よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 45: The Hiding Place
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Notes on this scene
Holmes rejects the banker and lawyer possibilities. He argues that Adler would prefer controlling her own secret and fears outside pressure on a professional custodian. Since she plans to use the photograph soon, he expects it close at hand in her home. Earlier burglaries failed, he says, because they searched badly.
Japanese in this scene
- したがる
- たがる expresses another person’s apparent desire. Holmes attributes a preference for handling secrets personally to women in general; this is his generalization.
- 知れたものではない
- 知れたものではない is an emphatic idiom meaning that something is impossible to predict or cannot be trusted.
- 入られている
- This passive presents an intrusion as something suffered by the house or its occupants. It does not mean the house was physically entered by invitation.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."
「銀行家か、弁護士か。その二つの可能性はある。だが、私はどちらでもないと思う。女性は生まれつき秘密を好むもので、隠し事は自分の手でしたがる。どうしてわざわざ他人に預けたりするだろう？自分で守るぶんには信用できるが、商売人に預ければ、どんな間接的な、あるいは政治的な圧力がかけられるか知れたものではない。それに、彼女が数日のうちに写真を使うと決めていたことを思い出してほしい。すぐに手の届くところにあるはずだ。自宅にあるに違いない」
"But it has twice been burgled."
「でも、あの家は二度も泥棒に入られているよ」
"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
「ふん！探し方を知らなかっただけだよ」