Человек с рассеченной губой | страница 16



This is the man whom we now learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."При осмотре были обнаружены на подоконнике следы крови; несколько кровавых пятен нашли также и на деревянном полу.
"But a cripple!" said I.За шторой в передней комнате удалось обнаружить всю одежду мистера Невилла Сент-Клера.
"What could he have done single-handed against a man in the prime of life?"Не было только его пиджака.
"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man.Его ботинки, его носки, его шляпа, его часы - все оказалось тут.
Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others."На одежде не нашли никаких следов насилия.
"Pray continue your narrative."Но сам мистер Невилл Сент-Клер бесследно исчез.
"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her presence could be of no help to them in their investigations.Исчезнуть он мог только через окно, и зловещие кровавые пятна на подоконнике ясно указывали, что вряд ли ему удалось спастись вплавь, тем более что в тот час, когда совершалась трагедия, прилив достиг наивысшего уровня.
Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful examination of the premises, but without finding anything which threw any light upon the matter.Теперь обратимся к негодяям, на которых падает подозрение.
One mistake had been made in not arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes during which he might have communicated with his friend the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate him.Ласкар известен как человек с темным прошлым, но из рассказа миссис Сент-Клер мы знаем, что через несколько мгновений после появления ее мужа в окне он находился внизу, и, следовательно, его можно считать лишь соучастником преступления.
There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the same source.