よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 37: Deeper into the Church
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Notes on this scene
Holmes unexpectedly becomes the witness to Adler and Norton’s marriage. The clergyman needs a witness, and Holmes’s timely arrival saves Norton from searching outside. The ceremony is over almost immediately, leaving everyone grateful. Adler gives Holmes a sovereign, which he plans to keep as a reminder of this absurd experience.
Japanese in this scene
- 気がつけば
- 気がつく means noticing or realizing. Conditional ば introduces what Holmes found himself doing before fully understanding events.
- ずに済んだ
- Negative ずに + 済む means avoiding the need to do something. Norton did not have to go outside for a witness.
- 生まれて初めて
- 生まれて初めて means “for the first time in one’s life.” Holmes emphasizes the unprecedented absurdity of his position.
Background
- Marriage witness
- A British marriage ceremony required witnesses who signed the record. The hurried couple had none, so they asked a man dressed as a stable worker who happened to be there. A detective witnessing his target’s wedding is one of the story’s most ironic moments.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch chain in memory of the occasion."
「私はなかば引きずられるようにして祭壇の前へ連れていかれ、気がつけば、耳元でささやかれる誓いの言葉をもごもごと繰り返し、何も知らないことを請け合い、要するに、独身女性アイリーン・アドラーと独身男性ゴドフリー・ノートンをしっかりと結びつける手伝いをしていたのだ。何もかもが一瞬で済み、片側からは紳士が、もう片側からは婦人が私に礼を言い、正面では牧師がにこにこと私に笑いかけていた。あれほどばかげた立場に立たされたのは生まれて初めてで、さっき私が笑い出したのも、それを思い出したからなのだ。どうやら結婚許可証に何か不備があったらしく、牧師は誰かしら立会人がいなければ式は絶対に挙げられないと言い張っていたようで、私がうまい具合に現れたおかげで、花婿は付添人を探しに通りへ飛び出さずに済んだというわけだ。花嫁は私にソヴリン金貨を一枚くれたので、この出来事の記念に時計の鎖につけておくつもりだよ」
"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what then?"
「これはまた思いもよらない成り行きだね」と私は言った。「それで、どうなったんだい？」