📝 您未登录，登录后完成练习可保存成绩、查看最佳记录。
总字符
0
正确字符
0
错误字符
0
错误率
0.00%
耗时(秒)
0
速度 WPM
0
0 / 68
1"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It
2seems rather sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and
3stood with his hands in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It was a bright, crisp February
4morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun. Down the
5centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and on the
6heaped-up edges of the footpaths it still lay as white as when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped,
7but was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the
8Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. He was
9a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was
10dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey
11trousers. Yet his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and features, for he was running hard,
12with occasional little springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to set any tax upon his legs. As he
13ran he jerked his hands up and down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most extraordinary contortions.
14"What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I believe that he
15is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his hands. "Here?" "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally.
16I think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our
17door and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging. A few moments later he was in our room,
18still puffing, still gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in his eyes that our smiles were
19turned in an instant to horror and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his body and plucked at
20his hair like one who has been driven to the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his feet, he beat
21his head against the wall with such force that we both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room.
22Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the
23easy, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said
24he. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to
25look into any little problem which you may submit to me." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest,
26fighting against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face
27towards us. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "God
28knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might
29have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every
30man; but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not
31I alone. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found out of this horrible affair." "Pray compose
32yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you." "My
33name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder &
34Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior partner in the
35second largest private banking concern in the City of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the
36foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced
37himself to tell his story. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened here when the police
38inspector suggested that I should secure your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hurried from
39there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who takes
40very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "It
41is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking business as much depends upon our being able to find
42remunerative investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and the number of our depositors. One of
43our most lucrative means of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security is unimpeachable. We have done
44a good deal in this direction during the last few years, and there are many noble families to whom we have advanced
45large sums upon the security of their pictures, libraries, or plate. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the
46bank when a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I saw the name, for it was that of none other
47than--well, perhaps even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name which is a household word all over the
48earth--one of the highest, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the honour and attempted, when
49he entered, to say so, but he plunged at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry quickly through a
50disagreeable task. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the habit of advancing money.' "'The
51firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have £
5250,000 at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make
53it a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my position you can readily understand that it is
54unwise to place one's self under obligations.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'Next Monday
55I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you think
56it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the money should be paid at once.' "'I should be happy to
57advance it without further parley from my own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be rather more
58than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must
59insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution should be taken.' "'I should much prefer to have it so,'
60said he, raising up a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. 'You have doubtless heard of the
61Beryl Coronet?' "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' said I. "'Precisely.' He opened the case,
62and there, imbedded in soft, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery which he had named. 'There
63are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The lowest estimate would
64put the worth of the coronet at double the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my security.'
65"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "'You doubt its
66value?' he asked. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest about
67that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It
68is a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'Ample.'
🎉 全部完成！共 68 行