Notes　Scene 49: Through the Grating

We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over his eyes and forehead.

私たちは二人とも格子に目を寄せた。囚人はこちらに顔を向け、ゆっくり重い息をして、深く眠っていた。中くらいの体格で、その稼業に似つかわしい粗末な服を着て、ぼろぼろの上着の裂け目から色つきのシャツがのぞいていた。警部の言うとおりひどく汚れていたが、顔を覆う垢でも、そのぞっとする醜さは隠せなかった。古傷の幅広い盛り上がりが目からあごへ顔を横切り、引きつれて上唇の片側がめくれ、いつも歯をむいたように三本の歯が出ていた。非常に鮮やかな赤い髪がぼさぼさと、目や額を低く覆っていた。

"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.

「いい男でしょう」と警部は言った。

"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.

「確かに、洗う必要があるね」とホームズは言った。「そうだろうと思って、勝手ながら道具を持ってきたんだ」そう言ってグラッドストン型の鞄を開け、驚いたことに、とても大きな浴用スポンジを取り出した。

"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.

「へへ。面白い人ですね」と警部は笑った。

"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure."

「では、その戸をできるだけ静かに開けてもらえるかな。すぐに、もっと立派に見える男にしてあげよう」