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'Not
if
it
should
happen
to
have
been
a
tame
bull,
you
little
Infidel?
'
said
Mrs
Pipchin.
“如果碰巧这是一头温顺的牛，那么您也不相信吗，您这个不信神的小先生！”皮普钦太太说道。
As
Paul
had
not
considered
the
subject
in
that
light,
and
had
founded
his
conclusions
on
the
alleged
lunacy
of
the
bull,
he
allowed
himself
to
be
put
down
for
the
present.
But
he
sat
turning
it
over
in
his
mind,
with
such
an
obvious
intention
of
fixing
Mrs
Pipchin
presently,
that
even
that
hardy
old
lady
deemed
it
prudent
to
retreat
until
he
should
have
forgotten
the
subject.
由于保罗没有从那一方面来考虑问题，而是根据公牛发疯这一事实来作出结论的，所以他暂时只好听凭她把自己难倒了。可是他坐在那里，心中转悠着这个问题，显然企图立刻就把皮普钦太太打败，因此连那位严酷的老太太也认为退却比较稳妥，让他把这个问题忘掉再说。
From
that
time,
Mrs
Pipchin
appeared
to
have
something
of
the
same
odd
kind
of
attraction
towards
Paul,
as
Paul
had
towards
her.
She
would
make
him
move
his
chair
to
her
side
of
the
fire,
instead
of
sitting
opposite;
and
there
he
would
remain
in
a
nook
between
Mrs
Pipchin
and
the
fender,
with
all
the
light
of
his
little
face
absorbed
into
the
black
bombazeen
drapery,
studying
every
line
and
wrinkle
of
her
countenance,
and
peering
at
the
hard
grey
eye,
until
Mrs
Pipchin
was
sometimes
fain
to
shut
it,
on
pretence
of
dozing.
Mrs
Pipchin
had
an
old
black
cat,
who
generally
lay
coiled
upon
the
centre
foot
of
the
fender,
purring
egotistically,
and
winking
at
the
fire
until
the
contracted
pupils
of
his
eyes
were
like
two
notes
of
admiration.
The
good
old
lady
might
have
been
-
not
to
record
it
disrespectfully
-
a
witch,
and
Paul
and
the
cat
her
two
familiars,
as
they
all
sat
by
the
fire
together.
It
would
have
been
quite
in
keeping
with
the
appearance
of
the
party
if
they
had
all
sprung
up
the
chimney
in
a
high
wind
one
night,
and
never
been
heard
of
any
more.
从那时起，皮普钦太太感觉到有同样一种奇怪的吸引力把她吸引到保罗身上，就像保罗感觉到有一种奇怪的吸引力把他吸引到她身上一样。她会让他 把他的椅子移到壁炉靠她的那一边，而不是坐在她的对面；他会坐在皮普钦太太与壁炉围栏之间的角落里，他的小脸上的所有光亮都被吸引到黑色的邦巴辛毛葛衣服中；这时他研究着她脸部的每一丝线条和每一道皱纹，凝视着那只冷酷的灰色眼睛，直到皮普钦太太借口打瞌睡，假装闭上它为止。皮普钦太太有一只老黑猫，通常蜷曲着身子，躺在壁炉围栏中间的一只脚上，自高自大地喵喵叫着，同时向炉火眨巴着眼睛，直到后来它的眼睛内的瞳孔缩在一起时就像两个赞叹号似的。当他们全都坐在壁炉旁边的时候，这位善良的老太太活像是一位巫婆（这么说倒并不是想对她表示不尊敬），保罗与那只猫就像是供她差遣的两位妖精。只要看到他们这一伙的这种样子，那么如果有一天夜间他们在疾风中跳进烟囱，从此杳然无闻的话，那是不会令人惊奇的。
This,
however,
never
came
to
pass.
The
cat,
and
Paul,
and
Mrs
Pipchin,
were
constantly
to
be
found
in
their
usual
places
after
dark;
and
Paul,
eschewing
the
companionship
of
Master
Bitherstone,
went
on
studying
Mrs
Pipchin,
and
the
cat,
and
the
fire,
night
after
night,
as
if
they
were
a
book
of
necromancy,
in
three
volumes.
可是从来不曾发生过这样的事情。天黑以后，那只猫、保罗和皮普钦太太总是始终不变地坐在他们原先的老地方。保罗避开和比瑟斯通少爷做伴，一夜又一夜，继续研究着皮普钦太太、那只猫和火，仿佛他们是三卷巫术书似的。
Mrs
Wickam
put
her
own
construction
on
Paul's
eccentricities;
and
being
confirmed
in
her
low
spirits
by
a
perplexed
view
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