"Now, then," asked Albert eagerly, "have you found the desired cart and oxen?"
- Ну что? - спросил Альбер. - Нашли вы нам телегу и волов?
"Better than that!" replied Signor Pastrini, with the air of a man perfectly well satisfied with himself.
- Я нашел кое-что получше, - отвечал хозяин, по всей видимости, весьма довольный собой.
"Take care, my worthy host," said Albert, "better is a sure enemy to well."
- Остерегитесь, дорогой хозяин, - сказал Альбер, -от добра добра не ищут.
"Let your excellencies only leave the matter to me," returned Signor Pastrini in a tone indicative of unbounded self-confidence.
- Ваша милость может положиться на меня, -самоуверенно отвечал маэстро Пастрини.
"But what have you done?" asked Franz. "Speak out, there's a worthy fellow."
- Но в чем же все-таки дело? - спросил Франц.
"Your excellencies are aware," responded the landlord, swelling with importance, "that the Count of Monte Cristo is living on the same floor with yourselves!"
- Вы знаете, что граф Монте-Кристо живет на одной площадке с вами?
"I should think we did know it," exclaimed Albert, "since it is owing to that circumstance that we are packed into these small rooms, like two poor students in the back streets of Paris."
- Еще бы нам этого не знать, - сказал Альбер, - по его милости мы теснимся здесь, как два студента из Латинского квартала.
"When, then, the Count of Monte Cristo, hearing of the dilemma in which you are placed, has sent to offer you seats in his carriage and two places at his windows in the Palazzo Rospoli."
- Он узнал о вашей неудаче и предлагает вам два места в своей коляске и два места в окнах, снятых им в палаццо Росполи.
The friends looked at each other with unutterable surprise.
Альбер и Франц переглянулись.
"But do you think," asked Albert, "that we ought to accept such offers from a perfect stranger?"
- Но можем ли мы принять предложение человека, которого мы совсем не знаем? - сказал Альбер.
"What sort of person is this Count of Monte Cristo?" asked Franz of his host.
- Кто он такой, этот граф Монте-Кристо? -спросил Франц.
"A very great nobleman, but whether Maltese or Sicilian I cannot exactly say; but this I know, that he is noble as a Borghese and rich as a gold-mine."
- Сицилийский или мальтийский вельможа, точно не знаю, но знатен, как Боргезе, и богат, как золотая жила.
"It seems to me," said Franz, speaking in an undertone to Albert, "that if this person merited the high panegyrics of our landlord, he would have conveyed his invitation through another channel, and not permitted it to be brought to us in this unceremonious way. He would have written-or"-
- Мне кажется, - сказал Франц Альберу, - что, если верить маэстро Пастрини, такой человек, как этот граф, мог бы пригласить нас иначе, чем...
At this instant some one knocked at the door.
В эту минуту в дверь постучали.
"Come in," said Franz.
- Войдите, - сказал Франц.
A servant, wearing a livery of considerable style and richness, appeared at the threshold, and, placing two cards in the landlord's hands, who forthwith presented them to the two young men, he said,