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The Pupil by Henry James, Chapter V

Chapter V

But it was during the ensuing time that the real problem came up - the problem of how far it was excusable to discuss the turpitude of parents with a child of twelve, of thirteen, of fourteen. Absolutely inexcusable and quite impossible it of course at first appeared; and indeed the question didn't press for some time after Pemberton had received his three hundred francs. They produced a temporary lull, a relief from the sharpest pressure. The young man frugally amended his wardrobe and even had a few francs in his pocket. He thought the Moreens looked at him as if he were almost too smart, as if they ought to take care not to spoil him. If Mr. Moreen hadn't been such a man of the world he would perhaps have spoken of the freedom of such neckties on the part of a subordinate. But Mr. Moreen was always enough a man of the world to let things pass - he had certainly shown that. It was singular how Pemberton guessed that Morgan, though saying nothing about it, knew something had happened. But three hundred francs, especially when one owed money, couldn't last for ever; and when the treasure was gone - the boy knew when it had failed - Morgan did break ground. The party had returned to Nice at the beginning of the winter, but not to the charming villa. They went to an hotel, where they stayed three months, and then moved to another establishment, explaining that they had left the first because, after waiting and waiting, they couldn't get the rooms they wanted. These apartments, the rooms they wanted, were generally very splendid; but fortunately they never COULD get them - fortunately, I mean, for Pemberton, who reflected always that if they had got them there would have been a still scantier educational fund. What Morgan said at last was said suddenly, irrelevantly, when the moment came, in the middle of a lesson, and consisted of the apparently unfeeling words: "You ought to filer, you know - you really ought." Pemberton stared. He had learnt enough French slang from Morgan to know that to filer meant to cut sticks. "Ah my dear fellow, don't turn me off!" Morgan pulled a Greek lexicon toward him - he used a Greek-German - to look out a word, instead of asking it of Pemberton. "You can't go on like this, you know." "Like what, my boy?" "You know they don't pay you up," said Morgan, blushing and turning his leaves. "Don't pay me?" Pemberton stared again and feigned amazement. "What on earth put that into your head?" "It has been there a long time," the boy replied rummaging his book. Pemberton was silent, then he went on: "I say, what are you hunting for? They pay me beautifully." "I'm hunting for the Greek for awful whopper," Morgan dropped. "Find that rather for gross impertinence and disabuse your mind. What do I want of money?" "Oh that's another question!" Pemberton wavered - he was drawn in different ways. The severely correct thing would have been to tell the boy that such a matter was none of his business and bid him go on with his lines. But they were really too intimate for that; it was not the way he was in the habit of treating him; there had been no reason it should be. On the other hand Morgan had quite lighted on the truth - he really shouldn't be able to keep it up much longer; therefore why not let him know one's real motive for forsaking him? At the same time it wasn't decent to abuse to one's pupil the family of one's pupil; it was better to misrepresent than to do that. So in reply to his comrade's last exclamation he just declared, to dismiss the subject, that he had received several payments. "I say - I say!" the boy ejaculated, laughing.

"That's all right," Pemberton insisted. "Give me your written rendering." Morgan pushed a copybook across the table, and he began to read the page, but with something running in his head that made it no sense. Looking up after a minute or two he found the child's eyes fixed on him and felt in them something strange. Then Morgan said: "I'm not afraid of the stern reality." "I haven't yet seen the thing you ARE afraid of - I'll do you that justice!" This came out with a jump - it was perfectly true - and evidently gave Morgan pleasure. "I've thought of it a long time," he presently resumed. "Well, don't think of it any more." The boy appeared to comply, and they had a comfortable and even an amusing hour. They had a theory that they were very thorough, and yet they seemed always to be in the amusing part of lessons, the intervals between the dull dark tunnels, where there were waysides and jolly views. Yet the morning was brought to a violent as end by Morgan's suddenly leaning his arms on the table, burying his head in them and bursting into tears: at which Pemberton was the more startled that, as it then came over him, it was the first time he had ever seen the boy cry and that the impression was consequently quite awful. The next day, after much thought, he took a decision and, believing it to be just, immediately acted on it. He cornered Mr. and Mrs. Moreen again and let them know that if on the spot they didn't pay him all they owed him he wouldn't only leave their house but would tell Morgan exactly what had brought him to it. "Oh you HAVEN'T told him?" cried Mrs. Moreen with a pacifying hand on her well-dressed bosom.

"Without warning you? For what do you take me?" the young man returned.

Mr. and Mrs. Moreen looked at each other; he could see that they appreciated, as tending to their security, his superstition of delicacy, and yet that there was a certain alarm in their relief. "My dear fellow," Mr. Moreen demanded, "what use can you have, leading the quiet life we all do, for such a lot of money?" - a question to which Pemberton made no answer, occupied as he was in noting that what passed in the mind of his patrons was something like: "Oh then, if we've felt that the child, dear little angel, has judged us and how he regards us, and we haven't been betrayed, he must have guessed - and in short it's GENERAL!" an inference that rather stirred up Mr. and Mrs. Moreen, as Pemberton had desired it should. At the same time, if he had supposed his threat would do something towards bringing them round, he was disappointed to find them taking for granted - how vulgar their perception HAD been! - that he had already given them away. There was a mystic uneasiness in their parental breasts, and that had been the inferior sense of it. None the less however, his threat did touch them; for if they had escaped it was only to meet a new danger. Mr. Moreen appealed to him, on every precedent, as a man of the world; but his wife had recourse, for the first time since his domestication with them, to a fine hauteur, reminding him that a devoted mother, with her child, had arts that protected her against gross misrepresentation.

"I should misrepresent you grossly if I accused you of common honesty!" our friend replied; but as he closed the door behind him sharply, thinking he had not done himself much good, while Mr. Moreen lighted another cigarette, he heard his hostess shout after him more touchingly

"Oh you do, you DO, put the knife to one's throat!" The next morning, very early, she came to his room. He recognised her knock, but had no hope she brought him money; as to which he was wrong, for she had fifty francs in her hand. She squeezed forward in her dressing-gown, and he received her in his own, between his bath-tub and his bed. He had been tolerably schooled by this time to the "foreign ways" of his hosts. Mrs. Moreen was ardent, and when she was ardent she didn't care what she did; so she now sat down on his bed, his clothes being on the chairs, and, in her preoccupation, forgot, as she glanced round, to be ashamed of giving him such a horrid room. What Mrs. Moreen's ardour now bore upon was the design of persuading him that in the first place she was very good-natured to bring him fifty francs, and that in the second, if he would only see it, he was really too absurd to expect to be paid. Wasn't he paid enough without perpetual money - wasn't he paid by the comfortable luxurious home he enjoyed with them all, without a care, an anxiety, a solitary want? Wasn't he sure of his position, and wasn't that everything to a young man like him, quite unknown, with singularly little to show, the ground of whose exorbitant pretensions it had never been easy to discover? Wasn't he paid above all by the sweet relation he had established with Morgan - quite ideal as from master to pupil - and by the simple privilege of knowing and living with so amazingly gifted a child; than whom really (and she meant literally what she said) there was no better company in Europe? Mrs. Moreen herself took to appealing to him as a man of the world; she said "Voyons, mon cher," and "My dear man, look here now"; and urged him to be reasonable, putting it before him that it was truly a chance for him. She spoke as if, according as he SHOULD be reasonable, he would prove himself worthy to be her son's tutor and of the extraordinary confidence they had placed in him. After all, Pemberton reflected, it was only a difference of theory and the theory didn't matter much. They had hitherto gone on that of remunerated, as now they would go on that of gratuitous, service; but why should they have so many words about it? Mrs. Moreen at all events continued to be convincing; sitting there with her fifty francs she talked and reiterated, as women reiterate, and bored and irritated him, while he leaned against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his wrapper, drawing it together round his legs and looking over the head of his visitor at the grey negations of his window. She wound up with saying: "You see I bring you a definite proposal." "A definite proposal?" "To make our relations regular, as it were - to put them on a comfortable footing." "I see - it's a system," said Pemberton. "A kind of organised blackmail." Mrs. Moreen bounded up, which was exactly what he wanted. "What do you mean by that?" "You practise on one's fears - one's fears about the child if one should go away." "And pray what would happen to him in that event?" she demanded, with majesty.

"Why he'd be alone with YOU." "And pray with whom SHOULD a child be but with those whom he loves most?" "If you think that, why don't you dismiss me?" "Do you pretend he loves you more than he loves US?" cried Mrs. Moreen.

"I think he ought to. I make sacrifices for him. Though I've heard of those YOU make I don't see them." Mrs. Moreen stared a moment; then with emotion she grasped her inmate's hand. "WILL you make it - the sacrifice?" He burst out laughing. "I'll see. I'll do what I can. I'll stay a little longer. Your calculation's just - I DO hate intensely to give him up; I'm fond of him and he thoroughly interests me, in spite of the inconvenience I suffer. You know my situation perfectly. I haven't a penny in the world and, occupied as you see me with Morgan, am unable to earn money." Mrs. Moreen tapped her undressed arm with her folded bank-note. "Can't you write articles? Can't you translate as I do?" "I don't know about translating; it's wretchedly paid." "I'm glad to earn what I can," said Mrs. Moreen with prodigious virtue. "You ought to tell me who you do it for." Pemberton paused a moment, and she said nothing; so he added: "I've tried to turn off some little sketches, but the magazines won't have them - they're declined with thanks." "You see then you're not such a phoenix," his visitor pointedly smiled - "to pretend to abilities you're sacrificing for our sake." "I haven't time to do things properly," he ruefully went on. Then as it came over him that he was almost abjectly good-natured to give these explanations he added: "If I stay on longer it must be on one condition - that Morgan shall know distinctly on what footing I am." Mrs. Moreen demurred. "Surely you don't want to show off to a child?" "To show YOU off, do you mean?" Again she cast about, but this time it was to produce a still finer flower. "And YOU talk of blackmail!" "You can easily prevent it," said Pemberton. "And YOU talk of practising on fears," she bravely pushed on. "Yes, there's no doubt I'm a great scoundrel." His patroness met his eyes - it was clear she was in straits. Then she thrust out her money at him. "Mr. Moreen desired me to give you this on account." "I'm much obliged to Mr. Moreen, but we HAVE no account." "You won't take it?" "That leaves me more free," said Pemberton. "To poison my darling's mind?" groaned Mrs. Moreen.

"Oh your darling's mind -!" the young man laughed.

She fixed him a moment, and he thought she was going to break out tormentedly, pleadingly: "For God's sake, tell me what IS in it! " But she checked this impulse - another was stronger. She pocketed the money - the crudity of the alternative was comical - and swept out of the room with the desperate concession: "You may tell him any horror you like!"

Chapter V Kapitel V Capítulo V 第五章 V skyrius Capítulo V Глава V Розділ V 第五章

But it was during the ensuing time that the real problem came up -  the problem of how far it was excusable to discuss the turpitude of  parents with a child of twelve, of thirteen, of fourteen. Ale právě v následujícím období se objevil skutečný problém - problém, nakolik je omluvitelné diskutovat s dvanáctiletým, třináctiletým nebo čtrnáctiletým dítětem o zkaženosti rodičů. Но именно в это время возникла настоящая проблема - проблема того, насколько оправданно обсуждать порочность родителей с ребенком двенадцати, тринадцати, четырнадцати лет. Absolutely inexcusable and quite impossible it of course at first  appeared; and indeed the question didn't press for some time after  Pemberton had received his three hundred francs. Конечно, сначала это казалось совершенно непростительным и невозможным; и действительно, вопрос не стоял еще некоторое время после того, как Пембертон получил свои триста франков. They produced a  temporary lull, a relief from the sharpest pressure. Они давали временное затишье, избавляли от резкого давления. The young man  frugally amended his wardrobe and even had a few francs in his  pocket. Молодой человек экономно пополнял свой гардероб и даже имел в кармане несколько франков. He thought the Moreens looked at him as if he were almost  too smart, as if they ought to take care not to spoil him. Ему казалось, что Морены смотрят на него как на слишком умного, как на человека, которого надо беречь, чтобы он не испортился. If Mr.  Moreen hadn't been such a man of the world he would perhaps have  spoken of the freedom of such neckties on the part of a  subordinate. Если бы господин Морен не был таким человеком, он, возможно, сказал бы о свободе таких галстуков со стороны подчиненного. But Mr. Moreen was always enough a man of the world  to let things pass - he had certainly shown that. Но господин Морен всегда был достаточно миролюбивым человеком, чтобы оставить все как есть - это он, безусловно, продемонстрировал. It was singular  how Pemberton guessed that Morgan, though saying nothing about it,  knew something had happened. Удивительно, как Пембертон догадался, что Морган, хотя и не говорил об этом, знал, что что-то произошло. But three hundred francs, especially  when one owed money, couldn't last for ever; and when the treasure  was gone - the boy knew when it had failed - Morgan did break  ground. Но триста франков, тем более в долг, не могли длиться вечно; и когда сокровища кончились - мальчик знал, когда они кончились, - Морган все-таки выбил землю. The party had returned to Nice at the beginning of the  winter, but not to the charming villa. В начале зимы гости вернулись в Ниццу, но не на очаровательную виллу. They went to an hotel,  where they stayed three months, and then moved to another  establishment, explaining that they had left the first because,  after waiting and waiting, they couldn't get the rooms they wanted. Они отправились в гостиницу, где пробыли три месяца, а затем переехали в другое заведение, объяснив, что покинули первое, потому что после ожидания не смогли получить нужные им номера. These apartments, the rooms they wanted, were generally very  splendid; but fortunately they never COULD get them - fortunately,  I mean, for Pemberton, who reflected always that if they had got  them there would have been a still scantier educational fund. Эти квартиры, комнаты, которые они хотели получить, были, как правило, очень великолепны; но, к счастью, они никогда не могли их получить - к счастью, я имею в виду, для Пембертона, который всегда думал, что если бы они их получили, то фонд образования был бы еще более скудным. What  Morgan said at last was said suddenly, irrelevantly, when the  moment came, in the middle of a lesson, and consisted of the  apparently unfeeling words: "You ought to filer, you know - you  really ought." То, что Морган сказал в конце концов, было сказано внезапно, неуместно, когда настал момент, в середине урока, и состояло из явно несерьезных слов: "Ты должен стать филером, ты знаешь - ты действительно должен". Pemberton stared. Пембертон уставился на него. He had learnt enough French slang from Morgan to  know that to filer meant to cut sticks. От Моргана он узнал достаточно французского жаргона, чтобы понять, что to filer означает "рубить палки". "Ah my dear fellow, don't  turn me off!" "Ах, мой дорогой друг, не отворачивайся от меня!" Morgan pulled a Greek lexicon toward him - he used a Greek-German -  to look out a word, instead of asking it of Pemberton. Морган пододвинул к себе греческий лексикон - он пользовался греко-немецким - чтобы подсмотреть слово, вместо того чтобы спросить его у Пембертона. "You can't  go on like this, you know." "Так дальше продолжаться не может, ты знаешь". "Like what, my boy?" "Как что, мой мальчик?" "You know they don't pay you up," said Morgan, blushing and turning  his leaves. "Ты же знаешь, что они не платят тебе зарплату", - сказал Морган, краснея и разворачивая листья. "Don't pay me?" Pemberton stared again and feigned amazement. Пембертон снова уставился на него и притворился изумленным. "What on earth put that into your head?" "Что это тебе в голову взбрело?" "It has been there a long time," the boy replied rummaging his  book. "Она там уже давно", - ответил мальчик, роясь в своей книге. Pemberton was silent, then he went on: "I say, what are you  hunting for? Пембертон помолчал, потом продолжил: "Я спрашиваю, за чем вы охотитесь? They pay me beautifully." Они мне прекрасно платят". "I'm hunting for the Greek for awful whopper," Morgan dropped. "Я охочусь за греческим словом "ужасный", - обронил Морган. "Find that rather for gross impertinence and disabuse your mind. "Найдите это скорее за грубую дерзость и разубедите себя. What do I want of money?" Что мне нужно от денег?" "Oh that's another question!" "А вот это уже другой вопрос!" Pemberton wavered - he was drawn in different ways. Пембертон колебался - его тянуло в разные стороны. The severely  correct thing would have been to tell the boy that such a matter  was none of his business and bid him go on with his lines. Вполне корректно было бы сказать мальчику, что это не его дело, и предложить ему продолжить свою линию. But  they were really too intimate for that; it was not the way he was  in the habit of treating him; there had been no reason it should  be. Но они действительно были слишком близки для этого; он не имел привычки обращаться с ним так, да и не было причин для этого. On the other hand Morgan had quite lighted on the truth - he  really shouldn't be able to keep it up much longer; therefore why  not let him know one's real motive for forsaking him? С другой стороны, Морган довольно легкомысленно отнесся к правде - он действительно не должен был долго держаться на плаву, так почему бы не сообщить ему истинные мотивы, по которым он его бросил? At the same  time it wasn't decent to abuse to one's pupil the family of one's  pupil; it was better to misrepresent than to do that. В то же время оскорблять семью своего ученика было неприлично, лучше исказить, чем сделать это. So in reply  to his comrade's last exclamation he just declared, to dismiss the  subject, that he had received several payments. Поэтому в ответ на последнее восклицание товарища он, чтобы закрыть тему, просто заявил, что получил несколько платежей. "I say - I say!" "Я говорю - я говорю!" the boy ejaculated, laughing. vyhrkl chlapec a zasmál se. воскликнул мальчик, смеясь.

"That's all right," Pemberton insisted. "Все в порядке", - настаивал Пембертон. "Give me your written  rendering." "Дайте мне ваш письменный рендеринг". Morgan pushed a copybook across the table, and he began to read the  page, but with something running in his head that made it no sense. Морган пододвинул к себе тетрадь и начал читать страницу, но в голове у него крутилось что-то бессмысленное. Looking up after a minute or two he found the child's eyes fixed on  him and felt in them something strange. Через минуту-другую он поднял голову и увидел, что глаза ребенка устремлены на него, и почувствовал в них что-то странное. Then Morgan said: "I'm  not afraid of the stern reality." Затем Морган сказал: "Я не боюсь суровой реальности". "I haven't yet seen the thing you ARE afraid of - I'll do you that  justice!" "Я еще не видел того, чего ты боишься - я отдам тебе должное!" This came out with a jump - it was perfectly true - and evidently  gave Morgan pleasure. Это вырвалось с прыжком - это было совершенно правдиво - и, очевидно, доставило Моргану удовольствие. "I've thought of it a long time," he  presently resumed. "Я давно об этом думал, - продолжил он. "Well, don't think of it any more." "Ну, не думай больше об этом". The boy appeared to comply, and they had a comfortable and even an  amusing hour. Мальчик, похоже, подчинился, и они провели час в комфортной и даже забавной обстановке. They had a theory that they were very thorough, and  yet they seemed always to be in the amusing part of lessons, the  intervals between the dull dark tunnels, where there were waysides  and jolly views. У них была теория, что они очень стараются, и, тем не менее, казалось, что они всегда попадают в забавную часть уроков, в промежутки между скучными темными туннелями, где есть дорожки и веселые виды. Yet the morning was brought to a violent as end  by Morgan's suddenly leaning his arms on the table, burying his  head in them and bursting into tears: at which Pemberton was the  more startled that, as it then came over him, it was the first time  he had ever seen the boy cry and that the impression was  consequently quite awful. Однако утро закончилось тем, что Морган внезапно положил руки на стол, зарылся в них головой и разразился слезами; Пембертон был тем более поражен, что, как потом выяснилось, он впервые видел, как мальчик плачет, и поэтому впечатление было ужасным. The next day, after much thought, he took a decision and, believing  it to be just, immediately acted on it. На следующий день, после долгих раздумий, он принял решение и, считая его справедливым, немедленно приступил к его исполнению. He cornered Mr. and Mrs.  Moreen again and let them know that if on the spot they didn't pay  him all they owed him he wouldn't only leave their house but would  tell Morgan exactly what had brought him to it. Он снова загнал мистера и миссис Морен в угол и дал им понять, что если они на месте не заплатят ему все, что должны, то он не только покинет их дом, но и расскажет Моргану, что именно привело его в него. "Oh you HAVEN'T told him?" "А ты ему не сказала?" cried Mrs. Moreen with a pacifying hand  on her well-dressed bosom. воскликнула миссис Морен, умиротворяюще приложив руку к своей хорошо одетой груди.

"Without warning you? "Не предупредив вас? For what do you take me?" За что вы меня принимаете?" the young man  returned. вернулся молодой человек.

Mr. and Mrs. Moreen looked at each other; he could see that they  appreciated, as tending to their security, his superstition of  delicacy, and yet that there was a certain alarm in their relief. Мистер и миссис Морен посмотрели друг на друга; он увидел, что они оценили его суеверие деликатности как способствующее их безопасности, и в то же время в их облегчении чувствовалась некоторая тревога. "My dear fellow," Mr. Moreen demanded, "what use can you have,  leading the quiet life we all do, for such a lot of money?" "Мой дорогой друг, - спросил г-н Морен, - что вы можете сделать, ведя спокойную жизнь, которую мы все ведем, за такие большие деньги?" - a  question to which Pemberton made no answer, occupied as he was in  noting that what passed in the mind of his patrons was something  like: "Oh then, if we've felt that the child, dear little angel,  has judged us and how he regards us, and we haven't been betrayed,  he must have guessed - and in short it's GENERAL!" - Вопрос, на который Пембертон не дал ответа, поскольку был занят тем, что отмечал, что в голове его покровителей происходило что-то вроде: "О, тогда, если мы почувствовали, что ребенок, дорогой ангелочек, оценил нас и то, как он к нам относится, и мы не были преданы, он должен был догадаться - и, короче говоря, это GENERAL!" an inference  that rather stirred up Mr. and Mrs. Moreen, as Pemberton had  desired it should. Это умозаключение, как и хотел Пембертон, весьма взволновало мистера и миссис Морен. At the same time, if he had supposed his threat  would do something towards bringing them round, he was disappointed  to find them taking for granted - how vulgar their perception HAD  been! В то же время, если он и предполагал, что его угроза как-то поможет им одуматься, то с разочарованием обнаружил, что они считают само собой разумеющимся - насколько вульгарным было их восприятие! - that he had already given them away. - что он их уже отдал. There was a mystic  uneasiness in their parental breasts, and that had been the  inferior sense of it. В их родительской груди царила мистическая тревога, и это было самое слабое ее ощущение. None the less however, his threat did touch  them; for if they had escaped it was only to meet a new danger. Однако его угроза все же коснулась их, ведь если они и спаслись, то только для того, чтобы встретить новую опасность. Mr. Moreen appealed to him, on every precedent, as a man of the  world; but his wife had recourse, for the first time since his  domestication with them, to a fine hauteur, reminding him that a  devoted mother, with her child, had arts that protected her against  gross misrepresentation. Мистер Морен по всем пунктам апеллировал к нему как к человеку из мира, а его жена впервые после того, как он поселился у них, прибегла к изысканной спеси, напомнив ему, что у преданной матери с ее ребенком есть искусство, которое защищает ее от грубого искажения.

"I should misrepresent you grossly if I accused you of common  honesty!" "Я бы сильно исказил ваше мнение, если бы обвинил вас в обычной честности!" our friend replied; but as he closed the door behind him  sharply, thinking he had not done himself much good, while Mr.  Moreen lighted another cigarette, he heard his hostess shout after  him more touchingly ответил наш друг; но когда он резко закрыл за собой дверь, решив, что не сделал себе ничего хорошего, а мистер Морен прикурил еще одну сигарету, он услышал, как хозяйка еще более трогательно крикнула ему вслед

"Oh you do, you DO, put the knife to one's throat!" "О, вы делаете, вы ДЕЛАЕТЕ, приставляете нож к горлу!" The next morning, very early, she came to his room. На следующее утро, очень рано, она пришла к нему в комнату. He recognised  her knock, but had no hope she brought him money; as to which he  was wrong, for she had fifty francs in her hand. She squeezed  forward in her dressing-gown, and he received her in his own,  between his bath-tub and his bed. Она протиснулась вперед в халате, и он принял ее в своем, между ванной и кроватью. He had been tolerably schooled  by this time to the "foreign ways" of his hosts. К этому времени он уже был достаточно хорошо обучен "чужому пути" своих хозяев. Mrs. Moreen was  ardent, and when she was ardent she didn't care what she did; so  she now sat down on his bed, his clothes being on the chairs, and,  in her preoccupation, forgot, as she glanced round, to be ashamed  of giving him such a horrid room. Миссис Морин была пылкой, а когда она была пылкой, ей было все равно, что делать; вот и сейчас она села на его кровать, его одежда лежала на стульях, и в своей озабоченности, оглядываясь по сторонам, забыла, что ей стыдно за то, что она устроила ему такую ужасную комнату. What Mrs. Moreen's ardour now  bore upon was the design of persuading him that in the first place  she was very good-natured to bring him fifty francs, and that in  the second, if he would only see it, he was really too absurd to  expect to be paid. Теперь г-жа Морин с жаром принялась убеждать его в том, что, во-первых, она очень добродушно принесла ему пятьдесят франков, а во-вторых, если он только увидит это, он действительно слишком нелеп, чтобы рассчитывать на оплату. Wasn't he paid enough without perpetual money -  wasn't he paid by the comfortable luxurious home he enjoyed with  them all, without a care, an anxiety, a solitary want? Разве не достаточно ему платили без вечных денег - разве не платили ему за удобный роскошный дом, которым он наслаждался вместе со всеми, без забот, тревог, одиноких желаний? Wasn't he  sure of his position, and wasn't that everything to a young man  like him, quite unknown, with singularly little to show, the ground  of whose exorbitant pretensions it had never been easy to discover? Разве он не был уверен в своем положении, и разве это не все для такого молодого человека, как он, совершенно неизвестного, с необычайно малыми возможностями, основания для непомерных притязаний которого никогда не было легко обнаружить? Wasn't he paid above all by the sweet relation he had established  with Morgan - quite ideal as from master to pupil - and by the  simple privilege of knowing and living with so amazingly gifted a  child; than whom really (and she meant literally what she said)  there was no better company in Europe? Разве он не был вознагражден прежде всего теми милыми отношениями, которые установились у него с Морганом - совершенно идеальными, как между мастером и учеником, - и простой привилегией знать и жить с таким удивительно одаренным ребенком, лучше которого (и она говорила это буквально) не было в Европе? Mrs. Moreen herself took to  appealing to him as a man of the world; she said "Voyons, mon  cher," and "My dear man, look here now"; and urged him to be  reasonable, putting it before him that it was truly a chance for  him. Сама миссис Морин стала обращаться к нему как к человеку мира; она говорила "Voyons, mon cher" и "My dear man, look here now"; она убеждала его быть благоразумным, убеждая его в том, что это действительно шанс для него. She spoke as if, according as he SHOULD be reasonable, he  would prove himself worthy to be her son's tutor and of the  extraordinary confidence they had placed in him. Она говорила так, как будто, если он окажется разумным, то докажет, что достоин быть воспитателем ее сына, и о том необыкновенном доверии, которое они ему оказали. After all, Pemberton reflected, it was only a difference of theory  and the theory didn't matter much. В конце концов, размышлял Пембертон, это всего лишь разница в теории, а теория не имеет большого значения. They had hitherto gone on that  of remunerated, as now they would go on that of gratuitous,  service; but why should they have so many words about it? До сих пор они продолжали служить за вознаграждение, а теперь будут служить безвозмездно, но зачем говорить об этом так много? Mrs.  Moreen at all events continued to be convincing; sitting there with  her fifty francs she talked and reiterated, as women reiterate, and  bored and irritated him, while he leaned against the wall with his  hands in the pockets of his wrapper, drawing it together round his  legs and looking over the head of his visitor at the grey negations  of his window. Миссис Морин, во всяком случае, продолжала быть убедительной; сидя там со своими пятьюдесятью франками, она говорила и повторяла, как повторяют женщины, и скучала и раздражала его, а он, прислонившись к стене, засунув руки в карманы своей обертки, скрепив ее вокруг ног, смотрел поверх головы своей посетительницы на серые отрицания своего окна. She wound up with saying: "You see I bring you a  definite proposal." В итоге она сказала: "Вы видите, что у меня есть конкретное предложение". "A definite proposal?" "Однозначное предложение?" "To make our relations regular, as it were - to put them on a  comfortable footing." "Сделать наши отношения, так сказать, регулярными - поставить их на удобную основу". "I see - it's a system," said Pemberton. "Понятно - это система", - сказал Пембертон. "A kind of organised  blackmail." "Своеобразный организованный шантаж". Mrs. Moreen bounded up, which was exactly what he wanted. Миссис Морин вскочила, что было как раз то, чего он хотел. "What do  you mean by that?" "Что вы имеете в виду?" "You practise on one's fears - one's fears about the child if one  should go away." "Вы тренируетесь на своих страхах - страхах за ребенка, если он уедет". "And pray what would happen to him in that event?" "А помолитесь, что с ним будет в этом случае?" she demanded,  with majesty. требовала она с величественным видом.

"Why he'd be alone with YOU." "Зачем ему оставаться наедине с ВАМИ". "And pray with whom SHOULD a child be but with those whom he loves  most?" "А с кем должен быть ребенок, как не с теми, кого он больше всего любит?" "If you think that, why don't you dismiss me?" "Если вы так думаете, то почему не уволите меня?" "Do you pretend he loves you more than he loves US?" "Ты притворяешься, что он любит тебя больше, чем нас?" cried Mrs.  Moreen.

"I think he ought to. "Я думаю, что он должен. I make sacrifices for him. Я иду на жертвы ради него. Though I've  heard of those YOU make I don't see them." Хотя я слышал о тех, кого ВЫ делаете, я их не вижу". Mrs. Moreen stared a moment; then with emotion she grasped her  inmate's hand. Миссис Морин на мгновение застыла на месте, а затем с чувством схватила свою соседку за руку. "WILL you make it - the sacrifice?" "Сможешь ли ты пойти на это - на жертву?" He burst out laughing. Он разразился хохотом. "I'll see. "Я посмотрю. I'll do what I can. Я сделаю все, что в моих силах. I'll stay  a little longer. Я останусь еще немного. Your calculation's just - I DO hate intensely to  give him up; I'm fond of him and he thoroughly interests me, in  spite of the inconvenience I suffer. Ваш расчет справедлив - мне очень не хочется от него отказываться, я его люблю, он мне очень интересен, несмотря на неудобства, которые я испытываю. You know my situation  perfectly. Вы прекрасно знаете мою ситуацию. I haven't a penny in the world and, occupied as you see  me with Morgan, am unable to earn money." У меня нет ни гроша в кармане, и, занимаясь с Морганом, я не в состоянии заработать деньги". Mrs. Moreen tapped her undressed arm with her folded bank-note. Миссис Морин постучала сложенной банкнотой по своей неодетой руке. "Can't you write articles? "Вы не умеете писать статьи? Can't you translate as I do?" Вы не можете переводить так же, как я?" "I don't know about translating; it's wretchedly paid." "Насчет перевода не знаю, там жалко платить". "I'm glad to earn what I can," said Mrs. Moreen with prodigious  virtue. "Я рада заработать то, что могу, - сказала миссис Морен с непомерной добродетелью. "You ought to tell me who you do it for." "Вы должны сказать мне, для кого вы это делаете". Pemberton paused a  moment, and she said nothing; so he added: "I've tried to turn off  some little sketches, but the magazines won't have them - they're  declined with thanks." Пембертон сделал небольшую паузу, но она ничего не сказала, и он добавил: "Я пытался сделать несколько небольших набросков, но журналы их не принимают - они отклоняются с благодарностью". "You see then you're not such a phoenix," his visitor pointedly  smiled - "to pretend to abilities you're sacrificing for our sake." "Значит, не такой уж ты и феникс", - остро улыбнулся его посетитель, - "чтобы изображать способности, которыми ты жертвуешь ради нас". "I haven't time to do things properly," he ruefully went on. "У меня нет времени на то, чтобы сделать все как следует, - с горечью продолжает он. Then  as it came over him that he was almost abjectly good-natured to  give these explanations he added: "If I stay on longer it must be  on one condition - that Morgan shall know distinctly on what  footing I am." Потом, когда до него дошло, что он почти с презрительным добродушием дает эти объяснения, он добавил: "Если я останусь еще, то только при одном условии - Морган должен четко знать, на какой ноге я нахожусь". Mrs. Moreen demurred. Г-жа Морен возразила. "Surely you don't want to show off to a  child?" "Вы, конечно, не хотите покрасоваться перед ребенком?" "To show YOU off, do you mean?" "Чтобы показать себя, вы имеете в виду?" Again she cast about, but this time it was to produce a still finer  flower. Она снова принялась за дело, но на этот раз для того, чтобы получить еще более прекрасный цветок. "And YOU talk of blackmail!" "А ВЫ говорите о шантаже!" "You can easily prevent it," said Pemberton. "Вы можете легко предотвратить это, - сказал Пембертон. "And YOU talk of practising on fears," she bravely pushed on. "А ВЫ говорите о тренировке на страхах", - смело продолжила она. "Yes, there's no doubt I'm a great scoundrel." "Да, несомненно, я большой негодяй". His patroness met his eyes - it was clear she was in straits. Его покровительница встретила его взгляд - было видно, что она в затруднении. Then  she thrust out her money at him. Затем она протянула ему свои деньги. "Mr. Moreen desired me to give  you this on account." "Господин Морен просил передать вам это по счету". "I'm much obliged to Mr. Moreen, but we HAVE no account." "Я очень благодарен мистеру Морену, но у нас нет счета". "You won't take it?" "Вы не возьмете его?" "That leaves me more free," said Pemberton. "Это делает меня более свободным", - сказал Пембертон. "To poison my darling's mind?" "Чтобы отравить разум моей любимой?" groaned Mrs. Moreen. простонала миссис Морен.

"Oh your darling's mind -!" "Ох уж эти твои мысли -!" the young man laughed. рассмеялся молодой человек.

She fixed him a moment, and he thought she was going to break out  tormentedly, pleadingly: "For God's sake, tell me what IS in it! Она на мгновение замерла, и ему показалось, что она сейчас вырвется, мучительно, умоляюще: "Ради Бога, скажите мне, что в нем есть! "  But she checked this impulse - another was stronger. " Но она сдержала этот порыв - другой был сильнее. She pocketed  the money - the crudity of the alternative was comical - and swept  out of the room with the desperate concession: "You may tell him  any horror you like!" Она сунула деньги в карман - грубость альтернативы была комичной - и выскочила из комнаты с отчаянной уступкой: "Вы можете рассказать ему любой ужас!"