Английский с Шерлоком Холмсом. Человек с рассеченной губой / Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes - стр. 7
There was the case (была /определенная/ ситуация), and of course there was but one way out of it (и, конечно, был лишь один выход из нее). Might I not escort her to this place (мог бы я сопроводить ее к тому месту)? And then, as a second thought (и затем, как вторая мысль = подумал я), why should she come at all (зачем ей идти вообще)? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser (я был консультирующим врачом Айзы Уитни), and as such I had influence over him (и в этом качестве /будучи врачом/ я оказывал на него влияние). I could manage it better if I were alone (я мог бы справиться с этим /делом/ лучше, если бы был один). I promised her on my word (я дал ей честное слово) that I would send him home in a cab within two hours (что пришлю его домой в кэбе в течение двух часов) if he were indeed at the address which she had given me (если он действительно находится по адресу, который она мне дала). And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me (и вот, через десять минут я оставил свое кресло и уютную: «веселую» гостиную /позади меня/), and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand (и мчался: «был мчащимся» в восточном направлении в экипаже по странному поручению = делу), as it seemed to me at the time (как мне казалось в то время), though the future only could show how strange it was to be (хотя только будущее могло показать, насколько странным оно оказалось).
escort ['eskɔ:t], thought [θɔ:t], cheery ['tʃɪərɪ], eastward ['i:stwəd], errand ['erənd]
There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to be.
But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure (но там не было большой сложности на первом этапе моего приключения). Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley (Аппер-Суондем-Лейн – мерзкая аллея: «переулок») lurking behind the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge (скрывающаяся позади высоких верфей, которые тянутся вдоль северной стороны реки к востоку от Лондонского моста)