介绍:
（下拉有中英对照文本）
The lawyer’s house was near the Sorbonne, down a dingy covered passage off the rue St. Jacques. I t was so dark that the lanterns hanging in the niches were all lit. Yann and Têtu stood there waiting in the gloom for the door to open, sensing eyes peeking out of all the buildings, spying on them. In the window of the shop opposite, a solitary candle dimly illuminated its macabre contents, waxwork heads stuck on pikes. One was of Louis XVI , another was of Marie Antoinette. Yann felt a shiver go down his spine.
"My word,” said Têtu. "A glimpse of what is to come.”
“Yes?” said the maid, opening the door.
"We have an appointment to see Maître Tardieu.” The girl took them up a narrow, dark staircase that led to a room of miserable proportions. Lit only with a few candles, so used was this room to the perpetual gloom of twilight that the outside world seemed almost divorced from it.
律师的住处临近索邦大学，要穿过一条肮脏的街道才能到圣贾可街。天色已晚，人们点亮了挂在壁龛里的灯笼。Yann和Têtu站在那里，等着开门，周围建筑物里有人在监视着他们。对面商店橱窗里，一支蜡烛昏暗地摇晃着，蜡像头卡在缝隙里。一边是路易斯十六，另一边是Marie Antoinette。Yann感到有些毛骨悚然。
“天哪，”Têtu说。“有什么看过来了。”
“是吗？”女仆一边说话，一边打开了门。
“我们要去Maître Tardieu。”女孩把他们带到一个狭窄的，黑暗的楼梯间里。房间里，只亮了几支蜡烛，屋子里黑洞洞的，外面的世界似乎与这里分离了。
The lawyer seemed lost for words as they enter, never for a moment had he imagined Cordell sending him a mere youth and a dwarf, apparently from the circus. He had been expecting two serious and well-connected gentlemen to help him. Had Cordell no idea of the urgency of the situation?
“We live in strange times indeed, sir,” said Têtu, reading the lawyer’s thoughts.
“No, we live in terrible times,” said Maître Tardieu.
“Who would think that I would live so long as to be rewarded in my old age with such times as these.” He took off his glasses and nervously wiped them on his sleeve, with the effect of evenly coating the already smeared lenses with more grime.
他们进去的时候，律师似乎不知道该说些什么。他从没想过，Cordell介绍来的两个人，很显然是从马戏团来的，一个年轻人和一个小矮人。他一直期待会有两位严肃而又友好的绅士来帮助他。可能Cordell不知道情况有多紧迫？
“我们确实生活在一个奇怪的时代，先生，”Têtu说，他读到了律师在想写什么。
“不，我们生活在一个可怕的时代” Maître Tardieu.说。
“谁能想到晚年的我会遭遇这样的事情我。”他摘下眼镜，有些紧张用袖子擦了擦眼镜。这样做，实际上，反而让眼镜更脏了。
"I am aware, sir,” said Têtu kindly, "that we are not what you had in mind when you asked Monsieur Cordell for help.”
"Quite,” said Maître Tardieu. "Quite.”
“But whatever else you may think of us, we are to be trusted, of that I can give you my word.”
For a while the silence in the room felt almost tangible. Then Maître Tardieu said, "This goes against my better judgment, but I see there is nothing else to be done.” He lowered his voice. “Something very distressing has come to light. I have received a packet from a Monsieur Giraud, a lawyer of my acquaintance who lives in Normandy. He was called in to help identify the remains of a body found on the marquis’s estate, this ring, found amongst the bones, was the property of the marquis’s half-brother, Armand de Villeduval, who disappeared about the time of the accident, and that the remains were his.”
He tipped the contents of the packet onto the table. Out fell a ring and seven blood red garnets.
“The ring,” continued Maître Tardieu, “bears, as you can see, the coat of arms of the Villeduval family. I remember that Armand de Villeduval used to wear it on his left hand. The garnets . . .” He paused. "Will you wait here? There is something else I must show you.” When he left the room, Têtu picked up one of the garnets and studied it.
“我知道，先生，”Têtu说，“我们和你想象中，Cordell先生介绍来，能帮到你们的人不太一样。”
“不，”Maître Tardieu说。“怎么会呢。”
“但不管你怎么看我们，我可以向你保证，我们值得信任。”
房间里安静了好一会儿。Maître Tardieu说，“这的确和我想的不太一样，但我觉得也没法做什么别的事情。”他压低了声音。“有人发现了一件很令人痛心的事情。我收到来自Giraud先生的一个包裹，我有一个住在诺曼底的律师朋友。他被叫去帮助识别在侯爵庄园里发现的一具残骸，人们在尸骨中发现了这枚戒指，归侯爵同父异母的弟弟Armand de Villeduval所有。而他很多年前就因事故失踪了，这具残骸就是他的。”
他把包里的东西倒在桌子上。掉出来了一枚戒指和七个血红色的石榴石。
“这枚戒指，” MîTRE Tardieu接着说，“你能看到，上面刻着熊，这是Villeduval家族的纹章。我记得Armand de Villeduval习惯把这枚戒指戴在左手上。而石榴石…”他停顿了一下。“你能在这里等一等吗？我还要告诉你一些事情。” MîTRE Tardieu离开房间的时候，Têtu拿起来一个石榴石的研究着。
“Does it remind you of anything?”
“Yes. The red necklace I found in Kalliovski’s room.”
The lawyer came back carrying a velvet drawstring bag.
“This,” he said, “belonged to Mademoiselle Sido’s mother. She instructed her maid that if anything happened to her she was to give the purse to me.”
“这让你想起来了什么吗？”“
“是的。我在kalliovski的房间找到了这根红色项链。”
律师带回来了一个天鹅绒绳袋。
“这个，”他说，“这是Mademoiselle Sido母亲的。她曾告诉她的女仆，如果她出了什么事，就把这个钱包交给我。
He emptied it onto the table. The brightness of the jewels that fell out shone even in the darkness of the gloomy room. In amongst them lay a red ribbon studded with seven garnets.
Têtu picked up the red necklace. "How did this get in amongst such valuable jewels?” he asked.
“The maid told me that she had taken the necklace off her dead mistress, along with her rings. Does it signify anything?”
“The seven garnets found with Armand de Villeduval’s ring were once attached to a red ribbon identical to this,” said Têtu. “I t is the signature that is left on every one of his victims.”
“Sir,” said Maître Tardieu, “you are alarming me greatly. Please, in heaven’s name, explain yourself. Whose victims?”
“Kalliovski’s. I think it proves that Armand de Villeduval and Madame Isabelle de Villeduval were murdered, but the question is why?”
“We must call for the police,” said the lawyer.
“That would be unwise,” said Yann. “It would be as good as signing your own death warrant.”
“Oh dear, oh dear, what is to be done?”
他把东西倒在桌子上。掉落的珠宝，闪闪发光，在昏暗的房间里也很亮。其中，有一条镶嵌着石榴石的红丝带。
Têtu拿起红项链。”这根项链是怎么混到这些珠宝里的？”他问道。
“女仆告诉我，她把项链和戒指从她死去的女主人那里取了下来。这代表了什么吗？”
“Armand de Villeduval的戒指和附在红丝带上的这个一样，”Têtu说。“在每一个受害者身上都会发现这个。”
“先生，”MaîTRE Tardieu说，“这太让我吃惊了。您能解释一下，什么事受害者吗？”
“是被kalliovski杀掉的人。我觉得这说明了Armand de Villeduval和Isabelle de Villeduval夫人都是被villeduval谋杀的，但问题是为什么要杀他们呢？”
“我们必须叫警察来，”律师说。
“那一点也不明智，”Yann说。“就像你自己签署了自己的死刑令。”
“天啊，天啊，那该怎么办？”“
“What we want to do is get Mademoiselle Sido to London, where she has family and will be out of Kalliovski’s reach.”
“I agree that would be best. If Kalliovski were to marry Mademoiselle Sido, he would be in control of her inheritance. Can I ask—how do you plan to get her out?”
“We have been told that a Mr. Tull is to take her and the marquis to England,” said Têtu.
“我们现在要做的，就是让Mademoiselle Sido去伦敦，在那里，她和家人会逃离Kalliovski。”
“我同意，这是最好的选择。如果Kalliovski和Mademoiselle Sido结婚，他会控制她的遗产。我能问一下—你打算怎样让她离开这里？”
“我们已经听说，Tull先生将会把她和侯爵带到英国，”Têtu说。
“Not the marquis. The man, you know, is quite mad. I f anything will scupper the plan, he will. Do you really believe this Mr. Tull is up to the job?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” said Yann.
“But, young man, I don’t want anyone but yourself taking these jewels back to London, is that understood?”
“Yes,” said Yann. “I will make sure that Mademoiselle Sido receives them safely.”
“I can’t tell you how delighted I shall be to see them with their rightful owner at last. I don’t like keeping such valuables in my house, not in times like these.”
“Then, sir,” said Têtu, “we will make the necessary arrangements to relieve you of the jewels.” They left the lawyer’s house with two vital questions still unanswered. If Kalliovski had murdered both Sido’s mother and Armand de Villeduval, what was his motive? And what part had the marquis played? The questions hovered there angrily, like storm clouds in search of thunder.
“不是侯爵。你要知道，这个人很疯狂。如果有什么会破坏这个计划，我想，就是这个人。你真的相信Tull先生能胜任这项工作？”
“这就是我们要查明的原因，”Yann说。
“但是，年轻人，我不想让任何人把这些珠宝带回伦敦，明白吗？”
“是的，”Yann说。“我会确保Mademoiselle Sido安全的拿到他们。”
“我没发描述，我看到这些珠宝和他们合法的主人在一起，有多高兴”。我不喜欢把这些贵重物品放在我家里，就像现在这样。”
“那么，先生，”Têtu说，“我们将作出一些必要的安排，能让你不在保管这些珠宝。” 们离开律师家的时候，还有两个重要的问题仍然没有解决。如果是Kalliovski杀了Sido的母亲以及Armand de Villeduval，他的动机是什么呢？侯爵又扮演了什么角色？问题就像暴风云似的在那里盘旋，寻找着雷声。
----每周一/三/五晚更----
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