Scene 37 · Notes

Notes　Scene 37: The Enclosed Message

Next scene: 38 What the Letter Can Tell ›Read this scene again (from the start)

Notes on this scene

Holmes reads the brief note and studies its pencil writing. Mrs. St. Clair identifies both the ring and the handwriting, despite its hurried appearance and lack of date. Holmes accepts her recognition while continuing to question the circumstances of posting.

Japanese in this scene

怖こわがらないでくれ
〜ないでくれ is a familiar direct negative request: the note tells Mrs. St. Clair not to be afraid.
私わたしが大おおきく間違まちがっていなければ
〜ていなければ sets 'unless I am badly mistaken' as a cautious condition on Holmes's inference.
辛抱しんぼうして待まっていてくれ
辛抱して means patiently enduring, and 〜ていてくれ asks her to continue waiting.
雲くもは薄うすくなってきました
〜てくる describes a change developing toward the present. Holmes uses thinning clouds figuratively for improving prospects.

Full text: original English and Japanese translation

"'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Wait in patience.—NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's hand, madam?"

「『愛する君へ、怖がらないでくれ。すべてうまくいく。大きな間違いがあるが、正すには少し時間がかかるかもしれない。辛抱して待っていてくれ。ネヴィル』鉛筆書きで、八つ折り判の本の見返し、透かし模様はなし。ふむ。今日グレーヴズエンドで、親指の汚れた男が投函。なるほど。封の糊をなめたのは、私が大きく間違っていなければ、かみたばこをかんでいた人物です。ご主人の筆跡だという点に疑いはないのですね、奥様」

"None. Neville wrote those words."

「ありません。ネヴィルが書いた言葉です」

"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger is over."

「そして、今日グレーヴズエンドで投函された。セントクレア夫人、雲は薄くなってきました。とはいえ危険が去ったとまで申し上げるつもりはありません」

Japanese words in this scene (with English meanings; ☆ saves a word)

  • 怖がる（こわがる） — to be afraid of; to fear; to dread; to be nervous (about)
  • 大きな（おおきな） — large; great (before a noun)
  • 間違い（まちがい） — mistake; error
  • かも — may; might; marks a possibility
  • しれる — to become known; to come to light; to be discovered; to be known
  • 辛抱する（しんぼうする） — to be patient; to endure
  • 八つ折り判（やつおりばん） — octavo format; a book size made by folding a sheet into eight leaves
  • 見返し（みかえし） — endpaper (of a book); end-paper; facing (material sewn on the inside edge of a garment); looking back

Next scene: What the Letter Can Tell

Neville's short pencil note tells his wife not to worry and asks her to wait patiently. Mrs. St. Clair trusts the handwriting and the enclosed ring. Holmes considers a narrower evidential question: precisely when the note was written, how it reached Gravesend, and whether its arrival proves Neville's present condition.

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