|
'Oh! Exclusion itself!' said Miss Tox.
“啊！不合条件的孩子它是不收的！”托克斯小姐说道。
There was something in this. Mrs Pipchin's husband having broken his heart of the Peruvian mines was good. It had a rich sound. Besides, Mr Dombey was in a state almost amounting to consternation at the idea of Paul remaining where he was one hour after his removal had been recommended by the medical practitioner. It was a stoppage and delay upon the road the child must traverse, slowly at the best, before the goal was reached. Their recommendation of Mrs Pipchin had great weight with him; for he knew that they were jealous of any interference with their charge, and he never for a moment took it into account that they might be solicitous to divide a responsibility, of which he had, as shown just now, his own established views. Broke his heart of the Peruvian mines, mused Mr Dombey. Well! a very respectable way of doing It.
这些话中有一些重要的东西。皮普钦太太的丈夫在秘鲁的矿井伤心而死，这是件好事。听到这一点令人高兴。此外，大夫既然已经建议保罗迁地疗养，那么怎么还能让他在家里再待一个钟头呢？想到这里，董贝先生几乎达到惊慌失措的地步。孩子在到达目的地之前必须走完一段道路，充其量，不过走得慢一点罢了，但是让他留在家里就等于阻拦或耽误他上路。他们提出的有关皮普钦太太的建议很受他的重视，因为他知道，在她们看护孩子的时候，要是有人从中进行任何干预，她们都是会妒嫉的；他过去片刻也不曾想到，她们会渴望把她们的责任分出一部分来（董贝先生对她们的责任是有确定的看法的，正像他刚才所表明的那样）。在秘鲁矿井伤心而死，董贝先生沉思着，唔，这是很体面的逝世。
'Supposing we should decide, on to-morrow's inquiries, to send Paul down to Brighton to this lady, who would go with him?' inquired Mr Dombey, after some reflection.
“假定明天前去打听好之后我们决定把小保罗送到布赖顿这位女士那里去，那么谁陪他去呢？”董贝先生经过一些考虑之后问道。
'I don't th ink you could send the child anywhere at present without Florence, my dear Paul,' returned his sister, hesitating. 'It's quite an infatuation with him. He's very young, you know, and has his fancies.'
“我 认为你现在把这孩子不论送到哪里去都离不了弗洛伦斯，我亲爱的保罗，”他的妹妹迟疑地回答道。“他跟她打得火热，简直到了痴迷的地步。你知道，他年纪很小，他有他自己的喜爱。”
Mr Dombey turned his head away, and going slowly to the bookcase, and unlocking it, brought back a book to read.
董贝先生把头转开，慢慢地走向书橱，打开它，取出一本书来阅读。
'Anybody else, Louisa?' he said, without looking up, and turning over the leaves.
“还有什么人，路易莎？”他没有抬起头，一边把书页翻过去，一边问道。
'Wickam, of course. Wickam would be quite sufficient, I should say,' returned his sister. 'Paul being in such hands as Mrs Pipchin's, you could hardly send anybody who would be a further check upon her. You would go down yourself once a week at least, of course.'
“当然，还有威肯姆。我想威肯姆一个人就够了，”他的妹妹回答道。“把保罗交到像皮普钦太太这样的人手里，你就用不着再派什么人去监督她了。当然你自己至少每个星期去一次。”
'Of course,' said Mr Dombey; and sat looking at one page for an hour afterwards, without reading one word.
“当然，”董贝先生说道，然后在那里坐了一个钟头，眼看着那一页书，但却一个字也没有读进去。
This celebrated Mrs Pipchin was a marvellous ill-favoured, ill-conditioned old lady, of a stooping figure, with a mottled face, like bad marble, a hook nose, and a hard grey eye, that looked as if it might have been hammered at on an anvil without sustaining any injury. Forty years at least had elapsed since the Peruvian mines had been the death of Mr Pipchin; but his relict still wore black bombazeen, of such a lustreless, deep, dead, sombre shade, that gas itself couldn't light her up after dark, and her presence was a quencher to any number of candles. She was generally spoken of as 'a great manager' of children; and the secret of her management was, to give them everything that they didn't like, and nothing that they did - which was found to sweeten their dispositions very much. She was such a bitter old lady, that one was tempted to believe there had been some mistake in the application of the Peruvian machinery, and that all her waters of gladness and milk of human kindness, had been pumped out dry, instead of the mines.
这位名扬四方的皮普钦太太是一位容貌非常丑陋、心地非常不好的老太婆，曲背弯腰，脸上斑斑点点，像一块质地粗劣的大理石；她有一只魔钩鼻和一只冷酷的灰色眼睛，看上去仿佛可能曾在铁砧上锤打过，而却没有遭受任何损伤。自从皮普钦先生在秘鲁矿井死 去以来，至少四十年已经 过去了，可是他的遗孀仍然穿着一身黑色的邦巴辛毛葛①的衣服，它颜色深暗，死气沉沉，毫无光泽，天黑以后甚至连煤气灯也不能把它照亮，而她一露面，则不论多少支蜡烛都要被她衬托得黯然无光。人们谈到她的时候，通常都称她为孩子的“杰出的管理人”；而她的管理的秘诀则在于：把孩子不喜欢的一切给他们，把他们喜欢的一切不给他们；人们发现这种方法能使孩子们的性格变得温柔起 来。她是一位十分凶狠的老太太，因此人们不由得相信，秘鲁机器在使用时出了什么差错，不是矿井被抽干了，而是她心中所怀有的一切喜悦之水和所有人类仁慈的乳汁②都被抽干了。
--------
①邦巴辛毛葛（bombasine）：是一种丝经毛纬、细斜纹的纺织品。
②见莎士比亚悲剧《麦克佩斯》第一幕第五场 | 
