狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第27章Part 16

'you.might have been well married,' said her mother, 'twenty times at least, Edith, if you had given encouragement enough.'
'No! Who takes me, refuse that I am, and as I well deserve to be,' she answered, raising her head, and trembling in her energy of shame and stormy pride, 'shall take me, as this man does, with no art of mine put forth to lure him. He sees me at the auction, and he thinks it well to buy me. Let him! When he came to view me - perhaps to bid - he required to see the roll of my accomplishments. I gave it to him. When he would have me show one of them, to justify his purchase to his men, I require of him to say which he demands, and I exhibit it. I will do no more. He makes the purchase of his own will, and with his own sense of its worth, and the power of his money; and I hope it may never disappoint him. I have not vaunted and pressed the bargain; neither have you, so far as I have been able to prevent you.
'You talk strangely to-night, Edith, to your own Mother.'
'It seems so to me; stranger to me than you,' said Edith. 'But my education was completed long ago. I am too old now, and have fallen too low, by degrees, to take a new course, and to stop yours, and to help myself. The germ of all that purifies a woman's breast, and makes it true and good, has never stirred in mine, and I have nothing else to sustain me when I despise myself.' There had been a touching sadness in her voice, but it was gone, when she went on to say, with a curled lip, 'So, as we are genteel and poor, I am content that we should be made rich by these means; all I say is, I have kept the only purpose I have had the strength to form - I had almost said the power, with you at my side, Mother - and have not tempted this man on.'
'This man! You speak,' said her mother, 'as if you hated him.'
'And you thought I loved him, did you not?' she answered, stopping on her way across the room, and looking round. 'Shall I tell you,' she continued, with her eyes fixed on her mother, 'who already knows us thoroughly, and reads us right, and before whom I have even less of self-respect or confidence than before my own inward self; being so much degraded by his knowledge of me?'
'This is an attack, I suppose,' returned her mother coldly, 'on poor, unfortunate what's-his-name - Mr Carker! Your want of self-respect and confidence, my dear, in reference to that person (who is very agreeable, it strikes me), is not likely to have much effect on your establishment. Why do you look at me so hard? Are you ill?'
Edith suddenly let fall her face, as if it had been stung, and while she pressed her hands upon it, a terrible tremble crept over her whole frame. It was quickly gone; and with her usual step, she passed out of the room.
The maid who should have been a skeleton, then reappeared, and giving one arm to her mistress, who appeared to have taken off her manner with her charms, and to have put on paralysis with her flannel gown, collected the ashes of Cleopatra, and carried them away in the other, ready for tomorrow's revivification.

“如果你能稍稍給人一點鼓勵的話，”她的母親說道，“那麼你到現在至少已很好地結過二十次婚了。”
“不！我是塊廢料，我也只配當塊廢料；但誰想要我這塊廢料，”她擡起頭，回答道，一邊由於極大的羞恥與肆意的高傲而顫抖着，“那就讓他像這個人一樣把我要走；我不耍弄任何詭計去引誘他；他看到我被交付拍賣，並覺得買下我不壞。讓他買去吧！當他前來觀察我——也許是出價——的時候，他要求看看我所掌握的技能的清冊。我給了他。他想要表演一件給他看看，以便向他手下的人顯示買得合算，我就問他想要看哪一件，然後我就奉命展示。我不再做別的。他是出於自願購買的，他知道它的價錢和他的金錢的力量；我希望他永遠別對它失望。我沒有自吹自擂，也沒有逼着他非成交不可；由於我儘量阻止你，你也沒有這樣做。”
“今天晚上你真奇怪，伊迪絲，跟你自己的母親這樣講話。”
“我似乎也覺得奇怪，比你還覺得奇怪，”伊迪絲說道，“但是我的教育很久以前就受完了。我現在年紀太大了，而且已經逐步墮落得太下賤了，我已不能再選擇新的課程，廢除你的，來挽救我自己。一切能純潔一個女人的心胸，使它變得真誠和善良的幼芽，從來沒有在我心中萌生過。當我輕視我自己的時候，我沒有任何別的東西來支撐我。”在她的聲音中包含着一種動人的悲哀；但當她撇着嘴，繼續說下去的時候，它消失了，“因此，由於我們出身高貴而境況貧窮，我安心於通過這些途徑來發財致富。我所要說的只是，我堅持那唯一的宗旨，這是我還有能力提出的——媽媽，有你在我身邊，我幾乎要說，這也是我還有力量提出的唯一的宗旨。我沒有引誘過這個男人。”
“這個男人！”她的母親說道，“看你說話的口氣，彷彿你恨他似的。”
“難道你以爲我愛他是不是？”她穿過房間中途，停下腳步，回過頭來看着，回答道，“是不是要我告訴你，”她的眼睛注視着她的母親，說道，“誰早已徹底瞭解我們和看透我們了？在他面前我比在我自己面前更缺乏自尊心和自信心，——因爲他對我的瞭解，使我感到多麼自卑自賤！”
“我想，”她的母親冷冷地說道，“你是在抨擊那可憐的、不幸的、他叫什麼名字——卡克先生！你想到那個人（我覺得他很討人喜歡）時缺乏自尊心和自信心，我親愛的，這不見得對你的家庭會有多大影響。你爲什麼要這樣嚴厲地看着我？你病了嗎？”
伊迪絲突然低下了臉，彷彿感覺到劇烈痛苦似的；當她用手緊緊捂住它的時候，一陣可怕的哆嗦波及她的全身。它很快就過去了；然後她以往常的步伐走出了房間。
這時那位應當說是骷髏的侍女又來了，她向女主人伸出一隻手；女主人似乎不僅失去了動人的容顏，而且也失去了美好的姿態；她穿上了法蘭絨長外衣，全身無力；侍女收拾了克利奧佩特拉的遺骸，用另一隻手拿走了，準備明天早晨再讓她復活。