第 20 节
作者:不受约束      更新:2021-05-04 17:22      字数:9271
  insides of the houses were like; and what the inhabitants were
  about; and when boys came running after us; and got up behind
  and swung there for a little way; I wondered whether their fathers
  were alive; and whether they Were happy at home。 I had plenty to
  think of; therefore; besides my mind running continually on the
  kind of place I was going to—which was an awful speculation。
  Sometimes; I remember; I resigned myself to thoughts of home
  and Peggotty; and to endeavouring; in a confused blind way; to
  recall how I had felt; and what sort of boy I used to be; before I bit
  Mr。 Murdstone: which I couldn’t satisfy myself about by any
  means; I seemed to have bitten him in such a remote antiquity。
  The night was not so pleasant as the evening; for it got chilly;
  and being put between two gentlemen (the rough…faced one and
  another) to prevent my tumbling off the coach; I was nearly
  smothered by their falling asleep; and completely blocking me up。
  They squeezed me so hard sometimes; that I could not help crying
  Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
  David Copperfield
  out; ‘Oh! If you please!’—which they didn’t like at all; because it
  woke them。 Opposite me was an elderly lady in a great fur cloak;
  who looked in the dark more like a haystack than a lady; she was
  wrapped up to such a degree。 This lady had a basket with her; and
  she hadn’t known what to do with it; for a long time; until she
  found that on account of my legs being short; it could go
  underneath me。 It cramped and hurt me so; that it made me
  perfectly miserable; but if I moved in the least; and made a glass
  that was in the basket rattle against something else (as it was sure
  to do); she gave me the cruellest poke with her foot; and said;
  ‘Come; don’t you fidget。 Your bones are young enough; I’m sure!’
  At last the sun rose; and then my companions seemed to sleep
  easier。 The difficulties under which they had laboured all night;
  and which had found utterance in the most terrific gasps and
  snorts; are not to be conceived。 As the sun got higher; their sleep
  became lighter; and so they gradually one by one awoke。 I
  recollect being very much surprised by the feint everybody made;
  then; of not having been to sleep at all; and by the uncommon
  indignation with which everyone repelled the charge。 I labour
  under the same kind of astonishment to this day; having invariably
  observed that of all human weaknesses; the one to which our
  common nature is the least disposed to confess (I cannot imagine
  why) is the weakness of having gone to sleep in a coach。
  What an amazing place London was to me when I saw it in the
  distance; and how I believed all the adventures of all my favourite
  heroes to be constantly enacting and re…enacting there; and how I
  vaguely made it out in my own mind to be fuller of wonders and
  wickedness than all the cities of the earth; I need not stop here to
  relate。 We approached it by degrees; and got; in due time; to the
  Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
  David Copperfield
  inn in the Whitechapel district; for which we were bound。 I forget
  whether it was the Blue Bull; or the Blue Boar; but I know it was
  the Blue Something; and that its likeness was painted up on the
  back of the coach。
  The guard’s eye lighted on me as he was getting down; and he
  said at the booking…office door:
  ‘Is there anybody here for a yoongster booked in the name of
  Murdstone; from Bloonderstone; Sooffolk; to be left till called for?’
  Nobody answered。
  ‘Try Copperfield; if you please; sir;’ said I; looking helplessly
  down。
  ‘Is there anybody here for a yoongster; booked in the name of
  Murdstone; from Bloonderstone; Sooffolk; but owning to the name
  of Copperfield; to be left till called for?’ said the guard。 ‘Come! Is
  there anybody?’
  No。 There was nobody。 I looked anxiously around; but the
  inquiry made no impression on any of the bystanders; if I except a
  man in gaiters; with one eye; who suggested that they had better
  put a brass collar round my neck; and tie me up in the stable。
  A ladder was brought; and I got down after the lady; who was
  like a haystack: not daring to stir; until her basket was removed。
  The coach was clear of passengers by that time; the luggage was
  very soon cleared out; the horses had been taken out before the
  luggage; and now the coach itself was wheeled and backed off by
  some hostlers; out of the way。 Still; nobody appeared; to claim the
  dusty youngster from Blunderstone; Suffolk。
  More solitary than Robinson Crusoe; who had nobody to look at
  him and see that he was solitary; I went into the booking…office;
  and; by invitation of the clerk on duty; passed behind the counter;
  Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
  David Copperfield
  and sat down on the scale at which they weighed the luggage。
  Here; as I sat looking at the parcels; packages; and books; and
  inhaling the smell of stables (ever since associated with that
  morning); a procession of most tremendous considerations began
  to march through my mind。 Supposing nobody should ever fetch
  me; how long would they consent to keep me there? Would they
  keep me long enough to spend seven shillings? Should I sleep at
  night in one of those wooden bins; with the other luggage; and
  wash myself at the pump in the yard in the morning; or should I
  be turned out every night; and expected to come again to be left
  till called for; when the office opened next day? Supposing there
  was no mistake in the case; and Mr。 Murdstone had devised this
  plan to get rid of me; what should I do? If they allowed me to
  remain there until my seven shillings were spent; I couldn’t hope
  to remain there when I began to starve。 That would obviously be
  inconvenient and unpleasant to the customers; besides entailing
  on the Blue Whatever…it…was; the risk of funeral expenses。 If I
  started off at once; and tried to walk back home; how could I ever
  find my way; how could I ever hope to walk so far; how could I
  make sure of anyone but Peggotty; even if I got back? If I found
  out the nearest proper authorities; and offered myself to go for a
  soldier; or a sailor; I was such a little fellow that it was most likely
  they wouldn’t take me in。 These thoughts; and a hundred other
  such thoughts; turned me burning hot; and made me giddy with
  apprehension and dismay。 I was in the height of my fever when a
  man entered and whispered to the clerk; who presently slanted me
  off the scale; and pushed me over to him; as if I were weighed;
  bought; delivered; and paid for。
  As I went out of the office; hand in hand with this new
  Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
  David Copperfield
  acquaintance; I stole a look at him。 He was a gaunt; sallow young
  man; with hollow cheeks; and a chin almost as black as Mr。
  Murdstone’s; but there the likeness ended; for his whiskers were
  shaved off; and his hair; instead of being glossy; was rusty and dry。
  He was dressed in a suit of black clothes which were rather rusty
  and dry too; and rather short in the sleeves and legs; and he had a
  white neck…kerchief on; that was not over…clean。 I did not; and do
  not; suppose that this neck…kerchief was all the linen he wore; but
  it was all he showed or gave any hint of。
  ‘You’re the new boy?’ he said。 ‘Yes; sir;’ I said。
  I supposed I was。 I didn’t know。
  ‘I’m one of the masters at Salem House;’ he said。
  I made him a bow and felt very much overawed。 I was so
  ashamed to allude to a commonplace thing like my box; to a
  scholar and a master at Salem House; that we had gone some little
  distance from the yard before I had the hardihood to mention it。
  We turned back; on my humbly insinuating that it might be useful
  to me hereafter; and he told the clerk that the carrier had
  instructions to call for it at noon。
  ‘If you please; sir;’ I said; when we had accomplished about the
  same distance as before; ‘is it far?’
  ‘It’s down by Blackheath;’ he said。
  ‘Is that far; sir?’ I diffidently asked。
  ‘It’s a good step;’ he said。 ‘We shall go by the stage…coach。 It’s
  about six miles。’
  I was so faint and tired; that the idea of holding out for six miles
  more; was too much for me。 I took heart to tell him that I had had
  nothing all night; and that if he would allow me to buy something
  to eat; I should be very much obliged to him。 He appeared
  Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
  David Copperfield
  surprised at this—I see him stop and look at me now—and after
  considering for a few moments; said he wanted to call on an old
  person who lived not far off; and that the best way would be for me
  to buy some bread; or whatever I liked best that was wholesome;
  and make my breakfast at her house; where we could get some
  milk。
  Accordingly we looked in at a baker’s window; and after I had
  made a series of proposals to buy everything that was bilious in
  the shop; and he had rejected them one by one; we decided in
  favour of a nice little loaf of brown bread; which cost me
  threepence。 Then; at a grocer’s shop; we bought an egg and a slice
  of streaky bacon; which