よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 34: A Discussion on the Road
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Notes on this scene
Holmes finds McCarthy's confidence about the marriage strange, given his dependence on Turner and Turner's opposition. Lestrade dismisses inference and insists that the son killed the father. Holmes answers with understated irony. Their disagreement remains unresolved as the carriage reaches what Holmes identifies as Hatherley Farm on their left.
Japanese in this scene
- 求婚さえすれば
- さえ can mark a sufficient condition when paired with a conditional: ‘if only he proposed.’ Holmes describes McCarthy's apparent confidence that this one action would make everything follow.
- 知っているだけに
- だけに means ‘precisely because’ or ‘all the more because.’ Knowing that Turner opposed the marriage makes McCarthy's confidence more puzzling to Holmes, rather than less important.
- しおらしく答えた
- しおらしい describes a meek or modest manner. Changing い to く lets it modify 答えた. In this exchange, the mild delivery carries Holmes's irony instead of straightforward submission.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not deduce something from that?"
「ほう。少し妙だとは思わないかね。このマッカーシーは、自分の財産はほとんどなく、ターナーにそれほど世話になっていたらしいのに、なおも息子とターナーの娘、恐らくあの土地の相続人となる娘を結婚させようと語っていた。しかも、求婚さえすればあとはすべてうまくいくとでもいうように、あんなに自信たっぷりな態度でだ。ターナー自身はその考えに反対だったと知っているだけに、いっそう奇妙なのだ。娘がそう言っていた。そこから何か推論できないかね」
"We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies."
「推理と推論の話になったぞ」とレストレードは私に目配せして言った。「私は事実を扱うだけでも十分に骨が折れるよ、ホームズ。理屈や空想を追いかけて飛び回らなくてもね」
"You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to tackle the facts."
「そのとおりだ」とホームズはしおらしく答えた。「きみは事実を扱うのに、本当に苦労している」
"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
「ともかく、きみにはつかみにくそうな事実を、私は一つつかんでいる」とレストレードは少しむっとして答えた。
"And that is—"
「それは……」
"That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
「父マッカーシーを死なせたのは息子マッカーシーで、それに反する理屈は、すべてまったくのたわごとだということさ」
"Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Farm upon the left."
「まあ、月の光なら、霧よりは明るいからね」とホームズは笑った。「だが、左手にあるのがハザリー農場でなければ、私は大変な見当違いをしていることになる」