Chapter 7

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Why Send the Ears? 
Lead to Sarah

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II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

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A vague ( 模糊的) thrill ( 悸動)
ran through me
as I listened
to my companion’s words
and saw
the stern ( 嚴峻的) gravity ( 嚴肅)
which had hardened
his features.

This brutal preliminary ( 初步情節)
seemed to shadow forth ( 預示)
some strange
and inexplicable ( 無法解釋的) horror
in the background.

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Lestrade,
however,
shook his head
like a man
who is only
half convinced.

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“There are objections
to the joke theory,
no doubt,”
said he,
“but there are
much stronger reasons
against the other.

---

We know
that this woman
has led
a most quiet
and respectable life
at Penge
and here
for the last
twenty years.

She has hardly been away
from her home
for a day
during that time.

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Why on earth,
then,
should any criminal
send her
the proofs
of his guilt,
especially as,
unless she is
a most consummate ( 老練的) actress,
she understands
quite as little
of the matter
as we do?”

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“That is the problem
which we have
to solve,”
Holmes answered,
“and for my part
I shall set about it
by presuming ( 假定)
that my reasoning
is correct,
and that
a double murder
has been committed.

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One of these ears
is a woman’s,
small,
finely formed,
and pierced ( 穿孔)
for an earring ( 耳環).

The other
is a man’s,
sun-burned ( 晒黑的),
discoloured ( 變色的),
and also pierced
for an earring.

---

These two people
are presumably
dead,
or we should have heard
their story
before now.

To-day is Friday.

The packet
was posted
on Thursday morning.

The tragedy,
then,
occurred on Wednesday
or Tuesday
or earlier.

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If the two people
were murdered,
who but their murderer
would have sent
this sign
of his work
to Miss Cushing?

We may take it
that the sender
of the packet
is the man
whom we want.

---

But he must have
some strong reason
for sending
Miss Cushing
this packet.

What reason then?

It must have been
to tell her
that the deed
was done!
or to pain her,
perhaps.

---

But in that case
she knows
who it is.

Does she know?

I doubt it.

If she knew,
why should she
call the police in?

She might have
buried the ears,
and no one
would have been
the wiser.

---

That is what
she would have done
if she had wished
to shield
the criminal.

But if she does not wish
to shield him
she would give
his name.

There is a tangle ( 糾結)
here
which needs
straightening out ( 釐清).

---

He had been talking
in a high,
quick voice,
staring blankly
up over the garden fence,
but now
he sprang briskly
to his feet
and walked
towards the house.

---

“I have
a few questions
to ask
Miss Cushing,”
said he.

---

“In that case
I may leave you here,”
said Lestrade,
“for I have
another small business
on hand.

I think that I have
nothing further to learn
from Miss Cushing.

You will find me
at the police-station.”

---

“We shall look in
on our way
to the train,”
answered Holmes.

---

A moment later
he and I
were back
in the front room,
where the impassive ( 冷靜的) lady
was still quietly
working away
at her antimacassar.

She put it down
on her lap
as we entered
and looked at us
with her frank,
searching blue eyes.

---

“I am convinced,
sir,”
she said,
“that this matter
is a mistake,
and that the parcel
was never meant
for me
at all.

I have said this
several times
to the gentleman
from Scotland Yard,
but he simply
laughs at me.

I have not
an enemy
in the world,
as far as I know,
so why should anyone
play me
such a trick?”

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“I am coming
to be of
the same opinion,
Miss Cushing,”
said Holmes,
taking a seat
beside her.

“I think that
it is more than probable——”

---

he paused,
and I was surprised,
on glancing round,
to see that
he was staring
with singular
intentness
at the lady’s profile.

Surprise
and satisfaction
were both
for an instant
to be read
upon his eager face,
though when she glanced round
to find out
the cause
of his silence
he had become
as demure
as ever.

---

I stared hard
myself
at her flat,
grizzled hair,
her trim cap,
her little gilt earrings,
her placid features;
but I could see
nothing
which could account for
my companion’s
evident excitement.

---

“There were
one or two questions——”

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“Oh,
I am weary
of questions!”
cried Miss Cushing
impatiently.

---

“You have
two sisters,
I believe.”

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“How could you
know that?”

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“I observed
the very instant
that I entered the room
that you have
a portrait group
of three ladies
upon the mantelpiece,
one of whom
is undoubtedly
yourself,
while the others
are so exceedingly
like you
that there could be
no doubt
of the relationship.”

---

“Yes,
you are quite right.

Those are my sisters,
Sarah and Mary.”

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“And here
at my elbow
is another portrait,
taken at Liverpool,
of your younger sister,
in the company
of a man
who appears to be
a steward
by his uniform.

I observe that
she was unmarried
at the time.”

---

“You are very quick
at observing.”

“That is my trade.”

---

“Well,
you are quite right.

But she was married
to Mr. Browner
a few days afterwards.

He was
on the South American line
when that was taken,
but he was
so fond of her
that he couldn’t abide
to leave her
for so long,
and he got into
the Liverpool
and London boats.”

---

“Ah,
the Conqueror,
perhaps?”

---

“No,
the May Day,
when last I heard.

Jim came down here
to see me
once.

That was before
he broke the pledge;
but afterwards
he would always
take drink
when he was ashore,
and a little drink
would send him
stark,
staring mad.

Ah!
it was a bad day
that ever he took
a glass in his hand
again.

First he dropped me,
then he quarrelled
with Sarah,
and now that Mary
has stopped writing
we don’t know
how things are going
with them.”

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