IT was in the fourth year of my apprenticeship to Joe, and it was a Saturday night. There was a group assembled round the fire at the Three Jolly Bargemen, attentive to Mr Wopsle as he read the newspaper aloud. Of that group I was one.
A highly popular murder had been committed, and Mr Wopsle was imbrued in blood to the eyebrows. He gloated over every abhorrent adjective in the description, and identified himself with every witness at the Inquest. He faintly moaned, `I am done for,’ as the victim, and he barbarously bellowed, `I’ll serve you out,’ as the murderer. He gave the medical testimony, in pointed imitation of our local practitioner; and he piped and shook, as the aged turnpike-keeper who had heard blows, to an extent so very paralytic as to suggest a doubt regarding the mental competency of that witness. The coroner, in Mr Wopsle’s hands, became Timon of Athens; the beadle, Coriolanus. He enjoyed himself thoroughly, and we all enjoyed ourselves, and were delightfully comfortable. In this cozy state of mind we came to the verdict Wilful Murder.
Then, and not sooner, I became aware of a strange gentleman leaning over the back of the settle opposite me, looking on. There was an expression of contempt on his face, and he bit the side of a great forefinger as he watched the group of faces.
`Sir,’ returned Mr Wopsle, `without having the honour of your acquaintance, I do say Guilty.’ Upon this, we all took courage to unite in a confirmatory murmur.
`I know you do,’ said the stranger; `I knew you would. I told you so. But now I’ll ask you a question. Do you know, or do you not know, that the law of England supposes every man to be innocent, until he is proved - proved - to be guilty?’
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“先生,”沃甫赛先生回答道,‘哦作为一名英国人,我——”
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`Sir,’ Mr Wopsle began to reply, `as an Englishman myself, I--’
He stood with his head on one side and himself on one side, in a bullying interrogative manner, and he threw his forefinger at Mr Wopsle - as it were to mark him out - before biting it again.
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“你说!”他问道,“你究竟知道还是不知道?”
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`Now!’ said he. `Do you know it, or don’t you know it?’
`Certainly you know it. Then why didn’t you say so at first? Now, I’ll ask you another question;’ taking possession of Mr Wopsle, as if he had a right to him. `Do you know that none of these witnesses have yet been cross-examined?’
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沃甫赛先生刚开始说“我只能说——”,话便被陌生人打断了。
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Mr Wopsle was beginning, `I can only say--’ when the stranger stopped him.
`What? You won’t answer the question, yes or no? Now, I’ll try you again.’ Throwing his finger at him again. `Attend to me. Are you aware, or are you not aware, that none of these witnesses have yet been cross-examined? Come, I only want one word from you. Yes, or no?’
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沃甫赛先生吞吞吐吐的,不知该怎么答才好。我们开始对他转变了态度,敬佩之情减低了。
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Mr Wopsle hesitated, and we all began to conceive rather a poor opinion of him.
`Undoubtedly. Now, turn to that paper, and tell me whether it distinctly states that the prisoner expressly said that his legal advisers instructed him altogether to reserve his defence?’
`Never mind what you read just now, sir; I don’t ask you what you read just now. You may read the Lord’s Prayer backwards, if you like - and, perhaps, have done it before to-day. Turn to the paper. No, no, no my friend; not to the top of the column; you know better than that; to the bottom, to the bottom.’ (We all began to think Mr Wopsle full of subterfuge.) `Well? Have you found it?’
`Now, follow that passage with your eye, and tell me whether it distinctly states that the prisoner expressly said that he was instructed by his legal advisers wholly to reserve his defence? Come!Do you make that of it?’
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沃甫赛先生答道:“措词可不太相同啊。”
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Mr Wopsle answered, `Those are not the exact words.’
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“措词虽然不太相同,”这位绅士尖刻地说道,“可意思是不是一致呢?”
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`Not the exact words!’ repeated the gentleman, bitterly. `Is that the exact substance?’
`Yes,’ repeated the stranger, looking round at the rest of the company with his right hand extended towards the witness, Wopsle. `And now I ask you what you say to the conscience of that man who, with that passage before his eyes, can lay his head upon his pillow after having pronounced a fellow-creature guilty, unheard?’
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我们大家都开始怀疑沃甫赛先生并不是我们曾经想象的那种人,他的马脚已经开始为人们所觉察。
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We all began to suspect that Mr Wopsle was not the man we had thought him, and that he was beginning to be found out.
`And that same man, remember,’ pursued the gentleman, throwing his finger at Mr Wopsle heavily; `that same man might be summoned as a juryman upon this very trial, and, having thus deeply committed himself, might return to the bosom of his family and lay his head upon his pillow, after deliberately swearing that he would well and truly try the issue joined between Our Sovereign Lord the King and the prisoner at the bar, and would a true verdict give according to the evidence, so help him God!’
The strange gentleman, with an air of authority not to be disputed, and with a manner expressive of knowing something secret about every one of us that would effectually do for each individual if he chose to disclose it, left the back of the settle, and came into the space between the two settles, in front of the fire, where he remained standing: his left hand in his pocket, and he biting the forefinger of his right.
`From information I have received,’ said he, looking round at us as we all quailed before him, `I have reason to believe there is a blacksmith among you, by name Joseph - or Joe - Gargery. Which is the man?’
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“我就是。”乔说道。
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`Here is the man,’ said Joe.
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这位陌生的先生向他招招手,示意他过去。乔便走到他跟前。
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The strange gentleman beckoned him out of his place, and Joe went.
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“你有一个学徒,”陌生人继续说,“人们都叫他皮普,是吗?他来了吗?”
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`You have an apprentice,’ pursued the stranger, `commonly known as Pip? Is he here?’
The stranger did not recognize me, but I recognized him as the gentleman I had met on the stairs, on the occasion of my second visit to Miss Havisham. I had known him the moment I saw him looking over the settle, and now that I stood confronting him with his hand upon my shoulder, I checked off again in detail, his large head, his dark complexion, his deep-set eyes, his bushy black eyebrows, his large watch-chain, his strong black dots of beard and whisker, and even the smell of scented soap on his great hand.
`My name,’ he said, `is Jaggers, and I am a lawyer in London. I am pretty well known. I have unusual business to transact with you, and I commence by explaining that it is not of my originating. If my advice had been asked, I should not have been here. It was not asked, and you see me here. What I have to do as the confidential agent of another, I do. No less, no more.’
Finding that he could not see us very well from where he sat, he got up, and threw one leg over the back of a chair and leaned upon it; thus having one foot on the seat of the chair, and one foot on the ground.