Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)

Дойл Артур Конан

“He has no friends at all except gypsies, and he allows them to stay in the park near the house. He loves also Indian animals, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which go freely over the park and are feared by the people of the village almost as much as their master.

“You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant stayed with us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was thirty at the time of her death, but her hair was turning gray like mine.”

“Your sister is dead, then?”

“She died two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have described, we saw very few people. We had, however, an aunt, who we were allowed to visit. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a young officer, to whom she became engaged. My stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and did not say anything against the marriage; but two weeks before the wedding, the terrible event occurred and I lost my only companion.”

Sherlock Holmes had been sitting in his chair with his eyes closed, but now he glanced at his visitor.

“Please give us all the details,” said he.

“It is easy for me to do so, for I remember every event of that time. The house is, as I have already said, very old, and only the bedrooms are on the ground floor. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott’s, the second is my sister’s, and the third is my own. There are no doors between them, but they all open out into the same corridor.

“The windows of the three rooms open out upon the park. That fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he had not gone to bed, for my sister was troubled by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which he smoked. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some time, talking about her approaching wedding. At eleven o’clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and looked back.

“ ‘Tell me, Helen,’ said she, ‘have you ever heard anyone whistle at night?’

“ ‘Never. But why?’ said I.

“ ‘Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I cannot tell where it came from – perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the park. I thought that I would ask you whether you had heard it.’

‘No, I have not. It must be those gypsies in the park [10] .’

“ ‘Very likely. And if it were in the park, it is strange that you did not hear it also.’

10

It must be those gypsies in the park. –

Должно быть, это свистели цыгане в парке.

“ ‘Ah, but I do not hear anything when I am asleep.’

She smiled back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn in the lock.”

“Did you always lock yourselves in at night?” asked Holmes.

“Always.”

“And why?”

“I think that I said that the doctor kept a cheetah and a baboon. We had no feeling of security if our doors were not locked.”

“I see. But forgive me for interrupting you. Please continue your story.”

Exercises

1. Answer the questions:

1. What did you learn about the Roylotts of Stoke Moran?

2. Why did Dr. Roylott return to England from India a gloomy and disappointed man?

3. How did it happen that Dr. Roylott lived in Stoke Moran with his two stepdaughters?

4. Who else lived in the house?

5. What were the relations between Dr. Roylott and other people in the village?

6. Why weren’t Julia and Helen happy?

7. How did it happen that Julia became engaged to be married?

8. What did you learn about the house where Julia’s tragic death occurred?

9. What did the sisters speak about before Julia’s death?

10. Why did the sisters lock their bedrooms?

Think and say

1. Was Dr. Roylott a good doctor? Would you like him to be your family doctor? Why do you think so?

2. Was it easy for the sisters to marry? Why do you think so?

2. Find the following phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.

1. to be left

2. to leave smth to smb

3. to make friends with smb

4. to be / become engaged to smb

engagement (to smb)

5. to open out on / upon / into

3. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above.

1. Tony is a very sociable boy, he can become the friend of anybody.

2. How long before the wedding did they agree to get married?

3. It was only after his aunt’s death that Robert learned he would get her house after her death.

4. After he paid all his debts, no more money remained.

5. Their room faces the park, so they have a very nice view.

6. Have you heard that John has broken off his agreement to marry June? – I didn’t even know that they agreed to marry.