Supposing him to have belonged to the old Count’s stud of foreign horses, we led him back as an estray. But the grooms there disclaim any title to the creature; which is strange, since he bears evident marks of having made a narrow escape from the flames.

“The letters W. V. B. are also branded very distinctly on his forehead,” interrupted a second equerry (буквы W. V. B. также выжжены совершенно ясно на его лбу = клеймо поставлено, прервал второй конюший), “I supposed them, of course, to be the initials of Wilhelm von Berlifitzing (я предположил, конечно, что они – инициалы Вильгельма фон Берлифитцинга) – but all at the castle are positive (но все в замке абсолютно уверены) in denying any knowledge of the horse (в отрицании какого-либо знания об этом коне = отрицая, что знают этого коня).”

“The letters W. V. B. are also branded very distinctly on his forehead,” interrupted a second equerry, “I supposed them, of course, to be the initials of Wilhelm von Berlifitzing – but all at the castle are positive in denying any knowledge of the horse.”

“Extremely singular!” said the young Baron, with a musing air (крайне необычайно! – сказал юный барон с задумчивым видом), and apparently unconscious of the meaning of his words (и очевидно не сознающий значения своих слов). “He is, as you say, a remarkable horse – a prodigious horse (он, как вы говорите, замечательный конь – чудесный конь)! although, as you very justly observe, of a suspicious and untractable character (хотя, как вы очень справедливо отмечаете, – подозрительного и неподатливого характера), let him be mine, however,” he added, after a pause (пусть он будет моим, тем не менее, – прибавил он после некоторого молчания: «паузы»), “perhaps a rider like Frederick of Metzengerstein, may tame even the devil from the stables of Berlifitzing (возможно, такой наездник, как Фредерик Метценгерштейн, может укротить даже дьявола из конюшен Берлифитцинга).”

“Extremely singular!” said the young Baron, with a musing air, and apparently unconscious of the meaning of his words. “He is, as you say, a remarkable horse – a prodigious horse! although, as you very justly observe, of a suspicious and untractable character, let him be mine, however,” he added, after a pause, “perhaps a rider like Frederick of Metzengerstein, may tame even the devil from the stables of Berlifitzing.”

“You are mistaken, my lord (вы ошибаетесь, милорд); the horse, as I think we mentioned, is not from the stables of the Count (этот конь, как, я думаю, мы отметили, – не из конюшен графа). If such had been the case (если бы дело обстояло так: «если бы таким было дело»), we know our duty better than to bring him into the presence of a noble of your family (мы знаем наш долг лучше, чем приводить… = мы знаем свой долг и не стали бы приводить его к какому-либо дворянину из вашей семьи; presence – присутствие, общество какого-либо человека).”

“You are mistaken, my lord; the horse, as I think we mentioned, is not from the stables of the Count. If such had been the case, we know our duty better than to bring him into the presence of a noble of your family.”

“True!” observed the Baron, dryly (верно! – заметил барон сухо), and at that instant a page of the bedchamber came from the palace (а в этот момент паж из спальни прибежал из дворца) with a heightened color, and a precipitate step (раскрасневшийся: «с уярченным цветом» и стремительным шагом; to heighten – повышать, усиливать, делать цвет ярче). He whispered into his master’s ear an account (он прошептал своему господину на ухо рассказ) of the sudden disappearance of a small portion of the tapestry (о внезапном исчезновении маленького кусочка гобелена), in an apartment which he designated (в покое, который он указал); entering, at the same time, into particulars of a minute and circumstantial character (вдаваясь в то же время в частности мельчайшего и обстоятельного характера); but from the low tone of voice in which these latter were communicated (но из тихого звука голоса, которым эти последние = детали были сообщены), nothing escaped to gratify the excited curiosity of the equerries (ничто не убежало = не было слышно, чтобы удовлетворить возбужденное любопытство конюших).

“True!” observed the Baron, dryly, and at that instant a page of the bedchamber came from the palace with a heightened color, and a precipitate step. He whispered into his master’s ear an account of the sudden disappearance of a small portion of the tapestry, in an apartment which he designated; entering, at the same time, into particulars of a minute and circumstantial character; but from the low tone of voice in which these latter were communicated, nothing escaped to gratify the excited curiosity of the equerries.

The young Frederick, during the conference, seemed agitated by a variety of emotions (юный Фредерик во время этой беседы казался возбужденным /целой/ гаммой чувств). He soon, however, recovered his composure (он скоро, впрочем, вернул себе свое хладнокровие), and an expression of determined malignancy settled upon his countenance (и выражение решительной злобы установилось на его лице), as he gave peremptory orders (в то время как он отдавал не допускающие сомнения приказания) that a certain chamber should be immediately locked up (что некоторая комната должна быть немедленно заперта), and the key placed in his own possession (а ключи отданы ему: «помещены в его обладание»).

The young Frederick, during the conference, seemed agitated by a variety of emotions. He soon, however, recovered his composure, and an expression of determined malignancy settled upon his countenance, as he gave peremptory orders that a certain chamber should be immediately locked up, and the key placed in his own possession.

“Have you heard of the unhappy death of the old hunter Berlifitzing?” said one of his vassals to the Baron (вы слышали о несчастной гибели старого охотника Берлифитцинга? – сказал один из вассалов барону), as, after the departure of the page, the huge steed which that nobleman had adopted as his own (когда, после ухода пажа, огромный конь, которого сей дворянин принял как своего собственного), plunged and curvetted, with redoubled fury, down the long avenue (ринулся и поскакал с удвоенным неистовством по длинной аллее) which extended from the château to the stables of Metzengerstein (которая шла от замка к конюшням Метценгерштейна).