Well, in the 1590s, a ball of yarn was called a clew, spelled c-l-e-w.

16世纪90年代，毛线球叫做线团，拼写是clew。

Tantripp would never have found the clew to this mystery.

坦特里普永远不会找到解开这个谜团的线索。

At present it is most awkward. Neither hair, dress, nor conversation affords the slightest clew, and you are left to guess.

目前是最尴尬的。头发、衣服和谈话都不能提供丝毫线索，只能靠猜测了。

With regard to horses, distrust was your only clew.

关于马，不信任是你唯一的线索。

Mr. Brooke, meanwhile, having lost other clews, fell back on himself and his qualifications — always an appropriate graceful subject for a candidate.

与此同时，布鲁克先生在失去其他线索后，又回到了自己和他的资历上——对于候选人来说，这始终是一个恰当而优雅的话题。

I mention this in this place, of a fixed purpose, because it is the clew by which I am to be followed into my poor labyrinth.

我在这个地方提到这一点， 有一个固定的目的， 因为它是我被跟踪到我可怜的迷宫的裂缝。

I went away puzzled by what I had heard, and as much as ever at a loss to find the ruling clew in this maze of strange evidence.

我对所听到的感到困惑，并且一如既往地不知所措，无法在这个奇怪的证据迷宫中找到主要线索。

I rang for the tea, and the waiter, reappearing with his magic clew, brought in by degrees some fifty adjuncts to that refreshment, but of tea not a glimpse.

我打电话去喝茶，服务员带着他的魔法钳子再次出现，以大约五十度的速度带来了茶点，但茶没有一瞥。

" I cannot precisely agree with you, " said Clifford, courteously bowing to the old gentleman, and at once taking up the clew of conversation which the latter had proffered.

“我不能完全同意你的看法，”克利福德说，彬彬有礼地向老先生鞠了一躬，并立即开始了后者提供的谈话线索。

" But you called him in to attend on Fred, and I am sure that was a mercy, " said Mrs. Bulstrode, losing her clew in the intricacies of the subject.

“但你叫他来照顾弗雷德，我相信那是一种仁慈，”布尔斯特罗德夫人说，她对这个错综复杂的话题失去了线索。