狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第36章Part1

Many succeeding days passed in like manner; except that there were numerous visits received and paid, and that Mrs Skewton held little levees in her own apartments, at which Major Bagstock was a frequent attendant, and that Florence encountered no second look from her father, although she saw him every day. Nor had she much communication in words with her new Mama, who was imperious and proud to all the house but her - Florence could not but observe that - and who, although she always sent for her or went to her when she came home from visiting, and would always go into her room at night, before retiring to rest, however late the hour, and never lost an opportunity of being with her, was often her silent and thoughtful companion for a long time together.
Florence, who had hoped for so much from this marriage, could not help sometimes comparing the bright house with the faded dreary place out of which it had arisen, and wondering when, in any shape, it would begin to be a home; for that it was no home then, for anyone, though everything went on luxuriously and regularly, she had always a secret misgiving. Many an hour of sorrowful reflection by day and night, and many a tear of blighted hope, Florence bestowed upon the assurance her new Mama had given her so strongly, that there was no one on the earth more powerless than herself to teach her how to win her father's heart. And soon Florence began to think - resolved to think would be the truer phrase - that as no one knew so well, how hopeless of being subdued or changed her father's coldness to her was, so she had given her this warning, and forbidden the subject in very compassion. Unselfish here, as in her every act and fancy, Florence preferred to bear the pain of this new wound, rather than encourage anyfaint foreshadowings of the truth as it concerned her father; tender of him, even in her wandering thoughts. As for his home, she hoped it would become a better one, when its state of novelty and transition should be over; and for herself, thought little and lamented less.
If none of the new family were particularly at home in private, it was resolved that Mrs Dombey at least should be at home in public, without delay. A series of entertainments in celebration of the late nuptials, and in cultivation of society, were arranged, chiefly by Mr Dombey and Mrs Skewton; and it was settled that the festive proceedings should commence by Mrs Dombey's being at home upon a certain evening, and by Mr and Mrs Dombey's requesting the honour of the company of a great many incongruous people to dinner on the same day.
Accordingly, Mr Dombey produced a list of sundry eastern magnates who were to be bidden to this feast on his behalf; to which Mrs Skewton, acting for her dearest child, who was haughtily careless on the subject, subjoined a western list, comprising Cousin Feenix, not yet returned to Baden-Baden, greatly to the detriment of his personal estate; and a variety of moths of various degrees and ages, who had, at various times, fluttered round the light of her fair daughter, or herself, without any lasting injury to their wings. Florence was enrolled as a member of the dinner-party, by Edith's command - elicited by a moment's doubt and hesitation on the part of Mrs Skewton; and Florence, with a wondering heart, and with a quick instinctive sense of everything that grated on her father in the least, took her silent share in the proceedings of the day.
The proceedings commenced by Mr Dombey, in a cravat of extraordinary height and stiffness, walking restlessly about the drawing-room until the hour appointed for dinner; punctual to which, an East India Director,' of immense wealth, in a waistcoat apparently constructed in serviceable deal by some plain carpenter, but really engendered in the tailor's art, and composed of the material called nankeen, arrived and was received by Mr Dombey alone. The next stage of the proceedings was Mr Dombey's sending his compliments to Mrs Dombey, with a correct statement of the time; and the next, the East India Director's falling prostrate, in a conversational point of view, and as Mr Dombey was not the man to pick him up, staring at the fire until rescue appeared in the shape of Mrs Skewton; whom the director, as a pleasant start in life for the evening, mistook for Mrs Dombey, and greeted with enthusiasm.
The next arrival was a Bank Director, reputed to be able to buy up anything - human Nature generally, if he should take it in his head to influence the money market in that direction - but who was a wonderfully modest-spoken man, almost boastfully so, and mentioned his 'little place' at Kingston-upon-Thames, and its just being barely equal to giving Dombey a bed and a chop, if he would come and visit it. Ladies, he said, it was not for a man who lived in his quiet way to take upon himself to invite - but if Mrs Skewton and her daughter, Mrs Dombey, should ever find themselves in that direction, and would do him the honour to look at a little bit of a shrubbery they would find there, and a poor little flower-bed or so, and a humble apology for a pinery, and two or three little attempts of that sort without any pretension, they would distinguish him very much. Carrying out his character, this gentleman was very plainly dressed, in a wisp of cambric for a neckcloth, big shoes, a coat that was too loose for him,and a pair of trousers that were too spare; and mention being made of the Opera by Mrs Skewton, he said he very seldom went there, for he couldn't afford it. It seemed greatly to delight and exhilarate him to say so: and he beamed on his audience afterwards, with his hands in his pockets, and excessive satisfaction twinkling in his eyes.

接连许多天都在相似的情况下过去了。所不同的是：他们在这段时间里曾接待了很多来访的客人，也出外访问了很多人；斯丘顿夫人在她自己的房间里举行小小的接见，白格斯托克少校是经常的参加者；弗洛伦斯虽然每天都看到父亲，但却没有再遇见他投来的眼光。她跟她的新妈妈也没有交谈得很多，新妈妈除了对她一人之外，对屋子里所有其他的人都威严、傲慢（弗洛伦斯不能不注意到这一点）；虽然她从外面访问回来以后经常派人来请弗洛伦斯或到弗洛伦斯那里去；在她睡觉之前，不论时间多么晚，她总经常跑到弗洛伦斯房间里去，不放过跟她在一起的任何机会；可是当她们两人在一起的时候，她经常是长时间地坐在那里，默默无言，在沉思着。
对这次结婚曾经抱有很多希望的弗洛伦斯有时情不自禁地把这座富丽堂皇的公馆跟它的前身--过去那座暗淡、凄凉的老房屋加以比较。心中纳闷：不论房屋的形式如何，究竟到什么时候它才开始可以称为一个家呢？因为她经常暗自忧虑：虽然一切都安排得奢华、舒适，进行得井井有条，可是没有一个人感到这是一个家。弗洛伦斯日日夜夜悲伤地思考了许多小时，并由于希望破灭而流出了许多眼泪；她时常研究着她的新妈妈对她所做出的有力的断言：世界上没有一个人能比她更没有能力教她怎样去赢得父亲的欢心。不久，弗洛伦斯开始想--更正确地说，是打定主意去想--，她的新妈妈比任何人都清楚，要使她父亲减轻或改变对她的冷淡是多么没有希望，所以才出于怜悯向她提出了那个警告：禁止谈到这个问题。弗洛伦斯就像她每个行动和思想中所表现的那样，不是一个自私的人，她这时宁肯忍受这个新创伤的痛苦，也不愿意把关于她父亲的真情的微弱的预感更深一层地想下去；甚至在她浮思漫想中想到他的时候，她对他也还是怀着亲切的感情。至于他的家，她希望当一切安排就绪，新生活走上轨道以后，它将会变得好起来；至于她自己，她想得很少，悲伤得更少。
如果说新家庭的成员中没有一个人私下里感到真正是在自己家里一样的话，那么有一点已经作出了决定：董贝夫人至少应当毫不迟延地在家里举行招待会，在众人面前表现为真正在自己家里一样。为了庆贺新婚和加强社会联系，主要由董贝先生和斯丘顿夫人安排了一系列款待项目；决定庆贺活动首先由董贝夫人在一个晚上在家里举行招待会，接见客人，并由董贝先生和夫人在同一天晚上举行宴会，邀请许多各种各样的人们参加。
因此，董贝先生开列了一份坐在宴席东边的豪富们的名单，并以他的名义邀请他们光临这次宴会；由于伊迪丝傲慢地对这事毫不关心，所以由斯丘顿夫人代表她的最亲爱的女儿补充了一份坐在宴席西边的宾客的名单，其中包括菲尼克斯表哥（他还没有回到巴登-巴登，但动产已遭到了很大的损失）；还有其他各种等级和年龄的人们，他们曾经像飞蛾一样在不同的时间中在她漂亮的女儿或她本人的亮光周围振翼飞舞，而没有严重损坏翅膀。根据伊迪丝的嘱咐，弗洛伦斯被列为参加这次宴会的一位成员，斯丘顿夫人对此曾疑惑或犹豫了片刻；弗洛伦斯对刺激她父亲的任何事情有着本能的敏感，所以怀着奇妙的心情，默默无言地参加了这天的庆宴。
董贝先生佩了一条非常长、浆得非常硬的领带，在庆祝活动开始的时候，在客厅里不停地走来走去，直到举行宴会的预定时间到来为止。东印度公司的董事准时来到，董贝先生只一个人迎接了他；他是一位大富豪，他的背心表面上看去好像是由普通木匠用耐用的松木板做成的，但实际上是由缝纫师用一种叫做南京本色棉布的材料缝制成的。庆祝活动的下一步是董贝先生派人去向董贝夫人致意，准确地指明现在的时间；在这之后，从谈话的角度来说，东印度公司的董事可说已生命垂危、奄奄一息了，一直注视着炉火的董贝先生不能使他起死回生，直到斯丘顿夫人前来搭救，他的生命才有了转机；这位董事把她误会为董贝夫人，热情地向她问候，这是他在这天晚上复活过来的愉快的起点。
第二位到达的是银行董事；他以具有全部收买任何东西的能力而闻名--如果他认为能影响金融市场的话，那么他通常就收买人性--，但是他是言语非常谦逊的人，谦逊得几乎到了夸张的程度；他谈到他在泰晤士河旁金斯敦那里的”寒舍”，如果董贝先生肯去访问的话，那么它可以勉强地为他提供一张床和一盘排骨。至于夫人们，他说，像他这样一个过着平静生活的人向她们发出邀请是不合适的，但是如果斯丘顿夫人和她的女儿董贝夫人将来什么时候顺便去到那一带地方，肯赏光去看一看那里一点点灌木丛、一个可怜的小花坛、一个滥竽充数的菠萝温室和两、三种诸如此类、没有什么值得夸赞的尝试的话，那么他将感到不胜荣幸之至。这位先生衣着十分简朴，充分体现出他谦逊的性格：他用一段纤细的麻纱白葛充当领饰，他的鞋子很大，外套太肥大，裤子又太窄小；当斯丘顿夫人谈到歌剧的时候，他说他很少上剧院去，因为他出不起买票的钱。这个回答似乎使他感到极大的高兴和兴奋，后来他把手放在衣袋里，笑逐颜开地看着他的听众，眼睛闪着亮光，流露出极大满足的神气。