The three weeks which the appointment lasted drew to an end. Philip had attended sixty-two cases, and he was tired out. When he came home about ten o’clock on his last night he hoped with all his heart that he would not be called out again. He had not had a whole night’s rest for ten days. The case which he had just come from was horrible.
He had been fetched by a huge, burly man, the worse for liquor, and taken to a room in an evil-smelling court, which was filthier than any he had seen: it was a tiny attic ; most of the space was taken up by a wooden bed, with a canopy of dirty red hangings, and the ceiling was so low that Philip could touch it with the tips of his fingers; with the solitary candle that afforded what light there was he went over it, frizzling up the bugs that crawled upon it.
The woman was a blowsy creature of middle age, who had had a long succession of still-born children. It was a story that Philip was not unaccustomed to: the husband had been a soldier in India; the legislation forced upon that country by the prudery of the English public had given a free run to the most distressing of all diseases; the innocent suffered.
Yawning, Philip undressed and took a bath, then shook his clothes over the water and watched the animals that fell out wriggling . He was just going to get into bed when there was a knock at the door, and the hospital porter brought him a card.
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5
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"你这个该死的,"菲利普骂骂咧咧地说。"你是我今晚最不愿见到的人。这卡片是谁送来的?"
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5
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‘Curse you,’ said Philip. ‘You’re the last person I wanted to see tonight. Who’s brought it?’
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6
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"我想是产妇的丈夫送来的,先生。我去叫他等一下好吗?"
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6
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‘I think it’s the ‘usband, sir. Shall I tell him to wait?’
Philip looked at the address, saw that the street was familiar to him, and told the porter that he would find his own way. He dressed himself and in five minutes, with his black bag in his hand, stepped into the street. A man, whom he could not see in the darkness, came up to him, and said he was the husband.
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8
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"先生,我想我还是在这里等您的好,"那人说道,"我们那儿的街坊都很粗野,再说他们也不认得您呀。"
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8
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‘I thought I’d better wait, sir,’ he said. ‘It’s a pretty rough neighbour’ood, and them not knowing who you was.’
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9
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菲利普听罢哈哈一笑。
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9
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Philip laughed.
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10
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"谢谢你的好意。不过医生嘛,他们还是认得出来的。许多比维弗尔街更难对付的街道我都闯过来了。"
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10
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‘Bless your heart, they all know the doctor, I’ve been in some damned sight rougher places than Waver Street.’
It was quite true. The black bag was a passport through wretched alleys and down foul-smelling courts into which a policeman was not ready to venture by himself. Once or twice a little group of men had looked at Philip curiously as he passed; he heard a mutter of observations and then one say:
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12
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"这是医院的医生。"
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12
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‘It’s the ‘orspital doctor.’
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13
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他打他们身边走过时,他们中间有一两个还同他打了个招呼:"晚安,先生。"
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13
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As he went by one or two of them said: ‘Good-night, sir.’
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14
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"先生,您不介意的话,我们就走快一些,"此时,给他领路的那个男人说道,"他们告诉我说时间很紧迫。"
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14
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‘We shall ‘ave to step out if you don’t mind, sir,’ said the man who accompanied him now. ‘They told me there was no time to lose.’
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15
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"那你为什么来得这么迟?"菲利普问了一句,同时脚下加快了步伐。
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15
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‘Why did you leave it so late?’ asked Philip, as he quickened his pace.
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16
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走过一盏路灯时,菲利普朝那人打量了一下。
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16
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He glanced at the fellow as they passed a lamp-post.
Sixteen shillings a week was not much to keep a wife and child on. The room the couple lived in showed that their poverty was extreme. It was a fair size, but it looked quite large, since there was hardly any furniture in it; there was no carpet on the floor; there were no pictures on the walls; and most rooms had something, photographs or supplements in cheap frames from the Christmas numbers of the illustrated papers. The patient lay on a little iron bed of the cheapest sort. It startled Philip to see how young she was.
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25
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"我的老天爷,她至多不过十六岁吧,"菲利普对身边的妇人说。那个妇人是来"帮助病人彻底解脱痛苦"的。
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25
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‘By Jove, she can’t be more than sixteen,’ he said to the woman who had come in to ‘see her through.’
She had given her age as eighteen on the card, but when they were very young they often put on a year or two. Also she was pretty, which was rare in those classes in which the constitution has been undermined by bad food, bad air, and unhealthy occupations; she had delicate features and large blue eyes, and a mass of dark hair done in the elaborate fashion of the coster girl. She and her husband were very nervous.
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27
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"你最好在门外等着。这样,我需要你时,你就能随叫随到。"菲利普吩咐那个男人说。
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27
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‘You’d better wait outside, so as to be at hand if I want you,’ Philip said to him.
Now that he saw him better Philip was surprised again at his boyish air: you felt that he should be larking in the street with the other lads instead of waiting anxiously for the birth of a child. The hours passed, and it was not till nearly two that the baby was born. Everything seemed to be going satisfactorily; the husband was called in, and it touched Philip to see the awkward, shy way in which he kissed his wife; Philip packed up his things. Before going he felt once more his patient’s pulse.
He looked at her quickly: something had happened. In cases of emergency the S. O. C.—senior obstetric clerk—had to be sent for; he was a qualified man, and the ‘district’ was in his charge. Philip scribbled a note, and giving it to the husband, told him to run with it to the hospital; he bade him hurry, for his wife was in a dangerous state. The man set off.
Philip waited anxiously; he knew the woman was bleeding to death; he was afraid she would die before his chief arrived; he took what steps he could. He hoped fervently that the S. O. C. would not have been called elsewhere. The minutes were interminable. He came at last, and, while he examined the patient, in a low voice asked Philip questions. Philip saw by his face that he thought the case very grave. His name was Chandler. He was a tall man of few words, with a long nose and a thin face much lined for his age. He shook his head.
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32
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"这病打一开始就是不治之症。她丈夫在哪?"
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32
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‘It was hopeless from the beginning. Where’s the husband?’
‘Why, there’s internal bleeding. It’s impossible to stop it.’ The S. O. C. hesitated a moment, and because it was a painful thing to say he forced his voice to become brusque. ‘She’s dying.’