It was opened at once by someone very different from what he had expected. It was a woman, young and singularly beautiful. She was of the German type, blonde and fair-haired, with the piquant contrast of a pair of beautiful dark eyes with which she surveyed the stranger with surprise and a pleasing embarrassment which brought a wave of colour over her pale face. Framed in the bright light of the open doorway, it seemed to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture; the more attractive for its contrast with the sordid and gloomy surroundings. A lovely violet growing upon one of those black slag-heaps of the mines would not have seemed more surprising. So entranced was he that he stood staring without a word, and it was she who broke the silence.

扉はすぐに開かれた / 予想していたのと非常に違った人物によって◆それは女性だった / 若く、目覚しく美しい◆彼女はドイツ系の / ブロンドの髪と / 見事な対比をなす黒い瞳 / その目が見知らぬ人間を見回した / 驚きと嬉しい困惑で / それが彼女の青白い顔に赤味を走らせた◆開いた戸口の明るい光の額縁に収まって / マクマードにはこれ以上に美しい絵を見たことがないと思えた / それはさらに魅力的だった / 汚く薄暗い周囲のありさまとの対比で◆鉱山から出た黒い鉱滓の山の上に美しいスミレが一輪咲いても / もっと驚いたりはしなかっただろう◆非常にうっとりとしていたので彼は何も言わずに立ったまま見つめていた / そして沈黙を破ったのは彼女だった

“I thought it was father,” said she with a pleasing little touch of a German accent. “Did you come to see him? He is down town. I expect him back every minute.”

「父かと思っていました」 / 彼女は感じの良いわずかなドイツ訛りで言った◆「父に会いに来たんですね？ / 父は町に出ています◆すぐに戻って来ると思いますよ」

McMurdo continued to gaze at her in open admiration until her eyes dropped in confusion before this masterful visitor.

マクマードはあからさまな称賛の態度で彼女を見つめつづけた / 彼女の視線が困惑してこの横柄な訪問者の足元に落ちるまで

“No, miss,” he said at last, “I’m in no hurry to see him. But your house was recommended to me for board. I thought it might suit me – and now I know it will.”

「いいえ / お嬢さん」 / 彼は遂に言った / 「お父さんに会うのは別に急いでいません◆ここを下宿にとすすめられたもので◆ここが俺に合うかもしれんなと思った / / しかし今そうだと分かった」

“You are quick to make up your mind,” said she with a smile.

「決心するのが速いんですね」 / 彼女は微笑んで言った

“Anyone but a blind man could do as much,” the other answered.

「目が見えれば誰でも同じだ」 / 彼は答えた

She laughed at the compliment. “Come right in, sir,” she said. “I’m Miss Ettie Shafter, Mr. Shafter’s daughter. My mother’s dead, and I run the house. You can sit down by the stove in the front room until father comes along– – Ah, here he is! So you can fix things with him right away.”

彼女はこの賛辞に笑った◆「どうぞお入り下さい」 / 彼女は言った◆「私はエティ・シャフター / シャフターの娘です◆母は亡くなりました / それで私がこの宿を手伝っています◆居間のストーブの近くに座ってください / 父が帰ってくるまで… / ああ / あそこに！ / これで父とすぐに契約できますね」

A heavy, elderly man came plodding up the path. In a few words McMurdo explained his business. A man of the name of Murphy had given him the address in Chicago. He in turn had had it from someone else. Old Shafter was quite ready. The stranger made no bones about terms, agreed at once to every condition, and was apparently fairly flush of money. For seven dollars a week paid in advance he was to have board and lodging.

大柄の老人が道を重い足取りでやって来た◆マクマードは自分の仕事を簡単に説明した◆マーフィと言う名の男が / シカゴでその住所を彼に告げた◆彼も別の人間からその住所を聞いて知った◆老シャフターは大歓迎だった◆余所者は条件に文句はつけなかった / 全ての条件にすぐに同意し / そしてどうやら非常に金回りがいいようだった◆1週七ドルを前払いし / 彼は食事付きの下宿を得る事になった

So it was that McMurdo, the self-confessed fugitive from justice, took up his abode under the roof of the Shafters, the first step which was to lead to so long and dark a train of events, ending in a far distant land.

これが / お尋ね者を自称するマクマードの / シャフターの下宿に住み着いた / 最初の一歩だった / 非常に長く暗い出来事の連続に繋がる / はるか離れた国でその結末を向かえることになる