我很喜欢读福尔摩斯。两年前我把Adventure of Sherlock Holmes这本福尔摩斯破案集下载到手机上，无聊或在等候什么时，哪怕只有2-30分钟的时间，为了打发时间，我就会打开翻阅一下。由于时间有限，我往往只看第一个故事。这个故事就是 A Scandal in Bohemia。我也不知道自己读过多少遍了，反正故事细节早已烂熟于心里啦。这个故事棒极了，让人百看不厌。不管你想学英文，喜欢推理，搞社会学研究，还是学习经济学原理，都能从中学到不少东西。
故事以华生医生的角度来讲述。华生新婚燕尔，搬出去另搭新窝，已经好久没有回去拜访福尔摩斯了。这天晚上出完诊，恰好路过老朋友居住的贝克街12号，就一时心血来潮，决定登门造访。华生从窗外看到福尔摩斯在灯光下的侧影–他背着双手，踱来踱去，肯定是在思考大案。见到华生，福尔摩斯也没把他当成客人，马上就开始拿华生来向读者展现他那非同凡响的推理才华。寒暄几句后，福尔摩斯就推断说：华生，自从上次见到你，你长胖了七磅半，看来婚姻对你不错啊；怎么，你又回老本行当医生啦；你家的仆人可不咋的呀。华生目瞪口呆：你怎么知道的？福尔摩斯说，“I see it, I deduce it” ，然后对华生一一解释。噢，原来是这样的，读者一下子就被震服，对福尔摩斯的推理佩服得五体投地。福尔摩斯趁机告诉华生要注意观察，不能只是熟视无睹–You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear。
对福尔摩斯的这些赞誉是为真正的破案打下伏笔。案子开始，福尔摩斯收到一封信，说有位不速之客要来求助，恰好是华生拜访的那天晚上，所以华生有机会亲眼目睹整个过程。在客人来访之前，福尔摩斯趁机与华生研究这封神迷的信。福尔摩斯从这封信的纸质、水印和行文风格，已经获得了大量信息。在讨论中，福尔摩斯说的这句话让我频频点头：“I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
随后我们知道，原来，波希米亚国（现捷克）即将继承王位的大公，不远千里，漂洋过海从欧洲亲自来到伦敦，求助福尔摩斯。没有大事不登门，尽管大公为了掩饰自己的身份而乔装打扮并且带着假面具，但这哪能逃过神探的眼睛。没等大公说几句话，福尔摩斯就说，请陛下把面具摘下来吧，说话更方便；在陛下还没开尊口之前，我已经知道您是谁了，您就是 Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein，波希米亚国王的继承人。
大公无奈，摘下面具，向福尔摩斯坦白：这件事情太严重了，它关系到欧洲王室的声誉，我又不好请别人来代办，只好亲自登门求助。这件事只有福尔摩斯先生您才能解决，您一定得帮忙啊。事成之后，一定重谢。
什么事这么要紧？原来，五年前大公在华沙认识了一位女人，她的名字叫伊伦 阿德勒（Iren Adler）。当时伊伦是华沙皇家歌剧院的首席女歌手。她已经退役，现在住在伦敦。大公和伊伦在华沙期间有了一段情，而且两人还有有张合影，在伊伦手里。大公过两天就要成婚。大公最不放心的就是那张合影，担心结婚前一天，伊伦会拿照片来毁掉大公的名声。大公说：“(Iren Adler) Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go—none.”
喔，What a woman: 铁石一般的心肠，最美丽的面孔，连男人都不比过的坚强意志，她会竭尽全力来阻止大公与别的女人结婚。为了弄回这张照片，大公已经请人两次偷偷潜入伊伦在伦敦的住处，但每次都空手而归。没有办法啦，才来求福尔摩斯先生您的。如果您能把那张照片弄回来，让我把一个省给您我都愿意–“I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph。” 哈哈，就差给福尔摩斯下跪了。
福尔摩斯如何把照片找到，才是本案的要点。福尔摩斯断定，这么重要的照片，伊伦肯定不放心放在别处，只有一个地方最安全，那就是她住的公寓。华生犯嘀咕，可是如何找到呢，大公已经派人潜入公寓两次了，连影子都没见到。下面是福尔摩斯和华生的对话：
福尔摩斯： “Pshaw! They did not know how to look.”
华生：“But how will you look?”
福尔摩斯：“I will not look.”
华生：“What then?”
福尔摩斯：“I will get her to show me.”
华生: “But she will refuse.”
福尔摩斯：“She will not be able to.”
不用去找，而是让伊伦自己显示出来！为此，福尔摩斯精心策划了一个绝妙方案。随后一切按计划进行。福尔摩斯在伊伦家门口守候，等伊伦的马车快到时，福尔摩斯假装被马车撞到，满脸是血–当然是染料了，福尔摩斯精通化妆术。旁边的一伙人（事先买通了）大声呼救，有的这个人说快死了，有的说好像还有口气，赶快抬进公寓。就这样福尔摩斯被抬进伊伦的客厅。福尔摩斯假装醒来，然后说空气太闷，要求把窗子打开。窗户打开后，按照计划，华生从外面扔进一枚烟雾弹，并大声呼叫“着火了”。
听到着火后，伊伦就没法自控，进而向福尔摩斯显示照片存放的地方啦。怎么会呢？华生仍然一团雾水。福尔摩斯解释说：
“It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer.”
喔，多么美妙的思维和计划！
从伊伦处脱身回来后，福尔摩斯信心百倍，自觉天一无缝。第二天一大早便带领华生和大公前往伊伦的公寓。谁知，到了公寓门口，迎接他们的是位老妇。老妇说，伊伦让她在此等候并转告福尔摩斯，伊伦已经结婚，并于今天凌晨与丈夫一起乘坐5点15分那趟火车离开伦敦，而且永远也不会回来啦。大公听后大惊失色：完了，完了！照片也一定带走了。福尔摩斯沉着地走到那个地方，按动开关，打开镶在墙里的滑动遮板，取出一副照片和一封信。照片是伊伦身着晚礼服的单人照。信则是写给福尔摩斯的，信上注明时间是昨天半夜，原文如下：
My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:
You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed.
Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and started for the Temple to see my husband.
We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you call tomorrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
— “Very truly yours,
Irene Norton, nee Adler.”
福尔摩斯遇到对手啦，而且是败在一个女人手里。福尔摩斯不免有些沮丧。为了表示感谢，大公从手上摘下钻戒，要送给福尔摩斯。福尔摩斯推辞掉钻戒，而是向大公要了一样更有价值的东西：伊伦的那张照片。大公欣然相送。故事就是这样结束了。这是故事的最后一段话：
And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman’s wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.
读完全文后，我们才能更好地理解故事的开头。为了保证不走样，我还是照抄原文吧。故事是这样开头的：
To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer—excellent for drawing the veil from men’s motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory。
这么美妙的文字，这么精彩的故事，这么绝妙的推理，让我百看不厌。
写于2016年10月15日
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