狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第23章Part 15

Captain Cuttle, whose delicacy was shocked by such an inquiry in connection with Florence, drew the sage aside, and seeming to explain in his ear, accompanied him below; where,that he might not take offence, the Captain drank a dram himself' which Florence and Susan, glancing down the open skylight, saw the sage, with difficulty finding room forhimself between his berth and a very little brass fireplace, serve out for self and friend. They soon reappeared on deck, and Captain Cuttle, triumphing in the success of hisenterprise, conducted Florence back to the coach, while Bunsby followed, escorting Miss Nipper, whom he hugged upon the way (much to that young lady's indignation) with hispilot-coated arm, like a blue bear.
The Captain put his oracle inside, and gloried so much in having secured him, and having got that mind into a hackney-coach, that he could not refrain from often peeping in atFlorence through the little window behind the driver, and testifiing his delight in smiles, and also in taps upon his forehead, to hint to her that the brain of Bunsby was hardat it' In the meantime, Bunsby, still hugging Miss Nipper (for his friend, the Captain, had not exaggerated the softness of his heart), uniformily preserved his gravity ofdeportment, and showed no other consciousness of her or anything.
Uncle Sol, who had come home, received them at the door, and ushered them immediately into the little back parlour: strangely altered by the absence of Walter. On the table, andabout the room, were the charts and maps on which the heavy-hearted Instrument-maker had again and again tracked the missing vessel across the sea, and on which, with a pair ofcompasses that he still had in his hand, he had been measuring, a minute before, how far she must have driven, to have driven here or there: and trying to demonstrate that along time must elapse before hope was exhausted.
'Whether she can have run,' said Uncle Sol, looking wistfully over the chart; 'but no, that's almost impossible or whether she can have been forced by stress of weather, - butthat's not reasonably likely. Or whether there is any hope she so far changed her course as - but even I can hardly hope that!' With such broken suggestions, poor old Uncle Solroamed over the great sheet before him, and could not find a speck of hopeful probability in it large enough to set one small point of the compasses upon.
Florence saw immediately - it would have been difficult to help seeing - that there was a singular, indescribable change in the old man, and that while his manner was far morerestless and unsettled than usual, there was yet a curious, contradictory decision in it, that perplexed her very much. She fancied once that he spoke wildly, and at random; foron her saying she regretted not to have seen him when she had been there before that morning, he at first replied that he had been to see her, and directly afterwards seemed towish to recall that answer.
'You have been to see me?' said Florence. 'To-day?'

卡特尔船长是个处事慎重的人；这个有关弗洛伦斯的问题使他感到震惊，他把这位智慧非凡的人拉到一旁，凑着他的耳朵似乎解释些什么，然后跟他一道走到下面去。船长为了不使他见怪，自己喝了一口酒，这时弗洛伦斯和苏珊从敞开的天窗中望下去，看到那位智慧非凡的人身子十分困难地挤在他的床铺和一个很小的铜壁炉中间，给自己和朋友斟酒。他们很快又回到甲板上，卡特尔船长由于计划成功，扬扬得意，领着弗洛伦斯回到马车那里；邦斯贝在后面护送尼珀姑娘，一路上他像一只蓝熊一般，用穿着领航员呢上衣的胳膊紧紧搂着她，使那位姑娘十分恼怒。
船长把他那位能传告神谕的人送进马车；他由于能把他弄到手，把那颗智慧的心灵装入马车，十分得意，因此情不自禁地时常通过马车夫后面的小窗子偷看弗洛伦斯一眼，满脸笑容，拍拍前额，向她暗示，邦斯贝正在用心开动脑子；这一切都表露出他心中的高兴。在这期间，邦斯贝虽然依旧紧紧搂着尼珀姑娘（因为他的朋友船长说他的心地十分慈善，这并非夸大其辞），但始终如一地保持着庄严的态度，看上去根本就没有注意到她和其他任何事物。
所尔舅舅已经回到家里，这时在门口迎接他们，并立即把他们领进小后客厅里。自从沃尔特走了以后，这个小后客厅已经奇怪地改变了。桌子上和房间里各处都是航海图和地图，心情沉重的仪器制造商曾经一次又一次地在这些图纸上从海面上寻找这艘杳无音讯的船的踪迹；一分钟以前，他还用现在依旧拿在手里的一副圆规，测量它如今该漂走多远，漂到这里还是漂到那里，同时设法证明，一定要经过很长的时间才能断绝希望。
“如果它能漂到这里，”所尔舅舅愁闷地看着航海图，说道，“可是不，这几乎是不可能的。或者如果暴风把它吹刮到这里的话，可是这也不见得可能这样。或者假如有这样的希望；它大大地改变了航线——可是连我也不会这样希望！”可怜的老所尔舅舅一边说着这些断断续续的设想，一边在面前很大张的图纸上游来转去，在上面竟找不到可能寄予希望的一个点子，它大到能容纳下圆规的小小脚尖。
弗洛伦斯立刻看出——很难看不出的——，老人发生了异常的难以描述的变化，虽然他比往常更加坐立不安，心神不定，可是另一方面却有着一种令人奇怪的、与此相矛盾的坚定决心，这使她感到十分困惑不解。她曾以为他随意乱说，因为当她说到早上来这里没遇见他觉得很遗憾的时候，他最初回答说，他曾经去看她了，但似乎又立即想收回这个答复似的。
“您曾经去看我了吗？”弗洛伦斯问道，“今天？”