Chapter 16

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Browner’s Statement IV: 
Lodgings & Estrangement

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II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

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“Well,
I don’t know now
whether it was
pure devilry ( 純粹的惡意)
on the part
of this woman,
or whether
she thought
that she could turn me
against my wife ( 使我反對我的妻子)
by encouraging her
to misbehave ( 行為不端).

Anyway,
she took a house
just two streets off,
and let lodgings ( 寄宿房)
to sailors ( 水手).”

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“Fairbairn
used to stay there,
and Mary
would go round
to have tea
with her sister
and him.

How often she went
I don’t know,
but I followed her
one day,
and as I broke in ( 闖入)
at the door
Fairbairn got away
over the back garden wall ( 後院牆),
like the cowardly skunk ( 懦夫 / 卑鄙小人)
that he was.”

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“I swore ( 發誓)
to my wife
that I would kill her
if I found her
in his company
again,
and I led her back
with me,
sobbing ( 抽泣)
and trembling ( 發抖),
and as white
as a piece of paper ( 蒼白如紙).”

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“There was
no trace of love
between us
any longer.

I could see
that she hated me
and feared me,
and when the thought of it
drove me
to drink,
then she despised ( 鄙視)
me
as well.”

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“Well,
Sarah found
that she could not
make a living
in Liverpool,
so she went back,
as I understand,
to live
with her sister
in Croydon,
and things
jogged on ( 照常過日子)
much the same
as ever
at home.”

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“And then
came this last week
and all the
misery and ruin ( 痛苦與毀滅).”

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The  End