Английский язык с Грэмом Грином. Третий человек

"Oh, he was over in London six months ago (о, он приезжал в Лондон шесть месяцев назад; over — через; to be over — приходить в чей-л. дом, ср.: I'll be over later this evening — я приду попозже, вечером) for a medical congress (на медицинский конгресс). You know he qualified as a doctor (вы знаете, он выучился на доктора: «как доктор»), though he never practised (хотя он никогда не практиковал). That was typical of Harry (это было типично для Гарри). He just wanted to see (он просто хотел увидеть) if he could do a thing (мог ли он сделать вещь) and then he lost interest (а потом он терял интерес; to lose — терять). But he used to say (но он часто говорил: «имел обыкновение говорить») that it often came in handy (что это часто пригождалось; to come in — вступать в действие; handy — сподручный, удобный)." And that too was true (и это тоже было правдой; true — верный, правильный; правдивый, достоверный). It was odd how like the Lime he knew was to the Lime I knew (было странно, каким похожим тот Лайм, которого знал он, был на того Лайма, которого знал я): it was only that he looked at Lime's image from a different angle (только он смотрел на образ Лайма с другого угла) or in a different light (или в другом свете; different — непохожий, другой, отличный). He said, "One of the things I liked about Harry (одна из вещей, которые я любил в Гарри) was his humour (был его юмор)." He gave a grin (он улыбнулся: «дал усмешку») which took five years off his age (которая взяла пять лет с его возраста = и показался при этом на пять лет моложе). "I'm a buffoon (я фигляр). I like playing the silly fool (я люблю придуриваться: «играть глупого шута»), but Harry had real wit (но у Гарри было настоящее остроумие). You know (вы знаете), he could have been a first class light composer (он мог бы быть первоклассным легким композитором) if he had worked at it (если бы он поработал над этим)."

scrounge ['skraunG], report [rI'pO:t], thoroughly ['TArqlI], death [deT], convenient [kqn'vi:nIqnt], alcoholic ["xlkq'hOlIk], irritation ["IrI'teIS(q)n], medical ['medIk(q)l], congress ['kONgrqs], practise ['prxktIs], interest ['Int(q)rqst], composer [kqm'pquzq]

I said, "Tell me about yourself—and Lime."

"Look here," he said, "I badly need another drink, but I can't keep on scrounging on a stranger. Could you change me a pound or two into Austrian money?"

"Don't bother about that," I said and called the waiter. "You can treat me when I come to London on leave. You were going to tell me how you met Lime?"

The glass of chocolate liqueur might have been a crystal the way he looked at it and turned it this way and that. He said, "It was a long time ago. I don't suppose anyone knows Harry the way I do," and I thought of the thick file of agents' reports in my office, each claiming the same thing. I believe in my agents: I've sifted them all very thoroughly.

"How long?"

"Twenty years—or a bit more. I met him my first term at school. I can see the place. I can see the notice-board and what was on it. I can hear the bell ringing. He was a year older and knew the ropes. He put me wise to a lot of things." He took a quick dab at his drink and then turned the crystal again as if to see more clearly what there was to see. He said, "It's funny. I can't remember meeting any woman quite as well."

"Was he clever at school?"

"Not the way they wanted him to be. But what things he did think up. He was a wonderful planner. I was far better at subjects Like History and English than Harry, but I was a hopeless mug when it came to carrying out his plans." He laughed: he was already beginning, with the help of drink and talk, to throw off the shock of the death. He said, "I was always the one who got caught."

"That was convenient for Lime."

"What the hell do you mean?" he asked. Alcoholic irritation was setting in.

"Well, wasn't it?"

"That was my fault, not his. He could have found someone cleverer if he'd chosen, but he liked me. He was endlessly patient with me." Certainly, I thought, the child is father to the man, for I too had found him patient.

"When did you see him last?"