雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第7章 Part 4

It was on the very next day after he had eased his mind by arriving at this decision, that the Major, sitting at his breakfast, saw an apparition so tremendous and wonderful in Miss Tox's little drawing-room, that he remained for some time rooted to his chair; then, rushing into the next room, returned with a double-barrelled opera-glass, through which he surveyed it intently for some minutes.
少校作出這個判斷，安下心來以後的第二天，正坐着吃早餐時，看到托克斯小姐的小客廳裏出現了一個鬼怪，他是那麼驚人，那麼奇異，因此他坐在椅子裏一直坐了好一會兒，然後才急忙跑到旁邊的房間，拿了一個雙筒的看戲用的小望遠鏡回來；他通過望遠鏡專心致志地察 看了好幾分鐘。
'It's a Baby, Sir,' said the Major, shutting up the glass again, 'for fifty thousand pounds!'
“這是個嬰孩，先生，”少校把望遠鏡重新關上，說道，“我敢拿五萬五千鎊打賭！”
The Major couldn't forget it. He could do nothing but whistle, and stare to that extent, that his eyes, compared with what they now became, had been in former times quite cavernous and sunken. Day after day, two, three, four times a week, this Baby reappeared. The Major continued to stare and whistle. To all other intents and purposes he was alone in Princess's Place. Miss Tox had ceased to mind what he did. He might have been black as well as blue, and it would have been of no consequence to her.
少校不能忘記這件事情。他除了吹口哨和 把眼睛瞪得鼓鼓的之外，什麼也幹不了；如果跟他現在的眼睛相比，他以前的眼睛就顯得相當凹陷和低窪了。一天又一天，這個嬰孩在一個星期之內重新出現了兩次、三次、四次。少校繼續瞪眼睛和吹口哨。不論從哪一點來看，他在公主廣場上已是孤身一人了。托克斯小姐已不再關心他做什麼了。如果他的臉色從青色轉變爲黑色，那對她也是一件無關緊要的事情。
The perseverance with which she walked out of Princess's Place to fetch this baby and its nurse, and walked back with them, and walked home with them again, and continually mounted guard over them; and the perseverance with which she nursed it herself, and fed it, and played with it, and froze its young blood with airs upon the harpsichord, was extraordinary. At about this same period too, she was seized with a passion for looking at a certain bracelet; also with a passion for looking at the moon, of which she would take long observations from her chamber window. But whatever she looked at; sun, moon, stars, or bracelet; she looked no more at the Major. And the Major whistled, and stared, and wondered, and dodged about his room, and could make nothing of it.
她堅持不斷地走出公主廣場，去領這個嬰孩和他的保姆，和他們一起走回來，又和他們走回家去；而且經常看守着他們；她堅持不斷地親自照料孩子，喂他吃東西，和他玩耍，在大鍵琴上彈出曲調使他年輕的血液凝結；這種堅持不斷、始終如一的精神是異乎尋常的。大約就在這同一時期中，她滿懷深情地看某一個手鐲；她也滿懷深情地看月亮，會從她房間的窗口長久地觀望着它。但是不論她看什麼，看太陽也好，看月亮也好，看星星或看手鐲也好，她卻不再看少校了。少校吹着口哨，瞪着眼睛，心中納悶，在房間裏轉來轉去，但卻什麼也弄不明白。
'You'll quite win my brother Paul's heart, and that's the truth, my dear,' said Mrs Chick, one day.
“您將會贏得我哥哥保羅的心，這是真的，我親愛的，”奇剋夫人有一天說道。
Miss Tox turned pale.
托克斯小姐臉色變得蒼白。
'He grows more like Paul every day,' said Mrs Chick.
“他一天天長得愈來愈像保羅了，”奇剋夫人說道。
Miss Tox returned no other reply than by taking the little Paul in her arms, and making his cockade perfectly flat and limp with her caresses.
托克斯小姐沒有回答，只是把小保羅抱在懷中，撫摸着他帽上的花結，使它完全平展、柔軟。