狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第22章Part 5

'I ain't indeed, Sir,' whimpered Rob. 'I never did such a thing as thieve, Sir, if you'll believe me. I know I've been a going wrong, Sir, ever since I took to bird-catching' and walking-matching. I'm sure a cove might think,' said Mr Toodle Junior, with a burst of penitence, 'that singing birds was innocent company, but nobody knows what harm is in them little creeturs and what they brings you down to.'
They seemed to have brought him down to a velveteen jacket and trousers very much the worse for wear, a particularly small red waistcoat like a gorget, an interval of blue check, and the hat before mentioned.
'I ain't been home twenty times since them birds got their will of me,' said Rob, 'and that's ten months. How can I go home when everybody's miserable to see me! I wonder,' said Biler, blubbering outright, and smearing his eyes with his coat-cuff, 'that I haven't been and drownded myself over and over again.'
All of which, including his expression of surprise at not having achieved this last scarce performance, the boy said, just as if the teeth of Mr Carker drew it out ofhim, and he had no power of concealing anything with that battery of attraction in full play.
'You're a nice young gentleman!' said Mr Carker, shaking his head at him. 'There's hemp-seed sown for you, my fine fellow!'
'I'm sure, Sir,' returned the wretched Biler, blubbering again, and again having recourse to his coat-cuff: 'I shouldn't care, sometimes, if it was growed too. My misfortunes all began in wagging, Sir; but what could I do, exceptin' wag?'
'Excepting what?' said Mr Carker.
'Wag, Sir. Wagging from school.'
'Do you mean pretending to go there, and not going?' said Mr Carker.
'Yes, Sir, that's wagging, Sir,' returned the quondam Grinder, much affected. 'I was chivied through the streets, Sir, when I went there, and pounded when I got there. So I wagged, and hid myself, and that began it.'
'And you mean to tell me,' said Mr Carker, taking him by the throat again, holding him out at arm's-length, and surveying him in silence for some moments, 'that you want a place, do you?'
'I should be thankful to be tried, Sir,' returned Toodle Junior, faintly.
Mr Carker the Manager pushed him backward into a corner - the boy submitting quietly, hardly venturing to breathe, and never once removing his eyes from his face - and rang the bell.
'Tell Mr Gills to come here.'
Mr Perch was too deferential to express surprise or recognition of the figure in the corner: and Uncle Sol appeared immediately.
'Mr Gills!' said Carker, with a smile, 'sit down. How do you do? You continue to enjoy your health, I hope?'
'Thank you, Sir,' returned Uncle Sol, taking out his pocket-book, and handing over some notes as he spoke. 'Nothing ails me in body but old age. Twenty-five, Sir.'
'You are as punctual and exact, Mr Gills,' replied the smiling Manager, taking a paper from one of his many drawers, and making an endorsement on it, while Uncle Sol looked over him, 'as one of your own chronometers. Quite right.'
'The Son and Heir has not been spoken, I find by the list, Sir,' said Uncle Sol, with a slight addition to the usual tremor in his voice.
'The Son and Heir has not been spoken,' returned Carker. 'There seems to have been tempestuous weather, Mr Gills, and she has probably been driven out of her course.'
'She is safe, I trust in Heaven!' said old Sol.

“我確實不是，先生，”羅布啜泣着說道，“我沒有幹過偷竊的事情，先生，請相信我。我知道，自從我開始逮捕鳥兒、追趕鳥兒以後，我就走上錯誤的道路了。毫無疑問，一般人也許會想，”小圖德爾萬分後悔地說道，“唱歌的鳥兒是天真無邪的伴侶。可是誰也不知道這些小東西有多大害處，它們會給你帶來什麼結果。”
看來，它們已經給他帶來的結果是，他只有一件棉絨短上衣，一條破爛得不好穿的褲子，一件特別小、像護喉甲冑一般的紅背心，背心下面露出藍色的花格子襯衫，還有就是前面提到的那頂帽子。
“自從這些鳥兒叫我着了迷以後，我已經有二十次沒有待在家裏了，”羅布說道，“已經有十個月了。他們每個人看到我都傷心，我怎麼能回家呢！我不明白，”拜勒放聲哇哇大哭起來，並用袖頭擦着眼睛，說道，“爲什麼我老早以前沒有跳到水裏去把自己淹死呢。”
孩子說所有這些話（包括他對他沒有完成最後這稀罕的業績表示驚奇的話）的時候，就彷彿卡克先生的牙齒從他嘴裏把話拉出來似的；在這排炮般強烈的吸引力下，他無法隱瞞任何事情。
“你是位了不起的小先生！”卡克先生向他搖搖頭說道，“大麻籽早已爲你播種下去了，我的好人兒！”
“說實在的，先生，”可憐的拜勒又哇哇大哭起來，而且又使用了他的袖頭，說道，“哪怕它就是生長出來，我有時都不在乎。我的不幸全都是從逃學開始的，先生；可是我除了逃學，又有什麼辦法？”
“除了什麼？”卡克先生問道。
“逃學，先生，不去上學。”
“你是不是說假裝到學校裏去，而實際上並沒有去？”卡克先生問道。
“是的，先生，那就是逃學，先生，”過去的磨工很悲傷地回答道，“我去上學的時候，在街上被人追趕，先生；到了學校裏，又遭到痛打，所以我就逃學，把自己躲藏起來，一切就這樣開始了。”
“你是想跟我說，”卡克先生又抓住他的喉嚨，把他推出一隻胳膊的距離，默默地打量了他幾秒鐘之後說道，“你要找工作做，是不是？”
“如果你們肯試用我的話，那麼我將十分感謝，先生，”小圖德爾用微弱的聲音說道。
經理卡克先生把他往後推到一個角落裏——孩子一聲不響地順從了他，幾乎不敢呼吸，眼睛一次也沒有離開他的臉孔——，然後按了一下鈴。
“請吉爾斯先生到這裏來。”
珀奇先生畢恭畢敬，不敢對角落裏的人表示驚奇或注意。
所爾舅舅立刻就進來了。“吉爾斯先生！”卡克先生微笑着說道，“請坐，您好！我希望您身體還一直跟往常一樣健康吧？”
“謝謝您，先生，”所爾舅舅回答道，同時取出一個皮夾子，一邊說話一邊遞過幾張鈔票。“除了年老外，我沒有什麼病。二十五張，先生。”
“您又準時又精確，吉爾斯先生，”經理笑嘻嘻地回答道，一邊從他許多抽屜當中的一個抽屜裏取出一張票據，在背面簽了字，這時候所爾舅舅從他的頭頂望過去。“就跟您的精密計時錶一樣，絲毫不錯。”
“在貨船一覽表中沒提到‘兒子和繼承人’的消息，先生，”所爾舅舅說道；他平時就有些顫抖的聲音，這時更顫抖了一些。
“是沒有提到‘兒子和繼承人的消息’，”卡克先生回答道，“看來氣候是險惡的，吉爾斯先生，船很可能已經離開原來的航線了。”
“老天爺保佑它平安無恙！”老所爾說道。