| W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM | Сомерсет Моэм |
| Christmas Holiday | Рождественские каникулы |
| i | 1 |
| WITH A JOURNEY BEFORE HIM, Charley Mason's mother was anxious that he should make a good breakfast, but he was too excited to eat. | Чарли Мейсону предстояла поездка, и мать уговаривала его как следует позавтракать, но слишком он был взволнован, какая уж тут еда. |
| It was Christmas Eve and he was going to Paris. | Был канун Рождества, и он ехал в Париж. |
| They had got through the mass of work that quarter-day brought with it, and his father, having no need to go to the office, drove him to Victoria. | К дню квартальных платежей им с отцом пришлось проделать уйму работы, и сегодня, когда отцу не было надобности идти в контору, он повез Чарли на вокзал Виктории. |
| When they were stopped for several minutes by a traffic block in Grosvenor Gardens Charley, afraid that he would miss the train, went white with anxiety. | Уличная пробка на несколько минут задержала их у Гросвенор-Гарденс, и, опасаясь, как бы не опоздать на поезд, Чарли даже побледнел от тревоги. |
| His father chuckled. | Отец посмеивался. |
| "You've got the best part of half an hour." | - У тебя еще добрых двадцать минут. |
| But it was a relief to arrive. | Но Чарли успокоился, только когда они приехали. |
| "Well, good-bye, old boy," his father said, "have a good time and don't get into more mischief than you can help." | - Ну, счастливо, мой мальчик, - сказал отец. -Повеселись в свое удовольствие, да смотри не слишком проказничай. |
| The steamer backed into the harbour and the sight of the gray, tall, dingy houses of Calais filled him with elation. | Пароход, пятясь, кормой вперед вошел в гавань, и при виде высоких, серых, закопченных домов Кале Чарли возликовал. |
| It was a raw day and the wind blew bitter. | День был сырой, дул пронзительный ветер. |
| He strode along the platform as though he walked on air. | Он шагал по перрону, будто по воздуху. |
| The Golden Arrow, powerful, rich and impressive, which stood there waiting for him, was no ordinary train, but a symbol of romance. | "Золотая стрела", могучий, роскошный и величественный экспресс, который его поджидал, был не просто поездом, но романтическим символом. |
| While the light lasted he looked out of the window and he laughed in his heart as he recognized the pictures he had seen in galleries; sand dunes, with patches of grass gray under the leaden sky, cramped villages of poor persons' houses with slate roofs, and then a broad, sad landscape of ploughed fields and sparse bare trees; but the day seemed in a hurry to be gone from the cheerless scene and in a short while, when he looked out, he could see only his own reflection and behind it the polished mahogany of the Pullman. |
