狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第29章Part 8

Figuratively speaking, that is to say; for the arms of Mr Chick were full of his newspaper. Neither did that gentleman address his eyes towards his wife otherwise than by stealth. Neither did he offer any consolation whatever. In short, he sat reading, and humming fag ends of tunes, and sometimes glancing furtively at her without delivering himself of a word, good, bad, or indifferent.
In the meantime Mrs Chick sat swelling and bridling, and tossing her head, as if she were still repeating that solemn formula of farewell to Lucretia Tox. At length, she said aloud, 'Oh the extent to which her eyes had been opened that day!'
'To which your eyes have been opened, my dear!' repeated Mr Chick. 'Oh, don't talk to me!' said Mrs Chic 'if you can bear to see me in this state, and not ask me what the matter is, you had better hold your tongue for ever.'
'What is the matter, my dear?' asked Mr Chick 'To think,' said Mrs Chick, in a state of soliloquy, 'that she should ever have conceived the base idea of connecting herself with our family by a marriage with Paul! To think that when she was playing at horses with that dear child who is now in his grave - I never liked it at the time - she should have been hiding such a double-faced design! I wonder she was never afraid that something would happen to her. She is fortunate if nothing does.'
'I really thought, my dear,' said Mr Chick slowly, after rubbing the bridge of his nose for some time with his newspaper, 'that you had gone on the same tack yourself, all along, until this morning; and had thought it would be a convenient thing enough, if it could have been brought about.'
Mrs Chick instantly burst into tears, and told Mr Chick that if he wished to trample upon her with his boots, he had better do It.
'But with Lucretia Tox I have done,' said Mrs Chick, after abandoning herself to her feelings for some minutes, to Mr Chick's great terror. 'I can bear to resign Paul's confidence in favour of one who, I hope and trust, may be deserving of it, and with whom he has a perfect right to replace poor Fanny if he chooses; I can bear to be informed, In Paul's cool manner, of such a change in his plans, and never to be consulted until all is settled and determined; but deceit I can not bear, and with Lucretia Tox I have done. It is better as it is,' said Mrs Chick, piously; 'much better. It would have been a long time before I could have accommodated myself comfortably with her, after this; and I really don't know, as Paul is going to be very grand, and these are people of condition, that she would have been quite presentable, and might not have compromised myself. There's a providence in everything; everything works for the best; I have been tried today but on the whole I do not regret it.'
In which Christian spirit, Mrs Chick dried her eyes and smoothed her lap, and sat as became a person calm under a great wrong. Mr Chick feeling his unworthiness no doubt, took an early opportunity of being set down at a street corner and walking away whistling, with his shoulders very much raised, and his hands in his pockets.
While poor excommunicated Miss Tox, who, if she were a fawner and toad-eater, was at least an honest and a constant one, and had ever borne a faithful friendship towards her impeacher and had been truly absorbed and swallowed up in devotion to the magnificence of Mr Dombey - while poor excommunicated Miss Tox watered her plants with her tears, and felt that it was winter in Princess's Place.

我們在這裏是採用比喻性的說法，因爲奇克先生的懷裏實際上盡是報紙。這位先生的眼睛也沒有正面看着她的妻子，只不過是偶爾偷偷地看一眼罷了。他也沒有給她任何安慰。總之，他坐在那裏閱讀着，哼唱着曲調的片斷，有時悄悄地看她一眼；不管是好話、壞話、還是不好不壞的話，他一句也不說。
在這同一個時候，奇剋夫人坐在那裏，怒氣衝衝地昂着頭，搖來晃去，彷彿還在重複說着向盧克麗霞·托克斯的莊嚴的告別辭。最後，她高聲說道，”啊，今天她的眼睛睜得多麼開啊！”
“你的眼睛睜得多開啊，我親愛的？”奇克先生重複着說道。”哦，別跟我講話！”奇剋夫人說道，”如果你能用這樣一種姿態看我，也不問一下發生了什麼事的話，那麼你最好把嘴巴永遠閉着。”
“發生了什麼事啦，我親愛的？”奇克先生問道。“想一下吧！”奇剋夫人自言自語地說道，”她竟居然抱着這樣卑鄙的企圖，想通過跟保羅成親來跟我們家攀上親戚關係！想一想吧！當她跟那個現在已躺在墳墓裏的可愛的孩子玩馬的時候--我當時就不喜歡這個遊戲--，她竟居然在心裏隱藏着這樣陰險的野心！我真奇怪，她從不擔心這會使她碰上倒黴的事。如果沒碰上什麼事的話，那她倒走運了。”
“親愛的，我真認爲，”奇克先生用報紙把鼻樑擦了一些時候之後，慢吞吞地說道，”直到今天早上之前，你自己也是一直向着同一個目標前進的呢。你還認爲，如果能實現的話，這倒是方便極了。”
奇剋夫人立刻眼淚奪眶而出地大哭起來，並對奇克先生說，如果他想用靴子踩她的話，那麼他最好就踩。
“但是我已經跟盧克麗霞?托克斯一刀兩斷了，”奇剋夫人聽憑自己沉溺在迸發的感情之中，使奇克先生感到極大的恐慌；過了幾分鐘之後，她說道，”我可以容忍保羅向一個人表示喜愛，我希望和相信她是可以受之無愧的；如果他願意的話，那麼他也完全有權利讓她來代替可憐的範妮；我可以容忍保羅用他向來不動感情的態度把他計劃中的這個變化告訴我，在一切都已決定、辦妥之前，一次也沒跟我商量過；但是奸詐卻是我所不能容忍的；我已跟盧克麗霞?托克斯一刀兩斷了。像現在這樣子倒是更好，”奇剋夫人真心誠意地說道，”好得多。要不然，在這之後，我得需要很長的時間才能跟她和解。現在，保羅地位很高，這些人出身又很尊貴，我實在不知道她在那種場合是不是能拿得出去，她會不會糟蹋我的聲譽呢？一切事情都有天意，一切事情都向着最好的方面發展；今天我經受了考驗，但是我不後悔。”
奇剋夫人懷着這種基督徒的精神，擦乾了眼淚，撫平膝蓋上的衣服，像一個冷靜地忍耐着極大委屈的人那樣坐着。奇克先生無疑感覺到自己的渺小無用，就趁早找了個機會，在一條街道的拐角下了車，離開了；他高聳着肩膀，手插在衣袋裏，一邊走，一邊吹着口哨。
如果說托克斯小姐是位巴結討好、喜愛拍馬屁的人的話，那麼至少她是誠實的和始終如一的；對於現在嚴厲責備她的人，她過去確實懷着忠實的友誼，而且一心一意、五體投地地崇拜着偉大的董貝先生；這時候，這位可憐的被革除在外的托克斯小姐用她的眼淚澆着花，感到公主廣場已經是冬天了。