解説　場面 3「刻まれた頭文字」

"And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.' I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return."

「それから、『C.C.H.の友人たち』ともある。何とか狩猟会という地元の狩猟クラブで、彼がそこの会員に何か外科的な手当てをし、そのお礼にささやかな贈り物をしたのだろう」

"Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."

「実に、ワトソン、いつにも増して見事だ」とホームズは椅子を後ろへ引き、煙草に火をつけて言った。「きみは私のささやかな仕事の数々を親切にも記録してくれたが、どの記録でも自分の能力をいつも低く見積もっていると言わなければならない。きみ自身は光を発しないかもしれないが、光を伝えるものではある。天才を持たなくても、それを刺激する並外れた力を持つ人がいる。正直に言って、きみには大いに恩があるよ」

He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.

これほどのことを彼が言ったのは初めてで、その言葉が私を大いに喜ばせたのは認めなければならない。私の賛嘆にも、彼の方法を世に知らせようとする私の試みにも、彼が無関心なのを、私はたびたび不快に思っていたからだ。また、彼の方法をこれほど身に付け、彼が認める使い方ができたと思うと誇らしかった。彼は私の手から杖を取り、数分の間、肉眼で調べた。それから興味を引かれた表情で煙草を置き、杖を窓際へ運んで凸レンズでもう一度眺めた。