狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第37章Part5

'Well, Ma'am,' replied the frightened maid, 'I hardly know. She's making faces!'
Edith hurried with her to her mother's room. Cleopatra was arrayed in full dress, with the diamonds, short sleeves, rouge, curls, teeth, and other juvenility all complete; but Paralysis was not to be deceived, had known her for the object of its errand, and had struck her at her glass, where she lay like a horrible doll that had tumbled down.
They took her to pieces in very shame, and put the little of her that was real on a bed. Doctors were sent for, and soon came. Powerful remedies were resorted to; opinions given that she would rally from this shock, but would not survive another; and there she lay speechless, and staring at the ceiling, for days; sometimes making inarticulate sounds in answer to such questions as did she know who were present, and the like: sometimes giving no reply either by sign or gesture, or in her unwinking eyes.
At length she began to recover consciousness, and in some degree the power of motion, though not yet of speech. One day the use of her right hand returned; and showing it to her maid who was in attendance on her, and appearing very uneasy in her mind, she made signs for a pencil and some paper. This the maid immediately provided, thinking she was going to make a will, or write some last request; and Mrs Dombey being from home, the maid awaited the result with solemn feelings.
After much painful scrawling and erasing, and putting in of wrong characters, which seemed to tumble out of the pencil of their own accord, the old woman produced this document:
'Rose-coloured curtains.'
The maid being perfectly transfixed, and with tolerable reason, Cleopatra amended the manuscript by adding two words more, when it stood thus:
'Rose-coloured curtains for doctors.'
The maid now perceived remotely that she wished these articles to be provided for the better presentation of her complexion to the faculty; and as those in the house who knew her best, had no doubt of the correctness of this opinion, which she was soon able to establish for herself the rose-coloured curtains were added to her bed, and she mended with increased rapidity from that hour. She was soon able to sit up, in curls and a laced cap and nightgown, and to have a little artificial bloom dropped into the hollow caverns of her cheeks.
It was a tremendous sight to see this old woman in her finery leering and mincing at Death, and playing off her youthful tricks upon him as if he had been the Major; but an alteration in her mind that ensued on the paralytic stroke was fraught with as much matter for reflection, and was quite as ghastly.
Whether the weakening of her intellect made her more cunning and false than before, or whether it confused her between what she had assumed to be and what she really had been, or whether it had awakened any glimmering of remorse, which could neither struggle into light nor get back into total darkness, or whether, in the jumble of her faculties, a combination of these effects had been shaken up, which is perhaps the more likely supposition, the result was this: - That she became hugely exacting in respect of Edith's affection and gratitude and attention to her; highly laudatory of herself as a most inestimable parent; and very jealous of having any rival in Edith's regard. Further, in place of remembering that compact made between them for an avoidance of the subject, she constantly alluded to her daughter's marriage as a proof of her being an incomparable mother; and all this, with the weakness and peevishness of such a state, always serving for a sarcastic commentary on her levity and youthfulness.
'Where is Mrs Dombey? she would say to her maid.
'Gone out, Ma'am.'

“唔，夫人，”受驚的侍女回答道，”我不明白是怎麼一回事。她的臉在一歪一歪地做着各種怪樣。”
伊迪絲急忙跟她一道到她母親的房間裏去。克利奧佩特拉盛裝打扮：鑽石啦，短袖子啦，胭脂啦，捲髮啦，牙齒啦，少女般的其他裝飾啦，一一齊全。可是麻痹症是欺騙不了的；它認出她就是它所負使命的目標，已在鏡子前面打中了她；她就活像一個摔倒在地板上的討厭的玩偶一樣，躺在那裏。
她們沒有什麼不好意思地把她身上穿戴的物品一件一件地剝掉，把整個人撕得支離破碎，然後把真正是她本人的那一小部分擡到牀上；派人去請醫生，不久醫生就來了，採用了極爲有效的醫藥；診斷的意見是：她能從這一次打擊中恢復過來，但經不起再一次打擊。她好幾天躺在那裏，呆呆地望着天花板，說不出話來；有時當問她知不知道誰在那裏這樣一類問題時，她發出口齒不清的來回答；有時她既不能用手勢或表情來回答，也不能眨巴一下眼睛來回答。
後來她終於開始恢復了知覺，在一定程度上也恢復了動作的能力，但是說話的能力仍然沒有恢復。有一天，她的右手又能活動了，她顯示給照料她的侍女看，看去心情十分焦急不安；她做了個手勢，要鉛筆和紙；侍女立刻把它們送上，心想她要寫遺囑或寫下一些最後的要求；這時董貝夫人不在家，侍女就懷着沉重的心情等候結果。
老太婆費勁地塗塗改改，還寫錯了幾個彷彿從鉛筆裏自動跑出的字母之後，遞交了這樣一張字條：
“玫瑰色的帳子。”
由於侍女驚奇得發呆--這不是沒有理由的--，克利奧佩特拉就在原稿上加上幾個字，這時在紙條上看到的是：
“爲醫生準備的玫瑰色帳子。”
這時侍女模糊地猜測到：她要帳子的目的是爲了使她的氣色在醫生面前顯得好一些；由於家裏最瞭解她的人們對這一意見的正確性毫不懷疑，她自己不久也能證實這一點，所以在她的牀上就掛起了玫瑰色的帳子。從這時起她以加快的速度恢復。不久她就能卷着頭髮，戴着帶花邊的便帽，穿着睡衣，坐起來了；在凹陷的靨窩裏還人爲地塗上一點紅潤的顏色。
看到這位濃妝豔抹的老太婆向死神使着媚眼，裝腔作勢，跟他開着種種年輕人的玩笑，彷彿他就是少校似的，這真是個可怕的情景；可是她在遭受麻痹症打擊之後心情的變化也同樣充滿了許多可供思考的資料，也同樣是可怕的。
究竟是智力的衰退使她變得比先前更狡猾和虛僞呢，還是她把她自以爲是什麼樣的人和她實際上是什麼樣的人混淆起來了呢，還是她模模糊糊地感到有些後悔呢（這種後悔既不能使她掙扎到光明之中，也不能使她後退到徹底的黑暗之中），還是在她頭腦的混亂中，所有這些作用全都被激發出來了呢--這個猜測也許最可能是真的--，總之，結果是這樣：她更加非常苛刻地要求伊迪絲對她表示親愛、感激和關懷；她把自己高度讚揚成爲一個難以估量的好母親；她對伊迪絲關懷的其他一切對象都變得十分妒嫉；不僅如此，她還忘記了她們母女之間達成的閉口不談女兒婚事這個問題的協議，經常不斷地提到它，用這來證明她是一位難以比擬的好母親；這一切，再加上她的病弱和好發脾氣，就常常成爲她變化無常與年輕浮躁的諷刺性註釋。
“董貝夫人在哪裏？”她會這樣問侍女。
“出去了，夫人。”