| He asked, casually, when Miss Sainsbury Seale had enunciated this particular statement, and learned that it had been about three months ago. |
- И когда же она вам это сказала? Оказалось, три месяца назад. |
| He left the house and walked away lost in thought. He was considering the character of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale. |
Пуаро покинул м-с Адамс весь в размышлениях о характере мисс Сэйнсбэри Сил. |
| A nice woman - an earnest and kindly woman - a respectable dent type of woman. It was among that type of person that Mr. Barnes had suggested a potential criminal could be found. |
Сплошное сосредоточие положительных черт, хотя, если верить м-ру Барнсу, именно среди подобных людей надо искать преступника. |
| She had travelled back on the same boat from India as Mr. Amberiotis. |
Из Индии она возвращалась на одном пароходе с Амбериотисом. |
| There seemed reason to believe that she had lunched with him at the Savoy. |
Не исключено, что они действительно обедали вместе в "Савое". |
| She had accosted and claimed acquaintance with Alistair Blunt and laid claim to an intimacy with his wife. |
Она утверждала, что была знакома с Блантом и дружила с его женой. |
| She had twice visited King Leopold Mansions where, later, a dead body had been found dressed in her clothes and with her handbag conveniently identifying it. A little too convenient, that! |
Дважды она посещала дом, где позднее было обнаружено тело, одетое в ее платье, а также ее сумка. Ну прямо все сделано для скорейшей идентификации трупа! Уж очень скорой... |
| She had left the Glengowrie Court Hotel suddenly after an interview with the police. |
После беседы с представителем полиции она неожиданно покинула гостиницу. |
| Could the theory that Hercule Poirot believed to be true account for and explain all those facts? |
Могла ли теория, которую Пуаро разработал и в которую верил, объяснить все эти факты? |
| He thought it could. |
Он считал, что могла... |
| III These meditations had occupied Hercule Poirot on his homeward way until he reached Regent's Park. He decided to traverse a part of the Park on foot before taking a taxi. |
Весь в подобных раздумьях, Пуаро дошел до Риджент - парка - ему захотелось прогуляться и потом взять такси. |
| By experience, he knew to a nicety the moment when his smart patent leather shoes began to press painfully on his feet. It was a lovely summer's day and Poirot looked indulgently on courting nursemaids and their swains, laughing and giggling while their chubby charges profited by nurse's inattention. Dogs barked and romped. Little boys sailed boats. And under nearly every tree was a couple sitting close together... "Ah! Jeunesse, jeunesse," murmured Hercule Poirot, pleasurably affected by the sight. They were chic, these little London girls. They wore their tawdry clothes with an air. Their figures, however, he considered, lamentably deficient. Where were the rich curves, the voluptuous lines that had formerly delighted the eye of an admirer? He, Hercule Poirot, remembered women... One woman, in particular -what a sumptuous creature - a Bird of Paradise - a Venus... What woman was there among these pretty chits nowadays, who could hold a candle to Countess Vera Rossakoff? A genuine Russian aristocrat, an aristocrat to her fingertips! And also, he remembered, a most accomplished thief One of those natural geniuses... With a sigh, Poirot wrenched his thoughts away from the flamboyant creature of his dreams. It was not only, he noted, the little nursemaids and their like who were being wooed under the trees of Regent's Park. That was a Schiaparelli creation there, under that lime tree, with the young man who bent his head so close to hers, who was pleading so earnestly. One must not yield too soon! He hoped the girl understood that. The pleasure of the chase must be extended as long as possible... His beneficent eye still on them, he became suddenly aware of a familiarity in those two figures. |
По аллеям сновали и прыгали ребятишки. Почти на каждой скамейке сидели влюбленные парочки. Одна из них показалась Пуаро знакомой. Вот как? |
| So Jane Olivera had come to Regent's Park to meet her young American revolutionary? |
Значит, Джейн Оливера решила именно здесь встретиться со своим американским бунтарем? |
| His face grew suddenly sad and rather stern. After only a brief hesitation he crossed the grass to them. |
После секундного колебания он решительно направился в их сторону. |
| Sweeping off his hat with a flourish, he said: "Bonjour, Mademoiselle." |
- Добрый день, мадемуазель. |
| Jane Olivera, he thought, was not entirely displeased to see him. Howard Raikes, on the other hand, was a good deal annoyed at the interruption. |
На мисс Джейн его появление, похоже, особого впечатления не произвело, зато ее приятель был не в восторге. |
| He growled: "Oh, so it's you again!" |
- Это опять вы?.. |
| "Good afternoon, M. Poirot," said Jane. |
- Здравствуйте, м-р Пуаро. |
| "How unexpectedly you always pop up, don't you?" "Kind of a Jack-in-the-Box," said Raikes, still eyeing Poirot with considerable coldness. |
Бы всегда появляетесь столь неожиданно? |
| "I do not intrude?" Poirot asked anxiously. |
- Я вам не помешал? |
| Jane Olivera said kindly: "Not at all." |
- Отнюдь, - вежливо ответила девушка. |
| Howard Raikes said nothing. "It is a pleasant spot you have found here," said Poirot. "It was," said Mr. Raikes. |
Райкс промолчал. |
| Jane said: "Be quiet, Howard. |
- Будь повежливей, Г овард, - попросила его Джейн. |
| You need to learn manners!" Howard Raikes snorted and asked: "What's the good of manners?" "You'll find they kind of help you along," said Jane. |
- А к чему здесь все эти манеры? - Уверена, они тебе пригодятся. |
| "I haven't got any myself, but that doesn't matter so much. |
Правда, я и сама-то не особенно их набралась, но я - другое дело. |
| To begin with I'm rich, and I'm moderately good looking, and I've got a lot of influential friends - and none of those unfortunate disabilities they talk about so freely in the advertisements nowadays. I can get along all right without manners."
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