解説　場面 33「窓への道」

"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.

「今度ばかりは彼女の忠告を軽んじませんでした。よろめきながら立ち上がり、彼女と廊下を走って螺旋階段を下りました。階段は別の広い通路へ続き、そこへ着くと、私たちの階と下の階で呼び合う二人の声と走る足音が聞こえました。案内役は途方に暮れたように立ち止まり、辺りを見回しました。それから扉を開けると寝室で、窓から明るい月光が差していました。

"'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be that you can jump it.'

「『これだけ、あなたの助かる道』と彼女は言いました。『高いです。でも跳べるかもしれません』

"As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round him and tried to hold him back.

「彼女が話す間に通路の先へ灯りが現れ、片手にランタン、もう片手に肉切り包丁のような武器を持つ、痩せたライサンダー・スターク大佐が駆けてくるのが見えました。私は寝室を横切って窓を開け、外を見ました。月明かりの庭はなんと静かで心地よく健やかに見えたことか。高さは三十フィートほどしかありませんでした。窓枠へよじ登りましたが、救い主と追ってくる悪漢のあいだで何が起きるか聞くまで、跳ぶのをためらいました。彼女がひどい目に遭うなら、どんな危険を冒しても助けに戻るつもりでした。そう思う間もなく男が扉に着き、彼女を押しのけようとしましたが、女性は両腕で抱きついて止めようとしました。