'Berridge!' cried the Professor. 'What on earth are you talking about? Did you know him?'
'Oh no,' said Father Brown carelessly, 'only as you say I know the waiter. I've often had to wait in your office, till you turned up; and of course I passed the time of day with poor Berridge. He was rather a card. I remember he once said he would like to collect valueless things, as collectors did the silly things they thought valuable. You know the old story about the woman who collected valueless things.'
[...]
'But why should he play me such an insane trick?' demanded Openshaw.
'Why, because you had never looked at him in your life,' said Father Brown; and his hand slightly curled and clinched, as if he might have struck the table, if he had been given to gesture. 'You called him the Calculating Machine, because that was all you ever used him for. You never found out even what a stranger strolling into your office could find out, in five minutes' chat: that he was a character; that he was full of antics; that he had all sorts of views on you and your theories and your reputation for "spotting" people. Can't you understand his itching to prove that you couldn't spot your own clerk? He has nonsense notions of all sorts. About collecting useless things, for instance. Don't you know the story of the woman who bought the two most useless things: an old doctor's brass - plate and a wooden leg? With those your ingenious clerk created the character of the remarkable Dr Hankey; as easily as the visionary Captain Wales. Planting them in his own house -'
То есть ему мало нарисовать картинку: он настолько сам себе не доверяет, что считает нужным подписать, как на детском рисунке: "это - елочка мохнатая, это - козочка рогатая, это - дядя с бородой, это - дом с трубой". А Чехову подписывать ничего не надо!
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 08:28 pm (UTC)'Berridge!' cried the Professor. 'What on earth are you talking about? Did you know him?'
'Oh no,' said Father Brown carelessly, 'only as you say I know the waiter. I've often had to wait in your office, till you turned up; and of course I passed the time of day with poor Berridge. He was rather a card. I remember he once said he would like to collect valueless things, as collectors did the silly things they thought valuable. You know the old story about the woman who collected valueless things.'
[...]
'But why should he play me such an insane trick?' demanded Openshaw.
'Why, because you had never looked at him in your life,' said Father Brown; and his hand slightly curled and clinched, as if he might have struck the table, if he had been given to gesture. 'You called him the Calculating Machine, because that was all you ever used him for. You never found out even what a stranger strolling into your office could find out, in five minutes' chat: that he was a character; that he was full of antics; that he had all sorts of views on you and your theories and your reputation for "spotting" people. Can't you understand his itching to prove that you couldn't spot your own clerk? He has nonsense notions of all sorts. About collecting useless things, for instance. Don't you know the story of the woman who bought the two most useless things: an old doctor's brass - plate and a wooden leg? With those your ingenious clerk created the character of the remarkable Dr Hankey; as easily as the visionary Captain Wales. Planting them in his own house -'
То есть ему мало нарисовать картинку: он настолько сам себе не доверяет, что считает нужным подписать, как на детском рисунке: "это - елочка мохнатая, это - козочка рогатая, это - дядя с бородой, это - дом с трубой". А Чехову подписывать ничего не надо!