حکمت پدر براون

Konsultationsværelserne hos dr. Orion Hood,

THE consulting-rooms of Dr Orion Hood,

den fremtrædende kriminolog og specialist i visse moralske forstyrrelser,

the eminent criminologist and specialist in certain moral disorders,

lå langs strandpromenaden i Scarborough,

lay along the sea-front at Scarborough,

bag en række meget store og lyse franske vinduer,

in a series of very large and well-lighted french windows,

som viste Nordsøen som én endeløs ydermur af blågrøn marmor.

which showed the North Sea like one endless outer wall of blue-green marble.

På et sådant sted havde havet noget af ensformigheden ved et blågrønt brystpanel:

In such a place the sea had something of the monotony of a blue-green dado:

for selve værelserne var helt igennem behersket af en frygtelig ordentlighed, ikke ulig havets frygtelige ordentlighed.

for the chambers themselves were ruled throughout by a terrible tidiness not unlike the terrible tidiness of the sea.

Man må ikke tro, at dr. Hoods værelser udelukkede luksus

It must not be supposed that Dr Hood’s apartments excluded luxury,

eller endog poesi.

or even poetry.

Disse ting var der,

These things were there,

på deres plads;

in their place;

men man fornemmede, at de aldrig fik lov at forlade deres plads.

but one felt that they were never allowed out of their place.

Luksus var der:

Luxury was there:

på et særligt bord stod otte eller ti kasser af de bedste cigarer;

there stood upon a special table eight or ten boxes of the best cigars;

men de var stillet op efter en plan, så de stærkeste altid stod nærmest væggen og de mildeste nærmest vinduet.

but they were built upon a plan so that the strongest were always nearest the wall and the mildest nearest the window.

Et aflåst karaffelstel med tre slags spiritus,

A tantalus containing three kinds of spirit,

alle af likørkvalitet,

all of a liqueur excellence,

stod altid på dette luksusbord;

stood always on this table of luxury;

men fantasifulde sjæle har påstået, at whiskyen,

but the fanciful have asserted that the whisky,

cognacen

brandy,

og rommen altid syntes at stå i samme højde.

and rum seemed always to stand at the same level.

Poesi var der:

Poetry was there:

rummets venstre hjørne var beklædt med en lige så fuldstændig samling engelske klassikere, som det højre kunne fremvise af engelske og udenlandske fysiologer.

the left-hand corner of the room was lined with as complete a set of English classics as the right hand could show of English and foreign physiologists.

Men hvis man tog et bind af Chaucer eller Shelley ud af den række,

But if one took a volume of Chaucer or Shelley from that rank,

irriterede dets fravær sindet som et hul i en mands fortænder.

its absence irritated the mind like a gap in a man’s front teeth.

Man kunne ikke sige, at bøgerne aldrig blev læst;

One could not say the books were never read;

det blev de formentlig,

probably they were,

men man havde en fornemmelse af, at de var lænket til deres pladser,

but there was a sense of their being chained to their places,

ligesom biblerne i de gamle kirker.

like the Bibles in the old churches.

Dr. Hood behandlede sin private bogreol, som var den et offentligt bibliotek.

Dr Hood treated his private book-shelf as if it were a public library.

Og hvis denne strenge videnskabelige urørlighed gennemtrængte selv hylderne, der bugnede af lyrik og ballader, og bordene, der bugnede af drikkevarer og tobak,

And if this strict scientific intangibility steeped even the shelves laden with lyrics and ballads and the tables laden with drink and tobacco,

siger det sig selv, at endnu mere af denne hedenske hellighed beskyttede de andre hylder, der rummede specialistens bibliotek,

it goes without saying that yet more of such heathen holiness protected the other shelves that held the specialist’s library,

og de andre borde, der bar kemiens eller mekanikkens skrøbelige, ja næsten eventyrlige instrumenter.

and the other tables that sustained the frail and even fairylike instruments of chemistry or mechanics.