), but of anything to sell (но чего-либо для продажи) or even so much as to look at (или хотя бы того, на что посмотреть), there was not a sign (там не было и признака = следа).
furnished ['fWnISt], several ['sevrql], mirror ['mIrq]
Behind her Mrs. Harris noted a fair-sized room opening into a second one, gray-carpeted like the stairs, with fine silk hangings at the windows, and furnished only with several rows of gray and golden chairs around the perimeter. A few floor-to-ceiling pier mirrors completed the décor, but of anything to sell or even so much as to look at, there was not a sign.
Mme. Colbert, the manageress (у мадам Кольбер, управляющей), had had a bad morning (было плохое утро). Ordinarily a kind and gracious lady (обычно добрая и снисходительная дама), she had let herself into a quarrel with M. Fauvel (она позволила себе /вступить/ в ссору с мсье Фовелем), the young and handsome chief of the auditing department (молодым и красивым главой ревизионно-контрольного отдела), of whom otherwise she was rather fond (который вообще-то ей очень нравился; to be fond of — любить /что-л. или кого-л./), and had sent him upstairs again to his domaine (и послала его наверх обратно в его отдел: «на его территорию»; to send) with his ears reddening (с покрасневшими ушами).
manageress ['mxnIGq'res], gracious ['greISqs], quarrel ['kwOrql]
Mme. Colbert, the manageress, had had a bad morning. Ordinarily a kind and gracious lady, she had let herself into a quarrel with M. Fauvel, the young and handsome chief of the auditing department, of whom otherwise she was rather fond, and had sent him upstairs again to his domaine with his ears reddening.
It was merely a matter of his inquiring (дело было просто в его расспросах) about a client (о клиенте) whose bills seemed to run too long without payment (чьи счета, казалось, оставались слишком долго без оплаты; to run — бежать; быть в обращении, накапливаться /о долге/). On any other day (в любой другой день) Mme. Colbert might have favored the auditor (мадам Кольбер поддержала бы/оказала помощь аудитору) with a penetrating and not unhumorous run-down of the clients’ characteristics (проницательным и не без юмора кратким описанием особенностей клиентов), idiosyncrasies and trustworthiness (черт характера и надежности; idiosyncrasy — идиосинкразия /измененная, болезненная чувствительность организма к некоторым веществам или воздействиям; активное неприятие кого-л. или чего-л./
