straight [streɪt], grief [ɡri:f], wife [waɪf], lighthouse ['laɪthaʋs], wine [waɪn], water ['wɔ:tə], comfortably ['kʌmfətəblɪ]
“Why,” said my wife, pulling up her veil, “it is Kate Whitney. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came in.”
“I didn't know what to do, so l came straight to you.” That was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to a lighthouse.
“It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?”
“Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too (я хочу совета и помощи /от/ доктора также). It's about Isa (это об Айзе = дело касается Айзы). He has not been home for two days (его не было дома два дня). I am so frightened about him (я так боюсь за него)!”
It was not the first time (это не было первым временем = не в первый раз) that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble (/когда/ она говорила с нами о горе: «беде» своего мужа; to speak – говорить, высказываться), to me as a doctor (со мной как с доктором), to my wife as an old friend and school companion (с моей женой – как со старой подругой и школьной приятельницей). We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could find (мы утешали и успокаивали ее как могли: «такими словами, какие мы могли найти»; to soothe – успокаивать, смягчать; to comfort – утешать). Did she know where her husband was (знала ли она, где находится ее муж)? Was it possible that we could bring him back to her (было ли это возможно, что мы можем привести его обратно к ней = нельзя ли привести его обратно домой)?
advice [əd'vaɪs], frightened ['fraɪtnd], husband ['hʌzbənd], companion [kəm'pænɪən], soothed [su:ðd], comforted ['kʌmfətɪd]
“Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!”
It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we could bring him back to her?
It seems that it was (кажется, что возможно). She had the surest information (она имела самую точную информацию = ей было точно известно; sure – верный, несомненный) that of late he had, when the fit was on him (что в последнее время он, когда настроение было на нем = в определенном состоянии), made use of an opium den in the farthest east of the City (пользовался опиумным притоном /расположенным/ на самом востоке Сити; to make use of – применять, употреблять). Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to one day (до настоящего времени его оргии всегда ограничивались одним днем), and he had come back (и он возвращался /домой/), twitching and shattered (подергиваясь и разбитый; to shatter – разбить, разрушить), in the evening (вечером). But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty hours (но теперь чары действовали на него в течение сорока восьми часов), and he lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks (и он лежал там, несомненно, среди отбросов доков), breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects (вдыхая яд или отсыпаясь после курения: «от следствий»). There he was to be found (там он мог быть найден)