よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 21: A Young Woman's Appeal
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Notes on this scene
Alice insists that James is innocent and asks Holmes to begin his work with that conviction. She knows his faults but considers him incapable of hurting a fly. Holmes promises to do everything he can. Alice then urgently asks whether he has found a flaw in the evidence and whether he too believes James innocent.
Japanese in this scene
- 来てくださって
- くださる respectfully presents the other person's action as a kindness to the speaker. The て form leads into Alice's expression of happiness, making her thanks both personal and polite.
- お疑いにならないでください
- お + verb stem + になる is a respectful construction. Its negative request form asks Holmes not to doubt James. Alice's grammar is courteous even while her demand is emphatic.
- 誰よりも私が知っています
- 誰よりも means ‘more than anyone.’ The particle が identifies Alice as the person with that knowledge, emphasizing her longstanding familiarity with James rather than a merely casual opinion.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
「ああ、シャーロック・ホームズさん」と彼女は声を上げ、私たちの顔を次々に見てから、ついに女性らしい素早い直感で私の友人に目を定めた。「来てくださって、本当にうれしいです。そうお伝えしたくて、馬車で参りました。ジェームズがやったのではないと、私は分かっています。私には分かっていますし、あなたにもそう分かったうえで、お仕事を始めていただきたいのです。その点だけは、決してお疑いにならないでください。私たちは幼い頃から知り合いで、彼の欠点は誰よりも私が知っています。でも、彼はハエ一匹傷つけられないほど心の優しい人です。彼を本当に知る者には、そんな容疑はばかげています」
"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
「彼の無実を明らかにできればと思います、ターナーさん」とシャーロック・ホームズは言った。「できることはすべていたします。その点は信頼してください」
"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself think that he is innocent?"
「でも、証言はお読みになりましたね。何か結論はお出しになったのですか。何か抜け道や、証言の穴は見つかりませんか。あなたご自身も、彼が無実だとお思いになりませんか」