狄更斯小说改编系列 狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第25章Part 7

狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第25章Part 7  

'Have a roast fowl
' said Mrs MacStinger
'with a bit of weal stuffing and some egg sauce. Come
Cap'en Cuttle! Give yourself a little treat!'
'No thank'ee
Ma'am
' returned the Captain very humbly.
'I'm sure you're out of sorts
and want to be stimulated
' said Mrs MacStinger. 'Why not have
for once in a way
a bottle of sherry wine?'
'Well
Ma'am
' rejoined the Captain
'if you'd be so good as take a glass or o
I think I would try that. Would you do me the favour
Ma'am
' said the Captain
torn to pieces by his conscience
'to accept a quarter's rent ahead?'
'And why so
Cap'en Cuttle?' retorted Mrs MacStinger - sharply
as the Captain thought.
The Captain was frightened to dead 'If you would Ma'am
' he said with submission
'it would oblige me. I can't keep my money very well. It pays itself out. I should take it kind if you'd ply.'
'Well
Cap'en Cuttle
' said the unconscious MacStinger
rubbing her hands
'you can do as you please. It's not for me
with my family
to refuse
no more than it is to ask'
'And would you
Ma'am
' said the Captain
taking down the tin canister in which he kept his cash' from the top shelf of the cupboard
'be so good as offer eighteen-pence a-piece to the little family all round? If you could make it convenient
Ma'am
to pass the word presently for them children to e for'ard
in a body
I should be glad to see 'em'
These innocent MacStingers were so many daggers to the Captain's breast
when they appeared in a swarm
and tore at him with the confiding trustfulness he so little deserved. The eye of Alexander MacStinger
who had been his favourite
was insupportable to the Captain; the voice of Juliana MacStinger
who was the picture of her mother
made a coward of him.
Captain Cuttle kept up appearances
nevertheless
tolerably well
and for an hour or o was very hardly used and roughly handled by the young MacStingers: who in their childish frolics
did a little damage also to the glazed hat
by sitting in it
o at a time
as in a nest
and drumming on the inside of the crown with their shoes. At length the Captain sorrowfully dismissed them: taking leave of these cherubs with the poignant remorse and grief of a man who was going to execution.
In the silence of night
the Captain packed up his heavier property in a chest
which he locked
intending to leave it there
in all probability for ever
but on the forlorn chance of one day finding a man sufficiently bold and desperate to e and ask for it. Of his lighter necessaries
the Captain made a bundle; and disposed his plate about his person
ready for flight. At the hour of midnight
when Brig Place was buried in slumber
and Mrs MacStinger was lulled in sweet oblivion
with her infants around her
the guilty Captain
stealing down on tiptoe
in the dark
opened the door
closed it softly after him
and took to his heels
Pursued by the image of Mrs MacStinger springing out of bed
and
regardless of costume
following and bringing him back; pursued also by a consciousness of his enormous crime; Captain Cuttle held on at a great pace
and allowed no grass to grow under his feet
beeen Brig Place and the Instrument-maker's door. It opened when he knocked - for Rob was on the watch - and when it was bolted and locked behind him
Captain Cuttle felt paratively safe.
'Whew!' cried the Captain
looking round him. 'It's a breather!'
'Nothing the matter
is there
Captain?' cried the gaping Rob.