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第47章

little dorrit-信丽(英文版)-第47章

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it……numbers of children and young people; blooming women; strong men;
and what not; have been cut down and carried; and still here are you;
you see; not much changed after all。 Your time and mine may be a long
one yet。 When I say for ever; I mean (though I am not poetical) through
all our time。' Mr Flintwinch gave this explanation with great calmness;
and calmly waited for an answer。

'So long as Little Dorrit is quiet and industrious; and stands in need
of the slight help I can give her; and deserves it; so long; I suppose;
unless she withdraws of her own act; she will continue to e here; I
being spared。'

'Nothing more than that?' said Flintwinch; stroking his mouth and chin。

'What should there be more than that! What could there be more than
that!' she ejaculated in her sternly wondering way。

Mrs Flintwinch dreamed; that; for the space of a minute or two; they
remained looking at each other with the candle between them; and
that she somehow derived an impression that they looked at each other
fixedly。

'Do you happen to know; Mrs Clennam;' Affery's liege lord then demanded
in a much lower voice; and with an amount of expression that seemed
quite out of proportion to the simple purpose of his words; 'where she
lives?'

'No。'

'Would you……now; would you like to know?' said Jeremiah with a pounce as
if he had sprung upon her。

'If I cared to know; I should know already。 Could I not have asked her
any day?'

'Then you don't care to know?'

'I do not。'

Mr Flintwinch; having expelled a long significant breath said; with his
former emphasis; 'For I have accidentally……mind!……found out。'

'Wherever she lives;' said Mrs Clennam; speaking in one unmodulated hard
voice; and separating her words as distinctly as if she were reading
them off from separate bits of metal that she took up one by one; 'she
has made a secret of it; and she shall always keep her secret from me。'

'After all; perhaps you would rather not have known the fact; any how?'
said Jeremiah; and he said it with a twist; as if his words had e out
of him in his own wry shape。

'Flintwinch;' said his mistress and partner; flashing into a sudden
energy that made Affery start; 'why do you goad me? Look round this
room。 If it is any pensation for my long confinement within these
narrow limits……not that I plain of being afflicted; you know I never
plain of that……if it is any pensation to me for long confinement
to this room; that while I am shut up from all pleasant change I am also
shut up from the knowledge of some things that I may prefer to avoid
knowing; why should you; of all men; grudge me that belief?'

'I don't grudge it to you;' returned Jeremiah。

'Then say no more。 Say no more。 Let Little Dorrit keep her secret from
me; and do you keep it from me also。 Let her e and go; unobserved and
unquestioned。 Let me suffer; and let me have what alleviation belongs to
my condition。 Is it so much; that you torment me like an evil spirit?'

'I asked you a question。 That's all。'

'I have answered it。 So; say no more。 Say no more。' Here the sound of
the wheeled chair was heard upon the floor; and Affery's bell rang with
a hasty jerk。

More afraid of her husband at the moment than of the mysterious sound in
the kitchen; Affery crept away as lightly and as quickly as she could;
descended the kitchen stairs almost as rapidly as she had ascended them;
resumed her seat before the fire; tucked up her skirt again; and finally
threw her apron over her head。 Then the bell rang once more; and then
once more; and then kept on ringing; in despite of which importunate
summons; Affery still sat behind her apron; recovering her breath。

At last Mr Flintwinch came shuffling down the staircase into the
hall; muttering and calling 'Affery woman!' all the way。 Affery still
remaining behind her apron; he came stumbling down the kitchen stairs;
candle in hand; sidled up to her; twitched her apron off; and roused
her。

'Oh Jeremiah!' cried Affery; waking。 'What a start you gave me!'

'What have you been doing; iah。 'You've been rung
for fifty times。'

'Oh Jeremiah;' said Mistress Affery; 'I have been a…dreaming!'

Reminded of her former achievement in that way; Mr Flintwinch held the
candle to her head; as if he had some idea of lighting her up for the
illumination of the kitchen。

'Don't you know it's her tea…time?' he demanded with a vicious grin; and
giving one of the legs of Mistress Affery's chair a kick。

'Jeremiah? Tea…time? I don't know what's e to me。 But I got such a
dreadful turn; Jeremiah; before I went……off a…dreaming; that I think it
must be that。'

'Yoogh! Sleepy…Head!' said Mr Flintwinch; 'what are you talking about?'

'Such a strange noise; Jeremiah; and such a curious movement。 In the
kitchen here……just here。'

Jeremiah held up his light and looked at the blackened ceiling; held
down his light and looked at the damp stone floor; turned round with his
light and looked about at the spotted and blotched walls。

'Rats; cats; water; drains;' said Jeremiah。

Mistress Affery negatived each with a shake of her head。 'No; Jeremiah;
I have felt it before。 I have felt it up…stairs; and once on the
staircase as I was going from her room to ours in the night……a rustle
and a sort of trembling touch behind me。'

'Affery; my woman;' said Mr Flintwinch grimly; after advancing his nose
to that lady's lips as a test for the detection of spirituous liquors;
'if you don't get tea pretty quick; old woman; you'll bee sensible
of a rustle and a touch that'll send you flying to the other end of the
kitchen。'

This prediction stimulated Mrs Flintwinch to bestir herself; and to
hasten up…stairs to Mrs Clennam's chamber。 But; for all that; she now
began to entertain a settled conviction that there was something wrong
in the gloomy house。 Henceforth; she was never at peace in it after
daylight departed; and never went up or down stairs in the dark without
having her apron over her head; lest she should see something。

What with these ghostly apprehensions and her singular dreams; Mrs
Flintwinch fell that evening into a haunted state of mind; from which
it may be long before this present narrative descries any trace of her
recovery。 In the vagueness and indistinctness of all her new experiences
and perceptions; as everything about her was mysterious to herself she
began to be mysterious to others: and became as difficult to be made out
to anybody's satisfaction as she found the house and everything in it
difficult to make out to her own。

She had not yet finished preparing Mrs Clennam's tea; when the soft
knock came to the door which always announced Little Dorrit。 Mistress
Affery looked on at Little Dorrit taking off her homely bon in the
hall; and at Mr Flintwinch scraping his jaws and contemplating her in
silence; as expecting some wonderful consequence to ensue which would
frighten her out of her five wits or blow them all three to pieces。

After tea there came another knock at the door; announcing Arthur。
Mistress Affery went down to let him in; and he said on entering;
'Affery; I am glad it's you。 I want to ask you a question。' Affery
immediately replied; 'For goodness sake don't ask me nothing; Arthur! I
am frightened out of one half of my life; and dreamed out of the
other。 Don't ask me nothing! I don't know which is which; or what is
what!'……and immediately started away from him; and came near him no
more。

Mistress Affery having no taste for reading; and no sufficient light for
needlework in the subdued room; supposing her to have the inclination;
now sat every night in the dimness from which she had momentarily
emerged on the evening of Arthur Clennam's return; occupied with crowds
of wild speculations and suspicions respecting her mistress and her
husband and the noises in the house。 When the ferocious devotional
exercises were engaged in; these speculations would distract Mistress
Affery's eyes towards the door; as if she expected some dark form to
appear at those propitious moments; and make the party one too many。

Otherwise; Affery never said or did anything to attract the attention of
the two clever ones towards her in any marked degree; except on certain
occasions; generally at about the quiet hour towards bed…time; when she
would suddenly dart out of her dim corner; and whisper with a face of
terror to Mr Flintwinch; reading the paper near Mrs Clennam's little
table: 'There; jeremiah! Now! What's that noise?'

Then the noise; if there were any; would have ceased; and Mr Flintwinch
would snarl; turning upon her as if she had cut him down that moment
against his will; 'Affery; old woman; you shall have a dose; old woman;
such a dose! You have been dreaming again!'




CHAPTER 16。 Nobody's Weakness


The time being e for the reneeagles
family; Clennam; pursuant to contract made between himself and Mr
Meagles within the precincts of Bleeding Heart Yard; turned his face
on a certain Saturday towards Twickenham; where Mr Meagles had a
cottage…residence of his own。 The weather being fine and dry; and any
English road abounding in interest for him who had been so long away;
he sent his valise on by the coach; and set out t

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