よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 42: My Lady's Room
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Notes on this scene
Holmes reconstructs Ryder's scheme with Catherine Cusack to frame Horner for the theft from the countess's room. The scene establishes this development clearly and closes before the next step begins, preserving the original passage's order and the limits of what the characters know at this point.
Japanese in this scene
- 私の見たところ、ライダー、きみには大した悪党になる素質があるようだ
- Holmes begins 私の見たところ with ‘as I see it’ to frame the following judgment about Ryder as his own assessment.
- きみは——きみと共犯のキューザックとで——奥様の部屋にちょっとした修理の仕事をこしらえ
- In きみは——きみと共犯のキューザックとで——奥様の部屋にちょっとした修理の仕事をこしらえ, ちょっとした modifies the following noun as small but noteworthy rather than completely trivial.
- なるほど——伯爵夫人の小間使いだね
- In なるほど——伯爵夫人の小間使いだね, なるほど shows that the speaker now understands or accepts the point just made.
- きみより立派な男たちにとってもそうだったように
- In きみより立派な男たちにとってもそうだったように, にとって sets the preceding person as the viewpoint from which the judgment is made.
Background
- waiting-maid
- A waiting-maid attended a titled lady's clothes, hair, room, and possessions, giving her close access to private belongings. Her ladyship is a respectful title for such a woman.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"I see—her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's room—you and your confederate Cusack—and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man arrested. You then—"
「なるほど——伯爵夫人の小間使いだね。さて、それほどたやすく転がり込む大金の誘惑は、きみより立派な男たちにとってもそうだったように、きみには強すぎたわけだ。だが、きみが使った手段は、あまり褒められたものではなかった。私の見たところ、ライダー、きみには大した悪党になる素質があるようだ。きみは、配管工のホーナーという男が以前にも似たような件にかかわったことがあり、それだけ疑いが彼にかかりやすいことを知っていた。それで、きみはどうしたか？きみは——きみと共犯のキューザックとで——奥様の部屋にちょっとした修理の仕事をこしらえ、呼ばれるのがあの男になるよう仕組んだ。そして彼が帰ると、きみは宝石箱の中身を奪い、騒ぎ立てて、この気の毒な男を逮捕させた。それから、きみは——」