狄更斯雙語小説:《董貝父子》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!'

“請原諒我的冒昧，先生，”圖德爾先生看到董貝先生已記不清他了，就説道：“不過我的老婆波利，在您家裏管她叫做理查茲的——”
董貝先生臉色的變化使圖德爾先生突然説不出話來。它似乎表示他已記起他來，實際上也確實如此，但它卻以更強烈的程度憤怒地表示出一種屈辱感。
“你的老婆需要錢吧，我想，”董貝先生把手伸進衣袋裏，傲慢地説道，不過他經常是這樣説話的。
“不，謝謝您，先生，”圖德爾回答道，“她需要不需要我不好説。我不需要。”
現在輪到董貝先生突然尷尬地説不出話來了，他的手還放在衣袋裏。
“不，先生，”圖德爾把他的油布帽子在手裏一圈又一圈地打着轉，“我們過得不錯，先生。我們沒有理由抱怨生活，先生。從那時以來，我們又添了四個孩子，先生，但是我們還能勉勉強強過得下去。”
董貝先生真想使勁地擠到他的車廂裏去，那怕這樣做會把這燒鍋爐的火夫給擠到車輪底下也罷；但是這時他的注意力卻被那依舊在那人手裏慢慢打轉的油布帽子上的什麼東西吸引住了。
“我們失去了一個小娃娃，”圖德爾説，“這是不能否認的。”
“最近嗎？”董貝先生看着那帽子，問道。
“不，先生，三年多以前的事了，不過其餘的孩子全都很強健。説到唸書的事，先生，”圖德爾先生又鞠了一個躬，説道，彷彿他想要向董貝先生提醒好久以前他們之間在這方面曾經發生過的事情似的，“歸根到底，我的這些男孩子們他們全都教我。先生，他們這些男孩子已經讓我成了一個能讀會寫的人了。”
“走吧，少校！”董貝先生説道。
“請原諒，先生，”圖德爾走到他們前面，又恭恭敬敬地攔住他們，繼續往下説，他的手裏依舊拿着帽子，“如果我不是想把我們的談話引到我的兒子拜勒的話，那麼我本不想用這些話來打攪您的；拜勒的教名叫羅賓，就是他，承蒙您的好意，讓他成了一名慈善的磨工。”
“唔，您説，”董貝先生極為嚴厲地説道，“他怎麼了？”
“唉，先生，”圖德爾搖着頭，臉上露出很大的憂慮與痛苦，回答道，“我不得不説，先生，他走錯路了。”
“他走錯路了，真的嗎？”董貝先生説道，心中感到一種殘忍的滿足。
“先生們，你們知道，他交了壞朋友了，”那位父親用愁悶的眼光望着他們兩人，繼續説道，他把少校顯然也拉入談話，是為了取得他的同情，“他走到邪路上去了。上帝保佑，他也許是會回來的，先生們，可是現在他是在錯誤的軌道上行走。您也許總會聽到這件事的，先生，”圖德爾又單獨對着董貝先生説道，“不過最好還是由我自己來告訴您，對您説，我的孩子走錯路了。波利悲傷得不得了，先生們，”圖德爾露出同樣沮喪的神色，再一次向少校求助，説道。
“我曾幫助這個人的兒子去受教育，少校，”董貝先生先生挽着他的胳膊，説道，“到頭來通常是這樣的報答！”
“請接受老喬直率的忠告，千萬別去教育這一類人，先生，”少校回答道，“他媽的，先生，千萬別做那種事！那樣做總是失敗的！”