狄更斯的小说特点 狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第35章Part5

狄更斯双语小说:《董贝父子》第35章Part5  

She trembled
and her eyes were dim. His figure seemed to grow in height and bulk before her as he paced the room: now it was all blurred and indistinct; now clear again
and plain; and now she seemed to think that this had happened
just the same
a multitude of years ago. She yearned towards him
and yet shrunk from his approach. Unnatural emotion in a child
innocent of wrong! Unnatural the hand that had directed the sharp plough
which furrowed up her gentle nature for the sowing of its seeds!
Bent upon not distressing or offending him by her distress
Florence controlled herself
and sat quietly at her work. After a few more turns across and across the room
he left off pacing it; and withdrawing into a shadowy corner at some distance
where there was an easy chair
covered his head with a handkerchief
and posed himself to sleep.
It was enough for Florence to sit there watching him; turning her eyes towards his chair from time to time; watching him with her thoughts
when her face was intent upon her work; and sorrowfully glad to think that he could sleep
while she was there
and that he was not made restless by her strange and long-forbidden presence.
What would have been her thoughts if she had known that he was steadily regarding her; that the veil upon his face
by accident or by design
was so adjusted that his sight was free
and that itnever wandered from her face face an instant That when she looked towards him' In the obscure dark corner
her speaking eyes
more earnest and pathetic in their voiceless speech than all the orators of all the world
and impeaching him more nearly in their mute address
met his
and did not know it! That when she bent her head again over her work
he drew his breath more easily
but with the same attention looked upon her still - upon her white brow and her falling hair
and busy hands; and once attracted
seemed to have no power to turn his eyes away!
And what were his thoughts meanwhile? With what emotions did he prolong the attentive gaze covertly directed on his unknown daughter? Was there reproach to him in the quiet figure and the mild eyes? Had he begun to her disregarded claims and did they touch him home at last
and waken him to some sense of his cruel injustice?
There are yielding moments in the lives of the sternest and harshest men
though such men often keep their secret well. The sight ofher in her beauty
almost changed into a woman without his knowledge
may have struck out some such moments even In his life of pride. Some passing thought that he had had a happy home within his reach-had had a household spirit bending at has feet - had overlooked it in his stiffnecked sullen arrogance
and wandered away and lost himself
may have engendered them. Some simple eloquence distinctly heard
though only uttered in her eyes
unconscious that he read them' as'By the death-beds I have tended
by the childhood I have suffered
by our meeting in this dreary house at midnight
by the cry wrung from me in the anguish of my heart
oh
father
turn to me and seek a refuge in my love before it is too late!' may have arrested them. Meaner and lower thoughts
as that his dead boy was now superseded by new ties
and he could five the having been supplanted in his affection
may have occasioned them. The mere association of her as an ornament
with all the ornament and pomp about him
may have been sufficient. But as he looked
he softened to her
more and more. As he looked
she became blended with the child he had loved
and he could hardly separate the o. As he looked
he saw her for an instant by a clearer and a brighter light
not bending over that child's pillow as his rival - monstrous thought - but as the spirit of his home
and in the action tending himself no less
as he sat once more with his bowed-down head upon his hand at the foot of the little bed. He felt inclined to speak to her
and call her to him. The words 'Florence
e here!' were rising to his lips - but slowly and with difficulty
they were so very strange - when they were checked and stifled by a footstep on the stair.
It was his wife's. She had exchanged her dinner dress for a loose robe
and unbound her hair
which fell freely about her neck. But this was not the change in her that startled him.
'Florence
dear
' she said
'I have been looking for you everywhere.'
As she sat down by the side of Florence
she stooped and kissed her hand. He hardly knew his wife. She was so changed. It was not merely that her smile was new to him - though that he had never seen; but her manner
the tone of her voice
the light of her eyes
the interest
and confidence
and winning wish to please
expressed in all-this was not Edith.
'Softly
dear Mama. Papa is asleep.'
It was Edith now. She looked towards the corner where he was
and he knew that face and manner very well.
'I scarcely thought you could be here
Florence.'
Again
how altered and how softened
in an instant!