CHAPTER XVI. Getting Ready for the Night

What was it which Cayley was going to hide in that pond that night? Antony thought that he knew now. It was Mark's body. From the beginning he had seen this answer coming and had drawn back from it. For, if Mark had been killed, it seemed such a cold-blooded killing. Was Cayley equal to it? Bill would have said "No," but that was because he had had breakfast with Cayley, and lunch with him, and dinner with him; had ragged him and played games with him. Bill would have said "No," because Bill wouldn't have killed anybody in cold blood himself, and because he took it for granted that other people behaved pretty much as he did. |||||||||||||||||он||||||||вели себя||||| Билл сказал бы "Нет," потому что Билл сам не убил бы никого в крови, и потому что он принимал как данное, что другие люди ведут себя довольно так же, как и он. But Antony had no such illusions. |||||иллюзий Но у Антони не было таких иллюзий. Murders were done; murder had actually been done here, for there was Robert's dead body. Убийства были совершены; убийство действительно было совершено здесь, ведь вот мёртвое тело Роберта. Why not another murder?

Had Mark been in the office at all that afternoon? The only evidence (other than Cayley's, which obviously did not count) was Elsie's. Elsie was quite certain that she had heard his voice. But then Bill had said that it was a very characteristic voice—an easy voice, therefore, to imitate. |||||||||||||||||имитировать Maar toen had Bill gezegd dat het een heel karakteristieke stem was - een gemakkelijke stem dus om te imiteren. If Bill could imitate it so successfully, why not Cayley?

But perhaps it had not been such a cold-blooded killing, after all. Suppose Cayley had had a quarrel with his cousin that afternoon over the girl whom they were both wooing. Suppose Cayley had killed Mark, either purposely, in sudden passion, or accidentally, meaning only to knock him down. Suppose that this had happened in the passage, say about two o'clock, either because Cayley had deliberately led him there, or because Mark had casually suggested a visit to it. (One could imagine Mark continually gloating over that secret passage.) |||||победонос|||| (Можно представить, как Марк постоянно злорадствует по поводу этого тайного прохода.) Suppose Cayley there, with the body at his feet, feeling already the rope round his neck; his mind darting this way and that in frantic search for a way of escape; and suppose that suddenly and irrelevantly he remembers that Robert is coming to the house at three o'clock that afternoon—automatically he looks at his watch—in half an hour's time.... In half an hour's time. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||неуместно|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Предположим, Кейли там, с телом у себя под ногами, уже чувствуя веревку на своей шее; его разум метается то в одну, то в другую сторону в безумной попытке найти способ поб escape; и предположим, что вдруг и неуместно он вспоминает, что Роберт придет в дом в три часа дня—автоматически он смотрит на свои часы—через полчаса.... Через полчаса. He must think of something quickly, quickly. |должен||||| Он должен быстро, быстро придумать что-то. Shall he bury the body in the passage and let it be thought that Mark ran away, frightened at the mere thought of his brother's arrival? ||похоронит||||||||||||||||||||||| But there was the evidence of the breakfast table. Mark had seemed annoyed at this resurrection of the black sheep, but certainly not frightened. ||||||воскрешение|||||||| No; that was much too thin a story. ||||||чтобы| Нет; это была намного слишком тонкая история. But suppose Mark had actually seen his brother and had a quarrel with him; suppose it could be made to look as if Robert had killed Mark— Но предположим, что Марк действительно видел своего брата и поссорился с ним; предположим, что это можно было бы представить так, будто Роберт убил Марка—

Antony pictured to himself Cayley in the passage, standing over the dead body of his cousin, and working it out. Антони вообразил себе Кэйли в коридоре, стоящего над мёртвым телом своего кузена и раздумывающего над этим. How could Robert be made to seem the murderer, if Robert were alive to deny it? But suppose Robert were dead, too?

He looks at his watch again. (Only twenty-five minutes now.) Suppose Robert were dead, too? Robert dead in the office, and Mark dead in the passage how does that help? ||||||||||||||помогает это Роберт мертв в офисе, а Марк мертв в коридоре. Как это поможет? Madness! Waanzin! Безумие! But if the bodies were brought together somehow and Robert's death looked like suicide?.... Но если бы тела каким-то образом были собраны вместе и смерть Роберта выглядела как самоубийство?.... Was it possible?

Madness again. Too difficult. (Only twenty minutes now.) Too difficult to arrange in twenty minutes. Can't arrange a suicide. Too difficult.... Only nineteen minutes....

And then the sudden inspiration! Robert dead in the office, Mark's body hidden in the passage—impossible to make Robert seem the murderer, but how easy to make Mark! Роберт мертв в офисе, тело Марка скрыто в коридоре — невозможно сделать Роберта убийцей, но как легко сделать Марка! Robert dead and Mark missing; why, it jumped to the eye at once. Роберт мертв, а Марк пропал; почему, это сразу бросается в глаза. Mark had killed Robert—accidentally; yes, that would be more likely—and then had run away. Марк убил Роберта — случайно; да, это было бы более вероятно — а потом сбежал. Sudden panic.... (He looks at his watch again. Fifteen minutes, but plenty of time now. The thing arranges itself.) |вещь|| Всё само собой располагается.)

Was that the solution, Antony wondered. Была ли это разгадка, размышлял Антони. It seemed to fit in with the facts as they knew them; but then, so did that other theory which he had suggested to Bill in the morning. Похоже, это совпадало с фактами, как они их знали; но тогда и та другая теория, которую он предложил Биллу утром, тоже совпадала.

"Which one?" said Bill.

They had come back from Jallands through the park and were sitting in the copse above the pond, from which the Inspector and his fishermen had now withdrawn. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||ушли Bill had listened with open mouth to Antony's theory, and save for an occasional "By Jove!" ||||||||||за исключением||||| had listened in silence. "Smart man, Cayley," had been his only comment at the end. "Which other theory?" "That Mark had killed Robert accidentally and had gone to Cayley for help, and that Cayley, having hidden him in the passage, locked the office door from the outside and hammered on it." ||||||||ушёл||||||||||||||||||||||стучал по нему|| "Yes, but you were so dashed mysterious about that. "Да, но ты был таким чертовски загадочным по этому поводу. I asked you what the point of it was, and you wouldn't say anything." |||что|||||||||| Я спросил тебя, в чем смысл этого, а ты ничего не сказал." He thought for a little, and then went on, "I suppose you meant that Cayley deliberately betrayed Mark, and tried to make him look like a murderer?" Он немного подумал, а затем продолжил: "Я полагаю, ты имеешь в виду, что Кейли умышленно предал Марка и пытался сделать так, чтобы он выглядел как убийца?" "I wanted to warn you that we should probably find Mark in the passage, alive or dead." "And now you don't think so?" "Now I think that his dead body is there." "Meaning that Cayley went down and killed him afterwards after you had come, after the police had come?" "Well, that's what I shrink from, Bill. "Ну, вот от чего я и отстраняюсь, Билл. It's so horribly cold-blooded. Это так ужасно хладнокровно. Cayley may be capable of it, but I hate to think of it." Кэли|||||||||||| Кейли, возможно, способен на это, но мне не нравится об этом думать." "But, dash it all, your other way is cold-blooded enough. ||||||||холоднокровный|| "Но, черт возьми, твой другой способ достаточно хладнокровен." According to you, he goes up to the office and deliberately shoots a man with whom he has no quarrel, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years!" "По твоему мнению, он поднимается в офис и намеренно стреляет в человека, с которым у него нет ссоры, которого он не видел пятнадцать лет!" "Yes, but to save his own neck. "Да, но чтобы спасти свою собственную шею." That makes a difference. My theory is that he quarrelled violently with Mark over the girl, and killed him in sudden passion. |||||поссорился|||||||||||| Anything that happened after that would be self-defense. ||произошло||||||самооборона I don't mean that I excuse it, but that I understand it. Я не хочу сказать, что оправдываю это, но что я понимаю это. And I think that Mark's dead body is in the passage now, and has been there since, say, half-past two yesterday afternoon. И я думаю, что мёртвая тело Марка сейчас в проходе, и было там с, скажем, половины третьего вчера днём. And to-night Cayley is going to hide it in the pond." И сегодня вечером Кейли собирается спрятать его в пруду. Bill pulled at the moss on the ground beside him, threw away a handful or two, and said slowly, "You may be right, but it's all guess-work, you know." Antony laughed.

"Good Lord, of course it is," he said. "And to-night we shall know if it's a good guess or a bad one." Bill brightened up suddenly. |вдруг повес|| Билл вдруг оживился.

"To-night," he said. "Сегодня ночью," сказал он. "I say, to-night's going to be rather fun. "Скажу, сегодня ночью будет довольно весело. How do we work it?" Antony was silent for a little.

"Of course," he said at last, "we ought to inform the police, so that they can come here and watch the pond to-night." "Of course," grinned Bill. "But I think that perhaps it is a little early to put our theories before them." "I think perhaps it is," said Bill solemnly. Antony looked up at him with a sudden smile.

"Bill, you old bounder." "Bill, ouwe rukker." "Well, dash it, it's our show. I don't see why we shouldn't get our little bit of fun out of it." "Neither do I. All right, then, we'll do without the police to-night." "We shall miss them," said Bill sadly, "but 'tis better so." мы||||||||it is|| There were two problems in front of them: first, the problem of getting out of the house without being discovered by Cayley, and secondly, the problem of recovering whatever it was which Cayley dropped into the pond that night.

"Let's look at it from Cayley's point of view," said Antony. "He may not know that we're on his track, but he can't help being suspicious of us. He's bound to be suspicious of everybody in the house, and more particularly of us, because we're presumably more intelligent than the others." он|||||||||||||||||||||| Он, безусловно, будет подозревать всех в доме, а особенно нас, потому что мы, предположительно, умнее остальных. He stopped for a moment to light his pipe, and Bill took the opportunity of looking more intelligent than Mrs. Stevens. Он на мгновение остановился, чтобы закурить трубку, и Билл воспользовался возможностью выглядеть умнее миссис Стивенс.

"Now, he has got something to hide to-night, and he's going to take good care that we aren't watching him. ||||||||||он|||позаботиться||||||| "Теперь у него есть что-то, что он хочет скрыть сегодня вечером, и он позаботится о том, чтобы мы не смотрели за ним." Well, what will he do?" "See that we are asleep first, before he starts out." "Yes. Come and tuck us up, and see that we're nice and comfortable." ||укутай||||||||| "Yes, that's awkward," said Bill. "Да, это неловко," сказал Билл. "But we could lock our doors, and then he wouldn't know that we weren't there." "Но мы могли бы запереть двери, и тогда он бы не знал, что нас там нет." "Have you ever locked your door?" "Вы когда-нибудь запирали свою дверь?" "Never." "No. And you can bet that Cayley knows that. Anyway, he'd bang on it, and you wouldn't answer, and then what would he think?" Bill was silent; crushed.

"Then I don't see how we're going to do it," he said, after deep thought. "He'll obviously come to us just before he starts out, and that doesn't give us time to get to the pond in front of him." "Let's put ourselves in his place," said Antony, puffing slowly at his pipe. "He's got the body, or whatever it is, in the passage. He won't come up the stairs, carrying it in his arms, and look in at our doors to see if we're awake. He'll have to make sure about us first, and then go down for the body afterwards. So that gives us a little time." "Y-yes," said Bill doubtfully. "We might just do it, but it'll be a bit of a rush." "But wait. When he's gone down to the passage and got the body, what will he do next?" "Come out again," said Bill helpfully. "Yes; but which end?" Bill sat up with a start.

"By Jove, you mean that he will go out at the far end by the bowling-green?" "Клянусь Юпитером, ты имеешь в виду, что он выйдет в конце к боулинг-полю?" "Don't you think so? "Разве ты так не думаешь?" Just imagine him walking across the lawn in full view of the house, at midnight, with a body in his arms. "Представь себе, как он идет по лужайке в полном обзоре дома, в полночь, с телом в руках." Think of the awful feeling he would have in the back of the neck, wondering if anybody, any restless sleeper, had chosen just that moment to wander to the window and look out into the night. There's still plenty of moonlight, Bill. Is he going to walk across the park in the moonlight, with all those windows staring at him? Not if he can help it. не|||может|| Не если он сможет этого избежать. But he can get out by the bowling green, and then come to the pond without ever being in sight of the house, at all." |||выйти||||||||||||||||||||| Но он может выйти через боулинг и потом подойти к пруду, вообще не попадая в поле зрения дома. "You're right. "Ты прав. And that will just about give us time. Good. Now, what's the next thing?" "The next thing is to mark the exact place in the pond where he drops whatever he drops." |||||отметить|||||||||||| "So that we can fish it out again." |чтобы|||||| "Чтобы мы могли вытащить его снова." "If we can see what it is, we shan't want to. "Если мы сможем увидеть, что это такое, мы не захотим." The police can have a go at it to-morrow. "Полиция может попробовать это завтра." But if it's something we can't identify from a distance, then we must try and get it out. To see whether it's worth telling the police about." "Y-yes," said Bill, wrinkling his forehead. ||||сжимая|| "Of course, the trouble with water is that one bit of it looks pretty much like the next bit. ||||с чем||||||||||||||часть "Конечно, проблема с водой в том, что один ее кусочек выглядит примерно так же, как следующий. I don't know if that had occurred to you. Не знаю, приходило ли это вам в голову. "It had," smiled Antony. "Приходило," улыбнулся Энтони. "Let's come and have a look at it." They walked to the edge of the copse, and lay down there in silence, looking at the pond beneath them.

"See anything?" said Antony at last.

"What?" "The fence on the other side." |забор|||| "What about it?" "Wat is ermee?" "Well, it's rather useful, that's all." "Nou, het is nogal nuttig, dat is alles." "Said Sherlock Holmes enigmatically," added Bill. сказал||||| "A moment later, his friend Watson had hurled him into the pond." "Через мгновение его друг Уотсон столкнул его в пруд." Antony laughed. Антони засмеялся.

"I love being Sherlocky," he said. "Мне нравится быть Шерлоком," сказал он. "It's very unfair of you not to play up to me." "Het is erg oneerlijk van je om niet tegen me te spelen." "Why is that fence useful, my dear Holmes?" said Bill obediently.

"Because you can take a bearing on it. "Потому что вы можете взять на него ориентир. You see—" Вы видите—" "Yes, you needn't stop to explain to me what a bearing is." "Да, вам не нужно останавливаться, чтобы объяснить мне, что такое ориентир." "I wasn't going to. But you're lying here," he looked up "underneath this pine-tree. Cayley comes out in the old boat and drops his parcel in. You take a line from here on to the boat, and mark it off on the fence there. Say it's the fifth post from the end. Well, then I take a line from my tree we'll find one for me directly and it comes on to the twentieth post, say. |||||||||||||||||||||двадцатый|| Ну, тогда я возьму линию из моего дерева, мы найдем одну для меня напрямую, и она дойдет до двадцатого поста, скажем. And where the two lines meet, there shall the eagles be gathered together. И где две линии встречаются, там соберутся орлы. Q.E.D. Доказано. And there, I almost forgot to remark, will the taller eagle, Beverley by name, do his famous diving act. |||||||||большой||||||||погружение| As performed nightly at the Hippodrome." Bill looked at him uneasily.

"I say, really? It's beastly dirty water, you know." |ужасно|грязная||| "I'm afraid so, Bill. So it is written in the book of Jasher." "Of course I knew that one of us would have to, but I hoped, well, it's a warm night." "Just the night for a bathe," agreed Antony, getting up. "Well now, let's have a look for my tree." They walked down to the margin of the pond and then looked back. |||||берег пруда||||||| Они подошли к краю пруда и затем оглянулись назад. Bill's tree stood up and took the evening, tall and unmistakable, fifty feet nearer to heaven than its neighbours. |||||||||||||||небу||| Дерево Билла возвышалось и принимало вечер, высокое и безошибочное, на fifty футов ближе к небу, чем его соседи. But it had its fellow at the other end of the copse, not quite so tall, perhaps, but equally conspicuous. Но у него был товарищ на другом конце рощи, не совсем таким высоким, возможно, но столь же заметным.

"That's where I shall be," said Antony, pointing to it. "Now, for the Lord's sake, count your posts accurately." |||Господа||||| "Thanks very much, but I shall do it for my own sake," said Bill with feeling. ||очень|||||||моей||||||чувством "Большое спасибо, но я сделаю это ради себя," - сказал Билл с чувством. "I don't want to spend the whole night diving." "Я не хочу проводить всю ночь, ныряя." "Fix on the post in a straight line with you and the splash, and then count backwards to the beginning of the fence." "Зафиксируй столб в одной линии с собой и брызгами, а затем считай обратно до начала забора." "Right, old boy. Leave it to me. I can do this on my head." "Well, that's how you will have to do the last part of it," said Antony with a smile. He looked at his watch. It was nearly time to change for dinner. They started to walk back to the house together.

"There's one thing which worries me rather," said Antony. "Where does Cayley sleep?" где||| "Next door to me. Why?" "Well, it's just possible that he might have another look at you after he's come back from the pond. I don't think he'd bother about it in the ordinary way, but if he is actually passing your door, I think he might glance in." "I shan't be there. I shall be at the bottom of the pond, sucking up mud." "Yes.... Do you think you could leave something in your bed that looked vaguely like you in the dark? A bolster with a pyjama-coat round it, and one arm outside the blanket, and a pair of socks or something for the head. |подушка|||||||||||||||||||||| You know the kind of thing. I think it would please him to feel that you were still sleeping peacefully." Bill chuckled to himself. ||себе|

"Rather. "Eerder. I'm awfully good at that. I'll make him up something really good. But what about you?" "I'm at the other end of the house; he's hardly likely to bother about me a second time. And I shall be so very fast asleep at his first visit. Still, I may as well to be on the safe side." Тем не менее|||||||||| Тем не менее, я могу поступить осторожно. They went into the house. Они вошли в дом. Cayley was in the hall as they came in. Кейли был в холле, когда они вошли. He nodded, and took out his watch.

"Time to change?" he said.

"Just about," said Bill. "Zo ongeveer," zei Bill. "You didn't forget my letter?" "I did not. In fact, we had tea there." "Ah!" He looked away and said carelessly, "How were they all?" "They sent all sorts of sympathetic messages to you, and—and all that sort of thing." они||||||||||||||| "Oh, yes." Bill waited for him to say something more, and then, as nothing was coming, he turned round, said, "Come on, Tony," and led the way upstairs. "Got all you want?" he said at the top of the stairs.

"I think so. Come and see me before you go down." "Righto." Antony shut his bedroom door behind him and walked over to the window. He pushed open a casement and looked out. ||||окно с рамой||| His bedroom was just over the door at the back of the house. |спальня||||||||||| The side wall of the office, which projected out into the lawn beyond the rest of the house, was on his left. |||||||выступала|||||||||||||| Сторонняя стена офиса, которая выступала на газон за пределами остальной части дома, была слева от него. He could step out on to the top of the door, and from there drop easily to the ground. Он мог встать на верх двери и оттуда легко спрыгнуть на землю. Getting back would be little more difficult. Вернуться было бы немного сложнее. There was a convenient water-pipe which would help. ||||водопровод|||| Er was een handige waterleiding die zou helpen.

He had just finished his dressing when Bill came in. "Final instructions?" he asked, sitting down on the bed. "By the way, how are we amusing ourselves after dinner? ||||||развлекать себя||| I mean immediately after dinner." "Billiards?" "Righto. Anything you like." "Don't talk too loud," said Antony in a lower voice. "We're more or less over the hall, and Cayley may be there." He led the way to the window. "We'll go out this way to-night. Going downstairs is too risky. It's easy enough; better put on tennis-shoes." "Right. I say, in case I don't get another chance alone with you what do I do when Cayley comes to tuck me up?" "It's difficult to say. Be as natural as you can. I mean, if he just knocks lightly and looks in, be asleep. Don't overdo the snoring. But if he makes a hell of a noise, you'll have to wake up and rub your eyes, and wonder what on earth he's doing in your room at all. |||||||||||||||потереть|||||||||||||| You know the sort of thing." "Right. And about the dummy figure. |||пустышка| I'll make it up directly we come upstairs, and hide it under the bed." "Yes.... I think we'd better go completely to bed ourselves. We shan't take a moment dressing again, and it will give him time to get safely into the passage. Then come into my room." "Right.... Are you ready?" "Yes." They went downstairs together.