The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Page 7
I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness—frightened too, I could see that—but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan.
Je n'avais jamais vu un cercle de visages aussi haineux ; et il y avait l'homme au milieu, avec une sorte de froideur narquoise et sombre — effrayé aussi, je pouvais le voir — mais s'en tirant, monsieur, vraiment comme Satan.
'If you choose to make capital out of this accident,' said he, 'I am naturally helpless.
« Si vous choisissez de tirer parti de cet accident, dit-il, je suis naturellement sans recours.
No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene,' says he.
Tout gentleman souhaite éviter un esclandre », dit-il.
'Name your figure.'
« Fixez votre prix. »
Well, we screwed him up to a hundred pounds for the child's family; he would have clearly liked to stick out; but there was something about the lot of us that meant mischief, and at last he struck.
Eh bien, nous lui avons extorqué cent livres pour la famille de l'enfant ; il aurait manifestement aimé résister ; mais il y avait quelque chose dans notre groupe qui présageait des ennuis, et il finit par céder.
The next thing was to get the money; and where do you think he carried us but to that place with the door?—whipped out a key, went in, and presently came back with the matter of ten pounds in gold and a cheque for the balance on Coutts's, drawn payable to bearer and signed with a name that I can't mention, though it's one of the points of my story, but it was a name at least very well known and often printed.
L'étape suivante était d'obtenir l'argent ; et où pensez-vous qu'il nous conduisit, sinon à cet endroit avec la porte ? — il sortit une clé d'un geste vif, entra, et revint peu après avec une dizaine de livres en or et un chèque pour le solde sur la banque Coutts, établi payable au porteur et signé d'un nom que je ne peux pas mentionner, bien que ce soit l'un des points essentiels de mon histoire, mais c'était du moins un nom très connu et souvent imprimé.
The figure was stiff; but the signature was good for more than that if it was only genuine.
La somme était élevée ; mais la signature valait davantage encore, pour peu qu'elle fût authentique.
Vocabulary
- jamais
- Never; used in negation or meaning 'ever'
- cercle
- A circle or group of people gathered together
- visages
- Plural of visage; faces of people
- haineux
- Full of hatred; hateful, expressing intense hostility
- milieu
- The middle, center, or surrounding environment
- sorte
- A sort, kind, or type of something
- froideur
- Coldness in manner; emotional aloofness or indifference
- narquoise
- Feminine form of narquois; mocking, sardonic, sly
- sombre
- Dark, gloomy, somber in mood or appearance
- effrayé
- Frightened, scared, filled with fear
- tirant
- Present participle of tirer; pulling, drawing, getting out
- vraiment
- Truly, really, genuinely, in truth
- choisissez
- Second person plural present of choisir; you choose
- tirer
- To pull, draw, shoot, or take advantage of
- parti
- Benefit, decision, or political party; tirer parti means exploit
- accident
- An unexpected event, mishap, or incident
- naturellement
- Naturally, of course, as expected
- recours
- Recourse, resort, legal remedy available
- souhaite
- Third person singular of souhaiter; wishes, desires
- éviter
- To avoid, to prevent something from happening
- esclandre
- A public scandal or noisy scene causing embarrassment
- Fixez
- Imperative of fixer; set, fix, name a price
- prix
- Price, cost, or prize
- extorqué
- Past participle of extorquer; extorted money by force
- livres
- Pounds (currency) or books, plural of livre
- aurait
- Conditional of avoir; would have
- manifestement
- Obviously, manifestly, clearly, evidently
- résister
- To resist, withstand, oppose something or someone
- quelque
- Some, a few, a certain; used before nouns
- présageait
- Imperfect of présager; foretold, foreshadowed trouble ahead
- ennuis
- Troubles, problems, difficulties, annoyances
- céder
- To give in, yield, surrender, concede
- étape
- A step, stage, or phase in a process
- suivante
- Feminine of suivant; next, following
- obtenir
- To obtain, get, acquire something
- conduisit
- Passé simple of conduire; led, drove, took to
- sinon
- If not, otherwise, except, or else
- endroit
- A place, spot, location
- sortit
- Passé simple of sortir; went out, took out
- geste
- A gesture, movement of the hand or body
- vif
- Quick, lively, sharp, brisk in manner
- revint
- Passé simple of revenir; came back, returned
- dizaine
- About ten; a group or set of approximately ten
- or
- Gold (the metal); also a conjunction meaning now, but
- chèque
- A check; written order to pay from a bank
- solde
- Balance of an account; also a sale or remaining amount
- établi
- Past participle of établir; established, set up, drawn up
- payable
- Payable; able to be paid, due for payment
- porteur
- Bearer; person carrying or to whom payment is made
- signé
- Past participle of signer; signed with a signature
- mentionner
- To mention, refer to, bring up in speech
- soit
- Subjunctive of être; be; or be it, granted
- essentiels
- Essential, crucial, fundamental elements or points
- connu
- Past participle of connaître; known, well-known, famous
- souvent
- Often, frequently, many times
- imprimé
- Printed; past participle of imprimer, to print
- somme
- A sum of money or total amount
- élevée
- High, elevated, raised; feminine past participle of élever
- signature
- A person's signed name on a document
- valait
- Imperfect of valoir; was worth, had value
- davantage
- More, even more, to a greater degree
- encore
- Still, again, yet, even more
- fût
- Imperfect subjunctive of être; were, was (formal/literary)
- authentique
- Authentic, genuine, real, not forged or false
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