狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第41章Part7

'And what he said - what's-his-name, I never could remember names - Major - that dreadful word, when we came away - it's not true? Edith!' with a shriek and a stare, 'it's not that that is the matter with me.'
Night after night, the lights burn in the window, and the figure lies upon the bed, and Edith sits beside it, and the restless waves are calling to them both the whole night long. Night after night, the waves are hoarse with repetition of their mystery; the dust lies piled upon the shore; the sea-birds soar and hover; the winds and clouds are on their trackless flight; the white arms beckon, in the moonlight, to the invisible country far away.
And still the sick old woman looks into the corner, where the stone arm - part of a figure of some tomb, she says - is raised to strike her. At last it falls; and then a dumb old woman lies upon the the bed, and she is crooked and shrunk up, and half of her is dead.
Such is the figure, painted and patched for the sun to mock, that is drawn slowly through the crowd from day to day; looking, as it goes, for the good old creature who was such a mother, and making mouths as it peers among the crowd in vain. Such is the figure that is often wheeled down to the margin of the sea, and stationed there; but on which no wind can blow freshness, and for which the murmur of the ocean has no soothing word. She lies and listens to it by the hour; but its speech is dark and gloomy to her, and a dread is on her face, and when her eyes wander over the expanse, they see but a broad stretch of desolation between earth and heaven.
Florence she seldom sees, and when she does, is angry with and mows at. Edith is beside her always, and keeps Florence away; and Florence, in her bed at night, trembles at the thought of death in such a shape, and often wakes and listens, thinking it has come. No one attends on her but Edith. It is better that few eyes should see her; and her daughter watches alone by the bedside.
A shadow even on that shadowed face, a sharpening even of the sharpened features, and a thickening of the veil before the eyes into a pall that shuts out the dim world, is come. Her wandering hands upon the coverlet join feebly palm to palm, and move towards her daughter; and a voice not like hers, not like any voice that speaks our mortal language - says, 'For I nursed you!'
Edith, without a tear, kneels down to bring her voice closer to the sinking head, and answers:
'Mother, can you hear me?'

“他說了些什麼話--他叫什麼名字，我總是記不住名字--少校--當我們動身到這裏來的時候，他說了那個可怕的字眼--難道不是嗎，伊迪絲！”她尖聲喊叫了一聲，並瞪了一下眼睛，”難道那與我有什麼關係嗎？”
一夜又一夜，燈光在窗子裏亮着；老太婆躺在牀上，伊迪絲坐在她身旁；不平靜的海浪整夜在向她們兩人呼喊着。一夜又一夜，海浪嘶啞地重複着它那神祕的語言，沙子堆積在岸上；海鳥上上下下地飛翔；風和雲沿着它們不留蹤跡的線路行進；白色的胳膊在月光下向遠方看不見的國家打着招呼。
有病的老太婆仍舊望着角落裏；在那個角落裏有一隻石胳膊--她說，這是什麼墳墓上的一個雕像的胳膊--正舉起來要打她。最後這個石胳膊放下了，於是默默無聲的老太婆躺在牀上，身子蜷縮着，皮膚髮皺，半個人已經死去了。
就是這位老太婆，塗脂抹粉，貼着美人斑，聽憑太陽去嘲笑，一天又一天被慢慢地通過人羣拉出去；這時她用眼睛尋找着那位曾經是多麼好的母親的好老婆子；當她在人羣中找不到她的時候，她就撇着嘴。就是這位老太婆經常坐在車子裏被一直送到海邊，在那裏停下來；可是不論什麼風吹她，也不能使她振作起精神來；海洋發出的嘩嘩聲中，沒有一句安慰她的話。她躺着，聽着它，但是它的語言對她是兇險的、不祥的，在她的臉上呈現出恐懼；當她的眼睛往浩瀚的汪洋望過去的時候，她所看到的只不過是天地之間茫茫一片荒涼而已。
她很少看到弗洛倫斯；當她看到的時候，她就對她生氣，並皺着眉頭。伊迪絲經常在她身旁，不讓弗洛倫斯跟她們在一起；而弗洛倫斯夜間在牀上一想到這樣的死亡就渾身顫抖；她還時常醒來，聽着，心想它已來臨了。除了伊迪絲外；沒有別的人照料老太婆。很少人看到她，這倒是好的。只有她的女兒一個人在牀邊看守着她。
在已經籠罩着陰影的臉上又加上一層陰影，在已經瘦削的臉形上又多了一重瘦削，她眼前的帷幕已轉變成一塊遮擋暗淡世界的厚厚的棺衣。在被單上摸來摸去的兩隻手軟弱無力地合到一塊，並向女兒那裏移動；一個不像她的、也不像任何凡人所說的說道，”因爲是我把你養大的！”
伊迪絲沒有流淚，跪下去，使她的更挨近那個深埋到枕頭裏的頭，回答道：
“媽媽，你能聽到我說話嗎？”