《远大前程》第2章 抓住一名罪犯(3)

　　‘Trouble？'she cried．‘Trouble？’And then she started on a list of all my illnesses，accidentsand crimes，while everybody except Joe looked at me with disgust．Joe addedmore gravy to the meat swimming on my plate，and I wanted to pullMr Wopsle's nose．

　　In the end Mrs Joe stopped for breath，and said to MrPumblechook，‘Have a little brandy，uncle．There is a bottle al-ready open．’

It had happenedat last！Now she would discover I had stolen some brandy，and putwater in the bottle．Mr Pumblechook held his glass up to the light，smiledimportantly at it and drank it．When，immediately afterwards，he jumped up and began to rush round the room in a strange wilddance，we all stared at him in great surprise．Was he mad？I wonderedif I had murdered him，but if so，how？At last he threw himself gasping into a chair，crying ‘Medicine！’Then Iunderstood．Instead of filling up the brandy bottle with water，I had putMrs Joe's strongest and most unpleasant medicine in by mistake．That waswhat the big brown bottle contained．

“麻烦？”她喊了起来，“麻烦？”接着她开始罗列了一堆我的生病、意外及干的坏事，除了乔，其他人都用反感的目光瞅着我。乔又添了些肉汤，使那块肉在我盘子里漂浮着，我真想揪伍甫赛先生的鼻子。

　　最后，乔夫人停住了，喘了口气，接着对潘波趣先生说，“舅舅，喝点白兰地吧，有一瓶已经打开了。”

　　祸事降临了！现在，她会发现我偷了一些白兰地，而把水倒进瓶子里。潘波趣先生举起杯子在光线中端详，并露出了笑脸，仰起脑袋一饮而尽。接着，他突然感到很难受，蹿了起来，着魔似地开始围着屋子乱舞乱撞，我们大家很惊奇地盯着他。他疯了吗？我纳闷是我杀了他。果真如此，怎么办？最后，他气喘吁吁地一屁股靠倒在椅子上。接着喊，“药！”这时，我明白了，是我搞错了，把乔夫人配制的，味道极苦的药当成水倒进了白兰地酒瓶里。那是盛在褐色大瓶子里的。