狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第23章Part 16
'Yes, my dear young lady,' returned Uncle Sol, looking at her and away from her in a confused manner. 'I wished to see you with my own eyes, and to hear you with my own ears, once more before - ' There he stopped.
'Before when? Before what?' said Florence, putting her hand upon his arm.
'Did I say "before?"' replied old Sol. 'If I did, I must have meant before we should have news of my dear boy.'
'You are not well,' said Florence, tenderly. 'You have been so very anxious I am sure you are not well.'
'I am as well,' returned the old man, shutting up his right hand, and holding it out to show her: 'as well and firm as any man at my time of life can hope to be. See! It's steady. Is its master not as capable of resolution and fortitude as many a younger man? I think so. We shall see.'
There was that in his manner more than in his words, though they remained with her too, which impressed Florence so much, that she would have confided her uneasiness to Captain Cuttle at that moment, if the Captain had not seized that moment for expounding the state of circumstance, on which the opinion of the sagacious Bunsby was requested, and entreating that profound authority to deliver the same.
Bunsby, whose eye continued to be addressed to somewhere about the half-way house between London and Gravesend, two or three times put out his rough right arm, as seeking to wind it for inspiration round the fair form of Miss Nipper; but that young female having withdrawn herself, in displeasure, to the opposite side of the table, the soft heart of the Commander of the Cautious Clara met with no response to its impulses. After sundry failures in this wise, the Commander, addressing himself to nobody, thus spake; or rather the voice within him said of its own accord, and quite independent of himself, as if he were possessed by a gruff spirit:
'My name's Jack Bunsby!'
“是的，我親愛的小姐，”所爾舅舅惶惑不安地看着她，然後又移開了視線，回答道，“我希望親眼再見您一次，親耳朵再聽您一次，然後——”說到這裏他停住了。
“然後怎麼樣？”弗洛倫斯把手擱在他的胳膊上，問道。
“我說‘然後’了嗎？”老所爾說道，“如果我說了，那麼我一定是想要說，然後我再耐心地等待我親愛的孩子的消息。”
“您身體不大好，”弗洛倫斯親切地說道，“您一直非常焦急。我確實覺得，您的身體不大好。”
“我身體好，”老人回答道，一邊握緊右手，伸給她看，“健康、結實，就像我這樣年紀的任何人所能指望的。您看，它一點也不顫抖。難道它的主人不能像許多年輕人那樣堅決和剛毅嗎？我認爲能。我們以後瞧着吧！”
雖然他的話語還在她耳邊響着，可是並不是他的話語，而是他的神態，在她心中留下了深刻的印象，她本來真想在那時候把她心中的不安告訴給卡特爾船長的，可是船長卻抓住那個時候解釋了他要求那位智慧非凡的邦斯貝前來談談他的看法的前後經過情況，並懇求那位知識淵博的權威人士發表他的意見。
邦斯貝的眼睛繼續朝向倫敦與格雷夫森德之間的什麼中途客棧，他兩三次伸出他那穿着粗呢的右胳膊；想要摟住尼珀姑娘漂亮的腰身來獲得靈感；可是那位年輕的姑娘不高興地退避到桌子的另一邊，“謹慎的克拉拉”的指揮者的慈善的心的衝動沒有得到反響。在幾次嘗試失敗之後，這位指揮者不對着任何人講話了，或者更正確地說，他身體裏的聲音自發地、不由他作主地發出來了，彷彿他已被一個聲音嘶啞的妖魔纏住了似的。
“我叫傑克·邦斯貝！”
