Английский язык с Шерлоком Холмсом. Второй сборник рассказов
Шрифт:
“And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama (как же я должен был теперь восстанавливать /картину/ той полуночной драмы; to proceed — продолжать движение; действовать, поступать)? Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton (ясно, что только один /из них/ мог пролезть в отверстие, и это был Брантон; to fit — подходить, быть впору; умещаться). The girl must have waited above (девушка, должно быть, ждала наверху). Brunton then unlocked the box (затем Брантон отпер сундук), handed up the contents presumably (и, вероятно, передал наверх его содержимое) — since they were not to be found (поскольку его /содержимое/ не нашли) — and then — and then what happened (а потом… что же произошло потом)?
crawl [kr:l], reconstruct [ri:kn'strkt], presumably [pr'zju:mbl]
Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they had thrust the chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by a billet placed lengthwise, which might very well become indented at the lower end, since the whole weight of the stone would press it down on to the edge of this other slab. So far I was still on safe ground.
“And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton. The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presumably — since they were not to be found — and then — and then what happened?
“What smouldering fire of vengeance (какой
vengeance ['venns], sepulchre ['seplk], guilty ['lt], treasure ['tre]
“What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate Celtic woman’s soul when she saw the man who had wronged her — wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected — in her power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman’s figure still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover’s life out.
“Here was the secret of her blanched face (вот в чем была загадка ее бледного лица), her shaken nerves (расшатанных нервов), her peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning (приступов истерического смеха на следующее утро; peal —
“For twenty minutes I had sat motionless (двадцать минут я сидел неподвижно), thinking the matter out (раздумывая над этим делом). Musgrave still stood with a very pale face (Месгрейв все еще стоял с очень бледным лицом), swinging his lantern and peering down into the hole (раскачивая фонарь и заглядывая в яму).
“‘These are coins of Charles the First (это монеты /эпохи/ Карла Первого; Карл Первый Стюарт /1600-1649/ — английский король; казнен во время Английской буржуазной революции),’ said he, holding out the few which had been in the box (сказал он, протягивая несколько /кружков/, находившихся в сундуке); ‘you see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual (видите, мы правильно определили время /записи/ «Обряда»).’
laughter ['l:ft], opportunity [p'tju:nt], lantern ['laentn]
“Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the mere. She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the last trace of her crime.
“For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter out. Musgrave still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern and peering down into the hole.
“‘These are coins of Charles the First,’ said he, holding out the few which had been in the box; ‘you see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual.’
“‘We may find something else of Charles the First (мы можем найти еще кое-что, /оставшееся от/ Карла Первого),’ I cried, as the probable meaning of the first two questions of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me (вскричал я, когда вероятное значение первых двух вопросов «Обряда» внезапно пришло мне в голову; to break upon — осенить кого-либо, внезапно прийти в голову кому-либо). ‘Let me see the contents of the bag (покажите-ка мне содержимое мешка) which you fished from the mere (который вы выудили из пруда).’
“We ascended to his study (мы поднялись в его кабинет), and he laid the debris before me (и он разложил передо мной обломки; debris — осколки; обломки). I could understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at it (я понял, почему он не придает им большого значения, когда взглянул на них), for the metal was almost black (так как металл был почти черен) and the stones lustreless and dull (а камешки тусклы; lusterless — тусклый; без блеска; dull — тусклый, неяркий). I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however (однако я потер один из них о рукав), and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand (и он засверкал, будто искра, на моей темной ладони; hollow — впадина, ямка, углубление). The metal work was in the form of a double ring (металлические части имели вид двойного обруча; ring — кольцо, обруч, ободок), but it had been bent and twisted out of its original shape (но были погнуты и перекручены, /потеряв/ первоначальную форму; to bend).
ascended ['sendd], debris ['debri:], dark [d:k]
“‘We may find something else of Charles the First,’ I cried, as the probable meaning of the first two questions of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me. ‘Let me see the contents of the bag which you fished from the mere.’
“We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I could understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at it, for the metal was almost black and the stones lustreless and dull. I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal work was in the form of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted out of its original shape.