), "Did you see anybody at all on the stairs (вы видели кого-нибудь вообще на лестнице: «ступеньках»), or in the street outside (или на улице снаружи)?"
"Nobody (никого)." He had everything to gain by remembering some chance passer-by (ему было очень на руку вспомнить какого-то случайного прохожего: «он имел выиграть все, вспомнив/если бы вспомнил…»), and I believed him (и я поверил ему). He said, "I noticed myself how quiet and dead the whole street looked (я заметил/обратил внимание сам, как тихо и мертво выглядела целая улица = какой тихой и /словно/ вымершей выглядела вся улица). Part of it had been bombed, you know (часть ее /ранее/ бомбили, вы знаете = видите ли), and the moon was shining on the snow slopes (и луна сияла на снежных склонах; slope — наклон, уклон; скат, склон). It was so very silent (было так тихо). I could hear my own feet creaking in the snow (я мог слышать, как скрипят в снегу мои ноги; foot — ступня)."
journey ['Gq:nI], photograph ['fqutqgrRf], basket ['bRskIt], valuable ['vxljuqbl], hustle [hAsl]
"You see," Herr Koch said, "it is quite ready for a newcomer. Use has cleaned up."
That, she certainly had done. After a death there should have been more litter left than this. A man can't go suddenly and unexpectedly on his longest journey without forgetting this or that, without leaving a bill unpaid, an official form unanswered, the photograph of a girl. "Were there no papers, Herr Koch?"
"Herr Lime was always a very tidy man. His waste-paper basket was full and his brief case, but his friend fetched that away."
"His friend?"
"The gentleman with the toupee."
It was possible, of course, that Lime had not taken the journey so unexpectedly, and it occurred to Martins that Lime had perhaps hoped he would arrive in time to help. He said to Herr Koch, "I believe my friend was murdered."
"Murdered?" Herr Koch's cordiality was snuffed out by the word. He said, "I would not have asked you in here if I had thought you would talk such nonsense."
"All the same your evidence may be very valuable."
"I have no evidence. I saw nothing. I am not concerned. You must leave here at once please. You have been very inconsiderate." He hustled Martins back through the hall: already the smell of the smoke was fading a little more. Herr Koch's last word before he slammed his own door to was "It's no concern of mine." Poor Herr Koch! We do not choose our concerns. Later when I was questioning Martins closely I said to him, "Did you see anybody at all on the stairs, or in the street outside?"