狄更斯的小说特点 狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第36章Part5

狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第36章Part5  

'Unless you are a monster
which I sometimes think you are
' said Mrs Chick with candour
'don't sit there humming tunes. How anyone with the most distant feelings of a man
can see that mother-in-law of Paul's
dressed as she is
going on like that
with Major Bagstock
for whom
among other precious things
we are indebted to your Lucretia Tox
'My Lucretia Tox
my dear!' said Mr Chick
astounded.
'Yes
' retorted Mrs Chick
with great severity
'your Lucretia Tox - I say how anybody can see that mother-in-law of Paul's
and that haughty wife of Paul's
and these indecent old frights with their backs and shoulders
and in short this at home generally
and hum - ' on which word Mrs Chick laid a scornful emphasis that made Mr Chick start
'is
I thank Heaven
a mystery to me!
Mr Chick screwed his mouth into a form irreconcilable with humming or whistling
and looked very contemplative.
'But I hope I know what is due to myself
' said Mrs Chick
swelling with indignation
'though Paul has fotten what is due to me. I am not going to sit here
a member of this family
to be taken no notice of. I am not the dirt under Mrs Dombey's feet
yet - not quite yet
' said Mrs Chick
as if she expected to bee so
about the day after to-morrow. 'And I shall go. I will not say (whatever I may think) that this affair has been got up solely to degrade and insult me. I shall merely go. I shall not be missed!'
Mrs Chick rose erect with these words
and took the arm of Mr Chick
who escorted her from the room
after half an hour's shady sojourn there. And it is due to her peration to observe that she certainly was not missed at all.
But she was not the only indignant guest; for Mr Dombey's list (still constantly in difficulties) were
as a body
indignant with Mrs Dombey's list
for looking at them through eyeglasses
and audibly wondering who all those people were; while Mrs Dombey's list plained of weariness
and the young thing with the shoulders
deprived of the attentions of that gay youth Cousin Feenix (who went away from the dinner-table)
confidentially alleged to thirty or forty friends that she was bored to death. All the old ladies with the burdens on their heads
had greater or less cause of plaint against Mr Dombey; and the Directors and Chairmen coincided in thinking that if Dombey must marry
he had better have married somebody nearer his own age
not quite so handsome
and a little better off. The general opinion among this class of gentlemen was
that it was a weak thing in Dombey
and he'd live to repent it. Hardly anybody there
except the mild men
stayed
or went away
without considering himself or herself neglected and aggrieved by Mr Dombey or Mrs Dombey; and the speechless female in the black velvet hat was found to have been stricken mute
because the lady in the crimson velvet had been handed down before her. The nature even of the mild men got corrupted
either from their curdling it with too much lemonade
or from the general inoculation that prevailed; and they made sarcastic jokes to one another
and whispered disparagement on stairs and in bye-places. The general dissatisfaction and disfort so diffused itself
that the assembled footmen in the hall were as well acquainted with it as the pany above. Nay
the very linkmen outside got hold of it
and pared the party to a funeral out of mourning
with none of the pany remembered in the will. At last
the guests were all gone
and the linkmen too; and the street
crowded so long with carriages
was clear; and the dying lights showed no one in the rooms
but Mr Dombey and Mr Carker
who were talking together apart
and Mrs Dombey and her mother: the former seated on an ottoman; the latter reclining in the Cleopatra attitude
awaiting the arrival of her maid. Mr Dombey having finished his munication to Carker
the latter advanced obsequiously to take leave.
'I trust
' he said
'that the fatigues of this delightful evening will not inconvenience Mrs Dombey to-morrow.'
'Mrs Dombey
' said Mr Dombey
advancing
'has sufficiently spared herself fatigue
to relieve you from any anxiety of that kind. I regret to say
Mrs Dombey
that I could have wished you had fatigued yourself a little more on this occasion.
She looked at him with a supercilious glance
that it seemed not worth her while to protract
and turned away her eyes without speaking.
'I am sorry
Madam
' said Mr Dombey
'that you should not have thought it your duty -
She looked at him again.