Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. TITELBLATT

2. IMPRESSUM

3. CHAPTER I

4. CHAPTER II

5. CHAPTER III

6. CHAPTER IV

7. CHAPTER V

8. CHAPTER VI

9. CHAPTER VII

10. CHAPTER VIII

11. CHAPTER IX

12. CHAPTER X

13. CHAPTER XI

14. CHAPTER XII

15. CHAPTER XIII

16. THE SECRET AGENT (ENGLISCH)

Joseph Conrad
The Secret Agent / Der Geheimagent
Zweisprachige Ausgabe
Übersetzt von Ernst Wolfgang Freißler

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CHAPTER I

KAPITEL I

MR Verloc, going out in the morning, left his shop nominally in charge of his brother-in-law.

Wenn Herr Verloc morgens ausging, so ließ er sein Geschäft angeblich in der Hut seines Schwagers.

It could be done, because there was very little business at any time, and practically none at all before the evening.

Das konnte er tun, weil im allgemeinen wenig Kunden kamen und vor den Abendstunden überhaupt keine.

Mr Verloc cared but little about his ostensible business. And, moreover, his wife was in charge of his brother-in-law.

Herr Verloc kümmerte sich wenig um seinen angeblichen Laden, und überdies wurde sein Schwager von Frau Verloc beaufsichtigt.

The shop was small, and so was the house.

Der Laden war klein, ebenso wie das ganze Haus.

It was one of those grimy brick houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned upon London.

Es war eines der rußigen Backsteinhäuser, wie es sie in großen Mengen gab, bevor in ganz London mit Neubauten begonnen wurde.

The shop was a square box of a place, with the front glazed in small panes.

Der Laden glich einer viereckigen Schachtel, deren Stirnseite mit kleinen Scheiben verglast war.

In the daytime the door remained closed; in the evening it stood discreetly but suspiciously ajar.

Unter Tags blieb die Tür geschlossen, abends aber stand sie unauffällig, doch verdächtig offen.

The window contained photographs of more or less undressed dancing girls; nondescript packages in wrappers like patent medicines;

Das Auslagefenster enthielt Lichtbilder von mehr oder weniger unbekleideten Tänzerinnen; unterschiedliche Dinge in Packungen, die an Heilmittel gemahnten;

closed yellow paper envelopes, very flimsy, and marked two-and-six in heavy black figures;

geschlossene gelbe Briefumschläge, recht dünn, und in dicker, schwarzer Schrift ausgezeichnet mit 2/6.

a few numbers of ancient French comic publications hung across a string as if to dry;

Einige Nummern alter französischer Witzblätter hingen an einem Bindfaden, wie zum Trocknen.

a dingy blue china bowl, a casket of black wood, bottles of marking ink, and rubber stamps; a few books, with titles hinting at impropriety;

Ein schmutziger Napf aus blauem Porzellan, ein Kästchen aus schwarzem Holz, einige Flaschen Merktinte, Stempelkissen; einige wenige Bücher, deren Titel auf unsauberen Inhalt deuteten;

a few apparently old copies of obscure newspapers, badly printed, with titles like The Torch, The Gong — rousing titles.

einige augenscheinlich alte Nummern dunkler Tagesblätter, schlecht gedruckt, mit Titeln wie: »Die Fackel«, »Der Gong« – Skandalblättchen.

And the two gas jets inside the panes were always turned low, either for economy’s sake or for the sake of the customers.

Die beiden Gasflammen im Laden waren immer klein gestellt, sei es nun aus Sparsamkeit oder aus Rücksicht auf die Kunden.

These customers were either very young men, who hung about the window for a time before slipping in suddenly;

Diese Kunden waren entweder ganz junge Leute, die sich eine Zeitlang vor dem Auslagefenster herumdrückten, bevor sie hastig hineinschlüpften,

or men of a more mature age, but looking generally as if they were not in funds.

oder Männer gesetzten Alters, die aber gemeinhin aussahen, als wären sie schlecht bei Kasse.

Some of that last kind had the collars of their overcoats turned right up to their moustaches,

Einige dieser letzten Art trugen die Kragen ihrer Überzieher bis zur Schnurrbartspitze aufgeschlagen;

and traces of mud on the bottom of their nether garments, which had the appearance of being much worn and not very valuable.

die Säume ihrer Beinkleider wiesen Schmutzspuren auf und schienen abgetragen zu sein und nicht eben kostbar.

And the legs inside them did not, as a general rule, seem of much account either.

Die Beine, die darin staken, sahen in der Regel auch nicht nach viel aus.

With their hands plunged deep in the side pockets of their coats,

Die Hände tief in den Seitentaschen ihrer Röcke vergraben,

they dodged in sideways, one shoulder first, as if afraid to start the bell going.

schoben sich diese Leute, mit einer Schulter voran, seitlich durch die Türe, als fürchteten sie, die Glocke zum Tönen zu bringen.

The bell, hung on the door by means of a curved ribbon of steel, was difficult to circumvent. It was hopelessly cracked;

Diese Glocke, an einem gebogenen Stahlband an der Türe befestigt, war schwer zu vermeiden; sie war hoffnungslos heiser;

but of an evening, at the slightest provocation, it clattered behind the customer with impudent virulence.

abends aber schnatterte sie beim leisesten Anreiz mit unverschämter Hartnäckigkeit hinter jedem Besucher her.

It clattered; and at that signal, through the dusty glass door behind the painted deal counter, Mr Verloc would issue hastily from the parlour at the back.

Sie schnatterte; und auf dieses Zeichen pflegte Herr Verloc hastig durch die staubige Glastüre hinter dem Ladentische aus dem rückwärts gelegenen Wohnzimmer einzutreten.

His eyes were naturally heavy; he had an air of having wallowed, fully dressed, all day on an unmade bed.

Seine Augen waren von Natur schwer; er sah immer aus, als hätte er sich ganz angezogen einen vollen Tag auf einem ungemachten Bett gewälzt.

Another man would have felt such an appearance a distinct disadvantage.

Ein anderer Mann hätte ein solches Aussehen wohl als ausgesprochen nachteilig empfunden,

In a commercial transaction of the retail order much depends on the seller’s engaging and amiable aspect.

denn im Kleinhandel hängt ja so viel von der freundlichen und einladenden Erscheinung des Verkäufers ab.

But Mr Verloc knew his business, and remained undisturbed by any sort of æsthetic doubt about his appearance.

Herr Verloc aber kannte sein Geschäft und ließ sich von ästhetischen Zweifeln über sein Äußeres nicht anfechten.

With a firm, steady-eyed impudence, which seemed to hold back the threat of some abominable menace,

Mit einer kalten, starr blickenden Unverschämtheit, die das Lautwerden irgend einer scheußlichen Drohung hemmen zu wollen schien,

he would proceed to sell over the counter some object looking obviously and scandalously not worth the money which passed in the transaction:

pflegte er über den Ladentisch weg irgendwelche Dinge zu verkaufen, deren Wert sich ganz offenbar lächerlich unter dem Preise bewegte, der dafür verlangt wurde:

a small cardboard box with apparently nothing inside, for instance, or one of those carefully closed yellow flimsy envelopes,

eine kleine, augenscheinlich leere Pappendeckelschachtel zum Beispiel, oder einen jener gut verschlossenen gelben Briefumschläge,

or a soiled volume in paper covers with a promising title.

oder einen schmutzigen Pappband mit verlockendem Titel.

Now and then it happened that one of the faded, yellow dancing girls would get sold to an amateur, as though she had been alive and young.

Dann und wann kam es vor, daß eine der ausgebleichten gelben Tänzerinnen an einen Liebhaber verkauft wurde, als wäre sie jung und lebendig.

Sometimes it was Mrs Verloc who would appear at the call of the cracked bell.

Manchmal war es Frau Verloc, die auf den Ruf der heiseren Glocke hin erschien.

Winnie Verloc was a young woman with a full bust, in a tight bodice, and with broad hips.

Winnie Verloc war eine junge Frau mit voller Büste in engem Mieder und mit breiten Hüften.

Her hair was very tidy. Steady-eyed like her husband, she preserved an air of unfathomable indifference behind the rampart of the counter.

Ihr Haar war sauber geordnet; kühl blickend wie ihr Gemahl, bewahrte sie hinter der Brustwehr des Ladentisches eine anscheinend unergründliche Gleichgültigkeit.

Then the customer of comparatively tender years would get suddenly disconcerted at having to deal with a woman,

Dann pflegte wohl ein Kunde zarteren Alters in jähe Verwirrung zu geraten, weil er es mit einer Frau zu tun hatte,

and with rage in his heart would proffer a request for a bottle of marking ink, retail value sixpence

und, Wut im Herzen, den Wunsch nach einer Flasche Tinte hervorzustammeln, im Werte von sechs Pence

(price in Verloc’s shop one-and-sixpence), which, once outside, he would drop stealthily into the gutter.

(Preis in Verlocs Laden ein Schilling sechs Pence), die er, draußen angelangt, heimlich in die Gosse fallen ließ.

The evening visitors — the men with collars turned up and soft hats rammed down

Die abendlichen Besucher – die Männer mit aufgeschlagenen Kragen und tief sitzenden weichen Hüten

— nodded familiarly to Mrs Verloc, and with a muttered greeting, lifted up the flap at the end of the counter in order to pass into the back parlour,

– nickten Frau Verloc vertraulich zu und schoben sich mit einem gemurmelten Gruße durch die Klappe am Ende des Ladentisches,

which gave access to a passage and to a steep flight of stairs.

die den Durchgang zu dem rückwärtigen Wohnraum und dem anschließenden Gang mit der steilen Stiege bildete.

The door of the shop was the only means of entrance to the house in which Mr Verloc carried on his business of a seller of shady wares,

Die Ladentür bot den einzigen Eingang zu dem Hause, in dem Herr Verloc sein Geschäft als Verkäufer minderer Waren betrieb,

exercised his vocation of a protector of society, and cultivated his domestic virtues.

seinen Beruf als Beschützer der Gesellschaft ausübte und seine häuslichen Tugenden zur Geltung brachte.

These last were pronounced. He was thoroughly domesticated.

Diese letzteren waren ganz ausgesprochen, er war überaus häuslich;

Neither his spiritual, nor his mental, nor his physical needs were of the kind to take him much abroad.

weder seine seelischen, noch seine geistigen, noch seine körperlichen Bedürfnisse waren danach angetan, ihn viel außer Haus zu führen.

He found at home the ease of his body and the peace of his conscience,

Er fand innerhalb seiner vier Wände Ruhe für seinen Leib, Frieden für sein Gewissen,

together with Mrs Verloc’s wifely attentions and Mrs Verloc’s mother’s deferential regard.

zugleich mit Frau Verlocs weiblichen Aufmerksamkeiten und der ehrerbietigen Wertschätzung von Frau Verlocs Mutter.

Winnie’s mother was a stout, wheezy woman, with a large brown face.

Winnies Mutter war eine stämmige, kurzatmige Frau mit großem braunen Gesicht;

She wore a black wig under a white cap. Her swollen legs rendered her inactive.

sie trug eine schwarze Perücke unter einer weißen Haube; ihre geschwollenen Beine zwangen sie zur Untätigkeit.

She considered herself to be of French descent, which might have been true;

Sie glaubte an ihre französische Abstammung, vielleicht mit Recht;

and after a good many years of married life with a licensed victualler of the more common sort, she provided for the years of widowhood by letting furnished apartments

und nach langjähriger Ehe mit einem konzessionierten Gastwirt mehr alltäglicher Klasse brachte sie sich durch die Zeit ihrer Witwenschaft mit dem Vermieten möblierter Zimmer an Herren,

for gentlemen near Vauxhall Bridge Road in a square once of some splendour and still included in the district of Belgravia.

nächst Vauxhall Bridge Road, an einem Platz, der einstmals zu den besseren gehörte, gerade noch an der Grenze des Stadtbezirkes Belgravia;

This topographical fact was of some advantage in advertising her rooms;

diese Ortsbezeichnung bot ihr bei Ankündigung ihrer Zimmer einigen Vorteil;

but the patrons of the worthy widow were not exactly of the fashionable kind.

die Mieter der würdigen Witwe aber gehörten nicht unbedingt zu den besseren Leuten.

Such as they were, her daughter Winnie helped to look after them. Traces of the French descent which the widow boasted of were apparent in Winnie too.

Ihre Bedienung besorgte die Tochter Winnie, die gleichfalls Spuren der französischen Abstammung aufwies, deren sich die Mutter rühmte,

They were apparent in the extremely neat and artistic arrangement of her glossy dark hair.

vor allem in der überaus sorgfältigen und künstlichen Anordnung ihres üppigen dunklen Haares.

Winnie had also other charms: her youth; her full, rounded form; her clear complexion;

Winnie hatte noch andere Reize: ihre Jugend, ihre vollen, rundlichen Formen, ihre reine Haut,

the provocation of her unfathomable reserve, which never went so far as to prevent conversation,

endlich ihre unergründliche Zurückhaltung, die aber nicht so weit ging, jegliche Unterhaltung unmöglich zu machen;

carried on on the lodgers’ part with animation, and on hers with an equable amiability.

diese wurde dann von des Mieters Seite angeregt und von ihr selbst mit gleichbleibender Liebenswürdigkeit fortgeführt.

It must be that Mr Verloc was susceptible to these fascinations.

Herr Verloc mußte wohl für diese Reize empfänglich gewesen sein;

Mr Verloc was an intermittent patron. He came and went without any very apparent reason.

Herr Verloc war kein Dauermieter; er kam und ging, ohne irgendwelchen ersichtlichen Grund.

He generally arrived in London (like the influenza) from the Continent,

Gewöhnlich tauchte er in London (wie die Influenza) vom Festland her auf,

only he arrived unheralded by the Press; and his visitations set in with great severity.

nur wurde sein Kommen nicht von der Presse angekündigt, und seine Besuche setzten mit vollem Ernste ein.

He breakfasted in bed, and remained wallowing there with an air of quiet enjoyment till noon every day — and sometimes even to a later hour.

Er frühstückte im Bett und blieb schwelgerisch, mit dem Ausdruck stillen Vergnügens, jeden Tag bis Mittag liegen – manchmal sogar noch länger.

But when he went out he seemed to experience a great difficulty in finding his way back to his temporary home in the Belgravian square.

Ging er aber einmal aus, dann schien er nur mit größter Mühe den Rückweg zu seinem zeitweiligen Heim am Belgravia-Platz zu finden.

He left it late, and returned to it early — as early as three or four in the morning;

Er verließ es spät und kam früh zurück – um drei oder vier Uhr früh;

and on waking up at ten addressed Winnie, bringing in the breakfast tray, with jocular, exhausted civility,

beim Erwachen um zehn Uhr morgens sprach er Winnie, die ihm das Frühstücksbrett brachte, mit spaßhafter, müder Höflichkeit an,

in the hoarse, failing tones of a man who had been talking vehemently for many hours together.

in dem heiseren, lispelnden Tonfall eines Menschen, der anhaltend mehrere Stunden hindurch geredet hat.

His prominent, heavy-lidded eyes rolled sideways amorously and languidly, the bedclothes were pulled up to his chin,

Seine hervorstehenden Augen mit den schweren Lidern sandten verliebte und schmachtende Seitenblicke. Die Bettdecke hatte er bis zum Kinn heraufgezogen,

and his dark smooth moustache covered his thick lips capable of much honeyed banter.

und sein weicher schwarzer Schnurrbart bedeckte die dicken Lippen, von denen so viel Honig träufeln konnte.

In Winnie’s mother’s opinion Mr Verloc was a very nice gentleman. From her life’s experience gathered in various “business houses”

In den Augen von Winnies Mutter war Herr Verloc ein äußerst netter Herr; nach ihren Lebenserfahrungen, in verschiedenen »Geschäften« gesammelt,

the good woman had taken into her retirement an ideal of gentlemanliness as exhibited by the patrons of private-saloon bars.

hatte sich die gute Frau Verloc in den Ruhestand ein Idealbild des Gentleman herübergenommen, wie es etwa von den Inhabern einer besseren Bar verkörpert wird.

Mr Verloc approached that ideal; he attained it, in fact.

Herr Verloc näherte sich diesem Ideal tatsächlich, er erreichte es sogar.

CHAPTER I

MR Verloc, going out in the morning, left his shop nominally in charge of his brother-in-law. It could be done, because there was very little business at any time, and practically none at all before the evening. Mr Verloc cared but little about his ostensible business. And, moreover, his wife was in charge of his brother-in-law.

The shop was small, and so was the house. It was one of those grimy brick houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned upon London. The shop was a square box of a place, with the front glazed in small panes. In the daytime the door remained closed; in the evening it stood discreetly but suspiciously ajar.

The window contained photographs of more or less undressed dancing girls; nondescript packages in wrappers like patent medicines; closed yellow paper envelopes, very flimsy, and marked two-and-six in heavy black figures; a few numbers of ancient French comic publications hung across a string as if to dry; a dingy blue china bowl, a casket of black wood, bottles of marking ink, and rubber stamps; a few books, with titles hinting at impropriety; a few apparently old copies of obscure newspapers, badly printed, with titles like The Torch, The Gong — rousing titles. And the two gas jets inside the panes were always turned low, either for economy’s sake or for the sake of the customers.

These customers were either very young men, who hung about the window for a time before slipping in suddenly; or men of a more mature age, but looking generally as if they were not in funds. Some of that last kind had the collars of their overcoats turned right up to their moustaches, and traces of mud on the bottom of their nether garments, which had the appearance of being much worn and not very valuable. And the legs inside them did not, as a general rule, seem of much account either. With their hands plunged deep in the side pockets of their coats, they dodged in sideways, one shoulder first, as if afraid to start the bell going.

The bell, hung on the door by means of a curved ribbon of steel, was difficult to circumvent. It was hopelessly cracked; but of an evening, at the slightest provocation, it clattered behind the customer with impudent virulence.

It clattered; and at that signal, through the dusty glass door behind the painted deal counter, Mr Verloc would issue hastily from the parlour at the back. His eyes were naturally heavy; he had an air of having wallowed, fully dressed, all day on an unmade bed. Another man would have felt such an appearance a distinct disadvantage. In a commercial transaction of the retail order much depends on the seller’s engaging and amiable aspect. But Mr Verloc knew his business, and remained undisturbed by any sort of æsthetic doubt about his appearance. With a firm, steady-eyed impudence, which seemed to hold back the threat of some abominable menace, he would proceed to sell over the counter some object looking obviously and scandalously not worth the money which passed in the transaction: a small cardboard box with apparently nothing inside, for instance, or one of those carefully closed yellow flimsy envelopes, or a soiled volume in paper covers with a promising title. Now and then it happened that one of the faded, yellow dancing girls would get sold to an amateur, as though she had been alive and young.

Sometimes it was Mrs Verloc who would appear at the call of the cracked bell. Winnie Verloc was a young woman with a full bust, in a tight bodice, and with broad hips. Her hair was very tidy. Steady-eyed like her husband, she preserved an air of unfathomable indifference behind the rampart of the counter. Then the customer of comparatively tender years would get suddenly disconcerted at having to deal with a woman, and with rage in his heart would proffer a request for a bottle of marking ink, retail value sixpence (price in Verloc’s shop one-and-sixpence), which, once outside, he would drop stealthily into the gutter.

The evening visitors — the men with collars turned up and soft hats rammed down — nodded familiarly to Mrs Verloc, and with a muttered greeting, lifted up the flap at the end of the counter in order to pass into the back parlour, which gave access to a passage and to a steep flight of stairs. The door of the shop was the only means of entrance to the house in which Mr Verloc carried on his business of a seller of shady wares, exercised his vocation of a protector of society, and cultivated his domestic virtues. These last were pronounced. He was thoroughly domesticated. Neither his spiritual, nor his mental, nor his physical needs were of the kind to take him much abroad. He found at home the ease of his body and the peace of his conscience, together with Mrs Verloc’s wifely attentions and Mrs Verloc’s mother’s deferential regard.

Winnie’s mother was a stout, wheezy woman, with a large brown face. She wore a black wig under a white cap. Her swollen legs rendered her inactive. She considered herself to be of French descent, which might have been true; and after a good many years of married life with a licensed victualler of the more common sort, she provided for the years of widowhood by letting furnished apartments for gentlemen near Vauxhall Bridge Road in a square once of some splendour and still included in the district of Belgravia. This topographical fact was of some advantage in advertising her rooms; but the patrons of the worthy widow were not exactly of the fashionable kind. Such as they were, her daughter Winnie helped to look after them. Traces of the French descent which the widow boasted of were apparent in Winnie too. They were apparent in the extremely neat and artistic arrangement of her glossy dark hair. Winnie had also other charms: her youth; her full, rounded form; her clear complexion; the provocation of her unfathomable reserve, which never went so far as to prevent conversation, carried on on the lodgers’ part with animation, and on hers with an equable amiability. It must be that Mr Verloc was susceptible to these fascinations. Mr Verloc was an intermittent patron. He came and went without any very apparent reason. He generally arrived in London (like the influenza) from the Continent, only he arrived unheralded by the Press; and his visitations set in with great severity. He breakfasted in bed, and remained wallowing there with an air of quiet enjoyment till noon every day — and sometimes even to a later hour. But when he went out he seemed to experience a great difficulty in finding his way back to his temporary home in the Belgravian square. He left it late, and returned to it early — as early as three or four in the morning; and on waking up at ten addressed Winnie, bringing in the breakfast tray, with jocular, exhausted civility, in the hoarse, failing tones of a man who had been talking vehemently for many hours together. His prominent, heavy-lidded eyes rolled sideways amorously and languidly, the bedclothes were pulled up to his chin, and his dark smooth moustache covered his thick lips capable of much honeyed banter.

In Winnie’s mother’s opinion Mr Verloc was a very nice gentleman. From her life’s experience gathered in various “business houses” the good woman had taken into her retirement an ideal of gentlemanliness as exhibited by the patrons of private-saloon bars. Mr Verloc approached that ideal; he attained it, in fact.