狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第46章Part2

'See where he goes!' muttered the old woman, watching her daughter with her red eyes; 'so easy and so trim a-horseback, while we are in the mud.'
'And of it,' said her daughter impatiently. 'We are mud, underneath his horse's feet. What should we be?' In the intentness with which she looked after him again, she made a hasty gesture with her hand when the old woman began to reply, as if her view could be obstructed by mere sound. Her mother watching her, and not him, remained silent; until her kindling glance subsided, and she drew a long breath, as if in the relief of his being gone.
'Deary!' said the old woman then. 'Alice! Handsome gall Ally!' She gently shook her sleeve to arouse her attention. 'Will you let him go like that, when you can wring money from him? Why, it's a wickedness, my daughter.'
'Haven't I told you, that I will not have money from him?' she returned. 'And don't you yet believe me? Did I take his sister's money? Would I touch a penny, if I knew it, that had gone through his white hands - unless it was, indeed, that I could poison it, and send it back to him? Peace, mother, and come away.
'And him so rich?' murmured the old woman. 'And us so Poor!'
'Poor in not being able to pay him any of the harm we owe him,' returned her daughter. 'Let him give me that sort of riches, and I'll take them from him, and use them. Come away. Its no good looking at his horse. Come away, mother!'
But the old woman, for whom the spectacle of Rob the Grinder returning down the street, leading the riderless horse, appeared to have some extraneous interest that it did not possess in itself, surveyed that young man with the utmost earnestness; and seeming to have whatever doubts she entertained, resolved as he drew nearer, glanced at her daughter with brightened eyes and with her finger on her lip, and emerging from the gateway at the moment of his passing, touched him on the shoulder.
'Why, where's my sprightly Rob been, all this time!' she said, as he turned round.
The sprightly Rob, whose sprightliness was very much diminished by the salutation, looked exceedingly dismayed, and said, with the water rising in his eyes:
'Oh! why can't you leave a poor cove alone, Misses Brown, when he's getting an honest livelihood and conducting himself respectable? What do you come and deprive a cove of his character for, by talking to him in the streets, when he's taking his master's horse to a honest stable - a horse you'd go and sell for cats' and dogs' meat if you had your way! Why, I thought,' said the Grinder, producing his concluding remark as if it were the climax of all his injuries, 'that you was dead long ago!'
'This is the way,' cried the old woman, appealing to her daughter, 'that he talks to me, who knew him weeks and months together, my deary, and have stood his friend many and many a time among the pigeon-fancying tramps and bird-catchers.'
'Let the birds be, will you, Misses Brown?' retorted Rob, in a tone of the acutest anguish. 'I think a cove had better have to do with lions than them little creeturs, for they're always flying back in your face when you least expect it. Well, how d'ye do and what do you want?' These polite inquiries the Grinder uttered, as it were under protest, and with great exasperation and vindictiveness.
'Hark how he speaks to an old friend, my deary!' said Mrs Brown, again appealing to her daughter. 'But there's some of his old friends not so patient as me. If I was to tell some that he knows, and has spotted and cheated with, where to find him - '
'Will you hold your tongue, Misses Brown?' interrupted the miserable Grinder, glancing quickly round, as though he expected to see his master's teeth shining at his elbow. 'What do you take a pleasure in ruining a cove for? At your time of life too! when you ought to be thinking of a variety of things!'
'What a gallant horse!' said the old woman, patting the animal's neck.

“看，他往那裏騎過去了！”老太婆用發紅的眼睛注視着她的女兒，嘟囔着說道，”那麼悠閒自在，那麼整潔漂亮，還騎着馬，而我們卻站在污泥裏--”
“而且是從污泥裏出來的，”她的女兒不耐煩地說道，”我們是他馬蹄下的污泥。我們還能是什麼？”她又用全神貫注的眼光從後面望着他；當老太婆想要回答的時候，她急忙搖搖手，彷彿連也會阻擋她的視線似的。她的母親注視着她，而沒有注視他，並保持着沉默，直到後來那冒着火星的眼睛平靜下來了，她又深深地吸了一口氣，彷彿由於看不到他而感到安慰似的。
“寶貝！”這時候老太婆說道。”艾麗斯！漂亮的女兒！艾麗！”她慢慢地搖擺着她的袖子來引起她的注意。”你是能從他那裏敲出錢來的呀，你就讓他那樣過去嗎？唔，這是罪惡，我的女兒。”
“難道我沒有告訴過你，我不要他的錢嗎？”她回答道。“難道你到現在還不相信我嗎？我曾接受過他姐姐的錢了嗎？如果我知道有什麼錢通過他雪白的手送來的，難道我會去摸一個便士嗎？除非我能在上面塗上毒藥，再送還給他！別說了，媽媽，我們離開這裏吧。”
“讓他那麼有錢？”老太婆嘟囔着，”而我們就這麼窮苦可憐！”
“我們可憐，是由於他給我們造成了傷害，而我們卻不能對他報仇雪恨；”女兒回答道，”讓他給我那種財富吧，我將從他那裏取得它並使用它。走吧，看他的馬沒有用。走吧，媽媽！”
但是老太婆這時看到磨工羅布牽着沒有人騎着的馬，沿着街道回來，她好像產生了超出這件事情本身的某種興趣，非常認真地打量着這位年輕人。當他走近的時候，她好像要解決心頭的什麼疑問似的，用炯炯有神的眼睛看了她女兒一眼，並把一個指頭貼在嘴脣上；當他正從這裏經過的時候，她從門道里走出來，碰了一下他的肩膀。
“喂，我活潑的羅布這些時候都在哪裏呀？”他回過頭來時候，她問道。
活潑的羅布聽到這個問候，減少了不少活潑，表現出十分驚愕的樣子，眼中含着淚水，說道：
“啊，布朗太太，一個可憐的小夥子正在規規矩矩地掙錢過活，體體面面地做人，您爲什麼不讓他平平靜靜地過日子，不去打攪他呢？他正把他主人的馬牽到一個規矩可靠的馬廄去，您爲什麼跑過來，在街道上跟他講話，敗壞他的名聲呢？--這匹馬要是由您去處理的話，您是會把它賣掉，再買肉來喂貓喂狗的！哎呀，我還以爲，”磨工說了一句結尾的話，彷彿他所受的一切委屈已到達頂點似的，”您老早以前就已死掉了呢！”
“我親愛的，”老太婆向她的女兒大聲哀訴道，”我認識他已有好多個星期、好多個月了；有好多次，那些賣鴿子的流浪者和捉鴿子的人欺負他，都是我幫助了他，可是他現在竟這樣對我說話！”
“讓那些鳥兒安安靜靜，別去打擾它們吧，好不好，布朗太太？”羅布用極度痛苦的聲調反駁道，”我想，一個年輕小夥子最好是跟獅子打交道，而不要去跟這些小東西打交道，因爲它們常常會在您最意想不到的時候飛回到您的臉上來。唔，您好嗎？您需要什麼？”羅布說出這些有禮貌的話，彷彿是極不願意，極爲激憤和怨恨似的。
“你聽，我的寶貝，他是怎樣跟一位老朋友講話的！”布朗太太又向她女兒哀訴道，”但是他有幾位老朋友可不像我這麼耐性。如果我去告訴幾個他認識、他曾經跟他們玩樂，並欺騙過他們的朋友，到哪裏去找到他的話--”
“您住嘴好不好，布朗太太？”可憐的磨工打斷她的話，說道，一邊迅速地向四周看了一眼，彷彿預料會在近旁看到他的主人的牙齒正在閃發出亮光似的，”您想毀掉一個年輕小夥子來取樂，這是爲什麼呢？像您這樣歲數的人，本應該想各種各樣事情的，爲什麼還要這樣呢？”
“多麼雄壯的馬！”老太婆拍拍馬背，說道。