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silent [`saIlqnt] parlour [`pRlq] fierce [fIqs] people [pJpl] desirous [dI`zaIqrqs]

1. He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove, or upon the cliffs, with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner of the parlour next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce, and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day, when he came back from his stroll, he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question; but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman put up at the 'Admiral Benbow' (as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present.

1. For me, at least (для меня, по крайней мере), there was no secret about the matter (там не было секрета об этом деле = я знал, в чем дело); for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms (так как я был, в некотором смысле, участником в его тревогах = он поделился со мной своей тревогой; to share — делить, принимать участие). He had taken me aside one day (он отвел меня в сторону в один день = однажды), and promised me a silver fourpenny (и обещал мне /платить/ серебряную четырехпенсовую монету) on the first of every month (первого /числа/ каждого месяца) if I would only keep my 'weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg, (если я буду только «смотреть в оба, не появится ли моряк с одной ногой»; to keep eyes open — смотреть в оба, не зевать; weather-eye — бдительность) and let him know the moment he appeared (дам ему знать о моменте, когда он появится). Often enough (часто довольно = всякий раз), when the first of the month came round (когда первое число месяца наступало), and I applied to him for my wage (обращался к нему за моим жалованьем), he would only blow through his nose at me (он лишь трубил /свистел/ носом на меня), and stare me down (смущал меня взглядом = свирепо глядел); but before the week was out (но прежде, чем неделя заканчивалась) he was sure to think better of it (он менял мнение об этом = передумывал), bring me my fourpenny piece (приносил мне четырехпенсовую монету), and repeat his orders to look out for 'the seafaring man with one leg (и повторял приказания высматривать «моряка с одной ногой»).