Английский с Г. К. Честертоном. Рассказы об отце Брауне / Gilbert Keith Chesterton. The Innocence of Father Brown

 “Fourth item. The wax candles, which have to be stuck in bottle necks because there is nothing else to stick them in. Now I wish you to note how very much queerer all this is than anything we anticipated. For the central riddle we are prepared; we have all seen at a glance that there was something wrong about the last earl. We have come here to find out whether he really lived here, whether he really died here, whether that red-haired scarecrow who did his burying had anything to do with his dying. But suppose the worst in all this, the most lurid or melodramatic solution you like.

Suppose the servant really killed the master, or suppose the master isn’t really dead (предположим, слуга действительно убил хозяина, или, предположим, хозяин жив: «на самом деле не мертв»), or suppose the master is dressed up as the servant, or suppose the servant is buried for the master (или предположим, хозяин /теперь/ одет как слуга, или, предположим, слуга похоронен вместо хозяина); invent what Wilkie Collins’ tragedy you like (придумайте любую трагедию в духе Уилки Коллинза,[6] какая вам нравится; to invent – изобретать; invention – изобретение), and you still have not explained a candle without a candlestick, or why an elderly gentleman of good family should habitually spill snuff on the piano (и вы все равно не сможете объяснить, почему свеча – без подсвечника, или почему пожилой джентльмен из хорошей семьи имел привычку рассыпать нюхательный табак на пианино; habit – обыкновение; обычай; to spill – проливать/ся/; рассыпать/ся/). The core of the tale we could imagine (суть истории мы можем представить; core – центр; сердцевина; суть; to imagine – воображать, представлять себе); it is the fringes that are mysterious (но детали очень таинственные; fringe – бахрома; край; периферия). By no stretch of fancy can the human mind connect together snuff and diamonds and wax and loose clockwork (ни при каком напряжении фантазии человеческий разум не в состоянии объединить нюхательный табак и бриллианты, и воск, и разобранный часовой механизм; to stretch – тянуть/ся/; вытягивать/ся/; напрягать/ся/; to connect – соединять; связать; объединять).”

 Suppose the servant really killed the master, or suppose the master isn’t really dead, or suppose the master is dressed up as the servant, or suppose the servant is buried for the master; invent what Wilkie Collins’ tragedy you like, and you still have not explained a candle without a candlestick, or why an elderly gentleman of good family should habitually spill snuff on the piano. The core of the tale we could imagine; it is the fringes that are mysterious. By no stretch of fancy can the human mind connect together snuff and diamonds and wax and loose clockwork.”