| Earl Slater put his big bony hands back into his pockets. | Эрл Слэйтер сунул свои крупные костлявые руки обратно в карманы. |
| Running on like a fool, he thought: Stuck to me from the Army. | Все ещё чувствуя себя дураком, он подумал: "Так меня звали в армии. |
| So what? | Ну и что? |
| What difference did that make? | Какая разница?" |
| His irritability twisted around inside him, sharpening as it searched for some release or outlet. | Раздражение кипело в нем, ища выхода. |
| "Room Ten-six," the clerk said. | - Номер 106, - произнес клерк. |
| "Mr. Novak would like you to come up." | - Мистер Новак просит вас подняться. |
| "Well, thanks," Earl Slater said with a stiff little smile. | - Ладно, спасибо, - с натянутой улыбкой буркнул Эрл Слэйтер. |
| He wanted to say something more, something that would readjust the exchange in his favor, but he couldn't think of anything that might help; words were like crutches to him, difficult, makeshift means to a limited end. | Он хотел добавить что-нибудь еще, что подняло бы его в собственных глазах, но ничего придумать не смог; слова для него были слишком трудоемким средством достижения цели. |
| The clerk was already talking to someone else in any case, so Earl turned from the counter and walked slowly toward the elevators. | Во всяком случае, клерк уже беседовал с кем-то другим, потому Эрл отвернулся от стойки и не спеша направился к лифтам. |
| What was the room number? | Какой, значит, номер? |
| Ten-six. . . . | Сто шесть ... |
| Facing the closed elevator door, he hesitated again, the frown deepening on his forehead. | Стоя перед закрытыми створками лифта, он снова почувствовал неуверенность. |
| He lighted another cigarette quickly, and the tension in him charged his movements with a curious significance; he was like an animal in open country as he glanced nervously about the lobby, alert and graceful and wary. | Нахмурившись, поспешно закурил, и напряжение придало каждому его движению особый смысл. Окинул нервным взглядом вестибюль, как беспокойное, дикое и осторожное животное на пороге неведомого мира. |
| Earl Slater was thirty-five years old, but he looked much younger; his complexion was the kind a woman might envy, clear, smoothly tanned, and he handled his rangy body like a well-conditioned machine, using it with a suggestion of careless precision and efficiency. |