Английский с О. Генри. Благородный жулик / O. Henry. The Gentle Grafter

 For once I’ll meet you half way. Go to Mrs. Trotter and tell her to draw the $2,000 from the bank and give it to this man she’s infatuated with and be happy.’

“I jumps up and shakes Andy’s hand for five minutes, and then I goes back to Mrs. Trotter and tells her, and she cries as hard for joy as she did for sorrow.

“Two days afterward me and Andy packed up to go.

“ ‘Wouldn’t you like to go down and meet Mrs. Trotter once before we leave?’ I asks him. ‘She’d like mightily to know you and express her encomiums and gratitude.’

“ ‘Why, I guess not,’ says Andy. ‘I guess we’d better hurry and catch that train.’

“I was strapping our capital around me in a memory belt (я надевал на себя наш капитал, упакованный в «памятный кушак»; to strap – связывать, стягивать ремнями; strap – ремень, ремешок; memory – память; belt – пояс, кушак, ремень) like we always carried it (как мы всегда /пере/возили деньги), when Andy pulls a roll of large bills out of his pocket (когда = как вдруг Энди вынимает из кармана пачку крупных банкнот; roll – рулон; свиток; рулет; /амер. жарг./ деньги /особ. туго свернутые/) and asks me to put ’em with the rest (и просит меня положить их с остальными; to ask – спрашивать; просить).

“ ‘What’s this (что это такое)?’ says I.

“ ‘It’s Mrs. Trotter’s two thousand (это две тысячи миссис Троттер),’ says Andy.

“ ‘How do you come to have it (как так получилось, что они у тебя; to come – приходить, прибывать; случаться, происходить)?’ I asks.

“ ‘She gave it to me (она отдала их мне),’ says Andy. ‘I’ve been calling on her three evenings a week for more than a month (я заходил к ней три вечера в неделю более месяца).’

“ ‘Then are you William Wilkinson (значит, это ты Уильям Уилкинсон)?’ says I.

“ ‘I was (я /им/ был),’ says Andy.”

 “I was strapping our capital around me in a memory belt like we always carried it, when Andy pulls a roll of large bills out of his pocket and asks me to put ‘em with the rest.

“ ‘What’s this?’ says I.

“ ‘It’s Mrs. Trotter’s two thousand,’ says Andy.

“ ‘How do you come to have it?’ I asks.

“ ‘She gave it to me,’ says Andy. ‘I’ve been calling on her three evenings a week for more than a month.’

“ ‘Then are you William Wilkinson?’ says I.

“ ‘I was,’ says Andy.”

Shearing the Wolf (Стрижка волка [4] )

Jeff Peters was always eloquent (Джефф Питерс всегда был красноречив) when the ethics of his profession was under discussion (когда обсуждалась: «была под обсуждением» этическая сторона его профессии; ethics – этика; мораль, этичность).