"Found dead without a mark upon him (найден мертвым без следов /насилия/ на нем). You and I know that he died of sheer fright (мы с вами знаем, что умер он от одного лишь страха; sheer — абсолютный, полнейший, сущий, явный), and we know also what frightened him (и мы знаем, что его напугало); but how are we to get twelve stolid jurymen to know it (но как мы убедим в этом двенадцать флегматичных присяжных; to get — получить; убедить, заставить; stolid — бесстрастный, невозмутимый, флегматичный, вялый)? What signs are there of a hound (какие тут признаки собаки)? Where are the marks of its fangs (где следы ее клыков)? Of course, we know (конечно, мы знаем) that a hound does not bite a dead body (что собака не кусает мертвое тело), and that Sir Charles was dead before ever the brute overtook him (и что сэр Чарльз был мертв уже до того, как зверь настиг его). But we have to prove all this (но нам нужно доказывать все это), and we are not in a position to do it (а мы не можем этого сделать; position — положение; возможность)."
energetic [,en@'dZetIk], surmise ['s@:maIz] /сущ./, [s@:'maIz] /гл./, bite [baIt]
"My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic. But supposing, for argument's sake, that we had him arrested to-night, what on earth the better off should we be for that? We could prove nothing against him. There's the devilish cunning of it! If he were acting through a human agent we could get some evidence, but if we were to drag this great dog to the light of day it would not help us in putting a rope round the neck of its master."
"Surely we have a case."
"Not a shadow of one — only surmise and conjecture. We should be laughed out of court if we came with such a story and such evidence."
"There is Sir Charles's death."
"Found dead without a mark upon him. You and I know that he died of sheer fright, and we know also what frightened him; but how are we to get twelve stolid jurymen to know it? What signs are there of a hound? Where are the marks of its fangs? Of course, we know that a hound does not bite a dead body, and that Sir Charles was dead before ever the brute overtook him. But we have to prove all this, and we are not in a position to do it."
"Well, then, to-night (ну, а сегодня вечером)?"
"We are not much better off to-night (мы и сегодня вечером не многого достигнем; to be better off — быть богаче; находиться в лучшем положении). Again, there was no direct connection (опять же, не было никакой прямой связи) between the hound and the man's death (между собакой и смертью /того/ человека). We never saw the hound (мы не видели собаку). We heard it (мы слышали ее); but we could not prove (но мы не смогли бы доказать) that it was running upon this man's trail (что она бежала по следу этого человека). There is a complete absence of motive (/к тому же/ полное отсутствие мотива /преступления/). No, my dear fellow (нет, мой дорогой); we must reconcile ourselves to the fact (мы должны примириться с тем фактом) that we have no case at present (что в настоящее время фактов у нас нет), and that it is worth our while to run any risk (что нам стоит все же пойти на риск) in order to establish one (чтобы установить /хоть/ один)."
"And how do you propose to do so (и как вы предлагаете сделать это)?"