There was no possible way of getting out of it, and so, in deep humiliation, I set about preparing to "answer" a mass of baseless charges and mean and wicked falsehoods. But I never finished the task, for the very next morning a paper came out with a new horror, a fresh malignity, and seriously charged me with burning a lunatic asylum with all its inmates, because it obstructed the view from my house. This threw me into a sort of panic. Then came the charge of poisoning my uncle to get his property, with an imperative demand that the grave should be opened. This drove me to the verge of distraction. On top of this I was accused of employing toothless and incompetent old relatives to prepare the food for the foundling' hospital when I warden. I was wavering--wavering. And at last, as a due and fitting climax to the shameless persecution that party rancor had inflicted upon me, nine little toddling children, of all shades of color and degrees of raggedness, were taught to rush onto the platform at a public meeting, and clasp me around the legs and call me PA!
要想摆脱这种攻击,简直没有办法,所以在深感羞辱之余,我准备要“答复”那一大堆无稽的指控和那些下流而恶毒的谣言。可是我始终没完成这个工作,因为就在第二天早上,又有一个报纸登出一个新的恐怖事件,再度的恶意中伤,严厉地控诉我烧毁了一个疯人院,连里面所有的病人也给烧死了,为的是它妨碍了我的住宅的视线。这可使我陷入了恐慌的境地。然后又来了一个控诉,说我曾经为了夺取我的叔父的财产而把他毒死了,并提出紧急的要求,要挖开坟墓验尸。这简直把我吓得几乎要发疯。这一切还不够,又给我加了一个罪名,说我在弃婴收养所当所长的时候,曾经雇用了一些掉光了牙齿的老迈无能的亲戚担任烹饪的工作。我开始动摇了——动摇了。最后,党派相争的仇恨加到我身上的无耻的迫害终于很自然地发展到了一个高潮:九个刚学走路的小孩子,包括各种肤色,带着各种穷形尽相,被教唆着在一个公开的集会上闯到讲台上来,抱住我的腿,叫我爸爸!
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