福尔摩斯-福尔摩斯的收场白 His Last Bow

His Last Bow,An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes,Arthur Conan Doyle,It was nine o'clock at night upon the second of August—the most terrible August in the history of the world. One might have thought already that God's curse hung heavy over a degenerate ¹ world, for there was an awesome ² hush ³ and a feeling of vague expectancy ⁴ in the sultry and stagnant ⁵ air. The sun had long set, but one blood-red gash ⁶ like an open wound lay low in the distant west. Above, the stars were shining brightly, and below, the lights of the shipping ⁷ glimmered ⁸ in the bay. The two famous Germans stood beside the stone parapet of the garden walk, with the long, low, heavily gabled house behind them, and they looked down upon the broad sweep of the beach at the foot of the great chalk cliff in which Von Bork, like some wandering eagle, had perched himself four years before. They stood with their heads close together, talking in low, confidential ¹⁰ tones. From below the two glowing ends of their cigars might have been the smouldering eyes of some malignant ¹¹ fiend looking down in the darkness.,A remarkable ¹² man this Von Bork—a man who could hardly be matched among all the devoted ¹³ agents of the Kaiser. It was his talents which had first recommended him for the English mission, the most important mission of all, but since he had taken it over those talents had become more and more manifest to the half-dozen people in the world who were really in touch with the truth. One of these was his present companion, Baron ¹⁴ Von Herling, the chief secretary of the legation, whose huge 100-horse-power Benz car was blocking the country lane as it waited to waft ¹⁵ its owner back to London.,“So far as I can judge the trend of events, you will probably be back in Berlin within the week,” the secretary was saying. “When you get there, my dear Von Bork, I think you will be surprised at the welcome you will receive. I happen to know what is thought in the highest quarters of your work in this country. ” He was a huge man, the secretary, deep, broad, and tall, with a slow, heavy fashion of speech which had been his main asset in his political career.,“They are not very hard to deceive,
” he remarked. “A more docile ¹⁶, simple folk could not be imagined.”,“I don't know about that, ” said the other thoughtfully. “They have strange limits and one must learn to observe them. It is that surface simplicity ¹⁷ of theirs which makes a trap for the stranger. One's first impression is that they are entirely ¹⁸ soft. Then one comes suddenly upon something very hard, and you know that you have reached the limit and must adapt yourself to the fact. They have, for example, their insular ¹⁹ conventions which simply must be observed.
”,“Meaning ‘good form’ and that sort of thing?” Von Bork sighed as one who had suffered much.,“Meaning British prejudice in all its queer manifestations ²⁰. As an example I may quote one of my own worst blunders—I can afford to talk of my blunders, for you know my work well enough to be aware of my successes. It was on my first arrival. I was invited to a week-end gathering ²² at the country house of a cabinet minister. The conversation was amazingly indiscreet. ”,Von Bork nodded. “I've been there,” said he dryly.,Will too much freedom make them degenerate?太多的自由会令他们堕落吗？,The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力 。