解説　場面 21「暗い馬車」

"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove away.

「こうして出発し、少なくとも一時間は走りました。ライサンダー・スターク大佐は七マイルだけだと言いましたが、走る速さと時間から考えると、十二マイル近くあったはずです。彼はずっと隣で黙り、何度かそちらを見ると、じっと私を見つめているのに気づきました。あの地方の田舎道はひどいらしく、馬車は激しく傾き、跳ねました。場所を知ろうと窓の外を見ましたが、曇りガラスで、通り過ぎる灯りが時折明るくぼやける以外、何も見えませんでした。旅の単調さを破ろうと、ときどき話しかけましたが、大佐は一言二言で答えるだけで、会話はすぐ途切れました。やがて道の揺れが砂利道のぱりっとした滑らかさに変わり、馬車が止まりました。ライサンダー・スターク大佐は跳び降り、私が続くと、前に口を開けていた玄関へ素早く引き入れました。馬車からそのまま玄関広間へ入ったようなもので、屋敷の正面は一瞬さえ見られませんでした。敷居を越えた途端、扉が重々しく閉まり、馬車が去る車輪の音がかすかに聞こえました。