"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather,

"我的名字叫海伦·斯托纳，我和我的继父住在一起，

who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England,

他是位于萨里郡西部边界的斯托克莫兰的罗伊洛特家族，

the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey."

英国最古老的撒克逊家族之一的最后的一个生存者。"

Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.

福尔摩斯点点头，"这个名字我很熟悉，"他说。

"The family was at one time among the richest in England,

"这个家族一度是英伦最富有的家族之一，

and the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and Hampshire in the west.

它的产业占地极广，超出了本郡的边界，北至伯克郡，西至汉普郡。

In the last century, however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition,

可是到了上个世纪，连续四代子嗣都属生性荒淫浪荡、挥霍无度之辈，

and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency.

到了摄政时期终于被一个赌棍最后搞得倾家荡产。

Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old house,

除了几亩土地和一座二百年的古老邱宅外，其它都已荡然无存，

which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage.

而那座邸宅也已典押得差不多了。

The last squire dragged out his existence there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper;

最后的一位地主在那里苟延残喘地过着落破王孙的可悲生活。

but his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions,

但是他的独生子，我的继父，认识到他必须使自己适应这种新的情况，

obtained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta,

从一位亲戚那里借到一笔钱，这笔钱使他得到了一个医学学位，并且出国到了加尔各答行医，

where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he established a large practice.

在那儿凭借他的医术和坚强的个性，业务非常发达。

In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house,

可是，由于家里几次被盗，他在盛怒之下，

he beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence.

殴打当地人管家致死，差一点因为这个被判处死刑。

As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man."

就这样，他遭到长期监禁。后来，返回英国，变成一个性格暴躁、失意潦倒的人。"