"I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were instituted."
"我不敢说我已看出来了，也许他想在一旦有人对他的毁约行为提出起诉时借以否认是自己的签名。"
"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, which should settle the matter.
"不，这不是问题所在。不过，我要写两封信，这样就能解决问题。
One is to a firm in the City, the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank,
一封给伦敦的一个商行；另一封给那位年轻小姐的继父温迪班克先生，
asking him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening.
问他明晚六点钟能否跟我们在此见面。
It is just as well that we should do business with the male relatives.
我们不妨跟男亲属打打交道。
And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for the interim."
好吧，医生，在未收到这两封信的回音之前，我们没有什么事情可做了，我们可以把这小小的问题暂时放一放。"

I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action
我有很充分的理由相信我的朋友在行动中是推理细致、精力过人的，
that I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanour
所以他对于人家请他侦察这个奇特的疑案的那种胸有成竹、从容不迫的态度，
with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to fathom.
我想必定是很有根据的。
Once only had I known him to fail, in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler photograph;
我知道他只失败过一次，就是波希米亚国王和艾琳·艾德勒照片案；
but when I looked back to the weird business of 'The Sign of Four', and the extraordinary circumstances connected with 'A Study in Scarlet',
但是当我回顾'四签名'那种怪事以及与'血字的研究'联系在一起很不寻常的情况时，
I felt that it would be a strange tangle indeed which he could not unravel.
我觉得如果连他都解决不了的话，那真是十分奥秘的疑案了。
I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe,
我离开他时，他还仍然在抽着那只黑色的陶制烟斗，
with the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would find that
我相信明晚再来时就能发现，
he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland.
他已掌握了最终确证玛丽·萨瑟兰小姐的失踪新郎到底是何许人的所有线索。