狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第46章Part2

'See where he goes!' muttered the old woman, watching her daughter with her red eyes; 'so easy and so trim a-horseback, while we are in the mud.'
'And of it,' said her daughter impatiently. 'We are mud, underneath his horse's feet. What should we be?' In the intentness with which she looked after him again, she made a hasty gesture with her hand when the old woman began to reply, as if her view could be obstructed by mere sound. Her mother watching her, and not him, remained silent; until her kindling glance subsided, and she drew a long breath, as if in the relief of his being gone.
'Deary!' said the old woman then. 'Alice! Handsome gall Ally!' She gently shook her sleeve to arouse her attention. 'Will you let him go like that, when you can wring money from him? Why, it's a wickedness, my daughter.'
'Haven't I told you, that I will not have money from him?' she returned. 'And don't you yet believe me? Did I take his sister's money? Would I touch a penny, if I knew it, that had gone through his white hands - unless it was, indeed, that I could poison it, and send it back to him? Peace, mother, and come away.
'And him so rich?' murmured the old woman. 'And us so poor!'
'Poor in not being able to pay him any of the harm we owe him,' returned her daughter. 'Let him give me that sort of riches, and I'll take them from him, and use them. Come away. Its no good looking at his horse. Come away, mother!'
But the old woman, for whom the spectacle of Rob the Grinder returning down the street, leading the riderless horse, appeared to have some extraneous interest that it did not possess in itself, surveyed that young man with the utmost earnestness; and seeming to have whatever doubts she entertained, resolved as he drew nearer, glanced at her daughter with brightened eyes and with her finger on her lip, and emerging from the gateway at the moment of his passing, touched him on the shoulder.
'Why, where's my sprightly Rob been, all this time!' she said, as he turned round.
The sprightly Rob, whose sprightliness was very much diminished by the salutation, looked exceedingly dismayed, and said, with the water rising in his eyes:
'Oh! why can't you leave a poor cove alone, Misses Brown, when he's getting an honest livelihood and conducting himself respectable? What do you come and deprive a cove of his character for, by talking to him in the streets, when he's taking his master's horse to a honest stable - a horse you'd go and sell for cats' and dogs' meat if you had your way! Why, I thought,' said the Grinder, producing his concluding remark as if it were the climax of all his injuries, 'that you was dead long ago!'
'This is the way,' cried the old woman, appealing to her daughter, 'that he talks to me, who knew him weeks and months together, my deary, and have stood his friend many and many a time among the pigeon-fancying tramps and bird-catchers.'
'Let the birds be, will you, Misses Brown?' retorted Rob, in a tone of the acutest anguish. 'I think a cove had better have to do with lions than them little creeturs, for they're always flying back in your face when you least expect it. Well, how d'ye do and what do you want?' These polite inquiries the Grinder uttered, as it were under protest, and with great exasperation and vindictiveness.
'Hark how he speaks to an old friend, my deary!' said Mrs Brown, again appealing to her daughter. 'But there's some of his old friends not so patient as me. If I was to tell some that he knows, and has spotted and cheated with, where to find him - '
'Will you hold your tongue, Misses Brown?' interrupted the miserable Grinder, glancing quickly round, as though he expected to see his master's teeth shining at his elbow. 'What do you take a pleasure in ruining a cove for? At your time of life too! when you ought to be thinking of a variety of things!'
'What a gallant horse!' said the old woman, patting the animal's neck.

“看，他往那里骑过去了！”老太婆用发红的眼睛注视着她的女儿，嘟囔着说道，”那么悠闲自在，那么整洁漂亮，还骑着马，而我们却站在污泥里--”
“而且是从污泥里出来的，”她的女儿不耐烦地说道，”我们是他马蹄下的污泥。我们还能是什么？”她又用全神贯注的眼光从后面望着他；当老太婆想要回答的时候，她急忙摇摇手，仿佛连也会阻挡她的视线似的。她的母亲注视着她，而没有注视他，并保持着沉默，直到后来那冒着火星的眼睛平静下来了，她又深深地吸了一口气，仿佛由于看不到他而感到安慰似的。
“宝贝！”这时候老太婆说道。”艾丽斯！漂亮的女儿！艾丽！”她慢慢地摇摆着她的袖子来引起她的注意。”你是能从他那里敲出钱来的呀，你就让他那样过去吗？唔，这是罪恶，我的女儿。”
“难道我没有告诉过你，我不要他的钱吗？”她回答道。“难道你到现在还不相信我吗？我曾接受过他姐姐的钱了吗？如果我知道有什么钱通过他雪白的手送来的，难道我会去摸一个便士吗？除非我能在上面涂上毒药，再送还给他！别说了，妈妈，我们离开这里吧。”
“让他那么有钱？”老太婆嘟囔着，”而我们就这么穷苦可怜！”
“我们可怜，是由于他给我们造成了伤害，而我们却不能对他报仇雪恨；”女儿回答道，”让他给我那种财富吧，我将从他那里取得它并使用它。走吧，看他的马没有用。走吧，妈妈！”
但是老太婆这时看到磨工罗布牵着没有人骑着的马，沿着街道回来，她好像产生了超出这件事情本身的某种兴趣，非常认真地打量着这位年轻人。当他走近的时候，她好像要解决心头的什么疑问似的，用炯炯有神的眼睛看了她女儿一眼，并把一个指头贴在嘴唇上；当他正从这里经过的时候，她从门道里走出来，碰了一下他的肩膀。
“喂，我活泼的罗布这些时候都在哪里呀？”他回过头来时候，她问道。
活泼的罗布听到这个问候，减少了不少活泼，表现出十分惊愕的样子，眼中含着泪水，说道：
“啊，布朗太太，一个可怜的小伙子正在规规矩矩地挣钱过活，体体面面地做人，您为什么不让他平平静静地过日子，不去打搅他呢？他正把他主人的马牵到一个规矩可靠的马厩去，您为什么跑过来，在街道上跟他讲话，败坏他的名声呢？--这匹马要是由您去处理的话，您是会把它卖掉，再买肉来喂猫喂狗的！哎呀，我还以为，”磨工说了一句结尾的话，仿佛他所受的一切委屈已到达顶点似的，”您老早以前就已死掉了呢！”
“我亲爱的，”老太婆向她的女儿大声哀诉道，”我认识他已有好多个星期、好多个月了；有好多次，那些卖鸽子的流浪者和捉鸽子的人欺负他，都是我帮助了他，可是他现在竟这样对我说话！”
“让那些鸟儿安安静静，别去打扰它们吧，好不好，布朗太太？”罗布用极度痛苦的声调反驳道，”我想，一个年轻小伙子最好是跟狮子打交道，而不要去跟这些小东西打交道，因为它们常常会在您最意想不到的时候飞回到您的脸上来。唔，您好吗？您需要什么？”罗布说出这些有礼貌的话，仿佛是极不愿意，极为激愤和怨恨似的。
“你听，我的宝贝，他是怎样跟一位老朋友讲话的！”布朗太太又向她女儿哀诉道，”但是他有几位老朋友可不像我这么耐性。如果我去告诉几个他认识、他曾经跟他们玩乐，并欺骗过他们的朋友，到哪里去找到他的话--”
“您住嘴好不好，布朗太太？”可怜的磨工打断她的话，说道，一边迅速地向四周看了一眼，仿佛预料会在近旁看到他的主人的牙齿正在闪发出亮光似的，”您想毁掉一个年轻小伙子来取乐，这是为什么呢？像您这样岁数的人，本应该想各种各样事情的，为什么还要这样呢？”
“多么雄壮的马！”老太婆拍拍马背，说道。