解説　場面 58「事実を考える」

Holmes would not listen to such fancies, and I am his agent. But facts are facts, and I have twice heard this crying upon the moor. Suppose that there were really some huge hound loose upon it; that would go far to explain everything. But where could such a hound lie concealed, where did it get its food, where did it come from, how was it that no one saw it by day? It must be confessed that the natural explanation offers almost as many difficulties as the other. And always, apart from the hound, there is the fact of the human agency in London, the man in the cab, and the letter which warned Sir Henry against the moor. This at least was real, but it might have been the work of a protecting friend as easily as of an enemy. Where is that friend or enemy now? Has he remained in London, or has he followed us down here? Could he—could he be the stranger whom I saw upon the tor?

ホームズなら、そのような空想には耳を貸さない。そして私は彼の代理である。だが事実は事実であり、私は荒れ地で二度あの声を聞いた。もし本当に巨大な猟犬が荒れ地を放たれているなら、かなりのことを説明できる。だがその猟犬はどこに隠れ、何を食べ、どこから来たのか。なぜ昼間は誰にも見られないのか。自然による説明も、超自然の説明とほとんど同じ数の難問を生むことは認めなければならない。それに猟犬とは別に、ロンドンで人間の手が動いていた事実が常に残る。辻馬車の男と、荒れ地へ出ないようヘンリー卿へ警告した手紙だ。少なくともそれらは現実だったが、敵の仕業とも、守ろうとする友人の仕業とも考えられる。その友人、あるいは敵は、いまどこにいるのか。ロンドンに残ったのか、それともわれわれを追ってここまで来たのか。まさか——私が岩山で見た見知らぬ男が、その人物なのだろうか。