狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第23章Part 15

Captain Cuttle, whose delicacy was shocked by such an inquiry in connection with Florence, drew the sage aside, and seeming to explain in his ear, accompanied him below; where,that he might not take offence, the Captain drank a dram himself' which Florence and Susan, glancing down the open skylight, saw the sage, with difficulty finding room forhimself between his berth and a very little brass fireplace, serve out for self and friend. They soon reappeared on deck, and Captain Cuttle, triumphing in the success of hisenterprise, conducted Florence back to the coach, while Bunsby followed, escorting Miss Nipper, whom he hugged upon the way (much to that young lady's indignation) with hispilot-coated arm, like a blue bear.
The Captain put his oracle inside, and gloried so much in having secured him, and having got that mind into a hackney-coach, that he could not refrain from often peeping in atFlorence through the little window behind the driver, and testifiing his delight in smiles, and also in taps upon his forehead, to hint to her that the brain of Bunsby was hardat it' In the meantime, Bunsby, still hugging Miss Nipper (for his friend, the Captain, had not exaggerated the softness of his heart), uniformily preserved his gravity ofdeportment, and showed no other consciousness of her or anything.
Uncle Sol, who had come home, received them at the door, and ushered them immediately into the little back parlour: strangely altered by the absence of Walter. On the table, andabout the room, were the charts and maps on which the heavy-hearted Instrument-maker had again and again tracked the missing vessel across the sea, and on which, with a pair ofcompasses that he still had in his hand, he had been measuring, a minute before, how far she must have driven, to have driven here or there: and trying to demonstrate that along time must elapse before hope was exhausted.
'Whether she can have run,' said Uncle Sol, looking wistfully over the chart; 'but no, that's almost impossible or whether she can have been forced by stress of weather, - butthat's not reasonably likely. Or whether there is any hope she so far changed her course as - but even I can hardly hope that!' With such broken suggestions, poor old Uncle Solroamed over the great sheet before him, and could not find a speck of hopeful probability in it large enough to set one small point of the compasses upon.
Florence saw immediately - it would have been difficult to help seeing - that there was a singular, indescribable change in the old man, and that while his manner was far morerestless and unsettled than usual, there was yet a curious, contradictory decision in it, that perplexed her very much. She fancied once that he spoke wildly, and at random; foron her saying she regretted not to have seen him when she had been there before that morning, he at first replied that he had been to see her, and directly afterwards seemed towish to recall that answer.
'You have been to see me?' said Florence. 'To-day?'

卡特爾船長是個處事慎重的人；這個有關弗洛倫斯的問題使他感到震驚，他把這位智慧非凡的人拉到一旁，湊着他的耳朵似乎解釋些什麼，然後跟他一道走到下面去。船長爲了不使他見怪，自己喝了一口酒，這時弗洛倫斯和蘇珊從敞開的天窗中望下去，看到那位智慧非凡的人身子十分困難地擠在他的牀鋪和一個很小的銅壁爐中間，給自己和朋友斟酒。他們很快又回到甲板上，卡特爾船長由於計劃成功，揚揚得意，領着弗洛倫斯回到馬車那裏；邦斯貝在後面護送尼珀姑娘，一路上他像一隻藍熊一般，用穿着領航員呢上衣的胳膊緊緊摟着她，使那位姑娘十分惱怒。
船長把他那位能傳告神諭的人送進馬車；他由於能把他弄到手，把那顆智慧的心靈裝入馬車，十分得意，因此情不自禁地時常通過馬車伕後面的小窗子偷看弗洛倫斯一眼，滿臉笑容，拍拍前額，向她暗示，邦斯貝正在用心開動腦子；這一切都表露出他心中的高興。在這期間，邦斯貝雖然依舊緊緊摟着尼珀姑娘（因爲他的朋友船長說他的心地十分慈善，這並非誇大其辭），但始終如一地保持着莊嚴的態度，看上去根本就沒有注意到她和其他任何事物。
所爾舅舅已經回到家裏，這時在門口迎接他們，並立即把他們領進小後客廳裏。自從沃爾特走了以後，這個小後客廳已經奇怪地改變了。桌子上和房間裏各處都是航海圖和地圖，心情沉重的儀器製造商曾經一次又一次地在這些圖紙上從海面上尋找這艘杳無音訊的船的蹤跡；一分鐘以前，他還用現在依舊拿在手裏的一副圓規，測量它如今該漂走多遠，漂到這裏還是漂到那裏，同時設法證明，一定要經過很長的時間才能斷絕希望。
“如果它能漂到這裏，”所爾舅舅愁悶地看着航海圖，說道，“可是不，這幾乎是不可能的。或者如果暴風把它吹刮到這裏的話，可是這也不見得可能這樣。或者假如有這樣的希望；它大大地改變了航線——可是連我也不會這樣希望！”可憐的老所爾舅舅一邊說着這些斷斷續續的設想，一邊在面前很大張的圖紙上游來轉去，在上面竟找不到可能寄予希望的一個點子，它大到能容納下圓規的小小腳尖。
弗洛倫斯立刻看出——很難看不出的——，老人發生了異常的難以描述的變化，雖然他比往常更加坐立不安，心神不定，可是另一方面卻有着一種令人奇怪的、與此相矛盾的堅定決心，這使她感到十分困惑不解。她曾以爲他隨意亂說，因爲當她說到早上來這裏沒遇見他覺得很遺憾的時候，他最初回答說，他曾經去看她了，但似乎又立即想收回這個答覆似的。
“您曾經去看我了嗎？”弗洛倫斯問道，“今天？”