| He was the sort of man whom anybody could lead on a string to the North Pole; it was not surprising that an actor like Flambeau, dressed as another priest, could lead him to Hampstead Heath. | Такую овцу кто угодно мог бы затащить хоть на Северный полюс, так что Фламбо - блестящему актеру - ничего не стоило затащить его на этот Луг. |
| So far the crime seemed clear enough; and while the detective pitied the priest for his helplessness, he almost despised Flambeau for condescending to so gullible a victim. | Покуда все было ясно. Сыщик пожалел беспомощного священника и чуть не запрезирал Фламбо, опустившегося до такой доверчивой жертвы. |
| But when Valentin thought of all that had happened in between, of all that had led him to his triumph, he racked his brains for the smallest rhyme or reason in it. | Но что означали странные события, приведшие к победе его самого? Как ни думал он, как ни бился - смысла в них не было. |
| What had the stealing of a blue-and-silver cross from a priest from Essex to do with chucking soup at wall paper? | Где связь между кражей креста и пятном супа на обоях? |
| What had it to do with calling nuts oranges, or with paying for windows first and breaking them afterwards? | Перепутанными ярлычками? Платой вперед за разбитое окно? |
| He had come to the end of his chase; yet somehow he had missed the middle of it. | Он пришел к концу пути, но упустил середину. |
| When he failed (which was seldom), he had usually grasped the clue, but nevertheless missed the criminal. | Иногда, хотя и редко, Валантэн упускал преступника; но ключ находил всегда. |
| Here he had grasped the criminal, but still he could not grasp the clue. | Сейчас он настиг преступника, но ключа у него не было. |
| The two figures that they followed were crawling like black flies across the huge green contour of a hill. | Священники ползли по зеленому склону холма, как черные мухи. |
| They were evidently sunk in conversation, and perhaps did not notice where they were going; but they were certainly going to the wilder and more silent heights of the Heath. | Судя по всему, они беседовали и не замечали, куда идут; но шли они в самый дикий и тихий угол Луга. |
| As their pursuers gained on them, the latter had to use the undignified attitudes of the deer-stalker, to crouch behind clumps of trees and even to crawl prostrate in deep grass. | Преследователям пришлось принимать те недостойные позы, которые принимает охотник, выслеживающий дичь: они перебегали от дерева к дереву, крались и даже ползли по густой траве. |
| By these ungainly ingenuities the hunters even came close enough to the quarry to hear the murmur of the discussion, but no word could be distinguished except the word "reason" recurring frequently in a high and almost childish voice. | Благодаря этим неуклюжим маневрам охотники подошли совсем близко к дичи и слышали уже голоса, но слов не разбирали, кроме слова "разум", которое повторял то и дело высокий детский голос. |
| Once over an abrupt dip of land and a dense tangle of thickets, the detectives actually lost the two figures they were following. They did not find the trail again for an agonising ten minutes, and then it led round the brow of a great dome of hill overlooking an amphitheatre of rich and desolate sunset scenery. | Вдруг путь им преградили заросли над обрывом; сыщики потеряли след и плутали минут десять, пока, обогнув гребень круглого, как купол, холма, не увидели в лучах заката прелестную и тихую картину. |
