「盗まれた手紙」3

“This is barely possible,” said Dupin. “The present peculiar condition of affairs at court, and especially of those intrigues in which D–– is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the document ––its susceptibility of being produced at a moment’s notice ––a point of nearly equal importance with its possession.”

「それはほとんど不可能でしょう」とデュパンが言った．「宮廷での事案の独特な現況、特にD––が関与していると目されている陰謀が、書類を即座に入手するできることと、瞬時に作り出せるということは、それを手に入れることとほとんど同じく重要であるからね」

“Its susceptibility of being produced?” said I.

“That is to say, of being destroyed,” said Dupin.

“True,” I observed; “the paper is clearly then upon the premises. As for its being upon the person of the minister, we may consider that as out of the question.”

「作り出せるということとは一体どういうことだろう」と私が言った．

「破いてしまえるということさ」とデュパンが言った．

「なるほど．手紙は明らかに敷地内にある．手紙は大臣が身につけている、ということは論外だということか」と私は意見を述べた．

“Entirely,” said the Prefect. “He has been twice waylaid, as if by footpads, and his person rigorously searched under my own inspection.

「全くだ．追い剥ぎに見せかけ、彼を二度も待ち伏せにさせて、私が徹底的に調べ上げたのだから」と警視総監は言った．

“You might have spared yourself this trouble,” said Dupin. “D––, I presume, is not altogether a fool, and, if not, must have anticipated these waylayings, as a matter of course.”

「そこまで労を惜しまなくてもよかったでしょうに．私が思うに、Dは馬鹿ではない．あるいはそうであったとしても、無論そうした待ち伏せは予想しているでしょう」とデュパンが言った．

“Not altogether a fool,” said G., “but then he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool.”

“True,” said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his meerschaum, “although I have been guilty of certain doggerel myself.”

“Suppose you detail,” said I, “the particulars of your search.”

「馬鹿ではないさ．しかし彼はいくらか詩人気質があってね、詩人というのは馬鹿と紙一重なところがある」と警視総監．

「そうでしょうな」海泡石のパイプから長い熟考の一服の後、「私自身ひどい詩を書いたことがあって申し訳なく思っていますがね」とデュパンが言った．

「総監、詳細をお話下さい．調査のことをご存知でしょう」と私は言った．

“Why the fact is, we took our time, and we searched every where. I have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, room by room; devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We examined, first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained police agent, such a thing as a secret drawer is impossible. Any man is a dolt who permits a ‘secret’ drawer to escape him in a search of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of bulk ––of space––to be accounted for in every cabinet. Then we have accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line could not escape us. After the cabinets we took the chairs. The cushions we probed with the fine long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables we removed the tops.”

「理由を言おう．我々は時間をかけた．そしてあらゆる箇所を探した．私はこうした事件に長い経験がある．私は建物全体、部屋から部屋を調べた．週すべての夜を一部屋ずつ費やした．はじめに、各々の各部屋の家具を調査した．私はあらゆる引き出しを開けた．そして、あなた方はご存知だろうが、正規の訓練を受けた警官にとって、秘密の引き出し、などというものはあり得ない．この手の調査において『秘密』の引き出しを見逃すやつはぼんくらさ．どんな戸棚でも測れるくらいの、空間、一定の大きさがある．それから我々には正確な規則がある．一ライン*の五十分の一も見逃しはしない．戸棚の次は椅子を調べた．我々が使っているのを見たことがあるあの細長い針でクッションを調べたのだ．テーブルは上の板を外して調べた」

*ラインはインチの十二分の一．

“Why so?”

「なぜそこまでなさったのです」

“Sometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in the same way.”

「テーブルの上部や、家具の調度品の他の似た部品は、時折物品を隠したい人によって取り去られることがある．それから脚に穴を空けて、物品はその空間の中にしまわれる．そして上盤はもとに戻される．寝台支柱の下部も上部は同じ方法で調査しているのだ」

“But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?” I asked.

「しかし空洞はたたけば音でわかるのではないですか」と私は尋ねた．

“By no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged to proceed without noise.”

「もし、物品のまわりに綿のような十分な梱包をされてしまわれると他に方法がなくなる．それに、今回の場合では我々は音を立てるわけにはいかなかったからな」

“But you could not have removed ––you could not have taken to pieces all articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to make a deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a large knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the chairs?”

「ですがあなたは取り除かなかった．あなたの仰る方法で、空間が確保できる家具のあらゆる物品から部品を外さなかった．手紙は薄く丸められているかもしれないし、例えば、大きな縫い針の形や大きさと対して変わらず、この形で椅子の横木に挿入されるかもしれないでしょうし．あなたはすべての椅子の部品を取っていないのでしょう」

“Certainly not; but we did better –we examined the rungs of every chair in the hotel, and, indeed, the jointings of every description of furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect it instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the glueing –any unusual gaping in the joints –would have sufficed to insure detection.”

「当然取っていない．だが善処した．我々は部屋のすべての椅子の横木を調査した．それにもちろん、家具のあらゆる種類の接ぎ目も．最高精度の拡大鏡で調べたのだ．最近手を付けた痕跡があったとすれば我々は即座に見逃さないわけがないのだ．ねじ錐のかす一つでも、例えばりんごのように明らかだろう．糊付けに問題があれば、接ぎ目に何か普通の穴があれば、満足に捜査できただろう」

“I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the plates, and you probed the beds and the bed-clothes, as well as the curtains and carpets.”

「鏡はご覧になったのでしょうね．台と板の間、あなたはベッドも寝具も調べ、カーテンも絨毯も調べたのだと」

“That of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so that none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square inch throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately adjoining, with the microscope, as before.”

「勿論．我々があらゆる家具をすっかり調べ上げたとき、今度は邸宅そのものを調査したのだ．全体の表面を区画で分けて、番号を振った．だから見逃しはしない．そして個々の平方吋を眼光紙背に徹したのだ．隣に並ぶ邸宅も含めて、例の拡大鏡を使ってな」

“The two houses adjoining!” I exclaimed; “you must have had a great deal of trouble.”

“We had; but the reward offered is prodigious.

“You include the grounds about the houses?”

“All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it undisturbed.”

“You looked among D––’s papers, of course, and into the books of the library?”

「隣の家二軒ですって．それは大変な骨折りでしたでしょう」と私は叫んだ

「そうだ．なにしろ報酬が凄まじいのでね」

「家の地面も含めて調べたのでしょうね」

「地面はすべて煉瓦で敷き詰められている．比較的骨を折らずにすんだ．煉瓦の間の苔も調べたが、手を付けたあとはわからなかった」

「あなたはD––の書類も当然、書斎の本も調べたのでしょう」