“The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British Army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.

「ロイヤル・マンスターは / 知ってのとおり / 英国軍の中で最も有名なアイルランド連隊だ◆クリミアとインド大反乱で目覚しい働きを見せ / それ以来 / ことある毎に頭角をあらわしている◆ジェームズ・バークレイは月曜の夜までそこを率いていた / 勇敢な退役軍人だ / 彼は完全な一兵卒から始めて / インド大反乱のときの勇敢な働きで将校にまで身を起こし / かつてマスケット銃を担いでいた連隊の指揮をしていた」

“Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of a former colour-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married for upward of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.

「バークレイ大佐は軍曹時代に結婚した / 彼の妻は、 / 旧姓はナンシー・デヴォイだが / 同じ部隊の元軍旗曹長の娘だった◆したがって / 想像できるように / ちょっとした社会的摩擦があった / この若い夫婦が / このときはまだ若かったので / 新しい環境に置かれた時◆しかしどうやら彼らは急速になじんで行ったようだ / そしてバークレイ婦人は常に / 聞いたところでは / 連隊の将校夫人の間で人気があり / 夫は同僚の中で人気があった◆婦人は非常に美しい女性だったと付け加えておこう / そして今においてもだ / 結婚してから三十年にもなるが / 彼女はいまだに印象的で女王のような容貌をしている」

“Colonel Barclay’s family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole, he thinks that Barclay’s devotion to his wife was greater than his wife’s to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow.

「バークレイ大佐の家庭はずっと幸せなものだったようだ◆マーフィー少佐が / 多くの事実関係を僕は彼から聞いたが / 僕に断言した / この夫婦に意見の相違があったというのは聞いたことがないと◆全体として / 彼は考えている / バークレイの妻に対する愛情が / 妻からバークレイに対するものより大きいと◆彼は一日でも妻から離れていると非常に不安になった◆それに対して妻の方は / 献身的で忠誠を尽くしているが / これほど、あからさまに愛情を表現していなかった◆しかしこの夫婦は連隊内で思われていた / 中年夫婦の理想だと◆二人の関係には完全に何も無かった / 彼らが迎えることになる悲劇を周りに予想させるものは」

“Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character. He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his wife. Another fact which had struck Major Murphy and three out of five of the other officers with whom I conversed was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times. As the major expressed it, the smile has often been struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand, when he has been joining in the gaieties and chaff of the mess-table. For days on end, when the mood was on him, he has been sunk in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his brother officers had observed. The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark. This puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture.

「バークレイ大佐は少し変わった性格をしていたようだ◆普段は威勢の良い陽気な退役軍人の雰囲気だ / しかし時々 / 彼は示していたらしい / 驚くほど暴力的で執念深い部分があると◆しかしこの部分の性格は / 決して妻の方には向けられなかったようだ◆もう一つの事実は / マーフィー少佐と5人のうち3人の軍人を驚かせた / 僕が話をした / 時々大佐に訪れる奇妙な種類の憂鬱だった◆少佐の表現によれば / しばしば笑顔が突然彼の顔から消え失せ / あたかも見えない手がそうするように / 食卓で陽気に冗談を言い合っている最中に◆何日間も続けて / この気分に彼が陥っている時は / 彼は非常に陰気に落ち込んでいる◆これと、ちょっと迷信じみているのだけが / 彼の性格の異常な部分だった / 同僚の仕官が見たところ◆後者の異常性は一人取り残される事を嫌うと言う形をとった / 特に夜になると◆群を抜いて男らしい性格の中のこの子供じみた特徴は / しばしば噂話や憶測の種になった」

“The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old One Hundred and Seventeenth) has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers live out of barracks, and the colonel has during all this time occupied a villa called ‘Lachine,’ about half a mile from the north camp. The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the highroad. A coachman and two maids form the staff of servants. These with their master and mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors.

「ロイヤル・マンスターの第一大隊 / これは旧１１７大隊だ / ここ数年オールダーショットに駐屯している◆結婚した将校は兵舎の外に住んでいる / そして大佐はこの間ずっと / ラシーヌと呼ばれる郊外住宅に住んでいた / 北部兵舎の半マイルほど北にある◆屋敷は私有地の上に建てられている / しかし西の方は幹線道路から30ヤードと離れていない◆使用人は、御者が一人、メイドが二人だ◆彼らと主人と女主人が / ラシーヌの住人の全てだ / バークレイ夫妻には子供がいないし / 滞在している客も大抵はいない」

“Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of last Monday.

「次に、この前の月曜の夜、9時から10時の間にラシーヌで起きた出来事を話そう」