第 49 节
作者:不受约束      更新:2021-05-04 17:23      字数:9264
  haystack。 I imagined it would be a kind of company to have the
  boys; and the bedroom where I used to tell the stories; so near me:
  although the boys would know nothing of my being there; and the
  bedroom would yield me no shelter。
  I had had a hard day’s work; and was pretty well jaded when I
  came climbing out; at last; upon the level of Blackheath。 It cost me
  some trouble to find out Salem House; but I found it; and I found a
  haystack in the corner; and I lay down by it; having first walked
  round the wall; and looked up at the windows; and seen that all
  was dark and silent within。 Never shall I forget the lonely
  sensation of first lying down; without a roof above my head!
  Sleep came upon me as it came on many other outcasts; against
  whom house…doors were locked; and house…dogs barked; that
  night—and I dreamed of lying on my old school…bed; talking to the
  boys in my room; and found myself sitting upright; with
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  Steerforth’s name upon my lips; looking wildly at the stars that
  were glistening and glimmering above me。 When I remembered
  where I was at that untimely hour; a feeling stole upon me that
  made me get up; afraid of I don’t know what; and walk about。 But
  the fainter glimmering of the stars; and the pale light in the sky
  where the day was coming; reassured me: and my eyes being very
  heavy; I lay down again and slept—though with a knowledge in my
  sleep that it was cold—until the warm beams of the sun; and the
  ringing of the getting…up bell at Salem House; awoke me。 If I could
  have hoped that Steerforth was there; I would have lurked about
  until he came out alone; but I knew he must have left long since。
  Traddles still remained; perhaps; but it was very doubtful; and I
  had not sufficient confidence in his discretion or good luck;
  however strong my reliance was on his good nature; to wish to
  trust him with my situation。 So I crept away from the wall as Mr。
  Creakle’s boys were getting up; and struck into the long dusty
  track which I had first known to be the Dover Road when I was
  one of them; and when I little expected that any eyes would ever
  see me the wayfarer I was now; upon it。
  What a different Sunday morning from the old Sunday morning
  at Yarmouth! In due time I heard the church…bells ringing; as I
  plodded on; and I met people who were going to church; and I
  passed a church or two where the congregation were inside; and
  the sound of singing came out into the sunshine; while the beadle
  sat and cooled himself in the shade of the porch; or stood beneath
  the yew…tree; with his hand to his forehead; glowering at me going
  by。 But the peace and rest of the old Sunday morning were on
  everything; except me。 That was the difference。 I felt quite wicked
  in my dirt and dust; with my tangled hair。 But for the quiet picture
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  I had conjured up; of my mother in her youth and beauty; weeping
  by the fire; and my aunt relenting to her; I hardly think I should
  have had the courage to go on until next day。 But it always went
  before me; and I followed。
  I got; that Sunday; through three…and…twenty miles on the
  straight road; though not very easily; for I was new to that kind of
  toil。 I see myself; as evening closes in; coming over the bridge at
  Rochester; footsore and tired; and eating bread that I had bought
  for supper。 One or two little houses; with the notice; ‘Lodgings for
  Travellers’; hanging out; had tempted me; but I was afraid of
  spending the few pence I had; and was even more afraid of the
  vicious looks of the trampers I had met or overtaken。 I sought no
  shelter; therefore; but the sky; and toiling into Chatham;—which;
  in that night’s aspect; is a mere dream of chalk; and drawbridges;
  and mastless ships in a muddy river; roofed like Noah’s arks;—
  crept; at last; upon a sort of grass…grown battery overhanging a
  lane; where a sentry was walking to and fro。 Here I lay down; near
  a cannon; and; happy in the society of the sentry’s footsteps;
  though he knew no more of my being above him than the boys at
  Salem House had known of my lying by the wall; slept soundly
  until morning。
  Very stiff and sore of foot I was in the morning; and quite dazed
  by the beating of drums and marching of troops; which seemed to
  hem me in on every side when I went down towards the long
  narrow street。 Feeling that I could go but a very little way that day;
  if I were to reserve any strength for getting to my journey’s end; I
  resolved to make the sale of my jacket its principal business。
  Accordingly; I took the jacket off; that I might learn to do without
  it; and carrying it under my arm; began a tour of inspection of the
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  various slop…shops。
  It was a likely place to sell a jacket in; for the dealers in secondhand clothes were numerous; and were; generally speaking; on the
  look…out for customers at their shop doors。 But as most of them
  had; hanging up among their stock; an officer’s coat or two;
  epaulettes and all; I was rendered timid by the costly nature of
  their dealings; and walked about for a long time without offering
  my merchandise to anyone。
  This modesty of mine directed my attention to the marine…store
  shops; and such shops as Mr。 Dolloby’s; in preference to the
  regular dealers。 At last I found one that I thought looked
  promising; at the corner of a dirty lane; ending in an enclosure full
  of stinging…nettles; against the palings of which some second…hand
  sailors’ clothes; that seemed to have overflowed the shop; were
  fluttering among some cots; and rusty guns; and oilskin hats; and
  certain trays full of so many old rusty keys of so many sizes that
  they seemed various enough to open all the doors in the world。
  Into this shop; which was low and small; and which was
  darkened rather than lighted by a little window; overhung with
  clothes; and was descended into by some steps; I went with a
  palpitating heart; which was not relieved when an ugly old man;
  with the lower part of his face all covered with a stubbly grey
  beard; rushed out of a dirty den behind it; and seized me by the
  hair of my head。 He was a dreadful old man to look at; in a filthy
  flannel waistcoat; and smelling terribly of rum。 His bedstead;
  covered with a tumbled and ragged piece of patchwork; was in the
  den he had come from; where another little window showed a
  prospect of more stinging…nettles; and a lame donkey。
  ‘Oh; what do you want?’ grinned this old man; in a fierce;
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  monotonous whine。 ‘Oh; my eyes and limbs; what do you want?
  Oh; my lungs and liver; what do you want? Oh; goroo; goroo!’
  I was so much dismayed by these words; and particularly by the
  repetition of the last unknown one; which was a kind of rattle in
  his throat; that I could make no answer; hereupon the old man;
  still holding me by the hair; repeated:
  ‘Oh; what do you want? Oh; my eyes and limbs; what do you
  want? Oh; my lungs and liver; what do you want? Oh; goroo!’—
  which he screwed out of himself; with an energy that made his
  eyes start in his head。
  ‘I wanted to know;’ I said; trembling; ‘if you would buy a jacket。’
  ‘Oh; let’s see the jacket!’ cried the old man。 ‘Oh; my heart on
  fire; show the jacket to us! Oh; my eyes and limbs; bring the jacket
  out!’
  With that he took his trembling hands; which were like the
  claws of a great bird; out of my hair; and put on a pair of
  spectacles; not at all ornamental to his inflamed eyes。
  ‘Oh; how much for the jacket?’ cried the old man; after
  examining it。 ‘Oh—goroo!—how much for the jacket?’
  ‘Half…a…crown;’ I answered; recovering myself。
  ‘Oh; my lungs and liver;’ cried the old man; ‘no! Oh; my eyes;
  no! Oh; my limbs; no! Eighteenpence。 Goroo!’
  Every time he uttered this ejaculation; his eyes seemed to be in
  danger of starting out; and every sentence he spoke; he delivered
  in a sort of tune; always exactly the same; and more like a gust of
  wind; which begins low; mounts up high; and falls again; than any
  other comparison I can find for it。
  ‘Well;’ said I; glad to have closed the bargain; ‘I’ll take
  eighteenpence。’
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  ‘Oh; my liver!’ cried the old man; throwing the jacket on a shelf。
  ‘Get out of the shop! Oh; my lungs; get out of the shop! Oh; my
  eyes and limbs—goroo!—don’t ask for money; make it an
  exchange。’ I never was so frightened in my life; before or since; but
  I told him humbly that I wanted money; and that nothing else was
  of any use to me; but that I would wait for it; as he desired;
  outside; and had no wish to hurry him。 So I went outside; and sat
  down in the shade in a corner。 And I sat there so many hours; that
  the shade became sunlight; and the sunlight became shade again;
  and still I sat there waiting for the money。
  There never was such another drunken madman in that line of
  business; I hope。 That he was