解説　場面 33「フェアバンク邸」

Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.

フェアバンク邸は、道路から少し奥まった所に建つ、白い石造りのほどよく大きな四角い屋敷だった。雪をかぶった芝生を挟む二本の馬車道が、正面から入口を閉ざす二つの大きな鉄門まで伸びていた。右手には小さな木立があり、道路から台所の扉まで伸びる二列の整った生け垣の間の細道へ続き、商人用の入口を形作っていた。左手には厩へ通じる小道が走っていた。敷地内ではなく、あまり使われないとはいえ公道だった。ホームズは私たちを玄関に残し、正面を横切り、商人用の小道を下り、裏庭を回って厩舎横の道へ出るまで、屋敷の周りをゆっくり一周した。あまりに戻りが遅いので、ホールダー氏と私は食堂へ入り、彼が戻るまで暖炉のそばで待った。私たちが黙って座っていると扉が開き、若い女性が入って来た。中背よりやや高く、ほっそりとし、黒い髪と瞳を持っていた。その色は、血の気を完全に失った肌を背景に、いっそう黒く見えた。これほど死を思わせる青白さを、女性の顔に見たことはないと思う。唇にも血の気がなかったが、目は泣いたため赤くなっていた。彼女が音もなく部屋へ入って来た時、朝の銀行家から受けた以上に深い悲しみを私は感じた。それがいっそう印象的だったのは、彼女が明らかに強い性格と並外れた自制心を備えた女性だったからだ。私の存在には目もくれず、まっすぐ叔父のもとへ行き、優しい女性らしい愛撫とともに、その頭を手でなでた。