Chapter 5

第五章

THE DARKEST HOUR

最も暗い時

IF ANYTHING had been needed to give an impetus to Jack McMurdo’s popularity among his fellows it would have been his arrest and acquittal. That a man on the very night of joining the lodge should have done something which brought him before the magistrate was a new record in the annals of the society. Already he had earned the reputation of a good boon companion, a cheery reveller, and withal a man of high temper, who would not take an insult even from the all powerful Boss himself. But in addition to this he impressed his comrades with the idea that among them all there was not one whose brain was so ready to devise a bloodthirsty scheme, or whose hand would be more capable of carrying it out. “He’ll be the boy for the clean job,” said the oldsters to one another, and waited their time until they could set him to his work.

もし何か必要なものがあったとすれば / ジャック・マクマードの仲間内での人気に勢いをつけるのに / それは逮捕され無罪を得る事だっただろう◆支部にその夜加入したばかりの男が / 判事の前に引き出されるような事をしたというのは / この組織の歴史の中でもかつてなかったことだった◆既に彼は評判を獲得していた / 気心が知れた仲間 / 陽気な酒飲みとして / それにもかかわらず豪胆な性格 / 彼は侮辱されることがなかった / 全能の支部長からでさえ◆しかしこれに加えて / 彼は仲間に印象を与えていた / 彼らの全員の中で他には誰もいないと思わせる / 血に飢えた計略をいつでも生み出す頭脳がある / またはそれを実行に移す能力がある◆「彼は綺麗な仕事をする少年になるだろう」 / 年配者は口々に言った / そして彼に仕事をさせることができる機会を待っていた

McGinty had instruments enough already; but he recognized that this was a supremely able one. He felt like a man holding a fierce bloodhound in leash. There were curs to do the smaller work; but some day he would slip this creature upon its prey. A few members of the lodge, Ted Baldwin among them, resented the rapid rise of the stranger and hated him for it; but they kept clear of him, for he was as ready to fight as to laugh.

マギンティには既に十分な手下がいた / しかし彼はこれが素晴らしく有能な人間だと気付いた◆彼は獰猛なブラッドハウンドを鎖に繋いでいる人間のような気になった◆ちっぽけな仕事をする雑種犬はいた / しかしいつか彼はこの動物を獲物に向かって放つだろう◆支部の何人かの男たちは / テッド・ボールドウィンもそうだったが / 新参者がすぐに昇進するのを恨み / そのために彼を嫌った / しかし彼には近付かなかった / 彼は、笑い声を出すのと同じくらい喧嘩早かったからだ

But if he gained favour with his fellows, there was another quarter, one which had become even more vital to him, in which he lost it. Ettie Shafter’s father would have nothing more to do with him, nor would he allow him to enter the house. Ettie herself was too deeply in love to give him up altogether, and yet her own good sense warned her of what would come from a marriage with a man who was regarded as a criminal.

しかし彼が仲間からの人気を得れば / 別の場所があった / 彼にとってはさらに不可欠のものとなっていたが / そこで彼が人気を落とすという◆エティ・シャフターの父親は / 彼とは一緒に何もしようとしなかったし / 家に入れることを許そうともしなかった◆エティ自身は彼をきっぱり諦めるには愛しすぎていた / それでも / 彼女の良識が警告していた / 結婚すればどういうことが起きるか / 犯罪者と見なされている男と

One morning after a sleepless night she determined to see him, possibly for the last time, and make one strong endeavour to draw him from those evil influences which were sucking him down. She went to his house, as he had often begged her to do, and made her way into the room which he used as his sitting-room. He was seated at a table, with his back turned and a letter in front of him. A sudden spirit of girlish mischief came over her – she was still only nineteen. He had not heard her when she pushed open the door. Now she tiptoed forward and laid her hand lightly upon his bended shoulders.

眠れない夜を過ごしたある朝 / 彼女は彼に会おうと決心した / ことによるとこれで最後になっても / 思い切ってやってみようと / 彼を駄目にしている悪い仲間達から手を引かせることを◆彼女は彼の家に行った / 彼がよく彼女にそうして欲しいと頼んだように / そして彼が居間として使っていた部屋に入った◆彼はテーブルの近くに座っていた / 背中を見せ、前に手紙を置いて◆突然子供っぽい、いたずらをする気が起きた / / 彼女はまだ、ほんの十九歳だった◆彼は彼女が扉を開けたのに気付いていなかった◆そこで彼女は爪先だって進み / 彼の丸めた背中にそっと手を置いた