名著·雾都孤儿 - 第64节

　　“还有那个孩子，”老犹太瞪大眼睛，看了看她的表情。“可怜的小娃娃。丢在水沟里，南希，你想想看。”

'The child,' said the girl, suddenly looking up, 'is better where he is, than among us; and if no harm comes to Bill from it, I hope he lies dead in the ditch and that his young bones may rot there.'

　　“那个孩子，”南希突然抬起头来，说道，“在哪儿也比在我们中间好。只要这事没有连累比尔，我巴不得他就躺在水沟里死掉，嫩生生的骨头烂在那儿。”

'What!' cried the Jew, in amazement.

　　“哦！”老犹太大吃一惊，喊道。

'Ay, I do,' returned the girl, meeting his gaze. 'I shall be glad to have him away from my eyes, and to know that the worst is over. I can't bear to have him about me. The sight of him turns me against myself, and all of you.'

　　“嗳，就是这样，”姑娘迎着他那直愣愣的目光，回答说。“要是从此以后再也见不到他，知道最糟糕的事情过去了，我才高兴呢。有他在身边真叫我受不了。一看见他，我就恨我自己，也恨你们所有的人。”

'Pooh!' said the Jew, scornfully. 'You're drunk.'

　　“呸！”老犹太轻蔑地说，“你喝醉了。”

　　“我醉了？”姑娘伤心地叫道，“可惜我没醉，这不是你的错。依着你的心思，你巴不得我一辈子不清醒，除了现在--怎么样，这种脾气你不喜欢？”

'No!' rejoined the Jew, furiously. 'It does not.'

　　“是啊。”老犹太大怒，“不喜欢。”

'Change it, then!' responded the girl, with a laugh.

　　“那就改改我的脾气啊。”姑娘回了一句，随即放声大笑。

'Change it!' exclaimed the Jew, exasperated beyond all bounds by his companion's unexpected obstinacy, and the vexation of the night, 'I WILL change it! Listen to me, you drab. Listen to me, who with six words, can strangle Sikes as surely as if I had his bull's throat between my fingers now. If he comes back, and leaves the boy behind him; if he gets off free, and dead or alive, fails to restore him to me; murder him yourself if you would have him escape Jack Ketch. And do it the moment he sets foot in this room, or mind me, it will be too late!'

　　“改改！”费金大叫起来，同伙这种出乎意料的顽固，加上这天夜里遇到的不顺心的事，终于使他忍无可忍。“我是要改改你的脾气。听着，你这个奥婊子。你给我听着，我现在只需要三言两语，就可以要赛克斯的命，跟我用手掐住他的牛脖子一样稳当。他要是回来了，把那孩子给撂在后头--他要是滑过去了，却不把那孩子交还我，不管是死是活--你如果不想让他碰上杰克·开琪①的话，就亲手杀了他。他一跨进这间屋子你就动手，不然你可要当心我，时间会来不及的。”

'What is all this?' cried the girl involuntarily.

　　“这都说了些什么？”姑娘不禁叫了起来。

　　“什么？”费金快气疯了，继续说道，“那孩子对于我价值成百上千英镑，运气来了，我可以稳稳当当得到这么大一笔钱，就因为一帮我打一声口哨就能叫他们送命的醉鬼精神失常，倒要我失去该我得到的东西吗？再说，我跟一个天生的魔鬼有约，那家伙就缺这份心，可有的是力气去，去--”’

Panting for breath, the old man stammered for a word; and in that instant checked the torrent of his wrath, and changed his whole demeanour. A moment before, his clenched hands had grasped the air; his eyes had dilated; and his face grown livid with passion; but now, he shrunk into a chair, and, cowering together, trembled with the apprehension of having himself disclosed some hidden villainy. After a short silence, he ventured to look round at his companion. He appeared somewhat reassured, on beholding her in the same listless attitude from which he had first roused her.

　　老头儿气喘吁吁，说到这里叫一个词卡住了，在这一瞬间，他突然打住了怒火的宣泄，整个样子都变了。他那蜷曲的双手刚才还在空中乱抓，两眼瞪得滚圆，脸上因激怒而发青，可这会儿，他在椅子里蜷作一团，浑身直哆嗦，生怕自己暴露内心的奸诈。他沉默了一会儿，大着胆子扭头看了看同伴，见她依然和刚才醒来时一样无精打采，又多少显得放心了。

'Nancy, dear!' croaked the Jew, in his usual voice. 'Did you mind me, dear?'

　　“南希，亲爱的，”老犹太用平时的口气，哭丧着说，“你不见怪吧，亲爱的？”

'Don't worry me now, Fagin!' replied the girl, raising her head languidly. 'If Bill has not done it this time, he will another. He has done many a good job for you, and will do many more when he can; and when he can't he won't; so no more about that.'

　　“你别再烦我，费金。”姑娘缓慢地抬起头来，答道，“要是比尔这一次没有得手的话，他还会干的。他已经替你捞到不少好处，只要办得到，还会捞到很多很多，办不到就没法子了，所以你就别提了。”

'Regarding this boy, my dear?' said the Jew, rubbing the palms of his hands nervously together.

　　“那个孩子呢，亲爱的？”老犹太神经质地连连擦着掌心。

　　“那孩子只好跟别人去碰碰运气了，”南希赶紧打断他的话，“我再说一遍，我已不得他死，他就不会再受伤害，脱离你们这一伙--就是说，如果比尔没事的话。既然托比都溜掉了；比尔肯定出不了事，比尔再怎么着也顶他托比两个。”

'And about what I was saying, my dear?' observed the Jew, keeping his glistening eye steadily upon her.

　　“我说的事怎么办，亲爱的？”老犹太目光灼灼地盯着她，说道。

'Your must say it all over again, if it's anything you want me to do,' rejoined Nancy; 'and if it is, you had better wait till to-morrow. You put me up for a minute; but now I'm stupid again.'

　　“你如果要我做什么事，你得从头再说一遍，”南希回答，“真要是这样，你最好还是明天再说。你刚折腾一阵，现在我又有点糊涂了。”

Fagin put several other questions: all with the same drift of ascertaining whether the girl had profited by his unguarded hints; but, she answered them so readily, and was withal so utterly unmoved by his searching looks, that his original impression of her being more than a trifle in liquor, was confirmed. Nancy, indeed, was not exempt from a failing which was very common among the Jew's female pupils; and in which, in their tenderer years, they were rather encouraged than checked. Her disordered appearance, and a wholesale perfume of Geneva which pervaded the apartment, afforded stong confirmatory evidence of the justice of the Jew's supposition; and when, after indulging in the temporary display of violence above described, she subsided, first into dullness, and afterwards into a compound of feelings: under the influence of which she shed tears one minute, and in the next gave utterance to various exclamations of 'Never say die!' and divers calculations as to what might be the amount of the odds so long as a lady or gentleman was happy, Mr. Fagin, who had had considerable experience of such matters in his time, saw, with great satisfaction, that she was very far gone indeed.

　　费金又提出了另外几个问题，一个个都带着同样的含意，一心想要弄清这姑娘是不是已经听出他刚才脱口说出的暗示，然而她回答得干干脆脆，在他的逼视下又显得极其冷漠，他最初的想法看来是对的，她大不了多喝了两杯。的的确确，老犹太的一班女弟子都有一个普遍的缺点，南希也不例外，这个缺点在她们年龄较小的时候受到的鼓励多于制止。她那蓬头垢面的样子和满屋浓烈的酒气，为老犹太的推测提供了有力的证据。她当时先是像前边描述的那样发作一气，接着便沉浸在抑郁之中，随后又显出百感交集、无以自拔的样子，刚刚还在垂泪，转眼间又发出各种各样的喊声，诸如“千万别说死啊”什么的，还作出种种推测，说是只要太太、先生们快活逍遥，什么事也不打紧。费金先生对这类事一向很有经验，见她果真到了这种地步，真有说不出的满意。

Having eased his mind by this discovery; and having accomplished his twofold object of imparting to the girl what he had, that night, heard, and of ascertaining, with his own eyes, that Sikes had not returned, Mr. Fagin again turned his face homeward: leaving his young friend asleep, with her head upon the table.

　　这一发现使费金先生安心了。他此行有两个目的，一是把当天夜里听到的消息通知南希，二是亲眼核实一下赛克斯还没有回来，现在两个目的都已经达到，便动身回家，丢下自己的年轻同伙，由她伏在桌子上打瞌睡。

　　这时已经是午夜时分。天色漆黑，严寒刺骨，他实在没有心情闲逛。寒风掠过街道，似乎想把稀稀落落的几个行人当作尘土、垃圾一样清扫掉，行人看得出都在急急忙忙赶着回家。不过，对于老犹太来说倒是一路顺风，强劲的阵风每次粗暴地推他一把，他都要哆嗦一阵。

He had reached the corner of his own street, and was already fumbling in his pocket for the door-key, when a dark figure emerged from a projecting entrance which lay in deep shadow, and, crossing the road, glided up to him unperceived.

　　他走到自己住的这条街的转角上，正胡乱地在口袋里摸大门钥匙，这时一个黑影从马路对面一个黑洞洞的门廊里窜出来，神不知鬼不觉地溜到他身边。

'Fagin!' whispered a voice close to his ear.

　　“费金。”一个声音贴近他耳边低声说道。

'Ah!' said the Jew, turning quickly round, 'is that--'

　　“啊。”老犹太旋即转过头来，说道。“你是--”

'Yes!' interrupted the stranger. 'I have been lingering here these two hours. Where the devil have you been?'

　　“是的。”陌生人打断了他的话。“我在这儿转悠了足有两个小时，你到什么鬼地方去了？”