A maid took me into the sitting room,where a very pretty lady with dark hair was working at a typewriter.I told her who I was,and that I had met her father.
'I have no contact with my father,'she said.' He gave me no help when I was in trouble.Sir Charles Baskerville and some other kind people helped me when I was poor and hungry.'
'It is about Sir Charles that I have come to see you,'I said.'I want to know if you ever wrote to him and asked him to meet you.'
She looked very,angry,and her face went white.
'What a question!'she said.'What right have you to ask me about my private life?But the answer is “no”.'
'Surely you are not remembering clearly,'I said.'I think you wrote to him on the day that he died.And your letter said: “Please,please,burn this letter,and be at the gate by ten o'clock.”'
For a moment I thought she was going to faint.Then she said in a low oice:'I asked Sir Charles to tell nobdy.'
'You must not think that Sir Charles spoke to anyone about you,'I said.' He put the letter on the fire,but not all of it was burnt.Now,did you write that letter to him?'
'Yes,'she said.'Why should I be ashamed of writing to him?I wanted him to help me.I learned that he was going to London early on the following day,so I asked him to meet me before he went.I could not go to the Hall earlier that day.'
'But why did you ask him to meet you in the garden instead of in the house?'I asked.
'Do you think it would be sensible for a woman to go at that time of night into the house of an unmarried man?'she asked.
'Well,what happened when you got there?'I asked.
'I didn't go,'she replied.
'Mrs Lyons!'
'I tell you I did not go.Something happened that stopped me from going.I can't tell you what it was.'
'Mrs Lyons,' I said.' If you did not see Sir Charles,you must tell me why.If you do not,it will look very bad for you if I have to go to the police with this new piece of information about the letter.'
Mrs Lyons thought for a moment,and then she said:' I see that I must tell you.Perhaps you know that I married a man who was very cruel to me.I hate him and I wanted to get a divorce.But a divorce is expensive,and I had no money.I thought that if Sir Charles heard my sad story,he would help me to get a divorce.'
'Then why didn't you go to see Sir Charles?'I asked her.
'Because I got help from someone else,'she said.
'Why didn't you write to Sir Charles and tell him?'
' I was going to,but I saw in the newspaper the next morn ing that he had died.'
I asked Mrs Lyons a number of other questions,but she did not change her story,whatever I asked her.I was sure that she was telling the truth.I could check two important parts of the story.If they were right,there could be no doubt that she was telling the truth.I could check that she had begun to get her divorce at about the time of Sir Charles' death.I could also check that she had not been to Baskerville Hall on the night of Sir Charles' death.
But I was not sure that she had told me the whole truth.Why had she nearly fainted when I had told her about the let ter? That was not completely explained by the story she had told me.
I had discovered all I could for the moment.I left her,and went to search for more information in a different place.
我告訴了亨利爵士關(guān)于勞拉·萊昂絲的事情，還說(shuō)我想盡快與她談一談。此后我便到紐頓去了她家。
一位女仆將我?guī)нM(jìn)了起居室，一位非常漂亮的黑發(fā)女士正坐在打字機(jī)前工作。我告訴了她我是誰(shuí)，還說(shuō)我曾見(jiàn)過(guò)她父親。
“我與我父親之間沒(méi)什么聯(lián)系，”她講道。“在我身處困境時(shí)他沒(méi)有給我絲毫的幫助。查爾斯·巴斯克維爾爵士與別的一些好心腸的人們?cè)谖矣指F又餓時(shí)曾經(jīng)幫助過(guò)我。”
“我就是因?yàn)椴闋査咕羰康氖虑椴艁?lái)見(jiàn)您的，”我說(shuō)道。“我想知道您是否曾經(jīng)給他寫(xiě)信并請(qǐng)求他來(lái)見(jiàn)您一面。”
她看上去十分憤怒，她的面孔還變得蒼白。
“豈有此理的問(wèn)題！”她說(shuō)道。“您有何權(quán)利向我詢問(wèn)有關(guān)我的私人生活的事情？但是我的回答是：‘沒(méi)有’。”
“您肯定沒(méi)記清楚，”我說(shuō)道。“我認(rèn)為您在他臨終的那天曾給他寫(xiě)過(guò)信。您的信中還是這么寫(xiě)的：‘請(qǐng)您千萬(wàn)將此信燒掉，并在10點(diǎn)鐘的時(shí)候到柵門(mén)那里去。’”
我一度以為她就要暈厥了。接著，她低聲說(shuō)道：“我曾請(qǐng)求查爾斯爵士不要告訴任何人的。”
“您不該認(rèn)為查爾斯爵士曾同任何人談起您，”我說(shuō)道。“他把這封信投在火中了，但并沒(méi)全燒掉。我說(shuō)，您曾給他寫(xiě)過(guò)那封信嗎？”
“是的，我寫(xiě)過(guò)，”她說(shuō)道。“我為何要為曾寫(xiě)信給他而感到羞愧呢？我本想讓他幫助我。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)他第二天一大早就要到倫敦去。那天我又不能早一點(diǎn)到莊園去。”
“但是您為何要求他在花園里而不是在屋里與您會(huì)面呢？”我問(wèn)道。
“您想，一個(gè)女人在夜間的那個(gè)時(shí)候到一個(gè)單身漢的家里明智嗎？”她問(wèn)道。
“噢，您到那里去時(shí)發(fā)生了什么事情？”我問(wèn)道。
“我并沒(méi)有去，”她應(yīng)答道。
“萊昂絲太太！”
“我告訴您我并沒(méi)有去。發(fā)生了一件事使我去不成了。我不能告給您這是件什么事。”
“萊昂絲太太，”我講道，“如果您并沒(méi)見(jiàn)到查爾斯爵士的話，您一定要告訴我其中的緣由。要是您不肯說(shuō)出來(lái)的話，要是我?guī)е嘘P(guān)這封信件的新線索去警察局了，形勢(shì)將對(duì)您非常不利。”
萊昂絲太太斟酌了片刻，接著說(shuō)道：“我看來(lái)得告訴您了。您也許知道我嫁給了一個(gè)對(duì)我非常殘酷的男子。我恨他，我曾想與他離婚�？墒请x婚是樁昂貴的事情，而我又沒(méi)有什么錢(qián)。我當(dāng)時(shí)覺(jué)得，要是查爾斯爵士聽(tīng)到了我那悲慘的故事的話，他就會(huì)幫助我離婚。”
“那么您為什么又沒(méi)有去見(jiàn)查爾斯爵士呢？”我向她問(wèn)道。
“因?yàn)槲覐膭e人那兒已得到幫助了，”她說(shuō)道。
“為什么您沒(méi)有寫(xiě)信給查爾斯爵士并告訴他呢？”
“我是打算這么做的，但在第二天早上我在報(bào)紙上看到了他已死的消息。”
我問(wèn)了萊昂絲太太許多別的問(wèn)題，但是她不管我怎么問(wèn)都不肯改口。我敢保證她講了實(shí)話。我可以驗(yàn)證一下她的敘述中關(guān)鍵的兩點(diǎn)。如果這兩處正確無(wú)誤，那么無(wú)疑她是在講真話。我可以調(diào)查一下，看看她在查爾斯爵士逝去之時(shí)是否真的開(kāi)始為離婚而忙乎著。我還可以調(diào)查一下，看看她是否在查爾斯爵士逝去的當(dāng)晚真的沒(méi)去巴斯克維爾莊園。
但是我不敢肯定她是否已告訴了我全部實(shí)情。當(dāng)我告訴她關(guān)于這封信的事情時(shí)她為何幾乎要暈了過(guò)去呢？這點(diǎn)由她告訴我的故事不能完全解釋得通。
目前我已竭盡全力去發(fā)現(xiàn)探索了。我離開(kāi)了她，到一個(gè)與之有別的地方搜尋更多的信息去了。
