解説　場面 61「執事の申し出」

The butler was standing very pale but very collected before us.

執事はひどく青ざめながらも、落ち着きを保ってわれわれの前に立っていた。

"I may have spoken too warmly, sir," said he, "and if I have, I am sure that I beg your pardon. At the same time, I was very much surprised when I heard you two gentlemen come back this morning and learned that you had been chasing Selden. The poor fellow has enough to fight against without my putting more upon his track."

「少し熱くなりすぎたかもしれません、旦那様」と彼は言った。「もしそうでしたら、どうかお許しください。ただ、今朝お二人がお戻りになり、セルデンを追っていたと知ったときには、本当に驚いたのでございます。あの哀れな男には、私まで追っ手を増やさずとも、立ち向かう相手が十分におります」

"If you had told us of your own free will it would have been a different thing," said the baronet, "you only told us, or rather your wife only told us, when it was forced from you and you could not help yourself."

「きみが自分から話したのなら、事情は違っただろう」と準男爵は言った。「きみが——いや、正確にはきみの妻が——話したのは、追い詰められて、ほかにどうしようもなくなったからだ」

"I didn't think you would have taken advantage of it, Sir Henry—indeed I didn't."

「ヘンリー卿が、それを利用なさるとは思いませんでした。本当に、そうは思っておりませんでした」

"The man is a public danger. There are lonely houses scattered over the moor, and he is a fellow who would stick at nothing. You only want to get a glimpse of his face to see that. Look at Mr. Stapleton's house, for example, with no one but himself to defend it. There's no safety for anyone until he is under lock and key."

「あの男は世間にとって危険な存在だ。荒れ地には人里離れた家が点々とあり、あの男ならどんなことでもしかねない。顔を一目見れば、それが分かる。例えばステイプルトンの家を見ろ。自分のほかに家を守る者がいない。あの男が錠のかかる所へ入れられるまで、誰一人安全ではない」