Quenching this expression of opinion in a short hysterical laugh which terminated in tears, Louisa cast up her eyes, and emptied her glass.
'I know it's very weak and silly of me,' she repeated, 'to be so trembly and shaky from head to foot, and to allow my feelings so completely to get the better of me, but I cannot help it. I thought I should have fallen out of the staircase window as I came down from seeing dear Fanny, and that tiddy ickle sing.' These last words originated in a sudden vivid reminiscence of the baby.
They were succeeded by a gentle tap at the door.
'Mrs Chick,' said a very bland female voice outside, 'how are you now, my dear friend?'
'My dear Paul,' said Louisa in a low voice, as she rose from her seat, 'it's Miss Tox. The kindest creature! I never could have got here without her! Miss Tox, my brother Mr Dombey. Paul, my dear, my very particular friend Miss Tox.'
The lady thus specially presented, was a long lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call 'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out. But for this she might have been described as the very pink of general propitiation and politeness. From a long habit of listening admiringly to everything that was said in her presence, and looking at the speakers as if she were mentally engaged in taking off impressions of their images upon her soul, never to part with the same but with life, her head had quite settled on one side. Her hands had contracted a spasmodic habit of raising themselves of their own accord as in involuntary admiration. Her eyes were liable to a similar affection. She had the softest voice that ever was heard; and her nose, stupendously aquiline, had a little knob in the very centre or key-stone of the bridge, whence it tended downwards towards her face, as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything.
Miss Tox's dress, though perfectly genteel and good, had a certain character of angularity and scantiness. She was accustomed to wear odd weedy little flowers in her bonnets and caps. Strange grasses were sometimes perceived in her hair; and it was observed by the curious, of all her collars, frills, tuckers, wristbands, and other gossamer articles - indeed of everything she wore which had two ends to it intended to unite - that the two ends were never on good terms, and wouldn't quite meet without a struggle. She had furry articles for winter wear, as tippets, boas, and muffs, which stood up on end in rampant manner, and were not at all sleek. She was much given to the carrying about of small bags with snaps to them, that went off like little pistols when they were shut up; and when full-dressed, she wore round her neck the barrenest of lockets, representing a fishy old eye, with no approach to speculation in it. These and other appearances of a similar nature, had served to propagate the opinion, that Miss Tox was a lady of what is called a limited independence, which she turned to the best account. Possibly her mincing gait encouraged the belief, and suggested that her clipping a step of ordinary compass into two or three, originated in her habit of making the most of everything.
'I am sure,' said Miss Tox, with a prodigious curtsey, 'that to have the honour of being presented to Mr Dombey is a distinction which I have long sought, but very little expected at the present moment. My dear Mrs Chick - may I say Louisa!'
Mrs Chick took Miss Tox's hand in hers, rested the foot of her wine-glass upon it, repressed a tear, and said in a low voice, 'God bless you!'
'My dear Louisa then,' said Miss Tox, 'my sweet friend, how are you now?'
'Better,' Mrs Chick returned. 'Take some wine. You have been almost as anxious as I have been, and must want it, I am sure.'
Mr Dombey of course officiated, and also refilled his sister's glass, which she (looking another way, and unconscious of his intention) held straight and steady the while, and then regarded with great astonishment, saying, 'My dear Paul, what have you been doing!'
'Miss Tox, Paul,' pursued Mrs Chick, still retaining her hand, 'knowing how much I have been interested in the anticipation of the event of to-day, and how trembly and shaky I have been from head to foot in expectation of it, has been working at a little gift for Fanny, which I promised to present. Miss Tox is ingenuity itself.'
'My dear Louisa,' said Miss Tox. 'Don't say so.
'It is only a pincushion for the toilette table, Paul,' resumed his sister; 'one of those trifles which are insignificant to your sex in general, as it's very natural they should be - we have no business to expect they should be otherwise - but to which we attach some interest.
'Miss Tox is very good,' said Mr Dombey.
'And I do say, and will say, and must say,' pursued his sister, pressing the foot of the wine-glass on Miss Tox's hand, at each of the three clauses, 'that Miss Tox has very prettily adapted the sentiment to the occasion. I call "Welcome little Dombey" Poetry, myself!'
'Is that the device?' inquired her brother.
'That is the device,' returned Louisa.
'But do me the justice to remember, my dear Louisa,' said Miss Toxin a tone of low and earnest entreaty, 'that nothing but the - I have some difficulty in expressing myself - the dubiousness of the result would have induced me to take so great a liberty: "Welcome, Master Dombey," would have been much more congenial to my feelings, as I am sure you know. But the uncertainty attendant on angelic strangers, will, I hope, excuse what must otherwise appear an unwarrantable familiarity.' Miss Tox made a graceful bend as she spoke, in favour of Mr Dombey, which that gentleman graciously acknowledged. Even the sort of recognition of Dombey and Son, conveyed in the foregoing conversation, was so palatable to him, that his sister, Mrs Chick - though he affected to consider her a weak good-natured person - had perhaps more influence over him than anybody else.
'My dear Paul,' that lady broke out afresh, after silently contemplating his features for a few moments, 'I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I look at you, I declare, you do so remind me of that dear baby upstairs.'
'Well!' said Mrs Chick, with a sweet smile, 'after this, I forgive Fanny everything!'
It was a declaration in a Christian spirit, and Mrs Chick felt that it did her good. Not that she had anything particular to forgive in her sister-in-law, nor indeed anything at all, except her having married her brother - in itself a species of audacity - and her having, in the course of events, given birth to a girl instead of a boy: which, as Mrs Chick had frequently observed, was not quite what she had expected of her, and was not a pleasant return for all the attention and distinction she had met with.
Mr Dombey being hastily summoned out of the room at this moment, the two ladies were left alone together. Miss Tox immediately became spasmodic.
'I knew you would admire my brother. I told you so beforehand, my dear,' said Louisa. Miss Tox's hands and eyes expressed how much. 'And as to his property, my dear!'
'Ah!' said Miss Tox, with deep feeling. 'Im-mense!'
'But his deportment, my dear Louisa!' said Miss Tox. 'His presence! His dignity! No portrait that I have ever seen of anyone has been half so replete with those qualities. Something so stately, you know: so uncompromising: so very wide across the chest: so upright! A pecuniary Duke of York, my love, and nothing short of it!' said Miss Tox. 'That's what I should designate him.'
'Why, my dear Paul!' exclaimed his sister, as he returned, 'you look quite pale! There's nothing the matter?'
'I am sorry to say, Louisa, that they tell me that Fanny - '
'Now, my dear Paul,' returned his sister rising, 'don't believe it. Do not allow yourself to receive a turn unnecessarily. Remember of what importance you are to society, and do not allow yourself to be worried by what is so very inconsiderately told you by people who ought to know better. Really I'm surprised at them.'
'I hope I know, Louisa,' said Mr Dombey, stiffly, 'how to bear myself before the world.'
'Nobody better, my dear Paul. Nobody half so well. They would be ignorant and base indeed who doubted it.'
'Ignorant and base indeed!' echoed Miss Tox softly.
'But,' pursued Louisa, 'if you have any reliance on my experience, Paul, you may rest assured that there is nothing wanting but an effort on Fanny's part. And that effort,' she continued, taking off her bonnet, and adjusting her cap and gloves, in a business-like manner, 'she must be encouraged, and really, if necessary, urged to make. Now, my dear Paul, come upstairs with me.'
Mr Dombey, who, besides being generally influenced by his sister for the reason already mentioned, had really faith in her as an experienced and bustling matron, acquiesced; and followed her, at once, to the sick chamber.
The lady lay upon her bed as he had left her, clasping her little daughter to her breast. The child clung close about her, with the same intensity as before, and never raised her head, or moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, or looked on those who stood around, or spoke, or moved, or shed a tear.
'Restless without the little girl,' the Doctor whispered Mr Dombey. 'We found it best to have her in again.'
'Can nothing be done?' asked Mr Dombey.
The Doctor shook his head. 'We can do no more.'
The windows stood open, and the twilight was gathering without.
The scent of the restoratives that had been tried was pungent in the room, but had no fragrance in the dull and languid air the lady breathed.
There was such a solemn stillness round the bed; and the two medical attendants seemed to look on the impassive form with so much compassion and so little hope, that Mrs Chick was for the moment diverted from her purpose. But presently summoning courage, and what she called presence of mind, she sat down by the bedside, and said in the low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper:
'Fanny! Fanny!'
There was no sound in answer but the loud ticking of Mr Dombey's watch and Doctor Parker Peps's watch, which seemed in the silence to be running a race.
'Fanny, my dear,' said Mrs Chick, with assumed lightness, 'here's Mr Dombey come to see you. Won't you speak to him? They want to lay your little boy - the baby, Fanny, you know; you have hardly seen him yet, I think - in bed; but they can't till you rouse yourself a little. Don't you think it's time you roused yourself a little? Eh?'
She bent her ear to the bed, and listened: at the same time looking round at the bystanders, and holding up her finger.
'Eh?' she repeated, 'what was it you said, Fanny? I didn't hear you.'
No word or sound in answer. Mr Dombey's watch and Dr Parker Peps's watch seemed to be racing faster.
'Now, really, Fanny my dear,' said the sister-in-law, altering her position, and speaking less confidently, and more earnestly, in spite of herself, 'I shall have to be quite cross with you, if you don't rouse yourself. It's necessary for you to make an effort, and perhaps a very great and painful effort which you are not disposed to make; but this is a world of effort you know, Fanny, and we must never yield, when so much depends upon us. Come! Try! I must really scold you if you don't!'
The race in the ensuing pause was fierce and furious. The watches seemed to jostle, and to trip each other up.
'Fanny!' said Louisa, glancing round, with a gathering alarm. 'Only look at me. Only open your eyes to show me that you hear and understand me; will you? Good Heaven, gentlemen, what is to be done!'
The two medical attendants exchanged a look across the bed; and the Physician, stooping down, whispered in the child's ear. Not having understood the purport of his whisper, the little creature turned her perfectly colourless face and deep dark eyes towards him; but without loosening her hold in the least
The whisper was repeated.
'Mama!' said the child.
The little voice, familiar and dearly loved, awakened some show of consciousness, even at that ebb. For a moment, the closed eye lids trembled, and the nostril quivered, and the faintest shadow of a smile was seen.
'Mama!' cried the child sobbing aloud. 'Oh dear Mama! oh dear Mama!'
The Doctor gently brushed the scattered ringlets of the child, aside from the face and mouth of the mother. Alas how calm they lay there; how little breath there was to stir them!
Thus, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the world.
在一间光线被遮暗了的房间的角落里，董贝坐在床边一张大扶手椅子上；他的儿子被包裹得暖和和的，躺在一个小摇篮里；这个小摇篮被考虑周到地放在紧靠着壁炉前面的一条矮矮的长靠椅上，仿佛他的体质和松饼相似，需要趁着他很新鲜的时候，把他烤成棕色。
董贝大约四十八岁。他的儿子出世大约四十八分钟。董贝的头稍稍有些秃，脸色稍稍有些红；虽然他是一位外貌漂亮、身材匀称的男子，可是神色过分严厉与傲慢，因此不能使人产生好感。他的儿子的头很秃，脸色很红；虽然他当然不可否认地是一个可爱的婴孩，可是看上去有些皱巴巴的，身上斑斑点点。时间和他的兄弟操劳——他们是一对残酷无情的孪生兄弟；当大踏步穿过人类森林的时候，他们一边走，一边砍伐——已经在董贝的前额上留下了一些痕迹，就像在一株在适当的时候要被砍倒的树上留下痕迹一样；他的儿子的脸上则被纵横交错地布满了上千道细小的的皱纹；同样是这个爱欺诈人的时间，他将用他大镰刀扁平的一面把这些皱纹抚平、消除，准备好一个表面，好让他在上面进行更深入的操作。
这桩盼望已久的大事终于来临，董贝感到兴高采烈；他玩弄着悬挂在他的整洁的蓝上衣下面的沉甸甸的金表链，让它发出了叮零叮零的响声；在远处炉火的微弱光线中，上衣钮扣像磷火一样闪烁着亮光。他的儿子紧握着卷曲的小拳头，似乎凭他那微弱的气力，正在向这突然降临到他身上的生命摆好进攻的架势。
“董贝夫人，”董贝先生说道，“我们的公司将再一次成为名副其实的董贝父子公司，而不是徒有虚名的了；董——贝父子！”
这几个字具有一种使他变得温柔起来的影响力，所以他在董贝夫人的名字后面又加上了一个表示亲爱的称呼（虽然他并不是没有经过一些迟疑才说出的，因为他毕竟是一位不习惯采用这种称呼方式的人），说道，“董贝夫人，我的——
我的亲爱的。”
那位有病的夫人抬起眼睛望他的时候，脸上片刻间泛起了由于微感惊讶而产生的红晕。
“在给他施洗礼的时候将给他命名为保罗，我的——董贝夫人——，当然是这样。”
她有气无力地重复说了“当然是这样”，或者更确切地说，只是动了动嘴唇，并没有发出声音，然后又闭上了眼睛。
“这是他爸爸的名字，董贝夫人，也是他爷爷的名字！我真但愿他爷爷能活到今天就好了！”然后他又用刚才同样的声调，说道，“董贝父子”。
这四个字表达了董贝先生生活中唯一的思想。土地创造出来是为了给董贝父子去经营商业的；太阳与月亮创造出来是为了给他们亮光。河流与海洋是为了运载他们的商船而形成的；彩虹向他们预示良好的气候；刮风对他们的企业有利或不利；星星和行星沿着轨道运行，是为了保存一个以他们为中心的神圣不可侵犯的体系。普通的缩略语在他的眼中有了新的意义，而且只和他们有关系：A．D与annoDomini（公元）无关，而只是代表annoDombei－andSon（董贝父子纪元）。
在生与死的过程中，他跟他父亲先前一样，曾经从儿子上升为董贝；在这之后的近20年中，他是这个公司的唯一的代表。在这20年中，他结婚已有10年。有人说，他是跟一位没有把心交给他的女士结了婚，这位女士过去曾经有过幸福，后来安心让那颗破碎了的心对现状逆来顺受，安守本分。这种流言蜚语与董贝先生密切有关，因此不大可能传到他的耳朵里；如果真的传到了，那么世界上大概没有第二个人能像他那样对它完全不相信的。董贝父子公司经常经营皮革生意，但却从来不经营心的生意。他们把这个花俏的商品让给青年男女、寄宿学校和书籍去打交道了。董贝先生可能会这样来推断事理：任何一位具有常识、和他本人结婚的妇女，理所当然地一定会觉得心满意足，光彩体面；给这样一个公司生下一个新的合伙人的希望，即使在她们当中最没有野心的女性的心中也必定会唤起那光荣得意、兴奋激动的抱负来；董贝夫人签订了那份婚约就意味着她几乎必然就会成为那个高贵的、富有的家庭的一员，且不提她给那个家庭传宗接代的事了，因此她一定会完全看到这些好处；董贝夫人曾经从日常生活经验中认识到他的社会地位；董贝夫人经常坐在他的餐桌的首席，并以出色的贵夫人的风度，十分得体地履行了家庭主妇的职责；董贝夫人一定一直是幸福的，她不可能不这样。
