Mrs Wickam was a waiter's wife - which would seem equivalent to being any other man's widow - whose application for an engagement in Mr Dombey's service had been favourably considered, on account of the apparent impossibility of her having any followers, or anyone to follow; and who, from within a day or two of Paul's sharp weaning, had been engaged as his nurse. Mrs Wickam was a meek woman, of a fair complexion, with her eyebrows always elevated, and her head always drooping; who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else; and who had a surprising natural gift of viewing all subjects in an utterly forlorn and pitiable light, and bringing dreadful precedents to bear upon them, and deriving the greatest consolation from the exercise of that talent.
威肯姆大嫂是一位侍者的妻子——那似乎就等于是任何其他男子的寡妇——；因为显然不可能有任何人会去追求她或她会去追求任何人，所以她到董贝先生家里求职的申请受到了有利的考虑。在保罗突然断奶以后的一两天之内，她就被雇用当他的保姆。威肯姆大嫂是一位温顺的女人，皮肤白嫩，眉毛总是向上扬起，头总是向下低垂；她总是随时准备怜悯自己或受人怜悯或怜悯其他任何人。她有一份惊人的天赋，就是从极为绝望与可怜的角度来观察一切事物，又援引一些可怕的先例来与它们比较，并从这个才能的发挥中得到极大的安慰。
It
is
hardly
necessary
to
observe,
that
no
touch
of
this
quality
ever
reached
the
magnificent
knowledge
of
Mr
Dombey.
It
would
have
been
remarkable,
indeed,
if
any
had;
when
no
one
in
the
house
-
not
even
Mrs
Chick
or
Miss
Tox
-
dared
ever
whisper
to
him
that
there
had,
on
any
one
occasion,
been
the
least
reason
for
uneasiness
in
reference
to
little
Paul.
He
had
settled,
within
himself,
that
the
child
must
necessarily
pass
through
a
certain
routine
of
minor
maladies,
and
that
the
sooner
he
did
so
the
better.
If
he
could
have
bought
him
off,
or
provided
a
substitute,
as
in
the
case
of
an
unlucky
drawing
for
the
militia,
he
would
have
been
glad
to
do
so,
on
liberal
terms.
But
as
this
was
not
feasible,
he
merely
wondered,
in
his
haughty-
manner,
now
and
then,
what
Nature
meant
by
it;
and
comforted
himself
with
the
reflection
that
there
was
another
milestone
passed
upon
the
road,
and
that
the
great
end
of
the
journey
lay
so
much
the
nearer.
For
the
feeling
uppermost
in
his
mind,
now
and
constantly
intensifying,
and
increasing
in
it
as
Paul
grew
older,
was
impatience.
Impatience
for
the
time
to
come,
when
his
visions
of
their
united
consequence
and
grandeur
would
be
triumphantly
realized.
不需要指出，庄严的董贝先生丝毫也不知道她有这个优良的品质。如果他知道了，那才真是令人惊异的，因为公馆里从来没有一个人——连奇克夫人或托克斯小姐也包括在内——敢借任何口实向他低声说出小保罗有使人感到不安的一丁点理由。他认为，孩子总难免要通过某些小病小痛的例行过程，通过得愈快就愈好。如果他能出钱使他免受这些病痛，或者可以买一个替身，就像不幸被抽中服兵役时的情形一样，那么他就会毫不吝啬，十分乐意地这样去做。但由于这是行不通的，所以他只是不时傲慢地心中纳闷，大自然这样安排是什么意思；并聊以自慰地想，道路上的一个里程碑又走过了，伟大的旅程终点又接近好多了。因为在他心中压倒一切的情绪就是急不可耐，这种情绪不断地变得愈来愈强烈，并随着保罗年龄的增长愈来愈加深。他曾经梦想他们父子联合起来就会创建宏伟的业绩；他急不可耐地等待着胜利实现这一梦想的时候来到。
Some
philosophers
tell
us
that
selfishness
is
at
the
root
of
our
best
loves
and
affections.
'
Mr
Dombey's
young
child
was,
from
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