# ■ 9 Oliver starts another life

In a comfortable, pleasant sitting－room, the two ladies of the house waited anxiously for the doctor and the police to arrive. The owner of the house, Mrs May lie, was an older woman, but her niece, Rose, was a girl of seventeen, whose quiet beauty and gentle charm won all hearts.

As soon as the doctor arrived, he ran breathlessly into the house and burst into the room without knocking. He was clearly a good friend of the ladies.

I never heard of such a dreadful thing! You should both be dead of fright! he said to Mrs May lie. 'In the silence of the night, too! Are you both all right? Why didn't you send for me at once? '

We are quite all right, said Rose, smiling. 'But the re's an injured boy upstairs whom aunt wants you to see. '

Dr Losberne went up to examine Oliver, and was the re for some time He came down looking rather puzzled, and asked the two ladies to see the boy with him.

I can promise you the re's nothing very frightening about him, 'he said.

Instead of the evil－looking robber They expected to see, the two ladies found only a pale, thin child, lying peacefully asleep.

He looked to innocent that Mrs May lie said, 'This child could never have been in a gang of robbers! '

It certainly seems strange, agreed the doctor, 'but wickedness can hide behind the most gentle face, you know. '

But he's so young, too! ' cried Rose. 'Can you really believe this poor boy is a criminal? Oh, Dr Losberne, and my dear aunt, I beg you both to have pity on him. '

Mrs May lie did not need persuading, and the doctor could not resist Rose's tears. He had, in fact, an extremely kind heart, which he tried to hide behind a quick, fierce manner- though this usually deceived no one.

Well, what's to be done, the n? ' he said quickly. 'We'll have the police here at any moment, ready to take the boy away and throw him into prison! '

Rose begged him to think of a plan, and the doctor thought hard for a few minutes, frowning fiercely. At last he said,

I've got it! ' and rubbed his hand s together in satisfaction.

A little later, Oliver woke up and was very anxious to tell his story, although he had lost a lot of blood and was very weak. When the doctor and the ladies had heard all about his sad life, They were quite sure that They wanted to save Oliver from any unfair punishment. So Dr Losberne went down to the kitchen to talk to the three servants who had surprised Sikes and Oliver during the robbery. The doctor folded his arms and gave the men a long, hard stare.

Tell me, ' he began, can you be absolutely sure that the boy upstairs is the same one that was in the house last night? Well? '

The doctor, usually such a friendly man, seemed so angry that the servants stared at him, open-mouthed. The doctor

gave the m no time to think, and went on fiercely,

Three men see a boy for about a second in the dark, in the middle of a lot of smoke and noise. A boy comes to the same house the next day and because one arm is injured, They think he must be the robber. Are you going to swear that this is the same boy? Well? What do you say? ' he finished impatiently.

The servants looked at each other in great confusion.

Suddenly the re was a ring at the gate; the police officers had finally arrived. Dr Losberne gave orders that plenty of beer should be served before the officers went up to see Oliver. He also made sure that the servants had a generous amount of beer, too.

When the Officers were finally allowed to see Oliver, Dr Losberne said, 'This is a boy who was shot this morning while walking on a farmer's property where he shouldn't have been. The servants saw him and immediately thought he must be the same boy from last night. But now They say They're sure it's not the same boy. '

The servants were by now so confused by beer and excitement that They were not sure of anything at all． The robbers had certainly had a boy with the m, They said, but whether this boy was the same boy… well, it seemed very doubtful. The police, too, had drunk quite a lot of beer by now, and before long They were very willing to believe that Oliver was not the robber of the night before. They had their own ideas about who committed all the robberies in the area, and Oliver was unknown to the m.

At last the police left, and Oliver was allowed to recover in the kind care of Mrs May lie, Rose, and Dr Losberne. It was several weeks before he was well enough to get out of bed. But the n he quickly grew stronger, and every day told his rescuers how grateful he was. One thing, however, caused him unhappiness. He wanted to find Mr Brown low, the kind old man who had looked after him in London. 'Mr Brown low would be pleased to know how happy I am now, 'he said. So when Dr Losberne offered to take Oliver to London to see Mr Brown low, the boy was very pleased.

They set out by coach one fine morning, and when They arrived in London, They went straight to Mr Brown low 's house. Oliver's heart beat with excitement as They stopped outside. But the house was empty. They were told by the people next door that Mr Brown low had moved to the West Indies six weeks before. Oliver was very disappointed; he had thought about Mr Brown low so much recently, and had always hoped to find him again. But now the kind old man had moved abroad, still believing Oliver was a lying thief, and he might hold this belief until the day he died.

This was a bitter disappointment to Oliver, but his new friends were still as kind to him as ever. They left the house in Chertsey and moved to a quiet cottage it the country, taking Oliver with the m Spring came, and in the fresh air, away from the noise and smoke and trouble of the city, Oliver began a new life. He went for walks with Rose and Mrs May lie, or Rose read to him, and he worked hard at his lessons. He felt as if he had left behind forever the world of crime and hardship and poverty.

9 奧利弗開始了另一種生活

在一間舒適宜人的客廳裡，房子裡的兩位女士正在焦急地等待著警察和醫生的到來。房屋的主人梅利太太年紀比較大一些，可是她的侄女羅斯是一位十七歲的小姐，她安詳的美貌和溫柔的魅力贏得了每個人的心。

醫生一趕到就上氣不接下氣地跑到房子裡，顧不得敲門便衝進了屋。很顯然，他是女士們的好朋友。

“我還從沒聽說過這麼嚇人的事！你們倆竟然還沒被嚇死！”他跟梅利太太說，“又是深更半夜的！你們倆沒什麼事吧？為什麼當時不趕緊派人去叫我呢？”

“我們倒是好好的沒事，”羅斯微笑著說，“不過樓上有個受了傷的男孩子，姑媽想請您來看看。”

羅斯伯恩醫生上樓去看奧利弗，待了好一陣子。他滿臉迷惑不解地走下來，請兩位女士一起上去看看那孩子。

“我肯定這孩子沒有什麼可怕的，”他說。

這兩位婦女看到的不是一個相貌可怕的盜賊，而是一個蒼白、瘦弱的孩子，躺在那兒安靜地睡著。

他看上去那麼單純，以至於梅利太太說：“這孩子不可能參加盜賊的團伙！”

“這件事看來確實挺奇怪的，”醫生表示同意說，“可你也別忘了，邪惡是可能隱藏在善良的面貌背後的。”

“可他還是個孩子！”羅斯嚷著，“你們真能相信他是個罪犯嗎？哎呀，羅斯伯恩醫生，親愛的姑媽，求你們發發善心吧。”

梅利太太用不著勸說，而這位醫生更經不住羅斯小姐的眼淚。其實他是個非常好心的人，他試圖將善良隱藏在一種厲害而性急的態度背後——但這通常瞞不了任何人。

“那麼現在該怎麼辦？”他急忙說，“警察隨時會趕到，他們會把他帶走，關進監獄。”

羅斯求他趕緊想個法子。醫生緊鎖眉頭，苦苦沉思了幾分鐘。終於，他滿意地搓著兩隻手說：“有了！”

一會兒，奧利弗醒來了，儘管他失血過多，非常虛弱，但他還是迫不急待地述說了自己的經歷。醫生和兩位女士得知了奧利弗悲慘的身世後，便決定要幫助他，使他免受不公正的懲罰。因此，羅斯伯恩醫生到下面的廚房裡去和當晚撞見了賽克斯和奧利弗來偷竊的三名僕人說說這事。他將雙手交插在胸前，盯著那三個人看了一會兒。

“告訴我，”他說，“你們敢絕對肯定樓上的那個孩子就一定是昨天晚上進到屋裡來的那個孩子嗎？嗯？”

這位醫生以往都是非常和氣友好的，可這會兒竟是如此地憤怒，使得這些僕人目瞪口呆。醫生不給他們考慮的時間，就又發怒說：

“三個人在黑暗中，在煙霧和嘈雜聲中只看了孩子一眼，然而，第二天有一個孩子來到了這所房子，只因為他胳膊受了傷，這幾個人居然就認為他就是那個盜賊。你們敢保證他就是那個孩子嗎？嗯？你們有什麼可說的？”他不耐煩地說完了。

三個僕人互相看著，莫名其妙，大惑不解。正在這時，門鈴忽然響起，警官終於趕來了。羅斯伯恩醫生吩咐，在警官上樓去看奧利弗之前，啤酒一定要管夠；另外，他還安排好同樣多的啤酒給僕人們喝。

警官最後被允許去見奧利弗時，醫生說：“這個孩子今天上午被槍打傷了，是因為他在一個農場主的私人土地上走，他是不該到那兒去的。僕人們發現了，馬上以為他就是昨天晚上的那個孩子，可現在他們肯定，他不是那個孩子。”

這時幾個僕人已經酒勁發作，稀裡糊塗，又加上過度興奮，什麼也不能肯定。盜賊中肯定有一個孩子，他們說，但究竟是不是這個孩子……，那就搞不清了。警官也喝多了點，不一會兒，他們也很願意相信奧利弗不是前一天晚上的盜賊。誰常在這一帶作案，他們自己心裡有數，可奧利弗對他們來說卻很陌生。

警察們終於離開了，奧利弗被允許留了下來，在梅利夫人、羅斯和醫生的精心護理下恢復健康。他的病情好轉到能離開床的地步用了好幾周的時間，可從那以後他很快就健壯起來了，每天都跟他的救命恩人們說他是多麼感恩戴德。可有一件事一直使他悶悶不樂。他想去找布朗洛先生，那個在倫敦照看過他的好心的老人。“布朗洛先生要是知道我現在多麼幸福快樂，一定會高興的。”他說。因此，當醫生提出帶奧利弗去倫敦看望布朗洛先生時，這孩子高興極了。

在一個晴朗的早晨，他們坐著馬車出發了，一到倫敦便直奔布朗洛先生的家。當馬車停在大門外時，奧利弗由於興奮心咚咚地跳著。然而房子是空的，沒有一個人。隔壁的鄰居告訴他們，布朗洛先生一家已在六個星期之前遷到西印度群島去了。這使奧利弗異常失望，這些天來，他經常想到布朗洛先生，也一直盼望能再見到他。可現在這位好心的老人移居國外了，他仍然認為奧利弗是個說謊話的小偷；一直到死，他都有可能這麼認為。

這件事使奧利弗非常痛苦失望，可他的新朋友們還是對他友好如初，他們帶著奧利弗離開了切特賽的這幢房子，搬到了鄉下一所安靜的茅舍。春天來了，這裡空氣新鮮，遠離鬧市，遠離煙霧和紛擾，奧利弗開始了一種新生活。他常常與羅斯和梅利夫人外出散步，有時羅斯讀書給他聽，他也努力地學習功課。他覺得自己好像永遠把罪惡、艱辛和貧困的世界拋在背後了。