Чарльз Диккенс - The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain / Одержимый, или Сделка с призраком. Книга для чтения на английском языке

As he stood rooted to the spot [19] rooted to the spot – ( уст. ) как прикованный , possessed by fear and wonder, and imagining he heard repeated in melancholy echoes, dying away fainter and fainter, the words, “Destroy its like in all whom you approach!” a shrill cry reached his ears. It came, not from the passages beyond the door, but from another part of the old building, and sounded like the cry of some one in the dark who had lost the way.

He looked confusedly upon his hands and limbs, as if to be assured of his identity, and then shouted in reply, loudly and wildly; for there was a strangeness and terror upon him, as if he too were lost.

The cry responding, and being nearer, he caught up the lamp, and raised a heavy curtain in the wall, by which he was accustomed to pass into and out of the theatre where he lectured, – which adjoined his room. Associated with youth and animation, and a high amphitheatre of faces which his entrance charmed to interest in a moment, it was a ghostly place when all this life was faded out of it, and stared upon him like an emblem of Death.

“Halloa!” he cried. “Halloa! This way! Come to the light!” When, as he held the curtain with one hand, and with the other raised the lamp and tried to pierce the gloom that filled the place, something rushed past him into the room like a wild-cat, and crouched down in a corner.

“What is it?” he said, hastily.

He might have asked “What is it?” even had he seen it well, as presently he did when he stood looking at it gathered up in its corner.

A bundle of tatters, held together by a hand, in size and form almost an infant’s, but in its greedy, desperate little clutch, a bad old man’s. A face rounded and smoothed by some half-dozen years, but pinched and twisted by the experiences of a life. Bright eyes, but not youthful. Naked feet, beautiful in their childish delicacy, – ugly in the blood and dirt that cracked upon them. A baby savage, a young monster, a child who had never been a child, a creature who might live to take the outward form of man, but who, within, would live and perish a mere beast.

Used, already, to be worried and hunted like a beast, the boy crouched down as he was looked at, and looked back again, and interposed his arm to ward off the expected blow.

“I’ll bite,” he said, “if you hit me!”

The time had been, and not many minutes since, when such a sight as this would have wrung the Chemist’s heart. He looked upon it now, coldly; but with a heavy effort to remember something – he did not know what – he asked the boy what he did there, and whence he came.

“Where’s the woman?” he replied. “I want to find the woman.”

“Who?”

“The woman. Her that brought me here, and set me by the large fire. She was so long gone, that I went to look for her, and lost myself. I don’t want you. I want the woman.”

He made a spring, so suddenly, to get away, that the dull sound of his naked feet upon the floor was near the curtain, when Redlaw caught him by his rags.

“Come! you let me go!” muttered the boy, struggling, and clenching his teeth. “I’ve done nothing to you. Let me go, will you, to the woman!”

“That is not the way. There is a nearer one,” said Redlaw, detaining him, in the same blank effort to remember some association that ought, of right, to bear upon this monstrous object. “What is your name?”

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Far be it from me to assert– ( уст. ) Я вовсе не берусь утверждать

mocked the shapes– ( разг. ) искажали очертания

with his arms a-kimbo– ( уст. ) подбоченившись; руки в боки

made a feint– ( уст. ) притворился

could have had the heart– ( разг. ) хватило бы духу

Not a morsel of it– ( разг. ) Ничуть

in Queen Elizabeth’s time– во времена королевы Елизаветы I (1533–1603)

keep my memory green– ( разг. ) пусть моя память остается крепкой; оставь мне хорошую память!

Spare me another moment– ( разг. ) Задержитесь ненадолго

Couldn’t be dreamed of!– ( разг. ) Об этом не может быть и речи!

I have made no terms of secrecy with you– ( уст. ) Я не просил вас хранить все в тайне

As he fell a-musing– ( уст. ) Пока он предавался размышлениям

The Christmas Waits– ( уст. ) Толпа славящих Христа в сочельник на улице

I come as I am called– ( уст. ) Я прихожу, когда меня зовут

Let me blot it from my memory!– ( разг. ) Пусть это сотрется из моей памяти!

Who would not forget– ( разг. ) Кто не хотел бы забыть

held its peace– ( уст. ) молчал

go where you will– ( разг. ) куда бы вы ни пошли

rooted to the spot– ( уст. ) как прикованный