狄更斯的小说特点 狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第25章Part 8

狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第25章Part 8  

'No
no!' said Captain Cuttle
after changing colour
and listening to a passing footstep in the street. 'But mind ye
my lad; if any lady
except either of them o as you see t'other day
ever es and asks for Cap'en Cuttle
be sure to report no person of that name known
nor never heard of here; observe them orders
will you?'
'I'll take care
Captain
' returned Rob.
'You might say - if you liked
' hesitated the Captain
'that you'd read in the paper that a Cap'en of that name was gone to Australia
emigrating
along with a whole ship's plement of people as had all swore never to e back no more.
Rob nodded his understanding of these instructions; and Captain Cuttle promising to make a man of him
if he obeyed orders
dismissed him
yawning
to his bed under the counter
and went aloft to the chamber of Solomon Gills.
What the Captain suffered next day
whenever a bon passed
or how often he darted out of the shop to elude imaginary MacStingers
and sought safety in the attic
cannot be told. But to avoid the fatigues attendant on this means of self-preservation
the Captain curtained the glass door of munication beeen the shop and parlour
on the inside; fitted a key to it from the bunch that had been sent to him; and cut a small hole of espial in the wall. The advantage of this fortification is obvious. On a bon appearing
the Captain instantly slipped into his garrison
locked himself up
and took a secret observation of the enemy. Finding it a false alarm
the Captain instantly slipped out again. And the bons in the street were so very numerous
and alarms were so inseparable from their appearance
that the Captain was almost incessantly slipping in and out all day long.
Captain Cuttle found time
however
in the midst of this fatiguing service to inspect the stock; in connexion with which he had the general idea (very laborious to Rob) that too much friction could not be bestowed upon it
and that it could not be made too bright. He also ticketed a few attractive-looking articles at a venture
at prices ranging from ten shillings to fifty pounds
and exposed them in the window to the great astonishment of the Public.
After effecting these improvements
Captain Cuttle
surrounded by the instruments
began to feel scientific: and looked up at the stars at night
through the skylight
when he was smoking his pipe in the little back parlour before going to bed
as if he had established a kind of property in them. As a tradesman in the City
too
he began to have an interest in the Lord Mayor
and the Sheriffs
and in Public Companies; and felt bound to read the quotations of the Funds every day
though he was unable to make out
on any principle of navigation
what the figures meant
and could have very well dispensed with the fractions. Florence
the Captain waited on
with his strange news of Uncle Sol
immediately after taking possession of the Midshipman; but she was away from home. So the Captain sat himself down in his altered station of life
with no pany but Rob the Grinder; and losing count of time
as men do when great changes e upon them
thought musingly of Walter
and of Solomon Gills
and even of Mrs MacStinger herself
as among the things that had been.