名著·雾都孤儿 - 第78节


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  “我全是出于--出于一片好心啊,先生,”凯尔司回答,“我真的以为就是这个孩子,否则我绝不会跟他过不去。我并不是生性不近人情,先生。”

   'Thought it was what boy?' inquired the senior officer.

  “你以为是个什么孩子?”老资格的警探问。

   'The housebreaker's boy, sir!' replied Giles. 'They--they certainly had a boy.'

  “强盗带来的孩子,先生。”凯尔司答道,“他们--他们肯定带着个孩子。”

   'Well? Do you think so now?' inquired Blathers.

  “哦。你现在还这样认为吗?”布拉瑟斯问道。

   'Think what, now?' replied Giles, looking vacantly at his questioner.

  “认为什么,现在?”凯尔司傻乎乎地望着审问者,回答说。

  “你这个蠢货,认为是同一个孩子,是不是?”布拉瑟斯不耐烦了。

   'I don't know; I really don't know,' said Giles, with a rueful countenance. 'I couldn't swear to him.'

  “我不知道,我真的不知道,”凯尔司哭丧着脸说,“我没法担保是他。”

   'What do you think?' asked Mr. Blathers.

  “那你认为是怎样的呢?”布拉瑟斯问。

   'I don't know what to think,' replied poor Giles. 'I don't think it is the boy; indeed, I'm almost certain that it isn't. You know it can't be.'

  “我不知道该怎样认为,”可怜的凯尔司答道,“我认为这不是那个孩子,真的,我几乎可以断定根本就不是。您知道,这不可能。”

   'Has this man been a-drinking, sir?' inquired Blathers, turning to the doctor.

  “这人是不是喝了酒啊,先生?”布拉瑟斯转向大夫,问道。

  “好一个十足的糊涂虫,你呀。”达福极度轻蔑地冲着凯尔司先生说。

   Mr. Losberne had been feeling the patient's pulse during this short dialogue; but he now rose from the chair by the bedside, and remarked, that if the officers had any doubts upon the subject, they would perhaps like to step into the next room, and have Brittles before them.

  在这一番简短谈话过程中,罗斯伯力先生一直在替病人把脉,这时他从床边椅子里站起身来,说如果两位警官对这个问题还有什么疑惑的话,不妨到隔壁房间去,把布里特尔斯叫来问一问。

   Acting upon this suggestion, they adjourned to a neighbouring apartment, where Mr. Brittles, being called in, involved himself and his respected superior in such a wonderful maze of fresh contradictions and impossibilities, as tended to throw no particular light on anything, but the fact of his own strong mystification; except, indeed, his declarations that he shouldn't know the real boy, if he were put before him that instant; that he had only taken Oliver to be he, because Mr. Giles had said he was; and that Mr. Giles had, five minutes previously, admitted in the kitchen, that he begain to be very much afraid he had been a little too hasty.

  他们采纳了这一提议,走进隔壁房间,布里特尔斯先生被叫了进来,他本人和他所尊敬的上司从而落入了这样一个奇异的迷宫,不断生出种种矛盾的说法和不可能发生的事情,除了证明他自己头脑极度发昏,什么事情都无法证明。一点不假,他声称即便当下就把那个真正的小偷叫到面前,他也认不出来。他只不过是把奥立弗当成是他了,一则因为凯尔司先生说就是他,二则此前五分钟,凯尔司先生在厨房里承认,他开始感到非常担心,自己恐怕是太莽撞了点。

   Among other ingenious surmises, the question was then raised, whether Mr. Giles had really hit anybody; and upon examination of the fellow pistol to that which he had fired, it turned out to have no more destructive loading than gunpowder and brown paper: a discovery which made a considerable impression on everybody but the doctor, who had drawn the ball about ten minutes before. Upon no one, however, did it make a greater impression than on Mr. Giles himself; who, after labouring, for some hours, under the fear of having mortally wounded a fellow-creature, eagerly caught at this new idea, and favoured it to the utmost. Finally, the officers, without troubling themselves very much about Oliver, left the Chertsey constable in the house, and took up their rest for that night in the town; promising to return the next morning.

  在诸多想人非非的臆测中,有人提出这样一个问题,凯尔司先生是否果真打中了什么人,经过查验与他昨天晚上打了一枪的那把配对的另一支手枪的结果,发现除去火药和牛皮纸填弹塞以外,并未装上杀伤力更强的东西,这一发现给大家留下了相当深刻的印象。只有大夫不在此列,因为是他大约十分钟以前刚把弹丸拔下来的。话虽这样说,给凯尔司先生留下的印象却是谁也比不上的。由于担心自己给一位同胞造成了致命伤的缘故,他已经苦恼了几个小时,他急不可待地抓住这一个新的想法,简直如获至宝。最后,两位警官没有在奥立弗身上动过多的脑筋,他们留下那位杰茨警察,自己到镇上住一晚,约定第二天上午再来。

   With the next morning, there came a rumour, that two men and a boy were in the cage at Kingston, who had been apprehended over night under suspicious circumstances; and to Kingston Messrs. Blathers and Duff journeyed accordingly. The suspicious circumstances, however, resolving themselves, on investigation, into the one fact, that they had been discovered sleeping under a haystack; which, although a great crime, is only punishable by imprisonment, and is, in the merciful eye of the English law, and its comprehensive love of all the King's subjects, held to be no satisfactory proof, in the absence of all other evidence, that the sleeper, or sleepers, have committed burglary accompanied with violence, and have therefore rendered themselves liable to the punishment of death; Messrs. Blathers and Duff came back again, as wise as they went.

  翌日清晨,传来一个消息,说昨天晚上有两个男的和一个小孩因行迹可疑而被捕,关进了金斯顿的监狱。布拉瑟斯和达福两位绅士为此去了一趟金斯顿。据查,所谓形迹可疑归结起来不过是这样一桩事实,有人发现他们在一个干草堆底下睡觉--这虽然是一大罪状,却只该受到监禁的处罚,根据英国法律慈悲为怀的观点及其对王国全体臣民的博爱精神,在缺乏其他的一应证据之时,这一事实尚不足以证明这名睡觉的人或多名睡觉的人,犯有凭借暴力夜间打劫的罪行,理应处以死刑。布拉瑟斯和达福这两位绅士只得空手而归。

  简而言之,经过若干进一步的调查,费了许多口舌,治安推事才欣然同意梅莱太太和罗斯伯力先生联名保释奥立弗,但必须随传随到。布拉瑟斯和达福拿到两畿尼的酬金,回伦敦去了,但他们二位对这次远行的目的却有不同的见解。后一位绅士纵观全局,考虑再三,倾向于相信这一次未遂夜间行窃系高手佩特所为。而前一位在同等程度上倾向于把这一功绩整个算在了不起的大烟囱契科韦德先生头上。

   Meanwhile, Oliver gradually throve and prospered under the united care of Mrs. Maylie, Rose, and the kind-hearted Mr. Losberne. If fervent prayers, gushing from hearts overcharged with gratitude, be heard in heaven--and if they be not, what prayers are!--the blessings which the orphan child called down upon them, sunk into their souls, diffusing peace and happiness.

  此时,在梅莱太太、露丝和心地善良的罗斯伯力先生齐心照料下,奥立弗的身体日趋康复。如果说发自内心,洋溢着感恩之情的热切祈祷能够上达天听--否则还成其为什么祈祷--那么,这个孤儿为他们祈求的祝福已化作宁静与欢乐,渗入了他们的心灵。

   Oliver's ailings were neither slight nor few. In addition to the pain and delay attendant on a broken limb, his exposure to the wet and cold had brought on fever and ague: which hung about him for many weeks, and reduced him sadly. But, at length, he began, by slow degrees, to get better, and to be able to say sometimes, in a few tearful words, how deeply he felt the goodness of the two sweet ladies, and how ardently he hoped that when he grew strong and well again, he could do something to show his gratitude; only something, which would let them see the love and duty with which his breast was full; something, however slight, which would prove to them that their gentle kindness had not been cast away; but that the poor boy whom their charity had rescued from misery, or death, was eager to serve them with his whole heart and soul.

  奥立弗的病痛既深又杂。除了手臂骨折的疼痛和治疗上的耽搁以外,他在又湿又冷的野外呆得太久,以致一连好几个星期发烧,身子打颤,拖得他委靡不振。但是,他终于缓慢地逐步好转,有时候也能含着泪水说几句话了,他是多么强烈地感觉到了那两位可爱的女士的一片好心,多么热切地向往自己重新长得又结实又健康,能够做一些事来表达他的感激之情--只要是能让她们明白自己心中充满敬爱之心的事情--哪怕是做一点点微不足道的事情,也可以向她们证明,她们的崇高爱心没有付诸东流,她们出于恻隐之心,从苦难或者说从死亡中拯救出来的这个苦孩子盼望着以自己的全副心灵报答她们。

   'Poor fellow!' said Rose, when Oliver had been one day feebly endeavouring to utter the words of thankfulness that rose to his pale lips; 'you shall have many opportunities of serving us, if you will. We are going into the country, and my aunt intends that you shall accompany us. The quiet place, the pure air, and all the pleasure and beauties of spring, will restore you in a few days. We will employ you in a hundred ways, when you can bear the trouble.'

  一天,感激的话语跃上了奥立弗那苍白的唇边,他挣扎着把这些话说了出来,这时,露丝说道:“可怜的孩子!只要你愿意,会有许多机会替我们出力的。我们就要到乡下去了,姑妈的意思是你跟我们一块儿去。幽静的环境,清洁的空气,加上春天的一切欢乐和美丽,你过不了几天就会恢复健康的,一旦可以麻烦你了,我们用得着你的地方多着呢。”

   'The trouble!' cried Oliver. 'Oh! dear lady, if I could but work for you; if I could only give you pleasure by watering your flowers, or watching your birds, or running up and down the whole day long, to make you happy; what would I give to do it!'

  “麻烦!”奥立弗大声说道,“噢!亲爱的小姐,我要是能替你干活就好了。只要能让你高兴,替你浇花或者是看着你的鸟儿,要不就整天跑上跑下逗你开心,怎么都行。”

  “完全用不着怎么样,”梅莱小姐笑盈盈地说,“以前我跟你讲过,我们有的是事情让你干。那怕你只能做到你答应的一半那么多,你就真的让我非常开心了。”

   'Happy, ma'am!' cried Oliver; 'how kind of you to say so!'

  “开心,小姐。”奥立弗叫了起来,“你这么说,你的心真好。”

   'You will make me happier than I can tell you,' replied the young lady. 'To think that my dear good aunt should have been the means of rescuing any one from such sad misery as you have described to us, would be an unspeakable pleasure to me; but to know that the object of her goodness and compassion was sincerely grateful and attached, in consequence, would delight me, more than you can well imagine. Do you understand me?' she inquired, watching Oliver's thoughtful face.

  “我不知该有多高兴呢,”少女答道,“一想到我亲爱的好姑妈出了力,把一个人从你向我们描述的那种可悲的苦难中解救出来,这对于我就是一种难以形容的欢乐。又知道她关怀同情的对象也真心诚意地知恩图报,你真的无法想像我有多么高兴。你懂我的意思吗?”她注视着奥立弗沉思的面容,问道。

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名著·雾都孤儿 - 第78节