Английский для смелых. Истории о духах и привидениях / Great Ghost Stories

‘And there is nothing to be afraid of, sir?’ asked the man (и тут нечего бояться, сэр? – спросил надзиратель).

 ‘I know how you feel, I have felt exactly the same myself. Now whatever this is, it seems to want to communicate with me. By the way, did you have any disturbance in the prison last night?’

‘Yes, sir, there was half a dozen men who had the nightmare. Yelling and screaming they were, and quiet men, too, usually. It happens sometimes the night after an execution. I’ve known it before, though nothing like what it was last night.’

‘I see. Now, if this – this thing you can’t see wants to get at the telephone again tonight, give it every chance. It will probably come about the same time. I can’t tell you why, but that usually happens. So unless you must, don’t be in this room where the telephone is, just for an hour to give it plenty of time between half past nine and half past ten. I will be ready for it at the other end. Supposing I am rung up, I will, when it has finished, ring you up to make sure that I was not being called in – in the usual way.’

‘And there is nothing to be afraid of, sir?’ asked the man.

Dr Teesdale remembered his own moment of terror this morning (доктор Тисдейл вспомнил, как его обуял ужас: «его собственный момент ужаса» этим утром), but he spoke quite sincerely (но говорил он вполне искренне).

‘I am sure there is nothing to be afraid of,’ he said, reassuringly (я уверен, что бояться нечего, – успокаивающе сказал он; to reassure – заверять, уверять, убеждать; успокаивать).