狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第29章Part 4

'If,' said Mrs Chick, with solemn patience, 'I have not expressed myself with clearness, Lucretia, the fault of course is mine. There is, perhaps, no reason why I should express myself at all, except the intimacy that has subsisted between us, and which I very much hope, Lucretia - confidently hope - nothing will occur to disturb. Because, why should I do anything else? There is no reason; it would be absurd. But I wish to express myself clearly, Lucretia; and therefore to go back to that remark, I must beg to say that it was not intended to relate to Florence, in any way.'
'Indeed!' returned Miss Tox.
'No,' said Mrs Chick shortly and decisively.
'Pardon me, my dear,' rejoined her meek friend; 'but I cannot have understood it. I fear I am dull.'
Mrs Chick looked round the room and over the way; at the plants, at the bird, at the watering-pot, at almost everything within view, except Miss Tox; and finally dropping her glance upon Miss Tox, for a moment, on its way to the ground, said, looking meanwhile with elevated eyebrows at the carpet:
'When I speak, Lucretia, of her being worthy of the name, I speak of my brother Paul's second wife. I believe I have already said, in effect, if not in the very words I now use, that it is his intention to marry a second wife.'
Miss Tox left her seat in a hurry, and returned to her plants; clipping among the stems and leaves, with as little favour as a barber working at so many pauper heads of hair.
'Whether she will be fully sensible of the distinction conferred upon her,' said Mrs Chick, in a lofty tone, 'is quite another question. I hope she may be. We are bound to think well of one another in this world, and I hope she may be. I have not been advised with myself If I had been advised with, I have no doubt my advice would have been cavalierly received, and therefore it is infinitely better as it is. I much prefer it as it is.'
Miss Tox, with head bent down, still clipped among the plants. Mrs Chick, with energetic shakings of her own head from time to time, continued to hold forth, as if in defiance of somebody. 'If my brother Paul had consulted with me, which he sometimes does - or rather, sometimes used to do; for he will naturally do that no more now, and this is a circumstance which I regard as a relief from responsibility,' said Mrs Chick, hysterically, 'for I thank Heaven I am not jealous - ' here Mrs Chick again shed tears: 'if my brother Paul had come to me, and had said, "Louisa, what kind of qualities would you advise me to look out for, in a wife?" I should certainly have answered, "Paul, you must have family, you must have beauty, you must have dignity, you must have connexion." Those are the words I should have used. You might have led me to the block immediately afterwards,' said Mrs Chick, as if that consequence were highly probable, 'but I should have used them. I should have said, "Paul! You to marry a second time without family! You to marry without beauty! You to marry without dignity! You to marry without connexion! There is nobody in the world, not mad, who could dream of daring to entertain such a preposterous idea!
Miss Tox stopped clipping; and with her head among the plants, listened attentively. Perhaps Miss Tox thought there was hope in this exordium, and the warmth of Mrs Chick.

“如果我没有把话说明白的话，”奇克夫人庄严而耐心地说道，”卢克丽霞，那么这自然是我的过错。要不是由于我们交情深厚，也许我根本就没有必要说明白，卢克丽霞，我非常希望--满怀信心地希望--，不会发生任何事情来破坏我们亲密的友谊。因为我怎么能不这样想呢？没有任何理由发生那样的事情。那是荒谬的。但是我希望把我的话说明白，卢克丽霞，因此我想回到我所说的那句话，我得说，我那句话绝对不是指弗洛伦斯。”
“真的吗？”托克斯小姐回答道。
“是的，”奇克夫人简短而坚决地说道。
“请原谅我，我亲爱的，”她温顺的朋友回答道，”但是我听不明白。我担心我的脑子迟钝了。”
奇克夫人向房间四处看看，又看看广场对过；看看花，看看鸟，看看喷水壶，几乎看了在她视野之内的一切东西，只是没有看托克斯小姐；最后当她向地面低下眼睛时，她向托克斯小姐匆匆地看了一眼，然后看着地毯，但却又扬起眉毛，说道：
“我说她要配姓那个姓，卢克丽霞，我是指我哥哥保罗的第二个妻子。虽然我没有使用现在的语言，但我想我已经表达了我的意思。他打算再婚。”
托克斯小姐急忙离开座位，回到花旁，像理发师给穷人理发那样毫不留情地剪着枝叶。
“她是不是将充分认识到给予她的光荣，”奇克夫人用高傲的声音说道，”这完全是另外一个问题。我希望她会认识到。在这个世界上我们应当彼此往好里去想，我希望她会认识到。这件事没有跟我商量过。如果跟我商量的话，那么他也不会把我的意见当一回事，所以像现在这样做反而无比地好得多。我宁肯像现在这样。”
托克斯小姐低着头，依旧在剪枝叶，奇克夫人不时有力地摇摇头，继续说下去，仿佛在向什么人挑战似的。“如果我的哥哥保罗跟我商量一下的话--他有时是跟我商量的，或者说得正确些，他过去有时是常爱跟我商量的；要知道，他现在自然不会再跟我商量了，我认为这倒使我解脱了责任，”奇克夫人歇斯底里地说道，”因为谢天谢地，我并不妒嫉--”这时奇克夫人又掉下了眼泪，”如果我的哥哥保罗前来对我说，‘路易莎，你给我出出主意，我找的妻子要具备什么条件？’我自然会回答：‘保罗，你必须找一个门第高贵的，你必须找一个容貌漂亮的，你必须找一个举止端庄的，你必须找一个亲戚体面的，’这些就是我要说的话。即使在这之后你立即把我带去上断头台，”奇克夫人说道，仿佛这一后果是很可能发生似的，”那么我还是要说这些话。如果我竟会对他说，‘保罗！你娶第二个妻子不要有高贵的门第！不要有漂亮的容貌！不要有端庄的举止！不要有体面的亲戚！’世界上的人只要不是发疯的，谁也不会梦想到敢有这样荒谬的想法！”
托克斯小姐停止剪枝叶，把头低向花丛，全神贯注地听着。也许托克斯小姐以为在这番开场白和奇克夫人的热情中存在着一些希望吧。