狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第20章Part 06

'Scuse the liberty, Sir,' said Toodle, seeing he was not clearly remembered, 'but my wife Polly, as was called Richards in your family — '
A change in Mr Dombey's face, which seemed to express recollection of him, and so it did, but it expressed in a much stronger degree an angry sense of humiliation, stopped Mr Toodle short.
'Your wife wants money, I suppose,' said Mr Dombey, putting his hand in his pocket, and speaking (but that he always did) haughtily.
'No thank'ee, Sir,' returned Toodle, 'I can't say she does. I don't.'
Mr Dombey was stopped short now in his turn: and awkwardly: with his hand in his pocket.
'No, Sir,' said Toodle, turning his oilskin cap round and round; 'we're a doin' pretty well, Sir; we haven't no cause to complain in the worldly way, Sir. We've had four more since then, Sir, but we rubs on.'
Mr Dombey would have rubbed on to his own carriage, though in so doing he had rubbed the stoker underneath the wheels; but his attention was arrested by something in connexion with the cap still going slowly round and round in the man's hand.
'We lost one babby,' observed Toodle, 'there's no denyin'.'
'Lately,' added Mr Dombey, looking at the cap.
'No, Sir, up'ard of three years ago, but all the rest is hearty. And in the matter o readin', Sir,' said Toodle, ducking again, as if to remind Mr Dombey of what had passed between them on that subject long ago, 'them boys o' mine, they learned me, among 'em, arter all. They've made a wery tolerable scholar of me, Sir, them boys.'
'Come, Major!' said Mr Dombey.
'Beg your pardon, Sir,' resumed Toodle, taking a step before them and deferentially stopping them again, still cap in hand: 'I wouldn't have troubled you with such a pint except as a way of gettin' in the name of my son Biler — christened Robin — him as you was so good as to make a Charitable Grinder on.'
'Well, man,' said Mr Dombey in his severest manner. 'What about him?'
'Why, Sir,' returned Toodle, shaking his head with a face of great anxiety and distress, 'I'm forced to say, Sir, that he's gone wrong.
'He has gone wrong, has he?' said Mr Dombey, with a hard kind of satisfaction.
'He has fell into bad company, you see, genelmen,' pursued the father, looking wistfully at both, and evidently taking the Major into the conversation with the hope of having his sympathy. 'He has got into bad ways. God send he may come to again, genelmen, but he's on the wrong track now! You could hardly be off hearing of it somehow, Sir,' said Toodle, again addressing Mr Dombey individually; 'and it's better I should out and say my boy's gone rather wrong. Polly's dreadful down about it, genelmen,' said Toodle with the same dejected look, and another appeal to the Major.
'A son of this man's whom I caused to be educated, Major,' said Mr Dombey, giving him his arm. 'The usual return!'
'Take advice from plain old Joe, and never educate that sort of people, Sir,' returned the Major. 'Damme, Sir, it never does! It always fails!'

“请原谅我的冒昧，先生，”图德尔先生看到董贝先生已记不清他了，就说道：“不过我的老婆波利，在您家里管她叫做理查兹的——”
董贝先生脸色的变化使图德尔先生突然说不出话来。它似乎表示他已记起他来，实际上也确实如此，但它却以更强烈的程度愤怒地表示出一种屈辱感。
“你的老婆需要钱吧，我想，”董贝先生把手伸进衣袋里，傲慢地说道，不过他经常是这样说话的。
“不，谢谢您，先生，”图德尔回答道，“她需要不需要我不好说。我不需要。”
现在轮到董贝先生突然尴尬地说不出话来了，他的手还放在衣袋里。
“不，先生，”图德尔把他的油布帽子在手里一圈又一圈地打着转，“我们过得不错，先生。我们没有理由抱怨生活，先生。从那时以来，我们又添了四个孩子，先生，但是我们还能勉勉强强过得下去。”
董贝先生真想使劲地挤到他的车厢里去，那怕这样做会把这烧锅炉的火夫给挤到车轮底下也罢；但是这时他的注意力却被那依旧在那人手里慢慢打转的油布帽子上的什么东西吸引住了。
“我们失去了一个小娃娃，”图德尔说，“这是不能否认的。”
“最近吗？”董贝先生看着那帽子，问道。
“不，先生，三年多以前的事了，不过其余的孩子全都很强健。说到念书的事，先生，”图德尔先生又鞠了一个躬，说道，仿佛他想要向董贝先生提醒好久以前他们之间在这方面曾经发生过的事情似的，“归根到底，我的这些男孩子们他们全都教我。先生，他们这些男孩子已经让我成了一个能读会写的人了。”
“走吧，少校！”董贝先生说道。
“请原谅，先生，”图德尔走到他们前面，又恭恭敬敬地拦住他们，继续往下说，他的手里依旧拿着帽子，“如果我不是想把我们的谈话引到我的儿子拜勒的话，那么我本不想用这些话来打搅您的；拜勒的教名叫罗宾，就是他，承蒙您的好意，让他成了一名慈善的磨工。”
“唔，您说，”董贝先生极为严厉地说道，“他怎么了？”
“唉，先生，”图德尔摇着头，脸上露出很大的忧虑与痛苦，回答道，“我不得不说，先生，他走错路了。”
“他走错路了，真的吗？”董贝先生说道，心中感到一种残忍的满足。
“先生们，你们知道，他交了坏朋友了，”那位父亲用愁闷的眼光望着他们两人，继续说道，他把少校显然也拉入谈话，是为了取得他的同情，“他走到邪路上去了。上帝保佑，他也许是会回来的，先生们，可是现在他是在错误的轨道上行走。您也许总会听到这件事的，先生，”图德尔又单独对着董贝先生说道，“不过最好还是由我自己来告诉您，对您说，我的孩子走错路了。波利悲伤得不得了，先生们，”图德尔露出同样沮丧的神色，再一次向少校求助，说道。
“我曾帮助这个人的儿子去受教育，少校，”董贝先生先生挽着他的胳膊，说道，“到头来通常是这样的报答！”
“请接受老乔直率的忠告，千万别去教育这一类人，先生，”少校回答道，“他妈的，先生，千万别做那种事！那样做总是失败的！”