狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第22章Part 6

Old Sol, without being quite enthusiastic on the subject, replied that he was glad of any opportunity, however slight, to oblige Mr Carker, whose wish on such a point was a command: and that the wooden Midshipman would consider himself happy to receive in his berth any visitor of Mr Carker's selecting.

Mr Carker bared himself to the tops and bottoms of his gums: making the watchful Toodle Junior tremble more and more: and acknowledged the Instrument-maker's politeness in his most affable manner.
'I'll dispose of him so, then, Mr Gills,' he answered, rising, and shaking the old man by the hand, 'until I make up my mind what to do with him, and what he deserves. As I consider myself responsible for him, Mr Gills,' here he smiled a wide smile at Rob, who shook before it: 'I shall be glad if you'll look sharply after him, and report his behaviour to me. I'll ask a question or two of his parents as I ride home this afternoon - respectable people - to confirm some particulars in his own account of himself; and that done, Mr Gills, I'll send him round to you to-morrow morning. Goodbye!'
His smile at parting was so full of teeth, that it confused old Sol, and made him vaguely uncomfortable. He went home, thinking of raging seas, foundering ships, drowning men, an ancient bottle of Madeira never brought to light, and other dismal matters.
'Now, boy!' said Mr Carker, putting his hand on young Toodle's shoulder, and bringing him out into the middle of the room. 'You have heard me?'
Rob said, 'Yes, Sir.'
'Perhaps you understand,' pursued his patron, 'that if you ever deceive or play tricks with me, you had better have drowned yourself, indeed, once for all, before you came here?'
There was nothing in any branch of mental acquisition that Rob seemed to understand better than that.
'If you have lied to me,' said Mr Carker, 'in anything, never come in my way again. If not, you may let me find you waiting for me somewhere near your mother's house this afternoon. I shall leave this at five o'clock, and ride there on horseback. Now, give me the address.'
Rob repeated it slowly, as Mr Carker wrote it down. Rob even spelt it over a second time, letter by letter, as if he thought that the omission of a dot or scratch would lead to his destruction. Mr Carker then handed him out of the room; and Rob, keeping his round eyes fixed upon his patron to the last, vanished for the time being.
Mr Carker the Manager did a great deal of business in the course of the day, and stowed his teeth upon a great many people. In the office, in the court, in the street, and on 'Change, they glistened and bristled to a terrible extent. Five o'clock arriving, and with it Mr Carker's bay horse, they got on horseback, and went gleaming up Cheapside.
As no one can easily ride fast, even if inclined to do so, through the press and throng of the City at that hour, and as Mr Carker was not inclined, he went leisurely along, picking his way among the carts and carriages, avoiding whenever he could the wetter and more dirty places in the over-watered road, and taking infinite pains to keep himself and his steed clean. Glancing at the passersby while he was thus ambling on his way, he suddenly encountered the round eyes of the sleek-headed Rob intently fixed upon his face as if they had never been taken off, while the boy himself, with a pocket-handkerchief twisted up like a speckled eel and girded round his waist, made a very conspicuous demonstration of being prepared to attend upon him, at whatever pace he might think proper to go.
This attention, however flattering, being one of an unusual kind, and attracting some notice from the other passengers, Mr Carker took advantage of a clearer thoroughfare and a cleaner road, and broke into a trot. Rob immediately did the same. Mr Carker presently tried a canter; Rob Was still in attendance. Then a short gallop; it Was all one to the boy. Whenever Mr Carker turned his eyes to that side of the road, he still saw Toodle Junior holding his course, apparently without distress, and working himself along by the elbows after the most approved manner of professional gentlemen who get over the ground for wagers.
Ridiculous as this attendance was, it was a sign of an influence established over the boy, and therefore Mr Carker, affecting not to notice it, rode away into the neighbourhood of Mr Toodle's house. On his slackening his pace here, Rob appeared before him to point out the turnings; and when he called to a man at a neighbouring gateway to hold his horse, pending his visit to the buildings that had succeeded Staggs's Gardens, Rob dutifully held the stirrup, while the Manager dismounted.
'Now, Sir,' said Mr Carker, taking him by the shoulder, 'come along!'

“老天爺保佑它平安無恙！”卡克先生表示同意；他只是動了動嘴脣，沒有發出聲音，這使在旁觀察的小圖德爾又顫抖起來。”吉爾斯先生，”他把身子往後一倒，仰靠在椅子中，高聲地接着說道，“您一定很想念您的外甥吧？”所爾舅舅站在他身旁，點點頭，深深地嘆了一口氣。
“吉爾斯先生，”卡克用他柔嫩的手撫摸着嘴巴周圍，擡起眼睛，望着這位儀器製造商的臉，卡克先生把牙牀的頂端和底部完全顯露出來（這使注視着的小圖德爾顫抖得更加厲害），對儀器製造商的禮貌極爲和藹可親地表示感謝。

“那麼，在我沒有打定主意對他該怎麼辦和他值得受什麼樣的待遇之前，我就這樣處置他了，吉爾斯先生，”他站起身來，握着老人的手，回答道，“因爲我認爲我本人要對他負責，吉爾斯先生，”這時他張開寬闊的嘴巴對羅布微笑了一下，羅布看到這微笑身子直打哆嗦。“如果您能嚴厲地管教他，把他的行爲報告我，我將很高興。今天下午我騎馬回家的時候，將到他父母那裏去一趟——他們都是正派人——，向他們問一、兩個問題，以便證實他本人敘述的一些情節；我把這件事情辦了之後，吉爾斯先生，明天早上就把他送到您那裏。再見吧！”
他在分別前微笑時露出了滿嘴的牙齒，老所爾覺得困惑不解，心裏不知怎麼的感到很不自在。他回到家裏，想到了洶涌的海洋、正在沉沒的船，將要淹死的人們、那瓶還沒有見過陽光的馬德拉陳酒，以及其他悽慘的事情。
“喂，孩子！”卡克先生把手放在小圖德爾的肩膀上，把他拉到房間中間，說道，“你聽到我的話了吧？”
羅布說：“聽到了，先生。”
“也許你明白，”他的恩人繼續說道，“如果你要欺騙我或作弄我，你倒真不如在到這裏之前把自己淹死算了。”
羅布對於這一點似乎比哪一門知識都更明白。
“如果你對我說謊話，”卡克先生說道，“你就別落到我跟前。如果你說的都是真情實話，那麼今天下午你就在你母親房屋附近的什麼地方等着我。我五點鐘離開這裏，騎馬到那裏去。現在把地址告訴我。”
羅布慢吞吞地口述着地址，卡克先生把它記下來。羅布甚至一個字母一個字母又重新拼讀了一次，彷彿他認爲遺漏了一點或一筆都會導致他毀滅似的。然後，卡克先生把他拉出房間；羅布睜着圓圓的眼睛，注視着他的恩人，直到最後一瞬，然後才暫時消失不見了。
卡克先生在這一天處理了許多業務，他的牙齒顯露給許多人免費觀賞。在辦公室中，在庭院內，在街道上，在交易所裏，它們可怕地閃耀着，豎立着。五點鐘到了，卡克先生的栗色的馬也隨着來到了；卡克先生騎上了馬背，牙齒閃閃發光地向着切普賽德街行進。
在那個小時內，城市裏人羣擁擠，交通堵塞，誰也不容易騎得快，即使要想快騎也是做不到的；卡克先生並不想快騎，所以他從容不迫地，在大車與馬車中間選擇自己的道路，在灑過水的街道上儘量避開那些比較溼和比較髒的地方，想方設法使他自己和馬保持乾淨。他這樣慢慢悠悠地騎着馬前進時，他看着路過的行人；突然間，他碰見了腦袋光光的羅布的圓圓的眼睛，正全神貫注地凝視着他的臉，彷彿它們從來沒有離開過它似的；孩子腰間束着一條用手絹搓成的帶子，很像一條有斑點的鱔魚；這很明顯地表明，他已準備好以他認爲合適的任何步速緊緊跟隨着他。
這樣的侍從儘管很能使人高興得意，但卻是異乎尋常的，而且吸引了其他行人的注意，所以卡克先生到了一條不大擁擠和比較乾淨的道路以後，就讓馬急步前進。羅市立刻一樣急步前進。卡克先生不久讓馬慢跑，羅布依舊緊緊跟着。接着是短時間的飛跑，孩子仍然沒有落後。每當卡克先生把眼睛轉向道路的那一邊，他總是看到小圖德爾似乎並不費勁地跟隨着；他的胳膊肘的動作仿效着那些爲打賭而賽跑的職業運動員們的最好的姿勢。
這樣的隨從雖然可笑，但卻證明他已在孩子面前樹立了威風，因此，卡克先生假裝沒有注意到這一點，繼續朝着圖德爾先生的家裏騎去。他在他家附近放慢了馬的步伐，羅布就跑在前面指點轉彎的地方；卡克先生爲了前去在斯塔格斯花園的舊址上建立起來的樓房中訪問，就把站在附近門口的一個人喊來給他在這段時間中看馬，這時候羅布恭恭敬敬地勒住馬蹬，經理則從馬上下來。
“喂，小子，”卡克先生抓住他的肩膀，說道，“走吧！”