听清楚你那位朋友的名字。咱们称他为托马森先生吧。这样，就不会惹麻烦了。”
I saw he had heard Alan’s name very clearly.
He guessed I might speak of the murder. For therest of the story，Alan was Mr Thomsoa. It amusedme. I thought it must amuse Alan，too.
显然，艾伦的名字他是听得很清楚的。他估计到我会提起那件凶杀案的。我再往下讲的时候，艾伦就成了托马森先生。我感到这个名字很好笑，我想艾伦也会感到好笑的。
“We ll，”said the lawyer，when I had finished，“you ha ve ha d ma ny a dve ntu re s . You ha ve be e n inma ny diffic ult pos itions . You ha ve be h a ve d we ll inmos t of them. I think Mr Thoms on is a ma n of ma nyfine qua litie s ，but ra the r wild . You we re fa ithful to him，a nd tha t wa s right. He wa s fa ithful to you . You we reboth in da nge r . We ll，thos e da ys ha ve e nde d ，I thin k.
You a re ne a r the e nd of your trouble s .”
我讲完后，律师说：“噢，你真是经历了艰险，吃了不少苦头。你在大部分情况下做得是对的。我想托马森先生这个人品质很不错，不过比较粗野。你对他忠心耿耿，这是对的； 他对你也是赤心一片，你们是患难与共的。好了，那些苦日子已经熬到头了，你的苦难也即将过去了。”
He looked at me kindly. I was happy. For along time I had wandered and slept under the sky.
Now I was sitting in a clean house again. I wastalking to a gentleman in neat clothes，I looked atmy own，and I was ashamed.
他 亲切地看着我。我感到高兴。我长期四处漂泊，风餐露宿，现在却又坐在一个干干净净的房子里，跟一位衣着整洁的有身份的人交谈。我看了看自己的衣服，感到很惭愧。
The lawyer saw，and understood me. He rose律师看到我的窘态，很理解。
and led me into another room，He gave me soap andwater and a comb，and some of his son’s clothes. Heinvited me to dinner，and left me.
他站起身，把我带进另一间屋子，给了我一块肥皂，一把梳子和他儿子的几件衣服，还端来了一盆水。他请我留下吃午饭，说完就走了。
