Знак четырех / The Sign of the Four

[8 - I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it. – Не могу себе позволить подвергать его (здоровье) еще бóльшим испытаниям.]’

He smiled at my vehemence. �Perhaps you are right, Watson,’ he said. �I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however, so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment.[9 - Secondary action is a matter of small moment– здесь: побочный эффект – это нечто несущественное.

]’

�But consider!’ I said earnestly. �Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process which involves increased tissue-change and may at least leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle.[10 - Surelythe game is hardly worth the candle – hardlyозначает «едва ли, вряд ли» (вряд ли такая игра стоит свеч).

] Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable.’

He did not seem offended. On the contrary, he put his finger-tips together, and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair, like one who has a relish for conversation.

�My mind,’ he said, �rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.’

�The only unofficial detective?’ I said, raising my eyebrows.

�The only unofficial consulting detective,’ he answered. �I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. When Gregson, or Lestrade, or Athelney Jones are out of their depths[11 - Are out of their depths– выражение означает «быть в растерянности, не знать, что делать».] – which, by the way, is their normal state – the matter is laid before me.