The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Page 12
Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground.
Poi, con un gesto di disperazione, si strappò la maschera dal viso e la scagliò a terra.
"You are right," he cried; "I am the King.
«Avete ragione,» esclamò; «sono il Re.
Why should I attempt to conceal it?"
Perché dovrei tentare di nasconderlo?»
"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes.
«Perché, in effetti?» mormorò Holmes.
"Your Majesty had not spoken before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia."
«Vostra Maestà non aveva ancora parlato che ero già consapevole di rivolgermi a Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Granduca di Cassel-Felstein e Re ereditario di Boemia.»
"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own person.
«Ma potete capire,» disse il nostro strano visitatore, sedendosi di nuovo e passandosi la mano sulla sua alta fronte bianca, «potete capire che non sono abituato a trattare simili affari di persona.
Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power.
Eppure la faccenda era così delicata che non potevo affidarla a un intermediario senza mettermi in suo potere.
I have come _incognito_ from Prague for the purpose of consulting you."
Sono venuto in incognito da Praga allo scopo di consultarvi.»
"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
«Allora, vi prego, consultate,» disse Holmes, chiudendo di nuovo gli occhi.
"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler.
«I fatti sono brevemente questi: circa cinque anni fa, durante una lunga visita a Varsavia, feci la conoscenza della ben nota avventuriera, Irene Adler.
The name is no doubt familiar to you."
Il nome vi è senz'altro familiare.»
"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without opening his eyes.
«Sia così gentile da cercarla nel mio indice, Dottore,» mormorò Holmes senza aprire gli occhi.
For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish information.
Per molti anni aveva adottato un sistema di schedatura di tutti gli articoli riguardanti uomini e cose, cosicché era difficile nominare un argomento o una persona su cui non fosse in grado di fornire immediatamente informazioni.
Vocabulary
- Poi
- poi — Then, afterward; indicates sequence in time
- con
- kon — With; preposition indicating accompaniment or manner
- un
- un — A, an; masculine indefinite article
- gesto
- dʒesto — Gesture; a movement of the body expressing emotion
- di
- di — Of, from; very common Italian preposition
- disperazione
- disperattsyone — Desperation, despair; state of hopelessness
- si
- si — Reflexive pronoun; himself, herself, itself, oneself
- strappò
- strappo — Tore off, ripped away; past tense of strappare
- la
- la — The; feminine definite article, also direct object pronoun
- maschera
- maskera — Mask; covering worn to disguise one's face
- dal
- dal — From the; contraction of preposition da and article il
- viso
- vizo — Face; the front part of the head
- e
- e — And; basic coordinating conjunction
- scagliò
- skaʎʎo — Hurled, flung; threw something forcefully away
- a
- a — To, at; common Italian preposition of place or direction
- terra
- terra — Ground, earth; the floor or ground surface
- Avete
- avete — You have; second person plural of avere
- ragione
- radʒone — Reason, right; essere in ragione means to be right
- esclamò
- esklamo — Exclaimed; said something loudly and emotionally
- sono
- sono — I am, they are; form of essere verb
- il
- il — The; masculine singular definite article
- Re
- re — King; male monarch ruling a kingdom
- Perché
- perke — Why, because; question word or conjunction
- dovrei
- dovrei — I should, I ought to; conditional of dovere
- tentare
- tentare — To try, to attempt; make an effort to do something
- nasconderlo
- nasconderlo — To hide it; infinitive nascondere plus direct object pronoun
- in
- in — In, inside; preposition of place or time
- effetti
- effetti — Effects; in effetti means in fact, indeed
- mormorò
- mormoro — Murmured; spoke softly and indistinctly
- Vostra
- vostra — Your; formal possessive adjective for royalty or authority
- Maestà
- maesta — Majesty; title of respect for a sovereign
- non
- non — Not; standard Italian negation word
- aveva
- aveva — Had; third person singular imperfect of avere
- ancora
- ancora — Still, yet, again; temporal adverb of continuation
- parlato
- parlato — Spoken; past participle of parlare
- che
- ke — That, who, which; conjunction or relative pronoun
- ero
- ero — I was; first person singular imperfect of essere
- già
- dʒa — Already; indicates something has occurred before expected
- consapevole
- konsapevole — Aware, conscious; knowing or realizing something
- rivolgermi
- rivolʤermi — To address myself, to turn to; reflexive of rivolgere
- Granduca
- granduka — Grand Duke; high-ranking hereditary noble title
- ereditario
- ereditarjo — Hereditary; passed down through family or bloodline
- Ma
- ma — But; coordinating conjunction expressing contrast
- potete
- potete — You can; second person plural present of potere
- capire
- kapire — To understand; to comprehend something
- disse
- disse — Said; third person singular passato remoto of dire
- nostro
- nostro — Our; first person plural possessive adjective
- strano
- strano — Strange, odd; unusual or peculiar in character
- visitatore
- visitatore — Visitor; person who visits a place or person
- sedendosi
- sedendosi — Sitting down; reflexive gerund of sedersi
- nuovo
- nwovo — New, again; di nuovo means once again
- passandosi
- passandosi — Passing over oneself; reflexive gerund of passarsi
- mano
- mano — Hand; the body part at the end of the arm
- sulla
- sulla — On the; contraction of su and la
- sua
- sua — His, her, its; third person singular possessive adjective
- alta
- alta — High, tall; adjective describing height
- fronte
- fronte — Forehead, front; upper part of the face
- bianca
- bjanka — White; feminine adjective describing color white
- abituato
- abituato — Accustomed, used to; past participle of abituarsi
- trattare
- trattare — To deal with, handle; manage or discuss something
- simili
- simili — Similar, such; resembling or of the same kind
- affari
- affari — Affairs, business, matters; plural of affare
- persona
- persona — Person; an individual human being
- Eppure
- eppure — And yet, nevertheless; expresses unexpected contrast
- faccenda
- fattʃenda — Matter, affair; a business or task to deal with
- era
- era — Was; third person singular imperfect of essere
- così
- kozi — So, thus, like this; adverb of manner or degree
- delicata
- delikata — Delicate, sensitive; requiring careful handling
- potevo
- potevo — I could; first person singular imperfect of potere
- affidarla
- affidarla — To entrust it; infinitive affidarsi plus object pronoun
- intermediario
- intermediarjo — Intermediary, middleman; person acting between parties
- senza
- sentsa — Without; preposition indicating absence or lack
- mettermi
- mettermi — To put myself; reflexive infinitive of mettersi
- suo
- suo — His, her, its; possessive adjective third person singular
- potere
- potere — Power; ability or authority over someone or something
- Sono
- sono — I am, they are; present tense form of essere
- venuto
- venuto — Come; past participle of venire
- incognito
- inkoɲito — Incognito; in disguise, with identity concealed
- da
- da — From, by, since; preposition of origin or agent
- allo
- allo — To the; contraction of preposition a and article lo
- scopo
- skopo — Purpose, aim; the goal or intention of an action
- consultarvi
- konsultarvi — To consult you; infinitive consultare plus object pronoun vi
- Allora
- allora — Then, so, well; temporal adverb or discourse marker
- vi
- vi — You, there; indirect/direct object pronoun or adverb
- prego
- preɡo — Please, you're welcome; polite request or response
- consultate
- konsultate — Consult; second person plural imperative of consultare
- chiudendo
- kjudendo — Closing; gerund of chiudere, to close
- gli
- ʎʎi — The, to him; masculine plural article or indirect pronoun
- occhi
- okki — Eyes; plural of occhio, the visual organs
- I
- i — The; masculine plural definite article
- fatti
- fatti — Facts; plural of fatto, established truths or events
- brevemente
- brevemente — Briefly; in a short and concise manner
- questi
- kwesti — These; masculine plural demonstrative pronoun or adjective
- circa
- tʃirka — About, approximately; indicates an approximate quantity
- cinque
- tʃinkwe — Five; the number 5
- anni
- anni — Years; plural of anno, units of time
- fa
- fa — Ago; used after time expressions for past reference
- durante
- durante — During; preposition indicating time period of an event
- una
- una — A, an; feminine indefinite article
- lunga
- luŋɡa — Long; feminine adjective describing great length or duration
- visita
- vizita — Visit; a trip to see a person or place
- feci
- fetʃi — I made, I did; first person singular passato remoto of fare
- conoscenza
- konoʃʃentsa — Acquaintance, knowledge; familiarity with a person or thing
- della
- della — Of the; contraction of di and la
- ben
- ben — Well; adverb, often used before adjectives for emphasis
- nota
- nota — Known, note; adjective meaning well-known or famous
- avventuriera
- avventurjera — Adventuress; woman who lives by daring or cunning exploits
- Il
- il — The; masculine singular definite article
- nome
- nome — Name; word used to identify a person or thing
- è
- e — Is; third person singular present of essere
- senz'
- sents — Without; elided form of senza before vowel
- altro
- altro — Other, else; adjective or pronoun indicating another
- familiare
- familjare — Familiar; well known or easily recognized
- Sia
- sia — Be; third person singular present subjunctive of essere
- gentile
- dʒentile — Kind, gentle; politely courteous and considerate
- cercarla
- tʃerkarla — To look her up; infinitive cercare plus object pronoun la
- nel
- nel — In the; contraction of in and il
- mio
- mio — My; first person singular possessive adjective
- indice
- inditʃe — Index; alphabetical list for quick reference
- Dottore
- dottore — Doctor; title for a medical professional or PhD
- aprire
- aprire — To open; to cause something closed to become accessible
- Per
- per — For, by, through; preposition of purpose or means
- molti
- molti — Many; masculine plural adjective indicating large quantity
- adottato
- adottato — Adopted; past participle of adottare, to adopt
- sistema
- sistema — System; organized method or set of procedures
- schedatura
- skedatura — Filing, indexing; the process of cataloguing records
- tutti
- tutti — All, every; masculine plural adjective meaning all
- articoli
- artikoli — Articles; pieces of writing or items in a list
- riguardanti
- riɡwardanti — Regarding, concerning; present participle of riguardare
- uomini
- womini — Men; plural of uomo, adult male humans
- cose
- koze — Things; plural of cosa, objects or matters
- cosicché
- kozikke — So that, so much so; conjunction indicating consequence
- difficile
- diffiʧile — Difficult, hard; not easy to do or understand
- nominare
- nominare — To name, to mention; to identify by name
- argomento
- arɡomento — Subject, topic; the theme of a discussion or text
- o
- o — Or; disjunctive coordinating conjunction
- su
- su — On, about; preposition of location or topic
- cui
- kui — Whom, which; relative pronoun after preposition
- fosse
- fosse — Were, was; third person singular imperfect subjunctive of essere
- grado
- ɡrado — Degree, grade; in grado di means capable of
- fornire
- fornire — To provide, supply; to give something needed
- immediatamente
- immedʒatamente — Immediately; without delay, at once
- informazioni
- informattsjoni — Information; facts or details about a subject
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