狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第25章Part 3

To convey to posterity any idea of the manner in which the Captain, after turning this letter over and over, and reading it a score of times, sat down in his chair, and held a court-martial on the subject in his own mind, would require the united genius of all the great men, who, discarding their own untoward days, have determined to go down to posterity, and have never got there. At first the Captain was too much confounded and distressed to think of anything but the letter itself; and even when his thoughts began to glance upon the various attendant facts, they might, perhaps, as well have occupied themselves with their former theme, for any light they reflected on them. In this state of mind, Captain Cuttle having the Grinder before the court, and no one else, found it a great relief to decide, generally, that he was an object of suspicion: which the Captain so clearly expressed in his visage, that Rob remonstrated.
'Oh, don't, Captain!' cried the Grinder. 'I wonder how you can! what have I done to be looked at, like that?'
'My lad,' said Captain Cuttle, 'don't you sing out afore you're hurt. And don't you commit yourself, whatever you do.'
'I haven't been and committed nothing, Captain!' answered Rob.
'Keep her free, then,' said the Captain, impressively, 'and ride easy.
With a deep sense of the responsibility imposed upon him' and the necessity of thoroughly fathoming this mysterious affair as became a man in his relations with the parties, Captain Cuttle resolved to go down and examine the premises, and to keep the Grinder with him. Considering that youth as under arrest at present, the Captain was in some doubt whether it might not be expedient to handcuff him, or tie his ankles together, or attach a weight to his legs; but not being clear as to the legality of such formalities, the Captain decided merely to hold him by the shoulder all the way, and knock him down if he made any objection.
However, he made none, and consequently got to the Instrument-maker's house without being placed under any more stringent restraint. As the shutters were not yet taken down, the Captain's first care was to have the shop opened; and when the daylight was freely admitted, he proceeded, with its aid, to further investigation.
The Captain's first care was to establish himself in a chair in the shop, as President of the solemn tribunal that was sitting within him; and to require Rob to lie down in his bed under the counter, show exactly where he discovered the keys and packet when he awoke, how he found the door when he went to try it, how he started off to Brig Place - cautiously preventing the latter imitation from being carried farther than the threshold - and so on to the end of the chapter. When all this had been done several times, the Captain shook his head and seemed to think the matter had a bad look.
Next, the Captain, with some indistinct idea of finding a body, instituted a strict search over the whole house; groping in the cellars with a lighted candle, thrusting his hook behind doors, bringing his head into violent contact with beams, and covering himself with cobwebs. Mounting up to the old man's bed-room, they found that he had not been in bed on the previous night, but had merely lain down on the coverlet, as was evident from the impression yet remaining there.
'And I think, Captain,' said Rob, looking round the room, 'that when Mr Gills was going in and out so often, these last few days, he was taking little things away, piecemeal, not to attract attention.'

船長把這封信翻來翻去，唸了二十來次之後，坐到椅子裏，在心中對這問題進行了一場軍事審判；要把船長這時的神態描述出來，爲後世所記憶，是需要一切厭棄不幸的當代、決心面向後世、但卻未能如願以償的偉大天才人物的共同努力才能做到的。最初，船長因爲過於驚慌失措和傷心苦惱，所以除了想到這封信之外，不能再想到別的事情了；甚至當他的思想開始轉到各種伴隨發生的事實時，他在腦子裏也許還依舊盤旋着原先的主題，而很少考慮這些伴隨發生的事實。卡特爾船長在這樣一種心情下，只有磨工一人在他的法庭上，而沒有其他任何人；當他決定把磨工作爲懷疑對象來進行審判時，心中感到極大的安慰；他把他的這種想法在臉容上表露得清清楚楚，因此羅布就提出了抗議。
“啊，別這樣，船長！”磨工喊道，“我真不明白，您怎麼能這樣！我做了什麼事啦，您要這樣看着我？”
“我的孩子，”卡特爾船長說道，“還沒有傷害你什麼，你就別吵吵嚷嚷，不論你做了什麼，都別忙着表白自己！”
“我沒有做什麼，也沒有表白什麼，船長！”羅布回答道。
“那就從容自在，”船長給人以深刻印象地說道，“不必緊張。”
卡特爾船長深深感覺到自己所負的責任，也有必要把這樁神祕的事情徹底調查清楚；像他這樣一個與當事人有關係的人本就應該這麼做的，所以他就決定讓磨工跟他在一起，深入到老人家裏去考察一番。考慮到這個年輕人目前已處於被逮捕狀態，船長猶豫不決，究竟把他戴上手銬，或者把他的踝骨捆綁起來，或者在他的腿上懸掛一個重物，是不是得當；但是船長不明白這樣做在手續上是否合法，所以決定只是一路上抓住他的肩膀，如果他要有一點反抗，那麼就把他打倒在地。
可是羅布沒有任何反抗，因此對他沒有施加其他嚴厲的緊急措施，就到達儀器製造商的家了。由於百葉窗還遮蔽着，船長首先關心的是讓店鋪開着；當陽光充分射進來以後，他就着手進一步的調查。
船長第一樁事是在店鋪中的一張椅子裏坐下，擔任他心目中的莊嚴的法庭庭長，並要求羅布躺在櫃檯下面的牀鋪上，絲毫不差地指點出他醒來時在什麼地方發現了鑰匙和包包，他怎麼發覺門沒有閂上，他怎麼出發到布里格廣場——船長謹慎地禁止他在重現這最後一幕情景時跑出門檻之外——，等等。當所有這一切表演了好幾次之後，船長搖搖頭，似乎覺得這件事情狀況不妙。
接着，船長不很肯定地想到可能找到屍體，就動手對整個住宅進行嚴密的搜查；他把鉤子插在門後，拿着一支點着的蠟燭在地窖中摸索，這時他的頭和梁木猛烈地碰撞，蜘蛛網纏繞住他的身子。他們從地窖中走上來，走進老人的臥室時，發現他昨天夜裏沒有上牀睡覺，而僅僅在被單上面躺了一下，這從依舊留在那裏的印痕中可以明顯地看出。
“我想，船長，”羅布環視着房間，說道，“最近幾天吉爾斯先生進進出出十分頻繁，他把小件物品一件一件地拿出去，這樣做是爲了避免引起注意。”