狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第24章Part 12

'Ay, ay,' cried the neighbour. 'In reason, John. But you! You rob yourself to give to her. You bind yourself hand and foot on her account. You make your life miserable along of her. And what does she care! You don't believe she knows it?'
The father lifted up his head again, and whistled to her. Martha made the same impatient gesture with her crouching shoulders, in reply; and he was glad and happy.
'Only for that, Miss,' said the neighbour, with a smile, in which there was more of secret sympathy than he expressed; 'only to get that, he never lets her out of his sight!'
'Because the day'll come, and has been coming a long while,' observed the other, bending low over his work, 'when to get half as much from that unfort'nate child of mine - to get the trembling of a finger, or the waving of a hair - would be to raise the dead.'
Florence softly put some money near his hand on the old boat, and left him.
And now Florence began to think, if she were to fall ill, if she were to fade like her dear brother, would he then know that she had loved him; would she then grow dear to him; would he come to her bedside, when she was weak and dim of sight, and take her into his embrace, and cancel all the past? Would he so forgive her, in that changed condition, for not having been able to lay open her childish heart to him, as to make it easy to relate with what emotions she had gone out of his room that night; what she had meant to say if she had had the courage; and how she had endeavoured, afterwards, to learn the way she never knew in infancy?
Yes, she thought if she were dying, he would relent. She thought, that if she lay, serene and not unwilling to depart, upon the bed that was curtained round with recollections of their darling boy, he would be touched home, and would say, 'Dear Florence, live for me, and we will love each other as we might have done, and be as happy as we might have been these many years!' She thought that if she heard such words from him, and had her arms clasped round him' she could answer with a smile, 'It is too late for anything but this; I never could be happier, dear father!' and so leave him, with a blessing on her lips.

“是的，这话说得不错，”邻居大声说道，“不过，约翰，凡事总得合情合理，有个分寸才好。而您呢！您牺牲了自己的一切，全都给了她。您为了她把自己的手脚全都给束缚起来了。您为了她过着牛马一般的生活，而·她心里想着的是什么呢！您以为她能体会到这一点吗？”
父亲又抬起头来，向她吹口哨；马撒又跟先前一样，缩缩肩膀，做了个不耐烦的姿态，作为回答；他却感到高兴和满意。
“只是为了这，小姐，”邻居微笑着说道；在他的笑容中包含着内心的同情，比他表露出来的还多，“只是为了看到这，他就永远不让她离开他！”
“因为这一天将会来到，它离现在已经不远了，”另一位低低地弯下身去干活，说道，“那时候甚至看一看我那不幸的孩子，看一看她的指头怎么颤抖，或者她的头发怎么飘动，都会使死者复活的。”
弗洛伦斯在那只旧船上挨近他手边的地方悄悄地放了一些钱，然后离开了他。
这时弗洛伦斯开始想，如果她像她弟弟那样生了病，消瘦下去，那时候她父亲会知道她曾经爱过他吗？那时候他会觉得她比现在亲爱一些吗？当她虚弱无力、视力模糊的时候，他会来到她的床边，把她抱入怀中，把过去的一切全都一笔勾销吗？在改变了的情况下，他会原谅她没能向他敞开她孩子的心怀吗？他能原谅她，使她能毫不困难地告诉他，她那天夜里是怀着什么样的心情走出他的房间的，告诉他，如果她有勇气的话，那么她曾经想做什么，告诉他，她后来怎样努力学习她在婴儿时代从来不知道的方法的吗？
是的，她想，如果她快要死了，那么他会变得宽厚起来的。她想，如果她安详地躺在挂着帐子的床上，毫无难色地等待着死神来临，使他们回忆起他们那亲爱的小男孩的话，那么他将会被刺痛了心，对她说，“亲爱的弗洛伦斯，为了我而活着吧，我们将彼此相爱，这些年来我们本可以这样相爱的；我们将会幸福，这些年来我们本可以这样幸福的！”她想，如果她听到这些话，她的胳膊搂抱着他的话，那么她会微笑着回答说，“一切都已经太晚了！但有一点：我从来没有像现在这样幸福过，亲爱的爸爸！”然后在嘴唇上带着她的祝福离开了他。