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Not a word of this was breathed to Mrs Pipchin: but many a night when they were all in bed, and when Miss Nipper, with her hair in papers and herself asleep in some uncomfortable attitude, reposed unconscious by her side; and when the chinking ashes in the grate were cold and grey; and when the candles were burnt down and guttering out; - Florence tried so hard to be a substitute for one small Dombey, that her fortitude and perseverance might have almost won her a free right to bear the name herself.
這種情況一句話也沒有向皮普欽太太吐露過；到了夜晚，所有的人都已經上床睡覺；尼珀姑娘用紙卷著頭發，并采取一種不舒適的姿態橫臥在她的身邊，也已睡覺了；壁爐中裂為碎屑的灰燼已經變冷，顏色已經變得灰白；蠟燭已經燃盡，流淌著燭水；可是這時候，弗洛倫斯仍在辛勤地鉆研著，試圖成為小保羅的替身；她那堅忍不拔，不屈不撓的精神幾乎真可以使她本人贏得姓這個姓的自由權利。
And high was her reward, when one Saturday evening, as little Paul was sitting down as usual to 'resume his studies,' she sat down by his side, and showed him all that was so rough, made smooth, and all that was so dark, made clear and plain, before him. It was nothing but a startled look in Paul's wan face - a flush - a smile - and then a close embrace - but God knows how her heart leapt up at this rich payment for her trouble.
她獲得的報酬是豐厚的；有一個星期六晚上，當小保羅像往常一樣坐下來“繼續學習”的時候，她坐在他身邊，向他指點著；在他面前，所有那些深奧艱難的東西如今已變得簡易了，所有那些晦澀不解的東西如今已變得清楚明白了。保羅的毫無血色的臉上出現了驚奇的神色——泛上了一陣紅暈——露出了一個微笑——然后是一陣緊緊的擁抱；除此之外，沒有別的了。只有上帝才知道，她付出的勞動得到了如些優厚的報酬，她的心是怎樣跳動的啊！
'Oh, Floy!' cried her brother, 'how I love you! How I love you, Floy!'
“啊，弗洛伊！”她的弟弟喊道，“我多么愛你啊！我多么愛你啊，弗洛伊。”
'And I you, dear!'
“我也愛你呀，親愛的！”
'Oh! I am sure of that, Floy.'
“啊！我完全相信你的話，弗洛伊。”
He said no more about it, but all that evening sat close by her, very quiet; and in the night he called out from his little room within hers, three or four times, that he loved her.
他沒有再說什么，那天整個晚上他都緊挨著她，很安靜地坐著；不過夜里，他在她房間里面的小房間中卻三、四次喊道，他愛她。
Regularly, after that, Florence was prepared to sit down with Paul on Saturday night, and patiently assist him through so much as they could anticipate together of his next week's work. The cheering thought that he was labouring on where Florence had just toiled before him, would, of itself, have been a stimulant to Paul in the perpetual resumption of his studies; but coupled with the actual lightening of his load, consequent on this assistance, it saved him, possibly, from sinking underneath the burden which the fair Cornelia Blimber piled upon his back.
在這之后，弗洛倫斯照例總是準備著在星期六夜間跟保羅坐在一起，耐心地幫助他準備他們預料他下星期將要面臨的功課。他現在努力工作著的地方正是弗洛倫斯在他之前剛剛辛苦勞動過的，想到這一點是愉快的；在保羅不斷的繼續學習中，這本身對他一直是一種激勵。不過，由于加上這一幫助的結果，他的負擔實際上減輕了，所以它拯救了他，使他沒有可能沉陷在美麗的科妮莉亞堆壓在他背上的重擔下面，不能起來。
It was not that Miss Blimber meant to be too hard upon him, or that Doctor Blimber meant to bear too heavily on the young gentlemen in general. Cornelia merely held the faith in which she had been bred; and the Doctor, in some partial confusion of his ideas, regarded the young gentlemen as if they were all Doctors, and were born grown up. Comforted by the applause of the young gentlemen's nearest relations, and urged on by their blind vanity and ill-considered haste, it would have been strange if Doctor Blimber had discovered his mistake, or trimmed his swelling sails to any other tack.
不是布林伯小姐有意對他過于嚴格，也不是布林伯博士有意要把過重的負擔壓在年輕的先生們的身上。科妮莉亞只是保持著她所由以培育的信仰；博士呢，由于思想上有些胡涂不清，所以把這些年輕的先生們看成仿佛他們全都是博士，生下來就已經長大了似的。這些年輕的先生們的近親們的贊揚使他得到安慰，他們的盲目的虛榮與考慮不周的性急驅策著他繼續前進，因此如果布林伯博士發現了自己的錯誤，或者把他那風帆鼓鼓的船調整到其他任何航向，那倒會是件奇怪的事了。
文本來源于英語小說網
