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雙語(yǔ)·爐邊蟋蟀 第一聲

所屬教程:譯林版·爐邊蟋蟀

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2022年04月20日

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The kettle began it!Don't tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said.I know better.Mrs.Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she couldn't say which of them began it;but I say the kettle did.I ought to know, I hope!The kettle began it, full fve minutes by the little waxy-faced Dutch clock in the corner, before the Cricket uttered a chirp.

As if the clock hadn't fnished striking, and the convulsive little Hay-maker at the top of it, jerking away right and left with a scythe in front of a Moorish Palace, hadn't mowed down half an acre of imaginary grass before the Cricket joined in at all!

Why, I am not naturally positive. Every one knows that.I wouldn't set my own opinion against the opinion of Mrs.Peerybingle unless I were quite sure, on any account whatever.Nothing should induce me.But, this is a question of fact.And the fact is, that the kettle began it at least fve minutes before the Cricket gave any sign of being in existence.Contradict me, and I'll say ten.

Let me narrate exactly how it happened. I should have proceededto do so, in my very frst word, but for this plain consideration—if I am to tell a story I must begin at the beginning;and how is it possible to begin at the beginning, without beginning at the kettle?

It appeared as if there were a sort of match, or trial of skill, you must understand, between the kettle and the Cricket. And this is what led to it, and how it came about.

Mrs. Peerybingle, going out into the raw twilight, and clicking over the wet stones in a pair of pattens that worked innumerable rough impressions of the first proposition in Euclid all about the yard—Mrs.Peerybingle flled the kettle at the water butt.Presently returning, less the pattens(and a good deal less, for they were tall, and Mrs.Peerybingle was but short),she set the kettle on the fire.In doing which she lost her temper, or mislaid it for an instant;for, the water being uncomfortably cold, and in that slippy, slushy, sleety sort of state wherein it seems to penetrate through every kind of substance, patten rings included—had laid hold of Mrs.Peerybingle's toes, and even splashed her legs.And when we rather plume ourselves(with reason too)upon our legs, and keep ourselves particularly neat in point of stockings, we fnd this, for the moment, hard to bear.

Besides, the kettle was aggravating and obstinate. It wouldn't allow itself to be adjusted on the top bar;it wouldn't hear of accommodating itself kindly to the knobs of coal;it WOULD lean forward with a drunken air, and dribble, a very Idiot of a kettle, on the hearth.It was quarrelsome, and hissed and spluttered morosely at ;the fre.To sum up all, the lid, resisting Mrs.Peerybingle's fngers, frst of all turned topsy-turvy, and then, with an ingenious pertinacity deserving of a better cause, dived sideways in—down to the very bottom of the kettle.And the hull of the Royal George has never made half the monstrous resistance to coming out of the water which the lid of that kettle employed against Mrs.Peerybingle before she got it up again.

It looked sullen and pig-headed enough, even then;carrying its handle with an air of defance, and cocking its spout pertly and mockingly at Mrs. Peerybingle, as if it said,“I won't boil.Nothing shall induce me!”

But, Mrs. Peerybingle, with restored good humour, dusted her chubby little hands against each other, and sat down before the kettle laughing.Meantime, the jolly blaze uprose and fell, fashing and gleaming on the little Hay-maker at the top of the Dutch clock, until one might have thought he stood stock-still before the Moorish Palace, and nothing was in motion but the fame.

He was on the move, however;and had his spasms, two to the second, all right and regular. But his sufferings when the clock was going to strike were frightful to behold;and when a Cuckoo looked out of a trap-door in the Palace, and gave note six times, it shook him, each time, like a spectral voice—or like a something wiry plucking at his legs.

It was not until a violent commotion and a whirring noise among the weights and ropes below him had quite subsided thatthis terrifed Hay-maker became himself again. Nor was he startled without reason;for these rattling, bony skeletons of clocks are very disconcerting in their operation, and I wonder very much how any set of men, but most of all how Dutchmen, can have had a liking to invent them.There is a popular belief that Dutchmen love broad cases and much clothing for their own lower selves;and they might know better than to leave their clocks so very lank and unprotected, surely.

Now it was, you observe, that the kettle began to spend the evening. Now it was that the kettle, growing mellow and musical, began to have irrepressible gurglings in its throat, and to indulge in short vocal snorts, which it checked in the bud, as if it hadn't quite made up its mind yet to be good company.Now it was that after two or three such vain attempts to stife its convivial sentiments, it threw off all moroseness, all reserve, and burst into a stream of song so cosy and hilarious as never maudlin nightingale yet formed the least idea of.

So plain, too!Bless you, you might have understood it like a book—better than some books you and I could name, perhaps. With its warm breath gushing forth in a light cloud which merrily and gracefully ascended a few feet, then hung about the chimney corner as its own domestic Heaven, it trolled its song with that strong energy of cheerfulness, that its iron body hummed and stirred upon the fre;and the lid itself, the recently rebellious lid—such is the infuence of a bright example—performed a sort of jig, and clattered like a deaf ;and dumb young cymbal that had never known the use of its twin brother.

That this song of the kettle's was a song of invitation and welcome to somebody out of doors:to somebody at that moment coming on towards the snug small home and the crisp fre:there is no doubt whatever. Mrs.Peerybingle knew it perfectly, as she sat musing before the hearth.It's a dark night, sang the kettle, and the rotten leaves are lying by the way;and, above, all is mist and darkness, and, below, all is mire and clay;and there's only one relief in all the sad and murky air;and I don't know that it is one, for it's nothing but a glare;of deep and angry crimson, where the sun and wind together;set a brand upon the clouds for being guilty of such weather;and the widest open country is a long dull streak of black;and there’s hoar frost on the fnger-post, and thaw upon the track;and the ice it isn’t water, and the water isn’t free;and you couldn’t say that anything is what it ought to be;but he’s coming, coming, coming!—

And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in!with a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus;with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its size, as compared with the kettle;(size!you couldn't see it?。﹖hat, if it had then and there burst itself like an overcharged gun, if it had fallen a victim on the spot, and chirruped its little body into ffty pieces, it would have seemed a natural and inevitable consequence, for which it had expressly laboured.

The kettle had had the last of its solo performance. It perseveredwith undiminished ardour;but the Cricket took frst fddle, and kept it.Good Heaven, how it chirped!Its shrill, sharp, piercing voice resounded through the house, and seemed to twinkle in the outer darkness like a star.There was an indescribable little trill and tremble in it at its loudest, which suggested its being carried off its legs, and made to leap again, by its own intense enthusiasm.Yet they went very well together, the Cricket and the kettle.The burden of the song was still the same;and louder, louder, louder still, they sang it in their emulation.

The fair little listener—for fair she was, and young;though something of what is called the dumpling shape;but I don't myself object to that—lighted a candle, glanced at the Hay-maker on the top of the clock, who was getting in a pretty average crop of minutes;and looked out of the window, where she saw nothing, owing to the darkness, but her own face imaged in the glass. And my opinion is(and so would yours have been)that she might have looked a long way and seen nothing half so agreeable.When she came back, and sat down in her former seat, the Cricket and the kettle were still keeping it up, with a perfect fury of competition.The kettle's weak side clearly being that he didn't know when he was beat.

There was all the excitement of a race about it. Chirp, chirp, chirp!Cricket a mile ahead.Hum, hum, hum—m—m!Kettle making play in the distance, like a great top.Chirp, chirp, chirp!Cricket round the corner.Hum, hum, hum—m—m!Kettle sticking to him in his own way;no idea of giving in.Chirp, chirp, chirp!Cricket fresher ;than ever.Hum, hum, hum—m—m!Kettle slow and steady.Chirp, chirp, chirp!Cricket going in to fnish him.Hum, hum, hum—m—m!Kettle not to be fnished.Until at last they got so jumbled together, in the hurry-skurry, helter-skelter, of the match, that whether the kettle chirped and the Cricket hummed, or the Cricket chirped and the kettle hummed, or they both chirped and both hummed, it would have taken a clearer head than yours or mine to have decided with anything like certainty.But of this there is no doubt:that, the kettle and the Cricket, at one and the same moment, and by some power of amalgamation best known to themselves, sent, each, his freside song of comfort streaming into a ray of the candle that shone out through the window, and a long way down the lane.And this light, bursting on a certain person who, on the instant, approached towards it through the gloom, expressed the whole thing to him, literally in a twinkling, and cried,“Welcome home, old fellow!Welcome home, my boy!”

This end attained, the kettle, being dead beat, boiled over, and was taken off the fire. Mrs.Peerybingle then went running to the door, where, what with the wheels of a cart, the tramp of a horse, the voice of a man, the tearing in and out of an excited dog, and the surprising and mysterious appearance of a baby, there was soon the very What's-his-name to play.

Where the baby came from, or how Mrs. Peerybingle got hold of it in that fash of time, I don't know.But a live baby there was, in Mrs.Peerybingle's arms;and a pretty tolerable amount of prideshe seemed to have in it, when she was drawn gently to the fre, by a sturdy figure of a man, much taller and much older than herself, who had to stoop a long way down to kiss her.But she was worth the trouble.Six foot six, with the lumbago, might have done it.

“Oh goodness, John!”said Mrs. P..“What a state you're in with the weather!”

He was something the worse for it undeniably. The thick mist hung in clots upon his eyelashes like candied thaw;and, between the fog and fre together, there were rainbows in his very whiskers.

“Why, you see, Dot,”John made answer slowly, as he unrolled a shawl from about his throat, and warmed his hands;“it—it an't exactly summer weather. So no wonder.”

“I wish you wouldn't call me Dot, John. I don't like it,”said Mrs.Peerybingle:pouting in a way that clearly showed she DID like it very much.

“Why, what else are you?”returned John, looking down upon her with a smile, and giving her waist as light a squeeze as his huge hand and arm could give.“A dot and”—here he glanced at the baby—“a dot and carry—I won't say it, for fear I should spoil it;but I was very near a joke. I don't know as ever I was nearer.”

He was often near to something or other very clever, by his own account:this lumbering, slow, honest John;this John so heavy, but so light of spirit;so rough upon the surface, but so gentle at the core;so dull without, so quick within;so stolid, but so good!Oh, Mother Nature, give thy children the true poetry of heart that hid itself in this ;poor Carrier's breast—he was but a Carrier, by the way—and we can bear to have them talking prose, and leading lives of prose;and bear to bless thee for their company!

It was pleasant to see Dot, with her little figure and her baby in her arms—a very doll of a baby—glancing with a coquettish thoughtfulness at the fre, and inclining her delicate little head just enough on one side to let it rest in an odd, half-natural, half-affected, wholly nestling and agreeable manner, on the great rugged fgure of the Carrier. It was pleasant to see him, with his tender awkwardness, endeavouring to adapt his rude support to her slight need, and make his burly middle age a leaning-staff not inappropriate to her blooming youth.It was pleasant to observe how Tilly Slowboy, waiting in the background for the baby, took special cognizance(though in her earliest teens)of this grouping;and stood with her mouth and eyes wide open, and her head thrust forward, taking it in as if it were air.Nor was it less agreeable to observe how John the Carrier, reference being made by Dot to the aforesaid baby, checked his hand when on the point of touching the infant, as if he thought he might crack it;and, bending down, surveyed it from a safe distance, with a kind of puzzled pride, such as an amiable mastiff might be supposed to show if he found himself, one day, the father of a young canary.

“An't he beautiful, John?Don't he look precious in his sleep?”

“Very precious,”said John.“Very much so. He generally is asleep, an't he?”

“Lor, John!Good gracious, no!”

“Oh!”said John, pondering.“I thought his eyes was generally shut. Halloa!”

“Goodness, John, how you startle one!”

“It an't right for him to turn'em up in that way,”said the astonished Carrier,“is it?See how he's winking with both of'em at once!and look at his mouth!Why, he's gasping like a gold and silver fsh!”

“You don't deserve to be a father, you don't,”said Dot, with all the dignity of an experienced matron.“But how should you know what little complaints children are troubled with, John?You wouldn't so much as know their names, you stupid fellow.”And when she had turned the baby over on her left arm, and had slapped its back as a restorative, she pinched her husband's ear, laughing.

“No,”said John, pulling off his outer coat.“It's very true, Dot. I don't know much about it.I only know that I've been fghting pretty stiffly with the wind tonight.It's been blowing north-east, straight into the cart, the whole way home.”

“Poor old man, so it has!”cried Mrs. Peerybingle, instantly becoming very active.“Here, take the precious darling, Tilly, while I make myself of some use.Bless it, I could smother it with kissing it, I could!Hie then, good dog!Hie, Boxer, boy!Only let me make the tea frst, John;and then I'll help you with the parcels, like a busy bee.‘How doth the little'—and all the rest of it, you know, John.Did you ever learn‘How doth the little,'when you went to school, John?”

“Not to quite know it,”John returned.“I was very near it once. ;But I should only have spoilt it, I dare say.”

“Ha, ha!”laughed Dot. She had the blithest little laugh you ever heard.“What a dear old darling of a dunce you are, John, to be sure!”

Not at all disputing this position, John went out to see that the boy with the lantern, which had been dancing to and fro before the door and window, like a Will of the Wisp, took due care of the horse;who was fatter than you would quite believe, if I gave you his measure, and so old that his birthday was lost in the mists of antiquity. Boxer, feeling that his attentions were due to the family in general, and must be impartially distributed, dashed in and out with bewildering inconstancy;now describing a circle of short barks round the horse, where he was being rubbed down at the stable door;now feigning to make savage rushes at his mistress, and facetiously bringing himself to sudden stops;now eliciting a shriek from Tilly Slowboy, in the low nursing-chair near the fire, by the unexpected application of his moist nose to her countenance;now exhibiting an obtrusive interest in the baby;now going round and round upon the hearth, and lying down as if he had established himself for the night;now getting up again, and taking that nothing of a fag-end of a tail of his out into the weather, as if he had just remembered an appointment, and was off at a round trot, to keep it.

“There!There's the teapot, ready on the hob!”said Dot;as briskly busy as a child at play at keeping house.“And there's the cold knuckle of ham;and there's the butter;and there's the crusty loaf, and all!Here's a clothes basket for the small parcels, John, ifyou’ve got any there. Where are you, John?Don’t let the dear child fall under the grate, Tilly, whatever you do!”

It may be noted of Miss Slowboy, in spite of her rejecting the caution with some vivacity, that she had a rare and surprising talent for getting this baby into diffculties, and had several times imperilled its short life in a quiet way peculiarly her own. She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung.Her costume was remarkable for the partial development, on all possible occasions, of some fannel vestment of a singular structure;also for affording glimpses, in the region of the back, of a corset, or a pair of stays, in colour a dead green.Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed, besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress's perfections and the baby's, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment, may be said to have done equal honour to her head and to her heart;and though these did less honour to the baby's head, which they were the occasional means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest results of Tilly Slowboy's constant astonishment at finding herself so kindly treated, and installed in such a comfortable home.For the maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had been bred by public charity, a foundling;which word, though only differing from fondling by one vowel's length, is very different in meaning, and ;expresses quite another thing.

To have seen little Mrs. Peerybingle come back with her husband, tugging at the clothes basket, and making the most strenuous exertions to do nothing at all(for he carried it),would have amused you almost as much as it amused him.It may have entertained the Cricket, too, for anything I know;but, certainly, it now began to chirp again, vehemently.

“Heyday!”said John in his slow way.“It's merrier than ever to-night, I think.”

“And it's sure to bring us good fortune, John!It always has done so. To have a Cricket on the Hearth is the luckiest thing in all the world!”

John looked at her as if he had very nearly got the thought into his head that she was his Cricket in chief, and he quite agreed with her. But it was probably one of his narrow escapes, for he said nothing.

“The frst time I heard its cheerful little note, John, was on that night when you brought me home—when you brought me to my new home here;its little mistress. Nearly a year ago.You recollect, John?”

Oh, yes!John remembered. I should think so!

“Its chirp was such a welcome to me!It seemed so full of promise and encouragement. It seemed to say, you would be kind and gentle with me, and would not expect(I had a fear of that, John, then)to fnd an old head on the shoulders of your foolish little wife.”John thoughtfully patted one of the shoulders, and then the head, as though he would have said No, no;he had had no such expectation;he had been quite content to take them as they were.And really he had reason.They were very comely.

“It spoke the truth, John, when it seemed to say so, for you have ever been, I am sure, the best, the most considerate, the most affectionate of husbands to me. This has been a happy home, John;and I love the Cricket for its sake!”

“Why, so do I, then,”said the Carrier.“So do I, Dot.”

“I love it for the many times I have heard it, and the many thoughts its harmless music has given me. Sometimes, in the twilight, when I have felt a little solitary and down-hearted, John—before baby was here, to keep me company and make the house gay—when I have thought how lonely you would be if I should die;how lonely I should be, if I could know that you had lost me, dear;its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp upon the hearth has seemed to tell me of another little voice, so sweet, so very dear to me, before whose coming sound my trouble vanished like a dream.And when I used to fear—I did fear once, John;I was very young, you know—that ours might prove to be an ill-assorted marriage, I being such a child, and you more like my guardian than my husband;and that you might not, however hard you tried, be able to learn to love me, as you hoped and prayed you might;its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp has cheered me up again, and filled me with new trust and confdence.I was thinking of these things to-night, dear, when I sat expecting you;and I love the Cricket for their ;sake!”

“And so do I,”repeated John.“But, Dot!I hope and pray that I might learn to love you?How you talk!I had learnt that long before I brought you here, to be the Cricket's little mistress, Dot!”

She laid her hand, an instant, on his arm, and looked up at him with an agitated face, as if she would have told him something. Next moment, she was down upon her knees before the basket;speaking in a sprightly voice, and busy with the parcels.

“There are not many of them tonight, John, but I saw some goods behind the cart just now;and though they give more trouble, perhaps, still they pay as well;so we have no reason to grumble, have we?Besides, you have been delivering, I dare say, as you came along?”

“Oh, yes!”John said.“A good many.”

“Why, what's this round box?Heart alive, John, it's a wedding-cake!”

“Leave a woman alone to fnd out that,”said John admiringly.“Now, a man would never have thought of it!Whereas, it's my belief that if you was to pack a wedding-cake up in a tea-chest, or a turn-up bedstead, or a pickled-salmon keg, or any unlikely thing, a woman would be sure to fnd it out directly. Yes;I called for it at the pastrycook's.”

“And it weighs I don't know what—whole hundredweights!”cried Dot, making a great demonstration of trying to lift it.“Whose is it, John?Where is it going?”

“Read the writing on the other side,”said John.

“Why, John!My Goodness, John!”

“Ah!who'd have thought it?”John returned.

“You never mean to say,”pursued Dot, sitting on the floor and shaking her head at him,“that it's Gruff and Tackleton the toymaker!”

John nodded.

Mrs. Peerybingle nodded also, fifty times at least.Not in assent—in dumb and pitying amazement;screwing up her lips, the while, with all their little force(they were never made for screwing up;I am clear of that),and looking the good Carrier through and through, in her abstraction.Miss Slowboy, in the meantime, who had a mechanical power of reproducing scraps of current conversation for the delectation of the baby, with all the sense struck out of them, and all the nouns changed into the plural number, inquired aloud of that young creature, Was it Gruffs and Tackletons the toymakers then, and Would it call at Pastrycooks for wedding-cakes, and Did its mothers know the boxes when its fathers brought them home;and so on.

“And that is really to come about!”said Dot.“Why, she and I were girls at school together, John.”

He might have been thinking of her, or nearly thinking of her, perhaps, as she was in that same school-time. He looked upon her with a thoughtful pleasure, but he made no answer.

“And he's as old!As unlike her!—Why, how many years older than you, is Gruff and Tackleton, John?”

“How many more cups of tea shall I drink tonight, at one sitting, than Gruff and Tackleton ever took in four, I wonder!”replied John good-humouredly, as he drew a chair to the round table, and began at the cold ham.“As to eating, I eat but little;but that little I enjoy, Dot.”

Even this, his usual sentiment at meal-times, one of his innocent delusions(for his appetite was always obstinate, and fatly contradicted him),awoke no smile in the face of his little wife, who stood among the parcels, pushing the cake-box slowly from her with her foot, and never once looked, though her eyes were cast down too, upon the dainty shoe she generally was so mindful of. Absorbed in thought, she stood there, heedless alike of the tea and John(although he called to her and rapped the table with his knife to startle her),until he rose and touched her on the arm;when she looked at him for a moment, and hurried to her place behind the tea-board, laughing at her negligence.But not as she had laughed before.The manner and the music were quite changed.

The Cricket, too, had stopped. Somehow, the room was not so cheerful as it had been.Nothing like it.

“So, these are all the parcels, are they, John?”she said, breaking a long silence, which the honest Carrier had devoted to the practical illustration of one part of his favourite sentiment—certainly enjoying what he ate, if it couldn't be admitted that he ate but little.“So these are all the parcels, are they, John?”

“That's all,”said John.“Why—no—I”—laying down his knifeand fork, and taking a long breath—“I declare—I've clean forgotten the old gentleman!”

“The old gentleman?”

“In the cart,”said John.“He was asleep among the straw, the last time I saw him. I've very nearly remembered him, twice, since I came in;but he went out of my head again.Halloa!Yahip there!Rouse up!That's my hearty!”

John said these latter words outside the door, whither he had hurried with the candle in his hand.

Miss Slowboy, conscious of some mysterious reference to The Old Gentleman, and connecting, in her mystifed imagination, certain associations of a religious nature with the phrase, was so disturbed, that hastily rising from the low chair by the fre to seek protection near the skirt of her mistress, and coming into contact, as she crossed the doorway, with an ancient Stranger, she instinctively made a charge or butt at him with the only offensive instrument within her reach. This instrument happening to be the baby, great commotion and alarm ensued, which the sagacity of Boxer rather tended to increase;for that good dog, more thoughtful than his master, had, it seemed, been watching the old gentleman in his sleep, lest he should walk off with a few young poplar-trees that were tied up behind the cart;and he still attended on him very closely, worrying his gaiters, in fact, and making dead sets at the buttons.

“You're such an undeniably good sleeper, sir,”said John, when tranquillity was restored(in the meantime the old gentleman had ;stood, bareheaded and motionless, in the centre of the room),“that I have half a mind to ask you where the other six are—only that would be a joke, and I know I should spoil it. Very near, though,”murmured the Carrier with a chuckle;“very near!”

The Stranger, who had long white hair, good features, singularly bold and well defned for an old man, and dark, bright, penetrating eyes, looked round with a smile, and saluted the Carrier's wife by gravely inclining his head.

His garb was very quaint and odd—a long, long way behind the time. Its hue was brown, all over.In his hand he held a great brown club or walking-stick;and, striking this upon the foor, it fell asunder, and became a chair.On which he sat down quite composedly.

“There!”said the Carrier, turning to his wife.“That's the way I found him, sitting by the roadside!Upright as a milestone. And almost as deaf.”

“Sitting in the open air, John?”

“In the open air,”replied the Carrier,“just at dusk.‘Carriage Paid,'he said;and gave me eighteen-pence. Then he got in.And there he is.”

“He's going, John, I think!”

Not at all. He was only going to speak.

“If you please, I was to be left till called for,”said the Stranger mildly.“Don't mind me.”

With that he took a pair of spectacles from one of his large pockets, and a book from another, and leisurely began to read. Making no more of Boxer than if he had been a house lamb!

The Carrier and his wife exchanged a look of perplexity. The Stranger raised his head;and, glancing from the latter to the former, said:

“Your daughter, my good friend?”

“Wife,”returned John.

“Niece?”said the Stranger.

“Wife!”roared John.

“Indeed?”observed the Stranger.“Surely?Very young!”

He quietly turned over, and resumed his reading. But, before he could have read two lines, he again interrupted himself to say:

“Baby yours?”

John gave him a gigantic nod:equivalent to an answer in the affrmative, delivered through a speaking trumpet.

“Girl?”

“Bo-o-oy!”roared John.

“Also very young, eh?”

Mrs. Peerybingle instantly struck in.“Two months and three da-ays.Vaccinated just six weeks ago-o!Took very fne-ly!Considered, by the doctor, a remarkably beautiful chi-ild!Equal to the general run of children at fve months o-ld!Takes notice in a way quite wonder-ful!May seem impossible to you, but feels his legs al-ready!”

Here, the breathless little mother, who had been shrieking these short sentences into the old man's ear, until her pretty face was crimsoned, held up the Baby before him as a stubborn and triumphant ;fact;while Tilly Slowboy, with a melodious cry of“Ketcher, Ketcher”—which sounded like some unknown words, adapted to a popular Sneeze—performed some cow-like gambols around that all unconscious Innocent.

“Hark!He's called for, sure enough,”said John.“There's somebody at the door. Open it, Tilly.”

Before she could reach it, however, it was opened from without;being a primitive sort of door, with a latch that any one could lift if he chose—and a good many people did choose, for all kinds of neighbours liked to have a cheerful word or two with the Carrier, though he was no great talker himself. Being opened, it gave admission to a little, meagre, thoughtful, dingy-faced man, who seemed to have made himself a great-coat from the sackcloth covering of some old box;for, when he turned to shut the door and keep the weather out, he disclosed upon the back of that garment the inscription G&T in large black capitals.Also the word GLASS in bold characters.

“Good evening, John!”said the little man.“Good evening, mum!Good evening, Tilly!Good evening, Unbeknown!How's Baby, mum?Boxer's pretty well I hope?”

“All thriving, Caleb,”replied Dot.“I am sure you need only look at the dear child, for one, to know that.”

“And I'm sure I need only look at you for another,”said Caleb.

He didn't look at her, though;he had a wandering and thoughtful eye, which seemed to be always projecting itself into some other time ;and place, no matter what he said;a description which will equally apply to his voice.

“Or at John for another,”said Caleb.“Or at Tilly, as far as that goes. Or certainly at Boxer.”

“Busy just now, Caleb?”asked the Carrier.

“Why, pretty well, John,”he returned, with the distraught air of a man who was casting about for the Philosopher's stone, at least.“Pretty much so. There's rather a run on Noah's Arks at present.I could have wished to improve on the Family, but I don't see how it's to be done at the price.It would be a satisfaction to one’s mind to make it clearer which was Shems and Hams, and which was Wives.Flies an’t on that scale, neither, as compared with elephants, you know!Ah, well!Have you got anything in the parcel line for me, John?”

The Carrier put his hand into a pocket of the coat he had taken off;and brought out, carefully preserved in moss and paper, a tiny fower-pot.

“There it is!”he said, adjusting it with great care.“Not so much as a leaf damaged. Full of buds!”

Caleb's dull eye brightened as he took it, and thanked him.

“Dear, Caleb,”said the Carrier.“Very dear at this season.”

“Never mind that. It would be cheap to me, what ever it cost,”returned the little man.“Anything else, John?”

“A small box,”replied the Carrier.“Here you are!”

“‘For Caleb Plummer,'”said the little man, spelling out the ;direction.“‘With Cash.'With Cash, John?I don't think it's for me.”

“With Care,”returned the Carrier, looking over his shoulder.“Where do you make out cash?”

“Oh!To be sure!”said Caleb.“It's all right. With care!Yes, yes;that's mine.It might have been with cash, indeed, if my dear Boy in the Golden South Americas had lived, John.You loved him like a son;didn't you?You needn't say you did.I know, of course.‘Caleb Plummer.With care.'Yes, yes, it’s all right.It’s a box of dolls’eyes for my daughters’work.I wish it was her own sight in a box, John.”

“I wish it was, or could be!”cried the Carrier.

“Thankee,”said the little man.“You speak very hearty. To think that she should never see the Dolls—and them a staring at her, so bold, all day long!That's where it cuts.What's the damage, John?”

“I'll damage you,”said John,“if you inquire. Dot!Very near?”

“Well!it's like you to say so,”observed the little man.“It's your kind way. Let me see.I think that's all.”

“I think not,”said the Carrier.“Try again.”

“Something for our Governor, eh?”said Caleb after pondering a little while.“To be sure. That's what I came for;but my head's so running on them Arks and things!He hasn't been here, has he?”

“Not he,”returned the Carrier.“He's too busy, courting.”

“He's coming round, though,”said Caleb;“for he told me to keep on the near side of the road going home, and it was ten to one he'd take me up. I had better go, by-the-bye.—You couldn't have the goodness to let me pinch Boxer's tail, mum, for half a moment, couldyou?”

“Why, Caleb, what a question!”

“Oh, never mind, mum!”said the little man.“He mightn't like it, perhaps. There's a small order just come in for barking dogs;and I should wish to go as close to Natur'as I could for sixpence.That's all.Never mind, mum.”

It happened opportunely that Boxer, without receiving the proposed stimulus, began to bark with great zeal. But, as this implied the approach of some new visitor, Caleb, postponing his study from the life to a more convenient season, shouldered the round box, and took a hurried leave.He might have spared himself the trouble, for he met the visitor upon the threshold.

“Oh!You are here, are you?Wait a bit. I'll take you home.John Peerybingle, my service to you.More of my service to your pretty wife.Handsomer every day!Better too, if possible!And younger,”mused the speaker in a low voice,“that's the devil of it!”

“I should be astonished at your paying compliments, Mr. Tackleton,”said Dot, not with the best grace in the world,“but for your condition.”

“You know all about it, then?”

“I have got myself to believe it somehow,”said Dot.

“After a hard struggle, I suppose?”

“Very.”

Tackleton the Toy merchant, pretty generally known as Gruff and Tackleton—for that was the firm, though Gruff had been ;bought out long ago;only leaving his name, and, as some said, his nature, according to its Dictionary meaning, in the business—Tackleton the Toy merchant was a man whose vocation had been quite misunderstood by his Parents and Guardians. If they had made him a Money Lender, or a sharp Attorney, or a Sheriff's Offcer, or a Broker, he might have sown his discontented oats in his youth, and, after having had the full run of himself in ill-natured transactions, might have turned out amiable, at last, for the sake of a little freshness and novelty.But, cramped and chafing in the peaceable pursuit of toymaking, he was a domestic Ogre, who had been living on children all his life, and was their implacable enemy.He despised all toys;wouldn't have bought one for the world;delighted, in his malice, to insinuate grim expressions into the faces of brown-paper farmers who drove pigs to market, bellmen who advertised lost lawyers'consciences, movable old ladies who darned stockings or carved pies;and other like samples of his stock-in-trade.In appalling masks;hideous, hairy, red-eyed Jacks in Boxes;Vampire Kites;demoniacal Tumblers who wouldn't lie down, and were perpetually fying forward, to stare infants out of countenance;his soul perfectly revelled.They were his only relief, and safety-valve.He was great in such inventions.Anything suggestive of a Pony nightmare was delicious to him.He had even lost money(and he took to that toy very kindly)by getting up Goblin slides for magic lanterns, whereon the Powers of Darkness were depicted as a sort of supernatural shell-fish, with human faces.In intensifying the portraiture of Giants, he had sunk quite a little capital;and, though no painter himself, he could indicate, for the instruction of his artists, with a piece of chalk, a certain furtive leer for the countenances of those monsters, which was safe to destroy the peace of mind of any young gentleman between the ages of six and eleven, for the whole Christmas or Midsummer Vacation.

What he was in toys, he was(as most men are)in other things. You may easily suppose, therefore, that within the great green cape, which reached down to the calves of his legs, there was buttoned up to the chin an uncommonly pleasant fellow;and that he was about as choice a spirit, and as agreeable a companion, as ever stood in a pair of bull-headed-looking boots with mahogany-coloured tops.

Still, Tackleton, the toy merchant, was going to be married. In spite of all this, he was going to be married.And to a young wife too, a beautiful young wife.

He didn't look much like a Bridegroom, as he stood in the Carrier's kitchen, with a twist in his dry face, and a screw in his body, and his hat jerked over the bridge of his nose, and his hands tucked down into the bottoms of his pockets, and his whole sarcastic, ill-conditioned self peering out of one little corner of one little eye, like the concentrated essence of any number of ravens. But a Bridegroom he designed to be.

“In three days'time. Next Thursday.The last day of the first month in the year.That's my wedding-day,”said Tackleton.

Did I mention that he had always one eye wide open, and one ;eye nearly shut;and that the one eye nearly shut was always the expressive eye?I don't think I did.

“That's my wedding-day!”said Tackleton, rattling his money.

“Why, it's our wedding-day too,”exclaimed the Carrier.

“Ha, ha!”laughed Tackleton.“Odd!You're just such another couple. Just!”

The indignation of Dot at this presumptuous assertion is not to be described. What next?His imagination would compass the possibility of just such another Baby, perhaps.The man was mad.

“I say!A word with you,”murmured Tackleton, nudging the Carrier with his elbow, and taking him a little apart.“You'll come to the wedding?We're in the same boat, you know.”

“How in the same boat?”inquired the Carrier.

“A little disparity, you know,”said Tackleton with another nudge.“Come and spend an evening with us beforehand.”

“Why?”demanded John, astonished at this pressing hospitality.

“Why?”returned the other.“That's a new way of receiving an invitation. Why, for pleasure—sociability, you know, and all that.”

“I thought you were never sociable,”said John in his plain way.

“Tchah!It's of no use to be anything but free with you, I see,”said Tackleton.“Why, then, the truth is, you have a—what tea-drinking people call a sort of a comfortable appearance together, you and your wife. We know better, you know, but—”

“No, we don't know better,”interposed John.“What are you talking about?”

“Well!We don't know better, then,”said Tackleton.“We'll agree that we don't. As you like;what does it matter?I was going to say, as you have that sort of appearance, your company will produce a favourable effect on Mrs.Tackleton that will be.And, though I don't think your good lady's very friendly to me in this matter, still she can’t help herself from falling into my views, for there’s a compactness and cosiness of appearance about her that always tells, even in an indifferent case.You’ll say you’ll come?”

“We have arranged to keep our Wedding-day(as far as that goes)at home,”said John.“We have made the promise to ourselves these six months. We think, you see, that home—”

“Bah!what's home?”cried Tackleton.“Four walls and a ceiling!(Why don't you kill that Cricket?I would!I always do. I hate their noise.)There are four walls and a ceiling at my house.Come to me!”

“You kill your Crickets, eh?”said John.

“Scrunch'em, sir,”returned the other, setting his heel heavily on the foor.“You'll say you'll come?It's as much your interest as mine, you know, that the women should persuade each other that they're quiet and contented, and couldn’t be better off. I know their way.Whatever one woman says, another woman is determined to clinch always.There’s that spirit of emulation among’em, sir, that if your wife says to my wife,‘I’m the happiest woman in the world, and mine’s the best husband in the world, and I dote on him,’my wife will say the same to yours, or more, and half believe it.”

“Do you mean to say she don't, then?”asked the Carrier.

“Don't!”cried Tackleton with a short, sharp laugh.“Don't what?”

The Carrier had some faint idea of adding,“dote upon you.”But, happening to meet the half-closed eye, as it twinkled upon him over the turned-up collar of the cape, which was within an ace of poking it out, he felt it such an unlikely part and parcel of anything to be doted on, that he substituted,“that she don't believe it?”

“Ah, you dog!You're joking,”said Tackleton.

But the Carrier, though slow to understand the full drift of his meaning, eyed him in such a serious manner, that he was obliged to be a little more explanatory.

“I have the humour,”said Tackleton:holding up the fingers of his left hand, and tapping the forefinger, to imply,“There I am, Tackleton to wit:”“I have the humour, sir, to marry a young wife, and a pretty wife:”here he rapped his little finger, to express the Bride;not sparingly, but sharply;with a sense of power.“I'm able to gratify that humour, and I do. It's my whim.But—now look there!”

He pointed to where Dot was sitting, thoughtfully before the fre:leaning her dimpled chin upon her hand, and watching the bright blaze. The Carrier looked at her, and then at him, and then at her, and then at him again.

“She honours and obeys, no doubt, you know,”said Tackleton;“and that, as I am not a man of sentiment, is quite enough for me. But do you think there's anything more in it?”

“I think,”observed the Carrier,“that I should chuck any manout of window who said there wasn't.”

“Exactly so,”returned the other with an unusual alacrity of assent.“To be sure!Doubtless you would. Of course.I'm certain of it.Good night.Pleasant dreams!”

The Carrier was puzzled, and made uncomfortable and uncertain, in spite of himself. He couldn't help showing it in his manner.

“Good night, my dear friend!”said Tackleton compassionately.“I'm off. We're exactly alike in reality, I see.You won't give us to-morrow evening?Well!Next day you go out visiting, I know.I'll meet you there, and bring my wife that is to be.It'll do her good.You’re agreeable?Thankee.What’s that?”

It was a loud cry from the Carrier's wife:a loud, sharp, sudden cry, that made the room ring like a glass vessel. She had risen from her seat, and stood like one transfixed by terror and surprise.The Stranger had advanced towards the fre to warm himself, and stood within a short stride of her chair.But quite still.

“Dot!”cried the Carrier.“Mary!Darling!What's the matter?”

They were all about her in a moment. Caleb, who had been dozing on the cake-box, in the first imperfect recovery of his suspended presence of mind, seized Miss Slowboy by the hair of her head, but immediately apologised.

“Mary!”exclaimed the Carrier, supporting her in his arms.“Are you ill?What is it?Tell me dear!”

She only answered by beating her hands together, and falling ;into a wild fit of laughter. Then, sinking from his grasp upon the ground, she covered her face with her apron, and wept bitterly.And then, she laughed again, and then she cried again, and then she said how cold she was, and suffered him to lead her to the fre, where she sat down as before.The old man standing, as before, quite still.

“I'm better, John,”she said.“I'm quite well now—I—”

“John!”But John was on the other side of her. Why turn her face towards the strange old gentleman, as if addressing him.Was her brain wandering?

“Only a fancy, John dear—a kind of shock—a something coming suddenly before my eyes—I don't know what it was. It's quite gone, quite gone.”

“I'm glad it's gone,”muttered Tackleton, turning the expressive eye all round the room.“I wonder where it's gone, and what it was. Humph!Caleb, come here!Who's that with the grey hair?”

“I don't know, sir,”returned Caleb in a whisper.“Never see him before in all my life. A beautiful fgure for a nut-cracker;quite a new model.With a screw-jaw opening down into his waistcoat, he'd be lovely.”

“Not ugly enough,”said Tackleton.

“Or for a fre-box either,”observed Caleb in deep contemplation,“what a model!Unscrew his head to put the matches in;turn him heels up'ards for the light;and what a fire-box for a gentleman's mantel-shelf, just as he stands!”

“Not half ugly enough,”said Tackleton.“Nothing in him at all. Come!Bring that box!All right now, I hope?”

“Oh, quite gone!Quite gone!”said the little woman, waving him hurriedly away.“Good night!”

“Good night!”said Tackleton.“Good night, John Peerybingle!Take care how you carry that box, Caleb. Let it fall, and I'll murder you!Dark as pitch, and weather worse than ever, eh?Good night!”

So, with another sharp look round the room, he went out at the door;followed by Caleb with the wedding-cake on his head.

The Carrier had been so much astounded by his little wife, and so busily engaged in soothing and tending her, that he had scarcely been conscious of the Stranger's presence until now, when he again stood there, their only guest.

“He don't belong to them, you see,”said John.“I must give him a hint to go.”

“I beg your pardon, friend,”said the old gentleman, advancing to him;“the more so as I fear your wife has not been well;but the Attendant whom my infrmity,”he touched his ears, and shook his head,“renders almost indispensable, not having arrived, I fear there must be some mistake. The bad night which made the shelter of your comfortable cart(may I never have a worse?。﹕o acceptable, is still as bad as ever.Would you, in your kindness, suffer me to rent a bed here?”

“Yes, yes,”cried Dot.“Yes!Certainly!”

“Oh!”said the Carrier, surprised by the rapidity of this consent.“Well!I don't object;but still I'm not quite sure that—”

“Hush!”she interrupted.“Dear John!”

“Why, he's stone deaf,”urged John.

“I know he is, but—Yes, sir, certainly. Yes, certainly!I'll make him up a bed directly, John.”

As she hurried off to do it, the flutter of her spirits, and the agitation of her manner, were so strange, that the Carrier stood looking after her, quite confounded.

“Did its mothers make it up a Beds, then!”cried Miss Slowboy to the Baby;“and did its hair grow brown and curly when its caps was lifted off, and frighten it, a precious Pets, a sitting by the fres!”

With that unaccountable attraction of the mind to trifes, which is often incidental to a state of doubt and confusion, the Carrier, as he walked slowly to and fro, found himself mentally repeating even these absurd words, many times. So many times, that he got them by heart, and was still conning them over and over, like a lesson, when Tilly, after administering as much friction to the little bald head with her hand as she thought wholesome(according to the practice of nurses),had once more tied the Baby's cap on.

“And frighten it, a precious Pets, a sitting by the fires. What frightened Dot, I wonder?”mused the Carrier, pacing to and fro.

He scouted, from his heart, the insinuations of the toy merchant, and yet they filled him with a vague, indefinite uneasiness. For Tackleton was quick and sly;and he had that painful sense, himself, of being a man of slow perception, that a broken hint was always worrying to him.He certainly had no intention in his mind of linkinganything that Tackleton had said with the unusual conduct of his wife, but the two subjects of refection came into his mind together, and he could not keep them asunder.

The bed was soon made ready;and the visitor, declining all refreshment but a cup of tea, retired. Then, Dot—quite well again, she said, quite well again—arranged the great chair in the chimney-corner for her husband;flled his pipe and gave it him;and took her usual little stool beside him on the hearth.

She always would sit on that little stool. I think she must have had a kind of notion that it was a coaxing, wheedling little stool.

She was, out and out, the very best filler of a pipe, I should say, in the four quarters of the globe. To see her put that chubby little finger in the bowl, and then blow down the pipe to clear the tube, and, when she had done so, affect to think that there was really something in the tube, and blow a dozen times, and hold it to her eye like a telescope, with a most provoking twist in her capital little face, as she looked down it, was quite a brilliant thing.As to the tobacco, she was perfect mistress of the subject;and her lighting of the pipe, with a wisp of paper, when the Carrier had it in his mouth—going so very near his nose, and yet not scorching it—was Art, high Art.

And the Cricket and the Kettle, turning up again, acknowledged it!The bright fire, blazing up again, acknowledged it!The little Mower on the clock, in his unheeded work, acknowledged it!The Carrier, in his smoothing forehead and expanding face, acknowledged it, the readiest of all.

And as he soberly and thoughtfully puffed at his old pipe, and as the Dutch clock ticked, and as the red fire gleamed, and as the Cricket chirped, that Genius of his Hearth and Home(for such the Cricket was)came out, in fairy shape, into the room, and summoned many forms of Home about him. Dots of all ages and all sizes flled the chamber.Dots who were merry children, running on before him, gathering flowers in the fields;coy Dots, half shrinking from, half yielding to, the pleading of his own rough image;newly-married Dots, alighting at the door, and taking wondering possession of the household keys;motherly little Dots, attended by fictitious Slowboys, bearing babies to be christened;matronly Dots, still young and blooming, watching Dots of daughters, as they danced at rustic balls;fat Dots, encircled and beset by troops of rosy grandchildren;withered Dots, who leaned on sticks, and tottered as they crept along.Old Carriers, too, appeared with blind old Boxers lying at their feet;and newer carts with younger drivers(“Peerybingle Brothers”on the tilt);and sick old Carriers, tended by the gentlest hands;and graves of dead and gone old Carriers, green in the churchyard.And as the Cricket showed him all these things—he saw them plainly, though his eyes were fxed upon the fre—the Carrier's heart grew light and happy, and he thanked his Household Gods with all his might, and cared no more for Gruff and Tackleton than you do.

But what was that young fgure of a man, which the same Fairy Cricket set so near Her stool, and which remained there, singly andalone?Why did it linger still, so near her, with its arm upon the chimney-piece, ever repeating“Married!and not to me!”

Oh, Dot!Oh, failing Dot!There is no place for it in all your husband's visions. Why has its shadow fallen on his hearth?

是水壺開(kāi)的頭!別跟我說(shuō)皮瑞賓格爾太太說(shuō)了些什么。我知道得更清楚。皮瑞賓格爾太太可能永遠(yuǎn)記錄在案,說(shuō)她不知道它們之間是誰(shuí)開(kāi)的頭;然而,我說(shuō)是水壺開(kāi)的頭。我想,我應(yīng)該知道!照墻角上那只鐘面光滑的小荷蘭鐘算來(lái),水壺開(kāi)始了足足有五分鐘之后,蟋蟀才唱起來(lái)。

似乎在蟋蟀參加鳴唱以前,那只鐘報(bào)時(shí)還沒(méi)有報(bào)完,鐘頂上那個(gè)跳動(dòng)的制作干草的小人兒,在摩爾式宮殿前,拿著鐮刀,左一跳,右一跳,還沒(méi)有割完半英畝假想的青草呢!

說(shuō)真的,我并不是生來(lái)就這樣自信。大家都知道這一點(diǎn)。除非十分肯定,我無(wú)論如何也不會(huì)讓自己的意見(jiàn)跟皮瑞賓格爾太太的意見(jiàn)對(duì)立起來(lái)。什么也不能叫我這樣做。不過(guò),現(xiàn)在是一個(gè)事實(shí)問(wèn)題。而事實(shí)是在蟋蟀還沒(méi)有一點(diǎn)存在的影兒的時(shí)候,水壺至少已經(jīng)開(kāi)始了五分鐘。你要是反駁我,那我就說(shuō)十分鐘。

讓我精確地?cái)⑹鍪虑槭窃趺窗l(fā)生的。我本來(lái)應(yīng)該一開(kāi)始就著手?jǐn)⑹?,只不過(guò)又考慮到這個(gè)明顯的道理——假如要說(shuō)一個(gè)故事,必須從開(kāi)頭的地方開(kāi)頭;而不從水壺開(kāi)頭,又怎么可能從開(kāi)頭的地方開(kāi)頭呢?

你必須了解,水壺跟蟋蟀之間看來(lái)像是在進(jìn)行一種競(jìng)賽或者競(jìng)技。事情就是這樣引起來(lái)的,也就是這樣發(fā)生的。

皮瑞賓格爾太太在陰寒的薄暮中走出屋子,木套鞋把濕漉漉的石頭敲得咔嗒咔嗒響,整個(gè)院子都給印上無(wú)數(shù)拙劣的幾何學(xué)上第一定理的痕跡——皮瑞賓格爾太太在承接雨水的桶里把水壺灌滿。她一回到屋里,去掉木套鞋(這一下可去掉不少,因?yàn)樾?,皮瑞賓格爾太太卻是個(gè)矮個(gè)兒),就把水壺放到爐火上。放上水壺,她不免惱火,或者說(shuō)生了一會(huì)兒氣;因?yàn)樗涞脡騿?,那溜滑的夾著雪的水似乎滲入了每一樣?xùn)|西,包括木套鞋的環(huán)扣——濕了皮瑞賓格爾太太的腳趾,甚至濺到了她的腿上。在我們相當(dāng)自豪(也是相當(dāng)合理)地夸耀自己的腿,一雙長(zhǎng)襪子保持得特別干凈的時(shí)候,就會(huì)想到此時(shí)此景令人好不難受。

此外,水壺也不聽(tīng)使喚,叫人惱恨。它不肯讓人在頂柵格上把它放正;它不肯跟煤塊和睦相處;它偏要喝醉了似的向前傾著身子,淌著口水,真是爐邊少有的蠢水壺。它對(duì)著爐火吵吵鬧鬧,唏唏噓噓,嘀嘀咕咕。到末了,壺蓋反抗起皮瑞賓格爾太太的手指來(lái),先是翻個(gè)筋斗,然后,以一種巧妙的執(zhí)拗態(tài)度(它本應(yīng)該有更好的態(tài)度)側(cè)身潛水——一直沉到壺底?!盎始覇讨翁?hào)”在船身出水的時(shí)候,沒(méi)有做出過(guò)半點(diǎn)猛烈抗拒,可是這只水壺蓋兒卻這樣跟皮瑞賓格爾太太斗了一場(chǎng),才讓她重新?lián)粕蟻?lái)。

即使在這時(shí)候,水壺還要怫然色變,梗著脖子,把柄擺出敵對(duì)的架勢(shì),嘴巴放肆地、譏誚地對(duì)皮瑞賓格爾太太噘起來(lái),好像在說(shuō):“我決不把水煮開(kāi)了。說(shuō)什么也不干!”

可是,皮瑞賓格爾太太已經(jīng)恢復(fù)了好性子,她擦去胖嘟嘟的小手上的灰塵,笑著在水壺跟前坐下來(lái)。這當(dāng)兒,歡快的火焰忽起忽落,閃閃爍爍地照著荷蘭時(shí)鐘頂上的制作干草的小人兒,使人以為他是呆然木立在摩爾式宮殿前,除了火焰以外,什么都靜止不動(dòng)。

然而他在動(dòng)著,一秒鐘跳動(dòng)兩次,正常而有規(guī)律。不過(guò)時(shí)鐘快要敲打的時(shí)候,他那種受罪的樣子瞧著可真叫人害怕。一只杜鵑鳥(niǎo)在宮殿的活門(mén)里探出頭來(lái),鳴叫六下,每一下都使他戰(zhàn)栗一陣,像是聽(tīng)見(jiàn)鬼叫,或者像是有什么鐵絲在扯著他的腿。

直到他下面的重錘和繩索發(fā)出的呼呼的噪聲完全平息之后,這個(gè)嚇壞了的制作干草者才恢復(fù)原狀。他害怕也不是沒(méi)有道理:因?yàn)檫@些嘎嘎作響、骨瘦如柴的輪條走得使人不安,我真弄不懂,怎么會(huì)有一幫人,尤其是怎么會(huì)有荷蘭人,喜歡創(chuàng)造這種東西。一般認(rèn)為荷蘭人愛(ài)好大箱子,褲子穿得特別厚;當(dāng)然,他們應(yīng)該不至于把他們的時(shí)鐘弄得那么干癟精瘦,一無(wú)防護(hù)。

你看,這會(huì)兒,水壺開(kāi)始消磨黃昏了。這會(huì)兒,水壺變得平和了,直想唱個(gè)什么,喉嚨里忍不住咕嚕起來(lái),還不住地發(fā)出短促的噴鼻聲,剛噴出來(lái)就咽回去,好像還沒(méi)有完全拿定主意來(lái)跟人家和好。這會(huì)兒,在按捺住自己樂(lè)陶陶的情緒方面做了兩三次徒勞無(wú)功的努力之后,它忽然拋開(kāi)了一切不快,一切矜持,滔滔不絕地唱起歌來(lái),唱得那么暢快,那么興高采烈,連多愁善感的夜鶯都從來(lái)沒(méi)有想到這樣唱過(guò)。

又那么清楚明白!天哪,你簡(jiǎn)直可以像看一本書(shū)一樣了解它——或許比你跟我能夠列舉得出的一些書(shū)更高明。它的暖乎乎的熱氣噴作一片淡淡的煙云,愉悅而優(yōu)雅地飄上幾英尺,然后浮蕩在壁爐周圍,好像這是它自己的家庭里的天堂。水壺一面噴氣,一面反復(fù)唱著歌,多快活,多有勁啊!它的鐵制的身子也在爐火上哼著,動(dòng)著哪;那只蓋子,那只近來(lái)頗為叛逆的蓋子——如此足為旌表的光輝榜樣——在跳著一種急促輕快的舞,發(fā)出咔嗒咔嗒的響聲,像是一個(gè)又聾又啞的年輕鐃鈸,它從來(lái)不知道它的孿生兄弟的用處。

這首水壺之歌是一首邀請(qǐng)和歡迎一個(gè)出門(mén)去的人的歌,是歡迎此刻正朝著這個(gè)安樂(lè)的小家庭和熊熊的爐火走來(lái)的人,這是毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)的。皮瑞賓格爾太太坐在壁爐前沉思著,她完全明白這個(gè)。水壺唱道:“夜沉沉,道旁枯葉飄零零;天上只見(jiàn)霧蒙蒙,昏冥冥;地下一片泥坑坑,水淋淋;凄涼陰暗的空中只有一線光明;我不知道那是光明,因?yàn)樗徊贿^(guò)閃晃一陣;像怒火一般紅殷殷,猶如驕陽(yáng)露面,狂風(fēng)轟鳴;在烏云上打下烙印,因?yàn)檫@種天氣確實(shí)可恨;最遼闊的原野也不過(guò)一長(zhǎng)道森森的黑影;白霜覆蓋著指路牌,融雪遮沒(méi)了車轍痕;冰可不是水,水已經(jīng)不能自由流動(dòng);有哪一樣是它本來(lái)面目,你無(wú)法指明;然而他正在來(lái)臨,來(lái)臨,來(lái)臨!——”

你瞧,到這里蟋蟀才加入鳴唱:啾啾,啾啾,啾啾;這樣洪亮,就像合唱隊(duì)一般。拿水壺作比較,這聲音和它的身材太不相稱了;(身材嘛,你看都看不見(jiàn)呢?。┮撬藭r(shí)此地像一支火藥裝得過(guò)多的槍那樣炸開(kāi)來(lái),要是它當(dāng)場(chǎng)犧牲,唱得小小身軀裂成五十片,看來(lái)也會(huì)像是十分自然的不可避免的結(jié)果,而它正在為這樣的結(jié)果拼命。

水壺的獨(dú)唱表演已經(jīng)結(jié)束。它堅(jiān)持下去,熱情絲毫不減;可是蟋蟀擔(dān)任并保持著領(lǐng)唱地位。天哪,你聽(tīng)它唱的!它那又尖又細(xì)又嘹亮的歌聲在整個(gè)屋子里回響,并且在屋外的夜幕中似乎像星星一樣閃光。唱到最高音域,它的歌聲里出現(xiàn)一種難以描摹的微細(xì)的戰(zhàn)栗和抖動(dòng),這表示它自己的激烈的熱情使它站不穩(wěn),又不得不跳起來(lái)。然而蟋蟀和水壺合作得很好。歌尾疊句仍然那樣唱;它們競(jìng)相唱著那句,越唱越響,越唱越響。

這位美麗的小聽(tīng)客——她美麗又年輕,雖然身材有些像所謂的湯團(tuán);不過(guò)我本人并不討厭這個(gè)——她點(diǎn)起一支蠟燭,瞧一眼時(shí)鐘頂上的制作干草者,這個(gè)小人兒正不緊不慢地收割時(shí)間;又看看窗外,外邊漆黑一片,什么都看不見(jiàn),只有她自己的臉映照在玻璃上。我的意見(jiàn)是(你的意見(jiàn)可能一樣)她可能看到了很遠(yuǎn)的地方,卻沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)半點(diǎn)可喜的東西。她回來(lái)坐到原來(lái)的座位上去,這時(shí)候,蟋蟀和水壺還在唱著,狂熱地競(jìng)賽著。水壺不知道自己已經(jīng)輸了,它的弱點(diǎn)明擺在那里。

這真是一場(chǎng)十分激烈的競(jìng)賽。啾啾,啾啾,啾啾!蟋蟀領(lǐng)先一英里。哼唔,哼唔,哼唔——唔——唔!水壺在后面追趕,歪歪斜斜像一只大陀螺。啾啾,啾啾,啾啾!蟋蟀拐彎了。哼唔,哼唔,哼唔——唔——唔!水壺用自己的方式緊追不舍,絲毫不讓。啾啾,啾啾,啾啾!蟋蟀更為精神抖擻。哼唔,哼唔,哼唔——唔——唔!水壺穩(wěn)扎穩(wěn)打。啾啾,啾啾,啾啾!蟋蟀快要贏了。哼唔,哼唔,哼唔——唔——唔!水壺不讓它贏。直到末了,它們?cè)谶@場(chǎng)急急忙忙、慌慌張張的競(jìng)賽中亂成一團(tuán)。究竟是水壺啾啾,蟋蟀哼唔;還是蟋蟀啾啾,水壺哼唔;或者兩個(gè)都啾啾,兩個(gè)都哼唔,就需要比你我更清楚的頭腦來(lái)做近乎肯定的判斷了。不過(guò),這一點(diǎn)是沒(méi)有疑問(wèn)的:水壺和蟋蟀在同時(shí)同刻,由它們自己最明白的一種混合力量,把它們兩個(gè)的愉快的爐邊之歌吹送到燭光里去,燭光透過(guò)窗欞照到小巷深處。這道光忽然照到這時(shí)正在從黑暗中走來(lái)的一個(gè)人身上,真正在一眨眼的工夫就把整個(gè)事情都告訴了他,并且喊道:“歡迎你回家,老朋友!歡迎你回家,我的孩子!”

這個(gè)目的達(dá)到之后,水壺則已經(jīng)一蹶不振,煮得滾開(kāi),被人從爐火上拎走了。于是皮瑞賓格爾太太飛奔到門(mén)口,在一陣車輪聲、馬蹄聲、人聲、一只激動(dòng)的狗竄進(jìn)竄出聲、一個(gè)嬰兒神秘地出現(xiàn)引起的驚異聲中,那位某某先生立刻露面了。

那個(gè)嬰兒是打哪兒來(lái)的,皮瑞賓格爾太太又怎樣在一剎那間接過(guò)了他,我可不知道。然而皮瑞賓格爾太太的懷里正抱著一個(gè)活潑潑的嬰兒;而且似乎因?yàn)樗械较喈?dāng)大的驕傲。這時(shí)候,她被那個(gè)魁梧偉岸的男子漢輕輕地?cái)v到壁爐前,這個(gè)人年紀(jì)比她大得多,身材比她高得多,非得彎得很低才能吻到她。不過(guò)她是值得別人費(fèi)事的。身高六英尺六英寸,加上腰部風(fēng)濕痛,也是能夠這么做的。

“哦,天哪,約翰!”皮瑞賓格爾太太喊道,“這種天氣把你搞成什么樣子了!”

不可否認(rèn),他的情況糟糕得很。濃霧像糖餞的融霜凝結(jié)成塊,掛在他的睫毛上;在迷霧和爐火之間,他的絡(luò)腮胡子叢中出現(xiàn)了彩虹。

“嗯,你瞧,小不點(diǎn)兒,”約翰一面慢慢地回答,一面從脖子上解下圍巾,伸手去烤火,“這——這可不是夏天啊。所以,沒(méi)有什么奇怪的。”

“約翰,我希望你不要叫我小不點(diǎn)兒,我不喜歡聽(tīng)?!逼と鹳e格爾太太說(shuō),噘起的嘴巴卻清楚地表明她喜歡,非常喜歡聽(tīng)。

“那么,你又是什么呢?”約翰問(wèn),他含笑低頭瞧著她,粗壯的手和胳膊在她腰上盡可能輕地夾一下,“一個(gè)小不點(diǎn)兒”——說(shuō)到這里,他望望嬰兒——“打點(diǎn)進(jìn)位——我不說(shuō)了,我怕說(shuō)糟了;不過(guò)我差不多說(shuō)了個(gè)笑話。我從來(lái)沒(méi)有這樣差不多說(shuō)了笑話呢?!?/p>

這個(gè)粗陋、遲緩和誠(chéng)實(shí)的約翰,照他自己看來(lái),他常常差不多非常聰明;這個(gè)約翰身體笨重,可是精神輕松;表面魯莽,可是心中溫柔;外表魯鈍,可是內(nèi)里敏感;呆頭呆腦,可是寬厚善良!哦,造化母親啊,賜予你的孩子們以真正詩(shī)意的心吧,就像藏在這位貧窮的運(yùn)貨夫胸中的心一樣——順便說(shuō)一句,他只不過(guò)是個(gè)運(yùn)貨夫——這樣我們才能容忍世人說(shuō)無(wú)味的話,過(guò)無(wú)味的生活;并且容忍為了你同他們一起而贊美你!

小小身材的小不點(diǎn)兒,抱著嬰兒——真像個(gè)布娃娃的嬰兒——嬌媚地、沉思地瞧著爐火,她那微偏著的美麗的小腦袋,以特別的、半自然半做作的、完全像小鳥(niǎo)依人的可愛(ài)的姿態(tài),靠在嵯峨高大的運(yùn)貨夫的身上;看到這個(gè)景象,真叫人高興。運(yùn)貨夫溫柔而又笨拙地竭力使自己粗魯?shù)闹文苓m合她的輕巧的依偎,并且使自己魁偉的中年身體成為一個(gè)稱配得起她的青春的花一般的嬌軀的支架;看到這個(gè)景象,真叫人高興。蒂蕾·施羅博埃站在后面照應(yīng)嬰兒,注視著(雖然她才十幾歲)這場(chǎng)團(tuán)聚,她張大嘴巴,睜圓眼睛,伸長(zhǎng)頭頸,把這一切像吸空氣似的都吸進(jìn)去;看到這個(gè)景象,真叫人高興。小不點(diǎn)兒提到上述嬰兒的時(shí)候,運(yùn)貨夫剛要伸手去摸,又把手縮回來(lái),仿佛怕自己會(huì)碰破他;于是哈著腰,離得不遠(yuǎn)不近地打量著,帶著迷惑而又自豪的表情,要是一只好性子的大狗有一天發(fā)現(xiàn)自己是一只金絲雀的爸爸,就會(huì)有這樣的表情;看到這個(gè)景象,同樣叫人高興。

“約翰,他不是很漂亮嗎?他睡覺(jué)的樣子不是很可愛(ài)嗎?”

“真可愛(ài),”約翰說(shuō),“非??蓯?ài)。他老是睡覺(jué),是嗎?”

“老天哪,約翰!哪有這種事!”

“哦,”約翰思索著說(shuō),“我覺(jué)得他的眼睛老是閉著。啊呀!”

“天哪,約翰,你的話多么嚇人!”

“他的眼睛那樣向上翻可不對(duì)頭!”運(yùn)貨夫吃驚地說(shuō),“是不是?你瞧他兩只眼睛一起眨巴著!再瞧他的嘴巴!嘿,喘得像金魚(yú)或銀魚(yú)似的!”

“你不配做爸爸,才不配呢?!毙〔稽c(diǎn)兒說(shuō),擺出一副有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的主婦的十足的氣勢(shì),“不過(guò),約翰,你怎么能夠知道孩子們會(huì)給哪些小毛病侵害呢?你連那些病的名稱都不知道,你這傻瓜?!彼褘雰簱Q到左臂上,拍拍他的背,撫慰他,然后笑著擰丈夫的耳朵。

“不錯(cuò),”約翰一面脫去大衣,一面說(shuō),“小不點(diǎn)兒,一點(diǎn)也不錯(cuò)。我不大清楚這類事。我只知道今兒晚上我同寒風(fēng)狠狠搏斗了一場(chǎng)。回家來(lái),一路上盡刮著東北風(fēng),直刮到車子里?!?/p>

“可憐的老頭兒,可不是嘛!”皮瑞賓格爾太太叫道,她立刻變得非常忙碌,“喂?蒂蕾,把小寶貝兒抱去,我要干別的事情了。哎呀,我把他親得透不過(guò)氣來(lái)了,真的!去,去,好狗!去,拳擊手,狗兒!讓我先給你燒茶吧,約翰,然后我再像一只忙碌的蜜蜂,幫你搬包裹。約翰,你會(huì)吧,‘小東西怎么樣’——還有其余的詞兒。約翰,你從前上學(xué)的時(shí)候可曾學(xué)過(guò),‘小東西怎么樣’?”

“不大會(huì),”約翰回答,“我曾經(jīng)差不多會(huì)了,不過(guò)我敢說(shuō)我只會(huì)唱糟了它。”

“哈哈,”小不點(diǎn)兒笑起來(lái),你從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到過(guò)像她這樣的最歡樂(lè)的可愛(ài)的笑聲,“說(shuō)真的,約翰,你真是一個(gè)可愛(ài)的老傻瓜??!”

約翰對(duì)這種稱號(hào)絲毫沒(méi)有抗辯,他走出去看看那個(gè)手拿提燈照料馬匹的小伙子。那提燈在門(mén)窗前搖晃,像是鬼火。要是我告訴你那匹馬的體重,那準(zhǔn)是比你愿意相信的更肥胖;而且它老邁得連生日都消失在過(guò)去的迷霧之中了。拳擊手覺(jué)得自己應(yīng)該對(duì)全家大小獻(xiàn)殷勤,并且必須公平分配,因此令人困惑、反復(fù)無(wú)常地竄進(jìn)竄出:一會(huì)兒,繞著正在馬廄門(mén)前讓人刷毛的馬汪汪吠叫一圈;一會(huì)兒,假裝突然沖擊女主人,又突然滑稽地剎?。灰粫?huì)兒,對(duì)坐在爐邊育嬰矮椅上的蒂蕾·施羅博埃的臉,冷不防地伸出鼻子,引得她一聲尖叫;一會(huì)兒,莽撞地顯示出對(duì)嬰兒的興趣;一會(huì)兒,在爐邊一圈圈地打轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn),再躺下來(lái),仿佛已經(jīng)給自己選定了過(guò)夜的地方;一會(huì)兒,又站起來(lái),拖著它那段毫無(wú)用處的短尾巴,走出門(mén)去,仿佛剛剛記起一個(gè)約會(huì),便匆匆跑去赴約。

“喏!茶炊擱在爐臺(tái)上了!”小不點(diǎn)兒說(shuō),她像孩子玩照管家務(wù)游戲那樣生氣勃勃地忙起來(lái),“這是冷豬膝火腿,這是牛油,這是脆皮面包;都在這兒啦!約翰,這是放換洗衣服的籃子,可以放小包裹,要是你帶了來(lái)的話——約翰,你在哪兒呀?蒂蕾,不論你在干什么,千萬(wàn)別把小寶貝兒掉到爐格子底下去??!”

或許該提一提,施羅博埃小姐盡管帶著點(diǎn)高興的樣子不接受這個(gè)警告,她卻具有使這嬰兒遭到麻煩的罕見(jiàn)的驚人天賦。有幾次,她就是用她獨(dú)特的不聲不響的方式使這小生命遭遇危險(xiǎn)的。這位小姐身材如此瘦削而挺直,以致衣服一直像是要從她兩邊尖尖的釘子似的肩膀上滑下來(lái),她的衣服掛在那上面可寬松得很。她的裝束引人注意,那是一種法蘭絨服裝,剪裁特別,在一切可能的地方都做了局部改革;在背部,則露出一線暗綠色的胸衣或緊身褡。施羅博埃小姐對(duì)于一切事物總是驚訝地贊不絕口,而且永遠(yuǎn)想著女主人和嬰兒的優(yōu)點(diǎn),想得出神入迷。她判斷事物時(shí)是很少失誤的,可以說(shuō),這給她的頭腦和心都增添了光彩;她的頭腦和心對(duì)嬰兒的頭卻稍欠敬意,時(shí)不時(shí)把它碰到木板門(mén)上、梳妝臺(tái)上、樓梯欄桿上、床柱上,以及其他毫不相干的東西上。雖然如此,蒂蕾·施羅博埃卻一直驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被這個(gè)溫暖的家庭這樣寬容地對(duì)待和接納,這些都是真實(shí)的結(jié)果。施羅博埃的雙親是誰(shuí),無(wú)從知道,因?yàn)樗且粋€(gè)在公立慈善機(jī)構(gòu)里長(zhǎng)大的棄兒。棄兒和愛(ài)兒只差一個(gè)字,可是意義大不相同,所表明的完全是兩碼事。

你要是看見(jiàn)小皮瑞賓格爾太太同她丈夫把那只換洗衣籃搬回來(lái),她用盡所有的力氣去拖,卻絲毫不起作用(因?yàn)樗煞虬嶂@子),一定會(huì)像她丈夫一樣覺(jué)得有趣。據(jù)我所知,那只蟋蟀也覺(jué)得有趣;的確如此,它現(xiàn)在又熱情奔放地啾啾唱起來(lái)了。

“啊呀!”約翰用他緩慢的聲調(diào)喊道,“我覺(jué)得它今兒晚上比平常更高興哪?!?/p>

“約翰,它一定會(huì)給我們帶來(lái)好運(yùn)氣!它一直帶給我們好運(yùn)的。爐邊有一只蟋蟀是世界上最幸運(yùn)的事!”

約翰盯著她,好像頭腦中差不多認(rèn)為她就是他的蟋蟀王,并且十分贊同她的意見(jiàn)。然而,這或許是他的一個(gè)稍縱即逝的念頭,因?yàn)樗裁炊紱](méi)有說(shuō)。

“約翰,我頭一次聽(tīng)到它快樂(lè)的小聲音,是你把我?guī)У郊依飦?lái)的那天晚上——你把我?guī)У轿疫@個(gè)新家里來(lái),讓我成了這個(gè)家的小主婦。這快有一年了。你記得嗎,約翰?”

哦,是的。約翰記得。當(dāng)然記得!

“我聽(tīng)了它的叫聲真是喜歡!那聲音似乎充滿了希望和鼓勵(lì)。它似乎在說(shuō),你會(huì)待我溫存和善,而不會(huì)期望(我那時(shí)候擔(dān)心著哪,約翰)在你愚笨的小妻子的肩膀之上長(zhǎng)著一個(gè)老腦袋。”

約翰親切地拍拍她的肩膀,再拍拍她的頭,好像在說(shuō):當(dāng)然,當(dāng)然,他沒(méi)有這樣期望過(guò);他很滿意她這個(gè)樣子的肩膀和腦袋。而且他確實(shí)有道理:那肩膀和腦袋非常可愛(ài)。

“約翰,蟋蟀仿佛在說(shuō)這些話的時(shí)候,說(shuō)的是真話,因?yàn)楹翢o(wú)疑問(wèn)你對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)一直是最好、最體貼、最深情的丈夫。約翰,這是個(gè)幸福的家;因此我愛(ài)這只蟋蟀!”

“是啊,我也是這樣,”運(yùn)貨夫說(shuō),“我也是這樣呢,小不點(diǎn)兒。”

“我愛(ài)它,因?yàn)樗镍Q唱我聽(tīng)過(guò)許多次,它的友善的歌聲曾經(jīng)引起我許多遐想。約翰,有時(shí)候,在暮色朦朧中,我感到一點(diǎn)孤獨(dú)和憂郁——那是在嬰兒出世來(lái)陪伴我,并且使得屋子里熱鬧起來(lái)以前——我還想到要是我死了,你會(huì)多么孤單;親愛(ài)的,當(dāng)我想到你要是失去我,你會(huì)覺(jué)得多么孤單。在這種時(shí)候,它在爐邊啾啾啾啾啾啾叫著,就像用另一種細(xì)小的聲音在跟我說(shuō)話,使我感到那么甜蜜,那么親切,它的聲音一傳來(lái),我的煩惱就像夢(mèng)一樣消失了。我曾經(jīng)常常害怕——我害怕過(guò),約翰,你知道我那時(shí)是很不懂事的——我們的婚姻不和諧,因?yàn)槲液?jiǎn)直是個(gè)孩子,而你與其說(shuō)像是我的丈夫,倒不如說(shuō)像是我的保護(hù)人。我還害怕,不管你怎樣用盡辦法,要學(xué)會(huì)能像你自己所希望、所祈禱的那樣愛(ài)我,卻辦不到。在這種時(shí)候,它啾啾啾啾啾啾地鳴唱,就曾使我重新愉快起來(lái),使我充滿了新的信任和信心。親愛(ài)的,今兒晚上我坐著盼望你來(lái)的時(shí)候,正想著這些事情;為了這些事情,我愛(ài)那只蟋蟀!”

“我也這樣,”約翰又說(shuō),“不過(guò),小不點(diǎn)兒,難道我曾希望和祈禱自己學(xué)會(huì)愛(ài)你嗎?你這是什么話呀?小不點(diǎn)兒,在我把你帶到這里來(lái)做蟋蟀的小女主人以前,我早就學(xué)會(huì)這個(gè)了!”

她把手在他的臂膀上擱了一會(huì)兒,神色激動(dòng)地朝他仰望,仿佛想跟他說(shuō)什么。接著她在換洗衣籃前跪下來(lái),一面整理小包裹,一面用興奮的聲調(diào)說(shuō)話。

“約翰,今兒晚上包裹不多,不過(guò)我剛才看見(jiàn)車子后邊有些貨物;或許這些東西增加了麻煩,可是同樣能夠掙到錢;因此我們沒(méi)有理由抱怨,是嗎?還有,我敢說(shuō)你一路回來(lái)已經(jīng)送掉一些了,是不是?”

“哦,是的,”約翰說(shuō),“送掉了好多?!?/p>

“咦,這個(gè)圓盒子里裝的什么?哎呀,約翰,是個(gè)結(jié)婚蛋糕哪!”

“只有女人猜得出來(lái),”約翰稱贊著,“要是男人可怎么也想不到。這樣看來(lái),我相信即使把一個(gè)結(jié)婚蛋糕裝在茶葉箱里、翻過(guò)來(lái)的床架子里、腌鮭魚(yú)的小桶里,或者其他種種東西里,女人都一定能夠馬上猜出來(lái)。不錯(cuò),我是從面包店里帶來(lái)的?!?/p>

“它重得我說(shuō)不上來(lái)——一百多磅總是有了!”小不點(diǎn)兒嚷著,費(fèi)盡力氣打算把它提起來(lái),“約翰,這是誰(shuí)的蛋糕?要送到哪兒去?”

“看看另一邊寫(xiě)的字吧?!奔s翰說(shuō)。

“啊呀,約翰!我的天哪,約翰!”

“是?。≌l(shuí)料想得到!”約翰回答。

“難道說(shuō),”小不點(diǎn)兒接著說(shuō),她坐在地板上對(duì)他搖頭,“這竟然是玩具商格拉夫和泰克爾頓的!”

約翰點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭。

皮瑞賓格爾太太也點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,至少點(diǎn)了五十下。這并不是贊同——而是默默地惋惜和驚異。這時(shí)她用盡小力氣扭歪著嘴巴(我很清楚,她的嘴巴生來(lái)絕不是為了扭歪用的),茫茫然、直愣愣地盯著善良的運(yùn)貨夫瞧。施羅博埃小姐具有一種機(jī)械地重復(fù)當(dāng)時(shí)談話的片段的本事,來(lái)逗樂(lè)那個(gè)嬰兒。她把話中的意思一概去掉,名詞一概改為復(fù)數(shù),這時(shí)候,她便這樣出聲問(wèn)著小寶寶:那么,是那些玩具商那些格拉夫和泰克爾頓嗎?那些結(jié)婚蛋糕是從那些面包店里帶來(lái)的嗎?那些爸爸把那些盒子拿回家來(lái),他的那些媽媽是不是猜到了呢?等等。

“這么說(shuō)來(lái)事情是真的了,”小不點(diǎn)兒說(shuō),“哎,約翰,她跟我小時(shí)候是同學(xué)呢?!?/p>

他可能已經(jīng)想到她,或者差不多想到她和她在一個(gè)學(xué)校里的時(shí)候的情景。他親切地、樂(lè)滋滋地瞧著她,可是不說(shuō)話。

“那個(gè)男人多么老?。《嗝床幌袼?!——哎,約翰,格拉夫和泰克爾頓比你大多少歲來(lái)著?”

“我真想知道,今兒晚上我一次喝掉的茶,會(huì)比格拉夫和泰克爾頓四次喝的多幾杯!”約翰輕松愉快地說(shuō),把一張椅子拖到圓桌前,吃起冷火腿來(lái),“至于吃東西呢,我吃得很少;不過(guò),小不點(diǎn)兒,這很少的一份我很滿意。”

這是他吃飯的時(shí)候常常流露的感情,是他一種天真的錯(cuò)覺(jué)(因?yàn)楦f(shuō)的截然相反,他的食欲總是難以饜足),可是,即使這句話也沒(méi)有在他小妻子的臉上逗出微笑來(lái)。妻子正站在那些包裹中間,慢慢地把蛋糕盒子踢開(kāi),雖然眼睛也朝下看,可是一眼也沒(méi)有瞧她平??偸悄钅畈煌钠恋男?。她站在那兒,想得出了神,忘掉了吃茶,也忘掉了約翰(雖然他呼喚她,又用刀敲敲桌子驚醒她),于是約翰站起身來(lái)碰碰她的胳臂。她對(duì)他看了一會(huì)兒,便連忙走到茶盤(pán)后面她的座位上去,對(duì)自己的失神不禁失笑。不過(guò),她不像先前那樣笑了,神態(tài)和聲音都變了許多。

蟋蟀也停止了鳴唱。房子里不知怎的不像原來(lái)那樣歡樂(lè)了。一點(diǎn)也不像了。

“那么,約翰,包裹就是這些了,是嗎?”她說(shuō),打破了長(zhǎng)久的沉默。在沉默的時(shí)間里,誠(chéng)實(shí)的運(yùn)貨夫?qū)P闹轮镜匕阉類?ài)表達(dá)的觀點(diǎn)的一部分做了一番實(shí)際的說(shuō)明——他吃得確實(shí)滿意,雖然我們不能承認(rèn)他吃得很少。“那么,約翰,包裹就是這些了,是嗎?”

“就是這些,”約翰說(shuō),“哎——不對(duì)——我——”他放下刀叉,倒抽了一大口氣,“的的確確——我把那位老先生忘得干干凈凈了!”

“老先生?”

“在車子里,”約翰說(shuō),“我剛才看見(jiàn)他的時(shí)候,他在草堆里睡著哪。走進(jìn)屋子以后,我其實(shí)差不多有兩次想起了他,可是他又從我腦子里跑掉了。啊呀!哎喲!醒來(lái)吧!我的天哪!”

約翰拿了一支蠟燭急急忙忙跑出去,后面的話是他在門(mén)外喊的。

關(guān)于“老先生”施羅博埃小姐感到這三個(gè)字里有一種神秘的味兒,就在自己神秘的想象中,把一種宗教性質(zhì)的聯(lián)想同這三個(gè)字聯(lián)系起來(lái),這使她慌得不得了,忙不迭地從爐邊矮椅上蹦起來(lái),跑到女主人裙邊去尋求庇護(hù);可是經(jīng)過(guò)門(mén)邊的時(shí)候,她正好跟一個(gè)陌生的老頭兒打了個(gè)照面,便本能地舉起手頭僅有的攻擊工具,對(duì)他襲擊或者沖撞起來(lái),這個(gè)工具恰巧就是那個(gè)嬰兒。這不免發(fā)生了一場(chǎng)大風(fēng)波、大騷亂,聰明伶俐的拳擊手更推波助瀾;因?yàn)檫@條好狗比主人更細(xì)心,看來(lái)它一直在看守這位睡覺(jué)的老先生,怕他把縛在車子后邊的幾株白楊樹(shù)苗偷走;它這會(huì)兒還在亦步亦趨地跟著他,事實(shí)上在咬他的綁腿,拼命進(jìn)攻那上面的紐扣。

“你真是個(gè)了不起的瞌睡家,先生?!彬}亂平息之后,約翰說(shuō)。這時(shí)候,老先生光著頭,一動(dòng)也不動(dòng)地站在屋中央?!拔?guī)缀跸雴?wèn)你那另外六位到哪兒去了——不過(guò)這就是說(shuō)笑話了,我知道自己會(huì)說(shuō)糟的。不過(guò)差不多已經(jīng)說(shuō)了,”運(yùn)貨夫低聲說(shuō)著,哧哧笑著,“差不多!”

這位生客披著長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的白發(fā),面貌和善,一副輪廓特別分明和顯然的老年人的樣子,他用黑亮銳利的眼睛含笑地環(huán)顧了一下,并向運(yùn)貨夫的妻子莊重地頷首致意。

他的服裝稀奇古怪——早已過(guò)時(shí)了。一身裝扮都是棕褐色的。手里也拿著一根棕褐色的大棍子,或者手杖;他把這東西往地上一敲,它就散開(kāi),變成了一張椅子,他便往上一坐,神態(tài)灑脫而又自在。

“你瞧!”運(yùn)貨夫掉頭對(duì)妻子說(shuō),“我就是這樣遇見(jiàn)他坐在路邊的!坐得筆直,像個(gè)里程碑似的,而且?guī)缀趺@得也像個(gè)里程碑?!?/p>

“露天坐著嗎,約翰?”

“露天坐著,”運(yùn)貨夫回答,“正是黃昏時(shí)分。他說(shuō)‘出錢搭車’,給了我十八個(gè)便士。他上了車,就到這里來(lái)了?!?/p>

“約翰,我想他就要走的吧?”

完全不對(duì)。他只不過(guò)是要說(shuō)話了。

“要是你們答應(yīng),我打算待下來(lái),直到別人來(lái)接我回去,”生客溫和地說(shuō),“不用管我?!?/p>

他說(shuō)完了話就從一只大口袋里掏出一副眼鏡,從另一只大口袋里掏出一本書(shū),悠閑地看起來(lái)。他毫不在意拳擊手,就像它是一只綿羊似的!

運(yùn)貨夫和妻子交換了一個(gè)困惑的眼神。生客抬起頭來(lái),看看她,再望望他,問(wèn)道:

“是你的女兒?jiǎn)?,我的好朋友??/p>

“妻子。”約翰回答。

“侄女?”生客問(wèn)。

“妻子!”約翰大聲說(shuō)。

“真的嗎?”生客打量著,“確實(shí)嗎?年紀(jì)很小嘛!”

他靜靜地翻著書(shū),繼續(xù)看下去??墒沁€沒(méi)有看完兩行字,又停下來(lái)問(wèn)道:

“這嬰兒,是你們的嗎?”

約翰用力地對(duì)他點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,等于是從喇叭里給予了一個(gè)肯定的答復(fù)。

“女孩兒?”

“男——孩——兒!”約翰大聲說(shuō)。

“也很小嘛,嗯?”

皮瑞賓格爾太太立刻插進(jìn)來(lái):“兩個(gè)月零三——天!剛在六個(gè)星期以前種了?!唬“l(fā)得很——好!醫(yī)生說(shuō)這個(gè)孩子長(zhǎng)得很漂——亮!大得相當(dāng)于一般五個(gè)月的孩——子!了不起地懂——事!你或許認(rèn)為不可能,可是他真的會(huì)站——立——了!”

喘不過(guò)氣來(lái)的小母親對(duì)著老頭兒的耳朵嚷著這些短句子,嚷得美麗的臉漲得通紅。她接著把嬰兒捧到他面前,作為一個(gè)扎扎實(shí)實(shí)、得意揚(yáng)揚(yáng)的事實(shí)。這時(shí)候,蒂蕾·施羅博埃發(fā)出有調(diào)子的“咳乞,咳乞”的喊聲——聽(tīng)起來(lái)像是一種適合于流行性噴嚏的莫名其妙的話——同時(shí)繞著完全無(wú)知的嬰兒像牛兒一樣蹦著、跳著。

“聽(tīng)??!人家來(lái)接他了,準(zhǔn)是的,”約翰說(shuō),“有人在門(mén)外哪。蒂蕾,開(kāi)門(mén)?!?/p>

可是,她還沒(méi)有走到門(mén)口,門(mén)已經(jīng)被人從外邊打開(kāi)了;因?yàn)槟鞘抢鲜降拈T(mén),誰(shuí)要愿意,就可以去開(kāi)閂——許多人都愿意,因?yàn)樽筻徲疑岣鞣N各樣的人都喜歡跟運(yùn)貨夫暢談幾句,雖然他本人并不是健談家。門(mén)打開(kāi),進(jìn)來(lái)一個(gè)臉色黝黑、若有所思的瘦小的人,他的大衣看來(lái)像是用一塊蓋什么舊箱子的麻袋布做的;因?yàn)樗D(zhuǎn)身關(guān)門(mén)不讓冷風(fēng)吹進(jìn)來(lái)的時(shí)候,大衣背上出現(xiàn)大大的黑色大寫(xiě)字母“G&T”,還有“玻璃”兩個(gè)大字。

“晚上好,約翰!”瘦小的人說(shuō),“晚上好,太太。晚上好,蒂蕾。晚上好,陌生人!嬰兒好嗎,太太?拳擊手很好吧,我想?”

“大家都康康泰泰,凱萊布,”小不點(diǎn)兒說(shuō),“我相信你只需要看一眼這個(gè)小寶寶就知道了?!?/p>

“我相信,我只需第二眼再看看你?!眲P萊布說(shuō)。

然而他并沒(méi)有朝她看;他的目光散漫而若有所思,不管他在說(shuō)什么,目光老是好像投射在另一個(gè)時(shí)間和另一處地方;這種情況同樣可以用來(lái)形容他的言語(yǔ)。

“或者再看看約翰,”凱萊布說(shuō),“或者就這一點(diǎn)來(lái)說(shuō),看看蒂蕾?;蛘?,當(dāng)然啦,看看拳擊手。”

“近來(lái)忙嗎,凱萊布?”運(yùn)貨夫問(wèn)。

“是啊,相當(dāng)忙,約翰,”他回答,那種心神錯(cuò)亂的神氣,至少像個(gè)尋覓點(diǎn)金石的人,“忙得很?,F(xiàn)在‘挪亞方舟’很暢銷。我本來(lái)想把那個(gè)家庭改進(jìn)一下,可是我不知道價(jià)錢方面怎么辦。要是將哪一個(gè)是閃,哪一個(gè)是含,哪些個(gè)是媳婦,做得更清楚,那可是樁叫人高興的事。你知道,跟大象比較起來(lái),那些蒼蠅也不成比例。啊,對(duì)了!約翰,你運(yùn)送的東西里可有我的包裹?”

運(yùn)貨夫把手伸進(jìn)脫下來(lái)的外衣口袋里,摸出一個(gè)用青苔和紙仔細(xì)保護(hù)著的小花盆。

“這就是了!”他小心翼翼地修整著這東西說(shuō),“連一片葉子都沒(méi)有弄壞呢,還長(zhǎng)滿了骨朵兒?!?/p>

凱萊布接過(guò)花盆,向他道謝,呆滯的眼睛亮起來(lái)。

“很貴,凱萊布,”運(yùn)貨夫說(shuō),“在這季節(jié)里這東西貴得很?!?/p>

“沒(méi)關(guān)系。不管多少錢,我都認(rèn)為便宜,”瘦小的人說(shuō),“還有別的嗎,約翰?”

“還有個(gè)小盒子,”運(yùn)貨夫回答,“就是這個(gè)!”

“‘凱萊布·普盧默收’,”瘦小的人念著上面的字,“‘注意現(xiàn)金’。約翰,現(xiàn)金嗎?我想這個(gè)不是我的?!?/p>

“‘注意安全’,”運(yùn)貨夫從他的肩頭看過(guò)去,回答說(shuō),“你怎么看成現(xiàn)金了?”

“哦!不錯(cuò)!”凱萊布說(shuō),“完全正確。注意安全!是的,是的,這是我的。約翰,要是我親愛(ài)的孩子在黃金般的南美洲還活著的話,這可能真的是現(xiàn)金呢。你愛(ài)那個(gè)孩子像你自己的一樣,不是嗎?你不必說(shuō)是。當(dāng)然,我知道?!畡P萊布·普盧默。注意安全?!堑?,是的,完全正確。這是一盒布娃娃的眼睛,我女兒工作上用的。約翰,我希望盒子里裝的是她自己的目光?!?/p>

“我希望真是這樣,或者能夠這樣!”運(yùn)貨夫大聲說(shuō)。

“謝謝你,”瘦小的人說(shuō),“你說(shuō)得非常真誠(chéng)。想想看,她永遠(yuǎn)看不見(jiàn)那些布娃娃——布娃娃卻一天到晚眼睛直愣愣地看著她!正是這個(gè)叫人心疼。約翰,運(yùn)送費(fèi)是多少?”

“你要是問(wèn)的話,”約翰說(shuō),“我就叫你受不了。小不點(diǎn)兒!差不多吧?”

“啊!這正是你這樣的人說(shuō)的話呢,”瘦小的人說(shuō),“你老是這樣好心。讓我想想看。我想沒(méi)別的事了?!?/p>

“我想不見(jiàn)得,”運(yùn)貨夫說(shuō),“你再想想看?!?/p>

“還有什么東西給咱們老板的吧,?。俊眲P萊布想了一會(huì)兒之后說(shuō),“不錯(cuò)。我就是為這個(gè)來(lái)的;可是我的腦子里想的盡是方舟什么的!他沒(méi)到這兒來(lái)過(guò)吧,是不是?”

“他不會(huì)來(lái),”運(yùn)貨夫回答,“他太忙了,忙著求愛(ài)哪?!?/p>

“不過(guò)他就要來(lái)的,”凱萊布說(shuō),“他叫我在回家的路上一直靠左邊走,他十有八九會(huì)把我?guī)宪?。那么,我最好走了——太太,你不能寬容地讓我把拳擊手的尾巴掐一把吧,能嗎??/p>

“怎么啦,凱萊布!這是什么意思?”

“哦,沒(méi)關(guān)系,太太,”瘦小的人說(shuō),“它或許不愿意的。剛不久接到一小批訂貨,要會(huì)叫的狗。為了六便士,我希望盡可能做得跟真的一樣。就是這個(gè)。沒(méi)關(guān)系,太太?!?/p>

拳擊手并沒(méi)有受到別人打算給予的刺激,卻恰好在這時(shí)候拼命大叫起來(lái)。不過(guò)這叫聲是表示有位新客人來(lái)了,凱萊布便把他的研究計(jì)劃推遲到以后比較適當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候,自己扛起那個(gè)圓盒子趕快離開(kāi)那兒。他本來(lái)可以省掉這個(gè)麻煩,因?yàn)樗陂T(mén)口碰到了那個(gè)客人。

“哦!你在這兒,可不是嗎?等一等。我?guī)慊丶?。約翰·皮瑞賓格爾,向你問(wèn)好。更多地向你美麗的妻子問(wèn)好。祝她一天比一天漂亮!要是可能的話,祝她更好,還祝她更年輕,”這個(gè)人放低嗓門(mén)考慮著說(shuō),“這是頂要緊的事!”

“泰克爾頓先生,”小不點(diǎn)兒并不十分高興地說(shuō),“要不是你現(xiàn)在的情況,你這些客套真要使我吃驚?!?/p>

“那么事情你全都知道啦?”

“我還曾設(shè)法使自己相信呢?!毙〔稽c(diǎn)兒說(shuō)。

“經(jīng)過(guò)一番艱苦斗爭(zhēng),是吧?”

“不錯(cuò)?!?/p>

一般都管玩具商泰克爾頓叫作格拉夫和泰克爾頓——因?yàn)樯烫?hào)是這個(gè)名稱,雖然格拉夫早已出讓了產(chǎn)權(quán),在業(yè)務(wù)上只留下他的名字,以及像某些人說(shuō)的,他的脾氣,這個(gè)脾氣可以用他的名字在字典上的意義來(lái)說(shuō)明——玩具商泰克爾頓這個(gè)人,他的職業(yè)曾經(jīng)被他的父母和保護(hù)人誤解過(guò)。要是他們過(guò)去使他成為一個(gè)放債人,或者一個(gè)厲害的律師,或者一個(gè)州官,或者一個(gè)經(jīng)紀(jì)人,那么他年輕的時(shí)候可能胡鬧一番,然后在壞事做盡做絕之后,為了換一下口味,嘗一點(diǎn)新鮮,可能終于變得可愛(ài)一些??墒?,他卻一直安分守己地蜷縮和掙扎在玩具制造行業(yè)中,于是變成一個(gè)深入家庭的食人魔怪,一生都靠?jī)和瘉?lái)生活,是他們不共戴天的仇敵。他輕視一切玩具,死也不肯去買一個(gè),卻喜歡惡意地把可怕的表情暗暗描畫(huà)在這些人的臉龐上:趕豬上市場(chǎng)的褐色的紙做的農(nóng)民;通告律師良心喪失的敲鐘人;補(bǔ)襪子或者切面餅的可以活動(dòng)的老婆婆;以及他的貨品中諸如此類的人物。至于鬼面具,討厭的滿臉胡須、眼睛通紅的盒子老頭,吸血蝙蝠風(fēng)箏,不肯躺下來(lái)、老是向前翻、眼睛直愣愣地看得幼童要哭的惡魔似的不倒翁,對(duì)于這些東西,他打心眼里感到得意。這些是他唯一的安慰和安全閥。他在這種創(chuàng)造方面是個(gè)杰出人物。任何使人聯(lián)想到夢(mèng)魘獸的事物,他都深感興趣。他甚至制作出妖魔幻燈片來(lái),那上面的魑魅魍魎都被畫(huà)成一種超自然的長(zhǎng)著人臉的貝類,因而賠了本(他卻打心眼里喜愛(ài)這種玩具)。為了使這些怪物肖像更為動(dòng)人,他投下了不小的資本;雖然他自己不是畫(huà)家,但是他可以用一支粉筆給他的藝術(shù)家們做出指示,讓他們?cè)谀切┠Ч值哪樕狭粝乱环N詭詐的邪笑,這副樣子保證可以在整個(gè)圣誕節(jié)或者暑假期間,使年齡在六歲到十一歲之間的任何一位小先生的和平心境遭到破壞。

他對(duì)待玩具的態(tài)度,也就是他(像大多數(shù)人一樣)對(duì)待其他事物的態(tài)度。因此,你可能很容易地猜想到,包在那件長(zhǎng)到小腿的綠斗篷里邊的,是一個(gè)紐扣直扣到下巴頦兒的特別有趣的人;并且猜想到,他是穿了一雙赤褐色長(zhǎng)筒的樣子頑固的靴子的一個(gè)頭等的人物,可愛(ài)的伙伴兒。

可是,這個(gè)玩具商泰克爾頓就要結(jié)婚了。盡管如此種種,他就要結(jié)婚了。而且還是跟一個(gè)年輕的女士——一個(gè)美麗的年輕的女士結(jié)婚呢。

他站在運(yùn)貨夫的廚房里,干癟的臉歪著,身子扭著,帽子拉到鼻梁上,雙手一直插到口袋底,他的刁鉆刻薄的心性從他一只小眼睛的角落里透露出來(lái),好像一群烏鴉的邪惡集中到了一起。他這副樣子可不大像一個(gè)新郎??墒牵鲂吕闪?。“再過(guò)三天,星期四,今年頭一個(gè)月的最后一天,就是我結(jié)婚的日子?!碧┛藸栴D說(shuō)。

我可曾說(shuō)過(guò),他總是一只眼睛睜得大大的,一只眼睛瞇成一條縫,而那只瞇起的眼睛總是富于表情呢?我想我沒(méi)有說(shuō)過(guò)。

“那就是我結(jié)婚的日子!”泰克爾頓說(shuō),把錢幣弄得“咔啦咔啦”響。

“咦,那也是我們結(jié)婚的日子呢。”運(yùn)貨夫嚷著。

“哈哈!”泰克爾頓笑起來(lái),“怪事!你們正好也是這樣的一對(duì)。正好!”

對(duì)于這種無(wú)禮的說(shuō)法,小不點(diǎn)兒的憤怒是難以形容的。下一步呢?他或許竟然想入非非,說(shuō)正好也是這樣的嬰兒哪。這個(gè)人瘋了。

“聽(tīng)著!跟你說(shuō)句話,”泰克爾頓小聲說(shuō),他用胳膊肘兒捅捅運(yùn)貨夫,領(lǐng)他走開(kāi)一些,“你們來(lái)參加婚禮嗎?你知道,咱們是難兄難弟?!?/p>

“怎么是難兄難弟?”運(yùn)貨夫問(wèn)。

“你知道,有點(diǎn)兒不般配,”泰克爾頓說(shuō),又捅了一下,“提前來(lái)跟我們消遣一個(gè)黃昏吧?!?/p>

“為什么?”約翰問(wèn),對(duì)他這副殷勤懇切勁兒感到驚訝。

“為什么?”對(duì)方回一句,“這樣子接受邀請(qǐng)可新鮮哩。嘿,你知道,為了樂(lè)和樂(lè)和——交際交際,就是這號(hào)事!”

“我還以為你從來(lái)不交際的?!奔s翰坦率地說(shuō)。

“啊呀!我懂了,跟你說(shuō)話非得直截了當(dāng)不行。”泰克爾頓說(shuō),“嘿,那么,是這樣,你跟你妻子兩個(gè)人具有一種愛(ài)喝茶的民族所謂的討人喜歡的外表。你知道,我們更清楚,不過(guò)——”

“不,我們并不更清楚,”約翰打斷他的話,“你在說(shuō)什么呀?”

“好吧!那么我們就并不更清楚,”泰克爾頓說(shuō),“我們同意我們并不如此。隨便你好啦;那有什么關(guān)系?我要說(shuō)的是,你們既然具有那種外表,你們的光臨就會(huì)對(duì)未來(lái)的泰克爾頓太太產(chǎn)生良好的影響。對(duì)于這樁事情,雖然我并不認(rèn)為你的好太太會(huì)很贊成我,可是她還是不得不同意我的看法,因?yàn)?,即使在無(wú)關(guān)緊要的情況下,她小巧又安詳?shù)臉幼涌偰苷f(shuō)明問(wèn)題。你說(shuō)你們打算來(lái)嗎?”

“我們已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備在家里(就這件事來(lái)說(shuō))過(guò)結(jié)婚紀(jì)念日,”約翰說(shuō),“我們自己約定了六個(gè)月了。你明白,我們覺(jué)得,家——”

“呸!家是什么?”泰克爾頓喊道,“四堵墻加一個(gè)天花板罷了?。銈?yōu)槭裁床话涯侵惑芭??我就要弄死它!我一直這么辦。我討厭蟋蟀的叫聲。)我的屋子也是四堵墻加一個(gè)天花板。到我家來(lái)吧!”

“你弄死你的蟋蟀,?。俊奔s翰問(wèn)。

“嘎吱嘎吱地跺死它們,先生,”對(duì)方回答,把腳后跟重重地往地上跺,“你說(shuō)你們打算來(lái)嗎?你知道,這正像對(duì)我一樣,對(duì)你也有好處,因?yàn)榕思視?huì)彼此說(shuō)服對(duì)方,認(rèn)為自己過(guò)得清靜而又滿意,別人甭想比得上。我懂得她們的心理。這個(gè)女人不管說(shuō)了什么,那個(gè)女人總是決心斗個(gè)高低。先生,她們之間有那么一種競(jìng)爭(zhēng)精神,如果你的妻子對(duì)我的妻子說(shuō):‘我是世界上最幸福的女人,我的丈夫是世界上最好的男人,我真愛(ài)他?!敲矗业钠拮泳蜁?huì)對(duì)她說(shuō)同樣的話,或者還添油加醋,而且差不多就相信了?!?/p>

“那么,你是說(shuō)她并不那樣嗎?”運(yùn)貨夫問(wèn)。

“并不那樣!”泰克爾頓喊道,尖著嗓子笑了一笑,“并不什么?”

運(yùn)貨夫幾乎要想接上去說(shuō):“愛(ài)你?!笨墒?,他恰好瞧見(jiàn)那只半閉的眼睛從翻起來(lái)的斗篷領(lǐng)子上面對(duì)他著,那個(gè)領(lǐng)子差點(diǎn)兒把眼睛擠出來(lái),他覺(jué)得這部分絕沒(méi)有任何可愛(ài)之處可言,于是改口說(shuō):“她并不相信?”

“啊,你這狗!你在說(shuō)笑話?!碧┛藸栴D說(shuō)。

可是運(yùn)貨夫還不完全了解他話中的意思,因而十分嚴(yán)肅地盯住他,因此他需要作更多的解釋。

“我有這種興致,”泰克爾頓說(shuō),舉起左手的指頭,敲敲那根食指,表示“這就是我泰克爾頓”,“先生,我有這種興致來(lái)討一個(gè)年輕的老婆,漂亮的老婆?!闭f(shuō)到這里,他帶著威風(fēng)凜凜的樣子,不是客氣地,而是神氣地拍拍小指頭,代表新娘?!拔壹热挥辛α繚M足這種興致,我就這樣辦了。這是我一時(shí)高興。不過(guò)——你看那邊!”

他指著小不點(diǎn)兒,她正坐在爐火前沉思著,手托著有酒窩的腮幫子,眼望著紅光閃閃的火苗。運(yùn)貨夫看看她,再看看他,再看看她,然后再看看他。

“你知道,毫無(wú)疑問(wèn),她恭敬而又順從,”泰克爾頓說(shuō),“而我既然不是一個(gè)多愁善感的男人,這對(duì)我就足夠了。不過(guò),在這方面你想還有什么問(wèn)題嗎?”

“我想,”運(yùn)貨夫說(shuō),“要是誰(shuí)說(shuō)沒(méi)有的話,我就要把他扔到窗外去。”

“完全正確,”對(duì)方一反常態(tài)地欣然贊同說(shuō),“那還用說(shuō)!你無(wú)疑會(huì)那樣做。當(dāng)然如此。我堅(jiān)信這一點(diǎn)。再見(jiàn)。做個(gè)好夢(mèng)!”

運(yùn)貨夫感到迷惑,不由自主地變得局促不安起來(lái),神情上也不禁透露了出來(lái)。

“再見(jiàn),我親愛(ài)的朋友!”泰克爾頓憐憫地說(shuō),“我要走了。我明白了,咱們兩個(gè)實(shí)際上一模一樣。你們不打算明天傍晚在我們那兒消磨嗎?好吧!我知道你們明天要到我家去做客。我在那兒跟你們見(jiàn)面吧,還要帶上我未來(lái)的妻子。這對(duì)她有好處。你贊成嗎?謝謝你。那是什么聲音!”

那是運(yùn)貨夫的妻子在高聲喊叫:又響,又尖,又突然,叫得這屋子像玻璃缸似的回響著。她已經(jīng)從座位上跳起來(lái),好像被恐怖和驚奇嚇呆了的人那樣站著。那個(gè)陌生人已經(jīng)來(lái)到壁爐前烤火,站在離她椅子一步遠(yuǎn)的地方。不過(guò)很安靜。

“小不點(diǎn)兒!”運(yùn)貨夫喊道,“瑪麗!親愛(ài)的!出了什么事?”

他們立刻都圍到她身邊來(lái)。拿著那盒蛋糕打瞌睡的凱萊布在迷迷糊糊還沒(méi)有完全清醒過(guò)來(lái)的狀態(tài)中,一下子揪住了施羅博埃小姐的頭發(fā),不過(guò)立刻道了歉。

“瑪麗!”運(yùn)貨夫喊著,一把抱住了她,“你不舒服嗎?怎么回事?告訴我,親愛(ài)的!”

她不回答,只管拍著手,忽然縱聲大笑起來(lái)。接著,從他的懷抱中滑到地板上,用圍裙捂住臉,放聲痛哭起來(lái)。接著,又笑;接著,又哭;然后說(shuō)覺(jué)得冷得很,便讓他扶到壁爐前,像原先那樣坐下來(lái)。那個(gè)老人像原先那樣站著,很安靜。

“我好些了,約翰,”她說(shuō),“我現(xiàn)在很好了——我——”

“約翰!”可是約翰是在她的那一面。她為什么把頭轉(zhuǎn)向那個(gè)奇怪的老先生,仿佛在跟他說(shuō)話!難道她神經(jīng)錯(cuò)亂了嗎?

“約翰,親愛(ài)的,只不過(guò)是個(gè)幻覺(jué)——一種震驚——一件東西突然出現(xiàn)在我眼前——我不知道那是什么。現(xiàn)在它已經(jīng)沒(méi)了,沒(méi)了。”

“我很高興它已經(jīng)沒(méi)了,”泰克爾頓咕噥著說(shuō),那只富于表情的眼睛對(duì)全室瞟了一圈,“我不知道它到哪兒去了,它又是什么。喂!凱萊布,到這兒來(lái)!那個(gè)白頭發(fā)的人是誰(shuí)?”

“我不知道,先生,”凱萊布悄悄地回答,“我這輩子從來(lái)沒(méi)看見(jiàn)過(guò)他。作為一個(gè)胡桃鉗倒是很漂亮,式樣很新。在他背心那兒開(kāi)一個(gè)螺旋鉗牙,他就很可愛(ài)了。”

“不夠丑?!碧┛藸栴D說(shuō)。

“或者,也可以作為一個(gè)火柴盒,”凱萊布頗費(fèi)思量地說(shuō)道,“多好的樣子!把他的頭擰開(kāi)來(lái),裝進(jìn)火柴;把他翻過(guò)來(lái)腳底朝天,做擦火用;就像他那樣站著,拿來(lái)做一位先生的壁爐架上的火柴盒子可多好啊!”

“的確很不夠丑,”泰克爾頓說(shuō),“他微不足道!來(lái)吧!拿著盒子!現(xiàn)在好了吧,我想?”

“哦,已經(jīng)沒(méi)了!沒(méi)了!”這個(gè)小女人說(shuō),匆匆地?fù)]手送他走,“再見(jiàn)!”

“再見(jiàn),”泰克爾頓說(shuō),“再見(jiàn),約翰·皮瑞賓格爾!凱萊布,拿著那只盒子要小心。掉下來(lái)我就要你的命!外邊漆黑一片,天氣更壞了,???再見(jiàn)!”

于是,他又一次對(duì)屋里狠狠地看了一遍,便走到門(mén)外去了。凱萊布頭頂著結(jié)婚蛋糕,隨后跟著。

運(yùn)貨夫被他的小妻子嚇壞了,忙著安慰和照顧她,因此一直沒(méi)有留意那個(gè)陌生人在場(chǎng),直到現(xiàn)在他又站在那兒,成了他們唯一的客人,他才發(fā)覺(jué)。

“你看,他不是跟他們一起的,”約翰說(shuō),“我必須給他暗示請(qǐng)他走了。”

“對(duì)不起,朋友,”老先生卻向他走來(lái),說(shuō)道,“真是對(duì)不起,因?yàn)槲遗履愕钠拮舆€沒(méi)有好,可是像我這樣體弱多病,”他摸摸耳朵,搖搖頭,“仆人幾乎是離不開(kāi)的,他卻還沒(méi)有來(lái),我怕準(zhǔn)是出了什么岔子。這個(gè)寒冷的夜晚,曾經(jīng)使我覺(jué)得躲在你的舒服的車子里(但愿我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)碰到壞車子),十分滿意;現(xiàn)在還是那樣寒冷。你是否可以好心容納我借住一宿?”

“可以,可以,”小不點(diǎn)兒喊道,“可以!當(dāng)然可以!”

“哦!”運(yùn)貨夫說(shuō)道,對(duì)這樣急促的應(yīng)允感到驚訝,“好吧!我不反對(duì);不過(guò),我還是不太清楚——”

“噓!”她打斷他的話,“約翰哪!”

“不要緊,他聾得很?!奔s翰肯定地說(shuō)。

“這我知道,不過(guò)——是的,先生,當(dāng)然可以!可以!當(dāng)然可以!約翰,我馬上給他準(zhǔn)備床鋪去?!?/p>

她匆匆地跑去準(zhǔn)備,那種心煩意亂、驚慌失措的樣子好生奇怪,運(yùn)貨夫站在那兒看著她,很是惶惑。

“那么他的媽媽們可是去準(zhǔn)備那些個(gè)床鋪了嗎?”施羅博埃小姐對(duì)嬰兒嚷著,“他的那些個(gè)帽子脫掉的時(shí)候,他的頭發(fā)可會(huì)變成棕色的鬈發(fā)嗎?可愛(ài)的寶貝們坐在那些個(gè)火爐旁,可曾嚇到他嗎?”

人們?cè)谝蓱]和驚慌的時(shí)候,注意力往往容易被瑣碎的小事物吸引了去。運(yùn)貨人正是如此:他慢慢地踱來(lái)踱去,發(fā)現(xiàn)自己竟把這些可笑的話在心中重復(fù)了許多遍。這么多的遍數(shù),以至于他都能背得很熟了,卻還是像研習(xí)功課似的,一遍又一遍地念著。這時(shí)候,蒂蕾用手在小小的毛頭上施行摩擦,直到她(按照護(hù)理慣例)認(rèn)為足夠有益于健康才住手,于是再把嬰兒的帽子系上。

“可愛(ài)的寶貝們坐在那些個(gè)火爐旁,可曾嚇到他嗎?什么東西嚇到了小不點(diǎn)兒呢,我不明白!”運(yùn)貨夫想著,走過(guò)來(lái)又走過(guò)去。

他心中琢磨那個(gè)玩具商話里的意思,然而那些話只能使他感到一種模糊不清和捉摸不定的不安。因?yàn)椋┛藸栴D機(jī)靈狡猾著哪;而他總是痛苦地感到自己是那種反應(yīng)遲鈍的人,只言片語(yǔ)的暗示往往領(lǐng)會(huì)不了。他心中確實(shí)不想把泰克爾頓所說(shuō)的話跟自己妻子失常的舉止聯(lián)系起來(lái),然而對(duì)這兩件事情的回想?yún)s一起來(lái)到心中,他無(wú)法把它們分開(kāi)來(lái)。

床鋪很快準(zhǔn)備好了;那個(gè)客人什么點(diǎn)心也不要,只喝了一杯茶就去睡了。于是,小不點(diǎn)兒——她說(shuō)完全復(fù)原了,完全復(fù)原了——替丈夫在壁爐邊安頓好大椅子;把煙斗裝滿,遞給他;把自己常坐的小凳子放在壁爐邊他的身旁。

她總是坐在那只小凳子上。我想她一定有一種想法,認(rèn)為那是一只會(huì)用甜言蜜語(yǔ)哄她去坐的小凳子。

我得說(shuō),她是天下四方最最好的裝煙斗家,好透好透了。她那根圓滾滾的小手指塞在煙斗里,然后把煙管吹干凈,吹過(guò)之后,還要裝作覺(jué)得煙管里邊真有什么東西的樣子,再吹個(gè)十幾次,并且把它當(dāng)作望遠(yuǎn)鏡一樣,用一只眼睛對(duì)著它望,可愛(ài)的小臉好像傷透了腦筋似的皺起來(lái);看到這幅情景,真是了不起的事。說(shuō)到煙草,她對(duì)這個(gè)東西完全有辦法;在運(yùn)貨夫嘴里銜了煙斗的時(shí)候,她拿著紙捻去點(diǎn)火——離他鼻子那么近,卻燒不到鼻子——那真是藝術(shù),高超的藝術(shù)。

蟋蟀和水壺又唱得響亮起來(lái),承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)!紅光閃閃的爐火又燃得旺起來(lái),承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)!鐘上的制作干草的小人兒不被人注意地工作著,承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)!運(yùn)貨夫有光滑的前額和舒展的臉,承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn),他們當(dāng)中他最能不假思索了。

他清醒地、沉思地吸著他那只舊煙斗,荷蘭時(shí)鐘在嘀嗒嘀嗒地響著,紅紅的爐火在照耀著,蟋蟀在鳴唱著,就在這時(shí)候,他的家庭的守護(hù)神(就是那只蟋蟀)變成仙子的樣子,降臨這間屋子,并且在運(yùn)貨夫周圍變來(lái)許多各種各樣的家庭。大大小小不同年齡的小不點(diǎn)兒擠滿了一屋子。那些小不點(diǎn)兒是一群快樂(lè)的孩子,在他面前的田野上奔跑和采摘鮮花;那些害臊的小不點(diǎn)兒站在他求婚時(shí)粗壯的身前,半推半就;那些新婚的小不點(diǎn)兒在家門(mén)口下車,驚異地接過(guò)家屋的鑰匙;那些做小母親的小不點(diǎn)兒,在那些假想的施羅博埃小姐的陪伴下抱著那些嬰兒去受洗;那些做主婦的小不點(diǎn)兒仍然年輕貌美,正在鄉(xiāng)村舞會(huì)上看著那些女兒輩的小不點(diǎn)兒跳舞;那些發(fā)胖了的小不點(diǎn)兒被一大群面頰紅潤(rùn)的孫兒輩包圍纏繞;那些衰老的小不點(diǎn)兒拄著拐杖,趔趔趄趄地向前挪動(dòng)腳步。那些老態(tài)龍鐘的運(yùn)貨夫也出現(xiàn)了,腳邊還躺著那些瞎了眼的老拳擊手;那些年輕人駕駛著那些新車子(篷帳上都寫(xiě)著“皮瑞賓格爾兄弟商號(hào)”);那些臥病的老運(yùn)貨夫,由最體貼的人服侍著;那些死去的運(yùn)貨夫葬在那些墓園里,墳?zāi)股喜萆嗲?。蟋蟀把這一切事物展示給他看的時(shí)候——他看得很清楚——雖然眼睛是直愣愣地凝視著爐火——他的心情變得輕松而又愉快。因此發(fā)自肺腑地感謝他的家神,而不再把格拉夫和泰克爾頓放在心上,正像你一樣。

然而,正是這只蟋蟀仙子,還把一個(gè)男青年的影像那么近地安排在她的小凳子旁,現(xiàn)在依舊孤孤單單地待在那兒,那是誰(shuí)呢?它為什么流連不去,靠她那么近,一只臂膀擱在壁爐架上,不斷地重復(fù)著說(shuō):“結(jié)婚了!卻不是嫁給我!”

哦,小不點(diǎn)兒!哦,有失檢點(diǎn)的小不點(diǎn)兒!在你的丈夫的所有印象里,它不應(yīng)該占一席之地;那么為什么它的陰影竟然落在他的壁爐邊了呢?

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