Этот неподражаемый Дживс! / The Inimitable Jeeves

“I don’t know how to begin.”

Then I noticed that she appeared shocked, and as for the brother, he looked like a sheep with a secret sorrow.

This made me sit up and take notice. I supposed that they had arrived to chat a little, but apparently something serious had happened.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Poor Sidney—it was my fault—I ought never to have let him go there alone,” said the girl, she was agitated.

At this point her brother gave a little cough[67 - gave a little cough – слегка кашлянул], like a sheep caught in the mist on a mountain top.

“The fact is, Mr Wooster,” he said, “a sad, a most deplorable thing has occurred. This afternoon, while you were so kindly escorting my sister, I found the time … I was tempted to—ah—gamble at the Casino.”

I looked at the man with respect. If only I’d known earlier that he went in for that sort of thing, I felt that we might have had a better time together.

“Oh!” I said. “Did you win?”

He sighed heavily.

“If you mean was I successful, I must answer in the negative. I thought that the colour red, having appeared no fewer than seven times in succession, must inevitably give place the colour black. I was in error. I lost everything, Mr Wooster.”

“Bad luck,” I said.

“I left the Casino,” proceeded the fellow, “and returned to the hotel. There I encountered one of my parishioners, Colonel Musgrave[68 - Colonel Musgrave – полковник Музгрэйв].

“Well, that was all to the good, eh?” I said. “I mean, you were lucky to find someone who gave you some money.”

“On the contrary, Mr Wooster, it made matters worse. I burn with shame, but I immediately went back to the Casino and lost the entire sum—this time under the mistaken supposition that the colour black would appear.”

“I say!” I said. “You are having a good time!”

“And,” concluded the fellow, “the most lamentable part of the whole affair is that I have no funds in the bank to meet the cheque when presented[69 - to meet the cheque when presented – оплатить чек, когда она будет предъявлен].

Though I realized by this time that all this was leading up to draw money from me, my heart warmed to the poor guy. Indeed, I gazed at him with interest and admiration.