“‘You will excuse my coming in, doctor (простите, что я вошел, доктор),’ said he to me, speaking English with a slight lisp (сказал он мне, говоря по-английски с легкой шепелявостью). ‘This is my father, and his health is a matter of the most overwhelming importance to me (это мой отец, и его здоровье является для меня делом огромной важности).’

“I was touched by this filial anxiety (я был тронут этой сыновней заботой).

‘You would, perhaps, care to remain during the consultation (может, вы хотите остаться = присутствовать во время консультации)?’ said I.

demure [d'mju], handsome ['haensm], Hercules ['h:kjuli:z], filial ['fll]

“He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and common-place — by no means the conception one forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much more struck by the appearance of his companion. This was a tall young man, surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face, and the limbs and chest of a Hercules. He had his hand under the other’s arm as they entered, and helped him to a chair with a tenderness which one would hardly have expected from his appearance.

“‘You will excuse my coming in, doctor,’ said he to me, speaking English with a slight lisp. ‘This is my father, and his health is a matter of the most overwhelming importance to me.’

“I was touched by this filial anxiety.

‘You would, perhaps, care to remain during the consultation?’ said I.

“‘Not for the world (ни за что на свете),’ he cried with a gesture of horror (вскричал он с жестом ужаса = и замахал руками в ужасе). ‘It is more painful to me than I can express (для меня это невыразимая мука: «мучительнее, чем я могу выразить»). If I were to see my father in one of these dreadful seizures (если я увижу отца во время одного из этих ужасных приступов) I am convinced that I should never survive it (я уверен, я этого не переживу). My own nervous system is an exceptionally sensitive one (моя собственная нервная система крайне чувствительная). With your permission (с вашего позволения), I will remain in the waiting-room while you go into my father’s case (я подожду в приемной: «комнате ожидания», пока вы будете изучать болезнь моего отца; to go into — расследовать, тщательно рассматривать, изучать).’