狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第36章Part1

Many succeeding days passed in like manner; except that there were numerous visits received and paid, and that Mrs Skewton held little levees in her own apartments, at which Major Bagstock was a frequent attendant, and that Florence encountered no second look from her father, although she saw him every day. Nor had she much communication in words with her new Mama, who was imperious and proud to all the house but her - Florence could not but observe that - and who, although she always sent for her or went to her when she came home from visiting, and would always go into her room at night, before retiring to rest, however late the hour, and never lost an opportunity of being with her, was often her silent and thoughtful companion for a long time together.
Florence, who had hoped for so much from this marriage, could not help sometimes comparing the bright house with the faded dreary place out of which it had arisen, and wondering when, in any shape, it would begin to be a home; for that it was no home then, for anyone, though everything went on luxuriously and regularly, she had always a secret misgiving. Many an hour of sorrowful reflection by day and night, and many a tear of blighted hope, Florence bestowed upon the assurance her new Mama had given her so strongly, that there was no one on the earth more powerless than herself to teach her how to win her father's heart. And soon Florence began to think - resolved to think would be the truer phrase - that as no one knew so well, how hopeless of being subdued or changed her father's coldness to her was, so she had given her this warning, and forbidden the subject in very compassion. Unselfish here, as in her every act and fancy, Florence preferred to bear the pain of this new wound, rather than encourage anyfaint foreshadowings of the truth as it concerned her father; tender of him, even in her wandering thoughts. As for his home, she hoped it would become a better one, when its state of novelty and transition should be over; and for herself, thought little and lamented less.
If none of the new family were particularly at home in private, it was resolved that Mrs Dombey at least should be at home in public, without delay. A series of entertainments in celebration of the late nuptials, and in cultivation of society, were arranged, chiefly by Mr Dombey and Mrs Skewton; and it was settled that the festive proceedings should commence by Mrs Dombey's being at home upon a certain evening, and by Mr and Mrs Dombey's requesting the honour of the company of a great many incongruous people to dinner on the same day.
Accordingly, Mr Dombey produced a list of sundry eastern magnates who were to be bidden to this feast on his behalf; to which Mrs Skewton, acting for her dearest child, who was haughtily careless on the subject, subjoined a western list, comprising Cousin Feenix, not yet returned to Baden-Baden, greatly to the detriment of his personal estate; and a variety of moths of various degrees and ages, who had, at various times, fluttered round the light of her fair daughter, or herself, without any lasting injury to their wings. Florence was enrolled as a member of the dinner-party, by Edith's command - elicited by a moment's doubt and hesitation on the part of Mrs Skewton; and Florence, with a wondering heart, and with a quick instinctive sense of everything that grated on her father in the least, took her silent share in the proceedings of the day.
The proceedings commenced by Mr Dombey, in a cravat of extraordinary height and stiffness, walking restlessly about the drawing-room until the hour appointed for dinner; punctual to which, an East India Director,' of immense wealth, in a waistcoat apparently constructed in serviceable deal by some plain carpenter, but really engendered in the tailor's art, and composed of the material called nankeen, arrived and was received by Mr Dombey alone. The next stage of the proceedings was Mr Dombey's sending his compliments to Mrs Dombey, with a correct statement of the time; and the next, the East India Director's falling prostrate, in a conversational point of view, and as Mr Dombey was not the man to pick him up, staring at the fire until rescue appeared in the shape of Mrs Skewton; whom the director, as a pleasant start in life for the evening, mistook for Mrs Dombey, and greeted with enthusiasm.
The next arrival was a Bank Director, reputed to be able to buy up anything - human Nature generally, if he should take it in his head to influence the money market in that direction - but who was a wonderfully modest-spoken man, almost boastfully so, and mentioned his 'little place' at Kingston-upon-Thames, and its just being barely equal to giving Dombey a bed and a chop, if he would come and visit it. Ladies, he said, it was not for a man who lived in his quiet way to take upon himself to invite - but if Mrs Skewton and her daughter, Mrs Dombey, should ever find themselves in that direction, and would do him the honour to look at a little bit of a shrubbery they would find there, and a poor little flower-bed or so, and a humble apology for a pinery, and two or three little attempts of that sort without any pretension, they would distinguish him very much. Carrying out his character, this gentleman was very plainly dressed, in a wisp of cambric for a neckcloth, big shoes, a coat that was too loose for him,and a pair of trousers that were too spare; and mention being made of the Opera by Mrs Skewton, he said he very seldom went there, for he couldn't afford it. It seemed greatly to delight and exhilarate him to say so: and he beamed on his audience afterwards, with his hands in his pockets, and excessive satisfaction twinkling in his eyes.

接連許多天都在相似的情況下過去了。所不同的是：他們在這段時間裏曾接待了很多來訪的客人，也出外訪問了很多人；斯丘頓夫人在她自己的房間裏舉行小小的接見，白格斯托克少校是經常的參加者；弗洛倫斯雖然每天都看到父親，但卻沒有再遇見他投來的眼光。她跟她的新媽媽也沒有交談得很多，新媽媽除了對她一人之外，對屋子裏所有其他的人都威嚴、傲慢（弗洛倫斯不能不注意到這一點）；雖然她從外面訪問回來以後經常派人來請弗洛倫斯或到弗洛倫斯那裏去；在她睡覺之前，不論時間多麼晚，她總經常跑到弗洛倫斯房間裏去，不放過跟她在一起的任何機會；可是當她們兩人在一起的時候，她經常是長時間地坐在那裏，默默無言，在沉思着。
對這次結婚曾經抱有很多希望的弗洛倫斯有時情不自禁地把這座富麗堂皇的公館跟它的前身--過去那座暗淡、淒涼的老房屋加以比較。心中納悶：不論房屋的形式如何，究竟到什麼時候它纔開始可以稱爲一個家呢？因爲她經常暗自憂慮：雖然一切都安排得奢華、舒適，進行得井井有條，可是沒有一個人感到這是一個家。弗洛倫斯日日夜夜悲傷地思考了許多小時，並由於希望破滅而流出了許多眼淚；她時常研究着她的新媽媽對她所做出的有力的斷言：世界上沒有一個人能比她更沒有能力教她怎樣去贏得父親的歡心。不久，弗洛倫斯開始想--更正確地說，是打定主意去想--，她的新媽媽比任何人都清楚，要使她父親減輕或改變對她的冷淡是多麼沒有希望，所以纔出於憐憫向她提出了那個警告：禁止談到這個問題。弗洛倫斯就像她每個行動和思想中所表現的那樣，不是一個自私的人，她這時寧肯忍受這個新創傷的痛苦，也不願意把關於她父親的真情的微弱的預感更深一層地想下去；甚至在她浮思漫想中想到他的時候，她對他也還是懷着親切的感情。至於他的家，她希望當一切安排就緒，新生活走上軌道以後，它將會變得好起來；至於她自己，她想得很少，悲傷得更少。
如果說新家庭的成員中沒有一個人私下裏感到真正是在自己家裏一樣的話，那麼有一點已經作出了決定：董貝夫人至少應當毫不遲延地在家裏舉行招待會，在衆人面前表現爲真正在自己家裏一樣。爲了慶賀新婚和加強社會聯繫，主要由董貝先生和斯丘頓夫人安排了一系列款待項目；決定慶賀活動首先由董貝夫人在一個晚上在家裏舉行招待會，接見客人，並由董貝先生和夫人在同一天晚上舉行宴會，邀請許多各種各樣的人們參加。
因此，董貝先生開列了一份坐在宴席東邊的豪富們的名單，並以他的名義邀請他們光臨這次宴會；由於伊迪絲傲慢地對這事毫不關心，所以由斯丘頓夫人代表她的最親愛的女兒補充了一份坐在宴席西邊的賓客的名單，其中包括菲尼克斯表哥（他還沒有回到巴登-巴登，但動產已遭到了很大的損失）；還有其他各種等級和年齡的人們，他們曾經像飛蛾一樣在不同的時間中在她漂亮的女兒或她本人的亮光周圍振翼飛舞，而沒有嚴重損壞翅膀。根據伊迪絲的囑咐，弗洛倫斯被列爲參加這次宴會的一位成員，斯丘頓夫人對此曾疑惑或猶豫了片刻；弗洛倫斯對刺激她父親的任何事情有着本能的敏感，所以懷着奇妙的心情，默默無言地參加了這天的慶宴。
董貝先生佩了一條非常長、漿得非常硬的領帶，在慶祝活動開始的時候，在客廳裏不停地走來走去，直到舉行宴會的預定時間到來爲止。東印度公司的董事準時來到，董貝先生只一個人迎接了他；他是一位大富豪，他的背心表面上看去好像是由普通木匠用耐用的松木板做成的，但實際上是由縫紉師用一種叫做南京本色棉布的材料縫製成的。慶祝活動的下一步是董貝先生派人去向董貝夫人致意，準確地指明現在的時間；在這之後，從談話的角度來說，東印度公司的董事可說已生命垂危、奄奄一息了，一直注視着爐火的董貝先生不能使他起死回生，直到斯丘頓夫人前來搭救，他的生命纔有了轉機；這位董事把她誤會爲董貝夫人，熱情地向她問候，這是他在這天晚上覆活過來的愉快的起點。
第二位到達的是銀行董事；他以具有全部收買任何東西的能力而聞名--如果他認爲能影響金融市場的話，那麼他通常就收買人性--，但是他是言語非常謙遜的人，謙遜得幾乎到了誇張的程度；他談到他在泰晤士河旁金斯敦那裏的”寒舍”，如果董貝先生肯去訪問的話，那麼它可以勉強地爲他提供一張牀和一盤排骨。至於夫人們，他說，像他這樣一個過着平靜生活的人向她們發出邀請是不合適的，但是如果斯丘頓夫人和她的女兒董貝夫人將來什麼時候順便去到那一帶地方，肯賞光去看一看那裏一點點灌木叢、一個可憐的小花壇、一個濫竽充數的菠蘿溫室和兩、三種諸如此類、沒有什麼值得誇讚的嘗試的話，那麼他將感到不勝榮幸之至。這位先生衣着十分簡樸，充分體現出他謙遜的性格：他用一段纖細的麻紗白葛充當領飾，他的鞋子很大，外套太肥大，褲子又太窄小；當斯丘頓夫人談到歌劇的時候，他說他很少上劇院去，因爲他出不起買票的錢。這個回答似乎使他感到極大的高興和興奮，後來他把手放在衣袋裏，笑逐顏開地看着他的聽衆，眼睛閃着亮光，流露出極大滿足的神氣。