よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 64: The Purpose of the League
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Notes on this scene
Holmes explains that both the advertisement and the copying job existed only to remove Wilson from his shop for several hours each day. The moment he heard that Spaulding accepted half wages, he knew the assistant must have a strong private motive for securing the position.
Japanese in this scene
- ておく
- Verb + ておく means doing something in advance or leaving a result in place for later. In speech, it often contracts to 〜とく.
- ている
- The 〜ている form can show an action in progress, a continuing condition, or the present result of a completed action. The surrounding context selects the meaning.
- という
- という connects quoted words, a name, or an idea to the noun that follows. Depending on context, it can mean “called,” “that,” or “the idea that.”
- わけ
- わけ can mean a reason, circumstances, or the logical conclusion of a situation. Expressions such as わけだ and わけがない depend on this sense of an explainable outcome.
Background
- Whisky and soda
- Whisky mixed with soda water was a popular late-Victorian gentleman’s drink. Holmes keeps both spirits and a gasogene for making carbonated water in his Baker Street rooms.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the Encyclopædia, must be to get this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice's hair. The £ 4 a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive for securing the situation."
「いいかね、ワトソン」と、明け方、ベイカー街でウイスキーソーダのグラスを前にしてホームズは説明した。「組合の広告だの百科事典の書き写しだのという、このいささか奇抜な騒ぎのねらいが、あまり利口でないあの質屋を毎日何時間か店から遠ざけておくこと以外にありえないのは、最初からまったく明らかだった。妙なやり方ではあるが、正直なところ、これ以上うまい手はちょっと思いつかないね。この方法は、きっと相棒の髪の色を見て、クレイの抜け目ない頭に浮かんだのだろう。週四ポンドはあの男を必ず食いつかせる餌だったし、何千ポンドという大勝負をしている連中にとって、そんな額が何だというのだ？連中は広告を出し、悪党の一人が仮の事務所を構え、もう一人の悪党が主人をそそのかして応募させ、二人がかりで、毎朝欠かさずあの男を確実に留守にさせたというわけだ。あの助手が半分の給料で雇われに来たと聞いたときから、その職にありつきたい何か強い動機があるのは、私には明らかだった」
"But how could you guess what the motive was?"
「だが、その動機が何なのか、どうして見当がついたんだい？」