I took a large room, far up Broadway, in a huge old building whose upper stories had been wholly unoccupied for years, until I came. The place had long been given up to dust and cobwebs, to solitude and silence. I seemed groping among the tombs and invading the privacy of the dead, that first night I climbed up to my quarters. For the first time in my life a superstitious dread came over me; and as I turned a dark angle of the stairway and an invisible cobweb swung its lazy woof in my face and clung there, I shuddered as one who had encountered a phantom.
Broadway：ブロードウェイ（アメリカのニューヨーク市の劇場街）。unoccupied：人が住んでない。given up to：～に明け渡される。cobwebs：蜘蛛の巣。solitude：孤独。groping：手探りする。invading：侵す。my quarters：私の住居。superstitious dread：迷信的な恐怖。came over：襲った。lazy woof：緩い横糸。clung：くっ付いた。shuddered：戦慄した。phantom：化け物。
I was glad enough when I reached my room and locked out the mould and the darkness. A cheery fire was burning in the grate, and I sat down before it with a comforting sense of relief. For two hours I sat there, thinking of bygone times; recalling old scenes, and summoning half-forgotten faces out of the mists of the past; listening, in fancy, to voices that long ago grew silent for all time, and to once familiar songs that nobody sings now. And as my reverie softened down to a sadder and sadder pathos, the shrieking of the winds outside softened to a wail, the angry beating of the rain against the panes diminished to a tranquil patter, and one by one the noises in the street subsided, until the hurrying foot-steps of the last belated straggler died away in the distance and left no sound behind.
locked out：締め出した。mould：黴（mouldの綴りは主にイギリス）。cheery：元気な。grate：暖炉。comforting：ホッとした。bygone times：過ぎ去った時。recalling：思い起こす。summoning：呼び出す。 in fancy：空想の中で。for all time：ずっと。reverie：（目覚めながらの）夢想（状態）。softened down to a sadder and sadder pathos：極まり行く哀愁（いよいよ悲しい情念）にまで和らいだ。shrieking：悲鳴。wail：（風の）咽ぶ音。panes：窓硝子。diminished：減った。tranquil patter：穏やかなパタパタ叩く音。one by one：次々に。subsided：静まった。hurrying：急ぐ。last belated straggler：最後に遅れたはぐれ者。died away：消え去った。
The fire had burned low. A sense of loneliness crept over me. I arose and undressed, moving on tiptoe about the room, doing stealthily what I had to do, as if I were environed by sleeping enemies whose slumbers it would be fatal to break. I covered up in bed, and lay listening to the rain and wind and the faint creaking of distant shutters, till they lulled me to sleep.
sense of loneliness：孤独感。crept over：忍び寄った。stealthily：密かに。environed：囲まれる。slumbers：眠り。fatal：命取りの。break：（眠りを）妨げる。covered up：布団を被った（すっぽり包まれた）。faint：微かな。creaking：キーキー鳴る音。shutters：鎧戸。lulled：落ち着いた。
I slept profoundly, but how long I do not know. All at once I found myself awake, and filled with a shuddering expectancy. All was still. All but my own heart — I could hear it beat. Presently the bed-clothes began to slip away slowly toward the foot of the bed, as if some one were pulling them! I could not stir; I could not speak. Still the blankets slipped deliberately away, till my breast was uncovered. Then with a great effort I seized them and drew them over my head. I waited, listened, waited.
profoundly：ぐっすり。all at once：突如。shuddering expectancy：戦慄する予想。still：じっとする。presently：やがて。bed-clothes：寝具。slip away：滑り去る。stir：動く。still：依然。blankets：毛布。deliberately：意図的に。with a great effort：大変な努力で。
Once more that steady pull began, and once more I lay torpid a century of dragging seconds till my breast was naked again. At last I roused my energies and snatched the covers back to their place and held them with a strong grip. I waited. By and by I felt a faint tug, and took a fresh grip. The tug strengthened to a steady strain — it grew stronger and stronger. My hold parted, and for the third time the blankets slid away. I groaned.
steady：しっかりした。lay torpid：冬籠もりした（休止状態だった）。a century of dragging seconds：引き摺る間の一世紀。roused my energies：（私が）精力を奮い起こした。snatched the covers back：上掛けを引っ手繰り戻した。by and by：間もなく。tug：急な引き。strengthened：強まった。strain：張り。groaned：呻いた。
An answering groan came from the foot of the bed! Beaded drops of sweat stood upon my forehead. I was more dead than alive. Presently I heard a heavy footstep in my room — the step of an elephant, it seemed to me — it was not like anything human. But it was moving from me — there was relief in that. I heard it approach the door — pass out without moving bolt or lock — and wander away among the dismal corridors, straining the floors and joists till they creaked again as it passed — and then silence reigned once more.
groan：呻き声。beaded drops of sweat：汗の玉の滴。stood upon：（汗が）溜まった。bolt ：掛け金。wander away：彷徨い出す。dismal：暗い。corridors：廊下。straining：張る。joists：根太（床を支える下地）。reigned：支配した。
When my excitement had calmed, I said to myself, "This is a dream — simply a hideous dream." And so I lay thinking it over until I convinced myself that it was a dream, and then a comforting laugh relaxed my lips and I was happy again. I got up and struck a light; and when I found that the locks and bolts were just as I had left them, another soothing laugh welled in my heart and rippled from my lips. I took my pipe and lit it, and was just sitting down before the fire, when — down went the pipe out of my nerveless fingers, the blood forsook my cheeks, and my placid breathing was cut short with a gasp! In the ashes on the hearth, side by side with my own bare footprint, was another, so vast that in comparison mine was but an infant's! Then I had had a visitor, and the elephant tread was explained.
hideous：悍ましい。thinking it over：それを考え返しながら。convinced myself：（私が）納得した。relaxed my lips：私の唇を緩ませた。struck a light：（マッチを擦るなどで）火を着けた。soothing：和やかな。welled：湧き出た。rippled：漣を立てた。nerveless：感覚を失った。blood forsook my cheeks：私の頬から血の気が引いた（血は私の頬を見放した）。placid breathing：静かな息遣い。gasp：喘ぎ。hearth：炉床。side by side：並んで。bare footprint：裸の足跡（裸足の跡）。vast：巨大な。in comparison：比べると。infant's：幼児のもの。had had a visitor：訪問者を得た。tread：足踏み。
I put out the light and returned to bed, palsied with fear. I lay a long time, peering into the darkness, and listening. Then I heard a grating noise overhead, like the dragging of a heavy body across the floor; then the throwing down of the body, and the shaking of my windows in response to the concussion. In distant parts of the building I heard the muffled slamming of doors. I heard, at intervals, stealthy footsteps creeping in and out among the corridors, and up and down the stairs. Sometimes these noises approached my door, hesitated, and went away again. I heard the clanking of chains faintly, in remote passages, and listened while the clanking grew nearer — while it wearily climbed the stairways, marking each move by the loose surplus of chain that fell with an accented rattle upon each succeeding step as the goblin that bore it advanced. I heard muttered sentences; half-uttered screams that seemed smothered violently; and the swish of invisible garments, the rush of invisible wings. Then I became conscious that my chamber was invaded — that I was not alone. I heard sighs and breathings about my bed, and mysterious whisperings. Three little spheres of soft phosphorescent light appeared on the ceiling directly over my head, clung and glowed there a moment, and then dropped — two of them upon my face and one upon the pillow. They spattered, liquidly, and felt warm.
palsied：麻痺して。peering into：覗き込んで。grating：耳障りな。in response to：～に反応して。concussion：激震。muffled：（覆われて）はっきりしない。slamming：バタンと閉めること。at intervals：間々。stealthy：密かな。creeping in and out：忍び込んでは抜ける。clanking：カチャカチャ鳴る。faintly：微かに。in remote passages：離れた通路で。wearily：怠そうに。stairways：階段。marking each move：それぞれの動きを示す。loose surplus：緩んだ余り。accented rattle：強勢されたガタガタ鳴る音。succeeding step：続いて行く足取り。goblin：ゴブリン（小鬼：ヨーロッパの伝説の生物）。bore it advanced：それを前進させる。muttered sentences：呟かれた文章。half-uttered screams：半ば発せられた叫び。smothered：窒息死させられた。violently：酷く。swish of invisible garments：見えない衣服のシュッという音（衣擦れ）。rush：突進。chamber：部屋。invaded：侵入される。sighs：溜め息。spheres：球。phosphorescent：（燐光性の）青い。glowed：鮮やかに（燃えるように）輝いた。spattered：飛び散った。liquidly：流れるように。
Intuition told me they had turned to gouts of blood as they fell — I needed no light to satisfy myself of that. Then I saw pallid faces, dimly luminous, and white uplifted hands, floating bodiless in the air — floating a moment and then disappearing. The whispering ceased, and the voices and the sounds, and a solemn stillness followed. I waited and listened. I felt that I must have light or die. I was weak with fear. I slowly raised myself toward a sitting posture, and my face came in contact with a clammy hand! All strength went from me apparently, and I fell back like a stricken invalid. Then I heard the rustle of a garment — it seemed to pass to the door and go out.
intuition told me (that)：（私は）直感的に～と分かった。gouts：（血の）滴り。satisfy myself：（私が）見極める。pallid：（病気などで）青白い。dimly luminous：ぼんやり光った。floating bodiless：胴体なしに浮かぶ。ceased：止んだ。solemn stillness：重苦しい沈黙。raised myself：（私が）体を起こした。sitting posture：座った姿勢。came in contact with：～と接触した。clammy：べとべとした。all strength went from me apparently：全ての力が明らかに私から抜けた。stricken invalid：苦しむ病人。rustle：サラサラという音（衣擦れ）。
When everything was still once more, I crept out of bed, sick and feeble, and lit the gas with a hand that trembled as if it were aged with a hundred years. The light brought some little cheer to my spirits. I sat down and fell into a dreamy contemplation of that great footprint in the ashes. By and by its outlines began to waver and grow dim. I glanced up and the broad gas flame was slowly wilting away. In the same moment I heard that elephantine tread again. I noted its approach, nearer and nearer, along the musty halls, and dimmer and dimmer the light waned. The tread reached my very door and paused — the light had dwindled to a sickly blue, and all things about me lay in a spectral twilight. The door did not open, and yet I felt a faint gust of air fan my cheek, and presently was conscious of a huge, cloudy presence before me. I watched it with fascinated eyes. A pale glow stole over the Thing; gradually its cloudy folds took shape — an arm appeared, then legs, then a body, and last a great sad face looked out of the vapor. Stripped of its filmy housings, naked, muscular and comely, the majestic Cardiff Giant loomed above me!
crept out of：～から這い出した。sick and feeble：気分が悪くて弱々しい。trembled：震えた。some little：多少の。to my spirits：私の気分に。fell into：（急に）～の状態になった。dreamy contemplation：朧気な黙想。waver：揺らめく。dim：ぼんやりした。wilting away：萎れ去った。elephantine：象のような。noted：認めた。musty halls：黴臭い玄関。waned：（光が）弱まった。had dwindled：段々と小さくなった。sickly blue：薄青く。spectral twilight：怪奇の微光。a faint gust of air fan：送風扇の微かな風。cloudy presence：（雲のような）茫漠とした存在。fascinated eyes：囚われた（引き付けられた）目。pale glow：淡い輝き。stole over：いつの間にか覆った。gradually：徐々に。cloudy folds：茫漠とした層。vapor：蒸気。stripped of：～を剥がされて。filmy housings：極薄い覆い。muscular：筋肉質の。comely：（見た目に）立派な。majestic：堂々たる。Cardiff Giant：カーディフの巨人（アメリカのニューヨーク州カーディフで昔の巨人の化石として発見されたけれども実際は人為的に捏造された像）。loomed：ぬっと現れた。
All my misery vanished — for a child might know that no harm could come with that benignant countenance. My cheerful spirits returned at once, and in sympathy with them the gas flamed up brightly again. Never a lonely outcast was so glad to welcome company as I was to greet the friendly giant. I said:
misery：惨めさ。come with：（傷を）～によって伴う。benignant countenance：にこやかな顔（恵み深い表情）。in sympathy with：～に共鳴して。outcast：除け者。welcome company：仲間を受け入れる。
"Why, is it nobody but you? Do you know, I have been scared to death for the last two or three hours? I am most honestly glad to see you. I wish I had a chair — Here, here, don't try to sit down in that thing--"
why：おや。to death：死ぬほどに。most honestly：甚だ誠に。
But it was too late. He was in it before I could stop him, and down he went — I never saw a chair shivered so in my life.
shivered：粉々に砕けた。in my life：私の人生で。
"Stop, stop, You'll ruin ev--"
you'll ruin ev--：貴方は何もかも台なしに――（ev--はeverythingの出だしと思われる）。
Too late again. There was another crash, and another chair was resolved into its original elements.
resolved into：～へと分解される。original elements：元の部材。
"Confound it, haven't you got any judgment at all? Do you want to ruin all the furniture on the place? Here, here, you petrified fool--"
confound it：こん畜生。petrified fool：石化された愚か者。
But it was no use. Before I could arrest him he had sat down on the bed, and it was a melancholy ruin.
arrest：止める。melancholy ruin：憂鬱にさせる台なし。
"Now what sort of a way is that to do? First you come lumbering about the place bringing a legion of vagabond goblins along with you to worry me to death, and then when I overlook an indelicacy of costume which would not be tolerated anywhere by cultivated people except in a respectable theater, and not even there if the nudity were of your sex, you repay me by wrecking all the furniture you can find to sit down on. And why will you? You damage yourself as much as you do me. You have broken off the end of your spinal column, and littered up the floor with chips of your hams till the place looks like a marble yard. You ought to be ashamed of yourself — you are big enough to know better."
lumbering about：どしんどしん歩き回りながら。a legion of：大勢の。vagabond：破落戸の。overlook：大目に見る。indelicacy：下品さ。tolerated：耐えられる。cultivated people：上品な人たち。respectable theater：品の良い劇場。nudity：裸体。of your sex：貴方の性について。repay (by)：～で報いる。wrecking：（家具を）滅茶苦茶にすること。have broken off：（ポキンと）折った。spinal column：脊柱。littered up (with)：～で取り散らかした。chips of your hams：貴方の腿の後ろの削り屑。marble yard：大理石の置き場。
"Well, I will not break any more furniture. But what am I to do? I have not had a chance to sit down for a century." And the tears came into his eyes.
have not had a chance to：～する機会がなかった。tears came into his eyes：彼は目に涙を浮かべた（彼の目の中に涙が出て来た）。
"Poor devil," I said, "I should not have been so harsh with you. And you are an orphan, too, no doubt. But sit down on the floor here — nothing else can stand your weight — and besides, we cannot be sociable with you away up there above me; I want you down where I can perch on this high counting-house stool and gossip with you face to face."
poor devil：可哀想な奴。harsh with：～に厳しい。orphan：孤児。stand：耐える。sociable with：～と打ち解けた。perch：腰かける。counting-house stool：会計事務所（古い表現）の椅子。gossip with：雑談する。face to face：差し向かいで。
So he sat down on the floor, and lit a pipe which I gave him, threw one of my red blankets over his shoulders, inverted my sitz-bath on his head, helmet fashion, and made himself picturesque and comfortable. Then he crossed his ankles, while I renewed the fire, and exposed the flat, honey-combed bottoms of his prodigious feet to the grateful warmth.
inverted：逆さまにした。sitz-bath：座浴槽。helmet fashion：兜のよう。made himself picturesque and comfortable：（彼が）一風変わって寛いだ。renewed the fire：火を補充した。exposed (to)：（作用上）～へ触れさせた。honey-combed：蜂の巣状の。prodigious：桁外れの。grateful warmth：心地良い暖気。
"What is the matter with the bottom of your feet and the back of your legs, that they are gouged up so?"
gouged up：抉り取られる。
"Infernal chillblains — I caught them clear up to the back of my head, roosting out there under Newell's farm. But I love the place; I love it as one loves his old home. There is no peace for me like the peace I feel when I am there."
infernal chillblains：飛んでもない霜焼け（chillblainsはchilblainsの変形）。caught：（病気に）かかった。clear：完全に。roosting：眠って（塒に就いて）。Newell's：ニューウェル（人名／名字）の。his old home：彼の古里。
We talked along for half an hour, and then I noticed that he looked tired, and spoke of it. "Tired?" he said. "Well, I should think so. And now I will tell you all about it, since you have treated me so well. I am the spirit of the Petrified Man that lies across the street there in the Museum. I am the ghost of the Cardiff Giant. I can have no rest, no peace, till they have given that poor body burial again. Now what was the most natural thing for me to do, to make men satisfy this wish? Terrify them into it! — haunt the place where the body lay! So I haunted the museum night after night. I even got other spirits to help me. But it did no good, for nobody ever came to the museum at midnight. Then it occurred to me to come over the way and haunt this place a little. I felt that if I ever got a hearing I must succeed, for I had the most efficient company that perdition could furnish. Night after night we have shivered around through these mildewed halls, dragging chains, groaning, whispering, tramping up and down stairs, till, to tell you the truth, I am almost worn out. But when I saw a light in your room to-night I roused my energies again and went at it with a deal of the old freshness. But I am tired out — entirely fagged out. Give me, I beseech you, give me some hope!"
the spirit of the petrified man：石化人の霊魂。have given that poor body burial：あの哀れな身体を埋葬した。terrify (into)：怖がらせて～させよ。haunt：出没する。night after night：夜な夜な。got a hearing：聞いて貰った。the most efficient company：最も効率良い仲間。perdition could furnish：破滅が与えられ得る（perditionを破滅とするのは古い表現）。shivered around：粉々にして回った。mildewed：黴の生えた。dragging：引っ張り。groaning：呻き。tramping：踏み付け。worn out：精根が尽きる。went at it：それに取り組んだ。a deal of：沢山の。old freshness：前の活きの良さ。fagged out：疲労困憊（へとへと）だった。I beseech you：どうかお願いだ（私は貴方に懇願する）。
I lit off my perch in a burst of excitement, and exclaimed:
lit off：下りた（古い表現）。perch：腰かけ。in a burst of：急に～で。exclaimed：声を上げた。
"This transcends everything — everything that ever did occur! Why you poor blundering old fossil, you have had all your trouble for nothing — you have been haunting a PLASTER CAST of your-self — the real Cardiff Giant is in Albany!
transcends：（認識上）越える。why：なあ。blundering：失敗りの。old fossil：古化石。have had all your trouble for nothing：（貴方が）無駄に（何もなくて）悩むばかりだった。haunting：取り憑く。plaster cast：石膏像。Albany：オールバニー（アメリカのニューヨーク州の町）。
[Footnote by Twain: A fact. The original fraud was ingeniously and fraudfully duplicated, and exhibited in New York as the "only genuine" Cardiff Giant (to the unspeakable disgust of the owners of the real colossus) at the very same time that the latter was drawing crowds at a museum in Albany.]
footnote：脚注。Twain：トウェイン（人名／名字）。original fraud：元の偽物。ingeniously and fraudfully：巧妙に偽装して。duplicated：複製される。only genuine：唯一の本物。to the unspeakable disgust：いい表せないほどにうんざりすることに。colossus：巨像。drawing crowds：大勢を引き付ける。
Confound it, don't you know your own remains?"
your own remains：貴方自身の遺物 （化石）。
I never saw such an eloquent look of shame, of pitiable humiliation, overspread a countenance before.
eloquent look：雄弁な様子。pitiable humiliation：情けない屈辱。overspread：一面に広がって。countenance：顔。
The Petrified Man rose slowly to his feet, and said:
"Honestly, is that true?"
"As true as I am sitting here."
He took the pipe from his mouth and laid it on the mantel, then stood irresolute a moment (unconsciously, from old habit, thrusting his hands where his pantaloons pockets should have been, and meditatively dropping his chin on his breast), and finally said:
mantel：炉棚。irresolute：躊躇いがちな。thrusting：突っ込んで。pantaloons：パンタルーン（足首や膝下で締められただぶだぶのズボン）。meditatively：瞑想に耽って。
"Well — I never felt so absurd before. The Petrified Man has sold everybody else, and now the mean fraud has ended by selling its own ghost! My son, if there is any charity left in your heart for a poor friendless phantom like me, don't let this get out. Think how you would feel if you had made such an ass of yourself."
absurd：馬鹿らしい。has sold：騙した（売った）。mean：卑劣な（吝嗇な）。selling：騙し（売り）。my son：兄さん。charity：思い遣り。friendless：友達のいない。had made such an ass of yourself：（貴方が）こんな馬鹿を見た。
I heard his, stately tramp die away, step by step down the stairs and out into the deserted street, and felt sorry that he was gone, poor fellow — and sorrier still that he had carried off my red blanket and my bath tub.
stately：威厳ある。tramp：重い足音。step by step：一歩ずつ。deserted：人気ない。poor fellow： 可哀想な人。had carried off：持ち去った。bath tub：浴槽。
原文の出典：A Ghost Story
単語や熟語の意味は文意に相応しいものを一つだけ選んだ。作品の趣向に合うかどうか、つまり訳語として充分かどうかはさほど考慮しない。英語で理解するための最低限の意味が分かるように努めた。
結城永人
結城永人
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