雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第六章 Part 16

'Louisa!' said Mr Dombey. 'It is not necessary to prolong these observations. The woman is discharged and paid. You leave this house, Richards, for taking my son - my son,' said Mr Dombey, emphatically repeating these two words, 'into haunts and into society which are not to be thought of without a shudder. As to the accident which befel Miss Florence this morning, I regard that as, in one great sense, a happy and fortunate circumstance; inasmuch as, but for that occurrence, I never could have known - and from your own lips too - of what you had been guilty. I think, Louisa, the other nurse, the young person,' here Miss Nipper sobbed aloud, 'being so much younger, and necessarily influenced by Paul's nurse, may remain. Have the goodness to direct that this woman's coach is paid to' - Mr Dombey stopped and winced - 'to Staggs's Gardens.'
“路易莎！”董貝先生說道。“沒有必要再說這些話，這位女人已經被解僱了，工資也支付了。你就離開這個屋子，理查茲，因爲你把我的兒子——我的兒子，”董貝先生把這四個字強調地重複了一遍，說道，“帶到了窮鄉僻壤和令人一想起來都會毛骨悚然的社會中去。至於今天上午弗洛倫斯小姐遭遇到的不幸事故，從某種重要的意義上說，這倒是個值得高興和幸運的情況，因爲若不是發生這件事，我就決不會知道——而且是從你們自己的嘴中知道——，你們犯了什麼樣的罪。我想，路易莎，另一位保姆，年輕的那一位，”這時尼珀姑娘大聲哭泣着，“由於年齡要小得多，而且一定受了保羅奶媽的影響，所以可以繼續留用。勞駕你吩咐，把這位女人的馬車錢付了，付到”——董貝先生停住，畏縮地說道，“付到斯塔格斯花園。”
Polly moved towards the door, with Florence holding to her dress, and crying to her in the most pathetic manner not to go away. It was a dagger in the haughty father's heart, an arrow in his brain, to see how the flesh and blood he could not disown clung to this obscure stranger, and he sitting by. Not that he cared to whom his daughter turned, or from whom turned away. The swift sharp agony struck through him, as he thought of what his son might do.
波利向門口走去，弗洛倫斯拉住她的衣服，極爲悲慘可憐地哭着要她別走。看到這個他不能不承認的親生骨肉難捨難分地依戀着這位出身低微的異鄉女人，而他就坐在旁邊，這是插進這位傲慢的父親心中的一把匕首，是射進他腦子中的一支箭。這倒並不是由於他關心他的女兒轉向誰或從誰那裏轉開。當他想到他的兒子會怎麼做的時候，他心中頓時感到了劇烈的痛苦。
His son cried lustily that night, at all events. Sooth to say, poor Paul had better reason for his tears than sons of that age often have, for he had lost his second mother - his first, so far as he knew - by a stroke as sudden as that natural affliction which had darkened the beginning of his life. At the same blow, his sister too, who cried herself to sleep so mournfully, had lost as good and true a friend. But that is quite beside the question. Let us waste no words about it.
不管怎麼樣，反正他的兒子那天夜裏拼命地大哭。老實說，可憐的保羅跟像他這樣年齡的其他兒子們相比更有理由傷心落淚，因爲他已失 去第二個母親了——就他所知道的來說，這是他的第一個母親——；這次起因於一次意外事故的打擊，跟那次曾在他的生命的開端籠罩上黑暗的天然的苦難同樣突如其來地降臨。在同樣的打擊下，她的姐姐也失去了一位善良的、真誠的朋友；她很哀傷地哭着，一直哭到睡去爲止。但這是離開本題的事情了，讓我們不要爲它浪費筆墨。
Miss Tox inhabited a dark little house that had been squeezed, at some remote period of English History, into a fashionable neighbourhood at the west end of the town, where it stood in the shade like a poor relation of the great street round the corner, coldly looked down upon by mighty mansions. It was not exactly in a court, and it was not exactly in a yard; but it was in the dullest of No-Thoroughfares, rendered anxious and haggard by distant double knocks. The name of this retirement, where grass grew between the chinks in the stone pavement, was Princess's Place; and in Princess's Place was Princess's Chapel, with a tinkling bell, where sometimes as many as five-and-twenty people attended service on a Sunday. The Princess's Arms was also there, and much resorted to by splendid footmen. A sedan chair was kept inside the railing before the Princess's Arms, but it had never come out within the memory of man; and on fine mornings, the top of every rail (there were eight-and-forty, as Miss Tox had often counted) was decorated with a pewter-pot.
托克斯小姐居住在一座黑暗的小房屋裏，這座房屋在英國曆史中某一個遙遠的時期被擠進這個城市西端的一個豪華的地區。它在那裏像一個窮親戚一樣，座落在從拐角通出去的那條大街的陰影之中，被一座座宏偉的邸宅冷漠地藐視着。它實際上不是在一個院子裏，也不是在一個圍場中，而是在通衢大道之外的一個最蕭條的地方，遠處傳來接二連三的敲門聲都會使這裏膽戰心驚，惶惶不安。這個偏僻的地方稱爲公主廣場，它的鋪石路縫中長出了青草；在公主廣場中有一個小的公主教堂，鐘聲從那裏噹噹地傳出；星期天到那裏 去參加祈禱儀式的有時達二十五人之多。那裏還有公主紋章，優秀的步兵常去參觀。在公主紋章前面的圍欄內放着一頂轎子，可是據人們記憶，從來沒有被擡出到外面來過；在天氣晴朗的上午，在圍欄上面每一條橫木的頂上擺着一個白鑞壺，作爲裝飾；橫木總共四十八條，因爲托克斯小姐常常數它們。