The Big Sleep

Chapter 1

The Big Sleep A Philip Marlowe Novel Raymond Chandler Copyright © 1939 by Raymond Chandler. All rights reserved.
1
IT WAS ABOUT ELEVEN O’CLOCK in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.	Bilo je otprilike jedanaest sati izjutra, sredina listopada, sa suncem koje nije sijalo i izrazom teške mokre kiše u bistrini obronaka. Imao sam na sebi kobaltno-modro odijelo s tamno-plavom košuljom, kravatom i ukrasnom maramicom, crne rupičaste cipele, crne vunene čarape s upletenim tamnomodrim uzorkom na gležnju. Bio sam uredan, čist, obrijan i trijezan, i nije me bilo briga zna li netko za to. Bio sam sve što je dobro odjeven privatni detektiv trebao biti. Išao sam posjetiti četiri milijuna dolara.
The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the visor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn’t seem to be really trying.	Glavno je predvorje Sternwoodova obitavališta bilo visoko dva kata. Iznad ulaznih vratiju, koja bi mogla propustiti odred indijskih slonova, stajao je širok vitraj na kome se vidio vitez u tamnom oklopu kako spašava damu koja je bila privezana za stablo i nije na sebi imala nikakve odjeće osim vrlo dugačke i prikladne kose. Vitez je podigao vizir svoje kacige da bi djelovao manje formalno i prtljao oko čvorova konopaca kojima je dama bila vezana uz drvo, no bez ikakva rezultata. Zastao sam i pomislio: kad bih živio u toj kući, 'popeo bih se prije ili kasnije i pomogao mu. Nije se činilo kao da se istinski trudi.
There were French doors at the back of the hall, beyond them a wide sweep of emerald grass to a white garage, in front of which a slim dark young chauffeur in shiny black leggings was dusting a maroon Packard convertible. Beyond the garage were some decorative trees trimmed as carefully as poodle dogs. Beyond them a large green house with a domed roof. Then more trees and beyond everything the solid, uneven, comfortable line of the foothills.	Na dnu predvorja bili su francuski prozori, iza njih široki potez smaragdnozelene trave sve do bijele garaže, ispred koje je vitak i tamnoput mlad šofer u sjajnim crnim gamašama brisao prašinu s kesten jastog packard-kabriole-ta. Iza garaže bilo je nekoliko dekorativnih stabala, pažljivo podšišanih poput pudlica. Iza njih opet velika zelena kuća s kupolastim krovom. I zatim još drveće, a iza svega čvrsta, neravna, umirujuća linija prigorja.
On the east side of the hall a free staircase, tile-paved, rose to a gallery with a wrought-iron railing and another piece of stained-glass romance. Large hard chairs with rounded red plush seats were backed into the vacant spaces of the wall round about. They didn’t look as if anybody had ever sat in them. In the middle of the west wall there was a big empty fireplace with a brass screen in four hinged panels, and over the fireplace a marble mantel with cupids at the corners. Above the mantel there was a large oil portrait, and above the portrait two bullet-torn or moth-eaten cavalry pennants crossed in a glass frame. The portrait was a stiffly posed job of an officer in full regimentals of about the time of the Mexican war. The officer had a neat black Imperial, black mustachios, hot hard coal black eyes, and the general look of a man it would pay to get along with. I thought this might be General Sternwood’s grandfather. It could hardly be the General himself, even though I had heard he was pretty far gone in years to have a couple of daughters still in the dangerous twenties.	Na istočnoj se strani predvorja slobodnostojeće, keramikom popločeno stepenište dizalo prema galeriji s ogradom od kovana željeza i prema još jednoj romansi od obojena stakla. Velike čvrste stolice sa zaobljenim sjedalima od crvena pliša bile su ugurane u slobodne prostore uza zid svud uokolo. Nisu izgledale kao da je itko ikad sjedio u njima. U sredini zapadnog zida bilo je veliko i prazno ognjište s mjedenim zaslonom sastavljenim od četiri krila na šarka-ma, a iznad toga mramorni izbačeni prag s anđelcima u kutovima. Još više bio je veliki uljani portret, a iznad svega dvije zrnima iskrzane ili moljcima izjedene konjičke borbene zastave, ukrižene pod ostakljenim okvirom. Portret je u ukočenoj pozi prikazivao nekakva oficira u potpunoj uniformi, negdje iz doba meksičkog rata. Časnik je imao urednu crnu jareću bradicu, garave brkove, vatrene tvrde i crne oči te opći izgled čovjeka s kojim bi se isplatilo izaći na kraj. Pomislio sam da bi to mogao biti djed generala Stern-vvooda. Teško da je to mogao biti general glavom, iako sam čuo da je već prilično odmakao u godinama a da bi imao par kćeri tek u opasnim dvadesetim.
I was still staring at the hot black eyes when a door opened far back under the stairs. It wasn’t the butler coming back. It was a girl. She was twenty or so, small and delicately put together, but she looked durable. She wore pale blue slacks and they looked well on her. She walked as if she were floating. Her hair was a fine tawny wave cut much shorter than the current fashion of pageboy tresses curled in at the bottom. Her eyes were slate gray, and had almost no expression when they looked at me. She came over near me and smiled with her mouth and she had little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pits and as shiny as porcelain. They glistened between her thin too taut lips. Her face lacked color and didn’t look too healthy.	Još sam zurio u vatrene crne oči kad su se duboko pod stubama otvorila vrata. Ali to se nije vraćao batler. Bila je to neka djevojka. Imala je dvadeset ili tako nešto godina; bila je sitna i nježno građena, no djelovala je nepoderivo. Nosila je bli-jedoplave hlače i one su na njoj dobro izgledale. Koračala je kao da lebdi. Kosa joj je bila valovita i taninski smeđa, lijepo podrezana mnogo kraće no što je zahtijevala trenutačna moda, paževskih, pri dnu uvrnutih uvojaka. Oči su joj bile sive kao škriljac, i gotovo bez izraza kad me je njima pogledala. Prešla je preko prostorije i došla do mene nasmiješivši se ustima, pokazujući pri tome oštre zvjerske zubiće, bijele poput svježe narančine srčike i sjajne poput porculana. Blistali su među njenim tankim i prenategnu-tim usnicama. Licu joj je nedostajala boja: nije izgledalo suviše zdravo.
“Tall, aren’t you?” she said.	— Visoki, zar ne? — upitala je.
“I didn’t mean to be.”	— Nije namjerno.
Her eyes rounded. She was puzzled. She was thinking. I could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother to her.	Oči su joj se raširile. Bila je zbunjena. Razmišljala je. Mogao sam vidjeti, čak i nakon tako kratkog poznanstva, da joj je razmišljanje uvijek bilo velika gnjavaža.
“Handsome too,” she said. “And I bet you know it.” I grunted.	— Zgodan također — rekla je. — I kladim se da to znate. Potvrdno sam zagunđao.
“What’s your name?”	— Kako se zovete?
“Reilly,” I said. “Doghouse Reilly.”	— Reilly — odgovorio sam. — Doghouse (pseća kućica) Reilly.
“That’s a funny name.” She bit her lip and turned her head a little and looked at me along her eyes. Then she lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theater curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me roll over on my back with all four paws in the air.	— Kakvo smiješno ime. — Ugrizla se za usnicu, malo zakrenula glavom i pogledala me poprijeko. Zatim je spustila trepavice dok nije njima gotovo pomilovala obraze i polako ih ponovno podigla, kao kazališni zastor. Trebao sam tek upoznati taj trik. Pretpostavljalo se da će me svaliti na leđa sa sve četiri ca'pe u zraku.
“Are you a prizefighter?” she asked, when I didn’t.	— Vi ste boksač profesionalac? — upitala je ona, kad ja već nisam.
“Not exactly. I’m a sleuth.”	— Ne baš točno to. Njuškalo.
“A—a—” She tossed her head angrily, and the rich color of it glistened in the rather dim light of the big hall. “You’re making fun of me.”	— A-a ... — Zavrtjela je Ijutito glavom, i njene su bogate boje zablistale u prilično sumračnom svjetlu velikog predvorja. — Zezate se sa mnom.
“Uh-uh.”	— Ah — ah.
“What?”	— Što?
“Get on with you,” I said. “You heard me.”	— Zbližavam se s vama — rekao sam. Čuli ste me.
“You didn’t say anything. You’re just a big tease.” She put a thumb up and bit it. It was a curiously shaped thumb, thin and narrow like an extra finger, with no curve in the first joint. She bit it and sucked it slowly, turning it around in her mouth like a baby with a comforter.	— Niste rekli ništa. Vi ste naprosto veliki zezator. — Podigla je palac i zagrizla u nj. Bio je neobično oblikovan, uzak i tanak poput dodatnog prsta, bez zakrivljenja na prvome članku. Zagrizla ga je i polako počela sisati, okrećući ga u ustima kao beba dudu.
“You’re awfully tall,” she said. Then she giggled with secret merriment. Then she turned her body slowly and lithely, without lifting her feet. Her hands dropped limp at her sides. She tilted herself towards me on her toes. She fell straight back into my arms. I had to catch her or let her crack her head on the tessellated floor. I caught her under her arms and she went rubber-legged on me instantly. I had to hold her close to hold her up. When her head was against my chest she screwed it around and giggled at me.	— Grozno ste visoki — rekla je. Zahihotala se zbog nekog tajnog uzroka veselosti. Tada je zaokrenula tijelo polako i gipko, ne podigavši stopala. Ruke su joj se mlitavo ovjesile niz bokove. Nagnula se prema meni oslonivši se na nožne prste. Srušila mi se ravno u naručje. Morao sam je prihvatiti ili je pustiti da razbije glavu na kockastom podu. Uhvatio sam je ispod pazuha; u istom su joj času noge postale gumene. Morao sam je priviti k sebi da bih je održao uspravnom. Kad joj se glava našla na mojim prsima, zavrtjela je njome i zahihotala mi se u lice.
“You’re cute,” she giggled. “I’m cute too.”	— Lukavi ste — zahihotala je. — Ali i ja sam.
I didn’t say anything. So the butler chose that convenient moment to come back through the French doors and see me holding her.	Nisam ništa odgovorio. I tako je batler izabrao taj pogodan trenutak da se vrati kroz ostakljena vrata i ugleda me s njom u naručju.
It didn’t seem to bother him. He was a tall, thin, silver man, sixty or close to it or a little past it. He had blue eyes as remote as eyes could be. His skin was smooth and bright and he moved like a man with very sound muscles. He walked slowly across the floor towards us and the girl jerked away from me. She flashed across the room to the foot of the stairs and went up them like a deer. She was gone before I could draw a long breath and let it out.	Nije izgledalo da ga to zabrinjava. Bio je to visok, tanak muškarac srebrnaste kose od šezdeset godina ili blizu toga ili malo više od toga. Imao je plave oči toliko distancirane koliko oči mogu biti. Kosa mu je bila glatka i svijetla; kretao se kao čovjek vrlo jedre muskulature. Zakoračao je Qreko _poda polako prema nama, i djevojka se trgnula od mene/Sljevnula je preko prostorije sve do dna stepenica i potrčala uz njih kao srna. Nestala je prije no što sam mogao duboko udahnuti i izdahnuti.
The butler said tonelessly: “The General will see you now, Mr. Marlowe.”	Batler je rekao glasom bez intonacije: — General će vas sada primiti, mister Marlowe.
I pushed my lower jaw up off my chest and nodded at him. “Who was that?”	Digao sam donju vilicu s prsi ju i kimnuo mu. — Tko je ta?
“Miss Carmen Sternwood, sir.”	— Miss Carmen Sternwood, sir.
“You ought to wean her. She looks old enough.” He looked at me with grave politeness and repeated what he had said.	— Trebali bi je odbiti od sise. Čini se dovoljno velika. Pogledao me s dostojanstvenom ozbiljnošću i ponovio što je već rekao.

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