“我从警察那里知道，那天晚上和巴克利夫人一起出去的莫里森小姐，否认知道引起她的女伴回家后发火的原因。
"I know from the police that Miss Morrison, who went out with Mrs. Barkley that night, denied knowing what caused her female companion to get angry when she came home.

“华生，我搜集到这些事实后，连抽了好几斗烟，思索着，设法分清哪些是关键性的，哪些是纯属偶然的。
"Watson, after I collected these facts, I smoked several pipes of cigarettes, pondered, and tried to distinguish which ones were critical and which ones were purely accidental.
毫无疑问，这件案子最不寻常而又耐人寻味的一点，是屋门的钥匙丢得奇怪。
Undoubtedly, the most unusual and intriguing thing about this case is that the key to the door was lost strangely.
在室内已经进行了十分细致的搜查，却毫无所得。
A very detailed search has been carried out indoors, but nothing has been found.
所以，钥匙一定是被人拿走了，那是十分清楚的。
Therefore, it is quite clear that the key must have been taken away.
但上校和他的妻子都没有拿它，因此，一定有第三者曾经进过这个房间，而这第三者只能是从窗子进去的。
But neither the colonel nor his wife took it, therefore, a third party must have entered this room, and this third party can only enter through the window.
依我看，只有对这房间和草坪仔细检查一次，才能发现这个神秘人物留下的某些痕迹。
In my opinion, only a careful examination of this room and lawn can reveal some traces left by this mysterious figure.

你是知道我的调查方法的，华生。
You know my investigation methods, Watson.
在调查这个案子中，没有哪一种方法我没用过。
In investigating this case, there is no method I haven't used.
最后我终于发现了痕迹，可是与我所期望得到的截然不同。
I finally found the trace, but it was completely different from what I expected.
有一个人确实到过室内，他是从大路穿过草坪进来的。
There is a man who has been indoors. He came in from the main road across the lawn.

我一共得到了那人五个十分清晰的脚印：一个就在大路旁他翻越矮墙之处；两个在草坪上；还有两个不十分明显，是当他翻窗而入时，在窗子近旁弄脏了的地板上留下的。
I got five very clear footprints of that man: one was on the side of the road where he climbed over the low wall; Two on the lawn; There are two others that are not very obvious, they were left on the dirty floor near the window when he went through the window.
他显然是从草坪上跑过去的，因为他的脚尖印比脚跟印要深得多。
Obviously, he ran across the lawn, because his toe print was much deeper than his heel print.
不过使我感到惊奇的并不是这个人，而是他的同伴。”
But what surprised me was not this man, but his companion. "

“他的同伴！”
"His companion!"

福尔摩斯从他口袋里取出一大张薄纸来，小心翼翼地在他的膝盖上摊开。
Holmes took a large piece of tissue paper from his pocket and carefully spread it out on his knee.

“你看这里什么？”福尔摩斯问道。
"What are you looking at here?" Holmes asked.

纸上是一种小动物的爪印。
The paper is a paw print of a small animal.
有五个很清楚的爪指，很长的爪尖，整个痕迹大小象一个点心匙。
There are five distinct claw fingers, long claw tips, and the whole trace is as big as a snack spoon.

“这是一条狗，”我说道。
"This is a dog," I said.

“你听说过一条狗爬上窗帘的事吗？
"Have you ever heard of a dog climbing the curtain?
可我在窗帘上发现了这个动物爬上去的清楚的痕迹。”
But I found a clear trace of this animal climbing on the curtain. "

“那么，是一只猴子？”
"So, it's a monkey?"

“可是这不是猴子的爪印。”
"But this is not a monkey's paw print."

“那么，是什么呢？”
"So, what is it?"

“既不是狗，不是猫，不是猴子，也不是我们熟悉的别的什么东西。
"Neither a dog, nor a cat, nor a monkey, nor anything else we are familiar with.
我曾经设法从爪印的大小描画出这个动物的形象。
I tried to draw the image of this animal from the size of paw prints.

这是它站着不动时的四个爪印。你看，从前瓜到后爪的距离，至少有十五英寸。
These are the four paw prints when it stands still. Look, the distance from the front melon to the back paw is at least fifteen inches.
再加上头和颈部的长度，你就可以得出这动物至少长二英尺，如果有尾巴，那也可能还要长些。
Add the length of the head and neck, and you can conclude that the animal is at least two feet long, and if it has a tail, it may be longer.
不过现在再来看看另外的尺寸。
But now let's look at another size.
这个动物曾经走动过，我们量出了它走一步的距离，每一步只有三英寸左右。
This animal used to walk around, we measured the distance it took, and each step was only about three inches.
你就可以知道，这东西身体很长，腿很短。
You can know that this thing has a long body and short legs.
这东西虽没有留下什么毛来，但它的大致形状，一定和我所说的一样，它能爬上窗帘，这是一种食肉动物。”
Although this thing didn't leave any hair, its general shape must be the same as what I said. It can climb the curtain. It is a carnivore. "