狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第48章Part5
The Captain stared at Mr Toots until he seemed to swell to twice his natural size; and again the perspiration broke out on the Captain's forehead, when he thought of Diogenes taking it into his head to come down and make a third in the parlour.
'The person said,' continued Mr Toots, 'that he had heard a dog barking in the shop: which I knew couldn't be, and I told him so. But he was as positive as if he had seen the dog.'
'What person, my lad?' inquired the Captain.
'Why, you see there it is, Captain Gills,' said Mr Toots, with a perceptible increase in the nervousness of his manner. 'It's not for me to say what may have taken place, or what may not have taken place. Indeed, I don't know. I get mixed up with all sorts of things that I don't quite understand, and I think there's something rather weak in my - in my head, in short.'
The Captain nodded his own, as a mark of assent.
'But the person said, as we were walking away,' continued Mr Toots, 'that you knew what, under existing circumstances, might occur - he said "might," very strongly - and that if you were requested to prepare yourself, you would, no doubt, come prepared.'
'Person, my lad' the Captain repeated.
'I don't know what person, I'm sure, Captain Gills,' replied Mr Toots, 'I haven't the least idea. But coming to the door, I found him waiting there; and he said was I coming back again, and I said yes; and he said did I know you, and I said, yes, I had the pleasure of your acquaintance - you had given me the pleasure of your acquaintance, after some persuasion; and he said, if that was the case, would I say to you what I have said, about existing circumstances and coming prepared, and as soon as ever I saw you, would I ask you to step round the corner, if it was only for one minute, on most important business, to Mr Brogley's the Broker's. Now, I tell you what, Captain Gills - whatever it is, I am convinced it's very important; and if you like to step round, now, I'll wait here till you come back.'
The Captain, divided between his fear of compromising Florence in some way by not going, and his horror of leaving Mr Toots in possession of the house with a chance of finding out the secret, was a spectacle of mental disturbance that even Mr Toots could not be blind to. But that young gentleman, considering his nautical friend as merely in a state of preparation for the interview he was going to have, was quite satisfied, and did not review his own discreet conduct without chuckle
At length the Captain decided, as the lesser of two evils, to run round to Brogley's the Broker's: previously locking the door that communicated with the upper part of the house, and putting the key in his pocket. 'If so be,' said the Captain to Mr Toots, with not a little shame and hesitation, 'as you'll excuse my doing of it, brother.'
'Captain Gills,' returned Mr Toots, 'whatever you do, is satisfactory to me.
The Captain thanked him heartily, and promising to come back in less than five minutes, went out in quest of the person who had entrusted Mr Toots with this mysterious message. Poor Mr Toots, left to himself, lay down upon the sofa, little thinking who had reclined there last, and, gazing up at the skylight and resigning himself to visions of Miss Dombey, lost all heed of time and place.
It was as well that he did so; for although the Captain was not gone long, he was gone much longer than he had proposed. When he came back, he was very pale indeed, and greatly agitated, and even looked as if he had been shedding tears. He seemed to have lost the faculty of speech, until he had been to the cupboard and taken a dram of rum from the case-bottle, when he fetched a deep breath, and sat down in a chair with his hand before his face.
'Captain Gills,' said Toots, kindly, 'I hope and trust there's nothing wrong?'
'Thank'ee, my lad, not a bit,' said the Captain. 'Quite contrairy.'
“不錯，”圖茨先生說道，”我也正是這樣說的。我知道您沒有養狗。有一條狗，吉爾斯船長，是屬於--不過對不起。那是禁區。”
船長凝神看着圖茨先生，直到他的身形似乎比原來的大出一倍爲止；當船長想到戴奧吉尼斯忽然想要跑到樓下來，成爲客廳裏的第三者的時候，他的額上又冒汗了。
“那個人說，”圖茨先生繼續說道，”他聽見有條狗在這店裏叫；但我知道這是不可能的，我也是這樣對他說的；可是他說得那麼斬釘截鐵，彷彿他親眼看到那條狗似的。”
“是個什麼人，我的孩子？”船長問道。
“唔，您看，事情是這樣的，吉爾斯船長，”圖茨先生神態顯得更加緊張不安，說道，”這不該由我來說什麼事情可能發生或什麼事情可能不會發生。確實，我不知道。我把我不十分明白的各種事情全混淆了，我覺得我的--直截了當地說吧，我覺得我的腦子有些差勁。”
船長點點頭，表示同意。
“可是當我們離開的時候，”圖茨先生繼續說道，”那個人說，您知道在目前情況下?可?能會發生什麼事情--他說‘可能’這兩個字的時候是很富於表情的。--他還說，如果請您做好準備的話，那麼您無疑就會做好準備的。”
“這是個什麼人，我的孩子？”船長重複問道。
“確實，我不知道這是個什麼人，吉爾斯船長，”圖茨先生回答道，”我一點也不知道。不過我走到門口的時候，發現他在那裏等候着；他問我是不是還回來，我說還回來，他問我是不是認識您，我說是的，在我向您請求之後，我榮幸地跟您結識了；他說，如果是這樣的話，那麼我是不是跟您說一說我剛纔已經對您說過的，關於在目前情況下和做好準備等等那些話；他還說，是不是我一見到您，就請您拐過這條街角，到經紀人布羅格利先生那裏去一下。哪怕去一分鐘也好，因爲有一件極爲重要的事情。我不知道這是一件什麼事情，但我相信那是很重要的；如果您高興現在就去，那麼我可以在這裏等您回來。”
船長擔心不去會在某些方面連累到弗洛倫斯，但又怕把圖茨先生單獨留在屋子裏，他可能碰巧會發現那個祕密，這左右爲難的考慮使他心煩意亂，甚至連圖茨先生也看出來了。不過這位年輕的先生以爲他這位海員朋友只不過是在爲即將進行的會晤進行準備，所以感到很滿意，當他回想到自己謹慎的行爲時，他還吃吃地笑了幾聲。
兩害相權取其輕。船長終於決定到經紀人布羅格利那裏去，並事先把通到樓上的門鎖上，鑰匙放在他自己的衣袋中。“如果是這樣的話，”船長不是毫無羞愧與猶豫地對圖茨先生說道，”請您原諒我這麼做吧，老弟。”
“吉爾斯船長，”圖茨先生回答道，”不論您做什麼，我都是滿意的。”
船長由衷地感謝他，答應在不到五分鐘的時間內回來，然後就出去尋找那位託圖茨先生捎帶這神祕口訊的人。可憐的圖茨先生在獨自留下的時候，躺在沙發上，根本沒有猜想到誰曾經在這裏躺過，同時仰望着天窗，沉陷在對董貝小姐的胡思亂想之中，忘記了時間與地點。
對他來說這樣倒也有好處；因爲船長雖然走了不久，但比他原先提出的時間還是長久好多。他回來的時候，臉色蒼白，情緒十分激動，甚至看去彷彿流過眼淚似的。他似乎失去了說話的能力，直到他走到碗櫃跟前，深深地吸了一口氣，用手捂着臉，在椅子中坐下來爲止。
“吉爾斯船長，”圖茨親切地問道，”我希望，而且我也相信，沒有什麼不好的事情吧？”
“謝謝您，我的孩子，一點也沒有。”船長說道，”情況恰恰相反。”
