【导读】查尔斯·狄更斯和威尔基·柯林斯是19世纪英国的著名作家。两人也是非常要好的朋友，他们的友情持续了将近20年，直到1870年狄更斯去世。虽然在狄更斯生命的最后几年，两人似乎有些疏远，但仍保持书信往来。狄更斯给柯林斯的最后一封信写于1870年1月，表达了他对柯林斯的思念和不愿打扰他的愿望。
他们之间不仅有着深厚的友谊，还存在着密切的合作关系。柯林斯不仅为狄更斯主编的文学周刊《家常话》（Household Words）撰稿，还和狄更斯一起创作。这封信中提到的《懒散学徒》（The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices）就是两人合写的一部幽默旅行记述。《灯塔》（The Lighthouse）是柯林斯创作的第一部戏剧，最早也是在狄更斯家中上演的。《冰海深处》（The Frozen Deep）是柯林斯创作的另一部戏剧，他和狄更斯一起把它改编成了舞台剧。这些作品都发表在了《家常话》，以及狄更斯后来创办的周刊《一年四季》（All the Year Round）的“圣诞专号”（Christmas Number）上。
此处选译的这封信是狄更斯在1862年10月14日那天写给柯林斯的第二封信，充分显示了好友之间的关心和互助，他表示乐意帮助深陷病痛的柯林斯，并随时准备分担他的工作任务。
Gad’s Hill Place，
盖茨山庄，
Higham by Rochester， Kent，
肯特郡，罗切斯特镇，海厄姆
Tuesday Night， October 14th， 1862.
1862年10月14日，星期二晚
MY DEAR WILKIE，
我亲爱的威尔基：
Frank Beard1 has been here this evening， of course since I posted my this day’s letter to you， and has told me that you are not at all well， and how he has given you something which he hopes and believes will bring you round. It is not to convey this insignificant piece of intelligence or to tell you how anxious I am that you should come up with a wet sheet and a flowing sail2 （as we say at sea when we are not sick）， that I write. It is simply to say what follows， which I hope may save you some mental uneasiness—for I was stricken l when I was doing Bleak House， and I shall not easily forget what I suffered under the fear of not being able to come up to time. Dismiss that fear （if you have it） all together from your mind. Write to me at Paris3 at any moment， and say you are unequal to your work， and want me， and I will come to London straight， and do your work. I’m quite confident that， with your notes， and a few words of explanation， I could take it up at any time and do it. Absurdly unnecessary to say that it would be a makeshift！ But I could do it， at a pinch！ So like you as that no one should find out the difference. Don’t make much of this offer in your mind; it is nothing except to ease it. If you should want help， I’m as safe as the bank. The trouble will be nothing to me， and the triumph of overcoming a difficulty great. Think it a Christmas Number， an Idle Apprentice， a Lighthouse， a Frozen Deep. I am as ready as in any of these cases to strike in and hammer the iron out.
弗兰克·比尔德今晚来了。
