Shadows of the Past and Future
'Your most obedient, Sir,' said the Major. 'Damme, Sir, a friend of my friend Dombey's is a friend of mine, and I'm glad to see you!'
'I am infinitely obliged, Carker,' explained Mr Dombey, 'to Major Bagstock, for his company and conversation. 'Major Bagstock has rendered me great service, Carker.'
Mr Carker the Manager, hat in hand, just arrived at Leamington, and just introduced to the Major, showed the Major his whole double range of teeth, and trusted he might take the liberty of thanking him with all his heart for having effected so great an Improvement in Mr Dombey's looks and spirits'
'By Gad, Sir,' said the Major, in reply, 'there are no thanks due to me, for it's a give and take affair. A great creature like our friend Dombey, Sir,' said the Major, lowering his voice, but not lowering it so much as to render it inaudible to that gentleman, 'cannot help improving and exalting his friends. He strengthens and invigorates a man, Sir, does Dombey, in his moral nature.'
Mr Carker snapped at the expression. In his moral nature. Exactly. The very words he had been on the point of suggesting.
'But when my friend Dombey, Sir,' added the Major, 'talks to you of Major Bagstock, I must crave leave to set him and you right. He means plain Joe, Sir - Joey B. - Josh. Bagstock - Joseph- rough and tough Old J., Sir. At your service.'
Mr Carker's excessively friendly inclinations towards the Major, and Mr Carker's admiration of his roughness, toughness, and plainness, gleamed out of every tooth in Mr Carker's head.
'And now, Sir,' said the Major, 'you and Dombey have the devil's own amount of business to talk over.'
'By no means, Major,' observed Mr Dombey.
'Dombey,' said the Major, defiantly, 'I know better; a man of your mark - the Colossus of commerce - is not to be interrupted. Your moments are precious. We shall meet at dinner-time. In the interval, old Joseph will be scarce. The dinner-hour is a sharp seven, Mr Carker.'
With that, the Major, greatly swollen as to his face, withdrew; but immediately putting in his head at the door again, said:
'I beg your pardon. Dombey, have you any message to 'em?'
Mr Dombey in some embarrassment, and not without a glance at the courteous keeper of his business confidence, entrusted the Major with his compliments.
'By the Lord, Sir,' said the Major, 'you must make it something warmer than that, or old Joe will be far from welcome.'
'Regards then, if you will, Major,' returned Mr Dombey.
'Damme, Sir,' said the Major, shaking his shoulders and his great cheeks jocularly: 'make it something warmer than that.'
'What you please, then, Major,' observed Mr Dombey.
'Our friend is sly, Sir, sly, Sir, de-vilish sly,' said the Major, staring round the door at Carker. 'So is Bagstock.' But stopping in the midst of a chuckle, and drawing himself up to his full height, the Major solemnly exclaimed, as he struck himself on the chest, 'Dombey! I envy your feelings. God bless you!' and withdrew.
'You must have found the gentleman a great resource,' said Carker, following him with his teeth.
'Very great indeed,' said Mr Dombey.
'He has friends here, no doubt,' pursued Carker. 'I perceive, from what he has said, that you go into society here. Do you know,' smiling horribly, 'I am so very glad that you go into society!'
Mr Dombey acknowledged this display of interest on the part of his second in command, by twirling his watch-chain, and slightly moving his head.
'You were formed for society,' said Carker. 'Of all the men I know, you are the best adapted, by nature and by position, for society. Do you know I have been frequently amazed that you should have held it at arm's length so long!'
'I have had my reasons, Carker. I have been alone, and indifferent to it. But you have great social qualifications yourself, and are the more likely to have been surprised.'
'Oh! I!' returned the other, with ready self-disparagement. 'It's quite another matter in the case of a man like me. I don't come into comparison with you.'
Mr Dombey put his hand to his neckcloth, settled his chin in it, coughed, and stood looking at his faithful friend and servant for a few moments in silence.
'I shall have the pleasure, Carker,' said Mr Dombey at length: making as if he swallowed something a little too large for his throat: 'to present you to my - to the Major's friends. Highly agreeable people.'
'Ladies among them, I presume?' insinuated the smooth Manager.
'They are all - that is to say, they are both - ladies,' replied Mr Dombey.
'Only two?' smiled Carker.
'They are only two. I have confined my visits to their residence, and have made no other acquaintance here.'
'Sisters, perhaps?' quoth Carker.
'Mother and daughter,' replied Mr Dombey.
As Mr Dombey dropped his eyes, and adjusted his neckcloth again, the smiling face of Mr Carker the Manager became in a moment, and without any stage of transition, transformed into a most intent and frowning face, scanning his closely, and with an ugly sneer. As Mr Dombey raised his eyes, it changed back, no less quickly, to its old expression, and showed him every gum of which it stood possessed.
'You are very kind,' said Carker, 'I shall be delighted to know them. Speaking of daughters, I have seen Miss Dombey.'
There was a sudden rush of blood to Mr Dombey's face.
'I took the liberty of waiting on her,' said Carker, 'to inquire if she could charge me with any little commission. I am not so fortunate as to be the bearer of any but her - but her dear love.'
Wolf's face that it was then, with even the hot tongue revealing itself through the stretched mouth, as the eyes encountered Mr Dombey's!
'What business intelligence is there?' inquired the latter gentleman, after a silence, during which Mr Carker had produced some memoranda and other papers.
'There is very little,' returned Carker. 'Upon the whole we have not had our usual good fortune of late, but that is of little moment to you. At Lloyd's, they give up the Son and Heir for lost. Well, she was insured, from her keel to her masthead.'
'Carker,' said Mr Dombey, taking a chair near him, 'I cannot say that young man, Gay, ever impressed me favourably
'Nor me,' interposed the Manager.
'But I wish,' said Mr Dombey, without heeding the interruption, 'he had never gone on board that ship. I wish he had never been sent out.
'It is a pity you didn't say so, in good time, is it not?' retorted Carker, coolly. 'However, I think it's all for the best. I really, think it's all for the best. Did I mention that there was something like a little confidence between Miss Dombey and myself?'
'No,' said Mr Dombey, sternly.
'I have no doubt,' returned Mr Carker, after an impressive pause, 'that wherever Gay is, he is much better where he is, than at home here. If I were, or could be, in your place, I should be satisfied of that. I am quite satisfied of it myself. Miss Dombey is confiding and young - perhaps hardly proud enough, for your daughter - if she have a fault. Not that that is much though, I am sure. Will you check these balances with me?'
Mr Dombey leaned back in his chair, instead of bending over the papers that were laid before him, and looked the Manager steadily in the face. The Manager, with his eyelids slightly raised, affected to be glancing at his figures, and to await the leisure of his principal. He showed that he affected this, as if from great delicacy, and with a design to spare Mr Dombey's feelings; and the latter, as he looked at him, was cognizant of his intended consideration, and felt that but for it, this confidential Carker would have said a great deal more, which he, Mr Dombey, was too proud to ask for. It was his way in business, often. Little by little, Mr Dombey's gaze relaxed, and his attention became diverted to the papers before him; but while busy with the occupation they afforded him, he frequently stopped, and looked at Mr Carker again. Whenever he did so, Mr Carker was demonstrative, as before, in his delicacy, and impressed it on his great chief more and more.
While they were thus engaged; and under the skilful culture of the Manager, angry thoughts in reference to poor Florence brooded and bred in Mr Dombey's breast, usurping the place of the cold dislike that generally reigned there; Major Bagstock, much admired by the old ladies of Leamington, and followed by the Native, carrying the usual amount of light baggage, straddled along the shady side of the way, to make a morning call on Mrs Skewton. It being midday when the Major reached the bower of Cleopatra, he had the good fortune to find his Princess on her usual sofa, languishing over a cup of coffee, with the room so darkened and shaded for her more luxurious repose, that Withers, who was in attendance on her, loomed like a phantom page.
'What insupportable creature is this, coming in?' said Mrs Skewton, 'I cannot hear it. Go away, whoever you are!'
'You have not the heart to banish J. B., Ma'am!' said the Major halting midway, to remonstrate, with his cane over his shoulder.
'Oh it's you, is it? On second thoughts, you may enter,' observed Cleopatra.
The Major entered accordingly, and advancing to the sofa pressed her charming hand to his lips.
'Sit down,' said Cleopatra, listlessly waving her fan, 'a long way off. Don't come too near me, for I am frightfully faint and sensitive this morning, and you smell of the Sun. You are absolutely tropical.'
'By George, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'the time has been when Joseph Bagstock has been grilled and blistered by the Sun; then time was, when he was forced, Ma'am, into such full blow, by high hothouse heat in the West Indies, that he was known as the Flower. A man never heard of Bagstock, Ma'am, in those days; he heard of the Flower - the Flower of Ours. The Flower may have faded, more or less, Ma'am,' observed the Major, dropping into a much nearer chair than had been indicated by his cruel Divinity, 'but it is a tough plant yet, and constant as the evergreen.'
Here the Major, under cover of the dark room, shut up one eye, rolled his head like a Harlequin, and, in his great self-satisfaction, perhaps went nearer to the confines of apoplexy than he had ever gone before.
'Where is Mrs Granger?' inquired Cleopatra of her page.
Withers believed she was in her own room.
'Very well,' said Mrs Skewton. 'Go away, and shut the door. I am engaged.'
As Withers disappeared, Mrs Skewton turned her head languidly towards the Major, without otherwise moving, and asked him how his friend was.
'Dombey, Ma'am,' returned the Major, with a facetious gurgling in his throat, 'is as well as a man in his condition can be. His condition is a desperate one, Ma'am. He is touched, is Dombey! Touched!' cried the Major. 'He is bayonetted through the body.'
Cleopatra cast a sharp look at the Major, that contrasted forcibly with the affected drawl in which she presently said:
'Major Bagstock, although I know but little of the world, - nor can I really regret my experience, for I fear it is a false place, full of withering conventionalities: where Nature is but little regarded, and where the music of the heart, and the gushing of the soul, and all that sort of thing, which is so truly poetical, is seldom heard, - I cannot misunderstand your meaning. There is an allusion to Edith - to my extremely dear child,' said Mrs Skewton, tracing the outline of her eyebrows with her forefinger, 'in your words, to which the tenderest of chords vibrates excessively.'
'Bluntness, Ma'am,' returned the Major, 'has ever been the characteristic of the Bagstock breed. You are right. Joe admits it.'
'And that allusion,' pursued Cleopatra, 'would involve one of the most - if not positively the most - touching, and thrilling, and sacred emotions of which our sadly-fallen nature is susceptible, I conceive.'
The Major laid his hand upon his lips, and wafted a kiss to Cleopatra, as if to identify the emotion in question.
'I feel that I am weak. I feel that I am wanting in that energy, which should sustain a Mama: not to say a parent: on such a subject,' said Mrs Skewton, trimming her lips with the laced edge of her pocket-handkerchief; 'but I can hardly approach a topic so excessively momentous to my dearest Edith without a feeling of faintness. Nevertheless, bad man, as you have boldly remarked upon it, and as it has occasioned me great anguish:' Mrs Skewton touched her left side with her fan: 'I will not shrink from my duty.'
The Major, under cover of the dimness, swelled, and swelled, and rolled his purple face about, and winked his lobster eye, until he fell into a fit of wheezing, which obliged him to rise and take a turn or two about the room, before his fair friend could proceed.
'Mr Dombey,' said Mrs Skewton, when she at length resumed, 'was obliging enough, now many weeks ago, to do us the honour of visiting us here; in company, my dear Major, with yourself. I acknowledge - let me be open - that it is my failing to be the creature of impulse, and to wear my heart as it were, outside. I know my failing full well. My enemy cannot know it better. But I am not penitent; I would rather not be frozen by the heartless world, and am content to bear this imputation justly.'
Mrs Skewton arranged her tucker, pinched her wiry throat to give it a soft surface, and went on, with great complacency.
'It gave me (my dearest Edith too, I am sure) infinite pleasure to receive Mr Dombey. As a friend of yours, my dear Major, we were naturally disposed to be prepossessed in his favour; and I fancied that I observed an amount of Heart in Mr Dombey, that was excessively refreshing.'
'There is devilish little heart in Dombey now, Ma'am,' said the Major.
'Wretched man!' cried Mrs Skewton, looking at him languidly, 'pray be silent.'
'J. B. is dumb, Ma'am,' said the Major.
'Mr Dombey,' pursued Cleopatra, smoothing the rosy hue upon her cheeks, 'accordingly repeated his visit; and possibly finding some attraction in the simplicity and primitiveness of our tastes - for there is always a charm in nature - it is so very sweet - became one of our little circle every evening. Little did I think of the awful responsibility into which I plunged when I encouraged Mr Dombey - to -
'To beat up these quarters, Ma'am,' suggested Major Bagstock.
'Coarse person! 'said Mrs Skewton, 'you anticipate my meaning, though in odious language.
Here Mrs Skewton rested her elbow on the little table at her side, and suffering her wrist to droop in what she considered a graceful and becoming manner, dangled her fan to and fro, and lazily admired her hand while speaking.
'The agony I have endured,' she said mincingly, 'as the truth has by degrees dawned upon me, has been too exceedingly terrific to dilate upon. My whole existence is bound up in my sweetest Edith; and to see her change from day to day - my beautiful pet, who has positively garnered up her heart since the death of that most delightful creature, Granger - is the most affecting thing in the world.'
Mrs Skewton's world was not a very trying one, if one might judge of it by the influence of its most affecting circumstance upon her; but this by the way.
'Edith,' simpered Mrs Skewton, 'who is the perfect pearl of my life, is said to resemble me. I believe we are alike.'
'There is one man in the world who never will admit that anyone resembles you, Ma'am,' said the Major; 'and that man's name is Old Joe Bagstock.'
Cleopatra made as if she would brain the flatterer with her fan, but relenting, smiled upon him and proceeded:
'If my charming girl inherits any advantages from me, wicked one!': the Major was the wicked one: 'she inherits also my foolish nature. She has great force of character - mine has been said to be immense, though I don't believe it - but once moved, she is susceptible and sensitive to the last extent. What are my feelings when I see her pining! They destroy me.
The Major advancing his double chin, and pursing up his blue lips into a soothing expression, affected the profoundest sympathy.
'The confidence,' said Mrs Skewton, 'that has subsisted between us - the free development of soul, and openness of sentiment - is touching to think of. We have been more like sisters than Mama and child.'
'J. B.'s own sentiment,' observed the Major, 'expressed by J. B. fifty thousand times!'
'Do not interrupt, rude man!' said Cleopatra. 'What are my feelings, then, when I find that there is one subject avoided by us! That there is a what's-his-name - a gulf - opened between us. That my own artless Edith is changed to me! They are of the most poignant description, of course.'
The Major left his chair, and took one nearer to the little table.
'From day to day I see this, my dear Major,' proceeded Mrs Skewton. 'From day to day I feel this. From hour to hour I reproach myself for that excess of faith and trustfulness which has led to such distressing consequences; and almost from minute to minute, I hope that Mr Dombey may explain himself, and relieve the torture I undergo, which is extremely wearing. But nothing happens, my dear Major; I am the slave of remorse - take care of the coffee-cup: you are so very awkward - my darling Edith is an altered being; and I really don't see what is to be done, or what good creature I can advise with.'
Major Bagstock, encouraged perhaps by the softened and confidential tone into which Mrs Skewton, after several times lapsing into it for a moment, seemed now to have subsided for good, stretched out his hand across the little table, and said with a leer,
'Advise with Joe, Ma'am.'
'Then, you aggravating monster,' said Cleopatra, giving one hand to the Major, and tapping his knuckles with her fan, which she held in the other: 'why don't you talk to me? you know what I mean. Why don't you tell me something to the purpose?'
The Major laughed, and kissed the hand she had bestowed upon him, and laughed again immensely.
'Is there as much Heart in Mr Dombey as I gave him credit for?' languished Cleopatra tenderly. 'Do you think he is in earnest, my dear Major? Would you recommend his being spoken to, or his being left alone? Now tell me, like a dear man, what would you advise.'
'Shall we marry him to Edith Granger, Ma'am?' chuckled the Major, hoarsely.
'Mysterious creature!' returned Cleopatra, bringing her fan to bear upon the Major's nose. 'How can we marry him?'
'Shall we marry him to Edith Granger, Ma'am, I say?' chuckled the Major again.
Mrs Skewton returned no answer in words, but smiled upon the Major with so much archness and vivacity, that that gallant officer considering himself challenged, would have imprinted a kiss on her exceedingly red lips, but for her interposing the fan with a very winning and juvenile dexterity. It might have been in modesty; it might have been in apprehension of some danger to their bloom.
'Dombey, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'is a great catch.'
'Oh, mercenary wretch!' cried Cleopatra, with a little shriek, 'I am shocked.'
'And Dombey, Ma'am,' pursued the Major, thrusting forward his head, and distending his eyes, 'is in earnest. Joseph says it; Bagstock knows it; J. B. keeps him to the mark. Leave Dombey to himself, Ma'am. Dombey is safe, Ma'am. Do as you have done; do no more; and trust to J. B. for the end.'
'You really think so, my dear Major?' returned Cleopatra, who had eyed him very cautiously, and very searchingly, in spite of her listless bearing.
'Sure of it, Ma'am,' rejoined the Major. 'Cleopatra the peerless, and her Antony Bagstock, will often speak of this, triumphantly, when sharing the elegance and wealth of Edith Dombey's establishment. Dombey's right-hand man, Ma'am,' said the Major, stopping abruptly in a chuckle, and becoming serious, 'has arrived.'
'This morning?' said Cleopatra.
'This morning, Ma'am,' returned the Major. 'And Dombey's anxiety for his arrival, Ma'am, is to be referred - take J. B.'s word for this; for Joe is devilish sly' - the Major tapped his nose, and screwed up one of his eyes tight: which did not enhance his native beauty - 'to his desire that what is in the wind should become known to him' without Dombey's telling and consulting him. For Dombey is as proud, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'as Lucifer.'
'A charming quality,' lisped Mrs Skewton; 'reminding one of dearest Edith.'
'Well, Ma'am,' said the Major. 'I have thrown out hints already, and the right-hand man understands 'em; and I'll throw out more, before the day is done. Dombey projected this morning a ride to Warwick Castle, and to Kenilworth, to-morrow, to be preceded by a breakfast with us. I undertook the delivery of this invitation. Will you honour us so far, Ma'am?' said the Major, swelling with shortness of breath and slyness, as he produced a note, addressed to the Honourable Mrs Skewton, by favour of Major Bagstock, wherein hers ever faithfully, Paul Dombey, besought her and her amiable and accomplished daughter to consent to the proposed excursion; and in a postscript unto which, the same ever faithfully Paul Dombey entreated to be recalled to the remembrance of Mrs Granger.
'Hush!' said Cleopatra, suddenly, 'Edith!'
The loving mother can scarcely be described as resuming her insipid and affected air when she made this exclamation; for she had never cast it off; nor was it likely that she ever would or could, in any other place than in the grave. But hurriedly dismissing whatever shadow of earnestness, or faint confession of a purpose, laudable or wicked, that her face, or voice, or manner: had, for the moment, betrayed, she lounged upon the couch, her most insipid and most languid self again, as Edith entered the room.
Edith, so beautiful and stately, but so cold and so repelling. Who, slightly acknowledging the presence of Major Bagstock, and directing a keen glance at her mother, drew back the from a window, and sat down there, looking out.
'My dearest Edith,' said Mrs Skewton, 'where on earth have you been? I have wanted you, my love, most sadly.'
'You said you were engaged, and I stayed away,' she answered, without turning her head.
'It was cruel to Old Joe, Ma'am,' said the Major in his gallantry.
'It was very cruel, I know,' she said, still looking out - and said with such calm disdain, that the Major was discomfited, and could think of nothing in reply.
'Major Bagstock, my darling Edith,' drawled her mother, 'who is generally the most useless and disagreeable creature in the world: as you know - '
'It is surely not worthwhile, Mama,' said Edith, looking round, 'to observe these forms of speech. We are quite alone. We know each other.'
The quiet scorn that sat upon her handsome face - a scorn that evidently lighted on herself, no less than them - was so intense and deep, that her mother's simper, for the instant, though of a hardy constitution, drooped before it.
'My darling girl,' she began again.
'Not woman yet?' said Edith, with a smile.
'How very odd you are to-day, my dear! Pray let me say, my love, that Major Bagstock has brought the kindest of notes from Mr Dombey, proposing that we should breakfast with him to-morrow, and ride to Warwick and Kenilworth. Will you go, Edith?'
'Will I go!' she repeated, turning very red, and breathing quickly as she looked round at her mother.
'I knew you would, my own, observed the latter carelessly. 'It is, as you say, quite a form to ask. Here is Mr Dombey's letter, Edith.'
'Thank you. I have no desire to read it,' was her answer.
'Then perhaps I had better answer it myself,' said Mrs Skewton, 'though I had thought of asking you to be my secretary, darling.' As Edith made no movement, and no answer, Mrs Skewton begged the Major to wheel her little table nearer, and to set open the desk it contained, and to take out pen and paper for her; all which congenial offices of gallantry the Major discharged, with much submission and devotion.
'Your regards, Edith, my dear?' said Mrs Skewton, pausing, pen in hand, at the postscript.
'What you will, Mama,' she answered, without turning her head, and with supreme indifference.
Mrs Skewton wrote what she would, without seeking for any more explicit directions, and handed her letter to the Major, who receiving it as a precious charge, made a show of laying it near his heart, but was fain to put it in the pocket of his pantaloons on account of the insecurity of his waistcoat The Major then took a very polished and chivalrous farewell of both ladies, which the elder one acknowledged in her usual manner, while the younger, sitting with her face addressed to the window, bent her head so slightly that it would have been a greater compliment to the Major to have made no sign at all, and to have left him to infer that he had not been heard or thought of.
'As to alteration in her, Sir,' mused the Major on his way back; on which expedition - the afternoon being sunny and hot - he ordered the Native and the light baggage to the front, and walked in the shadow of that expatriated prince: 'as to alteration, Sir, and pining, and so forth, that won't go down with Joseph Bagstock, None of that, Sir. It won't do here. But as to there being something of a division between 'em - or a gulf as the mother calls it - damme, Sir, that seems true enough. And it's odd enough! Well, Sir!' panted the Major, 'Edith Granger and Dombey are well matched; let 'em fight it out! Bagstock backs the winner!'
The Major, by saying these latter words aloud, in the vigour of his thoughts, caused the unhappy Native to stop, and turn round, in the belief that he was personally addressed. Exasperated to the last degree by this act of insubordination, the Major (though he was swelling with enjoyment of his own humour, at the moment of its occurrence instantly thrust his cane among the Native's ribs, and continued to stir him up, at short intervals, all the way to the hotel.
Nor was the Major less exasperated as he dressed for dinner, during which operation the dark servant underwent the pelting of a shower of miscellaneous objects, varying in size from a boot to a hairbrush, and including everything that came within his master's reach. For the Major plumed himself on having the Native in a perfect state of drill, and visited the least departure from strict discipline with this kind of fatigue duty. Add to this, that he maintained the Native about his person as a counter-irritant against the gout, and all other vexations, mental as well as bodily; and the Native would appear to have earned his pay - which was not large.
At length, the Major having disposed of all the missiles that were convenient to his hand, and having called the Native so many new names as must have given him great occasion to marvel at the resources of the English language, submitted to have his cravat put on; and being dressed, and finding himself in a brisk flow of spirits after this exercise, went downstairs to enliven 'Dombey' and his right-hand man.
Dombey was not yet in the room, but the right-hand man was there, and his dental treasures were, as usual, ready for the Major.
'Well, Sir!' said the Major. 'How have you passed the time since I had the happiness of meeting you? Have you walked at all?'
'A saunter of barely half an hour's duration,' returned Carker. 'We have been so much occupied.'
'Business, eh?' said the Major.
'A variety of little matters necessary to be gone through,' replied Carker. 'But do you know - this is quite unusual with me, educated in a distrustful school, and who am not generally disposed to be communicative,' he said, breaking off, and speaking in a charming tone of frankness - 'but I feel quite confidential with you, Major Bagstock.'
'You do me honour, Sir,' returned the Major. 'You may be.'
'Do you know, then,' pursued Carker, 'that I have not found my friend - our friend, I ought rather to call him - '
'Meaning Dombey, Sir?' cried the Major. 'You see me, Mr Carker, standing here! J. B.?'
He was puffy enough to see, and blue enough; and Mr Carker intimated the he had that pleasure.
'Then you see a man, Sir, who would go through fire and water to serve Dombey,' returned Major Bagstock.
Mr Carker smiled, and said he was sure of it. 'Do you know, Major,' he proceeded: 'to resume where I left off' that I have not found our friend so attentive to business today, as usual?'
'No?' observed the delighted Major.
'I have found him a little abstracted, and with his attention disposed to wander,' said Carker.
'By Jove, Sir,' cried the Major, 'there's a lady in the case.'
'Indeed, I begin to believe there really is,' returned Carker; 'I thought you might be jesting when you seemed to hint at it; for I know you military men -
The Major gave the horse's cough, and shook his head and shoulders, as much as to say, 'Well! we are gay dogs, there's no denying.' He then seized Mr Carker by the button-hole, and with starting eyes whispered in his ear, that she was a woman of extraordinary charms, Sir. That she was a young widow, Sir. That she was of a fine family, Sir. That Dombey was over head and ears in love with her, Sir, and that it would be a good match on both sides; for she had beauty, blood, and talent, and Dombey had fortune; and what more could any couple have? Hearing Mr Dombey's footsteps without, the Major cut himself short by saying, that Mr Carker would see her tomorrow morning, and would judge for himself; and between his mental excitement, and the exertion of saying all this in wheezy whispers, the Major sat gurgling in the throat and watering at the eyes, until dinner was ready.
The Major, like some other noble animals, exhibited himself to great advantage at feeding-time. On this occasion, he shone resplendent at one end of the table, supported by the milder lustre of Mr Dombey at the other; while Carker on one side lent his ray to either light, or suffered it to merge into both, as occasion arose.
During the first course or two, the Major was usually grave; for the Native, in obedience to general orders, secretly issued, collected every sauce and cruet round him, and gave him a great deal to do, in taking out the stoppers, and mixing up the contents in his plate. Besides which, the Native had private zests and flavours on a side-table, with which the Major daily scorched himself; to say nothing of strange machines out of which he spirited unknown liquids into the Major's drink. But on this occasion, Major Bagstock, even amidst these many occupations, found time to be social; and his sociality consisted in excessive slyness for the behoof of Mr Carker, and the betrayal of Mr Dombey's state of mind.
'Dombey,' said the Major, 'you don't eat; what's the matter?'
'Thank you,' returned the gentleman, 'I am doing very well; I have no great appetite today.'
'Why, Dombey, what's become of it?' asked the Major. 'Where's it gone? You haven't left it with our friends, I'll swear, for I can answer for their having none to-day at luncheon. I can answer for one of 'em, at least: I won't say which.'
Then the Major winked at Carker, and became so frightfully sly, that his dark attendant was obliged to pat him on the back, without orders, or he would probably have disappeared under the table.
In a later stage of the dinner: that is to say, when the Native stood at the Major's elbow ready to serve the first bottle of champagne: the Major became still slyer.
'Fill this to the brim, you scoundrel,' said the Major, holding up his glass. 'Fill Mr Carker's to the brim too. And Mr Dombey's too. By Gad, gentlemen,' said the Major, winking at his new friend, while Mr Dombey looked into his plate with a conscious air, 'we'll consecrate this glass of wine to a Divinity whom Joe is proud to know, and at a distance humbly and reverently to admire. Edith,' said the Major, 'is her name; angelic Edith!'
'To angelic Edith!' cried the smiling Carker.
'Edith, by all means,' said Mr Dombey.
The entrance of the waiters with new dishes caused the Major to be slyer yet, but in a more serious vein. 'For though among ourselves, Joe Bagstock mingles jest and earnest on this subject, Sir,' said the Major, laying his finger on his lips, and speaking half apart to Carker, 'he holds that name too sacred to be made the property of these fellows, or of any fellows. Not a word!, Sir' while they are here!'
This was respectful and becoming on the Major's part, and Mr Dombey plainly felt it so. Although embarrassed in his own frigid way, by the Major's allusions, Mr Dombey had no objection to such rallying, it was clear, but rather courted it. Perhaps the Major had been pretty near the truth, when he had divined that morning that the great man who was too haughty formally to consult with, or confide in his prime minister, on such a matter, yet wished him to be fully possessed of it. Let this be how it may, he often glanced at Mr Carker while the Major plied his light artillery, and seemed watchful of its effect upon him.
But the Major, having secured an attentive listener, and a smiler who had not his match in all the world - 'in short, a devilish intelligent and able fellow,' as he often afterwards declared - was not going to let him off with a little slyness personal to Mr Dombey. Therefore, on the removal of the cloth, the Major developed himself as a choice spirit in the broader and more comprehensive range of narrating regimental stories, and cracking regimental jokes, which he did with such prodigal exuberance, that Carker was (or feigned to be) quite exhausted with laughter and admiration: while Mr Dombey looked on over his starched cravat, like the Major's proprietor, or like a stately showman who was glad to see his bear dancing well.
When the Major was too hoarse with meat and drink, and the display of his social powers, to render himself intelligible any longer, they adjourned to coffee. After which, the Major inquired of Mr Carker the Manager, with little apparent hope of an answer in the affirmative, if he played picquet.
'Yes, I play picquet a little,' said Mr Carker.
'Backgammon, perhaps?' observed the Major, hesitating.
'Yes, I play backgammon a little too,' replied the man of teeth.
'Carker plays at all games, I believe,' said Mr Dombey, laying himself on a sofa like a man of wood, without a hinge or a joint in him; 'and plays them well.'
In sooth, he played the two in question, to such perfection, that the Major was astonished, and asked him, at random, if he played chess.
'Yes, I play chess a little,' answered Carker. 'I have sometimes played, and won a game - it's a mere trick - without seeing the board.'
'By Gad, Sir!' said the Major, staring, 'you are a contrast to Dombey, who plays nothing.'
'Oh! He!' returned the Manager. 'He has never had occasion to acquire such little arts. To men like me, they are sometimes useful. As at present, Major Bagstock, when they enable me to take a hand with you.'
It might be only the false mouth, so smooth and wide; and yet there seemed to lurk beneath the humility and subserviency of this short speech, a something like a snarl; and, for a moment, one might have thought that the white teeth were prone to bite the hand they fawned upon. But the Major thought nothing about it; and Mr Dombey lay meditating with his eyes half shut, during the whole of the play, which lasted until bed-time.
By that time, Mr Carker, though the winner, had mounted high into the Major's good opinion, insomuch that when he left the Major at his own room before going to bed, the Major as a special attention, sent the Native - who always rested on a mattress spread upon the ground at his master's door - along the gallery, to light him to his room in state.
There was a faint blur on the surface of the mirror in Mr Carker's chamber, and its reflection was, perhaps, a false one. But it showed, that night, the image of a man, who saw, in his fancy, a crowd of people slumbering on the ground at his feet, like the poor Native at his master's door: who picked his way among them: looking down, maliciously enough: but trod upon no upturned face - as yet.
“我是您最順從的仆人，先生，”少校說道，“他媽的，先生，我的朋友董貝先生的朋友就是我的朋友。我很高興見到您。”
“卡克，”董貝先生解釋道，“白格斯托克少校陪同我游覽，跟我交談，我對他無限感激。白格斯托克少校給我?guī)土撕艽蟮拿?，卡克。?BR> 經(jīng)理卡克先生手中握著帽子，剛剛到達(dá)萊明頓，并剛剛被介紹給少校；他向少校顯露出上下兩排的全部牙齒，說他相信，他能不揣冒昧地衷心感謝他在改善董貝先生的神色和精神上取得了十分顯著的效果。
“說實(shí)在的，先生，”少校回答道，“用不著感謝我，因?yàn)檫@是件雙方相互受益的事情。像我們的朋友董貝這樣一位偉大的人物，先生，”少校放低了嗓門說道，但是沒有低到使那位先生聽不到，“他總是在無意之間就能促使他的朋友進(jìn)步，變得高尚起來的，先生；他——董貝先生增強(qiáng)和激勵著一個人的道德本性?！?BR> 卡克先生對這些話連聲贊同。他增強(qiáng)和激勵著一個人的道德本性，正是這樣！這正是他就要脫口說出的話。
“但是，先生，”少校接著說道，“當(dāng)我的朋友董貝跟您談到白格斯托克少校時，我卻必須懇求允許我把他和您糾正糾正。他指的是直率的喬，先生——喬埃·白——喬?！ぐ赘袼雇锌恕s瑟夫——粗魯和堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的老喬，先生。我愿為您效勞。”
卡克先生對少校極為友好的態(tài)度，以及卡克先生對他粗魯、堅(jiān)強(qiáng)和直率的贊賞，都從卡克先生的每顆牙齒中閃現(xiàn)出來。
“現(xiàn)在，先生，”少校說道，“您和董貝有好多好多的事情要商量啦?！?BR> “不，不，少校，”董貝先生說道。
“董貝，”少校堅(jiān)決不同意地說道，“我很明白，像您這樣杰出的人物——商業(yè)界的巨子，是不應(yīng)該受到打擾的。您的每一秒鐘都是寶貴的。我們吃晚飯的時候再見吧。在這段時間里，老約瑟夫就避開了?？讼壬?，吃晚飯的時間是七點(diǎn)正?！?BR> 少校說完這些話之后，臉上露出極為揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意的表情，離開了。但他立即又在門口探進(jìn)頭來說：
“請?jiān)?，董貝，您有什么話需要我轉(zhuǎn)告她們的？”
董貝先生有點(diǎn)不好意思，向那位殷勤有禮、掌握了他的商業(yè)秘密的人稍稍看了一眼，然后拜托少校向她們轉(zhuǎn)致他的問候。
“哎呀，先生”少校說，“您得說點(diǎn)更熱情的話才好呢，要不老喬就不會受到熱烈的歡迎了?！?BR> “那么，少校，就請向她們轉(zhuǎn)致我的敬意吧！”董貝先生回答道。
“他媽的，先生，”少校滑稽地?fù)u晃著他的肩膀和肥厚的雙頰，說道，“您得表示更熱情一些才好呵。”
“那么，少校，您愛說什么就說什么吧，”董貝先生說道。
“我們的朋友是狡猾的，先生，狡猾的，魔鬼一般的狡猾，”少校在門口轉(zhuǎn)過頭來直盯著卡克，說道，“白格斯托克也是這樣，”但是少校在吃吃笑著的中間停了下來，伸直了身子，拍拍胸膛，莊重地說道，“董貝，我真羨慕您的感情，上帝保佑您！”然后他離開了。
“您一定覺得這位先生是一位很能開心解悶的人，”卡克先生在他的身后露出牙齒，說道。
“確實(shí)是這樣，”董貝先生說道。
“他在這里無疑是有朋友的，”卡克先生繼續(xù)說道，“我從他的話中知道，您在這里經(jīng)常參加社交活動；您可知道，”他令人討厭地微笑著，“您經(jīng)常參加社交活動，我真是高興極了?！?BR> 董貝先生捻轉(zhuǎn)著表鏈子，并輕輕地?fù)u晃著腦袋，對這位地位僅次于他的助手所顯示的關(guān)心表示感謝。
“您生來就是屬于社會的人，”卡克說道，“在我所認(rèn)識的人們當(dāng)中，從性格和地位來說，您都是最適合于進(jìn)入社會開展活動的。您可知道，您過去竟這么長久地和社會保持著一定距離，我一直感到驚奇！”
“我有我的理由，卡克。我是個獨(dú)立門戶，不求助于他人的人，所以我對社會漠不關(guān)心，但是您本人是位有出色社交才能的人，因此就更容易感到驚奇了?！?BR> “哦，我！”那一位敏捷地用自我貶低的口吻回答道，“像我這樣的人那是完全另外一碼事。我根本不能和您相比?！?BR> 董貝先生把手伸向領(lǐng)帶，下巴縮在里面，咳嗽了一聲，然后站在那里，向他忠實(shí)的朋友和奴仆默默地看了幾秒鐘。
“卡克，”董貝先生終于說道，他這時的表情就仿佛是咽下對他的喉嚨有些過大的什么東西似的，“我將高興把您介紹給我的——介紹給少校的朋友們。她們是很使人感到愉快的人們?！?BR> “我想他們當(dāng)中也有女士吧，”圓滑的經(jīng)理旁敲側(cè)擊地問道。
“他們?nèi)?，——就是說，她們兩人全是女士，”董貝先生回答道。
“只有兩人嗎？”卡克笑嘻嘻地問道。
“只有兩人。我在這里只是到她們的住所里去拜訪過，沒有結(jié)識其他什么人?！?BR> “也許是姐妹倆吧？”卡克問道。
“母親和女兒，”董貝先生回答道。
董貝先生低下眼睛，又把領(lǐng)帶整整好，這時候經(jīng)理卡克先生笑嘻嘻的臉容，沒有經(jīng)過任何過渡階段，突然一下子轉(zhuǎn)變成目不轉(zhuǎn)睛、皺眉蹙額的臉容，眼光全神貫注地細(xì)細(xì)觀察著董貝先生的臉，并露出丑惡的譏笑。當(dāng)董貝先生抬起眼睛的時候，卡克先生的臉孔又以同樣敏捷的速度恢復(fù)了原來的表情，向他露出全部牙床。
“謝謝您的好意，”卡克說道，“我將高興認(rèn)識她們。說到女兒，使我想起，我見到過董貝小姐呢。”
血流突然涌上了董貝先生的臉。
“我冒昧地去看望了她，”卡克說道，“問她有什么事要交我辦的，可是很不幸，除了——除了她的親切的愛之外，我沒能給她帶來別的東西。”
這真像狼一般的臉孔??！當(dāng)他的眼光碰到了董貝先生的眼光時，從他張開的嘴巴中甚至可以看到那火熱的舌頭！
“公司里的業(yè)務(wù)情況怎么樣？”那一位先生沉默了一會兒之后問道；在沉默的時間中，卡克先生取出了一些便函和其他文件、票據(jù)。
“生意很清淡，”卡克回答道，“總的來說，我們最近運(yùn)氣不像往常那樣好，不過這對于您來說沒什么要緊。勞埃德商船協(xié)會①認(rèn)為‘兒子和繼承人’已經(jīng)沉沒了。幸好它從龍骨到桅頂都是保了險(xiǎn)的?！?BR> --------
①勞埃德商船協(xié)會：倫敦當(dāng)時經(jīng)營海上保險(xiǎn)業(yè)和船舶檢查注冊的一個團(tuán)體。
“卡克，”董貝先生把一把椅子移近身邊，說道，“我不能說那位年輕人蓋伊曾給我留下好印象?！?BR> “也沒有給我留下好印象，”經(jīng)理插話道。
“可是，”董貝先生沒有注意到他的插話，繼續(xù)說道，“我真愿他當(dāng)初沒有乘這條船，當(dāng)初沒有派他去就好了?！?BR> “真可惜，您當(dāng)初沒早講，是吧？”卡克冷冷地回答道，“不過，我想，到頭來這倒會是件好事。我確實(shí)認(rèn)為，到頭來這倒會是件好事。我跟您說過沒有，董貝小姐與我本人相互間還有著一點(diǎn)類似信任的關(guān)系呢？”
“沒有，”董貝先生嚴(yán)厲地說道。
“我毫不懷疑，”卡克在一段令人難忘的沉默之后繼續(xù)說道，“不論蓋伊現(xiàn)在在什么地方，他待在那個地方總比在這里待在家中要好得多。如果我處在，或者能處在您的地位的話，我將對這種情況感到滿意。我本人是很滿意的。董貝小姐年輕，輕信，如果她有什么缺點(diǎn)的話，那就是，作為您的女兒，也許還不夠高傲。當(dāng)然，這算不了什么。您跟我核對一下這些帳目好嗎？”
董貝先生沒有彎下身子去看那些攤在面前的帳單，而是往后仰靠在椅子中，目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地看著這位經(jīng)理的臉。經(jīng)理眼皮稍稍抬起一點(diǎn)，假裝看著數(shù)字，而不去催促他的老板。他毫不掩飾他是出于對董貝先生體帖入微和有意不傷害他的感情才假裝成這樣子的；董貝先生坐在那里看著他的時候，明白他是有意關(guān)照他；他覺得，如果不是為了這一點(diǎn)，這位深受他信任的卡克本會說出更多更多的話的，但是董貝先生太高傲了，他不會請求他說。他在業(yè)務(wù)上也經(jīng)常這樣。董貝先生的眼光逐漸松弛下來，他的注意力開始轉(zhuǎn)移到面前的票據(jù)上面；但是他在埋頭研究的過程中經(jīng)常停下來，重新看著卡克先生；每當(dāng)他這樣做的時候；卡克先生就像先前一樣，表露出他的殷勤，給他的老板留下了愈來愈深刻的印象。
他們就這樣忙著業(yè)務(wù)；在經(jīng)理的巧妙的引導(dǎo)下，董貝先生心中對可憐的弗洛倫斯產(chǎn)生和滋長著憤怒的思想，它正取代著往常對她冷酷的厭惡；就正在這些時候，被萊明頓老太太們所稱頌的白格斯托克少校，正沿著街道有蔭影的一邊邁著步子，去向斯丘頓夫人進(jìn)行一次上午的拜訪；本地人手里拿著那些通常的隨身用品，跟隨在他后面；當(dāng)少校到達(dá)克利奧佩特拉的閨房時，正是中午，所以他幸運(yùn)地看到他的女王像平時一樣坐在沙發(fā)上，有氣無力地面對著一杯咖啡；為了使她能得到舒適的休息，房間被窗簾遮蔽得十分陰暗，在她身旁侍候的威瑟斯就像一個侍童的幽靈一樣，朦朧不明地浮現(xiàn)出身形。
“什么討厭的東西進(jìn)來了？”斯丘頓夫人說道，“我不能容忍它。不管你是誰，快滾開！”
“夫人，您不會忍心把喬·白攆走的！”少校在中途停下，*道，手杖掛在他的肩膀上。
“啊，是你呀，是嗎？好吧，我改變主意，可以讓你進(jìn)來。”
克利奧佩特拉說道。
于是，少校就走進(jìn)來，到了沙發(fā)旁邊，把她可愛的手壓到他的嘴唇上。
“坐吧，”克利奧佩特拉沒精打采地?fù)u著扇子，說道，“坐得遠(yuǎn)些，不要太挨近我，因?yàn)榻裉煜挛缥姨撊醯靡杏X非常靈敏。你身上有一股太陽氣。你簡直就跟從熱帶跑來的人一樣?！?BR> “確實(shí)，夫人，”少校說道，“過去有一段時候，約瑟夫·白格斯托克曾經(jīng)被太陽炙烤過，燙出過水泡；那時候，夫人，在西印度群島溫室般炎熱的氣溫下，他不由得不茁壯成長；當(dāng)時大家都以花這個外號來稱呼他。在那些日子里，夫人，誰也不知道白格斯托克，但大家都知道花——我們的花?；ìF(xiàn)在多少有些枯萎了，夫人，”少校說道，一邊坐到一張椅子里，他比他殘酷的神所指定的那張椅子要近好多，“可是它仍然是一株頑強(qiáng)的植物，就像常綠樹一樣四季長青?！?BR> 這時少校在房間黑暗光線的掩護(hù)下，閉上一只眼睛，像啞劇中的丑角一樣搖晃著腦袋，他在揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意之中也許比過去任何時候都更接近于中風(fēng)的邊緣。
“格蘭杰夫人在哪里？”克利奧佩特拉問她的童仆。
威瑟斯說，他猜想她在她自己的房間里。
“很好，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“你出去吧，把門關(guān)上，我有事。”
威瑟斯走開以后，斯丘頓夫人身體沒有移動，只是有氣無力地把頭轉(zhuǎn)向少校，問他，他的朋友怎么樣？
“夫人，”少校喉嚨里滑稽地發(fā)出咕嘟咕嘟的聲音，回答道，“就一個處在他這種境況中的人來說，董貝總算還不錯。夫人，他目前的情況已到了危急萬分的地步。他神魂顛倒了！董貝，他已經(jīng)神魂顛倒了！”少校喊道，“他已經(jīng)被刺傷得體無完膚了。”
克利奧佩特拉向少校敏銳地看了一眼，這和她接著講話時假裝的慢聲慢氣形成了鮮明的對照。
“白格斯托克少校，雖然我對世界了解得很少，（我對我缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)并不真正感到遺憾，因?yàn)槲覔?dān)心這世界是個虛偽的地方，充滿了使人難受的陳規(guī)舊習(xí)；這里，大自然受到輕視，也很少聽到心的音樂，心靈的表露，以及所有那些富于真正詩意的東西），可是我不會誤會你話中的含意。你的話是暗指伊迪絲——我無比親愛的孩子。”斯丘頓夫人用食指沿著眉毛移動著，說道，“你的這些話使最溫柔的心弦在有力地顫動！”
“夫人，”少?；卮鸬?，“坦率一直是白格斯托克家族的特點(diǎn)。您的話說對了。喬承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)?！?BR> “你所暗指的這一點(diǎn)，”克利奧佩特拉繼續(xù)說道，“將會涉及我們可悲地墮落的本性很容易產(chǎn)生的那最令人感動的、最驚心動魄的和最神圣的情感，至少也是這些美的情感中的一種?！?BR> 少校把手放到嘴唇上，向克利奧佩特拉送去一個飛吻，仿佛要指明這正是她所談到的情感。
“我覺得我虛弱無力。我覺得我缺乏在這種時刻應(yīng)該能支持住一位母親——不說是一個家長的精力，”斯丘頓夫人用她手絹飾有花邊的邊緣抹了抹嘴唇，說道，“但是在談到這個對我最親愛的伊迪絲非常重要的問題時，我不能不感覺到要昏過去似的。不過話說回來，壞家伙，既然你已經(jīng)大膽地提到了它，既然它已經(jīng)造成我極度的痛苦，”斯丘頓夫人用扇子觸了觸她的左脅，“我將不會逃避我的責(zé)任?！?BR> 少校在陰暗光線的掩護(hù)下，躊躇滿志，得意揚(yáng)揚(yáng)，來回?fù)u晃著他那發(fā)青的臉，并眨著龍蝦眼，直到后來他呼哧呼哧地一陣陣喘起氣來，因此在他的女朋友能繼續(xù)說話之前，他不得不站起身來，在房間里轉(zhuǎn)了一、兩圈。
“董貝先生十分客氣，”斯丘頓夫人終于恢復(fù)了說話能力之后，說道，“好多個星期之前跟你，我親愛的少校，一道到這里來拜訪我們，使我們感到光榮之至。我承認(rèn)——請?jiān)试S我坦率地說——，我是個易受沖動的人，可以說，我的心就好像亮在外面似的。我對我的弱點(diǎn)知道得清清楚楚。我的敵人也不能比我知道得更清楚?？墒俏也⒉缓蠡冢晃覍幙喜灰槐錈o情的世界凍僵，對這責(zé)怪我倒是心安理得，處之泰然的?！?BR> 斯丘頓夫人整了整領(lǐng)子，捏了捏瘦削的喉嚨，使它表面光滑些，然后十分揚(yáng)揚(yáng)自得地繼續(xù)說道：
“我接待董貝先生感到無比高興（我相信，我最親愛的伊迪絲也一樣）。作為你的一個朋友，我親愛的少校，我們很自然地事先就對他產(chǎn)生了好感。我覺得，我看到董貝先生充滿了善良的心意，這是使人極能振奮精神的?！?BR> “董貝先生現(xiàn)在什么心也沒有了，夫人，”少校說道。
“壞蛋！”斯丘頓夫人沒精打采地看著他說，“請別吱聲！”
“喬·白一個字也不說了，夫人，”少校說道。
“董貝先生后來就不斷到這里來拜訪，”克利奧佩特拉揉平臉頰上的紅粉，繼續(xù)說道，“也許是發(fā)現(xiàn)我們純樸和自然的風(fēng)格中有什么吸引力吧——因?yàn)樵谧匀恢锌偸怯幸环N魅力的——它是很引人入勝的——，他成了我們每天晚上小小聚會中的一員。當(dāng)初我決沒想到我會背負(fù)起這可怕的責(zé)任，那時候我鼓勵董貝先生——”
“上這里來隨便串串門，夫人，”白格斯托克少校提示說。
“粗野的人！”斯丘頓夫人說，“你猜對了我的意思，但使用了討厭的語言?！?BR> 這時斯丘頓夫人把胳膊肘擱在身邊的一張小桌子上，用她認(rèn)為優(yōu)美和合適的姿態(tài)垂下手腕，懸吊著扇子來回?cái)[動，一邊說話一邊贊賞著她自己的手。
“當(dāng)我逐漸明白真相的時候，”她裝腔作勢地說道，“我所忍受過的痛苦真是太可怕了，我不想去細(xì)細(xì)說它；我的整個一生都跟我最親愛的伊迪絲緊密地聯(lián)系在一起；我美麗的寶貝孩子，自從那極討人喜歡的人兒格蘭杰死去以后，她簡直把心也給掩藏起來了；看到她的容顏一天天地改變，真是世界上最令人傷心的事情?！?BR> 如果人們從那最傷心的痛苦對斯丘頓夫人所產(chǎn)生的影響來判斷的話，那么她的世界并不是很難于忍受的，不過這只是順便說說而已。
“人們都說，”斯丘頓夫人傻笑著說道，“我生活中十全十美的的珍珠伊迪絲像我。我相信，我們確實(shí)是相像的?！?BR> “世界上有一個人永遠(yuǎn)也不會承認(rèn)有誰能像你，夫人，”少校說，“這個人的名字就是老喬·白格斯托克?！?BR> 克利奧佩特拉裝著要用扇子打破馬*精的腦袋，但卻又發(fā)了慈悲心，對他微笑著，繼續(xù)說道：
“如果我迷人的女兒繼承了我的什么優(yōu)點(diǎn)的話，壞東西！”壞東西是指少校，“那么她也繼承了我的傻脾氣。她有著強(qiáng)烈的性格——人們說我的性格也是很強(qiáng)烈的，雖然我不相信——，但是她一旦被感動了，她是極容易動心和敏感的。當(dāng)我看到她憔悴下去的時候，我的心情是什么滋味?。∷喼币?dú)Я宋??！?BR> 少校向前伸出他的雙下巴，表示安慰地噘著發(fā)青的嘴唇，假裝出極為深切的同情。
“我們之間存在的信任：心靈的自由發(fā)展和思想感情的盡情傾吐，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“想起來真是動人。我們像是姐妹倆，而不像媽媽和女兒。”
“喬·白就有這樣的看法，”少校說道，“喬·白已講過五萬次了！”
“別插嘴，粗魯?shù)娜?！”克利奧佩特拉說，“當(dāng)我發(fā)現(xiàn)有一個問題我們避開不談的時候，我的心情是什么滋味?。≡谖覀冎虚g懸隔著一道——該叫什么——鴻溝。我的天真樸實(shí)的伊迪絲要變成我的模樣了！自然，這是最沉痛難忍的心情?！?BR> 少校離開他的椅子，坐到挨近小桌子的那一張中。
“一天又一天，我看到了這一點(diǎn)，我親愛的少校，”斯丘頓夫人繼續(xù)說道，“一天又一天，我感覺到了這一點(diǎn)。一小時又一小時，我責(zé)備自己，過分的信任，過分的無猜無疑，它已造成了如此痛苦的結(jié)果；差不多一分鐘又一分鐘，我希望董貝先生會自己來解釋，并解除我遭受的痛苦，這痛苦真使我精疲力竭。但是什么也沒有發(fā)生，我親愛的少校。我深深地悔恨——小心別打破咖啡杯子，你這笨手笨腳的人——我最親愛的伊迪絲是個已經(jīng)改變了的人；我實(shí)在不知道該怎么辦，也不知道我可以跟哪位好人商量?！?BR> 斯丘頓夫人曾經(jīng)好多次采用，現(xiàn)在終于完全采用了溫柔和信任的語氣，白格斯托克少校也許受到這種語氣的鼓勵，就把手伸過小桌子，斜眼看著說道：
“跟喬商量吧，夫人?！?BR> “既然這樣，你這討厭的怪物，”克利奧佩特拉把一只手遞給少校，用另一只手中拿著的扇子輕輕地敲打他的指節(jié)，說道，“你為什么不跟我談?wù)?？你知道我指的是什么。為什么你不跟我談?wù)勥@方面的事？”
少校哈哈大笑，吻了吻她伸給他的手，又連連不停地哈哈大笑。
“董貝先生是不是像我所認(rèn)為的心地真誠善良的人？”有氣無力的克利奧佩特拉親切地說道，“你認(rèn)為他是真心實(shí)意的嗎？我親愛的少校？你認(rèn)為需要跟他說說還是聽他自便？現(xiàn)在請告訴我，親愛的人，你的意見怎么樣？”
“我們要不要讓他去跟伊迪絲·格蘭杰結(jié)婚呢，夫人？”少校聲音嘶啞地吃吃笑道。
“莫名其妙的東西！”克利奧佩特拉舉起扇子去打少校的鼻子，說道，“我們怎么能讓他去結(jié)婚？”
“我說，夫人，我們要不要讓他去跟伊迪絲·格蘭杰結(jié)婚？”少校又吃吃地笑道。
斯丘頓夫人沒有答話，而是十分調(diào)皮、十分快活地向少校微笑著；這位好色的軍官認(rèn)為這是對自己的挑引，本想在她非常紅的嘴唇上印上一個親吻的，可是她卻以十分可愛的、少女般的敏捷勁兒，用扇子擋住了。她這么做，也許是由于羞怯，但也許是由于她害怕嘴唇上涂染上的色澤會受到損害。
“夫人，”少校說道，“董貝是個人人想開采的金礦。”
“啊，你這滿身銅臭的勢利小人！”克利奧佩特拉輕輕地尖聲喊道，“真叫我毛骨悚然?！?BR> “夫人，”少校伸長脖子，睜大眼睛，繼續(xù)說道，“董貝是真心實(shí)意的。約瑟夫這樣說；白格斯托克知道這一點(diǎn)。喬·白正把他引到這一步。聽?wèi){董貝自己去吧，夫人。董貝是穩(wěn)能到手的。你就跟過去一樣行事好了，不要別的。請相信喬·白會把事情辦到底的?！?BR> “你真的這樣想嗎，我親愛的少校？”克利奧佩特拉問道。她雖然是一副沒精打采的姿態(tài)，但卻很機(jī)警、很敏銳地逼視著他。
“絕對是真的，夫人，”少?；卮鸬?，“世上無雙的克利奧佩特拉和她的安東尼·白格斯托克在伊迪絲·董貝富麗堂皇的公館中享受財(cái)富時，將會經(jīng)常得意揚(yáng)揚(yáng)地談到這一點(diǎn)。夫人，董貝的左右手，”少校在吃吃的笑聲中突然停住，一本正經(jīng)地說道，“已經(jīng)到這里來了?！?BR> “今天早上？”克利奧佩特拉問道。
“今天早上，夫人，”少?；卮鸬溃岸愒?jīng)焦急地等待著他的來到，夫人，這說明了——請相信喬·白的話，因?yàn)閱淌悄Ч戆憬苹娜?，”少校輕輕地敲打著自己的鼻子，并瞇縫著一只眼睛，這并沒有改善他天生的美容，“這說明了董貝希望他得知這個消息，不用他告訴他或跟他商量。因?yàn)椋蛉?，”少校說，“董貝就跟魔王一樣驕傲?！?BR> “這是個可愛的性格，”斯丘頓夫人吐字不清地說道，“它使人想起了我最親愛的伊迪絲?！?BR> “唔，夫人，”少校說，“我已經(jīng)作出了一些暗示，那位左右手明白了，我將再作出一些暗示，直到那天來到為止。董貝今天早上建議明天乘車到沃里克城堡①和凱尼爾沃思②去游覽，動身之前先跟我們一起吃早飯。我是替他來送請柬的。您肯不肯賞光，夫人？”少校說，當(dāng)他取出一張短箋時，他臉上揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意，露出狡猾的神氣，氣都喘不過來；這張短箋是煩請白格斯托克少校轉(zhuǎn)交給尊敬的斯丘頓夫人的；在這張短箋中，她的永遠(yuǎn)忠實(shí)的保羅·董貝懇求她和她和藹可親的、多才多藝的女兒同意參加這次建議中的游覽。在附言中，這同一位永遠(yuǎn)忠實(shí)的保羅·董貝請求她向格蘭杰夫人轉(zhuǎn)致他的問候。
--------
①沃里克（Warwick）：英格蘭沃里克郡的一個城鎮(zhèn)，以古城堡；該城堡規(guī)模宏大，結(jié)構(gòu)完整，收藏有精美繪畫和兵器。
②凱尼爾沃思（Kenilworth）：也是英格蘭沃里克郡的一個城鎮(zhèn)。
“別說話！”克利奧佩特拉突然說道，“伊迪絲！”
這位可愛的母親在發(fā)出這個驚叫聲之后又重新裝出那副沒有精神、裝腔作勢的神態(tài)，這種情景簡直是不可能描寫的；因?yàn)樗龔膩頉]有拋開過這個神態(tài)，大概除了墳?zāi)怪?，不論在其他任何地方她都不想，也不可能拋開這個神態(tài)的。但是她在臉孔、聲音或神態(tài)中曾經(jīng)在片刻間暴露出她曾經(jīng)認(rèn)真懷有一種目的或微弱地承認(rèn)她懷有那個目的（不論這目的是高尚的或邪惡的），而當(dāng)伊迪絲走進(jìn)房間的時候，她就急急忙忙地驅(qū)除掉她曾一時暴露出的所有這些神色的任何陰影，懶洋洋地斜靠在長沙發(fā)上，又是原先那極為沒精打采和有氣無力的神態(tài)。
伊迪絲十分美麗和莊嚴(yán)，但卻又十分冷淡和拒人于千里之外。她對白格斯托克少校幾乎沒打招呼，向母親敏銳地看了一眼之后，把一個窗子的窗簾拉開，在窗前坐下，望著外面。
“我最親愛的伊迪絲，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“你這些時候待在哪里？我多么想看到你呀，我親愛的?！?BR> “你剛才說你有事，所以我就沒進(jìn)來，”她頭也不回地回答道。
“這對老喬太殘酷無情了，夫人，”少校以他特有的殷勤說道。
“是很殘酷無情，我知道，”她仍然望著外面，說道，說話時不動聲色，十分傲慢；少校十分狼狽，想不出什么話來回答。
“我親愛的伊迪絲，”她的母親慢聲慢氣地說道，“你知道，白格斯托克少校總的來說，是世界上最沒用、最討厭的人——”
“媽媽，完全不必采用這種講話方式，”伊迪絲回過頭來說道，“這里就我們?nèi)齻€人。我們彼此了解?！?BR> 她俊俏的臉上平平靜靜地顯露出的輕蔑表情（對她自己的輕蔑顯然并不比對他們的少）十分強(qiáng)烈和深刻，因此她母親原先發(fā)出的傻笑，盡管是習(xí)慣性的，也不得不在這種表情前頃刻間從唇邊消失了。
“我親愛的女兒，”她又開始說道。
“還不是個女人嗎？”伊迪絲微笑著說道。
“你今天多么古怪，我親愛的！請讓我說，我的寶貝，白格斯托克少校替董貝先生送來了十分客氣的請柬，建議我們明天和他一起吃早飯，然后乘車去沃里克和肯尼爾沃思。你去嗎，伊迪絲？”
“我去嗎！”她重復(fù)著說道，她回過頭來看母親時，臉孔漲得通紅，并急促地呼吸著。
“我
'Your most obedient, Sir,' said the Major. 'Damme, Sir, a friend of my friend Dombey's is a friend of mine, and I'm glad to see you!'
'I am infinitely obliged, Carker,' explained Mr Dombey, 'to Major Bagstock, for his company and conversation. 'Major Bagstock has rendered me great service, Carker.'
Mr Carker the Manager, hat in hand, just arrived at Leamington, and just introduced to the Major, showed the Major his whole double range of teeth, and trusted he might take the liberty of thanking him with all his heart for having effected so great an Improvement in Mr Dombey's looks and spirits'
'By Gad, Sir,' said the Major, in reply, 'there are no thanks due to me, for it's a give and take affair. A great creature like our friend Dombey, Sir,' said the Major, lowering his voice, but not lowering it so much as to render it inaudible to that gentleman, 'cannot help improving and exalting his friends. He strengthens and invigorates a man, Sir, does Dombey, in his moral nature.'
Mr Carker snapped at the expression. In his moral nature. Exactly. The very words he had been on the point of suggesting.
'But when my friend Dombey, Sir,' added the Major, 'talks to you of Major Bagstock, I must crave leave to set him and you right. He means plain Joe, Sir - Joey B. - Josh. Bagstock - Joseph- rough and tough Old J., Sir. At your service.'
Mr Carker's excessively friendly inclinations towards the Major, and Mr Carker's admiration of his roughness, toughness, and plainness, gleamed out of every tooth in Mr Carker's head.
'And now, Sir,' said the Major, 'you and Dombey have the devil's own amount of business to talk over.'
'By no means, Major,' observed Mr Dombey.
'Dombey,' said the Major, defiantly, 'I know better; a man of your mark - the Colossus of commerce - is not to be interrupted. Your moments are precious. We shall meet at dinner-time. In the interval, old Joseph will be scarce. The dinner-hour is a sharp seven, Mr Carker.'
With that, the Major, greatly swollen as to his face, withdrew; but immediately putting in his head at the door again, said:
'I beg your pardon. Dombey, have you any message to 'em?'
Mr Dombey in some embarrassment, and not without a glance at the courteous keeper of his business confidence, entrusted the Major with his compliments.
'By the Lord, Sir,' said the Major, 'you must make it something warmer than that, or old Joe will be far from welcome.'
'Regards then, if you will, Major,' returned Mr Dombey.
'Damme, Sir,' said the Major, shaking his shoulders and his great cheeks jocularly: 'make it something warmer than that.'
'What you please, then, Major,' observed Mr Dombey.
'Our friend is sly, Sir, sly, Sir, de-vilish sly,' said the Major, staring round the door at Carker. 'So is Bagstock.' But stopping in the midst of a chuckle, and drawing himself up to his full height, the Major solemnly exclaimed, as he struck himself on the chest, 'Dombey! I envy your feelings. God bless you!' and withdrew.
'You must have found the gentleman a great resource,' said Carker, following him with his teeth.
'Very great indeed,' said Mr Dombey.
'He has friends here, no doubt,' pursued Carker. 'I perceive, from what he has said, that you go into society here. Do you know,' smiling horribly, 'I am so very glad that you go into society!'
Mr Dombey acknowledged this display of interest on the part of his second in command, by twirling his watch-chain, and slightly moving his head.
'You were formed for society,' said Carker. 'Of all the men I know, you are the best adapted, by nature and by position, for society. Do you know I have been frequently amazed that you should have held it at arm's length so long!'
'I have had my reasons, Carker. I have been alone, and indifferent to it. But you have great social qualifications yourself, and are the more likely to have been surprised.'
'Oh! I!' returned the other, with ready self-disparagement. 'It's quite another matter in the case of a man like me. I don't come into comparison with you.'
Mr Dombey put his hand to his neckcloth, settled his chin in it, coughed, and stood looking at his faithful friend and servant for a few moments in silence.
'I shall have the pleasure, Carker,' said Mr Dombey at length: making as if he swallowed something a little too large for his throat: 'to present you to my - to the Major's friends. Highly agreeable people.'
'Ladies among them, I presume?' insinuated the smooth Manager.
'They are all - that is to say, they are both - ladies,' replied Mr Dombey.
'Only two?' smiled Carker.
'They are only two. I have confined my visits to their residence, and have made no other acquaintance here.'
'Sisters, perhaps?' quoth Carker.
'Mother and daughter,' replied Mr Dombey.
As Mr Dombey dropped his eyes, and adjusted his neckcloth again, the smiling face of Mr Carker the Manager became in a moment, and without any stage of transition, transformed into a most intent and frowning face, scanning his closely, and with an ugly sneer. As Mr Dombey raised his eyes, it changed back, no less quickly, to its old expression, and showed him every gum of which it stood possessed.
'You are very kind,' said Carker, 'I shall be delighted to know them. Speaking of daughters, I have seen Miss Dombey.'
There was a sudden rush of blood to Mr Dombey's face.
'I took the liberty of waiting on her,' said Carker, 'to inquire if she could charge me with any little commission. I am not so fortunate as to be the bearer of any but her - but her dear love.'
Wolf's face that it was then, with even the hot tongue revealing itself through the stretched mouth, as the eyes encountered Mr Dombey's!
'What business intelligence is there?' inquired the latter gentleman, after a silence, during which Mr Carker had produced some memoranda and other papers.
'There is very little,' returned Carker. 'Upon the whole we have not had our usual good fortune of late, but that is of little moment to you. At Lloyd's, they give up the Son and Heir for lost. Well, she was insured, from her keel to her masthead.'
'Carker,' said Mr Dombey, taking a chair near him, 'I cannot say that young man, Gay, ever impressed me favourably
'Nor me,' interposed the Manager.
'But I wish,' said Mr Dombey, without heeding the interruption, 'he had never gone on board that ship. I wish he had never been sent out.
'It is a pity you didn't say so, in good time, is it not?' retorted Carker, coolly. 'However, I think it's all for the best. I really, think it's all for the best. Did I mention that there was something like a little confidence between Miss Dombey and myself?'
'No,' said Mr Dombey, sternly.
'I have no doubt,' returned Mr Carker, after an impressive pause, 'that wherever Gay is, he is much better where he is, than at home here. If I were, or could be, in your place, I should be satisfied of that. I am quite satisfied of it myself. Miss Dombey is confiding and young - perhaps hardly proud enough, for your daughter - if she have a fault. Not that that is much though, I am sure. Will you check these balances with me?'
Mr Dombey leaned back in his chair, instead of bending over the papers that were laid before him, and looked the Manager steadily in the face. The Manager, with his eyelids slightly raised, affected to be glancing at his figures, and to await the leisure of his principal. He showed that he affected this, as if from great delicacy, and with a design to spare Mr Dombey's feelings; and the latter, as he looked at him, was cognizant of his intended consideration, and felt that but for it, this confidential Carker would have said a great deal more, which he, Mr Dombey, was too proud to ask for. It was his way in business, often. Little by little, Mr Dombey's gaze relaxed, and his attention became diverted to the papers before him; but while busy with the occupation they afforded him, he frequently stopped, and looked at Mr Carker again. Whenever he did so, Mr Carker was demonstrative, as before, in his delicacy, and impressed it on his great chief more and more.
While they were thus engaged; and under the skilful culture of the Manager, angry thoughts in reference to poor Florence brooded and bred in Mr Dombey's breast, usurping the place of the cold dislike that generally reigned there; Major Bagstock, much admired by the old ladies of Leamington, and followed by the Native, carrying the usual amount of light baggage, straddled along the shady side of the way, to make a morning call on Mrs Skewton. It being midday when the Major reached the bower of Cleopatra, he had the good fortune to find his Princess on her usual sofa, languishing over a cup of coffee, with the room so darkened and shaded for her more luxurious repose, that Withers, who was in attendance on her, loomed like a phantom page.
'What insupportable creature is this, coming in?' said Mrs Skewton, 'I cannot hear it. Go away, whoever you are!'
'You have not the heart to banish J. B., Ma'am!' said the Major halting midway, to remonstrate, with his cane over his shoulder.
'Oh it's you, is it? On second thoughts, you may enter,' observed Cleopatra.
The Major entered accordingly, and advancing to the sofa pressed her charming hand to his lips.
'Sit down,' said Cleopatra, listlessly waving her fan, 'a long way off. Don't come too near me, for I am frightfully faint and sensitive this morning, and you smell of the Sun. You are absolutely tropical.'
'By George, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'the time has been when Joseph Bagstock has been grilled and blistered by the Sun; then time was, when he was forced, Ma'am, into such full blow, by high hothouse heat in the West Indies, that he was known as the Flower. A man never heard of Bagstock, Ma'am, in those days; he heard of the Flower - the Flower of Ours. The Flower may have faded, more or less, Ma'am,' observed the Major, dropping into a much nearer chair than had been indicated by his cruel Divinity, 'but it is a tough plant yet, and constant as the evergreen.'
Here the Major, under cover of the dark room, shut up one eye, rolled his head like a Harlequin, and, in his great self-satisfaction, perhaps went nearer to the confines of apoplexy than he had ever gone before.
'Where is Mrs Granger?' inquired Cleopatra of her page.
Withers believed she was in her own room.
'Very well,' said Mrs Skewton. 'Go away, and shut the door. I am engaged.'
As Withers disappeared, Mrs Skewton turned her head languidly towards the Major, without otherwise moving, and asked him how his friend was.
'Dombey, Ma'am,' returned the Major, with a facetious gurgling in his throat, 'is as well as a man in his condition can be. His condition is a desperate one, Ma'am. He is touched, is Dombey! Touched!' cried the Major. 'He is bayonetted through the body.'
Cleopatra cast a sharp look at the Major, that contrasted forcibly with the affected drawl in which she presently said:
'Major Bagstock, although I know but little of the world, - nor can I really regret my experience, for I fear it is a false place, full of withering conventionalities: where Nature is but little regarded, and where the music of the heart, and the gushing of the soul, and all that sort of thing, which is so truly poetical, is seldom heard, - I cannot misunderstand your meaning. There is an allusion to Edith - to my extremely dear child,' said Mrs Skewton, tracing the outline of her eyebrows with her forefinger, 'in your words, to which the tenderest of chords vibrates excessively.'
'Bluntness, Ma'am,' returned the Major, 'has ever been the characteristic of the Bagstock breed. You are right. Joe admits it.'
'And that allusion,' pursued Cleopatra, 'would involve one of the most - if not positively the most - touching, and thrilling, and sacred emotions of which our sadly-fallen nature is susceptible, I conceive.'
The Major laid his hand upon his lips, and wafted a kiss to Cleopatra, as if to identify the emotion in question.
'I feel that I am weak. I feel that I am wanting in that energy, which should sustain a Mama: not to say a parent: on such a subject,' said Mrs Skewton, trimming her lips with the laced edge of her pocket-handkerchief; 'but I can hardly approach a topic so excessively momentous to my dearest Edith without a feeling of faintness. Nevertheless, bad man, as you have boldly remarked upon it, and as it has occasioned me great anguish:' Mrs Skewton touched her left side with her fan: 'I will not shrink from my duty.'
The Major, under cover of the dimness, swelled, and swelled, and rolled his purple face about, and winked his lobster eye, until he fell into a fit of wheezing, which obliged him to rise and take a turn or two about the room, before his fair friend could proceed.
'Mr Dombey,' said Mrs Skewton, when she at length resumed, 'was obliging enough, now many weeks ago, to do us the honour of visiting us here; in company, my dear Major, with yourself. I acknowledge - let me be open - that it is my failing to be the creature of impulse, and to wear my heart as it were, outside. I know my failing full well. My enemy cannot know it better. But I am not penitent; I would rather not be frozen by the heartless world, and am content to bear this imputation justly.'
Mrs Skewton arranged her tucker, pinched her wiry throat to give it a soft surface, and went on, with great complacency.
'It gave me (my dearest Edith too, I am sure) infinite pleasure to receive Mr Dombey. As a friend of yours, my dear Major, we were naturally disposed to be prepossessed in his favour; and I fancied that I observed an amount of Heart in Mr Dombey, that was excessively refreshing.'
'There is devilish little heart in Dombey now, Ma'am,' said the Major.
'Wretched man!' cried Mrs Skewton, looking at him languidly, 'pray be silent.'
'J. B. is dumb, Ma'am,' said the Major.
'Mr Dombey,' pursued Cleopatra, smoothing the rosy hue upon her cheeks, 'accordingly repeated his visit; and possibly finding some attraction in the simplicity and primitiveness of our tastes - for there is always a charm in nature - it is so very sweet - became one of our little circle every evening. Little did I think of the awful responsibility into which I plunged when I encouraged Mr Dombey - to -
'To beat up these quarters, Ma'am,' suggested Major Bagstock.
'Coarse person! 'said Mrs Skewton, 'you anticipate my meaning, though in odious language.
Here Mrs Skewton rested her elbow on the little table at her side, and suffering her wrist to droop in what she considered a graceful and becoming manner, dangled her fan to and fro, and lazily admired her hand while speaking.
'The agony I have endured,' she said mincingly, 'as the truth has by degrees dawned upon me, has been too exceedingly terrific to dilate upon. My whole existence is bound up in my sweetest Edith; and to see her change from day to day - my beautiful pet, who has positively garnered up her heart since the death of that most delightful creature, Granger - is the most affecting thing in the world.'
Mrs Skewton's world was not a very trying one, if one might judge of it by the influence of its most affecting circumstance upon her; but this by the way.
'Edith,' simpered Mrs Skewton, 'who is the perfect pearl of my life, is said to resemble me. I believe we are alike.'
'There is one man in the world who never will admit that anyone resembles you, Ma'am,' said the Major; 'and that man's name is Old Joe Bagstock.'
Cleopatra made as if she would brain the flatterer with her fan, but relenting, smiled upon him and proceeded:
'If my charming girl inherits any advantages from me, wicked one!': the Major was the wicked one: 'she inherits also my foolish nature. She has great force of character - mine has been said to be immense, though I don't believe it - but once moved, she is susceptible and sensitive to the last extent. What are my feelings when I see her pining! They destroy me.
The Major advancing his double chin, and pursing up his blue lips into a soothing expression, affected the profoundest sympathy.
'The confidence,' said Mrs Skewton, 'that has subsisted between us - the free development of soul, and openness of sentiment - is touching to think of. We have been more like sisters than Mama and child.'
'J. B.'s own sentiment,' observed the Major, 'expressed by J. B. fifty thousand times!'
'Do not interrupt, rude man!' said Cleopatra. 'What are my feelings, then, when I find that there is one subject avoided by us! That there is a what's-his-name - a gulf - opened between us. That my own artless Edith is changed to me! They are of the most poignant description, of course.'
The Major left his chair, and took one nearer to the little table.
'From day to day I see this, my dear Major,' proceeded Mrs Skewton. 'From day to day I feel this. From hour to hour I reproach myself for that excess of faith and trustfulness which has led to such distressing consequences; and almost from minute to minute, I hope that Mr Dombey may explain himself, and relieve the torture I undergo, which is extremely wearing. But nothing happens, my dear Major; I am the slave of remorse - take care of the coffee-cup: you are so very awkward - my darling Edith is an altered being; and I really don't see what is to be done, or what good creature I can advise with.'
Major Bagstock, encouraged perhaps by the softened and confidential tone into which Mrs Skewton, after several times lapsing into it for a moment, seemed now to have subsided for good, stretched out his hand across the little table, and said with a leer,
'Advise with Joe, Ma'am.'
'Then, you aggravating monster,' said Cleopatra, giving one hand to the Major, and tapping his knuckles with her fan, which she held in the other: 'why don't you talk to me? you know what I mean. Why don't you tell me something to the purpose?'
The Major laughed, and kissed the hand she had bestowed upon him, and laughed again immensely.
'Is there as much Heart in Mr Dombey as I gave him credit for?' languished Cleopatra tenderly. 'Do you think he is in earnest, my dear Major? Would you recommend his being spoken to, or his being left alone? Now tell me, like a dear man, what would you advise.'
'Shall we marry him to Edith Granger, Ma'am?' chuckled the Major, hoarsely.
'Mysterious creature!' returned Cleopatra, bringing her fan to bear upon the Major's nose. 'How can we marry him?'
'Shall we marry him to Edith Granger, Ma'am, I say?' chuckled the Major again.
Mrs Skewton returned no answer in words, but smiled upon the Major with so much archness and vivacity, that that gallant officer considering himself challenged, would have imprinted a kiss on her exceedingly red lips, but for her interposing the fan with a very winning and juvenile dexterity. It might have been in modesty; it might have been in apprehension of some danger to their bloom.
'Dombey, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'is a great catch.'
'Oh, mercenary wretch!' cried Cleopatra, with a little shriek, 'I am shocked.'
'And Dombey, Ma'am,' pursued the Major, thrusting forward his head, and distending his eyes, 'is in earnest. Joseph says it; Bagstock knows it; J. B. keeps him to the mark. Leave Dombey to himself, Ma'am. Dombey is safe, Ma'am. Do as you have done; do no more; and trust to J. B. for the end.'
'You really think so, my dear Major?' returned Cleopatra, who had eyed him very cautiously, and very searchingly, in spite of her listless bearing.
'Sure of it, Ma'am,' rejoined the Major. 'Cleopatra the peerless, and her Antony Bagstock, will often speak of this, triumphantly, when sharing the elegance and wealth of Edith Dombey's establishment. Dombey's right-hand man, Ma'am,' said the Major, stopping abruptly in a chuckle, and becoming serious, 'has arrived.'
'This morning?' said Cleopatra.
'This morning, Ma'am,' returned the Major. 'And Dombey's anxiety for his arrival, Ma'am, is to be referred - take J. B.'s word for this; for Joe is devilish sly' - the Major tapped his nose, and screwed up one of his eyes tight: which did not enhance his native beauty - 'to his desire that what is in the wind should become known to him' without Dombey's telling and consulting him. For Dombey is as proud, Ma'am,' said the Major, 'as Lucifer.'
'A charming quality,' lisped Mrs Skewton; 'reminding one of dearest Edith.'
'Well, Ma'am,' said the Major. 'I have thrown out hints already, and the right-hand man understands 'em; and I'll throw out more, before the day is done. Dombey projected this morning a ride to Warwick Castle, and to Kenilworth, to-morrow, to be preceded by a breakfast with us. I undertook the delivery of this invitation. Will you honour us so far, Ma'am?' said the Major, swelling with shortness of breath and slyness, as he produced a note, addressed to the Honourable Mrs Skewton, by favour of Major Bagstock, wherein hers ever faithfully, Paul Dombey, besought her and her amiable and accomplished daughter to consent to the proposed excursion; and in a postscript unto which, the same ever faithfully Paul Dombey entreated to be recalled to the remembrance of Mrs Granger.
'Hush!' said Cleopatra, suddenly, 'Edith!'
The loving mother can scarcely be described as resuming her insipid and affected air when she made this exclamation; for she had never cast it off; nor was it likely that she ever would or could, in any other place than in the grave. But hurriedly dismissing whatever shadow of earnestness, or faint confession of a purpose, laudable or wicked, that her face, or voice, or manner: had, for the moment, betrayed, she lounged upon the couch, her most insipid and most languid self again, as Edith entered the room.
Edith, so beautiful and stately, but so cold and so repelling. Who, slightly acknowledging the presence of Major Bagstock, and directing a keen glance at her mother, drew back the from a window, and sat down there, looking out.
'My dearest Edith,' said Mrs Skewton, 'where on earth have you been? I have wanted you, my love, most sadly.'
'You said you were engaged, and I stayed away,' she answered, without turning her head.
'It was cruel to Old Joe, Ma'am,' said the Major in his gallantry.
'It was very cruel, I know,' she said, still looking out - and said with such calm disdain, that the Major was discomfited, and could think of nothing in reply.
'Major Bagstock, my darling Edith,' drawled her mother, 'who is generally the most useless and disagreeable creature in the world: as you know - '
'It is surely not worthwhile, Mama,' said Edith, looking round, 'to observe these forms of speech. We are quite alone. We know each other.'
The quiet scorn that sat upon her handsome face - a scorn that evidently lighted on herself, no less than them - was so intense and deep, that her mother's simper, for the instant, though of a hardy constitution, drooped before it.
'My darling girl,' she began again.
'Not woman yet?' said Edith, with a smile.
'How very odd you are to-day, my dear! Pray let me say, my love, that Major Bagstock has brought the kindest of notes from Mr Dombey, proposing that we should breakfast with him to-morrow, and ride to Warwick and Kenilworth. Will you go, Edith?'
'Will I go!' she repeated, turning very red, and breathing quickly as she looked round at her mother.
'I knew you would, my own, observed the latter carelessly. 'It is, as you say, quite a form to ask. Here is Mr Dombey's letter, Edith.'
'Thank you. I have no desire to read it,' was her answer.
'Then perhaps I had better answer it myself,' said Mrs Skewton, 'though I had thought of asking you to be my secretary, darling.' As Edith made no movement, and no answer, Mrs Skewton begged the Major to wheel her little table nearer, and to set open the desk it contained, and to take out pen and paper for her; all which congenial offices of gallantry the Major discharged, with much submission and devotion.
'Your regards, Edith, my dear?' said Mrs Skewton, pausing, pen in hand, at the postscript.
'What you will, Mama,' she answered, without turning her head, and with supreme indifference.
Mrs Skewton wrote what she would, without seeking for any more explicit directions, and handed her letter to the Major, who receiving it as a precious charge, made a show of laying it near his heart, but was fain to put it in the pocket of his pantaloons on account of the insecurity of his waistcoat The Major then took a very polished and chivalrous farewell of both ladies, which the elder one acknowledged in her usual manner, while the younger, sitting with her face addressed to the window, bent her head so slightly that it would have been a greater compliment to the Major to have made no sign at all, and to have left him to infer that he had not been heard or thought of.
'As to alteration in her, Sir,' mused the Major on his way back; on which expedition - the afternoon being sunny and hot - he ordered the Native and the light baggage to the front, and walked in the shadow of that expatriated prince: 'as to alteration, Sir, and pining, and so forth, that won't go down with Joseph Bagstock, None of that, Sir. It won't do here. But as to there being something of a division between 'em - or a gulf as the mother calls it - damme, Sir, that seems true enough. And it's odd enough! Well, Sir!' panted the Major, 'Edith Granger and Dombey are well matched; let 'em fight it out! Bagstock backs the winner!'
The Major, by saying these latter words aloud, in the vigour of his thoughts, caused the unhappy Native to stop, and turn round, in the belief that he was personally addressed. Exasperated to the last degree by this act of insubordination, the Major (though he was swelling with enjoyment of his own humour, at the moment of its occurrence instantly thrust his cane among the Native's ribs, and continued to stir him up, at short intervals, all the way to the hotel.
Nor was the Major less exasperated as he dressed for dinner, during which operation the dark servant underwent the pelting of a shower of miscellaneous objects, varying in size from a boot to a hairbrush, and including everything that came within his master's reach. For the Major plumed himself on having the Native in a perfect state of drill, and visited the least departure from strict discipline with this kind of fatigue duty. Add to this, that he maintained the Native about his person as a counter-irritant against the gout, and all other vexations, mental as well as bodily; and the Native would appear to have earned his pay - which was not large.
At length, the Major having disposed of all the missiles that were convenient to his hand, and having called the Native so many new names as must have given him great occasion to marvel at the resources of the English language, submitted to have his cravat put on; and being dressed, and finding himself in a brisk flow of spirits after this exercise, went downstairs to enliven 'Dombey' and his right-hand man.
Dombey was not yet in the room, but the right-hand man was there, and his dental treasures were, as usual, ready for the Major.
'Well, Sir!' said the Major. 'How have you passed the time since I had the happiness of meeting you? Have you walked at all?'
'A saunter of barely half an hour's duration,' returned Carker. 'We have been so much occupied.'
'Business, eh?' said the Major.
'A variety of little matters necessary to be gone through,' replied Carker. 'But do you know - this is quite unusual with me, educated in a distrustful school, and who am not generally disposed to be communicative,' he said, breaking off, and speaking in a charming tone of frankness - 'but I feel quite confidential with you, Major Bagstock.'
'You do me honour, Sir,' returned the Major. 'You may be.'
'Do you know, then,' pursued Carker, 'that I have not found my friend - our friend, I ought rather to call him - '
'Meaning Dombey, Sir?' cried the Major. 'You see me, Mr Carker, standing here! J. B.?'
He was puffy enough to see, and blue enough; and Mr Carker intimated the he had that pleasure.
'Then you see a man, Sir, who would go through fire and water to serve Dombey,' returned Major Bagstock.
Mr Carker smiled, and said he was sure of it. 'Do you know, Major,' he proceeded: 'to resume where I left off' that I have not found our friend so attentive to business today, as usual?'
'No?' observed the delighted Major.
'I have found him a little abstracted, and with his attention disposed to wander,' said Carker.
'By Jove, Sir,' cried the Major, 'there's a lady in the case.'
'Indeed, I begin to believe there really is,' returned Carker; 'I thought you might be jesting when you seemed to hint at it; for I know you military men -
The Major gave the horse's cough, and shook his head and shoulders, as much as to say, 'Well! we are gay dogs, there's no denying.' He then seized Mr Carker by the button-hole, and with starting eyes whispered in his ear, that she was a woman of extraordinary charms, Sir. That she was a young widow, Sir. That she was of a fine family, Sir. That Dombey was over head and ears in love with her, Sir, and that it would be a good match on both sides; for she had beauty, blood, and talent, and Dombey had fortune; and what more could any couple have? Hearing Mr Dombey's footsteps without, the Major cut himself short by saying, that Mr Carker would see her tomorrow morning, and would judge for himself; and between his mental excitement, and the exertion of saying all this in wheezy whispers, the Major sat gurgling in the throat and watering at the eyes, until dinner was ready.
The Major, like some other noble animals, exhibited himself to great advantage at feeding-time. On this occasion, he shone resplendent at one end of the table, supported by the milder lustre of Mr Dombey at the other; while Carker on one side lent his ray to either light, or suffered it to merge into both, as occasion arose.
During the first course or two, the Major was usually grave; for the Native, in obedience to general orders, secretly issued, collected every sauce and cruet round him, and gave him a great deal to do, in taking out the stoppers, and mixing up the contents in his plate. Besides which, the Native had private zests and flavours on a side-table, with which the Major daily scorched himself; to say nothing of strange machines out of which he spirited unknown liquids into the Major's drink. But on this occasion, Major Bagstock, even amidst these many occupations, found time to be social; and his sociality consisted in excessive slyness for the behoof of Mr Carker, and the betrayal of Mr Dombey's state of mind.
'Dombey,' said the Major, 'you don't eat; what's the matter?'
'Thank you,' returned the gentleman, 'I am doing very well; I have no great appetite today.'
'Why, Dombey, what's become of it?' asked the Major. 'Where's it gone? You haven't left it with our friends, I'll swear, for I can answer for their having none to-day at luncheon. I can answer for one of 'em, at least: I won't say which.'
Then the Major winked at Carker, and became so frightfully sly, that his dark attendant was obliged to pat him on the back, without orders, or he would probably have disappeared under the table.
In a later stage of the dinner: that is to say, when the Native stood at the Major's elbow ready to serve the first bottle of champagne: the Major became still slyer.
'Fill this to the brim, you scoundrel,' said the Major, holding up his glass. 'Fill Mr Carker's to the brim too. And Mr Dombey's too. By Gad, gentlemen,' said the Major, winking at his new friend, while Mr Dombey looked into his plate with a conscious air, 'we'll consecrate this glass of wine to a Divinity whom Joe is proud to know, and at a distance humbly and reverently to admire. Edith,' said the Major, 'is her name; angelic Edith!'
'To angelic Edith!' cried the smiling Carker.
'Edith, by all means,' said Mr Dombey.
The entrance of the waiters with new dishes caused the Major to be slyer yet, but in a more serious vein. 'For though among ourselves, Joe Bagstock mingles jest and earnest on this subject, Sir,' said the Major, laying his finger on his lips, and speaking half apart to Carker, 'he holds that name too sacred to be made the property of these fellows, or of any fellows. Not a word!, Sir' while they are here!'
This was respectful and becoming on the Major's part, and Mr Dombey plainly felt it so. Although embarrassed in his own frigid way, by the Major's allusions, Mr Dombey had no objection to such rallying, it was clear, but rather courted it. Perhaps the Major had been pretty near the truth, when he had divined that morning that the great man who was too haughty formally to consult with, or confide in his prime minister, on such a matter, yet wished him to be fully possessed of it. Let this be how it may, he often glanced at Mr Carker while the Major plied his light artillery, and seemed watchful of its effect upon him.
But the Major, having secured an attentive listener, and a smiler who had not his match in all the world - 'in short, a devilish intelligent and able fellow,' as he often afterwards declared - was not going to let him off with a little slyness personal to Mr Dombey. Therefore, on the removal of the cloth, the Major developed himself as a choice spirit in the broader and more comprehensive range of narrating regimental stories, and cracking regimental jokes, which he did with such prodigal exuberance, that Carker was (or feigned to be) quite exhausted with laughter and admiration: while Mr Dombey looked on over his starched cravat, like the Major's proprietor, or like a stately showman who was glad to see his bear dancing well.
When the Major was too hoarse with meat and drink, and the display of his social powers, to render himself intelligible any longer, they adjourned to coffee. After which, the Major inquired of Mr Carker the Manager, with little apparent hope of an answer in the affirmative, if he played picquet.
'Yes, I play picquet a little,' said Mr Carker.
'Backgammon, perhaps?' observed the Major, hesitating.
'Yes, I play backgammon a little too,' replied the man of teeth.
'Carker plays at all games, I believe,' said Mr Dombey, laying himself on a sofa like a man of wood, without a hinge or a joint in him; 'and plays them well.'
In sooth, he played the two in question, to such perfection, that the Major was astonished, and asked him, at random, if he played chess.
'Yes, I play chess a little,' answered Carker. 'I have sometimes played, and won a game - it's a mere trick - without seeing the board.'
'By Gad, Sir!' said the Major, staring, 'you are a contrast to Dombey, who plays nothing.'
'Oh! He!' returned the Manager. 'He has never had occasion to acquire such little arts. To men like me, they are sometimes useful. As at present, Major Bagstock, when they enable me to take a hand with you.'
It might be only the false mouth, so smooth and wide; and yet there seemed to lurk beneath the humility and subserviency of this short speech, a something like a snarl; and, for a moment, one might have thought that the white teeth were prone to bite the hand they fawned upon. But the Major thought nothing about it; and Mr Dombey lay meditating with his eyes half shut, during the whole of the play, which lasted until bed-time.
By that time, Mr Carker, though the winner, had mounted high into the Major's good opinion, insomuch that when he left the Major at his own room before going to bed, the Major as a special attention, sent the Native - who always rested on a mattress spread upon the ground at his master's door - along the gallery, to light him to his room in state.
There was a faint blur on the surface of the mirror in Mr Carker's chamber, and its reflection was, perhaps, a false one. But it showed, that night, the image of a man, who saw, in his fancy, a crowd of people slumbering on the ground at his feet, like the poor Native at his master's door: who picked his way among them: looking down, maliciously enough: but trod upon no upturned face - as yet.
“我是您最順從的仆人，先生，”少校說道，“他媽的，先生，我的朋友董貝先生的朋友就是我的朋友。我很高興見到您。”
“卡克，”董貝先生解釋道，“白格斯托克少校陪同我游覽，跟我交談，我對他無限感激。白格斯托克少校給我?guī)土撕艽蟮拿?，卡克。?BR> 經(jīng)理卡克先生手中握著帽子，剛剛到達(dá)萊明頓，并剛剛被介紹給少校；他向少校顯露出上下兩排的全部牙齒，說他相信，他能不揣冒昧地衷心感謝他在改善董貝先生的神色和精神上取得了十分顯著的效果。
“說實(shí)在的，先生，”少校回答道，“用不著感謝我，因?yàn)檫@是件雙方相互受益的事情。像我們的朋友董貝這樣一位偉大的人物，先生，”少校放低了嗓門說道，但是沒有低到使那位先生聽不到，“他總是在無意之間就能促使他的朋友進(jìn)步，變得高尚起來的，先生；他——董貝先生增強(qiáng)和激勵著一個人的道德本性?！?BR> 卡克先生對這些話連聲贊同。他增強(qiáng)和激勵著一個人的道德本性，正是這樣！這正是他就要脫口說出的話。
“但是，先生，”少校接著說道，“當(dāng)我的朋友董貝跟您談到白格斯托克少校時，我卻必須懇求允許我把他和您糾正糾正。他指的是直率的喬，先生——喬埃·白——喬?！ぐ赘袼雇锌恕s瑟夫——粗魯和堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的老喬，先生。我愿為您效勞。”
卡克先生對少校極為友好的態(tài)度，以及卡克先生對他粗魯、堅(jiān)強(qiáng)和直率的贊賞，都從卡克先生的每顆牙齒中閃現(xiàn)出來。
“現(xiàn)在，先生，”少校說道，“您和董貝有好多好多的事情要商量啦?！?BR> “不，不，少校，”董貝先生說道。
“董貝，”少校堅(jiān)決不同意地說道，“我很明白，像您這樣杰出的人物——商業(yè)界的巨子，是不應(yīng)該受到打擾的。您的每一秒鐘都是寶貴的。我們吃晚飯的時候再見吧。在這段時間里，老約瑟夫就避開了?？讼壬?，吃晚飯的時間是七點(diǎn)正?！?BR> 少校說完這些話之后，臉上露出極為揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意的表情，離開了。但他立即又在門口探進(jìn)頭來說：
“請?jiān)?，董貝，您有什么話需要我轉(zhuǎn)告她們的？”
董貝先生有點(diǎn)不好意思，向那位殷勤有禮、掌握了他的商業(yè)秘密的人稍稍看了一眼，然后拜托少校向她們轉(zhuǎn)致他的問候。
“哎呀，先生”少校說，“您得說點(diǎn)更熱情的話才好呢，要不老喬就不會受到熱烈的歡迎了?！?BR> “那么，少校，就請向她們轉(zhuǎn)致我的敬意吧！”董貝先生回答道。
“他媽的，先生，”少校滑稽地?fù)u晃著他的肩膀和肥厚的雙頰，說道，“您得表示更熱情一些才好呵。”
“那么，少校，您愛說什么就說什么吧，”董貝先生說道。
“我們的朋友是狡猾的，先生，狡猾的，魔鬼一般的狡猾，”少校在門口轉(zhuǎn)過頭來直盯著卡克，說道，“白格斯托克也是這樣，”但是少校在吃吃笑著的中間停了下來，伸直了身子，拍拍胸膛，莊重地說道，“董貝，我真羨慕您的感情，上帝保佑您！”然后他離開了。
“您一定覺得這位先生是一位很能開心解悶的人，”卡克先生在他的身后露出牙齒，說道。
“確實(shí)是這樣，”董貝先生說道。
“他在這里無疑是有朋友的，”卡克先生繼續(xù)說道，“我從他的話中知道，您在這里經(jīng)常參加社交活動；您可知道，”他令人討厭地微笑著，“您經(jīng)常參加社交活動，我真是高興極了?！?BR> 董貝先生捻轉(zhuǎn)著表鏈子，并輕輕地?fù)u晃著腦袋，對這位地位僅次于他的助手所顯示的關(guān)心表示感謝。
“您生來就是屬于社會的人，”卡克說道，“在我所認(rèn)識的人們當(dāng)中，從性格和地位來說，您都是最適合于進(jìn)入社會開展活動的。您可知道，您過去竟這么長久地和社會保持著一定距離，我一直感到驚奇！”
“我有我的理由，卡克。我是個獨(dú)立門戶，不求助于他人的人，所以我對社會漠不關(guān)心，但是您本人是位有出色社交才能的人，因此就更容易感到驚奇了?！?BR> “哦，我！”那一位敏捷地用自我貶低的口吻回答道，“像我這樣的人那是完全另外一碼事。我根本不能和您相比?！?BR> 董貝先生把手伸向領(lǐng)帶，下巴縮在里面，咳嗽了一聲，然后站在那里，向他忠實(shí)的朋友和奴仆默默地看了幾秒鐘。
“卡克，”董貝先生終于說道，他這時的表情就仿佛是咽下對他的喉嚨有些過大的什么東西似的，“我將高興把您介紹給我的——介紹給少校的朋友們。她們是很使人感到愉快的人們?！?BR> “我想他們當(dāng)中也有女士吧，”圓滑的經(jīng)理旁敲側(cè)擊地問道。
“他們?nèi)?，——就是說，她們兩人全是女士，”董貝先生回答道。
“只有兩人嗎？”卡克笑嘻嘻地問道。
“只有兩人。我在這里只是到她們的住所里去拜訪過，沒有結(jié)識其他什么人?！?BR> “也許是姐妹倆吧？”卡克問道。
“母親和女兒，”董貝先生回答道。
董貝先生低下眼睛，又把領(lǐng)帶整整好，這時候經(jīng)理卡克先生笑嘻嘻的臉容，沒有經(jīng)過任何過渡階段，突然一下子轉(zhuǎn)變成目不轉(zhuǎn)睛、皺眉蹙額的臉容，眼光全神貫注地細(xì)細(xì)觀察著董貝先生的臉，并露出丑惡的譏笑。當(dāng)董貝先生抬起眼睛的時候，卡克先生的臉孔又以同樣敏捷的速度恢復(fù)了原來的表情，向他露出全部牙床。
“謝謝您的好意，”卡克說道，“我將高興認(rèn)識她們。說到女兒，使我想起，我見到過董貝小姐呢。”
血流突然涌上了董貝先生的臉。
“我冒昧地去看望了她，”卡克說道，“問她有什么事要交我辦的，可是很不幸，除了——除了她的親切的愛之外，我沒能給她帶來別的東西。”
這真像狼一般的臉孔??！當(dāng)他的眼光碰到了董貝先生的眼光時，從他張開的嘴巴中甚至可以看到那火熱的舌頭！
“公司里的業(yè)務(wù)情況怎么樣？”那一位先生沉默了一會兒之后問道；在沉默的時間中，卡克先生取出了一些便函和其他文件、票據(jù)。
“生意很清淡，”卡克回答道，“總的來說，我們最近運(yùn)氣不像往常那樣好，不過這對于您來說沒什么要緊。勞埃德商船協(xié)會①認(rèn)為‘兒子和繼承人’已經(jīng)沉沒了。幸好它從龍骨到桅頂都是保了險(xiǎn)的?！?BR> --------
①勞埃德商船協(xié)會：倫敦當(dāng)時經(jīng)營海上保險(xiǎn)業(yè)和船舶檢查注冊的一個團(tuán)體。
“卡克，”董貝先生把一把椅子移近身邊，說道，“我不能說那位年輕人蓋伊曾給我留下好印象?！?BR> “也沒有給我留下好印象，”經(jīng)理插話道。
“可是，”董貝先生沒有注意到他的插話，繼續(xù)說道，“我真愿他當(dāng)初沒有乘這條船，當(dāng)初沒有派他去就好了?！?BR> “真可惜，您當(dāng)初沒早講，是吧？”卡克冷冷地回答道，“不過，我想，到頭來這倒會是件好事。我確實(shí)認(rèn)為，到頭來這倒會是件好事。我跟您說過沒有，董貝小姐與我本人相互間還有著一點(diǎn)類似信任的關(guān)系呢？”
“沒有，”董貝先生嚴(yán)厲地說道。
“我毫不懷疑，”卡克在一段令人難忘的沉默之后繼續(xù)說道，“不論蓋伊現(xiàn)在在什么地方，他待在那個地方總比在這里待在家中要好得多。如果我處在，或者能處在您的地位的話，我將對這種情況感到滿意。我本人是很滿意的。董貝小姐年輕，輕信，如果她有什么缺點(diǎn)的話，那就是，作為您的女兒，也許還不夠高傲。當(dāng)然，這算不了什么。您跟我核對一下這些帳目好嗎？”
董貝先生沒有彎下身子去看那些攤在面前的帳單，而是往后仰靠在椅子中，目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地看著這位經(jīng)理的臉。經(jīng)理眼皮稍稍抬起一點(diǎn)，假裝看著數(shù)字，而不去催促他的老板。他毫不掩飾他是出于對董貝先生體帖入微和有意不傷害他的感情才假裝成這樣子的；董貝先生坐在那里看著他的時候，明白他是有意關(guān)照他；他覺得，如果不是為了這一點(diǎn)，這位深受他信任的卡克本會說出更多更多的話的，但是董貝先生太高傲了，他不會請求他說。他在業(yè)務(wù)上也經(jīng)常這樣。董貝先生的眼光逐漸松弛下來，他的注意力開始轉(zhuǎn)移到面前的票據(jù)上面；但是他在埋頭研究的過程中經(jīng)常停下來，重新看著卡克先生；每當(dāng)他這樣做的時候；卡克先生就像先前一樣，表露出他的殷勤，給他的老板留下了愈來愈深刻的印象。
他們就這樣忙著業(yè)務(wù)；在經(jīng)理的巧妙的引導(dǎo)下，董貝先生心中對可憐的弗洛倫斯產(chǎn)生和滋長著憤怒的思想，它正取代著往常對她冷酷的厭惡；就正在這些時候，被萊明頓老太太們所稱頌的白格斯托克少校，正沿著街道有蔭影的一邊邁著步子，去向斯丘頓夫人進(jìn)行一次上午的拜訪；本地人手里拿著那些通常的隨身用品，跟隨在他后面；當(dāng)少校到達(dá)克利奧佩特拉的閨房時，正是中午，所以他幸運(yùn)地看到他的女王像平時一樣坐在沙發(fā)上，有氣無力地面對著一杯咖啡；為了使她能得到舒適的休息，房間被窗簾遮蔽得十分陰暗，在她身旁侍候的威瑟斯就像一個侍童的幽靈一樣，朦朧不明地浮現(xiàn)出身形。
“什么討厭的東西進(jìn)來了？”斯丘頓夫人說道，“我不能容忍它。不管你是誰，快滾開！”
“夫人，您不會忍心把喬·白攆走的！”少校在中途停下，*道，手杖掛在他的肩膀上。
“啊，是你呀，是嗎？好吧，我改變主意，可以讓你進(jìn)來。”
克利奧佩特拉說道。
于是，少校就走進(jìn)來，到了沙發(fā)旁邊，把她可愛的手壓到他的嘴唇上。
“坐吧，”克利奧佩特拉沒精打采地?fù)u著扇子，說道，“坐得遠(yuǎn)些，不要太挨近我，因?yàn)榻裉煜挛缥姨撊醯靡杏X非常靈敏。你身上有一股太陽氣。你簡直就跟從熱帶跑來的人一樣?！?BR> “確實(shí)，夫人，”少校說道，“過去有一段時候，約瑟夫·白格斯托克曾經(jīng)被太陽炙烤過，燙出過水泡；那時候，夫人，在西印度群島溫室般炎熱的氣溫下，他不由得不茁壯成長；當(dāng)時大家都以花這個外號來稱呼他。在那些日子里，夫人，誰也不知道白格斯托克，但大家都知道花——我們的花?；ìF(xiàn)在多少有些枯萎了，夫人，”少校說道，一邊坐到一張椅子里，他比他殘酷的神所指定的那張椅子要近好多，“可是它仍然是一株頑強(qiáng)的植物，就像常綠樹一樣四季長青?！?BR> 這時少校在房間黑暗光線的掩護(hù)下，閉上一只眼睛，像啞劇中的丑角一樣搖晃著腦袋，他在揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意之中也許比過去任何時候都更接近于中風(fēng)的邊緣。
“格蘭杰夫人在哪里？”克利奧佩特拉問她的童仆。
威瑟斯說，他猜想她在她自己的房間里。
“很好，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“你出去吧，把門關(guān)上，我有事。”
威瑟斯走開以后，斯丘頓夫人身體沒有移動，只是有氣無力地把頭轉(zhuǎn)向少校，問他，他的朋友怎么樣？
“夫人，”少校喉嚨里滑稽地發(fā)出咕嘟咕嘟的聲音，回答道，“就一個處在他這種境況中的人來說，董貝總算還不錯。夫人，他目前的情況已到了危急萬分的地步。他神魂顛倒了！董貝，他已經(jīng)神魂顛倒了！”少校喊道，“他已經(jīng)被刺傷得體無完膚了。”
克利奧佩特拉向少校敏銳地看了一眼，這和她接著講話時假裝的慢聲慢氣形成了鮮明的對照。
“白格斯托克少校，雖然我對世界了解得很少，（我對我缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)并不真正感到遺憾，因?yàn)槲覔?dān)心這世界是個虛偽的地方，充滿了使人難受的陳規(guī)舊習(xí)；這里，大自然受到輕視，也很少聽到心的音樂，心靈的表露，以及所有那些富于真正詩意的東西），可是我不會誤會你話中的含意。你的話是暗指伊迪絲——我無比親愛的孩子。”斯丘頓夫人用食指沿著眉毛移動著，說道，“你的這些話使最溫柔的心弦在有力地顫動！”
“夫人，”少?；卮鸬?，“坦率一直是白格斯托克家族的特點(diǎn)。您的話說對了。喬承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)?！?BR> “你所暗指的這一點(diǎn)，”克利奧佩特拉繼續(xù)說道，“將會涉及我們可悲地墮落的本性很容易產(chǎn)生的那最令人感動的、最驚心動魄的和最神圣的情感，至少也是這些美的情感中的一種?！?BR> 少校把手放到嘴唇上，向克利奧佩特拉送去一個飛吻，仿佛要指明這正是她所談到的情感。
“我覺得我虛弱無力。我覺得我缺乏在這種時刻應(yīng)該能支持住一位母親——不說是一個家長的精力，”斯丘頓夫人用她手絹飾有花邊的邊緣抹了抹嘴唇，說道，“但是在談到這個對我最親愛的伊迪絲非常重要的問題時，我不能不感覺到要昏過去似的。不過話說回來，壞家伙，既然你已經(jīng)大膽地提到了它，既然它已經(jīng)造成我極度的痛苦，”斯丘頓夫人用扇子觸了觸她的左脅，“我將不會逃避我的責(zé)任?！?BR> 少校在陰暗光線的掩護(hù)下，躊躇滿志，得意揚(yáng)揚(yáng)，來回?fù)u晃著他那發(fā)青的臉，并眨著龍蝦眼，直到后來他呼哧呼哧地一陣陣喘起氣來，因此在他的女朋友能繼續(xù)說話之前，他不得不站起身來，在房間里轉(zhuǎn)了一、兩圈。
“董貝先生十分客氣，”斯丘頓夫人終于恢復(fù)了說話能力之后，說道，“好多個星期之前跟你，我親愛的少校，一道到這里來拜訪我們，使我們感到光榮之至。我承認(rèn)——請?jiān)试S我坦率地說——，我是個易受沖動的人，可以說，我的心就好像亮在外面似的。我對我的弱點(diǎn)知道得清清楚楚。我的敵人也不能比我知道得更清楚?？墒俏也⒉缓蠡冢晃覍幙喜灰槐錈o情的世界凍僵，對這責(zé)怪我倒是心安理得，處之泰然的?！?BR> 斯丘頓夫人整了整領(lǐng)子，捏了捏瘦削的喉嚨，使它表面光滑些，然后十分揚(yáng)揚(yáng)自得地繼續(xù)說道：
“我接待董貝先生感到無比高興（我相信，我最親愛的伊迪絲也一樣）。作為你的一個朋友，我親愛的少校，我們很自然地事先就對他產(chǎn)生了好感。我覺得，我看到董貝先生充滿了善良的心意，這是使人極能振奮精神的?！?BR> “董貝先生現(xiàn)在什么心也沒有了，夫人，”少校說道。
“壞蛋！”斯丘頓夫人沒精打采地看著他說，“請別吱聲！”
“喬·白一個字也不說了，夫人，”少校說道。
“董貝先生后來就不斷到這里來拜訪，”克利奧佩特拉揉平臉頰上的紅粉，繼續(xù)說道，“也許是發(fā)現(xiàn)我們純樸和自然的風(fēng)格中有什么吸引力吧——因?yàn)樵谧匀恢锌偸怯幸环N魅力的——它是很引人入勝的——，他成了我們每天晚上小小聚會中的一員。當(dāng)初我決沒想到我會背負(fù)起這可怕的責(zé)任，那時候我鼓勵董貝先生——”
“上這里來隨便串串門，夫人，”白格斯托克少校提示說。
“粗野的人！”斯丘頓夫人說，“你猜對了我的意思，但使用了討厭的語言?！?BR> 這時斯丘頓夫人把胳膊肘擱在身邊的一張小桌子上，用她認(rèn)為優(yōu)美和合適的姿態(tài)垂下手腕，懸吊著扇子來回?cái)[動，一邊說話一邊贊賞著她自己的手。
“當(dāng)我逐漸明白真相的時候，”她裝腔作勢地說道，“我所忍受過的痛苦真是太可怕了，我不想去細(xì)細(xì)說它；我的整個一生都跟我最親愛的伊迪絲緊密地聯(lián)系在一起；我美麗的寶貝孩子，自從那極討人喜歡的人兒格蘭杰死去以后，她簡直把心也給掩藏起來了；看到她的容顏一天天地改變，真是世界上最令人傷心的事情?！?BR> 如果人們從那最傷心的痛苦對斯丘頓夫人所產(chǎn)生的影響來判斷的話，那么她的世界并不是很難于忍受的，不過這只是順便說說而已。
“人們都說，”斯丘頓夫人傻笑著說道，“我生活中十全十美的的珍珠伊迪絲像我。我相信，我們確實(shí)是相像的?！?BR> “世界上有一個人永遠(yuǎn)也不會承認(rèn)有誰能像你，夫人，”少校說，“這個人的名字就是老喬·白格斯托克?！?BR> 克利奧佩特拉裝著要用扇子打破馬*精的腦袋，但卻又發(fā)了慈悲心，對他微笑著，繼續(xù)說道：
“如果我迷人的女兒繼承了我的什么優(yōu)點(diǎn)的話，壞東西！”壞東西是指少校，“那么她也繼承了我的傻脾氣。她有著強(qiáng)烈的性格——人們說我的性格也是很強(qiáng)烈的，雖然我不相信——，但是她一旦被感動了，她是極容易動心和敏感的。當(dāng)我看到她憔悴下去的時候，我的心情是什么滋味?。∷喼币?dú)Я宋??！?BR> 少校向前伸出他的雙下巴，表示安慰地噘著發(fā)青的嘴唇，假裝出極為深切的同情。
“我們之間存在的信任：心靈的自由發(fā)展和思想感情的盡情傾吐，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“想起來真是動人。我們像是姐妹倆，而不像媽媽和女兒。”
“喬·白就有這樣的看法，”少校說道，“喬·白已講過五萬次了！”
“別插嘴，粗魯?shù)娜?！”克利奧佩特拉說，“當(dāng)我發(fā)現(xiàn)有一個問題我們避開不談的時候，我的心情是什么滋味?。≡谖覀冎虚g懸隔著一道——該叫什么——鴻溝。我的天真樸實(shí)的伊迪絲要變成我的模樣了！自然，這是最沉痛難忍的心情?！?BR> 少校離開他的椅子，坐到挨近小桌子的那一張中。
“一天又一天，我看到了這一點(diǎn)，我親愛的少校，”斯丘頓夫人繼續(xù)說道，“一天又一天，我感覺到了這一點(diǎn)。一小時又一小時，我責(zé)備自己，過分的信任，過分的無猜無疑，它已造成了如此痛苦的結(jié)果；差不多一分鐘又一分鐘，我希望董貝先生會自己來解釋，并解除我遭受的痛苦，這痛苦真使我精疲力竭。但是什么也沒有發(fā)生，我親愛的少校。我深深地悔恨——小心別打破咖啡杯子，你這笨手笨腳的人——我最親愛的伊迪絲是個已經(jīng)改變了的人；我實(shí)在不知道該怎么辦，也不知道我可以跟哪位好人商量?！?BR> 斯丘頓夫人曾經(jīng)好多次采用，現(xiàn)在終于完全采用了溫柔和信任的語氣，白格斯托克少校也許受到這種語氣的鼓勵，就把手伸過小桌子，斜眼看著說道：
“跟喬商量吧，夫人?！?BR> “既然這樣，你這討厭的怪物，”克利奧佩特拉把一只手遞給少校，用另一只手中拿著的扇子輕輕地敲打他的指節(jié)，說道，“你為什么不跟我談?wù)?？你知道我指的是什么。為什么你不跟我談?wù)勥@方面的事？”
少校哈哈大笑，吻了吻她伸給他的手，又連連不停地哈哈大笑。
“董貝先生是不是像我所認(rèn)為的心地真誠善良的人？”有氣無力的克利奧佩特拉親切地說道，“你認(rèn)為他是真心實(shí)意的嗎？我親愛的少校？你認(rèn)為需要跟他說說還是聽他自便？現(xiàn)在請告訴我，親愛的人，你的意見怎么樣？”
“我們要不要讓他去跟伊迪絲·格蘭杰結(jié)婚呢，夫人？”少校聲音嘶啞地吃吃笑道。
“莫名其妙的東西！”克利奧佩特拉舉起扇子去打少校的鼻子，說道，“我們怎么能讓他去結(jié)婚？”
“我說，夫人，我們要不要讓他去跟伊迪絲·格蘭杰結(jié)婚？”少校又吃吃地笑道。
斯丘頓夫人沒有答話，而是十分調(diào)皮、十分快活地向少校微笑著；這位好色的軍官認(rèn)為這是對自己的挑引，本想在她非常紅的嘴唇上印上一個親吻的，可是她卻以十分可愛的、少女般的敏捷勁兒，用扇子擋住了。她這么做，也許是由于羞怯，但也許是由于她害怕嘴唇上涂染上的色澤會受到損害。
“夫人，”少校說道，“董貝是個人人想開采的金礦。”
“啊，你這滿身銅臭的勢利小人！”克利奧佩特拉輕輕地尖聲喊道，“真叫我毛骨悚然?！?BR> “夫人，”少校伸長脖子，睜大眼睛，繼續(xù)說道，“董貝是真心實(shí)意的。約瑟夫這樣說；白格斯托克知道這一點(diǎn)。喬·白正把他引到這一步。聽?wèi){董貝自己去吧，夫人。董貝是穩(wěn)能到手的。你就跟過去一樣行事好了，不要別的。請相信喬·白會把事情辦到底的?！?BR> “你真的這樣想嗎，我親愛的少校？”克利奧佩特拉問道。她雖然是一副沒精打采的姿態(tài)，但卻很機(jī)警、很敏銳地逼視著他。
“絕對是真的，夫人，”少?；卮鸬?，“世上無雙的克利奧佩特拉和她的安東尼·白格斯托克在伊迪絲·董貝富麗堂皇的公館中享受財(cái)富時，將會經(jīng)常得意揚(yáng)揚(yáng)地談到這一點(diǎn)。夫人，董貝的左右手，”少校在吃吃的笑聲中突然停住，一本正經(jīng)地說道，“已經(jīng)到這里來了?！?BR> “今天早上？”克利奧佩特拉問道。
“今天早上，夫人，”少?；卮鸬溃岸愒?jīng)焦急地等待著他的來到，夫人，這說明了——請相信喬·白的話，因?yàn)閱淌悄Ч戆憬苹娜?，”少校輕輕地敲打著自己的鼻子，并瞇縫著一只眼睛，這并沒有改善他天生的美容，“這說明了董貝希望他得知這個消息，不用他告訴他或跟他商量。因?yàn)椋蛉?，”少校說，“董貝就跟魔王一樣驕傲?！?BR> “這是個可愛的性格，”斯丘頓夫人吐字不清地說道，“它使人想起了我最親愛的伊迪絲?！?BR> “唔，夫人，”少校說，“我已經(jīng)作出了一些暗示，那位左右手明白了，我將再作出一些暗示，直到那天來到為止。董貝今天早上建議明天乘車到沃里克城堡①和凱尼爾沃思②去游覽，動身之前先跟我們一起吃早飯。我是替他來送請柬的。您肯不肯賞光，夫人？”少校說，當(dāng)他取出一張短箋時，他臉上揚(yáng)揚(yáng)得意，露出狡猾的神氣，氣都喘不過來；這張短箋是煩請白格斯托克少校轉(zhuǎn)交給尊敬的斯丘頓夫人的；在這張短箋中，她的永遠(yuǎn)忠實(shí)的保羅·董貝懇求她和她和藹可親的、多才多藝的女兒同意參加這次建議中的游覽。在附言中，這同一位永遠(yuǎn)忠實(shí)的保羅·董貝請求她向格蘭杰夫人轉(zhuǎn)致他的問候。
--------
①沃里克（Warwick）：英格蘭沃里克郡的一個城鎮(zhèn)，以古城堡；該城堡規(guī)模宏大，結(jié)構(gòu)完整，收藏有精美繪畫和兵器。
②凱尼爾沃思（Kenilworth）：也是英格蘭沃里克郡的一個城鎮(zhèn)。
“別說話！”克利奧佩特拉突然說道，“伊迪絲！”
這位可愛的母親在發(fā)出這個驚叫聲之后又重新裝出那副沒有精神、裝腔作勢的神態(tài)，這種情景簡直是不可能描寫的；因?yàn)樗龔膩頉]有拋開過這個神態(tài)，大概除了墳?zāi)怪?，不論在其他任何地方她都不想，也不可能拋開這個神態(tài)的。但是她在臉孔、聲音或神態(tài)中曾經(jīng)在片刻間暴露出她曾經(jīng)認(rèn)真懷有一種目的或微弱地承認(rèn)她懷有那個目的（不論這目的是高尚的或邪惡的），而當(dāng)伊迪絲走進(jìn)房間的時候，她就急急忙忙地驅(qū)除掉她曾一時暴露出的所有這些神色的任何陰影，懶洋洋地斜靠在長沙發(fā)上，又是原先那極為沒精打采和有氣無力的神態(tài)。
伊迪絲十分美麗和莊嚴(yán)，但卻又十分冷淡和拒人于千里之外。她對白格斯托克少校幾乎沒打招呼，向母親敏銳地看了一眼之后，把一個窗子的窗簾拉開，在窗前坐下，望著外面。
“我最親愛的伊迪絲，”斯丘頓夫人說道，“你這些時候待在哪里？我多么想看到你呀，我親愛的?！?BR> “你剛才說你有事，所以我就沒進(jìn)來，”她頭也不回地回答道。
“這對老喬太殘酷無情了，夫人，”少校以他特有的殷勤說道。
“是很殘酷無情，我知道，”她仍然望著外面，說道，說話時不動聲色，十分傲慢；少校十分狼狽，想不出什么話來回答。
“我親愛的伊迪絲，”她的母親慢聲慢氣地說道，“你知道，白格斯托克少校總的來說，是世界上最沒用、最討厭的人——”
“媽媽，完全不必采用這種講話方式，”伊迪絲回過頭來說道，“這里就我們?nèi)齻€人。我們彼此了解?！?BR> 她俊俏的臉上平平靜靜地顯露出的輕蔑表情（對她自己的輕蔑顯然并不比對他們的少）十分強(qiáng)烈和深刻，因此她母親原先發(fā)出的傻笑，盡管是習(xí)慣性的，也不得不在這種表情前頃刻間從唇邊消失了。
“我親愛的女兒，”她又開始說道。
“還不是個女人嗎？”伊迪絲微笑著說道。
“你今天多么古怪，我親愛的！請讓我說，我的寶貝，白格斯托克少校替董貝先生送來了十分客氣的請柬，建議我們明天和他一起吃早飯，然后乘車去沃里克和肯尼爾沃思。你去嗎，伊迪絲？”
“我去嗎！”她重復(fù)著說道，她回過頭來看母親時，臉孔漲得通紅，并急促地呼吸著。
“我