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“你是什么意思?”姑娘同样低声答道。 'The reason of all this,' replied Fagin. 'If HE'--he pointed with his skinny fore-finger up the stairs--'is so hard with you (he's a brute, Nance, a brute-beast), why don't you--' “所有这一切总有个原因,”费金回答,“既然他,”--他用瘦仃仃的食指朝楼上指了指--“对你这么刻薄(他是一个畜生,南希,畜生加野兽),你干吗不--” 'Well?' said the girl, as Fagin paused, with his mouth almost touching her ear, and his eyes looking into hers. “哦!”姑娘叫了一声,费金骤然打住,嘴巴差一点没碰着她的耳朵,双眼逼视着她的眼睛。 'No matter just now. We'll talk of this again. You have a friend in me, Nance; a staunch friend. I have the means at hand, quiet and close. If you want revenge on those that treat you like a dog--like a dog! worse than his dog, for he humours him sometimes--come to me. I say, come to me. He is the mere hound of a day, but you know me of old, Nance.' “眼下不提了,”老犹太说道,“我们以后再商量。你可以把我当朋友,南希,一个可靠的朋友。我手头有的是办法,又稳当又秘密。你要是想报仇,就是为他把你和狗一样看待的那些事报仇--和狗一样!连他的狗都不如,他有时候还同狗闹着玩呢--你来找我好了。我是说,你尽管来找我。他跟你交往日子不长,你我可是老朋友了,南希。” 'I know you well,' replied the girls, without manifesting the least emotion. 'Good-night.' “我很了解你,”姑娘回答,连最起码的感动也没有表示。“再见。” 
费金想跟她握握手,她往后退去,又用镇定的声音说了一声再见,对于他临别的一瞥,她会意地点了点头,便把门关上了。 Fagin walked towards his home, intent upon the thoughts that were working within his brain. He had conceived the idea--not from what had just passed though that had tended to confirm him, but slowly and by degrees--that Nancy, wearied of the housebreaker's brutality, had conceived an attachment for some new friend. Her altered manner, her repeated absences from home alone, her comparative indifference to the interests of the gang for which she had once been so zealous, and, added to these, her desperate impatience to leave home that night at a particular hour, all favoured the supposition, and rendered it, to him at least, almost matter of certainty. The object of this new liking was not among his myrmidons. He would be a valuable acquisition with such an assistant as Nancy, and must (thus Fagin argued) be secured without delay. 费金朝自己的住处走去,一门心思全用在脑子里那些进进出出的鬼点子上头。他已经看出--这个念头是缓慢地一步一步形成的,而不是根据刚才的一幕,尽管这事为他提供了佐证--南希不堪忍受那个强盗的粗暴对待,打算另寻新欢。她近来神色大变,常常单独外出,以前她对团伙的利益那样热心,现在似乎变得相当冷漠,加上她不顾死活,急着要在当晚一个特定的时间出门,凡此种种都有助于证实这个推测,至少在他看来,这几乎成了十拿九稳的事。她新结识的那位相好不在他那班忠心耿耿的部下当中。加上南希这样一个帮手,此人完全可能成为一株非常宝贵的摇钱树,必须(费金如此这般地论证着)毫不拖延地弄到手。 There was another, and a darker object, to be gained. Sikes knew too much, and his ruffian taunts had not galled Fagin the less, because the wounds were hidden. The girl must know, well, that if she shook him off, she could never be safe from his fury, and that it would be surely wreaked--to the maiming of limbs, or perhaps the loss of life--on the object of her more recent fancy.'With a little persuasion,' thought Fagin, 'what more likely than that she would consent to poison him? Women have done such things, and worse, to secure the same object before now. There would be the dangerous villain: the man I hate: gone; another secured in his place; and my influence over the girl, with a knowledge of this crime to back it, unlimited.' 还有一个目的,一个更为阴险的目的必须达到。赛克斯知道的事太多了,他那些恶言冷语给费金造成的伤害虽然看不见,但产生的刻骨仇恨并没有因此而减轻。那姑娘必须懂得,就是说,即使能够把赛克斯给甩了,她也绝对躲不过他的疯狂报复,这口气肯定会出在她最近认识的相好头上--弄个肢体残废,没准儿还得送命。“只要劝说一番,”费金思忖道,“她会不答应给他下点毒药?为了达到相同的目的,以前就有娘们干过这种事,甚至比这更辣手的也有。活该这个危险的家伙完蛋了,我讨厌这家伙,以后他的位置会有人来填的。那姑娘干了杀人勾当,把柄攥在我手里,往后怎么摆布她还不得由着我。” These things passed through the mind of Fagin, during the short time he sat alone, in the housebreaker's room; and with them uppermost in his thoughts, he had taken the opportunity afterwards afforded him, of sounding the girl in the broken hints he threw out at parting. There was no expression of surprise, no assumption of an inability to understand his meaning. The girl clearly comprehended it. Her glance at parting showed THAT. 费金刚才独自坐在那个强盗的房间里,在那个短暂的间隔,这些事情从他脑海里掠过。他对这些事看得很重,临走的时候又趁机用一些断断续续的暗示向南希试探过了,那姑娘没有一点惊奇的表情,也没有佯装不懂他的意思。姑娘显然已经心领神会,这从她临别的眼神看得出来。 But perhaps she would recoil from a plot to take the life of Sikes, and that was one of the chief ends to be attained. 'How,' thought Fagin, as he crept homeward, 'can I increase my influence with her? what new power can I acquire?' 可是,一个谋害赛克斯性命的计划也许会把她吓得缩回去,而这正是必须达到的主要目的之一。“我怎么才能增加对她的影响呢?”费金蹑手蹑脚地往家里走,一路都在盘算。“怎么才能再加一把力?” 
这样的脑袋瓜真可以称得上足智多谋。就算不逼她自己说出来,他也可以设一个暗探,找到她刚换的心上人,然后扬言要把这事统统告诉赛克斯(她对赛克斯怕得不得了),除非她参与自己的计划,还愁她不答应? 'I can,' said Fagin, almost aloud. 'She durst not refuse me then. Not for her life, not for her life! I have it all. The means are ready, and shall be set to work. I shall have you yet!' “我有办法,”费金险些儿高声说了出来,“到时候她不敢不由着我,又不是要她的命,又不是要她的命。我有绝对的把握。办法都是现成的,立马就可以见效。你反正逃不出我的手心。” He cast back a dark look, and a threatening motion of the hand, towards the spot where he had left the bolder villian; and went on his way: busying his bony hands in the folds of his tattered garment, which he wrenched tightly in his grasp, as though there were a hated enemy crushed with every motion of his fingers. 他扭过头,恶狠狠地看了一眼自己丢下那个冒失家伙的地点,做了一个恐吓的手势,又继续赶路,枯瘦的双手忙个不停,使劲拧他那件破烂不堪的外衣褶缝,仿佛手指的每一个动作都是在把一个可恨的仇敌碾成齑粉。 The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast. 第二天,费金老头儿一清早就起来了。他焦躁地等候着自己的新伙计露面,左等右等,也不知等了多久,新伙计才来,并当即开始狼吞虎咽地吃早餐。 'Bolter,' said Fagin, drawing up a chair and seating himself opposite Morris Bolter. “波尔特。”费金拉过来一把椅子,在莫里斯·波尔特对面坐了下来,开口说道。 
“唔,我在这儿呢,”诺亚回答,“什么事?我吃完东西以前,任你什么事儿也别叫我做。你们这个地方就这点不好,吃顿饭的时间都不给够。” 'You can talk as you eat, can't you?' said Fagin, cursing his dear young friend's greediness from the very bottom of his heart. “你可以边吃边谈嘛,对不对?”费金嘴里这么说,心底深处却在咒骂这位可爱的年轻朋友也太能吃了。 'Oh yes, I can talk. I get on better when I talk,' said Noah, cutting a monstrous slice of bread. 'Where's Charlotte?' “噢,行啊,可以。我边吃边谈还更舒服一些,”诺亚说着,切下一片大得吓人的面包。“夏洛蒂呢?” 'Out,' said Fagin. 'I sent her out this morning with the other young woman, because I wanted us to be alone.' “没在,”费金说道,“我今儿早上打发她和另一个小娘们上街去了,我想单独跟你谈谈。” 'Oh!' said Noah. 'I wish yer'd ordered her to make some buttered toast first. Well. Talk away. Yer won't interrupt me.' “噢。”诺亚说道,“你该叫她先做一些黄油面包。唔,说吧,你不会妨碍我的。” 
看起来的确无需过分担心有什么东西会妨碍他的胃口,他刚才坐下来的时候就明摆着要大干一番。 'You did well yesterday, my dear,' said Fagin. 'Beautiful! Six shillings and ninepence halfpenny on the very first day! The kinchin lay will be a fortune to you.' “昨天你干得不赖,亲爱的,”费金说道,“真棒。头天开张就是六先令九个半便士。收娃娃税会让你发财的。” 'Don't you forget to add three pint-pots and a milk-can,' said Mr. Bolter. “你别忘了,还有三只耳锅,一把牛奶壶。”波尔特先生声明。 'No, no, my dear. The pint-pots were great strokes of genius: but the milk-can was a perfect masterpiece.' “忘不了,忘不了,亲爱的。耳锅都是些天才大手笔,牛奶壶也算得上十全十美的杰作。” 'Pretty well, I think, for a beginner,' remarked Mr. Bolter complacently. 'The pots I took off airy railings, and the milk-can was standing by itself outside a public-house. I thought it might get rusty with the rain, or catch cold, yer know. Eh? Ha! ha! ha!' “对于一位生手来说,我认为已经很不错了,”波尔特先生大言不惭,“锅子是我从晾杆上取下来的,那把奶壶自个儿站在一家小酒馆外边。我心想碰上下雨它可要长锈或者着凉什么的,这你知道,哦?哈哈哈!” 
费金装出笑得非常开心的样子,波尔特先生大笑之余,一连咬了几大口,把第一块黄油面包给解决掉了,又开始对付第二块。 'I want you, Bolter,' said Fagin, leaning over the table, 'to do a piece of work for me, my dear, that needs great care and caution.' “我找你,波尔特,”费金往桌上俯下身来,说道,“替我办件事,亲爱的,这事需要非常小心谨慎。”
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