'Did you see him then?'

'No,sir,but the food and clothes were gone when I next went that way,'Barrymore told me.

'Then Selden was certainly there?'I asked.

'I think so,sir,unless the other man took everything.'

I sat very still and looked hard at Barrymore.'You know there is another man,then?Have you seen him?'

'No,sir,but Selden told me about him a week or more ago.He is hiding from someone,too,but he is not an escaped prisoner.I don't like it,sir.Something evil is going to happen,I'm sure.Sir Henry would be much safer in London.'

'Did Selden tell you anything more about the other man?'I asked.

'He looked like a gentleman.He was living in one of the old stone huts on the moor.A boy works for him and brings him all the food and things he needs.That's all Selden told me.'

I thanked him,and he left me.I went to the window and looked out at the rain and the clouds.It was a wild night.I knew the huts Barrymore had spoken about.There were many of them on the moor.They had been built many hundreds of years ago by the people who lived on the moor.They would not keep a man warm and dry in bad weather.Selden could not choose to live anywhere else,but why did the other man live in such conditions?

I sat and thought what I should do next.I decided I must try to find the man who had been watching us.Was he the en emy who had been following us since the very beginning in London? If he was,and I could catch him,perhaps our diffi culties would be at an end.

I also decided to hunt the man on my own.Sir Henry was still shaken by the terrible cry we had heard on the moor.I did not want to add to his troubles or to lead him into more danger.

次日阴晦多雾。庄园被低沉的浓雾包围起来。它们时而散开，露出晦暗而又寒冷的沼地及其湿漉漉、灰蒙蒙的岩石。天气使得我们心情沉重。处于危险之中时很难高兴起来。我想起了查尔斯爵士的死，还有猎犬发出的可怕的吼声，这种声音我已听到过两次了。福尔摩斯不相信世上会有一只超乎自然的猎犬存在。但是，事实总归是事实，我本人也听到了猎犬的声音。沼地上确有一只巨大的猎犬吗？假如真有的话，那它藏在什么地方呢？它到哪里去找吃的呢？白天为何没人看到过它呢？合乎自然的解释几乎和超乎自然的解释一样难以叫人接受。

那天早晨，亨利爵士与白瑞摩就那个逃犯塞尔登而争辩了起来。白瑞摩说去抓塞尔登是件错事。

“可是此人很危险，”亨利说道。“他什么事情都干得出来。直到他被重新关押起来，大家才会获得安全。我们必须报告警方。”

“我保证他不会闯进任何人家，”白瑞摩说道，“他也不会惹任何麻烦。几天之后他将乘船去南美。请别向警方告发他。您若报告了警方，我和我妻子就会有很大的麻烦。”

“华生，您有何高见？”亨利爵士转身向我问道。

“我认为他不会闯进任何人家或惹任何麻烦。否则的话，警方就会知道该在何处搜寻并抓获他了。他并不是一个蠢货。”

“我希望您是对的，”亨利爵士说道。“我敢肯定我们现在是在犯法。可是我不想使白瑞摩及其太太陷于困境之中，所以我是不会向警方告发的。我将不再过问塞尔登的事情了。”

白瑞摩找不出足以用来感谢亨利爵士的话语。接着他说道：“您对我们真是太好了，我因此想报答您一番。有件事我从未对旁人讲过。关于不幸的查尔斯爵爷的死我还知道些别的情况。”

我和亨利爵士立刻跳起身来。

“你知道他是怎么死的吗？”亨利爵士问道。

“不知道，爵爷，那个我可不知道；不过我知道他站在门口等人的缘由。他是为了和一位女士会面。”

“查尔斯爵士要和一位女士会面？那个女人是谁？”

“我不知道她的姓名，”白瑞摩说道，“但是它是以L．L．开头的。”

“你是如何知道这个的，白瑞摩？”我问道。

“啊，查尔斯爵爷在他逝去的那天早上收到了一封来信。这封信发自纽顿，地址还是女人的笔迹。我已把这些忘得一干二净了。但在查尔斯爵爷死去之后过了一段时间时，我妻子去清理他书房内的壁炉。她发现了一封信。大部分信已烧焦了，只有一页信纸的底端还未被烧尽。上面写着：‘请您千万将此信烧掉，并在10点钟时到栅门那里去。L．L．’我妻子伸手去碰它时它就变成碎片了。我们不知道谁是L．L．，但是您若能找到那位女士的话，您就会多知道些关于查尔斯爵爷的死的情况了。我们从未把它告诉给别人。我们认为把这件事兜出来对我们的那位可怜的、好心的查尔斯爵爷并没有什么好处。但是我们已觉得应该告诉给您，亨利爵爷。”

白瑞摩夫妇离开了我们，亨利爵士向我转过身来。“要是我们能够查明L．L．这个人，整个疑团就真相大白了。”他说道，“您认为我们应该干什么呢，华生？”

“我必须马上给福尔摩斯写信，”我说道，于是便径自到房间里给福尔摩斯写信去了。那封信给他提供了白瑞摩所讲的故事的种种细节。

第二天大雨终日。我穿上外衣，到沼地上长途散步去了。我想到了在这种天气里身处寒冷的沼地的塞尔登。我还想到了另一个人，那个神秘的监视者。

我正走时，摩梯末医生从我身旁驱车而过。他停了下来，还说他将把我送回庄园。

“我觉得您认识住在这儿附近的几乎每个人。”我说道，“您认识姓名以L．L．字母开头的女士吗？”

摩梯末医生思考了片刻，然后说道：“认识，有一位劳拉·莱昂丝夫人。她住在纽顿。”

“她是谁啊？”我问道。

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