解説　場面 51「見えていた二つ」

"From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America because she had spent so short a time in this country that she could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an American. Then who could this American be, and why should he possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very significant allusion to claim-jumping—which in miners' parlance means taking possession of that which another person has a prior claim to—the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a previous husband—the chances being in favour of the latter."

「最初から、二つの事実がきわめて明白だった。一つは、そのご婦人が進んで結婚式を受け入れたこと。もう一つは、帰宅してからほんの数分でそれを後悔したことだ。すると明らかに、その朝、彼女の気持ちを変えさせる何かが起きたはずだ。その何かとは、一体何だったのか。外出中は花婿と一緒だったから、誰かと話したはずはない。では、誰かを見たのか。もし見たのなら、それはアメリカから来た人物に違いない。彼女がこの国で過ごした時間は短かったから、ここで誰かが彼女にそれほど強い影響力を得て、ただ姿を見せただけで予定を根底から変えさせたとは考え難いからだ。ほら、こうして消去法により、彼女はアメリカ人を見たのではないかという考えにすでにたどり着いた。では、そのアメリカ人とは誰で、なぜ彼女にそれほど大きな影響力を持つのか。恋人かもしれないし、夫かもしれない。彼女が若い女性として過ごした時期は、荒々しい環境と特殊な条件の下にあったと、私は知っていた。セント・サイモン卿の話を聞く前に、私はここまでたどり着いていた。教会の席にいた男、花嫁の態度の変化、花束を落として手紙を受け取るというあまりに見え透いた策、腹心の侍女を頼ったこと、そして『鉱区横取り』についての実に意味深いほのめかしを卿から聞いたとき、すべての状況が完全に明らかになった。鉱山の言葉で『鉱区横取り』とは、ほかの者が先に権利を持つものを手に入れることを意味する。彼女は一人の男と出て行った。そしてその男は恋人か、さもなければ先の夫であり、可能性は後者のほうが高かった」