Адаптированный текст повести А. К. Дойла «Знак четырех» на английском языке с транскрипцией и видеопрезентацией. Учебное пособие

The Story of the Bald-Headed Man

04_001

We followed the Indian down a sordid and common passage, ill lit and worse furnished, until he came to a door upon the right, which he threw open.

04_002

A blaze of yellow light streamed out upon us, and in the centre of the glare there stood a small man with a very high head, a bristle of red hair all round the fringe of it, and a bald, shining scalp which shot out from among it like a mountain-peak from fir-trees.

04_003

He writhed his hands together as he stood, and his features were in a perpetual jerk, now smiling, now scowling, but never for an instant in repose.

04_004

Nature had given him a pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow and irregular teeth, which he strove feebly to conceal by constantly passing his hand over the lower part of his face. In spite of his obtrusive baldness, he gave the impression of youth. In point of fact he had just turned his thirtieth year.

04_005

«Your servant, Miss Morstan,» he kept repeating, in a thin, high voice. «Your servant, gentlemen. Pray step into my little sanctum. A small place, miss, but furnished to my own liking. An oasis of art in the howling desert of South London.»

04_006

We were all astonished by the appearance of the apartment into which he invited us. In that sorry house it looked as out of place as a diamond of the first water in a setting of brass.

04_007

The richest and glossiest of curtains and tapestries draped the walls, looped back here and there to expose some richly-mounted painting or Oriental vase.

The carpet was of amber-and-black, so soft and so thick that the foot sank pleasantly into it, as into a bed of moss.

04_008

Two great tiger-skins thrown athwart it increased the suggestion of Eastern luxury, as did a huge hookah which stood upon a mat in the corner. A lamp in the fashion of a silver dove was hung from an almost invisible golden wire in the centre of the room.

04_009

As it burned it filled the air with a subtle and aromatic odor.

04_010

«Mr. Thaddeus Sholto,» said the little man, still jerking and smiling. «That is my name. You are Miss Morstan, of course. And these gentlemen – »

«This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and this is Dr. Watson.»

04_011

«A doctor, eh?» cried he, much excited.