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一天下午，机灵鬼和贝兹少爷都在张罗晚上出门的事，先提到名字的那位小绅士心血来潮，表示出对他个人打扮的某种忧虑（平心而论，这决不是他向来就存在的一个缺点）。出于这一目的，他居然赏脸，命令奥立弗帮助他梳妆打扮一下。 Oliver was but too glad to make himself useful; too happy to have some faces, however bad, to look upon; too desirous to conciliate those about him when he could honestly do so; to throw any objection in the way of this proposal. So he at once expressed his readiness; and, kneeling on the floor, while the Dodger sat upon the table so that he could take his foot in his laps, he applied himself to a process which Mr. Dawkins designated as 'japanning his trotter-cases.' The phrase, rendered into plain English, signifieth, cleaning his boots. 奥立弗见自己能派上用处，真有些受宠若惊，身边总算有了几张面孔，哪怕看上去并不和气，也够他高兴的。再者说，他很想通过老老实实做事来感化身边的几个人，对这一提议他没有一点反对的意思，立刻表示乐意效劳，机灵鬼坐到桌子上，以便将靴子搭在奥立弗的一条腿上，他在地板上跪下来，开始进行被达金斯先生称作“替脚套上光”的这一道工序。用通行的语言来说这句话，就是替他擦鞋。 Whether it was the sense of freedom and independence which a rational animal may be supposed to feel when he sits on a table in an easy attitude smoking a pipe, swinging one leg carelessly to and fro, and having his boots cleaned all the time, without even the past trouble of having taken them off, or the prospective misery of putting them on, to disturb his reflections; or whether it was the goodness of the tobacco that soothed the feelings of the Dodger, or the mildness of the beer that mollified his thoughts; he was evidently tinctured, for the nonce, with a spice of romance and enthusiasm, foreign to his general nature. He looked down on Oliver, with a thoughtful countenance, for a brief space; and then, raising his head, and heaving a gentle sign, said, half in abstraction, and half to Master Bates: 一个人摆出一副非常舒适的姿势，在餐桌上坐下来，一边抽烟斗，一边漫不经心地将一条腿荡来荡去，让别人替自己擦鞋，既省下了从前那种脱下来的麻烦，又免去了重新穿上时估计得到的痛苦，免得打断自己的暇想，有理性的动物在这种时候想来都可能体验到这种悠哉游哉的感觉，要不然就是醇厚的烟草使机灵鬼心旷神恰，或者是温馨的啤酒使他的思维活动平静下来了，反正眼下他显然浑身洋溢着一种既浪漫又热忱的情趣，跟他的天性颇不相符。他低头看了奥立弗一眼，一副若有所思的样子。接着他又抬起头来，轻轻叹了一口气，一半是走神一半是冲着贝兹少爷说道： 'What a pity it is he isn't a prig!' “真可惜，他不是搞我们这行的。” 'Ah!' said Master Charles Bates; 'he don't know what's good for him.' “啊，”查理·贝兹少爷说，“他不知道好歹。” 
机灵鬼又叹了一口气，吸起烟斗来，查理也吸了起来。两个人吞云吐雾，一时都没作声。 'I suppose you don't even know what a prig is?' said the Dodger mournfully. “你大概连扒包是怎么回事都不知道吧？”机灵鬼悲哀地问。 'I think I know that,' replied Oliver, looking up. 'It's a the--; you're one, are you not?' inquired Oliver, checking himself. “这个我懂，”奥立弗抬起头来，回答说，“就是小--你就是一个，对吗？”奥立弗说着，打住了话头。 'I am,' replied the Doger. 'I'd scorn to be anything else.' Mr. Dawkins gave his hat a ferocious cock, after delivering this sentiment, and looked at Master Bates, as if to denote that he would feel obliged by his saying anything to the contrary. “是啊，”机灵鬼答道，“别的行当我还瞧不上呢。”达金斯先生抒发出这番感想，把帽子使劲往上一推，直瞪瞪地瞅着贝兹少爷，似乎想表示欢迎他发表与此相反的观点。 'I am,' repeated the Dodger. 'So's Charley. So's Fagin. So's Sikes. So's Nancy. So's Bet. So we all are, down to the dog. And he's the downiest one of the lot!' “是啊，”机灵鬼重复了一句，“查理是，费金是，还有赛克斯、南希、蓓特，大家伙儿全是小偷，直到那只狗，它还是我们一伙中最滑头的一个呢。” 
“也是嘴巴最牢靠的一个。”查理·贝兹加了一句。 'He wouldn't so much as bark in a witness-box, for fear of committing himself; no, not if you tied him up in one, and left him there without wittles for a fortnight,' said the Dodger. “就是在证人席上它也不会汪汪叫，怕祸事落到它自个儿身上，是啊，就是把它绑起来，让它在那儿呆上两个礼拜，不给它东西吃，它也不会吭声。”机灵鬼说。 'Not a bit of it,' observed Charley. “可不是嘛。”查理表示赞同。 'He's a rum dog. Don't he look fierce at any strange cove that laughs or sings when he's in company!' pursued the Dodger. 'Won't he growl at all, when he hears a fiddle playing! And don't he hate other dogs as ain't of his breed! Oh, no!' “这狗怪怪的。碰上生人大笑或是唱歌，它从不摆出凶神恶煞的样子。”机灵鬼接着说道，“听见拉提琴，它从不乱吼乱叫。跟它不是一家子的狗，它从来不恨。噢，才不呢。” 'He's an out-and-out Christian,' said Charley. “真是个地地道道的基督徒。”查理说。 
这句话仅仅是褒奖这头畜生有能耐，然而贝兹少爷并不知道，这句话在另外一个意义上却是一种颇为中肯的看法，因为世间有无数的女士、先生自称为地地道道的基督徒，这些人与赛克斯先生的狗之间存在着非常突出而又奇特的相似之处。 'Well, well,' said the Dodger, recurring to the point from which they had strayed: with that mindfulness of his profession which influenced all his proceedings. 'This hasn't go anything to do with young Green here.' “得啦，得啦，”机灵鬼将扯到一边的话题又拉了回来，这是出于职业上的细心，这种细心总是左右了他的一言一行。“反正跟这个小娃娃没一点关系。” 'No more it has,' said Charley. 'Why don't you put yourself under Fagin, Oliver?' “可不是嘛，”查理说道，“奥立弗，你干吗不拜费金为师呢？” 'And make your fortun' out of hand?' added the Dodger, with a grin. “不想很快发财？”机灵鬼咧嘴笑了笑，补充道。 'And so be able to retire on your property, and do the gen-teel: as I mean to, in the very next leap-year but four that ever comes, and the forty-second Tuesday in Trinity-week,' said Charley Bates. “有了钱就可以告老退休，做上等人，我的意思是，就是往后数四个闰年，再往后一个闰年，也就是三一节①的第四十二个礼拜二。”查理·贝兹乱扯一气。 
“我不喜欢这种事，”奥立弗怯生生地回答，“他们放我走就好了，我--我--很想走。” 'And Fagin would RATHER not!' rejoined Charley. “费金才不想哩。”查理答道。 Oliver knew this too well; but thinking it might be dangerous to express his feelings more openly, he only sighed, and went on with his boot-cleaning. 奥立弗对这一点再清楚不过了，然而，他意识到，把自己的心思吐露得再明白一些，没准会引来祸事，只好长叹一声，继续擦鞋。 'Go!' exclaimed the Dodger. 'Why, where's your spirit?' Don't you take any pride out of yourself? Would you go and be dependent on your friends?' “走，”机灵鬼嚷嚷着，“哎，你的志气哪儿去了？你难道没一点自尊心？还想去投靠你那些朋友？” 'Oh, blow that!' said Master Bates: drawing two or three silk handkerchiefs from his pocket, and tossing them into a cupboard, 'that's too mean; that is.' “喔，真没劲，”贝兹少爷说着，从衣袋里掏出两三张丝手绢，扔进壁橱里。“那也太没意思了，真的。” 
“我可于不出这种事。”机灵鬼挂着一副高傲的蔑视神气，说道。 'You can leave your friends, though,' said Oliver with a half smile; 'and let them be punished for what you did.' “你也可以扔下你那些朋友，”奥立弗苦笑着说，“让他们去为你做的事受罚呀。” 'That,' rejoined the Dodger, with a wave of his pipe, 'That was all out of consideration for Fagin, 'cause the traps know that we work together, and he might have got into trouble if we hadn't made our lucky; that was the move, wasn't it, Charley?' “那，”机灵鬼晃了晃烟斗，“都是考虑到费金，警察知道我们一块儿混饭吃，我们要是运气不好，他也会遇到麻烦，就是这么回事，对吗，查理？” Master Bates nodded assent, and would have spoken, but the recollection of Oliver's flight came so suddenly upon him, that the smoke he was inhaling got entagled with a laugh, and went up into his head, and down into his throat: and brought on a fit of coughing and stamping, about five minutes long. 贝兹少爷赞同地点了点头，正要说话，上次奥立弗一路飞跑的场面突如其来地浮现在他的心目中，一下子搅得他刚吸进去的烟和笑声纠缠在一起，往上直冲脑门，往下窜进喉咙，憋得他又是咳嗽，又是跺脚，折腾了约莫五分钟之久。 'Look here!' said the Dodger, drawing forth a handful of shillings and halfpence. 'Here's a jolly life! What's the odds where it comes from? Here, catch hold; there's plenty more where they were took from. You won't, won't you? Oh, you precious flat!' “瞧瞧，”机灵鬼掏出一大把钱，全是些先令和半便士的。“这才叫快活日子呢。谁管它是哪儿钻出来的？喏，接着，那些地方钱还多着呢。你要不要，不要？哟，你这个可爱的小傻瓜。” 
“真没规矩，对不，奥立弗？”查理·贝兹问道，“人家会把他的脖子勒个转儿的，你说呢？”
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