Английский с улыбкой. Брет Гарт, Стивен Ликок. Дефективный детектив [Bret Harte, Stephen Leacock]

“Fool!” he said coldly, “that is the SECOND time you have committed yourself. Of course you told me! What more natural than for you to blazon forth that prepared and unsolicited statement to PREVENT accusation. Yet, as I said before, even that wretched attempt to cover up your tracks was not enough. I still had to find that overwhelming, impelling motive necessary to affect a man like you. That motive I found in the strongest of all impulses – Love, I suppose you would call it,” he added bitterly, “that night you called!

You had brought the most conclusive proofs of it on your sleeve (вы принесли самые неопровержимые доказательства на своем рукаве; to bring; conclusive – заключительный; убедительный).”

“But – ” I almost screamed (но… – я почти кричал).

“Silence!” he thundered (молчите! – прогромыхал он; to thunder – греметь, грохотать; говорить громко, греметь; thunder /сущ./ – гром). “I know what you would say (я знаю, что вы бы сказали = что вы скажете). You would say that even if you had embraced some Young Person in a sealskin coat (вы сказали бы, что даже если и обнимали некую юную особу в котиковой шубе), what had that to do with the robbery (какое это имеет отношение к краже; to have to do with – иметь отношение к)? Let me tell you, then (тогда позвольте мне сообщить вам), that that sealskin coat represented the quality and character of your fatal entanglement (что та котиковая шуба олицетворяет собой сущность и характер вашего рокового увлечения; to represent – изображать, представлять /в виде кого-л./чего-л./; представлять собой, олицетворять; quality – качество, сорт; сущность; character – признак, характерная особенность; свойство, характер; entanglement – вовлечение, втягивание; to entangle – запутывать; впутывать; вовлекать, втягивать)! You bartered your honor for it (вы променяли вашу честь на нее) – that stolen cigar case was the purchaser of the sealskin coat (украденным портсигаром вы купили котиковую шубу)!

You had brought the most conclusive proofs of it on your sleeve.”

“But – ” I almost screamed.

“Silence!” he thundered. “I know what you would say. You would say that even if you had embraced some Young Person in a sealskin coat, what had that to do with the robbery? Let me tell you, then, that that sealskin coat represented the quality and character of your fatal entanglement! You bartered your honor for it – that stolen cigar case was the purchaser of the sealskin coat!

“Silence (молчите)! Having thoroughly established your motive (до конца прояснив ваш мотив; to establish – основывать, учреждать; устанавливать, выяснять), I now proceed to the commission of the crime itself (теперь перехожу к самому совершению преступления). Ordinary people would have begun with that (обычные люди начали бы с этого) – with an attempt to discover the whereabouts of the missing object (с попытки установить местонахождение пропавшего предмета; to discover – выяснять, узнавать). These are not MY methods (/но/ это – не моя метода).”

So overpowering was his penetration that (столь несокрушимой: «непреодолимой» была его проницательность), although I knew myself innocent (хотя я и знал о своей невиновности), I licked my lips with avidity to hear the further details (что я облизнул губы, алча услышать дальнейшие подробности; avidity – алчность, жадность) of this lucid exposition of my crime (этого четкого и ясного описания моего преступления; lucid – светлый, ясный; четкий, понятный; exposition – показ, демонстрация; описание, изложение).

“Silence! Having thoroughly established your motive, I now proceed to the commission of the crime itself. Ordinary people would have begun with that – with an attempt to discover the whereabouts of the missing object. These are not MY methods.”

So overpowering was his penetration that, although I knew myself innocent, I licked my lips with avidity to hear the further details of this lucid exposition of my crime.