狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第25章Part 4

'Ay!' said the Captain, mysteriously. 'Why so, my lad?'
'Why,' returned Rob, looking about, 'I don't see his shaving tackle. Nor his brushes, Captain. Nor no shirts. Nor yet his shoes.'
As each of these articles was mentioned, Captain Cuttle took particular notice of the corresponding department of the Grinder, lest he should appear to have been in recent use, or should prove to be in present possession thereof. But Rob had no occasion to shave, was not brushed, and wore the clothes he had on for a long time past, beyond all possibility of a mistake.
'And what should you say,' said the Captain - 'not committing yourself - about his time of sheering off? Hey?'
'Why, I think, Captain,' returned Rob, 'that he must have gone pretty soon after I began to snore.'
'What o'clock was that?' said the Captain, prepared to be very particular about the exact time.
'How can I tell, Captain!' answered Rob. 'I only know that I'm a heavy sleeper at first, and a light one towards morning; and if Mr Gills had come through the shop near daybreak, though ever so much on tiptoe, I'm pretty sure I should have heard him shut the door at all events.
On mature consideration of this evidence, Captain Cuttle began to think that the Instrument-maker must have vanished of his own accord; to which logical conclusion he was assisted by the letter addressed to himself, which, as being undeniably in the old man's handwriting, would seem, with no great forcing, to bear the construction, that he arranged of his own will to go, and so went. The Captain had next to consider where and why? and as there was no way whatsoever that he saw to the solution of the first difficulty, he confined his meditations to the second.
Remembering the old man's curious manner, and the farewell he had taken of him; unaccountably fervent at the time, but quite intelligible now: a terrible apprehension strengthened on the Captain, that, overpowered by his anxieties and regrets for Walter, he had been driven to commit suicide. Unequal to the wear and tear of daily life, as he had often professed himself to be, and shaken as he no doubt was by the uncertainty and deferred hope he had undergone, it seemed no violently strained misgiving, but only too probable.

“是吗！”船长神秘地说道，“为什么你这样想呢，我的孩子？”
“嗯，比方说，”罗布向四下里看着，说道，“我没有看到他刮胡子的用具，也没看到他的刷子，船长，还有他的衬衫，他的鞋子，也都没有看到。”
这些物品每提到一件，卡特尔船长就把磨工身上装束的相应部分格外注意察看了一下，想看看他是不是最近使用了它们或现在已把它们占为己有；可是罗布用不着刮胡子，头发也显然没有梳刷过，身上的衣服是他过去长期穿着的，这丝毫也不错。
“那么，——你别忙着表白自己，——”船长说，“他什么时候开航的，这你怎么说？”
“唔，我想，船长，”罗布回答道，“他一定在我开始打鼾以后很快就走了。”
“那是在几点钟？”船长问，他打算查清确切的时间。
“我怎么能回答这个问题呢？船长！”罗布答道，“我只知道，我刚入睡的时候睡得很深沉，但快到早晨的时候我是容易清醒的；如果吉尔斯先生临近天亮时穿过店铺的话，那么哪怕他是踮着脚尖走路，我也完全能肯定，我无论如何也是能听到他关门的。”
卡特尔船长对这证词进行了冷静的思考以后，开始想；仪器制造商一定是自己有意隐匿不见了；那封写给他本人的信也帮助他得出这个合乎逻辑的结论；那封信既然是老人亲笔写的，那就似乎不必牵强附会就可以解释：他自己已经打定主意要走，所以也就这样走掉了。船长接着得考虑他走到哪里去和他为什么要走。由于他看不到第一个问题有任何解决的途径，所以他就只是在第二个问题上思考。
船长回想起老人那稀奇古怪的神态和跟他告别时的情形——他当时热情得令人莫名其妙，但现在却是容易理解的了——，这时候他心中加深了一种可怕的忧虑：老人受不了对沃尔特挂念和忧愁的沉重压力，被驱使走上自杀的道路。正像他本人经常所说的，他适应不了日常生活的劳累，情况明暗不定，希望渺茫无期，又无疑使他灰心丧气，因此这样的忧虑不仅不是极不自然的，相反地却是太有可能了。