狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》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.

我们在这里是采用比喻性的说法，因为奇克先生的怀里实际上尽是报纸。这位先生的眼睛也没有正面看着她的妻子，只不过是偶尔偷偷地看一眼罢了。他也没有给她任何安慰。总之，他坐在那里阅读着，哼唱着曲调的片断，有时悄悄地看她一眼；不管是好话、坏话、还是不好不坏的话，他一句也不说。
在这同一个时候，奇克夫人坐在那里，怒气冲冲地昂着头，摇来晃去，仿佛还在重复说着向卢克丽霞·托克斯的庄严的告别辞。最后，她高声说道，”啊，今天她的眼睛睁得多么开啊！”
“你的眼睛睁得多开啊，我亲爱的？”奇克先生重复着说道。”哦，别跟我讲话！”奇克夫人说道，”如果你能用这样一种姿态看我，也不问一下发生了什么事的话，那么你最好把嘴巴永远闭着。”
“发生了什么事啦，我亲爱的？”奇克先生问道。“想一下吧！”奇克夫人自言自语地说道，”她竟居然抱着这样卑鄙的企图，想通过跟保罗成亲来跟我们家攀上亲戚关系！想一想吧！当她跟那个现在已躺在坟墓里的可爱的孩子玩马的时候--我当时就不喜欢这个游戏--，她竟居然在心里隐藏着这样阴险的野心！我真奇怪，她从不担心这会使她碰上倒霉的事。如果没碰上什么事的话，那她倒走运了。”
“亲爱的，我真认为，”奇克先生用报纸把鼻梁擦了一些时候之后，慢吞吞地说道，”直到今天早上之前，你自己也是一直向着同一个目标前进的呢。你还认为，如果能实现的话，这倒是方便极了。”
奇克夫人立刻眼泪夺眶而出地大哭起来，并对奇克先生说，如果他想用靴子踩她的话，那么他最好就踩。
“但是我已经跟卢克丽霞?托克斯一刀两断了，”奇克夫人听凭自己沉溺在迸发的感情之中，使奇克先生感到极大的恐慌；过了几分钟之后，她说道，”我可以容忍保罗向一个人表示喜爱，我希望和相信她是可以受之无愧的；如果他愿意的话，那么他也完全有权利让她来代替可怜的范妮；我可以容忍保罗用他向来不动感情的态度把他计划中的这个变化告诉我，在一切都已决定、办妥之前，一次也没跟我商量过；但是奸诈却是我所不能容忍的；我已跟卢克丽霞?托克斯一刀两断了。像现在这样子倒是更好，”奇克夫人真心诚意地说道，”好得多。要不然，在这之后，我得需要很长的时间才能跟她和解。现在，保罗地位很高，这些人出身又很尊贵，我实在不知道她在那种场合是不是能拿得出去，她会不会糟蹋我的声誉呢？一切事情都有天意，一切事情都向着最好的方面发展；今天我经受了考验，但是我不后悔。”
奇克夫人怀着这种基督徒的精神，擦干了眼泪，抚平膝盖上的衣服，像一个冷静地忍耐着极大委屈的人那样坐着。奇克先生无疑感觉到自己的渺小无用，就趁早找了个机会，在一条街道的拐角下了车，离开了；他高耸着肩膀，手插在衣袋里，一边走，一边吹着口哨。
如果说托克斯小姐是位巴结讨好、喜爱拍马屁的人的话，那么至少她是诚实的和始终如一的；对于现在严厉责备她的人，她过去确实怀着忠实的友谊，而且一心一意、五体投地地崇拜着伟大的董贝先生；这时候，这位可怜的被革除在外的托克斯小姐用她的眼泪浇着花，感到公主广场已经是冬天了。