Adept as she was, in all the arts of cunning and dissimulation, the girl Nancy could not wholly conceal the effect which the knowledge of the step she had taken, wrought upon her mind. She remembered that both the crafty Jew and the brutal Sikes had confided to her schemes, which had been hidden from all others: in the full confidence that she was trustworthy and beyond the reach of their suspicion. Vile as those schemes were, desperate as were their originators, and bitter as were her feelings towards Fagin, who had led her, step by step, deeper and deeper down into an abyss of crime and misery, whence was no escape; still, there were times when, even towards him, she felt some relenting, lest her disclosure should bring him within the iron grasp he had so long eluded, and he should fall at last--richly as he merited such a fate--by her hand.
But, these were the mere wanderings of a mind unable wholly to detach itself from old companions and associations, though enabled to fix itself steadily on one object, and resolved not to be turned aside by any consideration. Her fears for Sikes would have been more powerful inducements to recoil while there was yet time; but she had stipulated that her secret should be rigidly kept, she had dropped no clue which could lead to his discovery, she had refused, even for his sake, a refuge from all the guilt and wretchedness that encompasses her--and what more could she do! She was resolved.
Though all her mental struggles terminated in this conclusion, they forced themselves upon her, again and again, and left their traces too. She grew pale and thin, even within a few days. At times, she took no heed of what was passing before her, or no part in conversations where once, she would have been the loudest. At other times, she laughed without merriment, and was noisy without a moment afterwards--she sat silent and dejected, brooding with her head upon her hands, while the very effort by which she roused herself, told, more forcibly than even these indications, that she was ill at ease, and that her thoughts were occupied with matters very different and distant from those in the course of discussion by her companions.
It was Sunday night, and the bell of the nearest church struck the hour. Sikes and the Jew were talking, but they paused to listen. The girl looked up from the low seat on which she crouched, and listened too. Eleven.
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6
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“啊。”费金回答,“真可惜,亲爱的比尔,我们连一笔可以做的现成买卖都没有。”
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6
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’An hour this side of midnight,’ said Sikes, raising the blind to look out and returning to his seat. ’Dark and heavy it is too. A good night for business this.’
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7
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“你算是说对了一回,”赛克斯绷着脸说,“确实可惜啊,我也有点这种感觉。”
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7
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’Ah!’ replied Fagin. ’What a pity, Bill, my dear, that there’s none quite ready to be done.’
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8
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费金叹了口气,沮丧地摇了摇头。
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8
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’You’re right for once,’ replied Sikes gruffly. ’It is a pity, for I’m in the humour too.’
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9
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“等我们把事情好好排个队,非得把丢掉的时光补回来不可。我就知道这个。”
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9
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Fagin sighed, and shook his head despondingly.
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10
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“说得可也是,亲爱的,”费金一边回答,一边大着胆子拍了拍他的肩膀。“听你这么一说,我就放心了。”
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10
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’We must make up for lost time when we’ve got things into a good train. That’s all I know,’ said Sikes.
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11
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“你放心了。”赛克斯嚷嚷着,“得了,就这样吧。”
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11
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’That’s the way to talk, my dear,’ replied Fagin, venturing to pat him on the shoulder. ’It does me good to hear you.’
’Reminds me of being nabbed by the devil,’ returned Sikes. ’There never was another man with such a face as yours, unless it was your father, and I suppose _he_ is singeing his grizzled red beard by this time, unless you came straight from the old ’un without any father at all betwixt you; which I shouldn’t wonder at, a bit.’
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17
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“哈罗。”赛克斯大声地说,“南希,晚上都这功夫了,小丫头还要上哪儿去啊?”
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17
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Fagin offered no reply to this compliment: but, pulling Sikes by the sleeve, pointed his finger towards Nancy, who had taken advantage of the foregoing conversation to put on her bonnet, and was now leaving the room.
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18
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“没多远。”
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18
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’Hallo!’ cried Sikes. ’Nance. Where’s the gal going to at this time of night?’
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19
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“这叫什么话?”赛克斯问道,“你上什么地方去?”
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19
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’Not far.’
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20
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“我说了,没有多远。”
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20
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’What answer’s that?’ retorted Sikes. ’Do you hear me?’
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21
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“我问的是什么地方?”赛克斯钉得很紧,“我的话你听见没有?”
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21
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’I don’t know where,’ replied the girl.
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22
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“我不知道什么地方。”姑娘回答。
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22
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’Then I do,’ said Sikes, more in the spirit of obstinacy than because he had any real objection to the girl going where she listed. ’Nowhere. Sit down.’
’I’m not well. I told you that before,’ rejoined the girl. ’I want a breath of air.’
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24
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“我不舒服,我先前跟你讲过的,”姑娘答道,“我想吹吹凉风。”
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24
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’Put your head out of the winder,’ replied Sikes.
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25
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“你把脑袋从窗户里伸出去不就得了。”赛克斯回答。
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25
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’There’s not enough there,’ said the girl. ’I want it in the street.’
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26
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“这哪儿够,”姑娘说道,“我要上街。”
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26
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’Then you won’t have it,’ replied Sikes. With which assurance he rose, locked the door, took the key out, and pulling her bonnet from her head, flung it up to the top of an old press. ’There,’ said the robber. ’Now stop quietly where you are, will you?’
’Know what I’m--Oh!’ cried Sikes, turning to Fagin, ’she’s out of her senses, you know, or she daren’t talk to me in that way.’
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29
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“知不知道我在――噢!”赛克斯大声嚷嚷着转向费金。“她疯了,你知道,要不然绝不敢这样跟我说话。”
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29
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’You’ll drive me on the something desperate,’ muttered the girl placing both hands upon her breast, as though to keep down by force some violent outbreak. ’Let me go, will you,--this minute--this instant.’
’Hear you!’ repeated Sikes turning round in his chair to confront her. ’Aye! And if I hear you for half a minute longer, the dog shall have such a grip on your throat as’ll tear some of that screaming voice out. Wot has come over you, you jade! Wot is it?’
’Let me go,’ said the girl with great earnestness; then sitting herself down on the floor, before the door, she said, ’Bill, let me go; you don’t know what you are doing. You don’t, indeed. For only one hour--do--do!’
’Not till you let me go--not till you let me go--Never--never!’ screamed the girl. Sikes looked on, for a minute, watching his opportunity, and suddenly pinioning her hands dragged her, struggling and wrestling with him by the way, into a small room adjoining, where he sat himself on a bench, and thrusting her into a chair, held her down by force. She struggled and implored by turns until twelve o’clock had struck, and then, wearied and exhausted, ceased to contest the point any further. With a caution, backed by many oaths, to make no more efforts to go out that night, Sikes left her to recover at leisure and rejoined Fagin.