‘Not so very charming, but it has always seemed to me curious. Neither of us would ever be here alone when we were children, and I’m not sure that I should care about it now in certain moods. It is one of those things that can hardly be put into words – by me at least – and that sound rather foolish if they are not properly expressed. I can tell you after a fashion what it was that gave us – well, almost a horror of the place when we were alone. It was towards the evening of one very hot autumn day, when Frank had disappeared mysteriously about the grounds, and I was looking for him to fetch him to tea, and going down this path I suddenly saw him, not hiding in the bushes, as I rather expected, but sitting on the bench in the old summer-house – there was a wooden summer-house here, you know – up in the corner, asleep, but with such a dreadful look on his face that I really thought he must be ill or even dead. I rushed at him and shook him, and told him to wake up; and wake up he did with a scream.
I assure you the poor boy seemed almost beside himself with fright (уверяю вас, что бедный мальчик казался чуть ли не в себе от испуга). He hurried me away to the house (он поспешно увел меня в дом), and was in a terrible state all that evening, hardly sleeping (и весь тот вечер был в ужасном состоянии и не мог уснуть; hardly – едва). Some one had to sit up with him, as far as I remember (кому-то пришлось сидеть с ним, насколько я помню; to sit up – не ложиться спать; бодрствовать; as far as – насколько). He was better very soon (ему очень скоро стало лучше), but for days I couldn’t get him to say why he had been in such a condition (но несколько дней я не могла вытянуть из него: «убедить его сказать», почему он был в таком состоянии). It came out at last that he had really been asleep and had had a very odd disjointed sort of dream (наконец выяснилось, что он и в самом деле уснул, и ему приснился очень странный бессвязный сон; sort – вид, род, сорт). He never saw much of what was around him (то, что было вокруг него, ему так и не удалось толком разглядеть: «он никогда не видел многого из того, что было вокруг него»; never – зд. имеет усилительное значение), but he felt the scenes most vividly (но каждую сцену он прочувствовал очень живо). First he made out that he was standing in a large room with a number of people in it (сначала он понял, что он стоял = находился в какой-то большой комнате, где было несколько человек), and that some one was opposite to him who was “very powerful” (а напротив него находился кто-то «очень могущественный»), and he was being asked questions which he felt to be very important (и ему задавали вопросы, которые, как он чувствовал, были очень важны), and, whenever he answered them, some one (и каждый раз, как он отвечал на них, кто-то) – either the person opposite to him, or some one else in the room (либо тот, кто был напротив него, либо кто-то еще в комнате) – seemed to be, as he said, making something up against him (словно, как он сказал, что-то выдумывал против него; to make up – придумывать, выдумывать, сочинять). All the voices sounded to him very distant, but he remembered bits of things that were said (все голоса звучали /ему казалось, как будто/ издалека: «очень далекими», но он запомнил кое-что из того, что говорилось): “Where were you on the 19th of October (где вы были девятнадцатого октября)?” and “Is this your handwriting?” and so on (и «Это ваш почерк?» и так далее).
I assure you the poor boy seemed almost beside himself with fright. He hurried me away to the house, and was in a terrible state all that evening, hardly sleeping. Some one had to sit up with him, as far as I remember. He was better very soon, but for days I couldn’t get him to say why he had been in such a condition. It came out at last that he had really been asleep and had had a very odd disjointed sort of dream. He never saw much of what was around him, but he felt the scenes most vividly. First he made out that he was standing in a large room with a number of people in it, and that some one was opposite to him who was “very powerful,” and he was being asked questions which he felt to be very important, and, whenever he answered them, some one – either the person opposite to him, or some one else in the room – seemed to be, as he said, making something up against him. All the voices sounded to him very distant, but he remembered bits of things that were said: “Where were you on the 19th of October?” and “Is this your handwriting?” and so on.
I can see now, of course, that he was dreaming of some trial (теперь я, конечно, понимаю, что ему приснился какой-то суд), but we were never allowed to see the papers (но нам никогда не разрешалось смотреть газеты), and it was odd that a boy of eight should have such a vivid idea of what went on in a court (и было странно, что у мальчика восьми лет было такое живое представление о том, что происходит в суде). All the time he felt, he said, the most intense anxiety and oppression and hopelessness (все время он чувствовал, сказал он, очень сильную тревогу, был подавлен и в отчаянии; hope – надежда; hopeless – безнадежный; hopelessness – безнадежность; отчаяние; безысходность) (though I don’t suppose he used such words as that to me (хотя я не думаю, что он употреблял такие слова)). Then, after that, there was an interval in which he remembered being dreadfully restless and miserable (затем, после этого, наступил период времени, когда, как он помнил, он чувствовал себя ужасно неспокойно и несчастно), and then there came another sort of picture (а затем возникла другая ситуация; to come – приходить, появляться; sort – вид, сорт, разновидность), when he was aware that he had come out of doors on a dark raw morning with a little snow about (когда он осознавал, что он вышел из дверей пасмурным сырым утром; на земле кое-где лежал снег; little – мало). It was in a street, or at any rate among houses (это происходило на улице или, во всяком случае, среди домов), and he felt that there were numbers and numbers of people there too (и он чувствовал, что там было множество людей; number – число, количество), and that he was taken up some creaking wooden steps and stood on a sort of platform (и что его провели вверх по скрипящим деревянным ступеням и поставили на чем-то вроде платформы; to take – доставлять; сопровождать; вести), but the only thing he could actually see was a small fire burning somewhere near him (но единственное, что он фактически видел, был небольшой костер, горевший где-то недалеко от него). Some one who had been holding his arm left hold of it and went towards this fire (кто-то, кто держал его за руку, отпустил ее и подошел к этому костру; hold – захват; сжатие; удержание; to leave hold – отпускать, выпускать), and then he said the fright he was in was worse than at any other part of his dream (и тогда, он сказал, он был напуган больше: «испуг, в котором он находился, был хуже», чем в любой другой момент сна; part – доля, часть), and if I had not wakened him up he didn’t know what would have become of him (и что если бы я не разбудила его, он не знал, что бы с ним стало).
I can see now, of course, that he was dreaming of some trial, but we were never allowed to see the papers, and it was odd that a boy of eight should have such a vivid idea of what went on in a court. All the time he felt, he said, the most intense anxiety and oppression and hopelessness (though I don’t suppose he used such words as that to me). Then, after that, there was an interval in which he remembered being dreadfully restless and miserable, and then there came another sort of picture, when he was aware that he had come out of doors on a dark raw morning with a little snow about. It was in a street, or at any rate among houses, and he felt that there were numbers and numbers of people there too, and that he was taken up some creaking wooden steps and stood on a sort of platform, but the only thing he could actually see was a small fire burning somewhere near him. Some one who had been holding his arm left hold of it and went towards this fire, and then he said the fright he was in was worse than at any other part of his dream, and if I had not wakened him up he didn’t know what would have become of him.
A curious dream for a child to have, wasn’t it (любопытный сон для ребенка, не правда ли)? Well, so much for that (ну, об этом достаточно). It must have been later in the year that Frank and I were here (должно быть, следующие события произошли позднее в тот же год, и тогда Фрэнк и я = мы с Фрэнком снова оказались здесь: «это, должно быть, было позднее в тот год, что Фрэнк и я были здесь»), and I was sitting in the arbour just about sunset (и я сидела в беседке уже ближе к закату; arbour – беседка /из зелени/). I noticed the sun was going down (я заметила, что солнце уже садилось), and told Frank to run in and see if tea was ready (и велела Фрэнку сбегать в дом и посмотреть, не готов ли чай) while I finished a chapter in the book I was reading (пока я заканчивала главу в книге, которую я читала). Frank was away longer than I expected (Фрэнка не было дольше, чем я ожидала; to be away – отсутствовать), and the light was going so fast that I had to bend over my book to make it out (а смеркалось: «свет исчезал» так быстро, что мне пришлось согнуться над книгой, чтобы разобрать буквы; to make out – разобрать, увидеть, различить). All at once I became conscious that some one was whispering to me inside the arbour (внезапно я отдала себе отчет, что в беседке кто-то мне что-то шептал; conscious – сознающий; to become conscious – замечать, осознавать). The only words I could distinguish, or thought I could, were something like (единственные слова, которые я могла разобрать, или мне так казалось: «думала, что могла», были что-то вроде) “Pull, pull (тяни, тяни). I’ll push, you pull (я буду толкать, а ты тяни).” I started up in something of a fright (я подскочила в некотором испуге). The voice – it was little more than a whisper (голос – едва ли громче шепота: «он был немного больше, чем шепот») – sounded so hoarse and angry, and yet as if it came from a long, long way off (звучал так хрипло и сердито, и в то же время словно он доносился откуда-то очень издалека) – just as it had done in Frank’s dream (точно так же, как во сне Фрэнка). But, though I was startled, I had enough courage to look round and try to make out where the sound came from (но хотя я и была испугана, у меня достало мужества осмотреться и попытаться понять, откуда доносился звук; to make out – разобрать, увидеть, различить). And – this sounds very foolish, I know, but still it is the fact (и – это звучит очень глупо, я знаю, но факт остается фактом) – I made sure that it was strongest when I put my ear to an old post (я убедилась, что он был громче всего, когда я прикладывала ухо к старому столбу; sure – уверенный; strong – сильный) which was part of the end of the seat (который служил опорой скамейки, на которой я сидела: «который был частью конца скамейки»). I was so certain of this that I remember making some marks on the post (я была настолько уверена в этом, что я помню, что сделала отметки на столбе) – as deep as I could with the scissors out of my work-basket (такие глубокие, какие смогла, ножницами из моей корзинки для рукоделия). I don’t know why (не знаю уж, почему).
