Ascham settled himself comfortably in his chair, prepared for enjoyment.

Ascham 舒服地坐在椅子上，准备享受。

Ascham's eye kindled: he shared Granice's interest in criminal cases.

Ascham 眼前一亮：他和 Granice 一样对刑事案件感兴趣。

Ascham drew a long breath; then he said slowly: " Sit down, Granice. Let's talk" .

Ascham 长长地吸了一口气。 然后他慢慢地说：“坐下， 格兰妮丝。我们谈谈” 。

He stood before Ascham, and the lawyer lay back staring up at him.

他站在 Ascham 面前， 律师仰面躺着盯着他看。

Ascham laid down his extinct cigar.

Ascham 放下他熄灭的雪茄。

The fact hurt more than Ascham's irony.

这个事实比 Ascham 的讽刺更伤人。

The two men looked at each other for a long moment, and this time Ascham did not laugh.

两人对视良久，这一次阿沙姆没有笑。

And he must wait another twenty minutes for Ascham.

而且他必须再等二十分钟才能找到阿沙姆。

His fear of Ascham and the alienist made it impossible for him to remain in his rooms.

他对 Ascham 和精神病医生的恐惧使他无法留在自己的房间里。

But why the devil was he waiting for Ascham?

但他为什么要等阿沙姆？

Ascham and Pettilow can do anything — their word always goes.

Ascham 和 Pettilow 可以做任何事——他们的话永远是对的。

For the first time he hoped that Ascham had not believed his story.

他第一次希望 Ascham 没有相信他的故事。

If Ascham drops a hint that I'd better be shut up, I'll be in a strait-jacket by to-morrow!

如果 Ascham 暗示我最好闭嘴， 我明天就会穿上紧身衣！

It had never occurred to him that Ascham would not believe his story.

他从来没有想到， 阿沙姆不会相信他的故事。

The servant re-entered, and Ascham snapped his lips shut.

仆人又进来了， Ascham 啪地一声闭上了嘴唇。

Ascham continued to stare; then he said: " What on earth was your object, then" ?

阿沙姆继续盯着看；然后他说：“那么你的目标到底是什么”？

He poured himself a tall glass of soda-water, emptied it, and glanced at Ascham's dead cigar.

他给自己倒了一大杯苏打水， 一饮而尽，瞥了一眼 Ascham 抽完的雪茄。

At first Ascham had feigned to be convinced — but that, as Granice now perceived, was simply to get him to expose himself, to entrap him into contradictions.

起初，阿沙姆假装相信——但正如格兰妮丝现在所察觉的那样，这只是让他暴露自己，让他陷入矛盾之中。

As the words dropped from Ascham's lips his host looked slowly about the library, and every object in it stared back at him with a stale unescapable familiarity. How sick he was of looking at that room!

话音刚落，他的主人就慢慢地环顾了图书馆，里面的每一件物品都带着一种无法逃避的陈旧熟悉感回望着他。看着那个房间，他是多么厌恶啊！

At this point in his narrative Granice stood up, and went to lean against the mantel-piece, looking down at Ascham, who had not moved from his seat, or changed his attitude of rigid fascinated attention.

说到这里，格兰妮丝站了起来，靠在壁炉架上，低头看着阿沙姆，他没有离开座位，也没有改变他那僵硬而着迷的注意力。