福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第2章Part4

"Surely the inference is plain."
"You mean that he has a great income and that he must earn it in an illegal fashion?"
"Exactly. Of course I have other reasons for thinking so--dozens of exiguous threads which lead vaguely up towards the centre of the web where the poisonous, motionless creature is lurking. I only mention the Greuze because it brings the matter within the range of your own observation."
"Well, Mr. Holmes, I admit that what you say is interesting: it's more than interesting--it's just wonderful. But let us have it a little clearer if you can. Is it forgery, coining, burglary--where does the money come from?"
"Have you ever read of Jonathan Wild?"
"Well, the name has a familiar sound. Someone in a novel, was he not? I don't take much stock of detectives in novels--chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them. That's just inspiration: not business."
"Jonathan Wild wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel. He was a master criminal, and he lived last century--1750 or thereabouts."
"Then he's no use to me. I'm a practical man."
"Mr. Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime. Everything comes in circles--even Professor Moriarty. Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals, to whom he sold his brains and his organization on a fifteen per cent. commission. The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all been done before, and will be again. I'll tell you one or two things about Moriarty which may interest you."
"You'll interest me, right enough."
"I happen to know who is the first link in his chain--a chain with this Napoleon-gone-wrong at one end, and a hundred broken fighting men, pickpockets, blackmailers, and card sharpers at the other, with every sort of crime in between. His chief of staff is Colonel Sebastian Moran, as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to the law as himself. What do you think he pays him?"
"I'd like to hear."
"Six thousand a year. That's paying for brains, you see--the American business principle. I learned that detail quite by chance. It's more than the Prime Minister gets. That gives you an idea of Moriarty's gains and of the scale on which he works. Another point: I made it my business to hunt down some of Moriarty's checks lately--just common innocent checks that he pays his household bills with. They were drawn on six different banks. Does that make any impression on your mind?"
"Queer, certainly! But what do you gather from it?"

“这样一推论，自然就明白了。”
“你的意思是说他有很大的收入，而这个收入是用非法的手段得来的吗？”
“一点不错，当然我还有别的理由这样想——许多蛛丝马迹，隐隐约约地通向蛛网的中心，而这个毒虫却一动也不动地在那里潜伏着。我仅只提起一个格罗兹，因为你自己已经亲眼见到了。”
“对，福尔摩斯先生，我承认刚才你所讲的那些话是很有意思的，不只非常有意思，简直奇妙极了。不过，如果你能把它讲得再清楚一些就更好了。究竟他的钱是从哪儿来的？伪造钞票？私铸硬币？还是盗窃来的？”
“你看过关于乔纳森·怀尔德的故事吗？”
“啊，这个名字听起来倒是很熟悉的。他是一本小说里的人物吧！是不是？我对于小说里的侦探们向来是不感兴趣的。这些家伙做什么事总是不让人家知道他们是怎样做的。那只不过是灵机一动的事，算不上办案。”
“乔纳森·怀尔德不是侦探，也不是小说里的人物，他是一个罪魁，生在上一世纪——一七五○年前后。”
“那么，他对我就没有什么用处了，我是一个讲究实际的人。”
“麦克先生，你一生最实际的事，就是应该闭门读书三个月，每天读十二个小时犯罪史。任何事物都是往复循环的——甚至莫里亚蒂教授也是如此。乔纳森·怀尔德是伦敦罪犯们的幕后推动力，他靠他那诡谲的头脑和他的组织势力从伦敦罪犯那里收取百分之十五的佣金。旧时代的车轮在旋转，同一根轮辐还会转回来的。过去所发生的一切，将来还是要发生的。我要告诉你一两件关于莫里亚蒂的事，它会使你感兴趣的。”
“你讲的一定会使我非常感兴趣。”
“我偶然发现莫里亚蒂锁链中的第一个环节——锁链的一端是这位罪大恶极的人物，另一端则有上百个出手伤人的打手、扒手、诈骗犯和靠耍弄花招骗钱的赌棍，中间夹杂着五花八门的罪行。给他们出谋划策的是塞巴斯蒂恩·莫兰上校，而国法对这位'参谋长'和对莫里亚蒂本人一样无能为力。你知道莫里亚蒂教授给他多少钱吗？”
“我很愿意听一听。”
“一年六千镑。这是他绞尽脑汁的代价。你知道这是美国的商业原则。我了解到这一详情，完全出于偶然。这比一个首相的收入还要多。从这一点就可以想象莫里亚蒂的收入究竟有多少，以及他所从事的活动规模有多大了。另外一点：最近我曾有意地搜集了莫里亚蒂的一些支票——只不过是一些他支付家庭用度的无嫌疑的普通支票。这些支票是从六家不同的银行支取的。这一点使你产生了什么印象呢？”
“当然，非常奇怪！可是你想从这点得出什么结论呢？”