よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 23: The Men in the House
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Notes on this scene
Holmes first considers the den's Lascar manager. Although the man has a vicious history, Mrs. St. Clair saw him at the foot of the stairs only seconds after her husband's appearance, making him more likely an accomplice than the principal actor.
Japanese in this scene
- 手助けした以上のことは、まずできなかっただろう
- Here 以上のこと means anything beyond assistance. まず and だろう make Holmes's conclusion strong but still inferential.
- 事件に直接関わったらしい
- The past verb plus らしい marks an appearance based on evidence: these men seem to have been directly involved.
- さっぱり分からないと言い張った
- さっぱり with a negative means 'not at all.' 言い張った shows the keeper insisting on that claimed ignorance.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he could not account in any way for the presence of the missing gentleman's clothes.
「さて、次は事件に直接関わったらしい悪党たちだ。店主はひどく悪い前歴のある男と知られていたが、夫人の話では、夫が窓に現れてほんの数秒後には階段の下にいた。だから犯罪を手助けした以上のことは、まずできなかっただろう。本人はまったく何も知らないと弁明し、下宿人ヒュー・ブーンの行動も、行方不明の紳士の衣服がそこにある理由も、さっぱり分からないと言い張った。