(no subject)
У Дороти Сейерс в Have His Carcase Питер Уимзи и Харриет Вэйн вместе расследуют убийство, совершенное на берегу моря. Они отправляются искать улики и разделяются - Харриет идет вдоль полосы прибоя, а лорд Питер - по верхней кромке прилива. (Да, а убитый - обедневший русский эмигрант из аристократии.) Есть ли какие-нибудь соображения, кого Сейерс может иметь в виду, упоминая the dialogue of a Russian tragedy?
... and the conversation, such as it was, rather resembled the dialogue of a Russian tragedy. Thus:
Harriet: Oy!
Peter: Hullo!
(They meet, centre.)
Harriet: A boot! I’ve found a boot!
Peter: Alas! alas! What boots it to repeat.
Harriet: Hobnailed and frightfully ancient.
Peter: Only one boot!
Harriet: Yes; if it had been two boots, it might mark the place where the murderer started to paddle.
Peter: One foot on sea and one on shore. The tide has risen and fallen ten times since then. It isn’t a good boot.
Harriet: No, it’s a bad boot.
Peter: It’s a rotten boot.
Harriet: Can I throw it away?
Peter: No; after all, it is a boot.
Harriet: It’s an awfully heavy boot.
Peter: I can’t help that; it’s a boot. Dr Thorndyke likes boots.
Harriet: Oh, death! where is thy sting?
(They separate, Harriet carrying the boot.)
Peter: Oy!
Harriet: Hullo!
(They meet again.)
Peter: Here is an empty sardine-tin, and here is a broken bottle...
<...>
(They separate.)
Peter: Oy!
Harriet: Hullo!
Peter: I just wanted to ask whether you’d given any further thought to that my suggestion about marrying me.
Harriet (sarcastically): I suppose you were thinking how delightful it would be to go through life like this together?
Peter: Well, not quite like this. Hand in hand was more my idea.
Harriet: What is that in your hand?
Peter: A dead starfish.
Harriet: Poor fish!
Peter: No ill-feeling, I trust.
Harriet: Oh, dear no.