解説　場面 44「残された跡」

And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their whereabouts.

そしてホームズの懸念は現実となった。その日以来、美しい女性、不吉なドイツ人、不機嫌なイングランド人のいずれについても、何の便りもなかった。その朝早く、農夫が、数人と非常に大きな箱をいくつか積んだ荷車がレディング方面へ急ぐのを目撃していた。だがそこで逃亡者の痕跡はすべて消え、ホームズの知恵をもってしても行方を示すわずかな手掛かりさえ見つからなかった。

The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been already referred to.

消防士たちは中で見つけた奇妙な設備にひどく動揺し、二階の窓枠で切断されたばかりの人の親指を見つけて、さらに驚いた。しかし日没ごろ、ようやく消火に成功した。ただし、その前に屋根が落ち、建物全体が完全な廃墟となり、ねじれたシリンダーと鉄管を除けば、不運な知人が高い代償を払った機械の痕跡は何も残らなかった。大量のニッケルと錫が離れで保管されていたが、硬貨は一枚も見つからなかった。それが先に述べた大きな箱の存在を説明するのかもしれない。