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"Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale.
"噢，這里面還有一樁相當痛苦的故事哩。
This fellow is madly, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago,
這個小伙子愛她愛得發了瘋似的。但是，大約兩年前，
when he was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five years at a boarding-school,
那時他還不過是個少年，也就是在他真正了解她以前，她曾經離家五年，在一所寄宿學校讀書。
what does the idiot do but get into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a registry office?
這個傻瓜在布里斯托爾被一個酒吧女郎纏住，并在婚姻登記所和她登記結婚，你看他有多傻？
No one knows a word of the matter,
誰也不知道有這件事，
but you can imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give his very eyes to do,
而你可以想象他干了這件傻事之后是多么著急，因為他沒有做他顯然應該做的事，
but what he knows to be absolutely impossible.
而是做了他自己明知是絕對不應該做的事。
It was sheer frenzy of this sort which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father,
他就是因為曾干了那件十足瘋狂的蠢事而急得雙臂亂舞的，
at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Turner.
當他父親在最后一次和他談話中亟力勸他向特納小姐求婚的時候。
On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man,
而且，他無力供養自己，而他的父親為人十分刻薄，
would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth.
如果他知道實情，肯定會徹底拋其他的。
It was with his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Bristol, and his father did not know where he was.
前三天他是在布里斯托爾和他的那個當酒吧女郎的妻子一起度過的。當時他父親對他身在何處，全無所知。
Mark that point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however,
請注意這一點。這是很重要的。但是，壞事變成了好事。
for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious trouble and likely to be hanged,
那個酒吧女郎從報上看到他身陷囹圄，案情嚴重，可能被處絞刑，
has thrown him over utterly and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Bermuda Dockyard,
于是干脆將他拋棄了。她寫信告訴他，她原是有夫之婦，此人在百慕大碼頭工作，
so that there is really no tie between them.
所以在他們之間并沒有真正的夫妻關系。
I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all that he has suffered."
我想這一消息對備受苦難的小麥卡錫是一種告慰。"
"But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
"但是，如果他是無辜的，那又是誰干的呢？"
"Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two points.
"哦！是誰嗎？我要提醒你特別注意兩點。
One is that the murdered man had an appointment with someone at the pool,
第一，被謀殺者和某人約定在池塘見面，
and that the someone could not have been his son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would return.
這個人不可能是他的兒子，因為他的兒子正在外面，他不知道他什么時候回來。
The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned.
第二，在被謀殺者知道他兒子已經回來之前，有人聽見他大聲喊'庫伊'！
Those are the crucial points upon which the case depends.
這兩點是能否破案的關鍵。
And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until to-morrow."
現在，如果你樂意的話，讓我們來談談喬治·梅瑞秋斯吧。那些次要的問題我們明天再說吧。"
