“I fear that you’ll have a long wait (боюсь, вам придется долго ждать: «предстоит долгое ожидание»),” Holmes whispered (прошептал Холмс). “We may thank our stars that it is not raining (нам еще повезло, что не идет дождь; to thank one's stars — благодарить свою /счастливую/ звезду; благословлять, благодарить судьбу). I don’t think we can even venture to smoke to pass the time (не думаю, что мы даже можем отважиться закурить = думаю, нам нельзя даже курить, чтобы скоротать время; to venture — рисковать; отважиться, решиться; осмелиться). However, it’s a two to one chance (тем не менее, два шанса к одному; chance — шанс, возможность, вероятность) that we get something to pay us for our trouble (что мы получим кое-что, что окупит наши хлопоты).”

secluded [s'klu:dd], occupant ['kjupnt], crouched [kraut], venture ['ven]

A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was directed to wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own grounds. In the light of a street lamp we read “Laburnum Villa” upon the gate-post of one of them. The occupants had evidently retired to rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden path. The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here it was that we crouched.

“I fear that you’ll have a long wait,” Holmes whispered. “We may thank our stars that it is not raining. I don’t think we can even venture to smoke to pass the time. However, it’s a two to one chance that we get something to pay us for our trouble.”