名著阅读

"Perhaps some day you will do me justice. If you only realized--"
"There is no need why Dr. Watson should realize," said Barker quickly. "As he has himself said, it is no possible business of his."
"Exactly," said I, "and so I will beg leave to resume my walk."
"One moment, Dr. Watson," cried the woman in a pleading voice. "There is one question which you can answer with more authority than anyone else in the world, and it may make a very great difference to me. You know Mr. Holmes and his relations with the police better than anyone else can. Supposing that a matter were brought confidentially to his knowledge, is it absolutely necessary that he should pass it on to the detectives?"
"Yes, that's it," said Barker eagerly. "Is he on his own or is he entirely in with them?"
"I really don't know that I should be justified in discussing such a point."
"I beg--I implore that you will, Dr. Watson! I assure you that you will be helping us--helping me greatly if you will guide us on that point."
There was such a ring of sincerity in the woman's voice that for the instant I forgot all about her levity and was moved only to do her will.
"Mr. Holmes is an independent investigator," I said. "He is his own master, and would act as his own judgment directed. At the same time, he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials who were working on the same case, and he would not conceal from them anything which would help them in bringing a criminal to justice. Beyond this I can say nothing, and I would refer you to Mr. Holmes himself if you wanted fuller information."
“也许有那么一天你会公平地对待我，只要你了解……”
“华生医生没有必要了解什么，"巴克急忙说道，“因为他亲口说过，这不干他的事嘛。”
“不错，"我说道，“那么，我就告辞了，我还要继续散步呢。”
“华生先生，请等一等，"妇人用恳求的声音大声喊道，“有一个问题，你的回答比世上任何人都更有权威，而这个答案对我却有重大关系。你比任何人都更了解福尔摩斯先生，了解他和警署的关系。假使有人把一件事秘密告诉他知道，他是不是绝对必须转告警探们呢？”
“对，问题就在这里，"巴克也很恳切地说道，“他是独立处理问题，还是全都要和他们一起解决？”
“我真不知道该不该谈这样一个问题。”
“我求你，我恳求你告诉我，华生医生，我相信你一定能有助于我们，只要你在这点上给我们指点一下，你对我的帮助就太大了。”
妇人的声音是那么诚恳，竟使我霎时忘掉她的一切轻浮举动，感动得只能满足她的要求。
“福尔摩斯先生是一个独立的侦探，"我说道，“一切事他都自己作主，并根据自己的判断来处理问题。同时，他当然会忠于那些和他一同办案的官方人员，而对那些能帮助官方把罪犯缉拿归案的事情，他也绝不隐瞒他们。除此以外，我不能说别的。如果你要知道得更详细，我希望你找福尔摩斯先生本人。”

背景阅读

作者简介：

亚瑟·柯南·道尔（1859——1930）英国杰出的侦探小说家、剧作家。生于苏格兰爱丁堡，父亲是一位政府建工部的公务员。柯南·道尔自幼喜欢文学，中学时任校刊主编。毕业于爱丁堡医科大学，行医10余年，收入仅能维持生活。后专写侦探小说。《血字的研究》几经退稿才发表，以《四签名》闻名于世。1891年弃医从文，遂成侦探小说家。代表作有《波西米亚丑闻》《红发会》、《五个橘核》等。1894年决定停止写侦探小说，在《最后一案》中让福尔摩斯在激流中死去。不料广大读者对此极端愤慨，提出抗议。柯南道尔只得在《空屋》中让福尔摩斯死里逃生，又写出《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》、《恐怖谷》等侦探小说。塑造的福尔摩斯已成为世界上家喻户晓的人物。就连福尔摩斯的办公地点——伦敦贝克街221号B也成了旅游景点。

导言：

伯尔斯通庄园的主人不幸惨遭杀害，死状奇惨无比，头颅几乎被枪击得粉碎，四周血肉模糊，惨不忍睹！尸体旁边留有卡片，上面潦草地写着“V.V.341”的字样。这令案子更为扑朔迷离：这张卡片难道是凶手留下来的吗？它代表什么意义？“恐怖谷”曾令道格拉斯惴惴不安。“恐怖谷”究竟是个怎样的地方？道格拉斯的死与“恐怖谷 ”又有什么关系？
福尔摩斯，侦探的代名词；没有他，就没有侦探文学和侦探文化——新星出版社倾力打造《福尔摩斯探案全集（图注本）》，根据公认最权威英译本重新翻译，配以五百幅原版配图、两千余条专业学者注释、五十余篇延伸阅读、六十篇注释笔记，为中国福迷铸就世界上最权威、最经典的福尔摩斯探案全录。
阿瑟·柯南·道尔（Arthur Conan Doyle，1859—1930），英国著名侦探小说家、剧作家，现代侦探小说的奠基人之一，被誉为“英国侦探小说之父”。