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diff --git a/old/700.txt b/old/700.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fd2ff3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/700.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24067 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Curiosity Shop + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Release Date: March 7, 2008 [EBook #700] +Last updated: May 7, 2015 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP *** + + + + + + + + + +The Old Curiosity Shop + +By Charles Dickens + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +Although I am an old man, night is generally my time for walking. In the +summer I often leave home early in the morning, and roam about fields +and lanes all day, or even escape for days or weeks together; but, +saving in the country, I seldom go out until after dark, though, Heaven +be thanked, I love its light and feel the cheerfulness it sheds upon the +earth, as much as any creature living. + +I have fallen insensibly into this habit, both because it favours my +infirmity and because it affords me greater opportunity of speculating +on the characters and occupations of those who fill the streets. The +glare and hurry of broad noon are not adapted to idle pursuits like +mine; a glimpse of passing faces caught by the light of a street-lamp +or a shop window is often better for my purpose than their full +revelation in the daylight; and, if I must add the truth, night is +kinder in this respect than day, which too often destroys an air-built +castle at the moment of its completion, without the least ceremony or +remorse. + +That constant pacing to and fro, that never-ending restlessness, that +incessant tread of feet wearing the rough stones smooth and glossy--is +it not a wonder how the dwellers in narrows ways can bear to hear it! +Think of a sick man in such a place as Saint Martin's Court, listening +to the footsteps, and in the midst of pain and weariness obliged, +despite himself (as though it were a task he must perform) to detect +the child's step from the man's, the slipshod beggar from the booted +exquisite, the lounging from the busy, the dull heel of the sauntering +outcast from the quick tread of an expectant pleasure-seeker--think of +the hum and noise always being present to his sense, and of the stream +of life that will not stop, pouring on, on, on, through all his +restless dreams, as if he were condemned to lie, dead but conscious, in +a noisy churchyard, and had no hope of rest for centuries to come. + +Then, the crowds forever passing and repassing on the bridges (on +those which are free of toll at least), where many stop on fine evenings +looking listlessly down upon the water with some vague idea that by and +by it runs between green banks which grow wider and wider until at last +it joins the broad vast sea--where some halt to rest from heavy loads +and think as they look over the parapet that to smoke and lounge away +one's life, and lie sleeping in the sun upon a hot tarpaulin, in a +dull, slow, sluggish barge, must be happiness unalloyed--and where +some, and a very different class, pause with heavier loads than they, +remembering to have heard or read in old time that drowning was not a +hard death, but of all means of suicide the easiest and best. + +Covent Garden Market at sunrise too, in the spring or summer, when the +fragrance of sweet flowers is in the air, over-powering even the +unwholesome streams of last night's debauchery, and driving the dusky +thrush, whose cage has hung outside a garret window all night long, +half mad with joy! Poor bird! the only neighbouring thing at all akin +to the other little captives, some of whom, shrinking from the hot +hands of drunken purchasers, lie drooping on the path already, while +others, soddened by close contact, await the time when they shall be +watered and freshened up to please more sober company, and make old +clerks who pass them on their road to business, wonder what has filled +their breasts with visions of the country. + +But my present purpose is not to expatiate upon my walks. The story I +am about to relate, and to which I shall recur at intervals, arose out +of one of these rambles; and thus I have been led to speak of them by +way of preface. + +One night I had roamed into the City, and was walking slowly on in my +usual way, musing upon a great many things, when I was arrested by an +inquiry, the purport of which did not reach me, but which seemed to be +addressed to myself, and was preferred in a soft sweet voice that +struck me very pleasantly. I turned hastily round and found at my elbow +a pretty little girl, who begged to be directed to a certain street at +a considerable distance, and indeed in quite another quarter of the +town. + +'It is a very long way from here,' said I, 'my child.' + +'I know that, sir,' she replied timidly. 'I am afraid it is a very long +way, for I came from there to-night.' + +'Alone?' said I, in some surprise. + +'Oh, yes, I don't mind that, but I am a little frightened now, for I +had lost my road.' + +'And what made you ask it of me? Suppose I should tell you wrong?' + +'I am sure you will not do that,' said the little creature,' you are +such a very old gentleman, and walk so slow yourself.' + +I cannot describe how much I was impressed by this appeal and the +energy with which it was made, which brought a tear into the child's +clear eye, and made her slight figure tremble as she looked up into my +face. + +'Come,' said I, 'I'll take you there.' + +She put her hand in mine as confidingly as if she had known me from her +cradle, and we trudged away together; the little creature accommodating +her pace to mine, and rather seeming to lead and take care of me than I +to be protecting her. I observed that every now and then she stole a +curious look at my face, as if to make quite sure that I was not +deceiving her, and that these glances (very sharp and keen they were +too) seemed to increase her confidence at every repetition. + +For my part, my curiosity and interest were at least equal to the +child's, for child she certainly was, although I thought it probably +from what I could make out, that her very small and delicate frame +imparted a peculiar youthfulness to her appearance. Though more +scantily attired than she might have been she was dressed with perfect +neatness, and betrayed no marks of poverty or neglect. + +'Who has sent you so far by yourself?' said I. + +'Someone who is very kind to me, sir.' + +'And what have you been doing?' + +'That, I must not tell,' said the child firmly. + +There was something in the manner of this reply which caused me to look +at the little creature with an involuntary expression of surprise; for +I wondered what kind of errand it might be that occasioned her to be +prepared for questioning. Her quick eye seemed to read my thoughts, for +as it met mine she added that there was no harm in what she had been +doing, but it was a great secret--a secret which she did not even know +herself. + +This was said with no appearance of cunning or deceit, but with an +unsuspicious frankness that bore the impress of truth. She walked on as +before, growing more familiar with me as we proceeded and talking +cheerfully by the way, but she said no more about her home, beyond +remarking that we were going quite a new road and asking if it were a +short one. + +While we were thus engaged, I revolved in my mind a hundred different +explanations of the riddle and rejected them every one. I really felt +ashamed to take advantage of the ingenuousness or grateful feeling of +the child for the purpose of gratifying my curiosity. I love these +little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh +from God, love us. As I had felt pleased at first by her confidence I +determined to deserve it, and to do credit to the nature which had +prompted her to repose it in me. + +There was no reason, however, why I should refrain from seeing the +person who had inconsiderately sent her to so great a distance by night +and alone, and as it was not improbable that if she found herself near +home she might take farewell of me and deprive me of the opportunity, I +avoided the most frequented ways and took the most intricate, and thus +it was not until we arrived in the street itself that she knew where we +were. Clapping her hands with pleasure and running on before me for a +short distance, my little acquaintance stopped at a door and remaining +on the step till I came up knocked at it when I joined her. + +A part of this door was of glass unprotected by any shutter, which I +did not observe at first, for all was very dark and silent within, and +I was anxious (as indeed the child was also) for an answer to our +summons. When she had knocked twice or thrice there was a noise as if +some person were moving inside, and at length a faint light appeared +through the glass which, as it approached very slowly, the bearer +having to make his way through a great many scattered articles, enabled +me to see both what kind of person it was who advanced and what kind of +place it was through which he came. + +It was an old man with long grey hair, whose face and figure as he held +the light above his head and looked before him as he approached, I +could plainly see. Though much altered by age, I fancied I could +recognize in his spare and slender form something of that delicate +mould which I had noticed in the child. Their bright blue eyes were +certainly alike, but his face was so deeply furrowed and so very full +of care, that here all resemblance ceased. + +The place through which he made his way at leisure was one of those +receptacles for old and curious things which seem to crouch in odd +corners of this town and to hide their musty treasures from the public +eye in jealousy and distrust. There were suits of mail standing like +ghosts in armour here and there, fantastic carvings brought from +monkish cloisters, rusty weapons of various kinds, distorted figures in +china and wood and iron and ivory: tapestry and strange furniture that +might have been designed in dreams. The haggard aspect of the little +old man was wonderfully suited to the place; he might have groped among +old churches and tombs and deserted houses and gathered all the spoils +with his own hands. There was nothing in the whole collection but was +in keeping with himself nothing that looked older or more worn than he. + +As he turned the key in the lock, he surveyed me with some astonishment +which was not diminished when he looked from me to my companion. The +door being opened, the child addressed him as grandfather, and told him +the little story of our companionship. + +'Why, bless thee, child,' said the old man, patting her on the head, +'how couldst thou miss thy way? What if I had lost thee, Nell!' + +'I would have found my way back to YOU, grandfather,' said the child +boldly; 'never fear.' + +The old man kissed her, then turning to me and begging me to walk in, I +did so. The door was closed and locked. Preceding me with the light, he +led me through the place I had already seen from without, into a small +sitting-room behind, in which was another door opening into a kind of +closet, where I saw a little bed that a fairy might have slept in, it +looked so very small and was so prettily arranged. The child took a +candle and tripped into this little room, leaving the old man and me +together. + +'You must be tired, sir,' said he as he placed a chair near the fire, +'how can I thank you?' + +'By taking more care of your grandchild another time, my good friend,' +I replied. + +'More care!' said the old man in a shrill voice, 'more care of Nelly! +Why, who ever loved a child as I love Nell?' + +He said this with such evident surprise that I was perplexed what +answer to make, and the more so because coupled with something feeble +and wandering in his manner, there were in his face marks of deep and +anxious thought which convinced me that he could not be, as I had been +at first inclined to suppose, in a state of dotage or imbecility. + +'I don't think you consider--' I began. + +'I don't consider!' cried the old man interrupting me, 'I don't +consider her! Ah, how little you know of the truth! Little Nelly, +little Nelly!' + +It would be impossible for any man, I care not what his form of speech +might be, to express more affection than the dealer in curiosities did, +in these four words. I waited for him to speak again, but he rested his +chin upon his hand and shaking his head twice or thrice fixed his eyes +upon the fire. + +While we were sitting thus in silence, the door of the closet opened, +and the child returned, her light brown hair hanging loose about her +neck, and her face flushed with the haste she had made to rejoin us. +She busied herself immediately in preparing supper, and while she was +thus engaged I remarked that the old man took an opportunity of +observing me more closely than he had done yet. I was surprised to see +that all this time everything was done by the child, and that there +appeared to be no other persons but ourselves in the house. I took +advantage of a moment when she was absent to venture a hint on this +point, to which the old man replied that there were few grown persons +as trustworthy or as careful as she. + +'It always grieves me,' I observed, roused by what I took to be his +selfishness, 'it always grieves me to contemplate the initiation of +children into the ways of life, when they are scarcely more than +infants. It checks their confidence and simplicity--two of the best +qualities that Heaven gives them--and demands that they share our +sorrows before they are capable of entering into our enjoyments.' + +'It will never check hers,' said the old man looking steadily at me, +'the springs are too deep. Besides, the children of the poor know but +few pleasures. Even the cheap delights of childhood must be bought and +paid for.' + +'But--forgive me for saying this--you are surely not so very +poor'--said I. + +'She is not my child, sir,' returned the old man. 'Her mother was, and +she was poor. I save nothing--not a penny--though I live as you see, +but'--he laid his hand upon my arm and leant forward to whisper--'she +shall be rich one of these days, and a fine lady. Don't you think ill +of me because I use her help. She gives it cheerfully as you see, and +it would break her heart if she knew that I suffered anybody else to do +for me what her little hands could undertake. I don't consider!'--he +cried with sudden querulousness, 'why, God knows that this one child is +the thought and object of my life, and yet he never prospers me--no, +never!' + +At this juncture, the subject of our conversation again returned, and +the old man motioning to me to approach the table, broke off, and said +no more. + +We had scarcely begun our repast when there was a knock at the door by +which I had entered, and Nell bursting into a hearty laugh, which I was +rejoiced to hear, for it was childlike and full of hilarity, said it +was no doubt dear old Kit coming back at last. + +'Foolish Nell!' said the old man fondling with her hair. 'She always +laughs at poor Kit.' + +The child laughed again more heartily than before, and I could not help +smiling from pure sympathy. The little old man took up a candle and +went to open the door. When he came back, Kit was at his heels. + +Kit was a shock-headed, shambling, awkward lad with an uncommonly wide +mouth, very red cheeks, a turned-up nose, and certainly the most +comical expression of face I ever saw. He stopped short at the door on +seeing a stranger, twirled in his hand a perfectly round old hat +without any vestige of a brim, and resting himself now on one leg and +now on the other and changing them constantly, stood in the doorway, +looking into the parlour with the most extraordinary leer I ever +beheld. I entertained a grateful feeling towards the boy from that +minute, for I felt that he was the comedy of the child's life. + +'A long way, wasn't it, Kit?' said the little old man. + +'Why, then, it was a goodish stretch, master,' returned Kit. + +'Of course you have come back hungry?' + +'Why, then, I do consider myself rather so, master,' was the answer. + +The lad had a remarkable manner of standing sideways as he spoke, and +thrusting his head forward over his shoulder, as if he could not get at +his voice without that accompanying action. I think he would have +amused one anywhere, but the child's exquisite enjoyment of his oddity, +and the relief it was to find that there was something she associated +with merriment in a place that appeared so unsuited to her, were quite +irresistible. It was a great point too that Kit himself was flattered +by the sensation he created, and after several efforts to preserve his +gravity, burst into a loud roar, and so stood with his mouth wide open +and his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently. + +The old man had again relapsed into his former abstraction and took no +notice of what passed, but I remarked that when her laugh was over, the +child's bright eyes were dimmed with tears, called forth by the +fullness of heart with which she welcomed her uncouth favourite after +the little anxiety of the night. As for Kit himself (whose laugh had +been all the time one of that sort which very little would change into +a cry) he carried a large slice of bread and meat and a mug of beer +into a corner, and applied himself to disposing of them with great +voracity. + +'Ah!' said the old man turning to me with a sigh, as if I had spoken to +him but that moment, 'you don't know what you say when you tell me that +I don't consider her.' + +'You must not attach too great weight to a remark founded on first +appearances, my friend,' said I. + +'No,' returned the old man thoughtfully, 'no. Come hither, Nell.' + +The little girl hastened from her seat, and put her arm about his neck. + +'Do I love thee, Nell?' said he. 'Say--do I love thee, Nell, or no?' + +The child only answered by her caresses, and laid her head upon his +breast. + +'Why dost thou sob?' said the grandfather, pressing her closer to him +and glancing towards me. 'Is it because thou know'st I love thee, and +dost not like that I should seem to doubt it by my question? Well, +well--then let us say I love thee dearly.' + +'Indeed, indeed you do,' replied the child with great earnestness, 'Kit +knows you do.' + +Kit, who in despatching his bread and meat had been swallowing +two-thirds of his knife at every mouthful with the coolness of a +juggler, stopped short in his operations on being thus appealed to, and +bawled 'Nobody isn't such a fool as to say he doosn't,' after which he +incapacitated himself for further conversation by taking a most +prodigious sandwich at one bite. + +'She is poor now'--said the old man, patting the child's cheek, 'but I +say again that the time is coming when she shall be rich. It has been a +long time coming, but it must come at last; a very long time, but it +surely must come. It has come to other men who do nothing but waste and +riot. When WILL it come to me!' + +'I am very happy as I am, grandfather,' said the child. + +'Tush, tush!' returned the old man, 'thou dost not know--how should'st +thou!' then he muttered again between his teeth, 'The time must come, I +am very sure it must. It will be all the better for coming late'; and +then he sighed and fell into his former musing state, and still holding +the child between his knees appeared to be insensible to everything +around him. By this time it wanted but a few minutes of midnight and I +rose to go, which recalled him to himself. + +'One moment, sir,' he said, 'Now, Kit--near midnight, boy, and you +still here! Get home, get home, and be true to your time in the +morning, for there's work to do. Good night! There, bid him good night, +Nell, and let him be gone!' + +'Good night, Kit,' said the child, her eyes lighting up with merriment +and kindness. + +'Good night, Miss Nell,' returned the boy. + +'And thank this gentleman,' interposed the old man, 'but for whose care +I might have lost my little girl to-night.' + +'No, no, master,' said Kit, 'that won't do, that won't.' + +'What do you mean?' cried the old man. + +'I'd have found her, master,' said Kit, 'I'd have found her. I'll bet +that I'd find her if she was above ground, I would, as quick as +anybody, master. Ha, ha, ha!' + +Once more opening his mouth and shutting his eyes, and laughing like a +stentor, Kit gradually backed to the door, and roared himself out. + +Free of the room, the boy was not slow in taking his departure; when he +had gone, and the child was occupied in clearing the table, the old man +said: + +'I haven't seemed to thank you, sir, for what you have done to-night, +but I do thank you humbly and heartily, and so does she, and her thanks +are better worth than mine. I should be sorry that you went away, and +thought I was unmindful of your goodness, or careless of her--I am not +indeed.' + +I was sure of that, I said, from what I had seen. 'But,' I added, 'may +I ask you a question?' + +'Ay, sir,' replied the old man, 'What is it?' + +'This delicate child,' said I, 'with so much beauty and +intelligence--has she nobody to care for her but you? Has she no other +companion or advisor?' + +'No,' he returned, looking anxiously in my face, 'no, and she wants no +other.' + +'But are you not fearful,' said I, 'that you may misunderstand a charge +so tender? I am sure you mean well, but are you quite certain that you +know how to execute such a trust as this? I am an old man, like you, +and I am actuated by an old man's concern in all that is young and +promising. Do you not think that what I have seen of you and this +little creature to-night must have an interest not wholly free from +pain?' + +'Sir,' rejoined the old man after a moment's silence. 'I have no right +to feel hurt at what you say. It is true that in many respects I am the +child, and she the grown person--that you have seen already. But waking +or sleeping, by night or day, in sickness or health, she is the one +object of my care, and if you knew of how much care, you would look on +me with different eyes, you would indeed. Ah! It's a weary life for an +old man--a weary, weary life--but there is a great end to gain and that +I keep before me.' + +Seeing that he was in a state of excitement and impatience, I turned to +put on an outer coat which I had thrown off on entering the room, +purposing to say no more. I was surprised to see the child standing +patiently by with a cloak upon her arm, and in her hand a hat, and +stick. + +'Those are not mine, my dear,' said I. + +'No,' returned the child, 'they are grandfather's.' + +'But he is not going out to-night.' + +'Oh, yes, he is,' said the child, with a smile. + +'And what becomes of you, my pretty one?' + +'Me! I stay here of course. I always do.' + +I looked in astonishment towards the old man, but he was, or feigned to +be, busied in the arrangement of his dress. From him I looked back to +the slight gentle figure of the child. Alone! In that gloomy place all +the long, dreary night. + +She evinced no consciousness of my surprise, but cheerfully helped the +old man with his cloak, and when he was ready took a candle to light us +out. Finding that we did not follow as she expected, she looked back +with a smile and waited for us. The old man showed by his face that he +plainly understood the cause of my hesitation, but he merely signed to +me with an inclination of the head to pass out of the room before him, +and remained silent. I had no resource but to comply. + +When we reached the door, the child setting down the candle, turned to +say good night and raised her face to kiss me. Then she ran to the old +man, who folded her in his arms and bade God bless her. + +'Sleep soundly, Nell,' he said in a low voice, 'and angels guard thy +bed! Do not forget thy prayers, my sweet.' + +'No, indeed,' answered the child fervently, 'they make me feel so +happy!' + +'That's well; I know they do; they should,' said the old man. 'Bless +thee a hundred times! Early in the morning I shall be home.' + +'You'll not ring twice,' returned the child. 'The bell wakes me, even +in the middle of a dream.' + +With this, they separated. The child opened the door (now guarded by a +shutter which I had heard the boy put up before he left the house) and +with another farewell whose clear and tender note I have recalled a +thousand times, held it until we had passed out. The old man paused a +moment while it was gently closed and fastened on the inside, and +satisfied that this was done, walked on at a slow pace. At the +street-corner he stopped, and regarding me with a troubled countenance +said that our ways were widely different and that he must take his +leave. I would have spoken, but summoning up more alacrity than might +have been expected in one of his appearance, he hurried away. I could +see that twice or thrice he looked back as if to ascertain if I were +still watching him, or perhaps to assure himself that I was not +following at a distance. The obscurity of the night favoured his +disappearance, and his figure was soon beyond my sight. + +I remained standing on the spot where he had left me, unwilling to +depart, and yet unknowing why I should loiter there. I looked wistfully +into the street we had lately quitted, and after a time directed my +steps that way. I passed and repassed the house, and stopped and +listened at the door; all was dark, and silent as the grave. + +Yet I lingered about, and could not tear myself away, thinking of all +possible harm that might happen to the child--of fires and robberies +and even murder--and feeling as if some evil must ensue if I turned my +back upon the place. The closing of a door or window in the street +brought me before the curiosity-dealer's once more; I crossed the road +and looked up at the house to assure myself that the noise had not come +from there. No, it was black, cold, and lifeless as before. + +There were few passengers astir; the street was sad and dismal, and +pretty well my own. A few stragglers from the theatres hurried by, and +now and then I turned aside to avoid some noisy drunkard as he reeled +homewards, but these interruptions were not frequent and soon ceased. +The clocks struck one. Still I paced up and down, promising myself that +every time should be the last, and breaking faith with myself on some +new plea as often as I did so. + +The more I thought of what the old man had said, and of his looks and +bearing, the less I could account for what I had seen and heard. I had +a strong misgiving that his nightly absence was for no good purpose. I +had only come to know the fact through the innocence of the child, and +though the old man was by at the time, and saw my undisguised surprise, +he had preserved a strange mystery upon the subject and offered no word +of explanation. These reflections naturally recalled again more +strongly than before his haggard face, his wandering manner, his +restless anxious looks. His affection for the child might not be +inconsistent with villany of the worst kind; even that very affection +was in itself an extraordinary contradiction, or how could he leave her +thus? Disposed as I was to think badly of him, I never doubted that his +love for her was real. I could not admit the thought, remembering what +had passed between us, and the tone of voice in which he had called her +by her name. + +'Stay here of course,' the child had said in answer to my question, 'I +always do!' What could take him from home by night, and every night! I +called up all the strange tales I had ever heard of dark and secret +deeds committed in great towns and escaping detection for a long series +of years; wild as many of these stories were, I could not find one +adapted to this mystery, which only became the more impenetrable, in +proportion as I sought to solve it. + +Occupied with such thoughts as these, and a crowd of others all tending +to the same point, I continued to pace the street for two long hours; +at length the rain began to descend heavily, and then over-powered by +fatigue though no less interested than I had been at first, I engaged +the nearest coach and so got home. A cheerful fire was blazing on the +hearth, the lamp burnt brightly, my clock received me with its old +familiar welcome; everything was quiet, warm and cheering, and in happy +contrast to the gloom and darkness I had quitted. + +But all that night, waking or in my sleep, the same thoughts recurred +and the same images retained possession of my brain. I had ever before +me the old dark murky rooms--the gaunt suits of mail with their ghostly +silent air--the faces all awry, grinning from wood and stone--the dust +and rust and worm that lives in wood--and alone in the midst of all +this lumber and decay and ugly age, the beautiful child in her gentle +slumber, smiling through her light and sunny dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +After combating, for nearly a week, the feeling which impelled me to +revisit the place I had quitted under the circumstances already +detailed, I yielded to it at length; and determining that this time I +would present myself by the light of day, bent my steps thither early +in the morning. + +I walked past the house, and took several turns in the street, with +that kind of hesitation which is natural to a man who is conscious that +the visit he is about to pay is unexpected, and may not be very +acceptable. However, as the door of the shop was shut, and it did not +appear likely that I should be recognized by those within, if I +continued merely to pass up and down before it, I soon conquered this +irresolution, and found myself in the Curiosity Dealer's warehouse. + +The old man and another person were together in the back part, and +there seemed to have been high words between them, for their voices +which were raised to a very high pitch suddenly stopped on my entering, +and the old man advancing hastily towards me, said in a tremulous tone +that he was very glad I had come. + +'You interrupted us at a critical moment,' said he, pointing to the man +whom I had found in company with him; 'this fellow will murder me one +of these days. He would have done so, long ago, if he had dared.' + +'Bah! You would swear away my life if you could,' returned the other, +after bestowing a stare and a frown on me; 'we all know that!' + +'I almost think I could,' cried the old man, turning feebly upon him. +'If oaths, or prayers, or words, could rid me of you, they should. I +would be quit of you, and would be relieved if you were dead.' + +'I know it,' returned the other. 'I said so, didn't I? But neither +oaths, or prayers, nor words, WILL kill me, and therefore I live, and +mean to live.' + +'And his mother died!' cried the old man, passionately clasping his +hands and looking upward; 'and this is Heaven's justice!' + +The other stood lounging with his foot upon a chair, and regarded him +with a contemptuous sneer. He was a young man of one-and-twenty or +thereabouts; well made, and certainly handsome, though the expression +of his face was far from prepossessing, having in common with his +manner and even his dress, a dissipated, insolent air which repelled +one. + +'Justice or no justice,' said the young fellow, 'here I am and here I +shall stop till such time as I think fit to go, unless you send for +assistance to put me out--which you won't do, I know. I tell you again +that I want to see my sister.' + +'YOUR sister!' said the old man bitterly. + +'Ah! You can't change the relationship,' returned the other. 'If you +could, you'd have done it long ago. I want to see my sister, that you +keep cooped up here, poisoning her mind with your sly secrets and +pretending an affection for her that you may work her to death, and add +a few scraped shillings every week to the money you can hardly count. I +want to see her; and I will.' + +'Here's a moralist to talk of poisoned minds! Here's a generous spirit +to scorn scraped-up shillings!' cried the old man, turning from him to +me. 'A profligate, sir, who has forfeited every claim not only upon +those who have the misfortune to be of his blood, but upon society +which knows nothing of him but his misdeeds. A liar too,' he added, in +a lower voice as he drew closer to me, 'who knows how dear she is to +me, and seeks to wound me even there, because there is a stranger +nearby.' + +'Strangers are nothing to me, grandfather,' said the young fellow +catching at the word, 'nor I to them, I hope. The best they can do, is +to keep an eye to their business and leave me to mine. There's a friend +of mine waiting outside, and as it seems that I may have to wait some +time, I'll call him in, with your leave.' + +Saying this, he stepped to the door, and looking down the street +beckoned several times to some unseen person, who, to judge from the +air of impatience with which these signals were accompanied, required a +great quantity of persuasion to induce him to advance. At length there +sauntered up, on the opposite side of the way--with a bad pretense of +passing by accident--a figure conspicuous for its dirty smartness, +which after a great many frowns and jerks of the head, in resistance of +the invitation, ultimately crossed the road and was brought into the +shop. + +'There. It's Dick Swiveller,' said the young fellow, pushing him in. +'Sit down, Swiveller.' + +'But is the old min agreeable?' said Mr Swiveller in an undertone. + +Mr Swiveller complied, and looking about him with a propitiatory smile, +observed that last week was a fine week for the ducks, and this week +was a fine week for the dust; he also observed that whilst standing by +the post at the street-corner, he had observed a pig with a straw in +his mouth issuing out of the tobacco-shop, from which appearance he +augured that another fine week for the ducks was approaching, and that +rain would certainly ensue. He furthermore took occasion to apologize +for any negligence that might be perceptible in his dress, on the +ground that last night he had had 'the sun very strong in his eyes'; by +which expression he was understood to convey to his hearers in the most +delicate manner possible, the information that he had been extremely +drunk. + +'But what,' said Mr Swiveller with a sigh, 'what is the odds so long as +the fire of soul is kindled at the taper of conwiviality, and the wing +of friendship never moults a feather! What is the odds so long as the +spirit is expanded by means of rosy wine, and the present moment is the +least happiest of our existence!' + +'You needn't act the chairman here,' said his friend, half aside. + +'Fred!' cried Mr Swiveller, tapping his nose, 'a word to the wise is +sufficient for them--we may be good and happy without riches, Fred. +Say not another syllable. I know my cue; smart is the word. Only one +little whisper, Fred--is the old min friendly?' + +'Never you mind,' replied his friend. + +'Right again, quite right,' said Mr Swiveller, 'caution is the word, +and caution is the act.' with that, he winked as if in preservation of +some deep secret, and folding his arms and leaning back in his chair, +looked up at the ceiling with profound gravity. + +It was perhaps not very unreasonable to suspect from what had already +passed, that Mr Swiveller was not quite recovered from the effects of +the powerful sunlight to which he had made allusion; but if no such +suspicion had been awakened by his speech, his wiry hair, dull eyes, +and sallow face would still have been strong witnesses against him. His +attire was not, as he had himself hinted, remarkable for the nicest +arrangement, but was in a state of disorder which strongly induced the +idea that he had gone to bed in it. It consisted of a brown body-coat +with a great many brass buttons up the front and only one behind, a +bright check neckerchief, a plaid waistcoat, soiled white trousers, and +a very limp hat, worn with the wrong side foremost, to hide a hole in +the brim. The breast of his coat was ornamented with an outside pocket +from which there peeped forth the cleanest end of a very large and very +ill-favoured handkerchief; his dirty wristbands were pulled on as far +as possible and ostentatiously folded back over his cuffs; he displayed +no gloves, and carried a yellow cane having at the top a bone hand with +the semblance of a ring on its little finger and a black ball in its +grasp. With all these personal advantages (to which may be added a +strong savour of tobacco-smoke, and a prevailing greasiness of +appearance) Mr Swiveller leant back in his chair with his eyes fixed on +the ceiling, and occasionally pitching his voice to the needful key, +obliged the company with a few bars of an intensely dismal air, and +then, in the middle of a note, relapsed into his former silence. + +The old man sat himself down in a chair, and with folded hands, looked +sometimes at his grandson and sometimes at his strange companion, as if +he were utterly powerless and had no resource but to leave them to do +as they pleased. The young man reclined against a table at no great +distance from his friend, in apparent indifference to everything that +had passed; and I--who felt the difficulty of any interference, +notwithstanding that the old man had appealed to me, both by words and +looks--made the best feint I could of being occupied in examining some +of the goods that were disposed for sale, and paying very little +attention to a person before me. + +The silence was not of long duration, for Mr Swiveller, after favouring +us with several melodious assurances that his heart was in the +Highlands, and that he wanted but his Arab steed as a preliminary to +the achievement of great feats of valour and loyalty, removed his eyes +from the ceiling and subsided into prose again. + +'Fred,' said Mr Swiveller stopping short, as if the idea had suddenly +occurred to him, and speaking in the same audible whisper as before, +'is the old min friendly?' + +'What does it matter?' returned his friend peevishly. + +'No, but IS he?' said Dick. + +'Yes, of course. What do I care whether he is or not?' + +Emboldened as it seemed by this reply to enter into a more general +conversation, Mr Swiveller plainly laid himself out to captivate our +attention. + +He began by remarking that soda-water, though a good thing in the +abstract, was apt to lie cold upon the stomach unless qualified with +ginger, or a small infusion of brandy, which latter article he held to +be preferable in all cases, saving for the one consideration of +expense. Nobody venturing to dispute these positions, he proceeded to +observe that the human hair was a great retainer of tobacco-smoke, and +that the young gentlemen of Westminster and Eton, after eating vast +quantities of apples to conceal any scent of cigars from their anxious +friends, were usually detected in consequence of their heads possessing +this remarkable property; when he concluded that if the Royal Society +would turn their attention to the circumstance, and endeavour to find +in the resources of science a means of preventing such untoward +revelations, they might indeed be looked upon as benefactors to +mankind. These opinions being equally incontrovertible with those he +had already pronounced, he went on to inform us that Jamaica rum, +though unquestionably an agreeable spirit of great richness and +flavour, had the drawback of remaining constantly present to the taste +next day; and nobody being venturous enough to argue this point either, +he increased in confidence and became yet more companionable and +communicative. + +'It's a devil of a thing, gentlemen,' said Mr Swiveller, 'when +relations fall out and disagree. If the wing of friendship should never +moult a feather, the wing of relationship should never be clipped, but +be always expanded and serene. Why should a grandson and grandfather +peg away at each other with mutual wiolence when all might be bliss and +concord. Why not jine hands and forgit it?' + +'Hold your tongue,' said his friend. + +'Sir,' replied Mr Swiveller, 'don't you interrupt the chair. +Gentlemen, how does the case stand, upon the present occasion? Here is +a jolly old grandfather--I say it with the utmost respect--and here is +a wild, young grandson. The jolly old grandfather says to the wild +young grandson, "I have brought you up and educated you, Fred; I have +put you in the way of getting on in life; you have bolted a little out +of course, as young fellows often do; and you shall never have another +chance, nor the ghost of half a one." The wild young grandson makes +answer to this and says, "You're as rich as rich can be; you have been +at no uncommon expense on my account, you're saving up piles of money +for my little sister that lives with you in a secret, stealthy, +hugger-muggering kind of way and with no manner of enjoyment--why can't +you stand a trifle for your grown-up relation?" The jolly old +grandfather unto this, retorts, not only that he declines to fork out +with that cheerful readiness which is always so agreeable and pleasant +in a gentleman of his time of life, but that he will bow up, and call +names, and make reflections whenever they meet. Then the plain question +is, an't it a pity that this state of things should continue, and how +much better would it be for the gentleman to hand over a reasonable +amount of tin, and make it all right and comfortable?' + +Having delivered this oration with a great many waves and flourishes of +the hand, Mr Swiveller abruptly thrust the head of his cane into his +mouth as if to prevent himself from impairing the effect of his speech +by adding one other word. + +'Why do you hunt and persecute me, God help me!' said the old man +turning to his grandson. 'Why do you bring your prolifigate companions +here? How often am I to tell you that my life is one of care and +self-denial, and that I am poor?' + +'How often am I to tell you,' returned the other, looking coldly at +him, 'that I know better?' + +'You have chosen your own path,' said the old man. 'Follow it. Leave +Nell and me to toil and work.' + +'Nell will be a woman soon,' returned the other, 'and, bred in your +faith, she'll forget her brother unless he shows himself sometimes.' + +'Take care,' said the old man with sparkling eyes, 'that she does not +forget you when you would have her memory keenest. Take care that the +day don't come when you walk barefoot in the streets, and she rides by +in a gay carriage of her own.' + +'You mean when she has your money?' retorted the other. 'How like a +poor man he talks!' + +'And yet,' said the old man dropping his voice and speaking like one +who thinks aloud, 'how poor we are, and what a life it is! The cause is +a young child's guiltless of all harm or wrong, but nothing goes well +with it! Hope and patience, hope and patience!' + +These words were uttered in too low a tone to reach the ears of the +young men. Mr Swiveller appeared to think that they implied some mental +struggle consequent upon the powerful effect of his address, for he +poked his friend with his cane and whispered his conviction that he had +administered 'a clincher,' and that he expected a commission on the +profits. Discovering his mistake after a while, he appeared to grow +rather sleepy and discontented, and had more than once suggested the +propriety of an immediate departure, when the door opened, and the +child herself appeared. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +The child was closely followed by an elderly man of remarkably hard +features and forbidding aspect, and so low in stature as to be quite a +dwarf, though his head and face were large enough for the body of a +giant. His black eyes were restless, sly, and cunning; his mouth and +chin, bristly with the stubble of a coarse hard beard; and his +complexion was one of that kind which never looks clean or wholesome. +But what added most to the grotesque expression of his face was a +ghastly smile, which, appearing to be the mere result of habit and to +have no connection with any mirthful or complacent feeling, constantly +revealed the few discoloured fangs that were yet scattered in his +mouth, and gave him the aspect of a panting dog. His dress consisted of +a large high-crowned hat, a worn dark suit, a pair of capacious shoes, +and a dirty white neckerchief sufficiently limp and crumpled to +disclose the greater portion of his wiry throat. Such hair as he had +was of a grizzled black, cut short and straight upon his temples, and +hanging in a frowzy fringe about his ears. His hands, which were of a +rough, coarse grain, were very dirty; his fingernails were crooked, +long, and yellow. + +There was ample time to note these particulars, for besides that they +were sufficiently obvious without very close observation, some moments +elapsed before any one broke silence. The child advanced timidly +towards her brother and put her hand in his, the dwarf (if we may call +him so) glanced keenly at all present, and the curiosity-dealer, who +plainly had not expected his uncouth visitor, seemed disconcerted and +embarrassed. + +'Ah!' said the dwarf, who with his hand stretched out above his eyes +had been surveying the young man attentively, 'that should be your +grandson, neighbour!' + +'Say rather that he should not be,' replied the old man. 'But he is.' + +'And that?' said the dwarf, pointing to Dick Swiveller. + +'Some friend of his, as welcome here as he,' said the old man. + +'And that?' inquired the dwarf, wheeling round and pointing straight at +me. + +'A gentleman who was so good as to bring Nell home the other night when +she lost her way, coming from your house.' + +The little man turned to the child as if to chide her or express his +wonder, but as she was talking to the young man, held his peace, and +bent his head to listen. + +'Well, Nelly,' said the young fellow aloud. 'Do they teach you to hate +me, eh?' + +'No, no. For shame. Oh, no!' cried the child. + +'To love me, perhaps?' pursued her brother with a sneer. + +'To do neither,' she returned. 'They never speak to me about you. +Indeed they never do.' + +'I dare be bound for that,' he said, darting a bitter look at the +grandfather. 'I dare be bound for that Nell. Oh! I believe you there!' + +'But I love you dearly, Fred,' said the child. + +'No doubt!' + +'I do indeed, and always will,' the child repeated with great emotion, +'but oh! If you would leave off vexing him and making him unhappy, then +I could love you more.' + +'I see!' said the young man, as he stooped carelessly over the child, +and having kissed her, pushed her from him: 'There--get you away now +you have said your lesson. You needn't whimper. We part good friends +enough, if that's the matter.' + +He remained silent, following her with his eyes, until she had gained +her little room and closed the door; and then turning to the dwarf, +said abruptly, + +'Harkee, Mr--' + +'Meaning me?' returned the dwarf. 'Quilp is my name. You might +remember. It's not a long one--Daniel Quilp.' + +'Harkee, Mr Quilp, then,' pursued the other, 'You have some influence +with my grandfather there.' + +'Some,' said Mr Quilp emphatically. + +'And are in a few of his mysteries and secrets.' + +'A few,' replied Quilp, with equal dryness. + +'Then let me tell him once for all, through you, that I will come into +and go out of this place as often as I like, so long as he keeps Nell +here; and that if he wants to be quit of me, he must first be quit of +her. What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and +dreaded as if I brought the plague? He'll tell you that I have no +natural affection; and that I care no more for Nell, for her own sake, +than I do for him. Let him say so. I care for the whim, then, of coming +to and fro and reminding her of my existence. I WILL see her when I +please. That's my point. I came here to-day to maintain it, and I'll +come here again fifty times with the same object and always with the +same success. I said I would stop till I had gained it. I have done +so, and now my visit's ended. Come Dick.' + +'Stop!' cried Mr Swiveller, as his companion turned toward the door. +'Sir!' + +'Sir, I am your humble servant,' said Mr Quilp, to whom the +monosyllable was addressed. + +'Before I leave the gay and festive scene, and halls of dazzling light, +sir,' said Mr Swiveller, 'I will with your permission, attempt a slight +remark. I came here, sir, this day, under the impression that the old +min was friendly.' + +'Proceed, sir,' said Daniel Quilp; for the orator had made a sudden +stop. + +'Inspired by this idea and the sentiments it awakened, sir, and feeling +as a mutual friend that badgering, baiting, and bullying, was not the +sort of thing calculated to expand the souls and promote the social +harmony of the contending parties, I took upon myself to suggest a +course which is THE course to be adopted to the present occasion. Will +you allow me to whisper half a syllable, sir?' + +Without waiting for the permission he sought, Mr Swiveller stepped up +to the dwarf, and leaning on his shoulder and stooping down to get at +his ear, said in a voice which was perfectly audible to all present, + +'The watch-word to the old min is--fork.' + +'Is what?' demanded Quilp. + +'Is fork, sir, fork,' replied Mr Swiveller slapping his pocket. 'You +are awake, sir?' + +The dwarf nodded. Mr Swiveller drew back and nodded likewise, then drew +a little further back and nodded again, and so on. By these means he in +time reached the door, where he gave a great cough to attract the +dwarf's attention and gain an opportunity of expressing in dumb show, +the closest confidence and most inviolable secrecy. Having performed +the serious pantomime that was necessary for the due conveyance of +these idea, he cast himself upon his friend's track, and vanished. + +'Humph!' said the dwarf with a sour look and a shrug of his shoulders, +'so much for dear relations. Thank God I acknowledge none! Nor need you +either,' he added, turning to the old man, 'if you were not as weak as +a reed, and nearly as senseless.' + +'What would you have me do?' he retorted in a kind of helpless +desperation. 'It is easy to talk and sneer. What would you have me do?' + +'What would I do if I was in your case?' said the dwarf. + +'Something violent, no doubt.' + +'You're right there,' returned the little man, highly gratified by the +compliment, for such he evidently considered it; and grinning like a +devil as he rubbed his dirty hands together. 'Ask Mrs Quilp, pretty Mrs +Quilp, obedient, timid, loving Mrs Quilp. But that reminds me--I have +left her all alone, and she will be anxious and know not a moment's +peace till I return. I know she's always in that condition when I'm +away, thought she doesn't dare to say so, unless I lead her on and tell +her she may speak freely and I won't be angry with her. Oh! +well-trained Mrs Quilp.' + +The creature appeared quite horrible with his monstrous head and little +body, as he rubbed his hands slowly round, and round, and round +again--with something fantastic even in his manner of performing this +slight action--and, dropping his shaggy brows and cocking his chin in +the air, glanced upward with a stealthy look of exultation that an imp +might have copied and appropriated to himself. + +'Here,' he said, putting his hand into his breast and sidling up to the +old man as he spoke; 'I brought it myself for fear of accidents, as, +being in gold, it was something large and heavy for Nell to carry in +her bag. She need be accustomed to such loads betimes though, +neighbor, for she will carry weight when you are dead.' + +'Heaven send she may! I hope so,' said the old man with something like +a groan. + +'Hope so!' echoed the dwarf, approaching close to his ear; 'neighbour, +I would I knew in what good investment all these supplies are sunk. But +you are a deep man, and keep your secret close.' + +'My secret!' said the other with a haggard look. 'Yes, you're +right--I--I--keep it close--very close.' + +He said no more, but taking the money turned away with a slow, +uncertain step, and pressed his hand upon his head like a weary and +dejected man. The dwarf watched him sharply, while he passed into the +little sitting-room and locked it in an iron safe above the +chimney-piece; and after musing for a short space, prepared to take his +leave, observing that unless he made good haste, Mrs Quilp would +certainly be in fits on his return. + +'And so, neighbour,' he added, 'I'll turn my face homewards, leaving my +love for Nelly and hoping she may never lose her way again, though her +doing so HAS procured me an honour I didn't expect.' With that he bowed +and leered at me, and with a keen glance around which seemed to +comprehend every object within his range of vision, however, small or +trivial, went his way. + +I had several times essayed to go myself, but the old man had always +opposed it and entreated me to remain. As he renewed his entreaties on +our being left along, and adverted with many thanks to the former +occasion of our being together, I willingly yielded to his persuasions, +and sat down, pretending to examine some curious miniatures and a few +old medals which he placed before me. It needed no great pressing to +induce me to stay, for if my curiosity has been excited on the occasion +of my first visit, it certainly was not diminished now. + +Nell joined us before long, and bringing some needle-work to the table, +sat by the old man's side. It was pleasant to observe the fresh flowers +in the room, the pet bird with a green bough shading his little cage, +the breath of freshness and youth which seemed to rustle through the +old dull house and hover round the child. It was curious, but not so +pleasant, to turn from the beauty and grace of the girl, to the +stooping figure, care-worn face, and jaded aspect of the old man. As +he grew weaker and more feeble, what would become of this lonely little +creature; poor protector as he was, say that he died--what would be her +fate, then? + +The old man almost answered my thoughts, as he laid his hand on hers, +and spoke aloud. + +'I'll be of better cheer, Nell,' he said; 'there must be good fortune +in store for thee--I do not ask it for myself, but thee. Such miseries +must fall on thy innocent head without it, that I cannot believe but +that, being tempted, it will come at last!' + +She looked cheerfully into his face, but made no answer. + +'When I think,' said he, 'of the many years--many in thy short +life--that thou has lived with me; of my monotonous existence, knowing +no companions of thy own age nor any childish pleasures; of the +solitude in which thou has grown to be what thou art, and in which thou +hast lived apart from nearly all thy kind but one old man; I sometimes +fear I have dealt hardly by thee, Nell.' + +'Grandfather!' cried the child in unfeigned surprise. + +'Not in intention--no no,' said he. 'I have ever looked forward to the +time that should enable thee to mix among the gayest and prettiest, and +take thy station with the best. But I still look forward, Nell, I still +look forward, and if I should be forced to leave thee, meanwhile, how +have I fitted thee for struggles with the world? The poor bird yonder +is as well qualified to encounter it, and be turned adrift upon its +mercies--Hark! I hear Kit outside. Go to him, Nell, go to him.' + +She rose, and hurrying away, stopped, turned back, and put her arms +about the old man's neck, then left him and hurried away again--but +faster this time, to hide her falling tears. + +'A word in your ear, sir,' said the old man in a hurried whisper. 'I +have been rendered uneasy by what you said the other night, and can +only plead that I have done all for the best--that it is too late to +retract, if I could (though I cannot)--and that I hope to triumph yet. +All is for her sake. I have borne great poverty myself, and would spare +her the sufferings that poverty carries with it. I would spare her the +miseries that brought her mother, my own dear child, to an early grave. +I would leave her--not with resources which could be easily spent or +squandered away, but with what would place her beyond the reach of want +for ever. You mark me sir? She shall have no pittance, but a +fortune--Hush! I can say no more than that, now or at any other time, +and she is here again!' + +The eagerness with which all this was poured into my ear, the trembling +of the hand with which he clasped my arm, the strained and starting +eyes he fixed upon me, the wild vehemence and agitation of his manner, +filled me with amazement. All that I had heard and seen, and a great +part of what he had said himself, led me to suppose that he was a +wealthy man. I could form no comprehension of his character, unless he +were one of those miserable wretches who, having made gain the sole end +and object of their lives and having succeeded in amassing great +riches, are constantly tortured by the dread of poverty, and beset by +fears of loss and ruin. Many things he had said which I had been at a +loss to understand, were quite reconcilable with the idea thus +presented to me, and at length I concluded that beyond all doubt he was +one of this unhappy race. + +The opinion was not the result of hasty consideration, for which indeed +there was no opportunity at that time, as the child came directly, and +soon occupied herself in preparations for giving Kit a writing lesson, +of which it seemed he had a couple every week, and one regularly on +that evening, to the great mirth and enjoyment both of himself and his +instructress. To relate how it was a long time before his modesty could +be so far prevailed upon as it admit of his sitting down in the +parlour, in the presence of an unknown gentleman--how, when he did set +down, he tucked up his sleeves and squared his elbows and put his face +close to the copy-book and squinted horribly at the lines--how, from +the very first moment of having the pen in his hand, he began to wallow +in blots, and to daub himself with ink up to the very roots of his +hair--how, if he did by accident form a letter properly, he immediately +smeared it out again with his arm in his preparations to make +another--how, at every fresh mistake, there was a fresh burst of +merriment from the child and louder and not less hearty laugh from poor +Kit himself--and how there was all the way through, notwithstanding, a +gentle wish on her part to teach, and an anxious desire on his to +learn--to relate all these particulars would no doubt occupy more space +and time than they deserve. It will be sufficient to say that the +lesson was given--that evening passed and night came on--that the old +man again grew restless and impatient--that he quitted the house +secretly at the same hour as before--and that the child was once more +left alone within its gloomy walls. + +And now that I have carried this history so far in my own character and +introduced these personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience +of the narrative detach myself from its further course, and leave those +who have prominent and necessary parts in it to speak and act for +themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +Mr and Mrs Quilp resided on Tower Hill; and in her bower on Tower Hill +Mrs Quilp was left to pine the absence of her lord, when he quitted her +on the business which he had already seen to transact. + +Mr Quilp could scarcely be said to be of any particular trade or +calling, though his pursuits were diversified and his occupations +numerous. He collected the rents of whole colonies of filthy streets +and alleys by the waterside, advanced money to the seamen and petty +officers of merchant vessels, had a share in the ventures of divers +mates of East Indiamen, smoked his smuggled cigars under the very nose +of the Custom House, and made appointments on 'Change with men in +glazed hats and round jackets pretty well every day. On the Surrey side +of the river was a small rat-infested dreary yard called 'Quilp's +Wharf,' in which were a little wooden counting-house burrowing all awry +in the dust as if it had fallen from the clouds and ploughed into the +ground; a few fragments of rusty anchors; several large iron rings; +some piles of rotten wood; and two or three heaps of old sheet copper, +crumpled, cracked, and battered. On Quilp's Wharf, Daniel Quilp was a +ship-breaker, yet to judge from these appearances he must either have +been a ship-breaker on a very small scale, or have broken his ships up +very small indeed. Neither did the place present any extraordinary +aspect of life or activity, as its only human occupant was an +amphibious boy in a canvas suit, whose sole change of occupation was +from sitting on the head of a pile and throwing stones into the mud +when the tide was out, to standing with his hands in his pockets gazing +listlessly on the motion and on the bustle of the river at high-water. + +The dwarf's lodging on Tower hill comprised, besides the needful +accommodation for himself and Mrs Quilp, a small sleeping-closet for +that lady's mother, who resided with the couple and waged perpetual war +with Daniel; of whom, notwithstanding, she stood in no slight dread. +Indeed, the ugly creature contrived by some means or other--whether by +his ugliness or his ferocity or his natural cunning is no great +matter--to impress with a wholesome fear of his anger, most of those +with whom he was brought into daily contact and communication. Over +nobody had he such complete ascendance as Mrs Quilp herself--a pretty +little, mild-spoken, blue-eyed woman, who having allied herself in +wedlock to the dwarf in one of those strange infatuations of which +examples are by no means scarce, performed a sound practical penance +for her folly, every day of her life. + +It has been said that Mrs Quilp was pining in her bower. In her bower +she was, but not alone, for besides the old lady her mother of whom +mention has recently been made, there were present some half-dozen +ladies of the neighborhood who had happened by a strange accident (and +also by a little understanding among themselves) to drop in one after +another, just about tea-time. This being a season favourable to +conversation, and the room being a cool, shady, lazy kind of place, +with some plants at the open window shutting out the dust, and +interposing pleasantly enough between the tea table within and the old +Tower without, it is no wonder that the ladies felt an inclination to +talk and linger, especially when there are taken into account the +additional inducements of fresh butter, new bread, shrimps, and +watercresses. + +Now, the ladies being together under these circumstances, it was +extremely natural that the discourse should turn upon the propensity of +mankind to tyrannize over the weaker sex, and the duty that developed +upon the weaker sex to resist that tyranny and assert their rights and +dignity. It was natural for four reasons: firstly, because Mrs Quilp +being a young woman and notoriously under the dominion of her husband +ought to be excited to rebel; secondly, because Mrs Quilp's parent was +known to be laudably shrewish in her disposition and inclined to resist +male authority; thirdly, because each visitor wished to show for +herself how superior she was in this respect to the generality of her +sex; and fourthly, because the company being accustomed to scandalise +each other in pairs, were deprived of their usual subject of +conversation now that they were all assembled in close friendship, and +had consequently no better employment than to attack the common enemy. + +Moved by these considerations, a stout lady opened the proceedings by +inquiring, with an air of great concern and sympathy, how Mr Quilp was; +whereunto Mr Quilp's wife's mother replied sharply, 'Oh! He was well +enough--nothing much was every the matter with him--and ill weeds were +sure to thrive.' All the ladies then sighed in concert, shook their +heads gravely, and looked at Mrs Quilp as a martyr. + +'Ah!' said the spokeswoman, 'I wish you'd give her a little of your +advice, Mrs Jiniwin'--Mrs Quilp had been a Miss Jiniwin it should be +observed--'nobody knows better than you, ma'am, what us women owe to +ourselves.' + +'Owe indeed, ma'am!' replied Mrs Jiniwin. 'When my poor husband, her +dear father, was alive, if he had ever ventured a cross word to me, I'd +have--' The good old lady did not finish the sentence, but she twisted +off the head of a shrimp with a vindictiveness which seemed to imply +that the action was in some degree a substitute for words. In this +light it was clearly understood by the other party, who immediately +replied with great approbation, 'You quite enter into my feelings, +ma'am, and it's jist what I'd do myself.' + +'But you have no call to do it,' said Mrs Jiniwin. 'Luckily for you, +you have no more occasion to do it than I had.' + +'No woman need have, if she was true to herself,' rejoined the stout +lady. + +'Do you hear that, Betsy?' said Mrs Jiniwin, in a warning voice. 'How +often have I said the same words to you, and almost gone down my knees +when I spoke 'em!' + +Poor Mrs Quilp, who had looked in a state of helplessness from one face +of condolence to another, coloured, smiled, and shook her head +doubtfully. This was the signal for a general clamour, which beginning +in a low murmur gradually swelled into a great noise in which everybody +spoke at once, and all said that she being a young woman had no right +to set up her opinions against the experiences of those who knew so +much better; that it was very wrong of her not to take the advice of +people who had nothing at heart but her good; that it was next door to +being downright ungrateful to conduct herself in that manner; that if +she had no respect for herself she ought to have some for other women, +all of whom she compromised by her meekness; and that if she had no +respect for other women, the time would come when other women would +have no respect for her; and she would be very sorry for that, they +could tell her. Having dealt out these admonitions, the ladies fell to +a more powerful assault than they had yet made upon the mixed tea, new +bread, fresh butter, shrimps, and watercresses, and said that their +vexation was so great to see her going on like that, that they could +hardly bring themselves to eat a single morsel. + +It's all very fine to talk,' said Mrs Quilp with much simplicity, 'but +I know that if I was to die to-morrow, Quilp could marry anybody he +pleased--now that he could, I know!' + +There was quite a scream of indignation at this idea. Marry whom he +pleased! They would like to see him dare to think of marrying any of +them; they would like to see the faintest approach to such a thing. +One lady (a widow) was quite certain she should stab him if he hinted +at it. + +'Very well,' said Mrs Quilp, nodding her head, 'as I said just now, +it's very easy to talk, but I say again that I know--that I'm +sure--Quilp has such a way with him when he likes, that the best +looking woman here couldn't refuse him if I was dead, and she was free, +and he chose to make love to her. Come!' + +Everybody bridled up at this remark, as much as to say, 'I know you +mean me. Let him try--that's all.' and yet for some hidden reason they +were all angry with the widow, and each lady whispered in her +neighbour's ear that it was very plain that said widow thought herself +the person referred to, and what a puss she was! + +'Mother knows,' said Mrs Quilp, 'that what I say is quite correct, for +she often said so before we were married. Didn't you say so, mother?' + +This inquiry involved the respected lady in rather a delicate position, +for she certainly had been an active party in making her daughter Mrs +Quilp, and, besides, it was not supporting the family credit to +encourage the idea that she had married a man whom nobody else would +have. On the other hand, to exaggerate the captivating qualities of her +son-in-law would be to weaken the cause of revolt, in which all her +energies were deeply engaged. Beset by these opposing considerations, +Mrs Jiniwin admitted the powers of insinuation, but denied the right to +govern, and with a timely compliment to the stout lady brought back the +discussion to the point from which it had strayed. + +'Oh! It's a sensible and proper thing indeed, what Mrs George has +said!' exclaimed the old lady. 'If women are only true to +themselves!--But Betsy isn't, and more's the shame and pity.' + +'Before I'd let a man order me about as Quilp orders her,' said Mrs +George, 'before I'd consent to stand in awe of a man as she does of +him, I'd--I'd kill myself, and write a letter first to say he did it!' + +This remark being loudly commended and approved of, another lady (from +the Minories) put in her word: + +'Mr Quilp may be a very nice man,' said this lady, 'and I supposed +there's no doubt he is, because Mrs Quilp says he is, and Mrs Jiniwin +says he is, and they ought to know, or nobody does. But still he is not +quite a--what one calls a handsome man, nor quite a young man neither, +which might be a little excuse for him if anything could be; whereas +his wife is young, and is good-looking, and is a woman--which is the +greatest thing after all.' + +This last clause being delivered with extraordinary pathos, elicited a +corresponding murmer from the hearers, stimulated by which the lady +went on to remark that if such a husband was cross and unreasonable +with such a wife, then-- + +'If he is!' interposed the mother, putting down her tea-cup and +brushing the crumbs out of her lap, preparatory to making a solemn +declaration. 'If he is! He is the greatest tyrant that every lived, she +daren't call her soul her own, he makes her tremble with a word and +even with a look, he frightens her to death, and she hasn't the spirit +to give him a word back, no, not a single word.' + +Notwithstanding that the fact had been notorious beforehand to all the +tea-drinkers, and had been discussed and expatiated on at every +tea-drinking in the neighbourhood for the last twelve months, this +official communication was no sooner made than they all began to talk +at once and to vie with each other in vehemence and volubility. Mrs +George remarked that people would talk, that people had often said this +to her before, that Mrs Simmons then and there present had told her so +twenty times, that she had always said, 'No, Henrietta Simmons, unless +I see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears, I never will +believe it.' Mrs Simmons corroborated this testimony and added strong +evidence of her own. The lady from the Minories recounted a successful +course of treatment under which she had placed her own husband, who, +from manifesting one month after marriage unequivocal symptoms of the +tiger, had by this means become subdued into a perfect lamb. Another +lady recounted her own personal struggle and final triumph, in the +course whereof she had found it necessary to call in her mother and two +aunts, and to weep incessantly night and day for six weeks. A third, +who in the general confusion could secure no other listener, fastened +herself upon a young woman still unmarried who happened to be amongst +them, and conjured her, as she valued her own peace of mind and +happiness to profit by this solemn occasion, to take example from the +weakness of Mrs Quilp, and from that time forth to direct her whole +thoughts to taming and subduing the rebellious spirit of man. The noise +was at its height, and half the company had elevated their voices into +a perfect shriek in order to drown the voices of the other half, when +Mrs Jiniwin was seen to change colour and shake her forefinger +stealthily, as if exhorting them to silence. Then, and not until then, +Daniel Quilp himself, the cause and occasion of all this clamour, was +observed to be in the room, looking on and listening with profound +attention. + +'Go on, ladies, go on,' said Daniel. 'Mrs Quilp, pray ask the ladies to +stop to supper, and have a couple of lobsters and something light and +palatable.' + +'I--I--didn't ask them to tea, Quilp,' stammered his wife. 'It's quite +an accident.' + +'So much the better, Mrs Quilp; these accidental parties are always the +pleasantest,' said the dwarf, rubbing his hands so hard that he seemed +to be engaged in manufacturing, of the dirt with which they were +encrusted, little charges for popguns. 'What! Not going, ladies, you +are not going, surely!' + +His fair enemies tossed their heads slightly as they sought their +respective bonnets and shawls, but left all verbal contention to Mrs +Jiniwin, who finding herself in the position of champion, made a faint +struggle to sustain the character. + +'And why not stop to supper, Quilp,' said the old lady, 'if my daughter +had a mind?' + +'To be sure,' rejoined Daniel. 'Why not?' + +'There's nothing dishonest or wrong in a supper, I hope?' said Mrs +Jiniwin. + +'Surely not,' returned the dwarf. 'Why should there be? Nor anything +unwholesome, either, unless there's lobster-salad or prawns, which I'm +told are not good for digestion.' + +'And you wouldn't like your wife to be attacked with that, or anything +else that would make her uneasy would you?' said Mrs Jiniwin. + +'Not for a score of worlds,' replied the dwarf with a grin. 'Not even +to have a score of mothers-in-law at the same time--and what a blessing +that would be!' + +'My daughter's your wife, Mr Quilp, certainly,' said the old lady with +a giggle, meant for satirical and to imply that he needed to be +reminded of the fact; 'your wedded wife.' + +'So she is, certainly. So she is,' observed the dwarf. + +'And she has a right to do as she likes, I hope, Quilp,' said the +old lady trembling, partly with anger and partly with a secret fear of +her impish son-in-law. + +'Hope she has!' he replied. 'Oh! Don't you know she has? Don't you know +she has, Mrs Jiniwin? + +'I know she ought to have, Quilp, and would have, if she was of my way +of thinking.' + +'Why an't you of your mother's way of thinking, my dear?' said the +dwarf, turing round and addressing his wife, 'why don't you always +imitate your mother, my dear? She's the ornament of her sex--your +father said so every day of his life. I am sure he did.' + +'Her father was a blessed creetur, Quilp, and worthy twenty thousand of +some people,' said Mrs Jiniwin; 'twenty hundred million thousand.' + +'I should like to have known him,' remarked the dwarf. 'I dare say he +was a blessed creature then; but I'm sure he is now. It was a happy +release. I believe he had suffered a long time?' + +The old lady gave a gasp, but nothing came of it; Quilp resumed, with +the same malice in his eye and the same sarcastic politeness on his +tongue. + +'You look ill, Mrs Jiniwin; I know you have been exciting yourself too +much--talking perhaps, for it is your weakness. Go to bed. Do go to +bed.' + +'I shall go when I please, Quilp, and not before.' + +'But please to do now. Do please to go now,' said the dwarf. + +The old woman looked angrily at him, but retreated as he advanced, and +falling back before him, suffered him to shut the door upon her and +bolt her out among the guests, who were by this time crowding +downstairs. Being left along with his wife, who sat trembling in a +corner with her eyes fixed upon the ground, the little man planted +himself before her, and folding his arms looked steadily at her for a +long time without speaking. + +'Mrs Quilp,' he said at last. + +'Yes, Quilp,' she replead meekly. + +Instead of pursuing the theme he had in his mind, Quilp folded his arms +again, and looked at her more sternly than before, while she averted +her eyes and kept them on the ground. + +'Mrs Quilp.' + +'Yes, Quilp.' + +'If ever you listen to these beldames again, I'll bite you.' + +With this laconic threat, which he accompanied with a snarl that gave +him the appearance of being particularly in earnest, Mr Quilp bade her +clear the teaboard away, and bring the rum. The spirit being set before +him in a huge case-bottle, which had originally come out of some ship's +locker, he settled himself in an arm-chair with his large head and face +squeezed up against the back, and his little legs planted on the table. + +'Now, Mrs Quilp,' he said; 'I feel in a smoking humour, and shall +probably blaze away all night. But sit where you are, if you please, in +case I want you.' + +His wife returned no other reply than the necessary 'Yes, Quilp,' and +the small lord of the creation took his first cigar and mixed his first +glass of grog. The sun went down and the stars peeped out, the Tower +turned from its own proper colours to grey and from grey to black, the +room became perfectly dark and the end of the cigar a deep fiery red, +but still Mr Quilp went on smoking and drinking in the same position, +and staring listlessly out of window with the doglike smile always on +his face, save when Mrs Quilp made some involuntary movement of +restlessness or fatigue; and then it expanded into a grin of delight. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +Whether Mr Quilp took any sleep by snatches of a few winks at a time, +or whether he sat with his eyes wide open all night long, certain it is +that he kept his cigar alight, and kindled every fresh one from the +ashes of that which was nearly consumed, without requiring the +assistance of a candle. Nor did the striking of the clocks, hour after +hour, appear to inspire him with any sense of drowsiness or any natural +desire to go to rest, but rather to increase his wakefulness, which he +showed, at every such indication of the progress of the night, by a +suppressed cackling in his throat, and a motion of his shoulders, like +one who laughs heartily but the same time slyly and by stealth. + +At length the day broke, and poor Mrs Quilp, shivering with cold of +early morning and harassed by fatigue and want of sleep, was discovered +sitting patiently on her chair, raising her eyes at intervals in mute +appeal to the compassion and clemency of her lord, and gently reminding +him by an occasion cough that she was still unpardoned and that her +penance had been of long duration. But her dwarfish spouse still smoked +his cigar and drank his rum without heeding her; and it was not until +the sun had some time risen, and the activity and noise of city day +were rife in the street, that he deigned to recognize her presence by +any word or sign. He might not have done so even then, but for certain +impatient tapping at the door he seemed to denote that some pretty hard +knuckles were actively engaged upon the other side. + +'Why dear me!' he said looking round with a malicious grin, 'it's day. +Open the door, sweet Mrs Quilp!' + +His obedient wife withdrew the bolt, and her lady mother entered. + +Now, Mrs Jiniwin bounced into the room with great impetuosity; for, +supposing her son-in-law to be still a-bed, she had come to relieve her +feelings by pronouncing a strong opinion upon his general conduct and +character. Seeing that he was up and dressed, and that the room +appeared to have been occupied ever since she quitted it on the +previous evening, she stopped short, in some embarrassment. + +Nothing escaped the hawk's eye of the ugly little man, who, perfectly +understanding what passed in the old lady's mind, turned uglier still +in the fulness of his satisfaction, and bade her good morning, with a +leer or triumph. + +'Why, Betsy,' said the old woman, 'you haven't been--you don't mean to +say you've been a--' + +'Sitting up all night?' said Quilp, supplying the conclusion of the +sentence. 'Yes she has!' + +'All night?' cried Mrs Jiniwin. + +'Ay, all night. Is the dear old lady deaf?' said Quilp, with a smile of +which a frown was part. 'Who says man and wife are bad company? Ha ha! +The time has flown.' + +'You're a brute!' exclaimed Mrs Jiniwin. + +'Come come,' said Quilp, wilfully misunderstanding her, of course, 'you +mustn't call her names. She's married now, you know. And though she did +beguile the time and keep me from my bed, you must not be so tenderly +careful of me as to be out of humour with her. Bless you for a dear +old lady. Here's to your health!' + +'I am much obliged to you,' returned the old woman, testifying by a +certain restlessness in her hands a vehement desire to shake her +matronly fist at her son-in-law. 'Oh! I'm very much obliged to you!' + +'Grateful soul!' cried the dwarf. 'Mrs Quilp.' + +'Yes, Quilp,' said the timid sufferer. + +'Help your mother to get breakfast, Mrs Quilp. I am going to the wharf +this morning--the earlier the better, so be quick.' + +Mrs Jiniwin made a faint demonstration of rebellion by sitting down in +a chair near the door and folding her arms as if in a resolute +determination to do nothing. But a few whispered words from her +daughter, and a kind inquiry from her son-in-law whether she felt +faint, with a hint that there was abundance of cold water in the next +apartment, routed these symptoms effectually, and she applied herself +to the prescribed preparations with sullen diligence. + +While they were in progress, Mr Quilp withdrew to the adjoining room, +and, turning back his coat-collar, proceeded to smear his countenance +with a damp towel of very unwholesome appearance, which made his +complexion rather more cloudy than it was before. But, while he was +thus engaged, his caution and inquisitiveness did not forsake him, for +with a face as sharp and cunning as ever, he often stopped, even in +this short process, and stood listening for any conversation in the +next room, of which he might be the theme. + +'Ah!' he said after a short effort of attention, 'it was not the towel +over my ears, I thought it wasn't. I'm a little hunchy villain and a +monster, am I, Mrs Jiniwin? Oh!' + +The pleasure of this discovery called up the old doglike smile in full +force. When he had quite done with it, he shook himself in a very +doglike manner, and rejoined the ladies. + +Mr Quilp now walked up to front of a looking-glass, and was standing +there putting on his neckerchief, when Mrs Jiniwin happening to be +behind him, could not resist the inclination she felt to shake her fist +at her tyrant son-in-law. It was the gesture of an instant, but as she +did so and accompanied the action with a menacing look, she met his eye +in the glass, catching her in the very act. The same glance at the +mirror conveyed to her the reflection of a horribly grotesque and +distorted face with the tongue lolling out; and the next instant the +dwarf, turning about with a perfectly bland and placid look, inquired +in a tone of great affection. + +'How are you now, my dear old darling?' + +Slight and ridiculous as the incident was, it made him appear such a +little fiend, and withal such a keen and knowing one, that the old +woman felt too much afraid of him to utter a single word, and suffered +herself to be led with extraordinary politeness to the breakfast-table. +Here he by no means diminished the impression he had just produced, for +he ate hard eggs, shell and all, devoured gigantic prawns with the +heads and tails on, chewed tobacco and water-cresses at the same time +and with extraordinary greediness, drank boiling tea without winking, +bit his fork and spoon till they bent again, and in short performed so +many horrifying and uncommon acts that the women were nearly frightened +out of their wits, and began to doubt if he were really a human +creature. At last, having gone through these proceedings and many +others which were equally a part of his system, Mr Quilp left them, +reduced to a very obedient and humbled state, and betook himself to the +river-side, where he took boat for the wharf on which he had bestowed +his name. + +It was flood tide when Daniel Quilp sat himself down in the ferry to +cross to the opposite shore. A fleet of barges were coming lazily on, +some sideways, some head first, some stern first; all in a +wrong-headed, dogged, obstinate way, bumping up against the larger +craft, running under the bows of steamboats, getting into every kind of +nook and corner where they had no business, and being crunched on all +sides like so many walnut-shells; while each with its pair of long +sweeps struggling and splashing in the water looked like some lumbering +fish in pain. In some of the vessels at anchor all hands were busily +engaged in coiling ropes, spreading out sails to dry, taking in or +discharging their cargoes; in others no life was visible but two or +three tarry boys, and perhaps a barking dog running to and fro upon the +deck or scrambling up to look over the side and bark the louder for the +view. Coming slowly on through the forests of masts was a great +steamship, beating the water in short impatient strokes with her heavy +paddles as though she wanted room to breathe, and advancing in her huge +bulk like a sea monster among the minnows of the Thames. On either hand +were long black tiers of colliers; between them vessels slowly working +out of harbour with sails glistening in the sun, and creaking noise on +board, re-echoed from a hundred quarters. The water and all upon it was +in active motion, dancing and buoyant and bubbling up; while the old +grey Tower and piles of building on the shore, with many a church-spire +shooting up between, looked coldly on, and seemed to disdain their +chafing, restless neighbour. + +Daniel Quilp, who was not much affected by a bright morning save in so +far as it spared him the trouble of carrying an umbrella, caused +himself to be put ashore hard by the wharf, and proceeded thither +through a narrow lane which, partaking of the amphibious character of +its frequenters, had as much water as mud in its composition, and a +very liberal supply of both. Arrived at his destination, the first +object that presented itself to his view was a pair of very imperfectly +shod feet elevated in the air with the soles upwards, which remarkable +appearance was referable to the boy, who being of an eccentric spirit +and having a natural taste for tumbling, was now standing on his head +and contemplating the aspect of the river under these uncommon +circumstances. He was speedily brought on his heels by the sound of his +master's voice, and as soon as his head was in its right position, Mr +Quilp, to speak expressively in the absence of a better verb, 'punched +it' for him. + +'Come, you let me alone,' said the boy, parrying Quilp's hand with both +his elbows alternatively. 'You'll get something you won't like if you +don't and so I tell you.' + +'You dog,' snarled Quilp, 'I'll beat you with an iron rod, I'll scratch +you with a rusty nail, I'll pinch your eyes, if you talk to me--I will.' + +With these threats he clenched his hand again, and dexterously diving +in between the elbows and catching the boy's head as it dodged from +side to side, gave it three or four good hard knocks. Having now +carried his point and insisted on it, he left off. + +'You won't do it agin,' said the boy, nodding his head and drawing +back, with the elbows ready in case of the worst; 'now--' + +'Stand still, you dog,' said Quilp. 'I won't do it again, because I've +done it as often as I want. Here. Take the key.' + +'Why don't you hit one of your size?' said the boy approaching very +slowly. + +'Where is there one of my size, you dog?' returned Quilp. 'Take the +key, or I'll brain you with it'--indeed he gave him a smart tap with +the handle as he spoke. 'Now, open the counting-house.' + +The boy sulkily complied, muttering at first, but desisting when he +looked round and saw that Quilp was following him with a steady look. +And here it may be remarked, that between this boy and the dwarf there +existed a strange kind of mutual liking. How born or bred, and or +nourished upon blows and threats on one side, and retorts and defiances +on the other, is not to the purpose. Quilp would certainly suffer +nobody to contract him but the boy, and the boy would assuredly not +have submitted to be so knocked about by anybody but Quilp, when he had +the power to run away at any time he chose. + +'Now,' said Quilp, passing into the wooden counting-house, 'you mind +the wharf. Stand upon your head agin, and I'll cut one of your feet +off.' + +The boy made no answer, but directly Quilp had shut himself in, stood +on his head before the door, then walked on his hands to the back and +stood on his head there, and then to the opposite side and repeated the +performance. There were indeed four sides to the counting-house, but he +avoided that one where the window was, deeming it probable that Quilp +would be looking out of it. This was prudent, for in point of fact, the +dwarf, knowing his disposition, was lying in wait at a little distance +from the sash armed with a large piece of wood, which, being rough and +jagged and studded in many parts with broken nails, might possibly have +hurt him. + +It was a dirty little box, this counting-house, with nothing in it but +an old ricketty desk and two stools, a hat-peg, an ancient almanack, an +inkstand with no ink, and the stump of one pen, and an eight-day clock +which hadn't gone for eighteen years at least, and of which the +minute-hand had been twisted off for a tooth-pick. Daniel Quilp pulled +his hat over his brows, climbed on to the desk (which had a flat top) +and stretching his short length upon it went to sleep with ease of an +old practitioner; intending, no doubt, to compensate himself for the +deprivation of last night's rest, by a long and sound nap. + +Sound it might have been, but long it was not, for he had not been +asleep a quarter of an hour when the boy opened the door and thrust in +his head, which was like a bundle of badly-picked oakum. Quilp was a +light sleeper and started up directly. + +'Here's somebody for you,' said the boy. + +'Who?' + +'I don't know.' + +'Ask!' said Quilp, seizing the trifle of wood before mentioned and +throwing it at him with such dexterity that it was well the boy +disappeared before it reached the spot on which he had stood. 'Ask, you +dog.' + +Not caring to venture within range of such missles again, the boy +discreetly sent in his stead the first cause of the interruption, who +now presented herself at the door. + +'What, Nelly!' cried Quilp. + +'Yes,' said the child, hesitating whether to enter or retreat, for the +dwarf just roused, with his dishevelled hair hanging all about him and +a yellow handkerchief over his head, was something fearful to behold; +it's only me, sir.' + +'Come in,' said Quilp, without getting off the desk. 'Come in. Stay. +Just look out into the yard, and see whether there's a boy standing on +his head.' + +'No, sir,' replied Nell. 'He's on his feet.' + +'You're sure he is?' said Quilp. 'Well. Now, come in and shut the door. +What's your message, Nelly?' + +The child handed him a letter. Mr Quilp, without changing his position +further than to turn over a little more on his side and rest his chin +on his hand, proceeded to make himself acquainted with its contents. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +Little Nell stood timidly by, with her eyes raised to the countenance +of Mr Quilp as he read the letter, plainly showing by her looks that +while she entertained some fear and distrust of the little man, she was +much inclined to laugh at his uncouth appearance and grotesque +attitude. And yet there was visible on the part of the child a painful +anxiety for his reply, and consciousness of his power to render it +disagreeable or distressing, which was strongly at variance with this +impulse and restrained it more effectually than she could possibly have +done by any efforts of her own. + +That Mr Quilp was himself perplexed, and that in no small degree, by +the contents of the letter, was sufficiently obvious. Before he had got +through the first two or three lines he began to open his eyes very +wide and to frown most horribly, the next two or three caused him to +scratch his head in an uncommonly vicious manner, and when he came to +the conclusion he gave a long dismal whistle indicative of surprise and +dismay. After folding and laying it down beside him, he bit the nails +of all of his ten fingers with extreme voracity; and taking it up +sharply, read it again. The second perusal was to all appearance as +unsatisfactory as the first, and plunged him into a profound reverie +from which he awakened to another assault upon his nails and a long +stare at the child, who with her eyes turned towards the ground awaited +his further pleasure. + +'Halloa here!' he said at length, in a voice, and with a suddenness, +which made the child start as though a gun had been fired off at her +ear. 'Nelly!' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Do you know what's inside this letter, Nell?' + +'No, sir!' + +'Are you sure, quite sure, quite certain, upon your soul?' + +'Quite sure, sir.' + +'Do you wish you may die if you do know, hey?' said the dwarf. + +'Indeed I don't know,' returned the child. + +'Well!' muttered Quilp as he marked her earnest look. 'I believe you. +Humph! Gone already? Gone in four-and-twenty hours! What the devil has +he done with it, that's the mystery!' + +This reflection set him scratching his head and biting his nails once +more. While he was thus employed his features gradually relaxed into +what was with him a cheerful smile, but which in any other man would +have been a ghastly grin of pain, and when the child looked up again +she found that he was regarding her with extraordinary favour and +complacency. + +'You look very pretty to-day, Nelly, charmingly pretty. Are you tired, +Nelly?' + +'No, sir. I'm in a hurry to get back, for he will be anxious while I am +away.' + +'There's no hurry, little Nell, no hurry at all,' said Quilp. 'How +should you like to be my number two, Nelly?' + +'To be what, sir?' + +'My number two, Nelly, my second, my Mrs Quilp,' said the dwarf. + +The child looked frightened, but seemed not to understand him, which Mr +Quilp observing, hastened to make his meaning more distinctly. + +'To be Mrs Quilp the second, when Mrs Quilp the first is dead, sweet +Nell,' said Quilp, wrinkling up his eyes and luring her towards him +with his bent forefinger, 'to be my wife, my little cherry-cheeked, +red-lipped wife. Say that Mrs Quilp lives five year, or only four, +you'll be just the proper age for me. Ha ha! Be a good girl, Nelly, a +very good girl, and see if one of these days you don't come to be Mrs +Quilp of Tower Hill.' + +So far from being sustained and stimulated by this delightful prospect, +the child shrank from him in great agitation, and trembled violently. +Mr Quilp, either because frightening anybody afforded him a +constitutional delight, or because it was pleasant to contemplate the +death of Mrs Quilp number one, and the elevation of Mrs Quilp number +two to her post and title, or because he was determined from purposes +of his own to be agreeable and good-humoured at that particular time, +only laughed and feigned to take no heed of her alarm. + +'You shall come with me to Tower Hill and see Mrs Quilp that is, +directly,' said the dwarf. 'She's very fond of you, Nell, though not so +fond as I am. You shall come home with me.' + +'I must go back indeed,' said the child. 'He told me to return directly +I had the answer.' + +'But you haven't it, Nelly,' retorted the dwarf, 'and won't have it, +and can't have it, until I have been home, so you see that to do your +errand, you must go with me. Reach me yonder hat, my dear, and we'll go +directly.' With that, Mr Quilp suffered himself to roll gradually off +the desk until his short legs touched the ground, when he got upon them +and led the way from the counting-house to the wharf outside, when the +first objects that presented themselves were the boy who had stood on +his head and another young gentleman of about his own stature, rolling +in the mud together, locked in a tight embrace, and cuffing each other +with mutual heartiness. + +'It's Kit!' cried Nelly, clasping her hand, 'poor Kit who came with me! +Oh, pray stop them, Mr Quilp!' + +'I'll stop 'em,' cried Quilp, diving into the little counting-house and +returning with a thick stick, 'I'll stop 'em. Now, my boys, fight away. +I'll fight you both. I'll take both of you, both together, both +together!' + +With which defiances the dwarf flourished his cudgel, and dancing round +the combatants and treading upon them and skipping over them, in a kind +of frenzy, laid about him, now on one and now on the other, in a most +desperate manner, always aiming at their heads and dealing such blows +as none but the veriest little savage would have inflicted. This being +warmer work than they had calculated upon, speedily cooled the courage +of the belligerents, who scrambled to their feet and called for quarter. + +'I'll beat you to a pulp, you dogs,' said Quilp, vainly endeavoring to +get near either of them for a parting blow. 'I'll bruise you until +you're copper-coloured, I'll break your faces till you haven't a +profile between you, I will.' + +'Come, you drop that stick or it'll be worse for you,' said his boy, +dodging round him and watching an opportunity to rush in; 'you drop +that stick.' + +'Come a little nearer, and I'll drop it on your skull, you dog,' said +Quilp, with gleaming eyes; 'a little nearer--nearer yet.' + +But the boy declined the invitation until his master was apparently a +little off his guard, when he darted in and seizing the weapon tried to +wrest it from his grasp. Quilp, who was as strong as a lion, easily +kept his hold until the boy was tugging at it with his utmost power, +when he suddenly let it go and sent him reeling backwards, so that he +fell violently upon his head. The success of this manoeuvre tickled Mr +Quilp beyond description, and he laughed and stamped upon the ground as +at a most irresistible jest. + +'Never mind,' said the boy, nodding his head and rubbing it at the same +time; 'you see if ever I offer to strike anybody again because they say +you're an uglier dwarf than can be seen anywheres for a penny, that's +all.' + +'Do you mean to say, I'm not, you dog?' returned Quilp. + +'No!' retorted the boy. + +'Then what do you fight on my wharf for, you villain?' said Quilp. + +'Because he said so,' replied the boy, pointing to Kit, 'not because you +an't.' + +'Then why did he say,' bawled Kit, 'that Miss Nelly was ugly, and that +she and my master was obliged to do whatever his master liked? Why did +he say that?' + +'He said what he did because he's a fool, and you said what you did +because you're very wise and clever--almost too clever to live, unless +you're very careful of yourself, Kit.' said Quilp, with great suavity +in his manner, but still more of quiet malice about his eyes and mouth. +'Here's sixpence for you, Kit. Always speak the truth. At all times, +Kit, speak the truth. Lock the counting-house, you dog, and bring me +the key.' + +The other boy, to whom this order was addressed, did as he was told, +and was rewarded for his partizanship in behalf of his master, by a +dexterous rap on the nose with the key, which brought the water into +his eyes. Then Mr Quilp departed with the child and Kit in a boat, and +the boy revenged himself by dancing on his head at intervals on the +extreme verge of the wharf, during the whole time they crossed the +river. + +There was only Mrs Quilp at home, and she, little expecting the return +of her lord, was just composing herself for a refreshing slumber when +the sound of his footsteps roused her. She had barely time to seem to +be occupied in some needle-work, when he entered, accompanied by the +child; having left Kit downstairs. + +'Here's Nelly Trent, dear Mrs Quilp,' said her husband. 'A glass of +wine, my dear, and a biscuit, for she has had a long walk. She'll sit +with you, my soul, while I write a letter.' + +Mrs Quilp looked tremblingly in her spouse's face to know what this +unusual courtesy might portend, and obedient to the summons she saw in +his gesture, followed him into the next room. + +'Mind what I say to you,' whispered Quilp. 'See if you can get out of +her anything about her grandfather, or what they do, or how they live, +or what he tells her. I've my reasons for knowing, if I can. You women +talk more freely to one another than you do to us, and you have a soft, +mild way with you that'll win upon her. Do you hear?' + +'Yes, Quilp.' + +'Go then. What's the matter now?' + +'Dear Quilp,' faltered his wife. 'I love the child--if you could do +without making me deceive her--' + +The dwarf muttering a terrible oath looked round as if for some weapon +with which to inflict condign punishment upon his disobedient wife. The +submissive little woman hurriedly entreated him not to be angry, and +promised to do as he bade her. + +'Do you hear me,' whispered Quilp, nipping and pinching her arm; 'worm +yourself into her secrets; I know you can. I'm listening, recollect. If +you're not sharp enough, I'll creak the door, and woe betide you if I +have to creak it much. Go!' + +Mrs Quilp departed according to order, and her amiable husband, +ensconcing himself behind the partly opened door, and applying his ear +close to it, began to listen with a face of great craftiness and +attention. + +Poor Mrs Quilp was thinking, however, in what manner to begin or what +kind of inquiries she could make; and it was not until the door, +creaking in a very urgent manner, warned her to proceed without further +consideration, that the sound of her voice was heard. + +'How very often you have come backwards and forwards lately to Mr +Quilp, my dear.' + +'I have said so to grandfather, a hundred times,' returned Nell +innocently. + +'And what has he said to that?' + +'Only sighed, and dropped his head, and seemed so sad and wretched that +if you could have seen him I am sure you must have cried; you could not +have helped it more than I, I know. How that door creaks!' + +'It often does.' returned Mrs Quilp, with an uneasy glance towards it. +'But your grandfather--he used not to be so wretched?' + +'Oh, no!' said the child eagerly, 'so different! We were once so happy +and he so cheerful and contented! You cannot think what a sad change +has fallen on us since.' + +'I am very, very sorry, to hear you speak like this, my dear!' said Mrs +Quilp. And she spoke the truth. + +'Thank you,' returned the child, kissing her cheek, 'you are always +kind to me, and it is a pleasure to talk to you. I can speak to no one +else about him, but poor Kit. I am very happy still, I ought to feel +happier perhaps than I do, but you cannot think how it grieves me +sometimes to see him alter so.' + +'He'll alter again, Nelly,' said Mrs Quilp, 'and be what he was before.' + +'Oh, if God would only let that come about!' said the child with +streaming eyes; 'but it is a long time now, since he first began to--I +thought I saw that door moving!' + +'It's the wind,' said Mrs Quilp, faintly. 'Began to--' + +'To be so thoughtful and dejected, and to forget our old way of +spending the time in the long evenings,' said the child. 'I used to +read to him by the fireside, and he sat listening, and when I stopped +and we began to talk, he told me about my mother, and how she once +looked and spoke just like me when she was a little child. Then he used +to take me on his knee, and try to make me understand that she was not +lying in her grave, but had flown to a beautiful country beyond the sky +where nothing died or ever grew old--we were very happy once!' + +'Nelly, Nelly!' said the poor woman, 'I can't bear to see one as young +as you so sorrowful. Pray don't cry.' + +'I do so very seldom,' said Nell, 'but I have kept this to myself a +long time, and I am not quite well, I think, for the tears come into my +eyes and I cannot keep them back. I don't mind telling you my grief, +for I know you will not tell it to any one again.' + +Mrs Quilp turned away her head and made no answer. + +'Then,' said the child, 'we often walked in the fields and among the +green trees, and when we came home at night, we liked it better for +being tired, and said what a happy place it was. And if it was dark and +rather dull, we used to say, what did it matter to us, for it only made +us remember our last walk with greater pleasure, and look forward to +our next one. But now we never have these walks, and though it is the +same house it is darker and much more gloomy than it used to be, +indeed!' + +She paused here, but though the door creaked more than once, Mrs Quilp +said nothing. + +'Mind you don't suppose,' said the child earnestly, 'that grandfather +is less kind to me than he was. I think he loves me better every day, +and is kinder and more affectionate than he was the day before. You do +not know how fond he is of me!' + +'I am sure he loves you dearly,' said Mrs Quilp. + +'Indeed, indeed he does!' cried Nell, 'as dearly as I love him. But I +have not told you the greatest change of all, and this you must never +breathe again to any one. He has no sleep or rest, but that which he +takes by day in his easy chair; for every night and nearly all night +long he is away from home.' + +'Nelly!' + +'Hush!' said the child, laying her finger on her lip and looking round. +'When he comes home in the morning, which is generally just before day, +I let him in. Last night he was very late, and it was quite light. I +saw that his face was deadly pale, that his eyes were bloodshot, and +that his legs trembled as he walked. When I had gone to bed again, I +heard him groan. I got up and ran back to him, and heard him say, +before he knew that I was there, that he could not bear his life much +longer, and if it was not for the child, would wish to die. What shall +I do! Oh! What shall I do!' + +The fountains of her heart were opened; the child, overpowered by the +weight of her sorrows and anxieties, by the first confidence she had +ever shown, and the sympathy with which her little tale had been +received, hid her face in the arms of her helpless friend, and burst +into a passion of tears. + +In a few minutes Mr Quilp returned, and expressed the utmost surprise +to find her in this condition, which he did very naturally and with +admirable effect, for that kind of acting had been rendered familiar to +him by long practice, and he was quite at home in it. + +'She's tired you see, Mrs Quilp,' said the dwarf, squinting in a +hideous manner to imply that his wife was to follow his lead. 'It's a +long way from her home to the wharf, and then she was alarmed to see a +couple of young scoundrels fighting, and was timorous on the water +besides. All this together has been too much for her. Poor Nell!' + +Mr Quilp unintentionally adopted the very best means he could have +devised for the recovery of his young visitor, by patting her on the +head. Such an application from any other hand might not have produced a +remarkable effect, but the child shrank so quickly from his touch and +felt such an instinctive desire to get out of his reach, that she rose +directly and declared herself ready to return. + +'But you'd better wait, and dine with Mrs Quilp and me.' said the dwarf. + +'I have been away too long, sir, already,' returned Nell, drying her +eyes. + +'Well,' said Mr Quilp, 'if you will go, you will, Nelly. Here's the +note. It's only to say that I shall see him to-morrow or maybe next +day, and that I couldn't do that little business for him this morning. +Good-bye, Nelly. Here, you sir; take care of her, d'ye hear?' + +Kit, who appeared at the summons, deigned to make no reply to so +needless an injunction, and after staring at Quilp in a threatening +manner, as if he doubted whether he might not have been the cause of +Nelly shedding tears, and felt more than half disposed to revenge the +fact upon him on the mere suspicion, turned about and followed his +young mistress, who had by this time taken her leave of Mrs Quilp and +departed. + +'You're a keen questioner, an't you, Mrs Quilp?' said the dwarf, +turning upon her as soon as they were left alone. + +'What more could I do?' returned his wife mildly. + +'What more could you do!' sneered Quilp, 'couldn't you have done +something less? Couldn't you have done what you had to do, without +appearing in your favourite part of the crocodile, you minx?' + +'I am very sorry for the child, Quilp,' said his wife. 'Surely I've +done enough. I've led her on to tell her secret she supposed we were +alone; and you were by, God forgive me.' + +'You led her on! You did a great deal truly!' said Quilp. 'What did I +tell you about making me creak the door? It's lucky for you that from +what she let fall, I've got the clue I want, for if I hadn't, I'd have +visited the failure upon you, I can tell you.' + +Mrs Quilp being fully persuaded of this, made no reply. Her husband +added with some exultation, + +'But you may thank your fortunate stars--the same stars that made you +Mrs Quilp--you may thank them that I'm upon the old gentleman's track, +and have got a new light. So let me hear no more about this matter now +or at any other time, and don't get anything too nice for dinner, for I +shan't be home to it.' + +So saying, Mr Quilp put his hat on and took himself off, and Mrs Quilp, +who was afflicted beyond measure by the recollection of the part she +had just acted, shut herself up in her chamber, and smothering her head +in the bed-clothes bemoaned her fault more bitterly than many less +tender-hearted persons would have mourned a much greater offence; for, +in the majority of cases, conscience is an elastic and very flexible +article, which will bear a deal of stretching and adapt itself to a +great variety of circumstances. Some people by prudent management and +leaving it off piece by piece like a flannel waistcoat in warm weather, +even contrive, in time, to dispense with it altogether; but there be +others who can assume the garment and throw it off at pleasure; and +this, being the greatest and most convenient improvement, is the one +most in vogue. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +'Fred,' said Mr Swiveller, 'remember the once popular melody of Begone +dull care; fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of +friendship; and pass the rosy wine.' + +Mr Richard Swiveller's apartments were in the neighbourhood of Drury +Lane, and in addition to this convenience of situation had the +advantage of being over a tobacconist's shop, so that he was enabled to +procure a refreshing sneeze at any time by merely stepping out upon the +staircase, and was saved the trouble and expense of maintaining a +snuff-box. It was in these apartments that Mr Swiveller made use of the +expressions above recorded for the consolation and encouragement of his +desponding friend; and it may not be uninteresting or improper to +remark that even these brief observations partook in a double sense of +the figurative and poetical character of Mr Swiveller's mind, as the +rosy wine was in fact represented by one glass of cold gin-and-water, +which was replenished as occasion required from a bottle and jug upon +the table, and was passed from one to another, in a scarcity of +tumblers which, as Mr Swiveller's was a bachelor's establishment, may +be acknowledged without a blush. By a like pleasant fiction his single +chamber was always mentioned in a plural number. In its disengaged +times, the tobacconist had announced it in his window as 'apartments' +for a single gentleman, and Mr Swiveller, following up the hint, never +failed to speak of it as his rooms, his lodgings, or his chambers, +conveying to his hearers a notion of indefinite space, and leaving +their imaginations to wander through long suites of lofty halls, at +pleasure. + +In this flight of fancy, Mr Swiveller was assisted by a deceptive piece +of furniture, in reality a bedstead, but in semblance a bookcase, which +occupied a prominent situation in his chamber and seemed to defy +suspicion and challenge inquiry. There is no doubt that by day Mr +Swiveller firmly believed this secret convenience to be a bookcase and +nothing more; that he closed his eyes to the bed, resolutely denied the +existence of the blankets, and spurned the bolster from his thoughts. +No word of its real use, no hint of its nightly service, no allusion to +its peculiar properties, had ever passed between him and his most +intimate friends. Implicit faith in the deception was the first article +of his creed. To be the friend of Swiveller you must reject all +circumstantial evidence, all reason, observation, and experience, and +repose a blind belief in the bookcase. It was his pet weakness, and he +cherished it. + +'Fred!' said Mr Swiveller, finding that his former adjuration had been +productive of no effect. 'Pass the rosy.' + +Young Trent with an impatient gesture pushed the glass towards him, and +fell again in the moody attitude from which he had been unwillingly +roused. + +'I'll give you, Fred,' said his friend, stirring the mixture, 'a little +sentiment appropriate to the occasion. Here's May the--' + +'Pshaw!' interposed the other. 'You worry me to death with your +chattering. You can be merry under any circumstances.' + +'Why, Mr Trent,' returned Dick, 'there is a proverb which talks about +being merry and wise. There are some people who can be merry and can't +be wise, and some who can be wise (or think they can) and can't be +merry. I'm one of the first sort. If the proverb's a good 'un, I +suppose it's better to keep to half of it than none; at all events, I'd +rather be merry and not wise, than like you, neither one nor t'other.' + +'Bah!' muttered his friend, peevishly. + +'With all my heart,' said Mr Swiveller. 'In the polite circles I +believe this sort of thing isn't usually said to a gentleman in his own +apartments, but never mind that. Make yourself at home,' adding to this +retort an observation to the effect that his friend appeared to be +rather 'cranky' in point of temper, Richard Swiveller finished the +rosy and applied himself to the composition of another glassful, in +which, after tasting it with great relish, he proposed a toast to an +imaginary company. + +'Gentlemen, I'll give you, if you please, Success to the ancient family +of the Swivellers, and good luck to Mr Richard in particular--Mr +Richard, gentlemen,' said Dick with great emphasis, 'who spends all his +money on his friends and is Bah!'d for his pains. Hear, hear!' + +'Dick!' said the other, returning to his seat after having paced the +room twice or thrice, 'will you talk seriously for two minutes, if I +show you a way to make your fortune with very little trouble?' + +'You've shown me so many,' returned Dick; 'and nothing has come of any +one of 'em but empty pockets--' + +'You'll tell a different story of this one, before a very long time is +over,' said his companion, drawing his chair to the table. 'You saw my +sister Nell?' + +'What about her?' returned Dick. + +'She has a pretty face, has she not?' + +'Why, certainly,' replied Dick. 'I must say for her that there's not +any very strong family likeness between her and you.' + +'Has she a pretty face,' repeated his friend impatiently. + +'Yes,' said Dick, 'she has a pretty face, a very pretty face. What of +that?' + +'I'll tell you,' returned his friend. 'It's very plain that the old man +and I will remain at daggers drawn to the end of our lives, and that I +have nothing to expect from him. You see that, I suppose?' + +'A bat might see that, with the sun shining,' said Dick. + +'It's equally plain that the money which the old flint--rot him--first +taught me to expect that I should share with her at his death, will all +be hers, is it not?' + +'I should said it was,' replied Dick; 'unless the way in which I put +the case to him, made an impression. It may have done so. It was +powerful, Fred. 'Here is a jolly old grandfather'--that was strong, I +thought--very friendly and natural. Did it strike you in that way?' + +'It didn't strike him,' returned the other, 'so we needn't discuss it. +Now look here. Nell is nearly fourteen.' + +'Fine girl of her age, but small,' observed Richard Swiveller +parenthetically. + +'If I am to go on, be quiet for one minute,' returned Trent, fretting +at the slight interest the other appeared to take in the conversation. +'Now I'm coming to the point.' + +'That's right,' said Dick. + +'The girl has strong affections, and brought up as she has been, may, +at her age, be easily influenced and persuaded. If I take her in hand, +I will be bound by a very little coaxing and threatening to bend her to +my will. Not to beat about the bush (for the advantages of the scheme +would take a week to tell) what's to prevent your marrying her?' + +Richard Swiveller, who had been looking over the rim of the tumbler +while his companion addressed the foregoing remarks to him with great +energy and earnestness of manner, no sooner heard these words than he +evinced the utmost consternation, and with difficulty ejaculated the +monosyllable: + +'What!' + +'I say, what's to prevent,' repeated the other with a steadiness of +manner, of the effect of which upon his companion he was well assured +by long experience, 'what's to prevent your marrying her?' + +'And she "nearly fourteen"!' cried Dick. + +'I don't mean marrying her now'--returned the brother angrily; 'say in +two year's time, in three, in four. Does the old man look like a +long-liver?' + +'He don't look like it,' said Dick shaking his head, 'but these old +people--there's no trusting them, Fred. There's an aunt of mine down in +Dorsetshire that was going to die when I was eight years old, and +hasn't kept her word yet. They're so aggravating, so unprincipled, so +spiteful--unless there's apoplexy in the family, Fred, you can't +calculate upon 'em, and even then they deceive you just as often as +not.' + +'Look at the worst side of the question then,' said Trent as steadily +as before, and keeping his eyes upon his friend. 'Suppose he lives.' + +'To be sure,' said Dick. 'There's the rub.' + +'I say,' resumed his friend, 'suppose he lives, and I persuaded, or if +the word sounds more feasible, forced Nell to a secret marriage with +you. What do you think would come of that?' + +'A family and an annual income of nothing, to keep 'em on,' said +Richard Swiveller after some reflection. + +'I tell you,' returned the other with an increased earnestness, which, +whether it were real or assumed, had the same effect on his companion, +'that he lives for her, that his whole energies and thoughts are bound +up in her, that he would no more disinherit her for an act of +disobedience than he would take me into his favour again for any act of +obedience or virtue that I could possibly be guilty of. He could not do +it. You or any other man with eyes in his head may see that, if he +chooses.' + +'It seems improbable certainly,' said Dick, musing. + +'It seems improbable because it is improbable,' his friend returned. +'If you would furnish him with an additional inducement to forgive you, +let there be an irreconcilable breach, a most deadly quarrel, between +you and me--let there be a pretense of such a thing, I mean, of +course--and he'll do fast enough. As to Nell, constant dropping will +wear away a stone; you know you may trust to me as far as she is +concerned. So, whether he lives or dies, what does it come to? That +you become the sole inheritor of the wealth of this rich old hunks, +that you and I spend it together, and that you get into the bargain a +beautiful young wife.' + +'I suppose there's no doubt about his being rich'--said Dick. + +'Doubt! Did you hear what he let fall the other day when we were +there? Doubt! What will you doubt next, Dick?' + +It would be tedious to pursue the conversation through all its artful +windings, or to develope the gradual approaches by which the heart of +Richard Swiveller was gained. It is sufficient to know that vanity, +interest, poverty, and every spendthrift consideration urged him to +look upon the proposal with favour, and that where all other +inducements were wanting, the habitual carelessness of his disposition +stepped in and still weighed down the scale on the same side. To these +impulses must be added the complete ascendancy which his friend had +long been accustomed to exercise over him--an ascendancy exerted in the +beginning sorely at the expense of his friend's vices, and was in nine +cases out of ten looked upon as his designing tempter when he was +indeed nothing but his thoughtless, light-headed tool. + +The motives on the other side were something deeper than any which +Richard Swiveller entertained or understood, but these being left to +their own development, require no present elucidation. The negotiation +was concluded very pleasantly, and Mr Swiveller was in the act of +stating in flowery terms that he had no insurmountable objection to +marrying anybody plentifully endowed with money or moveables, who could +be induced to take him, when he was interrupted in his observations by +a knock at the door, and the consequent necessity of crying 'Come in.' + +The door was opened, but nothing came in except a soapy arm and a +strong gush of tobacco. The gush of tobacco came from the shop +downstairs, and the soapy arm proceeded from the body of a +servant-girl, who being then and there engaged in cleaning the stairs +had just drawn it out of a warm pail to take in a letter, which letter +she now held in her hand, proclaiming aloud with that quick perception +of surnames peculiar to her class that it was for Mister Snivelling. + +Dick looked rather pale and foolish when he glanced at the direction, +and still more so when he came to look at the inside, observing that it +was one of the inconveniences of being a lady's man, and that it was +very easy to talk as they had been talking, but he had quite forgotten +her. + +'Her. Who?' demanded Trent. + +'Sophy Wackles,' said Dick. + +'Who's she?' + +'She's all my fancy painted her, sir, that's what she is,' said Mr +Swiveller, taking a long pull at 'the rosy' and looking gravely at his +friend. 'She's lovely, she's divine. You know her.' + +'I remember,' said his companion carelessly. 'What of her?' + +'Why, sir,' returned Dick, 'between Miss Sophia Wackles and the humble +individual who has now the honor to address you, warm and tender +sentiments have been engendered, sentiments of the most honourable and +inspiring kind. The Goddess Diana, sir, that calls aloud for the chase, +is not more particular in her behavior than Sophia Wackles; I can tell +you that.' + +'Am I to believe there's anything real in what you say?' demanded his +friend; 'you don't mean to say that any love-making has been going on?' + +'Love-making, yes. Promising, no,' said Dick. 'There can be no action +for breach, that's one comfort. I've never committed myself in writing, +Fred.' + +'And what's in the letter, pray?' + +'A reminder, Fred, for to-night--a small party of twenty, making two +hundred light fantastic toes in all, supposing every lady and gentleman +to have the proper complement. I must go, if it's only to begin +breaking off the affair--I'll do it, don't you be afraid. I should like +to know whether she left this herself. If she did, unconscious of any +bar to her happiness, it's affecting, Fred.' + +To solve this question, Mr Swiveller summoned the handmaid and +ascertained that Miss Sophy Wackles had indeed left the letter with her +own hands; and that she had come accompanied, for decorum's sake no +doubt, by a younger Miss Wackles; and that on learning that Mr +Swiveller was at home and being requested to walk upstairs, she was +extremely shocked and professed that she would rather die. Mr Swiveller +heard this account with a degree of admiration not altogether +consistent with the project in which he had just concurred, but his +friend attached very little importance to his behavior in this respect, +probably because he knew that he had influence sufficient to control +Richard Swiveller's proceedings in this or any other matter, whenever +he deemed it necessary, for the advancement of his own purposes, to +exert it. + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +Business disposed of, Mr Swiveller was inwardly reminded of its being +nigh dinner-time, and to the intent that his health might not be +endangered by longer abstinence, dispatched a message to the nearest +eating-house requiring an immediate supply of boiled beef and greens +for two. With this demand, however, the eating-house (having experience +of its customer) declined to comply, churlishly sending back for answer +that if Mr Swiveller stood in need of beef perhaps he would be so +obliging as to come there and eat it, bringing with him, as grace +before meat, the amount of a certain small account which had long been +outstanding. Not at all intimidated by this rebuff, but rather +sharpened in wits and appetite, Mr Swiveller forwarded the same message +to another and more distant eating-house, adding to it by way of rider +that the gentleman was induced to send so far, not only by the great +fame and popularity its beef had acquired, but in consequence of the +extreme toughness of the beef retailed at the obdurant cook's shop, +which rendered it quite unfit not merely for gentlemanly food, but for +any human consumption. The good effect of this politic course was +demonstrated by the speedy arrival of a small pewter pyramid, curiously +constructed of platters and covers, whereof the boiled-beef-plates +formed the base, and a foaming quart-pot the apex; the structure being +resolved into its component parts afforded all things requisite and +necessary for a hearty meal, to which Mr Swiveller and his friend +applied themselves with great keenness and enjoyment. + +'May the present moment,' said Dick, sticking his fork into a large +carbuncular potato, 'be the worst of our lives! I like the plan of +sending 'em with the peel on; there's a charm in drawing a potato from +its native element (if I may so express it) to which the rich and +powerful are strangers. Ah! "Man wants but little here below, nor wants +that little long!" How true that is!--after dinner.' + +'I hope the eating-house keeper will want but little and that he may +not want that little long,' returned his companion; but I suspect +you've no means of paying for this!' + +'I shall be passing present, and I'll call,' said Dick, winking his eye +significantly. 'The waiter's quite helpless. The goods are gone, Fred, +and there's an end of it.' + +In point of fact, it would seem that the waiter felt this wholesome +truth, for when he returned for the empty plates and dishes and was +informed by Mr Swiveller with dignified carelessness that he would call +and settle when he should be passing presently, he displayed some +perturbation of spirit and muttered a few remarks about 'payment on +delivery' and 'no trust,' and other unpleasant subjects, but was fain +to content himself with inquiring at what hour it was likely that the +gentleman would call, in order that being presently responsible for the +beef, greens, and sundries, he might take to be in the way at the time. +Mr Swiveller, after mentally calculating his engagements to a nicety, +replied that he should look in at from two minutes before six and seven +minutes past; and the man disappearing with this feeble consolation, +Richard Swiveller took a greasy memorandum-book from his pocket and +made an entry therein. + +'Is that a reminder, in case you should forget to call?' said Trent +with a sneer. + +'Not exactly, Fred,' replied the imperturbable Richard, continuing to +write with a businesslike air. 'I enter in this little book the names +of the streets that I can't go down while the shops are open. This +dinner today closes Long Acre. I bought a pair of boots in Great Queen +Street last week, and made that no throughfare too. There's only one +avenue to the Strand left often now, and I shall have to stop up that +to-night with a pair of gloves. The roads are closing so fast in every +direction, that in a month's time, unless my aunt sends me a +remittance, I shall have to go three or four miles out of town to get +over the way.' + +'There's no fear of failing, in the end?' said Trent. + +'Why, I hope not,' returned Mr Swiveller, 'but the average number of +letters it take to soften her is six, and this time we have got as far +as eight without any effect at all. I'll write another to-morrow +morning. I mean to blot it a good deal and shake some water over it out +of the pepper-castor to make it look penitent. "I'm in such a state of +mind that I hardly know what I write"--blot--"if you could see me at +this minute shedding tears for my past misconduct"--pepper-castor--"my +hand trembles when I think"--blot again--if that don't produce the +effect, it's all over.' + +By this time, Mr Swiveller had finished his entry, and he now replaced +his pencil in its little sheath and closed the book, in a perfectly +grave and serious frame of mind. His friend discovered that it was time +for him to fulfil some other engagement, and Richard Swiveller was +accordingly left alone, in company with the rosy wine and his own +meditations touching Miss Sophy Wackles. + +'It's rather sudden,' said Dick shaking his head with a look of +infinite wisdom, and running on (as he was accustomed to do) with +scraps of verse as if they were only prose in a hurry; 'when the heart +of a man is depressed with fears, the mist is dispelled when Miss +Wackles appears; she's a very nice girl. She's like the red red rose +that's newly sprung in June--there's no denying that--she's also like a +melody that's sweetly played in tune. It's really very sudden. Not that +there's any need, on account of Fred's little sister, to turn cool +directly, but its better not to go too far. If I begin to cool at all I +must begin at once, I see that. There's the chance of an action for +breach, that's another. There's the chance of--no, there's no chance of +that, but it's as well to be on the safe side.' + +This undeveloped was the possibility, which Richard Swiveller sought to +conceal even from himself, of his not being proof against the charms of +Miss Wackles, and in some unguarded moment, by linking his fortunes to +hers forever, of putting it out of his own power to further their +notable scheme to which he had so readily become a party. For all these +reasons, he decided to pick a quarrel with Miss Wackles without delay, +and casting about for a pretext determined in favour of groundless +jealousy. Having made up his mind on this important point, he +circulated the glass (from his right hand to left, and back again) +pretty freely, to enable him to act his part with the greater +discretion, and then, after making some slight improvements in his +toilet, bent his steps towards the spot hallowed by the fair object of +his meditations. + +The spot was at Chelsea, for there Miss Sophia Wackles resided with her +widowed mother and two sisters, in conjunction with whom she maintained +a very small day-school for young ladies of proportionate dimensions; a +circumstance which was made known to the neighbourhood by an oval board +over the front first-floor windows, whereupon appeared in circumambient +flourishes the words 'Ladies' Seminary'; and which was further +published and proclaimed at intervals between the hours of half-past +nine and ten in the morning, by a straggling and solitary young lady of +tender years standing on the scraper on the tips of her toes and making +futile attempts to reach the knocker with a spelling-book. The several +duties of instruction in this establishment were thus discharged. +English grammar, composition, geography, and the use of the dumb-bells, +by Miss Melissa Wackles; writing, arithmetic, dancing, music, and +general fascination, by Miss Sophia Wackles; the art of needle-work, +marking, and samplery, by Miss Jane Wackles; corporal punishment, +fasting, and other tortures and terrors, by Mrs Wackles. Miss Melissa +Wackles was the eldest daughter, Miss Sophy the next, and Miss Jane the +youngest. Miss Melissa might have seen five-and-thirty summers or +thereabouts, and verged on the autumnal; Miss Sophy was a fresh, good +humoured, buxom girl of twenty; and Miss Jane numbered scarcely sixteen +years. Mrs Wackles was an excellent but rather venomous old lady of +three-score. + +To this Ladies' Seminary, then, Richard Swiveller hied, with designs +obnoxious to the peace of the fair Sophia, who, arrayed in virgin +white, embellished by no ornament but one blushing rose, received him +on his arrival, in the midst of very elegant not to say brilliant +preparations; such as the embellishment of the room with the little +flower-pots which always stood on the window-sill outside, save in +windy weather when they blew into the area; the choice attire of the +day-scholars who were allowed to grace the festival; the unwonted curls +of Miss Jane Wackles who had kept her head during the whole of the +preceding day screwed up tight in a yellow play-bill; and the solemn +gentility and stately bearing of the old lady and her eldest daughter, +which struck Mr Swiveller as being uncommon but made no further +impression upon him. + +The truth is--and, as there is no accounting for tastes, even a taste +so strange as this may be recorded without being looked upon as a +wilful and malicious invention--the truth is that neither Mrs Wackles +nor her eldest daughter had at any time greatly favoured the +pretensions of Mr Swiveller, being accustomed to make slight mention of +him as 'a gay young man' and to sigh and shake their heads ominously +whenever his name was mentioned. Mr Swiveller's conduct in respect to +Miss Sophy having been of that vague and dilatory kind which is usually +looked upon as betokening no fixed matrimonial intentions, the young +lady herself began in course of time to deem it highly desirable, that +it should be brought to an issue one way or other. Hence she had at +last consented to play off against Richard Swiveller a stricken +market-gardner known to be ready with his offer on the smallest +encouragement, and hence--as this occasion had been specially assigned +for the purpose--that great anxiety on her part for Richard Swiveller's +presence which had occasioned her to leave the note he has been seen to +receive. 'If he has any expectations at all or any means of keeping a +wife well,' said Mrs Wackles to her eldest daughter, 'he'll state 'em +to us now or never.'--'If he really cares about me,' thought Miss +Sophy, 'he must tell me so, to-night.' + +But all these sayings and doings and thinkings being unknown to Mr +Swiveller, affected him not in the least; he was debating in his mind +how he could best turn jealous, and wishing that Sophy were for that +occasion only far less pretty than she was, or that she were her own +sister, which would have served his turn as well, when the company +came, and among them the market-gardener, whose name was Cheggs. But Mr +Cheggs came not alone or unsupported, for he prudently brought along +with him his sister, Miss Cheggs, who making straight to Miss Sophy and +taking her by both hands, and kissing her on both cheeks, hoped in an +audible whisper that they had not come too early. + +'Too early, no!' replied Miss Sophy. + +'Oh, my dear,' rejoined Miss Cheggs in the same whisper as before, +'I've been so tormented, so worried, that it's a mercy we were not here +at four o'clock in the afternoon. Alick has been in such a state of +impatience to come! You'd hardly believe that he was dressed before +dinner-time and has been looking at the clock and teasing me ever +since. It's all your fault, you naughty thing.' + +Hereupon Miss Sophy blushed, and Mr Cheggs (who was bashful before +ladies) blushed too, and Miss Sophy's mother and sisters, to prevent Mr +Cheggs from blushing more, lavished civilities and attentions upon him, +and left Richard Swiveller to take care of himself. Here was the very +thing he wanted, here was good cause reason and foundation for +pretending to be angry; but having this cause reason and foundation +which he had come expressly to seek, not expecting to find, Richard +Swiveller was angry in sound earnest, and wondered what the devil +Cheggs meant by his impudence. + +However, Mr Swiveller had Miss Sophy's hand for the first quadrille +(country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed) and so gained an +advantage over his rival, who sat despondingly in a corner and +contemplated the glorious figure of the young lady as she moved through +the mazy dance. Nor was this the only start Mr Swiveller had of the +market-gardener, for determining to show the family what quality of man +they trifled with, and influenced perhaps by his late libations, he +performed such feats of agility and such spins and twirls as filled the +company with astonishment, and in particular caused a very long +gentleman who was dancing with a very short scholar, to stand quite +transfixed by wonder and admiration. Even Mrs Wackles forgot for the +moment to snub three small young ladies who were inclined to be happy, +and could not repress a rising thought that to have such a dancer as +that in the family would be a pride indeed. + +At this momentous crisis, Miss Cheggs proved herself a vigourous and +useful ally, for not confining herself to expressing by scornful smiles +a contempt for Mr Swiveller's accomplishments, she took every +opportunity of whispering into Miss Sophy's ear expressions of +condolence and sympathy on her being worried by such a ridiculous +creature, declaring that she was frightened to death lest Alick should +fall upon, and beat him, in the fulness of his wrath, and entreating +Miss Sophy to observe how the eyes of the said Alick gleamed with love +and fury; passions, it may be observed, which being too much for his +eyes rushed into his nose also, and suffused it with a crimson glow. + +'You must dance with Miss Cheggs,' said Miss Sophy to Dick Swiviller, +after she had herself danced twice with Mr Cheggs and made great show +of encouraging his advances. 'She's a nice girl--and her brother's +quite delightful.' + +'Quite delightful, is he?' muttered Dick. 'Quite delighted too, I +should say, from the manner in which he's looking this way.' + +Here Miss Jane (previously instructed for the purpose) interposed her +many curls and whispered her sister to observe how jealous Mr Cheggs +was. + +'Jealous! Like his impudence!' said Richard Swiviller. + +'His impudence, Mr Swiviller!' said Miss Jane, tossing her head. 'Take +care he don't hear you, sir, or you may be sorry for it.' + +'Oh, pray, Jane--' said Miss Sophy. + +'Nonsense!' replied her sister. 'Why shouldn't Mr Cheggs be jealous if +he likes? I like that, certainly. Mr Cheggs has a good a right to be +jealous as anyone else has, and perhaps he may have a better right soon +if he hasn't already. You know best about that, Sophy!' + +Though this was a concerted plot between Miss Sophy and her sister, +originating in humane intentions and having for its object the inducing +Mr Swiviller to declare himself in time, it failed in its effect; for +Miss Jane being one of those young ladies who are prematurely shrill +and shrewish, gave such undue importance to her part that Mr Swiviller +retired in dudgeon, resigning his mistress to Mr Cheggs and conveying a +defiance into his looks which that gentleman indignantly returned. + +'Did you speak to me, sir?' said Mr Cheggs, following him into a +corner. 'Have the kindness to smile, sir, in order that we may not be +suspected. Did you speak to me, sir'? + +Mr Swiviller looked with a supercilious smile at Mr Chegg's toes, then +raised his eyes from them to his ankles, from that to his shin, from +that to his knee, and so on very gradually, keeping up his right leg, +until he reached his waistcoat, when he raised his eyes from button to +button until he reached his chin, and travelling straight up the middle +of his nose came at last to his eyes, when he said abruptly, + +'No, sir, I didn't.' + +`'Hem!' said Mr Cheggs, glancing over his shoulder, 'have the goodness +to smile again, sir. Perhaps you wished to speak to me, sir.' + +'No, sir, I didn't do that, either.' + +'Perhaps you may have nothing to say to me now, sir,' said Mr Cheggs +fiercely. + +At these words Richard Swiviller withdrew his eyes from Mr Chegg's +face, and travelling down the middle of his nose and down his waistcoat +and down his right leg, reached his toes again, and carefully surveyed +him; this done, he crossed over, and coming up the other leg, and +thence approaching by the waistcoat as before, said when had got to his +eyes, 'No sir, I haven't.' + +'Oh, indeed, sir!' said Mr Cheggs. 'I'm glad to hear it. You know where +I'm to be found, I suppose, sir, in case you should have anything to +say to me?' + +'I can easily inquire, sir, when I want to know.' + +'There's nothing more we need say, I believe, sir?' + +'Nothing more, sir'--With that they closed the tremendous dialog by +frowning mutually. Mr Cheggs hastened to tender his hand to Miss Sophy, +and Mr Swiviller sat himself down in a corner in a very moody state. + +Hard by this corner, Mrs Wackles and Miss Wackles were seated, looking +on at the dance; and unto Mrs and Miss Wackles, Miss Cheggs +occasionally darted when her partner was occupied with his share of the +figure, and made some remark or other which was gall and wormwood to +Richard Swiviller's soul. Looking into the eyes of Mrs and Miss Wackles +for encouragement, and sitting very upright and uncomfortable on a +couple of hard stools, were two of the day-scholars; and when Miss +Wackles smiled, and Mrs Wackles smiled, the two little girls on the +stools sought to curry favour by smiling likewise, in gracious +acknowledgement of which attention the old lady frowned them down +instantly, and said that if they dared to be guilty of such an +impertinence again, they should be sent under convoy to their +respective homes. This threat caused one of the young ladies, she being +of a weak and trembling temperament, to shed tears, and for this +offense they were both filed off immediately, with a dreadful +promptitude that struck terror into the souls of all the pupils. + +'I've got such news for you,' said Miss Cheggs approaching once more, +'Alick has been saying such things to Sophy. Upon my word, you know, +it's quite serious and in earnest, that's clear.' + +'What's he been saying, my dear?' demanded Mrs Wackles. + +'All manner of things,' replied Miss Cheggs, 'you can't think how out +he has been speaking!' + +Richard Swiviller considered it advisable to hear no more, but taking +advantage of a pause in the dancing, and the approach of Mr Cheggs to +pay his court to the old lady, swaggered with an extremely careful +assumption of extreme carelessness toward the door, passing on the way +Miss Jane Wackles, who in all the glory of her curls was holding a +flirtation, (as good practice when no better was to be had) with a +feeble old gentleman who lodged in the parlour. Near the door sat Miss +Sophy, still fluttered and confused by the attentions of Mr Cheggs, and +by her side Richard Swiveller lingered for a moment to exchange a few +parting words. + +'My boat is on the shore and my bark is on the sea, but before I pass +this door I will say farewell to thee,' murmured Dick, looking gloomily +upon her. + +'Are you going?' said Miss Sophy, whose heart sank within her at the +result of her stratagem, but who affected a light indifference +notwithstanding. + +'Am I going!' echoed Dick bitterly. 'Yes, I am. What then?' + +'Nothing, except that it's very early,' said Miss Sophy; 'but you are +your own master, of course.' + +'I would that I had been my own mistress too,' said Dick, 'before I had +ever entertained a thought of you. Miss Wackles, I believed you true, +and I was blest in so believing, but now I mourn that e'er I knew, a +girl so fair yet so deceiving.' + +Miss Sophy bit her lip and affected to look with great interest after +Mr Cheggs, who was quaffing lemonade in the distance. + +'I came here,' said Dick, rather oblivious of the purpose with which he +had really come, 'with my bosom expanded, my heart dilated, and my +sentiments of a corresponding description. I go away with feelings that +may be conceived but cannot be described, feeling within myself that +desolating truth that my best affections have experienced this night a +stifler!' + +'I am sure I don't know what you mean, Mr Swiviller,' said Miss Sophy +with downcast eyes. 'I'm very sorry if--' + +'Sorry, Ma'am!' said Dick, 'sorry in the possession of a Cheggs! But I +wish you a very good night, concluding with this slight remark, that +there is a young lady growing up at this present moment for me, who has +not only great personal attractions but great wealth, and who has +requested her next of kin to propose for my hand, which, having a +regard for some members of her family, I have consented to promise. +It's a gratifying circumstance which you'll be glad to hear, that a +young and lovely girl is growing into a woman expressly on my account, +and is now saving up for me. I thought I'd mention it. I have now +merely to apologize for trespassing so long upon your attention. Good +night.' + +'There's one good thing springs out of all this,' said Richard +Swiviller to himself when he had reached home and was hanging over the +candle with the extinguisher in his hand, 'which is, that I now go +heart and soul, neck and heels, with Fred in all his scheme about +little Nelly, and right glad he'll be to find me so strong upon it. He +shall know all about that to-morrow, and in the meantime, as it's +rather late, I'll try and get a wink of the balmy.' + +'The balmy' came almost as soon as it was courted. In a very few +minutes Mr Swiviller was fast asleep, dreaming that he had married +Nelly Trent and come into the property, and that his first act of power +was to lay waste the market-garden of Mr Cheggs and turn it into a +brick-field. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +The child, in her confidence with Mrs Quilp, had but feebly described +the sadness and sorrow of her thoughts, or the heaviness of the cloud +which overhung her home, and cast dark shadows on its hearth. Besides +that it was very difficult to impart to any person not intimately +acquainted with the life she led, an adequate sense of its gloom and +loneliness, a constant fear of in some way committing or injuring the +old man to whom she was so tenderly attached, had restrained her, even +in the midst of her heart's overflowing, and made her timid of allusion +to the main cause of her anxiety and distress. + +For, it was not the monotonous days unchequered by variety and +uncheered by pleasant companionship, it was not the dark dreary +evenings or the long solitary nights, it was not the absence of every +slight and easy pleasure for which young hearts beat high, or the +knowing nothing of childhood but its weakness and its easily wounded +spirit, that had wrung such tears from Nell. To see the old man struck +down beneath the pressure of some hidden grief, to mark his wavering +and unsettled state, to be agitated at times with a dreadful fear that +his mind was wandering, and to trace in his words and looks the dawning +of despondent madness; to watch and wait and listen for confirmation of +these things day after day, and to feel and know that, come what might, +they were alone in the world with no one to help or advise or care +about them--these were causes of depression and anxiety that might have +sat heavily on an older breast with many influences at work to cheer +and gladden it, but how heavily on the mind of a young child to whom +they were ever present, and who was constantly surrounded by all that +could keep such thoughts in restless action! + +And yet, to the old man's vision, Nell was still the same. When he +could, for a moment, disengage his mind from the phantom that haunted +and brooded on it always, there was his young companion with the same +smile for him, the same earnest words, the same merry laugh, the same +love and care that, sinking deep into his soul, seemed to have been +present to him through his whole life. And so he went on, content to +read the book of her heart from the page first presented to him, little +dreaming of the story that lay hidden in its other leaves, and +murmuring within himself that at least the child was happy. + +She had been once. She had gone singing through the dim rooms, and +moving with gay and lightsome step among their dusty treasures, making +them older by her young life, and sterner and more grim by her gay and +cheerful presence. But, now, the chambers were cold and gloomy, and +when she left her own little room to while away the tedious hours, and +sat in one of them, she was still and motionless as their inanimate +occupants, and had no heart to startle the echoes--hoarse from their +long silence--with her voice. + +In one of these rooms, was a window looking into the street, where the +child sat, many and many a long evening, and often far into the night, +alone and thoughtful. None are so anxious as those who watch and wait; +at these times, mournful fancies came flocking on her mind, in crowds. + +She would take her station here, at dusk, and watch the people as they +passed up and down the street, or appeared at the windows of the +opposite houses; wondering whether those rooms were as lonesome as that +in which she sat, and whether those people felt it company to see her +sitting there, as she did only to see them look out and draw in their +heads again. There was a crooked stack of chimneys on one of the +roofs, in which, by often looking at them, she had fancied ugly faces +that were frowning over at her and trying to peer into the room; and +she felt glad when it grew too dark to make them out, though she was +sorry too, when the man came to light the lamps in the street--for it +made it late, and very dull inside. Then, she would draw in her head +to look round the room and see that everything was in its place and +hadn't moved; and looking out into the street again, would perhaps see +a man passing with a coffin on his back, and two or three others +silently following him to a house where somebody lay dead; which made +her shudder and think of such things until they suggested afresh the +old man's altered face and manner, and a new train of fears and +speculations. If he were to die--if sudden illness had happened to +him, and he were never to come home again, alive--if, one night, he +should come home, and kiss and bless her as usual, and after she had +gone to bed and had fallen asleep and was perhaps dreaming pleasantly, +and smiling in her sleep, he should kill himself and his blood come +creeping, creeping, on the ground to her own bed-room door! These +thoughts were too terrible to dwell upon, and again she would have +recourse to the street, now trodden by fewer feet, and darker and more +silent than before. The shops were closing fast, and lights began to +shine from the upper windows, as the neighbours went to bed. By +degrees, these dwindled away and disappeared or were replaced, here and +there, by a feeble rush-candle which was to burn all night. Still, +there was one late shop at no great distance which sent forth a ruddy +glare upon the pavement even yet, and looked bright and companionable. +But, in a little time, this closed, the light was extinguished, and all +was gloomy and quiet, except when some stray footsteps sounded on the +pavement, or a neighbour, out later than his wont, knocked lustily at +his house-door to rouse the sleeping inmates. + +When the night had worn away thus far (and seldom now until it had) the +child would close the window, and steal softly down stairs, thinking as +she went that if one of those hideous faces below, which often mingled +with her dreams, were to meet her by the way, rendering itself visible +by some strange light of its own, how terrified she would be. But +these fears vanished before a well-trimmed lamp and the familiar aspect +of her own room. After praying fervently, and with many bursting +tears, for the old man, and the restoration of his peace of mind and +the happiness they had once enjoyed, she would lay her head upon the +pillow and sob herself to sleep: often starting up again, before the +day-light came, to listen for the bell and respond to the imaginary +summons which had roused her from her slumber. + +One night, the third after Nelly's interview with Mrs Quilp, the old +man, who had been weak and ill all day, said he should not leave home. +The child's eyes sparkled at the intelligence, but her joy subsided +when they reverted to his worn and sickly face. + +'Two days,' he said, 'two whole, clear, days have passed, and there is +no reply. What did he tell thee, Nell?' + +'Exactly what I told you, dear grandfather, indeed.' + +'True,' said the old man, faintly. 'Yes. But tell me again, Nell. My +head fails me. What was it that he told thee? Nothing more than that +he would see me to-morrow or next day? That was in the note.' + +'Nothing more,' said the child. 'Shall I go to him again to-morrow, +dear grandfather? Very early? I will be there and back, before +breakfast.' + +The old man shook his head, and sighing mournfully, drew her towards +him. + +''Twould be of no use, my dear, no earthly use. But if he deserts me, +Nell, at this moment--if he deserts me now, when I should, with his +assistance, be recompensed for all the time and money I have lost, and +all the agony of mind I have undergone, which makes me what you see, I +am ruined, and--worse, far worse than that--have ruined thee, for whom +I ventured all. If we are beggars--!' + +'What if we are?' said the child boldly. 'Let us be beggars, and be +happy.' + +'Beggars--and happy!' said the old man. 'Poor child!' + +'Dear grandfather,' cried the girl with an energy which shone in her +flushed face, trembling voice, and impassioned gesture, 'I am not a +child in that I think, but even if I am, oh hear me pray that we may +beg, or work in open roads or fields, to earn a scanty living, rather +than live as we do now.' + +'Nelly!' said the old man. + +'Yes, yes, rather than live as we do now,' the child repeated, more +earnestly than before. 'If you are sorrowful, let me know why and be +sorrowful too; if you waste away and are paler and weaker every day, +let me be your nurse and try to comfort you. If you are poor, let us +be poor together; but let me be with you, do let me be with you; do not +let me see such change and not know why, or I shall break my heart and +die. Dear grandfather, let us leave this sad place to-morrow, and beg +our way from door to door.' + +The old man covered his face with his hands, and hid it in the pillow +of the couch on which he lay. + +'Let us be beggars,' said the child passing an arm round his neck, 'I +have no fear but we shall have enough, I am sure we shall. Let us walk +through country places, and sleep in fields and under trees, and never +think of money again, or anything that can make you sad, but rest at +nights, and have the sun and wind upon our faces in the day, and thank +God together! Let us never set foot in dark rooms or melancholy +houses, any more, but wander up and down wherever we like to go; and +when you are tired, you shall stop to rest in the pleasantest place +that we can find, and I will go and beg for both.' + +The child's voice was lost in sobs as she dropped upon the old man's +neck; nor did she weep alone. + +These were not words for other ears, nor was it a scene for other eyes. +And yet other ears and eyes were there and greedily taking in all that +passed, and moreover they were the ears and eyes of no less a person +than Mr Daniel Quilp, who, having entered unseen when the child first +placed herself at the old man's side, refrained--actuated, no doubt, by +motives of the purest delicacy--from interrupting the conversation, and +stood looking on with his accustomed grin. Standing, however, being a +tiresome attitude to a gentleman already fatigued with walking, and the +dwarf being one of that kind of persons who usually make themselves at +home, he soon cast his eyes upon a chair, into which he skipped with +uncommon agility, and perching himself on the back with his feet upon +the seat, was thus enabled to look on and listen with greater comfort +to himself, besides gratifying at the same time that taste for doing +something fantastic and monkey-like, which on all occasions had strong +possession of him. Here, then, he sat, one leg cocked carelessly over +the other, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, his head turned a +little on one side, and his ugly features twisted into a complacent +grimace. And in this position the old man, happening in course of time +to look that way, at length chanced to see him: to his unbounded +astonishment. + +The child uttered a suppressed shriek on beholding this agreeable +figure; in their first surprise both she and the old man, not knowing +what to say, and half doubting its reality, looked shrinkingly at it. +Not at all disconcerted by this reception, Daniel Quilp preserved the +same attitude, merely nodding twice or thrice with great condescension. +At length, the old man pronounced his name, and inquired how he came +there. + +'Through the door,' said Quilp pointing over his shoulder with his +thumb. 'I'm not quite small enough to get through key-holes. I wish I +was. I want to have some talk with you, particularly, and in private. +With nobody present, neighbour. Good-bye, little Nelly.' + +Nell looked at the old man, who nodded to her to retire, and kissed her +cheek. + +'Ah!' said the dwarf, smacking his lips, 'what a nice kiss that +was--just upon the rosy part. What a capital kiss!' + +Nell was none the slower in going away, for this remark. Quilp looked +after her with an admiring leer, and when she had closed the door, fell +to complimenting the old man upon her charms. + +'Such a fresh, blooming, modest little bud, neighbour,' said Quilp, +nursing his short leg, and making his eyes twinkle very much; 'such a +chubby, rosy, cosy, little Nell!' + +The old man answered by a forced smile, and was plainly struggling with +a feeling of the keenest and most exquisite impatience. It was not +lost upon Quilp, who delighted in torturing him, or indeed anybody +else, when he could. + +'She's so,' said Quilp, speaking very slowly, and feigning to be quite +absorbed in the subject, 'so small, so compact, so beautifully +modelled, so fair, with such blue veins and such a transparent skin, +and such little feet, and such winning ways--but bless me, you're +nervous! Why neighbour, what's the matter? I swear to you,' continued +the dwarf dismounting from the chair and sitting down in it, with a +careful slowness of gesture very different from the rapidity with which +he had sprung up unheard, 'I swear to you that I had no idea old blood +ran so fast or kept so warm. I thought it was sluggish in its course, +and cool, quite cool. I am pretty sure it ought to be. Yours must be +out of order, neighbour.' + +'I believe it is,' groaned the old man, clasping his head with both +hands. 'There's burning fever here, and something now and then to +which I fear to give a name.' + +The dwarf said never a word, but watched his companion as he paced +restlessly up and down the room, and presently returned to his seat. +Here he remained, with his head bowed upon his breast for some time, +and then suddenly raising it, said, + +'Once, and once for all, have you brought me any money?' + +'No!' returned Quilp. + +'Then,' said the old man, clenching his hands desperately, and looking +upwards, 'the child and I are lost!' + +'Neighbour,' said Quilp glancing sternly at him, and beating his hand +twice or thrice upon the table to attract his wandering attention, 'let +me be plain with you, and play a fairer game than when you held all the +cards, and I saw but the backs and nothing more. You have no secret +from me now.' + +The old man looked up, trembling. + +'You are surprised,' said Quilp. 'Well, perhaps that's natural. You +have no secret from me now, I say; no, not one. For now, I know, that +all those sums of money, that all those loans, advances, and supplies +that you have had from me, have found their way to--shall I say the +word?' + +'Aye!' replied the old man, 'say it, if you will.' + +'To the gaming-table,' rejoined Quilp, 'your nightly haunt. This was +the precious scheme to make your fortune, was it; this was the secret +certain source of wealth in which I was to have sunk my money (if I had +been the fool you took me for); this was your inexhaustible mine of +gold, your El Dorado, eh?' + +'Yes,' cried the old man, turning upon him with gleaming eyes, 'it was. +It is. It will be, till I die.' + +'That I should have been blinded,' said Quilp looking contemptuously at +him, 'by a mere shallow gambler!' + +'I am no gambler,' cried the old man fiercely. 'I call Heaven to +witness that I never played for gain of mine, or love of play; that at +every piece I staked, I whispered to myself that orphan's name and +called on Heaven to bless the venture;--which it never did. Whom did +it prosper? Who were those with whom I played? Men who lived by +plunder, profligacy, and riot; squandering their gold in doing ill, and +propagating vice and evil. My winnings would have been from them, my +winnings would have been bestowed to the last farthing on a young +sinless child whose life they would have sweetened and made happy. +What would they have contracted? The means of corruption, +wretchedness, and misery. Who would not have hoped in such a cause? +Tell me that! Who would not have hoped as I did?' + +'When did you first begin this mad career?' asked Quilp, his taunting +inclination subdued, for a moment, by the old man's grief and wildness. + +'When did I first begin?' he rejoined, passing his hand across his +brow. 'When was it, that I first began? When should it be, but when I +began to think how little I had saved, how long a time it took to save +at all, how short a time I might have at my age to live, and how she +would be left to the rough mercies of the world, with barely enough to +keep her from the sorrows that wait on poverty; then it was that I +began to think about it.' + +'After you first came to me to get your precious grandson packed off to +sea?' said Quilp. + +'Shortly after that,' replied the old man. 'I thought of it a long +time, and had it in my sleep for months. Then I began. I found no +pleasure in it, I expected none. What has it ever brought me but +anxious days and sleepless nights; but loss of health and peace of +mind, and gain of feebleness and sorrow!' + +'You lost what money you had laid by, first, and then came to me. +While I thought you were making your fortune (as you said you were) you +were making yourself a beggar, eh? Dear me! And so it comes to pass +that I hold every security you could scrape together, and a bill of +sale upon the--upon the stock and property,' said Quilp standing up and +looking about him, as if to assure himself that none of it had been +taken away. 'But did you never win?' + +'Never!' groaned the old man. 'Never won back my loss!' + +'I thought,' sneered the dwarf, 'that if a man played long enough he +was sure to win at last, or, at the worst, not to come off a loser.' + +'And so he is,' cried the old man, suddenly rousing himself from his +state of despondency, and lashed into the most violent excitement, 'so +he is; I have felt that from the first, I have always known it, I've +seen it, I never felt it half so strongly as I feel it now. Quilp, I +have dreamed, three nights, of winning the same large sum, I never +could dream that dream before, though I have often tried. Do not +desert me, now I have this chance. I have no resource but you, give me +some help, let me try this one last hope.' + +The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. + +'See, Quilp, good tender-hearted Quilp,' said the old man, drawing some +scraps of paper from his pocket with a trembling hand, and clasping the +dwarf's arm, 'only see here. Look at these figures, the result of long +calculation, and painful and hard experience. I MUST win. I only want +a little help once more, a few pounds, but two score pounds, dear +Quilp.' + +'The last advance was seventy,' said the dwarf; 'and it went in one +night.' + +'I know it did,' answered the old man, 'but that was the very worst +fortune of all, and the time had not come then. Quilp, consider, +consider,' the old man cried, trembling so much the while, that the +papers in his hand fluttered as if they were shaken by the wind, 'that +orphan child! If I were alone, I could die with gladness--perhaps even +anticipate that doom which is dealt out so unequally: coming, as it +does, on the proud and happy in their strength, and shunning the needy +and afflicted, and all who court it in their despair--but what I have +done, has been for her. Help me for her sake I implore you; not for +mine; for hers!' + +'I'm sorry I've got an appointment in the city,' said Quilp, looking at +his watch with perfect self-possession, 'or I should have been very +glad to have spent half an hour with you while you composed yourself, +very glad.' + +'Nay, Quilp, good Quilp,' gasped the old man, catching at his skirts, +'you and I have talked together, more than once, of her poor mother's +story. The fear of her coming to poverty has perhaps been bred in me +by that. Do not be hard upon me, but take that into account. You are +a great gainer by me. Oh spare me the money for this one last hope!' + +'I couldn't do it really,' said Quilp with unusual politeness, 'though +I tell you what--and this is a circumstance worth bearing in mind as +showing how the sharpest among us may be taken in sometimes--I was so +deceived by the penurious way in which you lived, alone with Nelly--' + +'All done to save money for tempting fortune, and to make her triumph +greater,' cried the old man. + +'Yes, yes, I understand that now,' said Quilp; 'but I was going to say, +I was so deceived by that, your miserly way, the reputation you had +among those who knew you of being rich, and your repeated assurances +that you would make of my advances treble and quadruple the interest +you paid me, that I'd have advanced you, even now, what you want, on +your simple note of hand, if I hadn't unexpectedly become acquainted +with your secret way of life.' + +'Who is it,' retorted the old man desperately, 'that, notwithstanding +all my caution, told you? Come. Let me know the name--the person.' + +The crafty dwarf, bethinking himself that his giving up the child would +lead to the disclosure of the artifice he had employed, which, as +nothing was to be gained by it, it was well to conceal, stopped short +in his answer and said, 'Now, who do you think?' + +'It was Kit, it must have been the boy; he played the spy, and you +tampered with him?' said the old man. + +'How came you to think of him?' said the dwarf in a tone of great +commiseration. 'Yes, it was Kit. Poor Kit!' + +So saying, he nodded in a friendly manner, and took his leave: stopping +when he had passed the outer door a little distance, and grinning with +extraordinary delight. + +'Poor Kit!' muttered Quilp. 'I think it was Kit who said I was an +uglier dwarf than could be seen anywhere for a penny, wasn't it. Ha ha +ha! Poor Kit!' + +And with that he went his way, still chuckling as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +Daniel Quilp neither entered nor left the old man's house, unobserved. +In the shadow of an archway nearly opposite, leading to one of the many +passages which diverged from the main street, there lingered one, who, +having taken up his position when the twilight first came on, still +maintained it with undiminished patience, and leaning against the wall +with the manner of a person who had a long time to wait, and being well +used to it was quite resigned, scarcely changed his attitude for the +hour together. + +This patient lounger attracted little attention from any of those who +passed, and bestowed as little upon them. His eyes were constantly +directed towards one object; the window at which the child was +accustomed to sit. If he withdrew them for a moment, it was only to +glance at a clock in some neighbouring shop, and then to strain his +sight once more in the old quarter with increased earnestness and +attention. + +It had been remarked that this personage evinced no weariness in his +place of concealment; nor did he, long as his waiting was. But as the +time went on, he manifested some anxiety and surprise, glancing at the +clock more frequently and at the window less hopefully than before. At +length, the clock was hidden from his sight by some envious shutters, +then the church steeples proclaimed eleven at night, then the quarter +past, and then the conviction seemed to obtrude itself on his mind that +it was no use tarrying there any longer. + +That the conviction was an unwelcome one, and that he was by no means +willing to yield to it, was apparent from his reluctance to quit the +spot; from the tardy steps with which he often left it, still looking +over his shoulder at the same window; and from the precipitation with +which he as often returned, when a fancied noise or the changing and +imperfect light induced him to suppose it had been softly raised. At +length, he gave the matter up, as hopeless for that night, and suddenly +breaking into a run as though to force himself away, scampered off at +his utmost speed, nor once ventured to look behind him lest he should +be tempted back again. + +Without relaxing his pace, or stopping to take breath, this mysterious +individual dashed on through a great many alleys and narrow ways until +he at length arrived in a square paved court, when he subsided into a +walk, and making for a small house from the window of which a light was +shining, lifted the latch of the door and passed in. + +'Bless us!' cried a woman turning sharply round, 'who's that? Oh! +It's you, Kit!' + +'Yes, mother, it's me.' + +'Why, how tired you look, my dear!' + +'Old master an't gone out to-night,' said Kit; 'and so she hasn't been +at the window at all.' With which words, he sat down by the fire and +looked very mournful and discontented. + +The room in which Kit sat himself down, in this condition, was an +extremely poor and homely place, but with that air of comfort about it, +nevertheless, which--or the spot must be a wretched one +indeed--cleanliness and order can always impart in some degree. Late +as the Dutch clock showed it to be, the poor woman was still hard at +work at an ironing-table; a young child lay sleeping in a cradle near +the fire; and another, a sturdy boy of two or three years old, very +wide awake, with a very tight night-cap on his head, and a night-gown +very much too small for him on his body, was sitting bolt upright in a +clothes-basket, staring over the rim with his great round eyes, and +looking as if he had thoroughly made up his mind never to go to sleep +any more; which, as he had already declined to take his natural rest +and had been brought out of bed in consequence, opened a cheerful +prospect for his relations and friends. It was rather a queer-looking +family: Kit, his mother, and the children, being all strongly alike. + +Kit was disposed to be out of temper, as the best of us are too +often--but he looked at the youngest child who was sleeping soundly, +and from him to his other brother in the clothes-basket, and from him +to their mother, who had been at work without complaint since morning, +and thought it would be a better and kinder thing to be good-humoured. +So he rocked the cradle with his foot; made a face at the rebel in the +clothes-basket, which put him in high good-humour directly; and stoutly +determined to be talkative and make himself agreeable. + +'Ah, mother!' said Kit, taking out his clasp-knife, and falling upon a +great piece of bread and meat which she had had ready for him, hours +before, 'what a one you are! There an't many such as you, I know.' + +'I hope there are many a great deal better, Kit,' said Mrs Nubbles; +'and that there are, or ought to be, accordin' to what the parson at +chapel says.' + +'Much he knows about it,' returned Kit contemptuously. 'Wait till he's +a widder and works like you do, and gets as little, and does as much, +and keeps his spirit up the same, and then I'll ask him what's o'clock +and trust him for being right to half a second.' + +'Well,' said Mrs Nubbles, evading the point, 'your beer's down there by +the fender, Kit.' + +'I see,' replied her son, taking up the porter pot, 'my love to you, +mother. And the parson's health too if you like. I don't bear him any +malice, not I!' + +'Did you tell me, just now, that your master hadn't gone out to-night?' +inquired Mrs Nubbles. + +'Yes,' said Kit, 'worse luck!' + +'You should say better luck, I think,' returned his mother, 'because +Miss Nelly won't have been left alone.' + +'Ah!' said Kit, 'I forgot that. I said worse luck, because I've been +watching ever since eight o'clock, and seen nothing of her.' + +'I wonder what she'd say,' cried his mother, stopping in her work and +looking round, 'if she knew that every night, when she--poor thing--is +sitting alone at that window, you are watching in the open street for +fear any harm should come to her, and that you never leave the place or +come home to your bed though you're ever so tired, till such time as +you think she's safe in hers.' + +'Never mind what she'd say,' replied Kit, with something like a blush +on his uncouth face; 'she'll never know nothing, and consequently, +she'll never say nothing.' + +Mrs Nubbles ironed away in silence for a minute or two, and coming to +the fireplace for another iron, glanced stealthily at Kit while she +rubbed it on a board and dusted it with a duster, but said nothing +until she had returned to her table again: when, holding the iron at an +alarmingly short distance from her cheek, to test its temperature, and +looking round with a smile, she observed: + +'I know what some people would say, Kit--' + +'Nonsense,' interposed Kit with a perfect apprehension of what was to +follow. + +'No, but they would indeed. Some people would say that you'd fallen in +love with her, I know they would.' + +To this, Kit only replied by bashfully bidding his mother 'get out,' +and forming sundry strange figures with his legs and arms, accompanied +by sympathetic contortions of his face. Not deriving from these means +the relief which he sought, he bit off an immense mouthful from the +bread and meat, and took a quick drink of the porter; by which +artificial aids he choked himself and effected a diversion of the +subject. + +'Speaking seriously though, Kit,' said his mother, taking up the theme +afresh, after a time, 'for of course I was only in joke just now, it's +very good and thoughtful, and like you, to do this, and never let +anybody know it, though some day I hope she may come to know it, for +I'm sure she would be very grateful to you and feel it very much. It's +a cruel thing to keep the dear child shut up there. I don't wonder +that the old gentleman wants to keep it from you.' + +'He don't think it's cruel, bless you,' said Kit, 'and don't mean it to +be so, or he wouldn't do it--I do consider, mother, that he wouldn't do +it for all the gold and silver in the world. No, no, that he wouldn't. +I know him better than that.' + +'Then what does he do it for, and why does he keep it so close from +you?' said Mrs Nubbles. + +'That I don't know,' returned her son. 'If he hadn't tried to keep it +so close though, I should never have found it out, for it was his +getting me away at night and sending me off so much earlier than he +used to, that first made me curious to know what was going on. Hark! +what's that?' + +'It's only somebody outside.' + +'It's somebody crossing over here,' said Kit, standing up to listen, +'and coming very fast too. He can't have gone out after I left, and +the house caught fire, mother!' + +The boy stood, for a moment, really bereft, by the apprehension he had +conjured up, of the power to move. The footsteps drew nearer, the door +was opened with a hasty hand, and the child herself, pale and +breathless, and hastily wrapped in a few disordered garments, hurried +into the room. + +'Miss Nelly! What is the matter!' cried mother and son together. + +'I must not stay a moment,' she returned, 'grandfather has been taken +very ill. I found him in a fit upon the floor--' + +'I'll run for a doctor'--said Kit, seizing his brimless hat. 'I'll be +there directly, I'll--' + +'No, no,' cried Nell, 'there is one there, you're not wanted, +you--you--must never come near us any more!' + +'What!' roared Kit. + +'Never again,' said the child. 'Don't ask me why, for I don't know. +Pray don't ask me why, pray don't be sorry, pray don't be vexed with +me! I have nothing to do with it indeed!' + +Kit looked at her with his eyes stretched wide; and opened and shut his +mouth a great many times; but couldn't get out one word. + +'He complains and raves of you,' said the child, 'I don't know what you +have done, but I hope it's nothing very bad.' + +'I done!' roared Kit. + +'He cried that you're the cause of all his misery,' returned the child +with tearful eyes; 'he screamed and called for you; they say you must +not come near him or he will die. You must not return to us any more. +I came to tell you. I thought it would be better that I should come +than somebody quite strange. Oh, Kit, what have you done? You, in +whom I trusted so much, and who were almost the only friend I had!' + +The unfortunate Kit looked at his young mistress harder and harder, and +with eyes growing wider and wider, but was perfectly motionless and +silent. + +'I have brought his money for the week,' said the child, looking to the +woman and laying it on the table--'and--and--a little more, for he was +always good and kind to me. I hope he will be sorry and do well +somewhere else and not take this to heart too much. It grieves me very +much to part with him like this, but there is no help. It must be +done. Good night!' + +With the tears streaming down her face, and her slight figure trembling +with the agitation of the scene she had left, the shock she had +received, the errand she had just discharged, and a thousand painful +and affectionate feelings, the child hastened to the door, and +disappeared as rapidly as she had come. + +The poor woman, who had no cause to doubt her son, but every reason for +relying on his honesty and truth, was staggered, notwithstanding, by +his not having advanced one word in his defence. Visions of gallantry, +knavery, robbery; and of the nightly absences from home for which he +had accounted so strangely, having been occasioned by some unlawful +pursuit; flocked into her brain and rendered her afraid to question +him. She rocked herself upon a chair, wringing her hands and weeping +bitterly, but Kit made no attempt to comfort her and remained quite +bewildered. The baby in the cradle woke up and cried; the boy in the +clothes-basket fell over on his back with the basket upon him, and was +seen no more; the mother wept louder yet and rocked faster; but Kit, +insensible to all the din and tumult, remained in a state of utter +stupefaction. + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +Quiet and solitude were destined to hold uninterrupted rule no longer, +beneath the roof that sheltered the child. Next morning, the old man +was in a raging fever accompanied with delirium; and sinking under the +influence of this disorder he lay for many weeks in imminent peril of +his life. There was watching enough, now, but it was the watching of +strangers who made a greedy trade of it, and who, in the intervals in +their attendance upon the sick man huddled together with a ghastly +good-fellowship, and ate and drank and made merry; for disease and +death were their ordinary household gods. + +Yet, in all the hurry and crowding of such a time, the child was more +alone than she had ever been before; alone in spirit, alone in her +devotion to him who was wasting away upon his burning bed; alone in her +unfeigned sorrow, and her unpurchased sympathy. Day after day, and +night after night, found her still by the pillow of the unconscious +sufferer, still anticipating his every want, still listening to those +repetitions of her name and those anxieties and cares for her, which +were ever uppermost among his feverish wanderings. + +The house was no longer theirs. Even the sick chamber seemed to be +retained, on the uncertain tenure of Mr Quilp's favour. The old man's +illness had not lasted many days when he took formal possession of the +premises and all upon them, in virtue of certain legal powers to that +effect, which few understood and none presumed to call in question. +This important step secured, with the assistance of a man of law whom +he brought with him for the purpose, the dwarf proceeded to establish +himself and his coadjutor in the house, as an assertion of his claim +against all comers; and then set about making his quarters comfortable, +after his own fashion. + +To this end, Mr Quilp encamped in the back parlour, having first put an +effectual stop to any further business by shutting up the shop. Having +looked out, from among the old furniture, the handsomest and most +commodious chair he could possibly find (which he reserved for his own +use) and an especially hideous and uncomfortable one (which he +considerately appropriated to the accommodation of his friend) he +caused them to be carried into this room, and took up his position in +great state. The apartment was very far removed from the old man's +chamber, but Mr Quilp deemed it prudent, as a precaution against +infection from fever, and a means of wholesome fumigation, not only to +smoke, himself, without cessation, but to insist upon it that his legal +friend did the like. Moreover, he sent an express to the wharf for the +tumbling boy, who arriving with all despatch was enjoined to sit +himself down in another chair just inside the door, continually to +smoke a great pipe which the dwarf had provided for the purpose, and to +take it from his lips under any pretence whatever, were it only for one +minute at a time, if he dared. These arrangements completed, Mr Quilp +looked round him with chuckling satisfaction, and remarked that he +called that comfort. + +The legal gentleman, whose melodious name was Brass, might have called +it comfort also but for two drawbacks: one was, that he could by no +exertion sit easy in his chair, the seat of which was very hard, +angular, slippery, and sloping; the other, that tobacco-smoke always +caused him great internal discomposure and annoyance. But as he was +quite a creature of Mr Quilp's and had a thousand reasons for +conciliating his good opinion, he tried to smile, and nodded his +acquiescence with the best grace he could assume. + +This Brass was an attorney of no very good repute, from Bevis Marks in +the city of London; he was a tall, meagre man, with a nose like a wen, +a protruding forehead, retreating eyes, and hair of a deep red. He +wore a long black surtout reaching nearly to his ankles, short black +trousers, high shoes, and cotton stockings of a bluish grey. He had a +cringing manner, but a very harsh voice; and his blandest smiles were +so extremely forbidding, that to have had his company under the least +repulsive circumstances, one would have wished him to be out of temper +that he might only scowl. + +Quilp looked at his legal adviser, and seeing that he was winking very +much in the anguish of his pipe, that he sometimes shuddered when he +happened to inhale its full flavour, and that he constantly fanned the +smoke from him, was quite overjoyed and rubbed his hands with glee. + +'Smoke away, you dog,' said Quilp, turning to the boy; 'fill your pipe +again and smoke it fast, down to the last whiff, or I'll put the +sealing-waxed end of it in the fire and rub it red hot upon your +tongue.' + +Luckily the boy was case-hardened, and would have smoked a small +lime-kiln if anybody had treated him with it. Wherefore, he only +muttered a brief defiance of his master, and did as he was ordered. + +'Is it good, Brass, is it nice, is it fragrant, do you feel like the +Grand Turk?' said Quilp. + +Mr Brass thought that if he did, the Grand Turk's feelings were by no +means to be envied, but he said it was famous, and he had no doubt he +felt very like that Potentate. + +'This is the way to keep off fever,' said Quilp, 'this is the way to +keep off every calamity of life! We'll never leave off, all the time +we stop here--smoke away, you dog, or you shall swallow the pipe!' + +'Shall we stop here long, Mr Quilp?' inquired his legal friend, when +the dwarf had given his boy this gentle admonition. + +'We must stop, I suppose, till the old gentleman up stairs is dead,' +returned Quilp. + +'He he he!' laughed Mr Brass, 'oh! very good!' + +'Smoke away!' cried Quilp. 'Never stop! You can talk as you smoke. +Don't lose time.' + +'He he he!' cried Brass faintly, as he again applied himself to the +odious pipe. 'But if he should get better, Mr Quilp?' + +'Then we shall stop till he does, and no longer,' returned the dwarf. + +'How kind it is of you, Sir, to wait till then!' said Brass. 'Some +people, Sir, would have sold or removed the goods--oh dear, the very +instant the law allowed 'em. Some people, Sir, would have been all +flintiness and granite. Some people, sir, would have--' + +'Some people would have spared themselves the jabbering of such a +parrot as you,' interposed the dwarf. + +'He he he!' cried Brass. 'You have such spirits!' + +The smoking sentinel at the door interposed in this place, and without +taking his pipe from his lips, growled, + +'Here's the gal a comin' down.' + +'The what, you dog?' said Quilp. + +'The gal,' returned the boy. 'Are you deaf?' + +'Oh!' said Quilp, drawing in his breath with great relish as if he were +taking soup, 'you and I will have such a settling presently; there's +such a scratching and bruising in store for you, my dear young friend! +Aha! Nelly! How is he now, my duck of diamonds?' + +'He's very bad,' replied the weeping child. + +'What a pretty little Nell!' cried Quilp. + +'Oh beautiful, sir, beautiful indeed,' said Brass. 'Quite charming.' + +'Has she come to sit upon Quilp's knee,' said the dwarf, in what he +meant to be a soothing tone, 'or is she going to bed in her own little +room inside here? Which is poor Nelly going to do?' + +'What a remarkable pleasant way he has with children!' muttered Brass, +as if in confidence between himself and the ceiling; 'upon my word it's +quite a treat to hear him.' + +'I'm not going to stay at all,' faltered Nell. 'I want a few things +out of that room, and then I--I--won't come down here any more.' + +'And a very nice little room it is!' said the dwarf looking into it as +the child entered. 'Quite a bower! You're sure you're not going to +use it; you're sure you're not coming back, Nelly?' + +'No,' replied the child, hurrying away, with the few articles of dress +she had come to remove; 'never again! Never again.' + +'She's very sensitive,' said Quilp, looking after her. 'Very +sensitive; that's a pity. The bedstead is much about my size. I think +I shall make it MY little room.' + +Mr Brass encouraging this idea, as he would have encouraged any other +emanating from the same source, the dwarf walked in to try the effect. +This he did, by throwing himself on his back upon the bed with his pipe +in his mouth, and then kicking up his legs and smoking violently. Mr +Brass applauding this picture very much, and the bed being soft and +comfortable, Mr Quilp determined to use it, both as a sleeping place by +night and as a kind of Divan by day; and in order that it might be +converted to the latter purpose at once, remained where he was, and +smoked his pipe out. The legal gentleman being by this time rather +giddy and perplexed in his ideas (for this was one of the operations of +the tobacco on his nervous system), took the opportunity of slinking +away into the open air, where, in course of time, he recovered +sufficiently to return with a countenance of tolerable composure. He +was soon led on by the malicious dwarf to smoke himself into a relapse, +and in that state stumbled upon a settee where he slept till morning. + +Such were Mr Quilp's first proceedings on entering upon his new +property. He was, for some days, restrained by business from +performing any particular pranks, as his time was pretty well occupied +between taking, with the assistance of Mr Brass, a minute inventory of +all the goods in the place, and going abroad upon his other concerns +which happily engaged him for several hours at a time. His avarice and +caution being, now, thoroughly awakened, however, he was never absent +from the house one night; and his eagerness for some termination, good +or bad, to the old man's disorder, increasing rapidly, as the time +passed by, soon began to vent itself in open murmurs and exclamations +of impatience. + +Nell shrank timidly from all the dwarf's advances towards conversation, +and fled from the very sound of his voice; nor were the lawyer's smiles +less terrible to her than Quilp's grimaces. She lived in such +continual dread and apprehension of meeting one or other of them on the +stairs or in the passages if she stirred from her grandfather's +chamber, that she seldom left it, for a moment, until late at night, +when the silence encouraged her to venture forth and breathe the purer +air of some empty room. + +One night, she had stolen to her usual window, and was sitting there +very sorrowfully--for the old man had been worse that day--when she +thought she heard her name pronounced by a voice in the street. +Looking down, she recognised Kit, whose endeavours to attract her +attention had roused her from her sad reflections. + +'Miss Nell!' said the boy in a low voice. + +'Yes,' replied the child, doubtful whether she ought to hold any +communication with the supposed culprit, but inclining to her old +favourite still; 'what do you want?' + +'I have wanted to say a word to you, for a long time,' the boy replied, +'but the people below have driven me away and wouldn't let me see you. +You don't believe--I hope you don't really believe--that I deserve to +be cast off as I have been; do you, miss?' + +'I must believe it,' returned the child. 'Or why would grandfather +have been so angry with you?' + +'I don't know,' replied Kit. 'I'm sure I never deserved it from him, +no, nor from you. I can say that, with a true and honest heart, any +way. And then to be driven from the door, when I only came to ask how +old master was--!' + +'They never told me that,' said the child. 'I didn't know it indeed. +I wouldn't have had them do it for the world.' + +'Thank'ee, miss,' returned Kit, 'it's comfortable to hear you say that. +I said I never would believe that it was your doing.' + +'That was right!' said the child eagerly. + +'Miss Nell,' cried the boy coming under the window, and speaking in a +lower tone, 'there are new masters down stairs. It's a change for you.' + +'It is indeed,' replied the child. + +'And so it will be for him when he gets better,' said the boy, pointing +towards the sick room. + +'--If he ever does,' added the child, unable to restrain her tears. + +'Oh, he'll do that, he'll do that,' said Kit. 'I'm sure he will. You +mustn't be cast down, Miss Nell. Now don't be, pray!' + +These words of encouragement and consolation were few and roughly said, +but they affected the child and made her, for the moment, weep the more. + +'He'll be sure to get better now,' said the boy anxiously, 'if you +don't give way to low spirits and turn ill yourself, which would make +him worse and throw him back, just as he was recovering. When he does, +say a good word--say a kind word for me, Miss Nell!' + +'They tell me I must not even mention your name to him for a long, long +time,' rejoined the child, 'I dare not; and even if I might, what good +would a kind word do you, Kit? We shall be very poor. We shall +scarcely have bread to eat.' + +'It's not that I may be taken back,' said the boy, 'that I ask the +favour of you. It isn't for the sake of food and wages that I've been +waiting about so long in hopes to see you. Don't think that I'd come +in a time of trouble to talk of such things as them.' + +The child looked gratefully and kindly at him, but waited that he might +speak again. + +'No, it's not that,' said Kit hesitating, 'it's something very +different from that. I haven't got much sense, I know, but if he could +be brought to believe that I'd been a faithful servant to him, doing +the best I could, and never meaning harm, perhaps he mightn't--' + +Here Kit faltered so long that the child entreated him to speak out, +and quickly, for it was very late, and time to shut the window. + +'Perhaps he mightn't think it over venturesome of me to say--well then, +to say this,' cried Kit with sudden boldness. 'This home is gone from +you and him. Mother and I have got a poor one, but that's better than +this with all these people here; and why not come there, till he's had +time to look about, and find a better!' + +The child did not speak. Kit, in the relief of having made his +proposition, found his tongue loosened, and spoke out in its favour +with his utmost eloquence. + +'You think,' said the boy, 'that it's very small and inconvenient. So +it is, but it's very clean. Perhaps you think it would be noisy, but +there's not a quieter court than ours in all the town. Don't be afraid +of the children; the baby hardly ever cries, and the other one is very +good--besides, I'd mind 'em. They wouldn't vex you much, I'm sure. Do +try, Miss Nell, do try. The little front room up stairs is very +pleasant. You can see a piece of the church-clock, through the +chimneys, and almost tell the time; mother says it would be just the +thing for you, and so it would, and you'd have her to wait upon you +both, and me to run of errands. We don't mean money, bless you; you're +not to think of that! Will you try him, Miss Nell? Only say you'll +try him. Do try to make old master come, and ask him first what I have +done. Will you only promise that, Miss Nell?' + +Before the child could reply to this earnest solicitation, the +street-door opened, and Mr Brass thrusting out his night-capped head +called in a surly voice, 'Who's there!' Kit immediately glided away, +and Nell, closing the window softly, drew back into the room. + +Before Mr Brass had repeated his inquiry many times, Mr Quilp, also +embellished with a night-cap, emerged from the same door and looked +carefully up and down the street, and up at all the windows of the +house, from the opposite side. Finding that there was nobody in sight, +he presently returned into the house with his legal friend, protesting +(as the child heard from the staircase), that there was a league and +plot against him; that he was in danger of being robbed and plundered +by a band of conspirators who prowled about the house at all seasons; +and that he would delay no longer but take immediate steps for +disposing of the property and returning to his own peaceful roof. +Having growled forth these, and a great many other threats of the same +nature, he coiled himself once more in the child's little bed, and Nell +crept softly up the stairs. + +It was natural enough that her short and unfinished dialogue with Kit +should leave a strong impression on her mind, and influence her dreams +that night and her recollections for a long, long time. Surrounded by +unfeeling creditors, and mercenary attendants upon the sick, and +meeting in the height of her anxiety and sorrow with little regard or +sympathy even from the women about her, it is not surprising that the +affectionate heart of the child should have been touched to the quick +by one kind and generous spirit, however uncouth the temple in which it +dwelt. Thank Heaven that the temples of such spirits are not made with +hands, and that they may be even more worthily hung with poor +patch-work than with purple and fine linen! + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +At length, the crisis of the old man's disorder was past, and he began +to mend. By very slow and feeble degrees his consciousness came back; +but the mind was weakened and its functions were impaired. He was +patient, and quiet; often sat brooding, but not despondently, for a +long space; was easily amused, even by a sun-beam on the wall or +ceiling; made no complaint that the days were long, or the nights +tedious; and appeared indeed to have lost all count of time, and every +sense of care or weariness. He would sit, for hours together, with +Nell's small hand in his, playing with the fingers and stopping +sometimes to smooth her hair or kiss her brow; and, when he saw that +tears were glistening in her eyes, would look, amazed, about him for +the cause, and forget his wonder even while he looked. + +The child and he rode out; the old man propped up with pillows, and the +child beside him. They were hand in hand as usual. The noise and +motion in the streets fatigued his brain at first, but he was not +surprised, or curious, or pleased, or irritated. He was asked if he +remembered this, or that. 'O yes,' he said, 'quite well--why not?' +Sometimes he turned his head, and looked, with earnest gaze and +outstretched neck, after some stranger in the crowd, until he +disappeared from sight; but, to the question why he did this, he +answered not a word. + +He was sitting in his easy chair one day, and Nell upon a stool beside +him, when a man outside the door inquired if he might enter. 'Yes,' he +said without emotion, 'it was Quilp, he knew. Quilp was master there. +Of course he might come in.' And so he did. + +'I'm glad to see you well again at last, neighbour,' said the dwarf, +sitting down opposite him. 'You're quite strong now?' + +'Yes,' said the old man feebly, 'yes.' + +'I don't want to hurry you, you know, neighbour,' said the dwarf, +raising his voice, for the old man's senses were duller than they had +been; 'but, as soon as you can arrange your future proceedings, the +better.' + +'Surely,' said the old man. 'The better for all parties.' + +'You see,' pursued Quilp after a short pause, 'the goods being once +removed, this house would be uncomfortable; uninhabitable in fact.' + +'You say true,' returned the old man. 'Poor Nell too, what would she +do?' + +'Exactly,' bawled the dwarf nodding his head; 'that's very well +observed. Then will you consider about it, neighbour?' + +'I will, certainly,' replied the old man. 'We shall not stop here.' + +'So I supposed,' said the dwarf. 'I have sold the things. They have +not yielded quite as much as they might have done, but pretty +well--pretty well. To-day's Tuesday. When shall they be moved? +There's no hurry--shall we say this afternoon?' + +'Say Friday morning,' returned the old man. + +'Very good,' said the dwarf. 'So be it--with the understanding that I +can't go beyond that day, neighbour, on any account.' + +'Good,' returned the old man. 'I shall remember it.' + +Mr Quilp seemed rather puzzled by the strange, even spiritless way in +which all this was said; but as the old man nodded his head and +repeated 'on Friday morning. I shall remember it,' he had no excuse +for dwelling on the subject any further, and so took a friendly leave +with many expressions of good-will and many compliments to his friend +on his looking so remarkably well; and went below stairs to report +progress to Mr Brass. + +All that day, and all the next, the old man remained in this state. He +wandered up and down the house and into and out of the various rooms, +as if with some vague intent of bidding them adieu, but he referred +neither by direct allusions nor in any other manner to the interview of +the morning or the necessity of finding some other shelter. An +indistinct idea he had, that the child was desolate and in want of +help; for he often drew her to his bosom and bade her be of good cheer, +saying that they would not desert each other; but he seemed unable to +contemplate their real position more distinctly, and was still the +listless, passionless creature that suffering of mind and body had left +him. + +We call this a state of childishness, but it is the same poor hollow +mockery of it, that death is of sleep. Where, in the dull eyes of +doating men, are the laughing light and life of childhood, the gaiety +that has known no check, the frankness that has felt no chill, the hope +that has never withered, the joys that fade in blossoming? Where, in +the sharp lineaments of rigid and unsightly death, is the calm beauty +of slumber, telling of rest for the waking hours that are past, and +gentle hopes and loves for those which are to come? Lay death and +sleep down, side by side, and say who shall find the two akin. Send +forth the child and childish man together, and blush for the pride that +libels our own old happy state, and gives its title to an ugly and +distorted image. + +Thursday arrived, and there was no alteration in the old man. But a +change came upon him that evening as he and the child sat silently +together. + +In a small dull yard below his window, there was a tree--green and +flourishing enough, for such a place--and as the air stirred among its +leaves, it threw a rippling shadow on the white wall. The old man sat +watching the shadows as they trembled in this patch of light, until the +sun went down; and when it was night, and the moon was slowly rising, +he still sat in the same spot. + +To one who had been tossing on a restless bed so long, even these few +green leaves and this tranquil light, although it languished among +chimneys and house-tops, were pleasant things. They suggested quiet +places afar off, and rest, and peace. The child thought, more than +once that he was moved: and had forborne to speak. But now he shed +tears--tears that it lightened her aching heart to see--and making as +though he would fall upon his knees, besought her to forgive him. + +'Forgive you--what?' said Nell, interposing to prevent his purpose. +'Oh grandfather, what should I forgive?' + +'All that is past, all that has come upon thee, Nell, all that was done +in that uneasy dream,' returned the old man. + +'Do not talk so,' said the child. 'Pray do not. Let us speak of +something else.' + +'Yes, yes, we will,' he rejoined. 'And it shall be of what we talked +of long ago--many months--months is it, or weeks, or days? which is it +Nell?' + +'I do not understand you,' said the child. + +'It has come back upon me to-day, it has all come back since we have +been sitting here. I bless thee for it, Nell!' + +'For what, dear grandfather?' + +'For what you said when we were first made beggars, Nell. Let us speak +softly. Hush! for if they knew our purpose down stairs, they would +cry that I was mad and take thee from me. We will not stop here +another day. We will go far away from here.' + +'Yes, let us go,' said the child earnestly. 'Let us begone from this +place, and never turn back or think of it again. Let us wander +barefoot through the world, rather than linger here.' + +'We will,' answered the old man, 'we will travel afoot through the +fields and woods, and by the side of rivers, and trust ourselves to God +in the places where He dwells. It is far better to lie down at night +beneath an open sky like that yonder--see how bright it is--than to +rest in close rooms which are always full of care and weary dreams. +Thou and I together, Nell, may be cheerful and happy yet, and learn to +forget this time, as if it had never been.' + +'We will be happy,' cried the child. 'We never can be here.' + +'No, we never can again--never again--that's truly said,' rejoined the +old man. 'Let us steal away to-morrow morning--early and softly, that +we may not be seen or heard--and leave no trace or track for them to +follow by. Poor Nell! Thy cheek is pale, and thy eyes are heavy with +watching and weeping for me--I know--for me; but thou wilt be well +again, and merry too, when we are far away. To-morrow morning, dear, +we'll turn our faces from this scene of sorrow, and be as free and +happy as the birds.' + +And then the old man clasped his hands above her head, and said, in a +few broken words, that from that time forth they would wander up and +down together, and never part more until Death took one or other of the +twain. + +The child's heart beat high with hope and confidence. She had no +thought of hunger, or cold, or thirst, or suffering. She saw in this, +but a return of the simple pleasures they had once enjoyed, a relief +from the gloomy solitude in which she had lived, an escape from the +heartless people by whom she had been surrounded in her late time of +trial, the restoration of the old man's health and peace, and a life of +tranquil happiness. Sun, and stream, and meadow, and summer days, +shone brightly in her view, and there was no dark tint in all the +sparkling picture. + +The old man had slept, for some hours, soundly in his bed, and she was +yet busily engaged in preparing for their flight. There were a few +articles of clothing for herself to carry, and a few for him; old +garments, such as became their fallen fortunes, laid out to wear; and a +staff to support his feeble steps, put ready for his use. But this was +not all her task; for now she must visit the old rooms for the last +time. + +And how different the parting with them was, from any she had expected, +and most of all from that which she had oftenest pictured to herself. +How could she ever have thought of bidding them farewell in triumph, +when the recollection of the many hours she had passed among them rose +to her swelling heart, and made her feel the wish a cruelty: lonely and +sad though many of those hours had been! She sat down at the window +where she had spent so many evenings--darker far than this--and every +thought of hope or cheerfulness that had occurred to her in that place +came vividly upon her mind, and blotted out all its dull and mournful +associations in an instant. + +Her own little room too, where she had so often knelt down and prayed +at night--prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning now--the +little room where she had slept so peacefully, and dreamed such +pleasant dreams! It was hard not to be able to glance round it once +more, and to be forced to leave it without one kind look or grateful +tear. There were some trifles there--poor useless things--that she +would have liked to take away; but that was impossible. + +This brought to mind her bird, her poor bird, who hung there yet. She +wept bitterly for the loss of this little creature--until the idea +occurred to her--she did not know how, or why, it came into her +head--that it might, by some means, fall into the hands of Kit who +would keep it for her sake, and think, perhaps, that she had left it +behind in the hope that he might have it, and as an assurance that she +was grateful to him. She was calmed and comforted by the thought, and +went to rest with a lighter heart. + +From many dreams of rambling through light and sunny places, but with +some vague object unattained which ran indistinctly through them all, +she awoke to find that it was yet night, and that the stars were +shining brightly in the sky. At length, the day began to glimmer, and +the stars to grow pale and dim. As soon as she was sure of this, she +arose, and dressed herself for the journey. + +The old man was yet asleep, and as she was unwilling to disturb him, +she left him to slumber on, until the sun rose. He was anxious that +they should leave the house without a minute's loss of time, and was +soon ready. + +The child then took him by the hand, and they trod lightly and +cautiously down the stairs, trembling whenever a board creaked, and +often stopping to listen. The old man had forgotten a kind of wallet +which contained the light burden he had to carry; and the going back a +few steps to fetch it seemed an interminable delay. + +At last they reached the passage on the ground floor, where the snoring +of Mr Quilp and his legal friend sounded more terrible in their ears +than the roars of lions. The bolts of the door were rusty, and +difficult to unfasten without noise. When they were all drawn back, it +was found to be locked, and worst of all, the key was gone. Then the +child remembered, for the first time, one of the nurses having told her +that Quilp always locked both the house-doors at night, and kept the +keys on the table in his bedroom. + +It was not without great fear and trepidation that little Nell slipped +off her shoes and gliding through the store-room of old curiosities, +where Mr Brass--the ugliest piece of goods in all the stock--lay +sleeping on a mattress, passed into her own little chamber. + +Here she stood, for a few moments, quite transfixed with terror at the +sight of Mr Quilp, who was hanging so far out of bed that he almost +seemed to be standing on his head, and who, either from the uneasiness +of this posture, or in one of his agreeable habits, was gasping and +growling with his mouth wide open, and the whites (or rather the dirty +yellows) of his eyes distinctly visible. It was no time, however, to +ask whether anything ailed him; so, possessing herself of the key after +one hasty glance about the room, and repassing the prostrate Mr Brass, +she rejoined the old man in safety. They got the door open without +noise, and passing into the street, stood still. + +'Which way?' said the child. + +The old man looked, irresolutely and helplessly, first at her, then to +the right and left, then at her again, and shook his head. It was +plain that she was thenceforth his guide and leader. The child felt +it, but had no doubts or misgiving, and putting her hand in his, led +him gently away. + +It was the beginning of a day in June; the deep blue sky unsullied by a +cloud, and teeming with brilliant light. The streets were, as yet, +nearly free from passengers, the houses and shops were closed, and the +healthy air of morning fell like breath from angels, on the sleeping +town. + +The old man and the child passed on through the glad silence, elate +with hope and pleasure. They were alone together, once again; every +object was bright and fresh; nothing reminded them, otherwise than by +contrast, of the monotony and constraint they had left behind; church +towers and steeples, frowning and dark at other times, now shone in the +sun; each humble nook and corner rejoiced in light; and the sky, dimmed +only by excessive distance, shed its placid smile on everything beneath. + +Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor +adventurers, wandering they knew not whither. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +Daniel Quilp of Tower Hill, and Sampson Brass of Bevis Marks in the +city of London, Gentleman, one of her Majesty's attornies of the Courts +of the King's Bench and Common Pleas at Westminster and a solicitor of +the High Court of Chancery, slumbered on, unconscious and unsuspicious +of any mischance, until a knocking on the street door, often repeated +and gradually mounting up from a modest single rap to a perfect battery +of knocks, fired in long discharges with a very short interval between, +caused the said Daniel Quilp to struggle into a horizontal position, +and to stare at the ceiling with a drowsy indifference, betokening that +he heard the noise and rather wondered at the same, and couldn't be at +the trouble of bestowing any further thought upon the subject. + +As the knocking, however, instead of accommodating itself to his lazy +state, increased in vigour and became more importunate, as if in +earnest remonstrance against his falling asleep again, now that he had +once opened his eyes, Daniel Quilp began by degrees to comprehend the +possibility of there being somebody at the door; and thus he gradually +came to recollect that it was Friday morning, and he had ordered Mrs +Quilp to be in waiting upon him at an early hour. + +Mr Brass, after writhing about, in a great many strange attitudes, and +often twisting his face and eyes into an expression like that which is +usually produced by eating gooseberries very early in the season, was +by this time awake also. Seeing that Mr Quilp invested himself in his +every-day garments, he hastened to do the like, putting on his shoes +before his stockings, and thrusting his legs into his coat sleeves, and +making such other small mistakes in his toilet as are not uncommon to +those who dress in a hurry, and labour under the agitation of having +been suddenly roused. + +While the attorney was thus engaged, the dwarf was groping under the +table, muttering desperate imprecations on himself, and mankind in +general, and all inanimate objects to boot, which suggested to Mr Brass +the question, 'what's the matter?' + +'The key,' said the dwarf, looking viciously about him, 'the +door-key--that's the matter. D'ye know anything of it?' + +'How should I know anything of it, sir?' returned Mr Brass. + +'How should you?' repeated Quilp with a sneer. 'You're a nice lawyer, +an't you? Ugh, you idiot!' + +Not caring to represent to the dwarf in his present humour, that the +loss of a key by another person could scarcely be said to affect his +(Brass's) legal knowledge in any material degree, Mr Brass humbly +suggested that it must have been forgotten over night, and was, +doubtless, at that moment in its native key-hole. Notwithstanding that +Mr Quilp had a strong conviction to the contrary, founded on his +recollection of having carefully taken it out, he was fain to admit +that this was possible, and therefore went grumbling to the door where, +sure enough, he found it. + +Now, just as Mr Quilp laid his hand upon the lock, and saw with great +astonishment that the fastenings were undone, the knocking came again +with the most irritating violence, and the daylight which had been +shining through the key-hole was intercepted on the outside by a human +eye. The dwarf was very much exasperated, and wanting somebody to +wreak his ill-humour upon, determined to dart out suddenly, and favour +Mrs Quilp with a gentle acknowledgment of her attention in making that +hideous uproar. + +With this view, he drew back the lock very silently and softly, and +opening the door all at once, pounced out upon the person on the other +side, who had at that moment raised the knocker for another +application, and at whom the dwarf ran head first: throwing out his +hands and feet together, and biting the air in the fulness of his +malice. + +So far, however, from rushing upon somebody who offered no resistance +and implored his mercy, Mr Quilp was no sooner in the arms of the +individual whom he had taken for his wife than he found himself +complimented with two staggering blows on the head, and two more, of +the same quality, in the chest; and closing with his assailant, such a +shower of buffets rained down upon his person as sufficed to convince +him that he was in skilful and experienced hands. Nothing daunted by +this reception, he clung tight to his opponent, and bit and hammered +away with such good-will and heartiness, that it was at least a couple +of minutes before he was dislodged. Then, and not until then, Daniel +Quilp found himself, all flushed and dishevelled, in the middle of the +street, with Mr Richard Swiveller performing a kind of dance round him +and requiring to know 'whether he wanted any more?' + +'There's plenty more of it at the same shop,' said Mr Swiveller, by +turns advancing and retreating in a threatening attitude, 'a large and +extensive assortment always on hand--country orders executed with +promptitude and despatch--will you have a little more, Sir--don't say +no, if you'd rather not.' + +'I thought it was somebody else,' said Quilp, rubbing his shoulders, +'why didn't you say who you were?' + +'Why didn't you say who YOU were?' returned Dick, 'instead of flying +out of the house like a Bedlamite?' + +'It was you that--that knocked,' said the dwarf, getting up with a +short groan, 'was it?' + +'Yes, I am the man,' replied Dick. 'That lady had begun when I came, +but she knocked too soft, so I relieved her.' As he said this, he +pointed towards Mrs Quilp, who stood trembling at a little distance. + +'Humph!' muttered the dwarf, darting an angry look at his wife, 'I +thought it was your fault! And you, sir--don't you know there has been +somebody ill here, that you knock as if you'd beat the door down?' + +'Damme!' answered Dick, 'that's why I did it. I thought there was +somebody dead here.' + +'You came for some purpose, I suppose,' said Quilp. 'What is it you +want?' + +'I want to know how the old gentleman is,' rejoined Mr Swiveller, 'and +to hear from Nell herself, with whom I should like to have a little +talk. I'm a friend of the family, sir--at least I'm the friend of one +of the family, and that's the same thing.' + +'You'd better walk in then,' said the dwarf. 'Go on, sir, go on. Now, +Mrs Quilp--after you, ma'am.' + +Mrs Quilp hesitated, but Mr Quilp insisted. And it was not a contest +of politeness, or by any means a matter of form, for she knew very well +that her husband wished to enter the house in this order, that he might +have a favourable opportunity of inflicting a few pinches on her arms, +which were seldom free from impressions of his fingers in black and +blue colours. Mr Swiveller, who was not in the secret, was a little +surprised to hear a suppressed scream, and, looking round, to see Mrs +Quilp following him with a sudden jerk; but he did not remark on these +appearances, and soon forgot them. + +'Now, Mrs Quilp,' said the dwarf when they had entered the shop, 'go +you up stairs, if you please, to Nelly's room, and tell her that she's +wanted.' + +'You seem to make yourself at home here,' said Dick, who was +unacquainted with Mr Quilp's authority. + +'I AM at home, young gentleman,' returned the dwarf. + +Dick was pondering what these words might mean, and still more what the +presence of Mr Brass might mean, when Mrs Quilp came hurrying down +stairs, declaring that the rooms above were empty. + +'Empty, you fool!' said the dwarf. + +'I give you my word, Quilp,' answered his trembling wife, 'that I have +been into every room and there's not a soul in any of them.' + +'And that,' said Mr Brass, clapping his hands once, with an emphasis, +'explains the mystery of the key!' + +Quilp looked frowningly at him, and frowningly at his wife, and +frowningly at Richard Swiveller; but, receiving no enlightenment from +any of them, hurried up stairs, whence he soon hurried down again, +confirming the report which had already been made. + +'It's a strange way of going,' he said, glancing at Swiveller, 'very +strange not to communicate with me who am such a close and intimate +friend of his! Ah! he'll write to me no doubt, or he'll bid Nelly +write--yes, yes, that's what he'll do. Nelly's very fond of me. +Pretty Nell!' + +Mr Swiveller looked, as he was, all open-mouthed astonishment. Still +glancing furtively at him, Quilp turned to Mr Brass and observed, with +assumed carelessness, that this need not interfere with the removal of +the goods. + +'For indeed,' he added, 'we knew that they'd go away to-day, but not +that they'd go so early, or so quietly. But they have their reasons, +they have their reasons.' + +'Where in the devil's name are they gone?' said the wondering Dick. + +Quilp shook his head, and pursed up his lips, in a manner which implied +that he knew very well, but was not at liberty to say. + +'And what,' said Dick, looking at the confusion about him, 'what do you +mean by moving the goods?' + +'That I have bought 'em, Sir,' rejoined Quilp. 'Eh? What then?' + +'Has the sly old fox made his fortune then, and gone to live in a +tranquil cot in a pleasant spot with a distant view of the changing +sea?' said Dick, in great bewilderment. + +'Keeping his place of retirement very close, that he may not be visited +too often by affectionate grandsons and their devoted friends, eh?' +added the dwarf, rubbing his hands hard; 'I say nothing, but is that +your meaning?' + +Richard Swiveller was utterly aghast at this unexpected alteration of +circumstances, which threatened the complete overthrow of the project +in which he bore so conspicuous a part, and seemed to nip his prospects +in the bud. Having only received from Frederick Trent, late on the +previous night, information of the old man's illness, he had come upon +a visit of condolence and inquiry to Nell, prepared with the first +instalment of that long train of fascinations which was to fire her +heart at last. And here, when he had been thinking of all kinds of +graceful and insinuating approaches, and meditating on the fearful +retaliation which was slowly working against Sophy Wackles--here were +Nell, the old man, and all the money gone, melted away, decamped he +knew not whither, as if with a fore-knowledge of the scheme and a +resolution to defeat it in the very outset, before a step was taken. + +In his secret heart, Daniel Quilp was both surprised and troubled by +the flight which had been made. It had not escaped his keen eye that +some indispensable articles of clothing were gone with the fugitives, +and knowing the old man's weak state of mind, he marvelled what that +course of proceeding might be in which he had so readily procured the +concurrence of the child. It must not be supposed (or it would be a +gross injustice to Mr Quilp) that he was tortured by any disinterested +anxiety on behalf of either. His uneasiness arose from a misgiving +that the old man had some secret store of money which he had not +suspected; and the idea of its escaping his clutches, overwhelmed him +with mortification and self-reproach. + +In this frame of mind, it was some consolation to him to find that +Richard Swiveller was, for different reasons, evidently irritated and +disappointed by the same cause. It was plain, thought the dwarf, that +he had come there, on behalf of his friend, to cajole or frighten the +old man out of some small fraction of that wealth of which they +supposed him to have an abundance. Therefore, it was a relief to vex +his heart with a picture of the riches the old man hoarded, and to +expatiate on his cunning in removing himself even beyond the reach of +importunity. + +'Well,' said Dick, with a blank look, 'I suppose it's of no use my +staying here.' + +'Not the least in the world,' rejoined the dwarf. + +'You'll mention that I called, perhaps?' said Dick. + +Mr Quilp nodded, and said he certainly would, the very first time he +saw them. + +'And say,' added Mr Swiveller, 'say, sir, that I was wafted here upon +the pinions of concord; that I came to remove, with the rake of +friendship, the seeds of mutual violence and heart-burning, and to sow +in their place, the germs of social harmony. Will you have the +goodness to charge yourself with that commission, Sir?' + +'Certainly!' rejoined Quilp. + +'Will you be kind enough to add to it, Sir,' said Dick, producing a +very small limp card, 'that that is my address, and that I am to be +found at home every morning. Two distinct knocks, sir, will produce +the slavey at any time. My particular friends, Sir, are accustomed to +sneeze when the door is opened, to give her to understand that they ARE +my friends and have no interested motives in asking if I'm at home. I +beg your pardon; will you allow me to look at that card again?' + +'Oh! by all means,' rejoined Quilp. + +'By a slight and not unnatural mistake, sir,' said Dick, substituting +another in its stead, 'I had handed you the pass-ticket of a select +convivial circle called the Glorious Apollers of which I have the +honour to be Perpetual Grand. That is the proper document, Sir. Good +morning.' + +Quilp bade him good day; the perpetual Grand Master of the Glorious +Apollers, elevating his hat in honour of Mrs Quilp, dropped it +carelessly on the side of his head again, and disappeared with a +flourish. + +By this time, certain vans had arrived for the conveyance of the goods, +and divers strong men in caps were balancing chests of drawers and +other trifles of that nature upon their heads, and performing muscular +feats which heightened their complexions considerably. Not to be +behind-hand in the bustle, Mr Quilp went to work with surprising +vigour; hustling and driving the people about, like an evil spirit; +setting Mrs Quilp upon all kinds of arduous and impracticable tasks; +carrying great weights up and down, with no apparent effort; kicking +the boy from the wharf, whenever he could get near him; and inflicting, +with his loads, a great many sly bumps and blows on the shoulders of Mr +Brass, as he stood upon the door-steps to answer all the inquiries of +curious neighbours, which was his department. His presence and example +diffused such alacrity among the persons employed, that, in a few +hours, the house was emptied of everything, but pieces of matting, +empty porter-pots, and scattered fragments of straw. + +Seated, like an African chief, on one of these pieces of matting, the +dwarf was regaling himself in the parlour, with bread and cheese and +beer, when he observed without appearing to do so, that a boy was +prying in at the outer door. Assured that it was Kit, though he saw +little more than his nose, Mr Quilp hailed him by his name; whereupon +Kit came in and demanded what he wanted. + +'Come here, you sir,' said the dwarf. 'Well, so your old master and +young mistress have gone?' + +'Where?' rejoined Kit, looking round. + +'Do you mean to say you don't know where?' answered Quilp sharply. +'Where have they gone, eh?' + +'I don't know,' said Kit. + +'Come,' retorted Quilp, 'let's have no more of this! Do you mean to +say that you don't know they went away by stealth, as soon as it was +light this morning?' + +'No,' said the boy, in evident surprise. + +'You don't know that?' cried Quilp. 'Don't I know that you were +hanging about the house the other night, like a thief, eh? Weren't you +told then?' + +'No,' replied the boy. + +'You were not?' said Quilp. 'What were you told then; what were you +talking about?' + +Kit, who knew no particular reason why he should keep the matter secret +now, related the purpose for which he had come on that occasion, and +the proposal he had made. + +'Oh!' said the dwarf after a little consideration. 'Then, I think +they'll come to you yet.' + +'Do you think they will?' cried Kit eagerly. + +'Aye, I think they will,' returned the dwarf. 'Now, when they do, let +me know; d'ye hear? Let me know, and I'll give you something. I want +to do 'em a kindness, and I can't do 'em a kindness unless I know where +they are. You hear what I say?' + +Kit might have returned some answer which would not have been agreeable +to his irascible questioner, if the boy from the wharf, who had been +skulking about the room in search of anything that might have been left +about by accident, had not happened to cry, 'Here's a bird! What's to +be done with this?' + +'Wring its neck,' rejoined Quilp. + +'Oh no, don't do that,' said Kit, stepping forward. 'Give it to me.' + +'Oh yes, I dare say,' cried the other boy. 'Come! You let the cage +alone, and let me wring its neck will you? He said I was to do it. +You let the cage alone will you.' + +'Give it here, give it to me, you dogs,' roared Quilp. 'Fight for it, +you dogs, or I'll wring its neck myself!' + +Without further persuasion, the two boys fell upon each other, tooth +and nail, while Quilp, holding up the cage in one hand, and chopping +the ground with his knife in an ecstasy, urged them on by his taunts +and cries to fight more fiercely. They were a pretty equal match, and +rolled about together, exchanging blows which were by no means child's +play, until at length Kit, planting a well-directed hit in his +adversary's chest, disengaged himself, sprung nimbly up, and snatching +the cage from Quilp's hands made off with his prize. + +He did not stop once until he reached home, where his bleeding face +occasioned great consternation, and caused the elder child to howl +dreadfully. + +'Goodness gracious, Kit, what is the matter, what have you been doing?' +cried Mrs Nubbles. + +'Never you mind, mother,' answered her son, wiping his face on the +jack-towel behind the door. 'I'm not hurt, don't you be afraid for me. +I've been a fightin' for a bird and won him, that's all. Hold your +noise, little Jacob. I never see such a naughty boy in all my days!' + +'You have been fighting for a bird!' exclaimed his mother. + +'Ah! Fightin' for a bird!' replied Kit, 'and here he is--Miss Nelly's +bird, mother, that they was agoin' to wring the neck of! I stopped +that though--ha ha ha! They wouldn't wring his neck and me by, no, no. +It wouldn't do, mother, it wouldn't do at all. Ha ha ha!' + +Kit laughing so heartily, with his swoln and bruised face looking out +of the towel, made little Jacob laugh, and then his mother laughed, and +then the baby crowed and kicked with great glee, and then they all +laughed in concert: partly because of Kit's triumph, and partly because +they were very fond of each other. When this fit was over, Kit +exhibited the bird to both children, as a great and precious rarity--it +was only a poor linnet--and looking about the wall for an old nail, +made a scaffolding of a chair and table and twisted it out with great +exultation. + +'Let me see,' said the boy, 'I think I'll hang him in the winder, +because it's more light and cheerful, and he can see the sky there, if +he looks up very much. He's such a one to sing, I can tell you!' + +So, the scaffolding was made again, and Kit, climbing up with the poker +for a hammer, knocked in the nail and hung up the cage, to the +immeasurable delight of the whole family. When it had been adjusted +and straightened a great many times, and he had walked backwards into +the fire-place in his admiration of it, the arrangement was pronounced +to be perfect. + +'And now, mother,' said the boy, 'before I rest any more, I'll go out +and see if I can find a horse to hold, and then I can buy some +birdseed, and a bit of something nice for you, into the bargain.' + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +As it was very easy for Kit to persuade himself that the old house was +in his way, his way being anywhere, he tried to look upon his passing +it once more as a matter of imperative and disagreeable necessity, +quite apart from any desire of his own, to which he could not choose +but yield. It is not uncommon for people who are much better fed and +taught than Christopher Nubbles had ever been, to make duties of their +inclinations in matters of more doubtful propriety, and to take great +credit for the self-denial with which they gratify themselves. + +There was no need of any caution this time, and no fear of being +detained by having to play out a return match with Daniel Quilp's boy. +The place was entirely deserted, and looked as dusty and dingy as if it +had been so for months. A rusty padlock was fastened on the door, ends +of discoloured blinds and curtains flapped drearily against the +half-opened upper windows, and the crooked holes cut in the closed +shutters below, were black with the darkness of the inside. Some of +the glass in the window he had so often watched, had been broken in the +rough hurry of the morning, and that room looked more deserted and dull +than any. A group of idle urchins had taken possession of the +door-steps; some were plying the knocker and listening with delighted +dread to the hollow sounds it spread through the dismantled house; +others were clustered about the keyhole, watching half in jest and half +in earnest for 'the ghost,' which an hour's gloom, added to the mystery +that hung about the late inhabitants, had already raised. Standing all +alone in the midst of the business and bustle of the street, the house +looked a picture of cold desolation; and Kit, who remembered the +cheerful fire that used to burn there on a winter's night and the no +less cheerful laugh that made the small room ring, turned quite +mournfully away. + +It must be especially observed in justice to poor Kit that he was by no +means of a sentimental turn, and perhaps had never heard that adjective +in all his life. He was only a soft-hearted grateful fellow, and had +nothing genteel or polite about him; consequently, instead of going +home again, in his grief, to kick the children and abuse his mother +(for, when your finely strung people are out of sorts, they must have +everybody else unhappy likewise), he turned his thoughts to the vulgar +expedient of making them more comfortable if he could. + +Bless us, what a number of gentlemen on horseback there were riding up +and down, and how few of them wanted their horses held! A good city +speculator or a parliamentary commissioner could have told to a +fraction, from the crowds that were cantering about, what sum of money +was realised in London, in the course of a year, by holding horses +alone. And undoubtedly it would have been a very large one, if only a +twentieth part of the gentlemen without grooms had had occasion to +alight; but they had not; and it is often an ill-natured circumstance +like this, which spoils the most ingenious estimate in the world. + +Kit walked about, now with quick steps and now with slow; now lingering +as some rider slackened his horse's pace and looked about him; and now +darting at full speed up a bye-street as he caught a glimpse of some +distant horseman going lazily up the shady side of the road, and +promising to stop, at every door. But on they all went, one after +another, and there was not a penny stirring. 'I wonder,' thought the +boy, 'if one of these gentlemen knew there was nothing in the cupboard +at home, whether he'd stop on purpose, and make believe that he wanted +to call somewhere, that I might earn a trifle?' + +He was quite tired out with pacing the streets, to say nothing of +repeated disappointments, and was sitting down upon a step to rest, +when there approached towards him a little clattering jingling +four-wheeled chaise, drawn by a little obstinate-looking rough-coated +pony, and driven by a little fat placid-faced old gentleman. Beside +the little old gentleman sat a little old lady, plump and placid like +himself, and the pony was coming along at his own pace and doing +exactly as he pleased with the whole concern. If the old gentleman +remonstrated by shaking the reins, the pony replied by shaking his +head. It was plain that the utmost the pony would consent to do, was +to go in his own way up any street that the old gentleman particularly +wished to traverse, but that it was an understanding between them that +he must do this after his own fashion or not at all. + +As they passed where he sat, Kit looked so wistfully at the little +turn-out, that the old gentleman looked at him. Kit rising and putting +his hand to his hat, the old gentleman intimated to the pony that he +wished to stop, to which proposal the pony (who seldom objected to that +part of his duty) graciously acceded. + +'I beg your pardon, sir,' said Kit. 'I'm sorry you stopped, sir. I +only meant did you want your horse minded.' + +'I'm going to get down in the next street,' returned the old gentleman. +'If you like to come on after us, you may have the job.' + +Kit thanked him, and joyfully obeyed. The pony ran off at a sharp +angle to inspect a lamp-post on the opposite side of the way, and then +went off at a tangent to another lamp-post on the other side. Having +satisfied himself that they were of the same pattern and materials, he +came to a stop apparently absorbed in meditation. + +'Will you go on, sir,' said the old gentleman, gravely, 'or are we to +wait here for you till it's too late for our appointment?' + +The pony remained immoveable. + +'Oh you naughty Whisker,' said the old lady. 'Fie upon you! I'm +ashamed of such conduct.' + +The pony appeared to be touched by this appeal to his feelings, for he +trotted on directly, though in a sulky manner, and stopped no more +until he came to a door whereon was a brass plate with the words +'Witherden--Notary.' Here the old gentleman got out and helped out the +old lady, and then took from under the seat a nosegay resembling in +shape and dimensions a full-sized warming-pan with the handle cut short +off. This, the old lady carried into the house with a staid and +stately air, and the old gentleman (who had a club-foot) followed close +upon her. + +They went, as it was easy to tell from the sound of their voices, into +the front parlour, which seemed to be a kind of office. The day being +very warm and the street a quiet one, the windows were wide open; and +it was easy to hear through the Venetian blinds all that passed inside. + +At first there was a great shaking of hands and shuffling of feet, +succeeded by the presentation of the nosegay; for a voice, supposed by +the listener to be that of Mr Witherden the Notary, was heard to +exclaim a great many times, 'oh, delicious!' 'oh, fragrant, indeed!' +and a nose, also supposed to be the property of that gentleman, was +heard to inhale the scent with a snuffle of exceeding pleasure. + +'I brought it in honour of the occasion, Sir,' said the old lady. + +'Ah! an occasion indeed, ma'am, an occasion which does honour to me, +ma'am, honour to me,' rejoined Mr Witherden, the notary. 'I have had +many a gentleman articled to me, ma'am, many a one. Some of them are +now rolling in riches, unmindful of their old companion and friend, +ma'am, others are in the habit of calling upon me to this day and +saying, "Mr Witherden, some of the pleasantest hours I ever spent in my +life were spent in this office--were spent, Sir, upon this very stool"; +but there was never one among the number, ma'am, attached as I have +been to many of them, of whom I augured such bright things as I do of +your only son.' + +'Oh dear!' said the old lady. 'How happy you do make us when you tell +us that, to be sure!' + +'I tell you, ma'am,' said Mr Witherden, 'what I think as an honest man, +which, as the poet observes, is the noblest work of God. I agree with +the poet in every particular, ma'am. The mountainous Alps on the one +hand, or a humming-bird on the other, is nothing, in point of +workmanship, to an honest man--or woman--or woman.' + +'Anything that Mr Witherden can say of me,' observed a small quiet +voice, 'I can say, with interest, of him, I am sure.' + +'It's a happy circumstance, a truly happy circumstance,' said the +Notary, 'to happen too upon his eight-and-twentieth birthday, and I +hope I know how to appreciate it. I trust, Mr Garland, my dear Sir, +that we may mutually congratulate each other upon this auspicious +occasion.' + +To this the old gentleman replied that he felt assured they might. +There appeared to be another shaking of hands in consequence, and when +it was over, the old gentleman said that, though he said it who should +not, he believed no son had ever been a greater comfort to his parents +than Abel Garland had been to his. + +'Marrying as his mother and I did, late in life, sir, after waiting for +a great many years, until we were well enough off--coming together when +we were no longer young, and then being blessed with one child who has +always been dutiful and affectionate--why, it's a source of great +happiness to us both, sir.' + +'Of course it is, I have no doubt of it,' returned the Notary in a +sympathising voice. 'It's the contemplation of this sort of thing, +that makes me deplore my fate in being a bachelor. There was a young +lady once, sir, the daughter of an outfitting warehouse of the first +respectability--but that's a weakness. Chuckster, bring in Mr Abel's +articles.' + +'You see, Mr Witherden,' said the old lady, 'that Abel has not been +brought up like the run of young men. He has always had a pleasure in +our society, and always been with us. Abel has never been absent from +us, for a day; has he, my dear?' + +'Never, my dear,' returned the old gentleman, 'except when he went to +Margate one Saturday with Mr Tomkinley that had been a teacher at that +school he went to, and came back upon the Monday; but he was very ill +after that, you remember, my dear; it was quite a dissipation.' + +'He was not used to it, you know,' said the old lady, 'and he couldn't +bear it, that's the truth. Besides he had no comfort in being there +without us, and had nobody to talk to or enjoy himself with.' + +'That was it, you know,' interposed the same small quiet voice that had +spoken once before. 'I was quite abroad, mother, quite desolate, and +to think that the sea was between us--oh, I never shall forget what I +felt when I first thought that the sea was between us!' + +'Very natural under the circumstances,' observed the Notary. 'Mr +Abel's feelings did credit to his nature, and credit to your nature, +ma'am, and his father's nature, and human nature. I trace the same +current now, flowing through all his quiet and unobtrusive +proceedings.--I am about to sign my name, you observe, at the foot of +the articles which Mr Chuckster will witness; and placing my finger +upon this blue wafer with the vandyked corners, I am constrained to +remark in a distinct tone of voice--don't be alarmed, ma'am, it is +merely a form of law--that I deliver this, as my act and deed. Mr Abel +will place his name against the other wafer, repeating the same +cabalistic words, and the business is over. Ha ha ha! You see how +easily these things are done!' + +There was a short silence, apparently, while Mr Abel went through the +prescribed form, and then the shaking of hands and shuffling of feet +were renewed, and shortly afterwards there was a clinking of +wine-glasses and a great talkativeness on the part of everybody. In +about a quarter of an hour Mr Chuckster (with a pen behind his ear and +his face inflamed with wine) appeared at the door, and condescending to +address Kit by the jocose appellation of 'Young Snob,' informed him +that the visitors were coming out. + +Out they came forthwith; Mr Witherden, who was short, chubby, +fresh-coloured, brisk, and pompous, leading the old lady with extreme +politeness, and the father and son following them, arm in arm. Mr +Abel, who had a quaint old-fashioned air about him, looked nearly of +the same age as his father, and bore a wonderful resemblance to him in +face and figure, though wanting something of his full, round, +cheerfulness, and substituting in its place a timid reserve. In all +other respects, in the neatness of the dress, and even in the +club-foot, he and the old gentleman were precisely alike. + +Having seen the old lady safely in her seat, and assisted in the +arrangement of her cloak and a small basket which formed an +indispensable portion of her equipage, Mr Abel got into a little box +behind which had evidently been made for his express accommodation, and +smiled at everybody present by turns, beginning with his mother and +ending with the pony. There was then a great to-do to make the pony +hold up his head that the bearing-rein might be fastened; at last even +this was effected; and the old gentleman, taking his seat and the +reins, put his hand in his pocket to find a sixpence for Kit. + +He had no sixpence, neither had the old lady, nor Mr Abel, nor the +Notary, nor Mr Chuckster. The old gentleman thought a shilling too +much, but there was no shop in the street to get change at, so he gave +it to the boy. + +'There,' he said jokingly, 'I'm coming here again next Monday at the +same time, and mind you're here, my lad, to work it out.' + +'Thank you, Sir,' said Kit. 'I'll be sure to be here.' + +He was quite serious, but they all laughed heartily at his saying so, +especially Mr Chuckster, who roared outright and appeared to relish the +joke amazingly. As the pony, with a presentiment that he was going +home, or a determination that he would not go anywhere else (which was +the same thing) trotted away pretty nimbly, Kit had no time to justify +himself, and went his way also. Having expended his treasure in such +purchases as he knew would be most acceptable at home, not forgetting +some seed for the wonderful bird, he hastened back as fast as he could, +so elated with his success and great good fortune, that he more than +half expected Nell and the old man would have arrived before him. + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +Often, while they were yet pacing the silent streets of the town on the +morning of their departure, the child trembled with a mingled sensation +of hope and fear as in some far-off figure imperfectly seen in the +clear distance, her fancy traced a likeness to honest Kit. But +although she would gladly have given him her hand and thanked him for +what he had said at their last meeting, it was always a relief to find, +when they came nearer to each other, that the person who approached was +not he, but a stranger; for even if she had not dreaded the effect +which the sight of him might have wrought upon her fellow-traveller, +she felt that to bid farewell to anybody now, and most of all to him +who had been so faithful and so true, was more than she could bear. It +was enough to leave dumb things behind, and objects that were +insensible both to her love and sorrow. To have parted from her only +other friend upon the threshold of that wild journey, would have wrung +her heart indeed. + +Why is it that we can better bear to part in spirit than in body, and +while we have the fortitude to act farewell have not the nerve to say +it? On the eve of long voyages or an absence of many years, friends +who are tenderly attached will separate with the usual look, the usual +pressure of the hand, planning one final interview for the morrow, +while each well knows that it is but a poor feint to save the pain of +uttering that one word, and that the meeting will never be. Should +possibilities be worse to bear than certainties? We do not shun our +dying friends; the not having distinctly taken leave of one among them, +whom we left in all kindness and affection, will often embitter the +whole remainder of a life. + +The town was glad with morning light; places that had shown ugly and +distrustful all night long, now wore a smile; and sparkling sunbeams +dancing on chamber windows, and twinkling through blind and curtain +before sleepers' eyes, shed light even into dreams, and chased away the +shadows of the night. Birds in hot rooms, covered up close and dark, +felt it was morning, and chafed and grew restless in their little +cells; bright-eyed mice crept back to their tiny homes and nestled +timidly together; the sleek house-cat, forgetful of her prey, sat +winking at the rays of sun starting through keyhole and cranny in the +door, and longed for her stealthy run and warm sleek bask outside. The +nobler beasts confined in dens, stood motionless behind their bars and +gazed on fluttering boughs, and sunshine peeping through some little +window, with eyes in which old forests gleamed--then trod impatiently +the track their prisoned feet had worn--and stopped and gazed again. +Men in their dungeons stretched their cramp cold limbs and cursed the +stone that no bright sky could warm. The flowers that sleep by night, +opened their gentle eyes and turned them to the day. The light, +creation's mind, was everywhere, and all things owned its power. + +The two pilgrims, often pressing each other's hands, or exchanging a +smile or cheerful look, pursued their way in silence. Bright and happy +as it was, there was something solemn in the long, deserted streets, +from which, like bodies without souls, all habitual character and +expression had departed, leaving but one dead uniform repose, that made +them all alike. All was so still at that early hour, that the few pale +people whom they met seemed as much unsuited to the scene, as the +sickly lamp which had been here and there left burning, was powerless +and faint in the full glory of the sun. + +Before they had penetrated very far into the labyrinth of men's abodes +which yet lay between them and the outskirts, this aspect began to melt +away, and noise and bustle to usurp its place. Some straggling carts +and coaches rumbling by, first broke the charm, then others came, then +others yet more active, then a crowd. The wonder was, at first, to see +a tradesman's window open, but it was a rare thing soon to see one +closed; then, smoke rose slowly from the chimneys, and sashes were +thrown up to let in air, and doors were opened, and servant girls, +looking lazily in all directions but their brooms, scattered brown +clouds of dust into the eyes of shrinking passengers, or listened +disconsolately to milkmen who spoke of country fairs, and told of +waggons in the mews, with awnings and all things complete, and gallant +swains to boot, which another hour would see upon their journey. + +This quarter passed, they came upon the haunts of commerce and great +traffic, where many people were resorting, and business was already +rife. The old man looked about him with a startled and bewildered +gaze, for these were places that he hoped to shun. He pressed his +finger on his lip, and drew the child along by narrow courts and +winding ways, nor did he seem at ease until they had left it far +behind, often casting a backward look towards it, murmuring that ruin +and self-murder were crouching in every street, and would follow if +they scented them; and that they could not fly too fast. + +Again this quarter passed, they came upon a straggling neighbourhood, +where the mean houses parcelled off in rooms, and windows patched with +rags and paper, told of the populous poverty that sheltered there. The +shops sold goods that only poverty could buy, and sellers and buyers +were pinched and griped alike. Here were poor streets where faded +gentility essayed with scanty space and shipwrecked means to make its +last feeble stand, but tax-gatherer and creditor came there as +elsewhere, and the poverty that yet faintly struggled was hardly less +squalid and manifest than that which had long ago submitted and given +up the game. + +This was a wide, wide track--for the humble followers of the camp of +wealth pitch their tents round about it for many a mile--but its +character was still the same. Damp rotten houses, many to let, many +yet building, many half-built and mouldering away--lodgings, where it +would be hard to tell which needed pity most, those who let or those +who came to take--children, scantily fed and clothed, spread over every +street, and sprawling in the dust--scolding mothers, stamping their +slipshod feet with noisy threats upon the pavement--shabby fathers, +hurrying with dispirited looks to the occupation which brought them +'daily bread' and little more--mangling-women, washer-women, cobblers, +tailors, chandlers, driving their trades in parlours and kitchens and +back room and garrets, and sometimes all of them under the same +roof--brick-fields skirting gardens paled with staves of old casks, or +timber pillaged from houses burnt down, and blackened and blistered by +the flames--mounds of dock-weed, nettles, coarse grass and +oyster-shells, heaped in rank confusion--small dissenting chapels to +teach, with no lack of illustration, the miseries of Earth, and plenty +of new churches, erected with a little superfluous wealth, to show the +way to Heaven. + +At length these streets becoming more straggling yet, dwindled and +dwindled away, until there were only small garden patches bordering the +road, with many a summer house innocent of paint and built of old +timber or some fragments of a boat, green as the tough cabbage-stalks +that grew about it, and grottoed at the seams with toad-stools and +tight-sticking snails. To these succeeded pert cottages, two and two +with plots of ground in front, laid out in angular beds with stiff box +borders and narrow paths between, where footstep never strayed to make +the gravel rough. Then came the public-house, freshly painted in green +and white, with tea-gardens and a bowling green, spurning its old +neighbour with the horse-trough where the waggons stopped; then, +fields; and then, some houses, one by one, of goodly size with lawns, +some even with a lodge where dwelt a porter and his wife. Then came a +turnpike; then fields again with trees and hay-stacks; then, a hill, +and on the top of that, the traveller might stop, and--looking back at +old Saint Paul's looming through the smoke, its cross peeping above the +cloud (if the day were clear), and glittering in the sun; and casting +his eyes upon the Babel out of which it grew until he traced it down to +the furthest outposts of the invading army of bricks and mortar whose +station lay for the present nearly at his feet--might feel at last that +he was clear of London. + +Near such a spot as this, and in a pleasant field, the old man and his +little guide (if guide she were, who knew not whither they were bound) +sat down to rest. She had had the precaution to furnish her basket +with some slices of bread and meat, and here they made their frugal +breakfast. + +The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the +waving grass, the deep green leaves, the wild flowers, and the thousand +exquisite scents and sounds that floated in the air--deep joys to most +of us, but most of all to those whose life is in a crowd or who live +solitarily in great cities as in the bucket of a human well--sunk into +their breasts and made them very glad. The child had repeated her +artless prayers once that morning, more earnestly perhaps than she had +ever done in all her life, but as she felt all this, they rose to her +lips again. The old man took off his hat--he had no memory for the +words--but he said amen, and that they were very good. + +There had been an old copy of the Pilgrim's Progress, with strange +plates, upon a shelf at home, over which she had often pored whole +evenings, wondering whether it was true in every word, and where those +distant countries with the curious names might be. As she looked back +upon the place they had left, one part of it came strongly on her mind. + +'Dear grandfather,' she said, 'only that this place is prettier and a +great deal better than the real one, if that in the book is like it, I +feel as if we were both Christian, and laid down on this grass all the +cares and troubles we brought with us; never to take them up again.' + +'No--never to return--never to return'--replied the old man, waving his +hand towards the city. 'Thou and I are free of it now, Nell. They +shall never lure us back.' + +'Are you tired?' said the child, 'are you sure you don't feel ill from +this long walk?' + +'I shall never feel ill again, now that we are once away,' was his +reply. 'Let us be stirring, Nell. We must be further away--a long, +long way further. We are too near to stop, and be at rest. Come!' + +There was a pool of clear water in the field, in which the child laved +her hands and face, and cooled her feet before setting forth to walk +again. She would have the old man refresh himself in this way too, and +making him sit down upon the grass, cast the water on him with her +hands, and dried it with her simple dress. + +'I can do nothing for myself, my darling,' said the grandfather; 'I +don't know how it is, I could once, but the time's gone. Don't leave +me, Nell; say that thou'lt not leave me. I loved thee all the while, +indeed I did. If I lose thee too, my dear, I must die!' + +He laid his head upon her shoulder and moaned piteously. The time had +been, and a very few days before, when the child could not have +restrained her tears and must have wept with him. But now she soothed +him with gentle and tender words, smiled at his thinking they could +ever part, and rallied him cheerfully upon the jest. He was soon +calmed and fell asleep, singing to himself in a low voice, like a +little child. + +He awoke refreshed, and they continued their journey. The road was +pleasant, lying between beautiful pastures and fields of corn, about +which, poised high in the clear blue sky, the lark trilled out her +happy song. The air came laden with the fragrance it caught upon its +way, and the bees, upborne upon its scented breath, hummed forth their +drowsy satisfaction as they floated by. + +They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and +scattered at long intervals, often miles apart. Occasionally they came +upon a cluster of poor cottages, some with a chair or low board put +across the open door to keep the scrambling children from the road, +others shut up close while all the family were working in the fields. +These were often the commencement of a little village: and after an +interval came a wheelwright's shed or perhaps a blacksmith's forge; +then a thriving farm with sleepy cows lying about the yard, and horses +peering over the low wall and scampering away when harnessed horses +passed upon the road, as though in triumph at their freedom. There +were dull pigs too, turning up the ground in search of dainty food, and +grunting their monotonous grumblings as they prowled about, or crossed +each other in their quest; plump pigeons skimming round the roof or +strutting on the eaves; and ducks and geese, far more graceful in their +own conceit, waddling awkwardly about the edges of the pond or sailing +glibly on its surface. The farm-yard passed, then came the little inn; +the humbler beer-shop; and the village tradesman's; then the lawyer's +and the parson's, at whose dread names the beer-shop trembled; the +church then peeped out modestly from a clump of trees; then there were +a few more cottages; then the cage, and pound, and not unfrequently, on +a bank by the way-side, a deep old dusty well. Then came the +trim-hedged fields on either hand, and the open road again. + +They walked all day, and slept that night at a small cottage where beds +were let to travellers. Next morning they were afoot again, and though +jaded at first, and very tired, recovered before long and proceeded +briskly forward. + +They often stopped to rest, but only for a short space at a time, and +still kept on, having had but slight refreshment since the morning. It +was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon, when drawing near another +cluster of labourers' huts, the child looked wistfully in each, +doubtful at which to ask for permission to rest awhile, and buy a +draught of milk. + +It was not easy to determine, for she was timid and fearful of being +repulsed. Here was a crying child, and there a noisy wife. In this, +the people seemed too poor; in that, too many. At length she stopped +at one where the family were seated round the table--chiefly because +there was an old man sitting in a cushioned chair beside the hearth, +and she thought he was a grandfather and would feel for hers. + +There were besides, the cottager and his wife, and three young sturdy +children, brown as berries. The request was no sooner preferred, than +granted. The eldest boy ran out to fetch some milk, the second dragged +two stools towards the door, and the youngest crept to his mother's +gown, and looked at the strangers from beneath his sunburnt hand. + +'God save you, master,' said the old cottager in a thin piping voice; +'are you travelling far?' + +'Yes, Sir, a long way'--replied the child; for her grandfather appealed +to her. + +'From London?' inquired the old man. + +The child said yes. + +Ah! He had been in London many a time--used to go there often once, +with waggons. It was nigh two-and-thirty year since he had been there +last, and he did hear say there were great changes. Like enough! He +had changed, himself, since then. Two-and-thirty year was a long time +and eighty-four a great age, though there was some he had known that +had lived to very hard upon a hundred--and not so hearty as he, +neither--no, nothing like it. + +'Sit thee down, master, in the elbow chair,' said the old man, knocking +his stick upon the brick floor, and trying to do so sharply. 'Take a +pinch out o' that box; I don't take much myself, for it comes dear, but +I find it wakes me up sometimes, and ye're but a boy to me. I should +have a son pretty nigh as old as you if he'd lived, but they listed him +for a so'ger--he come back home though, for all he had but one poor +leg. He always said he'd be buried near the sun-dial he used to climb +upon when he was a baby, did my poor boy, and his words come true--you +can see the place with your own eyes; we've kept the turf up, ever +since.' + +He shook his head, and looking at his daughter with watery eyes, said +she needn't be afraid that he was going to talk about that, any more. +He didn't wish to trouble nobody, and if he had troubled anybody by +what he said, he asked pardon, that was all. + +The milk arrived, and the child producing her little basket, and +selecting its best fragments for her grandfather, they made a hearty +meal. The furniture of the room was very homely of course--a few rough +chairs and a table, a corner cupboard with their little stock of +crockery and delf, a gaudy tea-tray, representing a lady in bright red, +walking out with a very blue parasol, a few common, coloured scripture +subjects in frames upon the wall and chimney, an old dwarf +clothes-press and an eight-day clock, with a few bright saucepans and a +kettle, comprised the whole. But everything was clean and neat, and as +the child glanced round, she felt a tranquil air of comfort and content +to which she had long been unaccustomed. + +'How far is it to any town or village?' she asked of the husband. + +'A matter of good five mile, my dear,' was the reply, 'but you're not +going on to-night?' + +'Yes, yes, Nell,' said the old man hastily, urging her too by signs. +'Further on, further on, darling, further away if we walk till +midnight.' + +'There's a good barn hard by, master,' said the man, 'or there's +travellers' lodging, I know, at the Plow an' Harrer. Excuse me, but +you do seem a little tired, and unless you're very anxious to get on--' + +'Yes, yes, we are,' returned the old man fretfully. 'Further away, +dear Nell, pray further away.' + +'We must go on, indeed,' said the child, yielding to his restless wish. +'We thank you very much, but we cannot stop so soon. I'm quite ready, +grandfather.' + +But the woman had observed, from the young wanderer's gait, that one of +her little feet was blistered and sore, and being a woman and a mother +too, she would not suffer her to go until she had washed the place and +applied some simple remedy, which she did so carefully and with such a +gentle hand--rough-grained and hard though it was, with work--that the +child's heart was too full to admit of her saying more than a fervent +'God bless you!' nor could she look back nor trust herself to speak, +until they had left the cottage some distance behind. When she turned +her head, she saw that the whole family, even the old grandfather, were +standing in the road watching them as they went, and so, with many +waves of the hand, and cheering nods, and on one side at least not +without tears, they parted company. + +They trudged forward, more slowly and painfully than they had done yet, +for another mile or thereabouts, when they heard the sound of wheels +behind them, and looking round observed an empty cart approaching +pretty briskly. The driver on coming up to them stopped his horse and +looked earnestly at Nell. + +'Didn't you stop to rest at a cottage yonder?' he said. + +'Yes, sir,' replied the child. + +'Ah! They asked me to look out for you,' said the man. 'I'm going +your way. Give me your hand--jump up, master.' + +This was a great relief, for they were very much fatigued and could +scarcely crawl along. To them the jolting cart was a luxurious +carriage, and the ride the most delicious in the world. Nell had +scarcely settled herself on a little heap of straw in one corner, when +she fell asleep, for the first time that day. + +She was awakened by the stopping of the cart, which was about to turn +up a bye-lane. The driver kindly got down to help her out, and +pointing to some trees at a very short distance before them, said that +the town lay there, and that they had better take the path which they +would see leading through the churchyard. Accordingly, towards this +spot, they directed their weary steps. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +The sun was setting when they reached the wicket-gate at which the path +began, and, as the rain falls upon the just and unjust alike, it shed +its warm tint even upon the resting-places of the dead, and bade them +be of good hope for its rising on the morrow. The church was old and +grey, with ivy clinging to the walls, and round the porch. Shunning +the tombs, it crept about the mounds, beneath which slept poor humble +men: twining for them the first wreaths they had ever won, but wreaths +less liable to wither and far more lasting in their kind, than some +which were graven deep in stone and marble, and told in pompous terms +of virtues meekly hidden for many a year, and only revealed at last to +executors and mourning legatees. + +The clergyman's horse, stumbling with a dull blunt sound among the +graves, was cropping the grass; at once deriving orthodox consolation +from the dead parishioners, and enforcing last Sunday's text that this +was what all flesh came to; a lean ass who had sought to expound it +also, without being qualified and ordained, was pricking his ears in an +empty pound hard by, and looking with hungry eyes upon his priestly +neighbour. + +The old man and the child quitted the gravel path, and strayed among +the tombs; for there the ground was soft, and easy to their tired feet. +As they passed behind the church, they heard voices near at hand, and +presently came on those who had spoken. + +They were two men who were seated in easy attitudes upon the grass, and +so busily engaged as to be at first unconscious of intruders. It was +not difficult to divine that they were of a class of itinerant +showmen--exhibitors of the freaks of Punch--for, perched cross-legged +upon a tombstone behind them, was a figure of that hero himself, his +nose and chin as hooked and his face as beaming as usual. Perhaps his +imperturbable character was never more strikingly developed, for he +preserved his usual equable smile notwithstanding that his body was +dangling in a most uncomfortable position, all loose and limp and +shapeless, while his long peaked cap, unequally balanced against his +exceedingly slight legs, threatened every instant to bring him toppling +down. + +In part scattered upon the ground at the feet of the two men, and in +part jumbled together in a long flat box, were the other persons of the +Drama. The hero's wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the +foreign gentleman who not being familiar with the language is unable in +the representation to express his ideas otherwise than by the utterance +of the word 'Shallabalah' three distinct times, the radical neighbour +who will by no means admit that a tin bell is an organ, the +executioner, and the devil, were all here. Their owners had evidently +come to that spot to make some needful repairs in the stage +arrangements, for one of them was engaged in binding together a small +gallows with thread, while the other was intent upon fixing a new black +wig, with the aid of a small hammer and some tacks, upon the head of +the radical neighbour, who had been beaten bald. + +They raised their eyes when the old man and his young companion were +close upon them, and pausing in their work, returned their looks of +curiosity. One of them, the actual exhibitor no doubt, was a little +merry-faced man with a twinkling eye and a red nose, who seemed to have +unconsciously imbibed something of his hero's character. The +other--that was he who took the money--had rather a careful and +cautious look, which was perhaps inseparable from his occupation also. + +The merry man was the first to greet the strangers with a nod; and +following the old man's eyes, he observed that perhaps that was the +first time he had ever seen a Punch off the stage. (Punch, it may be +remarked, seemed to be pointing with the tip of his cap to a most +flourishing epitaph, and to be chuckling over it with all his heart.) + +'Why do you come here to do this?' said the old man, sitting down +beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight. + +'Why you see,' rejoined the little man, 'we're putting up for to-night +at the public-house yonder, and it wouldn't do to let 'em see the +present company undergoing repair.' + +'No!' cried the old man, making signs to Nell to listen, 'why not, eh? +why not?' + +'Because it would destroy all the delusion, and take away all the +interest, wouldn't it?' replied the little man. 'Would you care a +ha'penny for the Lord Chancellor if you know'd him in private and +without his wig?--certainly not.' + +'Good!' said the old man, venturing to touch one of the puppets, and +drawing away his hand with a shrill laugh. 'Are you going to show 'em +to-night? are you?' + +'That is the intention, governor,' replied the other, 'and unless I'm +much mistaken, Tommy Codlin is a calculating at this minute what we've +lost through your coming upon us. Cheer up, Tommy, it can't be much.' + +The little man accompanied these latter words with a wink, expressive +of the estimate he had formed of the travellers' finances. + +To this Mr Codlin, who had a surly, grumbling manner, replied, as he +twitched Punch off the tombstone and flung him into the box, 'I don't +care if we haven't lost a farden, but you're too free. If you stood in +front of the curtain and see the public's faces as I do, you'd know +human natur' better.' + +'Ah! it's been the spoiling of you, Tommy, your taking to that branch,' +rejoined his companion. 'When you played the ghost in the reg'lar +drama in the fairs, you believed in everything--except ghosts. But now +you're a universal mistruster. I never see a man so changed.' + +'Never mind,' said Mr Codlin, with the air of a discontented +philosopher. 'I know better now, and p'raps I'm sorry for it.' + +Turning over the figures in the box like one who knew and despised +them, Mr Codlin drew one forth and held it up for the inspection of his +friend: + +'Look here; here's all this judy's clothes falling to pieces again. +You haven't got a needle and thread I suppose?' + +The little man shook his head, and scratched it ruefully as he +contemplated this severe indisposition of a principal performer. +Seeing that they were at a loss, the child said timidly: + +'I have a needle, Sir, in my basket, and thread too. Will you let me +try to mend it for you? I think I could do it neater than you could.' + +Even Mr Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable. +Nelly, kneeling down beside the box, was soon busily engaged in her +task, and accomplishing it to a miracle. + +While she was thus engaged, the merry little man looked at her with an +interest which did not appear to be diminished when he glanced at her +helpless companion. When she had finished her work he thanked her, and +inquired whither they were travelling. + +'N--no further to-night, I think,' said the child, looking towards her +grandfather. + +'If you're wanting a place to stop at,' the man remarked, 'I should +advise you to take up at the same house with us. That's it. The long, +low, white house there. It's very cheap.' + +The old man, notwithstanding his fatigue, would have remained in the +churchyard all night if his new acquaintances had remained there too. +As he yielded to this suggestion a ready and rapturous assent, they all +rose and walked away together; he keeping close to the box of puppets +in which he was quite absorbed, the merry little man carrying it slung +over his arm by a strap attached to it for the purpose, Nelly having +hold of her grandfather's hand, and Mr Codlin sauntering slowly behind, +casting up at the church tower and neighbouring trees such looks as he +was accustomed in town-practice to direct to drawing-room and nursery +windows, when seeking for a profitable spot on which to plant the show. + +The public-house was kept by a fat old landlord and landlady who made +no objection to receiving their new guests, but praised Nelly's beauty +and were at once prepossessed in her behalf. There was no other +company in the kitchen but the two showmen, and the child felt very +thankful that they had fallen upon such good quarters. The landlady +was very much astonished to learn that they had come all the way from +London, and appeared to have no little curiosity touching their farther +destination. The child parried her inquiries as well as she could, and +with no great trouble, for finding that they appeared to give her pain, +the old lady desisted. + +'These two gentlemen have ordered supper in an hour's time,' she said, +taking her into the bar; 'and your best plan will be to sup with them. +Meanwhile you shall have a little taste of something that'll do you +good, for I'm sure you must want it after all you've gone through +to-day. Now, don't look after the old gentleman, because when you've +drank that, he shall have some too.' + +As nothing could induce the child to leave him alone, however, or to +touch anything in which he was not the first and greatest sharer, the +old lady was obliged to help him first. When they had been thus +refreshed, the whole house hurried away into an empty stable where the +show stood, and where, by the light of a few flaring candles stuck +round a hoop which hung by a line from the ceiling, it was to be +forthwith exhibited. + +And now Mr Thomas Codlin, the misanthrope, after blowing away at the +Pan's pipes until he was intensely wretched, took his station on one +side of the checked drapery which concealed the mover of the figures, +and putting his hands in his pockets prepared to reply to all questions +and remarks of Punch, and to make a dismal feint of being his most +intimate private friend, of believing in him to the fullest and most +unlimited extent, of knowing that he enjoyed day and night a merry and +glorious existence in that temple, and that he was at all times and +under every circumstance the same intelligent and joyful person that +the spectators then beheld him. All this Mr Codlin did with the air of +a man who had made up his mind for the worst and was quite resigned; +his eye slowly wandering about during the briskest repartee to observe +the effect upon the audience, and particularly the impression made upon +the landlord and landlady, which might be productive of very important +results in connexion with the supper. + +Upon this head, however, he had no cause for any anxiety, for the whole +performance was applauded to the echo, and voluntary contributions were +showered in with a liberality which testified yet more strongly to the +general delight. Among the laughter none was more loud and frequent +than the old man's. Nell's was unheard, for she, poor child, with her +head drooping on his shoulder, had fallen asleep, and slept too soundly +to be roused by any of his efforts to awaken her to a participation in +his glee. + +The supper was very good, but she was too tired to eat, and yet would +not leave the old man until she had kissed him in his bed. He, happily +insensible to every care and anxiety, sat listening with a vacant smile +and admiring face to all that his new friend said; and it was not until +they retired yawning to their room, that he followed the child up +stairs. + +It was but a loft partitioned into two compartments, where they were to +rest, but they were well pleased with their lodging and had hoped for +none so good. The old man was uneasy when he had lain down, and begged +that Nell would come and sit at his bedside as she had done for so many +nights. She hastened to him, and sat there till he slept. + +There was a little window, hardly more than a chink in the wall, in her +room, and when she left him, she opened it, quite wondering at the +silence. The sight of the old church, and the graves about it in the +moonlight, and the dark trees whispering among themselves, made her +more thoughtful than before. She closed the window again, and sitting +down upon the bed, thought of the life that was before them. + +She had a little money, but it was very little, and when that was gone, +they must begin to beg. There was one piece of gold among it, and an +emergency might come when its worth to them would be increased a +hundred fold. It would be best to hide this coin, and never produce it +unless their case was absolutely desperate, and no other resource was +left them. + +Her resolution taken, she sewed the piece of gold into her dress, and +going to bed with a lighter heart sunk into a deep slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +Another bright day shining in through the small casement, and claiming +fellowship with the kindred eyes of the child, awoke her. At sight of +the strange room and its unaccustomed objects she started up in alarm, +wondering how she had been moved from the familiar chamber in which she +seemed to have fallen asleep last night, and whither she had been +conveyed. But, another glance around called to her mind all that had +lately passed, and she sprung from her bed, hoping and trustful. + +It was yet early, and the old man being still asleep, she walked out +into the churchyard, brushing the dew from the long grass with her +feet, and often turning aside into places where it grew longer than in +others, that she might not tread upon the graves. She felt a curious +kind of pleasure in lingering among these houses of the dead, and read +the inscriptions on the tombs of the good people (a great number of +good people were buried there), passing on from one to another with +increasing interest. + +It was a very quiet place, as such a place should be, save for the +cawing of the rooks who had built their nests among the branches of +some tall old trees, and were calling to one another, high up in the +air. First, one sleek bird, hovering near his ragged house as it swung +and dangled in the wind, uttered his hoarse cry, quite by chance as it +would seem, and in a sober tone as though he were but talking to +himself. Another answered, and he called again, but louder than +before; then another spoke and then another; and each time the first, +aggravated by contradiction, insisted on his case more strongly. Other +voices, silent till now, struck in from boughs lower down and higher up +and midway, and to the right and left, and from the tree-tops; and +others, arriving hastily from the grey church turrets and old belfry +window, joined the clamour which rose and fell, and swelled and dropped +again, and still went on; and all this noisy contention amidst a +skimming to and fro, and lighting on fresh branches, and frequent +change of place, which satirised the old restlessness of those who lay +so still beneath the moss and turf below, and the strife in which they +had worn away their lives. + +Frequently raising her eyes to the trees whence these sounds came down, +and feeling as though they made the place more quiet than perfect +silence would have done, the child loitered from grave to grave, now +stopping to replace with careful hands the bramble which had started +from some green mound it helped to keep in shape, and now peeping +through one of the low latticed windows into the church, with its +worm-eaten books upon the desks, and baize of whitened-green mouldering +from the pew sides and leaving the naked wood to view. There were the +seats where the poor old people sat, worn spare, and yellow like +themselves; the rugged font where children had their names, the homely +altar where they knelt in after life, the plain black tressels that +bore their weight on their last visit to the cool old shady church. +Everything told of long use and quiet slow decay; the very bell-rope in +the porch was frayed into a fringe, and hoary with old age. + +She was looking at a humble stone which told of a young man who had +died at twenty-three years old, fifty-five years ago, when she heard a +faltering step approaching, and looking round saw a feeble woman bent +with the weight of years, who tottered to the foot of that same grave +and asked her to read the writing on the stone. The old woman thanked +her when she had done, saying that she had had the words by heart for +many a long, long year, but could not see them now. + +'Were you his mother?' said the child. + +'I was his wife, my dear.' + +She the wife of a young man of three-and-twenty! Ah, true! It was +fifty-five years ago. + +'You wonder to hear me say that,' remarked the old woman, shaking her +head. 'You're not the first. Older folk than you have wondered at the +same thing before now. Yes, I was his wife. Death doesn't change us +more than life, my dear.' + +'Do you come here often?' asked the child. + +'I sit here very often in the summer time,' she answered, 'I used to +come here once to cry and mourn, but that was a weary while ago, bless +God!' + +'I pluck the daisies as they grow, and take them home,' said the old +woman after a short silence. 'I like no flowers so well as these, and +haven't for five-and-fifty years. It's a long time, and I'm getting +very old.' + +Then growing garrulous upon a theme which was new to one listener +though it were but a child, she told her how she had wept and moaned +and prayed to die herself, when this happened; and how when she first +came to that place, a young creature strong in love and grief, she had +hoped that her heart was breaking as it seemed to be. But that time +passed by, and although she continued to be sad when she came there, +still she could bear to come, and so went on until it was pain no +longer, but a solemn pleasure, and a duty she had learned to like. And +now that five-and-fifty years were gone, she spoke of the dead man as +if he had been her son or grandson, with a kind of pity for his youth, +growing out of her own old age, and an exalting of his strength and +manly beauty as compared with her own weakness and decay; and yet she +spoke about him as her husband too, and thinking of herself in +connexion with him, as she used to be and not as she was now, talked of +their meeting in another world, as if he were dead but yesterday, and +she, separated from her former self, were thinking of the happiness of +that comely girl who seemed to have died with him. + +The child left her gathering the flowers that grew upon the grave, and +thoughtfully retraced her steps. + +The old man was by this time up and dressed. Mr Codlin, still doomed +to contemplate the harsh realities of existence, was packing among his +linen the candle-ends which had been saved from the previous night's +performance; while his companion received the compliments of all the +loungers in the stable-yard, who, unable to separate him from the +master-mind of Punch, set him down as next in importance to that merry +outlaw, and loved him scarcely less. When he had sufficiently +acknowledged his popularity he came in to breakfast, at which meal they +all sat down together. + +'And where are you going to-day?' said the little man, addressing +himself to Nell. + +'Indeed I hardly know--we have not determined yet,' replied the child. + +'We're going on to the races,' said the little man. 'If that's your +way and you like to have us for company, let us travel together. If +you prefer going alone, only say the word and you'll find that we +shan't trouble you.' + +'We'll go with you,' said the old man. 'Nell--with them, with them.' + +The child considered for a moment, and reflecting that she must shortly +beg, and could scarcely hope to do so at a better place than where +crowds of rich ladies and gentlemen were assembled together for +purposes of enjoyment and festivity, determined to accompany these men +so far. She therefore thanked the little man for his offer, and said, +glancing timidly towards his friend, that if there was no objection to +their accompanying them as far as the race town-- + +'Objection!' said the little man. 'Now be gracious for once, Tommy, +and say that you'd rather they went with us. I know you would. Be +gracious, Tommy.' + +'Trotters,' said Mr Codlin, who talked very slowly and ate very +greedily, as is not uncommon with philosophers and misanthropes; +'you're too free.' + +'Why what harm can it do?' urged the other. + +'No harm at all in this particular case, perhaps,' replied Mr Codlin; +'but the principle's a dangerous one, and you're too free I tell you.' + +'Well, are they to go with us or not?' + +'Yes, they are,' said Mr Codlin; 'but you might have made a favour of +it, mightn't you?' + +The real name of the little man was Harris, but it had gradually merged +into the less euphonious one of Trotters, which, with the prefatory +adjective, Short, had been conferred upon him by reason of the small +size of his legs. Short Trotters however, being a compound name, +inconvenient of use in friendly dialogue, the gentleman on whom it had +been bestowed was known among his intimates either as 'Short,' or +'Trotters,' and was seldom accosted at full length as Short Trotters, +except in formal conversations and on occasions of ceremony. + +Short, then, or Trotters, as the reader pleases, returned unto the +remonstrance of his friend Mr Thomas Codlin a jocose answer calculated +to turn aside his discontent; and applying himself with great relish to +the cold boiled beef, the tea, and bread and butter, strongly impressed +upon his companions that they should do the like. Mr Codlin indeed +required no such persuasion, as he had already eaten as much as he +could possibly carry and was now moistening his clay with strong ale, +whereof he took deep draughts with a silent relish and invited nobody +to partake--thus again strongly indicating his misanthropical turn of +mind. + +Breakfast being at length over, Mr Codlin called the bill, and charging +the ale to the company generally (a practice also savouring of +misanthropy) divided the sum-total into two fair and equal parts, +assigning one moiety to himself and friend, and the other to Nelly and +her grandfather. These being duly discharged and all things ready for +their departure, they took farewell of the landlord and landlady and +resumed their journey. + +And here Mr Codlin's false position in society and the effect it +wrought upon his wounded spirit, were strongly illustrated; for whereas +he had been last night accosted by Mr Punch as 'master,' and had by +inference left the audience to understand that he maintained that +individual for his own luxurious entertainment and delight, here he +was, now, painfully walking beneath the burden of that same Punch's +temple, and bearing it bodily upon his shoulders on a sultry day and +along a dusty road. In place of enlivening his patron with a constant +fire of wit or the cheerful rattle of his quarter-staff on the heads of +his relations and acquaintance, here was that beaming Punch utterly +devoid of spine, all slack and drooping in a dark box, with his legs +doubled up round his neck, and not one of his social qualities +remaining. + +Mr Codlin trudged heavily on, exchanging a word or two at intervals +with Short, and stopping to rest and growl occasionally. Short led the +way; with the flat box, the private luggage (which was not extensive) +tied up in a bundle, and a brazen trumpet slung from his +shoulder-blade. Nell and her grandfather walked next him on either +hand, and Thomas Codlin brought up the rear. + +When they came to any town or village, or even to a detached house of +good appearance, Short blew a blast upon the brazen trumpet and +carolled a fragment of a song in that hilarious tone common to Punches +and their consorts. If people hurried to the windows, Mr Codlin +pitched the temple, and hastily unfurling the drapery and concealing +Short therewith, flourished hysterically on the pipes and performed an +air. Then the entertainment began as soon as might be; Mr Codlin +having the responsibility of deciding on its length and of protracting +or expediting the time for the hero's final triumph over the enemy of +mankind, according as he judged that the after-crop of half-pence would +be plentiful or scant. When it had been gathered in to the last +farthing, he resumed his load and on they went again. + +Sometimes they played out the toll across a bridge or ferry, and once +exhibited by particular desire at a turnpike, where the collector, +being drunk in his solitude, paid down a shilling to have it to +himself. There was one small place of rich promise in which their +hopes were blighted, for a favourite character in the play having +gold-lace upon his coat and being a meddling wooden-headed fellow was +held to be a libel on the beadle, for which reason the authorities +enforced a quick retreat; but they were generally well received, and +seldom left a town without a troop of ragged children shouting at their +heels. + +They made a long day's journey, despite these interruptions, and were +yet upon the road when the moon was shining in the sky. Short beguiled +the time with songs and jests, and made the best of everything that +happened. Mr Codlin on the other hand, cursed his fate, and all the +hollow things of earth (but Punch especially), and limped along with +the theatre on his back, a prey to the bitterest chagrin. + +They had stopped to rest beneath a finger-post where four roads met, +and Mr Codlin in his deep misanthropy had let down the drapery and +seated himself in the bottom of the show, invisible to mortal eyes and +disdainful of the company of his fellow creatures, when two monstrous +shadows were seen stalking towards them from a turning in the road by +which they had come. The child was at first quite terrified by the +sight of these gaunt giants--for such they looked as they advanced with +lofty strides beneath the shadow of the trees--but Short, telling her +there was nothing to fear, blew a blast upon the trumpet, which was +answered by a cheerful shout. + +'It's Grinder's lot, an't it?' cried Mr Short in a loud key. + +'Yes,' replied a couple of shrill voices. + +'Come on then,' said Short. 'Let's have a look at you. I thought it +was you.' + +Thus invited, 'Grinder's lot' approached with redoubled speed and soon +came up with the little party. + +Mr Grinder's company, familiarly termed a lot, consisted of a young +gentleman and a young lady on stilts, and Mr Grinder himself, who used +his natural legs for pedestrian purposes and carried at his back a +drum. The public costume of the young people was of the Highland kind, +but the night being damp and cold, the young gentleman wore over his +kilt a man's pea jacket reaching to his ankles, and a glazed hat; the +young lady too was muffled in an old cloth pelisse and had a +handkerchief tied about her head. Their Scotch bonnets, ornamented +with plumes of jet black feathers, Mr Grinder carried on his instrument. + +'Bound for the races, I see,' said Mr Grinder coming up out of breath. +'So are we. How are you, Short?' With that they shook hands in a very +friendly manner. The young people being too high up for the ordinary +salutations, saluted Short after their own fashion. The young +gentleman twisted up his right stilt and patted him on the shoulder, +and the young lady rattled her tambourine. + +'Practice?' said Short, pointing to the stilts. + +'No,' returned Grinder. 'It comes either to walkin' in 'em or carryin' +of 'em, and they like walkin' in 'em best. It's wery pleasant for the +prospects. Which road are you takin'? We go the nighest.' + +'Why, the fact is,' said Short, 'that we are going the longest way, +because then we could stop for the night, a mile and a half on. But +three or four mile gained to-night is so many saved to-morrow, and if +you keep on, I think our best way is to do the same.' + +'Where's your partner?' inquired Grinder. + +'Here he is,' cried Mr Thomas Codlin, presenting his head and face in +the proscenium of the stage, and exhibiting an expression of +countenance not often seen there; 'and he'll see his partner boiled +alive before he'll go on to-night. That's what he says.' + +'Well, don't say such things as them, in a spear which is dewoted to +something pleasanter,' urged Short. 'Respect associations, Tommy, even +if you do cut up rough.' + +'Rough or smooth,' said Mr Codlin, beating his hand on the little +footboard where Punch, when suddenly struck with the symmetry of his +legs and their capacity for silk stockings, is accustomed to exhibit +them to popular admiration, 'rough or smooth, I won't go further than +the mile and a half to-night. I put up at the Jolly Sandboys and +nowhere else. If you like to come there, come there. If you like to +go on by yourself, go on by yourself, and do without me if you can.' + +So saying, Mr Codlin disappeared from the scene and immediately +presented himself outside the theatre, took it on his shoulders at a +jerk, and made off with most remarkable agility. + +Any further controversy being now out of the question, Short was fain +to part with Mr Grinder and his pupils and to follow his morose +companion. After lingering at the finger-post for a few minutes to see +the stilts frisking away in the moonlight and the bearer of the drum +toiling slowly after them, he blew a few notes upon the trumpet as a +parting salute, and hastened with all speed to follow Mr Codlin. With +this view he gave his unoccupied hand to Nell, and bidding her be of +good cheer as they would soon be at the end of their journey for that +night, and stimulating the old man with a similar assurance, led them +at a pretty swift pace towards their destination, which he was the less +unwilling to make for, as the moon was now overcast and the clouds were +threatening rain. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +The Jolly Sandboys was a small road-side inn of pretty ancient date, +with a sign, representing three Sandboys increasing their jollity with +as many jugs of ale and bags of gold, creaking and swinging on its post +on the opposite side of the road. As the travellers had observed that +day many indications of their drawing nearer and nearer to the race +town, such as gipsy camps, carts laden with gambling booths and their +appurtenances, itinerant showmen of various kinds, and beggars and +trampers of every degree, all wending their way in the same direction, +Mr Codlin was fearful of finding the accommodations forestalled; this +fear increasing as he diminished the distance between himself and the +hostelry, he quickened his pace, and notwithstanding the burden he had +to carry, maintained a round trot until he reached the threshold. Here +he had the gratification of finding that his fears were without +foundation, for the landlord was leaning against the door-post looking +lazily at the rain, which had by this time begun to descend heavily, +and no tinkling of cracked bell, nor boisterous shout, nor noisy +chorus, gave note of company within. + +'All alone?' said Mr Codlin, putting down his burden and wiping his +forehead. + +'All alone as yet,' rejoined the landlord, glancing at the sky, 'but we +shall have more company to-night I expect. Here one of you boys, carry +that show into the barn. Make haste in out of the wet, Tom; when it +came on to rain I told 'em to make the fire up, and there's a glorious +blaze in the kitchen, I can tell you.' + +Mr Codlin followed with a willing mind, and soon found that the +landlord had not commended his preparations without good reason. A +mighty fire was blazing on the hearth and roaring up the wide chimney +with a cheerful sound, which a large iron cauldron, bubbling and +simmering in the heat, lent its pleasant aid to swell. There was a +deep red ruddy blush upon the room, and when the landlord stirred the +fire, sending the flames skipping and leaping up--when he took off the +lid of the iron pot and there rushed out a savoury smell, while the +bubbling sound grew deeper and more rich, and an unctuous steam came +floating out, hanging in a delicious mist above their heads--when he +did this, Mr Codlin's heart was touched. He sat down in the +chimney-corner and smiled. + +Mr Codlin sat smiling in the chimney-corner, eyeing the landlord as +with a roguish look he held the cover in his hand, and, feigning that +his doing so was needful to the welfare of the cookery, suffered the +delightful steam to tickle the nostrils of his guest. The glow of the +fire was upon the landlord's bald head, and upon his twinkling eye, and +upon his watering mouth, and upon his pimpled face, and upon his round +fat figure. Mr Codlin drew his sleeve across his lips, and said in a +murmuring voice, 'What is it?' + +'It's a stew of tripe,' said the landlord smacking his lips, 'and +cow-heel,' smacking them again, 'and bacon,' smacking them once more, +'and steak,' smacking them for the fourth time, 'and peas, +cauliflowers, new potatoes, and sparrow-grass, all working up together +in one delicious gravy.' Having come to the climax, he smacked his +lips a great many times, and taking a long hearty sniff of the +fragrance that was hovering about, put on the cover again with the air +of one whose toils on earth were over. + +'At what time will it be ready?' asked Mr Codlin faintly. + +'It'll be done to a turn,' said the landlord looking up to the +clock--and the very clock had a colour in its fat white face, and +looked a clock for jolly Sandboys to consult--'it'll be done to a turn +at twenty-two minutes before eleven.' + +'Then,' said Mr Codlin, 'fetch me a pint of warm ale, and don't let +nobody bring into the room even so much as a biscuit till the time +arrives.' + +Nodding his approval of this decisive and manly course of procedure, +the landlord retired to draw the beer, and presently returning with it, +applied himself to warm the same in a small tin vessel shaped +funnel-wise, for the convenience of sticking it far down in the fire +and getting at the bright places. This was soon done, and he handed it +over to Mr Codlin with that creamy froth upon the surface which is one +of the happy circumstances attendant on mulled malt. + +Greatly softened by this soothing beverage, Mr Codlin now bethought him +of his companions, and acquainted mine host of the Sandboys that their +arrival might be shortly looked for. The rain was rattling against the +windows and pouring down in torrents, and such was Mr Codlin's extreme +amiability of mind, that he more than once expressed his earnest hope +that they would not be so foolish as to get wet. + +At length they arrived, drenched with the rain and presenting a most +miserable appearance, notwithstanding that Short had sheltered the +child as well as he could under the skirts of his own coat, and they +were nearly breathless from the haste they had made. But their steps +were no sooner heard upon the road than the landlord, who had been at +the outer door anxiously watching for their coming, rushed into the +kitchen and took the cover off. The effect was electrical. They all +came in with smiling faces though the wet was dripping from their +clothes upon the floor, and Short's first remark was, 'What a delicious +smell!' + +It is not very difficult to forget rain and mud by the side of a +cheerful fire, and in a bright room. They were furnished with slippers +and such dry garments as the house or their own bundles afforded, and +ensconcing themselves, as Mr Codlin had already done, in the warm +chimney-corner, soon forgot their late troubles or only remembered them +as enhancing the delights of the present time. Overpowered by the +warmth and comfort and the fatigue they had undergone, Nelly and the +old man had not long taken their seats here, when they fell asleep. + +'Who are they?' whispered the landlord. + +Short shook his head, and wished he knew himself. + +'Don't you know?' asked the host, turning to Mr Codlin. + +'Not I,' he replied. 'They're no good, I suppose.' + +'They're no harm,' said Short. 'Depend upon that. I tell you +what--it's plain that the old man an't in his right mind--' + +'If you haven't got anything newer than that to say,' growled Mr +Codlin, glancing at the clock, 'you'd better let us fix our minds upon +the supper, and not disturb us.' + +'Hear me out, won't you?' retorted his friend. 'It's very plain to me, +besides, that they're not used to this way of life. Don't tell me that +that handsome child has been in the habit of prowling about as she's +done these last two or three days. I know better.' + +'Well, who DOES tell you she has?' growled Mr Codlin, again glancing at +the clock and from it to the cauldron, 'can't you think of anything +more suitable to present circumstances than saying things and then +contradicting 'em?' + +'I wish somebody would give you your supper,' returned Short, 'for +there'll be no peace till you've got it. Have you seen how anxious the +old man is to get on--always wanting to be furder away--furder away. +Have you seen that?' + +'Ah! what then?' muttered Thomas Codlin. + +'This, then,' said Short. 'He has given his friends the slip. Mind +what I say--he has given his friends the slip, and persuaded this +delicate young creetur all along of her fondness for him to be his +guide and travelling companion--where to, he knows no more than the man +in the moon. Now I'm not a going to stand that.' + +'YOU'RE not a going to stand that!' cried Mr Codlin, glancing at the +clock again and pulling his hair with both hands in a kind of frenzy, +but whether occasioned by his companion's observation or the tardy pace +of Time, it was difficult to determine. 'Here's a world to live in!' + +'I,' repeated Short emphatically and slowly, 'am not a-going to stand +it. I am not a-going to see this fair young child a falling into bad +hands, and getting among people that she's no more fit for, than they +are to get among angels as their ordinary chums. Therefore when they +dewelope an intention of parting company from us, I shall take measures +for detaining of 'em, and restoring 'em to their friends, who I dare +say have had their disconsolation pasted up on every wall in London by +this time.' + +'Short,' said Mr Codlin, who with his head upon his hands, and his +elbows on his knees, had been shaking himself impatiently from side to +side up to this point and occasionally stamping on the ground, but who +now looked up with eager eyes; 'it's possible that there may be +uncommon good sense in what you've said. If there is, and there should +be a reward, Short, remember that we're partners in everything!' + +His companion had only time to nod a brief assent to this position, for +the child awoke at the instant. They had drawn close together during +the previous whispering, and now hastily separated and were rather +awkwardly endeavouring to exchange some casual remarks in their usual +tone, when strange footsteps were heard without, and fresh company +entered. + +These were no other than four very dismal dogs, who came pattering in +one after the other, headed by an old bandy dog of particularly +mournful aspect, who, stopping when the last of his followers had got +as far as the door, erected himself upon his hind legs and looked round +at his companions, who immediately stood upon their hind legs, in a +grave and melancholy row. Nor was this the only remarkable +circumstance about these dogs, for each of them wore a kind of little +coat of some gaudy colour trimmed with tarnished spangles, and one of +them had a cap upon his head, tied very carefully under his chin, which +had fallen down upon his nose and completely obscured one eye; add to +this, that the gaudy coats were all wet through and discoloured with +rain, and that the wearers were splashed and dirty, and some idea may +be formed of the unusual appearance of these new visitors to the Jolly +Sandboys. + +Neither Short nor the landlord nor Thomas Codlin, however, was in the +least surprised, merely remarking that these were Jerry's dogs and that +Jerry could not be far behind. So there the dogs stood, patiently +winking and gaping and looking extremely hard at the boiling pot, until +Jerry himself appeared, when they all dropped down at once and walked +about the room in their natural manner. This posture it must be +confessed did not much improve their appearance, as their own personal +tails and their coat tails--both capital things in their way--did not +agree together. + +Jerry, the manager of these dancing dogs, was a tall black-whiskered +man in a velveteen coat, who seemed well known to the landlord and his +guests and accosted them with great cordiality. Disencumbering himself +of a barrel organ which he placed upon a chair, and retaining in his +hand a small whip wherewith to awe his company of comedians, he came up +to the fire to dry himself, and entered into conversation. + +'Your people don't usually travel in character, do they?' said Short, +pointing to the dresses of the dogs. 'It must come expensive if they +do?' + +'No,' replied Jerry, 'no, it's not the custom with us. But we've been +playing a little on the road to-day, and we come out with a new +wardrobe at the races, so I didn't think it worth while to stop to +undress. Down, Pedro!' + +This was addressed to the dog with the cap on, who being a new member +of the company, and not quite certain of his duty, kept his unobscured +eye anxiously on his master, and was perpetually starting upon his hind +legs when there was no occasion, and falling down again. + +'I've got a animal here,' said Jerry, putting his hand into the +capacious pocket of his coat, and diving into one corner as if he were +feeling for a small orange or an apple or some such article, 'a animal +here, wot I think you know something of, Short.' + +'Ah!' cried Short, 'let's have a look at him.' + +'Here he is,' said Jerry, producing a little terrier from his pocket. +'He was once a Toby of yours, warn't he!' + +In some versions of the great drama of Punch there is a small dog--a +modern innovation--supposed to be the private property of that +gentleman, whose name is always Toby. This Toby has been stolen in +youth from another gentleman, and fraudulently sold to the confiding +hero, who having no guile himself has no suspicion that it lurks in +others; but Toby, entertaining a grateful recollection of his old +master, and scorning to attach himself to any new patrons, not only +refuses to smoke a pipe at the bidding of Punch, but to mark his old +fidelity more strongly, seizes him by the nose and wrings the same with +violence, at which instance of canine attachment the spectators are +deeply affected. This was the character which the little terrier in +question had once sustained; if there had been any doubt upon the +subject he would speedily have resolved it by his conduct; for not only +did he, on seeing Short, give the strongest tokens of recognition, but +catching sight of the flat box he barked so furiously at the pasteboard +nose which he knew was inside, that his master was obliged to gather +him up and put him into his pocket again, to the great relief of the +whole company. + +The landlord now busied himself in laying the cloth, in which process +Mr Codlin obligingly assisted by setting forth his own knife and fork +in the most convenient place and establishing himself behind them. +When everything was ready, the landlord took off the cover for the last +time, and then indeed there burst forth such a goodly promise of +supper, that if he had offered to put it on again or had hinted at +postponement, he would certainly have been sacrificed on his own hearth. + +However, he did nothing of the kind, but instead thereof assisted a +stout servant girl in turning the contents of the cauldron into a large +tureen; a proceeding which the dogs, proof against various hot splashes +which fell upon their noses, watched with terrible eagerness. At +length the dish was lifted on the table, and mugs of ale having been +previously set round, little Nell ventured to say grace, and supper +began. + +At this juncture the poor dogs were standing on their hind legs quite +surprisingly; the child, having pity on them, was about to cast some +morsels of food to them before she tasted it herself, hungry though she +was, when their master interposed. + +'No, my dear, no, not an atom from anybody's hand but mine if you +please. That dog,' said Jerry, pointing out the old leader of the +troop, and speaking in a terrible voice, 'lost a halfpenny to-day. He +goes without his supper.' + +The unfortunate creature dropped upon his fore-legs directly, wagged +his tail, and looked imploringly at his master. + +'You must be more careful, Sir,' said Jerry, walking coolly to the +chair where he had placed the organ, and setting the stop. 'Come here. +Now, Sir, you play away at that, while we have supper, and leave off if +you dare.' + +The dog immediately began to grind most mournful music. His master +having shown him the whip resumed his seat and called up the others, +who, at his directions, formed in a row, standing upright as a file of +soldiers. + +'Now, gentlemen,' said Jerry, looking at them attentively. 'The dog +whose name's called, eats. The dogs whose names an't called, keep +quiet. Carlo!' + +The lucky individual whose name was called, snapped up the morsel +thrown towards him, but none of the others moved a muscle. In this +manner they were fed at the discretion of their master. Meanwhile the +dog in disgrace ground hard at the organ, sometimes in quick time, +sometimes in slow, but never leaving off for an instant. When the +knives and forks rattled very much, or any of his fellows got an +unusually large piece of fat, he accompanied the music with a short +howl, but he immediately checked it on his master looking round, and +applied himself with increased diligence to the Old Hundredth. + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +Supper was not yet over, when there arrived at the Jolly Sandboys two +more travellers bound for the same haven as the rest, who had been +walking in the rain for some hours, and came in shining and heavy with +water. One of these was the proprietor of a giant, and a little lady +without legs or arms, who had jogged forward in a van; the other, a +silent gentleman who earned his living by showing tricks upon the +cards, and who had rather deranged the natural expression of his +countenance by putting small leaden lozenges into his eyes and bringing +them out at his mouth, which was one of his professional +accomplishments. The name of the first of these newcomers was Vuffin; +the other, probably as a pleasant satire upon his ugliness, was called +Sweet William. To render them as comfortable as he could, the landlord +bestirred himself nimbly, and in a very short time both gentlemen were +perfectly at their ease. + +'How's the Giant?' said Short, when they all sat smoking round the fire. + +'Rather weak upon his legs,' returned Mr Vuffin. 'I begin to be afraid +he's going at the knees.' + +'That's a bad look-out,' said Short. + +'Aye! Bad indeed,' replied Mr Vuffin, contemplating the fire with a +sigh. 'Once get a giant shaky on his legs, and the public care no more +about him than they do for a dead cabbage stalk.' + +'What becomes of old giants?' said Short, turning to him again after a +little reflection. + +'They're usually kept in carawans to wait upon the dwarfs,' said Mr +Vuffin. + +'The maintaining of 'em must come expensive, when they can't be shown, +eh?' remarked Short, eyeing him doubtfully. + +'It's better that, than letting 'em go upon the parish or about the +streets,' said Mr Vuffin. 'Once make a giant common and giants will +never draw again. Look at wooden legs. If there was only one man with +a wooden leg what a property he'd be!' + +'So he would!' observed the landlord and Short both together. 'That's +very true.' + +'Instead of which,' pursued Mr Vuffin, 'if you was to advertise +Shakspeare played entirely by wooden legs, it's my belief you wouldn't +draw a sixpence.' + +'I don't suppose you would,' said Short. And the landlord said so too. + +'This shows, you see,' said Mr Vuffin, waving his pipe with an +argumentative air, 'this shows the policy of keeping the used-up giants +still in the carawans, where they get food and lodging for nothing, all +their lives, and in general very glad they are to stop there. There +was one giant--a black 'un--as left his carawan some year ago and took +to carrying coach-bills about London, making himself as cheap as +crossing-sweepers. He died. I make no insinuation against anybody in +particular,' said Mr Vuffin, looking solemnly round, 'but he was +ruining the trade;--and he died.' + +The landlord drew his breath hard, and looked at the owner of the dogs, +who nodded and said gruffly that he remembered. + +'I know you do, Jerry,' said Mr Vuffin with profound meaning. 'I know +you remember it, Jerry, and the universal opinion was, that it served +him right. Why, I remember the time when old Maunders as had +three-and-twenty wans--I remember the time when old Maunders had in his +cottage in Spa Fields in the winter time, when the season was over, +eight male and female dwarfs setting down to dinner every day, who was +waited on by eight old giants in green coats, red smalls, blue cotton +stockings, and high-lows: and there was one dwarf as had grown elderly +and wicious who whenever his giant wasn't quick enough to please him, +used to stick pins in his legs, not being able to reach up any higher. +I know that's a fact, for Maunders told it me himself.' + +'What about the dwarfs when they get old?' inquired the landlord. + +'The older a dwarf is, the better worth he is,' returned Mr Vuffin; 'a +grey-headed dwarf, well wrinkled, is beyond all suspicion. But a giant +weak in the legs and not standing upright!--keep him in the carawan, +but never show him, never show him, for any persuasion that can be +offered.' + +While Mr Vuffin and his two friends smoked their pipes and beguiled the +time with such conversation as this, the silent gentleman sat in a warm +corner, swallowing, or seeming to swallow, sixpennyworth of halfpence +for practice, balancing a feather upon his nose, and rehearsing other +feats of dexterity of that kind, without paying any regard whatever to +the company, who in their turn left him utterly unnoticed. At length +the weary child prevailed upon her grandfather to retire, and they +withdrew, leaving the company yet seated round the fire, and the dogs +fast asleep at a humble distance. + +After bidding the old man good night, Nell retired to her poor garret, +but had scarcely closed the door, when it was gently tapped at. She +opened it directly, and was a little startled by the sight of Mr Thomas +Codlin, whom she had left, to all appearance, fast asleep down stairs. + +'What is the matter?' said the child. + +'Nothing's the matter, my dear,' returned her visitor. 'I'm your +friend. Perhaps you haven't thought so, but it's me that's your +friend--not him.' + +'Not who?' the child inquired. + +'Short, my dear. I tell you what,' said Codlin, 'for all his having a +kind of way with him that you'd be very apt to like, I'm the real, +open-hearted man. I mayn't look it, but I am indeed.' + +The child began to be alarmed, considering that the ale had taken +effect upon Mr Codlin, and that this commendation of himself was the +consequence. + +'Short's very well, and seems kind,' resumed the misanthrope, 'but he +overdoes it. Now I don't.' + +Certainly if there were any fault in Mr Codlin's usual deportment, it +was that he rather underdid his kindness to those about him, than +overdid it. But the child was puzzled, and could not tell what to say. + +'Take my advice,' said Codlin: 'don't ask me why, but take it. As long +as you travel with us, keep as near me as you can. Don't offer to +leave us--not on any account--but always stick to me and say that I'm +your friend. Will you bear that in mind, my dear, and always say that +it was me that was your friend?' + +'Say so where--and when?' inquired the child innocently. + +'O, nowhere in particular,' replied Codlin, a little put out as it +seemed by the question; 'I'm only anxious that you should think me so, +and do me justice. You can't think what an interest I have in you. +Why didn't you tell me your little history--that about you and the poor +old gentleman? I'm the best adviser that ever was, and so interested +in you--so much more interested than Short. I think they're breaking +up down stairs; you needn't tell Short, you know, that we've had this +little talk together. God bless you. Recollect the friend. Codlin's +the friend, not Short. Short's very well as far as he goes, but the +real friend is Codlin--not Short.' + +Eking out these professions with a number of benevolent and protecting +looks and great fervour of manner, Thomas Codlin stole away on tiptoe, +leaving the child in a state of extreme surprise. She was still +ruminating upon his curious behaviour, when the floor of the crazy +stairs and landing cracked beneath the tread of the other travellers +who were passing to their beds. When they had all passed, and the +sound of their footsteps had died away, one of them returned, and after +a little hesitation and rustling in the passage, as if he were doubtful +what door to knock at, knocked at hers. + +'Yes,' said the child from within. + +'It's me--Short'--a voice called through the keyhole. 'I only wanted +to say that we must be off early to-morrow morning, my dear, because +unless we get the start of the dogs and the conjuror, the villages +won't be worth a penny. You'll be sure to be stirring early and go +with us? I'll call you.' + +The child answered in the affirmative, and returning his 'good night' +heard him creep away. She felt some uneasiness at the anxiety of these +men, increased by the recollection of their whispering together down +stairs and their slight confusion when she awoke, nor was she quite +free from a misgiving that they were not the fittest companions she +could have stumbled on. Her uneasiness, however, was nothing, weighed +against her fatigue; and she soon forgot it in sleep. + +Very early next morning, Short fulfilled his promise, and knocking +softly at her door, entreated that she would get up directly, as the +proprietor of the dogs was still snoring, and if they lost no time they +might get a good deal in advance both of him and the conjuror, who was +talking in his sleep, and from what he could be heard to say, appeared +to be balancing a donkey in his dreams. She started from her bed +without delay, and roused the old man with so much expedition that they +were both ready as soon as Short himself, to that gentleman's +unspeakable gratification and relief. + +After a very unceremonious and scrambling breakfast, of which the +staple commodities were bacon and bread, and beer, they took leave of +the landlord and issued from the door of the jolly Sandboys. The +morning was fine and warm, the ground cool to the feet after the late +rain, the hedges gayer and more green, the air clear, and everything +fresh and healthful. Surrounded by these influences, they walked on +pleasantly enough. + +They had not gone very far, when the child was again struck by the +altered behaviour of Mr Thomas Codlin, who instead of plodding on +sulkily by himself as he had heretofore done, kept close to her, and +when he had an opportunity of looking at her unseen by his companion, +warned her by certain wry faces and jerks of the head not to put any +trust in Short, but to reserve all confidences for Codlin. Neither did +he confine himself to looks and gestures, for when she and her +grandfather were walking on beside the aforesaid Short, and that little +man was talking with his accustomed cheerfulness on a variety of +indifferent subjects, Thomas Codlin testified his jealousy and distrust +by following close at her heels, and occasionally admonishing her +ankles with the legs of the theatre in a very abrupt and painful manner. + +All these proceedings naturally made the child more watchful and +suspicious, and she soon observed that whenever they halted to perform +outside a village alehouse or other place, Mr Codlin while he went +through his share of the entertainments kept his eye steadily upon her +and the old man, or with a show of great friendship and consideration +invited the latter to lean upon his arm, and so held him tight until +the representation was over and they again went forward. Even Short +seemed to change in this respect, and to mingle with his good-nature +something of a desire to keep them in safe custody. This increased the +child's misgivings, and made her yet more anxious and uneasy. + +Meanwhile, they were drawing near the town where the races were to +begin next day; for, from passing numerous groups of gipsies and +trampers on the road, wending their way towards it, and straggling out +from every by-way and cross-country lane, they gradually fell into a +stream of people, some walking by the side of covered carts, others +with horses, others with donkeys, others toiling on with heavy loads +upon their backs, but all tending to the same point. The public-houses +by the wayside, from being empty and noiseless as those in the remoter +parts had been, now sent out boisterous shouts and clouds of smoke; +and, from the misty windows, clusters of broad red faces looked down +upon the road. On every piece of waste or common ground, some small +gambler drove his noisy trade, and bellowed to the idle passersby to +stop and try their chance; the crowd grew thicker and more noisy; gilt +gingerbread in blanket-stalls exposed its glories to the dust; and +often a four-horse carriage, dashing by, obscured all objects in the +gritty cloud it raised, and left them, stunned and blinded, far behind. + +It was dark before they reached the town itself, and long indeed the +few last miles had been. Here all was tumult and confusion; the +streets were filled with throngs of people--many strangers were there, +it seemed, by the looks they cast about--the church-bells rang out +their noisy peals, and flags streamed from windows and house-tops. In +the large inn-yards waiters flitted to and fro and ran against each +other, horses clattered on the uneven stones, carriage steps fell +rattling down, and sickening smells from many dinners came in a heavy +lukewarm breath upon the sense. In the smaller public-houses, fiddles +with all their might and main were squeaking out the tune to staggering +feet; drunken men, oblivious of the burden of their song, joined in a +senseless howl, which drowned the tinkling of the feeble bell and made +them savage for their drink; vagabond groups assembled round the doors +to see the stroller woman dance, and add their uproar to the shrill +flageolet and deafening drum. + +Through this delirious scene, the child, frightened and repelled by all +she saw, led on her bewildered charge, clinging close to her conductor, +and trembling lest in the press she should be separated from him and +left to find her way alone. Quickening their steps to get clear of all +the roar and riot, they at length passed through the town and made for +the race-course, which was upon an open heath, situated on an eminence, +a full mile distant from its furthest bounds. + +Although there were many people here, none of the best favoured or best +clad, busily erecting tents and driving stakes in the ground, and +hurrying to and fro with dusty feet and many a grumbled oath--although +there were tired children cradled on heaps of straw between the wheels +of carts, crying themselves to sleep--and poor lean horses and donkeys +just turned loose, grazing among the men and women, and pots and +kettles, and half-lighted fires, and ends of candles flaring and +wasting in the air--for all this, the child felt it an escape from the +town and drew her breath more freely. After a scanty supper, the +purchase of which reduced her little stock so low, that she had only a +few halfpence with which to buy a breakfast on the morrow, she and the +old man lay down to rest in a corner of a tent, and slept, despite the +busy preparations that were going on around them all night long. + +And now they had come to the time when they must beg their bread. Soon +after sunrise in the morning she stole out from the tent, and rambling +into some fields at a short distance, plucked a few wild roses and such +humble flowers, purposing to make them into little nosegays and offer +them to the ladies in the carriages when the company arrived. Her +thoughts were not idle while she was thus employed; when she returned +and was seated beside the old man in one corner of the tent, tying her +flowers together, while the two men lay dozing in another corner, she +plucked him by the sleeve, and slightly glancing towards them, said, in +a low voice-- + +'Grandfather, don't look at those I talk of, and don't seem as if I +spoke of anything but what I am about. What was that you told me +before we left the old house? That if they knew what we were going to +do, they would say that you were mad, and part us?' + +The old man turned to her with an aspect of wild terror; but she +checked him by a look, and bidding him hold some flowers while she tied +them up, and so bringing her lips closer to his ear, said-- + +'I know that was what you told me. You needn't speak, dear. I +recollect it very well. It was not likely that I should forget it. +Grandfather, these men suspect that we have secretly left our friends, +and mean to carry us before some gentleman and have us taken care of +and sent back. If you let your hand tremble so, we can never get away +from them, but if you're only quiet now, we shall do so, easily.' + +'How?' muttered the old man. 'Dear Nelly, how? They will shut me up +in a stone room, dark and cold, and chain me up to the wall, Nell--flog +me with whips, and never let me see thee more!' + +'You're trembling again,' said the child. 'Keep close to me all day. +Never mind them, don't look at them, but me. I shall find a time when +we can steal away. When I do, mind you come with me, and do not stop +or speak a word. Hush! That's all.' + +'Halloa! what are you up to, my dear?' said Mr Codlin, raising his +head, and yawning. Then observing that his companion was fast asleep, +he added in an earnest whisper, 'Codlin's the friend, remember--not +Short.' + +'Making some nosegays,' the child replied; 'I am going to try and sell +some, these three days of the races. Will you have one--as a present I +mean?' + +Mr Codlin would have risen to receive it, but the child hurried towards +him and placed it in his hand. He stuck it in his buttonhole with an +air of ineffable complacency for a misanthrope, and leering exultingly +at the unconscious Short, muttered, as he laid himself down again, 'Tom +Codlin's the friend, by G--!' + +As the morning wore on, the tents assumed a gayer and more brilliant +appearance, and long lines of carriages came rolling softly on the +turf. Men who had lounged about all night in smock-frocks and leather +leggings, came out in silken vests and hats and plumes, as jugglers or +mountebanks; or in gorgeous liveries as soft-spoken servants at +gambling booths; or in sturdy yeoman dress as decoys at unlawful games. +Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to +tell fortunes, and pale slender women with consumptive faces lingered +upon the footsteps of ventriloquists and conjurors, and counted the +sixpences with anxious eyes long before they were gained. As many of +the children as could be kept within bounds, were stowed away, with all +the other signs of dirt and poverty, among the donkeys, carts, and +horses; and as many as could not be thus disposed of ran in and out in +all intricate spots, crept between people's legs and carriage wheels, +and came forth unharmed from under horses' hoofs. The dancing-dogs, +the stilts, the little lady and the tall man, and all the other +attractions, with organs out of number and bands innumerable, emerged +from the holes and corners in which they had passed the night, and +flourished boldly in the sun. + +Along the uncleared course, Short led his party, sounding the brazen +trumpet and revelling in the voice of Punch; and at his heels went +Thomas Codlin, bearing the show as usual, and keeping his eye on Nelly +and her grandfather, as they rather lingered in the rear. The child +bore upon her arm the little basket with her flowers, and sometimes +stopped, with timid and modest looks, to offer them at some gay +carriage; but alas! there were many bolder beggars there, gipsies who +promised husbands, and other adepts in their trade, and although some +ladies smiled gently as they shook their heads, and others cried to the +gentlemen beside them 'See, what a pretty face!' they let the pretty +face pass on, and never thought that it looked tired or hungry. + +There was but one lady who seemed to understand the child, and she was +one who sat alone in a handsome carriage, while two young men in +dashing clothes, who had just dismounted from it, talked and laughed +loudly at a little distance, appearing to forget her, quite. There +were many ladies all around, but they turned their backs, or looked +another way, or at the two young men (not unfavourably at them), and +left her to herself. She motioned away a gipsy-woman urgent to tell +her fortune, saying that it was told already and had been for some +years, but called the child towards her, and taking her flowers put +money into her trembling hand, and bade her go home and keep at home +for God's sake. + +Many a time they went up and down those long, long lines, seeing +everything but the horses and the race; when the bell rang to clear the +course, going back to rest among the carts and donkeys, and not coming +out again until the heat was over. Many a time, too, was Punch +displayed in the full zenith of his humour, but all this while the eye +of Thomas Codlin was upon them, and to escape without notice was +impracticable. + +At length, late in the day, Mr Codlin pitched the show in a convenient +spot, and the spectators were soon in the very triumph of the scene. +The child, sitting down with the old man close behind it, had been +thinking how strange it was that horses who were such fine honest +creatures should seem to make vagabonds of all the men they drew about +them, when a loud laugh at some extemporaneous witticism of Mr Short's, +having allusion to the circumstances of the day, roused her from her +meditation and caused her to look around. + +If they were ever to get away unseen, that was the very moment. Short +was plying the quarter-staves vigorously and knocking the characters in +the fury of the combat against the sides of the show, the people were +looking on with laughing faces, and Mr Codlin had relaxed into a grim +smile as his roving eye detected hands going into waistcoat pockets and +groping secretly for sixpences. If they were ever to get away unseen, +that was the very moment. They seized it, and fled. + +They made a path through booths and carriages and throngs of people, +and never once stopped to look behind. The bell was ringing and the +course was cleared by the time they reached the ropes, but they dashed +across it insensible to the shouts and screeching that assailed them +for breaking in upon its sanctity, and creeping under the brow of the +hill at a quick pace, made for the open fields. + + + + +CHAPTER 20 + +Day after day as he bent his steps homeward, returning from some new +effort to procure employment, Kit raised his eyes to the window of the +little room he had so much commended to the child, and hoped to see +some indication of her presence. His own earnest wish, coupled with +the assurance he had received from Quilp, filled him with the belief +that she would yet arrive to claim the humble shelter he had offered, +and from the death of each day's hope another hope sprung up to live +to-morrow. + +'I think they must certainly come to-morrow, eh mother?' said Kit, +laying aside his hat with a weary air and sighing as he spoke. 'They +have been gone a week. They surely couldn't stop away more than a +week, could they now?' + +The mother shook her head, and reminded him how often he had been +disappointed already. + +'For the matter of that,' said Kit, 'you speak true and sensible +enough, as you always do, mother. Still, I do consider that a week is +quite long enough for 'em to be rambling about; don't you say so?' + +'Quite long enough, Kit, longer than enough, but they may not come back +for all that.' + +Kit was for a moment disposed to be vexed by this contradiction, and +not the less so from having anticipated it in his own mind and knowing +how just it was. But the impulse was only momentary, and the vexed +look became a kind one before it had crossed the room. + +'Then what do you think, mother, has become of 'em? You don't think +they've gone to sea, anyhow?' + +'Not gone for sailors, certainly,' returned the mother with a smile. +'But I can't help thinking that they have gone to some foreign country.' + +'I say,' cried Kit with a rueful face, 'don't talk like that, mother.' + +'I am afraid they have, and that's the truth,' she said. 'It's the +talk of all the neighbours, and there are some even that know of their +having been seen on board ship, and can tell you the name of the place +they've gone to, which is more than I can, my dear, for it's a very +hard one.' + +'I don't believe it,' said Kit. 'Not a word of it. A set of idle +chatterboxes, how should they know!' + +'They may be wrong of course,' returned the mother, 'I can't tell about +that, though I don't think it's at all unlikely that they're in the +right, for the talk is that the old gentleman had put by a little money +that nobody knew of, not even that ugly little man you talk to me +about--what's his name--Quilp; and that he and Miss Nell have gone to +live abroad where it can't be taken from them, and they will never be +disturbed. That don't seem very far out of the way now, do it?' + +Kit scratched his head mournfully, in reluctant admission that it did +not, and clambering up to the old nail took down the cage and set +himself to clean it and to feed the bird. His thoughts reverting from +this occupation to the little old gentleman who had given him the +shilling, he suddenly recollected that that was the very day--nay, +nearly the very hour--at which the little old gentleman had said he +should be at the Notary's house again. He no sooner remembered this, +than he hung up the cage with great precipitation, and hastily +explaining the nature of his errand, went off at full speed to the +appointed place. + +It was some two minutes after the time when he reached the spot, which +was a considerable distance from his home, but by great good luck the +little old gentleman had not yet arrived; at least there was no +pony-chaise to be seen, and it was not likely that he had come and gone +again in so short a space. Greatly relieved to find that he was not +too late, Kit leant against a lamp-post to take breath, and waited the +advent of the pony and his charge. + +Sure enough, before long the pony came trotting round the corner of the +street, looking as obstinate as pony might, and picking his steps as if +he were spying about for the cleanest places, and would by no means +dirty his feet or hurry himself inconveniently. Behind the pony sat +the little old gentleman, and by the old gentleman's side sat the +little old lady, carrying just such a nosegay as she had brought before. + +The old gentleman, the old lady, the pony, and the chaise, came up the +street in perfect unanimity, until they arrived within some half a +dozen doors of the Notary's house, when the pony, deceived by a +brass-plate beneath a tailor's knocker, came to a halt, and maintained +by a sturdy silence, that that was the house they wanted. + +'Now, Sir, will you ha' the goodness to go on; this is not the place,' +said the old gentleman. + +The pony looked with great attention into a fire-plug which was near +him, and appeared to be quite absorbed in contemplating it. + +'Oh dear, such a naughty Whisker!' cried the old lady. 'After being so +good too, and coming along so well! I am quite ashamed of him. I +don't know what we are to do with him, I really don't.' + +The pony having thoroughly satisfied himself as to the nature and +properties of the fire-plug, looked into the air after his old enemies +the flies, and as there happened to be one of them tickling his ear at +that moment he shook his head and whisked his tail, after which he +appeared full of thought but quite comfortable and collected. The old +gentleman having exhausted his powers of persuasion, alighted to lead +him; whereupon the pony, perhaps because he held this to be a +sufficient concession, perhaps because he happened to catch sight of +the other brass-plate, or perhaps because he was in a spiteful humour, +darted off with the old lady and stopped at the right house, leaving +the old gentleman to come panting on behind. + +It was then that Kit presented himself at the pony's head, and touched +his hat with a smile. + +'Why, bless me,' cried the old gentleman, 'the lad is here! My dear, +do you see?' + +'I said I'd be here, Sir,' said Kit, patting Whisker's neck. 'I hope +you've had a pleasant ride, sir. He's a very nice little pony.' + +'My dear,' said the old gentleman. 'This is an uncommon lad; a good +lad, I'm sure.' + +'I'm sure he is,' rejoined the old lady. 'A very good lad, and I am +sure he is a good son.' + +Kit acknowledged these expressions of confidence by touching his hat +again and blushing very much. The old gentleman then handed the old +lady out, and after looking at him with an approving smile, they went +into the house--talking about him as they went, Kit could not help +feeling. Presently Mr Witherden, smelling very hard at the nosegay, +came to the window and looked at him, and after that Mr Abel came and +looked at him, and after that the old gentleman and lady came and +looked at him again, and after that they all came and looked at him +together, which Kit, feeling very much embarrassed by, made a pretence +of not observing. Therefore he patted the pony more and more; and this +liberty the pony most handsomely permitted. + +The faces had not disappeared from the window many moments, when Mr +Chuckster in his official coat, and with his hat hanging on his head +just as it happened to fall from its peg, appeared upon the pavement, +and telling him he was wanted inside, bade him go in and he would mind +the chaise the while. In giving him this direction Mr Chuckster +remarked that he wished that he might be blessed if he could make out +whether he (Kit) was 'precious raw' or 'precious deep,' but intimated +by a distrustful shake of the head, that he inclined to the latter +opinion. + +Kit entered the office in a great tremor, for he was not used to going +among strange ladies and gentlemen, and the tin boxes and bundles of +dusty papers had in his eyes an awful and venerable air. Mr Witherden +too was a bustling gentleman who talked loud and fast, and all eyes +were upon him, and he was very shabby. + +'Well, boy,' said Mr Witherden, 'you came to work out that +shilling;--not to get another, hey?' + +'No indeed, sir,' replied Kit, taking courage to look up. 'I never +thought of such a thing.' + +'Father alive?' said the Notary. + +'Dead, sir.' + +'Mother?' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Married again--eh?' + +Kit made answer, not without some indignation, that she was a widow +with three children, and that as to her marrying again, if the +gentleman knew her he wouldn't think of such a thing. At this reply Mr +Witherden buried his nose in the flowers again, and whispered behind +the nosegay to the old gentleman that he believed the lad was as honest +a lad as need be. + +'Now,' said Mr Garland when they had made some further inquiries of +him, 'I am not going to give you anything--' + +'Thank you, sir,' Kit replied; and quite seriously too, for this +announcement seemed to free him from the suspicion which the Notary had +hinted. + +'--But,' resumed the old gentleman, 'perhaps I may want to know +something more about you, so tell me where you live, and I'll put it +down in my pocket-book.' + +Kit told him, and the old gentleman wrote down the address with his +pencil. He had scarcely done so, when there was a great uproar in the +street, and the old lady hurrying to the window cried that Whisker had +run away, upon which Kit darted out to the rescue, and the others +followed. + +It seemed that Mr Chuckster had been standing with his hands in his +pockets looking carelessly at the pony, and occasionally insulting him +with such admonitions as 'Stand still,'--'Be quiet,'--'Woa-a-a,' and the +like, which by a pony of spirit cannot be borne. Consequently, the +pony being deterred by no considerations of duty or obedience, and not +having before him the slightest fear of the human eye, had at length +started off, and was at that moment rattling down the street--Mr +Chuckster, with his hat off and a pen behind his ear, hanging on in the +rear of the chaise and making futile attempts to draw it the other way, +to the unspeakable admiration of all beholders. Even in running away, +however, Whisker was perverse, for he had not gone very far when he +suddenly stopped, and before assistance could be rendered, commenced +backing at nearly as quick a pace as he had gone forward. By these +means Mr Chuckster was pushed and hustled to the office again, in a +most inglorious manner, and arrived in a state of great exhaustion and +discomfiture. + +The old lady then stepped into her seat, and Mr Abel (whom they had +come to fetch) into his. The old gentleman, after reasoning with the +pony on the extreme impropriety of his conduct, and making the best +amends in his power to Mr Chuckster, took his place also, and they +drove away, waving a farewell to the Notary and his clerk, and more +than once turning to nod kindly to Kit as he watched them from the road. + + + + +CHAPTER 21 + +Kit turned away and very soon forgot the pony, and the chaise, and the +little old lady, and the little old gentleman, and the little young +gentleman to boot, in thinking what could have become of his late +master and his lovely grandchild, who were the fountain-head of all his +meditations. Still casting about for some plausible means of +accounting for their non-appearance, and of persuading himself that +they must soon return, he bent his steps towards home, intending to +finish the task which the sudden recollection of his contract had +interrupted, and then to sally forth once more to seek his fortune for +the day. + +When he came to the corner of the court in which he lived, lo and +behold there was the pony again! Yes, there he was, looking more +obstinate than ever; and alone in the chaise, keeping a steady watch +upon his every wink, sat Mr Abel, who, lifting up his eyes by chance +and seeing Kit pass by, nodded to him as though he would have nodded +his head off. + +Kit wondered to see the pony again, so near his own home too, but it +never occurred to him for what purpose the pony might have come there, +or where the old lady and the old gentleman had gone, until he lifted +the latch of the door, and walking in, found them seated in the room in +conversation with his mother, at which unexpected sight he pulled off +his hat and made his best bow in some confusion. + +'We are here before you, you see, Christopher,' said Mr Garland smiling. + +'Yes, sir,' said Kit; and as he said it, he looked towards his mother +for an explanation of the visit. + +'The gentleman's been kind enough, my dear,' said she, in reply to this +mute interrogation, 'to ask me whether you were in a good place, or in +any place at all, and when I told him no, you were not in any, he was +so good as to say that--' + +'--That we wanted a good lad in our house,' said the old gentleman and +the old lady both together, 'and that perhaps we might think of it, if +we found everything as we would wish it to be.' + +As this thinking of it, plainly meant the thinking of engaging Kit, he +immediately partook of his mother's anxiety and fell into a great +flutter; for the little old couple were very methodical and cautious, +and asked so many questions that he began to be afraid there was no +chance of his success. + +'You see, my good woman,' said Mrs Garland to Kit's mother, 'that it's +necessary to be very careful and particular in such a matter as this, +for we're only three in family, and are very quiet regular folks, and +it would be a sad thing if we made any kind of mistake, and found +things different from what we hoped and expected.' + +To this, Kit's mother replied, that certainly it was quite true, and +quite right, and quite proper, and Heaven forbid that she should +shrink, or have cause to shrink, from any inquiry into her character or +that of her son, who was a very good son though she was his mother, in +which respect, she was bold to say, he took after his father, who was +not only a good son to HIS mother, but the best of husbands and the +best of fathers besides, which Kit could and would corroborate she +knew, and so would little Jacob and the baby likewise if they were old +enough, which unfortunately they were not, though as they didn't know +what a loss they had had, perhaps it was a great deal better that they +should be as young as they were; and so Kit's mother wound up a long +story by wiping her eyes with her apron, and patting little Jacob's +head, who was rocking the cradle and staring with all his might at the +strange lady and gentleman. + +When Kit's mother had done speaking, the old lady struck in again, and +said that she was quite sure she was a very honest and very respectable +person or she never would have expressed herself in that manner, and +that certainly the appearance of the children and the cleanliness of +the house deserved great praise and did her the utmost credit, whereat +Kit's mother dropped a curtsey and became consoled. Then the good +woman entered in a long and minute account of Kit's life and history +from the earliest period down to that time, not omitting to make +mention of his miraculous fall out of a back-parlour window when an +infant of tender years, or his uncommon sufferings in a state of +measles, which were illustrated by correct imitations of the plaintive +manner in which he called for toast and water, day and night, and said, +'don't cry, mother, I shall soon be better;' for proof of which +statements reference was made to Mrs Green, lodger, at the +cheesemonger's round the corner, and divers other ladies and gentlemen +in various parts of England and Wales (and one Mr Brown who was +supposed to be then a corporal in the East Indies, and who could of +course be found with very little trouble), within whose personal +knowledge the circumstances had occurred. This narration ended, Mr +Garland put some questions to Kit respecting his qualifications and +general acquirements, while Mrs Garland noticed the children, and +hearing from Kit's mother certain remarkable circumstances which had +attended the birth of each, related certain other remarkable +circumstances which had attended the birth of her own son, Mr Abel, +from which it appeared that both Kit's mother and herself had been, +above and beyond all other women of what condition or age soever, +peculiarly hemmed in with perils and dangers. Lastly, inquiry was made +into the nature and extent of Kit's wardrobe, and a small advance being +made to improve the same, he was formally hired at an annual income of +Six Pounds, over and above his board and lodging, by Mr and Mrs +Garland, of Abel Cottage, Finchley. + +It would be difficult to say which party appeared most pleased with +this arrangement, the conclusion of which was hailed with nothing but +pleasant looks and cheerful smiles on both sides. It was settled that +Kit should repair to his new abode on the next day but one, in the +morning; and finally, the little old couple, after bestowing a bright +half-crown on little Jacob and another on the baby, took their leaves; +being escorted as far as the street by their new attendant, who held +the obdurate pony by the bridle while they took their seats, and saw +them drive away with a lightened heart. + +'Well, mother,' said Kit, hurrying back into the house, 'I think my +fortune's about made now.' + +'I should think it was indeed, Kit,' rejoined his mother. 'Six pound a +year! Only think!' + +'Ah!' said Kit, trying to maintain the gravity which the consideration +of such a sum demanded, but grinning with delight in spite of himself. +'There's a property!' + +Kit drew a long breath when he had said this, and putting his hands +deep into his pockets as if there were one year's wages at least in +each, looked at his mother, as though he saw through her, and down an +immense perspective of sovereigns beyond. + +'Please God we'll make such a lady of you for Sundays, mother! such a +scholar of Jacob, such a child of the baby, such a room of the one up +stairs! Six pound a year!' + +'Hem!' croaked a strange voice. 'What's that about six pound a year? +What about six pound a year?' And as the voice made this inquiry, +Daniel Quilp walked in with Richard Swiveller at his heels. + +'Who said he was to have six pound a year?' said Quilp, looking sharply +round. 'Did the old man say it, or did little Nell say it? And what's +he to have it for, and where are they, eh!' + +The good woman was so much alarmed by the sudden apparition of this +unknown piece of ugliness, that she hastily caught the baby from its +cradle and retreated into the furthest corner of the room; while little +Jacob, sitting upon his stool with his hands on his knees, looked full +at him in a species of fascination, roaring lustily all the time. +Richard Swiveller took an easy observation of the family over Mr Quilp's +head, and Quilp himself, with his hands in his pockets, smiled in an +exquisite enjoyment of the commotion he occasioned. + +'Don't be frightened, mistress,' said Quilp, after a pause. 'Your son +knows me; I don't eat babies; I don't like 'em. It will be as well to +stop that young screamer though, in case I should be tempted to do him +a mischief. Holloa, sir! Will you be quiet?' + +Little Jacob stemmed the course of two tears which he was squeezing out +of his eyes, and instantly subsided into a silent horror. + +'Mind you don't break out again, you villain,' said Quilp, looking +sternly at him, 'or I'll make faces at you and throw you into fits, I +will. Now you sir, why haven't you been to me as you promised?' + +'What should I come for?' retorted Kit. 'I hadn't any business with +you, no more than you had with me.' + +'Here, mistress,' said Quilp, turning quickly away, and appealing from +Kit to his mother. 'When did his old master come or send here last? +Is he here now? If not, where's he gone?' + +'He has not been here at all,' she replied. 'I wish we knew where they +have gone, for it would make my son a good deal easier in his mind, and +me too. If you're the gentleman named Mr Quilp, I should have thought +you'd have known, and so I told him only this very day.' + +'Humph!' muttered Quilp, evidently disappointed to believe that this +was true. 'That's what you tell this gentleman too, is it?' + +'If the gentleman comes to ask the same question, I can't tell him +anything else, sir; and I only wish I could, for our own sakes,' was +the reply. + +Quilp glanced at Richard Swiveller, and observed that having met him on +the threshold, he assumed that he had come in search of some +intelligence of the fugitives. He supposed he was right? + +'Yes,' said Dick, 'that was the object of the present expedition. I +fancied it possible--but let us go ring fancy's knell. I'll begin it.' + +'You seem disappointed,' observed Quilp. + +'A baffler, Sir, a baffler, that's all,' returned Dick. 'I have +entered upon a speculation which has proved a baffler; and a Being of +brightness and beauty will be offered up a sacrifice at Cheggs's altar. +That's all, sir.' + +The dwarf eyed Richard with a sarcastic smile, but Richard, who had +been taking a rather strong lunch with a friend, observed him not, and +continued to deplore his fate with mournful and despondent looks. +Quilp plainly discerned that there was some secret reason for this +visit and his uncommon disappointment, and, in the hope that there +might be means of mischief lurking beneath it, resolved to worm it out. +He had no sooner adopted this resolution, than he conveyed as much +honesty into his face as it was capable of expressing, and sympathised +with Mr Swiveller exceedingly. + +'I am disappointed myself,' said Quilp, 'out of mere friendly feeling +for them; but you have real reasons, private reasons I have no doubt, +for your disappointment, and therefore it comes heavier than mine.' + +'Why, of course it does,' Dick observed, testily. + +'Upon my word, I'm very sorry, very sorry. I'm rather cast down +myself. As we are companions in adversity, shall we be companions in +the surest way of forgetting it? If you had no particular business, +now, to lead you in another direction,' urged Quilp, plucking him by +the sleeve and looking slyly up into his face out of the corners of his +eyes, 'there is a house by the water-side where they have some of the +noblest Schiedam--reputed to be smuggled, but that's between +ourselves--that can be got in all the world. The landlord knows me. +There's a little summer-house overlooking the river, where we might +take a glass of this delicious liquor with a whiff of the best +tobacco--it's in this case, and of the rarest quality, to my certain +knowledge--and be perfectly snug and happy, could we possibly contrive +it; or is there any very particular engagement that peremptorily takes +you another way, Mr Swiveller, eh?' + +As the dwarf spoke, Dick's face relaxed into a compliant smile, and his +brows slowly unbent. By the time he had finished, Dick was looking +down at Quilp in the same sly manner as Quilp was looking up at him, +and there remained nothing more to be done but to set out for the house +in question. This they did, straightway. The moment their backs were +turned, little Jacob thawed, and resumed his crying from the point +where Quilp had frozen him. + +The summer-house of which Mr Quilp had spoken was a rugged wooden box, +rotten and bare to see, which overhung the river's mud, and threatened +to slide down into it. The tavern to which it belonged was a crazy +building, sapped and undermined by the rats, and only upheld by great +bars of wood which were reared against its walls, and had propped it up +so long that even they were decaying and yielding with their load, and +of a windy night might be heard to creak and crack as if the whole +fabric were about to come toppling down. The house stood--if anything +so old and feeble could be said to stand--on a piece of waste ground, +blighted with the unwholesome smoke of factory chimneys, and echoing +the clank of iron wheels and rush of troubled water. Its internal +accommodations amply fulfilled the promise of the outside. The rooms +were low and damp, the clammy walls were pierced with chinks and holes, +the rotten floors had sunk from their level, the very beams started +from their places and warned the timid stranger from their +neighbourhood. + +To this inviting spot, entreating him to observe its beauties as they +passed along, Mr Quilp led Richard Swiveller, and on the table of the +summer-house, scored deep with many a gallows and initial letter, there +soon appeared a wooden keg, full of the vaunted liquor. Drawing it off +into the glasses with the skill of a practised hand, and mixing it with +about a third part of water, Mr Quilp assigned to Richard Swiveller his +portion, and lighting his pipe from an end of a candle in a very old +and battered lantern, drew himself together upon a seat and puffed away. + +'Is it good?' said Quilp, as Richard Swiveller smacked his lips, 'is it +strong and fiery? Does it make you wink, and choke, and your eyes +water, and your breath come short--does it?' + +'Does it?' cried Dick, throwing away part of the contents of his glass, +and filling it up with water, 'why, man, you don't mean to tell me that +you drink such fire as this?' + +'No!' rejoined Quilp, 'Not drink it! Look here. And here. And here +again. Not drink it!' + +As he spoke, Daniel Quilp drew off and drank three small glassfuls of +the raw spirit, and then with a horrible grimace took a great many +pulls at his pipe, and swallowing the smoke, discharged it in a heavy +cloud from his nose. This feat accomplished he drew himself together +in his former position, and laughed excessively. + +'Give us a toast!' cried Quilp, rattling on the table in a dexterous +manner with his fist and elbow alternately, in a kind of tune, 'a +woman, a beauty. Let's have a beauty for our toast and empty our +glasses to the last drop. Her name, come!' + +'If you want a name,' said Dick, 'here's Sophy Wackles.' + +'Sophy Wackles,' screamed the dwarf, 'Miss Sophy Wackles that is--Mrs +Richard Swiveller that shall be--that shall be--ha ha ha!' + +'Ah!' said Dick, 'you might have said that a few weeks ago, but it +won't do now, my buck. Immolating herself upon the shrine of Cheggs--' + +'Poison Cheggs, cut Cheggs's ears off,' rejoined Quilp. 'I won't hear +of Cheggs. Her name is Swiveller or nothing. I'll drink her health +again, and her father's, and her mother's; and to all her sisters and +brothers--the glorious family of the Wackleses--all the Wackleses in +one glass--down with it to the dregs!' + +'Well,' said Richard Swiveller, stopping short in the act of raising +the glass to his lips and looking at the dwarf in a species of stupor +as he flourished his arms and legs about: 'you're a jolly fellow, but +of all the jolly fellows I ever saw or heard of, you have the queerest +and most extraordinary way with you, upon my life you have.' + +This candid declaration tended rather to increase than restrain Mr +Quilp's eccentricities, and Richard Swiveller, astonished to see him in +such a roystering vein, and drinking not a little himself, for +company--began imperceptibly to become more companionable and +confiding, so that, being judiciously led on by Mr Quilp, he grew at +last very confiding indeed. Having once got him into this mood, and +knowing now the key-note to strike whenever he was at a loss, Daniel +Quilp's task was comparatively an easy one, and he was soon in +possession of the whole details of the scheme contrived between the +easy Dick and his more designing friend. + +'Stop!' said Quilp. 'That's the thing, that's the thing. It can be +brought about, it shall be brought about. There's my hand upon it; I +am your friend from this minute.' + +'What! do you think there's still a chance?' inquired Dick, in surprise +at this encouragement. + +'A chance!' echoed the dwarf, 'a certainty! Sophy Wackles may become a +Cheggs or anything else she likes, but not a Swiveller. Oh you lucky +dog! He's richer than any Jew alive; you're a made man. I see in you +now nothing but Nelly's husband, rolling in gold and silver. I'll help +you. It shall be done. Mind my words, it shall be done.' + +'But how?' said Dick. + +'There's plenty of time,' rejoined the dwarf, 'and it shall be done. +We'll sit down and talk it over again all the way through. Fill your +glass while I'm gone. I shall be back directly--directly.' + +With these hasty words, Daniel Quilp withdrew into a dismantled skittle- +ground behind the public-house, and, throwing himself upon the ground +actually screamed and rolled about in uncontrollable delight. + +'Here's sport!' he cried, 'sport ready to my hand, all invented and +arranged, and only to be enjoyed. It was this shallow-pated fellow who +made my bones ache t'other day, was it? It was his friend and +fellow-plotter, Mr Trent, that once made eyes at Mrs Quilp, and leered +and looked, was it? After labouring for two or three years in their +precious scheme, to find that they've got a beggar at last, and one of +them tied for life. Ha ha ha! He shall marry Nell. He shall have +her, and I'll be the first man, when the knot's tied hard and fast, to +tell 'em what they've gained and what I've helped 'em to. Here will be +a clearing of old scores, here will be a time to remind 'em what a +capital friend I was, and how I helped them to the heiress. Ha ha ha!' + +In the height of his ecstasy, Mr Quilp had like to have met with a +disagreeable check, for rolling very near a broken dog-kennel, there +leapt forth a large fierce dog, who, but that his chain was of the +shortest, would have given him a disagreeable salute. As it was, the +dwarf remained upon his back in perfect safety, taunting the dog with +hideous faces, and triumphing over him in his inability to advance +another inch, though there were not a couple of feet between them. + +'Why don't you come and bite me, why don't you come and tear me to +pieces, you coward?' said Quilp, hissing and worrying the animal till +he was nearly mad. 'You're afraid, you bully, you're afraid, you know +you are.' + +The dog tore and strained at his chain with starting eyes and furious +bark, but there the dwarf lay, snapping his fingers with gestures of +defiance and contempt. When he had sufficiently recovered from his +delight, he rose, and with his arms a-kimbo, achieved a kind of +demon-dance round the kennel, just without the limits of the chain, +driving the dog quite wild. Having by this means composed his spirits +and put himself in a pleasant train, he returned to his unsuspicious +companion, whom he found looking at the tide with exceeding gravity, +and thinking of that same gold and silver which Mr Quilp had mentioned. + + + + +CHAPTER 22 + +The remainder of that day and the whole of the next were a busy time +for the Nubbles family, to whom everything connected with Kit's outfit +and departure was matter of as great moment as if he had been about to +penetrate into the interior of Africa, or to take a cruise round the +world. It would be difficult to suppose that there ever was a box +which was opened and shut so many times within four-and-twenty hours, +as that which contained his wardrobe and necessaries; and certainly +there never was one which to two small eyes presented such a mine of +clothing, as this mighty chest with its three shirts and proportionate +allowance of stockings and pocket-handkerchiefs, disclosed to the +astonished vision of little Jacob. At last it was conveyed to the +carrier's, at whose house at Finchley Kit was to find it next day; and +the box being gone, there remained but two questions for consideration: +firstly, whether the carrier would lose, or dishonestly feign to lose, +the box upon the road; secondly, whether Kit's mother perfectly +understood how to take care of herself in the absence of her son. + +'I don't think there's hardly a chance of his really losing it, but +carriers are under great temptation to pretend they lose things, no +doubt,' said Mrs Nubbles apprehensively, in reference to the first +point. + +'No doubt about it,' returned Kit, with a serious look; 'upon my word, +mother, I don't think it was right to trust it to itself. Somebody +ought to have gone with it, I'm afraid.' + +'We can't help it now,' said his mother; 'but it was foolish and wrong. +People oughtn't to be tempted.' + +Kit inwardly resolved that he would never tempt a carrier any more, +save with an empty box; and having formed this Christian determination, +he turned his thoughts to the second question. + +'_You_ know you must keep up your spirits, mother, and not be lonesome +because I'm not at home. I shall very often be able to look in when I +come into town I dare say, and I shall send you a letter sometimes, and +when the quarter comes round, I can get a holiday of course; and then +see if we don't take little Jacob to the play, and let him know what +oysters means.' + +'I hope plays mayn't be sinful, Kit, but I'm a'most afraid,' said Mrs +Nubbles. + +'I know who has been putting that in your head,' rejoined her son +disconsolately; 'that's Little Bethel again. Now I say, mother, pray +don't take to going there regularly, for if I was to see your +good-humoured face that has always made home cheerful, turned into a +grievous one, and the baby trained to look grievous too, and to call +itself a young sinner (bless its heart) and a child of the devil (which +is calling its dead father names); if I was to see this, and see little +Jacob looking grievous likewise, I should so take it to heart that I'm +sure I should go and list for a soldier, and run my head on purpose +against the first cannon-ball I saw coming my way.' + +'Oh, Kit, don't talk like that.' + +'I would, indeed, mother, and unless you want to make me feel very +wretched and uncomfortable, you'll keep that bow on your bonnet, which +you'd more than half a mind to pull off last week. Can you suppose +there's any harm in looking as cheerful and being as cheerful as our +poor circumstances will permit? Do I see anything in the way I'm made, +which calls upon me to be a snivelling, solemn, whispering chap, +sneaking about as if I couldn't help it, and expressing myself in a +most unpleasant snuffle? on the contrary, don't I see every reason why +I shouldn't? just hear this! Ha ha ha! An't that as nat'ral as +walking, and as good for the health? Ha ha ha! An't that as nat'ral +as a sheep's bleating, or a pig's grunting, or a horse's neighing, or a +bird's singing? Ha ha ha! Isn't it, mother?' + +There was something contagious in Kit's laugh, for his mother, who had +looked grave before, first subsided into a smile, and then fell to +joining in it heartily, which occasioned Kit to say that he knew it was +natural, and to laugh the more. Kit and his mother, laughing together +in a pretty loud key, woke the baby, who, finding that there was +something very jovial and agreeable in progress, was no sooner in its +mother's arms than it began to kick and laugh, most vigorously. This +new illustration of his argument so tickled Kit, that he fell backward +in his chair in a state of exhaustion, pointing at the baby and shaking +his sides till he rocked again. After recovering twice or thrice, and +as often relapsing, he wiped his eyes and said grace; and a very +cheerful meal their scanty supper was. + +With more kisses, and hugs, and tears, than many young gentlemen who +start upon their travels, and leave well-stocked homes behind them, +would deem within the bounds of probability (if matter so low could be +herein set down), Kit left the house at an early hour next morning, and +set out to walk to Finchley; feeling a sufficient pride in his +appearance to have warranted his excommunication from Little Bethel +from that time forth, if he had ever been one of that mournful +congregation. + +Lest anybody should feel a curiosity to know how Kit was clad, it may +be briefly remarked that he wore no livery, but was dressed in a coat +of pepper-and-salt with waistcoat of canary colour, and nether garments +of iron-grey; besides these glories, he shone in the lustre of a new +pair of boots and an extremely stiff and shiny hat, which on being +struck anywhere with the knuckles, sounded like a drum. And in this +attire, rather wondering that he attracted so little attention, and +attributing the circumstance to the insensibility of those who got up +early, he made his way towards Abel Cottage. + +Without encountering any more remarkable adventure on the road, than +meeting a lad in a brimless hat, the exact counterpart of his old one, +on whom he bestowed half the sixpence he possessed, Kit arrived in +course of time at the carrier's house, where, to the lasting honour of +human nature, he found the box in safety. Receiving from the wife of +this immaculate man, a direction to Mr Garland's, he took the box upon +his shoulder and repaired thither directly. + +To be sure, it was a beautiful little cottage with a thatched roof and +little spires at the gable-ends, and pieces of stained glass in some of +the windows, almost as large as pocket-books. On one side of the house +was a little stable, just the size for the pony, with a little room +over it, just the size for Kit. White curtains were fluttering, and +birds in cages that looked as bright as if they were made of gold, were +singing at the windows; plants were arranged on either side of the +path, and clustered about the door; and the garden was bright with +flowers in full bloom, which shed a sweet odour all round, and had a +charming and elegant appearance. Everything within the house and +without, seemed to be the perfection of neatness and order. In the +garden there was not a weed to be seen, and to judge from some dapper +gardening-tools, a basket, and a pair of gloves which were lying in one +of the walks, old Mr Garland had been at work in it that very morning. + +Kit looked about him, and admired, and looked again, and this a great +many times before he could make up his mind to turn his head another +way and ring the bell. There was abundance of time to look about him +again though, when he had rung it, for nobody came, so after ringing it +twice or thrice he sat down upon his box, and waited. + +He rang the bell a great many times, and yet nobody came. But at last, +as he was sitting upon the box thinking about giants' castles, and +princesses tied up to pegs by the hair of their heads, and dragons +bursting out from behind gates, and other incidents of the like nature, +common in story-books to youths of low degree on their first visit to +strange houses, the door was gently opened, and a little servant-girl, +very tidy, modest, and demure, but very pretty too, appeared. + +'I suppose you're Christopher, sir,' said the servant-girl. + +Kit got off the box, and said yes, he was. + +'I'm afraid you've rung a good many times perhaps,' she rejoined, 'but +we couldn't hear you, because we've been catching the pony.' + +Kit rather wondered what this meant, but as he couldn't stop there, +asking questions, he shouldered the box again and followed the girl +into the hall, where through a back-door he descried Mr Garland leading +Whisker in triumph up the garden, after that self-willed pony had (as +he afterwards learned) dodged the family round a small paddock in the +rear, for one hour and three quarters. + +The old gentleman received him very kindly and so did the old lady, +whose previous good opinion of him was greatly enhanced by his wiping +his boots on the mat until the soles of his feet burnt again. He was +then taken into the parlour to be inspected in his new clothes; and +when he had been surveyed several times, and had afforded by his +appearance unlimited satisfaction, he was taken into the stable (where +the pony received him with uncommon complaisance); and thence into the +little chamber he had already observed, which was very clean and +comfortable: and thence into the garden, in which the old gentleman +told him he would be taught to employ himself, and where he told him, +besides, what great things he meant to do to make him comfortable, and +happy, if he found he deserved it. All these kindnesses, Kit +acknowledged with various expressions of gratitude, and so many touches +of the new hat, that the brim suffered considerably. When the old +gentleman had said all he had to say in the way of promise and advice, +and Kit had said all he had to say in the way of assurance and +thankfulness, he was handed over again to the old lady, who, summoning +the little servant-girl (whose name was Barbara) instructed her to take +him down stairs and give him something to eat and drink, after his walk. + +Down stairs, therefore, Kit went; and at the bottom of the stairs there +was such a kitchen as was never before seen or heard of out of a +toy-shop window, with everything in it as bright and glowing, and as +precisely ordered too, as Barbara herself. And in this kitchen, Kit +sat himself down at a table as white as a tablecloth, to eat cold meat, +and drink small ale, and use his knife and fork the more awkwardly, +because there was an unknown Barbara looking on and observing him. + +It did not appear, however, that there was anything remarkably +tremendous about this strange Barbara, who having lived a very quiet +life, blushed very much and was quite as embarrassed and uncertain what +she ought to say or do, as Kit could possibly be. When he had sat for +some little time, attentive to the ticking of the sober clock, he +ventured to glance curiously at the dresser, and there, among the +plates and dishes, were Barbara's little work-box with a sliding lid to +shut in the balls of cotton, and Barbara's prayer-book, and Barbara's +hymn-book, and Barbara's Bible. Barbara's little looking-glass hung in +a good light near the window, and Barbara's bonnet was on a nail behind +the door. From all these mute signs and tokens of her presence, he +naturally glanced at Barbara herself, who sat as mute as they, shelling +peas into a dish; and just when Kit was looking at her eyelashes and +wondering--quite in the simplicity of his heart--what colour her eyes +might be, it perversely happened that Barbara raised her head a little +to look at him, when both pair of eyes were hastily withdrawn, and Kit +leant over his plate, and Barbara over her pea-shells, each in extreme +confusion at having been detected by the other. + + + + +CHAPTER 23 + +Mr Richard Swiveller wending homeward from the Wilderness (for such was +the appropriate name of Quilp's choice retreat), after a sinuous and +corkscrew fashion, with many checks and stumbles; after stopping +suddenly and staring about him, then as suddenly running forward for a +few paces, and as suddenly halting again and shaking his head; doing +everything with a jerk and nothing by premeditation;--Mr Richard +Swiveller wending his way homeward after this fashion, which is +considered by evil-minded men to be symbolical of intoxication, and is +not held by such persons to denote that state of deep wisdom and +reflection in which the actor knows himself to be, began to think that +possibly he had misplaced his confidence and that the dwarf might not +be precisely the sort of person to whom to entrust a secret of such +delicacy and importance. And being led and tempted on by this +remorseful thought into a condition which the evil-minded class before +referred to would term the maudlin state or stage of drunkenness, it +occurred to Mr Swiveller to cast his hat upon the ground, and moan, +crying aloud that he was an unhappy orphan, and that if he had not been +an unhappy orphan things had never come to this. + +'Left an infant by my parents, at an early age,' said Mr Swiveller, +bewailing his hard lot, 'cast upon the world in my tenderest period, +and thrown upon the mercies of a deluding dwarf, who can wonder at my +weakness! Here's a miserable orphan for you. Here,' said Mr Swiveller +raising his voice to a high pitch, and looking sleepily round, 'is a +miserable orphan!' + +'Then,' said somebody hard by, 'let me be a father to you.' + +Mr Swiveller swayed himself to and fro to preserve his balance, and, +looking into a kind of haze which seemed to surround him, at last +perceived two eyes dimly twinkling through the mist, which he observed +after a short time were in the neighbourhood of a nose and mouth. +Casting his eyes down towards that quarter in which, with reference to +a man's face, his legs are usually to be found, he observed that the +face had a body attached; and when he looked more intently he was +satisfied that the person was Mr Quilp, who indeed had been in his +company all the time, but whom he had some vague idea of having left a +mile or two behind. + +'You have deceived an orphan, Sir,' said Mr Swiveller solemnly.' + +'I! I'm a second father to you,' replied Quilp. + +'You my father, Sir!' retorted Dick. 'Being all right myself, Sir, I +request to be left alone--instantly, Sir.' + +'What a funny fellow you are!' cried Quilp. + +'Go, Sir,' returned Dick, leaning against a post and waving his hand. +'Go, deceiver, go, some day, Sir, p'r'aps you'll waken, from pleasure's +dream to know, the grief of orphans forsaken. Will you go, Sir?' + +The dwarf taking no heed of this adjuration, Mr Swiveller advanced with +the view of inflicting upon him condign chastisement. But forgetting +his purpose or changing his mind before he came close to him, he seized +his hand and vowed eternal friendship, declaring with an agreeable +frankness that from that time forth they were brothers in everything +but personal appearance. Then he told his secret over again, with the +addition of being pathetic on the subject of Miss Wackles, who, he gave +Mr Quilp to understand, was the occasion of any slight incoherency he +might observe in his speech at that moment, which was attributable +solely to the strength of his affection and not to rosy wine or other +fermented liquor. And then they went on arm-in-arm, very lovingly +together. + +'I'm as sharp,' said Quilp to him, at parting, 'as sharp as a ferret, +and as cunning as a weazel. You bring Trent to me; assure him that I'm +his friend though I fear he a little distrusts me (I don't know why, I +have not deserved it); and you've both of you made your fortunes--in +perspective.' + +'That's the worst of it,' returned Dick. 'These fortunes in +perspective look such a long way off.' + +'But they look smaller than they really are, on that account,' said +Quilp, pressing his arm. 'You'll have no conception of the value of +your prize until you draw close to it. Mark that.' + +'D'ye think not?' said Dick. + +'Aye, I do; and I am certain of what I say, that's better,' returned +the dwarf. 'You bring Trent to me. Tell him I am his friend and +yours--why shouldn't I be?' + +'There's no reason why you shouldn't, certainly,' replied Dick, 'and +perhaps there are a great many why you should--at least there would be +nothing strange in your wanting to be my friend, if you were a choice +spirit, but then you know you're not a choice spirit.' + +'I not a choice spirit?' cried Quilp. + +'Devil a bit, sir,' returned Dick. 'A man of your appearance couldn't +be. If you're any spirit at all, sir, you're an evil spirit. Choice +spirits,' added Dick, smiting himself on the breast, 'are quite a +different looking sort of people, you may take your oath of that, sir.' + +Quilp glanced at his free-spoken friend with a mingled expression of +cunning and dislike, and wringing his hand almost at the same moment, +declared that he was an uncommon character and had his warmest esteem. +With that they parted; Mr Swiveller to make the best of his way home +and sleep himself sober; and Quilp to cogitate upon the discovery he +had made, and exult in the prospect of the rich field of enjoyment and +reprisal it opened to him. + +It was not without great reluctance and misgiving that Mr Swiveller, +next morning, his head racked by the fumes of the renowned Schiedam, +repaired to the lodging of his friend Trent (which was in the roof of +an old house in an old ghostly inn), and recounted by very slow degrees +what had yesterday taken place between him and Quilp. Nor was it +without great surprise and much speculation on Quilp's probable +motives, nor without many bitter comments on Dick Swiveller's folly, +that his friend received the tale. + +'I don't defend myself, Fred,' said the penitent Richard; 'but the +fellow has such a queer way with him and is such an artful dog, that +first of all he set me upon thinking whether there was any harm in +telling him, and while I was thinking, screwed it out of me. If you +had seen him drink and smoke, as I did, you couldn't have kept anything +from him. He's a Salamander you know, that's what he is.' + +Without inquiring whether Salamanders were of necessity good +confidential agents, or whether a fire-proof man was as a matter of +course trustworthy, Frederick Trent threw himself into a chair, and, +burying his head in his hands, endeavoured to fathom the motives which +had led Quilp to insinuate himself into Richard Swiveller's +confidence;--for that the disclosure was of his seeking, and had not +been spontaneously revealed by Dick, was sufficiently plain from +Quilp's seeking his company and enticing him away. + +The dwarf had twice encountered him when he was endeavouring to obtain +intelligence of the fugitives. This, perhaps, as he had not shown any +previous anxiety about them, was enough to awaken suspicion in the +breast of a creature so jealous and distrustful by nature, setting +aside any additional impulse to curiosity that he might have derived +from Dick's incautious manner. But knowing the scheme they had +planned, why should he offer to assist it? This was a question more +difficult of solution; but as knaves generally overreach themselves by +imputing their own designs to others, the idea immediately presented +itself that some circumstances of irritation between Quilp and the old +man, arising out of their secret transactions and not unconnected +perhaps with his sudden disappearance, now rendered the former desirous +of revenging himself upon him by seeking to entrap the sole object of +his love and anxiety into a connexion of which he knew he had a dread +and hatred. As Frederick Trent himself, utterly regardless of his +sister, had this object at heart, only second to the hope of gain, it +seemed to him the more likely to be Quilp's main principle of action. +Once investing the dwarf with a design of his own in abetting them, +which the attainment of their purpose would serve, it was easy to +believe him sincere and hearty in the cause; and as there could be no +doubt of his proving a powerful and useful auxiliary, Trent determined +to accept his invitation and go to his house that night, and if what he +said and did confirmed him in the impression he had formed, to let him +share the labour of their plan, but not the profit. + +Having revolved these things in his mind and arrived at this +conclusion, he communicated to Mr Swiveller as much of his meditations +as he thought proper (Dick would have been perfectly satisfied with +less), and giving him the day to recover himself from his late +salamandering, accompanied him at evening to Mr Quilp's house. + +Mighty glad Mr Quilp was to see them, or mightily glad he seemed to be; +and fearfully polite Mr Quilp was to Mrs Quilp and Mrs Jiniwin; and +very sharp was the look he cast on his wife to observe how she was +affected by the recognition of young Trent. Mrs Quilp was as innocent +as her own mother of any emotion, painful or pleasant, which the sight +of him awakened, but as her husband's glance made her timid and +confused, and uncertain what to do or what was required of her, Mr +Quilp did not fail to assign her embarrassment to the cause he had in +his mind, and while he chuckled at his penetration was secretly +exasperated by his jealousy. + +Nothing of this appeared, however. On the contrary, Mr Quilp was all +blandness and suavity, and presided over the case-bottle of rum with +extraordinary open-heartedness. + +'Why, let me see,' said Quilp. 'It must be a matter of nearly two +years since we were first acquainted.' + +'Nearer three, I think,' said Trent. + +'Nearer three!' cried Quilp. 'How fast time flies. Does it seem as +long as that to you, Mrs Quilp?' + +'Yes, I think it seems full three years, Quilp,' was the unfortunate +reply. + +'Oh indeed, ma'am,' thought Quilp, 'you have been pining, have you? +Very good, ma'am.' + +'It seems to me but yesterday that you went out to Demerara in the Mary +Anne,' said Quilp; 'but yesterday, I declare. Well, I like a little +wildness. I was wild myself once.' + +Mr Quilp accompanied this admission with such an awful wink, indicative +of old rovings and backslidings, that Mrs Jiniwin was indignant, and +could not forbear from remarking under her breath that he might at +least put off his confessions until his wife was absent; for which act +of boldness and insubordination Mr Quilp first stared her out of +countenance and then drank her health ceremoniously. + +'I thought you'd come back directly, Fred. I always thought that,' +said Quilp setting down his glass. 'And when the Mary Anne returned +with you on board, instead of a letter to say what a contrite heart you +had, and how happy you were in the situation that had been provided for +you, I was amused--exceedingly amused. Ha ha ha!' + +The young man smiled, but not as though the theme was the most +agreeable one that could have been selected for his entertainment; and +for that reason Quilp pursued it. + +'I always will say,' he resumed, 'that when a rich relation having two +young people--sisters or brothers, or brother and sister--dependent on +him, attaches himself exclusively to one, and casts off the other, he +does wrong.' + +The young man made a movement of impatience, but Quilp went on as +calmly as if he were discussing some abstract question in which nobody +present had the slightest personal interest. + +'It's very true,' said Quilp, 'that your grandfather urged repeated +forgiveness, ingratitude, riot, and extravagance, and all that; but as +I told him "these are common faults." "But he's a scoundrel," said he. +"Granting that," said I (for the sake of argument of course), "a great +many young noblemen and gentlemen are scoundrels too!" But he wouldn't +be convinced.' + +'I wonder at that, Mr Quilp,' said the young man sarcastically. + +'Well, so did I at the time,' returned Quilp, 'but he was always +obstinate. He was in a manner a friend of mine, but he was always +obstinate and wrong-headed. Little Nell is a nice girl, a charming +girl, but you're her brother, Frederick. You're her brother after all; +as you told him the last time you met, he can't alter that.' + +'He would if he could, confound him for that and all other kindnesses,' +said the young man impatiently. 'But nothing can come of this subject +now, and let us have done with it in the Devil's name.' + +'Agreed,' returned Quilp, 'agreed on my part readily. Why have I +alluded to it? Just to show you, Frederick, that I have always stood +your friend. You little knew who was your friend, and who your foe; +now did you? You thought I was against you, and so there has been a +coolness between us; but it was all on your side, entirely on your +side. Let's shake hands again, Fred.' + +With his head sunk down between his shoulders, and a hideous grin +over-spreading his face, the dwarf stood up and stretched his short arm +across the table. After a moment's hesitation, the young man stretched +out his to meet it; Quilp clutched his fingers in a grip that for the +moment stopped the current of the blood within them, and pressing his +other hand upon his lip and frowning towards the unsuspicious Richard, +released them and sat down. + +This action was not lost upon Trent, who, knowing that Richard +Swiveller was a mere tool in his hands and knew no more of his designs +than he thought proper to communicate, saw that the dwarf perfectly +understood their relative position, and fully entered into the +character of his friend. It is something to be appreciated, even in +knavery. This silent homage to his superior abilities, no less than a +sense of the power with which the dwarf's quick perception had already +invested him, inclined the young man towards that ugly worthy, and +determined him to profit by his aid. + +It being now Mr Quilp's cue to change the subject with all convenient +expedition, lest Richard Swiveller in his heedlessness should reveal +anything which it was inexpedient for the women to know, he proposed a +game at four-handed cribbage, and partners being cut for, Mrs Quilp +fell to Frederick Trent, and Dick himself to Quilp. Mrs Jiniwin being +very fond of cards was carefully excluded by her son-in-law from any +participation in the game, and had assigned to her the duty of +occasionally replenishing the glasses from the case-bottle; Mr Quilp +from that moment keeping one eye constantly upon her, lest she should +by any means procure a taste of the same, and thereby tantalising the +wretched old lady (who was as much attached to the case-bottle as the +cards) in a double degree and most ingenious manner. + +But it was not to Mrs Jiniwin alone that Mr Quilp's attention was +restricted, as several other matters required his constant vigilance. +Among his various eccentric habits he had a humorous one of always +cheating at cards, which rendered necessary on his part, not only a +close observance of the game, and a sleight-of-hand in counting and +scoring, but also involved the constant correction, by looks, and +frowns, and kicks under the table, of Richard Swiveller, who being +bewildered by the rapidity with which his cards were told, and the rate +at which the pegs travelled down the board, could not be prevented from +sometimes expressing his surprise and incredulity. Mrs Quilp too was +the partner of young Trent, and for every look that passed between +them, and every word they spoke, and every card they played, the dwarf +had eyes and ears; not occupied alone with what was passing above the +table, but with signals that might be exchanging beneath it, which he +laid all kinds of traps to detect; besides often treading on his wife's +toes to see whether she cried out or remained silent under the +infliction, in which latter case it would have been quite clear that +Trent had been treading on her toes before. Yet, in the most of all +these distractions, the one eye was upon the old lady always, and if +she so much as stealthily advanced a tea-spoon towards a neighbouring +glass (which she often did), for the purpose of abstracting but one sup +of its sweet contents, Quilp's hand would overset it in the very moment +of her triumph, and Quilp's mocking voice implore her to regard her +precious health. And in any one of these his many cares, from first to +last, Quilp never flagged nor faltered. + +At length, when they had played a great many rubbers and drawn pretty +freely upon the case-bottle, Mr Quilp warned his lady to retire to +rest, and that submissive wife complying, and being followed by her +indignant mother, Mr Swiveller fell asleep. The dwarf beckoning his +remaining companion to the other end of the room, held a short +conference with him in whispers. + +'It's as well not to say more than one can help before our worthy +friend,' said Quilp, making a grimace towards the slumbering Dick. 'Is +it a bargain between us, Fred? Shall he marry little rosy Nell +by-and-by?' + +'You have some end of your own to answer, of course,' returned the +other. + +'Of course I have, dear Fred,' said Quilp, grinning to think how little +he suspected what the real end was. 'It's retaliation perhaps; perhaps +whim. I have influence, Fred, to help or oppose. Which way shall I +use it? There are a pair of scales, and it goes into one.' + +'Throw it into mine then,' said Trent. + +'It's done, Fred,' rejoined Quilp, stretching out his clenched hand and +opening it as if he had let some weight fall out. 'It's in the scale +from this time, and turns it, Fred. Mind that.' + +'Where have they gone?' asked Trent. + +Quilp shook his head, and said that point remained to be discovered, +which it might be, easily. When it was, they would begin their +preliminary advances. He would visit the old man, or even Richard +Swiveller might visit him, and by affecting a deep concern in his +behalf, and imploring him to settle in some worthy home, lead to the +child's remembering him with gratitude and favour. Once impressed to +this extent, it would be easy, he said, to win her in a year or two, +for she supposed the old man to be poor, as it was a part of his +jealous policy (in common with many other misers) to feign to be so, to +those about him. + +'He has feigned it often enough to me, of late,' said Trent. + +'Oh! and to me too!' replied the dwarf. 'Which is more extraordinary, +as I know how rich he really is.' + +'I suppose you should,' said Trent. + +'I think I should indeed,' rejoined the dwarf; and in that, at least, +he spoke the truth. + +After a few more whispered words, they returned to the table, and the +young man rousing Richard Swiveller informed him that he was waiting to +depart. This was welcome news to Dick, who started up directly. After +a few words of confidence in the result of their project had been +exchanged, they bade the grinning Quilp good night. + +Quilp crept to the window as they passed in the street below, and +listened. Trent was pronouncing an encomium upon his wife, and they +were both wondering by what enchantment she had been brought to marry +such a misshapen wretch as he. The dwarf after watching their +retreating shadows with a wider grin than his face had yet displayed, +stole softly in the dark to bed. + +In this hatching of their scheme, neither Trent nor Quilp had had one +thought about the happiness or misery of poor innocent Nell. It would +have been strange if the careless profligate, who was the butt of both, +had been harassed by any such consideration; for his high opinion of +his own merits and deserts rendered the project rather a laudable one +than otherwise; and if he had been visited by so unwonted a guest as +reflection, he would--being a brute only in the gratification of his +appetites--have soothed his conscience with the plea that he did not +mean to beat or kill his wife, and would therefore, after all said and +done, be a very tolerable, average husband. + + + + +CHAPTER 24 + +It was not until they were quite exhausted and could no longer maintain +the pace at which they had fled from the race-ground, that the old man +and the child ventured to stop, and sit down to rest upon the borders +of a little wood. Here, though the course was hidden from their view, +they could yet faintly distinguish the noise of distant shouts, the hum +of voices, and the beating of drums. Climbing the eminence which lay +between them and the spot they had left, the child could even discern +the fluttering flags and white tops of booths; but no person was +approaching towards them, and their resting-place was solitary and +still. + +Some time elapsed before she could reassure her trembling companion, or +restore him to a state of moderate tranquillity. His disordered +imagination represented to him a crowd of persons stealing towards them +beneath the cover of the bushes, lurking in every ditch, and peeping +from the boughs of every rustling tree. He was haunted by +apprehensions of being led captive to some gloomy place where he would +be chained and scourged, and worse than all, where Nell could never +come to see him, save through iron bars and gratings in the wall. His +terrors affected the child. Separation from her grandfather was the +greatest evil she could dread; and feeling for the time as though, go +where they would, they were to be hunted down, and could never be safe +but in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped. + +In one so young, and so unused to the scenes in which she had lately +moved, this sinking of the spirit was not surprising. But, Nature +often enshrines gallant and noble hearts in weak bosoms--oftenest, God +bless her, in female breasts--and when the child, casting her tearful +eyes upon the old man, remembered how weak he was, and how destitute +and helpless he would be if she failed him, her heart swelled within +her, and animated her with new strength and fortitude. + +'We are quite safe now, and have nothing to fear indeed, dear +grandfather,' she said. + +'Nothing to fear!' returned the old man. 'Nothing to fear if they took +me from thee! Nothing to fear if they parted us! Nobody is true to +me. No, not one. Not even Nell!' + +'Oh! do not say that,' replied the child, 'for if ever anybody was true +at heart, and earnest, I am. I am sure you know I am.' + +'Then how,' said the old man, looking fearfully round, 'how can you +bear to think that we are safe, when they are searching for me +everywhere, and may come here, and steal upon us, even while we're +talking?' + +'Because I'm sure we have not been followed,' said the child. 'Judge +for yourself, dear grandfather: look round, and see how quiet and still +it is. We are alone together, and may ramble where we like. Not safe! +Could I feel easy--did I feel at ease--when any danger threatened you?' + +'True, too,' he answered, pressing her hand, but still looking +anxiously about. 'What noise was that?' + +'A bird,' said the child, 'flying into the wood, and leading the way +for us to follow.' You remember that we said we would walk in woods +and fields, and by the side of rivers, and how happy we would be--you +remember that? But here, while the sun shines above our heads, and +everything is bright and happy, we are sitting sadly down, and losing +time. See what a pleasant path; and there's the bird--the same +bird--now he flies to another tree, and stays to sing. Come!' + +When they rose up from the ground, and took the shady track which led +them through the wood, she bounded on before, printing her tiny +footsteps in the moss, which rose elastic from so light a pressure and +gave it back as mirrors throw off breath; and thus she lured the old +man on, with many a backward look and merry beck, now pointing +stealthily to some lone bird as it perched and twittered on a branch +that strayed across their path, now stopping to listen to the songs +that broke the happy silence, or watch the sun as it trembled through +the leaves, and stealing in among the ivied trunks of stout old trees, +opened long paths of light. As they passed onward, parting the boughs +that clustered in their way, the serenity which the child had first +assumed, stole into her breast in earnest; the old man cast no longer +fearful looks behind, but felt at ease and cheerful, for the further +they passed into the deep green shade, the more they felt that the +tranquil mind of God was there, and shed its peace on them. + +At length the path becoming clearer and less intricate, brought them to +the end of the wood, and into a public road. Taking their way along it +for a short distance, they came to a lane, so shaded by the trees on +either hand that they met together over-head, and arched the narrow +way. A broken finger-post announced that this led to a village three +miles off; and thither they resolved to bend their steps. + +The miles appeared so long that they sometimes thought they must have +missed their road. But at last, to their great joy, it led downwards +in a steep descent, with overhanging banks over which the footpaths +led; and the clustered houses of the village peeped from the woody +hollow below. + +It was a very small place. The men and boys were playing at cricket on +the green; and as the other folks were looking on, they wandered up and +down, uncertain where to seek a humble lodging. There was but one old +man in the little garden before his cottage, and him they were timid of +approaching, for he was the schoolmaster, and had 'School' written up +over his window in black letters on a white board. He was a pale, +simple-looking man, of a spare and meagre habit, and sat among his +flowers and beehives, smoking his pipe, in the little porch before his +door. + +'Speak to him, dear,' the old man whispered. + +'I am almost afraid to disturb him,' said the child timidly. 'He does +not seem to see us. Perhaps if we wait a little, he may look this way.' + +They waited, but the schoolmaster cast no look towards them, and still +sat, thoughtful and silent, in the little porch. He had a kind face. +In his plain old suit of black, he looked pale and meagre. They +fancied, too, a lonely air about him and his house, but perhaps that +was because the other people formed a merry company upon the green, and +he seemed the only solitary man in all the place. + +They were very tired, and the child would have been bold enough to +address even a schoolmaster, but for something in his manner which +seemed to denote that he was uneasy or distressed. As they stood +hesitating at a little distance, they saw that he sat for a few minutes +at a time like one in a brown study, then laid aside his pipe and took +a few turns in his garden, then approached the gate and looked towards +the green, then took up his pipe again with a sigh, and sat down +thoughtfully as before. + +As nobody else appeared and it would soon be dark, Nell at length took +courage, and when he had resumed his pipe and seat, ventured to draw +near, leading her grandfather by the hand. The slight noise they made +in raising the latch of the wicket-gate, caught his attention. He +looked at them kindly but seemed disappointed too, and slightly shook +his head. + +Nell dropped a curtsey, and told him they were poor travellers who +sought a shelter for the night which they would gladly pay for, so far +as their means allowed. The schoolmaster looked earnestly at her as +she spoke, laid aside his pipe, and rose up directly. + +'If you could direct us anywhere, sir,' said the child, 'we should take +it very kindly.' + +'You have been walking a long way,' said the schoolmaster. + +'A long way, Sir,' the child replied. + +'You're a young traveller, my child,' he said, laying his hand gently +on her head. 'Your grandchild, friend?' + +'Aye, Sir,' cried the old man, 'and the stay and comfort of my life.' + +'Come in,' said the schoolmaster. + +Without further preface he conducted them into his little school-room, +which was parlour and kitchen likewise, and told them that they were +welcome to remain under his roof till morning. Before they had done +thanking him, he spread a coarse white cloth upon the table, with +knives and platters; and bringing out some bread and cold meat and a +jug of beer, besought them to eat and drink. + +The child looked round the room as she took her seat. There were a +couple of forms, notched and cut and inked all over; a small deal desk +perched on four legs, at which no doubt the master sat; a few +dog's-eared books upon a high shelf; and beside them a motley +collection of peg-tops, balls, kites, fishing-lines, marbles, +half-eaten apples, and other confiscated property of idle urchins. +Displayed on hooks upon the wall in all their terrors, were the cane +and ruler; and near them, on a small shelf of its own, the dunce's cap, +made of old newspapers and decorated with glaring wafers of the largest +size. But, the great ornaments of the walls were certain moral +sentences fairly copied in good round text, and well-worked sums in +simple addition and multiplication, evidently achieved by the same +hand, which were plentifully pasted all round the room: for the double +purpose, as it seemed, of bearing testimony to the excellence of the +school, and kindling a worthy emulation in the bosoms of the scholars. + +'Yes,' said the old schoolmaster, observing that her attention was +caught by these latter specimens. 'That's beautiful writing, my dear.' + +'Very, Sir,' replied the child modestly, 'is it yours?' + +'Mine!' he returned, taking out his spectacles and putting them on, to +have a better view of the triumphs so dear to his heart. 'I couldn't +write like that, now-a-days. No. They're all done by one hand; a +little hand it is, not so old as yours, but a very clever one.' + +As the schoolmaster said this, he saw that a small blot of ink had been +thrown on one of the copies, so he took a penknife from his pocket, and +going up to the wall, carefully scraped it out. When he had finished, +he walked slowly backward from the writing, admiring it as one might +contemplate a beautiful picture, but with something of sadness in his +voice and manner which quite touched the child, though she was +unacquainted with its cause. + +'A little hand indeed,' said the poor schoolmaster. 'Far beyond all +his companions, in his learning and his sports too, how did he ever +come to be so fond of me! That I should love him is no wonder, but +that he should love me--' and there the schoolmaster stopped, and took +off his spectacles to wipe them, as though they had grown dim. + +'I hope there is nothing the matter, sir,' said Nell anxiously. + +'Not much, my dear,' returned the schoolmaster. 'I hoped to have seen +him on the green to-night. He was always foremost among them. But +he'll be there to-morrow.' + +'Has he been ill?' asked the child, with a child's quick sympathy. + +'Not very. They said he was wandering in his head yesterday, dear boy, +and so they said the day before. But that's a part of that kind of +disorder; it's not a bad sign--not at all a bad sign.' + +The child was silent. He walked to the door, and looked wistfully out. +The shadows of night were gathering, and all was still. + +'If he could lean upon anybody's arm, he would come to me, I know,' he +said, returning into the room. 'He always came into the garden to say +good night. But perhaps his illness has only just taken a favourable +turn, and it's too late for him to come out, for it's very damp and +there's a heavy dew. It's much better he shouldn't come to-night.' + +The schoolmaster lighted a candle, fastened the window-shutter, and +closed the door. But after he had done this, and sat silent a little +time, he took down his hat, and said he would go and satisfy himself, +if Nell would sit up till he returned. The child readily complied, and +he went out. + +She sat there half-an-hour or more, feeling the place very strange and +lonely, for she had prevailed upon the old man to go to bed, and there +was nothing to be heard but the ticking of an old clock, and the +whistling of the wind among the trees. When he returned, he took his +seat in the chimney corner, but remained silent for a long time. At +length he turned to her, and speaking very gently, hoped she would say +a prayer that night for a sick child. + +'My favourite scholar!' said the poor schoolmaster, smoking a pipe he +had forgotten to light, and looking mournfully round upon the walls. +'It is a little hand to have done all that, and waste away with +sickness. It is a very, very little hand!' + + + + +CHAPTER 25 + +After a sound night's rest in a chamber in the thatched roof, in which +it seemed the sexton had for some years been a lodger, but which he had +lately deserted for a wife and a cottage of his own, the child rose +early in the morning and descended to the room where she had supped +last night. As the schoolmaster had already left his bed and gone out, +she bestirred herself to make it neat and comfortable, and had just +finished its arrangement when the kind host returned. + +He thanked her many times, and said that the old dame who usually did +such offices for him had gone to nurse the little scholar whom he had +told her of. The child asked how he was, and hoped he was better. + +'No,' rejoined the schoolmaster shaking his head sorrowfully, 'no +better. They even say he is worse.' + +'I am very sorry for that, Sir,' said the child. + +The poor schoolmaster appeared to be gratified by her earnest manner, +but yet rendered more uneasy by it, for he added hastily that anxious +people often magnified an evil and thought it greater than it was; 'for +my part,' he said, in his quiet, patient way, 'I hope it's not so. I +don't think he can be worse.' + +The child asked his leave to prepare breakfast, and her grandfather +coming down stairs, they all three partook of it together. While the +meal was in progress, their host remarked that the old man seemed much +fatigued, and evidently stood in need of rest. + +'If the journey you have before you is a long one,' he said, 'and don't +press you for one day, you're very welcome to pass another night here. +I should really be glad if you would, friend.' + +He saw that the old man looked at Nell, uncertain whether to accept or +decline his offer; and added, + +'I shall be glad to have your young companion with me for one day. If +you can do a charity to a lone man, and rest yourself at the same time, +do so. If you must proceed upon your journey, I wish you well through +it, and will walk a little way with you before school begins.' + +'What are we to do, Nell?' said the old man irresolutely, 'say what +we're to do, dear.' + +It required no great persuasion to induce the child to answer that they +had better accept the invitation and remain. She was happy to show her +gratitude to the kind schoolmaster by busying herself in the +performance of such household duties as his little cottage stood in +need of. When these were done, she took some needle-work from her +basket, and sat herself down upon a stool beside the lattice, where the +honeysuckle and woodbine entwined their tender stems, and stealing into +the room filled it with their delicious breath. Her grandfather was +basking in the sun outside, breathing the perfume of the flowers, and +idly watching the clouds as they floated on before the light summer +wind. + +As the schoolmaster, after arranging the two forms in due order, took +his seat behind his desk and made other preparations for school, the +child was apprehensive that she might be in the way, and offered to +withdraw to her little bedroom. But this he would not allow, and as he +seemed pleased to have her there, she remained, busying herself with +her work. + +'Have you many scholars, sir?' she asked. + +The poor schoolmaster shook his head, and said that they barely filled +the two forms. + +'Are the others clever, sir?' asked the child, glancing at the trophies +on the wall. + +'Good boys,' returned the schoolmaster, 'good boys enough, my dear, but +they'll never do like that.' + +A small white-headed boy with a sunburnt face appeared at the door +while he was speaking, and stopping there to make a rustic bow, came in +and took his seat upon one of the forms. The white-headed boy then put +an open book, astonishingly dog's-eared upon his knees, and thrusting +his hands into his pockets began counting the marbles with which they +were filled; displaying in the expression of his face a remarkable +capacity of totally abstracting his mind from the spelling on which his +eyes were fixed. Soon afterwards another white-headed little boy came +straggling in, and after him a red-headed lad, and after him two more +with white heads, and then one with a flaxen poll, and so on until the +forms were occupied by a dozen boys or thereabouts, with heads of every +colour but grey, and ranging in their ages from four years old to +fourteen years or more; for the legs of the youngest were a long way +from the floor when he sat upon the form, and the eldest was a heavy +good-tempered foolish fellow, about half a head taller than the +schoolmaster. + +At the top of the first form--the post of honour in the school--was the +vacant place of the little sick scholar, and at the head of the row of +pegs on which those who came in hats or caps were wont to hang them up, +one was left empty. No boy attempted to violate the sanctity of seat +or peg, but many a one looked from the empty spaces to the +schoolmaster, and whispered his idle neighbour behind his hand. + +Then began the hum of conning over lessons and getting them by heart, +the whispered jest and stealthy game, and all the noise and drawl of +school; and in the midst of the din sat the poor schoolmaster, the very +image of meekness and simplicity, vainly attempting to fix his mind +upon the duties of the day, and to forget his little friend. But the +tedium of his office reminded him more strongly of the willing scholar, +and his thoughts were rambling from his pupils--it was plain. + +None knew this better than the idlest boys, who, growing bolder with +impunity, waxed louder and more daring; playing odd-or-even under the +master's eye, eating apples openly and without rebuke, pinching each +other in sport or malice without the least reserve, and cutting their +autographs in the very legs of his desk. The puzzled dunce, who stood +beside it to say his lesson out of book, looked no longer at the +ceiling for forgotten words, but drew closer to the master's elbow and +boldly cast his eye upon the page; the wag of the little troop squinted +and made grimaces (at the smallest boy of course), holding no book +before his face, and his approving audience knew no constraint in their +delight. If the master did chance to rouse himself and seem alive to +what was going on, the noise subsided for a moment and no eyes met his +but wore a studious and a deeply humble look; but the instant he +relapsed again, it broke out afresh, and ten times louder than before. + +Oh! how some of those idle fellows longed to be outside, and how they +looked at the open door and window, as if they half meditated rushing +violently out, plunging into the woods, and being wild boys and savages +from that time forth. What rebellious thoughts of the cool river, and +some shady bathing-place beneath willow trees with branches dipping in +the water, kept tempting and urging that sturdy boy, who, with his +shirt-collar unbuttoned and flung back as far as it could go, sat +fanning his flushed face with a spelling-book, wishing himself a whale, +or a tittlebat, or a fly, or anything but a boy at school on that hot, +broiling day! Heat! ask that other boy, whose seat being nearest to +the door gave him opportunities of gliding out into the garden and +driving his companions to madness by dipping his face into the bucket +of the well and then rolling on the grass--ask him if there were ever +such a day as that, when even the bees were diving deep down into the +cups of flowers and stopping there, as if they had made up their minds +to retire from business and be manufacturers of honey no more. The day +was made for laziness, and lying on one's back in green places, and +staring at the sky till its brightness forced one to shut one's eyes +and go to sleep; and was this a time to be poring over musty books in a +dark room, slighted by the very sun itself? Monstrous! + +Nell sat by the window occupied with her work, but attentive still to +all that passed, though sometimes rather timid of the boisterous boys. +The lessons over, writing time began; and there being but one desk and +that the master's, each boy sat at it in turn and laboured at his +crooked copy, while the master walked about. This was a quieter time; +for he would come and look over the writer's shoulder, and tell him +mildly to observe how such a letter was turned in such a copy on the +wall, praise such an up-stroke here and such a down-stroke there, and +bid him take it for his model. Then he would stop and tell them what +the sick child had said last night, and how he had longed to be among +them once again; and such was the poor schoolmaster's gentle and +affectionate manner, that the boys seemed quite remorseful that they +had worried him so much, and were absolutely quiet; eating no apples, +cutting no names, inflicting no pinches, and making no grimaces, for +full two minutes afterwards. + +'I think, boys,' said the schoolmaster when the clock struck twelve, +'that I shall give an extra half-holiday this afternoon.' + +At this intelligence, the boys, led on and headed by the tall boy, +raised a great shout, in the midst of which the master was seen to +speak, but could not be heard. As he held up his hand, however, in +token of his wish that they should be silent, they were considerate +enough to leave off, as soon as the longest-winded among them were +quite out of breath. + +'You must promise me first,' said the schoolmaster, 'that you'll not be +noisy, or at least, if you are, that you'll go away and be so--away out +of the village I mean. I'm sure you wouldn't disturb your old playmate +and companion.' + +There was a general murmur (and perhaps a very sincere one, for they +were but boys) in the negative; and the tall boy, perhaps as sincerely +as any of them, called those about him to witness that he had only +shouted in a whisper. + +'Then pray don't forget, there's my dear scholars,' said the +schoolmaster, 'what I have asked you, and do it as a favour to me. Be +as happy as you can, and don't be unmindful that you are blessed with +health. Good-bye all!' + +'Thank'ee, Sir,' and 'good-bye, Sir,' were said a good many times in a +variety of voices, and the boys went out very slowly and softly. But +there was the sun shining and there were the birds singing, as the sun +only shines and the birds only sing on holidays and half-holidays; +there were the trees waving to all free boys to climb and nestle among +their leafy branches; the hay, entreating them to come and scatter it +to the pure air; the green corn, gently beckoning towards wood and +stream; the smooth ground, rendered smoother still by blending lights +and shadows, inviting to runs and leaps, and long walks God knows +whither. It was more than boy could bear, and with a joyous whoop the +whole cluster took to their heels and spread themselves about, shouting +and laughing as they went. + +'It's natural, thank Heaven!' said the poor schoolmaster, looking after +them. 'I'm very glad they didn't mind me!' + +It is difficult, however, to please everybody, as most of us would have +discovered, even without the fable which bears that moral, and in the +course of the afternoon several mothers and aunts of pupils looked in +to express their entire disapproval of the schoolmaster's proceeding. +A few confined themselves to hints, such as politely inquiring what +red-letter day or saint's day the almanack said it was; a few (these +were the profound village politicians) argued that it was a slight to +the throne and an affront to church and state, and savoured of +revolutionary principles, to grant a half-holiday upon any lighter +occasion than the birthday of the Monarch; but the majority expressed +their displeasure on private grounds and in plain terms, arguing that +to put the pupils on this short allowance of learning was nothing but +an act of downright robbery and fraud: and one old lady, finding that +she could not inflame or irritate the peaceable schoolmaster by talking +to him, bounced out of his house and talked at him for half-an-hour +outside his own window, to another old lady, saying that of course he +would deduct this half-holiday from his weekly charge, or of course he +would naturally expect to have an opposition started against him; there +was no want of idle chaps in that neighbourhood (here the old lady +raised her voice), and some chaps who were too idle even to be +schoolmasters, might soon find that there were other chaps put over +their heads, and so she would have them take care, and look pretty +sharp about them. But all these taunts and vexations failed to elicit +one word from the meek schoolmaster, who sat with the child by his +side--a little more dejected perhaps, but quite silent and +uncomplaining. + +Towards night an old woman came tottering up the garden as speedily as +she could, and meeting the schoolmaster at the door, said he was to go +to Dame West's directly, and had best run on before her. He and the +child were on the point of going out together for a walk, and without +relinquishing her hand, the schoolmaster hurried away, leaving the +messenger to follow as she might. + +They stopped at a cottage-door, and the schoolmaster knocked softly at +it with his hand. It was opened without loss of time. They entered a +room where a little group of women were gathered about one, older than +the rest, who was crying very bitterly, and sat wringing her hands and +rocking herself to and fro. + +'Oh, dame!' said the schoolmaster, drawing near her chair, 'is it so +bad as this?' + +'He's going fast,' cried the old woman; 'my grandson's dying. It's all +along of you. You shouldn't see him now, but for his being so earnest +on it. This is what his learning has brought him to. Oh dear, dear, +dear, what can I do!' + +'Do not say that I am in any fault,' urged the gentle school-master. +'I am not hurt, dame. No, no. You are in great distress of mind, and +don't mean what you say. I am sure you don't.' + +'I do,' returned the old woman. 'I mean it all. If he hadn't been +poring over his books out of fear of you, he would have been well and +merry now, I know he would.' + +The schoolmaster looked round upon the other women as if to entreat +some one among them to say a kind word for him, but they shook their +heads, and murmured to each other that they never thought there was +much good in learning, and that this convinced them. Without saying a +word in reply, or giving them a look of reproach, he followed the old +woman who had summoned him (and who had now rejoined them) into another +room, where his infant friend, half-dressed, lay stretched upon a bed. + +He was a very young boy; quite a little child. His hair still hung in +curls about his face, and his eyes were very bright; but their light +was of Heaven, not earth. The schoolmaster took a seat beside him, and +stooping over the pillow, whispered his name. The boy sprung up, +stroked his face with his hand, and threw his wasted arms round his +neck, crying out that he was his dear kind friend. + +'I hope I always was. I meant to be, God knows,' said the poor +schoolmaster. + +'Who is that?' said the boy, seeing Nell. 'I am afraid to kiss her, +lest I should make her ill. Ask her to shake hands with me.' + +The sobbing child came closer up, and took the little languid hand in +hers. Releasing his again after a time, the sick boy laid him gently +down. + +'You remember the garden, Harry,' whispered the schoolmaster, anxious +to rouse him, for a dulness seemed gathering upon the child, 'and how +pleasant it used to be in the evening time? You must make haste to +visit it again, for I think the very flowers have missed you, and are +less gay than they used to be. You will come soon, my dear, very soon +now--won't you?' + +The boy smiled faintly--so very, very faintly--and put his hand upon +his friend's grey head. He moved his lips too, but no voice came from +them; no, not a sound. + +In the silence that ensued, the hum of distant voices borne upon the +evening air came floating through the open window. 'What's that?' said +the sick child, opening his eyes. + +'The boys at play upon the green.' + +He took a handkerchief from his pillow, and tried to wave it above his +head. But the feeble arm dropped powerless down. + +'Shall I do it?' said the schoolmaster. + +'Please wave it at the window,' was the faint reply. 'Tie it to the +lattice. Some of them may see it there. Perhaps they'll think of me, +and look this way.' + +He raised his head, and glanced from the fluttering signal to his idle +bat, that lay with slate and book and other boyish property upon a +table in the room. And then he laid him softly down once more, and +asked if the little girl were there, for he could not see her. + +She stepped forward, and pressed the passive hand that lay upon the +coverlet. The two old friends and companions--for such they were, +though they were man and child--held each other in a long embrace, and +then the little scholar turned his face towards the wall, and fell +asleep. + +The poor schoolmaster sat in the same place, holding the small cold +hand in his, and chafing it. It was but the hand of a dead child. He +felt that; and yet he chafed it still, and could not lay it down. + + + + +CHAPTER 26 + +Almost broken-hearted, Nell withdrew with the schoolmaster from the +bedside and returned to his cottage. In the midst of her grief and +tears she was yet careful to conceal their real cause from the old man, +for the dead boy had been a grandchild, and left but one aged relative +to mourn his premature decay. + +She stole away to bed as quickly as she could, and when she was alone, +gave free vent to the sorrow with which her breast was overcharged. +But the sad scene she had witnessed, was not without its lesson of +content and gratitude; of content with the lot which left her health +and freedom; and gratitude that she was spared to the one relative and +friend she loved, and to live and move in a beautiful world, when so +many young creatures--as young and full of hope as she--were stricken +down and gathered to their graves. How many of the mounds in that old +churchyard where she had lately strayed, grew green above the graves of +children! And though she thought as a child herself, and did not +perhaps sufficiently consider to what a bright and happy existence +those who die young are borne, and how in death they lose the pain of +seeing others die around them, bearing to the tomb some strong +affection of their hearts (which makes the old die many times in one +long life), still she thought wisely enough, to draw a plain and easy +moral from what she had seen that night, and to store it, deep in her +mind. + +Her dreams were of the little scholar: not coffined and covered up, but +mingling with angels, and smiling happily. The sun darting his +cheerful rays into the room, awoke her; and now there remained but to +take leave of the poor schoolmaster and wander forth once more. + +By the time they were ready to depart, school had begun. In the +darkened room, the din of yesterday was going on again: a little +sobered and softened down, perhaps, but only a very little, if at all. +The schoolmaster rose from his desk and walked with them to the gate. + +It was with a trembling and reluctant hand, that the child held out to +him the money which the lady had given her at the races for her +flowers: faltering in her thanks as she thought how small the sum was, +and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her put it up, and +stooping to kiss her cheek, turned back into his house. + +They had not gone half-a-dozen paces when he was at the door again; the +old man retraced his steps to shake hands, and the child did the same. + +'Good fortune and happiness go with you!' said the poor schoolmaster. +'I am quite a solitary man now. If you ever pass this way again, +you'll not forget the little village-school.' + +'We shall never forget it, sir,' rejoined Nell; 'nor ever forget to be +grateful to you for your kindness to us.' + +'I have heard such words from the lips of children very often,' said +the schoolmaster, shaking his head, and smiling thoughtfully, 'but they +were soon forgotten. I had attached one young friend to me, the better +friend for being young--but that's over--God bless you!' + +They bade him farewell very many times, and turned away, walking slowly +and often looking back, until they could see him no more. At length +they had left the village far behind, and even lost sight of the smoke +among the trees. They trudged onward now, at a quicker pace, resolving +to keep the main road, and go wherever it might lead them. + +But main roads stretch a long, long way. With the exception of two or +three inconsiderable clusters of cottages which they passed, without +stopping, and one lonely road-side public-house where they had some +bread and cheese, this highway had led them to nothing--late in the +afternoon--and still lengthened out, far in the distance, the same +dull, tedious, winding course, that they had been pursuing all day. As +they had no resource, however, but to go forward, they still kept on, +though at a much slower pace, being very weary and fatigued. + +The afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening, when they arrived +at a point where the road made a sharp turn and struck across a common. +On the border of this common, and close to the hedge which divided it +from the cultivated fields, a caravan was drawn up to rest; upon which, +by reason of its situation, they came so suddenly that they could not +have avoided it if they would. + +It was not a shabby, dingy, dusty cart, but a smart little house upon +wheels, with white dimity curtains festooning the windows, and +window-shutters of green picked out with panels of a staring red, in +which happily-contrasted colours the whole concern shone brilliant. +Neither was it a poor caravan drawn by a single donkey or emaciated +horse, for a pair of horses in pretty good condition were released from +the shafts and grazing on the frouzy grass. Neither was it a gipsy +caravan, for at the open door (graced with a bright brass knocker) sat +a Christian lady, stout and comfortable to look upon, who wore a large +bonnet trembling with bows. And that it was not an unprovided or +destitute caravan was clear from this lady's occupation, which was the +very pleasant and refreshing one of taking tea. The tea-things, +including a bottle of rather suspicious character and a cold knuckle of +ham, were set forth upon a drum, covered with a white napkin; and +there, as if at the most convenient round-table in all the world, sat +this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the prospect. + +It happened that at that moment the lady of the caravan had her cup +(which, that everything about her might be of a stout and comfortable +kind, was a breakfast cup) to her lips, and that having her eyes lifted +to the sky in her enjoyment of the full flavour of the tea, not +unmingled possibly with just the slightest dash or gleam of something +out of the suspicious bottle--but this is mere speculation and not +distinct matter of history--it happened that being thus agreeably +engaged, she did not see the travellers when they first came up. It +was not until she was in the act of getting down the cup, and drawing a +long breath after the exertion of causing its contents to disappear, +that the lady of the caravan beheld an old man and a young child +walking slowly by, and glancing at her proceedings with eyes of modest +but hungry admiration. + +'Hey!' cried the lady of the caravan, scooping the crumbs out of her +lap and swallowing the same before wiping her lips. 'Yes, to be +sure--Who won the Helter-Skelter Plate, child?' + +'Won what, ma'am?' asked Nell. + +'The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child--the plate that was run +for on the second day.' + +'On the second day, ma'am?' + +'Second day! Yes, second day,' repeated the lady with an air of +impatience. 'Can't you say who won the Helter-Skelter Plate when +you're asked the question civilly?' + +'I don't know, ma'am.' + +'Don't know!' repeated the lady of the caravan; 'why, you were there. +I saw you with my own eyes.' + +Nell was not a little alarmed to hear this, supposing that the lady +might be intimately acquainted with the firm of Short and Codlin; but +what followed tended to reassure her. + +'And very sorry I was,' said the lady of the caravan, 'to see you in +company with a Punch; a low, practical, wulgar wretch, that people +should scorn to look at.' + +'I was not there by choice,' returned the child; 'we didn't know our +way, and the two men were very kind to us, and let us travel with them. +Do you--do you know them, ma'am?' + +'Know 'em, child!' cried the lady of the caravan in a sort of shriek. +'Know them! But you're young and inexperienced, and that's your excuse +for asking sich a question. Do I look as if I know'd 'em, does the +caravan look as if it know'd 'em?' + +'No, ma'am, no,' said the child, fearing she had committed some +grievous fault. 'I beg your pardon.' + +It was granted immediately, though the lady still appeared much ruffled +and discomposed by the degrading supposition. The child then explained +that they had left the races on the first day, and were travelling to +the next town on that road, where they purposed to spend the night. As +the countenance of the stout lady began to clear up, she ventured to +inquire how far it was. The reply--which the stout lady did not come +to, until she had thoroughly explained that she went to the races on +the first day in a gig, and as an expedition of pleasure, and that her +presence there had no connexion with any matters of business or +profit--was, that the town was eight miles off. + +This discouraging information a little dashed the child, who could +scarcely repress a tear as she glanced along the darkening road. Her +grandfather made no complaint, but he sighed heavily as he leaned upon +his staff, and vainly tried to pierce the dusty distance. + +The lady of the caravan was in the act of gathering her tea equipage +together preparatory to clearing the table, but noting the child's +anxious manner she hesitated and stopped. The child curtseyed, thanked +her for her information, and giving her hand to the old man had already +got some fifty yards or so away, when the lady of the caravan called to +her to return. + +'Come nearer, nearer still,' said she, beckoning to her to ascend the +steps. 'Are you hungry, child?' + +'Not very, but we are tired, and it's--it IS a long way.' + +'Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea,' rejoined her new +acquaintance. 'I suppose you are agreeable to that, old gentleman?' + +The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat and thanked her. The lady of +the caravan then bade him come up the steps likewise, but the drum +proving an inconvenient table for two, they descended again, and sat +upon the grass, where she handed down to them the tea-tray, the bread +and butter, the knuckle of ham, and in short everything of which she +had partaken herself, except the bottle which she had already embraced +an opportunity of slipping into her pocket. + +'Set 'em out near the hind wheels, child, that's the best place,' said +their friend, superintending the arrangements from above. 'Now hand up +the teapot for a little more hot water, and a pinch of fresh tea, and +then both of you eat and drink as much as you can, and don't spare +anything; that's all I ask of you.' + +They might perhaps have carried out the lady's wish, if it had been +less freely expressed, or even if it had not been expressed at all. +But as this direction relieved them from any shadow of delicacy or +uneasiness, they made a hearty meal and enjoyed it to the utmost. + +While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan alighted on the +earth, and with her hands clasped behind her, and her large bonnet +trembling excessively, walked up and down in a measured tread and very +stately manner, surveying the caravan from time to time with an air of +calm delight, and deriving particular gratification from the red panels +and the brass knocker. When she had taken this gentle exercise for +some time, she sat down upon the steps and called 'George'; whereupon a +man in a carter's frock, who had been so shrouded in a hedge up to this +time as to see everything that passed without being seen himself, +parted the twigs that concealed him, and appeared in a sitting +attitude, supporting on his legs a baking-dish and a half-gallon stone +bottle, and bearing in his right hand a knife, and in his left a fork. + +'Yes, Missus,' said George. + +'How did you find the cold pie, George?' + +'It warn't amiss, mum.' + +'And the beer,' said the lady of the caravan, with an appearance of +being more interested in this question than the last; 'is it passable, +George?' + +'It's more flatterer than it might be,' George returned, 'but it an't +so bad for all that.' + +To set the mind of his mistress at rest, he took a sip (amounting in +quantity to a pint or thereabouts) from the stone bottle, and then +smacked his lips, winked his eye, and nodded his head. No doubt with +the same amiable desire, he immediately resumed his knife and fork, as +a practical assurance that the beer had wrought no bad effect upon his +appetite. + +The lady of the caravan looked on approvingly for some time, and then +said, + +'Have you nearly finished?' + +'Wery nigh, mum.' And indeed, after scraping the dish all round with +his knife and carrying the choice brown morsels to his mouth, and after +taking such a scientific pull at the stone bottle that, by degrees +almost imperceptible to the sight, his head went further and further +back until he lay nearly at his full length upon the ground, this +gentleman declared himself quite disengaged, and came forth from his +retreat. + +'I hope I haven't hurried you, George,' said his mistress, who appeared +to have a great sympathy with his late pursuit. + +'If you have,' returned the follower, wisely reserving himself for any +favourable contingency that might occur, 'we must make up for it next +time, that's all.' + +'We are not a heavy load, George?' + +'That's always what the ladies say,' replied the man, looking a long +way round, as if he were appealing to Nature in general against such +monstrous propositions. 'If you see a woman a driving, you'll always +perceive that she never will keep her whip still; the horse can't go +fast enough for her. If cattle have got their proper load, you never +can persuade a woman that they'll not bear something more. What is the +cause of this here?' + +'Would these two travellers make much difference to the horses, if we +took them with us?' asked his mistress, offering no reply to the +philosophical inquiry, and pointing to Nell and the old man, who were +painfully preparing to resume their journey on foot. + +'They'd make a difference in course,' said George doggedly. + +'Would they make much difference?' repeated his mistress. 'They can't +be very heavy.' + +'The weight o' the pair, mum,' said George, eyeing them with the look +of a man who was calculating within half an ounce or so, 'would be a +trifle under that of Oliver Cromwell.' + +Nell was very much surprised that the man should be so accurately +acquainted with the weight of one whom she had read of in books as +having lived considerably before their time, but speedily forgot the +subject in the joy of hearing that they were to go forward in the +caravan, for which she thanked its lady with unaffected earnestness. +She helped with great readiness and alacrity to put away the tea-things +and other matters that were lying about, and, the horses being by that +time harnessed, mounted into the vehicle, followed by her delighted +grandfather. Their patroness then shut the door and sat herself down +by her drum at an open window; and, the steps being struck by George +and stowed under the carriage, away they went, with a great noise of +flapping and creaking and straining, and the bright brass knocker, +which nobody ever knocked at, knocking one perpetual double knock of +its own accord as they jolted heavily along. + + + + +CHAPTER 27 + +When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance, Nell +ventured to steal a look round the caravan and observe it more closely. +One half of it--that moiety in which the comfortable proprietress was +then seated--was carpeted, and so partitioned off at the further end as +to accommodate a sleeping-place, constructed after the fashion of a +berth on board ship, which was shaded, like the little windows, with +fair white curtains, and looked comfortable enough, though by what kind +of gymnastic exercise the lady of the caravan ever contrived to get +into it, was an unfathomable mystery. The other half served for a +kitchen, and was fitted up with a stove whose small chimney passed +through the roof. It held also a closet or larder, several chests, a +great pitcher of water, and a few cooking-utensils and articles of +crockery. These latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which, in that +portion of the establishment devoted to the lady of the caravan, were +ornamented with such gayer and lighter decorations as a triangle and a +couple of well-thumbed tambourines. + +The lady of the caravan sat at one window in all the pride and poetry +of the musical instruments, and little Nell and her grandfather sat at +the other in all the humility of the kettle and saucepans, while the +machine jogged on and shifted the darkening prospect very slowly. At +first the two travellers spoke little, and only in whispers, but as +they grew more familiar with the place they ventured to converse with +greater freedom, and talked about the country through which they were +passing, and the different objects that presented themselves, until the +old man fell asleep; which the lady of the caravan observing, invited +Nell to come and sit beside her. + +'Well, child,' she said, 'how do you like this way of travelling?' + +Nell replied that she thought it was very pleasant indeed, to which the +lady assented in the case of people who had their spirits. For +herself, she said, she was troubled with a lowness in that respect +which required a constant stimulant; though whether the aforesaid +stimulant was derived from the suspicious bottle of which mention has +been already made or from other sources, she did not say. + +'That's the happiness of you young people,' she continued. 'You don't +know what it is to be low in your feelings. You always have your +appetites too, and what a comfort that is.' + +Nell thought that she could sometimes dispense with her own appetite +very conveniently; and thought, moreover, that there was nothing either +in the lady's personal appearance or in her manner of taking tea, to +lead to the conclusion that her natural relish for meat and drink had +at all failed her. She silently assented, however, as in duty bound, +to what the lady had said, and waited until she should speak again. + +Instead of speaking, however, she sat looking at the child for a long +time in silence, and then getting up, brought out from a corner a large +roll of canvas about a yard in width, which she laid upon the floor and +spread open with her foot until it nearly reached from one end of the +caravan to the other. + +'There, child,' she said, 'read that.' + +Nell walked down it, and read aloud, in enormous black letters, the +inscription, 'JARLEY'S WAX-WORK.' + +'Read it again,' said the lady, complacently. + +'Jarley's Wax-Work,' repeated Nell. + +'That's me,' said the lady. 'I am Mrs Jarley.' + +Giving the child an encouraging look, intended to reassure her and let +her know, that, although she stood in the presence of the original +Jarley, she must not allow herself to be utterly overwhelmed and borne +down, the lady of the caravan unfolded another scroll, whereon was the +inscription, 'One hundred figures the full size of life,' and then +another scroll, on which was written, 'The only stupendous collection +of real wax-work in the world,' and then several smaller scrolls with +such inscriptions as 'Now exhibiting within'--'The genuine and only +Jarley'--'Jarley's unrivalled collection'--'Jarley is the delight of +the Nobility and Gentry'--'The Royal Family are the patrons of Jarley.' +When she had exhibited these leviathans of public announcement to the +astonished child, she brought forth specimens of the lesser fry in the +shape of hand-bills, some of which were couched in the form of parodies +on popular melodies, as 'Believe me if all Jarley's wax-work so +rare'--'I saw thy show in youthful prime'--'Over the water to Jarley;' +while, to consult all tastes, others were composed with a view to the +lighter and more facetious spirits, as a parody on the favourite air of +'If I had a donkey,' beginning, + + If I know'd a donkey wot wouldn't go + To see Mrs JARLEY'S wax-work show, + Do you think I'd acknowledge him? Oh no no! + Then run to Jarley's-- + +--besides several compositions in prose, purporting to be dialogues +between the Emperor of China and an oyster, or the Archbishop of +Canterbury and a dissenter on the subject of church-rates, but all +having the same moral, namely, that the reader must make haste to +Jarley's, and that children and servants were admitted at half-price. +When she had brought all these testimonials of her important position +in society to bear upon her young companion, Mrs Jarley rolled them up, +and having put them carefully away, sat down again, and looked at the +child in triumph. + +'Never go into the company of a filthy Punch any more,' said Mrs +Jarley, 'after this.' + +'I never saw any wax-work, ma'am,' said Nell. 'Is it funnier than +Punch?' + +'Funnier!' said Mrs Jarley in a shrill voice. 'It is not funny at all.' + +'Oh!' said Nell, with all possible humility. + +'It isn't funny at all,' repeated Mrs Jarley. 'It's calm and--what's +that word again--critical?--no--classical, that's it--it's calm and +classical. No low beatings and knockings about, no jokings and +squeakings like your precious Punches, but always the same, with a +constantly unchanging air of coldness and gentility; and so like life, +that if wax-work only spoke and walked about, you'd hardly know the +difference. I won't go so far as to say, that, as it is, I've seen +wax-work quite like life, but I've certainly seen some life that was +exactly like wax-work.' + +'Is it here, ma'am?' asked Nell, whose curiosity was awakened by this +description. + +'Is what here, child?' + +'The wax-work, ma'am.' + +'Why, bless you, child, what are you thinking of? How could such a +collection be here, where you see everything except the inside of one +little cupboard and a few boxes? It's gone on in the other wans to the +assembly-rooms, and there it'll be exhibited the day after to-morrow. +You are going to the same town, and you'll see it I dare say. It's +natural to expect that you'll see it, and I've no doubt you will. I +suppose you couldn't stop away if you was to try ever so much.' + +'I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am,' said the child. + +'Not there!' cried Mrs Jarley. 'Then where will you be?' + +'I--I--don't quite know. I am not certain.' + +'You don't mean to say that you're travelling about the country without +knowing where you're going to?' said the lady of the caravan. 'What +curious people you are! What line are you in? You looked to me at the +races, child, as if you were quite out of your element, and had got +there by accident.' + +'We were there quite by accident,' returned Nell, confused by this +abrupt questioning. 'We are poor people, ma'am, and are only wandering +about. We have nothing to do;--I wish we had.' + +'You amaze me more and more,' said Mrs Jarley, after remaining for some +time as mute as one of her own figures. 'Why, what do you call +yourselves? Not beggars?' + +'Indeed, ma'am, I don't know what else we are,' returned the child. + +'Lord bless me,' said the lady of the caravan. 'I never heard of such +a thing. Who'd have thought it!' + +She remained so long silent after this exclamation, that Nell feared +she felt her having been induced to bestow her protection and +conversation upon one so poor, to be an outrage upon her dignity that +nothing could repair. This persuasion was rather confirmed than +otherwise by the tone in which she at length broke silence and said, + +'And yet you can read. And write too, I shouldn't wonder?' + +'Yes, ma'am,' said the child, fearful of giving new offence by the +confession. + +'Well, and what a thing that is,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'I can't!' + +Nell said 'indeed' in a tone which might imply, either that she was +reasonably surprised to find the genuine and only Jarley, who was the +delight of the Nobility and Gentry and the peculiar pet of the Royal +Family, destitute of these familiar arts; or that she presumed so great +a lady could scarcely stand in need of such ordinary accomplishments. +In whatever way Mrs Jarley received the response, it did not provoke +her to further questioning, or tempt her into any more remarks at the +time, for she relapsed into a thoughtful silence, and remained in that +state so long that Nell withdrew to the other window and rejoined her +grandfather, who was now awake. + +At length the lady of the caravan shook off her fit of meditation, and, +summoning the driver to come under the window at which she was seated, +held a long conversation with him in a low tone of voice, as if she +were asking his advice on an important point, and discussing the pros +and cons of some very weighty matter. This conference at length +concluded, she drew in her head again, and beckoned Nell to approach. + +'And the old gentleman too,' said Mrs Jarley; 'for I want to have a +word with him. Do you want a good situation for your grand-daughter, +master? If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do +you say?' + +'I can't leave her,' answered the old man. 'We can't separate. What +would become of me without her?' + +'I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself, if +you ever will be,' retorted Mrs Jarley sharply. + +'But he never will be,' said the child in an earnest whisper. 'I fear +he never will be again. Pray do not speak harshly to him. We are very +thankful to you,' she added aloud; 'but neither of us could part from +the other if all the wealth of the world were halved between us.' + +Mrs Jarley was a little disconcerted by this reception of her proposal, +and looked at the old man, who tenderly took Nell's hand and detained +it in his own, as if she could have very well dispensed with his +company or even his earthly existence. After an awkward pause, she +thrust her head out of the window again, and had another conference +with the driver upon some point on which they did not seem to agree +quite so readily as on their former topic of discussion; but they +concluded at last, and she addressed the grandfather again. + +'If you're really disposed to employ yourself,' said Mrs Jarley, 'there +would be plenty for you to do in the way of helping to dust the +figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want your +grand-daughter for, is to point 'em out to the company; they would be +soon learnt, and she has a way with her that people wouldn't think +unpleasant, though she does come after me; for I've been always +accustomed to go round with visitors myself, which I should keep on +doing now, only that my spirits make a little ease absolutely +necessary. It's not a common offer, bear in mind,' said the lady, +rising into the tone and manner in which she was accustomed to address +her audiences; 'it's Jarley's wax-work, remember. The duty's very +light and genteel, the company particularly select, the exhibition +takes place in assembly-rooms, town-halls, large rooms at inns, or +auction galleries. There is none of your open-air wagrancy at +Jarley's, recollect; there is no tarpaulin and sawdust at Jarley's, +remember. Every expectation held out in the handbills is realised to +the utmost, and the whole forms an effect of imposing brilliancy +hitherto unrivalled in this kingdom. Remember that the price of +admission is only sixpence, and that this is an opportunity which may +never occur again!' + +Descending from the sublime when she had reached this point, to the +details of common life, Mrs Jarley remarked that with reference to +salary she could pledge herself to no specific sum until she had +sufficiently tested Nell's abilities, and narrowly watched her in the +performance of her duties. But board and lodging, both for her and her +grandfather, she bound herself to provide, and she furthermore passed +her word that the board should always be good in quality, and in +quantity plentiful. + +Nell and her grandfather consulted together, and while they were so +engaged, Mrs Jarley with her hands behind her walked up and down the +caravan, as she had walked after tea on the dull earth, with uncommon +dignity and self-esteem. Nor will this appear so slight a circumstance +as to be unworthy of mention, when it is remembered that the caravan +was in uneasy motion all the time, and that none but a person of great +natural stateliness and acquired grace could have forborne to stagger. + +'Now, child?' cried Mrs Jarley, coming to a halt as Nell turned towards +her. + +'We are very much obliged to you, ma'am,' said Nell, 'and thankfully +accept your offer.' + +'And you'll never be sorry for it,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'I'm pretty +sure of that. So as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper.' + +In the meanwhile, the caravan blundered on as if it too had been +drinking strong beer and was drowsy, and came at last upon the paved +streets of a town which were clear of passengers, and quiet, for it was +by this time near midnight, and the townspeople were all abed. As it +was too late an hour to repair to the exhibition room, they turned +aside into a piece of waste ground that lay just within the old +town-gate, and drew up there for the night, near to another caravan, +which, notwithstanding that it bore on the lawful panel the great name +of Jarley, and was employed besides in conveying from place to place +the wax-work which was its country's pride, was designated by a +grovelling stamp-office as a 'Common Stage Waggon,' and numbered +too--seven thousand odd hundred--as though its precious freight were +mere flour or coals! + +This ill-used machine being empty (for it had deposited its burden at +the place of exhibition, and lingered here until its services were +again required) was assigned to the old man as his sleeping-place for +the night; and within its wooden walls, Nell made him up the best bed +she could, from the materials at hand. For herself, she was to sleep +in Mrs Jarley's own travelling-carriage, as a signal mark of that +lady's favour and confidence. + +She had taken leave of her grandfather and was returning to the other +waggon, when she was tempted by the coolness of the night to linger for +a little while in the air. The moon was shining down upon the old +gateway of the town, leaving the low archway very black and dark; and +with a mingled sensation of curiosity and fear, she slowly approached +the gate, and stood still to look up at it, wondering to see how dark, +and grim, and old, and cold, it looked. + +There was an empty niche from which some old statue had fallen or been +carried away hundreds of years ago, and she was thinking what strange +people it must have looked down upon when it stood there, and how many +hard struggles might have taken place, and how many murders might have +been done, upon that silent spot, when there suddenly emerged from the +black shade of the arch, a man. The instant he appeared, she +recognised him--Who could have failed to recognise, in that instant, +the ugly misshapen Quilp! + +The street beyond was so narrow, and the shadow of the houses on one +side of the way so deep, that he seemed to have risen out of the earth. +But there he was. The child withdrew into a dark corner, and saw him +pass close to her. He had a stick in his hand, and, when he had got +clear of the shadow of the gateway, he leant upon it, looked +back--directly, as it seemed, towards where she stood--and beckoned. + +To her? oh no, thank God, not to her; for as she stood, in an +extremity of fear, hesitating whether to scream for help, or come from +her hiding-place and fly, before he should draw nearer, there issued +slowly forth from the arch another figure--that of a boy--who carried +on his back a trunk. + +'Faster, sirrah!' cried Quilp, looking up at the old gateway, and +showing in the moonlight like some monstrous image that had come down +from its niche and was casting a backward glance at its old house, +'faster!' + +'It's a dreadful heavy load, Sir,' the boy pleaded. 'I've come on very +fast, considering.' + +'_You_ have come fast, considering!' retorted Quilp; 'you creep, you dog, +you crawl, you measure distance like a worm. There are the chimes now, +half-past twelve.' + +He stopped to listen, and then turning upon the boy with a suddenness +and ferocity that made him start, asked at what hour that London coach +passed the corner of the road. The boy replied, at one. + +'Come on then,' said Quilp, 'or I shall be too late. Faster--do you +hear me? Faster.' + +The boy made all the speed he could, and Quilp led onward, constantly +turning back to threaten him, and urge him to greater haste. Nell did +not dare to move until they were out of sight and hearing, and then +hurried to where she had left her grandfather, feeling as if the very +passing of the dwarf so near him must have filled him with alarm and +terror. But he was sleeping soundly, and she softly withdrew. + +As she was making her way to her own bed, she determined to say nothing +of this adventure, as upon whatever errand the dwarf had come (and she +feared it must have been in search of them) it was clear by his inquiry +about the London coach that he was on his way homeward, and as he had +passed through that place, it was but reasonable to suppose that they +were safer from his inquiries there, than they could be elsewhere. +These reflections did not remove her own alarm, for she had been too +much terrified to be easily composed, and felt as if she were hemmed in +by a legion of Quilps, and the very air itself were filled with them. + +The delight of the Nobility and Gentry and the patronised of Royalty +had, by some process of self-abridgment known only to herself, got into +her travelling bed, where she was snoring peacefully, while the large +bonnet, carefully disposed upon the drum, was revealing its glories by +the light of a dim lamp that swung from the roof. The child's bed was +already made upon the floor, and it was a great comfort to her to hear +the steps removed as soon as she had entered, and to know that all easy +communication between persons outside and the brass knocker was by this +means effectually prevented. Certain guttural sounds, too, which from +time to time ascended through the floor of the caravan, and a rustling +of straw in the same direction, apprised her that the driver was +couched upon the ground beneath, and gave her an additional feeling of +security. + +Notwithstanding these protections, she could get none but broken sleep +by fits and starts all night, for fear of Quilp, who throughout her +uneasy dreams was somehow connected with the wax-work, or was wax-work +himself, or was Mrs Jarley and wax-work too, or was himself, Mrs +Jarley, wax-work, and a barrel organ all in one, and yet not exactly +any of them either. At length, towards break of day, that deep sleep +came upon her which succeeds to weariness and over-watching, and which +has no consciousness but one of overpowering and irresistible enjoyment. + + + + +CHAPTER 28 + +Sleep hung upon the eyelids of the child so long, that, when she awoke, +Mrs Jarley was already decorated with her large bonnet, and actively +engaged in preparing breakfast. She received Nell's apology for being +so late with perfect good humour, and said that she should not have +roused her if she had slept on until noon. + +'Because it does you good,' said the lady of the caravan, 'when you're +tired, to sleep as long as ever you can, and get the fatigue quite off; +and that's another blessing of your time of life--you can sleep so very +sound.' + +'Have you had a bad night, ma'am?' asked Nell. + +'I seldom have anything else, child,' replied Mrs Jarley, with the air +of a martyr. 'I sometimes wonder how I bear it.' + +Remembering the snores which had proceeded from that cleft in the +caravan in which the proprietress of the wax-work passed the night, +Nell rather thought she must have been dreaming of lying awake. +However, she expressed herself very sorry to hear such a dismal account +of her state of health, and shortly afterwards sat down with her +grandfather and Mrs Jarley to breakfast. The meal finished, Nell +assisted to wash the cups and saucers, and put them in their proper +places, and these household duties performed, Mrs Jarley arrayed +herself in an exceedingly bright shawl for the purpose of making a +progress through the streets of the town. + +'The wan will come on to bring the boxes,' said Mrs Jarley, and you had +better come in it, child. I am obliged to walk, very much against my +will; but the people expect it of me, and public characters can't be +their own masters and mistresses in such matters as these. How do I +look, child?' + +Nell returned a satisfactory reply, and Mrs Jarley, after sticking a +great many pins into various parts of her figure, and making several +abortive attempts to obtain a full view of her own back, was at last +satisfied with her appearance, and went forth majestically. + +The caravan followed at no great distance. As it went jolting through +the streets, Nell peeped from the window, curious to see in what kind +of place they were, and yet fearful of encountering at every turn the +dreaded face of Quilp. It was a pretty large town, with an open square +which they were crawling slowly across, and in the middle of which was +the Town-Hall, with a clock-tower and a weather-cock. There were +houses of stone, houses of red brick, houses of yellow brick, houses of +lath and plaster; and houses of wood, many of them very old, with +withered faces carved upon the beams, and staring down into the street. +These had very little winking windows, and low-arched doors, and, in +some of the narrower ways, quite overhung the pavement. The streets +were very clean, very sunny, very empty, and very dull. A few idle men +lounged about the two inns, and the empty market-place, and the +tradesmen's doors, and some old people were dozing in chairs outside an +alms-house wall; but scarcely any passengers who seemed bent on going +anywhere, or to have any object in view, went by; and if perchance some +straggler did, his footsteps echoed on the hot bright pavement for +minutes afterwards. Nothing seemed to be going on but the clocks, and +they had such drowzy faces, such heavy lazy hands, and such cracked +voices that they surely must have been too slow. The very dogs were +all asleep, and the flies, drunk with moist sugar in the grocer's shop, +forgot their wings and briskness, and baked to death in dusty corners +of the window. + +Rumbling along with most unwonted noise, the caravan stopped at last at +the place of exhibition, where Nell dismounted amidst an admiring group +of children, who evidently supposed her to be an important item of the +curiosities, and were fully impressed with the belief that her +grandfather was a cunning device in wax. The chests were taken out +with all convenient despatch, and taken in to be unlocked by Mrs +Jarley, who, attended by George and another man in velveteen shorts and +a drab hat ornamented with turnpike tickets, were waiting to dispose +their contents (consisting of red festoons and other ornamental devices +in upholstery work) to the best advantage in the decoration of the room. + +They all got to work without loss of time, and very busy they were. As +the stupendous collection were yet concealed by cloths, lest the +envious dust should injure their complexions, Nell bestirred herself to +assist in the embellishment of the room, in which her grandfather also +was of great service. The two men being well used to it, did a great +deal in a short time; and Mrs Jarley served out the tin tacks from a +linen pocket like a toll-collector's which she wore for the purpose, +and encouraged her assistants to renewed exertion. + +While they were thus employed, a tallish gentleman with a hook nose and +black hair, dressed in a military surtout very short and tight in the +sleeves, and which had once been frogged and braided all over, but was +now sadly shorn of its garniture and quite threadbare--dressed too in +ancient grey pantaloons fitting tight to the leg, and a pair of pumps +in the winter of their existence--looked in at the door and smiled +affably. Mrs Jarley's back being then towards him, the military +gentleman shook his forefinger as a sign that her myrmidons were not to +apprise her of his presence, and stealing up close behind her, tapped +her on the neck, and cried playfully 'Boh!' + +'What, Mr Slum!' cried the lady of the wax-work. 'Lot! who'd have +thought of seeing you here!' + +''Pon my soul and honour,' said Mr Slum, 'that's a good remark. 'Pon +my soul and honour that's a wise remark. Who would have thought it! +George, my faithful feller, how are you?' + +George received this advance with a surly indifference, observing that +he was well enough for the matter of that, and hammering lustily all +the time. + +'I came here,' said the military gentleman turning to Mrs Jarley--''pon +my soul and honour I hardly know what I came here for. It would +puzzle me to tell you, it would by Gad. I wanted a little inspiration, +a little freshening up, a little change of ideas, and-- 'Pon my soul +and honour,' said the military gentleman, checking himself and looking +round the room, 'what a devilish classical thing this is! by Gad, it's +quite Minervian.' + +'It'll look well enough when it comes to be finished,' observed Mrs +Jarley. + +'Well enough!' said Mr Slum. 'Will you believe me when I say it's the +delight of my life to have dabbled in poetry, when I think I've +exercised my pen upon this charming theme? By the way--any orders? Is +there any little thing I can do for you?' + +'It comes so very expensive, sir,' replied Mrs Jarley, 'and I really +don't think it does much good.' + +'Hush! No, no!' returned Mr Slum, elevating his hand. 'No fibs. I'll +not hear it. Don't say it don't do good. Don't say it. I know +better!' + +'I don't think it does,' said Mrs Jarley. + +'Ha, ha!' cried Mr Slum, 'you're giving way, you're coming down. Ask +the perfumers, ask the blacking-makers, ask the hatters, ask the old +lottery-office-keepers--ask any man among 'em what my poetry has done +for him, and mark my words, he blesses the name of Slum. If he's an +honest man, he raises his eyes to heaven, and blesses the name of +Slum--mark that! You are acquainted with Westminster Abbey, Mrs +Jarley?' + +'Yes, surely.' + +'Then upon my soul and honour, ma'am, you'll find in a certain angle of +that dreary pile, called Poets' Corner, a few smaller names than Slum,' +retorted that gentleman, tapping himself expressively on the forehead +to imply that there was some slight quantity of brain behind it. 'I've +got a little trifle here, now,' said Mr Slum, taking off his hat which +was full of scraps of paper, 'a little trifle here, thrown off in the +heat of the moment, which I should say was exactly the thing you wanted +to set this place on fire with. It's an acrostic--the name at this +moment is Warren, and the idea's a convertible one, and a positive +inspiration for Jarley. Have the acrostic.' + +'I suppose it's very dear,' said Mrs Jarley. + +'Five shillings,' returned Mr Slum, using his pencil as a toothpick. +'Cheaper than any prose.' + +'I couldn't give more than three,' said Mrs Jarley. + +'--And six,' retorted Slum. 'Come. Three-and-six.' + +Mrs Jarley was not proof against the poet's insinuating manner, and Mr +Slum entered the order in a small note-book as a three-and-sixpenny +one. Mr Slum then withdrew to alter the acrostic, after taking a most +affectionate leave of his patroness, and promising to return, as soon +as he possibly could, with a fair copy for the printer. + +As his presence had not interfered with or interrupted the +preparations, they were now far advanced, and were completed shortly +after his departure. When the festoons were all put up as tastily as +they might be, the stupendous collection was uncovered, and there were +displayed, on a raised platform some two feet from the floor, running +round the room and parted from the rude public by a crimson rope breast +high, divers sprightly effigies of celebrated characters, singly and in +groups, clad in glittering dresses of various climes and times, and +standing more or less unsteadily upon their legs, with their eyes very +wide open, and their nostrils very much inflated, and the muscles of +their legs and arms very strongly developed, and all their countenances +expressing great surprise. All the gentlemen were very pigeon-breasted +and very blue about the beards; and all the ladies were miraculous +figures; and all the ladies and all the gentlemen were looking +intensely nowhere, and staring with extraordinary earnestness at +nothing. + +When Nell had exhausted her first raptures at this glorious sight, Mrs +Jarley ordered the room to be cleared of all but herself and the child, +and, sitting herself down in an arm-chair in the centre, formally +invested Nell with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out +the characters, and was at great pains to instruct her in her duty. + +'That,' said Mrs Jarley in her exhibition tone, as Nell touched a +figure at the beginning of the platform, 'is an unfortunate Maid of +Honour in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, who died from pricking her +finger in consequence of working upon a Sunday. Observe the blood +which is trickling from her finger; also the gold-eyed needle of the +period, with which she is at work.' + +All this, Nell repeated twice or thrice: pointing to the finger and the +needle at the right times: and then passed on to the next. + +'That, ladies and gentlemen,' said Mrs Jarley, 'is Jasper Packlemerton +of atrocious memory, who courted and married fourteen wives, and +destroyed them all, by tickling the soles of their feet when they were +sleeping in the consciousness of innocence and virtue. On being +brought to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had done, +he replied yes, he was sorry for having let 'em off so easy, and hoped +all Christian husbands would pardon him the offence. Let this be a +warning to all young ladies to be particular in the character of the +gentlemen of their choice. Observe that his fingers are curled as if +in the act of tickling, and that his face is represented with a wink, +as he appeared when committing his barbarous murders.' + +When Nell knew all about Mr Packlemerton, and could say it without +faltering, Mrs Jarley passed on to the fat man, and then to the thin +man, the tall man, the short man, the old lady who died of dancing at a +hundred and thirty-two, the wild boy of the woods, the woman who +poisoned fourteen families with pickled walnuts, and other historical +characters and interesting but misguided individuals. And so well did +Nell profit by her instructions, and so apt was she to remember them, +that by the time they had been shut up together for a couple of hours, +she was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, +and perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors. + +Mrs Jarley was not slow to express her admiration at this happy result, +and carried her young friend and pupil to inspect the remaining +arrangements within doors, by virtue of which the passage had been +already converted into a grove of green-baize hung with the inscription +she had already seen (Mr Slum's productions), and a highly ornamented +table placed at the upper end for Mrs Jarley herself, at which she was +to preside and take the money, in company with his Majesty King George +the Third, Mr Grimaldi as clown, Mary Queen of Scots, an anonymous +gentleman of the Quaker persuasion, and Mr Pitt holding in his hand a +correct model of the bill for the imposition of the window duty. The +preparations without doors had not been neglected either; a nun of +great personal attractions was telling her beads on the little portico +over the door; and a brigand with the blackest possible head of hair, +and the clearest possible complexion, was at that moment going round +the town in a cart, consulting the miniature of a lady. + +It now only remained that Mr Slum's compositions should be judiciously +distributed; that the pathetic effusions should find their way to all +private houses and tradespeople; and that the parody commencing 'If I +know'd a donkey,' should be confined to the taverns, and circulated +only among the lawyers' clerks and choice spirits of the place. When +this had been done, and Mrs Jarley had waited upon the boarding-schools +in person, with a handbill composed expressly for them, in which it was +distinctly proved that wax-work refined the mind, cultivated the taste, +and enlarged the sphere of the human understanding, that indefatigable +lady sat down to dinner, and drank out of the suspicious bottle to a +flourishing campaign. + + + + +CHAPTER 29 + +Unquestionably Mrs Jarley had an inventive genius. In the midst of the +various devices for attracting visitors to the exhibition, little Nell +was not forgotten. The light cart in which the Brigand usually made +his perambulations being gaily dressed with flags and streamers, and +the Brigand placed therein, contemplating the miniature of his beloved +as usual, Nell was accommodated with a seat beside him, decorated with +artificial flowers, and in this state and ceremony rode slowly through +the town every morning, dispersing handbills from a basket, to the +sound of drum and trumpet. The beauty of the child, coupled with her +gentle and timid bearing, produced quite a sensation in the little +country place. The Brigand, heretofore a source of exclusive interest +in the streets, became a mere secondary consideration, and to be +important only as a part of the show of which she was the chief +attraction. Grown-up folks began to be interested in the bright-eyed +girl, and some score of little boys fell desperately in love, and +constantly left enclosures of nuts and apples, directed in small-text, +at the wax-work door. + +This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs Jarley, who, lest Nell +should become too cheap, soon sent the Brigand out alone again, and +kept her in the exhibition room, where she described the figures every +half-hour to the great satisfaction of admiring audiences. And these +audiences were of a very superior description, including a great many +young ladies' boarding-schools, whose favour Mrs Jarley had been at +great pains to conciliate, by altering the face and costume of Mr +Grimaldi as clown to represent Mr Lindley Murray as he appeared when +engaged in the composition of his English Grammar, and turning a +murderess of great renown into Mrs Hannah More--both of which +likenesses were admitted by Miss Monflathers, who was at the head of +the head Boarding and Day Establishment in the town, and who +condescended to take a Private View with eight chosen young ladies, to +be quite startling from their extreme correctness. Mr Pitt in a +nightcap and bedgown, and without his boots, represented the poet +Cowper with perfect exactness; and Mary Queen of Scots in a dark wig, +white shirt-collar, and male attire, was such a complete image of Lord +Byron that the young ladies quite screamed when they saw it. Miss +Monflathers, however, rebuked this enthusiasm, and took occasion to +reprove Mrs Jarley for not keeping her collection more select: +observing that His Lordship had held certain opinions quite +incompatible with wax-work honours, and adding something about a Dean +and Chapter, which Mrs Jarley did not understand. + +Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found in the lady +of the caravan a very kind and considerate person, who had not only a +peculiar relish for being comfortable herself, but for making everybody +about her comfortable also; which latter taste, it may be remarked, is, +even in persons who live in much finer places than caravans, a far more +rare and uncommon one than the first, and is not by any means its +necessary consequence. As her popularity procured her various little +fees from the visitors on which her patroness never demanded any toll, +and as her grandfather too was well-treated and useful, she had no +cause of anxiety in connexion with the wax-work, beyond that which +sprung from her recollection of Quilp, and her fears that he might +return and one day suddenly encounter them. + +Quilp indeed was a perpetual night-mare to the child, who was +constantly haunted by a vision of his ugly face and stunted figure. +She slept, for their better security, in the room where the wax-work +figures were, and she never retired to this place at night but she +tortured herself--she could not help it--with imagining a resemblance, +in some one or other of their death-like faces, to the dwarf, and this +fancy would sometimes so gain upon her that she would almost believe he +had removed the figure and stood within the clothes. Then there were +so many of them with their great glassy eyes--and, as they stood one +behind the other all about her bed, they looked so like living +creatures, and yet so unlike in their grim stillness and silence, that +she had a kind of terror of them for their own sakes, and would often +lie watching their dusky figures until she was obliged to rise and +light a candle, or go and sit at the open window and feel a +companionship in the bright stars. At these times, she would recall +the old house and the window at which she used to sit alone; and then +she would think of poor Kit and all his kindness, until the tears came +into her eyes, and she would weep and smile together. + +Often and anxiously at this silent hour, her thoughts reverted to her +grandfather, and she would wonder how much he remembered of their +former life, and whether he was ever really mindful of the change in +their condition and of their late helplessness and destitution. When +they were wandering about, she seldom thought of this, but now she +could not help considering what would become of them if he fell sick, +or her own strength were to fail her. He was very patient and willing, +happy to execute any little task, and glad to be of use; but he was in +the same listless state, with no prospect of improvement--a mere +child--a poor, thoughtless, vacant creature--a harmless fond old man, +susceptible of tender love and regard for her, and of pleasant and +painful impressions, but alive to nothing more. It made her very sad +to know that this was so--so sad to see it that sometimes when he sat +idly by, smiling and nodding to her when she looked round, or when he +caressed some little child and carried it to and fro, as he was fond of +doing by the hour together, perplexed by its simple questions, yet +patient under his own infirmity, and seeming almost conscious of it +too, and humbled even before the mind of an infant--so sad it made her +to see him thus, that she would burst into tears, and, withdrawing into +some secret place, fall down upon her knees and pray that he might be +restored. + +But, the bitterness of her grief was not in beholding him in this +condition, when he was at least content and tranquil, nor in her +solitary meditations on his altered state, though these were trials for +a young heart. Cause for deeper and heavier sorrow was yet to come. + +One evening, a holiday night with them, Nell and her grandfather went +out to walk. They had been rather closely confined for some days, and +the weather being warm, they strolled a long distance. Clear of the +town, they took a footpath which struck through some pleasant fields, +judging that it would terminate in the road they quitted and enable +them to return that way. It made, however, a much wider circuit than +they had supposed, and thus they were tempted onward until sunset, when +they reached the track of which they were in search, and stopped to +rest. + +It had been gradually getting overcast, and now the sky was dark and +lowering, save where the glory of the departing sun piled up masses of +gold and burning fire, decaying embers of which gleamed here and there +through the black veil, and shone redly down upon the earth. The wind +began to moan in hollow murmurs, as the sun went down carrying glad day +elsewhere; and a train of dull clouds coming up against it, menaced +thunder and lightning. Large drops of rain soon began to fall, and, as +the storm clouds came sailing onward, others supplied the void they +left behind and spread over all the sky. Then was heard the low +rumbling of distant thunder, then the lightning quivered, and then the +darkness of an hour seemed to have gathered in an instant. + +Fearful of taking shelter beneath a tree or hedge, the old man and the +child hurried along the high road, hoping to find some house in which +they could seek a refuge from the storm, which had now burst forth in +earnest, and every moment increased in violence. Drenched with the +pelting rain, confused by the deafening thunder, and bewildered by the +glare of the forked lightning, they would have passed a solitary house +without being aware of its vicinity, had not a man, who was standing at +the door, called lustily to them to enter. + +'Your ears ought to be better than other folks' at any rate, if you +make so little of the chance of being struck blind,' he said, +retreating from the door and shading his eyes with his hands as the +jagged lightning came again. 'What were you going past for, eh?' he +added, as he closed the door and led the way along a passage to a room +behind. + +'We didn't see the house, sir, till we heard you calling,' Nell replied. + +'No wonder,' said the man, 'with this lightning in one's eyes, +by-the-by. You had better stand by the fire here, and dry yourselves a +bit. You can call for what you like if you want anything. If you +don't want anything, you are not obliged to give an order. Don't be +afraid of that. This is a public-house, that's all. The Valiant +Soldier is pretty well known hereabouts.' + +'Is this house called the Valiant Soldier, Sir?' asked Nell. + +'I thought everybody knew that,' replied the landlord. 'Where have you +come from, if you don't know the Valiant Soldier as well as the church +catechism? This is the Valiant Soldier, by James Groves--Jem +Groves--honest Jem Groves, as is a man of unblemished moral character, +and has a good dry skittle-ground. If any man has got anything to say +again Jem Groves, let him say it TO Jem Groves, and Jem Groves can +accommodate him with a customer on any terms from four pound a side to +forty. + +With these words, the speaker tapped himself on the waistcoat to +intimate that he was the Jem Groves so highly eulogized; sparred +scientifically at a counterfeit Jem Groves, who was sparring at society +in general from a black frame over the chimney-piece; and, applying a +half-emptied glass of spirits and water to his lips, drank Jem Groves's +health. + +The night being warm, there was a large screen drawn across the room, +for a barrier against the heat of the fire. It seemed as if somebody +on the other side of this screen had been insinuating doubts of Mr +Groves's prowess, and had thereby given rise to these egotistical +expressions, for Mr Groves wound up his defiance by giving a loud knock +upon it with his knuckles and pausing for a reply from the other side. + +'There an't many men,' said Mr Groves, no answer being returned, 'who +would ventur' to cross Jem Groves under his own roof. There's only one +man, I know, that has nerve enough for that, and that man's not a +hundred mile from here neither. But he's worth a dozen men, and I let +him say of me whatever he likes in consequence--he knows that.' + +In return for this complimentary address, a very gruff hoarse voice +bade Mr Groves 'hold his noise and light a candle.' And the same voice +remarked that the same gentleman 'needn't waste his breath in brag, for +most people knew pretty well what sort of stuff he was made of.' + +'Nell, they're--they're playing cards,' whispered the old man, suddenly +interested. 'Don't you hear them?' + +'Look sharp with that candle,' said the voice; 'it's as much as I can +do to see the pips on the cards as it is; and get this shutter closed +as quick as you can, will you? Your beer will be the worse for +to-night's thunder I expect.--Game! Seven-and-sixpence to me, old +Isaac. Hand over.' + +'Do you hear, Nell, do you hear them?' whispered the old man again, +with increased earnestness, as the money chinked upon the table. + +'I haven't seen such a storm as this,' said a sharp cracked voice of +most disagreeable quality, when a tremendous peal of thunder had died +away, 'since the night when old Luke Withers won thirteen times running +on the red. We all said he had the Devil's luck and his own, and as it +was the kind of night for the Devil to be out and busy, I suppose he +was looking over his shoulder, if anybody could have seen him.' + +'Ah!' returned the gruff voice; 'for all old Luke's winning through +thick and thin of late years, I remember the time when he was the +unluckiest and unfortunatest of men. He never took a dice-box in his +hand, or held a card, but he was plucked, pigeoned, and cleaned out +completely.' + +'Do you hear what he says?' whispered the old man. 'Do you hear that, +Nell?' + +The child saw with astonishment and alarm that his whole appearance had +undergone a complete change. His face was flushed and eager, his eyes +were strained, his teeth set, his breath came short and thick, and the +hand he laid upon her arm trembled so violently that she shook beneath +its grasp. + +'Bear witness,' he muttered, looking upward, 'that I always said it; +that I knew it, dreamed of it, felt it was the truth, and that it must +be so! What money have we, Nell? Come! I saw you with money +yesterday. What money have we? Give it to me.' + +'No, no, let me keep it, grandfather,' said the frightened child. 'Let +us go away from here. Do not mind the rain. Pray let us go.' + +'Give it to me, I say,' returned the old man fiercely. 'Hush, hush, +don't cry, Nell. If I spoke sharply, dear, I didn't mean it. It's for +thy good. I have wronged thee, Nell, but I will right thee yet, I will +indeed. Where is the money?' + +'Do not take it,' said the child. 'Pray do not take it, dear. For +both our sakes let me keep it, or let me throw it away--better let me +throw it away, than you take it now. Let us go; do let us go.' + +'Give me the money,' returned the old man, 'I must have it. +There--there--that's my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child, +I'll right thee, never fear!' + +She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it with the same +rapid impatience which had characterised his speech, and hastily made +his way to the other side of the screen. It was impossible to restrain +him, and the trembling child followed close behind. + +The landlord had placed a light upon the table, and was engaged in +drawing the curtain of the window. The speakers whom they had heard +were two men, who had a pack of cards and some silver money between +them, while upon the screen itself the games they had played were +scored in chalk. The man with the rough voice was a burly fellow of +middle age, with large black whiskers, broad cheeks, a coarse wide +mouth, and bull neck, which was pretty freely displayed as his shirt +collar was only confined by a loose red neckerchief. He wore his hat, +which was of a brownish-white, and had beside him a thick knotted +stick. The other man, whom his companion had called Isaac, was of a +more slender figure--stooping, and high in the shoulders--with a very +ill-favoured face, and a most sinister and villainous squint. + +'Now old gentleman,' said Isaac, looking round. 'Do you know either of +us? This side of the screen is private, sir.' + +'No offence, I hope,' returned the old man. + +'But by G--, sir, there is offence,' said the other, interrupting him, +'when you intrude yourself upon a couple of gentlemen who are +particularly engaged.' + +'I had no intention to offend,' said the old man, looking anxiously at +the cards. 'I thought that--' + +'But you had no right to think, sir,' retorted the other. 'What the +devil has a man at your time of life to do with thinking?' + +'Now bully boy,' said the stout man, raising his eyes from his cards +for the first time, 'can't you let him speak?' + +The landlord, who had apparently resolved to remain neutral until he +knew which side of the question the stout man would espouse, chimed in +at this place with 'Ah, to be sure, can't you let him speak, Isaac +List?' + +'Can't I let him speak,' sneered Isaac in reply, mimicking as nearly as +he could, in his shrill voice, the tones of the landlord. 'Yes, I can +let him speak, Jemmy Groves.' + +'Well then, do it, will you?' said the landlord. + +Mr List's squint assumed a portentous character, which seemed to +threaten a prolongation of this controversy, when his companion, who +had been looking sharply at the old man, put a timely stop to it. + +'Who knows,' said he, with a cunning look, 'but the gentleman may have +civilly meant to ask if he might have the honour to take a hand with +us!' + +'I did mean it,' cried the old man. 'That is what I mean. That is +what I want now!' + +'I thought so,' returned the same man. 'Then who knows but the +gentleman, anticipating our objection to play for love, civilly desired +to play for money?' + +The old man replied by shaking the little purse in his eager hand, and +then throwing it down upon the table, and gathering up the cards as a +miser would clutch at gold. + +'Oh! That indeed,' said Isaac; 'if that's what the gentleman meant, I +beg the gentleman's pardon. Is this the gentleman's little purse? A +very pretty little purse. Rather a light purse,' added Isaac, throwing +it into the air and catching it dexterously, 'but enough to amuse a +gentleman for half an hour or so.' + +'We'll make a four-handed game of it, and take in Groves,' said the +stout man. 'Come, Jemmy.' + +The landlord, who conducted himself like one who was well used to such +little parties, approached the table and took his seat. The child, in +a perfect agony, drew her grandfather aside, and implored him, even +then, to come away. + +'Come; and we may be so happy,' said the child. + +'We WILL be happy,' replied the old man hastily. 'Let me go, Nell. +The means of happiness are on the cards and the dice. We must rise +from little winnings to great. There's little to be won here; but +great will come in time. I shall but win back my own, and it's all for +thee, my darling.' + +'God help us!' cried the child. 'Oh! what hard fortune brought us +here?' + +'Hush!' rejoined the old man laying his hand upon her mouth, 'Fortune +will not bear chiding. We must not reproach her, or she shuns us; I +have found that out.' + +'Now, mister,' said the stout man. 'If you're not coming yourself, +give us the cards, will you?' + +'I am coming,' cried the old man. 'Sit thee down, Nell, sit thee down +and look on. Be of good heart, it's all for thee--all--every penny. +I don't tell them, no, no, or else they wouldn't play, dreading the +chance that such a cause must give me. Look at them. See what they +are and what thou art. Who doubts that we must win!' + +'The gentleman has thought better of it, and isn't coming,' said Isaac, +making as though he would rise from the table. 'I'm sorry the +gentleman's daunted--nothing venture, nothing have--but the gentleman +knows best.' + +'Why I am ready. You have all been slow but me,' said the old man. 'I +wonder who is more anxious to begin than I.' + +As he spoke he drew a chair to the table; and the other three closing +round it at the same time, the game commenced. + +The child sat by, and watched its progress with a troubled mind. +Regardless of the run of luck, and mindful only of the desperate +passion which had its hold upon her grandfather, losses and gains were +to her alike. Exulting in some brief triumph, or cast down by a +defeat, there he sat so wild and restless, so feverishly and intensely +anxious, so terribly eager, so ravenous for the paltry stakes, that she +could have almost better borne to see him dead. And yet she was the +innocent cause of all this torture, and he, gambling with such a savage +thirst for gain as the most insatiable gambler never felt, had not one +selfish thought! + +On the contrary, the other three--knaves and gamesters by their +trade--while intent upon their game, were yet as cool and quiet as if +every virtue had been centered in their breasts. Sometimes one would +look up to smile to another, or to snuff the feeble candle, or to +glance at the lightning as it shot through the open window and +fluttering curtain, or to listen to some louder peal of thunder than +the rest, with a kind of momentary impatience, as if it put him out; +but there they sat, with a calm indifference to everything but their +cards, perfect philosophers in appearance, and with no greater show of +passion or excitement than if they had been made of stone. + +The storm had raged for full three hours; the lightning had grown +fainter and less frequent; the thunder, from seeming to roll and break +above their heads, had gradually died away into a deep hoarse distance; +and still the game went on, and still the anxious child was quite +forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER 30 + +At length the play came to an end, and Mr Isaac List rose the only +winner. Mat and the landlord bore their losses with professional +fortitude. Isaac pocketed his gains with the air of a man who had +quite made up his mind to win, all along, and was neither surprised nor +pleased. + +Nell's little purse was exhausted; but although it lay empty by his +side, and the other players had now risen from the table, the old man +sat poring over the cards, dealing them as they had been dealt before, +and turning up the different hands to see what each man would have held +if they had still been playing. He was quite absorbed in this +occupation, when the child drew near and laid her hand upon his +shoulder, telling him it was near midnight. + +'See the curse of poverty, Nell,' he said, pointing to the packs he had +spread out upon the table. 'If I could have gone on a little longer, +only a little longer, the luck would have turned on my side. Yes, it's +as plain as the marks upon the cards. See here--and there--and here +again.' + +'Put them away,' urged the child. 'Try to forget them.' + +'Try to forget them!' he rejoined, raising his haggard face to hers, +and regarding her with an incredulous stare. 'To forget them! How are +we ever to grow rich if I forget them?' + +The child could only shake her head. + +'No, no, Nell,' said the old man, patting her cheek; 'they must not be +forgotten. We must make amends for this as soon as we can. +Patience--patience, and we'll right thee yet, I promise thee. Lose +to-day, win to-morrow. And nothing can be won without anxiety and +care--nothing. Come, I am ready.' + +'Do you know what the time is?' said Mr Groves, who was smoking with +his friends. 'Past twelve o'clock--' + +'--And a rainy night,' added the stout man. + +'The Valiant Soldier, by James Groves. Good beds. Cheap entertainment +for man and beast,' said Mr Groves, quoting his sign-board. 'Half-past +twelve o'clock.' + +'It's very late,' said the uneasy child. 'I wish we had gone before. +What will they think of us! It will be two o'clock by the time we get +back. What would it cost, sir, if we stopped here?' + +'Two good beds, one-and-sixpence; supper and beer one shilling; total +two shillings and sixpence,' replied the Valiant Soldier. + +Now, Nell had still the piece of gold sewn in her dress; and when she +came to consider the lateness of the hour, and the somnolent habits of +Mrs Jarley, and to imagine the state of consternation in which they +would certainly throw that good lady by knocking her up in the middle +of the night--and when she reflected, on the other hand, that if they +remained where they were, and rose early in the morning, they might get +back before she awoke, and could plead the violence of the storm by +which they had been overtaken, as a good apology for their absence--she +decided, after a great deal of hesitation, to remain. She therefore +took her grandfather aside, and telling him that she had still enough +left to defray the cost of their lodging, proposed that they should +stay there for the night. + +'If I had had but that money before--If I had only known of it a few +minutes ago!' muttered the old man. + +'We will decide to stop here if you please,' said Nell, turning hastily +to the landlord. + +'I think that's prudent,' returned Mr Groves. 'You shall have your +suppers directly.' + +Accordingly, when Mr Groves had smoked his pipe out, knocked out the +ashes, and placed it carefully in a corner of the fire-place, with the +bowl downwards, he brought in the bread and cheese, and beer, with many +high encomiums upon their excellence, and bade his guests fall to, and +make themselves at home. Nell and her grandfather ate sparingly, for +both were occupied with their own reflections; the other gentlemen, for +whose constitutions beer was too weak and tame a liquid, consoled +themselves with spirits and tobacco. + +As they would leave the house very early in the morning, the child was +anxious to pay for their entertainment before they retired to bed. But +as she felt the necessity of concealing her little hoard from her +grandfather, and had to change the piece of gold, she took it secretly +from its place of concealment, and embraced an opportunity of following +the landlord when he went out of the room, and tendered it to him in +the little bar. + +'Will you give me the change here, if you please?' said the child. + +Mr James Groves was evidently surprised, and looked at the money, and +rang it, and looked at the child, and at the money again, as though he +had a mind to inquire how she came by it. The coin being genuine, +however, and changed at his house, he probably felt, like a wise +landlord, that it was no business of his. At any rate, he counted out +the change, and gave it her. The child was returning to the room where +they had passed the evening, when she fancied she saw a figure just +gliding in at the door. There was nothing but a long dark passage +between this door and the place where she had changed the money, and, +being very certain that no person had passed in or out while she stood +there, the thought struck her that she had been watched. + +But by whom? When she re-entered the room, she found its inmates +exactly as she had left them. The stout fellow lay upon two chairs, +resting his head on his hand, and the squinting man reposed in a +similar attitude on the opposite side of the table. Between them sat +her grandfather, looking intently at the winner with a kind of hungry +admiration, and hanging upon his words as if he were some superior +being. She was puzzled for a moment, and looked round to see if any +else were there. No. Then she asked her grandfather in a whisper +whether anybody had left the room while she was absent. 'No,' he said, +'nobody.' + +It must have been her fancy then; and yet it was strange, that, without +anything in her previous thoughts to lead to it, she should have +imagined this figure so very distinctly. She was still wondering and +thinking of it, when a girl came to light her to bed. + +The old man took leave of the company at the same time, and they went +up stairs together. It was a great, rambling house, with dull +corridors and wide staircases which the flaring candles seemed to make +more gloomy. She left her grandfather in his chamber, and followed her +guide to another, which was at the end of a passage, and approached by +some half-dozen crazy steps. This was prepared for her. The girl +lingered a little while to talk, and tell her grievances. She had not +a good place, she said; the wages were low, and the work was hard. She +was going to leave it in a fortnight; the child couldn't recommend her +to another, she supposed? Instead she was afraid another would be +difficult to get after living there, for the house had a very +indifferent character; there was far too much card-playing, and such +like. She was very much mistaken if some of the people who came there +oftenest were quite as honest as they might be, but she wouldn't have +it known that she had said so, for the world. Then there were some +rambling allusions to a rejected sweetheart, who had threatened to go a +soldiering--a final promise of knocking at the door early in the +morning--and 'Good night.' + +The child did not feel comfortable when she was left alone. She could +not help thinking of the figure stealing through the passage down +stairs; and what the girl had said did not tend to reassure her. The +men were very ill-looking. They might get their living by robbing and +murdering travellers. Who could tell? + +Reasoning herself out of these fears, or losing sight of them for a +little while, there came the anxiety to which the adventures of the +night gave rise. Here was the old passion awakened again in her +grandfather's breast, and to what further distraction it might tempt +him Heaven only knew. What fears their absence might have occasioned +already! Persons might be seeking for them even then. Would they be +forgiven in the morning, or turned adrift again! Oh! why had they +stopped in that strange place? It would have been better, under any +circumstances, to have gone on! + +At last, sleep gradually stole upon her--a broken, fitful sleep, +troubled by dreams of falling from high towers, and waking with a start +and in great terror. A deeper slumber followed this--and then--What! +That figure in the room. + +A figure was there. Yes, she had drawn up the blind to admit the light +when it should be dawn, and there, between the foot of the bed and the +dark casement, it crouched and slunk along, groping its way with +noiseless hands, and stealing round the bed. She had no voice to cry +for help, no power to move, but lay still, watching it. + +On it came--on, silently and stealthily, to the bed's head. The breath +so near her pillow, that she shrunk back into it, lest those wandering +hands should light upon her face. Back again it stole to the +window--then turned its head towards her. + +The dark form was a mere blot upon the lighter darkness of the room, +but she saw the turning of the head, and felt and knew how the eyes +looked and the ears listened. There it remained, motionless as she. +At length, still keeping the face towards her, it busied its hands in +something, and she heard the chink of money. + +Then, on it came again, silent and stealthy as before, and replacing +the garments it had taken from the bedside, dropped upon its hands and +knees, and crawled away. How slowly it seemed to move, now that she +could hear but not see it, creeping along the floor! It reached the +door at last, and stood upon its feet. The steps creaked beneath its +noiseless tread, and it was gone. + +The first impulse of the child was to fly from the terror of being by +herself in that room--to have somebody by--not to be alone--and then +her power of speech would be restored. With no consciousness of having +moved, she gained the door. + +There was the dreadful shadow, pausing at the bottom of the steps. + +She could not pass it; she might have done so, perhaps, in the darkness +without being seized, but her blood curdled at the thought. The figure +stood quite still, and so did she; not boldly, but of necessity; for +going back into the room was hardly less terrible than going on. + +The rain beat fast and furiously without, and ran down in plashing +streams from the thatched roof. Some summer insect, with no escape +into the air, flew blindly to and fro, beating its body against the +walls and ceiling, and filling the silent place with murmurs. The +figure moved again. The child involuntarily did the same. Once in her +grandfather's room, she would be safe. + +It crept along the passage until it came to the very door she longed so +ardently to reach. The child, in the agony of being so near, had +almost darted forward with the design of bursting into the room and +closing it behind her, when the figure stopped again. + +The idea flashed suddenly upon her--what if it entered there, and had a +design upon the old man's life! She turned faint and sick. It did. +It went in. There was a light inside. The figure was now within the +chamber, and she, still dumb--quite dumb, and almost senseless--stood +looking on. + +The door was partly open. Not knowing what she meant to do, but +meaning to preserve him or be killed herself, she staggered forward and +looked in. What sight was that which met her view! + +The bed had not been lain on, but was smooth and empty. And at a table +sat the old man himself; the only living creature there; his white face +pinched and sharpened by the greediness which made his eyes unnaturally +bright--counting the money of which his hands had robbed her. + + + + +CHAPTER 31 + +With steps more faltering and unsteady than those with which she had +approached the room, the child withdrew from the door, and groped her +way back to her own chamber. The terror she had lately felt was +nothing compared with that which now oppressed her. No strange robber, +no treacherous host conniving at the plunder of his guests, or stealing +to their beds to kill them in their sleep, no nightly prowler, however +terrible and cruel, could have awakened in her bosom half the dread +which the recognition of her silent visitor inspired. The grey-headed +old man gliding like a ghost into her room and acting the thief while +he supposed her fast asleep, then bearing off his prize and hanging +over it with the ghastly exultation she had witnessed, was +worse--immeasurably worse, and far more dreadful, for the moment, to +reflect upon--than anything her wildest fancy could have suggested. +If he should return--there was no lock or bolt upon the door, and if, +distrustful of having left some money yet behind, he should come back +to seek for more--a vague awe and horror surrounded the idea of his +slinking in again with stealthy tread, and turning his face toward the +empty bed, while she shrank down close at his feet to avoid his touch, +which was almost insupportable. She sat and listened. Hark! A +footstep on the stairs, and now the door was slowly opening. It was +but imagination, yet imagination had all the terrors of reality; nay, +it was worse, for the reality would have come and gone, and there an +end, but in imagination it was always coming, and never went away. + +The feeling which beset the child was one of dim uncertain horror. She +had no fear of the dear old grandfather, in whose love for her this +disease of the brain had been engendered; but the man she had seen that +night, wrapt in the game of chance, lurking in her room, and counting +the money by the glimmering light, seemed like another creature in his +shape, a monstrous distortion of his image, a something to recoil from, +and be the more afraid of, because it bore a likeness to him, and kept +close about her, as he did. She could scarcely connect her own +affectionate companion, save by his loss, with this old man, so like +yet so unlike him. She had wept to see him dull and quiet. How much +greater cause she had for weeping now! + +The child sat watching and thinking of these things, until the phantom +in her mind so increased in gloom and terror, that she felt it would be +a relief to hear the old man's voice, or, if he were asleep, even to +see him, and banish some of the fears that clustered round his image. +She stole down the stairs and passage again. The door was still ajar +as she had left it, and the candle burning as before. + +She had her own candle in her hand, prepared to say, if he were waking, +that she was uneasy and could not rest, and had come to see if his were +still alight. Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly on his +bed, and so took courage to enter. + +Fast asleep. No passion in the face, no avarice, no anxiety, no wild +desire; all gentle, tranquil, and at peace. This was not the gambler, +or the shadow in her room; this was not even the worn and jaded man +whose face had so often met her own in the grey morning light; this was +her dear old friend, her harmless fellow-traveller, her good, kind +grandfather. + +She had no fear as she looked upon his slumbering features, but she had +a deep and weighty sorrow, and it found its relief in tears. + +'God bless him!' said the child, stooping softly to kiss his placid +cheek. 'I see too well now, that they would indeed part us if they +found us out, and shut him up from the light of the sun and sky. He +has only me to help him. God bless us both!' + +Lighting her candle, she retreated as silently as she had come, and, +gaining her own room once more, sat up during the remainder of that +long, long, miserable night. + +At last the day turned her waning candle pale, and she fell asleep. +She was quickly roused by the girl who had shown her up to bed; and, as +soon as she was dressed, prepared to go down to her grandfather. But +first she searched her pocket and found that her money was all +gone--not a sixpence remained. + +The old man was ready, and in a few seconds they were on their road. +The child thought he rather avoided her eye, and appeared to expect +that she would tell him of her loss. She felt she must do that, or he +might suspect the truth. + +'Grandfather,' she said in a tremulous voice, after they had walked +about a mile in silence, 'do you think they are honest people at the +house yonder?' + +'Why?' returned the old man trembling. 'Do I think them honest--yes, +they played honestly.' + +'I'll tell you why I ask,' rejoined Nell. 'I lost some money last +night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by somebody +in jest--only in jest, dear grandfather, which would make me laugh +heartily if I could but know it--' + +'Who would take money in jest?' returned the old man in a hurried +manner. 'Those who take money, take it to keep. Don't talk of jest.' + +'Then it was stolen out of my room, dear,' said the child, whose last +hope was destroyed by the manner of this reply. + +'But is there no more, Nell?' said the old man; 'no more anywhere? Was +it all taken--every farthing of it--was there nothing left?' + +'Nothing,' replied the child. + +'We must get more,' said the old man, 'we must earn it, Nell, hoard it +up, scrape it together, come by it somehow. Never mind this loss. +Tell nobody of it, and perhaps we may regain it. Don't ask how;--we +may regain it, and a great deal more;--but tell nobody, or trouble may +come of it. And so they took it out of thy room, when thou wert +asleep!' he added in a compassionate tone, very different from the +secret, cunning way in which he had spoken until now. 'Poor Nell, poor +little Nell!' + +The child hung down her head and wept. The sympathising tone in which +he spoke, was quite sincere; she was sure of that. It was not the +lightest part of her sorrow to know that this was done for her. + +'Not a word about it to any one but me,' said the old man, 'no, not +even to me,' he added hastily, 'for it can do no good. All the losses +that ever were, are not worth tears from thy eyes, darling. Why should +they be, when we will win them back?' + +'Let them go,' said the child looking up. 'Let them go, once and for +ever, and I would never shed another tear if every penny had been a +thousand pounds.' + +'Well, well,' returned the old man, checking himself as some impetuous +answer rose to his lips, 'she knows no better. I ought to be thankful +of it.' + +'But listen to me,' said the child earnestly, 'will you listen to me?' + +'Aye, aye, I'll listen,' returned the old man, still without looking at +her; 'a pretty voice. It has always a sweet sound to me. It always +had when it was her mother's, poor child.' + +'Let me persuade you, then--oh, do let me persuade you,' said the +child, 'to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no fortune but +the fortune we pursue together.' + +'We pursue this aim together,' retorted her grandfather, still looking +away and seeming to confer with himself. 'Whose image sanctifies the +game?' + +'Have we been worse off,' resumed the child, 'since you forgot these +cares, and we have been travelling on together? Have we not been much +better and happier without a home to shelter us, than ever we were in +that unhappy house, when they were on your mind?' + +'She speaks the truth,' murmured the old man in the same tone as +before. 'It must not turn me, but it is the truth; no doubt it is.' + +'Only remember what we have been since that bright morning when we +turned our backs upon it for the last time,' said Nell, 'only remember +what we have been since we have been free of all those miseries--what +peaceful days and quiet nights we have had--what pleasant times we have +known--what happiness we have enjoyed. If we have been tired or +hungry, we have been soon refreshed, and slept the sounder for it. +Think what beautiful things we have seen, and how contented we have +felt. And why was this blessed change?' + +He stopped her with a motion of his hand, and bade her talk to him no +more just then, for he was busy. After a time he kissed her cheek, +still motioning her to silence, and walked on, looking far before him, +and sometimes stopping and gazing with a puckered brow upon the ground, +as if he were painfully trying to collect his disordered thoughts. +Once she saw tears in his eyes. When he had gone on thus for some +time, he took her hand in his as he was accustomed to do, with nothing +of the violence or animation of his late manner; and so, by degrees so +fine that the child could not trace them, he settled down into his +usual quiet way, and suffered her to lead him where she would. + +When they presented themselves in the midst of the stupendous +collection, they found, as Nell had anticipated, that Mrs Jarley was +not yet out of bed, and that, although she had suffered some uneasiness +on their account overnight, and had indeed sat up for them until past +eleven o'clock, she had retired in the persuasion, that, being +overtaken by storm at some distance from home, they had sought the +nearest shelter, and would not return before morning. Nell immediately +applied herself with great assiduity to the decoration and preparation +of the room, and had the satisfaction of completing her task, and +dressing herself neatly, before the beloved of the Royal Family came +down to breakfast. + +'We haven't had,' said Mrs Jarley when the meal was over, 'more than +eight of Miss Monflathers's young ladies all the time we've been here, +and there's twenty-six of 'em, as I was told by the cook when I asked +her a question or two and put her on the free-list. We must try 'em +with a parcel of new bills, and you shall take it, my dear, and see +what effect that has upon 'em.' + +The proposed expedition being one of paramount importance, Mrs Jarley +adjusted Nell's bonnet with her own hands, and declaring that she +certainly did look very pretty, and reflected credit on the +establishment, dismissed her with many commendations, and certain +needful directions as to the turnings on the right which she was to +take, and the turnings on the left which she was to avoid. Thus +instructed, Nell had no difficulty in finding out Miss Monflathers's +Boarding and Day Establishment, which was a large house, with a high +wall, and a large garden-gate with a large brass plate, and a small +grating through which Miss Monflathers's parlour-maid inspected all +visitors before admitting them; for nothing in the shape of a man--no, +not even a milkman--was suffered, without special license, to pass that +gate. Even the tax-gatherer, who was stout, and wore spectacles and a +broad-brimmed hat, had the taxes handed through the grating. More +obdurate than gate of adamant or brass, this gate of Miss Monflathers's +frowned on all mankind. The very butcher respected it as a gate of +mystery, and left off whistling when he rang the bell. + +As Nell approached the awful door, it turned slowly upon its hinges +with a creaking noise, and, forth from the solemn grove beyond, came a +long file of young ladies, two and two, all with open books in their +hands, and some with parasols likewise. And last of the goodly +procession came Miss Monflathers, bearing herself a parasol of lilac +silk, and supported by two smiling teachers, each mortally envious of +the other, and devoted unto Miss Monflathers. + +Confused by the looks and whispers of the girls, Nell stood with +downcast eyes and suffered the procession to pass on, until Miss +Monflathers, bringing up the rear, approached her, when she curtseyed +and presented her little packet; on receipt whereof Miss Monflathers +commanded that the line should halt. + +'You're the wax-work child, are you not?' said Miss Monflathers. + +'Yes, ma'am,' replied Nell, colouring deeply, for the young ladies had +collected about her, and she was the centre on which all eyes were +fixed. + +'And don't you think you must be a very wicked little child,' said Miss +Monflathers, who was of rather uncertain temper, and lost no +opportunity of impressing moral truths upon the tender minds of the +young ladies, 'to be a wax-work child at all?' + +Poor Nell had never viewed her position in this light, and not knowing +what to say, remained silent, blushing more deeply than before. + +'Don't you know,' said Miss Monflathers, 'that it's very naughty and +unfeminine, and a perversion of the properties wisely and benignantly +transmitted to us, with expansive powers to be roused from their +dormant state through the medium of cultivation?' + +The two teachers murmured their respectful approval of this +home-thrust, and looked at Nell as though they would have said that +there indeed Miss Monflathers had hit her very hard. Then they smiled +and glanced at Miss Monflathers, and then, their eyes meeting, they +exchanged looks which plainly said that each considered herself smiler +in ordinary to Miss Monflathers, and regarded the other as having no +right to smile, and that her so doing was an act of presumption and +impertinence. + +'Don't you feel how naughty it is of you,' resumed Miss Monflathers, +'to be a wax-work child, when you might have the proud consciousness of +assisting, to the extent of your infant powers, the manufactures of +your country; of improving your mind by the constant contemplation of +the steam-engine; and of earning a comfortable and independent +subsistence of from two-and-ninepence to three shillings per week? +Don't you know that the harder you are at work, the happier you are?' + +'"How doth the little--"' murmured one of the teachers, in quotation +from Doctor Watts. + +'Eh?' said Miss Monflathers, turning smartly round. 'Who said that?' + +Of course the teacher who had not said it, indicated the rival who had, +whom Miss Monflathers frowningly requested to hold her peace; by that +means throwing the informing teacher into raptures of joy. + +'The little busy bee,' said Miss Monflathers, drawing herself up, 'is +applicable only to genteel children. + + "In books, or work, or healthful play" + +is quite right as far as they are concerned; and the work means +painting on velvet, fancy needle-work, or embroidery. In such cases as +these,' pointing to Nell, with her parasol, 'and in the case of all +poor people's children, we should read it thus: + + + "In work, work, work. In work alway + Let my first years be past, + That I may give for ev'ry day + Some good account at last."' + + +A deep hum of applause rose not only from the two teachers, but from +all the pupils, who were equally astonished to hear Miss Monflathers +improvising after this brilliant style; for although she had been long +known as a politician, she had never appeared before as an original +poet. Just then somebody happened to discover that Nell was crying, +and all eyes were again turned towards her. + +There were indeed tears in her eyes, and drawing out her handkerchief +to brush them away, she happened to let it fall. Before she could +stoop to pick it up, one young lady of about fifteen or sixteen, who +had been standing a little apart from the others, as though she had no +recognised place among them, sprang forward and put it in her hand. +She was gliding timidly away again, when she was arrested by the +governess. + +'It was Miss Edwards who did that, I KNOW,' said Miss Monflathers +predictively. 'Now I am sure that was Miss Edwards.' + +It was Miss Edwards, and everybody said it was Miss Edwards, and Miss +Edwards herself admitted that it was. + +'Is it not,' said Miss Monflathers, putting down her parasol to take a +severer view of the offender, 'a most remarkable thing, Miss Edwards, +that you have an attachment to the lower classes which always draws you +to their sides; or, rather, is it not a most extraordinary thing that +all I say and do will not wean you from propensities which your +original station in life have unhappily rendered habitual to you, you +extremely vulgar-minded girl?' + +'I really intended no harm, ma'am,' said a sweet voice. 'It was a +momentary impulse, indeed.' + +'An impulse!' repeated Miss Monflathers scornfully. 'I wonder that you +presume to speak of impulses to me'--both the teachers assented--'I am +astonished'--both the teachers were astonished--'I suppose it is an +impulse which induces you to take the part of every grovelling and +debased person that comes in your way'--both the teachers supposed so +too. + +'But I would have you know, Miss Edwards,' resumed the governess in a +tone of increased severity, 'that you cannot be permitted--if it be +only for the sake of preserving a proper example and decorum in this +establishment--that you cannot be permitted, and that you shall not be +permitted, to fly in the face of your superiors in this exceedingly +gross manner. If you have no reason to feel a becoming pride before +wax-work children, there are young ladies here who have, and you must +either defer to those young ladies or leave the establishment, Miss +Edwards.' + +This young lady, being motherless and poor, was apprenticed at the +school--taught for nothing--teaching others what she learnt, for +nothing--boarded for nothing--lodged for nothing--and set down and +rated as something immeasurably less than nothing, by all the dwellers +in the house. The servant-maids felt her inferiority, for they were +better treated; free to come and go, and regarded in their stations +with much more respect. The teachers were infinitely superior, for +they had paid to go to school in their time, and were paid now. The +pupils cared little for a companion who had no grand stories to tell +about home; no friends to come with post-horses, and be received in all +humility, with cake and wine, by the governess; no deferential servant +to attend and bear her home for the holidays; nothing genteel to talk +about, and nothing to display. But why was Miss Monflathers always +vexed and irritated with the poor apprentice--how did that come to pass? + +Why, the gayest feather in Miss Monflathers's cap, and the brightest +glory of Miss Monflathers's school, was a baronet's daughter--the real +live daughter of a real live baronet--who, by some extraordinary +reversal of the Laws of Nature, was not only plain in features but dull +in intellect, while the poor apprentice had both a ready wit, and a +handsome face and figure. It seems incredible. Here was Miss Edwards, +who only paid a small premium which had been spent long ago, every day +outshining and excelling the baronet's daughter, who learned all the +extras (or was taught them all) and whose half-yearly bill came to +double that of any other young lady's in the school, making no account +of the honour and reputation of her pupilage. Therefore, and because +she was a dependent, Miss Monflathers had a great dislike to Miss +Edwards, and was spiteful to her, and aggravated by her, and, when she +had compassion on little Nell, verbally fell upon and maltreated her as +we have already seen. + +'You will not take the air to-day, Miss Edwards,' said Miss +Monflathers. 'Have the goodness to retire to your own room, and not to +leave it without permission.' + +The poor girl was moving hastily away, when she was suddenly, in +nautical phrase, 'brought to' by a subdued shriek from Miss Monflathers. + +'She has passed me without any salute!' cried the governess, raising +her eyes to the sky. 'She has actually passed me without the slightest +acknowledgment of my presence!' + +The young lady turned and curtsied. Nell could see that she raised her +dark eyes to the face of her superior, and that their expression, and +that of her whole attitude for the instant, was one of mute but most +touching appeal against this ungenerous usage. Miss Monflathers only +tossed her head in reply, and the great gate closed upon a bursting +heart. + +'As for you, you wicked child,' said Miss Monflathers, turning to Nell, +'tell your mistress that if she presumes to take the liberty of sending +to me any more, I will write to the legislative authorities and have +her put in the stocks, or compelled to do penance in a white sheet; and +you may depend upon it that you shall certainly experience the +treadmill if you dare to come here again. Now ladies, on.' + +The procession filed off, two and two, with the books and parasols, and +Miss Monflathers, calling the Baronet's daughter to walk with her and +smooth her ruffled feelings, discarded the two teachers--who by this +time had exchanged their smiles for looks of sympathy--and left them +to bring up the rear, and hate each other a little more for being +obliged to walk together. + + + + +CHAPTER 32 + +Mrs Jarley's wrath on first learning that she had been threatened with +the indignity of Stocks and Penance, passed all description. The +genuine and only Jarley exposed to public scorn, jeered by children, +and flouted by beadles! The delight of the Nobility and Gentry shorn +of a bonnet which a Lady Mayoress might have sighed to wear, and +arrayed in a white sheet as a spectacle of mortification and humility! +And Miss Monflathers, the audacious creature who presumed, even in the +dimmest and remotest distance of her imagination, to conjure up the +degrading picture, 'I am a'most inclined,' said Mrs Jarley, bursting +with the fulness of her anger and the weakness of her means of revenge, +'to turn atheist when I think of it!' + +But instead of adopting this course of retaliation, Mrs Jarley, on +second thoughts, brought out the suspicious bottle, and ordering +glasses to be set forth upon her favourite drum, and sinking into a +chair behind it, called her satellites about her, and to them several +times recounted, word for word, the affronts she had received. This +done, she begged them in a kind of deep despair to drink; then laughed, +then cried, then took a little sip herself, then laughed and cried +again, and took a little more; and so, by degrees, the worthy lady went +on, increasing in smiles and decreasing in tears, until at last she +could not laugh enough at Miss Monflathers, who, from being an object +of dire vexation, became one of sheer ridicule and absurdity. + +'For which of us is best off, I wonder,' quoth Mrs Jarley, 'she or me! +It's only talking, when all is said and done, and if she talks of me in +the stocks, why I can talk of her in the stocks, which is a good deal +funnier if we come to that. Lord, what does it matter, after all!' + +Having arrived at this comfortable frame of mind (to which she had been +greatly assisted by certain short interjectional remarks of the +philosophical George), Mrs Jarley consoled Nell with many kind words, +and requested as a personal favour that whenever she thought of Miss +Monflathers, she would do nothing else but laugh at her, all the days +of her life. + +So ended Mrs Jarley's wrath, which subsided long before the going down +of the sun. Nell's anxieties, however, were of a deeper kind, and the +checks they imposed upon her cheerfulness were not so easily removed. + +That evening, as she had dreaded, her grandfather stole away, and did +not come back until the night was far spent. Worn out as she was, and +fatigued in mind and body, she sat up alone, counting the minutes, +until he returned--penniless, broken-spirited, and wretched, but still +hotly bent upon his infatuation. + +'Get me money,' he said wildly, as they parted for the night. 'I must +have money, Nell. It shall be paid thee back with gallant interest one +day, but all the money that comes into thy hands, must be mine--not for +myself, but to use for thee. Remember, Nell, to use for thee!' + +What could the child do with the knowledge she had, but give him every +penny that came into her hands, lest he should be tempted on to rob +their benefactress? If she told the truth (so thought the child) he +would be treated as a madman; if she did not supply him with money, he +would supply himself; supplying him, she fed the fire that burnt him +up, and put him perhaps beyond recovery. Distracted by these thoughts, +borne down by the weight of the sorrow which she dared not tell, +tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever the old man was absent, +and dreading alike his stay and his return, the colour forsook her +cheek, her eye grew dim, and her heart was oppressed and heavy. All +her old sorrows had come back upon her, augmented by new fears and +doubts; by day they were ever present to her mind; by night they +hovered round her pillow, and haunted her in dreams. + +It was natural that, in the midst of her affliction, she should often +revert to that sweet young lady of whom she had only caught a hasty +glance, but whose sympathy, expressed in one slight brief action, dwelt +in her memory like the kindnesses of years. She would often think, if +she had such a friend as that to whom to tell her griefs, how much +lighter her heart would be--that if she were but free to hear that +voice, she would be happier. Then she would wish that she were +something better, that she were not quite so poor and humble, that she +dared address her without fearing a repulse; and then feel that there +was an immeasurable distance between them, and have no hope that the +young lady thought of her any more. + +It was now holiday-time at the schools, and the young ladies had gone +home, and Miss Monflathers was reported to be flourishing in London, +and damaging the hearts of middle-aged gentlemen, but nobody said +anything about Miss Edwards, whether she had gone home, or whether she +had any home to go to, whether she was still at the school, or anything +about her. But one evening, as Nell was returning from a lonely walk, +she happened to pass the inn where the stage-coaches stopped, just as +one drove up, and there was the beautiful girl she so well remembered, +pressing forward to embrace a young child whom they were helping down +from the roof. + +Well, this was her sister, her little sister, much younger than Nell, +whom she had not seen (so the story went afterwards) for five years, +and to bring whom to that place on a short visit, she had been saving +her poor means all that time. Nell felt as if her heart would break +when she saw them meet. They went a little apart from the knot of +people who had congregated about the coach, and fell upon each other's +neck, and sobbed, and wept with joy. Their plain and simple dress, the +distance which the child had come alone, their agitation and delight, +and the tears they shed, would have told their history by themselves. + +They became a little more composed in a short time, and went away, not +so much hand in hand as clinging to each other. 'Are you sure you're +happy, sister?' said the child as they passed where Nell was standing. +'Quite happy now,' she answered. 'But always?' said the child. 'Ah, +sister, why do you turn away your face?' + +Nell could not help following at a little distance. They went to the +house of an old nurse, where the elder sister had engaged a bed-room +for the child. 'I shall come to you early every morning,' she said, +'and we can be together all the day.' + +'Why not at night-time too? Dear sister, would they be angry with you +for that?' + +Why were the eyes of little Nell wet, that night, with tears like those +of the two sisters? Why did she bear a grateful heart because they had +met, and feel it pain to think that they would shortly part? Let us +not believe that any selfish reference--unconscious though it might +have been--to her own trials awoke this sympathy, but thank God that +the innocent joys of others can strongly move us, and that we, even in +our fallen nature, have one source of pure emotion which must be prized +in Heaven! + +By morning's cheerful glow, but oftener still by evening's gentle +light, the child, with a respect for the short and happy intercourse of +these two sisters which forbade her to approach and say a thankful +word, although she yearned to do so, followed them at a distance in +their walks and rambles, stopping when they stopped, sitting on the +grass when they sat down, rising when they went on, and feeling it a +companionship and delight to be so near them. Their evening walk was +by a river's side. Here, every night, the child was too, unseen by +them, unthought of, unregarded; but feeling as if they were her +friends, as if they had confidences and trusts together, as if her load +were lightened and less hard to bear; as if they mingled their sorrows, +and found mutual consolation. It was a weak fancy perhaps, the +childish fancy of a young and lonely creature; but night after night, +and still the sisters loitered in the same place, and still the child +followed with a mild and softened heart. + +She was much startled, on returning home one night, to find that Mrs +Jarley had commanded an announcement to be prepared, to the effect that +the stupendous collection would only remain in its present quarters one +day longer; in fulfilment of which threat (for all announcements +connected with public amusements are well known to be irrevocable and +most exact), the stupendous collection shut up next day. + +'Are we going from this place directly, ma'am?' said Nell. + +'Look here, child,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'That'll inform you.' And so +saying Mrs Jarley produced another announcement, wherein it was stated, +that, in consequence of numerous inquiries at the wax-work door, and in +consequence of crowds having been disappointed in obtaining admission, +the Exhibition would be continued for one week longer, and would +re-open next day. + +'For now that the schools are gone, and the regular sight-seers +exhausted,' said Mrs Jarley, 'we come to the General Public, and they +want stimulating.' + +Upon the following day at noon, Mrs Jarley established herself behind +the highly-ornamented table, attended by the distinguished effigies +before mentioned, and ordered the doors to be thrown open for the +readmission of a discerning and enlightened public. But the first +day's operations were by no means of a successful character, inasmuch +as the general public, though they manifested a lively interest in Mrs +Jarley personally, and such of her waxen satellites as were to be seen +for nothing, were not affected by any impulses moving them to the +payment of sixpence a head. Thus, notwithstanding that a great many +people continued to stare at the entry and the figures therein +displayed; and remained there with great perseverance, by the hour at a +time, to hear the barrel-organ played and to read the bills; and +notwithstanding that they were kind enough to recommend their friends +to patronise the exhibition in the like manner, until the door-way was +regularly blockaded by half the population of the town, who, when they +went off duty, were relieved by the other half; it was not found that +the treasury was any the richer, or that the prospects of the +establishment were at all encouraging. + +In this depressed state of the classical market, Mrs Jarley made +extraordinary efforts to stimulate the popular taste, and whet the +popular curiosity. Certain machinery in the body of the nun on the +leads over the door was cleaned up and put in motion, so that the +figure shook its head paralytically all day long, to the great +admiration of a drunken, but very Protestant, barber over the way, who +looked upon the said paralytic motion as typical of the degrading +effect wrought upon the human mind by the ceremonies of the Romish +Church and discoursed upon that theme with great eloquence and +morality. The two carters constantly passed in and out of the +exhibition-room, under various disguises, protesting aloud that the +sight was better worth the money than anything they had beheld in all +their lives, and urging the bystanders, with tears in their eyes, not +to neglect such a brilliant gratification. Mrs Jarley sat in the +pay-place, chinking silver moneys from noon till night, and solemnly +calling upon the crowd to take notice that the price of admission was +only sixpence, and that the departure of the whole collection, on a +short tour among the Crowned Heads of Europe, was positively fixed for +that day week. + +'So be in time, be in time, be in time,' said Mrs Jarley at the close +of every such address. 'Remember that this is Jarley's stupendous +collection of upwards of One Hundred Figures, and that it is the only +collection in the world; all others being imposters and deceptions. Be +in time, be in time, be in time!' + + + + +CHAPTER 33 + +As the course of this tale requires that we should become acquainted, +somewhere hereabouts, with a few particulars connected with the +domestic economy of Mr Sampson Brass, and as a more convenient place +than the present is not likely to occur for that purpose, the historian +takes the friendly reader by the hand, and springing with him into the +air, and cleaving the same at a greater rate than ever Don Cleophas +Leandro Perez Zambullo and his familiar travelled through that pleasant +region in company, alights with him upon the pavement of Bevis Marks. + +The intrepid aeronauts alight before a small dark house, once the +residence of Mr Sampson Brass. + +In the parlour window of this little habitation, which is so close upon +the footway that the passenger who takes the wall brushes the dim glass +with his coat sleeve--much to its improvement, for it is very dirty--in +this parlour window in the days of its occupation by Sampson Brass, +there hung, all awry and slack, and discoloured by the sun, a curtain +of faded green, so threadbare from long service as by no means to +intercept the view of the little dark room, but rather to afford a +favourable medium through which to observe it accurately. There was +not much to look at. A rickety table, with spare bundles of papers, +yellow and ragged from long carriage in the pocket, ostentatiously +displayed upon its top; a couple of stools set face to face on opposite +sides of this crazy piece of furniture; a treacherous old chair by the +fire-place, whose withered arms had hugged full many a client and +helped to squeeze him dry; a second-hand wig box, used as a depository +for blank writs and declarations and other small forms of law, once the +sole contents of the head which belonged to the wig which belonged to +the box, as they were now of the box itself; two or three common books +of practice; a jar of ink, a pounce box, a stunted hearth-broom, a +carpet trodden to shreds but still clinging with the tightness of +desperation to its tacks--these, with the yellow wainscot of the walls, +the smoke-discoloured ceiling, the dust and cobwebs, were among the +most prominent decorations of the office of Mr Sampson Brass. + +But this was mere still-life, of no greater importance than the plate, +'BRASS, Solicitor,' upon the door, and the bill, 'First floor to let to +a single gentleman,' which was tied to the knocker. The office +commonly held two examples of animated nature, more to the purpose of +this history, and in whom it has a stronger interest and more +particular concern. + +Of these, one was Mr Brass himself, who has already appeared in these +pages. The other was his clerk, assistant, housekeeper, secretary, +confidential plotter, adviser, intriguer, and bill of cost increaser, +Miss Brass--a kind of amazon at common law, of whom it may be desirable +to offer a brief description. + +Miss Sally Brass, then, was a lady of thirty-five or thereabouts, of a +gaunt and bony figure, and a resolute bearing, which if it repressed +the softer emotions of love, and kept admirers at a distance, certainly +inspired a feeling akin to awe in the breasts of those male strangers +who had the happiness to approach her. In face she bore a striking +resemblance to her brother, Sampson--so exact, indeed, was the likeness +between them, that had it consorted with Miss Brass's maiden modesty +and gentle womanhood to have assumed her brother's clothes in a frolic +and sat down beside him, it would have been difficult for the oldest +friend of the family to determine which was Sampson and which Sally, +especially as the lady carried upon her upper lip certain reddish +demonstrations, which, if the imagination had been assisted by her +attire, might have been mistaken for a beard. These were, however, in +all probability, nothing more than eyelashes in a wrong place, as the +eyes of Miss Brass were quite free from any such natural +impertinencies. In complexion Miss Brass was sallow--rather a dirty +sallow, so to speak--but this hue was agreeably relieved by the healthy +glow which mantled in the extreme tip of her laughing nose. Her voice +was exceedingly impressive--deep and rich in quality, and, once heard, +not easily forgotten. Her usual dress was a green gown, in colour not +unlike the curtain of the office window, made tight to the figure, and +terminating at the throat, where it was fastened behind by a peculiarly +large and massive button. Feeling, no doubt, that simplicity and +plainness are the soul of elegance, Miss Brass wore no collar or +kerchief except upon her head, which was invariably ornamented with a +brown gauze scarf, like the wing of the fabled vampire, and which, +twisted into any form that happened to suggest itself, formed an easy +and graceful head-dress. + +Such was Miss Brass in person. In mind, she was of a strong and +vigorous turn, having from her earliest youth devoted herself with +uncommon ardour to the study of law; not wasting her speculations upon +its eagle flights, which are rare, but tracing it attentively through +all the slippery and eel-like crawlings in which it commonly pursues +its way. Nor had she, like many persons of great intellect, confined +herself to theory, or stopped short where practical usefulness begins; +inasmuch as she could ingross, fair-copy, fill up printed forms with +perfect accuracy, and, in short, transact any ordinary duty of the +office down to pouncing a skin of parchment or mending a pen. It is +difficult to understand how, possessed of these combined attractions, +she should remain Miss Brass; but whether she had steeled her heart +against mankind, or whether those who might have wooed and won her, +were deterred by fears that, being learned in the law, she might have +too near her fingers' ends those particular statutes which regulate +what are familiarly termed actions for breach, certain it is that she +was still in a state of celibacy, and still in daily occupation of her +old stool opposite to that of her brother Sampson. And equally certain +it is, by the way, that between these two stools a great many people +had come to the ground. + +One morning Mr Sampson Brass sat upon his stool copying some legal +process, and viciously digging his pen deep into the paper, as if he +were writing upon the very heart of the party against whom it was +directed; and Miss Sally Brass sat upon her stool making a new pen +preparatory to drawing out a little bill, which was her favourite +occupation; and so they sat in silence for a long time, until Miss +Brass broke silence. + +'Have you nearly done, Sammy?' said Miss Brass; for in her mild and +feminine lips, Sampson became Sammy, and all things were softened down. + +'No,' returned her brother. 'It would have been all done though, if +you had helped at the right time.' + +'Oh yes, indeed,' cried Miss Sally; 'you want my help, don't you?--YOU, +too, that are going to keep a clerk!' + +'Am I going to keep a clerk for my own pleasure, or because of my own +wish, you provoking rascal!' said Mr Brass, putting his pen in his +mouth, and grinning spitefully at his sister. 'What do you taunt me +about going to keep a clerk for?' + +It may be observed in this place, lest the fact of Mr Brass calling a +lady a rascal, should occasion any wonderment or surprise, that he was +so habituated to having her near him in a man's capacity, that he had +gradually accustomed himself to talk to her as though she were really a +man. And this feeling was so perfectly reciprocal, that not only did +Mr Brass often call Miss Brass a rascal, or even put an adjective +before the rascal, but Miss Brass looked upon it as quite a matter of +course, and was as little moved as any other lady would be by being +called an angel. + +'What do you taunt me, after three hours' talk last night, with going +to keep a clerk for?' repeated Mr Brass, grinning again with the pen in +his mouth, like some nobleman's or gentleman's crest. 'Is it my fault?' + +'All I know is,' said Miss Sally, smiling drily, for she delighted in +nothing so much as irritating her brother, 'that if every one of your +clients is to force us to keep a clerk, whether we want to or not, you +had better leave off business, strike yourself off the roll, and get +taken in execution, as soon as you can.' + +'Have we got any other client like him?' said Brass. 'Have we got +another client like him now--will you answer me that?' + +'Do you mean in the face!' said his sister. + +'Do I mean in the face!' sneered Sampson Brass, reaching over to take +up the bill-book, and fluttering its leaves rapidly. 'Look +here--Daniel Quilp, Esquire--Daniel Quilp, Esquire--Daniel Quilp, +Esquire--all through. Whether should I take a clerk that he +recommends, and says, "this is the man for you," or lose all this, eh?' + +Miss Sally deigned to make no reply, but smiled again, and went on with +her work. + +'But I know what it is,' resumed Brass after a short silence. 'You're +afraid you won't have as long a finger in the business as you've been +used to have. Do you think I don't see through that?' + +'The business wouldn't go on very long, I expect, without me,' returned +his sister composedly. 'Don't you be a fool and provoke me, Sammy, but +mind what you're doing, and do it.' + +Sampson Brass, who was at heart in great fear of his sister, sulkily +bent over his writing again, and listened as she said: + +'If I determined that the clerk ought not to come, of course he +wouldn't be allowed to come. You know that well enough, so don't talk +nonsense.' + +Mr Brass received this observation with increased meekness, merely +remarking, under his breath, that he didn't like that kind of joking, +and that Miss Sally would be 'a much better fellow' if she forbore to +aggravate him. To this compliment Miss Sally replied, that she had a +relish for the amusement, and had no intention to forego its +gratification. Mr Brass not caring, as it seemed, to pursue the +subject any further, they both plied their pens at a great pace, and +there the discussion ended. + +While they were thus employed, the window was suddenly darkened, as by +some person standing close against it. As Mr Brass and Miss Sally +looked up to ascertain the cause, the top sash was nimbly lowered from +without, and Quilp thrust in his head. + +'Hallo!' he said, standing on tip-toe on the window-sill, and looking +down into the room. 'Is there anybody at home? Is there any of the +Devil's ware here? Is Brass at a premium, eh?' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the lawyer in an affected ecstasy. 'Oh, very +good, Sir! Oh, very good indeed! Quite eccentric! Dear me, what +humour he has!' + +'Is that my Sally?' croaked the dwarf, ogling the fair Miss Brass. 'Is +it Justice with the bandage off her eyes, and without the sword and +scales? Is it the Strong Arm of the Law? Is it the Virgin of Bevis?' + +'What an amazing flow of spirits!' cried Brass. 'Upon my word, it's +quite extraordinary!' + +'Open the door,' said Quilp, 'I've got him here. Such a clerk for you, +Brass, such a prize, such an ace of trumps. Be quick and open the +door, or if there's another lawyer near and he should happen to look +out of window, he'll snap him up before your eyes, he will.' + +It is probable that the loss of the phoenix of clerks, even to a rival +practitioner, would not have broken Mr Brass's heart; but, pretending +great alacrity, he rose from his seat, and going to the door, returned, +introducing his client, who led by the hand no less a person than Mr +Richard Swiveller. + +'There she is,' said Quilp, stopping short at the door, and wrinkling +up his eyebrows as he looked towards Miss Sally; 'there is the woman I +ought to have married--there is the beautiful Sarah--there is the +female who has all the charms of her sex and none of their weaknesses. +Oh Sally, Sally!' + +To this amorous address Miss Brass briefly responded 'Bother!' + +'Hard-hearted as the metal from which she takes her name,' said Quilp. +'Why don't she change it--melt down the brass, and take another name?' + +'Hold your nonsense, Mr Quilp, do,' returned Miss Sally, with a grim +smile. 'I wonder you're not ashamed of yourself before a strange young +man.' + +'The strange young man,' said Quilp, handing Dick Swiveller forward, +'is too susceptible himself not to understand me well. This is Mr +Swiveller, my intimate friend--a gentleman of good family and great +expectations, but who, having rather involved himself by youthful +indiscretion, is content for a time to fill the humble station of a +clerk--humble, but here most enviable. What a delicious atmosphere!' + +If Mr Quilp spoke figuratively, and meant to imply that the air +breathed by Miss Sally Brass was sweetened and rarefied by that dainty +creature, he had doubtless good reason for what he said. But if he +spoke of the delights of the atmosphere of Mr Brass's office in a +literal sense, he had certainly a peculiar taste, as it was of a close +and earthy kind, and, besides being frequently impregnated with strong +whiffs of the second-hand wearing apparel exposed for sale in Duke's +Place and Houndsditch, had a decided flavour of rats and mice, and a +taint of mouldiness. Perhaps some doubts of its pure delight presented +themselves to Mr Swiveller, as he gave vent to one or two short abrupt +sniffs, and looked incredulously at the grinning dwarf. + +'Mr Swiveller,' said Quilp, 'being pretty well accustomed to the +agricultural pursuits of sowing wild oats, Miss Sally, prudently +considers that half a loaf is better than no bread. To be out of +harm's way he prudently thinks is something too, and therefore he +accepts your brother's offer. Brass, Mr Swiveller is yours.' + +'I am very glad, Sir,' said Mr Brass, 'very glad indeed. Mr Swiveller, +Sir, is fortunate enough to have your friendship. You may be very +proud, Sir, to have the friendship of Mr Quilp.' + +Dick murmured something about never wanting a friend or a bottle to +give him, and also gasped forth his favourite allusion to the wing of +friendship and its never moulting a feather; but his faculties appeared +to be absorbed in the contemplation of Miss Sally Brass, at whom he +stared with blank and rueful looks, which delighted the watchful dwarf +beyond measure. As to the divine Miss Sally herself, she rubbed her +hands as men of business do, and took a few turns up and down the +office with her pen behind her ear. + +'I suppose,' said the dwarf, turning briskly to his legal friend, 'that +Mr Swiveller enters upon his duties at once? It's Monday morning.' + +'At once, if you please, Sir, by all means,' returned Brass. + +'Miss Sally will teach him law, the delightful study of the law,' said +Quilp; 'she'll be his guide, his friend, his companion, his Blackstone, +his Coke upon Littleton, his Young Lawyer's Best Companion.' + +'He is exceedingly eloquent,' said Brass, like a man abstracted, and +looking at the roofs of the opposite houses, with his hands in his +pockets; 'he has an extraordinary flow of language. Beautiful, really.' + +'With Miss Sally,' Quilp went on, 'and the beautiful fictions of the +law, his days will pass like minutes. Those charming creations of the +poet, John Doe and Richard Roe, when they first dawn upon him, will +open a new world for the enlargement of his mind and the improvement of +his heart.' + +'Oh, beautiful, beautiful! Beau-ti-ful indeed!' cried Brass. 'It's a +treat to hear him!' + +'Where will Mr Swiveller sit?' said Quilp, looking round. + +'Why, we'll buy another stool, sir,' returned Brass. 'We hadn't any +thoughts of having a gentleman with us, sir, until you were kind enough +to suggest it, and our accommodation's not extensive. We'll look about +for a second-hand stool, sir. In the meantime, if Mr Swiveller will +take my seat, and try his hand at a fair copy of this ejectment, as I +shall be out pretty well all the morning--' + +'Walk with me,' said Quilp. 'I have a word or two to say to you on +points of business. Can you spare the time?' + +'Can I spare the time to walk with you, sir? You're joking, sir, +you're joking with me,' replied the lawyer, putting on his hat. 'I'm +ready, sir, quite ready. My time must be fully occupied indeed, sir, +not to leave me time to walk with you. It's not everybody, sir, who +has an opportunity of improving himself by the conversation of Mr +Quilp.' + +The dwarf glanced sarcastically at his brazen friend, and, with a short +dry cough, turned upon his heel to bid adieu to Miss Sally. After a +very gallant parting on his side, and a very cool and gentlemanly sort +of one on hers, he nodded to Dick Swiveller, and withdrew with the +attorney. + +Dick stood at the desk in a state of utter stupefaction, staring with +all his might at the beauteous Sally, as if she had been some curious +animal whose like had never lived. When the dwarf got into the street, +he mounted again upon the window-sill, and looked into the office for a +moment with a grinning face, as a man might peep into a cage. Dick +glanced upward at him, but without any token of recognition; and long +after he had disappeared, still stood gazing upon Miss Sally Brass, +seeing or thinking of nothing else, and rooted to the spot. + +Miss Brass being by this time deep in the bill of costs, took no notice +whatever of Dick, but went scratching on, with a noisy pen, scoring +down the figures with evident delight, and working like a steam-engine. +There stood Dick, gazing now at the green gown, now at the brown +head-dress, now at the face, and now at the rapid pen, in a state of +stupid perplexity, wondering how he got into the company of that +strange monster, and whether it was a dream and he would ever wake. At +last he heaved a deep sigh, and began slowly pulling off his coat. + +Mr Swiveller pulled off his coat, and folded it up with great +elaboration, staring at Miss Sally all the time; then put on a blue +jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, which he had originally +ordered for aquatic expeditions, but had brought with him that morning +for office purposes; and, still keeping his eye upon her, suffered +himself to drop down silently upon Mr Brass's stool. Then he underwent +a relapse, and becoming powerless again, rested his chin upon his hand, +and opened his eyes so wide, that it appeared quite out of the question +that he could ever close them any more. + +When he had looked so long that he could see nothing, Dick took his +eyes off the fair object of his amazement, turned over the leaves of +the draft he was to copy, dipped his pen into the inkstand, and at +last, and by slow approaches, began to write. But he had not written +half-a-dozen words when, reaching over to the inkstand to take a fresh +dip, he happened to raise his eyes. There was the intolerable brown +head-dress--there was the green gown--there, in short, was Miss Sally +Brass, arrayed in all her charms, and more tremendous than ever. + +This happened so often, that Mr Swiveller by degrees began to feel +strange influences creeping over him--horrible desires to annihilate +this Sally Brass--mysterious promptings to knock her head-dress off and +try how she looked without it. There was a very large ruler on the +table; a large, black, shining ruler. Mr Swiveller took it up and +began to rub his nose with it. + +From rubbing his nose with the ruler, to poising it in his hand and +giving it an occasional flourish after the tomahawk manner, the +transition was easy and natural. In some of these flourishes it went +close to Miss Sally's head; the ragged edges of the head-dress +fluttered with the wind it raised; advance it but an inch, and that +great brown knot was on the ground: yet still the unconscious maiden +worked away, and never raised her eyes. + +Well, this was a great relief. It was a good thing to write doggedly +and obstinately until he was desperate, and then snatch up the ruler +and whirl it about the brown head-dress with the consciousness that he +could have it off if he liked. It was a good thing to draw it back, +and rub his nose very hard with it, if he thought Miss Sally was going +to look up, and to recompense himself with more hardy flourishes when +he found she was still absorbed. By these means Mr Swiveller calmed +the agitation of his feelings, until his applications to the ruler +became less fierce and frequent, and he could even write as many as +half-a-dozen consecutive lines without having recourse to it--which was +a great victory. + + + + +CHAPTER 34 + +In course of time, that is to say, after a couple of hours or so, of +diligent application, Miss Brass arrived at the conclusion of her task, +and recorded the fact by wiping her pen upon the green gown, and taking +a pinch of snuff from a little round tin box which she carried in her +pocket. Having disposed of this temperate refreshment, she arose from +her stool, tied her papers into a formal packet with red tape, and +taking them under her arm, marched out of the office. + +Mr Swiveller had scarcely sprung off his seat and commenced the +performance of a maniac hornpipe, when he was interrupted, in the +fulness of his joy at being again alone, by the opening of the door, +and the reappearance of Miss Sally's head. + +'I am going out,' said Miss Brass. + +'Very good, ma'am,' returned Dick. 'And don't hurry yourself on my +account to come back, ma'am,' he added inwardly. + +'If anybody comes on office business, take their messages, and say that +the gentleman who attends to that matter isn't in at present, will +you?' said Miss Brass. + +'I will, ma'am,' replied Dick. + +'I shan't be very long,' said Miss Brass, retiring. + +'I'm sorry to hear it, ma'am,' rejoined Dick when she had shut the +door. 'I hope you may be unexpectedly detained, ma'am. If you could +manage to be run over, ma'am, but not seriously, so much the better.' + +Uttering these expressions of good-will with extreme gravity, Mr +Swiveller sat down in the client's chair and pondered; then took a few +turns up and down the room and fell into the chair again. + +'So I'm Brass's clerk, am I?' said Dick. 'Brass's clerk, eh? And the +clerk of Brass's sister--clerk to a female Dragon. Very good, very +good! What shall I be next? Shall I be a convict in a felt hat and a +grey suit, trotting about a dockyard with my number neatly embroidered +on my uniform, and the order of the garter on my leg, restrained from +chafing my ankle by a twisted belcher handkerchief? Shall I be that? +Will that do, or is it too genteel? Whatever you please, have it your +own way, of course.' + +As he was entirely alone, it may be presumed that, in these remarks, Mr +Swiveller addressed himself to his fate or destiny, whom, as we learn +by the precedents, it is the custom of heroes to taunt in a very bitter +and ironical manner when they find themselves in situations of an +unpleasant nature. This is the more probable from the circumstance of +Mr Swiveller directing his observations to the ceiling, which these +bodily personages are usually supposed to inhabit--except in theatrical +cases, when they live in the heart of the great chandelier. + +'Quilp offers me this place, which he says he can insure me,' resumed +Dick after a thoughtful silence, and telling off the circumstances of +his position, one by one, upon his fingers; 'Fred, who, I could have +taken my affidavit, would not have heard of such a thing, backs Quilp +to my astonishment, and urges me to take it also--staggerer, number +one! My aunt in the country stops the supplies, and writes an +affectionate note to say that she has made a new will, and left me out +of it--staggerer, number two. No money; no credit; no support from +Fred, who seems to turn steady all at once; notice to quit the old +lodgings--staggerers, three, four, five, and six! Under an +accumulation of staggerers, no man can be considered a free agent. No +man knocks himself down; if his destiny knocks him down, his destiny +must pick him up again. Then I'm very glad that mine has brought all +this upon itself, and I shall be as careless as I can, and make myself +quite at home to spite it. So go on my buck,' said Mr Swiveller, +taking his leave of the ceiling with a significant nod, 'and let us see +which of us will be tired first!' + +Dismissing the subject of his downfall with these reflections, which +were no doubt very profound, and are indeed not altogether unknown in +certain systems of moral philosophy, Mr Swiveller shook off his +despondency and assumed the cheerful ease of an irresponsible clerk. + +As a means towards his composure and self-possession, he entered into a +more minute examination of the office than he had yet had time to make; +looked into the wig-box, the books, and ink-bottle; untied and +inspected all the papers; carved a few devices on the table with a +sharp blade of Mr Brass's penknife; and wrote his name on the inside of +the wooden coal-scuttle. Having, as it were, taken formal possession +of his clerkship in virtue of these proceedings, he opened the window +and leaned negligently out of it until a beer-boy happened to pass, +whom he commanded to set down his tray and to serve him with a pint of +mild porter, which he drank upon the spot and promptly paid for, with +the view of breaking ground for a system of future credit and opening a +correspondence tending thereto, without loss of time. Then, three or +four little boys dropped in, on legal errands from three or four +attorneys of the Brass grade: whom Mr Swiveller received and dismissed +with about as professional a manner, and as correct and comprehensive +an understanding of their business, as would have been shown by a clown +in a pantomime under similar circumstances. These things done and +over, he got upon his stool again and tried his hand at drawing +caricatures of Miss Brass with a pen and ink, whistling very cheerfully +all the time. + +He was occupied in this diversion when a coach stopped near the door, +and presently afterwards there was a loud double-knock. As this was no +business of Mr Swiveller's, the person not ringing the office bell, he +pursued his diversion with perfect composure, notwithstanding that he +rather thought there was nobody else in the house. + +In this, however, he was mistaken; for, after the knock had been +repeated with increased impatience, the door was opened, and somebody +with a very heavy tread went up the stairs and into the room above. Mr +Swiveller was wondering whether this might be another Miss Brass, twin +sister to the Dragon, when there came a rapping of knuckles at the +office door. + +'Come in!' said Dick. 'Don't stand upon ceremony. The business will +get rather complicated if I've many more customers. Come in!' + +'Oh, please,' said a little voice very low down in the doorway, 'will +you come and show the lodgings?' + +Dick leant over the table, and descried a small slipshod girl in a +dirty coarse apron and bib, which left nothing of her visible but her +face and feet. She might as well have been dressed in a violin-case. + +'Why, who are you?' said Dick. + +To which the only reply was, 'Oh, please will you come and show the +lodgings?' + +There never was such an old-fashioned child in her looks and manner. +She must have been at work from her cradle. She seemed as much afraid +of Dick, as Dick was amazed at her. + +'I hav'n't got anything to do with the lodgings,' said Dick. 'Tell 'em +to call again.' + +'Oh, but please will you come and show the lodgings,' returned the +girl; 'It's eighteen shillings a week and us finding plate and linen. +Boots and clothes is extra, and fires in winter-time is eightpence a +day.' + +'Why don't you show 'em yourself? You seem to know all about 'em,' +said Dick. + +'Miss Sally said I wasn't to, because people wouldn't believe the +attendance was good if they saw how small I was first.' + +'Well, but they'll see how small you are afterwards, won't they?' said +Dick. + +'Ah! But then they'll have taken 'em for a fortnight certain,' replied +the child with a shrewd look; 'and people don't like moving when +they're once settled.' + +'This is a queer sort of thing,' muttered Dick, rising. 'What do you +mean to say you are--the cook?' + +'Yes, I do plain cooking;' replied the child. 'I'm housemaid too; I do +all the work of the house.' + +'I suppose Brass and the Dragon and I do the dirtiest part of it,' +thought Dick. And he might have thought much more, being in a doubtful +and hesitating mood, but that the girl again urged her request, and +certain mysterious bumping sounds on the passage and staircase seemed +to give note of the applicant's impatience. Richard Swiveller, +therefore, sticking a pen behind each ear, and carrying another in his +mouth as a token of his great importance and devotion to business, +hurried out to meet and treat with the single gentleman. + +He was a little surprised to perceive that the bumping sounds were +occasioned by the progress up-stairs of the single gentleman's trunk, +which, being nearly twice as wide as the staircase, and exceedingly +heavy withal, it was no easy matter for the united exertions of the +single gentleman and the coachman to convey up the steep ascent. But +there they were, crushing each other, and pushing and pulling with all +their might, and getting the trunk tight and fast in all kinds of +impossible angles, and to pass them was out of the question; for which +sufficient reason, Mr Swiveller followed slowly behind, entering a new +protest on every stair against the house of Mr Sampson Brass being thus +taken by storm. + +To these remonstrances, the single gentleman answered not a word, but +when the trunk was at last got into the bed-room, sat down upon it and +wiped his bald head and face with his handkerchief. He was very warm, +and well he might be; for, not to mention the exertion of getting the +trunk up stairs, he was closely muffled in winter garments, though the +thermometer had stood all day at eighty-one in the shade. + +'I believe, sir,' said Richard Swiveller, taking his pen out of his +mouth, 'that you desire to look at these apartments. They are very +charming apartments, sir. They command an uninterrupted view of--of +over the way, and they are within one minute's walk of--of the corner +of the street. There is exceedingly mild porter, sir, in the immediate +vicinity, and the contingent advantages are extraordinary.' + +'What's the rent?' said the single gentleman. + +'One pound per week,' replied Dick, improving on the terms. + +'I'll take 'em.' + +'The boots and clothes are extras,' said Dick; 'and the fires in winter +time are--' + +'Are all agreed to,' answered the single gentleman. + +'Two weeks certain,' said Dick, 'are the--' + +'Two weeks!' cried the single gentleman gruffly, eyeing him from top to +toe. 'Two years. I shall live here for two years. Here. Ten pounds +down. The bargain's made.' + +'Why you see,' said Dick, 'my name is not Brass, and--' + +'Who said it was? My name's not Brass. What then?' + +'The name of the master of the house is,' said Dick. + +'I'm glad of it,' returned the single gentleman; 'it's a good name for +a lawyer. Coachman, you may go. So may you, Sir.' + +Mr Swiveller was so much confounded by the single gentleman riding +roughshod over him at this rate, that he stood looking at him almost as +hard as he had looked at Miss Sally. The single gentleman, however, +was not in the slightest degree affected by this circumstance, but +proceeded with perfect composure to unwind the shawl which was tied +round his neck, and then to pull off his boots. Freed of these +encumbrances, he went on to divest himself of his other clothing, which +he folded up, piece by piece, and ranged in order on the trunk. Then, +he pulled down the window-blinds, drew the curtains, wound up his +watch, and, quite leisurely and methodically, got into bed. + +'Take down the bill,' were his parting words, as he looked out from +between the curtains; 'and let nobody call me till I ring the bell.' + +With that the curtains closed, and he seemed to snore immediately. + +'This is a most remarkable and supernatural sort of house!' said Mr +Swiveller, as he walked into the office with the bill in his hand. +'She-dragons in the business, conducting themselves like professional +gentlemen; plain cooks of three feet high appearing mysteriously from +under ground; strangers walking in and going to bed without leave or +licence in the middle of the day! If he should be one of the +miraculous fellows that turn up now and then, and has gone to sleep for +two years, I shall be in a pleasant situation. It's my destiny, +however, and I hope Brass may like it. I shall be sorry if he don't. +But it's no business of mine--I have nothing whatever to do with it!' + + + + +CHAPTER 35 + +Mr Brass on returning home received the report of his clerk with much +complacency and satisfaction, and was particular in inquiring after the +ten-pound note, which, proving on examination to be a good and lawful +note of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, increased his +good-humour considerably. Indeed he so overflowed with liberality and +condescension, that, in the fulness of his heart, he invited Mr +Swiveller to partake of a bowl of punch with him at that remote and +indefinite period which is currently denominated 'one of these days,' +and paid him many handsome compliments on the uncommon aptitude for +business which his conduct on the first day of his devotion to it had +so plainly evinced. + +It was a maxim with Mr Brass that the habit of paying compliments kept +a man's tongue oiled without any expense; and, as that useful member +ought never to grow rusty or creak in turning on its hinges in the case +of a practitioner of the law, in whom it should be always glib and +easy, he lost few opportunities of improving himself by the utterance +of handsome speeches and eulogistic expressions. And this had passed +into such a habit with him, that, if he could not be correctly said to +have his tongue at his fingers' ends, he might certainly be said to +have it anywhere but in his face: which being, as we have already seen, +of a harsh and repulsive character, was not oiled so easily, but +frowned above all the smooth speeches--one of nature's beacons, warning +off those who navigated the shoals and breakers of the World, or of +that dangerous strait the Law, and admonishing them to seek less +treacherous harbours and try their fortune elsewhere. + +While Mr Brass by turns overwhelmed his clerk with compliments and +inspected the ten-pound note, Miss Sally showed little emotion and that +of no pleasurable kind, for as the tendency of her legal practice had +been to fix her thoughts on small gains and gripings, and to whet and +sharpen her natural wisdom, she was not a little disappointed that the +single gentleman had obtained the lodgings at such an easy rate, +arguing that when he was seen to have set his mind upon them, he should +have been at the least charged double or treble the usual terms, and +that, in exact proportion as he pressed forward, Mr Swiveller should +have hung back. But neither the good opinion of Mr Brass, nor the +dissatisfaction of Miss Sally, wrought any impression upon that young +gentleman, who, throwing the responsibility of this and all other acts +and deeds thereafter to be done by him, upon his unlucky destiny, was +quite resigned and comfortable: fully prepared for the worst, and +philosophically indifferent to the best. + + +'Good morning, Mr Richard,' said Brass, on the second day of Mr +Swiveller's clerkship. 'Sally found you a second-hand stool, Sir, +yesterday evening, in Whitechapel. She's a rare fellow at a bargain, I +can tell you, Mr Richard. You'll find that a first-rate stool, Sir, +take my word for it.' + +'It's rather a crazy one to look at,' said Dick. + +'You'll find it a most amazing stool to sit down upon, you may depend,' +returned Mr Brass. 'It was bought in the open street just opposite the +hospital, and as it has been standing there a month of two, it has got +rather dusty and a little brown from being in the sun, that's all.' + +'I hope it hasn't got any fevers or anything of that sort in it,' said +Dick, sitting himself down discontentedly, between Mr Sampson and the +chaste Sally. 'One of the legs is longer than the others.' + +'Then we get a bit of timber in, Sir,' retorted Brass. 'Ha, ha, ha! +We get a bit of timber in, Sir, and that's another advantage of my +sister's going to market for us. Miss Brass, Mr Richard is the--' + +'Will you keep quiet?' interrupted the fair subject of these remarks, +looking up from her papers. 'How am I to work if you keep on +chattering?' + +'What an uncertain chap you are!' returned the lawyer. 'Sometimes +you're all for a chat. At another time you're all for work. A man +never knows what humour he'll find you in.' + +'I'm in a working humour now,' said Sally, 'so don't disturb me, if you +please. And don't take him,' Miss Sally pointed with the feather of +her pen to Richard, 'off his business. He won't do more than he can +help, I dare say.' + +Mr Brass had evidently a strong inclination to make an angry reply, but +was deterred by prudent or timid considerations, as he only muttered +something about aggravation and a vagabond; not associating the terms +with any individual, but mentioning them as connected with some +abstract ideas which happened to occur to him. They went on writing +for a long time in silence after this--in such a dull silence that Mr +Swiveller (who required excitement) had several times fallen asleep, +and written divers strange words in an unknown character with his eyes +shut, when Miss Sally at length broke in upon the monotony of the +office by pulling out the little tin box, taking a noisy pinch of +snuff, and then expressing her opinion that Mr Richard Swiveller had +'done it.' + +'Done what, ma'am?' said Richard. + +'Do you know,' returned Miss Brass, 'that the lodger isn't up yet-- +that nothing has been seen or heard of him since he went to bed +yesterday afternoon?' + +'Well, ma'am,' said Dick, 'I suppose he may sleep his ten pound out, in +peace and quietness, if he likes.' + +'Ah! I begin to think he'll never wake,' observed Miss Sally. + +'It's a very remarkable circumstance,' said Brass, laying down his pen; +'really, very remarkable. Mr Richard, you'll remember, if this +gentleman should be found to have hung himself to the bed-post, or any +unpleasant accident of that kind should happen--you'll remember, Mr +Richard, that this ten pound note was given to you in part payment of +two years' rent? You'll bear that in mind, Mr Richard; you had better +make a note of it, sir, in case you should ever be called upon to give +evidence.' + +Mr Swiveller took a large sheet of foolscap, and with a countenance of +profound gravity, began to make a very small note in one corner. + +'We can never be too cautious,' said Mr Brass. 'There is a deal of +wickedness going about the world, a deal of wickedness. Did the +gentleman happen to say, Sir--but never mind that at present, sir; +finish that little memorandum first.' + +Dick did so, and handed it to Mr Brass, who had dismounted from his +stool, and was walking up and down the office. + +'Oh, this is the memorandum, is it?' said Brass, running his eye over +the document. 'Very good. Now, Mr Richard, did the gentleman say +anything else?' + +'No.' + +'Are you sure, Mr Richard,' said Brass, solemnly, 'that the gentleman +said nothing else?' + +'Devil a word, Sir,' replied Dick. + +'Think again, Sir,' said Brass; 'it's my duty, Sir, in the position in +which I stand, and as an honourable member of the legal profession--the +first profession in this country, Sir, or in any other country, or in +any of the planets that shine above us at night and are supposed to be +inhabited--it's my duty, Sir, as an honourable member of that +profession, not to put to you a leading question in a matter of this +delicacy and importance. Did the gentleman, Sir, who took the first +floor of you yesterday afternoon, and who brought with him a box of +property--a box of property--say anything more than is set down in this +memorandum?' + +'Come, don't be a fool,' said Miss Sally. + +Dick looked at her, and then at Brass, and then at Miss Sally again, +and still said 'No.' + +'Pooh, pooh! Deuce take it, Mr Richard, how dull you are!' cried +Brass, relaxing into a smile. 'Did he say anything about his +property?--there!' + +'That's the way to put it,' said Miss Sally, nodding to her brother. + +'Did he say, for instance,' added Brass, in a kind of comfortable, cozy +tone--'I don't assert that he did say so, mind; I only ask you, to +refresh your memory--did he say, for instance, that he was a stranger +in London--that it was not his humour or within his ability to give any +references--that he felt we had a right to require them--and that, in +case anything should happen to him, at any time, he particularly +desired that whatever property he had upon the premises should be +considered mine, as some slight recompense for the trouble and +annoyance I should sustain--and were you, in short,' added Brass, still +more comfortably and cozily than before, 'were you induced to accept +him on my behalf, as a tenant, upon those conditions?' + +'Certainly not,' replied Dick. + +'Why then, Mr Richard,' said Brass, darting at him a supercilious and +reproachful look, 'it's my opinion that you've mistaken your calling, +and will never make a lawyer.' + +'Not if you live a thousand years,' added Miss Sally. Whereupon the +brother and sister took each a noisy pinch of snuff from the little tin +box, and fell into a gloomy thoughtfulness. + +Nothing further passed up to Mr Swiveller's dinner-time, which was at +three o'clock, and seemed about three weeks in coming. At the first +stroke of the hour, the new clerk disappeared. At the last stroke of +five, he reappeared, and the office, as if by magic, became fragrant +with the smell of gin and water and lemon-peel. + +'Mr Richard,' said Brass, 'this man's not up yet. Nothing will wake +him, sir. What's to be done?' + +'I should let him have his sleep out,' returned Dick. + +'Sleep out!' cried Brass; 'why he has been asleep now, six-and-twenty +hours. We have been moving chests of drawers over his head, we have +knocked double knocks at the street-door, we have made the servant-girl +fall down stairs several times (she's a light weight, and it don't hurt +her much,) but nothing wakes him.' + +'Perhaps a ladder,' suggested Dick, 'and getting in at the first-floor +window--' + +'But then there's a door between; besides, the neighbours would be up +in arms,' said Brass. + +'What do you say to getting on the roof of the house through the +trap-door, and dropping down the chimney?' suggested Dick. + +'That would be an excellent plan,' said Brass, 'if anybody would be--' +and here he looked very hard at Mr Swiveller--'would be kind, and +friendly, and generous enough, to undertake it. I dare say it would +not be anything like as disagreeable as one supposes.' + +Dick had made the suggestion, thinking that the duty might possibly +fall within Miss Sally's department. As he said nothing further, and +declined taking the hint, Mr Brass was fain to propose that they should +go up stairs together, and make a last effort to awaken the sleeper by +some less violent means, which, if they failed on this last trial, must +positively be succeeded by stronger measures. Mr Swiveller, assenting, +armed himself with his stool and the large ruler, and repaired with his +employer to the scene of action, where Miss Brass was already ringing a +hand-bell with all her might, and yet without producing the smallest +effect upon their mysterious lodger. + +'There are his boots, Mr Richard!' said Brass. + +'Very obstinate-looking articles they are too,' quoth Richard +Swiveller. And truly, they were as sturdy and bluff a pair of boots as +one would wish to see; as firmly planted on the ground as if their +owner's legs and feet had been in them; and seeming, with their broad +soles and blunt toes, to hold possession of their place by main force. + +'I can't see anything but the curtain of the bed,' said Brass, applying +his eye to the keyhole of the door. 'Is he a strong man, Mr Richard?' + +'Very,' answered Dick. + +'It would be an extremely unpleasant circumstance if he was to bounce +out suddenly,' said Brass. 'Keep the stairs clear. I should be more +than a match for him, of course, but I'm the master of the house, and +the laws of hospitality must be respected.--Hallo there! Hallo, hallo!' + +While Mr Brass, with his eye curiously twisted into the keyhole, +uttered these sounds as a means of attracting the lodger's attention, +and while Miss Brass plied the hand-bell, Mr Swiveller put his stool +close against the wall by the side of the door, and mounting on the top +and standing bolt upright, so that if the lodger did make a rush, he +would most probably pass him in its onward fury, began a violent +battery with the ruler upon the upper panels of the door. Captivated +with his own ingenuity, and confident in the strength of his position, +which he had taken up after the method of those hardy individuals who +open the pit and gallery doors of theatres on crowded nights, Mr +Swiveller rained down such a shower of blows, that the noise of the +bell was drowned; and the small servant, who lingered on the stairs +below, ready to fly at a moment's notice, was obliged to hold her ears +lest she should be rendered deaf for life. + +Suddenly the door was unlocked on the inside, and flung violently open. +The small servant flew to the coal-cellar; Miss Sally dived into her +own bed-room; Mr Brass, who was not remarkable for personal courage, +ran into the next street, and finding that nobody followed him, armed +with a poker or other offensive weapon, put his hands in his pockets, +walked very slowly all at once, and whistled. + +Meanwhile, Mr Swiveller, on the top of the stool, drew himself into as +flat a shape as possible against the wall, and looked, not +unconcernedly, down upon the single gentleman, who appeared at the door +growling and cursing in a very awful manner, and, with the boots in his +hand, seemed to have an intention of hurling them down stairs on +speculation. This idea, however, he abandoned. He was turning into +his room again, still growling vengefully, when his eyes met those of +the watchful Richard. + +'Have YOU been making that horrible noise?' said the single gentleman. + +'I have been helping, sir,' returned Dick, keeping his eye upon him, +and waving the ruler gently in his right hand, as an indication of what +the single gentleman had to expect if he attempted any violence. + +'How dare you then,' said the lodger, 'Eh?' + +To this, Dick made no other reply than by inquiring whether the lodger +held it to be consistent with the conduct and character of a gentleman +to go to sleep for six-and-twenty hours at a stretch, and whether the +peace of an amiable and virtuous family was to weigh as nothing in the +balance. + +'Is my peace nothing?' said the single gentleman. + +'Is their peace nothing, sir?' returned Dick. 'I don't wish to hold +out any threats, sir--indeed the law does not allow of threats, for to +threaten is an indictable offence--but if ever you do that again, take +care you're not sat upon by the coroner and buried in a cross road +before you wake. We have been distracted with fears that you were +dead, Sir,' said Dick, gently sliding to the ground, 'and the short and +the long of it is, that we cannot allow single gentlemen to come into +this establishment and sleep like double gentlemen without paying extra +for it.' + +'Indeed!' cried the lodger. + +'Yes, Sir, indeed,' returned Dick, yielding to his destiny and saying +whatever came uppermost; 'an equal quantity of slumber was never got +out of one bed and bedstead, and if you're going to sleep in that way, +you must pay for a double-bedded room.' + +Instead of being thrown into a greater passion by these remarks, the +lodger lapsed into a broad grin and looked at Mr Swiveller with +twinkling eyes. He was a brown-faced sun-burnt man, and appeared +browner and more sun-burnt from having a white nightcap on. As it was +clear that he was a choleric fellow in some respects, Mr Swiveller was +relieved to find him in such good humour, and, to encourage him in it, +smiled himself. + +The lodger, in the testiness of being so rudely roused, had pushed his +nightcap very much on one side of his bald head. This gave him a +rakish eccentric air which, now that he had leisure to observe it, +charmed Mr Swiveller exceedingly; therefore, by way of propitiation, he +expressed his hope that the gentleman was going to get up, and further +that he would never do so any more. + +'Come here, you impudent rascal!' was the lodger's answer as he +re-entered his room. + +Mr Swiveller followed him in, leaving the stool outside, but reserving +the ruler in case of a surprise. He rather congratulated himself on +his prudence when the single gentleman, without notice or explanation +of any kind, double-locked the door. + +'Can you drink anything?' was his next inquiry. + +Mr Swiveller replied that he had very recently been assuaging the pangs +of thirst, but that he was still open to 'a modest quencher,' if the +materials were at hand. Without another word spoken on either side, +the lodger took from his great trunk, a kind of temple, shining as of +polished silver, and placed it carefully on the table. + +Greatly interested in his proceedings, Mr Swiveller observed him +closely. Into one little chamber of this temple, he dropped an egg; +into another some coffee; into a third a compact piece of raw steak +from a neat tin case; into a fourth, he poured some water. Then, with +the aid of a phosphorus-box and some matches, he procured a light and +applied it to a spirit-lamp which had a place of its own below the +temple; then, he shut down the lids of all the little chambers; then he +opened them; and then, by some wonderful and unseen agency, the steak +was done, the egg was boiled, the coffee was accurately prepared, and +his breakfast was ready. + +'Hot water--' said the lodger, handing it to Mr Swiveller with as much +coolness as if he had a kitchen fire before him--'extraordinary +rum--sugar--and a travelling glass. Mix for yourself. And make haste.' + +Dick complied, his eyes wandering all the time from the temple on the +table, which seemed to do everything, to the great trunk which seemed +to hold everything. The lodger took his breakfast like a man who was +used to work these miracles, and thought nothing of them. + +'The man of the house is a lawyer, is he not?' said the lodger. + +Dick nodded. The rum was amazing. + +'The woman of the house--what's she?' + +'A dragon,' said Dick. + +The single gentleman, perhaps because he had met with such things in +his travels, or perhaps because he WAS a single gentleman, evinced no +surprise, but merely inquired 'Wife or sister?'--'Sister,' said +Dick.--'So much the better,' said the single gentleman, 'he can get rid +of her when he likes.' + +'I want to do as I like, young man,' he added after a short silence; +'to go to bed when I like, get up when I like, come in when I like, go +out when I like--to be asked no questions and be surrounded by no +spies. In this last respect, servants are the devil. There's only one +here.' + +'And a very little one,' said Dick. + +'And a very little one,' repeated the lodger. 'Well, the place will +suit me, will it?' + +'Yes,' said Dick. + +'Sharks, I suppose?' said the lodger. + +Dick nodded assent, and drained his glass. + +'Let them know my humour,' said the single gentleman, rising. 'If they +disturb me, they lose a good tenant. If they know me to be that, they +know enough. If they try to know more, it's a notice to quit. It's +better to understand these things at once. Good day.' + +'I beg your pardon,' said Dick, halting in his passage to the door, +which the lodger prepared to open. 'When he who adores thee has left +but the name--' + +'What do you mean?' + +'--But the name,' said Dick--'has left but the name--in case of letters +or parcels--' + +'I never have any,' returned the lodger. + +'Or in the case anybody should call.' + +'Nobody ever calls on me.' + +'If any mistake should arise from not having the name, don't say it was +my fault, Sir,' added Dick, still lingering.--'Oh blame not the bard--' + +'I'll blame nobody,' said the lodger, with such irascibility that in a +moment Dick found himself on the staircase, and the locked door between +them. + +Mr Brass and Miss Sally were lurking hard by, having been, indeed, only +routed from the keyhole by Mr Swiveller's abrupt exit. As their utmost +exertions had not enabled them to overhear a word of the interview, +however, in consequence of a quarrel for precedence, which, though +limited of necessity to pushes and pinches and such quiet pantomime, +had lasted the whole time, they hurried him down to the office to hear +his account of the conversation. + +This Mr Swiveller gave them--faithfully as regarded the wishes and +character of the single gentleman, and poetically as concerned the +great trunk, of which he gave a description more remarkable for +brilliancy of imagination than a strict adherence to truth; declaring, +with many strong asseverations, that it contained a specimen of every +kind of rich food and wine, known in these times, and in particular +that it was of a self-acting kind and served up whatever was required, +as he supposed by clock-work. He also gave them to understand that the +cooking apparatus roasted a fine piece of sirloin of beef, weighing +about six pounds avoir-dupoise, in two minutes and a quarter, as he had +himself witnessed, and proved by his sense of taste; and further, that, +however the effect was produced, he had distinctly seen water boil and +bubble up when the single gentleman winked; from which facts he (Mr +Swiveller) was led to infer that the lodger was some great conjuror or +chemist, or both, whose residence under that roof could not fail at +some future days to shed a great credit and distinction on the name of +Brass, and add a new interest to the history of Bevis Marks. + +There was one point which Mr Swiveller deemed it unnecessary to enlarge +upon, and that was the fact of the modest quencher, which, by reason of +its intrinsic strength and its coming close upon the heels of the +temperate beverage he had discussed at dinner, awakened a slight degree +of fever, and rendered necessary two or three other modest quenchers at +the public-house in the course of the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER 36 + +As the single gentleman after some weeks' occupation of his lodgings, +still declined to correspond, by word or gesture, either with Mr Brass +or his sister Sally, but invariably chose Richard Swiveller as his +channel of communication; and as he proved himself in all respects a +highly desirable inmate, paying for everything beforehand, giving very +little trouble, making no noise, and keeping early hours; Mr Richard +imperceptibly rose to an important position in the family, as one who +had influence over this mysterious lodger, and could negotiate with +him, for good or evil, when nobody else durst approach his person. + +If the truth must be told, even Mr Swiveller's approaches to the single +gentleman were of a very distant kind, and met with small +encouragement; but, as he never returned from a monosyllabic conference +with the unknown, without quoting such expressions as 'Swiveller, I +know I can rely upon you,'--'I have no hesitation in saying, Swiveller, +that I entertain a regard for you,'--'Swiveller, you are my friend, and +will stand by me I am sure,' with many other short speeches of the same +familiar and confiding kind, purporting to have been addressed by the +single gentleman to himself, and to form the staple of their ordinary +discourse, neither Mr Brass nor Miss Sally for a moment questioned the +extent of his influence, but accorded to him their fullest and most +unqualified belief. + +But quite apart from, and independent of, this source of popularity, Mr +Swiveller had another, which promised to be equally enduring, and to +lighten his position considerably. + +He found favour in the eyes of Miss Sally Brass. Let not the light +scorners of female fascination erect their ears to listen to a new tale +of love which shall serve them for a jest; for Miss Brass, however +accurately formed to be beloved, was not of the loving kind. That +amiable virgin, having clung to the skirts of the Law from her earliest +youth; having sustained herself by their aid, as it were, in her first +running alone, and maintained a firm grasp upon them ever since; had +passed her life in a kind of legal childhood. She had been remarkable, +when a tender prattler for an uncommon talent in counterfeiting the +walk and manner of a bailiff: in which character she had learned to tap +her little playfellows on the shoulder, and to carry them off to +imaginary sponging-houses, with a correctness of imitation which was +the surprise and delight of all who witnessed her performances, and +which was only to be exceeded by her exquisite manner of putting an +execution into her doll's house, and taking an exact inventory of the +chairs and tables. These artless sports had naturally soothed and +cheered the decline of her widowed father: a most exemplary gentleman +(called 'old Foxey' by his friends from his extreme sagacity,) who +encouraged them to the utmost, and whose chief regret, on finding that +he drew near to Houndsditch churchyard, was, that his daughter could +not take out an attorney's certificate and hold a place upon the roll. +Filled with this affectionate and touching sorrow, he had solemnly +confided her to his son Sampson as an invaluable auxiliary; and from +the old gentleman's decease to the period of which we treat, Miss Sally +Brass had been the prop and pillar of his business. + +It is obvious that, having devoted herself from infancy to this one +pursuit and study, Miss Brass could know but little of the world, +otherwise than in connection with the law; and that from a lady gifted +with such high tastes, proficiency in those gentler and softer arts in +which women usually excel, was scarcely to be looked for. Miss Sally's +accomplishments were all of a masculine and strictly legal kind. They +began with the practice of an attorney and they ended with it. She was +in a state of lawful innocence, so to speak. The law had been her +nurse. And, as bandy-legs or such physical deformities in children are +held to be the consequence of bad nursing, so, if in a mind so +beautiful any moral twist or handiness could be found, Miss Sally +Brass's nurse was alone to blame. + +It was upon this lady, then, that Mr Swiveller burst in full freshness as +something new and hitherto undreamed of, lighting up the office with +scraps of song and merriment, conjuring with inkstands and boxes of +wafers, catching three oranges in one hand, balancing stools upon his +chin and penknives on his nose, and constantly performing a hundred +other feats with equal ingenuity; for with such unbendings did Richard, +in Mr Brass's absence, relieve the tedium of his confinement. These +social qualities, which Miss Sally first discovered by accident, +gradually made such an impression upon her, that she would entreat Mr +Swiveller to relax as though she were not by, which Mr Swiveller, +nothing loth, would readily consent to do. By these means a friendship +sprung up between them. Mr Swiveller gradually came to look upon her +as her brother Sampson did, and as he would have looked upon any other +clerk. He imparted to her the mystery of going the odd man or plain +Newmarket for fruit, ginger-beer, baked potatoes, or even a modest +quencher, of which Miss Brass did not scruple to partake. He would +often persuade her to undertake his share of writing in addition to her +own; nay, he would sometimes reward her with a hearty slap on the back, +and protest that she was a devilish good fellow, a jolly dog, and so +forth; all of which compliments Miss Sally would receive in entire good +part and with perfect satisfaction. + +One circumstance troubled Mr Swiveller's mind very much, and that was +that the small servant always remained somewhere in the bowels of the +earth under Bevis Marks, and never came to the surface unless the +single gentleman rang his bell, when she would answer it and +immediately disappear again. She never went out, or came into the +office, or had a clean face, or took off the coarse apron, or looked +out of any one of the windows, or stood at the street-door for a breath +of air, or had any rest or enjoyment whatever. Nobody ever came to see +her, nobody spoke of her, nobody cared about her. Mr Brass had said +once, that he believed she was a 'love-child' (which means anything but +a child of love), and that was all the information Richard Swiveller +could obtain. + +'It's of no use asking the dragon,' thought Dick one day, as he sat +contemplating the features of Miss Sally Brass. 'I suspect if I asked +any questions on that head, our alliance would be at an end. I wonder +whether she is a dragon by-the-bye, or something in the mermaid way. +She has rather a scaly appearance. But mermaids are fond of looking at +themselves in the glass, which she can't be. And they have a habit of +combing their hair, which she hasn't. No, she's a dragon.' + +'Where are you going, old fellow?' said Dick aloud, as Miss Sally wiped +her pen as usual on the green dress, and uprose from her seat. + +'To dinner,' answered the dragon. + +'To dinner!' thought Dick, 'that's another circumstance. I don't +believe that small servant ever has anything to eat.' + +'Sammy won't be home,' said Miss Brass. 'Stop till I come back. I +sha'n't be long.' + +Dick nodded, and followed Miss Brass--with his eyes to the door, and +with his ears to a little back parlour, where she and her brother took +their meals. + +'Now,' said Dick, walking up and down with his hands in his pockets, +'I'd give something--if I had it--to know how they use that child, and +where they keep her. My mother must have been a very inquisitive +woman; I have no doubt I'm marked with a note of interrogation +somewhere. My feelings I smother, but thou hast been the cause of this +anguish, my--upon my word,' said Mr Swiveller, checking himself and +falling thoughtfully into the client's chair, 'I should like to know +how they use her!' + +After running on, in this way, for some time, Mr Swiveller softly +opened the office door, with the intention of darting across the street +for a glass of the mild porter. At that moment he caught a parting +glimpse of the brown head-dress of Miss Brass flitting down the kitchen +stairs. 'And by Jove!' thought Dick, 'she's going to feed the small +servant. Now or never!' + +First peeping over the handrail and allowing the head-dress to +disappear in the darkness below, he groped his way down, and arrived at +the door of a back kitchen immediately after Miss Brass had entered the +same, bearing in her hand a cold leg of mutton. It was a very dark +miserable place, very low and very damp: the walls disfigured by a +thousand rents and blotches. The water was trickling out of a leaky +butt, and a most wretched cat was lapping up the drops with the sickly +eagerness of starvation. The grate, which was a wide one, was wound +and screwed up tight, so as to hold no more than a little thin sandwich +of fire. Everything was locked up; the coal-cellar, the candle-box, +the salt-box, the meat-safe, were all padlocked. There was nothing +that a beetle could have lunched upon. The pinched and meagre aspect +of the place would have killed a chameleon. He would have known, at +the first mouthful, that the air was not eatable, and must have given up +the ghost in despair. The small servant stood with humility in presence +of Miss Sally, and hung her head. + +'Are you there?' said Miss Sally. + +'Yes, ma'am,' was the answer in a weak voice. + +'Go further away from the leg of mutton, or you'll be picking it, I +know,' said Miss Sally. + +The girl withdrew into a corner, while Miss Brass took a key from her +pocket, and opening the safe, brought from it a dreary waste of cold +potatoes, looking as eatable as Stonehenge. This she placed before the +small servant, ordering her to sit down before it, and then, taking up +a great carving-knife, made a mighty show of sharpening it upon the +carving-fork. + +'Do you see this?' said Miss Brass, slicing off about two square inches +of cold mutton, after all this preparation, and holding it out on the +point of the fork. + +The small servant looked hard enough at it with her hungry eyes to see +every shred of it, small as it was, and answered, 'yes.' + +'Then don't you ever go and say,' retorted Miss Sally, 'that you hadn't +meat here. There, eat it up.' + +This was soon done. 'Now, do you want any more?' said Miss Sally. + +The hungry creature answered with a faint 'No.' They were evidently +going through an established form. + +'You've been helped once to meat,' said Miss Brass, summing up the +facts; 'you have had as much as you can eat, you're asked if you want +any more, and you answer, 'no!' Then don't you ever go and say you were +allowanced, mind that.' + +With those words, Miss Sally put the meat away and locked the safe, and +then drawing near to the small servant, overlooked her while she +finished the potatoes. + +It was plain that some extraordinary grudge was working in Miss Brass's +gentle breast, and that it was that which impelled her, without the +smallest present cause, to rap the child with the blade of the knife, +now on her hand, now on her head, and now on her back, as if she found +it quite impossible to stand so close to her without administering a +few slight knocks. But Mr Swiveller was not a little surprised to see +his fellow-clerk, after walking slowly backwards towards the door, as +if she were trying to withdraw herself from the room but could not +accomplish it, dart suddenly forward, and falling on the small servant +give her some hard blows with her clenched hand. The victim cried, but +in a subdued manner as if she feared to raise her voice, and Miss +Sally, comforting herself with a pinch of snuff, ascended the stairs, +just as Richard had safely reached the office. + + + + +CHAPTER 37 + +The single gentleman among his other peculiarities--and he had a very +plentiful stock, of which he every day furnished some new +specimen--took a most extraordinary and remarkable interest in the +exhibition of Punch. If the sound of a Punch's voice, at ever so +remote a distance, reached Bevis Marks, the single gentleman, though in +bed and asleep, would start up, and, hurrying on his clothes, make for +the spot with all speed, and presently return at the head of a long +procession of idlers, having in the midst the theatre and its +proprietors. Straightway, the stage would be set up in front of Mr +Brass's house; the single gentleman would establish himself at the +first floor window; and the entertainment would proceed, with all its +exciting accompaniments of fife and drum and shout, to the excessive +consternation of all sober votaries of business in that silent +thoroughfare. It might have been expected that when the play was done, +both players and audience would have dispersed; but the epilogue was as +bad as the play, for no sooner was the Devil dead, than the manager of +the puppets and his partner were summoned by the single gentleman to +his chamber, where they were regaled with strong waters from his +private store, and where they held with him long conversations, the +purport of which no human being could fathom. But the secret of these +discussions was of little importance. It was sufficient to know that +while they were proceeding, the concourse without still lingered round +the house; that boys beat upon the drum with their fists, and imitated +Punch with their tender voices; that the office-window was rendered +opaque by flattened noses, and the key-hole of the street-door luminous +with eyes; that every time the single gentleman or either of his guests +was seen at the upper window, or so much as the end of one of their +noses was visible, there was a great shout of execration from the +excluded mob, who remained howling and yelling, and refusing +consolation, until the exhibitors were delivered up to them to be +attended elsewhere. It was sufficient, in short, to know that Bevis +Marks was revolutionised by these popular movements, and that peace and +quietness fled from its precincts. + +Nobody was rendered more indignant by these proceedings than Mr Sampson +Brass, who, as he could by no means afford to lose so profitable an +inmate, deemed it prudent to pocket his lodger's affront along with his +cash, and to annoy the audiences who clustered round his door by such +imperfect means of retaliation as were open to him, and which were +confined to the trickling down of foul water on their heads from unseen +watering pots, pelting them with fragments of tile and mortar from the +roof of the house, and bribing the drivers of hackney cabriolets to +come suddenly round the corner and dash in among them precipitately. +It may, at first sight, be matter of surprise to the thoughtless few +that Mr Brass, being a professional gentleman, should not have legally +indicted some party or parties, active in the promotion of the +nuisance, but they will be good enough to remember, that as Doctors +seldom take their own prescriptions, and Divines do not always practise +what they preach, so lawyers are shy of meddling with the Law on their +own account: knowing it to be an edged tool of uncertain application, +very expensive in the working, and rather remarkable for its properties +of close shaving, than for its always shaving the right person. + +'Come,' said Mr Brass one afternoon, 'this is two days without a Punch. +I'm in hopes he has run through 'em all, at last.' + +'Why are you in hopes?' returned Miss Sally. 'What harm do they do?' + +'Here's a pretty sort of a fellow!' cried Brass, laying down his pen in +despair. 'Now here's an aggravating animal!' + +'Well, what harm do they do?' retorted Sally. + +'What harm!' cried Brass. 'Is it no harm to have a constant hallooing +and hooting under one's very nose, distracting one from business, and +making one grind one's teeth with vexation? Is it no harm to be +blinded and choked up, and have the king's highway stopped with a set +of screamers and roarers whose throats must be made of--of--' + +'Brass,' suggested Mr Swiveller. + +'Ah! of brass,' said the lawyer, glancing at his clerk, to assure +himself that he had suggested the word in good faith and without any +sinister intention. 'Is that no harm?' + +The lawyer stopped short in his invective, and listening for a moment, +and recognising the well-known voice, rested his head upon his hand, +raised his eyes to the ceiling, and muttered faintly, 'There's another!' + +Up went the single gentleman's window directly. + +'There's another,' repeated Brass; 'and if I could get a break and four +blood horses to cut into the Marks when the crowd is at its thickest, +I'd give eighteen-pence and never grudge it!' + +The distant squeak was heard again. The single gentleman's door burst +open. He ran violently down the stairs, out into the street, and so +past the window, without any hat, towards the quarter whence the sound +proceeded--bent, no doubt, upon securing the strangers' services +directly. + +'I wish I only knew who his friends were,' muttered Sampson, filling +his pocket with papers; 'if they'd just get up a pretty little +Commission de lunatico at the Gray's Inn Coffee House and give me the +job, I'd be content to have the lodgings empty for one while, at all +events.' + +With which words, and knocking his hat over his eyes as if for the +purpose of shutting out even a glimpse of the dreadful visitation, Mr +Brass rushed from the house and hurried away. + +As Mr Swiveller was decidedly favourable to these performances, upon +the ground that looking at a Punch, or indeed looking at anything out +of window, was better than working; and as he had been, for this +reason, at some pains to awaken in his fellow clerk a sense of their +beauties and manifold deserts; both he and Miss Sally rose as with one +accord and took up their positions at the window: upon the sill +whereof, as in a post of honour, sundry young ladies and gentlemen who +were employed in the dry nurture of babies, and who made a point of +being present, with their young charges, on such occasions, had already +established themselves as comfortably as the circumstances would allow. + +The glass being dim, Mr Swiveller, agreeably to a friendly custom which +he had established between them, hitched off the brown head-dress from +Miss Sally's head, and dusted it carefully therewith. By the time he +had handed it back, and its beautiful wearer had put it on again (which +she did with perfect composure and indifference), the lodger returned +with the show and showmen at his heels, and a strong addition to the +body of spectators. The exhibitor disappeared with all speed behind +the drapery; and his partner, stationing himself by the side of the +Theatre, surveyed the audience with a remarkable expression of +melancholy, which became more remarkable still when he breathed a +hornpipe tune into that sweet musical instrument which is popularly +termed a mouth-organ, without at all changing the mournful expression +of the upper part of his face, though his mouth and chin were, of +necessity, in lively spasms. + +The drama proceeded to its close, and held the spectators enchained in +the customary manner. The sensation which kindles in large assemblies, +when they are relieved from a state of breathless suspense and are +again free to speak and move, was yet rife, when the lodger, as usual, +summoned the men up stairs. + +'Both of you,' he called from the window; for only the actual +exhibitor--a little fat man--prepared to obey the summons. 'I want to +talk to you. Come both of you!' + +'Come, Tommy,' said the little man. + +'I an't a talker,' replied the other. 'Tell him so. What should I go +and talk for?' + +'Don't you see the gentleman's got a bottle and glass up there?' +returned the little man. + +'And couldn't you have said so at first?' retorted the other with +sudden alacrity. 'Now, what are you waiting for? Are you going to +keep the gentleman expecting us all day? haven't you no manners?' + +With this remonstrance, the melancholy man, who was no other than Mr +Thomas Codlin, pushed past his friend and brother in the craft, Mr +Harris, otherwise Short or Trotters, and hurried before him to the +single gentleman's apartment. + +'Now, my men,' said the single gentleman; 'you have done very well. +What will you take? Tell that little man behind, to shut the door.' + +'Shut the door, can't you?' said Mr Codlin, turning gruffly to his +friend. 'You might have knowed that the gentleman wanted the door +shut, without being told, I think.' + +Mr Short obeyed, observing under his breath that his friend seemed +unusually 'cranky,' and expressing a hope that there was no dairy in +the neighbourhood, or his temper would certainly spoil its contents. + +The gentleman pointed to a couple of chairs, and intimated by an +emphatic nod of his head that he expected them to be seated. Messrs +Codlin and Short, after looking at each other with considerable doubt +and indecision, at length sat down--each on the extreme edge of the +chair pointed out to him--and held their hats very tight, while the +single gentleman filled a couple of glasses from a bottle on the table +beside him, and presented them in due form. + +'You're pretty well browned by the sun, both of you,' said their +entertainer. 'Have you been travelling?' + +Mr Short replied in the affirmative with a nod and a smile. Mr Codlin +added a corroborative nod and a short groan, as if he still felt the +weight of the Temple on his shoulders. + +'To fairs, markets, races, and so forth, I suppose?' pursued the single +gentleman. + +'Yes, sir,' returned Short, 'pretty nigh all over the West of England.' + +'I have talked to men of your craft from North, East, and South,' +returned their host, in rather a hasty manner; 'but I never lighted on +any from the West before.' + +'It's our reg'lar summer circuit is the West, master,' said Short; +'that's where it is. We takes the East of London in the spring and +winter, and the West of England in the summer time. Many's the hard +day's walking in rain and mud, and with never a penny earned, we've had +down in the West.' + +'Let me fill your glass again.' + +'Much obleeged to you sir, I think I will,' said Mr Codlin, suddenly +thrusting in his own and turning Short's aside. 'I'm the sufferer, +sir, in all the travelling, and in all the staying at home. In town or +country, wet or dry, hot or cold, Tom Codlin suffers. But Tom Codlin +isn't to complain for all that. Oh, no! Short may complain, but if +Codlin grumbles by so much as a word--oh dear, down with him, down +with him directly. It isn't his place to grumble. That's quite out of +the question.' + +'Codlin an't without his usefulness,' observed Short with an arch look, +'but he don't always keep his eyes open. He falls asleep sometimes, +you know. Remember them last races, Tommy.' + +'Will you never leave off aggravating a man?' said Codlin. 'It's very +like I was asleep when five-and-tenpence was collected, in one round, +isn't it? I was attending to my business, and couldn't have my eyes in +twenty places at once, like a peacock, no more than you could. If I +an't a match for an old man and a young child, you an't neither, so +don't throw that out against me, for the cap fits your head quite as +correct as it fits mine.' + +'You may as well drop the subject, Tom,' said Short. 'It isn't +particular agreeable to the gentleman, I dare say.' + +'Then you shouldn't have brought it up,' returned Mr Codlin; 'and I ask +the gentleman's pardon on your account, as a giddy chap that likes to +hear himself talk, and don't much care what he talks about, so that he +does talk.' + +Their entertainer had sat perfectly quiet in the beginning of this +dispute, looking first at one man and then at the other, as if he were +lying in wait for an opportunity of putting some further question, or +reverting to that from which the discourse had strayed. But, from the +point where Mr Codlin was charged with sleepiness, he had shown an +increasing interest in the discussion: which now attained a very high +pitch. + +'You are the two men I want,' he said, 'the two men I have been looking +for, and searching after! Where are that old man and that child you +speak of?' + +'Sir?' said Short, hesitating, and looking towards his friend. + +'The old man and his grandchild who travelled with you--where are they? +It will be worth your while to speak out, I assure you; much better +worth your while than you believe. They left you, you say--at those +races, as I understand. They have been traced to that place, and there +lost sight of. Have you no clue, can you suggest no clue, to their +recovery?' + +'Did I always say, Thomas,' cried Short, turning with a look of +amazement to his friend, 'that there was sure to be an inquiry after +them two travellers?' + +'YOU said!' returned Mr Codlin. 'Did I always say that that 'ere +blessed child was the most interesting I ever see? Did I always say I +loved her, and doated on her? Pretty creetur, I think I hear her now. +"Codlin's my friend," she says, with a tear of gratitude a trickling +down her little eye; "Codlin's my friend," she says--"not Short. +Short's very well," she says; "I've no quarrel with Short; he means +kind, I dare say; but Codlin," she says, "has the feelings for my +money, though he mayn't look it."' + +Repeating these words with great emotion, Mr Codlin rubbed the bridge +of his nose with his coat-sleeve, and shaking his head mournfully from +side to side, left the single gentleman to infer that, from the moment +when he lost sight of his dear young charge, his peace of mind and +happiness had fled. + +'Good Heaven!' said the single gentleman, pacing up and down the room, +'have I found these men at last, only to discover that they can give me +no information or assistance! It would have been better to have lived +on, in hope, from day to day, and never to have lighted on them, than +to have my expectations scattered thus.' + +'Stay a minute,' said Short. 'A man of the name of Jerry--you know +Jerry, Thomas?' + +'Oh, don't talk to me of Jerrys,' replied Mr Codlin. 'How can I care a +pinch of snuff for Jerrys, when I think of that 'ere darling child? +"Codlin's my friend," she says, "dear, good, kind Codlin, as is always +a devising pleasures for me! I don't object to Short," she says, "but +I cotton to Codlin." Once,' said that gentleman reflectively, 'she +called me Father Codlin. I thought I should have bust!' + +'A man of the name of Jerry, sir,' said Short, turning from his selfish +colleague to their new acquaintance, 'wot keeps a company of dancing +dogs, told me, in a accidental sort of way, that he had seen the old +gentleman in connexion with a travelling wax-work, unbeknown to him. +As they'd given us the slip, and nothing had come of it, and this was +down in the country that he'd been seen, I took no measures about it, +and asked no questions--But I can, if you like.' + +'Is this man in town?' said the impatient single gentleman. 'Speak +faster.' + +'No he isn't, but he will be to-morrow, for he lodges in our house,' +replied Mr Short rapidly. + +'Then bring him here,' said the single gentleman. 'Here's a sovereign +a-piece. If I can find these people through your means, it is but a +prelude to twenty more. Return to me to-morrow, and keep your own +counsel on this subject--though I need hardly tell you that; for you'll +do so for your own sakes. Now, give me your address, and leave me.' + +The address was given, the two men departed, the crowd went with them, +and the single gentleman for two mortal hours walked in uncommon +agitation up and down his room, over the wondering heads of Mr +Swiveller and Miss Sally Brass. + + + + +CHAPTER 38 + +Kit--for it happens at this juncture, not only that we have breathing +time to follow his fortunes, but that the necessities of these +adventures so adapt themselves to our ease and inclination as to call +upon us imperatively to pursue the track we most desire to take--Kit, +while the matters treated of in the last fifteen chapters were yet in +progress, was, as the reader may suppose, gradually familiarising +himself more and more with Mr and Mrs Garland, Mr Abel, the pony, and +Barbara, and gradually coming to consider them one and all as his +particular private friends, and Abel Cottage, Finchley, as his own +proper home. + +Stay--the words are written, and may go, but if they convey any notion +that Kit, in the plentiful board and comfortable lodging of his new +abode, began to think slightingly of the poor fare and furniture of his +old dwelling, they do their office badly and commit injustice. Who so +mindful of those he left at home--albeit they were but a mother and two +young babies--as Kit? What boastful father in the fulness of his heart +ever related such wonders of his infant prodigy, as Kit never wearied +of telling Barbara in the evening time, concerning little Jacob? Was +there ever such a mother as Kit's mother, on her son's showing; or was +there ever such comfort in poverty as in the poverty of Kit's family, +if any correct judgment might be arrived at, from his own glowing +account! + +And let me linger in this place, for an instant, to remark that if ever +household affections and loves are graceful things, they are graceful +in the poor. The ties that bind the wealthy and the proud to home may +be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble +hearth are of the truer metal and bear the stamp of Heaven. The man of +high descent may love the halls and lands of his inheritance as part of +himself: as trophies of his birth and power; his associations with them +are associations of pride and wealth and triumph; the poor man's +attachment to the tenements he holds, which strangers have held before, +and may to-morrow occupy again, has a worthier root, struck deep into a +purer soil. His household gods are of flesh and blood, with no alloy +of silver, gold, or precious stone; he has no property but in the +affections of his own heart; and when they endear bare floors and +walls, despite of rags and toil and scanty fare, that man has his love +of home from God, and his rude hut becomes a solemn place. + +Oh! if those who rule the destinies of nations would but remember +this--if they would but think how hard it is for the very poor to have +engendered in their hearts, that love of home from which all domestic +virtues spring, when they live in dense and squalid masses where social +decency is lost, or rather never found--if they would but turn aside +from the wide thoroughfares and great houses, and strive to improve the +wretched dwellings in bye-ways where only Poverty may walk--many low +roofs would point more truly to the sky, than the loftiest steeple that +now rears proudly up from the midst of guilt, and crime, and horrible +disease, to mock them by its contrast. In hollow voices from +Workhouse, Hospital, and jail, this truth is preached from day to day, +and has been proclaimed for years. It is no light matter--no outcry +from the working vulgar--no mere question of the people's health and +comforts that may be whistled down on Wednesday nights. In love of +home, the love of country has its rise; and who are the truer patriots +or the better in time of need--those who venerate the land, owning its +wood, and stream, and earth, and all that they produce? or those who +love their country, boasting not a foot of ground in all its wide +domain! + +Kit knew nothing about such questions, but he knew that his old home +was a very poor place, and that his new one was very unlike it, and yet +he was constantly looking back with grateful satisfaction and +affectionate anxiety, and often indited square-folded letters to his +mother, enclosing a shilling or eighteenpence or such other small +remittance, which Mr Abel's liberality enabled him to make. Sometimes +being in the neighbourhood, he had leisure to call upon her, and then +great was the joy and pride of Kit's mother, and extremely noisy the +satisfaction of little Jacob and the baby, and cordial the +congratulations of the whole court, who listened with admiring ears to +the accounts of Abel Cottage, and could never be told too much of its +wonders and magnificence. + +Although Kit was in the very highest favour with the old lady and +gentleman, and Mr Abel, and Barbara, it is certain that no member of +the family evinced such a remarkable partiality for him as the +self-willed pony, who, from being the most obstinate and opinionated +pony on the face of the earth, was, in his hands, the meekest and most +tractable of animals. It is true that in exact proportion as he became +manageable by Kit he became utterly ungovernable by anybody else (as if +he had determined to keep him in the family at all risks and hazards), +and that, even under the guidance of his favourite, he would sometimes +perform a great variety of strange freaks and capers, to the extreme +discomposure of the old lady's nerves; but as Kit always represented +that this was only his fun, or a way he had of showing his attachment +to his employers, Mrs Garland gradually suffered herself to be +persuaded into the belief, in which she at last became so strongly +confirmed, that if, in one of these ebullitions, he had overturned the +chaise, she would have been quite satisfied that he did it with the +very best intentions. + +Besides becoming in a short time a perfect marvel in all stable +matters, Kit soon made himself a very tolerable gardener, a handy +fellow within doors, and an indispensable attendant on Mr Abel, who +every day gave him some new proof of his confidence and approbation. +Mr Witherden the notary, too, regarded him with a friendly eye; and +even Mr Chuckster would sometimes condescend to give him a slight nod, +or to honour him with that peculiar form of recognition which is called +'taking a sight,' or to favour him with some other salute combining +pleasantry with patronage. + +One morning Kit drove Mr Abel to the Notary's office, as he sometimes +did, and having set him down at the house, was about to drive off to a +livery stable hard by, when this same Mr Chuckster emerged from the +office door, and cried 'Woa-a-a-a-a-a!'--dwelling upon the note a long +time, for the purpose of striking terror into the pony's heart, and +asserting the supremacy of man over the inferior animals. + +'Pull up, Snobby,' cried Mr Chuckster, addressing himself to Kit. +'You're wanted inside here.' + +'Has Mr Abel forgotten anything, I wonder?' said Kit as he dismounted. + +'Ask no questions, Snobby,' returned Mr Chuckster, 'but go and see. +Woa-a-a then, will you? If that pony was mine, I'd break him.' + +'You must be very gentle with him, if you please,' said Kit, 'or you'll +find him troublesome. You'd better not keep on pulling his ears, +please. I know he won't like it.' + +To this remonstrance Mr Chuckster deigned no other answer, than +addressing Kit with a lofty and distant air as 'young feller,' and +requesting him to cut and come again with all speed. The 'young +feller' complying, Mr Chuckster put his hands in his pockets, and tried +to look as if he were not minding the pony, but happened to be lounging +there by accident. + +Kit scraped his shoes very carefully (for he had not yet lost his +reverence for the bundles of papers and the tin boxes,) and tapped at +the office-door, which was quickly opened by the Notary himself. + +'Oh! come in, Christopher,' said Mr Witherden. + +'Is that the lad?' asked an elderly gentleman, but of a stout, bluff +figure--who was in the room. + +'That's the lad,' said Mr Witherden. 'He fell in with my client, Mr +Garland, sir, at this very door. I have reason to think he is a good +lad, sir, and that you may believe what he says. Let me introduce Mr +Abel Garland, sir--his young master; my articled pupil, sir, and most +particular friend:--my most particular friend, sir,' repeated the +Notary, drawing out his silk handkerchief and flourishing it about his +face. + +'Your servant, sir,' said the stranger gentleman. + +'Yours, sir, I'm sure,' replied Mr Abel mildly. 'You were wishing to +speak to Christopher, sir?' + +'Yes, I was. Have I your permission?' + +'By all means.' + +'My business is no secret; or I should rather say it need be no secret +here,' said the stranger, observing that Mr Abel and the Notary were +preparing to retire. 'It relates to a dealer in curiosities with whom +he lived, and in whom I am earnestly and warmly interested. I have +been a stranger to this country, gentlemen, for very many years, and if +I am deficient in form and ceremony, I hope you will forgive me.' + +'No forgiveness is necessary, sir;--none whatever,' replied the Notary. +And so said Mr Abel. + +'I have been making inquiries in the neighbourhood in which his old +master lived,' said the stranger, 'and I learn that he was served by +this lad. I have found out his mother's house, and have been directed +by her to this place as the nearest in which I should be likely to find +him. That's the cause of my presenting myself here this morning.' + +'I am very glad of any cause, sir,' said the Notary, 'which procures me +the honour of this visit.' + +'Sir,' retorted the stranger, 'you speak like a mere man of the world, +and I think you something better. Therefore, pray do not sink your +real character in paying unmeaning compliments to me.' + +'Hem!' coughed the Notary. 'You're a plain speaker, sir.' + +'And a plain dealer,' returned the stranger. 'It may be my long +absence and inexperience that lead me to the conclusion; but if plain +speakers are scarce in this part of the world, I fancy plain dealers +are still scarcer. If my speaking should offend you, sir, my dealing, +I hope, will make amends.' + +Mr Witherden seemed a little disconcerted by the elderly gentleman's +mode of conducting the dialogue; and as for Kit, he looked at him in +open-mouthed astonishment: wondering what kind of language he would +address to him, if he talked in that free and easy way to a Notary. It +was with no harshness, however, though with something of constitutional +irritability and haste, that he turned to Kit and said: + +'If you think, my lad, that I am pursuing these inquiries with any +other view than that of serving and reclaiming those I am in search of, +you do me a very great wrong, and deceive yourself. Don't be deceived, +I beg of you, but rely upon my assurance. The fact is, gentlemen,' he +added, turning again to the Notary and his pupil, 'that I am in a very +painful and wholly unexpected position. I came to this city with a +darling object at my heart, expecting to find no obstacle or difficulty +in the way of its attainment. I find myself suddenly checked and +stopped short, in the execution of my design, by a mystery which I +cannot penetrate. Every effort I have made to penetrate it, has only +served to render it darker and more obscure; and I am afraid to stir +openly in the matter, lest those whom I anxiously pursue, should fly +still farther from me. I assure you that if you could give me any +assistance, you would not be sorry to do so, if you knew how greatly I +stand in need of it, and what a load it would relieve me from.' + +There was a simplicity in this confidence which occasioned it to find a +quick response in the breast of the good-natured Notary, who replied, +in the same spirit, that the stranger had not mistaken his desire, and +that if he could be of service to him, he would, most readily. + +Kit was then put under examination and closely questioned by the +unknown gentleman, touching his old master and the child, their lonely +way of life, their retired habits, and strict seclusion. The nightly +absence of the old man, the solitary existence of the child at those +times, his illness and recovery, Quilp's possession of the house, and +their sudden disappearance, were all the subjects of much questioning +and answer. Finally, Kit informed the gentleman that the premises were +now to let, and that a board upon the door referred all inquirers to Mr +Sampson Brass, Solicitor, of Bevis Marks, from whom he might perhaps +learn some further particulars. + +'Not by inquiry,' said the gentleman shaking his head. 'I live there.' + +'Live at Brass's the attorney's!' cried Mr Witherden in some surprise: +having professional knowledge of the gentleman in question. + +'Aye,' was the reply. 'I entered on his lodgings t'other day, chiefly +because I had seen this very board. It matters little to me where I +live, and I had a desperate hope that some intelligence might be cast +in my way there, which would not reach me elsewhere. Yes, I live at +Brass's--more shame for me, I suppose?' + +'That's a mere matter of opinion,' said the Notary, shrugging his +shoulders. 'He is looked upon as rather a doubtful character.' + +'Doubtful?' echoed the other. 'I am glad to hear there's any doubt +about it. I supposed that had been thoroughly settled, long ago. But +will you let me speak a word or two with you in private?' + +Mr Witherden consenting, they walked into that gentleman's private +closet, and remained there, in close conversation, for some quarter of +an hour, when they returned into the outer office. The stranger had +left his hat in Mr Witherden's room, and seemed to have established +himself in this short interval on quite a friendly footing. + +'I'll not detain you any longer now,' he said, putting a crown into +Kit's hand, and looking towards the Notary. 'You shall hear from me +again. Not a word of this, you know, except to your master and +mistress.' + +'Mother, sir, would be glad to know--' said Kit, faltering. + +'Glad to know what?' + +'Anything--so that it was no harm--about Miss Nell.' + +'Would she? Well then, you may tell her if she can keep a secret. But +mind, not a word of this to anybody else. Don't forget that. Be +particular.' + +'I'll take care, sir,' said Kit. 'Thankee, sir, and good morning.' + +Now, it happened that the gentleman, in his anxiety to impress upon Kit +that he was not to tell anybody what had passed between them, followed +him out to the door to repeat his caution, and it further happened that +at that moment the eyes of Mr Richard Swiveller were turned in that +direction, and beheld his mysterious friend and Kit together. + +It was quite an accident, and the way in which it came about was this. +Mr Chuckster, being a gentleman of a cultivated taste and refined +spirit, was one of that Lodge of Glorious Apollos whereof Mr Swiveller +was Perpetual Grand. Mr Swiveller, passing through the street in the +execution of some Brazen errand, and beholding one of his Glorious +Brotherhood intently gazing on a pony, crossed over to give him that +fraternal greeting with which Perpetual Grands are, by the very +constitution of their office, bound to cheer and encourage their +disciples. He had scarcely bestowed upon him his blessing, and +followed it with a general remark touching the present state and +prospects of the weather, when, lifting up his eyes, he beheld the +single gentleman of Bevis Marks in earnest conversation with +Christopher Nubbles. + +'Hallo!' said Dick, 'who is that?' + +'He called to see my Governor this morning,' replied Mr Chuckster; +'beyond that, I don't know him from Adam.' + +'At least you know his name?' said Dick. + +To which Mr Chuckster replied, with an elevation of speech becoming a +Glorious Apollo, that he was 'everlastingly blessed' if he did. + +'All I know, my dear feller,' said Mr Chuckster, running his fingers +through his hair, 'is, that he is the cause of my having stood here +twenty minutes, for which I hate him with a mortal and undying hatred, +and would pursue him to the confines of eternity if I could afford the +time.' + +While they were thus discoursing, the subject of their conversation +(who had not appeared to recognise Mr Richard Swiveller) re-entered the +house, and Kit came down the steps and joined them; to whom Mr +Swiveller again propounded his inquiry with no better success. + +'He is a very nice gentleman, Sir,' said Kit, 'and that's all I know +about him.' + +Mr Chuckster waxed wroth at this answer, and without applying the +remark to any particular case, mentioned, as a general truth, that it +was expedient to break the heads of Snobs, and to tweak their noses. +Without expressing his concurrence in this sentiment, Mr Swiveller +after a few moments of abstraction inquired which way Kit was driving, +and, being informed, declared it was his way, and that he would +trespass on him for a lift. Kit would gladly have declined the +proffered honour, but as Mr Swiveller was already established in the +seat beside him, he had no means of doing so, otherwise than by a +forcible ejectment, and therefore, drove briskly off--so briskly +indeed, as to cut short the leave-taking between Mr Chuckster and his +Grand Master, and to occasion the former gentleman some inconvenience +from having his corns squeezed by the impatient pony. + +As Whisker was tired of standing, and Mr Swiveller was kind enough to +stimulate him by shrill whistles, and various sporting cries, they +rattled off at too sharp a pace to admit of much conversation: +especially as the pony, incensed by Mr Swiveller's admonitions, took a +particular fancy for the lamp-posts and cart-wheels, and evinced a +strong desire to run on the pavement and rasp himself against the brick +walls. It was not, therefore, until they had arrived at the stable, +and the chaise had been extricated from a very small doorway, into +which the pony dragged it under the impression that he could take it +along with him into his usual stall, that Mr Swiveller found time to +talk. + +'It's hard work,' said Richard. 'What do you say to some beer?' + +Kit at first declined, but presently consented, and they adjourned to +the neighbouring bar together. + +'We'll drink our friend what's-his-name,' said Dick, holding up the +bright frothy pot; '--that was talking to you this morning, you know--I +know him--a good fellow, but eccentric--very--here's what's-his-name!' + +Kit pledged him. + +'He lives in my house,' said Dick; 'at least in the house occupied by +the firm in which I'm a sort of a--of a managing partner--a difficult +fellow to get anything out of, but we like him--we like him.' + +'I must be going, sir, if you please,' said Kit, moving away. + +'Don't be in a hurry, Christopher,' replied his patron, 'we'll drink +your mother.' + +'Thank you, sir.' + +'An excellent woman that mother of yours, Christopher,' said Mr +Swiveller. 'Who ran to catch me when I fell, and kissed the place to +make it well? My mother. A charming woman. He's a liberal sort of +fellow. We must get him to do something for your mother. Does he know +her, Christopher?' + +Kit shook his head, and glancing slyly at his questioner, thanked him, +and made off before he could say another word. + +'Humph!' said Mr Swiveller pondering, 'this is queer. Nothing but +mysteries in connection with Brass's house. I'll keep my own counsel, +however. Everybody and anybody has been in my confidence as yet, but +now I think I'll set up in business for myself. Queer--very queer!' + +After pondering deeply and with a face of exceeding wisdom for some +time, Mr Swiveller drank some more of the beer, and summoning a small +boy who had been watching his proceedings, poured forth the few +remaining drops as a libation on the gravel, and bade him carry the +empty vessel to the bar with his compliments, and above all things to +lead a sober and temperate life, and abstain from all intoxicating and +exciting liquors. Having given him this piece of moral advice for his +trouble (which, as he wisely observed, was far better than half-pence) +the Perpetual Grand Master of the Glorious Apollos thrust his hands +into his pockets and sauntered away: still pondering as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER 39 + +All that day, though he waited for Mr Abel until evening, Kit kept +clear of his mother's house, determined not to anticipate the pleasures +of the morrow, but to let them come in their full rush of delight; for +to-morrow was the great and long looked-for epoch in his +life--to-morrow was the end of his first quarter--the day of receiving, +for the first time, one fourth part of his annual income of Six Pounds +in one vast sum of Thirty Shillings--to-morrow was to be a half-holiday +devoted to a whirl of entertainments, and little Jacob was to know what +oysters meant, and to see a play. + +All manner of incidents combined in favour of the occasion: not only +had Mr and Mrs Garland forewarned him that they intended to make no +deduction for his outfit from the great amount, but to pay it him +unbroken in all its gigantic grandeur; not only had the unknown +gentleman increased the stock by the sum of five shillings, which was a +perfect god-send and in itself a fortune; not only had these things +come to pass which nobody could have calculated upon, or in their +wildest dreams have hoped; but it was Barbara's quarter too--Barbara's +quarter, that very day--and Barbara had a half-holiday as well as Kit, +and Barbara's mother was going to make one of the party, and to take +tea with Kit's mother, and cultivate her acquaintance. + +To be sure Kit looked out of his window very early that morning to see +which way the clouds were flying, and to be sure Barbara would have +been at hers too, if she had not sat up so late over-night, starching +and ironing small pieces of muslin, and crimping them into frills, and +sewing them on to other pieces to form magnificent wholes for next +day's wear. But they were both up very early for all that, and had +small appetites for breakfast and less for dinner, and were in a state +of great excitement when Barbara's mother came in, with astonishing +accounts of the fineness of the weather out of doors (but with a very +large umbrella notwithstanding, for people like Barbara's mother seldom +make holiday without one), and when the bell rang for them to go up +stairs and receive their quarter's money in gold and silver. + +Well, wasn't Mr Garland kind when he said 'Christopher, here's your +money, and you have earned it well;' and wasn't Mrs Garland kind when +she said 'Barbara, here's yours, and I'm much pleased with you;' and +didn't Kit sign his name bold to his receipt, and didn't Barbara sign +her name all a trembling to hers; and wasn't it beautiful to see how +Mrs Garland poured out Barbara's mother a glass of wine; and didn't +Barbara's mother speak up when she said 'Here's blessing you, ma'am, as +a good lady, and you, sir, as a good gentleman, and Barbara, my love to +you, and here's towards you, Mr Christopher;' and wasn't she as long +drinking it as if it had been a tumblerful; and didn't she look +genteel, standing there with her gloves on; and wasn't there plenty of +laughing and talking among them as they reviewed all these things upon +the top of the coach, and didn't they pity the people who hadn't got a +holiday! + +But Kit's mother, again--wouldn't anybody have supposed she had come of +a good stock and been a lady all her life! There she was, quite ready +to receive them, with a display of tea-things that might have warmed +the heart of a china-shop; and little Jacob and the baby in such a +state of perfection that their clothes looked as good as new, though +Heaven knows they were old enough! Didn't she say before they had sat +down five minutes that Barbara's mother was exactly the sort of lady +she expected, and didn't Barbara's mother say that Kit's mother was the +very picture of what she had expected, and didn't Kit's mother +compliment Barbara's mother on Barbara, and didn't Barbara's mother +compliment Kit's mother on Kit, and wasn't Barbara herself quite +fascinated with little Jacob, and did ever a child show off when he was +wanted, as that child did, or make such friends as he made! + +'And we are both widows too!' said Barbara's mother. 'We must have +been made to know each other.' + +'I haven't a doubt about it,' returned Mrs Nubbles. 'And what a pity +it is we didn't know each other sooner.' + +'But then, you know, it's such a pleasure,' said Barbara's mother, 'to +have it brought about by one's son and daughter, that it's fully made +up for. Now, an't it?' + +To this, Kit's mother yielded her full assent, and tracing things back +from effects to causes, they naturally reverted to their deceased +husbands, respecting whose lives, deaths, and burials, they compared +notes, and discovered sundry circumstances that tallied with wonderful +exactness; such as Barbara's father having been exactly four years and +ten months older than Kit's father, and one of them having died on a +Wednesday and the other on a Thursday, and both of them having been of +a very fine make and remarkably good-looking, with other extraordinary +coincidences. These recollections being of a kind calculated to cast a +shadow on the brightness of the holiday, Kit diverted the conversation +to general topics, and they were soon in great force again, and as +merry as before. Among other things, Kit told them about his old +place, and the extraordinary beauty of Nell (of whom he had talked to +Barbara a thousand times already); but the last-named circumstance +failed to interest his hearers to anything like the extent he had +supposed, and even his mother said (looking accidentally at Barbara at +the same time) that there was no doubt Miss Nell was very pretty, but +she was but a child after all, and there were many young women quite as +pretty as she; and Barbara mildly observed that she should think so, +and that she never could help believing Mr Christopher must be under a +mistake--which Kit wondered at very much, not being able to conceive +what reason she had for doubting him. Barbara's mother too, observed +that it was very common for young folks to change at about fourteen or +fifteen, and whereas they had been very pretty before, to grow up quite +plain; which truth she illustrated by many forcible examples, +especially one of a young man, who, being a builder with great +prospects, had been particular in his attentions to Barbara, but whom +Barbara would have nothing to say to; which (though everything happened +for the best) she almost thought was a pity. Kit said he thought so +too, and so he did honestly, and he wondered what made Barbara so +silent all at once, and why his mother looked at him as if he shouldn't +have said it. + +However, it was high time now to be thinking of the play; for which +great preparation was required, in the way of shawls and bonnets, not +to mention one handkerchief full of oranges and another of apples, +which took some time tying up, in consequence of the fruit having a +tendency to roll out at the corners. At length, everything was ready, +and they went off very fast; Kit's mother carrying the baby, who was +dreadfully wide awake, and Kit holding little Jacob in one hand, and +escorting Barbara with the other--a state of things which occasioned +the two mothers, who walked behind, to declare that they looked quite +family folks, and caused Barbara to blush and say, 'Now don't, mother!' +But Kit said she had no call to mind what they said; and indeed she +need not have had, if she had known how very far from Kit's thoughts +any love-making was. Poor Barbara! + +At last they got to the theatre, which was Astley's: and in some two +minutes after they had reached the yet unopened door, little Jacob was +squeezed flat, and the baby had received divers concussions, and +Barbara's mother's umbrella had been carried several yards off and +passed back to her over the shoulders of the people, and Kit had hit a +man on the head with the handkerchief of apples for 'scrowdging' his +parent with unnecessary violence, and there was a great uproar. But, +when they were once past the pay-place and tearing away for very life +with their checks in their hands, and, above all, when they were fairly +in the theatre, and seated in such places that they couldn't have had +better if they had picked them out, and taken them beforehand, all this +was looked upon as quite a capital joke, and an essential part of the +entertainment. + +Dear, dear, what a place it looked, that Astley's; with all the paint, +gilding, and looking-glass; the vague smell of horses suggestive of +coming wonders; the curtain that hid such gorgeous mysteries; the clean +white sawdust down in the circus; the company coming in and taking +their places; the fiddlers looking carelessly up at them while they +tuned their instruments, as if they didn't want the play to begin, and +knew it all beforehand! What a glow was that, which burst upon them +all, when that long, clear, brilliant row of lights came slowly up; and +what the feverish excitement when the little bell rang and the music +began in good earnest, with strong parts for the drums, and sweet +effects for the triangles! Well might Barbara's mother say to Kit's +mother that the gallery was the place to see from, and wonder it wasn't +much dearer than the boxes; well might Barbara feel doubtful whether to +laugh or cry, in her flutter of delight. + +Then the play itself! the horses which little Jacob believed from the +first to be alive, and the ladies and gentlemen of whose reality he +could be by no means persuaded, having never seen or heard anything at +all like them--the firing, which made Barbara wink--the forlorn lady, +who made her cry--the tyrant, who made her tremble--the man who sang +the song with the lady's-maid and danced the chorus, who made her +laugh--the pony who reared up on his hind legs when he saw the +murderer, and wouldn't hear of walking on all fours again until he was +taken into custody--the clown who ventured on such familiarities with +the military man in boots--the lady who jumped over the nine-and-twenty +ribbons and came down safe upon the horse's back--everything was +delightful, splendid, and surprising! Little Jacob applauded till his +hands were sore; Kit cried 'an-kor' at the end of everything, the +three-act piece included; and Barbara's mother beat her umbrella on the +floor, in her ecstasies, until it was nearly worn down to the gingham. + +In the midst of all these fascinations, Barbara's thoughts seemed to +have been still running on what Kit had said at tea-time; for, when +they were coming out of the play, she asked him, with an hysterical +simper, if Miss Nell was as handsome as the lady who jumped over the +ribbons. + +'As handsome as her?' said Kit. 'Double as handsome.' + +'Oh Christopher! I'm sure she was the beautifullest creature ever was,' +said Barbara. + +'Nonsense!' returned Kit. 'She was well enough, I don't deny that; but +think how she was dressed and painted, and what a difference that made. +Why YOU are a good deal better looking than her, Barbara.' + +'Oh Christopher!' said Barbara, looking down. + +'You are, any day,' said Kit, '--and so's your mother.' + +Poor Barbara! + +What was all this though--even all this--to the extraordinary +dissipation that ensued, when Kit, walking into an oyster-shop as bold +as if he lived there, and not so much as looking at the counter or the +man behind it, led his party into a box--a private box, fitted up with +red curtains, white table-cloth, and cruet-stand complete--and ordered +a fierce gentleman with whiskers, who acted as waiter and called him, +him Christopher Nubbles, 'sir,' to bring three dozen of his +largest-sized oysters, and to look sharp about it! Yes, Kit told this +gentleman to look sharp, and he not only said he would look sharp, but +he actually did, and presently came running back with the newest +loaves, and the freshest butter, and the largest oysters, ever seen. +Then said Kit to this gentleman, 'a pot of beer'--just so--and the +gentleman, instead of replying, 'Sir, did you address that language to +me?' only said, 'Pot o' beer, sir? Yes, sir,' and went off and fetched +it, and put it on the table in a small decanter-stand, like those which +blind-men's dogs carry about the streets in their mouths, to catch the +half-pence in; and both Kit's mother and Barbara's mother declared as +he turned away that he was one of the slimmest and gracefullest young +men she had ever looked upon. + +Then they fell to work upon the supper in earnest; and there was +Barbara, that foolish Barbara, declaring that she could not eat more +than two, and wanting more pressing than you would believe before she +would eat four: though her mother and Kit's mother made up for it +pretty well, and ate and laughed and enjoyed themselves so thoroughly +that it did Kit good to see them, and made him laugh and eat likewise +from strong sympathy. But the greatest miracle of the night was little +Jacob, who ate oysters as if he had been born and bred to the +business--sprinkled the pepper and the vinegar with a discretion beyond +his years--and afterwards built a grotto on the table with the shells. +There was the baby too, who had never closed an eye all night, but had +sat as good as gold, trying to force a large orange into his mouth, and +gazing intently at the lights in the chandelier--there he was, sitting +up in his mother's lap, staring at the gas without winking, and making +indentations in his soft visage with an oyster-shell, to that degree +that a heart of iron must have loved him! In short, there never was a +more successful supper; and when Kit ordered in a glass of something +hot to finish with, and proposed Mr and Mrs Garland before sending it +round, there were not six happier people in all the world. + +But all happiness has an end--hence the chief pleasure of its next +beginning--and as it was now growing late, they agreed it was time to +turn their faces homewards. So, after going a little out of their way +to see Barbara and Barbara's mother safe to a friend's house where they +were to pass the night, Kit and his mother left them at the door, with +an early appointment for returning to Finchley next morning, and a +great many plans for next quarter's enjoyment. Then, Kit took little +Jacob on his back, and giving his arm to his mother, and a kiss to the +baby, they all trudged merrily home together. + + + + +CHAPTER 40 + +Full of that vague kind of penitence which holidays awaken next +morning, Kit turned out at sunrise, and, with his faith in last night's +enjoyments a little shaken by cool daylight and the return to every-day +duties and occupations, went to meet Barbara and her mother at the +appointed place. And being careful not to awaken any of the little +household, who were yet resting from their unusual fatigues, Kit left +his money on the chimney-piece, with an inscription in chalk calling +his mother's attention to the circumstance, and informing her that it +came from her dutiful son; and went his way, with a heart something +heavier than his pockets, but free from any very great oppression +notwithstanding. + +Oh these holidays! why will they leave us some regret? why cannot we +push them back, only a week or two in our memories, so as to put them +at once at that convenient distance whence they may be regarded either +with a calm indifference or a pleasant effort of recollection! why will +they hang about us, like the flavour of yesterday's wine, suggestive of +headaches and lassitude, and those good intentions for the future, +which, under the earth, form the everlasting pavement of a large +estate, and, upon it, usually endure until dinner-time or thereabouts! + +Who will wonder that Barbara had a headache, or that Barbara's mother +was disposed to be cross, or that she slightly underrated Astley's, and +thought the clown was older than they had taken him to be last night? +Kit was not surprised to hear her say so--not he. He had already had a +misgiving that the inconstant actors in that dazzling vision had been +doing the same thing the night before last, and would do it again that +night, and the next, and for weeks and months to come, though he would +not be there. Such is the difference between yesterday and today. We +are all going to the play, or coming home from it. + +However, the Sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers +strength and courage as the day gets on. By degrees, they began to +recall circumstances more and more pleasant in their nature, until, +what between talking, walking, and laughing, they reached Finchley in +such good heart, that Barbara's mother declared she never felt less +tired or in better spirits. And so said Kit. Barbara had been silent +all the way, but she said so too. Poor little Barbara! She was very +quiet. + +They were at home in such good time that Kit had rubbed down the pony +and made him as spruce as a race-horse, before Mr Garland came down to +breakfast; which punctual and industrious conduct the old lady, and the +old gentleman, and Mr Abel, highly extolled. At his usual hour (or +rather at his usual minute and second, for he was the soul of +punctuality) Mr Abel walked out, to be overtaken by the London coach, +and Kit and the old gentleman went to work in the garden. + +This was not the least pleasant of Kit's employments. On a fine day +they were quite a family party; the old lady sitting hard by with her +work-basket on a little table; the old gentleman digging, or pruning, +or clipping about with a large pair of shears, or helping Kit in some +way or other with great assiduity; and Whisker looking on from his +paddock in placid contemplation of them all. To-day they were to trim +the grape-vine, so Kit mounted half-way up a short ladder, and began to +snip and hammer away, while the old gentleman, with a great interest in +his proceedings, handed up the nails and shreds of cloth as he wanted +them. The old lady and Whisker looked on as usual. + +'Well, Christopher,' said Mr Garland, 'and so you have made a new +friend, eh?' + +'I beg your pardon, Sir?' returned Kit, looking down from the ladder. + +'You have made a new friend, I hear from Mr Abel,' said the old +gentleman, 'at the office!' + +'Oh! Yes Sir, yes. He behaved very handsome, Sir.' + +'I'm glad to hear it,' returned the old gentlemen with a smile. 'He is +disposed to behave more handsomely still, though, Christopher.' + +'Indeed, Sir! It's very kind in him, but I don't want him to, I'm +sure,' said Kit, hammering stoutly at an obdurate nail. + +'He is rather anxious,' pursued the old gentleman, 'to have you in his +own service--take care what you're doing, or you will fall down and +hurt yourself.' + +'To have me in his service, Sir?' cried Kit, who had stopped short in +his work and faced about on the ladder like some dexterous tumbler. +'Why, Sir, I don't think he can be in earnest when he says that.' + +'Oh! But he is indeed,' said Mr Garland. 'And he has told Mr Abel so.' + +'I never heard of such a thing!' muttered Kit, looking ruefully at his +master and mistress. 'I wonder at him; that I do.' + +'You see, Christopher,' said Mr Garland, 'this is a point of much +importance to you, and you should understand and consider it in that +light. This gentleman is able to give you more money than I--not, I +hope, to carry through the various relations of master and servant, +more kindness and confidence, but certainly, Christopher, to give you +more money.' + +'Well,' said Kit, 'after that, Sir--' + +'Wait a moment,' interposed Mr Garland. 'That is not all. You were a +very faithful servant to your old employers, as I understand, and +should this gentleman recover them, as it is his purpose to attempt +doing by every means in his power, I have no doubt that you, being in +his service, would meet with your reward. Besides,' added the old +gentleman with stronger emphasis, 'besides having the pleasure of being +again brought into communication with those to whom you seem to be very +strongly and disinterestedly attached. You must think of all this, +Christopher, and not be rash or hasty in your choice.' + +Kit did suffer one twinge, one momentary pang, in keeping the +resolution he had already formed, when this last argument passed +swiftly into his thoughts, and conjured up the realization of all his +hopes and fancies. But it was gone in a minute, and he sturdily +rejoined that the gentleman must look out for somebody else, as he did +think he might have done at first. + +'He has no right to think that I'd be led away to go to him, sir,' said +Kit, turning round again after half a minute's hammering. 'Does he +think I'm a fool?' + +'He may, perhaps, Christopher, if you refuse his offer,' said Mr +Garland gravely. + +'Then let him, sir,' retorted Kit; 'what do I care, sir, what he +thinks? why should I care for his thinking, sir, when I know that I +should be a fool, and worse than a fool, sir, to leave the kindest +master and mistress that ever was or can be, who took me out of the +streets a very poor and hungry lad indeed--poorer and hungrier perhaps +than even you think for, sir--to go to him or anybody? If Miss Nell +was to come back, ma'am,' added Kit, turning suddenly to his mistress, +'why that would be another thing, and perhaps if she wanted me, I might +ask you now and then to let me work for her when all was done at home. +But when she comes back, I see now that she'll be rich as old master +always said she would, and being a rich young lady, what could she want +of me? No, no,' added Kit, shaking his head sorrowfully, 'she'll never +want me any more, and bless her, I hope she never may, though I should +like to see her too!' + +Here Kit drove a nail into the wall, very hard--much harder than was +necessary--and having done so, faced about again. + +'There's the pony, sir,' said Kit--'Whisker, ma'am (and he knows so +well I'm talking about him that he begins to neigh directly, +Sir)--would he let anybody come near him but me, ma'am? Here's the +garden, sir, and Mr Abel, ma'am. Would Mr Abel part with me, Sir, or +is there anybody that could be fonder of the garden, ma'am? It would +break mother's heart, Sir, and even little Jacob would have sense +enough to cry his eyes out, ma'am, if he thought that Mr Abel could +wish to part with me so soon, after having told me, only the other day, +that he hoped we might be together for years to come--' + +There is no telling how long Kit might have stood upon the ladder, +addressing his master and mistress by turns, and generally turning +towards the wrong person, if Barbara had not at that moment come +running up to say that a messenger from the office had brought a note, +which, with an expression of some surprise at Kit's oratorical +appearance, she put into her master's hand. + +'Oh!' said the old gentleman after reading it, 'ask the messenger to +walk this way.' Barbara tripping off to do as she was bid, he turned +to Kit and said that they would not pursue the subject any further, and +that Kit could not be more unwilling to part with them, than they would +be to part with Kit; a sentiment which the old lady very generously +echoed. + +'At the same time, Christopher,' added Mr Garland, glancing at the note +in his hand, 'if the gentleman should want to borrow you now and then +for an hour or so, or even a day or so, at a time, we must consent to +lend you, and you must consent to be lent.--Oh! here is the young +gentleman. How do you do, Sir?' + +This salutation was addressed to Mr Chuckster, who, with his hat +extremely on one side, and his hair a long way beyond it, came +swaggering up the walk. + +'Hope I see you well sir,' returned that gentleman. 'Hope I see YOU +well, ma'am. Charming box this, sir. Delicious country to be sure.' + +'You want to take Kit back with you, I find?' observed Mr Garland. + +'I have got a chariot-cab waiting on purpose,' replied the clerk. 'A +very spanking grey in that cab, sir, if you're a judge of horse-flesh.' + +Declining to inspect the spanking grey, on the plea that he was but +poorly acquainted with such matters, and would but imperfectly +appreciate his beauties, Mr Garland invited Mr Chuckster to partake of +a slight repast in the way of lunch. That gentleman readily +consenting, certain cold viands, flanked with ale and wine, were +speedily prepared for his refreshment. + +At this repast, Mr Chuckster exerted his utmost abilities to enchant +his entertainers, and impress them with a conviction of the mental +superiority of those who dwelt in town; with which view he led the +discourse to the small scandal of the day, in which he was justly +considered by his friends to shine prodigiously. Thus, he was in a +condition to relate the exact circumstances of the difference between +the Marquis of Mizzler and Lord Bobby, which it appeared originated in +a disputed bottle of champagne, and not in a pigeon-pie, as erroneously +reported in the newspapers; neither had Lord Bobby said to the Marquis +of Mizzler, 'Mizzler, one of us two tells a lie, and I'm not the man,' +as incorrectly stated by the same authorities; but 'Mizzler, you know +where I'm to be found, and damme, sir, find me if you want me'--which, +of course, entirely changed the aspect of this interesting question, +and placed it in a very different light. He also acquainted them with +the precise amount of the income guaranteed by the Duke of Thigsberry +to Violetta Stetta of the Italian Opera, which it appeared was payable +quarterly, and not half-yearly, as the public had been given to +understand, and which was EXclusive, and not INclusive (as had been +monstrously stated,) of jewellery, perfumery, hair-powder for five +footmen, and two daily changes of kid-gloves for a page. Having +entreated the old lady and gentleman to set their minds at rest on +these absorbing points, for they might rely on his statement being the +correct one, Mr Chuckster entertained them with theatrical chit-chat +and the court circular; and so wound up a brilliant and fascinating +conversation which he had maintained alone, and without any assistance +whatever, for upwards of three-quarters of an hour. + +'And now that the nag has got his wind again,' said Mr Chuckster rising +in a graceful manner, 'I'm afraid I must cut my stick.' + +Neither Mr nor Mrs Garland offered any opposition to his tearing +himself away (feeling, no doubt, that such a man could ill be spared +from his proper sphere of action), and therefore Mr Chuckster and Kit +were shortly afterwards upon their way to town; Kit being perched upon +the box of the cabriolet beside the driver, and Mr Chuckster seated in +solitary state inside, with one of his boots sticking out at each of +the front windows. + +When they reached the Notary's house, Kit followed into the office, and +was desired by Mr Abel to sit down and wait, for the gentleman who +wanted him had gone out, and perhaps might not return for some time. +This anticipation was strictly verified, for Kit had had his dinner, +and his tea, and had read all the lighter matter in the Law-List, and +the Post-Office Directory, and had fallen asleep a great many times, +before the gentleman whom he had seen before, came in; which he did at +last in a very great hurry. + +He was closeted with Mr Witherden for some little time, and Mr Abel had +been called in to assist at the conference, before Kit, wondering very +much what he was wanted for, was summoned to attend them. + +'Christopher,' said the gentleman, turning to him directly he entered +the room, 'I have found your old master and young mistress.' + +'No, Sir! Have you, though?' returned Kit, his eyes sparkling with +delight. 'Where are they, Sir? How are they, Sir? Are they--are they +near here?' + +'A long way from here,' returned the gentleman, shaking his head. 'But +I am going away to-night to bring them back, and I want you to go with +me.' + +'Me, Sir?' cried Kit, full of joy and surprise. + +'The place,' said the strange gentleman, turning thoughtfully to the +Notary, 'indicated by this man of the dogs, is--how far from +here--sixty miles?' + +'From sixty to seventy.' + +'Humph! If we travel post all night, we shall reach there in good time +to-morrow morning. Now, the only question is, as they will not know +me, and the child, God bless her, would think that any stranger +pursuing them had a design upon her grandfather's liberty--can I do +better than take this lad, whom they both know and will readily +remember, as an assurance to them of my friendly intentions?' + +'Certainly not,' replied the Notary. 'Take Christopher by all means.' + +'I beg your pardon, Sir,' said Kit, who had listened to this discourse +with a lengthening countenance, 'but if that's the reason, I'm afraid I +should do more harm than good--Miss Nell, Sir, she knows me, and would +trust in me, I am sure; but old master--I don't know why, gentlemen; +nobody does--would not bear me in his sight after he had been ill, and +Miss Nell herself told me that I must not go near him or let him see me +any more. I should spoil all that you were doing if I went, I'm +afraid. I'd give the world to go, but you had better not take me, Sir.' + +'Another difficulty!' cried the impetuous gentleman. 'Was ever man so +beset as I? Is there nobody else that knew them, nobody else in whom +they had any confidence? Solitary as their lives were, is there no one +person who would serve my purpose?' + +'IS there, Christopher?' said the Notary. + +'Not one, Sir,' replied Kit.--'Yes, though--there's my mother.' + +'Did they know her?' said the single gentleman. + +'Know her, Sir! why, she was always coming backwards and forwards. +They were as kind to her as they were to me. Bless you, Sir, she +expected they'd come back to her house.' + +'Then where the devil is the woman?' said the impatient gentleman, +catching up his hat. 'Why isn't she here? Why is that woman always +out of the way when she is most wanted?' + +In a word, the single gentleman was bursting out of the office, bent +upon laying violent hands on Kit's mother, forcing her into a +post-chaise, and carrying her off, when this novel kind of abduction +was with some difficulty prevented by the joint efforts of Mr Abel and +the Notary, who restrained him by dint of their remonstrances, and +persuaded him to sound Kit upon the probability of her being able and +willing to undertake such a journey on so short a notice. + +This occasioned some doubts on the part of Kit, and some violent +demonstrations on that of the single gentleman, and a great many +soothing speeches on that of the Notary and Mr Abel. The upshot of the +business was, that Kit, after weighing the matter in his mind and +considering it carefully, promised, on behalf of his mother, that she +should be ready within two hours from that time to undertake the +expedition, and engaged to produce her in that place, in all respects +equipped and prepared for the journey, before the specified period had +expired. + +Having given this pledge, which was rather a bold one, and not +particularly easy of redemption, Kit lost no time in sallying forth, +and taking measures for its immediate fulfilment. + + + + +CHAPTER 41 + +Kit made his way through the crowded streets, dividing the stream of +people, dashing across the busy road-ways, diving into lanes and +alleys, and stopping or turning aside for nothing, until he came in +front of the Old Curiosity Shop, when he came to a stand; partly from +habit and partly from being out of breath. + +It was a gloomy autumn evening, and he thought the old place had never +looked so dismal as in its dreary twilight. The windows broken, the +rusty sashes rattling in their frames, the deserted house a dull +barrier dividing the glaring lights and bustle of the street into two +long lines, and standing in the midst, cold, dark, and empty--presented +a cheerless spectacle which mingled harshly with the bright prospects +the boy had been building up for its late inmates, and came like a +disappointment or misfortune. Kit would have had a good fire roaring +up the empty chimneys, lights sparkling and shining through the +windows, people moving briskly to and fro, voices in cheerful +conversation, something in unison with the new hopes that were astir. +He had not expected that the house would wear any different aspect--had +known indeed that it could not--but coming upon it in the midst of +eager thoughts and expectations, it checked the current in its flow, +and darkened it with a mournful shadow. + +Kit, however, fortunately for himself, was not learned enough or +contemplative enough to be troubled with presages of evil afar off, +and, having no mental spectacles to assist his vision in this respect, +saw nothing but the dull house, which jarred uncomfortably upon his +previous thoughts. So, almost wishing that he had not passed it, +though hardly knowing why, he hurried on again, making up by his +increased speed for the few moments he had lost. + +'Now, if she should be out,' thought Kit, as he approached the poor +dwelling of his mother, 'and I not able to find her, this impatient +gentleman would be in a pretty taking. And sure enough there's no +light, and the door's fast. Now, God forgive me for saying so, but if +this is Little Bethel's doing, I wish Little Bethel was--was farther +off,' said Kit checking himself, and knocking at the door. + +A second knock brought no reply from within the house; but caused a +woman over the way to look out and inquire who that was, awanting Mrs +Nubbles. + +'Me,' said Kit. 'She's at--at Little Bethel, I suppose?'--getting out +the name of the obnoxious conventicle with some reluctance, and laying +a spiteful emphasis upon the words. + +The neighbour nodded assent. + +'Then pray tell me where it is,' said Kit, 'for I have come on a +pressing matter, and must fetch her out, even if she was in the pulpit.' + +It was not very easy to procure a direction to the fold in question, as +none of the neighbours were of the flock that resorted thither, and few +knew anything more of it than the name. At last, a gossip of Mrs +Nubbles's, who had accompanied her to chapel on one or two occasions +when a comfortable cup of tea had preceded her devotions, furnished the +needful information, which Kit had no sooner obtained than he started +off again. + +Little Bethel might have been nearer, and might have been in a +straighter road, though in that case the reverend gentleman who +presided over its congregation would have lost his favourite allusion +to the crooked ways by which it was approached, and which enabled him +to liken it to Paradise itself, in contradistinction to the parish +church and the broad thoroughfare leading thereunto. Kit found it, at +last, after some trouble, and pausing at the door to take breath that +he might enter with becoming decency, passed into the chapel. + +It was not badly named in one respect, being in truth a particularly +little Bethel--a Bethel of the smallest dimensions--with a small +number of small pews, and a small pulpit, in which a small gentleman +(by trade a Shoemaker, and by calling a Divine) was delivering in a by +no means small voice, a by no means small sermon, judging of its +dimensions by the condition of his audience, which, if their gross +amount were but small, comprised a still smaller number of hearers, as +the majority were slumbering. + +Among these was Kit's mother, who, finding it matter of extreme +difficulty to keep her eyes open after the fatigues of last night, and +feeling their inclination to close strongly backed and seconded by the +arguments of the preacher, had yielded to the drowsiness that +overpowered her, and fallen asleep; though not so soundly but that she +could, from time to time, utter a slight and almost inaudible groan, as +if in recognition of the orator's doctrines. The baby in her arms was +as fast asleep as she; and little Jacob, whose youth prevented him from +recognising in this prolonged spiritual nourishment anything half as +interesting as oysters, was alternately very fast asleep and very wide +awake, as his inclination to slumber, or his terror of being personally +alluded to in the discourse, gained the mastery over him. + +'And now I'm here,' thought Kit, gliding into the nearest empty pew +which was opposite his mother's, and on the other side of the little +aisle, 'how am I ever to get at her, or persuade her to come out! I +might as well be twenty miles off. She'll never wake till it's all +over, and there goes the clock again! If he would but leave off for a +minute, or if they'd only sing!' + +But there was little encouragement to believe that either event would +happen for a couple of hours to come. The preacher went on telling +them what he meant to convince them of before he had done, and it was +clear that if he only kept to one-half of his promises and forgot the +other, he was good for that time at least. + +In his desperation and restlessness Kit cast his eyes about the chapel, +and happening to let them fall upon a little seat in front of the +clerk's desk, could scarcely believe them when they showed him--Quilp! + +He rubbed them twice or thrice, but still they insisted that Quilp was +there, and there indeed he was, sitting with his hands upon his knees, +and his hat between them on a little wooden bracket, with the +accustomed grin on his dirty face, and his eyes fixed upon the ceiling. +He certainly did not glance at Kit or at his mother, and appeared +utterly unconscious of their presence; still Kit could not help +feeling, directly, that the attention of the sly little fiend was +fastened upon them, and upon nothing else. + +But, astounded as he was by the apparition of the dwarf among the +Little Bethelites, and not free from a misgiving that it was the +forerunner of some trouble or annoyance, he was compelled to subdue his +wonder and to take active measures for the withdrawal of his parent, as +the evening was now creeping on, and the matter grew serious. +Therefore, the next time little Jacob woke, Kit set himself to attract +his wandering attention, and this not being a very difficult task (one +sneeze effected it), he signed to him to rouse his mother. + +Ill-luck would have it, however, that, just then, the preacher, in a +forcible exposition of one head of his discourse, leaned over upon the +pulpit-desk so that very little more of him than his legs remained +inside; and, while he made vehement gestures with his right hand, and +held on with his left, stared, or seemed to stare, straight into little +Jacob's eyes, threatening him by his strained look and attitude--so it +appeared to the child--that if he so much as moved a muscle, he, the +preacher, would be literally, and not figuratively, 'down upon him' +that instant. In this fearful state of things, distracted by the +sudden appearance of Kit, and fascinated by the eyes of the preacher, +the miserable Jacob sat bolt upright, wholly incapable of motion, +strongly disposed to cry but afraid to do so, and returning his +pastor's gaze until his infant eyes seemed starting from their sockets. + +'If I must do it openly, I must,' thought Kit. With that he walked +softly out of his pew and into his mother's, and as Mr Swiveller would +have observed if he had been present, 'collared' the baby without +speaking a word. + +'Hush, mother!' whispered Kit. 'Come along with me, I've got something +to tell you.' + +'Where am I?' said Mrs Nubbles. + +'In this blessed Little Bethel,' returned her son, peevishly. + +'Blessed indeed!' cried Mrs Nubbles, catching at the word. 'Oh, +Christopher, how have I been edified this night!' + +'Yes, yes, I know,' said Kit hastily; 'but come along, mother, +everybody's looking at us. Don't make a noise--bring Jacob--that's +right!' + +'Stay, Satan, stay!' cried the preacher, as Kit was moving off. + + +'This gentleman says you're to stay, Christopher,' whispered his mother. + +'Stay, Satan, stay!' roared the preacher again. 'Tempt not the woman +that doth incline her ear to thee, but harken to the voice of him that +calleth. He hath a lamb from the fold!' cried the preacher, raising +his voice still higher and pointing to the baby. 'He beareth off a +lamb, a precious lamb! He goeth about, like a wolf in the night +season, and inveigleth the tender lambs!' + +Kit was the best-tempered fellow in the world, but considering this +strong language, and being somewhat excited by the circumstances in +which he was placed, he faced round to the pulpit with the baby in his +arms, and replied aloud, 'No, I don't. He's my brother.' + +'He's MY brother!' cried the preacher. + +'He isn't,' said Kit indignantly. 'How can you say such a thing? And +don't call me names if you please; what harm have I done? I shouldn't +have come to take 'em away, unless I was obliged, you may depend upon +that. I wanted to do it very quiet, but you wouldn't let me. Now, you +have the goodness to abuse Satan and them, as much as you like, Sir, +and to let me alone if you please.' + +So saying, Kit marched out of the chapel, followed by his mother and +little Jacob, and found himself in the open air, with an indistinct +recollection of having seen the people wake up and look surprised, and +of Quilp having remained, throughout the interruption, in his old +attitude, without moving his eyes from the ceiling, or appearing to +take the smallest notice of anything that passed. + +'Oh Kit!' said his mother, with her handkerchief to her eyes, 'what +have you done! I never can go there again--never!' + +'I'm glad of it, mother. What was there in the little bit of pleasure +you took last night that made it necessary for you to be low-spirited +and sorrowful tonight? That's the way you do. If you're happy or +merry ever, you come here to say, along with that chap, that you're +sorry for it. More shame for you, mother, I was going to say.' + +'Hush, dear!' said Mrs Nubbles; 'you don't mean what you say I know, +but you're talking sinfulness.' + +'Don't mean it? But I do mean it!' retorted Kit. 'I don't believe, +mother, that harmless cheerfulness and good humour are thought greater +sins in Heaven than shirt-collars are, and I do believe that those +chaps are just about as right and sensible in putting down the one as +in leaving off the other--that's my belief. But I won't say anything +more about it, if you'll promise not to cry, that's all; and you take +the baby that's a lighter weight, and give me little Jacob; and as we +go along (which we must do pretty quick) I'll give you the news I +bring, which will surprise you a little, I can tell you. There--that's +right. Now you look as if you'd never seen Little Bethel in all your +life, as I hope you never will again; and here's the baby; and little +Jacob, you get atop of my back and catch hold of me tight round the +neck, and whenever a Little Bethel parson calls you a precious lamb or +says your brother's one, you tell him it's the truest things he's said +for a twelvemonth, and that if he'd got a little more of the lamb +himself, and less of the mint-sauce--not being quite so sharp and sour +over it--I should like him all the better. That's what you've got to +say to him, Jacob.' + +Talking on in this way, half in jest and half in earnest, and cheering +up his mother, the children, and himself, by the one simple process of +determining to be in a good humour, Kit led them briskly forward; and +on the road home, he related what had passed at the Notary's house, and +the purpose with which he had intruded on the solemnities of Little +Bethel. + +His mother was not a little startled on learning what service was +required of her, and presently fell into a confusion of ideas, of which +the most prominent were that it was a great honour and dignity to ride +in a post-chaise, and that it was a moral impossibility to leave the +children behind. But this objection, and a great many others, founded +on certain articles of dress being at the wash, and certain other +articles having no existence in the wardrobe of Mrs Nubbles, were +overcome by Kit, who opposed to each and every of them, the pleasure of +recovering Nell, and the delight it would be to bring her back in +triumph. + +'There's only ten minutes now, mother,' said Kit when they reached +home. 'There's a bandbox. Throw in what you want, and we'll be off +directly.' + +To tell how Kit then hustled into the box all sorts of things which +could, by no remote contingency, be wanted, and how he left out +everything likely to be of the smallest use; how a neighbour was +persuaded to come and stop with the children, and how the children at +first cried dismally, and then laughed heartily on being promised all +kinds of impossible and unheard-of toys; how Kit's mother wouldn't +leave off kissing them, and how Kit couldn't make up his mind to be +vexed with her for doing it; would take more time and room than you and +I can spare. So, passing over all such matters, it is sufficient to +say that within a few minutes after the two hours had expired, Kit and +his mother arrived at the Notary's door, where a post-chaise was +already waiting. + +'With four horses I declare!' said Kit, quite aghast at the +preparations. 'Well you ARE going to do it, mother! Here she is, Sir. +Here's my mother. She's quite ready, sir.' + +'That's well,' returned the gentleman. 'Now, don't be in a flutter, +ma'am; you'll be taken great care of. Where's the box with the new +clothing and necessaries for them?' + +'Here it is,' said the Notary. 'In with it, Christopher.' + +'All right, Sir,' replied Kit. 'Quite ready now, sir.' + +'Then come along,' said the single gentleman. And thereupon he gave +his arm to Kit's mother, handed her into the carriage as politely as +you please, and took his seat beside her. + +Up went the steps, bang went the door, round whirled the wheels, and +off they rattled, with Kit's mother hanging out at one window waving a +damp pocket-handkerchief and screaming out a great many messages to +little Jacob and the baby, of which nobody heard a word. + +Kit stood in the middle of the road, and looked after them with tears +in his eyes--not brought there by the departure he witnessed, but by +the return to which he looked forward. 'They went away,' he thought, +'on foot with nobody to speak to them or say a kind word at parting, +and they'll come back, drawn by four horses, with this rich gentleman +for their friend, and all their troubles over! She'll forget that she +taught me to write--' + +Whatever Kit thought about after this, took some time to think of, for +he stood gazing up the lines of shining lamps, long after the chaise +had disappeared, and did not return into the house until the Notary and +Mr Abel, who had themselves lingered outside till the sound of the +wheels was no longer distinguishable, had several times wondered what +could possibly detain him. + + + + +CHAPTER 42 + +It behoves us to leave Kit for a while, thoughtful and expectant, and +to follow the fortunes of little Nell; resuming the thread of the +narrative at the point where it was left, some chapters back. + +In one of those wanderings in the evening time, when, following the two +sisters at a humble distance, she felt, in her sympathy with them and +her recognition in their trials of something akin to her own loneliness +of spirit, a comfort and consolation which made such moments a time of +deep delight, though the softened pleasure they yielded was of that +kind which lives and dies in tears--in one of those wanderings at the +quiet hour of twilight, when sky, and earth, and air, and rippling +water, and sound of distant bells, claimed kindred with the emotions of +the solitary child, and inspired her with soothing thoughts, but not of +a child's world or its easy joys--in one of those rambles which had now +become her only pleasure or relief from care, light had faded into +darkness and evening deepened into night, and still the young creature +lingered in the gloom; feeling a companionship in Nature so serene and +still, when noise of tongues and glare of garish lights would have been +solitude indeed. + +The sisters had gone home, and she was alone. She raised her eyes to +the bright stars, looking down so mildly from the wide worlds of air, +and, gazing on them, found new stars burst upon her view, and more +beyond, and more beyond again, until the whole great expanse sparkled +with shining spheres, rising higher and higher in immeasurable space, +eternal in their numbers as in their changeless and incorruptible +existence. She bent over the calm river, and saw them shining in the +same majestic order as when the dove beheld them gleaming through the +swollen waters, upon the mountain tops down far below, and dead +mankind, a million fathoms deep. + +The child sat silently beneath a tree, hushed in her very breath by the +stillness of the night, and all its attendant wonders. The time and +place awoke reflection, and she thought with a quiet hope--less hope, +perhaps, than resignation--on the past, and present, and what was yet +before her. Between the old man and herself there had come a gradual +separation, harder to bear than any former sorrow. Every evening, and +often in the day-time too, he was absent, alone; and although she well +knew where he went, and why--too well from the constant drain upon her +scanty purse and from his haggard looks--he evaded all inquiry, +maintained a strict reserve, and even shunned her presence. + +She sat meditating sorrowfully upon this change, and mingling it, as it +were, with everything about her, when the distant church-clock bell +struck nine. Rising at the sound, she retraced her steps, and turned +thoughtfully towards the town. + +She had gained a little wooden bridge, which, thrown across the stream, +led into a meadow in her way, when she came suddenly upon a ruddy +light, and looking forward more attentively, discerned that it +proceeded from what appeared to be an encampment of gipsies, who had +made a fire in one corner at no great distance from the path, and were +sitting or lying round it. As she was too poor to have any fear of +them, she did not alter her course (which, indeed, she could not have +done without going a long way round), but quickened her pace a little, +and kept straight on. + +A movement of timid curiosity impelled her, when she approached the +spot, to glance towards the fire. There was a form between it and her, +the outline strongly developed against the light, which caused her to +stop abruptly. Then, as if she had reasoned with herself and were +assured that it could not be, or had satisfied herself that it was not +that of the person she had supposed, she went on again. + +But at that instant the conversation, whatever it was, which had been +carrying on near this fire was resumed, and the tones of the voice that +spoke--she could not distinguish words--sounded as familiar to her as +her own. + +She turned, and looked back. The person had been seated before, but +was now in a standing posture, and leaning forward on a stick on which +he rested both hands. The attitude was no less familiar to her than +the tone of voice had been. It was her grandfather. + +Her first impulse was to call to him; her next to wonder who his +associates could be, and for what purpose they were together. Some +vague apprehension succeeded, and, yielding to the strong inclination +it awakened, she drew nearer to the place; not advancing across the +open field, however, but creeping towards it by the hedge. + +In this way she advanced within a few feet of the fire, and standing +among a few young trees, could both see and hear, without much danger +of being observed. + +There were no women or children, as she had seen in other gipsy camps +they had passed in their wayfaring, and but one gipsy--a tall athletic +man, who stood with his arms folded, leaning against a tree at a little +distance off, looking now at the fire, and now, under his black +eyelashes, at three other men who were there, with a watchful but +half-concealed interest in their conversation. Of these, her +grandfather was one; the others she recognised as the first +card-players at the public-house on the eventful night of the +storm--the man whom they had called Isaac List, and his gruff +companion. One of the low, arched gipsy-tents, common to that people, +was pitched hard by, but it either was, or appeared to be, empty. + +'Well, are you going?' said the stout man, looking up from the ground +where he was lying at his ease, into her grandfather's face. 'You were +in a mighty hurry a minute ago. Go, if you like. You're your own +master, I hope?' + +'Don't vex him,' returned Isaac List, who was squatting like a frog on +the other side of the fire, and had so screwed himself up that he +seemed to be squinting all over; 'he didn't mean any offence.' + +'You keep me poor, and plunder me, and make a sport and jest of me +besides,' said the old man, turning from one to the other. 'Ye'll +drive me mad among ye.' + +The utter irresolution and feebleness of the grey-haired child, +contrasted with the keen and cunning looks of those in whose hands he +was, smote upon the little listener's heart. But she constrained +herself to attend to all that passed, and to note each look and word. + +'Confound you, what do you mean?' said the stout man rising a little, +and supporting himself on his elbow. 'Keep you poor! You'd keep us +poor if you could, wouldn't you? That's the way with you whining, +puny, pitiful players. When you lose, you're martyrs; but I don't find +that when you win, you look upon the other losers in that light. As to +plunder!' cried the fellow, raising his voice--'Damme, what do you +mean by such ungentlemanly language as plunder, eh?' + +The speaker laid himself down again at full length, and gave one or two +short, angry kicks, as if in further expression of his unbounded +indignation. It was quite plain that he acted the bully, and his +friend the peacemaker, for some particular purpose; or rather, it would +have been to any one but the weak old man; for they exchanged glances +quite openly, both with each other and with the gipsy, who grinned his +approval of the jest until his white teeth shone again. + +The old man stood helplessly among them for a little time, and then +said, turning to his assailant: + +'You yourself were speaking of plunder just now, you know. Don't be so +violent with me. You were, were you not?' + +'Not of plundering among present company! Honour among--among +gentlemen, Sir,' returned the other, who seemed to have been very near +giving an awkward termination to the sentence. + +'Don't be hard upon him, Jowl,' said Isaac List. 'He's very sorry for +giving offence. There--go on with what you were saying--go on.' + +'I'm a jolly old tender-hearted lamb, I am,' cried Mr Jowl, 'to be +sitting here at my time of life giving advice when I know it won't be +taken, and that I shall get nothing but abuse for my pains. But that's +the way I've gone through life. Experience has never put a chill upon +my warm-heartedness.' + +'I tell you he's very sorry, don't I?' remonstrated Isaac List, 'and +that he wishes you'd go on.' + +'Does he wish it?' said the other. + +'Ay,' groaned the old man sitting down, and rocking himself to and fro. +'Go on, go on. It's in vain to fight with it; I can't do it; go on.' + +'I go on then,' said Jowl, 'where I left off, when you got up so quick. +If you're persuaded that it's time for luck to turn, as it certainly +is, and find that you haven't means enough to try it (and that's where +it is, for you know, yourself, that you never have the funds to keep on +long enough at a sitting), help yourself to what seems put in your way +on purpose. Borrow it, I say, and, when you're able, pay it back +again.' + +'Certainly,' Isaac List struck in, 'if this good lady as keeps the +wax-works has money, and does keep it in a tin box when she goes to +bed, and doesn't lock her door for fear of fire, it seems a easy thing; +quite a Providence, I should call it--but then I've been religiously +brought up.' + +'You see, Isaac,' said his friend, growing more eager, and drawing +himself closer to the old man, while he signed to the gipsy not to come +between them; 'you see, Isaac, strangers are going in and out every +hour of the day; nothing would be more likely than for one of these +strangers to get under the good lady's bed, or lock himself in the +cupboard; suspicion would be very wide, and would fall a long way from +the mark, no doubt. I'd give him his revenge to the last farthing he +brought, whatever the amount was.' + +'But could you?' urged Isaac List. 'Is your bank strong enough?' + +'Strong enough!' answered the other, with assumed disdain. 'Here, you +Sir, give me that box out of the straw!' + +This was addressed to the gipsy, who crawled into the low tent on all +fours, and after some rummaging and rustling returned with a cash-box, +which the man who had spoken opened with a key he wore about his person. + +'Do you see this?' he said, gathering up the money in his hand and +letting it drop back into the box, between his fingers, like water. +'Do you hear it? Do you know the sound of gold? There, put it +back--and don't talk about banks again, Isaac, till you've got one of +your own.' + +Isaac List, with great apparent humility, protested that he had never +doubted the credit of a gentleman so notorious for his honourable +dealing as Mr Jowl, and that he had hinted at the production of the +box, not for the satisfaction of his doubts, for he could have none, +but with a view to being regaled with a sight of so much wealth, which, +though it might be deemed by some but an unsubstantial and visionary +pleasure, was to one in his circumstances a source of extreme delight, +only to be surpassed by its safe depository in his own personal +pockets. Although Mr List and Mr Jowl addressed themselves to each +other, it was remarkable that they both looked narrowly at the old man, +who, with his eyes fixed upon the fire, sat brooding over it, yet +listening eagerly--as it seemed from a certain involuntary motion of +the head, or twitching of the face from time to time--to all they said. + +'My advice,' said Jowl, lying down again with a careless air, 'is +plain--I have given it, in fact. I act as a friend. Why should I help +a man to the means perhaps of winning all I have, unless I considered +him my friend? It's foolish, I dare say, to be so thoughtful of the +welfare of other people, but that's my constitution, and I can't help +it; so don't blame me, Isaac List.' + +'I blame you!' returned the person addressed; 'not for the world, Mr +Jowl. I wish I could afford to be as liberal as you; and, as you say, +he might pay it back if he won--and if he lost--' + +'You're not to take that into consideration at all,' said Jowl. + +'But suppose he did (and nothing's less likely, from all I know of +chances), why, it's better to lose other people's money than one's own, +I hope?' + +'Ah!' cried Isaac List rapturously, 'the pleasures of winning! The +delight of picking up the money--the bright, shining yellow-boys--and +sweeping 'em into one's pocket! The deliciousness of having a triumph +at last, and thinking that one didn't stop short and turn back, but +went half-way to meet it! The--but you're not going, old gentleman?' + +'I'll do it,' said the old man, who had risen and taken two or three +hurried steps away, and now returned as hurriedly. 'I'll have it, +every penny.' + +'Why, that's brave,' cried Isaac, jumping up and slapping him on the +shoulder; 'and I respect you for having so much young blood left. Ha, +ha, ha! Joe Jowl's half sorry he advised you now. We've got the laugh +against him. Ha, ha, ha!' + +'He gives me my revenge, mind,' said the old man, pointing to him +eagerly with his shrivelled hand: 'mind--he stakes coin against coin, +down to the last one in the box, be there many or few. Remember that!' + +'I'm witness,' returned Isaac. 'I'll see fair between you.' + +'I have passed my word,' said Jowl with feigned reluctance, 'and I'll +keep it. When does this match come off? I wish it was over.--To-night?' + +'I must have the money first,' said the old man; 'and that I'll have +to-morrow--' + +'Why not to-night?' urged Jowl. + +'It's late now, and I should be flushed and flurried,' said the old +man. 'It must be softly done. No, to-morrow night.' + +'Then to-morrow be it,' said Jowl. 'A drop of comfort here. Luck to +the best man! Fill!' + +The gipsy produced three tin cups, and filled them to the brim with +brandy. The old man turned aside and muttered to himself before he +drank. Her own name struck upon the listener's ear, coupled with some +wish so fervent, that he seemed to breathe it in an agony of +supplication. + +'God be merciful to us!' cried the child within herself, 'and help us +in this trying hour! What shall I do to save him!' + +The remainder of their conversation was carried on in a lower tone of +voice, and was sufficiently concise; relating merely to the execution +of the project, and the best precautions for diverting suspicion. The +old man then shook hands with his tempters, and withdrew. + +They watched his bowed and stooping figure as it retreated slowly, and +when he turned his head to look back, which he often did, waved their +hands, or shouted some brief encouragement. It was not until they had +seen him gradually diminish into a mere speck upon the distant road, +that they turned to each other, and ventured to laugh aloud. + +'So,' said Jowl, warming his hands at the fire, 'it's done at last. He +wanted more persuading than I expected. It's three weeks ago, since we +first put this in his head. What'll he bring, do you think?' + +'Whatever he brings, it's halved between us,' returned Isaac List. + +The other man nodded. 'We must make quick work of it,' he said, 'and +then cut his acquaintance, or we may be suspected. Sharp's the word.' + +List and the gipsy acquiesced. When they had all three amused +themselves a little with their victim's infatuation, they dismissed the +subject as one which had been sufficiently discussed, and began to talk +in a jargon which the child did not understand. As their discourse +appeared to relate to matters in which they were warmly interested, +however, she deemed it the best time for escaping unobserved; and crept +away with slow and cautious steps, keeping in the shadow of the hedges, +or forcing a path through them or the dry ditches, until she could +emerge upon the road at a point beyond their range of vision. Then she +fled homeward as quickly as she could, torn and bleeding from the +wounds of thorns and briars, but more lacerated in mind, and threw +herself upon her bed, distracted. + +The first idea that flashed upon her mind was flight, instant flight; +dragging him from that place, and rather dying of want upon the +roadside, than ever exposing him again to such terrible temptations. +Then, she remembered that the crime was not to be committed until next +night, and there was the intermediate time for thinking, and resolving +what to do. Then, she was distracted with a horrible fear that he +might be committing it at that moment; with a dread of hearing shrieks +and cries piercing the silence of the night; with fearful thoughts of +what he might be tempted and led on to do, if he were detected in the +act, and had but a woman to struggle with. It was impossible to bear +such torture. She stole to the room where the money was, opened the +door, and looked in. God be praised! He was not there, and she was +sleeping soundly. + +She went back to her own room, and tried to prepare herself for bed. +But who could sleep--sleep! who could lie passively down, distracted by +such terrors? They came upon her more and more strongly yet. Half +undressed, and with her hair in wild disorder, she flew to the old +man's bedside, clasped him by the wrist, and roused him from his sleep. + +'What's this!' he cried, starting up in bed, and fixing his eyes upon +her spectral face. + +'I have had a dreadful dream,' said the child, with an energy that +nothing but such terrors could have inspired. 'A dreadful, horrible +dream. I have had it once before. It is a dream of grey-haired men +like you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing sleepers of their gold. +Up, up!' + +The old man shook in every joint, and folded his hands like one who +prays. + +'Not to me,' said the child, 'not to me--to Heaven, to save us from +such deeds! This dream is too real. I cannot sleep, I cannot stay +here, I cannot leave you alone under the roof where such dreams come. +Up! We must fly.' + +He looked at her as if she were a spirit--she might have been for all +the look of earth she had--and trembled more and more. + +'There is no time to lose; I will not lose one minute,' said the child. +'Up! and away with me!' + +'To-night?' murmured the old man. + +'Yes, to-night,' replied the child. 'To-morrow night will be too late. +The dream will have come again. Nothing but flight can save us. Up!' + +The old man rose from his bed: his forehead bedewed with the cold sweat +of fear: and, bending before the child as if she had been an angel +messenger sent to lead him where she would, made ready to follow her. +She took him by the hand and led him on. As they passed the door of the +room he had proposed to rob, she shuddered and looked up into his +face. What a white face was that, and with what a look did he meet +hers! + +She took him to her own chamber, and, still holding him by the hand as +if she feared to lose him for an instant, gathered together the little +stock she had, and hung her basket on her arm. The old man took his +wallet from her hands and strapped it on his shoulders--his staff, +too, she had brought away--and then she led him forth. + +Through the strait streets, and narrow crooked outskirts, their +trembling feet passed quickly. Up the steep hill too, crowned by the +old grey castle, they toiled with rapid steps, and had not once looked +behind. + +But as they drew nearer the ruined walls, the moon rose in all her +gentle glory, and, from their venerable age, garlanded with ivy, moss, +and waving grass, the child looked back upon the sleeping town, deep in +the valley's shade: and on the far-off river with its winding track of +light: and on the distant hills; and as she did so, she clasped the +hand she held, less firmly, and bursting into tears, fell upon the old +man's neck. + + + + +CHAPTER 43 + +Her momentary weakness past, the child again summoned the resolution +which had until now sustained her, and, endeavouring to keep steadily +in her view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and crime, +and that her grandfather's preservation must depend solely on her +firmness, unaided by one word of advice or any helping hand, urged him +onward and looked back no more. + +While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to crouch before her, and to +shrink and cower down, as if in the presence of some superior creature, +the child herself was sensible of a new feeling within her, which +elevated her nature, and inspired her with an energy and confidence she +had never known. There was no divided responsibility now; the whole +burden of their two lives had fallen upon her, and henceforth she must +think and act for both. 'I have saved him,' she thought. 'In all +dangers and distresses, I will remember that.' + +At any other time, the recollection of having deserted the friend who +had shown them so much homely kindness, without a word of +justification--the thought that they were guilty, in appearance, of +treachery and ingratitude--even the having parted from the two +sisters--would have filled her with sorrow and regret. But now, all +other considerations were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties +of their wild and wandering life; and the very desperation of their +condition roused and stimulated her. + +In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate +face where thoughtful care already mingled with the winning grace and +loveliness of youth, the too bright eye, the spiritual head, the lips +that pressed each other with such high resolve and courage of the +heart, the slight figure firm in its bearing and yet so very weak, told +their silent tale; but told it only to the wind that rustled by, which, +taking up its burden, carried, perhaps to some mother's pillow, faint +dreams of childhood fading in its bloom, and resting in the sleep that +knows no waking. + +The night crept on apace, the moon went down, the stars grew pale and +dim, and morning, cold as they, slowly approached. Then, from behind a +distant hill, the noble sun rose up, driving the mists in phantom +shapes before it, and clearing the earth of their ghostly forms till +darkness came again. When it had climbed higher into the sky, and +there was warmth in its cheerful beams, they laid them down to sleep, +upon a bank, hard by some water. + +But Nell retained her grasp upon the old man's arm, and long after he +was slumbering soundly, watched him with untiring eyes. Fatigue stole +over her at last; her grasp relaxed, tightened, relaxed again, and they +slept side by side. + +A confused sound of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her. A man +of very uncouth and rough appearance was standing over them, and two of +his companions were looking on, from a long heavy boat which had come +close to the bank while they were sleeping. The boat had neither oar +nor sail, but was towed by a couple of horses, who, with the rope to +which they were harnessed slack and dripping in the water, were resting +on the path. + +'Holloa!' said the man roughly. 'What's the matter here?' + +'We were only asleep, Sir,' said Nell. 'We have been walking all +night.' + +'A pair of queer travellers to be walking all night,' observed the man +who had first accosted them. 'One of you is a trifle too old for that +sort of work, and the other a trifle too young. Where are you going?' + +Nell faltered, and pointed at hazard towards the West, upon which the +man inquired if she meant a certain town which he named. Nell, to +avoid more questioning, said 'Yes, that was the place.' + +'Where have you come from?' was the next question; and this being an +easier one to answer, Nell mentioned the name of the village in which +their friend the schoolmaster dwelt, as being less likely to be known +to the men or to provoke further inquiry. + +'I thought somebody had been robbing and ill-using you, might be,' said +the man. 'That's all. Good day.' + +Returning his salute and feeling greatly relieved by his departure, +Nell looked after him as he mounted one of the horses, and the boat +went on. It had not gone very far, when it stopped again, and she saw +the men beckoning to her. + +'Did you call to me?' said Nell, running up to them. + +'You may go with us if you like,' replied one of those in the boat. +'We're going to the same place.' + +The child hesitated for a moment. Thinking, as she had thought with +great trepidation more than once before, that the men whom she had seen +with her grandfather might, perhaps, in their eagerness for the booty, +follow them, and regaining their influence over him, set hers at +nought; and that if they went with these men, all traces of them must +surely be lost at that spot; determined to accept the offer. The boat +came close to the bank again, and before she had had any more time for +consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, and gliding +smoothly down the canal. + +The sun shone pleasantly on the bright water, which was sometimes +shaded by trees, and sometimes open to a wide extent of country, +intersected by running streams, and rich with wooded hills, cultivated +land, and sheltered farms. Now and then, a village with its modest +spire, thatched roofs, and gable-ends, would peep out from among the +trees; and, more than once, a distant town, with great church towers +looming through its smoke, and high factories or workshops rising above +the mass of houses, would come in view, and, by the length of time it +lingered in the distance, show them how slowly they travelled. Their +way lay, for the most part, through the low grounds, and open plains; +and except these distant places, and occasionally some men working in +the fields, or lounging on the bridges under which they passed, to see +them creep along, nothing encroached on their monotonous and secluded +track. + +Nell was rather disheartened, when they stopped at a kind of wharf late +in the afternoon, to learn from one of the men that they would not +reach their place of destination until next day, and that, if she had +no provision with her, she had better buy it there. She had but a few +pence, having already bargained with them for some bread, but even of +these it was necessary to be very careful, as they were on their way to +an utterly strange place, with no resource whatever. A small loaf and +a morsel of cheese, therefore, were all she could afford, and with +these she took her place in the boat again, and, after half an hour's +delay during which the men were drinking at the public-house, proceeded +on the journey. + +They brought some beer and spirits into the boat with them, and what +with drinking freely before, and again now, were soon in a fair way of +being quarrelsome and intoxicated. Avoiding the small cabin, +therefore, which was very dark and filthy, and to which they often +invited both her and her grandfather, Nell sat in the open air with the +old man by her side: listening to their boisterous hosts with a +palpitating heart, and almost wishing herself safe on shore again +though she should have to walk all night. + +They were, in truth, very rugged, noisy fellows, and quite brutal among +themselves, though civil enough to their two passengers. Thus, when a +quarrel arose between the man who was steering and his friend in the +cabin, upon the question who had first suggested the propriety of +offering Nell some beer, and when the quarrel led to a scuffle in which +they beat each other fearfully, to her inexpressible terror, neither +visited his displeasure upon her, but each contented himself with +venting it on his adversary, on whom, in addition to blows, he bestowed +a variety of compliments, which, happily for the child, were conveyed +in terms, to her quite unintelligible. The difference was finally +adjusted, by the man who had come out of the cabin knocking the other +into it head first, and taking the helm into his own hands, without +evincing the least discomposure himself, or causing any in his friend, +who, being of a tolerably strong constitution and perfectly inured to +such trifles, went to sleep as he was, with his heels upwards, and in a +couple of minutes or so was snoring comfortably. + +By this time it was night again, and though the child felt cold, being +but poorly clad, her anxious thoughts were far removed from her own +suffering or uneasiness, and busily engaged in endeavouring to devise +some scheme for their joint subsistence. The same spirit which had +supported her on the previous night, upheld and sustained her now. Her +grandfather lay sleeping safely at her side, and the crime to which his +madness urged him, was not committed. That was her comfort. + +How every circumstance of her short, eventful life, came thronging into +her mind, as they travelled on! Slight incidents, never thought of or +remembered until now; faces, seen once and ever since forgotten; words +scarcely heeded at the time; scenes, of a year ago and those of +yesterday, mixing up and linking themselves together; familiar places +shaping themselves out in the darkness from things which, when +approached, were, of all others, the most remote and most unlike them; +sometimes, a strange confusion in her mind relative to the occasion of +her being there, and the place to which she was going, and the people +she was with; and imagination suggesting remarks and questions which +sounded so plainly in her ears, that she would start, and turn, and be +almost tempted to reply;--all the fancies and contradictions common in +watching and excitement and restless change of place, beset the child. + +She happened, while she was thus engaged, to encounter the face of the +man on deck, in whom the sentimental stage of drunkenness had now +succeeded to the boisterous, and who, taking from his mouth a short +pipe, quilted over with string for its longer preservation, requested +that she would oblige him with a song. + +'You've got a very pretty voice, a very soft eye, and a very strong +memory,' said this gentleman; 'the voice and eye I've got evidence for, +and the memory's an opinion of my own. And I'm never wrong. Let me +hear a song this minute.' + +'I don't think I know one, sir,' returned Nell. + +'You know forty-seven songs,' said the man, with a gravity which +admitted of no altercation on the subject. 'Forty-seven's your number. +Let me hear one of 'em--the best. Give me a song this minute.' + +Not knowing what might be the consequences of irritating her friend, +and trembling with the fear of doing so, poor Nell sang him some little +ditty which she had learned in happier times, and which was so +agreeable to his ear, that on its conclusion he in the same peremptory +manner requested to be favoured with another, to which he was so +obliging as to roar a chorus to no particular tune, and with no words +at all, but which amply made up in its amazing energy for its +deficiency in other respects. The noise of this vocal performance +awakened the other man, who, staggering upon deck and shaking his late +opponent by the hand, swore that singing was his pride and joy and +chief delight, and that he desired no better entertainment. With a +third call, more imperative than either of the two former, Nell felt +obliged to comply, and this time a chorus was maintained not only by +the two men together, but also by the third man on horseback, who being +by his position debarred from a nearer participation in the revels of +the night, roared when his companions roared, and rent the very air. +In this way, with little cessation, and singing the same songs again +and again, the tired and exhausted child kept them in good humour all +that night; and many a cottager, who was roused from his soundest sleep +by the discordant chorus as it floated away upon the wind, hid his head +beneath the bed-clothes and trembled at the sounds. + +At length the morning dawned. It was no sooner light than it began to +rain heavily. As the child could not endure the intolerable vapours of +the cabin, they covered her, in return for her exertions, with some +pieces of sail-cloth and ends of tarpaulin, which sufficed to keep her +tolerably dry and to shelter her grandfather besides. As the day +advanced the rain increased. At noon it poured down more hopelessly +and heavily than ever without the faintest promise of abatement. + +They had, for some time, been gradually approaching the place for which +they were bound. The water had become thicker and dirtier; other +barges, coming from it, passed them frequently; the paths of coal-ash +and huts of staring brick, marked the vicinity of some great +manufacturing town; while scattered streets and houses, and smoke from +distant furnaces, indicated that they were already in the outskirts. +Now, the clustered roofs, and piles of buildings, trembling with the +working of engines, and dimly resounding with their shrieks and +throbbings; the tall chimneys vomiting forth a black vapour, which hung +in a dense ill-favoured cloud above the housetops and filled the air +with gloom; the clank of hammers beating upon iron, the roar of busy +streets and noisy crowds, gradually augmenting until all the various +sounds blended into one and none was distinguishable for itself, +announced the termination of their journey. + +The boat floated into the wharf to which it belonged. The men were +occupied directly. The child and her grandfather, after waiting in +vain to thank them or ask them whither they should go, passed through a +dirty lane into a crowded street, and stood, amid its din and tumult, +and in the pouring rain, as strange, bewildered, and confused, as if +they had lived a thousand years before, and were raised from the dead +and placed there by a miracle. + + + + +CHAPTER 44 + +The throng of people hurried by, in two opposite streams, with no +symptom of cessation or exhaustion; intent upon their own affairs; and +undisturbed in their business speculations, by the roar of carts and +waggons laden with clashing wares, the slipping of horses' feet upon +the wet and greasy pavement, the rattling of the rain on windows and +umbrella-tops, the jostling of the more impatient passengers, and all +the noise and tumult of a crowded street in the high tide of its +occupation: while the two poor strangers, stunned and bewildered by the +hurry they beheld but had no part in, looked mournfully on; feeling, +amidst the crowd, a solitude which has no parallel but in the thirst of +the shipwrecked mariner, who, tost to and fro upon the billows of a +mighty ocean, his red eyes blinded by looking on the water which hems +him in on every side, has not one drop to cool his burning tongue. + +They withdrew into a low archway for shelter from the rain, and watched +the faces of those who passed, to find in one among them a ray of +encouragement or hope. Some frowned, some smiled, some muttered to +themselves, some made slight gestures, as if anticipating the +conversation in which they would shortly be engaged, some wore the +cunning look of bargaining and plotting, some were anxious and eager, +some slow and dull; in some countenances, were written gain; in others, +loss. It was like being in the confidence of all these people to stand +quietly there, looking into their faces as they flitted past. In busy +places, where each man has an object of his own, and feels assured that +every other man has his, his character and purpose are written broadly +in his face. In the public walks and lounges of a town, people go to +see and to be seen, and there the same expression, with little variety, +is repeated a hundred times. The working-day faces come nearer to the +truth, and let it out more plainly. + +Falling into that kind of abstraction which such a solitude awakens, +the child continued to gaze upon the passing crowd with a wondering +interest, amounting almost to a temporary forgetfulness of her own +condition. But cold, wet, hunger, want of rest, and lack of any place +in which to lay her aching head, soon brought her thoughts back to the +point whence they had strayed. No one passed who seemed to notice +them, or to whom she durst appeal. After some time, they left their +place of refuge from the weather, and mingled with the concourse. + +Evening came on. They were still wandering up and down, with fewer +people about them, but with the same sense of solitude in their own +breasts, and the same indifference from all around. The lights in the +streets and shops made them feel yet more desolate, for with their +help, night and darkness seemed to come on faster. Shivering with the +cold and damp, ill in body, and sick to death at heart, the child +needed her utmost firmness and resolution even to creep along. + +Why had they ever come to this noisy town, when there were peaceful +country places, in which, at least, they might have hungered and +thirsted, with less suffering than in its squalid strife! They were +but an atom, here, in a mountain heap of misery, the very sight of +which increased their hopelessness and suffering. + +The child had not only to endure the accumulated hardships of their +destitute condition, but to bear the reproaches of her grandfather, who +began to murmur at having been led away from their late abode, and +demand that they should return to it. Being now penniless, and no +relief or prospect of relief appearing, they retraced their steps +through the deserted streets, and went back to the wharf, hoping to +find the boat in which they had come, and to be allowed to sleep on +board that night. But here again they were disappointed, for the gate +was closed, and some fierce dogs, barking at their approach, obliged +them to retreat. + +'We must sleep in the open air to-night, dear,' said the child in a +weak voice, as they turned away from this last repulse; 'and to-morrow +we will beg our way to some quiet part of the country, and try to earn +our bread in very humble work.' + +'Why did you bring me here?' returned the old man fiercely. 'I cannot +bear these close eternal streets. We came from a quiet part. Why did +you force me to leave it?' + +'Because I must have that dream I told you of, no more,' said the +child, with a momentary firmness that lost itself in tears; 'and we +must live among poor people, or it will come again. Dear grandfather, +you are old and weak, I know; but look at me. I never will complain if +you will not, but I have some suffering indeed.' + +'Ah! poor, houseless, wandering, motherless child!' cried the old man, +clasping his hands and gazing as if for the first time upon her anxious +face, her travel-stained dress, and bruised and swollen feet; 'has all +my agony of care brought her to this at last! Was I a happy man once, +and have I lost happiness and all I had, for this!' + +'If we were in the country now,' said the child, with assumed +cheerfulness, as they walked on looking about them for a shelter, we +should find some good old tree, stretching out his green arms as if he +loved us, and nodding and rustling as if he would have us fall asleep, +thinking of him while he watched. Please God, we shall be there +soon--to-morrow or next day at the farthest--and in the meantime let us +think, dear, that it was a good thing we came here; for we are lost in +the crowd and hurry of this place, and if any cruel people should +pursue us, they could surely never trace us further. There's comfort +in that. And here's a deep old doorway--very dark, but quite dry, and +warm too, for the wind don't blow in here--What's that!' + +Uttering a half shriek, she recoiled from a black figure which came +suddenly out of the dark recess in which they were about to take +refuge, and stood still, looking at them. + +'Speak again,' it said; 'do I know the voice?' + +'No,' replied the child timidly; 'we are strangers, and having no money +for a night's lodging, were going to rest here.' + +There was a feeble lamp at no great distance; the only one in the +place, which was a kind of square yard, but sufficient to show how poor +and mean it was. To this, the figure beckoned them; at the same time +drawing within its rays, as if to show that it had no desire to conceal +itself or take them at an advantage. The form was that of a man, +miserably clad and begrimed with smoke, which, perhaps by its contrast +with the natural colour of his skin, made him look paler than he really +was. That he was naturally of a very wan and pallid aspect, however, +his hollow cheeks, sharp features, and sunken eyes, no less than a +certain look of patient endurance, sufficiently testified. His voice +was harsh by nature, but not brutal; and though his face, besides +possessing the characteristics already mentioned, was overshadowed by a +quantity of long dark hair, its expression was neither ferocious nor +bad. + +'How came you to think of resting there?' he said. 'Or how,' he added, +looking more attentively at the child, 'do you come to want a place of +rest at this time of night?' + +'Our misfortunes,' the grandfather answered, 'are the cause.' + +'Do you know,' said the man, looking still more earnestly at Nell, 'how +wet she is, and that the damp streets are not a place for her?' + +'I know it well, God help me,' he replied. 'What can I do!' + +The man looked at Nell again, and gently touched her garments, from +which the rain was running off in little streams. 'I can give you +warmth,' he said, after a pause; 'nothing else. Such lodging as I +have, is in that house,' pointing to the doorway from which he had +emerged, 'but she is safer and better there than here. The fire is in +a rough place, but you can pass the night beside it safely, if you'll +trust yourselves to me. You see that red light yonder?' + +They raised their eyes, and saw a lurid glare hanging in the dark sky; +the dull reflection of some distant fire. + +'It's not far,' said the man. 'Shall I take you there? You were going +to sleep upon cold bricks; I can give you a bed of warm ashes--nothing +better.' + +Without waiting for any further reply than he saw in their looks, he +took Nell in his arms, and bade the old man follow. + +Carrying her as tenderly, and as easily too, as if she had been an +infant, and showing himself both swift and sure of foot, he led the way +through what appeared to be the poorest and most wretched quarter of +the town; and turning aside to avoid the overflowing kennels or running +waterspouts, but holding his course, regardless of such obstructions, +and making his way straight through them. They had proceeded thus, in +silence, for some quarter of an hour, and had lost sight of the glare +to which he had pointed, in the dark and narrow ways by which they had +come, when it suddenly burst upon them again, streaming up from the +high chimney of a building close before them. + +'This is the place,' he said, pausing at a door to put Nell down and +take her hand. 'Don't be afraid. There's nobody here will harm you.' + +It needed a strong confidence in this assurance to induce them to +enter, and what they saw inside did not diminish their apprehension and +alarm. In a large and lofty building, supported by pillars of iron, +with great black apertures in the upper walls, open to the external +air; echoing to the roof with the beating of hammers and roar of +furnaces, mingled with the hissing of red-hot metal plunged in water, +and a hundred strange unearthly noises never heard elsewhere; in this +gloomy place, moving like demons among the flame and smoke, dimly and +fitfully seen, flushed and tormented by the burning fires, and wielding +great weapons, a faulty blow from any one of which must have crushed +some workman's skull, a number of men laboured like giants. Others, +reposing upon heaps of coals or ashes, with their faces turned to the +black vault above, slept or rested from their toil. Others again, +opening the white-hot furnace-doors, cast fuel on the flames, which +came rushing and roaring forth to meet it, and licked it up like oil. +Others drew forth, with clashing noise, upon the ground, great sheets +of glowing steel, emitting an insupportable heat, and a dull deep light +like that which reddens in the eyes of savage beasts. + +Through these bewildering sights and deafening sounds, their conductor +led them to where, in a dark portion of the building, one furnace burnt +by night and day--so, at least, they gathered from the motion of his +lips, for as yet they could only see him speak: not hear him. The man +who had been watching this fire, and whose task was ended for the +present, gladly withdrew, and left them with their friend, who, +spreading Nell's little cloak upon a heap of ashes, and showing her +where she could hang her outer-clothes to dry, signed to her and the +old man to lie down and sleep. For himself, he took his station on a +rugged mat before the furnace-door, and resting his chin upon his +hands, watched the flame as it shone through the iron chinks, and the +white ashes as they fell into their bright hot grave below. + +The warmth of her bed, hard and humble as it was, combined with the +great fatigue she had undergone, soon caused the tumult of the place to +fall with a gentler sound upon the child's tired ears, and was not long +in lulling her to sleep. The old man was stretched beside her, and +with her hand upon his neck she lay and dreamed. + +It was yet night when she awoke, nor did she know how long, or for how +short a time, she had slept. But she found herself protected, both +from any cold air that might find its way into the building, and from +the scorching heat, by some of the workmen's clothes; and glancing at +their friend saw that he sat in exactly the same attitude, looking with +a fixed earnestness of attention towards the fire, and keeping so very +still that he did not even seem to breathe. She lay in the state +between sleeping and waking, looking so long at his motionless figure +that at length she almost feared he had died as he sat there; and +softly rising and drawing close to him, ventured to whisper in his ear. + +He moved, and glancing from her to the place she had lately occupied, +as if to assure himself that it was really the child so near him, +looked inquiringly into her face. + +'I feared you were ill,' she said. 'The other men are all in motion, +and you are so very quiet.' + +'They leave me to myself,' he replied. 'They know my humour. They +laugh at me, but don't harm me in it. See yonder there--that's my +friend.' + +'The fire?' said the child. + +'It has been alive as long as I have,' the man made answer. 'We talk +and think together all night long.' + +The child glanced quickly at him in her surprise, but he had turned his +eyes in their former direction, and was musing as before. + +'It's like a book to me,' he said--'the only book I ever learned to +read; and many an old story it tells me. It's music, for I should know +its voice among a thousand, and there are other voices in its roar. It +has its pictures too. You don't know how many strange faces and +different scenes I trace in the red-hot coals. It's my memory, that +fire, and shows me all my life.' + +The child, bending down to listen to his words, could not help +remarking with what brightened eyes he continued to speak and muse. + +'Yes,' he said, with a faint smile, 'it was the same when I was quite a +baby, and crawled about it, till I fell asleep. My father watched it +then.' + +'Had you no mother?' asked the child. + +'No, she was dead. Women work hard in these parts. She worked herself +to death they told me, and, as they said so then, the fire has gone on +saying the same thing ever since. I suppose it was true. I have +always believed it.' + +'Were you brought up here, then?' said the child. + +'Summer and winter,' he replied. 'Secretly at first, but when they +found it out, they let him keep me here. So the fire nursed me--the +same fire. It has never gone out.' + +'You are fond of it?' said the child. + +'Of course I am. He died before it. I saw him fall down--just there, +where those ashes are burning now--and wondered, I remember, why it +didn't help him.' + +'Have you been here ever since?' asked the child. + +'Ever since I came to watch it; but there was a while between, and a +very cold dreary while it was. It burned all the time though, and +roared and leaped when I came back, as it used to do in our play days. +You may guess, from looking at me, what kind of child I was, but for +all the difference between us I was a child, and when I saw you in the +street to-night, you put me in mind of myself, as I was after he died, +and made me wish to bring you to the fire. I thought of those old +times again, when I saw you sleeping by it. You should be sleeping +now. Lie down again, poor child, lie down again!' + +With that, he led her to her rude couch, and covering her with the +clothes with which she had found herself enveloped when she woke, +returned to his seat, whence he moved no more unless to feed the +furnace, but remained motionless as a statue. The child continued to +watch him for a little time, but soon yielded to the drowsiness that +came upon her, and, in the dark strange place and on the heap of ashes, +slept as peacefully as if the room had been a palace chamber, and the +bed, a bed of down. + +When she awoke again, broad day was shining through the lofty openings +in the walls, and, stealing in slanting rays but midway down, seemed to +make the building darker than it had been at night. The clang and +tumult were still going on, and the remorseless fires were burning +fiercely as before; for few changes of night and day brought rest or +quiet there. + +Her friend parted his breakfast--a scanty mess of coffee and some +coarse bread--with the child and her grandfather, and inquired whither +they were going. She told him that they sought some distant country +place remote from towns or even other villages, and with a faltering +tongue inquired what road they would do best to take. + +'I know little of the country,' he said, shaking his head, 'for such as +I, pass all our lives before our furnace doors, and seldom go forth to +breathe. But there are such places yonder.' + +'And far from here?' said Nell. + +'Aye surely. How could they be near us, and be green and fresh? The +road lies, too, through miles and miles, all lighted up by fires like +ours--a strange black road, and one that would frighten you by night.' + +'We are here and must go on,' said the child boldly; for she saw that +the old man listened with anxious ears to this account. + +'Rough people--paths never made for little feet like yours--a dismal +blighted way--is there no turning back, my child?' + +'There is none,' cried Nell, pressing forward. 'If you can direct us, +do. If not, pray do not seek to turn us from our purpose. Indeed you +do not know the danger that we shun, and how right and true we are in +flying from it, or you would not try to stop us, I am sure you would +not.' + +'God forbid, if it is so!' said their uncouth protector, glancing from +the eager child to her grandfather, who hung his head and bent his eyes +upon the ground. 'I'll direct you from the door, the best I can. I +wish I could do more.' + +He showed them, then, by which road they must leave the town, and what +course they should hold when they had gained it. He lingered so long +on these instructions, that the child, with a fervent blessing, tore +herself away, and stayed to hear no more. + +But, before they had reached the corner of the lane, the man came +running after them, and, pressing her hand, left something in it--two +old, battered, smoke-encrusted penny pieces. Who knows but they shone +as brightly in the eyes of angels, as golden gifts that have been +chronicled on tombs? + +And thus they separated; the child to lead her sacred charge farther +from guilt and shame; the labourer to attach a fresh interest to the +spot where his guests had slept, and read new histories in his furnace +fire. + + + + +CHAPTER 45 + +In all their journeying, they had never longed so ardently, they had +never so pined and wearied, for the freedom of pure air and open +country, as now. No, not even on that memorable morning, when, +deserting their old home, they abandoned themselves to the mercies of a +strange world, and left all the dumb and senseless things they had +known and loved, behind--not even then, had they so yearned for the +fresh solitudes of wood, hillside, and field, as now, when the noise +and dirt and vapour, of the great manufacturing town reeking with lean +misery and hungry wretchedness, hemmed them in on every side, and +seemed to shut out hope, and render escape impossible. + +'Two days and nights!' thought the child. 'He said two days and nights +we should have to spend among such scenes as these. Oh! if we live to +reach the country once again, if we get clear of these dreadful places, +though it is only to lie down and die, with what a grateful heart I +shall thank God for so much mercy!' + +With thoughts like this, and with some vague design of travelling to a +great distance among streams and mountains, where only very poor and +simple people lived, and where they might maintain themselves by very +humble helping work in farms, free from such terrors as that from which +they fled--the child, with no resource but the poor man's gift, and no +encouragement but that which flowed from her own heart, and its sense +of the truth and right of what she did, nerved herself to this last +journey and boldly pursued her task. + +'We shall be very slow to-day, dear,' she said, as they toiled +painfully through the streets; 'my feet are sore, and I have pains in +all my limbs from the wet of yesterday. I saw that he looked at us and +thought of that, when he said how long we should be upon the road.' + +'It was a dreary way he told us of,' returned her grandfather, +piteously. 'Is there no other road? Will you not let me go some other +way than this?' + +'Places lie beyond these,' said the child, firmly, 'where we may live +in peace, and be tempted to do no harm. We will take the road that +promises to have that end, and we would not turn out of it, if it were +a hundred times worse than our fears lead us to expect. We would not, +dear, would we?' + +'No,' replied the old man, wavering in his voice, no less than in his +manner. 'No. Let us go on. I am ready. I am quite ready, Nell.' + +The child walked with more difficulty than she had led her companion to +expect, for the pains that racked her joints were of no common +severity, and every exertion increased them. But they wrung from her +no complaint, or look of suffering; and, though the two travellers +proceeded very slowly, they did proceed. Clearing the town in course +of time, they began to feel that they were fairly on their way. + +A long suburb of red brick houses--some with patches of garden-ground, +where coal-dust and factory smoke darkened the shrinking leaves, and +coarse rank flowers, and where the struggling vegetation sickened and +sank under the hot breath of kiln and furnace, making them by its +presence seem yet more blighting and unwholesome than in the town +itself--a long, flat, straggling suburb passed, they came, by slow +degrees, upon a cheerless region, where not a blade of grass was seen +to grow, where not a bud put forth its promise in the spring, where +nothing green could live but on the surface of the stagnant pools, +which here and there lay idly sweltering by the black road-side. + +Advancing more and more into the shadow of this mournful place, its +dark depressing influence stole upon their spirits, and filled them +with a dismal gloom. On every side, and far as the eye could see into +the heavy distance, tall chimneys, crowding on each other, and +presenting that endless repetition of the same dull, ugly form, which +is the horror of oppressive dreams, poured out their plague of smoke, +obscured the light, and made foul the melancholy air. On mounds of +ashes by the wayside, sheltered only by a few rough boards, or rotten +pent-house roofs, strange engines spun and writhed like tortured +creatures; clanking their iron chains, shrieking in their rapid whirl +from time to time as though in torment unendurable, and making the +ground tremble with their agonies. Dismantled houses here and there +appeared, tottering to the earth, propped up by fragments of others +that had fallen down, unroofed, windowless, blackened, desolate, but +yet inhabited. Men, women, children, wan in their looks and ragged in +attire, tended the engines, fed their tributary fire, begged upon the +road, or scowled half-naked from the doorless houses. Then came more +of the wrathful monsters, whose like they almost seemed to be in their +wildness and their untamed air, screeching and turning round and round +again; and still, before, behind, and to the right and left, was the +same interminable perspective of brick towers, never ceasing in their +black vomit, blasting all things living or inanimate, shutting out the +face of day, and closing in on all these horrors with a dense dark +cloud. + +But night-time in this dreadful spot!--night, when the smoke was +changed to fire; when every chimney spirited up its flame; and places, +that had been dark vaults all day, now shone red-hot, with figures +moving to and fro within their blazing jaws, and calling to one another +with hoarse cries--night, when the noise of every strange machine was +aggravated by the darkness; when the people near them looked wilder and +more savage; when bands of unemployed labourers paraded the roads, or +clustered by torch-light round their leaders, who told them, in stern +language, of their wrongs, and urged them on to frightful cries and +threats; when maddened men, armed with sword and firebrand, spurning +the tears and prayers of women who would restrain them, rushed forth on +errands of terror and destruction, to work no ruin half so surely as +their own--night, when carts came rumbling by, filled with rude +coffins (for contagious disease and death had been busy with the living +crops); when orphans cried, and distracted women shrieked and followed +in their wake--night, when some called for bread, and some for drink to +drown their cares, and some with tears, and some with staggering feet, +and some with bloodshot eyes, went brooding home--night, which, unlike +the night that Heaven sends on earth, brought with it no peace, nor +quiet, nor signs of blessed sleep--who shall tell the terrors of the +night to the young wandering child! + +And yet she lay down, with nothing between her and the sky; and, with +no fear for herself, for she was past it now, put up a prayer for the +poor old man. So very weak and spent, she felt, so very calm and +unresisting, that she had no thought of any wants of her own, but +prayed that God would raise up some friend for him. She tried to +recall the way they had come, and to look in the direction where the +fire by which they had slept last night was burning. She had forgotten +to ask the name of the poor man, their friend, and when she had +remembered him in her prayers, it seemed ungrateful not to turn one +look towards the spot where he was watching. + +A penny loaf was all they had had that day. It was very little, but +even hunger was forgotten in the strange tranquillity that crept over +her senses. She lay down, very gently, and, with a quiet smile upon +her face, fell into a slumber. It was not like sleep--and yet it must +have been, or why those pleasant dreams of the little scholar all night +long! Morning came. Much weaker, diminished powers even of sight and +hearing, and yet the child made no complaint--perhaps would have made +none, even if she had not had that inducement to be silent, travelling +by her side. She felt a hopelessness of their ever being extricated +together from that forlorn place; a dull conviction that she was very +ill, perhaps dying; but no fear or anxiety. + +A loathing of food that she was not conscious of until they expended +their last penny in the purchase of another loaf, prevented her +partaking even of this poor repast. Her grandfather ate greedily, +which she was glad to see. + +Their way lay through the same scenes as yesterday, with no variety or +improvement. There was the same thick air, difficult to breathe; the +same blighted ground, the same hopeless prospect, the same misery and +distress. Objects appeared more dim, the noise less, the path more +rugged and uneven, for sometimes she stumbled, and became roused, as it +were, in the effort to prevent herself from falling. Poor child! the +cause was in her tottering feet. + +Towards the afternoon, her grandfather complained bitterly of hunger. +She approached one of the wretched hovels by the way-side, and knocked +with her hand upon the door. + +'What would you have here?' said a gaunt man, opening it. + +'Charity. A morsel of bread.' + +'Do you see that?' returned the man hoarsely, pointing to a kind of +bundle on the ground. 'That's a dead child. I and five hundred other +men were thrown out of work, three months ago. That is my third dead +child, and last. Do you think I have charity to bestow, or a morsel of +bread to spare?' + +The child recoiled from the door, and it closed upon her. Impelled by +strong necessity, she knocked at another: a neighbouring one, which, +yielding to the slight pressure of her hand, flew open. + +It seemed that a couple of poor families lived in this hovel, for two +women, each among children of her own, occupied different portions of +the room. In the centre, stood a grave gentleman in black who appeared +to have just entered, and who held by the arm a boy. + +'Here, woman,' he said, 'here's your deaf and dumb son. You may thank +me for restoring him to you. He was brought before me, this morning, +charged with theft; and with any other boy it would have gone hard, I +assure you. But, as I had compassion on his infirmities, and thought +he might have learnt no better, I have managed to bring him back to +you. Take more care of him for the future.' + +'And won't you give me back MY son!' said the other woman, hastily +rising and confronting him. 'Won't you give me back MY son, Sir, who +was transported for the same offence!' + +'Was he deaf and dumb, woman?' asked the gentleman sternly. + +'Was he not, Sir?' + +'You know he was not.' + +'He was,' cried the woman. 'He was deaf, dumb, and blind, to all that +was good and right, from his cradle. Her boy may have learnt no +better! where did mine learn better? where could he? who was there to +teach him better, or where was it to be learnt?' + +'Peace, woman,' said the gentleman, 'your boy was in possession of all +his senses.' + +'He was,' cried the mother; 'and he was the more easy to be led astray +because he had them. If you save this boy because he may not know +right from wrong, why did you not save mine who was never taught the +difference? You gentlemen have as good a right to punish her boy, that +God has kept in ignorance of sound and speech, as you have to punish +mine, that you kept in ignorance yourselves. How many of the girls and +boys--ah, men and women too--that are brought before you and you don't +pity, are deaf and dumb in their minds, and go wrong in that state, and +are punished in that state, body and soul, while you gentlemen are +quarrelling among yourselves whether they ought to learn this or +that?--Be a just man, Sir, and give me back my son.' + +'You are desperate,' said the gentleman, taking out his snuff-box, 'and +I am sorry for you.' + +'I AM desperate,' returned the woman, 'and you have made me so. Give +me back my son, to work for these helpless children. Be a just man, +Sir, and, as you have had mercy upon this boy, give me back my son!' + +The child had seen and heard enough to know that this was not a place +at which to ask for alms. She led the old man softly from the door, +and they pursued their journey. + +With less and less of hope or strength, as they went on, but with an +undiminished resolution not to betray by any word or sigh her sinking +state, so long as she had energy to move, the child, throughout the +remainder of that hard day, compelled herself to proceed: not even +stopping to rest as frequently as usual, to compensate in some measure +for the tardy pace at which she was obliged to walk. Evening was +drawing on, but had not closed in, when--still travelling among the +same dismal objects--they came to a busy town. + +Faint and spiritless as they were, its streets were insupportable. +After humbly asking for relief at some few doors, and being repulsed, +they agreed to make their way out of it as speedily as they could, and +try if the inmates of any lone house beyond, would have more pity on +their exhausted state. + +They were dragging themselves along through the last street, and the +child felt that the time was close at hand when her enfeebled powers +would bear no more. There appeared before them, at this juncture, +going in the same direction as themselves, a traveller on foot, who, +with a portmanteau strapped to his back, leaned upon a stout stick as +he walked, and read from a book which he held in his other hand. + +It was not an easy matter to come up with him, and beseech his aid, for +he walked fast, and was a little distance in advance. At length, he +stopped, to look more attentively at some passage in his book. +Animated with a ray of hope, the child shot on before her grandfather, +and, going close to the stranger without rousing him by the sound of +her footsteps, began, in a few faint words, to implore his help. + +He turned his head. The child clapped her hands together, uttered a +wild shriek, and fell senseless at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER 46 + +It was the poor schoolmaster. No other than the poor schoolmaster. +Scarcely less moved and surprised by the sight of the child than she +had been on recognising him, he stood, for a moment, silent and +confounded by this unexpected apparition, without even the presence of +mind to raise her from the ground. + +But, quickly recovering his self-possession, he threw down his stick +and book, and dropping on one knee beside her, endeavoured, by such +simple means as occurred to him, to restore her to herself; while her +grandfather, standing idly by, wrung his hands, and implored her with +many endearing expressions to speak to him, were it only a word. + +'She is quite exhausted,' said the schoolmaster, glancing upward into +his face. 'You have taxed her powers too far, friend.' + +'She is perishing of want,' rejoined the old man. 'I never thought how +weak and ill she was, till now.' + +Casting a look upon him, half-reproachful and half-compassionate, the +schoolmaster took the child in his arms, and, bidding the old man +gather up her little basket and follow him directly, bore her away at +his utmost speed. + +There was a small inn within sight, to which, it would seem, he had +been directing his steps when so unexpectedly overtaken. Towards this +place he hurried with his unconscious burden, and rushing into the +kitchen, and calling upon the company there assembled to make way for +God's sake, deposited it on a chair before the fire. + +The company, who rose in confusion on the schoolmaster's entrance, did +as people usually do under such circumstances. Everybody called for +his or her favourite remedy, which nobody brought; each cried for more +air, at the same time carefully excluding what air there was, by +closing round the object of sympathy; and all wondered why somebody +else didn't do what it never appeared to occur to them might be done by +themselves. + +The landlady, however, who possessed more readiness and activity than +any of them, and who had withal a quicker perception of the merits of +the case, soon came running in, with a little hot brandy and water, +followed by her servant-girl, carrying vinegar, hartshorn, +smelling-salts, and such other restoratives; which, being duly +administered, recovered the child so far as to enable her to thank them +in a faint voice, and to extend her hand to the poor schoolmaster, who +stood, with an anxious face, hard by. Without suffering her to speak +another word, or so much as to stir a finger any more, the women +straightway carried her off to bed; and, having covered her up warm, +bathed her cold feet, and wrapped them in flannel, they despatched a +messenger for the doctor. + +The doctor, who was a red-nosed gentleman with a great bunch of seals +dangling below a waistcoat of ribbed black satin, arrived with all +speed, and taking his seat by the bedside of poor Nell, drew out his +watch, and felt her pulse. Then he looked at her tongue, then he felt +her pulse again, and while he did so, he eyed the half-emptied +wine-glass as if in profound abstraction. + +'I should give her,' said the doctor at length, 'a tea-spoonful, every +now and then, of hot brandy and water.' + +'Why, that's exactly what we've done, sir!' said the delighted landlady. + +'I should also,' observed the doctor, who had passed the foot-bath on +the stairs, 'I should also,' said the doctor, in the voice of an +oracle, 'put her feet in hot water, and wrap them up in flannel. I +should likewise,' said the doctor with increased solemnity, 'give her +something light for supper--the wing of a roasted fowl now--' + +'Why, goodness gracious me, sir, it's cooking at the kitchen fire this +instant!' cried the landlady. And so indeed it was, for the +schoolmaster had ordered it to be put down, and it was getting on so +well that the doctor might have smelt it if he had tried; perhaps he +did. + +'You may then,' said the doctor, rising gravely, 'give her a glass of +hot mulled port wine, if she likes wine--' + +'And a toast, Sir?' suggested the landlady. + +'Ay,' said the doctor, in the tone of a man who makes a dignified +concession. 'And a toast--of bread. But be very particular to make it +of bread, if you please, ma'am.' + +With which parting injunction, slowly and portentously delivered, the +doctor departed, leaving the whole house in admiration of that wisdom +which tallied so closely with their own. Everybody said he was a very +shrewd doctor indeed, and knew perfectly what people's constitutions +were; which there appears some reason to suppose he did. + +While her supper was preparing, the child fell into a refreshing sleep, +from which they were obliged to rouse her when it was ready. As she +evinced extraordinary uneasiness on learning that her grandfather was +below stairs, and as she was greatly troubled at the thought of their +being apart, he took his supper with her. Finding her still very +restless on this head, they made him up a bed in an inner room, to +which he presently retired. The key of this chamber happened by good +fortune to be on that side of the door which was in Nell's room; she +turned it on him when the landlady had withdrawn, and crept to bed +again with a thankful heart. + +The schoolmaster sat for a long time smoking his pipe by the kitchen +fire, which was now deserted, thinking, with a very happy face, on the +fortunate chance which had brought him so opportunely to the child's +assistance, and parrying, as well as in his simple way he could, the +inquisitive cross-examination of the landlady, who had a great +curiosity to be made acquainted with every particular of Nell's life +and history. The poor schoolmaster was so open-hearted, and so little +versed in the most ordinary cunning or deceit, that she could not have +failed to succeed in the first five minutes, but that he happened to be +unacquainted with what she wished to know; and so he told her. The +landlady, by no means satisfied with this assurance, which she +considered an ingenious evasion of the question, rejoined that he had +his reasons of course. Heaven forbid that she should wish to pry into +the affairs of her customers, which indeed were no business of hers, +who had so many of her own. She had merely asked a civil question, and +to be sure she knew it would meet with a civil answer. She was quite +satisfied--quite. She had rather perhaps that he would have said at +once that he didn't choose to be communicative, because that would have +been plain and intelligible. However, she had no right to be offended +of course. He was the best judge, and had a perfect right to say what +he pleased; nobody could dispute that for a moment. Oh dear, no! + +'I assure you, my good lady,' said the mild schoolmaster, 'that I have +told you the plain truth. As I hope to be saved, I have told you the +truth.' + +'Why then, I do believe you are in earnest,' rejoined the landlady, +with ready good-humour, 'and I'm very sorry I have teazed you. But +curiosity you know is the curse of our sex, and that's the fact.' + +The landlord scratched his head, as if he thought the curse sometimes +involved the other sex likewise; but he was prevented from making any +remark to that effect, if he had it in contemplation to do so, by the +schoolmaster's rejoinder. + +'You should question me for half-a-dozen hours at a sitting, and +welcome, and I would answer you patiently for the kindness of heart you +have shown to-night, if I could,' he said. 'As it is, please to take +care of her in the morning, and let me know early how she is; and to +understand that I am paymaster for the three.' + +So, parting with them on most friendly terms (not the less cordial +perhaps for this last direction), the schoolmaster went to his bed, and +the host and hostess to theirs. + +The report in the morning was, that the child was better, but was +extremely weak, and would at least require a day's rest, and careful +nursing, before she could proceed upon her journey. The schoolmaster +received this communication with perfect cheerfulness, observing that +he had a day to spare--two days for that matter--and could very well +afford to wait. As the patient was to sit up in the evening, he +appointed to visit her in her room at a certain hour, and rambling out +with his book, did not return until the hour arrived. + +Nell could not help weeping when they were left alone; whereat, and at +sight of her pale face and wasted figure, the simple schoolmaster shed +a few tears himself, at the same time showing in very energetic +language how foolish it was to do so, and how very easily it could be +avoided, if one tried. + +'It makes me unhappy even in the midst of all this kindness' said the +child, 'to think that we should be a burden upon you. How can I ever +thank you? If I had not met you so far from home, I must have died, +and he would have been left alone.' + +'We'll not talk about dying,' said the schoolmaster; 'and as to +burdens, I have made my fortune since you slept at my cottage.' + +'Indeed!' cried the child joyfully. + +'Oh yes,' returned her friend. 'I have been appointed clerk and +schoolmaster to a village a long way from here--and a long way from the +old one as you may suppose--at five-and-thirty pounds a year. +Five-and-thirty pounds!' + +'I am very glad,' said the child, 'so very, very glad.' + +'I am on my way there now,' resumed the schoolmaster. 'They allowed me +the stage-coach-hire--outside stage-coach-hire all the way. Bless you, +they grudge me nothing. But as the time at which I am expected there, +left me ample leisure, I determined to walk instead. How glad I am, to +think I did so!' + +'How glad should we be!' + +'Yes, yes,' said the schoolmaster, moving restlessly in his chair, +'certainly, that's very true. But you--where are you going, where are +you coming from, what have you been doing since you left me, what had +you been doing before? Now, tell me--do tell me. I know very little +of the world, and perhaps you are better fitted to advise me in its +affairs than I am qualified to give advice to you; but I am very +sincere, and I have a reason (you have not forgotten it) for loving +you. I have felt since that time as if my love for him who died, had +been transferred to you who stood beside his bed. If this,' he added, +looking upwards, 'is the beautiful creation that springs from ashes, +let its peace prosper with me, as I deal tenderly and compassionately +by this young child!' + +The plain, frank kindness of the honest schoolmaster, the affectionate +earnestness of his speech and manner, the truth which was stamped upon +his every word and look, gave the child a confidence in him, which the +utmost arts of treachery and dissimulation could never have awakened in +her breast. She told him all--that they had no friend or +relative--that she had fled with the old man, to save him from a +madhouse and all the miseries he dreaded--that she was flying now, to +save him from himself--and that she sought an asylum in some remote +and primitive place, where the temptation before which he fell would +never enter, and her late sorrows and distresses could have no place. + +The schoolmaster heard her with astonishment. 'This child!'--he +thought--'Has this child heroically persevered under all doubts and +dangers, struggled with poverty and suffering, upheld and sustained by +strong affection and the consciousness of rectitude alone! And yet the +world is full of such heroism. Have I yet to learn that the hardest +and best-borne trials are those which are never chronicled in any +earthly record, and are suffered every day! And should I be surprised +to hear the story of this child!' + +What more he thought or said, matters not. It was concluded that Nell +and her grandfather should accompany him to the village whither he was +bound, and that he should endeavour to find them some humble occupation +by which they could subsist. 'We shall be sure to succeed,' said the +schoolmaster, heartily. 'The cause is too good a one to fail.' + +They arranged to proceed upon their journey next evening, as a +stage-waggon, which travelled for some distance on the same road as +they must take, would stop at the inn to change horses, and the driver +for a small gratuity would give Nell a place inside. A bargain was +soon struck when the waggon came; and in due time it rolled away; with +the child comfortably bestowed among the softer packages, her +grandfather and the schoolmaster walking on beside the driver, and the +landlady and all the good folks of the inn screaming out their good +wishes and farewells. + +What a soothing, luxurious, drowsy way of travelling, to lie inside +that slowly-moving mountain, listening to the tinkling of the horses' +bells, the occasional smacking of the carter's whip, the smooth rolling +of the great broad wheels, the rattle of the harness, the cheery +good-nights of passing travellers jogging past on little short-stepped +horses--all made pleasantly indistinct by the thick awning, which +seemed made for lazy listening under, till one fell asleep! The very +going to sleep, still with an indistinct idea, as the head jogged to +and fro upon the pillow, of moving onward with no trouble or fatigue, +and hearing all these sounds like dreamy music, lulling to the +senses--and the slow waking up, and finding one's self staring out +through the breezy curtain half-opened in the front, far up into the +cold bright sky with its countless stars, and downward at the driver's +lantern dancing on like its namesake Jack of the swamps and marshes, +and sideways at the dark grim trees, and forward at the long bare road +rising up, up, up, until it stopped abruptly at a sharp high ridge as +if there were no more road, and all beyond was sky--and the stopping at +the inn to bait, and being helped out, and going into a room with fire +and candles, and winking very much, and being agreeably reminded that +the night was cold, and anxious for very comfort's sake to think it +colder than it was!--What a delicious journey was that journey in the +waggon. + +Then the going on again--so fresh at first, and shortly afterwards so +sleepy. The waking from a sound nap as the mail came dashing past like +a highway comet, with gleaming lamps and rattling hoofs, and visions of +a guard behind, standing up to keep his feet warm, and of a gentleman +in a fur cap opening his eyes and looking wild and stupefied--the +stopping at the turnpike where the man was gone to bed, and knocking at +the door until he answered with a smothered shout from under the +bed-clothes in the little room above, where the faint light was +burning, and presently came down, night-capped and shivering, to throw +the gate wide open, and wish all waggons off the road except by day. +The cold sharp interval between night and morning--the distant streak +of light widening and spreading, and turning from grey to white, and +from white to yellow, and from yellow to burning red--the presence of +day, with all its cheerfulness and life--men and horses at the +plough--birds in the trees and hedges, and boys in solitary fields, +frightening them away with rattles. The coming to a town--people busy +in the markets; light carts and chaises round the tavern yard; +tradesmen standing at their doors; men running horses up and down the +street for sale; pigs plunging and grunting in the dirty distance, +getting off with long strings at their legs, running into clean +chemists' shops and being dislodged with brooms by 'prentices; the +night coach changing horses--the passengers cheerless, cold, ugly, and +discontented, with three months' growth of hair in one night--the +coachman fresh as from a band-box, and exquisitely beautiful by +contrast:--so much bustle, so many things in motion, such a variety of +incidents--when was there a journey with so many delights as that +journey in the waggon! + +Sometimes walking for a mile or two while her grandfather rode inside, +and sometimes even prevailing upon the schoolmaster to take her place +and lie down to rest, Nell travelled on very happily until they came to +a large town, where the waggon stopped, and where they spent a night. +They passed a large church; and in the streets were a number of old +houses, built of a kind of earth or plaster, crossed and re-crossed in +a great many directions with black beams, which gave them a remarkable +and very ancient look. The doors, too, were arched and low, some with +oaken portals and quaint benches, where the former inhabitants had sat +on summer evenings. The windows were latticed in little diamond panes, +that seemed to wink and blink upon the passengers as if they were dim +of sight. They had long since got clear of the smoke and furnaces, +except in one or two solitary instances, where a factory planted among +fields withered the space about it, like a burning mountain. When they +had passed through this town, they entered again upon the country, and +began to draw near their place of destination. + +It was not so near, however, but that they spent another night upon the +road; not that their doing so was quite an act of necessity, but that +the schoolmaster, when they approached within a few miles of his +village, had a fidgety sense of his dignity as the new clerk, and was +unwilling to make his entry in dusty shoes, and travel-disordered +dress. It was a fine, clear, autumn morning, when they came upon the +scene of his promotion, and stopped to contemplate its beauties. + +'See--here's the church!' cried the delighted schoolmaster in a low +voice; 'and that old building close beside it, is the schoolhouse, I'll +be sworn. Five-and-thirty pounds a-year in this beautiful place!' + +They admired everything--the old grey porch, the mullioned windows, the +venerable gravestones dotting the green churchyard, the ancient tower, +the very weathercock; the brown thatched roofs of cottage, barn, and +homestead, peeping from among the trees; the stream that rippled by the +distant water-mill; the blue Welsh mountains far away. It was for such +a spot the child had wearied in the dense, dark, miserable haunts of +labour. Upon her bed of ashes, and amidst the squalid horrors through +which they had forced their way, visions of such scenes--beautiful +indeed, but not more beautiful than this sweet reality--had been always +present to her mind. They had seemed to melt into a dim and airy +distance, as the prospect of ever beholding them again grew fainter; +but, as they receded, she had loved and panted for them more. + +'I must leave you somewhere for a few minutes,' said the schoolmaster, +at length breaking the silence into which they had fallen in their +gladness. 'I have a letter to present, and inquiries to make, you +know. Where shall I take you? To the little inn yonder?' + +'Let us wait here,' rejoined Nell. 'The gate is open. We will sit in +the church porch till you come back.' + +'A good place too,' said the schoolmaster, leading the way towards it, +disencumbering himself of his portmanteau, and placing it on the stone +seat. 'Be sure that I come back with good news, and am not long gone!' + +So, the happy schoolmaster put on a bran-new pair of gloves which he +had carried in a little parcel in his pocket all the way, and hurried +off, full of ardour and excitement. + +The child watched him from the porch until the intervening foliage hid +him from her view, and then stepped softly out into the old +churchyard--so solemn and quiet that every rustle of her dress upon the +fallen leaves, which strewed the path and made her footsteps noiseless, +seemed an invasion of its silence. It was a very aged, ghostly place; +the church had been built many hundreds of years ago, and had once had +a convent or monastery attached; for arches in ruins, remains of oriel +windows, and fragments of blackened walls, were yet standing; while +other portions of the old building, which had crumbled away and fallen +down, were mingled with the churchyard earth and overgrown with grass, +as if they too claimed a burying-place and sought to mix their ashes +with the dust of men. Hard by these gravestones of dead years, and +forming a part of the ruin which some pains had been taken to render +habitable in modern times, were two small dwellings with sunken windows +and oaken doors, fast hastening to decay, empty and desolate. + +Upon these tenements, the attention of the child became exclusively +riveted. She knew not why. The church, the ruin, the antiquated +graves, had equal claims at least upon a stranger's thoughts, but from +the moment when her eyes first rested on these two dwellings, she could +turn to nothing else. Even when she had made the circuit of the +enclosure, and, returning to the porch, sat pensively waiting for their +friend, she took her station where she could still look upon them, and +felt as if fascinated towards that spot. + + + + +CHAPTER 47 + +Kit's mother and the single gentleman--upon whose track it is expedient +to follow with hurried steps, lest this history should be chargeable +with inconstancy, and the offence of leaving its characters in +situations of uncertainty and doubt--Kit's mother and the single +gentleman, speeding onward in the post-chaise-and-four whose departure +from the Notary's door we have already witnessed, soon left the town +behind them, and struck fire from the flints of the broad highway. + +The good woman, being not a little embarrassed by the novelty of her +situation, and certain material apprehensions that perhaps by this time +little Jacob, or the baby, or both, had fallen into the fire, or +tumbled down stairs, or had been squeezed behind doors, or had scalded +their windpipes in endeavouring to allay their thirst at the spouts of +tea-kettles, preserved an uneasy silence; and meeting from the window +the eyes of turnpike-men, omnibus-drivers, and others, felt in the new +dignity of her position like a mourner at a funeral, who, not being +greatly afflicted by the loss of the departed, recognizes his every-day +acquaintance from the window of the mourning coach, but is constrained +to preserve a decent solemnity, and the appearance of being indifferent +to all external objects. + +To have been indifferent to the companionship of the single gentleman +would have been tantamount to being gifted with nerves of steel. Never +did chaise inclose, or horses draw, such a restless gentleman as he. +He never sat in the same position for two minutes together, but was +perpetually tossing his arms and legs about, pulling up the sashes and +letting them violently down, or thrusting his head out of one window to +draw it in again and thrust it out of another. He carried in his +pocket, too, a fire-box of mysterious and unknown construction; and as +sure as ever Kit's mother closed her eyes, so surely--whisk, rattle, +fizz--there was the single gentleman consulting his watch by a flame of +fire, and letting the sparks fall down among the straw as if there were +no such thing as a possibility of himself and Kit's mother being +roasted alive before the boys could stop their horses. Whenever they +halted to change, there he was--out of the carriage without letting +down the steps, bursting about the inn-yard like a lighted cracker, +pulling out his watch by lamp-light and forgetting to look at it before +he put it up again, and in short committing so many extravagances that +Kit's mother was quite afraid of him. Then, when the horses were to, +in he came like a Harlequin, and before they had gone a mile, out came +the watch and the fire-box together, and Kit's mother as wide awake +again, with no hope of a wink of sleep for that stage. + +'Are you comfortable?' the single gentleman would say after one of +these exploits, turning sharply round. + +'Quite, Sir, thank you.' + +'Are you sure? An't you cold?' + +'It is a little chilly, Sir,' Kit's mother would reply. + +'I knew it!' cried the single gentleman, letting down one of the front +glasses. 'She wants some brandy and water! Of course she does. How +could I forget it? Hallo! Stop at the next inn, and call out for a +glass of hot brandy and water.' + +It was in vain for Kit's mother to protest that she stood in need of +nothing of the kind. The single gentleman was inexorable; and whenever +he had exhausted all other modes and fashions of restlessness, it +invariably occurred to him that Kit's mother wanted brandy and water. + +In this way they travelled on until near midnight, when they stopped to +supper, for which meal the single gentleman ordered everything eatable +that the house contained; and because Kit's mother didn't eat +everything at once, and eat it all, he took it into his head that she +must be ill. + +'You're faint,' said the single gentleman, who did nothing himself but +walk about the room. 'I see what's the matter with you, ma'am. You're +faint.' + +'Thank you, sir, I'm not indeed.' + +'I know you are. I'm sure of it. I drag this poor woman from the +bosom of her family at a minute's notice, and she goes on getting +fainter and fainter before my eyes. I'm a pretty fellow! How many +children have you got, ma'am?' + +'Two, sir, besides Kit.' + +'Boys, ma'am?' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Are they christened?' + +'Only half baptised as yet, sir.' + +'I'm godfather to both of 'em. Remember that, if you please, ma'am. +You had better have some mulled wine.' + +'I couldn't touch a drop indeed, sir.' + +'You must,' said the single gentleman. 'I see you want it. I ought to +have thought of it before.' + +Immediately flying to the bell, and calling for mulled wine as +impetuously as if it had been wanted for instant use in the recovery of +some person apparently drowned, the single gentleman made Kit's mother +swallow a bumper of it at such a high temperature that the tears ran +down her face, and then hustled her off to the chaise again, where--not +impossibly from the effects of this agreeable sedative--she soon became +insensible to his restlessness, and fell fast asleep. Nor were the +happy effects of this prescription of a transitory nature, as, +notwithstanding that the distance was greater, and the journey longer, +than the single gentleman had anticipated, she did not awake until it +was broad day, and they were clattering over the pavement of a town. + +'This is the place!' cried her companion, letting down all the glasses. +'Drive to the wax-work!' + +The boy on the wheeler touched his hat, and setting spurs to his horse, +to the end that they might go in brilliantly, all four broke into a +smart canter, and dashed through the streets with a noise that brought +the good folks wondering to their doors and windows, and drowned the +sober voices of the town-clocks as they chimed out half-past eight. +They drove up to a door round which a crowd of persons were collected, +and there stopped. + +'What's this?' said the single gentleman thrusting out his head. 'Is +anything the matter here?' + +'A wedding Sir, a wedding!' cried several voices. 'Hurrah!' + +The single gentleman, rather bewildered by finding himself the centre +of this noisy throng, alighted with the assistance of one of the +postilions, and handed out Kit's mother, at sight of whom the populace +cried out, 'Here's another wedding!' and roared and leaped for joy. + +'The world has gone mad, I think,' said the single gentleman, pressing +through the concourse with his supposed bride. 'Stand back here, will +you, and let me knock.' + +Anything that makes a noise is satisfactory to a crowd. A score of +dirty hands were raised directly to knock for him, and seldom has a +knocker of equal powers been made to produce more deafening sounds than +this particular engine on the occasion in question. Having rendered +these voluntary services, the throng modestly retired a little, +preferring that the single gentleman should bear their consequences +alone. + +'Now, sir, what do you want!' said a man with a large white bow at his +button-hole, opening the door, and confronting him with a very stoical +aspect. + +'Who has been married here, my friend?' said the single gentleman. + +'I have.' + +'You! and to whom in the devil's name?' + +'What right have you to ask?' returned the bridegroom, eyeing him from +top to toe. + +'What right!' cried the single gentleman, drawing the arm of Kit's +mother more tightly through his own, for that good woman evidently had +it in contemplation to run away. 'A right you little dream of. Mind, +good people, if this fellow has been marrying a minor--tut, tut, that +can't be. Where is the child you have here, my good fellow. You call +her Nell. Where is she?' + +As he propounded this question, which Kit's mother echoed, somebody in +a room near at hand, uttered a great shriek, and a stout lady in a +white dress came running to the door, and supported herself upon the +bridegroom's arm. + +'Where is she!' cried this lady. 'What news have you brought me? What +has become of her?' + +The single gentleman started back, and gazed upon the face of the late +Mrs Jarley (that morning wedded to the philosophic George, to the +eternal wrath and despair of Mr Slum the poet), with looks of +conflicting apprehension, disappointment, and incredulity. At length +he stammered out, + +'I ask YOU where she is? What do you mean?' + +'Oh sir!' cried the bride, 'If you have come here to do her any good, +why weren't you here a week ago?' + +'She is not--not dead?' said the person to whom she addressed herself, +turning very pale. + +'No, not so bad as that.' + +'I thank God!' cried the single gentleman feebly. 'Let me come in.' + +They drew back to admit him, and when he had entered, closed the door. + +'You see in me, good people,' he said, turning to the newly-married +couple, 'one to whom life itself is not dearer than the two persons +whom I seek. They would not know me. My features are strange to them, +but if they or either of them are here, take this good woman with you, +and let them see her first, for her they both know. If you deny them +from any mistaken regard or fear for them, judge of my intentions by +their recognition of this person as their old humble friend.' + +'I always said it!' cried the bride, 'I knew she was not a common +child! Alas, sir! we have no power to help you, for all that we could +do, has been tried in vain.' + +With that, they related to him, without disguise or concealment, all +that they knew of Nell and her grandfather, from their first meeting +with them, down to the time of their sudden disappearance; adding +(which was quite true) that they had made every possible effort to +trace them, but without success; having been at first in great alarm +for their safety, as well as on account of the suspicions to which they +themselves might one day be exposed in consequence of their abrupt +departure. They dwelt upon the old man's imbecility of mind, upon the +uneasiness the child had always testified when he was absent, upon the +company he had been supposed to keep, and upon the increased depression +which had gradually crept over her and changed her both in health and +spirits. Whether she had missed the old man in the night, and knowing +or conjecturing whither he had bent his steps, had gone in pursuit, or +whether they had left the house together, they had no means of +determining. Certain they considered it, that there was but slender +prospect left of hearing of them again, and that whether their flight +originated with the old man, or with the child, there was now no hope +of their return. To all this, the single gentleman listened with the +air of a man quite borne down by grief and disappointment. He shed +tears when they spoke of the grandfather, and appeared in deep +affliction. + +Not to protract this portion of our narrative, and to make short work +of a long story, let it be briefly written that before the interview +came to a close, the single gentleman deemed he had sufficient evidence +of having been told the truth, and that he endeavoured to force upon +the bride and bridegroom an acknowledgment of their kindness to the +unfriended child, which, however, they steadily declined accepting. In +the end, the happy couple jolted away in the caravan to spend their +honeymoon in a country excursion; and the single gentleman and Kit's +mother stood ruefully before their carriage-door. + +'Where shall we drive you, sir?' said the post-boy. + +'You may drive me,' said the single gentleman, 'to the--' He was not +going to add 'inn,' but he added it for the sake of Kit's mother; and +to the inn they went. + +Rumours had already got abroad that the little girl who used to show +the wax-work, was the child of great people who had been stolen from +her parents in infancy, and had only just been traced. Opinion was +divided whether she was the daughter of a prince, a duke, an earl, a +viscount, or a baron, but all agreed upon the main fact, and that the +single gentleman was her father; and all bent forward to catch a +glimpse, though it were only of the tip of his noble nose, as he rode +away, desponding, in his four-horse chaise. + +What would he have given to know, and what sorrow would have been saved +if he had only known, that at that moment both child and grandfather +were seated in the old church porch, patiently awaiting the +schoolmaster's return! + + + + +CHAPTER 48 + +Popular rumour concerning the single gentleman and his errand, +travelling from mouth to mouth, and waxing stronger in the marvellous +as it was bandied about--for your popular rumour, unlike the rolling +stone of the proverb, is one which gathers a deal of moss in its +wanderings up and down--occasioned his dismounting at the inn-door to +be looked upon as an exciting and attractive spectacle, which could +scarcely be enough admired; and drew together a large concourse of +idlers, who having recently been, as it were, thrown out of employment +by the closing of the wax-work and the completion of the nuptial +ceremonies, considered his arrival as little else than a special +providence, and hailed it with demonstrations of the liveliest joy. + +Not at all participating in the general sensation, but wearing the +depressed and wearied look of one who sought to meditate on his +disappointment in silence and privacy, the single gentleman alighted, +and handed out Kit's mother with a gloomy politeness which impressed +the lookers-on extremely. That done, he gave her his arm and escorted +her into the house, while several active waiters ran on before as a +skirmishing party, to clear the way and to show the room which was +ready for their reception. + +'Any room will do,' said the single gentleman. 'Let it be near at +hand, that's all.' + +'Close here, sir, if you please to walk this way.' + +'Would the gentleman like this room?' said a voice, as a little +out-of-the-way door at the foot of the well staircase flew briskly open +and a head popped out. 'He's quite welcome to it. He's as welcome as +flowers in May, or coals at Christmas. Would you like this room, sir? +Honour me by walking in. Do me the favour, pray.' + +'Goodness gracious me!' cried Kit's mother, falling back in extreme +surprise, 'only think of this!' + +She had some reason to be astonished, for the person who proffered the +gracious invitation was no other than Daniel Quilp. The little door +out of which he had thrust his head was close to the inn larder; and +there he stood, bowing with grotesque politeness; as much at his ease +as if the door were that of his own house; blighting all the legs of +mutton and cold roast fowls by his close companionship, and looking +like the evil genius of the cellars come from underground upon some +work of mischief. + +'Would you do me the honour?' said Quilp. + +'I prefer being alone,' replied the single gentleman. + +'Oh!' said Quilp. And with that, he darted in again with one jerk and +clapped the little door to, like a figure in a Dutch clock when the +hour strikes. + +'Why it was only last night, sir,' whispered Kit's mother, 'that I left +him in Little Bethel.' + +'Indeed!' said her fellow-passenger. 'When did that person come here, +waiter?' + +'Come down by the night-coach, this morning, sir.' + +'Humph! And when is he going?' + +'Can't say, sir, really. When the chambermaid asked him just now if he +should want a bed, sir, he first made faces at her, and then wanted to +kiss her.' + +'Beg him to walk this way,' said the single gentleman. 'I should be +glad to exchange a word with him, tell him. Beg him to come at once, +do you hear?' + +The man stared on receiving these instructions, for the single +gentleman had not only displayed as much astonishment as Kit's mother +at sight of the dwarf, but, standing in no fear of him, had been at +less pains to conceal his dislike and repugnance. He departed on his +errand, however, and immediately returned, ushering in its object. + +'Your servant, sir,' said the dwarf, 'I encountered your messenger +half-way. I thought you'd allow me to pay my compliments to you. I +hope you're well. I hope you're very well.' + +There was a short pause, while the dwarf, with half-shut eyes and +puckered face, stood waiting for an answer. Receiving none, he turned +towards his more familiar acquaintance. + +'Christopher's mother!' he cried. 'Such a dear lady, such a worthy +woman, so blest in her honest son! How is Christopher's mother? Have +change of air and scene improved her? Her little family too, and +Christopher? Do they thrive? Do they flourish? Are they growing into +worthy citizens, eh?' + +Making his voice ascend in the scale with every succeeding question, Mr +Quilp finished in a shrill squeak, and subsided into the panting look +which was customary with him, and which, whether it were assumed or +natural, had equally the effect of banishing all expression from his +face, and rendering it, as far as it afforded any index to his mood or +meaning, a perfect blank. + +'Mr Quilp,' said the single gentleman. + +The dwarf put his hand to his great flapped ear, and counterfeited the +closest attention. + +'We two have met before--' + +'Surely,' cried Quilp, nodding his head. 'Oh surely, sir. Such an +honour and pleasure--it's both, Christopher's mother, it's both--is +not to be forgotten so soon. By no means!' + +'You may remember that the day I arrived in London, and found the house +to which I drove, empty and deserted, I was directed by some of the +neighbours to you, and waited upon you without stopping for rest or +refreshment?' + +'How precipitate that was, and yet what an earnest and vigorous +measure!' said Quilp, conferring with himself, in imitation of his +friend Mr Sampson Brass. + +'I found,' said the single gentleman, 'you most unaccountably, in +possession of everything that had so recently belonged to another man, +and that other man, who up to the time of your entering upon his +property had been looked upon as affluent, reduced to sudden beggary, +and driven from house and home.' + +'We had warrant for what we did, my good sir,' rejoined Quilp, 'we had +our warrant. Don't say driven either. He went of his own +accord--vanished in the night, sir.' + +'No matter,' said the single gentleman angrily. 'He was gone.' + +'Yes, he was gone,' said Quilp, with the same exasperating composure. +'No doubt he was gone. The only question was, where. And it's a +question still.' + +'Now, what am I to think,' said the single gentleman, sternly regarding +him, 'of you, who, plainly indisposed to give me any information +then--nay, obviously holding back, and sheltering yourself with all +kinds of cunning, trickery, and evasion--are dogging my footsteps now?' + +'I dogging!' cried Quilp. + +'Why, are you not?' returned his questioner, fretted into a state of +the utmost irritation. 'Were you not a few hours since, sixty miles +off, and in the chapel to which this good woman goes to say her +prayers?' + +'She was there too, I think?' said Quilp, still perfectly unmoved. 'I +might say, if I was inclined to be rude, how do I know but you are +dogging MY footsteps. Yes, I was at chapel. What then? I've read in +books that pilgrims were used to go to chapel before they went on +journeys, to put up petitions for their safe return. Wise men! +journeys are very perilous--especially outside the coach. Wheels come +off, horses take fright, coachmen drive too fast, coaches overturn. I +always go to chapel before I start on journeys. It's the last thing I +do on such occasions, indeed.' + +That Quilp lied most heartily in this speech, it needed no very great +penetration to discover, although for anything that he suffered to +appear in his face, voice, or manner, he might have been clinging to +the truth with the quiet constancy of a martyr. + +'In the name of all that's calculated to drive one crazy, man,' said +the unfortunate single gentleman, 'have you not, for some reason of +your own, taken upon yourself my errand? don't you know with what +object I have come here, and if you do know, can you throw no light +upon it?' + +'You think I'm a conjuror, sir,' replied Quilp, shrugging up his +shoulders. 'If I was, I should tell my own fortune--and make it.' + +'Ah! we have said all we need say, I see,' returned the other, throwing +himself impatiently upon a sofa. 'Pray leave us, if you please.' + +'Willingly,' returned Quilp. 'Most willingly. Christopher's mother, +my good soul, farewell. A pleasant journey--back, sir. Ahem!' + +With these parting words, and with a grin upon his features altogether +indescribable, but which seemed to be compounded of every monstrous +grimace of which men or monkeys are capable, the dwarf slowly retreated +and closed the door behind him. + +'Oho!' he said when he had regained his own room, and sat himself down +in a chair with his arms akimbo. 'Oho! Are you there, my friend? +In-deed!' + +Chuckling as though in very great glee, and recompensing himself for +the restraint he had lately put upon his countenance by twisting it +into all imaginable varieties of ugliness, Mr Quilp, rocking himself to +and fro in his chair and nursing his left leg at the same time, fell +into certain meditations, of which it may be necessary to relate the +substance. + +First, he reviewed the circumstances which had led to his repairing to +that spot, which were briefly these. Dropping in at Mr Sampson Brass's +office on the previous evening, in the absence of that gentleman and +his learned sister, he had lighted upon Mr Swiveller, who chanced at +the moment to be sprinkling a glass of warm gin and water on the dust +of the law, and to be moistening his clay, as the phrase goes, rather +copiously. But as clay in the abstract, when too much moistened, +becomes of a weak and uncertain consistency, breaking down in +unexpected places, retaining impressions but faintly, and preserving no +strength or steadiness of character, so Mr Swiveller's clay, having +imbibed a considerable quantity of moisture, was in a very loose and +slippery state, insomuch that the various ideas impressed upon it were +fast losing their distinctive character, and running into each other. +It is not uncommon for human clay in this condition to value itself +above all things upon its great prudence and sagacity; and Mr +Swiveller, especially prizing himself upon these qualities, took +occasion to remark that he had made strange discoveries in connection +with the single gentleman who lodged above, which he had determined to +keep within his own bosom, and which neither tortures nor cajolery +should ever induce him to reveal. Of this determination Mr Quilp +expressed his high approval, and setting himself in the same breath to +goad Mr Swiveller on to further hints, soon made out that the single +gentleman had been seen in communication with Kit, and that this was +the secret which was never to be disclosed. + +Possessed of this piece of information, Mr Quilp directly supposed that +the single gentleman above stairs must be the same individual who had +waited on him, and having assured himself by further inquiries that +this surmise was correct, had no difficulty in arriving at the +conclusion that the intent and object of his correspondence with Kit +was the recovery of his old client and the child. Burning with +curiosity to know what proceedings were afoot, he resolved to pounce +upon Kit's mother as the person least able to resist his arts, and +consequently the most likely to be entrapped into such revelations as +he sought; so taking an abrupt leave of Mr Swiveller, he hurried to her +house. The good woman being from home, he made inquiries of a +neighbour, as Kit himself did soon afterwards, and being directed to +the chapel be took himself there, in order to waylay her, at the +conclusion of the service. + +He had not sat in the chapel more than a quarter of an hour, and with +his eyes piously fixed upon the ceiling was chuckling inwardly over the +joke of his being there at all, when Kit himself appeared. Watchful as +a lynx, one glance showed the dwarf that he had come on business. +Absorbed in appearance, as we have seen, and feigning a profound +abstraction, he noted every circumstance of his behaviour, and when he +withdrew with his family, shot out after him. In fine, he traced them +to the notary's house; learnt the destination of the carriage from one +of the postilions; and knowing that a fast night-coach started for the +same place, at the very hour which was on the point of striking, from a +street hard by, darted round to the coach-office without more ado, and +took his seat upon the roof. After passing and repassing the carriage +on the road, and being passed and repassed by it sundry times in the +course of the night, according as their stoppages were longer or +shorter; or their rate of travelling varied, they reached the town +almost together. Quilp kept the chaise in sight, mingled with the +crowd, learnt the single gentleman's errand, and its failure, and +having possessed himself of all that it was material to know, hurried +off, reached the inn before him, had the interview just now detailed, +and shut himself up in the little room in which he hastily reviewed all +these occurrences. + +'You are there, are you, my friend?' he repeated, greedily biting his +nails. 'I am suspected and thrown aside, and Kit's the confidential +agent, is he? I shall have to dispose of him, I fear. If we had come +up with them this morning,' he continued, after a thoughtful pause, 'I +was ready to prove a pretty good claim. I could have made my profit. +But for these canting hypocrites, the lad and his mother, I could get +this fiery gentleman as comfortably into my net as our old friend--our +mutual friend, ha! ha!--and chubby, rosy Nell. At the worst, it's a +golden opportunity, not to be lost. Let us find them first, and I'll +find means of draining you of some of your superfluous cash, sir, while +there are prison bars, and bolts, and locks, to keep your friend or +kinsman safely. I hate your virtuous people!' said the dwarf, throwing +off a bumper of brandy, and smacking his lips, 'ah! I hate 'em every +one!' + +This was not a mere empty vaunt, but a deliberate avowal of his real +sentiments; for Mr Quilp, who loved nobody, had by little and little +come to hate everybody nearly or remotely connected with his ruined +client:--the old man himself, because he had been able to deceive him +and elude his vigilance--the child, because she was the object of Mrs +Quilp's commiseration and constant self-reproach--the single gentleman, +because of his unconcealed aversion to himself--Kit and his mother, +most mortally, for the reasons shown. Above and beyond that general +feeling of opposition to them, which would have been inseparable from +his ravenous desire to enrich himself by these altered circumstances, +Daniel Quilp hated them every one. + +In this amiable mood, Mr Quilp enlivened himself and his hatreds with +more brandy, and then, changing his quarters, withdrew to an obscure +alehouse, under cover of which seclusion he instituted all possible +inquiries that might lead to the discovery of the old man and his +grandchild. But all was in vain. Not the slightest trace or clue +could be obtained. They had left the town by night; no one had seen +them go; no one had met them on the road; the driver of no coach, cart, +or waggon, had seen any travellers answering their description; nobody +had fallen in with them, or heard of them. Convinced at last that for +the present all such attempts were hopeless, he appointed two or three +scouts, with promises of large rewards in case of their forwarding him +any intelligence, and returned to London by next day's coach. + +It was some gratification to Mr Quilp to find, as he took his place +upon the roof, that Kit's mother was alone inside; from which +circumstance he derived in the course of the journey much cheerfulness +of spirit, inasmuch as her solitary condition enabled him to terrify +her with many extraordinary annoyances; such as hanging over the side +of the coach at the risk of his life, and staring in with his great +goggle eyes, which seemed in hers the more horrible from his face being +upside down; dodging her in this way from one window to another; +getting nimbly down whenever they changed horses and thrusting his head +in at the window with a dismal squint: which ingenious tortures had +such an effect upon Mrs Nubbles, that she was quite unable for the time +to resist the belief that Mr Quilp did in his own person represent and +embody that Evil Power, who was so vigorously attacked at Little +Bethel, and who, by reason of her backslidings in respect of Astley's +and oysters, was now frolicsome and rampant. + +Kit, having been apprised by letter of his mother's intended return, +was waiting for her at the coach-office; and great was his surprise +when he saw, leering over the coachman's shoulder like some familiar +demon, invisible to all eyes but his, the well-known face of Quilp. + +'How are you, Christopher?' croaked the dwarf from the coach-top. 'All +right, Christopher. Mother's inside.' + +'Why, how did he come here, mother?' whispered Kit. + +'I don't know how he came or why, my dear,' rejoined Mrs Nubbles, +dismounting with her son's assistance, 'but he has been a terrifying of +me out of my seven senses all this blessed day.' + +'He has?' cried Kit. + +'You wouldn't believe it, that you wouldn't,' replied his mother, 'but +don't say a word to him, for I really don't believe he's human. Hush! +Don't turn round as if I was talking of him, but he's a squinting at me +now in the full blaze of the coach-lamp, quite awful!' + +In spite of his mother's injunction, Kit turned sharply round to look. +Mr Quilp was serenely gazing at the stars, quite absorbed in celestial +contemplation. + +'Oh, he's the artfullest creetur!' cried Mrs Nubbles. 'But come away. +Don't speak to him for the world.' + +'Yes I will, mother. What nonsense. I say, sir--' + +Mr Quilp affected to start, and looked smilingly round. + +'You let my mother alone, will you?' said Kit. 'How dare you tease a +poor lone woman like her, making her miserable and melancholy as if she +hadn't got enough to make her so, without you. An't you ashamed of +yourself, you little monster?' + +'Monster!' said Quilp inwardly, with a smile. 'Ugliest dwarf that +could be seen anywhere for a penny--monster--ah!' + +'You show her any of your impudence again,' resumed Kit, shouldering +the bandbox, 'and I tell you what, Mr Quilp, I won't bear with you any +more. You have no right to do it; I'm sure we never interfered with +you. This isn't the first time; and if ever you worry or frighten her +again, you'll oblige me (though I should be very sorry to do it, on +account of your size) to beat you.' + +Quilp said not a word in reply, but walking so close to Kit as to bring +his eyes within two or three inches of his face, looked fixedly at him, +retreated a little distance without averting his gaze, approached +again, again withdrew, and so on for half-a-dozen times, like a head in +a phantasmagoria. Kit stood his ground as if in expectation of an +immediate assault, but finding that nothing came of these gestures, +snapped his fingers and walked away; his mother dragging him off as +fast as she could, and, even in the midst of his news of little Jacob +and the baby, looking anxiously over her shoulder to see if Quilp were +following. + + + + +CHAPTER 49 + +Kit's mother might have spared herself the trouble of looking back so +often, for nothing was further from Mr Quilp's thoughts than any +intention of pursuing her and her son, or renewing the quarrel with +which they had parted. He went his way, whistling from time to time +some fragments of a tune; and with a face quite tranquil and composed, +jogged pleasantly towards home; entertaining himself as he went with +visions of the fears and terrors of Mrs Quilp, who, having received no +intelligence of him for three whole days and two nights, and having had +no previous notice of his absence, was doubtless by that time in a +state of distraction, and constantly fainting away with anxiety and +grief. + +This facetious probability was so congenial to the dwarf's humour, and +so exquisitely amusing to him, that he laughed as he went along until +the tears ran down his cheeks; and more than once, when he found +himself in a bye-street, vented his delight in a shrill scream, which +greatly terrifying any lonely passenger, who happened to be walking on +before him expecting nothing so little, increased his mirth, and made +him remarkably cheerful and light-hearted. + +In this happy flow of spirits, Mr Quilp reached Tower Hill, when, +gazing up at the window of his own sitting-room, he thought he descried +more light than is usual in a house of mourning. Drawing nearer, and +listening attentively, he could hear several voices in earnest +conversation, among which he could distinguish, not only those of his +wife and mother-in-law, but the tongues of men. + +'Ha!' cried the jealous dwarf, 'What's this! Do they entertain +visitors while I'm away!' + +A smothered cough from above, was the reply. He felt in his pockets +for his latch-key, but had forgotten it. There was no resource but to +knock at the door. + +'A light in the passage,' said Quilp, peeping through the keyhole. 'A +very soft knock; and, by your leave, my lady, I may yet steal upon you +unawares. Soho!' + +A very low and gentle rap received no answer from within. But after a +second application to the knocker, no louder than the first, the door +was softly opened by the boy from the wharf, whom Quilp instantly +gagged with one hand, and dragged into the street with the other. + +'You'll throttle me, master,' whispered the boy. 'Let go, will you.' + +'Who's up stairs, you dog?' retorted Quilp in the same tone. 'Tell me. +And don't speak above your breath, or I'll choke you in good earnest.' + +The boy could only point to the window, and reply with a stifled +giggle, expressive of such intense enjoyment, that Quilp clutched him +by the throat and might have carried his threat into execution, or at +least have made very good progress towards that end, but for the boy's +nimbly extricating himself from his grasp, and fortifying himself +behind the nearest post, at which, after some fruitless attempts to +catch him by the hair of the head, his master was obliged to come to a +parley. + +'Will you answer me?' said Quilp. 'What's going on, above?' + +'You won't let one speak,' replied the boy. 'They--ha, ha, ha!--they +think you're--you're dead. Ha ha ha!' + +'Dead!' cried Quilp, relaxing into a grim laugh himself. 'No. Do +they? Do they really, you dog?' + +'They think you're--you're drowned,' replied the boy, who in his +malicious nature had a strong infusion of his master. 'You was last +seen on the brink of the wharf, and they think you tumbled over. Ha +ha!' + +The prospect of playing the spy under such delicious circumstances, and +of disappointing them all by walking in alive, gave more delight to +Quilp than the greatest stroke of good fortune could possibly have +inspired him with. He was no less tickled than his hopeful assistant, +and they both stood for some seconds, grinning and gasping and wagging +their heads at each other, on either side of the post, like an +unmatchable pair of Chinese idols. + +'Not a word,' said Quilp, making towards the door on tiptoe. 'Not a +sound, not so much as a creaking board, or a stumble against a cobweb. +Drowned, eh, Mrs Quilp! Drowned!' + +So saying, he blew out the candle, kicked off his shoes, and groped his +way up stairs; leaving his delighted young friend in an ecstasy of +summersets on the pavement. + +The bedroom-door on the staircase being unlocked, Mr Quilp slipped in, +and planted himself behind the door of communication between that +chamber and the sitting-room, which standing ajar to render both more +airy, and having a very convenient chink (of which he had often availed +himself for purposes of espial, and had indeed enlarged with his +pocket-knife), enabled him not only to hear, but to see distinctly, +what was passing. + +Applying his eye to this convenient place, he descried Mr Brass seated +at the table with pen, ink, and paper, and the case-bottle of rum--his +own case-bottle, and his own particular Jamaica--convenient to his +hand; with hot water, fragrant lemons, white lump sugar, and all things +fitting; from which choice materials, Sampson, by no means insensible +to their claims upon his attention, had compounded a mighty glass of +punch reeking hot; which he was at that very moment stirring up with a +teaspoon, and contemplating with looks in which a faint assumption of +sentimental regret, struggled but weakly with a bland and comfortable +joy. At the same table, with both her elbows upon it, was Mrs Jiniwin; +no longer sipping other people's punch feloniously with teaspoons, but +taking deep draughts from a jorum of her own; while her daughter--not +exactly with ashes on her head, or sackcloth on her back, but +preserving a very decent and becoming appearance of sorrow +nevertheless--was reclining in an easy chair, and soothing her grief +with a smaller allowance of the same glib liquid. There were also +present, a couple of water-side men, bearing between them certain +machines called drags; even these fellows were accommodated with a +stiff glass a-piece; and as they drank with a great relish, and were +naturally of a red-nosed, pimple-faced, convivial look, their presence +rather increased than detracted from that decided appearance of +comfort, which was the great characteristic of the party. + +'If I could poison that dear old lady's rum and water,' murmured Quilp, +'I'd die happy.' + +'Ah!' said Mr Brass, breaking the silence, and raising his eyes to the +ceiling with a sigh, 'Who knows but he may be looking down upon us now! +Who knows but he may be surveying of us from--from somewheres or +another, and contemplating us with a watchful eye! Oh Lor!' + +Here Mr Brass stopped to drink half his punch, and then resumed; +looking at the other half, as he spoke, with a dejected smile. + +'I can almost fancy,' said the lawyer shaking his head, 'that I see his +eye glistening down at the very bottom of my liquor. When shall we +look upon his like again? Never, never!' One minute we are +here'--holding his tumbler before his eyes--'the next we are +there'--gulping down its contents, and striking himself emphatically a +little below the chest--'in the silent tomb. To think that I should be +drinking his very rum! It seems like a dream.' + +With the view, no doubt, of testing the reality of his position, Mr +Brass pushed his tumbler as he spoke towards Mrs Jiniwin for the +purpose of being replenished; and turned towards the attendant mariners. + +'The search has been quite unsuccessful then?' + +'Quite, master. But I should say that if he turns up anywhere, he'll +come ashore somewhere about Grinidge to-morrow, at ebb tide, eh, mate?' + +The other gentleman assented, observing that he was expected at the +Hospital, and that several pensioners would be ready to receive him +whenever he arrived. + +'Then we have nothing for it but resignation,' said Mr Brass; 'nothing +but resignation and expectation. It would be a comfort to have his +body; it would be a dreary comfort.' + +'Oh, beyond a doubt,' assented Mrs Jiniwin hastily; 'if we once had +that, we should be quite sure.' + +'With regard to the descriptive advertisement,' said Sampson Brass, +taking up his pen. 'It is a melancholy pleasure to recall his traits. +Respecting his legs now--?' + +'Crooked, certainly,' said Mrs Jiniwin. 'Do you think they WERE +crooked?' said Brass, in an insinuating tone. 'I think I see them now +coming up the street very wide apart, in nankeen' pantaloons a little +shrunk and without straps. Ah! what a vale of tears we live in. Do we +say crooked?' + +'I think they were a little so,' observed Mrs Quilp with a sob. + +'Legs crooked,' said Brass, writing as he spoke. 'Large head, short +body, legs crooked--' + +'Very crooked,' suggested Mrs Jiniwin. + +'We'll not say very crooked, ma'am,' said Brass piously. 'Let us not +bear hard upon the weaknesses of the deceased. He is gone, ma'am, to +where his legs will never come in question.--We will content ourselves +with crooked, Mrs Jiniwin.' + +'I thought you wanted the truth,' said the old lady. 'That's all.' + +'Bless your eyes, how I love you,' muttered Quilp. 'There she goes +again. Nothing but punch!' + +'This is an occupation,' said the lawyer, laying down his pen and +emptying his glass, 'which seems to bring him before my eyes like the +Ghost of Hamlet's father, in the very clothes that he wore on +work-a-days. His coat, his waistcoat, his shoes and stockings, his +trousers, his hat, his wit and humour, his pathos and his umbrella, all +come before me like visions of my youth. His linen!' said Mr Brass +smiling fondly at the wall, 'his linen which was always of a particular +colour, for such was his whim and fancy--how plain I see his linen now!' + +'You had better go on, sir,' said Mrs Jiniwin impatiently. + +'True, ma'am, true,' cried Mr Brass. 'Our faculties must not freeze +with grief. I'll trouble you for a little more of that, ma'am. A +question now arises, with relation to his nose.' + +'Flat,' said Mrs Jiniwin. + +'Aquiline!' cried Quilp, thrusting in his head, and striking the +feature with his fist. 'Aquiline, you hag. Do you see it? Do you +call this flat? Do you? Eh?' + +'Oh capital, capital!' shouted Brass, from the mere force of habit. +'Excellent! How very good he is! He's a most remarkable man--so +extremely whimsical! Such an amazing power of taking people by +surprise!' + +Quilp paid no regard whatever to these compliments, nor to the dubious +and frightened look into which the lawyer gradually subsided, nor to +the shrieks of his wife and mother-in-law, nor to the latter's running +from the room, nor to the former's fainting away. Keeping his eye +fixed on Sampson Brass, he walked up to the table, and beginning with +his glass, drank off the contents, and went regularly round until he +had emptied the other two, when he seized the case-bottle, and hugging +it under his arm, surveyed him with a most extraordinary leer. + +'Not yet, Sampson,' said Quilp. 'Not just yet!' + +'Oh very good indeed!' cried Brass, recovering his spirits a little. +'Ha ha ha! Oh exceedingly good! There's not another man alive who +could carry it off like that. A most difficult position to carry off. +But he has such a flow of good-humour, such an amazing flow!' + +'Good night,' said the dwarf, nodding expressively. + +'Good night, sir, good night,' cried the lawyer, retreating backwards +towards the door. 'This is a joyful occasion indeed, extremely joyful. +Ha ha ha! oh very rich, very rich indeed, remarkably so!' + +Waiting until Mr Brass's ejaculations died away in the distance (for he +continued to pour them out, all the way down stairs), Quilp advanced +towards the two men, who yet lingered in a kind of stupid amazement. + +'Have you been dragging the river all day, gentlemen?' said the dwarf, +holding the door open with great politeness. + +'And yesterday too, master.' + +'Dear me, you've had a deal of trouble. Pray consider everything yours +that you find upon the--upon the body. Good night!' + +The men looked at each other, but had evidently no inclination to argue +the point just then, and shuffled out of the room. The speedy +clearance effected, Quilp locked the doors; and still embracing the +case-bottle with shrugged-up shoulders and folded arms, stood looking +at his insensible wife like a dismounted nightmare. + + + + +CHAPTER 50 + +Matrimonial differences are usually discussed by the parties concerned +in the form of dialogue, in which the lady bears at least her full half +share. Those of Mr and Mrs Quilp, however, were an exception to the +general rule; the remarks which they occasioned being limited to a long +soliloquy on the part of the gentleman, with perhaps a few deprecatory +observations from the lady, not extending beyond a trembling +monosyllable uttered at long intervals, and in a very submissive and +humble tone. On the present occasion, Mrs Quilp did not for a long +time venture even on this gentle defence, but when she had recovered +from her fainting-fit, sat in a tearful silence, meekly listening to +the reproaches of her lord and master. + +Of these Mr Quilp delivered himself with the utmost animation and +rapidity, and with so many distortions of limb and feature, that even +his wife, although tolerably well accustomed to his proficiency in +these respects, was well-nigh beside herself with alarm. But the +Jamaica rum, and the joy of having occasioned a heavy disappointment, +by degrees cooled Mr Quilp's wrath; which from being at savage heat, +dropped slowly to the bantering or chuckling point, at which it +steadily remained. + +'So you thought I was dead and gone, did you?' said Quilp. 'You +thought you were a widow, eh? Ha, ha, ha, you jade.' + +'Indeed, Quilp,' returned his wife. 'I'm very sorry--' + +'Who doubts it!' cried the dwarf. 'You very sorry! to be sure you are. +Who doubts that you're VERY sorry!' + +'I don't mean sorry that you have come home again alive and well,' said +his wife, 'but sorry that I should have been led into such a belief. I +am glad to see you, Quilp; indeed I am.' + +In truth Mrs Quilp did seem a great deal more glad to behold her lord +than might have been expected, and did evince a degree of interest in +his safety which, all things considered, was rather unaccountable. +Upon Quilp, however, this circumstance made no impression, farther than +as it moved him to snap his fingers close to his wife's eyes, with +divers grins of triumph and derision. + +'How could you go away so long, without saying a word to me or letting +me hear of you or know anything about you?' asked the poor little +woman, sobbing. 'How could you be so cruel, Quilp?' + +'How could I be so cruel! cruel!' cried the dwarf. 'Because I was in +the humour. I'm in the humour now. I shall be cruel when I like. I'm +going away again.' + +'Not again!' + +'Yes, again. I'm going away now. I'm off directly. I mean to go and +live wherever the fancy seizes me--at the wharf--at the +counting-house--and be a jolly bachelor. You were a widow in +anticipation. Damme,' screamed the dwarf, 'I'll be a bachelor in +earnest.' + +'You can't be serious, Quilp,' sobbed his wife. + +'I tell you,' said the dwarf, exulting in his project, 'that I'll be a +bachelor, a devil-may-care bachelor; and I'll have my bachelor's hall +at the counting-house, and at such times come near it if you dare. And +mind too that I don't pounce in upon you at unseasonable hours again, +for I'll be a spy upon you, and come and go like a mole or a weazel. +Tom Scott--where's Tom Scott?' + +'Here I am, master,' cried the voice of the boy, as Quilp threw up the +window. + +'Wait there, you dog,' returned the dwarf, 'to carry a bachelor's +portmanteau. Pack it up, Mrs Quilp. Knock up the dear old lady to +help; knock her up. Halloa there! Halloa!' + +With these exclamations, Mr Quilp caught up the poker, and hurrying to +the door of the good lady's sleeping-closet, beat upon it therewith +until she awoke in inexpressible terror, thinking that her amiable +son-in-law surely intended to murder her in justification of the legs +she had slandered. Impressed with this idea, she was no sooner fairly +awake than she screamed violently, and would have quickly precipitated +herself out of the window and through a neighbouring skylight, if her +daughter had not hastened in to undeceive her, and implore her +assistance. Somewhat reassured by her account of the service she was +required to render, Mrs Jiniwin made her appearance in a flannel +dressing-gown; and both mother and daughter, trembling with terror and +cold--for the night was now far advanced--obeyed Mr Quilp's directions +in submissive silence. Prolonging his preparations as much as +possible, for their greater comfort, that eccentric gentleman +superintended the packing of his wardrobe, and having added to it with +his own hands, a plate, knife and fork, spoon, teacup and saucer, and +other small household matters of that nature, strapped up the +portmanteau, took it on his shoulders, and actually marched off without +another word, and with the case-bottle (which he had never once put +down) still tightly clasped under his arm. Consigning his heavier +burden to the care of Tom Scott when he reached the street, taking a +dram from the bottle for his own encouragement, and giving the boy a +rap on the head with it as a small taste for himself, Quilp very +deliberately led the way to the wharf, and reached it at between three +and four o'clock in the morning. + +'Snug!' said Quilp, when he had groped his way to the wooden +counting-house, and opened the door with a key he carried about with +him. 'Beautifully snug! Call me at eight, you dog.' + +With no more formal leave-taking or explanation, he clutched the +portmanteau, shut the door on his attendant, and climbing on the desk, +and rolling himself up as round as a hedgehog, in an old boat-cloak, +fell fast asleep. + +Being roused in the morning at the appointed time, and roused with +difficulty, after his late fatigues, Quilp instructed Tom Scott to make +a fire in the yard of sundry pieces of old timber, and to prepare some +coffee for breakfast; for the better furnishing of which repast he +entrusted him with certain small moneys, to be expended in the purchase +of hot rolls, butter, sugar, Yarmouth bloaters, and other articles of +housekeeping; so that in a few minutes a savoury meal was smoking on +the board. With this substantial comfort, the dwarf regaled himself to +his heart's content; and being highly satisfied with this free and +gipsy mode of life (which he had often meditated, as offering, whenever +he chose to avail himself of it, an agreeable freedom from the +restraints of matrimony, and a choice means of keeping Mrs Quilp and +her mother in a state of incessant agitation and suspense), bestirred +himself to improve his retreat, and render it more commodious and +comfortable. + +With this view, he issued forth to a place hard by, where sea-stores +were sold, purchased a second-hand hammock, and had it slung in +seamanlike fashion from the ceiling of the counting-house. He also +caused to be erected, in the same mouldy cabin, an old ship's stove +with a rusty funnel to carry the smoke through the roof; and these +arrangements completed, surveyed them with ineffable delight. + +'I've got a country-house like Robinson Crusoe,' said the dwarf, ogling +the accommodations; 'a solitary, sequestered, desolate-island sort of +spot, where I can be quite alone when I have business on hand, and be +secure from all spies and listeners. Nobody near me here, but rats, +and they are fine stealthy secret fellows. I shall be as merry as a +grig among these gentry. I'll look out for one like Christopher, and +poison him--ha, ha, ha! Business though--business--we must be mindful +of business in the midst of pleasure, and the time has flown this +morning, I declare.' + +Enjoining Tom Scott to await his return, and not to stand upon his +head, or throw a summerset, or so much as walk upon his hands +meanwhile, on pain of lingering torments, the dwarf threw himself into +a boat, and crossing to the other side of the river, and then speeding +away on foot, reached Mr Swiveller's usual house of entertainment in +Bevis Marks, just as that gentleman sat down alone to dinner in its +dusky parlour. + +'Dick,' said the dwarf, thrusting his head in at the door, 'my pet, my +pupil, the apple of my eye, hey, hey!' + +'Oh you're there, are you?' returned Mr Swiveller; 'how are you?' + +'How's Dick?' retorted Quilp. 'How's the cream of clerkship, eh?' + +'Why, rather sour, sir,' replied Mr Swiveller. 'Beginning to border +upon cheesiness, in fact.' + +'What's the matter?' said the dwarf, advancing. 'Has Sally proved +unkind. "Of all the girls that are so smart, there's none like--" eh, +Dick!' + +'Certainly not,' replied Mr Swiveller, eating his dinner with great +gravity, 'none like her. She's the sphynx of private life, is Sally B.' + +'You're out of spirits,' said Quilp, drawing up a chair. 'What's the +matter?' + +'The law don't agree with me,' returned Dick. 'It isn't moist enough, +and there's too much confinement. I have been thinking of running +away.' + +'Bah!' said the dwarf. 'Where would you run to, Dick?' + +'I don't know' returned Mr Swiveller. 'Towards Highgate, I suppose. +Perhaps the bells might strike up "Turn again Swiveller, Lord Mayor of +London." Whittington's name was Dick. I wish cats were scarcer.' + +Quilp looked at his companion with his eyes screwed up into a comical +expression of curiosity, and patiently awaited his further explanation; +upon which, however, Mr Swiveller appeared in no hurry to enter, as he +ate a very long dinner in profound silence, finally pushed away his +plate, threw himself back into his chair, folded his arms, and stared +ruefully at the fire, in which some ends of cigars were smoking on +their own account, and sending up a fragrant odour. + +'Perhaps you'd like a bit of cake'--said Dick, at last turning to the +dwarf. 'You're quite welcome to it. You ought to be, for it's of your +making.' + +'What do you mean?' said Quilp. + +Mr Swiveller replied by taking from his pocket a small and very greasy +parcel, slowly unfolding it, and displaying a little slab of plum-cake +extremely indigestible in appearance, and bordered with a paste of +white sugar an inch and a half deep. + +'What should you say this was?' demanded Mr Swiveller. + +'It looks like bride-cake,' replied the dwarf, grinning. + +'And whose should you say it was?' inquired Mr Swiveller, rubbing the +pastry against his nose with a dreadful calmness. 'Whose?' + +'Not--' + +'Yes,' said Dick, 'the same. You needn't mention her name. There's no +such name now. Her name is Cheggs now, Sophy Cheggs. Yet loved I as +man never loved that hadn't wooden legs, and my heart, my heart is +breaking for the love of Sophy Cheggs.' + +With this extemporary adaptation of a popular ballad to the distressing +circumstances of his own case, Mr Swiveller folded up the parcel again, +beat it very flat between the palms of his hands, thrust it into his +breast, buttoned his coat over it, and folded his arms upon the whole. + +'Now, I hope you're satisfied, sir,' said Dick; 'and I hope Fred's +satisfied. You went partners in the mischief, and I hope you like it. +This is the triumph I was to have, is it? It's like the old +country-dance of that name, where there are two gentlemen to one lady, +and one has her, and the other hasn't, but comes limping up behind to +make out the figure. But it's Destiny, and mine's a crusher.' + +Disguising his secret joy in Mr Swiveller's defeat, Daniel Quilp +adopted the surest means of soothing him, by ringing the bell, and +ordering in a supply of rosy wine (that is to say, of its usual +representative), which he put about with great alacrity, calling upon +Mr Swiveller to pledge him in various toasts derisive of Cheggs, and +eulogistic of the happiness of single men. Such was their impression +on Mr Swiveller, coupled with the reflection that no man could oppose +his destiny, that in a very short space of time his spirits rose +surprisingly, and he was enabled to give the dwarf an account of the +receipt of the cake, which, it appeared, had been brought to Bevis +Marks by the two surviving Miss Wackleses in person, and delivered at +the office door with much giggling and joyfulness. + +'Ha!' said Quilp. 'It will be our turn to giggle soon. And that +reminds me--you spoke of young Trent--where is he?' + +Mr Swiveller explained that his respectable friend had recently +accepted a responsible situation in a locomotive gaming-house, and was +at that time absent on a professional tour among the adventurous +spirits of Great Britain. + +'That's unfortunate,' said the dwarf, 'for I came, in fact, to ask you +about him. A thought has occurred to me, Dick; your friend over the +way--' + +'Which friend?' + +'In the first floor.' + +'Yes?' + +'Your friend in the first floor, Dick, may know him.' + +'No, he don't,' said Mr Swiveller, shaking his head. + +'Don't! No, because he has never seen him,' rejoined Quilp; 'but if we +were to bring them together, who knows, Dick, but Fred, properly +introduced, would serve his turn almost as well as little Nell or her +grandfather--who knows but it might make the young fellow's fortune, +and, through him, yours, eh?' + +'Why, the fact is, you see,' said Mr Swiveller, 'that they HAVE been +brought together.' + +'Have been!' cried the dwarf, looking suspiciously at his companion. +'Through whose means?' + +'Through mine,' said Dick, slightly confused. 'Didn't I mention it to +you the last time you called over yonder?' + +'You know you didn't,' returned the dwarf. + +'I believe you're right,' said Dick. 'No. I didn't, I recollect. Oh +yes, I brought 'em together that very day. It was Fred's suggestion.' + +'And what came of it?' + +'Why, instead of my friend's bursting into tears when he knew who Fred +was, embracing him kindly, and telling him that he was his grandfather, +or his grandmother in disguise (which we fully expected), he flew into +a tremendous passion; called him all manner of names; said it was in a +great measure his fault that little Nell and the old gentleman had ever +been brought to poverty; didn't hint at our taking anything to drink; +and--and in short rather turned us out of the room than otherwise.' + +'That's strange,' said the dwarf, musing. + +'So we remarked to each other at the time,' returned Dick coolly, 'but +quite true.' + +Quilp was plainly staggered by this intelligence, over which he brooded +for some time in moody silence, often raising his eyes to Mr +Swiveller's face, and sharply scanning its expression. As he could +read in it, however, no additional information or anything to lead him +to believe he had spoken falsely; and as Mr Swiveller, left to his own +meditations, sighed deeply, and was evidently growing maudlin on the +subject of Mrs Cheggs; the dwarf soon broke up the conference and took +his departure, leaving the bereaved one to his melancholy ruminations. + +'Have been brought together, eh?' said the dwarf as he walked the +streets alone. 'My friend has stolen a march upon me. It led him to +nothing, and therefore is no great matter, save in the intention. I'm +glad he has lost his mistress. Ha ha! The blockhead mustn't leave the +law at present. I'm sure of him where he is, whenever I want him for +my own purposes, and, besides, he's a good unconscious spy on Brass, +and tells, in his cups, all that he sees and hears. You're useful to +me, Dick, and cost nothing but a little treating now and then. I am +not sure that it may not be worth while, before long, to take credit +with the stranger, Dick, by discovering your designs upon the child; +but for the present we'll remain the best friends in the world, with +your good leave.' + +Pursuing these thoughts, and gasping as he went along, after his own +peculiar fashion, Mr Quilp once more crossed the Thames, and shut +himself up in his Bachelor's Hall, which, by reason of its +newly-erected chimney depositing the smoke inside the room and carrying +none of it off, was not quite so agreeable as more fastidious people +might have desired. Such inconveniences, however, instead of +disgusting the dwarf with his new abode, rather suited his humour; so, +after dining luxuriously from the public-house, he lighted his pipe, +and smoked against the chimney until nothing of him was visible through +the mist but a pair of red and highly inflamed eyes, with sometimes a +dim vision of his head and face, as, in a violent fit of coughing, he +slightly stirred the smoke and scattered the heavy wreaths by which +they were obscured. In the midst of this atmosphere, which must +infallibly have smothered any other man, Mr Quilp passed the evening +with great cheerfulness; solacing himself all the time with the pipe +and the case-bottle; and occasionally entertaining himself with a +melodious howl, intended for a song, but bearing not the faintest +resemblance to any scrap of any piece of music, vocal or instrumental, +ever invented by man. Thus he amused himself until nearly midnight, +when he turned into his hammock with the utmost satisfaction. + +The first sound that met his ears in the morning--as he half opened his +eyes, and, finding himself so unusually near the ceiling, entertained a +drowsy idea that he must have been transformed into a fly or +blue-bottle in the course of the night,--was that of a stifled sobbing +and weeping in the room. Peeping cautiously over the side of his +hammock, he descried Mrs Quilp, to whom, after contemplating her for +some time in silence, he communicated a violent start by suddenly +yelling out--'Halloa!' + +'Oh, Quilp!' cried his poor little wife, looking up. 'How you +frightened me!' + +'I meant to, you jade,' returned the dwarf. 'What do you want here? +I'm dead, an't I?' + +'Oh, please come home, do come home,' said Mrs Quilp, sobbing; 'we'll +never do so any more, Quilp, and after all it was only a mistake that +grew out of our anxiety.' + +'Out of your anxiety,' grinned the dwarf. 'Yes, I know that--out of +your anxiety for my death. I shall come home when I please, I tell +you. I shall come home when I please, and go when I please. I'll be a +Will o' the Wisp, now here, now there, dancing about you always, +starting up when you least expect me, and keeping you in a constant +state of restlessness and irritation. Will you begone?' + +Mrs Quilp durst only make a gesture of entreaty. + +'I tell you no,' cried the dwarf. 'No. If you dare to come here again +unless you're sent for, I'll keep watch-dogs in the yard that'll growl +and bite--I'll have man-traps, cunningly altered and improved for +catching women--I'll have spring guns, that shall explode when you +tread upon the wires, and blow you into little pieces. Will you +begone?' + +'Do forgive me. Do come back,' said his wife, earnestly. + +'No-o-o-o-o!' roared Quilp. 'Not till my own good time, and then I'll +return again as often as I choose, and be accountable to nobody for my +goings or comings. You see the door there. Will you go?' + +Mr Quilp delivered this last command in such a very energetic voice, +and moreover accompanied it with such a sudden gesture, indicative of +an intention to spring out of his hammock, and, night-capped as he was, +bear his wife home again through the public streets, that she sped away +like an arrow. Her worthy lord stretched his neck and eyes until she +had crossed the yard, and then, not at all sorry to have had this +opportunity of carrying his point, and asserting the sanctity of his +castle, fell into an immoderate fit of laughter, and laid himself down +to sleep again. + + + + +CHAPTER 51 + +The bland and open-hearted proprietor of Bachelor's Hall slept on +amidst the congenial accompaniments of rain, mud, dirt, damp, fog, and +rats, until late in the day; when, summoning his valet Tom Scott to +assist him to rise, and to prepare breakfast, he quitted his couch, and +made his toilet. This duty performed, and his repast ended, he again +betook himself to Bevis Marks. + +This visit was not intended for Mr Swiveller, but for his friend and +employer Mr Sampson Brass. Both gentlemen however were from home, nor +was the life and light of law, Miss Sally, at her post either. The +fact of their joint desertion of the office was made known to all +comers by a scrap of paper in the hand-writing of Mr Swiveller, which +was attached to the bell-handle, and which, giving the reader no clue +to the time of day when it was first posted, furnished him with the +rather vague and unsatisfactory information that that gentleman would +'return in an hour.' + +'There's a servant, I suppose,' said the dwarf, knocking at the +house-door. 'She'll do.' + +After a sufficiently long interval, the door was opened, and a small +voice immediately accosted him with, 'Oh please will you leave a card +or message?' + +'Eh?' said the dwarf, looking down, (it was something quite new to him) +upon the small servant. + +To this, the child, conducting her conversation as upon the occasion of +her first interview with Mr Swiveller, again replied, 'Oh please will +you leave a card or message?' + +'I'll write a note,' said the dwarf, pushing past her into the office; +'and mind your master has it directly he comes home.' So Mr Quilp +climbed up to the top of a tall stool to write the note, and the small +servant, carefully tutored for such emergencies, looked on with her +eyes wide open, ready, if he so much as abstracted a wafer, to rush +into the street and give the alarm to the police. + +As Mr Quilp folded his note (which was soon written: being a very short +one) he encountered the gaze of the small servant. He looked at her, +long and earnestly. + +'How are you?' said the dwarf, moistening a wafer with horrible +grimaces. + +The small servant, perhaps frightened by his looks, returned no audible +reply; but it appeared from the motion of her lips that she was +inwardly repeating the same form of expression concerning the note or +message. + +'Do they use you ill here? is your mistress a Tartar?' said Quilp with +a chuckle. + +In reply to the last interrogation, the small servant, with a look of +infinite cunning mingled with fear, screwed up her mouth very tight and +round, and nodded violently. Whether there was anything in the +peculiar slyness of her action which fascinated Mr Quilp, or anything +in the expression of her features at the moment which attracted his +attention for some other reason; or whether it merely occurred to him +as a pleasant whim to stare the small servant out of countenance; +certain it is, that he planted his elbows square and firmly on the +desk, and squeezing up his cheeks with his hands, looked at her fixedly. + +'Where do you come from?' he said after a long pause, stroking his chin. + +'I don't know.' + +'What's your name?' + +'Nothing.' + +'Nonsense!' retorted Quilp. 'What does your mistress call you when she +wants you?' + +'A little devil,' said the child. + +She added in the same breath, as if fearful of any further questioning, +'But please will you leave a card or message?' + +These unusual answers might naturally have provoked some more +inquiries. Quilp, however, without uttering another word, withdrew his +eyes from the small servant, stroked his chin more thoughtfully than +before, and then, bending over the note as if to direct it with +scrupulous and hair-breadth nicety, looked at her, covertly but very +narrowly, from under his bushy eyebrows. The result of this secret +survey was, that he shaded his face with his hands, and laughed slyly +and noiselessly, until every vein in it was swollen almost to bursting. +Pulling his hat over his brow to conceal his mirth and its effects, he +tossed the letter to the child, and hastily withdrew. + +Once in the street, moved by some secret impulse, he laughed, and held +his sides, and laughed again, and tried to peer through the dusty area +railings as if to catch another glimpse of the child, until he was +quite tired out. At last, he travelled back to the Wilderness, which +was within rifle-shot of his bachelor retreat, and ordered tea in the +wooden summer-house that afternoon for three persons; an invitation to +Miss Sally Brass and her brother to partake of that entertainment at +that place, having been the object both of his journey and his note. + +It was not precisely the kind of weather in which people usually take +tea in summer-houses, far less in summer-houses in an advanced state of +decay, and overlooking the slimy banks of a great river at low water. +Nevertheless, it was in this choice retreat that Mr Quilp ordered a +cold collation to be prepared, and it was beneath its cracked and leaky +roof that he, in due course of time, received Mr Sampson and his sister +Sally. + +'You're fond of the beauties of nature,' said Quilp with a grin. 'Is +this charming, Brass? Is it unusual, unsophisticated, primitive?' + +'It's delightful indeed, sir,' replied the lawyer. + +'Cool?' said Quilp. + +'N-not particularly so, I think, sir,' rejoined Brass, with his teeth +chattering in his head. + +'Perhaps a little damp and ague-ish?' said Quilp. + +'Just damp enough to be cheerful, sir,' rejoined Brass. 'Nothing more, +sir, nothing more.' + +'And Sally?' said the delighted dwarf. 'Does she like it?' + +'She'll like it better,' returned that strong-minded lady, 'when she +has tea; so let us have it, and don't bother.' + +'Sweet Sally!' cried Quilp, extending his arms as if about to embrace +her. 'Gentle, charming, overwhelming Sally.' + +'He's a very remarkable man indeed!' soliloquised Mr Brass. 'He's +quite a Troubadour, you know; quite a Troubadour!' + +These complimentary expressions were uttered in a somewhat absent and +distracted manner; for the unfortunate lawyer, besides having a bad +cold in his head, had got wet in coming, and would have willingly borne +some pecuniary sacrifice if he could have shifted his present raw +quarters to a warm room, and dried himself at a fire. Quilp, +however--who, beyond the gratification of his demon whims, owed Sampson +some acknowledgment of the part he had played in the mourning scene of +which he had been a hidden witness, marked these symptoms of uneasiness +with a delight past all expression, and derived from them a secret joy +which the costliest banquet could never have afforded him. + +It is worthy of remark, too, as illustrating a little feature in the +character of Miss Sally Brass, that, although on her own account she +would have borne the discomforts of the Wilderness with a very ill +grace, and would probably, indeed, have walked off before the tea +appeared, she no sooner beheld the latent uneasiness and misery of her +brother than she developed a grim satisfaction, and began to enjoy +herself after her own manner. Though the wet came stealing through the +roof and trickling down upon their heads, Miss Brass uttered no +complaint, but presided over the tea equipage with imperturbable +composure. While Mr Quilp, in his uproarious hospitality, seated +himself upon an empty beer-barrel, vaunted the place as the most +beautiful and comfortable in the three kingdoms, and elevating his +glass, drank to their next merry-meeting in that jovial spot; and Mr +Brass, with the rain plashing down into his tea-cup, made a dismal +attempt to pluck up his spirits and appear at his ease; and Tom Scott, +who was in waiting at the door under an old umbrella, exulted in his +agonies, and bade fair to split his sides with laughing; while all this +was passing, Miss Sally Brass, unmindful of the wet which dripped down +upon her own feminine person and fair apparel, sat placidly behind the +tea-board, erect and grizzly, contemplating the unhappiness of her +brother with a mind at ease, and content, in her amiable disregard of +self, to sit there all night, witnessing the torments which his +avaricious and grovelling nature compelled him to endure and forbade +him to resent. And this, it must be observed, or the illustration +would be incomplete, although in a business point of view she had the +strongest sympathy with Mr Sampson, and would have been beyond measure +indignant if he had thwarted their client in any one respect. + +In the height of his boisterous merriment, Mr Quilp, having on some +pretence dismissed his attendant sprite for the moment, resumed his +usual manner all at once, dismounted from his cask, and laid his hand +upon the lawyer's sleeve. + +'A word,' said the dwarf, 'before we go farther. Sally, hark'ee for a +minute.' + +Miss Sally drew closer, as if accustomed to business conferences with +their host which were the better for not having air. + +'Business,' said the dwarf, glancing from brother to sister. 'Very +private business. Lay your heads together when you're by yourselves.' + +'Certainly, sir,' returned Brass, taking out his pocket-book and +pencil. 'I'll take down the heads if you please, sir. Remarkable +documents,' added the lawyer, raising his eyes to the ceiling, 'most +remarkable documents. He states his points so clearly that it's a +treat to have 'em! I don't know any act of parliament that's equal to +him in clearness.' + +'I shall deprive you of a treat,' said Quilp. 'Put up your book. We +don't want any documents. So. There's a lad named Kit--' + +Miss Sally nodded, implying that she knew of him. + +'Kit!' said Mr Sampson.--'Kit! Ha! I've heard the name before, but I +don't exactly call to mind--I don't exactly--' + +'You're as slow as a tortoise, and more thick-headed than a +rhinoceros,' returned his obliging client with an impatient gesture. + +'He's extremely pleasant!' cried the obsequious Sampson. 'His +acquaintance with Natural History too is surprising. Quite a Buffoon, +quite!' + +There is no doubt that Mr Brass intended some compliment or other; and +it has been argued with show of reason that he would have said Buffon, +but made use of a superfluous vowel. Be this as it may, Quilp gave him +no time for correction, as he performed that office himself by more +than tapping him on the head with the handle of his umbrella. + +'Don't let's have any wrangling,' said Miss Sally, staying his hand. +'I've showed you that I know him, and that's enough.' + +'She's always foremost!' said the dwarf, patting her on the back and +looking contemptuously at Sampson. 'I don't like Kit, Sally.' + +'Nor I,' rejoined Miss Brass. + +'Nor I,' said Sampson. + +'Why, that's right!' cried Quilp. 'Half our work is done already. +This Kit is one of your honest people; one of your fair characters; a +prowling prying hound; a hypocrite; a double-faced, white-livered, +sneaking spy; a crouching cur to those that feed and coax him, and a +barking yelping dog to all besides.' + +'Fearfully eloquent!' cried Brass with a sneeze. 'Quite appalling!' + +'Come to the point,' said Miss Sally, 'and don't talk so much.' + +'Right again!' exclaimed Quilp, with another contemptuous look at +Sampson, 'always foremost! I say, Sally, he is a yelping, insolent dog +to all besides, and most of all, to me. In short, I owe him a grudge.' +'That's enough, sir,' said Sampson. + +'No, it's not enough, sir,' sneered Quilp; 'will you hear me out? +Besides that I owe him a grudge on that account, he thwarts me at this +minute, and stands between me and an end which might otherwise prove a +golden one to us all. Apart from that, I repeat that he crosses my +humour, and I hate him. Now, you know the lad, and can guess the rest. +Devise your own means of putting him out of my way, and execute them. +Shall it be done?' + +'It shall, sir,' said Sampson. + +'Then give me your hand,' retorted Quilp. 'Sally, girl, yours. I rely +as much, or more, on you than him. Tom Scott comes back. Lantern, +pipes, more grog, and a jolly night of it!' + +No other word was spoken, no other look exchanged, which had the +slightest reference to this, the real occasion of their meeting. The +trio were well accustomed to act together, and were linked to each +other by ties of mutual interest and advantage, and nothing more was +needed. Resuming his boisterous manner with the same ease with which +he had thrown it off, Quilp was in an instant the same uproarious, +reckless little savage he had been a few seconds before. It was ten +o'clock at night before the amiable Sally supported her beloved and +loving brother from the Wilderness, by which time he needed the utmost +support her tender frame could render; his walk being from some unknown +reason anything but steady, and his legs constantly doubling up in +unexpected places. + +Overpowered, notwithstanding his late prolonged slumbers, by the +fatigues of the last few days, the dwarf lost no time in creeping to +his dainty house, and was soon dreaming in his hammock. Leaving him to +visions, in which perhaps the quiet figures we quitted in the old +church porch were not without their share, be it our task to rejoin +them as they sat and watched. + + + + +CHAPTER 52 + +After a long time, the schoolmaster appeared at the wicket-gate of the +churchyard, and hurried towards them, tingling in his hand, as he came +along, a bundle of rusty keys. He was quite breathless with pleasure +and haste when he reached the porch, and at first could only point +towards the old building which the child had been contemplating so +earnestly. + +'You see those two old houses,' he said at last. + +'Yes, surely,' replied Nell. 'I have been looking at them nearly all +the time you have been away.' + +'And you would have looked at them more curiously yet, if you could +have guessed what I have to tell you,' said her friend. 'One of those +houses is mine.' + +Without saying any more, or giving the child time to reply, the +schoolmaster took her hand, and, his honest face quite radiant with +exultation, led her to the place of which he spoke. + +They stopped before its low arched door. After trying several of the +keys in vain, the schoolmaster found one to fit the huge lock, which +turned back, creaking, and admitted them into the house. + +The room into which they entered was a vaulted chamber once nobly +ornamented by cunning architects, and still retaining, in its beautiful +groined roof and rich stone tracery, choice remnants of its ancient +splendour. Foliage carved in the stone, and emulating the mastery of +Nature's hand, yet remained to tell how many times the leaves outside +had come and gone, while it lived on unchanged. The broken figures +supporting the burden of the chimney-piece, though mutilated, were +still distinguishable for what they had been--far different from the +dust without--and showed sadly by the empty hearth, like creatures who +had outlived their kind, and mourned their own too slow decay. + +In some old time--for even change was old in that old place--a wooden +partition had been constructed in one part of the chamber to form a +sleeping-closet, into which the light was admitted at the same period +by a rude window, or rather niche, cut in the solid wall. This screen, +together with two seats in the broad chimney, had at some forgotten +date been part of the church or convent; for the oak, hastily +appropriated to its present purpose, had been little altered from its +former shape, and presented to the eye a pile of fragments of rich +carving from old monkish stalls. + +An open door leading to a small room or cell, dim with the light that +came through leaves of ivy, completed the interior of this portion of +the ruin. It was not quite destitute of furniture. A few strange +chairs, whose arms and legs looked as though they had dwindled away +with age; a table, the very spectre of its race: a great old chest that +had once held records in the church, with other quaintly-fashioned +domestic necessaries, and store of fire-wood for the winter, were +scattered around, and gave evident tokens of its occupation as a +dwelling-place at no very distant time. + +The child looked around her, with that solemn feeling with which we +contemplate the work of ages that have become but drops of water in the +great ocean of eternity. The old man had followed them, but they were +all three hushed for a space, and drew their breath softly, as if they +feared to break the silence even by so slight a sound. + +'It is a very beautiful place!' said the child, in a low voice. + +'I almost feared you thought otherwise,' returned the schoolmaster. +'You shivered when we first came in, as if you felt it cold or gloomy.' + +'It was not that,' said Nell, glancing round with a slight shudder. +'Indeed I cannot tell you what it was, but when I saw the outside, from +the church porch, the same feeling came over me. It is its being so +old and grey perhaps.' + +'A peaceful place to live in, don't you think so?' said her friend. + +'Oh yes,' rejoined the child, clasping her hands earnestly. 'A quiet, +happy place--a place to live and learn to die in!' She would have said +more, but that the energy of her thoughts caused her voice to falter, +and come in trembling whispers from her lips. + + +'A place to live, and learn to live, and gather health of mind and body +in,' said the schoolmaster; 'for this old house is yours.' + +'Ours!' cried the child. + +'Ay,' returned the schoolmaster gaily, 'for many a merry year to come, +I hope. I shall be a close neighbour--only next door--but this house +is yours.' + +Having now disburdened himself of his great surprise, the schoolmaster +sat down, and drawing Nell to his side, told her how he had learnt that +ancient tenement had been occupied for a very long time by an old +person, nearly a hundred years of age, who kept the keys of the church, +opened and closed it for the services, and showed it to strangers; how +she had died not many weeks ago, and nobody had yet been found to fill +the office; how, learning all this in an interview with the sexton, who +was confined to his bed by rheumatism, he had been bold to make mention +of his fellow-traveller, which had been so favourably received by that +high authority, that he had taken courage, acting on his advice, to +propound the matter to the clergyman. In a word, the result of his +exertions was, that Nell and her grandfather were to be carried before +the last-named gentleman next day; and, his approval of their conduct +and appearance reserved as a matter of form, that they were already +appointed to the vacant post. + +'There's a small allowance of money,' said the schoolmaster. 'It is +not much, but still enough to live upon in this retired spot. By +clubbing our funds together, we shall do bravely; no fear of that.' + +'Heaven bless and prosper you!' sobbed the child. + +'Amen, my dear,' returned her friend cheerfully; 'and all of us, as it +will, and has, in leading us through sorrow and trouble to this +tranquil life. But we must look at MY house now. Come!' + +They repaired to the other tenement; tried the rusty keys as before; at +length found the right one; and opened the worm-eaten door. It led +into a chamber, vaulted and old, like that from which they had come, +but not so spacious, and having only one other little room attached. +It was not difficult to divine that the other house was of right the +schoolmaster's, and that he had chosen for himself the least +commodious, in his care and regard for them. Like the adjoining +habitation, it held such old articles of furniture as were absolutely +necessary, and had its stack of fire-wood. + +To make these dwellings as habitable and full of comfort as they could, +was now their pleasant care. In a short time, each had its cheerful +fire glowing and crackling on the hearth, and reddening the pale old +wall with a hale and healthy blush. Nell, busily plying her needle, +repaired the tattered window-hangings, drew together the rents that +time had worn in the threadbare scraps of carpet, and made them whole +and decent. The schoolmaster swept and smoothed the ground before the +door, trimmed the long grass, trained the ivy and creeping plants which +hung their drooping heads in melancholy neglect; and gave to the outer +walls a cheery air of home. The old man, sometimes by his side and +sometimes with the child, lent his aid to both, went here and there on +little patient services, and was happy. Neighbours, too, as they came +from work, proffered their help; or sent their children with such small +presents or loans as the strangers needed most. It was a busy day; and +night came on, and found them wondering that there was yet so much to +do, and that it should be dark so soon. + +They took their supper together, in the house which may be henceforth +called the child's; and, when they had finished their meal, drew round +the fire, and almost in whispers--their hearts were too quiet and glad +for loud expression--discussed their future plans. Before they +separated, the schoolmaster read some prayers aloud; and then, full of +gratitude and happiness, they parted for the night. + +At that silent hour, when her grandfather was sleeping peacefully in +his bed, and every sound was hushed, the child lingered before the +dying embers, and thought of her past fortunes as if they had been a +dream And she only now awoke. The glare of the sinking flame, +reflected in the oaken panels whose carved tops were dimly seen in the +dusky roof--the aged walls, where strange shadows came and went with +every flickering of the fire--the solemn presence, within, of that +decay which falls on senseless things the most enduring in their +nature: and, without, and round about on every side, of Death--filled +her with deep and thoughtful feelings, but with none of terror or +alarm. A change had been gradually stealing over her, in the time of +her loneliness and sorrow. With failing strength and heightening +resolution, there had sprung up a purified and altered mind; there had +grown in her bosom blessed thoughts and hopes, which are the portion of +few but the weak and drooping. There were none to see the frail, +perishable figure, as it glided from the fire and leaned pensively at +the open casement; none but the stars, to look into the upturned face +and read its history. The old church bell rang out the hour with a +mournful sound, as if it had grown sad from so much communing with the +dead and unheeded warning to the living; the fallen leaves rustled; the +grass stirred upon the graves; all else was still and sleeping. + +Some of those dreamless sleepers lay close within the shadow of the +church--touching the wall, as if they clung to it for comfort and +protection. Others had chosen to lie beneath the changing shade of +trees; others by the path, that footsteps might come near them; others, +among the graves of little children. Some had desired to rest beneath +the very ground they had trodden in their daily walks; some, where the +setting sun might shine upon their beds; some, where its light would +fall upon them when it rose. Perhaps not one of the imprisoned souls +had been able quite to separate itself in living thought from its old +companion. If any had, it had still felt for it a love like that which +captives have been known to bear towards the cell in which they have +been long confined, and, even at parting, hung upon its narrow bounds +affectionately. + +It was long before the child closed the window, and approached her bed. +Again something of the same sensation as before--an involuntary +chill--a momentary feeling akin to fear--but vanishing directly, and +leaving no alarm behind. Again, too, dreams of the little scholar; of +the roof opening, and a column of bright faces, rising far away into +the sky, as she had seen in some old scriptural picture once, and +looking down on her, asleep. It was a sweet and happy dream. The +quiet spot, outside, seemed to remain the same, saving that there was +music in the air, and a sound of angels' wings. After a time the +sisters came there, hand in hand, and stood among the graves. And then +the dream grew dim, and faded. + +With the brightness and joy of morning, came the renewal of yesterday's +labours, the revival of its pleasant thoughts, the restoration of its +energies, cheerfulness, and hope. They worked gaily in ordering and +arranging their houses until noon, and then went to visit the clergyman. + +He was a simple-hearted old gentleman, of a shrinking, subdued spirit, +accustomed to retirement, and very little acquainted with the world, +which he had left many years before to come and settle in that place. +His wife had died in the house in which he still lived, and he had long +since lost sight of any earthly cares or hopes beyond it. + +He received them very kindly, and at once showed an interest in Nell; +asking her name, and age, her birthplace, the circumstances which had +led her there, and so forth. The schoolmaster had already told her +story. They had no other friends or home to leave, he said, and had +come to share his fortunes. He loved the child as though she were his +own. + +'Well, well,' said the clergyman. 'Let it be as you desire. She is +very young.' + +'Old in adversity and trial, sir,' replied the schoolmaster. + +'God help her. Let her rest, and forget them,' said the old gentleman. +'But an old church is a dull and gloomy place for one so young as you, +my child.' + +'Oh no, sir,' returned Nell. 'I have no such thoughts, indeed.' + +'I would rather see her dancing on the green at nights,' said the old +gentleman, laying his hand upon her head, and smiling sadly, 'than have +her sitting in the shadow of our mouldering arches. You must look to +this, and see that her heart does not grow heavy among these solemn +ruins. Your request is granted, friend.' + +After more kind words, they withdrew, and repaired to the child's +house; where they were yet in conversation on their happy fortune, when +another friend appeared. + +This was a little old gentleman, who lived in the parsonage-house, and +had resided there (so they learnt soon afterwards) ever since the death +of the clergyman's wife, which had happened fifteen years before. He +had been his college friend and always his close companion; in the +first shock of his grief he had come to console and comfort him; and +from that time they had never parted company. The little old gentleman +was the active spirit of the place, the adjuster of all differences, +the promoter of all merry-makings, the dispenser of his friend's +bounty, and of no small charity of his own besides; the universal +mediator, comforter, and friend. None of the simple villagers had +cared to ask his name, or, when they knew it, to store it in their +memory. Perhaps from some vague rumour of his college honours which +had been whispered abroad on his first arrival, perhaps because he was +an unmarried, unencumbered gentleman, he had been called the bachelor. +The name pleased him, or suited him as well as any other, and the +Bachelor he had ever since remained. And the bachelor it was, it may +be added, who with his own hands had laid in the stock of fuel which +the wanderers had found in their new habitation. + +The bachelor, then--to call him by his usual appellation--lifted the +latch, showed his little round mild face for a moment at the door, and +stepped into the room like one who was no stranger to it. + +'You are Mr Marton, the new schoolmaster?' he said, greeting Nell's +kind friend. + +'I am, sir.' + +'You come well recommended, and I am glad to see you. I should have +been in the way yesterday, expecting you, but I rode across the country +to carry a message from a sick mother to her daughter in service some +miles off, and have but just now returned. This is our young +church-keeper? You are not the less welcome, friend, for her sake, or +for this old man's; nor the worse teacher for having learnt humanity.' +'She has been ill, sir, very lately,' said the schoolmaster, in answer +to the look with which their visitor regarded Nell when he had kissed +her cheek. + +'Yes, yes. I know she has,' he rejoined. 'There have been suffering +and heartache here.' + +'Indeed there have, sir.' + +The little old gentleman glanced at the grandfather, and back again at +the child, whose hand he took tenderly in his, and held. + +'You will be happier here,' he said; 'we will try, at least, to make +you so. You have made great improvements here already. Are they the +work of your hands?' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'We may make some others--not better in themselves, but with better +means perhaps,' said the bachelor. 'Let us see now, let us see.' + +Nell accompanied him into the other little rooms, and over both the +houses, in which he found various small comforts wanting, which he +engaged to supply from a certain collection of odds and ends he had at +home, and which must have been a very miscellaneous and extensive one, +as it comprehended the most opposite articles imaginable. They all +came, however, and came without loss of time; for the little old +gentleman, disappearing for some five or ten minutes, presently +returned, laden with old shelves, rugs, blankets, and other household +gear, and followed by a boy bearing a similar load. These being cast +on the floor in a promiscuous heap, yielded a quantity of occupation in +arranging, erecting, and putting away; the superintendence of which +task evidently afforded the old gentleman extreme delight, and engaged +him for some time with great briskness and activity. When nothing more +was left to be done, he charged the boy to run off and bring his +schoolmates to be marshalled before their new master, and solemnly +reviewed. + +'As good a set of fellows, Marton, as you'd wish to see,' he said, +turning to the schoolmaster when the boy was gone; 'but I don't let 'em +know I think so. That wouldn't do, at all.' + +The messenger soon returned at the head of a long row of urchins, great +and small, who, being confronted by the bachelor at the house door, +fell into various convulsions of politeness; clutching their hats and +caps, squeezing them into the smallest possible dimensions, and making +all manner of bows and scrapes, which the little old gentleman +contemplated with excessive satisfaction, and expressed his approval of +by a great many nods and smiles. Indeed, his approbation of the boys +was by no means so scrupulously disguised as he had led the +schoolmaster to suppose, inasmuch as it broke out in sundry loud +whispers and confidential remarks which were perfectly audible to them +every one. + +'This first boy, schoolmaster,' said the bachelor, 'is John +Owen; a lad of good parts, sir, and frank, honest temper; but too +thoughtless, too playful, too light-headed by far. That boy, my good +sir, would break his neck with pleasure, and deprive his parents of +their chief comfort--and between ourselves, when you come to see him at +hare and hounds, taking the fence and ditch by the finger-post, and +sliding down the face of the little quarry, you'll never forget it. +It's beautiful!' + +John Owen having been thus rebuked, and being in perfect possession of +the speech aside, the bachelor singled out another boy. + +'Now, look at that lad, sir,' said the bachelor. 'You see that fellow? +Richard Evans his name is, sir. An amazing boy to learn, blessed with +a good memory, and a ready understanding, and moreover with a good +voice and ear for psalm-singing, in which he is the best among us. +Yet, sir, that boy will come to a bad end; he'll never die in his bed; +he's always falling asleep in sermon-time--and to tell you the truth, +Mr Marton, I always did the same at his age, and feel quite certain +that it was natural to my constitution and I couldn't help it.' + +This hopeful pupil edified by the above terrible reproval, the bachelor +turned to another. + +'But if we talk of examples to be shunned,' said he, 'if we come to +boys that should be a warning and a beacon to all their fellows, here's +the one, and I hope you won't spare him. This is the lad, sir; this +one with the blue eyes and light hair. This is a swimmer, sir, this +fellow--a diver, Lord save us! This is a boy, sir, who had a fancy for +plunging into eighteen feet of water, with his clothes on, and bringing +up a blind man's dog, who was being drowned by the weight of his chain +and collar, while his master stood wringing his hands upon the bank, +bewailing the loss of his guide and friend. I sent the boy two guineas +anonymously, sir,' added the bachelor, in his peculiar whisper, +'directly I heard of it; but never mention it on any account, for he +hasn't the least idea that it came from me.' + +Having disposed of this culprit, the bachelor turned to another, and +from him to another, and so on through the whole array, laying, for +their wholesome restriction within due bounds, the same cutting +emphasis on such of their propensities as were dearest to his heart and +were unquestionably referrable to his own precept and example. +Thoroughly persuaded, in the end, that he had made them miserable by +his severity, he dismissed them with a small present, and an admonition +to walk quietly home, without any leapings, scufflings, or turnings out +of the way; which injunction, he informed the schoolmaster in the same +audible confidence, he did not think he could have obeyed when he was a +boy, had his life depended on it. + +Hailing these little tokens of the bachelor's disposition as so many +assurances of his own welcome course from that time, the schoolmaster +parted from him with a light heart and joyous spirits, and deemed +himself one of the happiest men on earth. The windows of the two old +houses were ruddy again, that night, with the reflection of the +cheerful fires that burnt within; and the bachelor and his friend, +pausing to look upon them as they returned from their evening walk, +spoke softly together of the beautiful child, and looked round upon the +churchyard with a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER 53 + +Nell was stirring early in the morning, and having discharged her +household tasks, and put everything in order for the good schoolmaster +(though sorely against his will, for he would have spared her the +pains), took down, from its nail by the fireside, a little bundle of +keys with which the bachelor had formally invested her on the previous +day, and went out alone to visit the old church. + +The sky was serene and bright, the air clear, perfumed with the fresh +scent of newly fallen leaves, and grateful to every sense. The +neighbouring stream sparkled, and rolled onward with a tuneful sound; +the dew glistened on the green mounds, like tears shed by Good Spirits +over the dead. Some young children sported among the tombs, and hid +from each other, with laughing faces. They had an infant with them, +and had laid it down asleep upon a child's grave, in a little bed of +leaves. It was a new grave--the resting-place, perhaps, of some little +creature, who, meek and patient in its illness, had often sat and +watched them, and now seemed, to their minds, scarcely changed. + +She drew near and asked one of them whose grave it was. The child +answered that that was not its name; it was a garden--his brother's. +It was greener, he said, than all the other gardens, and the birds +loved it better because he had been used to feed them. When he had +done speaking, he looked at her with a smile, and kneeling down and +nestling for a moment with his cheek against the turf, bounded merrily +away. + +She passed the church, gazing upward at its old tower, went through the +wicket gate, and so into the village. The old sexton, leaning on a +crutch, was taking the air at his cottage door, and gave her good +morrow. + +'You are better?' said the child, stopping to speak with him. + +'Ay surely,' returned the old man. 'I'm thankful to say, much better.' + +'_You_ will be quite well soon.' + +'With Heaven's leave, and a little patience. But come in, come in!' +The old man limped on before, and warning her of the downward step, +which he achieved himself with no small difficulty, led the way into +his little cottage. + +'It is but one room you see. There is another up above, but the stair +has got harder to climb o' late years, and I never use it. I'm +thinking of taking to it again, next summer, though.' + +The child wondered how a grey-headed man like him--one of his trade +too--could talk of time so easily. He saw her eyes wandering to the +tools that hung upon the wall, and smiled. + +'I warrant now,' he said, 'that you think all those are used in making +graves.' + +'Indeed, I wondered that you wanted so many.' + +'And well you might. I am a gardener. I dig the ground, and plant +things that are to live and grow. My works don't all moulder away, and +rot in the earth. You see that spade in the centre?' + +'The very old one--so notched and worn? Yes.' + +'That's the sexton's spade, and it's a well-used one, as you see. +We're healthy people here, but it has done a power of work. If it +could speak now, that spade, it would tell you of many an unexpected +job that it and I have done together; but I forget 'em, for my memory's +a poor one.--That's nothing new,' he added hastily. 'It always was.' + +'There are flowers and shrubs to speak to your other work,' said the +child. + +'Oh yes. And tall trees. But they are not so separate from the +sexton's labours as you think.' + +'No!' + +'Not in my mind, and recollection--such as it is,' said the old man. +'Indeed they often help it. For say that I planted such a tree for +such a man. There it stands, to remind me that he died. When I look +at its broad shadow, and remember what it was in his time, it helps me +to the age of my other work, and I can tell you pretty nearly when I +made his grave.' + +'But it may remind you of one who is still alive,' said the child. + +'Of twenty that are dead, in connexion with that one who lives, then,' +rejoined the old man; 'wife, husband, parents, brothers, sisters, +children, friends--a score at least. So it happens that the sexton's +spade gets worn and battered. I shall need a new one--next summer.' + +The child looked quickly towards him, thinking that he jested with his +age and infirmity: but the unconscious sexton was quite in earnest. + +'Ah!' he said, after a brief silence. 'People never learn. They never +learn. It's only we who turn up the ground, where nothing grows and +everything decays, who think of such things as these--who think of +them properly, I mean. You have been into the church?' + +'I am going there now,' the child replied. + +'There's an old well there,' said the sexton, 'right underneath the +belfry; a deep, dark, echoing well. Forty year ago, you had only to +let down the bucket till the first knot in the rope was free of the +windlass, and you heard it splashing in the cold dull water. By little +and little the water fell away, so that in ten year after that, a +second knot was made, and you must unwind so much rope, or the bucket +swung tight and empty at the end. In ten years' time, the water fell +again, and a third knot was made. In ten years more, the well dried +up; and now, if you lower the bucket till your arms are tired, and let +out nearly all the cord, you'll hear it, of a sudden, clanking and +rattling on the ground below; with a sound of being so deep and so far +down, that your heart leaps into your mouth, and you start away as if +you were falling in.' + +'A dreadful place to come on in the dark!' exclaimed the child, who had +followed the old man's looks and words until she seemed to stand upon +its brink. + +'What is it but a grave!' said the sexton. 'What else! And which of +our old folks, knowing all this, thought, as the spring subsided, of +their own failing strength, and lessening life? Not one!' + +'Are you very old yourself?' asked the child, involuntarily. + +'I shall be seventy-nine--next summer.' + +'You still work when you are well?' + +'Work! To be sure. You shall see my gardens hereabout. Look at the +window there. I made, and have kept, that plot of ground entirely with +my own hands. By this time next year I shall hardly see the sky, the +boughs will have grown so thick. I have my winter work at night +besides.' + +He opened, as he spoke, a cupboard close to where he sat, and produced +some miniature boxes, carved in a homely manner and made of old wood. + +'Some gentlefolks who are fond of ancient days, and what belongs to +them,' he said, 'like to buy these keepsakes from our church and ruins. +Sometimes, I make them of scraps of oak, that turn up here and there; +sometimes of bits of coffins which the vaults have long preserved. See +here--this is a little chest of the last kind, clasped at the edges +with fragments of brass plates that had writing on 'em once, though it +would be hard to read it now. I haven't many by me at this time of +year, but these shelves will be full--next summer.' + +The child admired and praised his work, and shortly afterwards +departed; thinking, as she went, how strange it was, that this old man, +drawing from his pursuits, and everything around him, one stern moral, +never contemplated its application to himself; and, while he dwelt upon +the uncertainty of human life, seemed both in word and deed to deem +himself immortal. But her musings did not stop here, for she was wise +enough to think that by a good and merciful adjustment this must be +human nature, and that the old sexton, with his plans for next summer, +was but a type of all mankind. + +Full of these meditations, she reached the church. It was easy to find +the key belonging to the outer door, for each was labelled on a scrap +of yellow parchment. Its very turning in the lock awoke a hollow +sound, and when she entered with a faltering step, the echoes that it +raised in closing, made her start. + +If the peace of the simple village had moved the child more strongly, +because of the dark and troubled ways that lay beyond, and through +which she had journeyed with such failing feet, what was the deep +impression of finding herself alone in that solemn building, where the +very light, coming through sunken windows, seemed old and grey, and the +air, redolent of earth and mould, seemed laden with decay, purified by +time of all its grosser particles, and sighing through arch and aisle, +and clustered pillars, like the breath of ages gone! Here was the +broken pavement, worn, so long ago, by pious feet, that Time, stealing +on the pilgrims' steps, had trodden out their track, and left but +crumbling stones. Here were the rotten beam, the sinking arch, the +sapped and mouldering wall, the lowly trench of earth, the stately tomb +on which no epitaph remained--all--marble, stone, iron, wood, and +dust--one common monument of ruin. The best work and the worst, the +plainest and the richest, the stateliest and the least imposing--both +of Heaven's work and Man's--all found one common level here, and told +one common tale. + +Some part of the edifice had been a baronial chapel, and here were +effigies of warriors stretched upon their beds of stone with folded +hands--cross-legged, those who had fought in the Holy Wars--girded +with their swords, and cased in armour as they had lived. Some of +these knights had their own weapons, helmets, coats of mail, hanging +upon the walls hard by, and dangling from rusty hooks. Broken and +dilapidated as they were, they yet retained their ancient form, and +something of their ancient aspect. Thus violent deeds live after men +upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in +mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but +atoms of earth themselves. + +The child sat down, in this old, silent place, among the stark figures +on the tombs--they made it more quiet there, than elsewhere, to her +fancy--and gazing round with a feeling of awe, tempered with a calm +delight, felt that now she was happy, and at rest. She took a Bible +from the shelf, and read; then, laying it down, thought of the summer +days and the bright springtime that would come--of the rays of sun that +would fall in aslant, upon the sleeping forms--of the leaves that would +flutter at the window, and play in glistening shadows on the +pavement--of the songs of birds, and growth of buds and blossoms out of +doors--of the sweet air, that would steal in, and gently wave the +tattered banners overhead. What if the spot awakened thoughts of +death! Die who would, it would still remain the same; these sights and +sounds would still go on, as happily as ever. It would be no pain to +sleep amidst them. + +She left the chapel--very slowly and often turning back to gaze +again--and coming to a low door, which plainly led into the tower, +opened it, and climbed the winding stair in darkness; save where she +looked down, through narrow loopholes, on the place she had left, or +caught a glimmering vision of the dusty bells. At length she gained +the end of the ascent and stood upon the turret top. + +Oh! the glory of the sudden burst of light; the freshness of the fields +and woods, stretching away on every side, and meeting the bright blue +sky; the cattle grazing in the pasturage; the smoke, that, coming from +among the trees, seemed to rise upward from the green earth; the +children yet at their gambols down below--all, everything, so beautiful +and happy! It was like passing from death to life; it was drawing +nearer Heaven. + +The children were gone, when she emerged into the porch, and locked the +door. As she passed the school-house she could hear the busy hum of +voices. Her friend had begun his labours only on that day. The noise +grew louder, and, looking back, she saw the boys come trooping out and +disperse themselves with merry shouts and play. 'It's a good thing,' +thought the child, 'I am very glad they pass the church.' And then she +stopped, to fancy how the noise would sound inside, and how gently it +would seem to die away upon the ear. + +Again that day, yes, twice again, she stole back to the old chapel, and +in her former seat read from the same book, or indulged the same quiet +train of thought. Even when it had grown dusk, and the shadows of +coming night made it more solemn still, the child remained, like one +rooted to the spot, and had no fear or thought of stirring. + +They found her there, at last, and took her home. She looked pale but +very happy, until they separated for the night; and then, as the poor +schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek, he thought he felt a tear +upon his face. + + + + +CHAPTER 54 + +The bachelor, among his various occupations, found in the old church a +constant source of interest and amusement. Taking that pride in it +which men conceive for the wonders of their own little world, he had +made its history his study; and many a summer day within its walls, and +many a winter's night beside the parsonage fire, had found the bachelor +still poring over, and adding to, his goodly store of tale and legend. + +As he was not one of those rough spirits who would strip fair Truth of +every little shadowy vestment in which time and teeming fancies love to +array her--and some of which become her pleasantly enough, serving, +like the waters of her well, to add new graces to the charms they half +conceal and half suggest, and to awaken interest and pursuit rather +than languor and indifference--as, unlike this stern and obdurate +class, he loved to see the goddess crowned with those garlands of wild +flowers which tradition wreathes for her gentle wearing, and which are +often freshest in their homeliest shapes--he trod with a light step and +bore with a light hand upon the dust of centuries, unwilling to +demolish any of the airy shrines that had been raised above it, if any +good feeling or affection of the human heart were hiding thereabouts. +Thus, in the case of an ancient coffin of rough stone, supposed, for +many generations, to contain the bones of a certain baron, who, after +ravaging, with cut, and thrust, and plunder, in foreign lands, came +back with a penitent and sorrowing heart to die at home, but which had +been lately shown by learned antiquaries to be no such thing, as the +baron in question (so they contended) had died hard in battle, gnashing +his teeth and cursing with his latest breath--the bachelor stoutly +maintained that the old tale was the true one; that the baron, +repenting him of the evil, had done great charities and meekly given up +the ghost; and that, if ever baron went to heaven, that baron was then +at peace. In like manner, when the aforesaid antiquaries did argue and +contend that a certain secret vault was not the tomb of a grey-haired +lady who had been hanged and drawn and quartered by glorious Queen Bess +for succouring a wretched priest who fainted of thirst and hunger at +her door, the bachelor did solemnly maintain, against all comers, that +the church was hallowed by the said poor lady's ashes; that her remains +had been collected in the night from four of the city's gates, and +thither in secret brought, and there deposited; and the bachelor did +further (being highly excited at such times) deny the glory of Queen +Bess, and assert the immeasurably greater glory of the meanest woman in +her realm, who had a merciful and tender heart. As to the assertion +that the flat stone near the door was not the grave of the miser who +had disowned his only child and left a sum of money to the church to +buy a peal of bells, the bachelor did readily admit the same, and that +the place had given birth to no such man. In a word, he would have had +every stone, and plate of brass, the monument only of deeds whose +memory should survive. All others he was willing to forget. They +might be buried in consecrated ground, but he would have had them +buried deep, and never brought to light again. + +It was from the lips of such a tutor, that the child learnt her easy +task. Already impressed, beyond all telling, by the silent building +and the peaceful beauty of the spot in which it stood--majestic age +surrounded by perpetual youth--it seemed to her, when she heard these +things, sacred to all goodness and virtue. It was another world, where +sin and sorrow never came; a tranquil place of rest, where nothing evil +entered. + +When the bachelor had given her in connection with almost every tomb +and flat grave-stone some history of its own, he took her down into the +old crypt, now a mere dull vault, and showed her how it had been +lighted up in the time of the monks, and how, amid lamps depending from +the roof, and swinging censers exhaling scented odours, and habits +glittering with gold and silver, and pictures, and precious stuffs, and +jewels all flashing and glistening through the low arches, the chaunt +of aged voices had been many a time heard there, at midnight, in old +days, while hooded figures knelt and prayed around, and told their +rosaries of beads. Thence, he took her above ground again, and showed +her, high up in the old walls, small galleries, where the nuns had been +wont to glide along--dimly seen in their dark dresses so far off--or +to pause like gloomy shadows, listening to the prayers. He showed her +too, how the warriors, whose figures rested on the tombs, had worn +those rotting scraps of armour up above--how this had been a helmet, +and that a shield, and that a gauntlet--and how they had wielded the +great two-handed swords, and beaten men down, with yonder iron mace. +All that he told the child she treasured in her mind; and sometimes, +when she awoke at night from dreams of those old times, and rising from +her bed looked out at the dark church, she almost hoped to see the +windows lighted up, and hear the organ's swell, and sound of voices, on +the rushing wind. + +The old sexton soon got better, and was about again. From him the +child learnt many other things, though of a different kind. He was not +able to work, but one day there was a grave to be made, and he came to +overlook the man who dug it. He was in a talkative mood; and the +child, at first standing by his side, and afterwards sitting on the +grass at his feet, with her thoughtful face raised towards his, began +to converse with him. + +Now, the man who did the sexton's duty was a little older than he, +though much more active. But he was deaf; and when the sexton (who +peradventure, on a pinch, might have walked a mile with great +difficulty in half-a-dozen hours) exchanged a remark with him about his +work, the child could not help noticing that he did so with an +impatient kind of pity for his infirmity, as if he were himself the +strongest and heartiest man alive. + +'I'm sorry to see there is this to do,' said the child when she +approached. 'I heard of no one having died.' + +'She lived in another hamlet, my dear,' returned the sexton. 'Three +mile away.' + +'Was she young?' + +'Ye-yes' said the sexton; not more than sixty-four, I think. David, +was she more than sixty-four?' + +David, who was digging hard, heard nothing of the question. The +sexton, as he could not reach to touch him with his crutch, and was too +infirm to rise without assistance, called his attention by throwing a +little mould upon his red nightcap. + +'What's the matter now?' said David, looking up. + +'How old was Becky Morgan?' asked the sexton. + +'Becky Morgan?' repeated David. + +'Yes,' replied the sexton; adding in a half compassionate, half +irritable tone, which the old man couldn't hear, 'you're getting very +deaf, Davy, very deaf to be sure!' + +The old man stopped in his work, and cleansing his spade with a piece +of slate he had by him for the purpose--and scraping off, in the +process, the essence of Heaven knows how many Becky Morgans--set +himself to consider the subject. + +'Let me think' quoth he. 'I saw last night what they had put upon the +coffin--was it seventy-nine?' + +'No, no,' said the sexton. + +'Ah yes, it was though,' returned the old man with a sigh. 'For I +remember thinking she was very near our age. Yes, it was seventy-nine.' + +'Are you sure you didn't mistake a figure, Davy?' asked the sexton, +with signs of some emotion. + +'What?' said the old man. 'Say that again.' + +'He's very deaf. He's very deaf indeed,' cried the sexton petulantly; +'are you sure you're right about the figures?' + +'Oh quite,' replied the old man. 'Why not?' + +'He's exceedingly deaf,' muttered the sexton to himself. 'I think he's +getting foolish.' + +The child rather wondered what had led him to this belief, as, to say +the truth, the old man seemed quite as sharp as he, and was infinitely +more robust. As the sexton said nothing more just then, however, she +forgot it for the time, and spoke again. + +'You were telling me,' she said, 'about your gardening. Do you ever +plant things here?' + +'In the churchyard?' returned the sexton, 'Not I.' + +'I have seen some flowers and little shrubs about,' the child rejoined; +'there are some over there, you see. I thought they were of your +rearing, though indeed they grow but poorly.' + +'They grow as Heaven wills,' said the old man; 'and it kindly ordains +that they shall never flourish here.' + +'I do not understand you.' + +'Why, this it is,' said the sexton. 'They mark the graves of those who +had very tender, loving friends.' + +'I was sure they did!' the child exclaimed. 'I am very glad to know +they do!' + +'Aye,' returned the old man, 'but stay. Look at them. See how they +hang their heads, and droop, and wither. Do you guess the reason?' + +'No,' the child replied. + +'Because the memory of those who lie below, passes away so soon. At +first they tend them, morning, noon, and night; they soon begin to come +less frequently; from once a day, to once a week; from once a week to +once a month; then, at long and uncertain intervals; then, not at all. +Such tokens seldom flourish long. I have known the briefest summer +flowers outlive them.' + +'I grieve to hear it,' said the child. + +'Ah! so say the gentlefolks who come down here to look about them,' +returned the old man, shaking his head, 'but I say otherwise. "It's a +pretty custom you have in this part of the country," they say to me +sometimes, "to plant the graves, but it's melancholy to see these +things all withering or dead." I crave their pardon and tell them that, +as I take it, 'tis a good sign for the happiness of the living. And so +it is. It's nature.' + +'Perhaps the mourners learn to look to the blue sky by day, and to the +stars by night, and to think that the dead are there, and not in +graves,' said the child in an earnest voice. + +'Perhaps so,' replied the old man doubtfully. 'It may be.' + +'Whether it be as I believe it is, or no,' thought the child within +herself, 'I'll make this place my garden. It will be no harm at least +to work here day by day, and pleasant thoughts will come of it, I am +sure.' + +Her glowing cheek and moistened eye passed unnoticed by the sexton, who +turned towards old David, and called him by his name. It was plain +that Becky Morgan's age still troubled him; though why, the child could +scarcely understand. + +The second or third repetition of his name attracted the old man's +attention. Pausing from his work, he leant on his spade, and put his +hand to his dull ear. + +'Did you call?' he said. + +'I have been thinking, Davy,' replied the sexton, 'that she,' he +pointed to the grave, 'must have been a deal older than you or me.' + +'Seventy-nine,' answered the old man with a shake of the head, 'I tell +you that I saw it.' + +'Saw it?' replied the sexton; 'aye, but, Davy, women don't always tell +the truth about their age.' + +'That's true indeed,' said the other old man, with a sudden sparkle in +his eye. 'She might have been older.' + +'I'm sure she must have been. Why, only think how old she looked. You +and I seemed but boys to her.' + +'She did look old,' rejoined David. 'You're right. She did look old.' + +'Call to mind how old she looked for many a long, long year, and say if +she could be but seventy-nine at last--only our age,' said the sexton. + +'Five year older at the very least!' cried the other. + +'Five!' retorted the sexton. 'Ten. Good eighty-nine. I call to mind +the time her daughter died. She was eighty-nine if she was a day, and +tries to pass upon us now, for ten year younger. Oh! human vanity!' + +The other old man was not behindhand with some moral reflections on +this fruitful theme, and both adduced a mass of evidence, of such +weight as to render it doubtful--not whether the deceased was of the +age suggested, but whether she had not almost reached the patriarchal +term of a hundred. When they had settled this question to their mutual +satisfaction, the sexton, with his friend's assistance, rose to go. + +'It's chilly, sitting here, and I must be careful--till the summer,' he +said, as he prepared to limp away. + +'What?' asked old David. + +'He's very deaf, poor fellow!' cried the sexton. 'Good-bye!' + +'Ah!' said old David, looking after him. 'He's failing very fast. +He ages every day.' + +And so they parted; each persuaded that the other had less life in him +than himself; and both greatly consoled and comforted by the little +fiction they had agreed upon, respecting Becky Morgan, whose decease +was no longer a precedent of uncomfortable application, and would be no +business of theirs for half a score of years to come. + +The child remained, for some minutes, watching the deaf old man as he +threw out the earth with his shovel, and, often stopping to cough and +fetch his breath, still muttered to himself, with a kind of sober +chuckle, that the sexton was wearing fast. At length she turned away, +and walking thoughtfully through the churchyard, came unexpectedly upon +the schoolmaster, who was sitting on a green grave in the sun, reading. + +'Nell here?' he said cheerfully, as he closed his book. 'It does me +good to see you in the air and light. I feared you were again in the +church, where you so often are.' + +'Feared!' replied the child, sitting down beside him. 'Is it not a +good place?' + +'Yes, yes,' said the schoolmaster. 'But you must be gay +sometimes--nay, don't shake your head and smile so sadly.' + +'Not sadly, if you knew my heart. Do not look at me as if you thought +me sorrowful. There is not a happier creature on earth, than I am now.' + +Full of grateful tenderness, the child took his hand, and folded it +between her own. 'It's God's will!' she said, when they had been +silent for some time. + +'What?' + +'All this,' she rejoined; 'all this about us. But which of us is sad +now? You see that I am smiling.' + +'And so am I,' said the schoolmaster; 'smiling to think how often we +shall laugh in this same place. Were you not talking yonder?' + +'Yes,'the child rejoined. + +'Of something that has made you sorrowful?' + +There was a long pause. + +'What was it?' said the schoolmaster, tenderly. 'Come. Tell me what +it was.' + +'I rather grieve--I _do_ rather grieve to think,' said the child, +bursting into tears, 'that those who die about us, are so soon +forgotten.' + +'And do you think,' said the schoolmaster, marking the glance she had +thrown around, 'that an unvisited grave, a withered tree, a faded +flower or two, are tokens of forgetfulness or cold neglect? Do you +think there are no deeds, far away from here, in which these dead may +be best remembered? Nell, Nell, there may be people busy in the world, +at this instant, in whose good actions and good thoughts these very +graves--neglected as they look to us--are the chief instruments.' + +'Tell me no more,' said the child quickly. 'Tell me no more. I feel, +I know it. How could I be unmindful of it, when I thought of you?' + +'There is nothing,' cried her friend, 'no, nothing innocent or good, +that dies, and is forgotten. Let us hold to that faith, or none. An +infant, a prattling child, dying in its cradle, will live again in the +better thoughts of those who loved it, and will play its part, through +them, in the redeeming actions of the world, though its body be burnt +to ashes or drowned in the deepest sea. There is not an angel added to +the Host of Heaven but does its blessed work on earth in those that +loved it here. Forgotten! oh, if the good deeds of human creatures +could be traced to their source, how beautiful would even death appear; +for how much charity, mercy, and purified affection, would be seen to +have their growth in dusty graves!' + +'Yes,' said the child, 'it is the truth; I know it is. Who should feel +its force so much as I, in whom your little scholar lives again! Dear, +dear, good friend, if you knew the comfort you have given me!' + +The poor schoolmaster made her no answer, but bent over her in silence; +for his heart was full. + +They were yet seated in the same place, when the grandfather +approached. Before they had spoken many words together, the church +clock struck the hour of school, and their friend withdrew. + +'A good man,' said the grandfather, looking after him; 'a kind man. +Surely he will never harm us, Nell. We are safe here, at last, eh? We +will never go away from here?' + +The child shook her head and smiled. + +'She needs rest,' said the old man, patting her cheek; 'too pale--too +pale. She is not like what she was.' + +'When?' asked the child. + +'Ha!' said the old man, 'to be sure--when? How many weeks ago? Could +I count them on my fingers? Let them rest though; they're better +gone.' + +'Much better, dear,' replied the child. 'We will forget them; +or, if we ever call them to mind, it shall be only as some uneasy dream +that has passed away.' + +'Hush!' said the old man, motioning hastily to her with his hand and +looking over his shoulder; 'no more talk of the dream, and all the +miseries it brought. There are no dreams here. 'Tis a quiet place, +and they keep away. Let us never think about them, lest they should +pursue us again. Sunken eyes and hollow cheeks--wet, cold, and +famine--and horrors before them all, that were even worse--we must +forget such things if we would be tranquil here.' + +'Thank Heaven!' inwardly exclaimed the child, 'for this most happy +change!' + +'I will be patient,' said the old man, 'humble, very thankful, and +obedient, if you will let me stay. But do not hide from me; do not +steal away alone; let me keep beside you. Indeed, I will be very true +and faithful, Nell.' + +'I steal away alone! why that,' replied the child, with assumed gaiety, +'would be a pleasant jest indeed. See here, dear grandfather, we'll +make this place our garden--why not! It is a very good one--and +to-morrow we'll begin, and work together, side by side.' + +'It is a brave thought!' cried her grandfather. 'Mind, darling--we +begin to-morrow!' + +Who so delighted as the old man, when they next day began their labour! +Who so unconscious of all associations connected with the spot, as he! +They plucked the long grass and nettles from the tombs, thinned the +poor shrubs and roots, made the turf smooth, and cleared it of the +leaves and weeds. They were yet in the ardour of their work, when the +child, raising her head from the ground over which she bent, observed +that the bachelor was sitting on the stile close by, watching them in +silence. + +'A kind office,' said the little gentleman, nodding to Nell as she +curtseyed to him. 'Have you done all that, this morning?' + +'It is very little, sir,' returned the child, with downcast eyes, 'to +what we mean to do.' + +'Good work, good work,' said the bachelor. 'But do you only labour at +the graves of children, and young people?' + +'We shall come to the others in good time, sir,' replied Nell, turning +her head aside, and speaking softly. + +It was a slight incident, and might have been design or accident, or +the child's unconscious sympathy with youth. But it seemed to strike +upon her grandfather, though he had not noticed it before. He looked +in a hurried manner at the graves, then anxiously at the child, then +pressed her to his side, and bade her stop to rest. Something he had +long forgotten, appeared to struggle faintly in his mind. It did not +pass away, as weightier things had done; but came uppermost again, and +yet again, and many times that day, and often afterwards. Once, while +they were yet at work, the child, seeing that he often turned and +looked uneasily at her, as though he were trying to resolve some +painful doubts or collect some scattered thoughts, urged him to tell +the reason. But he said it was nothing--nothing--and, laying her head +upon his arm, patted her fair cheek with his hand, and muttered that +she grew stronger every day, and would be a woman, soon. + + + + +CHAPTER 55 + +From that time, there sprung up in the old man's mind, a solicitude +about the child which never slept or left him. There are chords in the +human heart--strange, varying strings--which are only struck by +accident; which will remain mute and senseless to appeals the most +passionate and earnest, and respond at last to the slightest casual +touch. In the most insensible or childish minds, there is some train +of reflection which art can seldom lead, or skill assist, but which +will reveal itself, as great truths have done, by chance, and when the +discoverer has the plainest end in view. From that time, the old man +never, for a moment, forgot the weakness and devotion of the child; +from the time of that slight incident, he who had seen her toiling by +his side through so much difficulty and suffering, and had scarcely +thought of her otherwise than as the partner of miseries which he felt +severely in his own person, and deplored for his own sake at least as +much as hers, awoke to a sense of what he owed her, and what those +miseries had made her. Never, no, never once, in one unguarded moment +from that time to the end, did any care for himself, any thought of his +own comfort, any selfish consideration or regard distract his thoughts +from the gentle object of his love. + +He would follow her up and down, waiting till she should tire and lean +upon his arm--he would sit opposite to her in the chimney-corner, +content to watch, and look, until she raised her head and smiled upon +him as of old--he would discharge by stealth, those household duties +which tasked her powers too heavily--he would rise, in the cold dark +nights, to listen to her breathing in her sleep, and sometimes crouch +for hours by her bedside only to touch her hand. He who knows all, can +only know what hopes, and fears, and thoughts of deep affection, were +in that one disordered brain, and what a change had fallen on the poor +old man. Sometimes--weeks had crept on, then--the child, exhausted, +though with little fatigue, would pass whole evenings on a couch beside +the fire. At such times, the schoolmaster would bring in books, and +read to her aloud; and seldom an evening passed, but the bachelor came +in, and took his turn of reading. The old man sat and listened--with +little understanding for the words, but with his eyes fixed upon the +child--and if she smiled or brightened with the story, he would say it +was a good one, and conceive a fondness for the very book. When, in +their evening talk, the bachelor told some tale that pleased her (as +his tales were sure to do), the old man would painfully try to store it +in his mind; nay, when the bachelor left them, he would sometimes slip +out after him, and humbly beg that he would tell him such a part again, +that he might learn to win a smile from Nell. + +But these were rare occasions, happily; for the child yearned to be out +of doors, and walking in her solemn garden. Parties, too, would come +to see the church; and those who came, speaking to others of the child, +sent more; so even at that season of the year they had visitors almost +daily. The old man would follow them at a little distance through the +building, listening to the voice he loved so well; and when the +strangers left, and parted from Nell, he would mingle with them to +catch up fragments of their conversation; or he would stand for the +same purpose, with his grey head uncovered, at the gate as they passed +through. + +They always praised the child, her sense and beauty, and he was proud +to hear them! But what was that, so often added, which wrung his +heart, and made him sob and weep alone, in some dull corner! Alas! +even careless strangers--they who had no feeling for her, but the +interest of the moment--they who would go away and forget next week +that such a being lived--even they saw it--even they pitied her--even +they bade him good day compassionately, and whispered as they passed. + +The people of the village, too, of whom there was not one but grew to +have a fondness for poor Nell; even among them, there was the same +feeling; a tenderness towards her--a compassionate regard for her, +increasing every day. The very schoolboys, light-hearted and +thoughtless as they were, even they cared for her. The roughest among +them was sorry if he missed her in the usual place upon his way to +school, and would turn out of the path to ask for her at the latticed +window. If she were sitting in the church, they perhaps might peep in +softly at the open door; but they never spoke to her, unless she rose +and went to speak to them. Some feeling was abroad which raised the +child above them all. + +So, when Sunday came. They were all poor country people in the church, +for the castle in which the old family had lived, was an empty ruin, +and there were none but humble folks for seven miles around. There, as +elsewhere, they had an interest in Nell. They would gather round her +in the porch, before and after service; young children would cluster at +her skirts; and aged men and women forsake their gossips, to give her +kindly greeting. None of them, young or old, thought of passing the +child without a friendly word. Many who came from three or four miles +distant, brought her little presents; the humblest and rudest had good +wishes to bestow. + +She had sought out the young children whom she first saw playing in the +churchyard. One of these--he who had spoken of his brother--was her +little favourite and friend, and often sat by her side in the church, +or climbed with her to the tower-top. It was his delight to help her, +or to fancy that he did so, and they soon became close companions. + +It happened, that, as she was reading in the old spot by herself one +day, this child came running in with his eyes full of tears, and after +holding her from him, and looking at her eagerly for a moment, clasped +his little arms passionately about her neck. + +'What now?' said Nell, soothing him. 'What is the matter?' + +'She is not one yet!' cried the boy, embracing her still more closely. +'No, no. Not yet.' + +She looked at him wonderingly, and putting his hair back from his face, +and kissing him, asked what he meant. + +'You must not be one, dear Nell,' cried the boy. 'We can't see them. +They never come to play with us, or talk to us. Be what you are. You +are better so.' + +'I do not understand you,' said the child. 'Tell me what you mean.' + +'Why, they say,' replied the boy, looking up into her face, that you +will be an Angel, before the birds sing again. But you won't be, will +you? Don't leave us Nell, though the sky is bright. Do not leave us!' + +The child dropped her head, and put her hands before her face. + +'She cannot bear the thought!' cried the boy, exulting through his +tears. 'You will not go. You know how sorry we should be. Dear Nell, +tell me that you'll stay amongst us. Oh! Pray, pray, tell me that you +will.' + +The little creature folded his hands, and knelt down at her feet. + +'Only look at me, Nell,' said the boy, 'and tell me that you'll stop, +and then I shall know that they are wrong, and will cry no more. Won't +you say yes, Nell?' + +Still the drooping head and hidden face, and the child quite +silent--save for her sobs. + +'After a time,' pursued the boy, trying to draw away her hand, 'the kind +angels will be glad to think that you are not among them, and that you +stayed here to be with us. Willy went away, to join them; but if he +had known how I should miss him in our little bed at night, he never +would have left me, I am sure.' + +Yet the child could make him no answer, and sobbed as though her heart +were bursting. 'Why would you go, dear Nell? I know you would not be +happy when you heard that we were crying for your loss. They say that +Willy is in Heaven now, and that it's always summer there, and yet I'm +sure he grieves when I lie down upon his garden bed, and he cannot turn +to kiss me. But if you do go, Nell,' said the boy, caressing her, and +pressing his face to hers, 'be fond of him for my sake. Tell him how I +love him still, and how much I loved you; and when I think that you two +are together, and are happy, I'll try to bear it, and never give you +pain by doing wrong--indeed I never will!' + +The child suffered him to move her hands, and put them round his neck. +There was a tearful silence, but it was not long before she looked upon +him with a smile, and promised him, in a very gentle, quiet voice, that +she would stay, and be his friend, as long as Heaven would let her. He +clapped his hands for joy, and thanked her many times; and being +charged to tell no person what had passed between them, gave her an +earnest promise that he never would. + +Nor did he, so far as the child could learn; but was her quiet +companion in all her walks and musings, and never again adverted to the +theme, which he felt had given her pain, although he was unconscious of +its cause. Something of distrust lingered about him still; for he +would often come, even in the dark evenings, and call in a timid voice +outside the door to know if she were safe within; and being answered +yes, and bade to enter, would take his station on a low stool at her +feet, and sit there patiently until they came to seek, and take him +home. Sure as the morning came, it found him lingering near the house +to ask if she were well; and, morning, noon, or night, go where she +would, he would forsake his playmates and his sports to bear her +company. + +'And a good little friend he is, too,' said the old sexton to her once. +'When his elder brother died--elder seems a strange word, for he was +only seven years old--I remember this one took it sorely to heart.' + +The child thought of what the schoolmaster had told her, and felt how +its truth was shadowed out even in this infant. + +'It has given him something of a quiet way, I think,' said the old man, +'though for that he is merry enough at times. I'd wager now that you +and he have been listening by the old well.' + +'Indeed we have not,' the child replied. 'I have been afraid to go +near it; for I am not often down in that part of the church, and do not +know the ground.' + +'Come down with me,' said the old man. 'I have known it from a boy. +Come!' + +They descended the narrow steps which led into the crypt, and paused +among the gloomy arches, in a dim and murky spot. + +'This is the place,' said the old man. 'Give me your hand while you +throw back the cover, lest you should stumble and fall in. I am too +old--I mean rheumatic--to stoop, myself.' + +'A black and dreadful place!' exclaimed the child. + +'Look in,' said the old man, pointing downward with his finger. + +The child complied, and gazed down into the pit. + +'It looks like a grave itself,' said the old man. + +'It does,' replied the child. + +'I have often had the fancy,' said the sexton, 'that it might have been +dug at first to make the old place more gloomy, and the old monks more +religious. It's to be closed up, and built over.' + +The child still stood, looking thoughtfully into the vault. + +'We shall see,' said the sexton, 'on what gay heads other earth will +have closed, when the light is shut out from here. God knows! They'll +close it up, next spring.' + +'The birds sing again in spring,' thought the child, as she leaned at +her casement window, and gazed at the declining sun. 'Spring! a +beautiful and happy time!' + + + + +CHAPTER 56 + +A day or two after the Quilp tea-party at the Wilderness, Mr Swiveller +walked into Sampson Brass's office at the usual hour, and being alone +in that Temple of Probity, placed his hat upon the desk, and taking +from his pocket a small parcel of black crape, applied himself to +folding and pinning the same upon it, after the manner of a hatband. +Having completed the construction of this appendage, he surveyed his +work with great complacency, and put his hat on again--very much over +one eye, to increase the mournfulness of the effect. These +arrangements perfected to his entire satisfaction, he thrust his hands +into his pockets, and walked up and down the office with measured steps. + +'It has always been the same with me,' said Mr Swiveller, 'always. +'Twas ever thus--from childhood's hour I've seen my fondest hopes +decay, I never loved a tree or flower but 'twas the first to fade away; +I never nursed a dear Gazelle, to glad me with its soft black eye, but +when it came to know me well, and love me, it was sure to marry a +market-gardener.' + +Overpowered by these reflections, Mr Swiveller stopped short at the +clients' chair, and flung himself into its open arms. + +'And this,' said Mr Swiveller, with a kind of bantering composure, 'is +life, I believe. Oh, certainly. Why not! I'm quite satisfied. I +shall wear,' added Richard, taking off his hat again and looking hard +at it, as if he were only deterred by pecuniary considerations from +spurning it with his foot, 'I shall wear this emblem of woman's +perfidy, in remembrance of her with whom I shall never again thread the +windings of the mazy; whom I shall never more pledge in the rosy; who, +during the short remainder of my existence, will murder the balmy. Ha, +ha, ha!' + +It may be necessary to observe, lest there should appear any +incongruity in the close of this soliloquy, that Mr Swiveller did not +wind up with a cheerful hilarious laugh, which would have been +undoubtedly at variance with his solemn reflections, but that, being in +a theatrical mood, he merely achieved that performance which is +designated in melodramas 'laughing like a fiend,'--for it seems that +your fiends always laugh in syllables, and always in three syllables, +never more nor less, which is a remarkable property in such gentry, and +one worthy of remembrance. + +The baleful sounds had hardly died away, and Mr Swiveller was still +sitting in a very grim state in the clients' chair, when there came a +ring--or, if we may adapt the sound to his then humour, a knell--at +the office bell. Opening the door with all speed, he beheld the +expressive countenance of Mr Chuckster, between whom and himself a +fraternal greeting ensued. + +'You're devilish early at this pestiferous old slaughter-house,' said +that gentleman, poising himself on one leg, and shaking the other in an +easy manner. + +'Rather,' returned Dick. + +'Rather!' retorted Mr Chuckster, with that air of graceful trifling +which so well became him. 'I should think so. Why, my good feller, do +you know what o'clock it is--half-past nine a.m. in the morning?' + +'Won't you come in?' said Dick. 'All alone. Swiveller solus. "'Tis +now the witching--"' + +'"Hour of night!"' + +'"When churchyards yawn,"' + +'"And graves give up their dead."' + +At the end of this quotation in dialogue, each gentleman struck an +attitude, and immediately subsiding into prose walked into the office. +Such morsels of enthusiasm are common among the Glorious Apollos, and +were indeed the links that bound them together, and raised them above +the cold dull earth. + +'Well, and how are you my buck?' said Mr Chuckster, taking a stool. 'I +was forced to come into the City upon some little private matters of my +own, and couldn't pass the corner of the street without looking in, but +upon my soul I didn't expect to find you. It is so everlastingly +early.' + +Mr Swiveller expressed his acknowledgments; and it appearing on further +conversation that he was in good health, and that Mr Chuckster was in +the like enviable condition, both gentlemen, in compliance with a +solemn custom of the ancient Brotherhood to which they belonged, joined +in a fragment of the popular duet of 'All's Well,' with a long shake +at the end. + +'And what's the news?' said Richard. + +'The town's as flat, my dear feller,' replied Mr Chuckster, 'as the +surface of a Dutch oven. There's no news. By-the-bye, that lodger of +yours is a most extraordinary person. He quite eludes the most +vigorous comprehension, you know. Never was such a feller!' + +'What has he been doing now?' said Dick. + +'By Jove, Sir,' returned Mr Chuckster, taking out an oblong snuff-box, +the lid whereof was ornamented with a fox's head curiously carved in +brass, 'that man is an unfathomable. Sir, that man has made friends +with our articled clerk. There's no harm in him, but he is so +amazingly slow and soft. Now, if he wanted a friend, why couldn't he +have one that knew a thing or two, and could do him some good by his +manners and conversation. I have my faults, sir,' said Mr Chuckster-- + +'No, no,' interposed Mr Swiveller. + +'Oh yes I have, I have my faults, no man knows his faults better than I +know mine. But,' said Mr Chuckster, 'I'm not meek. My worst +enemies--every man has his enemies, Sir, and I have mine--never +accused me of being meek. And I tell you what, Sir, if I hadn't more +of these qualities that commonly endear man to man, than our articled +clerk has, I'd steal a Cheshire cheese, tie it round my neck, and drown +myself. I'd die degraded, as I had lived. I would upon my honour.' + +Mr Chuckster paused, rapped the fox's head exactly on the nose with the +knuckle of the fore-finger, took a pinch of snuff, and looked steadily +at Mr Swiveller, as much as to say that if he thought he was going to +sneeze, he would find himself mistaken. + +'Not contented, Sir,' said Mr Chuckster, 'with making friends with +Abel, he has cultivated the acquaintance of his father and mother. +Since he came home from that wild-goose chase, he has been there-- +actually been there. He patronises young Snobby besides; you'll find, +Sir, that he'll be constantly coming backwards and forwards to this +place: yet I don't suppose that beyond the common forms of civility, he +has ever exchanged half-a-dozen words with me. Now, upon my soul, you +know,' said Mr Chuckster, shaking his head gravely, as men are wont to +do when they consider things are going a little too far, 'this is +altogether such a low-minded affair, that if I didn't feel for the +governor, and know that he could never get on without me, I should be +obliged to cut the connection. I should have no alternative.' + +Mr Swiveller, who sat on another stool opposite to his friend, stirred +the fire in an excess of sympathy, but said nothing. + +'As to young Snob, sir,' pursued Mr Chuckster with a prophetic look, +'you'll find he'll turn out bad. In our profession we know something +of human nature, and take my word for it, that the feller that came +back to work out that shilling, will show himself one of these days in +his true colours. He's a low thief, sir. He must be.' + +Mr Chuckster being roused, would probably have pursued this subject +further, and in more emphatic language, but for a tap at the door, +which seeming to announce the arrival of somebody on business, caused +him to assume a greater appearance of meekness than was perhaps quite +consistent with his late declaration. Mr Swiveller, hearing the same +sound, caused his stool to revolve rapidly on one leg until it brought +him to his desk, into which, having forgotten in the sudden flurry of +his spirits to part with the poker, he thrust it as he cried 'Come in!' + +Who should present himself but that very Kit who had been the theme of +Mr Chuckster's wrath! Never did man pluck up his courage so quickly, +or look so fierce, as Mr Chuckster when he found it was he. Mr +Swiveller stared at him for a moment, and then leaping from his stool, +and drawing out the poker from its place of concealment, performed the +broad-sword exercise with all the cuts and guards complete, in a +species of frenzy. + +'Is the gentleman at home?' said Kit, rather astonished by this +uncommon reception. + +Before Mr Swiveller could make any reply, Mr Chuckster took occasion to +enter his indignant protest against this form of inquiry; which he held +to be of a disrespectful and snobbish tendency, inasmuch as the +inquirer, seeing two gentlemen then and there present, should have +spoken of the other gentleman; or rather (for it was not impossible +that the object of his search might be of inferior quality) should have +mentioned his name, leaving it to his hearers to determine his degree +as they thought proper. Mr Chuckster likewise remarked, that he had +some reason to believe this form of address was personal to himself, +and that he was not a man to be trifled with--as certain snobs (whom he +did not more particularly mention or describe) might find to their cost. + +'I mean the gentleman up-stairs,' said Kit, turning to Richard +Swiveller. 'Is he at home?' + +'Why?' rejoined Dick. + +'Because if he is, I have a letter for him.' + +'From whom?' said Dick. + +'From Mr Garland.' + +'Oh!' said Dick, with extreme politeness. 'Then you may hand it over, +Sir. And if you're to wait for an answer, Sir, you may wait in the +passage, Sir, which is an airy and well-ventilated apartment, sir.' + +'Thank you,' returned Kit. 'But I am to give it to himself, if you +please.' + +The excessive audacity of this retort so overpowered Mr Chuckster, and +so moved his tender regard for his friend's honour, that he declared, +if he were not restrained by official considerations, he must certainly +have annihilated Kit upon the spot; a resentment of the affront which +he did consider, under the extraordinary circumstances of aggravation +attending it, could but have met with the proper sanction and approval +of a jury of Englishmen, who, he had no doubt, would have returned a +verdict of justifiable Homicide, coupled with a high testimony to the +morals and character of the Avenger. Mr Swiveller, without being quite +so hot upon the matter, was rather shamed by his friend's excitement, +and not a little puzzled how to act (Kit being quite cool and +good-humoured), when the single gentleman was heard to call violently +down the stairs. + +'Didn't I see somebody for me, come in?' cried the lodger. + +'Yes, Sir,' replied Dick. 'Certainly, Sir.' + +'Then where is he?' roared the single gentleman. + +'He's here, sir,' rejoined Mr Swiveller. 'Now young man, don't you +hear you're to go up-stairs? Are you deaf?' + +Kit did not appear to think it worth his while to enter into any +altercation, but hurried off and left the Glorious Apollos gazing at +each other in silence. + +'Didn't I tell you so?' said Mr Chuckster. 'What do you think of that?' + +Mr Swiveller being in the main a good-natured fellow, and not +perceiving in the conduct of Kit any villany of enormous magnitude, +scarcely knew what answer to return. He was relieved from his +perplexity, however, by the entrance of Mr Sampson and his sister, +Sally, at sight of whom Mr Chuckster precipitately retired. + +Mr Brass and his lovely companion appeared to have been holding a +consultation over their temperate breakfast, upon some matter of great +interest and importance. On the occasion of such conferences, they +generally appeared in the office some half an hour after their usual +time, and in a very smiling state, as though their late plots and +designs had tranquillised their minds and shed a light upon their +toilsome way. In the present instance, they seemed particularly gay; +Miss Sally's aspect being of a most oily kind, and Mr Brass rubbing his +hands in an exceedingly jocose and light-hearted manner. + +'Well, Mr Richard,' said Brass. 'How are we this morning? Are we +pretty fresh and cheerful sir--eh, Mr Richard?' + +'Pretty well, sir,' replied Dick. + +'That's well,' said Brass. 'Ha ha! We should be as gay as larks, Mr +Richard--why not? It's a pleasant world we live in sir, a very +pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr Richard, but if there +were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers. Ha ha! Any +letters by the post this morning, Mr Richard?' + +Mr Swiveller answered in the negative. + +'Ha!' said Brass, 'no matter. If there's little business to-day, +there'll be more to-morrow. A contented spirit, Mr Richard, is the +sweetness of existence. Anybody been here, sir?' + +'Only my friend'--replied Dick. 'May we ne'er want a--' + +'Friend,' Brass chimed in quickly, 'or a bottle to give him. Ha ha! +That's the way the song runs, isn't it? A very good song, Mr Richard, +very good. I like the sentiment of it. Ha ha! Your friend's the +young man from Witherden's office I think--yes--May we ne'er want a-- +Nobody else at all, been, Mr Richard?' + +'Only somebody to the lodger,' replied Mr Swiveller. + +'Oh indeed!' cried Brass. 'Somebody to the lodger eh? Ha ha! May we +ne'er want a friend, or a---- Somebody to the lodger, eh, Mr Richard?' + +'Yes,' said Dick, a little disconcerted by the excessive buoyancy of +spirits which his employer displayed. 'With him now.' + +'With him now!' cried Brass; 'Ha ha! There let 'em be, merry and free, +toor rul lol le. Eh, Mr Richard? Ha ha!' + +'Oh certainly,' replied Dick. + +'And who,' said Brass, shuffling among his papers, 'who is the lodger's +visitor--not a lady visitor, I hope, eh, Mr Richard? The morals of the +Marks you know, sir--"when lovely women stoops to folly"--and all +that--eh, Mr Richard?' + +'Another young man, who belongs to Witherden's too, or half belongs +there,' returned Richard. 'Kit, they call him.' + +'Kit, eh!' said Brass. 'Strange name--name of a dancing-master's +fiddle, eh, Mr Richard? Ha ha! Kit's there, is he? Oh!' + +Dick looked at Miss Sally, wondering that she didn't check this +uncommon exuberance on the part of Mr Sampson; but as she made no +attempt to do so, and rather appeared to exhibit a tacit acquiescence +in it, he concluded that they had just been cheating somebody, and +receiving the bill. + +'Will you have the goodness, Mr Richard,' said Brass, taking a letter +from his desk, 'just to step over to Peckham Rye with that? There's no +answer, but it's rather particular and should go by hand. Charge the +office with your coach-hire back, you know; don't spare the office; get +as much out of it as you can--clerk's motto--Eh, Mr Richard? Ha ha!' + +Mr Swiveller solemnly doffed the aquatic jacket, put on his coat, took +down his hat from its peg, pocketed the letter, and departed. As soon +as he was gone, up rose Miss Sally Brass, and smiling sweetly at her +brother (who nodded and smote his nose in return) withdrew also. + +Sampson Brass was no sooner left alone, than he set the office-door +wide open, and establishing himself at his desk directly opposite, so +that he could not fail to see anybody who came down-stairs and passed +out at the street door, began to write with extreme cheerfulness and +assiduity; humming as he did so, in a voice that was anything but +musical, certain vocal snatches which appeared to have reference to the +union between Church and State, inasmuch as they were compounded of the +Evening Hymn and God save the King. + +Thus, the attorney of Bevis Marks sat, and wrote, and hummed, for a +long time, except when he stopped to listen with a very cunning face, +and hearing nothing, went on humming louder, and writing slower than +ever. At length, in one of these pauses, he heard his lodger's door +opened and shut, and footsteps coming down the stairs. Then, Mr Brass +left off writing entirely, and, with his pen in his hand, hummed his +very loudest; shaking his head meanwhile from side to side, like a man +whose whole soul was in the music, and smiling in a manner quite +seraphic. + +It was towards this moving spectacle that the staircase and the sweet +sounds guided Kit; on whose arrival before his door, Mr Brass stopped +his singing, but not his smiling, and nodded affably: at the same time +beckoning to him with his pen. + +'Kit,' said Mr Brass, in the pleasantest way imaginable, 'how do you +do?' + +Kit, being rather shy of his friend, made a suitable reply, and had his +hand upon the lock of the street door when Mr Brass called him softly +back. + +'You are not to go, if you please, Kit,' said the attorney in a +mysterious and yet business-like way. 'You are to step in here, if you +please. Dear me, dear me! When I look at you,' said the lawyer, +quitting his stool, and standing before the fire with his back towards +it, 'I am reminded of the sweetest little face that ever my eyes +beheld. I remember your coming there, twice or thrice, when we were in +possession. Ah Kit, my dear fellow, gentleman in my profession have +such painful duties to perform sometimes, that you needn't envy us--you +needn't indeed!' + +'I don't, sir,' said Kit, 'though it isn't for the like of me to judge.' + +'Our only consolation, Kit,' pursued the lawyer, looking at him in a +sort of pensive abstraction, 'is, that although we cannot turn away the +wind, we can soften it; we can temper it, if I may say so, to the shorn +lambs.' + +'Shorn indeed!' thought Kit. 'Pretty close!' But he didn't say _so_. + +'On that occasion, Kit,' said Mr Brass, 'on that occasion that I have +just alluded to, I had a hard battle with Mr Quilp (for Mr Quilp is a +very hard man) to obtain them the indulgence they had. It might have +cost me a client. But suffering virtue inspired me, and I prevailed.' + +'He's not so bad after all,' thought honest Kit, as the attorney pursed +up his lips and looked like a man who was struggling with his better +feelings. + +'I respect you, Kit,' said Brass with emotion. 'I saw enough of your +conduct, at that time, to respect you, though your station is humble, +and your fortune lowly. It isn't the waistcoat that I look at. It is +the heart. The checks in the waistcoat are but the wires of the cage. +But the heart is the bird. Ah! How many sich birds are perpetually +moulting, and putting their beaks through the wires to peck at all +mankind!' + +This poetic figure, which Kit took to be in a special allusion to his +own checked waistcoat, quite overcame him; Mr Brass's voice and manner +added not a little to its effect, for he discoursed with all the mild +austerity of a hermit, and wanted but a cord round the waist of his +rusty surtout, and a skull on the chimney-piece, to be completely set +up in that line of business. + +'Well, well,' said Sampson, smiling as good men smile when they +compassionate their own weakness or that of their fellow-creatures, +'this is wide of the bull's-eye. You're to take that, if you please.' +As he spoke, he pointed to a couple of half-crowns on the desk. + +Kit looked at the coins, and then at Sampson, and hesitated. + +'For yourself,' said Brass. 'From--' + +'No matter about the person they came from,' replied the lawyer. 'Say +me, if you like. We have eccentric friends overhead, Kit, and we +mustn't ask questions or talk too much--you understand? You're to take +them, that's all; and between you and me, I don't think they'll be the +last you'll have to take from the same place. I hope not. Good bye, +Kit. Good bye!' + +With many thanks, and many more self-reproaches for having on such +slight grounds suspected one who in their very first conversation +turned out such a different man from what he had supposed, Kit took the +money and made the best of his way home. Mr Brass remained airing +himself at the fire, and resumed his vocal exercise, and his seraphic +smile, simultaneously. + +'May I come in?' said Miss Sally, peeping. + +'Oh yes, you may come in,' returned her brother. + +'Ahem!' coughed Miss Brass interrogatively. + +'Why, yes,' returned Sampson, 'I should say as good as done.' + + + + +CHAPTER 57 + +Mr Chuckster's indignant apprehensions were not without foundation. +Certainly the friendship between the single gentleman and Mr Garland +was not suffered to cool, but had a rapid growth and flourished +exceedingly. They were soon in habits of constant intercourse and +communication; and the single gentleman labouring at this time under a +slight attack of illness--the consequence most probably of his late +excited feelings and subsequent disappointment--furnished a reason for +their holding yet more frequent correspondence; so that some one of the +inmates of Abel Cottage, Finchley, came backwards and forwards between +that place and Bevis Marks, almost every day. + +As the pony had now thrown off all disguise, and without any mincing of +the matter or beating about the bush, sturdily refused to be driven by +anybody but Kit, it generally happened that whether old Mr Garland +came, or Mr Abel, Kit was of the party. Of all messages and inquiries, +Kit was, in right of his position, the bearer; thus it came about that, +while the single gentleman remained indisposed, Kit turned into Bevis +Marks every morning with nearly as much regularity as the General +Postman. + +Mr Sampson Brass, who no doubt had his reasons for looking sharply +about him, soon learnt to distinguish the pony's trot and the clatter +of the little chaise at the corner of the street. Whenever the sound +reached his ears, he would immediately lay down his pen and fall to +rubbing his hands and exhibiting the greatest glee. + +'Ha ha!' he would cry. 'Here's the pony again! Most remarkable pony, +extremely docile, eh, Mr Richard, eh sir?' + +Dick would return some matter-of-course reply, and Mr Brass standing on +the bottom rail of his stool, so as to get a view of the street over +the top of the window-blind, would take an observation of the visitors. + +'The old gentleman again!' he would exclaim, 'a very prepossessing old +gentleman, Mr Richard--charming countenance, sir--extremely +calm--benevolence in every feature, sir. He quite realises my idea of +King Lear, as he appeared when in possession of his kingdom, Mr +Richard--the same good humour, the same white hair and partial +baldness, the same liability to be imposed upon. Ah! A sweet subject +for contemplation, sir, very sweet!' + +Then Mr Garland having alighted and gone up-stairs, Sampson would nod +and smile to Kit from the window, and presently walk out into the +street to greet him, when some such conversation as the following would +ensue. + +'Admirably groomed, Kit'--Mr Brass is patting the pony--'does you great +credit--amazingly sleek and bright to be sure. He literally looks as +if he had been varnished all over.' + +Kit touches his hat, smiles, pats the pony himself, and expresses his +conviction, 'that Mr Brass will not find many like him.' + +'A beautiful animal indeed!' cries Brass. 'Sagacious too?' + +'Bless you!' replies Kit, 'he knows what you say to him as well as a +Christian does.' + +'Does he indeed!' cries Brass, who has heard the same thing in the same +place from the same person in the same words a dozen times, but is +paralysed with astonishment notwithstanding. 'Dear me!' + +'I little thought the first time I saw him, Sir,' says Kit, pleased +with the attorney's strong interest in his favourite, 'that I should +come to be as intimate with him as I am now.' + +'Ah!' rejoins Mr Brass, brim-full of moral precepts and love of virtue. +'A charming subject of reflection for you, very charming. A subject of +proper pride and congratulation, Christopher. Honesty is the best +policy.--I always find it so myself. I lost forty-seven pound ten by +being honest this morning. But it's all gain, it's gain!' + +Mr Brass slyly tickles his nose with his pen, and looks at Kit with the +water standing in his eyes. Kit thinks that if ever there was a good +man who belied his appearance, that man is Sampson Brass. + +'A man,' says Sampson, 'who loses forty-seven pound ten in one morning +by his honesty, is a man to be envied. If it had been eighty pound, +the luxuriousness of feeling would have been increased. Every pound +lost, would have been a hundredweight of happiness gained. The still +small voice, Christopher,' cries Brass, smiling, and tapping himself on +the bosom, 'is a-singing comic songs within me, and all is happiness +and joy!' + +Kit is so improved by the conversation, and finds it go so completely +home to his feelings, that he is considering what he shall say, when Mr +Garland appears. The old gentleman is helped into the chaise with +great obsequiousness by Mr Sampson Brass; and the pony, after shaking +his head several times, and standing for three or four minutes with all +his four legs planted firmly on the ground, as if he had made up his +mind never to stir from that spot, but there to live and die, suddenly +darts off, without the smallest notice, at the rate of twelve English +miles an hour. Then, Mr Brass and his sister (who has joined him at +the door) exchange an odd kind of smile--not at all a pleasant one in +its expression--and return to the society of Mr Richard Swiveller, +who, during their absence, has been regaling himself with various feats +of pantomime, and is discovered at his desk, in a very flushed and +heated condition, violently scratching out nothing with half a penknife. + +Whenever Kit came alone, and without the chaise, it always happened +that Sampson Brass was reminded of some mission, calling Mr Swiveller, +if not to Peckham Rye again, at all events to some pretty distant place +from which he could not be expected to return for two or three hours, +or in all probability a much longer period, as that gentleman was not, +to say the truth, renowned for using great expedition on such +occasions, but rather for protracting and spinning out the time to the +very utmost limit of possibility. Mr Swiveller out of sight, Miss +Sally immediately withdrew. Mr Brass would then set the office-door +wide open, hum his old tune with great gaiety of heart, and smile +seraphically as before. Kit coming down-stairs would be called in; +entertained with some moral and agreeable conversation; perhaps +entreated to mind the office for an instant while Mr Brass stepped over +the way; and afterwards presented with one or two half-crowns as the +case might be. This occurred so often, that Kit, nothing doubting but +that they came from the single gentleman who had already rewarded his +mother with great liberality, could not enough admire his generosity; +and bought so many cheap presents for her, and for little Jacob, and +for the baby, and for Barbara to boot, that one or other of them was +having some new trifle every day of their lives. + +While these acts and deeds were in progress in and out of the office of +Sampson Brass, Richard Swiveller, being often left alone therein, began +to find the time hang heavy on his hands. For the better preservation +of his cheerfulness therefore, and to prevent his faculties from +rusting, he provided himself with a cribbage-board and pack of cards, +and accustomed himself to play at cribbage with a dummy, for twenty, +thirty, or sometimes even fifty thousand pounds aside, besides many +hazardous bets to a considerable amount. + +As these games were very silently conducted, notwithstanding the +magnitude of the interests involved, Mr Swiveller began to think that +on those evenings when Mr and Miss Brass were out (and they often went +out now) he heard a kind of snorting or hard-breathing sound in the +direction of the door, which it occurred to him, after some reflection, +must proceed from the small servant, who always had a cold from damp +living. Looking intently that way one night, he plainly distinguished +an eye gleaming and glistening at the keyhole; and having now no doubt +that his suspicions were correct, he stole softly to the door, and +pounced upon her before she was aware of his approach. + +'Oh! I didn't mean any harm indeed, upon my word I didn't,' cried the +small servant, struggling like a much larger one. 'It's so very dull, +down-stairs, Please don't you tell upon me, please don't.' + +'Tell upon you!' said Dick. 'Do you mean to say you were looking +through the keyhole for company?' + +'Yes, upon my word I was,' replied the small servant. + +'How long have you been cooling your eye there?' said Dick. + +'Oh ever since you first began to play them cards, and long before.' + +Vague recollections of several fantastic exercises with which he had +refreshed himself after the fatigues of business, and to all of which, +no doubt, the small servant was a party, rather disconcerted Mr +Swiveller; but he was not very sensitive on such points, and recovered +himself speedily. + +'Well--come in'--he said, after a little consideration. 'Here--sit +down, and I'll teach you how to play.' + +'Oh! I durstn't do it,' rejoined the small servant; 'Miss Sally 'ud +kill me, if she know'd I come up here.' + +'Have you got a fire down-stairs?' said Dick. + +'A very little one,' replied the small servant. + +'Miss Sally couldn't kill me if she know'd I went down there, so I'll +come,' said Richard, putting the cards into his pocket. 'Why, how thin +you are! What do you mean by it?' + +'It ain't my fault.' + +'Could you eat any bread and meat?' said Dick, taking down his hat. +'Yes? Ah! I thought so. Did you ever taste beer?' + +'I had a sip of it once,' said the small servant. + +'Here's a state of things!' cried Mr Swiveller, raising his eyes to the +ceiling. 'She never tasted it--it can't be tasted in a sip! Why, how +old are you?' + +'I don't know.' + +Mr Swiveller opened his eyes very wide, and appeared thoughtful for a +moment; then, bidding the child mind the door until he came back, +vanished straightway. + +Presently, he returned, followed by the boy from the public-house, who +bore in one hand a plate of bread and beef, and in the other a great +pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a +grateful steam, and was indeed choice purl, made after a particular +recipe which Mr Swiveller had imparted to the landlord, at a period +when he was deep in his books and desirous to conciliate his +friendship. Relieving the boy of his burden at the door, and charging +his little companion to fasten it to prevent surprise, Mr Swiveller +followed her into the kitchen. + +'There!' said Richard, putting the plate before her. 'First of all +clear that off, and then you'll see what's next.' + +The small servant needed no second bidding, and the plate was soon +empty. + +'Next,' said Dick, handing the purl, 'take a pull at that; but moderate +your transports, you know, for you're not used to it. Well, is it +good?' + +'Oh! isn't it?' said the small servant. + +Mr Swiveller appeared gratified beyond all expression by this reply, +and took a long draught himself, steadfastly regarding his companion +while he did so. These preliminaries disposed of, he applied himself +to teaching her the game, which she soon learnt tolerably well, being +both sharp-witted and cunning. + +'Now,' said Mr Swiveller, putting two sixpences into a saucer, and +trimming the wretched candle, when the cards had been cut and dealt, +'those are the stakes. If you win, you get 'em all. If I win, I get +'em. To make it seem more real and pleasant, I shall call you the +Marchioness, do you hear?' + +The small servant nodded. + +'Then, Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, 'fire away!' + +The Marchioness, holding her cards very tight in both hands, considered +which to play, and Mr Swiveller, assuming the gay and fashionable air +which such society required, took another pull at the tankard, and +waited for her lead. + + + + +CHAPTER 58 + +Mr Swiveller and his partner played several rubbers with varying +success, until the loss of three sixpences, the gradual sinking of the +purl, and the striking of ten o'clock, combined to render that +gentleman mindful of the flight of Time, and the expediency of +withdrawing before Mr Sampson and Miss Sally Brass returned. + +'With which object in view, Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller gravely, 'I +shall ask your ladyship's permission to put the board in my pocket, and +to retire from the presence when I have finished this tankard; merely +observing, Marchioness, that since life like a river is flowing, I care +not how fast it rolls on, ma'am, on, while such purl on the bank still +is growing, and such eyes light the waves as they run. Marchioness, +your health. You will excuse my wearing my hat, but the palace is +damp, and the marble floor is--if I may be allowed the +expression--sloppy.' + +As a precaution against this latter inconvenience, Mr Swiveller had +been sitting for some time with his feet on the hob, in which attitude +he now gave utterance to these apologetic observations, and slowly +sipped the last choice drops of nectar. + +'The Baron Sampsono Brasso and his fair sister are (you tell me) at the +Play?' said Mr Swiveller, leaning his left arm heavily upon the table, +and raising his voice and his right leg after the manner of a +theatrical bandit. + +The Marchioness nodded. + +'Ha!' said Mr Swiveller, with a portentous frown. ''Tis well. +Marchioness!--but no matter. Some wine there. Ho!' He illustrated +these melodramatic morsels by handing the tankard to himself with great +humility, receiving it haughtily, drinking from it thirstily, and +smacking his lips fiercely. + +The small servant, who was not so well acquainted with theatrical +conventionalities as Mr Swiveller (having indeed never seen a play, or +heard one spoken of, except by chance through chinks of doors and in +other forbidden places), was rather alarmed by demonstrations so novel +in their nature, and showed her concern so plainly in her looks, that +Mr Swiveller felt it necessary to discharge his brigand manner for one +more suitable to private life, as he asked, + +'Do they often go where glory waits 'em, and leave you here?' + +'Oh, yes; I believe you they do,' returned the small servant. 'Miss +Sally's such a one-er for that, she is.' + +'Such a what?' said Dick. + +'Such a one-er,' returned the Marchioness. + +After a moment's reflection, Mr Swiveller determined to forego his +responsible duty of setting her right, and to suffer her to talk on; as +it was evident that her tongue was loosened by the purl, and her +opportunities for conversation were not so frequent as to render a +momentary check of little consequence. + +'They sometimes go to see Mr Quilp,' said the small servant with a +shrewd look; 'they go to a many places, bless you!' + +'Is Mr Brass a wunner?' said Dick. + +'Not half what Miss Sally is, he isn't,' replied the small servant, +shaking her head. 'Bless you, he'd never do anything without her.' + +'Oh! He wouldn't, wouldn't he?' said Dick. + +'Miss Sally keeps him in such order,' said the small servant; 'he +always asks her advice, he does; and he catches it sometimes. Bless +you, you wouldn't believe how much he catches it.' + +'I suppose,' said Dick, 'that they consult together, a good deal, and +talk about a great many people--about me for instance, sometimes, eh, +Marchioness?' + +The Marchioness nodded amazingly. + +'Complimentary?' said Mr Swiveller. + +The Marchioness changed the motion of her head, which had not yet left +off nodding, and suddenly began to shake it from side to side, with a +vehemence which threatened to dislocate her neck. + +'Humph!' Dick muttered. 'Would it be any breach of confidence, +Marchioness, to relate what they say of the humble individual who has +now the honour to--?' + +'Miss Sally says you're a funny chap,' replied his friend. + +'Well, Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, 'that's not uncomplimentary. +Merriment, Marchioness, is not a bad or a degrading quality. Old King +Cole was himself a merry old soul, if we may put any faith in the pages +of history.' + +'But she says,' pursued his companion, 'that you an't to be trusted.' + +'Why, really Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, thoughtfully; 'several +ladies and gentlemen--not exactly professional persons, but +tradespeople, ma'am, tradespeople--have made the same remark. The +obscure citizen who keeps the hotel over the way, inclined strongly to +that opinion to-night when I ordered him to prepare the banquet. It's +a popular prejudice, Marchioness; and yet I am sure I don't know why, +for I have been trusted in my time to a considerable amount, and I can +safely say that I never forsook my trust until it deserted me--never. +Mr Brass is of the same opinion, I suppose?' + +His friend nodded again, with a cunning look which seemed to hint that +Mr Brass held stronger opinions on the subject than his sister; and +seeming to recollect herself, added imploringly, 'But don't you ever +tell upon me, or I shall be beat to death.' + +'Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, rising, 'the word of a gentleman is +as good as his bond--sometimes better, as in the present case, where +his bond might prove but a doubtful sort of security. I am your +friend, and I hope we shall play many more rubbers together in this +same saloon. But, Marchioness,' added Richard, stopping in his way to +the door, and wheeling slowly round upon the small servant, who was +following with the candle; 'it occurs to me that you must be in the +constant habit of airing your eye at keyholes, to know all this.' + +'I only wanted,' replied the trembling Marchioness, 'to know where the +key of the safe was hid; that was all; and I wouldn't have taken much, +if I had found it--only enough to squench my hunger.' + +'You didn't find it then?' said Dick. 'But of course you didn't, or +you'd be plumper. Good night, Marchioness. Fare thee well, and if for +ever, then for ever fare thee well--and put up the chain, Marchioness, +in case of accidents.' + +With this parting injunction, Mr Swiveller emerged from the house; and +feeling that he had by this time taken quite as much to drink as +promised to be good for his constitution (purl being a rather strong +and heady compound), wisely resolved to betake himself to his lodgings, +and to bed at once. Homeward he went therefore; and his apartments +(for he still retained the plural fiction) being at no great distance +from the office, he was soon seated in his own bed-chamber, where, +having pulled off one boot and forgotten the other, he fell into deep +cogitation. + +'This Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, folding his arms, 'is a very +extraordinary person--surrounded by mysteries, ignorant of the taste of +beer, unacquainted with her own name (which is less remarkable), and +taking a limited view of society through the keyholes of doors--can +these things be her destiny, or has some unknown person started an +opposition to the decrees of fate? It is a most inscrutable and +unmitigated staggerer!' + +When his meditations had attained this satisfactory point, he became +aware of his remaining boot, of which, with unimpaired solemnity he +proceeded to divest himself; shaking his head with exceeding gravity +all the time, and sighing deeply. + +'These rubbers,' said Mr Swiveller, putting on his nightcap in exactly +the same style as he wore his hat, 'remind me of the matrimonial +fireside. Cheggs's wife plays cribbage; all-fours likewise. She rings +the changes on 'em now. From sport to sport they hurry her to banish +her regrets, and when they win a smile from her, they think that she +forgets--but she don't. By this time, I should say,' added Richard, +getting his left cheek into profile, and looking complacently at the +reflection of a very little scrap of whisker in the looking-glass; 'by +this time, I should say, the iron has entered into her soul. It serves +her right!' + +Melting from this stern and obdurate, into the tender and pathetic +mood, Mr Swiveller groaned a little, walked wildly up and down, and +even made a show of tearing his hair, which, however, he thought better +of, and wrenched the tassel from his nightcap instead. At last, +undressing himself with a gloomy resolution, he got into bed. + +Some men in his blighted position would have taken to drinking; but as +Mr Swiveller had taken to that before, he only took, on receiving the +news that Sophy Wackles was lost to him for ever, to playing the flute; +thinking after mature consideration that it was a good, sound, dismal +occupation, not only in unison with his own sad thoughts, but +calculated to awaken a fellow-feeling in the bosoms of his neighbours. +In pursuance of this resolution, he now drew a little table to his +bedside, and arranging the light and a small oblong music-book to the +best advantage, took his flute from its box, and began to play most +mournfully. + +The air was 'Away with melancholy'--a composition, which, when it is +played very slowly on the flute, in bed, with the further disadvantage +of being performed by a gentleman but imperfectly acquainted with the +instrument, who repeats one note a great many times before he can find +the next, has not a lively effect. Yet, for half the night, or more, +Mr Swiveller, lying sometimes on his back with his eyes upon the +ceiling, and sometimes half out of bed to correct himself by the book, +played this unhappy tune over and over again; never leaving off, save +for a minute or two at a time to take breath and soliloquise about the +Marchioness, and then beginning again with renewed vigour. It was not +until he had quite exhausted his several subjects of meditation, and +had breathed into the flute the whole sentiment of the purl down to its +very dregs, and had nearly maddened the people of the house, and at +both the next doors, and over the way--that he shut up the music-book, +extinguished the candle, and finding himself greatly lightened and +relieved in his mind, turned round and fell asleep. + +He awoke in the morning, much refreshed; and having taken half an +hour's exercise at the flute, and graciously received a notice to quit +from his landlady, who had been in waiting on the stairs for that +purpose since the dawn of day, repaired to Bevis Marks; where the +beautiful Sally was already at her post, bearing in her looks a +radiance, mild as that which beameth from the virgin moon. + +Mr Swiveller acknowledged her presence by a nod, and exchanged his coat +for the aquatic jacket; which usually took some time fitting on, for in +consequence of a tightness in the sleeves, it was only to be got into +by a series of struggles. This difficulty overcome, he took his seat +at the desk. + +'I say'--quoth Miss Brass, abruptly breaking silence, 'you haven't seen +a silver pencil-case this morning, have you?' + +'I didn't meet many in the street,' rejoined Mr Swiveller. 'I saw +one--a stout pencil-case of respectable appearance--but as he was in +company with an elderly penknife, and a young toothpick with whom he +was in earnest conversation, I felt a delicacy in speaking to him.' + +'No, but have you?' returned Miss Brass. 'Seriously, you know.' + +'What a dull dog you must be to ask me such a question seriously,' said +Mr Swiveller. 'Haven't I this moment come?' + +'Well, all I know is,' replied Miss Sally, 'that it's not to be found, +and that it disappeared one day this week, when I left it on the desk.' + +'Halloa!' thought Richard, 'I hope the Marchioness hasn't been at work +here.' + +'There was a knife too,' said Miss Sally, 'of the same pattern. They +were given to me by my father, years ago, and are both gone. You +haven't missed anything yourself, have you?' + +Mr Swiveller involuntarily clapped his hands to the jacket to be quite +sure that it WAS a jacket and not a skirted coat; and having satisfied +himself of the safety of this, his only moveable in Bevis Marks, made +answer in the negative. + +'It's a very unpleasant thing, Dick,' said Miss Brass, pulling out the +tin box and refreshing herself with a pinch of snuff; 'but between you +and me--between friends you know, for if Sammy knew it, I should never +hear the last of it--some of the office-money, too, that has been left +about, has gone in the same way. In particular, I have missed three +half-crowns at three different times.' + +'You don't mean that?' cried Dick. 'Be careful what you say, old boy, +for this is a serious matter. Are you quite sure? Is there no +mistake?' + +'It is so, and there can't be any mistake at all,' rejoined Miss Brass +emphatically. + +'Then by Jove,' thought Richard, laying down his pen, 'I am afraid the +Marchioness is done for!' + +The more he discussed the subject in his thoughts, the more probable it +appeared to Dick that the miserable little servant was the culprit. +When he considered on what a spare allowance of food she lived, how +neglected and untaught she was, and how her natural cunning had been +sharpened by necessity and privation, he scarcely doubted it. And yet +he pitied her so much, and felt so unwilling to have a matter of such +gravity disturbing the oddity of their acquaintance, that he thought, +and thought truly, that rather than receive fifty pounds down, he would +have the Marchioness proved innocent. + +While he was plunged in very profound and serious meditation upon this +theme, Miss Sally sat shaking her head with an air of great mystery and +doubt; when the voice of her brother Sampson, carolling a cheerful +strain, was heard in the passage, and that gentleman himself, beaming +with virtuous smiles, appeared. + +'Mr Richard, sir, good morning! Here we are again, sir, entering upon +another day, with our bodies strengthened by slumber and breakfast, and +our spirits fresh and flowing. Here we are, Mr Richard, rising with +the sun to run our little course--our course of duty, sir--and, like +him, to get through our day's work with credit to ourselves and +advantage to our fellow-creatures. A charming reflection sir, very +charming!' + +While he addressed his clerk in these words, Mr Brass was, somewhat +ostentatiously, engaged in minutely examining and holding up against +the light a five-pound bank note, which he had brought in, in his hand. + +Mr Richard not receiving his remarks with anything like enthusiasm, his +employer turned his eyes to his face, and observed that it wore a +troubled expression. + +'You're out of spirits, sir,' said Brass. 'Mr Richard, sir, we should +fall to work cheerfully, and not in a despondent state. It becomes us, +Mr Richard, sir, to--' + +Here the chaste Sarah heaved a loud sigh. + +'Dear me!' said Mr Sampson, 'you too! Is anything the matter? Mr +Richard, sir--' + +Dick, glancing at Miss Sally, saw that she was making signals to him, +to acquaint her brother with the subject of their recent conversation. +As his own position was not a very pleasant one until the matter was +set at rest one way or other, he did so; and Miss Brass, plying her +snuff-box at a most wasteful rate, corroborated his account. + +The countenance of Sampson fell, and anxiety overspread his features. +Instead of passionately bewailing the loss of his money, as Miss Sally +had expected, he walked on tiptoe to the door, opened it, looked +outside, shut it softly, returned on tiptoe, and said in a whisper, + +'This is a most extraordinary and painful circumstance--Mr Richard, +sir, a most painful circumstance. The fact is, that I myself have +missed several small sums from the desk, of late, and have refrained +from mentioning it, hoping that accident would discover the offender; +but it has not done so--it has not done so. Sally--Mr Richard, +sir--this is a particularly distressing affair!' + +As Sampson spoke, he laid the bank-note upon the desk among some +papers, in an absent manner, and thrust his hands into his pockets. +Richard Swiveller pointed to it, and admonished him to take it up. + +'No, Mr Richard, sir,' rejoined Brass with emotion, 'I will not take it +up. I will let it lie there, sir. To take it up, Mr Richard, sir, +would imply a doubt of you; and in you, sir, I have unlimited +confidence. We will let it lie there, Sir, if you please, and we will +not take it up by any means.' With that, Mr Brass patted him twice or +thrice on the shoulder, in a most friendly manner, and entreated him to +believe that he had as much faith in his honesty as he had in his own. + +Although at another time Mr Swiveller might have looked upon this as a +doubtful compliment, he felt it, under the then-existing circumstances, +a great relief to be assured that he was not wrongfully suspected. +When he had made a suitable reply, Mr Brass wrung him by the hand, and +fell into a brown study, as did Miss Sally likewise. Richard too +remained in a thoughtful state; fearing every moment to hear the +Marchioness impeached, and unable to resist the conviction that she +must be guilty. + +When they had severally remained in this condition for some minutes, +Miss Sally all at once gave a loud rap upon the desk with her clenched +fist, and cried, 'I've hit it!'--as indeed she had, and chipped a piece +out of it too; but that was not her meaning. + +'Well,' cried Brass anxiously. 'Go on, will you!' + +'Why,' replied his sister with an air of triumph, 'hasn't there been +somebody always coming in and out of this office for the last three or +four weeks; hasn't that somebody been left alone in it +sometimes--thanks to you; and do you mean to tell me that that somebody +isn't the thief!' + +'What somebody?' blustered Brass. + +'Why, what do you call him--Kit.' + +'Mr Garland's young man?' + +'To be sure.' + +'Never!' cried Brass. 'Never. I'll not hear of it. Don't tell +me'--said Sampson, shaking his head, and working with both his hands as +if he were clearing away ten thousand cobwebs. 'I'll never believe it +of him. Never!' + +'I say,' repeated Miss Brass, taking another pinch of snuff, 'that he's +the thief.' + +'I say,' returned Sampson violently, 'that he is not. What do you +mean? How dare you? Are characters to be whispered away like this? +Do you know that he's the honestest and faithfullest fellow that ever +lived, and that he has an irreproachable good name? Come in, come in!' + +These last words were not addressed to Miss Sally, though they partook +of the tone in which the indignant remonstrances that preceded them had +been uttered. They were addressed to some person who had knocked at +the office-door; and they had hardly passed the lips of Mr Brass, when +this very Kit himself looked in. + +'Is the gentleman up-stairs, sir, if you please?' + +'Yes, Kit,' said Brass, still fired with an honest indignation, and +frowning with knotted brows upon his sister; 'Yes Kit, he is. I am +glad to see you Kit, I am rejoiced to see you. Look in again, as you +come down-stairs, Kit. That lad a robber!' cried Brass when he had +withdrawn, 'with that frank and open countenance! I'd trust him with +untold gold. Mr Richard, sir, have the goodness to step directly to +Wrasp and Co.'s in Broad Street, and inquire if they have had +instructions to appear in Carkem and Painter. THAT lad a robber,' +sneered Sampson, flushed and heated with his wrath. 'Am I blind, deaf, +silly; do I know nothing of human nature when I see it before me? Kit +a robber! Bah!' + +Flinging this final interjection at Miss Sally with immeasurable scorn +and contempt, Sampson Brass thrust his head into his desk, as if to +shut the base world from his view, and breathed defiance from under its +half-closed lid. + + + + +CHAPTER 59 + +When Kit, having discharged his errand, came down-stairs from the +single gentleman's apartment after the lapse of a quarter of an hour or +so, Mr Sampson Brass was alone in the office. He was not singing as +usual, nor was he seated at his desk. The open door showed him +standing before the fire with his back towards it, and looking so very +strange that Kit supposed he must have been suddenly taken ill. + +'Is anything the matter, sir?' said Kit. + +'Matter!' cried Brass. 'No. Why anything the matter?' + +'You are so very pale,' said Kit, 'that I should hardly have known you.' + +'Pooh pooh! mere fancy,' cried Brass, stooping to throw up the cinders. +'Never better, Kit, never better in all my life. Merry too. Ha ha! +How's our friend above-stairs, eh?' + +'A great deal better,' said Kit. + +'I'm glad to hear it,' rejoined Brass; 'thankful, I may say. An +excellent gentleman--worthy, liberal, generous, gives very little +trouble--an admirable lodger. Ha ha! Mr Garland--he's well I hope, +Kit--and the pony--my friend, my particular friend you know. Ha ha!' + +Kit gave a satisfactory account of all the little household at Abel +Cottage. Mr Brass, who seemed remarkably inattentive and impatient, +mounted on his stool, and beckoning him to come nearer, took him by the +button-hole. + +'I have been thinking, Kit,' said the lawyer, 'that I could throw some +little emoluments in your mother's way--You have a mother, I think? If +I recollect right, you told me--' + +'Oh yes, Sir, yes certainly.' + +'A widow, I think? an industrious widow?' + +'A harder-working woman or a better mother never lived, Sir.' + +'Ah!' cried Brass. 'That's affecting, truly affecting. A poor widow +struggling to maintain her orphans in decency and comfort, is a +delicious picture of human goodness.--Put down your hat, Kit.' + +'Thank you Sir, I must be going directly.' + +'Put it down while you stay, at any rate,' said Brass, taking it from +him and making some confusion among the papers, in finding a place for +it on the desk. 'I was thinking, Kit, that we have often houses to let +for people we are concerned for, and matters of that sort. Now you +know we're obliged to put people into those houses to take care of +'em--very often undeserving people that we can't depend upon. What's +to prevent our having a person that we CAN depend upon, and enjoying +the delight of doing a good action at the same time? I say, what's to +prevent our employing this worthy woman, your mother? What with one +job and another, there's lodging--and good lodging too--pretty well +all the year round, rent free, and a weekly allowance besides, Kit, +that would provide her with a great many comforts she don't at present +enjoy. Now what do you think of that? Do you see any objection? My +only desire is to serve you, Kit; therefore if you do, say so freely.' + +As Brass spoke, he moved the hat twice or thrice, and shuffled among +the papers again, as if in search of something. + +'How can I see any objection to such a kind offer, sir?' replied Kit +with his whole heart. 'I don't know how to thank you sir, I don't +indeed.' + +'Why then,' said Brass, suddenly turning upon him and thrusting his +face close to Kit's with such a repulsive smile that the latter, even +in the very height of his gratitude, drew back, quite startled. 'Why +then, it's done.' + +Kit looked at him in some confusion. + +'Done, I say,' added Sampson, rubbing his hands and veiling himself +again in his usual oily manner. 'Ha ha! and so you shall find Kit, so +you shall find. But dear me,' said Brass, 'what a time Mr Richard is +gone! A sad loiterer to be sure! Will you mind the office one minute, +while I run up-stairs? Only one minute. I'll not detain you an +instant longer, on any account, Kit.' + +Talking as he went, Mr Brass bustled out of the office, and in a very +short time returned. Mr Swiveller came back, almost at the same +instant; and as Kit was leaving the room hastily, to make up for lost +time, Miss Brass herself encountered him in the doorway. + +'Oh!' sneered Sally, looking after him as she entered. 'There goes +your pet, Sammy, eh?' + +'Ah! There he goes,' replied Brass. 'My pet, if you please. An +honest fellow, Mr Richard, sir--a worthy fellow indeed!' + +'Hem!' coughed Miss Brass. + +'I tell you, you aggravating vagabond,' said the angry Sampson, 'that +I'd stake my life upon his honesty. Am I never to hear the last of +this? Am I always to be baited, and beset, by your mean suspicions? +Have you no regard for true merit, you malignant fellow? If you come +to that, I'd sooner suspect your honesty than his.' + +Miss Sally pulled out the tin snuff-box, and took a long, slow pinch, +regarding her brother with a steady gaze all the time. + +'She drives me wild, Mr Richard, sir,' said Brass, 'she exasperates me +beyond all bearing. I am heated and excited, sir, I know I am. These +are not business manners, sir, nor business looks, but she carries me +out of myself.' + +'Why don't you leave him alone?' said Dick. + +'Because she can't, sir,' retorted Brass; 'because to chafe and vex me +is a part of her nature, Sir, and she will and must do it, or I don't +believe she'd have her health. But never mind,' said Brass, 'never +mind. I've carried my point. I've shown my confidence in the lad. He +has minded the office again. Ha ha! Ugh, you viper!' + +The beautiful virgin took another pinch, and put the snuff-box in her +pocket; still looking at her brother with perfect composure. + +'He has minded the office again,' said Brass triumphantly; 'he has had +my confidence, and he shall continue to have it; he--why, where's the--' + +'What have you lost?' inquired Mr Swiveller. + +'Dear me!' said Brass, slapping all his pockets, one after another, and +looking into his desk, and under it, and upon it, and wildly tossing +the papers about, 'the note, Mr Richard, sir, the five-pound note--what +can have become of it? I laid it down here--God bless me!' + +'What!' cried Miss Sally, starting up, clapping her hands, and +scattering the papers on the floor. 'Gone! Now who's right? Now +who's got it? Never mind five pounds--what's five pounds? He's +honest, you know, quite honest. It would be mean to suspect him. +Don't run after him. No, no, not for the world!' + +'Is it really gone though?' said Dick, looking at Brass with a face as +pale as his own. + +'Upon my word, Mr Richard, Sir,' replied the lawyer, feeling in all his +pockets with looks of the greatest agitation, 'I fear this is a black +business. It's certainly gone, Sir. What's to be done?' + +'Don't run after him,' said Miss Sally, taking more snuff. 'Don't run +after him on any account. Give him time to get rid of it, you know. +It would be cruel to find him out!' + +Mr Swiveller and Sampson Brass looked from Miss Sally to each other, in +a state of bewilderment, and then, as by one impulse, caught up their +hats and rushed out into the street--darting along in the middle of the +road, and dashing aside all obstructions, as though they were running +for their lives. + +It happened that Kit had been running too, though not so fast, and +having the start of them by some few minutes, was a good distance +ahead. As they were pretty certain of the road he must have taken, +however, and kept on at a great pace, they came up with him, at the +very moment when he had taken breath, and was breaking into a run again. + +'Stop!' cried Sampson, laying his hand on one shoulder, while Mr +Swiveller pounced upon the other. 'Not so fast sir. You're in a +hurry?' + +'Yes, I am,' said Kit, looking from one to the other in great surprise. + +'I--I--can hardly believe it,' panted Sampson, 'but something of value +is missing from the office. I hope you don't know what.' + +'Know what! good Heaven, Mr Brass!' cried Kit, trembling from head to +foot; 'you don't suppose--' + +'No, no,' rejoined Brass quickly, 'I don't suppose anything. Don't say +I said you did. You'll come back quietly, I hope?' + +'Of course I will,' returned Kit. 'Why not?' + +'To be sure!' said Brass. 'Why not? I hope there may turn out to be +no why not. If you knew the trouble I've been in, this morning, +through taking your part, Christopher, you'd be sorry for it.' + +'And I am sure you'll be sorry for having suspected me sir,' replied +Kit. 'Come. Let us make haste back.' + +'Certainly!' cried Brass, 'the quicker, the better. Mr Richard--have +the goodness, sir, to take that arm. I'll take this one. It's not +easy walking three abreast, but under these circumstances it must be +done, sir; there's no help for it.' + +Kit did turn from white to red, and from red to white again, when they +secured him thus, and for a moment seemed disposed to resist. But, +quickly recollecting himself, and remembering that if he made any +struggle, he would perhaps be dragged by the collar through the public +streets, he only repeated, with great earnestness and with the tears +standing in his eyes, that they would be sorry for this--and suffered +them to lead him off. While they were on the way back, Mr Swiveller, +upon whom his present functions sat very irksomely, took an opportunity +of whispering in his ear that if he would confess his guilt, even by so +much as a nod, and promise not to do so any more, he would connive at +his kicking Sampson Brass on the shins and escaping up a court; but Kit +indignantly rejecting this proposal, Mr Richard had nothing for it, but +to hold him tight until they reached Bevis Marks, and ushered him into +the presence of the charming Sarah, who immediately took the precaution +of locking the door. + +'Now, you know,' said Brass, 'if this is a case of innocence, it is a +case of that description, Christopher, where the fullest disclosure is +the best satisfaction for everybody. Therefore if you'll consent to an +examination,' he demonstrated what kind of examination he meant by +turning back the cuffs of his coat, 'it will be a comfortable and +pleasant thing for all parties.' + +'Search me,' said Kit, proudly holding up his arms. 'But mind, sir--I +know you'll be sorry for this, to the last day of your life.' + +'It is certainly a very painful occurrence,' said Brass with a sigh, as +he dived into one of Kit's pockets, and fished up a miscellaneous +collection of small articles; 'very painful. Nothing here, Mr Richard, +Sir, all perfectly satisfactory. Nor here, sir. Nor in the waistcoat, +Mr Richard, nor in the coat tails. So far, I am rejoiced, I am sure.' + +Richard Swiveller, holding Kit's hat in his hand, was watching the +proceedings with great interest, and bore upon his face the slightest +possible indication of a smile, as Brass, shutting one of his eyes, +looked with the other up the inside of one of the poor fellow's sleeves +as if it were a telescope--when Sampson turning hastily to him, bade +him search the hat. + +'Here's a handkerchief,' said Dick. + +'No harm in that sir,' rejoined Brass, applying his eye to the other +sleeve, and speaking in the voice of one who was contemplating an +immense extent of prospect. 'No harm in a handkerchief Sir, whatever. +The faculty don't consider it a healthy custom, I believe, Mr Richard, +to carry one's handkerchief in one's hat--I have heard that it keeps +the head too warm--but in every other point of view, its being there, +is extremely satisfactory--extremely so.' + +An exclamation, at once from Richard Swiveller, Miss Sally, and Kit +himself, cut the lawyer short. He turned his head, and saw Dick +standing with the bank-note in his hand. + +'In the hat?' cried Brass in a sort of shriek. + +'Under the handkerchief, and tucked beneath the lining,' said Dick, +aghast at the discovery. + +Mr Brass looked at him, at his sister, at the walls, at the ceiling, at +the floor--everywhere but at Kit, who stood quite stupefied and +motionless. + +'And this,' cried Sampson, clasping his hands, 'is the world that turns +upon its own axis, and has Lunar influences, and revolutions round +Heavenly Bodies, and various games of that sort! This is human natur, +is it! Oh natur, natur! This is the miscreant that I was going to +benefit with all my little arts, and that, even now, I feel so much +for, as to wish to let him go! But,' added Mr Brass with greater +fortitude, 'I am myself a lawyer, and bound to set an example in +carrying the laws of my happy country into effect. Sally my dear, +forgive me, and catch hold of him on the other side. Mr Richard, sir, +have the goodness to run and fetch a constable. The weakness is past +and over sir, and moral strength returns. A constable, sir, if you +please!' + + + + +CHAPTER 60 + +Kit stood as one entranced, with his eyes opened wide and fixed upon +the ground, regardless alike of the tremulous hold which Mr Brass +maintained on one side of his cravat, and of the firmer grasp of Miss +Sally upon the other; although this latter detention was in itself no +small inconvenience, as that fascinating woman, besides screwing her +knuckles inconveniently into his throat from time to time, had fastened +upon him in the first instance with so tight a grip that even in the +disorder and distraction of his thoughts he could not divest himself of +an uneasy sense of choking. Between the brother and sister he remained +in this posture, quite unresisting and passive, until Mr Swiveller +returned, with a police constable at his heels. + +This functionary, being, of course, well used to such scenes; looking +upon all kinds of robbery, from petty larceny up to housebreaking or +ventures on the highway, as matters in the regular course of business; +and regarding the perpetrators in the light of so many customers coming +to be served at the wholesale and retail shop of criminal law where he +stood behind the counter; received Mr Brass's statement of facts with +about as much interest and surprise, as an undertaker might evince if +required to listen to a circumstantial account of the last illness of a +person whom he was called in to wait upon professionally; and took Kit +into custody with a decent indifference. + +'We had better,' said this subordinate minister of justice, 'get to the +office while there's a magistrate sitting. I shall want you to come +along with us, Mr Brass, and the--' he looked at Miss Sally as if in +some doubt whether she might not be a griffin or other fabulous monster. + +'The lady, eh?' said Sampson. + +'Ah!' replied the constable. 'Yes--the lady. Likewise the young man +that found the property.' + +'Mr Richard, Sir,' said Brass in a mournful voice. 'A sad necessity. +But the altar of our country sir--' + +'You'll have a hackney-coach, I suppose?' interrupted the constable, +holding Kit (whom his other captors had released) carelessly by the +arm, a little above the elbow. 'Be so good as send for one, will you?' + +'But, hear me speak a word,' cried Kit, raising his eyes and looking +imploringly about him. 'Hear me speak a word. I am no more guilty +than any one of you. Upon my soul I am not. I a thief! Oh, Mr Brass, +you know me better. I am sure you know me better. This is not right +of you, indeed.' + +'I give you my word, constable--' said Brass. But here the constable +interposed with the constitutional principle 'words be blowed;' +observing that words were but spoon-meat for babes and sucklings, and +that oaths were the food for strong men. + +'Quite true, constable,' assented Brass in the same mournful tone. +'Strictly correct. I give you my oath, constable, that down to a few +minutes ago, when this fatal discovery was made, I had such confidence +in that lad, that I'd have trusted him with--a hackney-coach, Mr +Richard, sir; you're very slow, Sir.' + +'Who is there that knows me,' cried Kit, 'that would not trust me-- +that does not? ask anybody whether they have ever doubted me; whether I +have ever wronged them of a farthing. Was I ever once dishonest when I +was poor and hungry, and is it likely I would begin now! Oh consider +what you do. How can I meet the kindest friends that ever human +creature had, with this dreadful charge upon me!' + +Mr Brass rejoined that it would have been well for the prisoner if he +had thought of that before and was about to make some other gloomy +observations when the voice of the single gentleman was heard, +demanding from above-stairs what was the matter, and what was the cause +of all that noise and hurry. Kit made an involuntary start towards the +door in his anxiety to answer for himself, but being speedily detained +by the constable, had the agony of seeing Sampson Brass run out alone +to tell the story in his own way. + +'And he can hardly believe it, either,' said Sampson, when he returned, +'nor nobody will. I wish I could doubt the evidence of my senses, but +their depositions are unimpeachable. It's of no use cross-examining my +eyes,' cried Sampson, winking and rubbing them, 'they stick to their +first account, and will. Now, Sarah, I hear the coach in the Marks; +get on your bonnet, and we'll be off. A sad errand! a moral funeral, +quite!' + +'Mr Brass,' said Kit. 'Do me one favour. Take me to Mr Witherden's +first.' + +Sampson shook his head irresolutely. + +'Do,' said Kit. 'My master's there. For Heaven's sake, take me there, +first.' + +'Well, I don't know,' stammered Brass, who perhaps had his reasons for +wishing to show as fair as possible in the eyes of the notary. 'How do +we stand in point of time, constable, eh?' + +The constable, who had been chewing a straw all this while with great +philosophy, replied that if they went away at once they would have time +enough, but that if they stood shilly-shallying there, any longer, they +must go straight to the Mansion House; and finally expressed his +opinion that that was where it was, and that was all about it. + +Mr Richard Swiveller having arrived inside the coach, and still +remaining immoveable in the most commodious corner with his face to the +horses, Mr Brass instructed the officer to remove his prisoner, and +declared himself quite ready. Therefore, the constable, still holding +Kit in the same manner, and pushing him on a little before him, so as +to keep him at about three-quarters of an arm's length in advance +(which is the professional mode), thrust him into the vehicle and +followed himself. Miss Sally entered next; and there being now four +inside, Sampson Brass got upon the box, and made the coachman drive on. + +Still completely stunned by the sudden and terrible change which had +taken place in his affairs, Kit sat gazing out of the coach window, +almost hoping to see some monstrous phenomenon in the streets which +might give him reason to believe he was in a dream. Alas! Everything +was too real and familiar: the same succession of turnings, the same +houses, the same streams of people running side by side in different +directions upon the pavement, the same bustle of carts and carriages in +the road, the same well-remembered objects in the shop windows: a +regularity in the very noise and hurry which no dream ever mirrored. +Dream-like as the story was, it was true. He stood charged with +robbery; the note had been found upon him, though he was innocent in +thought and deed; and they were carrying him back, a prisoner. + +Absorbed in these painful ruminations, thinking with a drooping heart +of his mother and little Jacob, feeling as though even the +consciousness of innocence would be insufficient to support him in the +presence of his friends if they believed him guilty, and sinking in +hope and courage more and more as they drew nearer to the notary's, +poor Kit was looking earnestly out of the window, observant of +nothing,--when all at once, as though it had been conjured up by magic, +he became aware of the face of Quilp. + +And what a leer there was upon the face! It was from the open window +of a tavern that it looked out; and the dwarf had so spread himself +over it, with his elbows on the window-sill and his head resting on +both his hands, that what between this attitude and his being swoln +with suppressed laughter, he looked puffed and bloated into twice his +usual breadth. Mr Brass, on recognising him, immediately stopped the +coach. As it came to a halt directly opposite to where he stood, the +dwarf pulled off his hat, and saluted the party with a hideous and +grotesque politeness. + +'Aha!' he cried. 'Where now, Brass? where now? Sally with you too? +Sweet Sally! And Dick? Pleasant Dick! And Kit! Honest Kit!' + +'He's extremely cheerful!' said Brass to the coachman. 'Very much so! +Ah, sir--a sad business! Never believe in honesty any more, sir.' + +'Why not?' returned the dwarf. 'Why not, you rogue of a lawyer, why +not?' + +'Bank-note lost in our office sir,' said Brass, shaking his head. +'Found in his hat sir--he previously left alone there--no mistake at +all sir--chain of evidence complete--not a link wanting.' + +'What!' cried the dwarf, leaning half his body out of window. 'Kit a +thief! Kit a thief! Ha ha ha! Why, he's an uglier-looking thief than +can be seen anywhere for a penny. Eh, Kit--eh? Ha ha ha! Have you +taken Kit into custody before he had time and opportunity to beat me! +Eh, Kit, eh?' And with that, he burst into a yell of laughter, +manifestly to the great terror of the coachman, and pointed to a dyer's +pole hard by, where a dangling suit of clothes bore some resemblance to +a man upon a gibbet. + +'Is it coming to that, Kit!' cried the dwarf, rubbing his hands +violently. 'Ha ha ha ha! What a disappointment for little Jacob, and +for his darling mother! Let him have the Bethel minister to comfort +and console him, Brass. Eh, Kit, eh? Drive on coachey, drive on. Bye +bye, Kit; all good go with you; keep up your spirits; my love to the +Garlands--the dear old lady and gentleman. Say I inquired after 'em, +will you? Blessings on 'em, on you, and on everybody, Kit. Blessings +on all the world!' + +With such good wishes and farewells, poured out in a rapid torrent +until they were out of hearing, Quilp suffered them to depart; and when +he could see the coach no longer, drew in his head, and rolled upon the +ground in an ecstacy of enjoyment. + +When they reached the notary's, which they were not long in doing, for +they had encountered the dwarf in a bye street at a very little +distance from the house, Mr Brass dismounted; and opening the coach +door with a melancholy visage, requested his sister to accompany him +into the office, with the view of preparing the good people within, for +the mournful intelligence that awaited them. Miss Sally complying, he +desired Mr Swiveller to accompany them. So, into the office they went; +Mr Sampson and his sister arm-in-arm; and Mr Swiveller following, alone. + +The notary was standing before the fire in the outer office, talking to +Mr Abel and the elder Mr Garland, while Mr Chuckster sat writing at the +desk, picking up such crumbs of their conversation as happened to fall +in his way. This posture of affairs Mr Brass observed through the +glass-door as he was turning the handle, and seeing that the notary +recognised him, he began to shake his head and sigh deeply while that +partition yet divided them. + +'Sir,' said Sampson, taking off his hat, and kissing the two +fore-fingers of his right hand beaver glove, 'my name is Brass--Brass +of Bevis Marks, Sir. I have had the honour and pleasure, Sir, of being +concerned against you in some little testamentary matters. How do you +do, sir?' + +'My clerk will attend to any business you may have come upon, Mr +Brass,' said the notary, turning away. + +'Thank you Sir,' said Brass, 'thank you, I am sure. Allow me, Sir, to +introduce my sister--quite one of us Sir, although of the weaker +sex--of great use in my business Sir, I assure you. Mr Richard, sir, +have the goodness to come foward if you please--No really,' said Brass, +stepping between the notary and his private office (towards which he +had begun to retreat), and speaking in the tone of an injured man, +'really Sir, I must, under favour, request a word or two with you, +indeed.' + +'Mr Brass,' said the other, in a decided tone, 'I am engaged. You see +that I am occupied with these gentlemen. If you will communicate your +business to Mr Chuckster yonder, you will receive every attention.' + +'Gentlemen,' said Brass, laying his right hand on his waistcoat, and +looking towards the father and son with a smooth smile--'Gentlemen, I +appeal to you--really, gentlemen--consider, I beg of you. I am of the +law. I am styled "gentleman" by Act of Parliament. I maintain the +title by the annual payment of twelve pound sterling for a certificate. +I am not one of your players of music, stage actors, writers of books, +or painters of pictures, who assume a station that the laws of their +country don't recognise. I am none of your strollers or vagabonds. If +any man brings his action against me, he must describe me as a +gentleman, or his action is null and void. I appeal to you--is this +quite respectful? Really gentlemen--' + +'Well, will you have the goodness to state your business then, Mr +Brass?' said the notary. + +'Sir,' rejoined Brass, 'I will. Ah Mr Witherden! you little know +the--but I will not be tempted to travel from the point, sir, I believe +the name of one of these gentlemen is Garland.' + +'Of both,' said the notary. + +'In-deed!' rejoined Brass, cringing excessively. 'But I might have +known that, from the uncommon likeness. Extremely happy, I am sure, to +have the honour of an introduction to two such gentlemen, although the +occasion is a most painful one. One of you gentlemen has a servant +called Kit?' + +'Both,' replied the notary. + +'Two Kits?' said Brass smiling. 'Dear me!' + +'One Kit, sir,' returned Mr Witherden angrily, 'who is employed by both +gentlemen. What of him?' + +'This of him, sir,' rejoined Brass, dropping his voice impressively. +'That young man, sir, that I have felt unbounded and unlimited +confidence in, and always behaved to as if he was my equal--that young +man has this morning committed a robbery in my office, and been taken +almost in the fact.' + +'This must be some falsehood!' cried the notary. + +'It is not possible,' said Mr Abel. + +'I'll not believe one word of it,' exclaimed the old gentleman. + +Mr Brass looked mildly round upon them, and rejoined, + +'Mr Witherden, sir, YOUR words are actionable, and if I was a man of +low and mean standing, who couldn't afford to be slandered, I should +proceed for damages. Hows'ever, sir, being what I am, I merely scorn +such expressions. The honest warmth of the other gentleman I respect, +and I'm truly sorry to be the messenger of such unpleasant news. I +shouldn't have put myself in this painful position, I assure you, but +that the lad himself desired to be brought here in the first instance, +and I yielded to his prayers. Mr Chuckster, sir, will you have the +goodness to tap at the window for the constable that's waiting in the +coach?' + +The three gentlemen looked at each other with blank faces when these +words were uttered, and Mr Chuckster, doing as he was desired, and +leaping off his stool with something of the excitement of an inspired +prophet whose foretellings had in the fulness of time been realised, +held the door open for the entrance of the wretched captive. + +Such a scene as there was, when Kit came in, and bursting into the rude +eloquence with which Truth at length inspired him, called Heaven to +witness that he was innocent, and that how the property came to be +found upon him he knew not! Such a confusion of tongues, before the +circumstances were related, and the proofs disclosed! Such a dead +silence when all was told, and his three friends exchanged looks of +doubt and amazement! + +'Is it not possible,' said Mr Witherden, after a long pause, 'that this +note may have found its way into the hat by some accident,--such as +the removal of papers on the desk, for instance?' + +But this was clearly shown to be quite impossible. Mr Swiveller, +though an unwilling witness, could not help proving to demonstration, +from the position in which it was found, that it must have been +designedly secreted. + +'It's very distressing,' said Brass, 'immensely distressing, I am sure. +When he comes to be tried, I shall be very happy to recommend him to +mercy on account of his previous good character. I did lose money +before, certainly, but it doesn't quite follow that he took it. The +presumption's against him--strongly against him--but we're Christians, +I hope?' + +'I suppose,' said the constable, looking round, 'that no gentleman here +can give evidence as to whether he's been flush of money of late, Do +you happen to know, Sir?' + +'He has had money from time to time, certainly,' returned Mr Garland, +to whom the man had put the question. 'But that, as he always told me, +was given him by Mr Brass himself.' + +'Yes to be sure,' said Kit eagerly. 'You can bear me out in that, Sir?' + +'Eh?' cried Brass, looking from face to face with an expression of +stupid amazement. + +'The money you know, the half-crowns, that you gave me--from the +lodger,' said Kit. + +'Oh dear me!' cried Brass, shaking his head and frowning heavily. +'This is a bad case, I find; a very bad case indeed.' + +'What! Did you give him no money on account of anybody, Sir?' asked Mr +Garland, with great anxiety. + +'I give him money, Sir!' returned Sampson. 'Oh, come you know, this is +too barefaced. Constable, my good fellow, we had better be going.' + +'What!' shrieked Kit. 'Does he deny that he did? ask him, somebody, +pray. Ask him to tell you whether he did or not!' + +'Did you, sir?' asked the notary. + +'I tell you what, gentlemen,' replied Brass, in a very grave manner, +'he'll not serve his case this way, and really, if you feel any +interest in him, you had better advise him to go upon some other tack. +Did I, sir? Of course I never did.' + +'Gentlemen,' cried Kit, on whom a light broke suddenly, 'Master, Mr +Abel, Mr Witherden, every one of you--he did it! What I have done to +offend him, I don't know, but this is a plot to ruin me. Mind, +gentlemen, it's a plot, and whatever comes of it, I will say with my +dying breath that he put that note in my hat himself! Look at him, +gentlemen! see how he changes colour. Which of us looks the guilty +person--he, or I?' + +'You hear him, gentlemen?' said Brass, smiling, 'you hear him. Now, +does this case strike you as assuming rather a black complexion, or +does it not? Is it at all a treacherous case, do you think, or is it +one of mere ordinary guilt? Perhaps, gentlemen, if he had not said +this in your presence and I had reported it, you'd have held this to be +impossible likewise, eh?' + +With such pacific and bantering remarks did Mr Brass refute the foul +aspersion on his character; but the virtuous Sarah, moved by stronger +feelings, and having at heart, perhaps, a more jealous regard for the +honour of her family, flew from her brother's side, without any +previous intimation of her design, and darted at the prisoner with the +utmost fury. It would undoubtedly have gone hard with Kit's face, but +that the wary constable, foreseeing her design, drew him aside at the +critical moment, and thus placed Mr Chuckster in circumstances of some +jeopardy; for that gentleman happening to be next the object of Miss +Brass's wrath; and rage being, like love and fortune, blind; was +pounced upon by the fair enslaver, and had a false collar plucked up by +the roots, and his hair very much dishevelled, before the exertions of +the company could make her sensible of her mistake. + +The constable, taking warning by this desperate attack, and thinking +perhaps that it would be more satisfactory to the ends of justice if +the prisoner were taken before a magistrate, whole, rather than in +small pieces, led him back to the hackney-coach without more ado, and +moreover insisted on Miss Brass becoming an outside passenger; to which +proposal the charming creature, after a little angry discussion, +yielded her consent; and so took her brother Sampson's place upon the +box: Mr Brass with some reluctance agreeing to occupy her seat inside. +These arrangements perfected, they drove to the justice-room with all +speed, followed by the notary and his two friends in another coach. Mr +Chuckster alone was left behind--greatly to his indignation; for he +held the evidence he could have given, relative to Kit's returning to +work out the shilling, to be so very material as bearing upon his +hypocritical and designing character, that he considered its +suppression little better than a compromise of felony. + +At the justice-room, they found the single gentleman, who had gone +straight there, and was expecting them with desperate impatience. But +not fifty single gentlemen rolled into one could have helped poor Kit, +who in half an hour afterwards was committed for trial, and was assured +by a friendly officer on his way to prison that there was no occasion +to be cast down, for the sessions would soon be on, and he would, in +all likelihood, get his little affair disposed of, and be comfortably +transported, in less than a fortnight. + + + + +CHAPTER 61 + +Let moralists and philosophers say what they may, it is very +questionable whether a guilty man would have felt half as much misery +that night, as Kit did, being innocent. The world, being in the +constant commission of vast quantities of injustice, is a little too +apt to comfort itself with the idea that if the victim of its falsehood +and malice have a clear conscience, he cannot fail to be sustained +under his trials, and somehow or other to come right at last; 'in which +case,' say they who have hunted him down, '--though we certainly don't +expect it--nobody will be better pleased than we.' Whereas, the world +would do well to reflect, that injustice is in itself, to every +generous and properly constituted mind, an injury, of all others the +most insufferable, the most torturing, and the most hard to bear; and +that many clear consciences have gone to their account elsewhere, and +many sound hearts have broken, because of this very reason; the +knowledge of their own deserts only aggravating their sufferings, and +rendering them the less endurable. + +The world, however, was not in fault in Kit's case. But Kit was +innocent; and knowing this, and feeling that his best friends deemed +him guilty--that Mr and Mrs Garland would look upon him as a monster of +ingratitude--that Barbara would associate him with all that was bad and +criminal--that the pony would consider himself forsaken--and that even +his own mother might perhaps yield to the strong appearances against +him, and believe him to be the wretch he seemed--knowing and feeling +all this, he experienced, at first, an agony of mind which no words can +describe, and walked up and down the little cell in which he was locked +up for the night, almost beside himself with grief. + +Even when the violence of these emotions had in some degree subsided, +and he was beginning to grow more calm, there came into his mind a new +thought, the anguish of which was scarcely less. The child--the bright +star of the simple fellow's life--she, who always came back upon him +like a beautiful dream--who had made the poorest part of his existence, +the happiest and best--who had ever been so gentle, and considerate, +and good--if she were ever to hear of this, what would she think! As +this idea occurred to him, the walls of the prison seemed to melt away, +and the old place to reveal itself in their stead, as it was wont to be +on winter nights--the fireside, the little supper table, the old man's +hat, and coat, and stick--the half-opened door, leading to her little +room--they were all there. And Nell herself was there, and he--both +laughing heartily as they had often done--and when he had got as far as +this, Kit could go no farther, but flung himself upon his poor bedstead +and wept. + +It was a long night, which seemed as though it would have no end; but +he slept too, and dreamed--always of being at liberty, and roving +about, now with one person and now with another, but ever with a vague +dread of being recalled to prison; not that prison, but one which was +in itself a dim idea--not of a place, but of a care and sorrow: of +something oppressive and always present, and yet impossible to define. +At last, the morning dawned, and there was the jail itself--cold, +black, and dreary, and very real indeed. + +He was left to himself, +however, and there was comfort in that. He had liberty to walk in a +small paved yard at a certain hour, and learnt from the turnkey, who +came to unlock his cell and show him where to wash, that there was a +regular time for visiting, every day, and that if any of his friends +came to see him, he would be fetched down to the grate. When he had +given him this information, and a tin porringer containing his +breakfast, the man locked him up again; and went clattering along the +stone passage, opening and shutting a great many other doors, and +raising numberless loud echoes which resounded through the building for +a long time, as if they were in prison too, and unable to get out. + +This turnkey had given him to understand that he was lodged, like some +few others in the jail, apart from the mass of prisoners; because he +was not supposed to be utterly depraved and irreclaimable, and had +never occupied apartments in that mansion before. Kit was thankful for +this indulgence, and sat reading the church catechism very attentively +(though he had known it by heart from a little child), until he heard +the key in the lock, and the man entered again. + +'Now then,' he said, 'come on!' + +'Where to, Sir?' asked Kit. + +The man contented himself by briefly replying 'Wisitors;' and taking +him by the arm in exactly the same manner as the constable had done the +day before, led him, through several winding ways and strong gates, +into a passage, where he placed him at a grating and turned upon his +heel. Beyond this grating, at the distance of about four or five feet, +was another exactly like it. In the space between, sat a turnkey +reading a newspaper, and outside the further railing, Kit saw, with a +palpitating heart, his mother with the baby in her arms; Barbara's +mother with her never-failing umbrella; and poor little Jacob, staring +in with all his might, as though he were looking for the bird, or the +wild beast, and thought the men were mere accidents with whom the bars +could have no possible concern. + +But when little Jacob saw his brother, and, thrusting his arms between +the rails to hug him, found that he came no nearer, but still stood +afar off with his head resting on the arm by which he held to one of +the bars, he began to cry most piteously; whereupon, Kit's mother and +Barbara's mother, who had restrained themselves as much as possible, +burst out sobbing and weeping afresh. Poor Kit could not help joining +them, and not one of them could speak a word. During this melancholy +pause, the turnkey read his newspaper with a waggish look (he had +evidently got among the facetious paragraphs) until, happening to take +his eyes off for an instant, as if to get by dint of contemplation at +the very marrow of some joke of a deeper sort than the rest, it +appeared to occur to him, for the first time, that somebody was crying. + +'Now, ladies, ladies,' he said, looking round with surprise, 'I'd +advise you not to waste time like this. It's allowanced here, you +know. You mustn't let that child make that noise either. It's against +all rules.' + +'I'm his poor mother, sir,'--sobbed Mrs Nubbles, curtseying humbly, +'and this is his brother, sir. Oh dear me, dear me!' + +'Well!' replied the turnkey, folding his paper on his knee, so as to +get with greater convenience at the top of the next column. 'It can't +be helped you know. He ain't the only one in the same fix. You +mustn't make a noise about it!' + +With that he went on reading. The man was not unnaturally cruel or +hard-hearted. He had come to look upon felony as a kind of disorder, +like the scarlet fever or erysipelas: some people had it--some +hadn't--just as it might be. + +'Oh! my darling Kit,' said his mother, whom Barbara's mother had +charitably relieved of the baby, 'that I should see my poor boy here!' + +'You don't believe that I did what they accuse me of, mother dear?' +cried Kit, in a choking voice. + +'I believe it!' exclaimed the poor woman, 'I that never knew you tell a +lie, or do a bad action from your cradle--that have never had a +moment's sorrow on your account, except it was the poor meals that you +have taken with such good humour and content, that I forgot how little +there was, when I thought how kind and thoughtful you were, though you +were but a child!--I believe it of the son that's been a comfort to me +from the hour of his birth until this time, and that I never laid down +one night in anger with! I believe it of you Kit!--' + +'Why then, thank God!' said Kit, clutching the bars with an earnestness +that shook them, 'and I can bear it, mother! Come what may, I shall +always have one drop of happiness in my heart when I think that you +said that.' + +At this the poor woman fell a-crying again, and Barbara's mother too. +And little Jacob, whose disjointed thoughts had by this time resolved +themselves into a pretty distinct impression that Kit couldn't go out +for a walk if he wanted, and that there were no birds, lions, tigers or +other natural curiosities behind those bars--nothing indeed, but a +caged brother--added his tears to theirs with as little noise as +possible. + +Kit's mother, drying her eyes (and moistening them, poor soul, more +than she dried them), now took from the ground a small basket, and +submissively addressed herself to the turnkey, saying, would he please +to listen to her for a minute? The turnkey, being in the very crisis +and passion of a joke, motioned to her with his hand to keep silent one +minute longer, for her life. Nor did he remove his hand into its +former posture, but kept it in the same warning attitude until he had +finished the paragraph, when he paused for a few seconds, with a smile +upon his face, as who should say 'this editor is a comical blade--a +funny dog,' and then asked her what she wanted. + +'I have brought him a little something to eat,' said the good woman. +'If you please, Sir, might he have it?' + +'Yes,--he may have it. There's no rule against that. Give it to me +when you go, and I'll take care he has it.' + +'No, but if you please sir--don't be angry with me sir--I am his +mother, and you had a mother once--if I might only see him eat a little +bit, I should go away, so much more satisfied that he was all +comfortable.' + +And again the tears of Kit's mother burst forth, and of Barbara's +mother, and of little Jacob. As to the baby, it was crowing and +laughing with its might--under the idea, apparently, that the whole +scene had been invented and got up for its particular satisfaction. + +The turnkey looked as if he thought the request a strange one and +rather out of the common way, but nevertheless he laid down his paper, +and coming round where Kit's mother stood, took the basket from her, +and after inspecting its contents, handed it to Kit, and went back to +his place. It may be easily conceived that the prisoner had no great +appetite, but he sat down on the ground, and ate as hard as he could, +while, at every morsel he put into his mouth, his mother sobbed and +wept afresh, though with a softened grief that bespoke the satisfaction +the sight afforded her. + +While he was thus engaged, Kit made some anxious inquiries about his +employers, and whether they had expressed any opinion concerning him; +but all he could learn was that Mr Abel had himself broken the +intelligence to his mother, with great kindness and delicacy, late on +the previous night, but had himself expressed no opinion of his +innocence or guilt. Kit was on the point of mustering courage to ask +Barbara's mother about Barbara, when the turnkey who had conducted him, +reappeared, a second turnkey appeared behind his visitors, and the +third turnkey with the newspaper cried 'Time's up!'--adding in the same +breath 'Now for the next party!' and then plunging deep into his +newspaper again. Kit was taken off in an instant, with a blessing from +his mother, and a scream from little Jacob, ringing in his ears. As he +was crossing the next yard with the basket in his hand, under the +guidance of his former conductor, another officer called to them to +stop, and came up with a pint pot of porter in his hand. + +'This is Christopher Nubbles, isn't it, that come in last night for +felony?' said the man. + +His comrade replied that this was the chicken in question. + +'Then here's your beer,' said the other man to Christopher. 'What are +you looking at? There an't a discharge in it.' + +'I beg your pardon,' said Kit. 'Who sent it me?' + +'Why, your friend,' replied the man. 'You're to have it every day, he +says. And so you will, if he pays for it.' + +'My friend!' repeated Kit. + +'You're all abroad, seemingly,' returned the other man. 'There's his +letter. Take hold!' + +Kit took it, and when he was locked up again, read as follows. + +'Drink of this cup, you'll find there's a spell in its every drop +'gainst the ills of mortality. Talk of the cordial that sparkled for +Helen! HER cup was a fiction, but this is reality (Barclay and +Co.'s).--If they ever send it in a flat state, complain to the +Governor. Yours, R. S.' + +'R. S.!' said Kit, after some consideration. 'It must be Mr Richard +Swiveller. Well, its very kind of him, and I thank him heartily.' + + + + +CHAPTER 62 + +A faint light, twinkling from the window of the counting-house on +Quilp's wharf, and looking inflamed and red through the night-fog, as +though it suffered from it like an eye, forewarned Mr Sampson Brass, as +he approached the wooden cabin with a cautious step, that the excellent +proprietor, his esteemed client, was inside, and probably waiting with +his accustomed patience and sweetness of temper the fulfilment of the +appointment which now brought Mr Brass within his fair domain. + +'A treacherous place to pick one's steps in, of a dark night,' muttered +Sampson, as he stumbled for the twentieth time over some stray lumber, +and limped in pain. 'I believe that boy strews the ground differently +every day, on purpose to bruise and maim one; unless his master does it +with his own hands, which is more than likely. I hate to come to this +place without Sally. She's more protection than a dozen men.' + +As he paid this compliment to the merit of the absent charmer, Mr Brass +came to a halt; looking doubtfully towards the light, and over his +shoulder. + +'What's he about, I wonder?' murmured the lawyer, standing on tiptoe, +and endeavouring to obtain a glimpse of what was passing inside, which +at that distance was impossible--'drinking, I suppose,--making himself +more fiery and furious, and heating his malice and mischievousness till +they boil. I'm always afraid to come here by myself, when his +account's a pretty large one. I don't believe he'd mind throttling me, +and dropping me softly into the river when the tide was at its +strongest, any more than he'd mind killing a rat--indeed I don't know +whether he wouldn't consider it a pleasant joke. Hark! Now he's +singing!' + +Mr Quilp was certainly entertaining himself with vocal exercise, but it +was rather a kind of chant than a song; being a monotonous repetition +of one sentence in a very rapid manner, with a long stress upon the +last word, which he swelled into a dismal roar. Nor did the burden of +this performance bear any reference to love, or war, or wine, or +loyalty, or any other, the standard topics of song, but to a subject +not often set to music or generally known in ballads; the words being +these:--'The worthy magistrate, after remarking that the prisoner would +find some difficulty in persuading a jury to believe his tale, +committed him to take his trial at the approaching sessions; and +directed the customary recognisances to be entered into for the +pros-e-cu-tion.' + +Every time he came to this concluding word, and had exhausted all +possible stress upon it, Quilp burst into a shriek of laughter, and +began again. + +'He's dreadfully imprudent,' muttered Brass, after he had listened to +two or three repetitions of the chant. 'Horribly imprudent. I wish he +was dumb. I wish he was deaf. I wish he was blind. Hang him,' cried +Brass, as the chant began again. 'I wish he was dead!' + +Giving utterance to these friendly aspirations in behalf of his client, +Mr Sampson composed his face into its usual state of smoothness, and +waiting until the shriek came again and was dying away, went up to the +wooden house, and knocked at the door. + +'Come in!' cried the dwarf. + +'How do you do to-night sir?' said Sampson, peeping in. 'Ha ha ha! +How do you do sir? Oh dear me, how very whimsical! Amazingly +whimsical to be sure!' + +'Come in, you fool!' returned the dwarf, 'and don't stand there shaking +your head and showing your teeth. Come in, you false witness, you +perjurer, you suborner of evidence, come in!' + +'He has the richest humour!' cried Brass, shutting the door behind him; +'the most amazing vein of comicality! But isn't it rather injudicious, +sir--?' + +'What?' demanded Quilp. 'What, Judas?' + +'Judas!' cried Brass. 'He has such extraordinary spirits! His humour +is so extremely playful! Judas! Oh yes--dear me, how very good! Ha +ha ha!' + +All this time, Sampson was rubbing his hands, and staring, with +ludicrous surprise and dismay, at a great, goggle-eyed, blunt-nosed +figure-head of some old ship, which was reared up against the wall in a +corner near the stove, looking like a goblin or hideous idol whom the +dwarf worshipped. A mass of timber on its head, carved into the dim +and distant semblance of a cocked hat, together with a representation +of a star on the left breast and epaulettes on the shoulders, denoted +that it was intended for the effigy of some famous admiral; but, +without those helps, any observer might have supposed it the authentic +portrait of a distinguished merman, or great sea-monster. Being +originally much too large for the apartment which it was now employed +to decorate, it had been sawn short off at the waist. Even in this +state it reached from floor to ceiling; and thrusting itself forward, +with that excessively wide-awake aspect, and air of somewhat obtrusive +politeness, by which figure-heads are usually characterised, seemed to +reduce everything else to mere pigmy proportions. + +'Do you know it?' said the dwarf, watching Sampson's eyes. 'Do you see +the likeness?' + +'Eh?' said Brass, holding his head on one side, and throwing it a +little back, as connoisseurs do. 'Now I look at it again, I fancy I +see a--yes, there certainly is something in the smile that reminds me +of--and yet upon my word I--' + +Now, the fact was, that Sampson, having never seen anything in the +smallest degree resembling this substantial phantom, was much +perplexed; being uncertain whether Mr Quilp considered it like himself, +and had therefore bought it for a family portrait; or whether he was +pleased to consider it as the likeness of some enemy. He was not very +long in doubt; for, while he was surveying it with that knowing look +which people assume when they are contemplating for the first time +portraits which they ought to recognise but don't, the dwarf threw down +the newspaper from which he had been chanting the words already quoted, +and seizing a rusty iron bar, which he used in lieu of poker, dealt the +figure such a stroke on the nose that it rocked again. + +'Is it like Kit--is it his picture, his image, his very self?' cried +the dwarf, aiming a shower of blows at the insensible countenance, and +covering it with deep dimples. 'Is it the exact model and counterpart +of the dog--is it--is it--is it?' And with every repetition of the +question, he battered the great image, until the perspiration streamed +down his face with the violence of the exercise. + +Although this might have been a very comical thing to look at from a +secure gallery, as a bull-fight is found to be a comfortable spectacle +by those who are not in the arena, and a house on fire is better than a +play to people who don't live near it, there was something in the +earnestness of Mr Quilp's manner which made his legal adviser feel that +the counting-house was a little too small, and a deal too lonely, for +the complete enjoyment of these humours. Therefore, he stood as far +off as he could, while the dwarf was thus engaged; whimpering out but +feeble applause; and when Quilp left off and sat down again from pure +exhaustion, approached with more obsequiousness than ever. + +'Excellent indeed!' cried Brass. 'He he! Oh, very good Sir. You +know,' said Sampson, looking round as if in appeal to the bruised +animal, 'he's quite a remarkable man--quite!' + +'Sit down,' said the dwarf. 'I bought the dog yesterday. I've been +screwing gimlets into him, and sticking forks in his eyes, and cutting +my name on him. I mean to burn him at last.' + +'Ha ha!' cried Brass. 'Extremely entertaining, indeed!' + +'Come here,' said Quilp, beckoning him to draw near. 'What's +injudicious, hey?' + +'Nothing Sir--nothing. Scarcely worth mentioning Sir; but I thought +that song--admirably humorous in itself you know--was perhaps rather--' + +'Yes,' said Quilp, 'rather what?' + +'Just bordering, or as one may say remotely verging, upon the confines +of injudiciousness perhaps, Sir,' returned Brass, looking timidly at +the dwarf's cunning eyes, which were turned towards the fire and +reflected its red light. + +'Why?' inquired Quilp, without looking up. + +'Why, you know, sir,' returned Brass, venturing to be more familiar: +'--the fact is, sir, that any allusion to these little combinings +together, of friends, for objects in themselves extremely laudable, but +which the law terms conspiracies, are--you take me, sir?--best kept +snug and among friends, you know.' + +'Eh!' said Quilp, looking up with a perfectly vacant countenance. +'What do you mean?' + +'Cautious, exceedingly cautious, very right and proper!' cried Brass, +nodding his head. 'Mum, sir, even here--my meaning, sir, exactly.' + +'YOUR meaning exactly, you brazen scarecrow,--what's your meaning?' +retorted Quilp. 'Why do you talk to me of combining together? Do I +combine? Do I know anything about your combinings?' + +'No no, sir--certainly not; not by any means,' returned Brass. + +'If you so wink and nod at me,' said the dwarf, looking about him as if +for his poker, 'I'll spoil the expression of your monkey's face, I +will.' + +'Don't put yourself out of the way I beg, sir,' rejoined Brass, +checking himself with great alacrity. 'You're quite right, sir, quite +right. I shouldn't have mentioned the subject, sir. It's much better +not to. You're quite right, sir. Let us change it, if you please. +You were asking, sir, Sally told me, about our lodger. He has not +returned, sir.' + +'No?' said Quilp, heating some rum in a little saucepan, and watching +it to prevent its boiling over. 'Why not?' + +'Why, sir,' returned Brass, 'he--dear me, Mr Quilp, sir--' + +'What's the matter?' said the dwarf, stopping his hand in the act of +carrying the saucepan to his mouth. + +'You have forgotten the water, sir,' said Brass. 'And--excuse me, +sir--but it's burning hot.' + +Deigning no other than a practical answer to this remonstrance, Mr +Quilp raised the hot saucepan to his lips, and deliberately drank off +all the spirit it contained, which might have been in quantity about +half a pint, and had been but a moment before, when he took it off the +fire, bubbling and hissing fiercely. Having swallowed this gentle +stimulant, and shaken his fist at the admiral, he bade Mr Brass proceed. + +'But first,' said Quilp, with his accustomed grin, 'have a drop +yourself--a nice drop--a good, warm, fiery drop.' + +'Why, sir,' replied Brass, 'if there was such a thing as a mouthful of +water that could be got without trouble--' + +'There's no such thing to be had here,' cried the dwarf. 'Water for +lawyers! Melted lead and brimstone, you mean, nice hot blistering +pitch and tar--that's the thing for them--eh, Brass, eh?' + +'Ha ha ha!' laughed Mr Brass. 'Oh very biting! and yet it's like being +tickled--there's a pleasure in it too, sir!' + +'Drink that,' said the dwarf, who had by this time heated some more. +'Toss it off, don't leave any heeltap, scorch your throat and be happy!' + +The wretched Sampson took a few short sips of the liquor, which +immediately distilled itself into burning tears, and in that form came +rolling down his cheeks into the pipkin again, turning the colour of +his face and eyelids to a deep red, and giving rise to a violent fit of +coughing, in the midst of which he was still heard to declare, with the +constancy of a martyr, that it was 'beautiful indeed!' While he was +yet in unspeakable agonies, the dwarf renewed their conversation. + +'The lodger,' said Quilp, '--what about him?' + +'He is still, sir,' +returned Brass, with intervals of coughing, 'stopping with the Garland +family. He has only been home once, Sir, since the day of the +examination of that culprit. He informed Mr Richard, sir, that he +couldn't bear the house after what had taken place; that he was +wretched in it; and that he looked upon himself as being in a certain +kind of way the cause of the occurrence.--A very excellent lodger Sir. +I hope we may not lose him.' + +'Yah!' cried the dwarf. 'Never thinking of anybody but yourself--why +don't you retrench then--scrape up, hoard, economise, eh?' + +'Why, sir,' replied Brass, 'upon my word I think Sarah's as good an +economiser as any going. I do indeed, Mr Quilp.' + +'Moisten your clay, wet the other eye, drink, man!' cried the dwarf. +'You took a clerk to oblige me.' + +'Delighted, sir, I am sure, at any time,' replied Sampson. 'Yes, Sir, +I did.' + +'Then now you may discharge him,' said Quilp. 'There's a means of +retrenchment for you at once.' + +'Discharge Mr Richard, sir?' cried Brass. + +'Have you more than one clerk, you parrot, that you ask the question? +Yes.' + +'Upon my word, Sir,' said Brass, 'I wasn't prepared for this--' + +'How could you be?' sneered the dwarf, 'when I wasn't? How often am I +to tell you that I brought him to you that I might always have my eye +on him and know where he was--and that I had a plot, a scheme, a little +quiet piece of enjoyment afoot, of which the very cream and essence +was, that this old man and grandchild (who have sunk underground I +think) should be, while he and his precious friend believed them rich, +in reality as poor as frozen rats?' + +'I quite understood that, sir,' rejoined Brass. 'Thoroughly.' + +'Well, Sir,' retorted Quilp, 'and do you understand now, that they're +not poor--that they can't be, if they have such men as your lodger +searching for them, and scouring the country far and wide?' + +'Of course I do, Sir,' said Sampson. + +'Of course you do,' retorted the dwarf, viciously snapping at his +words. 'Of course do you understand then, that it's no matter what +comes of this fellow? of course do you understand that for any other +purpose he's no man for me, nor for you?' + +'I have frequently said to Sarah, sir,' returned Brass, 'that he was of +no use at all in the business. You can't put any confidence in him, +sir. If you'll believe me I've found that fellow, in the commonest +little matters of the office that have been trusted to him, blurting +out the truth, though expressly cautioned. The aggravation of that +chap sir, has exceeded anything you can imagine, it has indeed. +Nothing but the respect and obligation I owe to you, sir--' + +As it was plain that Sampson was bent on a complimentary harangue, +unless he received a timely interruption, Mr Quilp politely tapped him +on the crown of his head with the little saucepan, and requested that +he would be so obliging as to hold his peace. + +'Practical, sir, practical,' said Brass, rubbing the place and smiling; +'but still extremely pleasant--immensely so!' + +'Hearken to me, will you?' returned Quilp, 'or I'll be a little more +pleasant, presently. There's no chance of his comrade and friend +returning. The scamp has been obliged to fly, as I learn, for some +knavery, and has found his way abroad. Let him rot there.' + +'Certainly, sir. Quite proper.--Forcible!' cried Brass, glancing at +the admiral again, as if he made a third in company. 'Extremely +forcible!' + +'I hate him,' said Quilp between his teeth, 'and have always hated him, +for family reasons. Besides, he was an intractable ruffian; otherwise +he would have been of use. This fellow is pigeon-hearted and +light-headed. I don't want him any longer. Let him hang or +drown--starve--go to the devil.' + +'By all means, sir,' returned Brass. 'When would you wish him, sir, +to--ha, ha!--to make that little excursion?' + +'When this trial's over,' said Quilp. 'As soon as that's ended, send +him about his business.' + +'It shall be done, sir,' returned Brass; 'by all means. It will be +rather a blow to Sarah, sir, but she has all her feelings under +control. Ah, Mr Quilp, I often think, sir, if it had only pleased +Providence to bring you and Sarah together, in earlier life, what +blessed results would have flowed from such a union! You never saw our +dear father, sir?--A charming gentleman. Sarah was his pride and joy, +sir. He would have closed his eyes in bliss, would Foxey, Mr Quilp, if +he could have found her such a partner. You esteem her, sir?' + +'I love her,' croaked the dwarf. + +'You're very good, Sir,' returned Brass, 'I am sure. Is there any +other order, sir, that I can take a note of, besides this little matter +of Mr Richard?' + +'None,' replied the dwarf, seizing the saucepan. 'Let us drink the +lovely Sarah.' + +'If we could do it in something, sir, that wasn't quite boiling,' +suggested Brass humbly, 'perhaps it would be better. I think it will +be more agreeable to Sarah's feelings, when she comes to hear from me +of the honour you have done her, if she learns it was in liquor rather +cooler than the last, Sir.' + +But to these remonstrances, Mr Quilp turned a deaf ear. Sampson Brass, +who was, by this time, anything but sober, being compelled to take +further draughts of the same strong bowl, found that, instead of at all +contributing to his recovery, they had the novel effect of making the +counting-house spin round and round with extreme velocity, and causing +the floor and ceiling to heave in a very distressing manner. After a +brief stupor, he awoke to a consciousness of being partly under the +table and partly under the grate. This position not being the most +comfortable one he could have chosen for himself, he managed to stagger +to his feet, and, holding on by the admiral, looked round for his host. + +Mr Brass's first impression was, that his host was gone and had left +him there alone--perhaps locked him in for the night. A strong smell +of tobacco, however, suggested a new train of ideas, he looked upward, +and saw that the dwarf was smoking in his hammock. + +'Good bye, Sir,' cried Brass faintly. 'Good bye, Sir.' + +'Won't you stop all night?' said the dwarf, peeping out. 'Do stop all +night!' + +'I couldn't indeed, Sir,' replied Brass, who was almost dead from +nausea and the closeness of the room. 'If you'd have the goodness to +show me a light, so that I may see my way across the yard, sir--' + +Quilp was out in an instant; not with his legs first, or his head +first, or his arms first, but bodily--altogether. + +'To be sure,' he said, taking up a lantern, which was now the only +light in the place. 'Be careful how you go, my dear friend. Be sure +to pick your way among the timber, for all the rusty nails are upwards. +There's a dog in the lane. He bit a man last night, and a woman the +night before, and last Tuesday he killed a child--but that was in play. +Don't go too near him.' + +'Which side of the road is he, sir?' asked Brass, in great dismay. + +'He lives on the right hand,' said Quilp, 'but sometimes he hides on +the left, ready for a spring. He's uncertain in that respect. Mind +you take care of yourself. I'll never forgive you if you don't. +There's the light out--never mind--you know the way--straight on!' +Quilp had slily shaded the light by holding it against his breast, and +now stood chuckling and shaking from head to foot in a rapture of +delight, as he heard the lawyer stumbling up the yard, and now and then +falling heavily down. At length, however, he got quit of the place, +and was out of hearing. + +The dwarf shut himself up again, and sprang once more into his hammock. + + + + +CHAPTER 63 + +The professional gentleman who had given Kit the consolatory piece of +information relative to the settlement of his trifle of business at the +Old Bailey, and the probability of its being very soon disposed of, +turned out to be quite correct in his prognostications. In eight days' +time, the sessions commenced. In one day afterwards, the Grand Jury +found a True Bill against Christopher Nubbles for felony; and in two +days from that finding, the aforesaid Christopher Nubbles was called +upon to plead Guilty or Not Guilty to an Indictment for that he the +said Christopher did feloniously abstract and steal from the +dwelling-house and office of one Sampson Brass, gentleman, one Bank +Note for Five Pounds issued by the Governor and Company of the Bank of +England; in contravention of the Statutes in that case made and +provided, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King, his +crown and dignity. + +To this indictment, Christopher Nubbles, in a low and trembling voice, +pleaded Not Guilty; and here, let those who are in the habit of forming +hasty judgments from appearances, and who would have had Christopher, +if innocent, speak out very strong and loud, observe, that confinement +and anxiety will subdue the stoutest hearts; and that to one who has +been close shut up, though it be only for ten or eleven days, seeing +but stone walls and a very few stony faces, the sudden entrance into a +great hall filled with life, is a rather disconcerting and startling +circumstance. To this, it must be added, that life in a wig is to a +large class of people much more terrifying and impressive than life +with its own head of hair; and if, in addition to these considerations, +there be taken into account Kit's natural emotion on seeing the two Mr +Garlands and the little Notary looking on with pale and anxious faces, +it will perhaps seem matter of no very great wonder that he should have +been rather out of sorts, and unable to make himself quite at home. + +Although he had never seen either of the Mr Garlands, or Mr Witherden, +since the time of his arrest, he had been given to understand that they +had employed counsel for him. Therefore, when one of the gentlemen in +wigs got up and said 'I am for the prisoner, my Lord,' Kit made him a +bow; and when another gentleman in a wig got up and said 'And I'm +against him, my Lord,' Kit trembled very much, and bowed to him too. +And didn't he hope in his own heart that his gentleman was a match for +the other gentleman, and would make him ashamed of himself in no time! + +The gentleman who was against him had to speak first, and being in +dreadfully good spirits (for he had, in the last trial, very nearly +procured the acquittal of a young gentleman who had had the misfortune +to murder his father) he spoke up, you may be sure; telling the jury +that if they acquitted this prisoner they must expect to suffer no less +pangs and agonies than he had told the other jury they would certainly +undergo if they convicted that prisoner. And when he had told them all +about the case, and that he had never known a worse case, he stopped a +little while, like a man who had something terrible to tell them, and +then said that he understood an attempt would be made by his learned +friend (and here he looked sideways at Kit's gentleman) to impeach the +testimony of those immaculate witnesses whom he should call before +them; but he did hope and trust that his learned friend would have a +greater respect and veneration for the character of the prosecutor; +than whom, as he well knew, there did not exist, and never had existed, +a more honourable member of that most honourable profession to which he +was attached. And then he said, did the jury know Bevis Marks? And if +they did know Bevis Marks (as he trusted for their own character, they +did) did they know the historical and elevating associations connected +with that most remarkable spot? Did they believe that a man like Brass +could reside in a place like Bevis Marks, and not be a virtuous and +most upright character? And when he had said a great deal to them on +this point, he remembered that it was an insult to their understandings +to make any remarks on what they must have felt so strongly without +him, and therefore called Sampson Brass into the witness-box, +straightway. + +Then up comes Mr Brass, very brisk and fresh; and, having bowed to the +judge, like a man who has had the pleasure of seeing him before, and +who hopes he has been pretty well since their last meeting, folds his +arms, and looks at his gentleman as much as to say 'Here I am--full of +evidence--Tap me!' And the gentleman does tap him presently, and with +great discretion too; drawing off the evidence by little and little, +and making it run quite clear and bright in the eyes of all present. +Then, Kit's gentleman takes him in hand, but can make nothing of him; +and after a great many very long questions and very short answers, Mr +Sampson Brass goes down in glory. + +To him succeeds Sarah, who in like manner is easy to be managed by Mr +Brass's gentleman, but very obdurate to Kit's. In short, Kit's +gentleman can get nothing out of her but a repetition of what she has +said before (only a little stronger this time, as against his client), +and therefore lets her go, in some confusion. Then, Mr Brass's +gentleman calls Richard Swiveller, and Richard Swiveller appears +accordingly. + +Now, Mr Brass's gentleman has it whispered in his ear that this witness +is disposed to be friendly to the prisoner--which, to say the truth, he +is rather glad to hear, as his strength is considered to lie in what is +familiarly termed badgering. Wherefore, he begins by requesting the +officer to be quite sure that this witness kisses the book, then goes +to work at him, tooth and nail. + +'Mr Swiveller,' says this gentleman to Dick, when he had told his tale +with evident reluctance and a desire to make the best of it: 'Pray sir, +where did you dine yesterday?'--'Where did I dine yesterday?'--'Aye, +sir, where did you dine yesterday--was it near here, sir?'--'Oh to be +sure--yes--just over the way.'--'To be sure. Yes. Just over the way,' +repeats Mr Brass's gentleman, with a glance at the court.--'Alone, +sir?'--'I beg your pardon,' says Mr Swiveller, who has not caught the +question--'Alone, sir?' repeats Mr Brass's gentleman in a voice of +thunder, 'did you dine alone? Did you treat anybody, sir? Come!'--'Oh +yes, to be sure--yes, I did,' says Mr Swiveller with a smile.--'Have +the goodness to banish a levity, sir, which is very ill-suited to the +place in which you stand (though perhaps you have reason to be thankful +that it's only that place),' says Mr Brass's gentleman, with a nod of +the head, insinuating that the dock is Mr Swiveller's legitimate sphere +of action; 'and attend to me. You were waiting about here, yesterday, +in expectation that this trial was coming on. You dined over the way. +You treated somebody. Now, was that somebody brother to the prisoner +at the bar?'--Mr Swiveller is proceeding to explain--'Yes or No, sir,' +cries Mr Brass's gentleman--'But will you allow me--'--'Yes or No, +sir'--'Yes it was, but--'--'Yes it was,' cries the gentleman, taking +him up short. 'And a very pretty witness YOU are!' + +Down sits Mr Brass's gentleman. Kit's gentleman, not knowing how the +matter really stands, is afraid to pursue the subject. Richard +Swiveller retires abashed. Judge, jury and spectators have visions of +his lounging about, with an ill-looking, large-whiskered, dissolute +young fellow of six feet high. The reality is, little Jacob, with the +calves of his legs exposed to the open air, and himself tied up in a +shawl. Nobody knows the truth; everybody believes a falsehood; and all +because of the ingenuity of Mr Brass's gentleman. + +Then come the witnesses to character, and here Mr Brass's gentleman +shines again. It turns out that Mr Garland has had no character with +Kit, no recommendation of him but from his own mother, and that he was +suddenly dismissed by his former master for unknown reasons. 'Really +Mr Garland,' says Mr Brass's gentleman, 'for a person who has arrived +at your time of life, you are, to say the least of it, singularly +indiscreet, I think.' The jury think so too, and find Kit guilty. He +is taken off, humbly protesting his innocence. The spectators settle +themselves in their places with renewed attention, for there are +several female witnesses to be examined in the next case, and it has +been rumoured that Mr Brass's gentleman will make great fun in +cross-examining them for the prisoner. + +Kit's mother, poor woman, is waiting at the grate below stairs, +accompanied by Barbara's mother (who, honest soul! never does anything +but cry, and hold the baby), and a sad interview ensues. The +newspaper-reading turnkey has told them all. He don't think it will be +transportation for life, because there's time to prove the good +character yet, and that is sure to serve him. He wonders what he did +it for. 'He never did it!' cries Kit's mother. 'Well,' says the +turnkey, 'I won't contradict you. It's all one, now, whether he did it +or not.' + +Kit's mother can reach his hand through the bars, and she clasps it-- +God, and those to whom he has given such tenderness, only know in how +much agony. Kit bids her keep a good heart, and, under pretence of +having the children lifted up to kiss him, prays Barbara's mother in a +whisper to take her home. + +'Some friend will rise up for us, mother,' cried Kit, 'I am sure. If +not now, before long. My innocence will come out, mother, and I shall +be brought back again; I feel confidence in that. You must teach +little Jacob and the baby how all this was, for if they thought I had +ever been dishonest, when they grew old enough to understand, it would +break my heart to know it, if I was thousands of miles away.--Oh! is +there no good gentleman here, who will take care of her!' + +The hand slips out of his, for the poor creature sinks down upon the +earth, insensible. Richard Swiveller comes hastily up, elbows the +bystanders out of the way, takes her (after some trouble) in one arm +after the manner of theatrical ravishers, and, nodding to Kit, and +commanding Barbara's mother to follow, for he has a coach waiting, +bears her swiftly off. + +Well; Richard took her home. And what astonishing absurdities in the +way of quotation from song and poem he perpetrated on the road, no man +knows. He took her home, and stayed till she was recovered; and, +having no money to pay the coach, went back in state to Bevis Marks, +bidding the driver (for it was Saturday night) wait at the door while +he went in for 'change.' + +'Mr Richard, sir,' said Brass cheerfully, 'Good evening!' + +Monstrous as Kit's tale had appeared, at first, Mr Richard did, that +night, half suspect his affable employer of some deep villany. Perhaps +it was but the misery he had just witnessed which gave his careless +nature this impulse; but, be that as it may, it was very strong upon +him, and he said in as few words as possible, what he wanted. + +'Money?' cried Brass, taking out his purse. 'Ha ha! To be sure, Mr +Richard, to be sure, sir. All men must live. You haven't change for a +five-pound note, have you sir?' + +'No,' returned Dick, shortly. + +'Oh!' said Brass, 'here's the very sum. That saves trouble. You're +very welcome I'm sure.--Mr Richard, sir--' + +Dick, who had by this time reached the door, turned round. + +'You needn't,' said Brass, 'trouble yourself to come back any more, +Sir.' + +'Eh?' + +'You see, Mr Richard,' said Brass, thrusting his hands in his pockets, +and rocking himself to and fro on his stool, 'the fact is, that a man +of your abilities is lost, Sir, quite lost, in our dry and mouldy line. +It's terrible drudgery--shocking. I should say, now, that the stage, +or the--or the army, Mr Richard--or something very superior in the +licensed victualling way--was the kind of thing that would call out the +genius of such a man as you. I hope you'll look in to see us now and +then. Sally, Sir, will be delighted I'm sure. She's extremely sorry +to lose you, Mr Richard, but a sense of her duty to society reconciles +her. An amazing creature that, sir! You'll find the money quite +correct, I think. There's a cracked window sir, but I've not made any +deduction on that account. Whenever we part with friends, Mr Richard, +let us part liberally. A delightful sentiment, sir!' + +To all these rambling observations, Mr Swiveller answered not one word, +but, returning for the aquatic jacket, rolled it into a tight round +ball: looking steadily at Brass meanwhile as if he had some intention +of bowling him down with it. He only took it under his arm, however, +and marched out of the office in profound silence. When he had closed +the door, he re-opened it, stared in again for a few moments with the +same portentous gravity, and nodding his head once, in a slow and +ghost-like manner, vanished. + +He paid the coachman, and turned his back on Bevis Marks, big with +great designs for the comforting of Kit's mother and the aid of Kit +himself. + +But the lives of gentlemen devoted to such pleasures as Richard +Swiveller, are extremely precarious. The spiritual excitement of the +last fortnight, working upon a system affected in no slight degree by +the spirituous excitement of some years, proved a little too much for +him. That very night, Mr Richard was seized with an alarming illness, +and in twenty-four hours was stricken with a raging fever. + + + + +CHAPTER 64 + +Tossing to and fro upon his hot, uneasy bed; tormented by a fierce +thirst which nothing could appease; unable to find, in any change of +posture, a moment's peace or ease; and rambling, ever, through deserts +of thought where there was no resting-place, no sight or sound +suggestive of refreshment or repose, nothing but a dull eternal +weariness, with no change but the restless shiftings of his miserable +body, and the weary wandering of his mind, constant still to one +ever-present anxiety--to a sense of something left undone, of some +fearful obstacle to be surmounted, of some carking care that would not +be driven away, and which haunted the distempered brain, now in this +form, now in that, always shadowy and dim, but recognisable for the +same phantom in every shape it took: darkening every vision like an +evil conscience, and making slumber horrible--in these slow tortures +of his dread disease, the unfortunate Richard lay wasting and consuming +inch by inch, until, at last, when he seemed to fight and struggle to +rise up, and to be held down by devils, he sank into a deep sleep, and +dreamed no more. + +He awoke. With a sensation of most blissful rest, better than sleep +itself, he began gradually to remember something of these sufferings, +and to think what a long night it had been, and whether he had not been +delirious twice or thrice. Happening, in the midst of these +cogitations, to raise his hand, he was astonished to find how heavy it +seemed, and yet how thin and light it really was. Still, he felt +indifferent and happy; and having no curiosity to pursue the subject, +remained in the same waking slumber until his attention was attracted +by a cough. This made him doubt whether he had locked his door last +night, and feel a little surprised at having a companion in the room. +Still, he lacked energy to follow up this train of thought; and +unconsciously fell, in a luxury of repose, to staring at some green +stripes on the bed-furniture, and associating them strangely with +patches of fresh turf, while the yellow ground between made +gravel-walks, and so helped out a long perspective of trim gardens. + +He was rambling in imagination on these terraces, and had quite lost +himself among them indeed, when he heard the cough once more. The +walks shrunk into stripes again at the sound, and raising himself a +little in the bed, and holding the curtain open with one hand, he +looked out. + +The same room certainly, and still by candlelight; but with what +unbounded astonishment did he see all those bottles, and basins, and +articles of linen airing by the fire, and such-like furniture of a sick +chamber--all very clean and neat, but all quite different from anything +he had left there, when he went to bed! The atmosphere, too, filled +with a cool smell of herbs and vinegar; the floor newly sprinkled; +the--the what? The Marchioness? + +Yes; playing cribbage with herself at the table. There she sat, intent +upon her game, coughing now and then in a subdued manner as if she +feared to disturb him--shuffling the cards, cutting, dealing, playing, +counting, pegging--going through all the mysteries of cribbage as if +she had been in full practice from her cradle! Mr Swiveller +contemplated these things for a short time, and suffering the curtain +to fall into its former position, laid his head on the pillow again. + +'I'm dreaming,' thought Richard, 'that's clear. When I went to bed, my +hands were not made of egg-shells; and now I can almost see through +'em. If this is not a dream, I have woke up, by mistake, in an Arabian +Night, instead of a London one. But I have no doubt I'm asleep. Not +the least.' + +Here the small servant had another cough. + +'Very remarkable!' thought Mr Swiveller. 'I never dreamt such a real +cough as that before. I don't know, indeed, that I ever dreamt either +a cough or a sneeze. Perhaps it's part of the philosophy of dreams +that one never does. There's another--and another--I say!--I'm +dreaming rather fast!' + +For the purpose of testing his real condition, Mr Swiveller, after some +reflection, pinched himself in the arm. + +'Queerer still!' he thought. 'I came to bed rather plump than +otherwise, and now there's nothing to lay hold of. I'll take another +survey.' + +The result of this additional inspection was, to convince Mr Swiveller +that the objects by which he was surrounded were real, and that he saw +them, beyond all question, with his waking eyes. + +'It's an Arabian Night; that's what it is,' said Richard. 'I'm in +Damascus or Grand Cairo. The Marchioness is a Genie, and having had a +wager with another Genie about who is the handsomest young man alive, +and the worthiest to be the husband of the Princess of China, has +brought me away, room and all, to compare us together. Perhaps,' said +Mr Swiveller, turning languidly round on his pillow, and looking on +that side of his bed which was next the wall, 'the Princess may be +still--No, she's gone.' + +Not feeling quite satisfied with this explanation, as, even taking it +to be the correct one, it still involved a little mystery and doubt, Mr +Swiveller raised the curtain again, determined to take the first +favourable opportunity of addressing his companion. An occasion +presented itself. The Marchioness dealt, turned up a knave, and +omitted to take the usual advantage; upon which Mr Swiveller called out +as loud as he could--'Two for his heels!' + +The Marchioness jumped up quickly and clapped her hands. 'Arabian +Night, certainly,' thought Mr Swiveller; 'they always clap their hands +instead of ringing the bell. Now for the two thousand black slaves, +with jars of jewels on their heads!' + +It appeared, however, that she had only clapped her hands for joy; for +directly afterward she began to laugh, and then to cry; declaring, not +in choice Arabic but in familiar English, that she was 'so glad, she +didn't know what to do.' + +'Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, thoughtfully, 'be pleased to draw +nearer. First of all, will you have the goodness to inform me where I +shall find my voice; and secondly, what has become of my flesh?' + +The Marchioness only shook her head mournfully, and cried again; +whereupon Mr Swiveller (being very weak) felt his own eyes affected +likewise. + +'I begin to infer, from your manner, and these appearances, +Marchioness,' said Richard after a pause, and smiling with a trembling +lip, 'that I have been ill.' + +'You just have!' replied the small servant, wiping her eyes. 'And +haven't you been a talking nonsense!' + +'Oh!' said Dick. 'Very ill, Marchioness, have I been?' + +'Dead, all but,' replied the small servant. 'I never thought you'd get +better. Thank Heaven you have!' + +Mr Swiveller was silent for a long while. By and bye, he began to talk +again, inquiring how long he had been there. + +'Three weeks to-morrow,' replied the servant. + +'Three what?' said Dick. + +'Weeks,' returned the Marchioness emphatically; 'three long, slow +weeks.' + +The bare thought of having been in such extremity, caused Richard to +fall into another silence, and to lie flat down again, at his full +length. The Marchioness, having arranged the bed-clothes more +comfortably, and felt that his hands and forehead were quite cool--a +discovery that filled her with delight--cried a little more, and then +applied herself to getting tea ready, and making some thin dry toast. + +While she was thus engaged, Mr Swiveller looked on with a grateful +heart, very much astonished to see how thoroughly at home she made +herself, and attributing this attention, in its origin, to Sally Brass, +whom, in his own mind, he could not thank enough. When the Marchioness +had finished her toasting, she spread a clean cloth on a tray, and +brought him some crisp slices and a great basin of weak tea, with which +(she said) the doctor had left word he might refresh himself when he +awoke. She propped him up with pillows, if not as skilfully as if she +had been a professional nurse all her life, at least as tenderly; and +looked on with unutterable satisfaction while the patient--stopping +every now and then to shake her by the hand--took his poor meal with an +appetite and relish, which the greatest dainties of the earth, under +any other circumstances, would have failed to provoke. Having cleared +away, and disposed everything comfortably about him again, she sat down +at the table to take her own tea. + +'Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, 'how's Sally?' + +The small servant screwed her face into an expression of the very +uttermost entanglement of slyness, and shook her head. + +'What, haven't you seen her lately?' said Dick. + +'Seen her!' cried the small servant. 'Bless you, I've run away!' + +Mr Swiveller immediately laid himself down again quite flat, and so +remained for about five minutes. By slow degrees he resumed his +sitting posture after that lapse of time, and inquired: + +'And where do you live, Marchioness?' + +'Live!' cried the small servant. 'Here!' + +'Oh!' said Mr Swiveller. + +And with that he fell down flat again, as suddenly as if he had been +shot. Thus he remained, motionless and bereft of speech, until she had +finished her meal, put everything in its place, and swept the hearth; +when he motioned her to bring a chair to the bedside, and, being +propped up again, opened a farther conversation. + +'And so,' said Dick, 'you have run away?' + +'Yes,' said the Marchioness, 'and they've been a tizing of me.' + +'Been--I beg your pardon,' said Dick--'what have they been doing?' + +'Been a tizing of me--tizing you know--in the newspapers,' rejoined the +Marchioness. + +'Aye, aye,' said Dick, 'advertising?' + +The small servant nodded, and winked. Her eyes were so red with waking +and crying, that the Tragic Muse might have winked with greater +consistency. And so Dick felt. + +'Tell me,' said he, 'how it was that you thought of coming here.' + +'Why, you see,' returned the Marchioness, 'when you was gone, I hadn't +any friend at all, because the lodger he never come back, and I didn't +know where either him or you was to be found, you know. But one +morning, when I was--' + +'Was near a keyhole?' suggested Mr Swiveller, observing that she +faltered. + +'Well then,' said the small servant, nodding; 'when I was near the +office keyhole--as you see me through, you know--I heard somebody +saying that she lived here, and was the lady whose house you lodged at, +and that you was took very bad, and wouldn't nobody come and take care +of you. Mr Brass, he says, "It's no business of mine," he says; and +Miss Sally, she says, "He's a funny chap, but it's no business of +mine;" and the lady went away, and slammed the door to, when she went +out, I can tell you. So I run away that night, and come here, and told +'em you was my brother, and they believed me, and I've been here ever +since.' + +'This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!' cried +Dick. + +'No I haven't,' she returned, 'not a bit of it. Don't you mind about +me. I like sitting up, and I've often had a sleep, bless you, in one +of them chairs. But if you could have seen how you tried to jump out +o' winder, and if you could have heard how you used to keep on singing +and making speeches, you wouldn't have believed it--I'm so glad you're +better, Mr Liverer.' + +'Liverer indeed!' said Dick thoughtfully. 'It's well I am a liverer. +I strongly suspect I should have died, Marchioness, but for you.' + +At this point, Mr Swiveller took the small servant's hand in his again, +and being, as we have seen, but poorly, might in struggling to express +his thanks have made his eyes as red as hers, but that she quickly +changed the theme by making him lie down, and urging him to keep very +quiet. + +'The doctor,' she told him, 'said you was to be kept quite still, and +there was to be no noise nor nothing. Now, take a rest, and then we'll +talk again. I'll sit by you, you know. If you shut your eyes, perhaps +you'll go to sleep. You'll be all the better for it, if you do.' + +The Marchioness, in saying these words, brought a little table to the +bedside, took her seat at it, and began to work away at the concoction +of some cooling drink, with the address of a score of chemists. +Richard Swiveller being indeed fatigued, fell into a slumber, and +waking in about half an hour, inquired what time it was. + +'Just gone half after six,' replied his small friend, helping him to +sit up again. + +'Marchioness,' said Richard, passing his hand over his forehead and +turning suddenly round, as though the subject but that moment flashed +upon him, 'what has become of Kit?' + +He had been sentenced to transportation for a great many years, she +said. + +'Has he gone?' asked Dick--'his mother--how is she,--what has become of +her?' + +His nurse shook her head, and answered that she knew nothing about +them. 'But, if I thought,' said she, very slowly, 'that you'd keep +quiet, and not put yourself into another fever, I could tell you--but +I won't now.' + +'Yes, do,' said Dick. 'It will amuse me.' + +'Oh! would it though!' rejoined the small servant, with a horrified +look. 'I know better than that. Wait till you're better and then I'll +tell you.' + + +Dick looked very earnestly at his little friend: and his eyes, being +large and hollow from illness, assisted the expression so much, that +she was quite frightened, and besought him not to think any more about +it. What had already fallen from her, however, had not only piqued his +curiosity, but seriously alarmed him, wherefore he urged her to tell +him the worst at once. + +'Oh there's no worst in it,' said the small servant. 'It hasn't +anything to do with you.' + +'Has it anything to do with--is it anything you heard through chinks or +keyholes--and that you were not intended to hear?' asked Dick, in a +breathless state. + +'Yes,' replied the small servant. + +'In--in Bevis Marks?' pursued Dick hastily. 'Conversations between +Brass and Sally?' + +'Yes,' cried the small servant again. + +Richard Swiveller thrust his lank arm out of bed, and, gripping her by +the wrist and drawing her close to him, bade her out with it, and +freely too, or he would not answer for the consequences; being wholly +unable to endure the state of excitement and expectation. She, seeing +that he was greatly agitated, and that the effects of postponing her +revelation might be much more injurious than any that were likely to +ensue from its being made at once, promised compliance, on condition +that the patient kept himself perfectly quiet, and abstained from +starting up or tossing about. + +'But if you begin to do that,' said the small servant, 'I'll leave off. +And so I tell you.' + +'You can't leave off, till you have gone on,' said Dick. 'And do go +on, there's a darling. Speak, sister, speak. Pretty Polly say. Oh +tell me when, and tell me where, pray Marchioness, I beseech you!' + +Unable to resist these fervent adjurations, which Richard Swiveller +poured out as passionately as if they had been of the most solemn and +tremendous nature, his companion spoke thus: + +'Well! Before I run away, I used to sleep in the kitchen--where we +played cards, you know. Miss Sally used to keep the key of the kitchen +door in her pocket, and she always come down at night to take away the +candle and rake out the fire. When she had done that, she left me to +go to bed in the dark, locked the door on the outside, put the key in +her pocket again, and kept me locked up till she come down in the +morning--very early I can tell you--and let me out. I was terrible +afraid of being kept like this, because if there was a fire, I thought +they might forget me and only take care of themselves you know. So, +whenever I see an old rusty key anywhere, I picked it up and tried if +it would fit the door, and at last I found in the dust cellar a key +that did fit it.' + +Here, Mr Swiveller made a violent demonstration with his legs. But the +small servant immediately pausing in her talk, he subsided again, and +pleading a momentary forgetfulness of their compact, entreated her to +proceed. + +'They kept me very short,' said the small servant. 'Oh! you can't +think how short they kept me! So I used to come out at night after +they'd gone to bed, and feel about in the dark for bits of biscuit, or +sangwitches that you'd left in the office, or even pieces of orange +peel to put into cold water and make believe it was wine. Did you ever +taste orange peel and water?' + +Mr Swiveller replied that he had never tasted that ardent liquor; and +once more urged his friend to resume the thread of her narrative. + +'If you make believe very much, it's quite nice,' said the small +servant, 'but if you don't, you know, it seems as if it would bear a +little more seasoning, certainly. Well, sometimes I used to come out +after they'd gone to bed, and sometimes before, you know; and one or +two nights before there was all that precious noise in the office--when +the young man was took, I mean--I come upstairs while Mr Brass and Miss +Sally was a-sittin' at the office fire; and I tell you the truth, that +I come to listen again, about the key of the safe.' + +Mr Swiveller gathered up his knees so as to make a great cone of the +bedclothes, and conveyed into his countenance an expression of the +utmost concern. But the small servant pausing, and holding up her +finger, the cone gently disappeared, though the look of concern did not. + +'There was him and her,' said the small servant, 'a-sittin' by the +fire, and talking softly together. Mr Brass says to Miss Sally, "Upon +my word," he says "it's a dangerous thing, and it might get us into a +world of trouble, and I don't half like it." She says--you know her +way--she says, "You're the chickenest-hearted, feeblest, faintest man I +ever see, and I think," she says, "that I ought to have been the +brother, and you the sister. Isn't Quilp," she says, "our principal +support?" "He certainly is," says Mr Brass, "And an't we," she says, +"constantly ruining somebody or other in the way of business?" "We +certainly are," says Mr Brass. "Then does it signify," she says, +"about ruining this Kit when Quilp desires it?" "It certainly does not +signify," says Mr Brass. Then they whispered and laughed for a long +time about there being no danger if it was well done, and then Mr Brass +pulls out his pocket-book, and says, "Well," he says, "here it +is--Quilp's own five-pound note. We'll agree that way, then," he says. +"Kit's coming to-morrow morning, I know. While he's up-stairs, you'll +get out of the way, and I'll clear off Mr Richard. Having Kit alone, +I'll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat. I'll +manage so, besides," he says, "that Mr Richard shall find it there, and +be the evidence. And if that don't get Christopher out of Mr Quilp's +way, and satisfy Mr Quilp's grudges," he says, "the Devil's in it." +Miss Sally laughed, and said that was the plan, and as they seemed to +be moving away, and I was afraid to stop any longer, I went down-stairs +again.--There!' + +The small servant had gradually worked herself into as much agitation +as Mr Swiveller, and therefore made no effort to restrain him when he +sat up in bed and hastily demanded whether this story had been told to +anybody. + +'How could it be?' replied his nurse. 'I was almost afraid to think +about it, and hoped the young man would be let off. When I heard 'em +say they had found him guilty of what he didn't do, you was gone, and +so was the lodger--though I think I should have been frightened to tell +him, even if he'd been there. Ever since I come here, you've been out +of your senses, and what would have been the good of telling you then?' + +'Marchioness,' said Mr Swiveller, plucking off his nightcap and +flinging it to the other end of the room; 'if you'll do me the favour +to retire for a few minutes and see what sort of a night it is, I'll +get up.' + +'You mustn't think of such a thing,' cried his nurse. + +'I must indeed,' said the patient, looking round the room. +'Whereabouts are my clothes?' + +'Oh, I'm so glad--you haven't got any,' replied the Marchioness. + +'Ma'am!' said Mr Swiveller, in great astonishment. + +'I've been obliged to sell them, every one, to get the things that was +ordered for you. But don't take on about that,' urged the Marchioness, +as Dick fell back upon his pillow. 'You're too weak to stand, indeed.' + +'I am afraid,' said Richard dolefully, 'that you're right. What ought +I to do! what is to be done!' + +It naturally occurred to him on very little reflection, that the first +step to take would be to communicate with one of the Mr Garlands +instantly. It was very possible that Mr Abel had not yet left the +office. In as little time as it takes to tell it, the small servant +had the address in pencil on a piece of paper; a verbal description of +father and son, which would enable her to recognise either, without +difficulty; and a special caution to be shy of Mr Chuckster, in +consequence of that gentleman's known antipathy to Kit. Armed with +these slender powers, she hurried away, commissioned to bring either +old Mr Garland or Mr Abel, bodily, to that apartment. + +'I suppose,' said Dick, as she closed the door slowly, and peeped into +the room again, to make sure that he was comfortable, 'I suppose +there's nothing left--not so much as a waistcoat even?' + +'No, nothing.' + +'It's embarrassing,' said Mr Swiveller, 'in case of fire--even an +umbrella would be something--but you did quite right, dear Marchioness. +I should have died without you!' + + + + +CHAPTER 65 + +It was well for the small servant that she was of a sharp, quick +nature, or the consequence of sending her out alone, from the very +neighbourhood in which it was most dangerous for her to appear, would +probably have been the restoration of Miss Sally Brass to the supreme +authority over her person. Not unmindful of the risk she ran, however, +the Marchioness no sooner left the house than she dived into the first +dark by-way that presented itself, and, without any present reference +to the point to which her journey tended, made it her first business to +put two good miles of brick and mortar between herself and Bevis Marks. + +When she had accomplished this object, she began to shape her course +for the notary's office, to which--shrewdly inquiring of apple-women +and oyster-sellers at street-corners, rather than in lighted shops or +of well-dressed people, at the hazard of attracting notice--she easily +procured a direction. As carrier-pigeons, on being first let loose in +a strange place, beat the air at random for a short time before darting +off towards the spot for which they are designed, so did the +Marchioness flutter round and round until she believed herself in +safety, and then bear swiftly down upon the port for which she was +bound. + +She had no bonnet--nothing on her head but a great cap which, in some +old time, had been worn by Sally Brass, whose taste in head-dresses +was, as we have seen, peculiar--and her speed was rather retarded than +assisted by her shoes, which, being extremely large and slipshod, flew +off every now and then, and were difficult to find again, among the +crowd of passengers. Indeed, the poor little creature experienced so +much trouble and delay from having to grope for these articles of dress +in mud and kennel, and suffered in these researches so much jostling, +pushing, squeezing and bandying from hand to hand, that by the time she +reached the street in which the notary lived, she was fairly worn out +and exhausted, and could not refrain from tears. + +But to have got there at last was a great comfort, especially as there +were lights still burning in the office window, and therefore some hope +that she was not too late. So the Marchioness dried her eyes with the +backs of her hands, and, stealing softly up the steps, peeped in +through the glass door. + +Mr Chuckster was standing behind the lid of his desk, making such +preparations towards finishing off for the night, as pulling down his +wristbands and pulling up his shirt-collar, settling his neck more +gracefully in his stock, and secretly arranging his whiskers by the aid +of a little triangular bit of looking glass. Before the ashes of the +fire stood two gentlemen, one of whom she rightly judged to be the +notary, and the other (who was buttoning his great-coat and was +evidently about to depart immediately) Mr Abel Garland. + +Having made these observations, the small spy took counsel with +herself, and resolved to wait in the street until Mr Abel came out, as +there would be then no fear of having to speak before Mr Chuckster, and +less difficulty in delivering her message. With this purpose she +slipped out again, and crossing the road, sat down upon a door-step +just opposite. + +She had hardly taken this position, when there came dancing up the +street, with his legs all wrong, and his head everywhere by turns, a +pony. This pony had a little phaeton behind him, and a man in it; but +neither man nor phaeton seemed to embarrass him in the least, as he +reared up on his hind legs, or stopped, or went on, or stood still +again, or backed, or went side-ways, without the smallest reference to +them--just as the fancy seized him, and as if he were the freest animal +in creation. When they came to the notary's door, the man called out +in a very respectful manner, 'Woa then'--intimating that if he might +venture to express a wish, it would be that they stopped there. The +pony made a moment's pause; but, as if it occurred to him that to stop +when he was required might be to establish an inconvenient and +dangerous precedent, he immediately started off again, rattled at a +fast trot to the street corner, wheeled round, came back, and then +stopped of his own accord. + +'Oh! you're a precious creatur!' said the man--who didn't venture by +the bye to come out in his true colours until he was safe on the +pavement. 'I wish I had the rewarding of you--I do.' + +'What has he been doing?' said Mr Abel, tying a shawl round his neck as +he came down the steps. + +'He's enough to fret a man's heart out,' replied the hostler. 'He is +the most wicious rascal--Woa then, will you?' + +'He'll never stand still, if you call him names,' said Mr Abel, getting +in, and taking the reins. 'He's a very good fellow if you know how to +manage him. This is the first time he has been out, this long while, +for he has lost his old driver and wouldn't stir for anybody else, till +this morning. The lamps are right, are they? That's well. Be here to +take him to-morrow, if you please. Good night!' + +And, after one or two strange plunges, quite of his own invention, the +pony yielded to Mr Abel's mildness, and trotted gently off. + +All this time Mr Chuckster had been standing at the door, and the small +servant had been afraid to approach. She had nothing for it now, +therefore, but to run after the chaise, and to call to Mr Abel to stop. +Being out of breath when she came up with it, she was unable to make +him hear. The case was desperate; for the pony was quickening his +pace. The Marchioness hung on behind for a few moments, and, feeling +that she could go no farther, and must soon yield, clambered by a +vigorous effort into the hinder seat, and in so doing lost one of the +shoes for ever. + +Mr Abel being in a thoughtful frame of mind, and having quite enough to +do to keep the pony going, went jogging on without looking round: +little dreaming of the strange figure that was close behind him, until +the Marchioness, having in some degree recovered her breath, and the +loss of her shoe, and the novelty of her position, uttered close into +his ear, the words--'I say, Sir'-- + +He turned his head quickly enough then, and stopping the pony, cried, +with some trepidation, 'God bless me, what is this!' + +'Don't be frightened, Sir,' replied the still panting messenger. 'Oh +I've run such a way after you!' + +'What do you want with me?' said Mr Abel. 'How did you come here?' + +'I got in behind,' replied the Marchioness. 'Oh please drive on, +sir--don't stop--and go towards the City, will you? And oh do please +make haste, because it's of consequence. There's somebody wants to see +you there. He sent me to say would you come directly, and that he +knowed all about Kit, and could save him yet, and prove his innocence.' + +'What do you tell me, child?' + +'The truth, upon my word and honour I do. But please to drive on-- +quick, please! I've been such a time gone, he'll think I'm lost.' + +Mr Abel involuntarily urged the pony forward. The pony, impelled by +some secret sympathy or some new caprice, burst into a great pace, and +neither slackened it, nor indulged in any eccentric performances, until +they arrived at the door of Mr Swiveller's lodging, where, marvellous +to relate, he consented to stop when Mr Abel checked him. + +'See! It's the room up there,' said the Marchioness, pointing to one +where there was a faint light. 'Come!' + +Mr Abel, who was one of the simplest and most retiring creatures in +existence, and naturally timid withal, hesitated; for he had heard of +people being decoyed into strange places to be robbed and murdered, +under circumstances very like the present, and, for anything he knew to +the contrary, by guides very like the Marchioness. His regard for Kit, +however, overcame every other consideration. So, entrusting Whisker to +the charge of a man who was lingering hard by in expectation of the +job, he suffered his companion to take his hand, and to lead him up the +dark and narrow stairs. + +He was not a little surprised to find himself conducted into a +dimly-lighted sick chamber, where a man was sleeping tranquilly in bed. + +'An't it nice to see him lying there so quiet?' said his guide, in an +earnest whisper. 'Oh! you'd say it was, if you had only seen him two +or three days ago.' + +Mr Abel made no answer, and, to say the truth, kept a long way from the +bed and very near the door. His guide, who appeared to understand his +reluctance, trimmed the candle, and taking it in her hand, approached +the bed. As she did so, the sleeper started up, and he recognised in +the wasted face the features of Richard Swiveller. + +'Why, how is this?' said Mr Abel kindly, as he hurried towards him. +'You have been ill?' + +'Very,' replied Dick. 'Nearly dead. You might have chanced to hear of +your Richard on his bier, but for the friend I sent to fetch you. +Another shake of the hand, Marchioness, if you please. Sit down, Sir.' + +Mr Abel seemed rather astonished to hear of the quality of his guide, +and took a chair by the bedside. + +'I have sent for you, Sir,' said Dick--'but she told you on what +account?' + +'She did. I am quite bewildered by all this. I really don't know what +to say or think,' replied Mr Abel. + +'You'll say that presently,' retorted Dick. 'Marchioness, take a seat +on the bed, will you? Now, tell this gentleman all that you told me; +and be particular. Don't you speak another word, Sir.' + +The story was repeated; it was, in effect, exactly the same as before, +without any deviation or omission. Richard Swiveller kept his eyes +fixed on his visitor during its narration, and directly it was +concluded, took the word again. + +'You have heard it all, and you'll not forget it. I'm too giddy and +too queer to suggest anything; but you and your friends will know what +to do. After this long delay, every minute is an age. If ever you +went home fast in your life, go home fast to-night. Don't stop to say +one word to me, but go. She will be found here, whenever she's wanted; +and as to me, you're pretty sure to find me at home, for a week or two. +There are more reasons than one for that. Marchioness, a light! If +you lose another minute in looking at me, sir, I'll never forgive you!' + +Mr Abel needed no more remonstrance or persuasion. He was gone in an +instant; and the Marchioness, returning from lighting him down-stairs, +reported that the pony, without any preliminary objection whatever, had +dashed away at full gallop. + +'That's right!' said Dick; 'and hearty of him; and I honour him from +this time. But get some supper and a mug of beer, for I am sure you +must be tired. Do have a mug of beer. It will do me as much good to +see you take it as if I might drink it myself.' + +Nothing but this assurance could have prevailed upon the small nurse to +indulge in such a luxury. Having eaten and drunk to Mr Swiveller's +extreme contentment, given him his drink, and put everything in neat +order, she wrapped herself in an old coverlet and lay down upon the rug +before the fire. + +Mr Swiveller was by that time murmuring in his sleep, 'Strew then, oh +strew, a bed of rushes. Here will we stay, till morning blushes. Good +night, Marchioness!' + + + + +CHAPTER 66 + +On awaking in the morning, Richard Swiveller became conscious, by slow +degrees, of whispering voices in his room. Looking out between the +curtains, he espied Mr Garland, Mr Abel, the notary, and the single +gentleman, gathered round the Marchioness, and talking to her with +great earnestness but in very subdued tones--fearing, no doubt, to +disturb him. He lost no time in letting them know that this precaution +was unnecessary, and all four gentlemen directly approached his +bedside. Old Mr Garland was the first to stretch out his hand, and +inquire how he felt. + +Dick was about to answer that he felt much better, though still as weak +as need be, when his little nurse, pushing the visitors aside and +pressing up to his pillow as if in jealousy of their interference, set +his breakfast before him, and insisted on his taking it before he +underwent the fatigue of speaking or of being spoken to. Mr Swiveller, +who was perfectly ravenous, and had had, all night, amazingly distinct +and consistent dreams of mutton chops, double stout, and similar +delicacies, felt even the weak tea and dry toast such irresistible +temptations, that he consented to eat and drink on one condition. + +'And that is,' said Dick, returning the pressure of Mr Garland's hand, +'that you answer me this question truly, before I take a bit or drop. +Is it too late?' + +'For completing the work you began so well last night?' returned the +old gentleman. 'No. Set your mind at rest on that point. It is not, +I assure you.' + +Comforted by this intelligence, the patient applied himself to his food +with a keen appetite, though evidently not with a greater zest in the +eating than his nurse appeared to have in seeing him eat. The manner +of this meal was this:--Mr Swiveller, holding the slice of toast or cup +of tea in his left hand, and taking a bite or drink, as the case might +be, constantly kept, in his right, one palm of the Marchioness tight +locked; and to shake, or even to kiss this imprisoned hand, he would +stop every now and then, in the very act of swallowing, with perfect +seriousness of intention, and the utmost gravity. As often as he put +anything into his mouth, whether for eating or drinking, the face of +the Marchioness lighted up beyond all description; but whenever he gave +her one or other of these tokens of recognition, her countenance became +overshadowed, and she began to sob. Now, whether she was in her +laughing joy, or in her crying one, the Marchioness could not help +turning to the visitors with an appealing look, which seemed to say, +'You see this fellow--can I help this?'--and they, being thus made, as +it were, parties to the scene, as regularly answered by another look, +'No. Certainly not.' This dumb-show, taking place during the whole +time of the invalid's breakfast, and the invalid himself, pale and +emaciated, performing no small part in the same, it may be fairly +questioned whether at any meal, where no word, good or bad, was spoken +from beginning to end, so much was expressed by gestures in themselves +so slight and unimportant. + +At length--and to say the truth before very long--Mr Swiveller had +despatched as much toast and tea as in that stage of his recovery it +was discreet to let him have. But the cares of the Marchioness did not +stop here; for, disappearing for an instant and presently returning +with a basin of fair water, she laved his face and hands, brushed his +hair, and in short made him as spruce and smart as anybody under such +circumstances could be made; and all this, in as brisk and +business-like a manner, as if he were a very little boy, and she his +grown-up nurse. To these various attentions, Mr Swiveller submitted in +a kind of grateful astonishment beyond the reach of language. When +they were at last brought to an end, and the Marchioness had withdrawn +into a distant corner to take her own poor breakfast (cold enough by +that time), he turned his face away for some few moments, and shook +hands heartily with the air. + +'Gentlemen,' said Dick, rousing himself from this pause, and turning +round again, 'you'll excuse me. Men who have been brought so low as I +have been, are easily fatigued. I am fresh again now, and fit for +talking. We're short of chairs here, among other trifles, but if +you'll do me the favour to sit upon the bed--' + +'What can we do for you?' said Mr Garland, kindly. + +'If you could make the Marchioness yonder, a Marchioness, in real, +sober earnest,' returned Dick, 'I'd thank you to get it done off-hand. +But as you can't, and as the question is not what you will do for me, +but what you will do for somebody else who has a better claim upon you, +pray sir let me know what you intend doing.' + +'It's chiefly on that account that we have come just now,' said the +single gentleman, 'for you will have another visitor presently. We +feared you would be anxious unless you knew from ourselves what steps +we intended to take, and therefore came to you before we stirred in the +matter.' + +'Gentlemen,' returned Dick, 'I thank you. Anybody in the helpless +state that you see me in, is naturally anxious. Don't let me interrupt +you, sir.' + +'Then, you see, my good fellow,' said the single gentleman, 'that while +we have no doubt whatever of the truth of this disclosure, which has so +providentially come to light--' + +'Meaning hers?' said Dick, pointing towards the Marchioness. + +'--Meaning hers, of course. While we have no doubt of that, or that a +proper use of it would procure the poor lad's immediate pardon and +liberation, we have a great doubt whether it would, by itself, enable +us to reach Quilp, the chief agent in this villany. I should tell you +that this doubt has been confirmed into something very nearly +approaching certainty by the best opinions we have been enabled, in +this short space of time, to take upon the subject. You'll agree with +us, that to give him even the most distant chance of escape, if we +could help it, would be monstrous. You say with us, no doubt, if +somebody must escape, let it be any one but he.' + +'Yes,' returned Dick, 'certainly. That is if somebody must--but upon +my word, I'm unwilling that anybody should. Since laws were made for +every degree, to curb vice in others as well as in me--and so forth +you know--doesn't it strike you in that light?' + +The single gentleman smiled as if the light in which Mr Swiveller had +put the question were not the clearest in the world, and proceeded to +explain that they contemplated proceeding by stratagem in the first +instance; and that their design was to endeavour to extort a confession +from the gentle Sarah. + +'When she finds how much we know, and how we know it,' he said, 'and +that she is clearly compromised already, we are not without strong +hopes that we may be enabled through her means to punish the other two +effectually. If we could do that, she might go scot-free for aught I +cared.' + +Dick received this project in anything but a gracious manner, +representing with as much warmth as he was then capable of showing, +that they would find the old buck (meaning Sarah) more difficult to +manage than Quilp himself--that, for any tampering, terrifying, or +cajolery, she was a very unpromising and unyielding subject--that she +was of a kind of brass not easily melted or moulded into shape--in +short, that they were no match for her, and would be signally defeated. +But it was in vain to urge them to adopt some other course. The single +gentleman has been described as explaining their joint intentions, but +it should have been written that they all spoke together; that if any +one of them by chance held his peace for a moment, he stood gasping and +panting for an opportunity to strike in again: in a word, that they had +reached that pitch of impatience and anxiety where men can neither be +persuaded nor reasoned with; and that it would have been as easy to +turn the most impetuous wind that ever blew, as to prevail on them to +reconsider their determination. So, after telling Mr Swiveller how +they had not lost sight of Kit's mother and the children; how they had +never once even lost sight of Kit himself, but had been unremitting in +their endeavours to procure a mitigation of his sentence; how they had +been perfectly distracted between the strong proofs of his guilt, and +their own fading hopes of his innocence; and how he, Richard Swiveller, +might keep his mind at rest, for everything should be happily adjusted +between that time and night;--after telling him all this, and adding a +great many kind and cordial expressions, personal to himself, which it +is unnecessary to recite, Mr Garland, the notary, and the single +gentleman, took their leaves at a very critical time, or Richard +Swiveller must assuredly have been driven into another fever, whereof +the results might have been fatal. + +Mr Abel remained behind, very often looking at his watch and at the +room door, until Mr Swiveller was roused from a short nap, by the +setting-down on the landing-place outside, as from the shoulders of a +porter, of some giant load, which seemed to shake the house, and made +the little physic bottles on the mantel-shelf ring again. Directly +this sound reached his ears, Mr Abel started up, and hobbled to the +door, and opened it; and behold! there stood a strong man, with a +mighty hamper, which, being hauled into the room and presently +unpacked, disgorged such treasures as tea, and coffee, and wine, and +rusks, and oranges, and grapes, and fowls ready trussed for boiling, +and calves'-foot jelly, and arrow-root, and sago, and other delicate +restoratives, that the small servant, who had never thought it possible +that such things could be, except in shops, stood rooted to the spot in +her one shoe, with her mouth and eyes watering in unison, and her power +of speech quite gone. But, not so Mr Abel; or the strong man who +emptied the hamper, big as it was, in a twinkling; and not so the nice +old lady, who appeared so suddenly that she might have come out of the +hamper too (it was quite large enough), and who, bustling about on +tiptoe and without noise--now here, now there, now everywhere at +once--began to fill out the jelly in tea-cups, and to make chicken +broth in small saucepans, and to peel oranges for the sick man and to +cut them up in little pieces, and to ply the small servant with glasses +of wine and choice bits of everything until more substantial meat could +be prepared for her refreshment. The whole of which appearances were +so unexpected and bewildering, that Mr Swiveller, when he had taken two +oranges and a little jelly, and had seen the strong man walk off with +the empty basket, plainly leaving all that abundance for his use and +benefit, was fain to lie down and fall asleep again, from sheer +inability to entertain such wonders in his mind. + +Meanwhile, the single gentleman, the Notary, and Mr Garland, repaired +to a certain coffee-house, and from that place indited and sent a +letter to Miss Sally Brass, requesting her, in terms mysterious and +brief, to favour an unknown friend who wished to consult her, with her +company there, as speedily as possible. The communication performed +its errand so well, that within ten minutes of the messenger's return +and report of its delivery, Miss Brass herself was announced. + +'Pray ma'am,' said the single gentleman, whom she found alone in the +room, 'take a chair.' + +Miss Brass sat herself down, in a very stiff and frigid state, and +seemed--as indeed she was--not a little astonished to find that the +lodger and her mysterious correspondent were one and the same person. + +'You did not expect to see me?' said the single gentleman. + +'I didn't think much about it,' returned the beauty. 'I supposed it +was business of some kind or other. If it's about the apartments, of +course you'll give my brother regular notice, you know--or money. +That's very easily settled. You're a responsible party, and in such a +case lawful money and lawful notice are pretty much the same.' + +'I am obliged to you for your good opinion,' retorted the single +gentleman, 'and quite concur in these sentiments. But that is not the +subject on which I wish to speak with you.' + +'Oh!' said Sally. 'Then just state the particulars, will you? I +suppose it's professional business?' + +'Why, it is connected with the law, certainly.' + +'Very well,' returned Miss Brass. 'My brother and I are just the same. +I can take any instructions, or give you any advice.' + +'As there are other parties interested besides myself,' said the single +gentleman, rising and opening the door of an inner room, 'we had better +confer together. Miss Brass is here, gentlemen.' + +Mr Garland and the Notary walked in, looking very grave; and, drawing up +two chairs, one on each side of the single gentleman, formed a kind of +fence round the gentle Sarah, and penned her into a corner. Her brother +Sampson under such circumstances would certainly have evinced some +confusion or anxiety, but she--all composure--pulled out the tin box, +and calmly took a pinch of snuff. + +'Miss Brass,' said the Notary, taking the word at this crisis, 'we +professional people understand each other, and, when we choose, can say +what we have to say, in very few words. You advertised a runaway +servant, the other day?' + +'Well,' returned Miss Sally, with a sudden flush overspreading her +features, 'what of that?' + +'She is found, ma'am,' said the Notary, pulling out his +pocket-handkerchief with a flourish. 'She is found.' + +'Who found her?' demanded Sarah hastily. + +'We did, ma'am--we three. Only last night, or you would have heard +from us before.' + +'And now I have heard from you,' said Miss Brass, folding her arms as +though she were about to deny something to the death, 'what have you +got to say? Something you have got into your heads about her, of +course. Prove it, will you--that's all. Prove it. You have found +her, you say. I can tell you (if you don't know it) that you have +found the most artful, lying, pilfering, devilish little minx that was +ever born.--Have you got her here?' she added, looking sharply round. + +'No, she is not here at present,' returned the Notary. 'But she is +quite safe.' + +'Ha!' cried Sally, twitching a pinch of snuff out of her box, as +spitefully as if she were in the very act of wrenching off the small +servant's nose; 'she shall be safe enough from this time, I warrant +you.' + +'I hope so,' replied the Notary. 'Did it occur to you for the first +time, when you found she had run away, that there were two keys to your +kitchen door?' + +Miss Sally took another pinch, and putting her head on one side, looked +at her questioner, with a curious kind of spasm about her mouth, but +with a cunning aspect of immense expression. + +'Two keys,' repeated the Notary; 'one of which gave her the +opportunities of roaming through the house at nights when you supposed +her fast locked up, and of overhearing confidential +consultations--among others, that particular conference, to be +described to-day before a justice, which you will have an opportunity +of hearing her relate; that conference which you and Mr Brass held +together, on the night before that most unfortunate and innocent young +man was accused of robbery, by a horrible device of which I will only +say that it may be characterised by the epithets which you have applied +to this wretched little witness, and by a few stronger ones besides.' + +Sally took another pinch. Although her face was wonderfully composed, +it was apparent that she was wholly taken by surprise, and that what +she had expected to be taxed with, in connection with her small +servant, was something very different from this. + +'Come, come, Miss Brass,' said the Notary, 'you have great command of +feature, but you feel, I see, that by a chance which never entered your +imagination, this base design is revealed, and two of its plotters must +be brought to justice. Now, you know the pains and penalties you are +liable to, and so I need not dilate upon them, but I have a proposal to +make to you. You have the honour of being sister to one of the +greatest scoundrels unhung; and, if I may venture to say so to a lady, +you are in every respect quite worthy of him. But connected with you +two is a third party, a villain of the name of Quilp, the prime mover +of the whole diabolical device, who I believe to be worse than either. +For his sake, Miss Brass, do us the favour to reveal the whole history +of this affair. Let me remind you that your doing so, at our instance, +will place you in a safe and comfortable position--your present one is +not desirable--and cannot injure your brother; for against him and you +we have quite sufficient evidence (as you hear) already. I will not +say to you that we suggest this course in mercy (for, to tell you the +truth, we do not entertain any regard for you), but it is a necessity +to which we are reduced, and I recommend it to you as a matter of the +very best policy. Time,' said Mr Witherden, pulling out his watch, 'in +a business like this, is exceedingly precious. Favour us with your +decision as speedily as possible, ma'am.' + +With a smile upon her face, and looking at each of the three by turns, +Miss Brass took two or three more pinches of snuff, and having by this +time very little left, travelled round and round the box with her +forefinger and thumb, scraping up another. Having disposed of this +likewise and put the box carefully in her pocket, she said,-- + +'I am to accept or reject at once, am I?' + +'Yes,' said Mr Witherden. + +The charming creature was opening her lips to speak in reply, when the +door was hastily opened too, and the head of Sampson Brass was thrust +into the room. + +'Excuse me,' said the gentleman hastily. 'Wait a bit!' + +So saying, and quite indifferent to the astonishment his presence +occasioned, he crept in, shut the door, kissed his greasy glove as +servilely as if it were the dust, and made a most abject bow. + +'Sarah,' said Brass, 'hold your tongue if you please, and let me speak. +Gentlemen, if I could express the pleasure it gives me to see three +such men in a happy unity of feeling and concord of sentiment, I think +you would hardly believe me. But though I am unfortunate--nay, +gentlemen, criminal, if we are to use harsh expressions in a company +like this--still, I have my feelings like other men. I have heard of a +poet, who remarked that feelings were the common lot of all. If he +could have been a pig, gentlemen, and have uttered that sentiment, he +would still have been immortal.' + +'If you're not an idiot,' said Miss Brass harshly, 'hold your peace.' + +'Sarah, my dear,' returned her brother, 'thank you. But I know what I +am about, my love, and will take the liberty of expressing myself +accordingly. Mr Witherden, Sir, your handkerchief is hanging out of +your pocket--would you allow me to--, + +As Mr Brass advanced to remedy this accident, the Notary shrunk from +him with an air of disgust. Brass, who over and above his usual +prepossessing qualities, had a scratched face, a green shade over one +eye, and a hat grievously crushed, stopped short, and looked round with +a pitiful smile. + +'He shuns me,' said Sampson, 'even when I would, as I may say, heap +coals of fire upon his head. Well! Ah! But I am a falling house, and +the rats (if I may be allowed the expression in reference to a +gentleman I respect and love beyond everything) fly from me! +Gentlemen--regarding your conversation just now, I happened to see my +sister on her way here, and, wondering where she could be going to, and +being--may I venture to say?--naturally of a suspicious turn, followed +her. Since then, I have been listening.' + +'If you're not mad,' interposed Miss Sally, 'stop there, and say no +more.' + +'Sarah, my dear,' rejoined Brass with undiminished politeness, 'I thank +you kindly, but will still proceed. Mr Witherden, sir, as we have the +honour to be members of the same profession--to say nothing of that +other gentleman having been my lodger, and having partaken, as one may +say, of the hospitality of my roof--I think you might have given me the +refusal of this offer in the first instance. I do indeed. Now, my +dear Sir,' cried Brass, seeing that the Notary was about to interrupt +him, 'suffer me to speak, I beg.' + +Mr Witherden was silent, and Brass went on. + +'If you will do me the favour,' he said, holding up the green shade, +and revealing an eye most horribly discoloured, 'to look at this, you +will naturally inquire, in your own minds, how did I get it. If you +look from that, to my face, you will wonder what could have been the +cause of all these scratches. And if from them to my hat, how it came +into the state in which you see it. Gentlemen,' said Brass, striking +the hat fiercely with his clenched hand, 'to all these questions I +answer--Quilp!' + +The three gentlemen looked at each other, but said nothing. + +'I say,' pursued Brass, glancing aside at his sister, as though he were +talking for her information, and speaking with a snarling malignity, in +violent contrast to his usual smoothness, 'that I answer to all these +questions,--Quilp--Quilp, who deludes me into his infernal den, and +takes a delight in looking on and chuckling while I scorch, and burn, +and bruise, and maim myself--Quilp, who never once, no never once, in +all our communications together, has treated me otherwise than as a +dog--Quilp, whom I have always hated with my whole heart, but never so +much as lately. He gives me the cold shoulder on this very matter as +if he had had nothing to do with it, instead of being the first to +propose it. I can't trust him. In one of his howling, raving, blazing +humours, I believe he'd let it out, if it was murder, and never think +of himself so long as he could terrify me. Now,' said Brass, picking +up his hat again and replacing the shade over his eye, and actually +crouching down, in the excess of his servility, 'what does all this +lead to?--what should you say it led me to, gentlemen?--could you guess +at all near the mark?' + +Nobody spoke. Brass stood smirking for a little while, as if he had +propounded some choice conundrum; and then said: + +'To be short with you, then, it leads me to this. If the truth has +come out, as it plainly has in a manner that there's no standing up +against--and a very sublime and grand thing is Truth, gentlemen, in its +way, though like other sublime and grand things, such as thunder-storms +and that, we're not always over and above glad to see it--I had better +turn upon this man than let this man turn upon me. It's clear to me +that I am done for. Therefore, if anybody is to split, I had better be +the person and have the advantage of it. Sarah, my dear, comparatively +speaking you're safe. I relate these circumstances for my own profit.' + +With that, Mr Brass, in a great hurry, revealed the whole story; +bearing as heavily as possible on his amiable employer, and making +himself out to be rather a saint-like and holy character, though +subject--he acknowledged--to human weaknesses. He concluded thus: + +'Now, gentlemen, I am not a man who does things by halves. Being in +for a penny, I am ready, as the saying is, to be in for a pound. You +must do with me what you please, and take me where you please. If you +wish to have this in writing, we'll reduce it into manuscript +immediately. You will be tender with me, I am sure. I am quite +confident you will be tender with me. You are men of honour, and have +feeling hearts. I yielded from necessity to Quilp, for though +necessity has no law, she has her lawyers. I yield to you from +necessity too; from policy besides; and because of feelings that have +been a pretty long time working within me. Punish Quilp, gentlemen. +Weigh heavily upon him. Grind him down. Tread him under foot. He has +done as much by me, for many and many a day.' + +Having now arrived at the conclusion of his discourse, Sampson checked +the current of his wrath, kissed his glove again, and smiled as only +parasites and cowards can. + +'And this,' said Miss Brass, raising her head, with which she had +hitherto sat resting on her hands, and surveying him from head to foot +with a bitter sneer, 'this is my brother, is it! This is my brother, +that I have worked and toiled for, and believed to have had something +of the man in him!' + +'Sarah, my dear,' returned Sampson, rubbing his hands feebly; 'you +disturb our friends. Besides you--you're disappointed, Sarah, and, not +knowing what you say, expose yourself.' + +'Yes, you pitiful dastard,' retorted the lovely damsel, 'I understand +you. You feared that I should be beforehand with you. But do you +think that I would have been enticed to say a word! I'd have scorned +it, if they had tried and tempted me for twenty years.' + +'He he!' simpered Brass, who, in his deep debasement, really seemed to +have changed sexes with his sister, and to have made over to her any +spark of manliness he might have possessed. 'You think so, Sarah, you +think so perhaps; but you would have acted quite different, my good +fellow. You will not have forgotten that it was a maxim with +Foxey--our revered father, gentlemen--"Always suspect everybody." +That's the maxim to go through life with! If you were not actually +about to purchase your own safety when I showed myself, I suspect you'd +have done it by this time. And therefore I've done it myself, and +spared you the trouble as well as the shame. The shame, gentlemen,' +added Brass, allowing himself to be slightly overcome, 'if there is +any, is mine. It's better that a female should be spared it.' + +With deference to the better opinion of Mr Brass, and more particularly +to the authority of his Great Ancestor, it may be doubted, with +humility, whether the elevating principle laid down by the latter +gentleman, and acted upon by his descendant, is always a prudent one, +or attended in practice with the desired results. This is, beyond +question, a bold and presumptuous doubt, inasmuch as many distinguished +characters, called men of the world, long-headed customers, knowing +dogs, shrewd fellows, capital hands at business, and the like, have +made, and do daily make, this axiom their polar star and compass. +Still, the doubt may be gently insinuated. And in illustration it may +be observed, that if Mr Brass, not being over-suspicious, had, without +prying and listening, left his sister to manage the conference on their +joint behalf, or prying and listening, had not been in such a mighty +hurry to anticipate her (which he would not have been, but for his +distrust and jealousy), he would probably have found himself much +better off in the end. Thus, it will always happen that these men of +the world, who go through it in armour, defend themselves from quite as +much good as evil; to say nothing of the inconvenience and absurdity of +mounting guard with a microscope at all times, and of wearing a coat of +mail on the most innocent occasions. + +The three gentlemen spoke together apart, for a few moments. At the +end of their consultation, which was very brief, the Notary pointed to +the writing materials on the table, and informed Mr Brass that if he +wished to make any statement in writing, he had the opportunity of +doing so. At the same time he felt bound to tell him that they would +require his attendance, presently, before a justice of the peace, and +that in what he did or said, he was guided entirely by his own +discretion. + +'Gentlemen,' said Brass, drawing off his glove, and crawling in spirit +upon the ground before them, 'I will justify the tenderness with which +I know I shall be treated; and as, without tenderness, I should, now +that this discovery has been made, stand in the worst position of the +three, you may depend upon it I will make a clean breast. Mr +Witherden, sir, a kind of faintness is upon my spirits--if you would +do me the favour to ring the bell and order up a glass of something +warm and spicy, I shall, notwithstanding what has passed, have a +melancholy pleasure in drinking your good health. I had hoped,' said +Brass, looking round with a mournful smile, 'to have seen you three +gentlemen, one day or another, with your legs under the mahogany in my +humble parlour in the Marks. But hopes are fleeting. Dear me!' + +Mr Brass found himself so exceedingly affected, at this point, that he +could say or do nothing more until some refreshment arrived. Having +partaken of it, pretty freely for one in his agitated state, he sat +down to write. + +The lovely Sarah, now with her arms folded, and now with her hands +clasped behind her, paced the room with manly strides while her brother +was thus employed, and sometimes stopped to pull out her snuff-box and +bite the lid. She continued to pace up and down until she was quite +tired, and then fell asleep on a chair near the door. + +It has been since supposed, with some reason, that this slumber was a +sham or feint, as she contrived to slip away unobserved in the dusk of +the afternoon. Whether this was an intentional and waking departure, +or a somnambulistic leave-taking and walking in her sleep, may remain a +subject of contention; but, on one point (and indeed the main one) all +parties are agreed. In whatever state she walked away, she certainly +did not walk back again. + +Mention having been made of the dusk of the afternoon, it will be +inferred that Mr Brass's task occupied some time in the completion. It +was not finished until evening; but, being done at last, that worthy +person and the three friends adjourned in a hackney-coach to the +private office of a justice, who, giving Mr Brass a warm reception and +detaining him in a secure place that he might insure to himself the +pleasure of seeing him on the morrow, dismissed the others with the +cheering assurance that a warrant could not fail to be granted next day +for the apprehension of Mr Quilp, and that a proper application and +statement of all the circumstances to the secretary of state (who was +fortunately in town), would no doubt procure Kit's free pardon and +liberation without delay. + +And now, indeed, it seemed that Quilp's malignant career was drawing to +a close, and that retribution, which often travels slowly--especially +when heaviest--had tracked his footsteps with a sure and certain scent +and was gaining on him fast. Unmindful of her stealthy tread, her +victim holds his course in fancied triumph. Still at his heels she +comes, and once afoot, is never turned aside! + +Their business ended, the three gentlemen hastened back to the lodgings +of Mr Swiveller, whom they found progressing so favourably in his +recovery as to have been able to sit up for half an hour, and to have +conversed with cheerfulness. Mrs Garland had gone home some time +since, but Mr Abel was still sitting with him. After telling him all +they had done, the two Mr Garlands and the single gentleman, as if by +some previous understanding, took their leaves for the night, leaving +the invalid alone with the Notary and the small servant. + +'As you are so much better,' said Mr Witherden, sitting down at the +bedside, 'I may venture to communicate to you a piece of news which has +come to me professionally.' + +The idea of any professional intelligence from a gentleman connected +with legal matters, appeared to afford Richard any-thing but a pleasing +anticipation. Perhaps he connected it in his own mind with one or two +outstanding accounts, in reference to which he had already received +divers threatening letters. His countenance fell as he replied, + +'Certainly, sir. I hope it's not anything of a very disagreeable +nature, though?' + +'If I thought it so, I should choose some better time for communicating +it,' replied the Notary. 'Let me tell you, first, that my friends who +have been here to-day, know nothing of it, and that their kindness to +you has been quite spontaneous and with no hope of return. It may do a +thoughtless, careless man, good, to know that.' + +Dick thanked him, and said he hoped it would. + +'I have been making some inquiries about you,' said Mr Witherden, +'little thinking that I should find you under such circumstances as +those which have brought us together. You are the nephew of Rebecca +Swiveller, spinster, deceased, of Cheselbourne in Dorsetshire.' + +'Deceased!' cried Dick. + +'Deceased. If you had been another sort of nephew, you would have come +into possession (so says the will, and I see no reason to doubt it) of +five-and-twenty thousand pounds. As it is, you have fallen into an +annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; but I think I may +congratulate you even upon that.' + +'Sir,' said Dick, sobbing and laughing together, 'you may. For, please +God, we'll make a scholar of the poor Marchioness yet! And she shall +walk in silk attire, and siller have to spare, or may I never rise from +this bed again!' + + + + +CHAPTER 67 + +Unconscious of the proceedings faithfully narrated in the last chapter, +and little dreaming of the mine which had been sprung beneath him (for, +to the end that he should have no warning of the business a-foot, the +profoundest secrecy was observed in the whole transaction), Mr Quilp +remained shut up in his hermitage, undisturbed by any suspicion, and +extremely well satisfied with the result of his machinations. Being +engaged in the adjustment of some accounts--an occupation to which the +silence and solitude of his retreat were very favourable--he had not +strayed from his den for two whole days. The third day of his devotion +to this pursuit found him still hard at work, and little disposed to +stir abroad. + +It was the day next after Mr Brass's confession, and consequently, that +which threatened the restriction of Mr Quilp's liberty, and the abrupt +communication to him of some very unpleasant and unwelcome facts. +Having no intuitive perception of the cloud which lowered upon his +house, the dwarf was in his ordinary state of cheerfulness; and, when +he found he was becoming too much engrossed by business with a due +regard to his health and spirits, he varied its monotonous routine with +a little screeching, or howling, or some other innocent relaxation of +that nature. + +He was attended, as usual, by Tom Scott, who sat crouching over the +fire after the manner of a toad, and, from time to time, when his +master's back was turned, imitating his grimaces with a fearful +exactness. The figure-head had not yet disappeared, but remained in +its old place. The face, horribly seared by the frequent application +of the red-hot poker, and further ornamented by the insertion, in the +tip of the nose, of a tenpenny nail, yet smiled blandly in its less +lacerated parts, and seemed, like a sturdy martyr, to provoke its +tormentor to the commission of new outrages and insults. + +The day, in the highest and brightest quarters of the town, was damp, +dark, cold and gloomy. In that low and marshy spot, the fog filled +every nook and corner with a thick dense cloud. Every object was +obscure at one or two yards' distance. The warning lights and fires +upon the river were powerless beneath this pall, and, but for a raw and +piercing chillness in the air, and now and then the cry of some +bewildered boatman as he rested on his oars and tried to make out where +he was, the river itself might have been miles away. + +The mist, though sluggish and slow to move, was of a keenly searching +kind. No muffling up in furs and broadcloth kept it out. It seemed to +penetrate into the very bones of the shrinking wayfarers, and to rack +them with cold and pains. Everything was wet and clammy to the touch. +The warm blaze alone defied it, and leaped and sparkled merrily. It +was a day to be at home, crowding about the fire, telling stories of +travellers who had lost their way in such weather on heaths and moors; +and to love a warm hearth more than ever. + +The dwarf's humour, as we know, was to have a fireside to himself; and +when he was disposed to be convivial, to enjoy himself alone. By no +means insensible to the comfort of being within doors, he ordered Tom +Scott to pile the little stove with coals, and, dismissing his work for +that day, determined to be jovial. + +To this end, he lighted up fresh candles and heaped more fuel on the +fire; and having dined off a beefsteak, which he cooked himself in +somewhat of a savage and cannibal-like manner, brewed a great bowl of +hot punch, lighted his pipe, and sat down to spend the evening. + +At this moment, a low knocking at the cabin-door arrested his +attention. When it had been twice or thrice repeated, he softly opened +the little window, and thrusting his head out, demanded who was there. + +'Only me, Quilp,' replied a woman's voice. + +'Only you!' cried the dwarf, stretching his neck to obtain a better +view of his visitor. 'And what brings you here, you jade? How dare +you approach the ogre's castle, eh?' + +'I have come with some news,' rejoined his spouse. 'Don't be angry +with me.' + +'Is it good news, pleasant news, news to make a man skip and snap his +fingers?' said the dwarf. 'Is the dear old lady dead?' + +'I don't know what news it is, or whether it's good or bad,' rejoined +his wife. + +'Then she's alive,' said Quilp, 'and there's nothing the matter with +her. Go home again, you bird of evil note, go home!' + +'I have brought a letter,' cried the meek little woman. + +'Toss it in at the window here, and go your ways,' said Quilp, +interrupting her, 'or I'll come out and scratch you.' + +'No, but please, Quilp--do hear me speak,' urged his submissive wife, +in tears. 'Please do!' + +'Speak then,' growled the dwarf with a malicious grin. 'Be quick and +short about it. Speak, will you?' + +'It was left at our house this afternoon,' said Mrs Quilp, trembling, +'by a boy who said he didn't know from whom it came, but that it was +given to him to leave, and that he was told to say it must be brought +on to you directly, for it was of the very greatest consequence.--But +please,' she added, as her husband stretched out his hand for it, +'please let me in. You don't know how wet and cold I am, or how many +times I have lost my way in coming here through this thick fog. Let me +dry myself at the fire for five minutes. I'll go away directly you +tell me to, Quilp. Upon my word I will.' + +Her amiable husband hesitated for a few moments; but, bethinking +himself that the letter might require some answer, of which she could +be the bearer, closed the window, opened the door, and bade her enter. +Mrs Quilp obeyed right willingly, and, kneeling down before the fire to +warm her hands, delivered into his a little packet. + +'I'm glad you're wet,' said Quilp, snatching it, and squinting at her. +'I'm glad you're cold. I'm glad you lost your way. I'm glad your eyes +are red with crying. It does my heart good to see your little nose so +pinched and frosty.' + +'Oh Quilp!' sobbed his wife. 'How cruel it is of you!' + +'Did she think I was dead?' said Quilp, wrinkling his face into a most +extraordinary series of grimaces. 'Did she think she was going to have +all the money, and to marry somebody she liked? Ha ha ha! Did she?' + +These taunts elicited no reply from the poor little woman, who remained +on her knees, warming her hands, and sobbing, to Mr Quilp's great +delight. But, just as he was contemplating her, and chuckling +excessively, he happened to observe that Tom Scott was delighted too; +wherefore, that he might have no presumptuous partner in his glee, the +dwarf instantly collared him, dragged him to the door, and after a +short scuffle, kicked him into the yard. In return for this mark of +attention, Tom immediately walked upon his hands to the window, and--if +the expression be allowable--looked in with his shoes: besides +rattling his feet upon the glass like a Banshee upside down. As a +matter of course, Mr Quilp lost no time in resorting to the infallible +poker, with which, after some dodging and lying in ambush, he paid his +young friend one or two such unequivocal compliments that he vanished +precipitately, and left him in quiet possession of the field. + +'So! That little job being disposed of,' said the dwarf, coolly, 'I'll +read my letter. Humph!' he muttered, looking at the direction. 'I +ought to know this writing. Beautiful Sally!' + +Opening it, he read, in a fair, round, legal hand, as follows: + +'Sammy has been practised upon, and has broken confidence. It has all +come out. You had better not be in the way, for strangers are going to +call upon you. They have been very quiet as yet, because they mean to +surprise you. Don't lose time. I didn't. I am not to be found +anywhere. If I was you, I wouldn't either. S. B., late of B. M.' + +To describe the changes that passed over Quilp's face, as he read this +letter half-a-dozen times, would require some new language: such, for +power of expression, as was never written, read, or spoken. For a long +time he did not utter one word; but, after a considerable interval, +during which Mrs Quilp was almost paralysed with the alarm his looks +engendered, he contrived to gasp out, + +'If I had him here. If I only had him here--' + +'Oh Quilp!' said his wife, 'what's the matter? Who are you angry with?' + +'--I should drown him,' said the dwarf, not heeding her. 'Too easy a +death, too short, too quick--but the river runs close at hand. Oh! if +I had him here! just to take him to the brink coaxingly and +pleasantly,--holding him by the button-hole--joking with him,--and, +with a sudden push, to send him splashing down! Drowning men come to +the surface three times they say. Ah! To see him those three times, +and mock him as his face came bobbing up,--oh, what a rich treat that +would be!' + +'Quilp!' stammered his wife, venturing at the same time to touch him on +the shoulder: 'what has gone wrong?' + +She was so terrified by the relish with which he pictured this pleasure +to himself that she could scarcely make herself intelligible. + +'Such a bloodless cur!' said Quilp, rubbing his hands very slowly, and +pressing them tight together. 'I thought his cowardice and servility +were the best guarantee for his keeping silence. Oh Brass, Brass--my +dear, good, affectionate, faithful, complimentary, charming friend--if +I only had you here!' + +His wife, who had retreated lest she should seem to listen to these +mutterings, ventured to approach him again, and was about to speak, +when he hurried to the door, and called Tom Scott, who, remembering his +late gentle admonition, deemed it prudent to appear immediately. + +'There!' said the dwarf, pulling him in. 'Take her home. Don't come +here to-morrow, for this place will be shut up. Come back no more till +you hear from me or see me. Do you mind?' + +Tom nodded sulkily, and beckoned Mrs Quilp to lead the way. + +'As for you,' said the dwarf, addressing himself to her, 'ask no +questions about me, make no search for me, say nothing concerning me. +I shall not be dead, mistress, and that'll comfort you. He'll take +care of you.' + +'But, Quilp? What is the matter? Where are you going? Do say +something more?' + +'I'll say that,' said the dwarf, seizing her by the arm, 'and do that +too, which undone and unsaid would be best for you, unless you go +directly.' + +'Has anything happened?' cried his wife. 'Oh! Do tell me that?' + +'Yes,' snarled the dwarf. 'No. What matter which? I have told you +what to do. Woe betide you if you fail to do it, or disobey me by a +hair's breadth. Will you go!' + +'I am going, I'll go directly; but,' faltered his wife, 'answer me one +question first. Has this letter any connexion with dear little Nell? +I must ask you that--I must indeed, Quilp. You cannot think what days +and nights of sorrow I have had through having once deceived that +child. I don't know what harm I may have brought about, but, great or +little, I did it for you, Quilp. My conscience misgave me when I did +it. Do answer me this question, if you please?' + +The exasperated dwarf returned no answer, but turned round and caught +up his usual weapon with such vehemence, that Tom Scott dragged his +charge away, by main force, and as swiftly as he could. It was well he +did so, for Quilp, who was nearly mad with rage, pursued them to the +neighbouring lane, and might have prolonged the chase but for the dense +mist which obscured them from his view and appeared to thicken every +moment. + +'It will be a good night for travelling anonymously,' he said, as he +returned slowly, being pretty well breathed with his run. 'Stay. We +may look better here. This is too hospitable and free.' + +By a great exertion of strength, he closed the two old gates, which +were deeply sunken in the mud, and barred them with a heavy beam. That +done, he shook his matted hair from about his eyes, and tried +them.--Strong and fast. + +'The fence between this wharf and the next is easily climbed,' said the +dwarf, when he had taken these precautions. 'There's a back lane, too, +from there. That shall be my way out. A man need know his road well, +to find it in this lovely place to-night. I need fear no unwelcome +visitors while this lasts, I think.' + +Almost reduced to the necessity of groping his way with his hands (it +had grown so dark and the fog had so much increased), he returned to +his lair; and, after musing for some time over the fire, busied himself +in preparations for a speedy departure. + +While he was collecting a few necessaries and cramming them into his +pockets, he never once ceased communing with himself in a low voice, or +unclenched his teeth, which he had ground together on finishing Miss +Brass's note. + +'Oh Sampson!' he muttered, 'good worthy creature--if I could but hug +you! If I could only fold you in my arms, and squeeze your ribs, as I +COULD squeeze them if I once had you tight--what a meeting there would +be between us! If we ever do cross each other again, Sampson, we'll +have a greeting not easily to be forgotten, trust me. This time, +Sampson, this moment when all had gone on so well, was so nicely +chosen! It was so thoughtful of you, so penitent, so good. Oh, if we +were face to face in this room again, my white-livered man of law, how +well contented one of us would be!' + +There he stopped; and raising the bowl of punch to his lips, drank a +long deep draught, as if it were fair water and cooling to his parched +mouth. Setting it down abruptly, and resuming his preparations, he +went on with his soliloquy. + +'There's Sally,' he said, with flashing eyes; 'the woman has spirit, +determination, purpose--was she asleep, or petrified? She could have +stabbed him--poisoned him safely. She might have seen this coming on. +Why does she give me notice when it's too late? When he sat +there,--yonder there, over there,--with his white face, and red head, +and sickly smile, why didn't I know what was passing in his heart? It +should have stopped beating, that night, if I had been in his secret, +or there are no drugs to lull a man to sleep, or no fire to burn him!' + +Another draught from the bowl; and, cowering over the fire with a +ferocious aspect, he muttered to himself again. + +'And this, like every other trouble and anxiety I have had of late +times, springs from that old dotard and his darling child--two wretched +feeble wanderers! I'll be their evil genius yet. And you, sweet Kit, +honest Kit, virtuous, innocent Kit, look to yourself. Where I hate, I +bite. I hate you, my darling fellow, with good cause, and proud as you +are to-night, I'll have my turn.----What's that?' + +A knocking at the gate he had closed. A loud and violent knocking. +Then, a pause; as if those who knocked had stopped to listen. Then, +the noise again, more clamorous and importunate than before. + +'So soon!' said the dwarf. 'And so eager! I am afraid I shall disappoint +you. It's well I'm quite prepared. Sally, I thank you!' + +As he spoke, he extinguished the candle. In his impetuous attempts to +subdue the brightness of the fire, he overset the stove, which came +tumbling forward, and fell with a crash upon the burning embers it had +shot forth in its descent, leaving the room in pitchy darkness. The +noise at the gate still continuing, he felt his way to the door, and +stepped into the open air. + +At that moment the knocking ceased. It was about eight o'clock; but +the dead of the darkest night would have been as noon-day in comparison +with the thick cloud which then rested upon the earth, and shrouded +everything from view. He darted forward for a few paces, as if into +the mouth of some dim, yawning cavern; then, thinking he had gone +wrong, changed the direction of his steps; then stood still, not +knowing where to turn. + +'If they would knock again,' said Quilp, trying to peer into the gloom +by which he was surrounded, 'the sound might guide me! Come! Batter +the gate once more!' + +He stood listening intently, but the noise was not renewed. Nothing +was to be heard in that deserted place, but, at intervals, the distant +barkings of dogs. The sound was far away--now in one quarter, now +answered in another--nor was it any guide, for it often came from +shipboard, as he knew. + +'If I could find a wall or fence,' said the dwarf, stretching out his +arms, and walking slowly on, 'I should know which way to turn. A good, +black, devil's night this, to have my dear friend here! If I had but +that wish, it might, for anything I cared, never be day again.' + +As the word passed his lips, he staggered and fell--and next moment was +fighting with the cold dark water! + +For all its bubbling up and rushing in his ears, he could hear the +knocking at the gate again--could hear a shout that followed it--could +recognise the voice. For all his struggling and plashing, he could +understand that they had lost their way, and had wandered back to the +point from which they started; that they were all but looking on, while +he was drowned; that they were close at hand, but could not make an +effort to save him; that he himself had shut and barred them out. He +answered the shout--with a yell, which seemed to make the hundred fires +that danced before his eyes tremble and flicker, as if a gust of wind +had stirred them. It was of no avail. The strong tide filled his +throat, and bore him on, upon its rapid current. + +Another mortal struggle, and he was up again, beating the water with +his hands, and looking out, with wild and glaring eyes that showed him +some black object he was drifting close upon. The hull of a ship! He +could touch its smooth and slippery surface with his hand. One loud +cry, now--but the resistless water bore him down before he could give +it utterance, and, driving him under it, carried away a corpse. + +It toyed and sported with its ghastly freight, now bruising it against +the slimy piles, now hiding it in mud or long rank grass, now dragging +it heavily over rough stones and gravel, now feigning to yield it to +its own element, and in the same action luring it away, until, tired of +the ugly plaything, it flung it on a swamp--a dismal place where +pirates had swung in chains through many a wintry night--and left it +there to bleach. + +And there it lay alone. The sky was red with flame, and the water that +bore it there had been tinged with the sullen light as it flowed along. +The place the deserted carcass had left so recently, a living man, was +now a blazing ruin. There was something of the glare upon its face. +The hair, stirred by the damp breeze, played in a kind of mockery of +death--such a mockery as the dead man himself would have delighted in +when alive--about its head, and its dress fluttered idly in the night +wind. + + + + +CHAPTER 68 + +Lighted rooms, bright fires, cheerful faces, the music of glad voices, +words of love and welcome, warm hearts, and tears of happiness--what a +change is this! But it is to such delights that Kit is hastening. +They are awaiting him, he knows. He fears he will die of joy, before +he gets among them. + +They have prepared him for this, all day. He is not to be carried off +to-morrow with the rest, they tell him first. By degrees they let him +know that doubts have arisen, that inquiries are to be made, and +perhaps he may be pardoned after all. At last, the evening being come, +they bring him to a room where some gentlemen are assembled. Foremost +among them is his good old master, who comes and takes him by the hand. +He hears that his innocence is established, and that he is pardoned. +He cannot see the speaker, but he turns towards the voice, and in +trying to answer, falls down insensible. + +They recover him again, and tell him he must be composed, and bear this +like a man. Somebody says he must think of his poor mother. It is +because he does think of her so much, that the happy news had +overpowered him. They crowd about him, and tell him that the truth has +gone abroad, and that all the town and country ring with sympathy for +his misfortunes. He has no ears for this. His thoughts, as yet, have +no wider range than home. Does she know it? what did she say? who +told her? He can speak of nothing else. + +They make him drink a little wine, and talk kindly to him for a while, +until he is more collected, and can listen, and thank them. He is free +to go. Mr Garland thinks, if he feels better, it is time they went +away. The gentlemen cluster round him, and shake hands with him. He +feels very grateful to them for the interest they have in him, and for +the kind promises they make; but the power of speech is gone again, and +he has much ado to keep his feet, even though leaning on his master's +arm. + +As they come through the dismal passages, some officers of the jail who +are in waiting there, congratulate him, in their rough way, on his +release. The newsmonger is of the number, but his manner is not quite +hearty--there is something of surliness in his compliments. He looks +upon Kit as an intruder, as one who has obtained admission to that +place on false pretences, who has enjoyed a privilege without being +duly qualified. He may be a very good sort of young man, he thinks, +but he has no business there, and the sooner he is gone, the better. + +The last door shuts behind them. They have passed the outer wall, and +stand in the open air--in the street he has so often pictured to +himself when hemmed in by the gloomy stones, and which has been in all +his dreams. It seems wider and more busy than it used to be. The +night is bad, and yet how cheerful and gay in his eyes! One of the +gentlemen, in taking leave of him, pressed some money into his hand. +He has not counted it; but when they have gone a few paces beyond the +box for poor Prisoners, he hastily returns and drops it in. + +Mr Garland has a coach waiting in a neighbouring street, and, taking +Kit inside with him, bids the man drive home. At first, they can only +travel at a foot pace, and then with torches going on before, because +of the heavy fog. But, as they get farther from the river, and leave +the closer portions of the town behind, they are able to dispense with +this precaution and to proceed at a brisker rate. On the road, hard +galloping would be too slow for Kit; but, when they are drawing near +their journey's end, he begs they may go more slowly, and, when the +house appears in sight, that they may stop--only for a minute or two, +to give him time to breathe. + +But there is no stopping then, for the old gentleman speaks stoutly to +him, the horses mend their pace, and they are already at the +garden-gate. Next minute, they are at the door. There is a noise of +tongues, and tread of feet, inside. It opens. Kit rushes in, and +finds his mother clinging round his neck. + +And there, too, is the ever faithful Barbara's mother, still holding +the baby as if she had never put it down since that sad day when they +little hoped to have such joy as this--there she is, Heaven bless her, +crying her eyes out, and sobbing as never woman sobbed before; and +there is little Barbara--poor little Barbara, so much thinner and so +much paler, and yet so very pretty--trembling like a leaf and +supporting herself against the wall; and there is Mrs Garland, neater +and nicer than ever, fainting away stone dead with nobody to help her; +and there is Mr Abel, violently blowing his nose, and wanting to +embrace everybody; and there is the single gentleman hovering round +them all, and constant to nothing for an instant; and there is that +good, dear, thoughtful little Jacob, sitting all alone by himself on +the bottom stair, with his hands on his knees like an old man, roaring +fearfully without giving any trouble to anybody; and each and all of +them are for the time clean out of their wits, and do jointly and +severally commit all manner of follies. + +And even when the rest have in some measure come to themselves again, +and can find words and smiles, Barbara--that soft-hearted, gentle, +foolish little Barbara--is suddenly missed, and found to be in a swoon +by herself in the back parlour, from which swoon she falls into +hysterics, and from which hysterics into a swoon again, and is, indeed, +so bad, that despite a mortal quantity of vinegar and cold water she is +hardly a bit better at last than she was at first. Then, Kit's mother +comes in and says, will he come and speak to her; and Kit says 'Yes,' +and goes; and he says in a kind voice 'Barbara!' and Barbara's mother +tells her that 'it's only Kit;' and Barbara says (with her eyes closed +all the time) 'Oh! but is it him indeed?' and Barbara's mother says 'To +be sure it is, my dear; there's nothing the matter now.' And in +further assurance that he's safe and sound, Kit speaks to her again; +and then Barbara goes off into another fit of laughter, and then into +another fit of crying; and then Barbara's mother and Kit's mother nod +to each other and pretend to scold her--but only to bring her to +herself the faster, bless you!--and being experienced matrons, and +acute at perceiving the first dawning symptoms of recovery, they +comfort Kit with the assurance that 'she'll do now,' and so dismiss him +to the place from whence he came. + +Well! In that place (which is the next room) there are decanters of +wine, and all that sort of thing, set out as grand as if Kit and his +friends were first-rate company; and there is little Jacob, walking, as +the popular phrase is, into a home-made plum-cake, at a most surprising +pace, and keeping his eye on the figs and oranges which are to follow, +and making the best use of his time, you may believe. Kit no sooner +comes in, than that single gentleman (never was such a busy gentleman) +charges all the glasses--bumpers--and drinks his health, and tells him +he shall never want a friend while he lives; and so does Mr Garland, +and so does Mrs Garland, and so does Mr Abel. But even this honour and +distinction is not all, for the single gentleman forthwith pulls out of +his pocket a massive silver watch--going hard, and right to half a +second--and upon the back of this watch is engraved Kit's name, with +flourishes all over; and in short it is Kit's watch, bought expressly +for him, and presented to him on the spot. You may rest assured that +Mr and Mrs Garland can't help hinting about their present, in store, +and that Mr Abel tells outright that he has his; and that Kit is the +happiest of the happy. + +There is one friend he has not seen yet, and as he cannot be +conveniently introduced into the family circle, by reason of his being +an iron-shod quadruped, Kit takes the first opportunity of slipping +away and hurrying to the stable. The moment he lays his hand upon the +latch, the pony neighs the loudest pony's greeting; before he has +crossed the threshold, the pony is capering about his loose box (for he +brooks not the indignity of a halter), mad to give him welcome; and +when Kit goes up to caress and pat him, the pony rubs his nose against +his coat, and fondles him more lovingly than ever pony fondled man. It +is the crowning circumstance of his earnest, heartfelt reception; and +Kit fairly puts his arm round Whisker's neck and hugs him. + +But how comes Barbara to trip in there? and how smart she is again! +she has been at her glass since she recovered. How comes Barbara in +the stable, of all places in the world? Why, since Kit has been away, +the pony would take his food from nobody but her, and Barbara, you see, +not dreaming that Christopher was there, and just looking in, to see +that everything was right, has come upon him unawares. Blushing little +Barbara! + +It may be that Kit has caressed the pony enough; it may be that there +are even better things to caress than ponies. He leaves him for +Barbara at any rate, and hopes she is better. Yes. Barbara is a great +deal better. She is afraid--and here Barbara looks down and blushes +more--that he must have thought her very foolish. 'Not at all,' says +Kit. Barbara is glad of that, and coughs--Hem!--just the slightest +cough possible--not more than that. + +What a discreet pony when he chooses! He is as quiet now as if he were +of marble. He has a very knowing look, but that he always has. 'We +have hardly had time to shake hands, Barbara,' says Kit. Barbara gives +him hers. Why, she is trembling now! Foolish, fluttering Barbara! + +Arm's length? The length of an arm is not much. Barbara's was not a +long arm, by any means, and besides, she didn't hold it out straight, +but bent a little. Kit was so near her when they shook hands, that he +could see a small tiny tear, yet trembling on an eyelash. It was +natural that he should look at it, unknown to Barbara. It was natural +that Barbara should raise her eyes unconsciously, and find him out. +Was it natural that at that instant, without any previous impulse or +design, Kit should kiss Barbara? He did it, whether or no. Barbara +said 'for shame,' but let him do it too--twice. He might have done it +thrice, but the pony kicked up his heels and shook his head, as if he +were suddenly taken with convulsions of delight, and Barbara being +frightened, ran away--not straight to where her mother and Kit's mother +were, though, lest they should see how red her cheeks were, and should +ask her why. Sly little Barbara! + +When the first transports of the whole party had subsided, and Kit and +his mother, and Barbara and her mother, with little Jacob and the baby +to boot, had had their suppers together--which there was no hurrying +over, for they were going to stop there all night--Mr Garland called +Kit to him, and taking him into a room where they could be alone, told +him that he had something yet to say, which would surprise him greatly. +Kit looked so anxious and turned so pale on hearing this, that the old +gentleman hastened to add, he would be agreeably surprised; and asked +him if he would be ready next morning for a journey. + +'For a journey, sir!' cried Kit. + +'In company with me and my friend in the next room. Can you guess its +purpose?' + +Kit turned paler yet, and shook his head. + +'Oh yes. I think you do already,' said his master. 'Try.' + +Kit murmured something rather rambling and unintelligible, but he +plainly pronounced the words 'Miss Nell,' three or four times--shaking +his head while he did so, as if he would add that there was no hope of +that. + +But Mr Garland, instead of saying 'Try again,' as Kit had made sure he +would, told him very seriously, that he had guessed right. + +'The place of their retreat is indeed discovered,' he said, 'at last. +And that is our journey's end.' + +Kit faltered out such questions as, where was it, and how had it been +found, and how long since, and was she well and happy? + +'Happy she is, beyond all doubt,' said Mr Garland. 'And well, I--I +trust she will be soon. She has been weak and ailing, as I learn, but +she was better when I heard this morning, and they were full of hope. +Sit you down, and you shall hear the rest.' + +Scarcely venturing to draw his breath, Kit did as he was told. Mr +Garland then related to him, how he had a brother (of whom he would +remember to have heard him speak, and whose picture, taken when he was +a young man, hung in the best room), and how this brother lived a long +way off, in a country-place, with an old clergyman who had been his +early friend. How, although they loved each other as brothers should, +they had not met for many years, but had communicated by letter from +time to time, always looking forward to some period when they would +take each other by the hand once more, and still letting the Present +time steal on, as it was the habit for men to do, and suffering the +Future to melt into the Past. How this brother, whose temper was very +mild and quiet and retiring--such as Mr Abel's--was greatly beloved by +the simple people among whom he dwelt, who quite revered the Bachelor +(for so they called him), and had every one experienced his charity and +benevolence. How even those slight circumstances had come to his +knowledge, very slowly and in course of years, for the Bachelor was one +of those whose goodness shuns the light, and who have more pleasure in +discovering and extolling the good deeds of others, than in trumpeting +their own, be they never so commendable. How, for that reason, he +seldom told them of his village friends; but how, for all that, his +mind had become so full of two among them--a child and an old man, to +whom he had been very kind--that, in a letter received a few days +before, he had dwelt upon them from first to last, and had told such a +tale of their wandering, and mutual love, that few could read it +without being moved to tears. How he, the recipient of that letter, +was directly led to the belief that these must be the very wanderers +for whom so much search had been made, and whom Heaven had directed to +his brother's care. How he had written for such further information as +would put the fact beyond all doubt; how it had that morning arrived; +had confirmed his first impression into a certainty; and was the +immediate cause of that journey being planned, which they were to take +to-morrow. + +'In the meantime,' said the old gentleman rising, and laying his hand +on Kit's shoulder, 'you have a great need of rest; for such a day as +this would wear out the strongest man. Good night, and Heaven send our +journey may have a prosperous ending!' + + + + +CHAPTER 69 + +Kit was no sluggard next morning, but, springing from his bed some time +before day, began to prepare for his welcome expedition. The hurry of +spirits consequent upon the events of yesterday, and the unexpected +intelligence he had heard at night, had troubled his sleep through the +long dark hours, and summoned such uneasy dreams about his pillow that +it was best to rise. + +But, had it been the beginning of some great labour with the same end +in view--had it been the commencement of a long journey, to be +performed on foot in that inclement season of the year, to be pursued +under very privation and difficulty, and to be achieved only with great +distress, fatigue, and suffering--had it been the dawn of some painful +enterprise, certain to task his utmost powers of resolution and +endurance, and to need his utmost fortitude, but only likely to end, if +happily achieved, in good fortune and delight to Nell--Kit's cheerful +zeal would have been as highly roused: Kit's ardour and impatience +would have been, at least, the same. + +Nor was he alone excited and eager. Before he had been up a quarter of +an hour the whole house were astir and busy. Everybody hurried to do +something towards facilitating the preparations. The single gentleman, +it is true, could do nothing himself, but he overlooked everybody else +and was more locomotive than anybody. The work of packing and making +ready went briskly on, and by daybreak every preparation for the +journey was completed. Then Kit began to wish they had not been quite +so nimble; for the travelling-carriage which had been hired for the +occasion was not to arrive until nine o'clock, and there was nothing +but breakfast to fill up the intervening blank of one hour and a half. +Yes there was, though. There was Barbara. Barbara was busy, to be +sure, but so much the better--Kit could help her, and that would pass +away the time better than any means that could be devised. Barbara had +no objection to this arrangement, and Kit, tracking out the idea which +had come upon him so suddenly overnight, began to think that surely +Barbara was fond of him, and surely he was fond of Barbara. + +Now, Barbara, if the truth must be told--as it must and ought to +be--Barbara seemed, of all the little household, to take least pleasure +in the bustle of the occasion; and when Kit, in the openness of his +heart, told her how glad and overjoyed it made him, Barbara became more +downcast still, and seemed to have even less pleasure in it than before! + +'You have not been home so long, Christopher,' said Barbara--and it is +impossible to tell how carelessly she said it--'You have not been home +so long, that you need to be glad to go away again, I should think.' + +'But for such a purpose,' returned Kit. 'To bring back Miss Nell! To +see her again! Only think of that! I am so pleased too, to think that +you will see her, Barbara, at last.' + +Barbara did not absolutely say that she felt no gratification on this +point, but she expressed the sentiment so plainly by one little toss of +her head, that Kit was quite disconcerted, and wondered, in his +simplicity, why she was so cool about it. + +'You'll say she has the sweetest and beautifullest face you ever saw, I +know,' said Kit, rubbing his hands. 'I'm sure you'll say that.' + +Barbara tossed her head again. + +'What's the matter, Barbara?' said Kit. + +'Nothing,' cried Barbara. And Barbara pouted--not sulkily, or in an +ugly manner, but just enough to make her look more cherry-lipped than +ever. + +There is no school in which a pupil gets on so fast, as that in which +Kit became a scholar when he gave Barbara the kiss. He saw what +Barbara meant now--he had his lesson by heart all at once--she was the +book--there it was before him, as plain as print. + +'Barbara,' said Kit, 'you're not cross with me?' + +Oh dear no! Why should Barbara be cross? And what right had she to be +cross? And what did it matter whether she was cross or not? Who +minded her! + +'Why, I do,' said Kit. 'Of course I do.' + +Barbara didn't see why it was of course, at all. + +Kit was sure she must. Would she think again? + +Certainly, Barbara would think again. No, she didn't see why it was of +course. She didn't understand what Christopher meant. And besides she +was sure they wanted her up stairs by this time, and she must go, +indeed-- + +'No, but Barbara,' said Kit, detaining her gently, 'let us part +friends. I was always thinking of you, in my troubles. I should have +been a great deal more miserable than I was, if it hadn't been for you.' + +Goodness gracious, how pretty Barbara was when she coloured--and when +she trembled, like a little shrinking bird! + +'I am telling you the truth, Barbara, upon my word, but not half so +strong as I could wish,' said Kit. 'When I want you to be pleased to +see Miss Nell, it's only because I like you to be pleased with what +pleases me--that's all. As to her, Barbara, I think I could almost die +to do her service, but you would think so too, if you knew her as I do. +I am sure you would.' + +Barbara was touched, and sorry to have appeared indifferent. + +'I have been used, you see,' said Kit, 'to talk and think of her, +almost as if she was an angel. When I look forward to meeting her +again, I think of her smiling as she used to do, and being glad to see +me, and putting out her hand and saying, "It's my own old Kit," or some +such words as those--like what she used to say. I think of seeing her +happy, and with friends about her, and brought up as she deserves, and +as she ought to be. When I think of myself, it's as her old servant, +and one that loved her dearly, as his kind, good, gentle mistress; and +who would have gone--yes, and still would go--through any harm to serve +her. Once, I couldn't help being afraid that if she came back with +friends about her she might forget, or be ashamed of having known, a +humble lad like me, and so might speak coldly, which would have cut me, +Barbara, deeper than I can tell. But when I came to think again, I +felt sure that I was doing her wrong in this; and so I went on, as I +did at first, hoping to see her once more, just as she used to be. +Hoping this, and remembering what she was, has made me feel as if I +would always try to please her, and always be what I should like to +seem to her if I was still her servant. If I'm the better for +that--and I don't think I'm the worse--I am grateful to her for it, and +love and honour her the more. That's the plain honest truth, dear +Barbara, upon my word it is!' + +Little Barbara was not of a wayward or capricious nature, and, being +full of remorse, melted into tears. To what more conversation this +might have led, we need not stop to inquire; for the wheels of the +carriage were heard at that moment, and, being followed by a smart ring +at the garden gate, caused the bustle in the house, which had laid +dormant for a short time, to burst again into tenfold life and vigour. + +Simultaneously with the travelling equipage, arrived Mr Chuckster in a +hackney cab, with certain papers and supplies of money for the single +gentleman, into whose hands he delivered them. This duty discharged, +he subsided into the bosom of the family; and, entertaining himself +with a strolling or peripatetic breakfast, watched, with genteel +indifference, the process of loading the carriage. + +'Snobby's in this, I see, Sir?' he said to Mr Abel Garland. 'I thought +he wasn't in the last trip because it was expected that his presence +wouldn't be acceptable to the ancient buffalo.' + +'To whom, Sir?' demanded Mr Abel. + +'To the old gentleman,' returned Mr Chuckster, slightly abashed. + +'Our client prefers to take him now,' said Mr Abel, drily. 'There is +no longer any need for that precaution, as my father's relationship to +a gentleman in whom the objects of his search have full confidence, +will be a sufficient guarantee for the friendly nature of their errand.' + +'Ah!' thought Mr Chuckster, looking out of window, 'anybody but me! +Snobby before me, of course. He didn't happen to take that particular +five-pound note, but I have not the smallest doubt that he's always up +to something of that sort. I always said it, long before this came +out. Devilish pretty girl that! 'Pon my soul, an amazing little +creature!' + +Barbara was the subject of Mr Chuckster's commendations; and as she was +lingering near the carriage (all being now ready for its departure), +that gentleman was suddenly seized with a strong interest in the +proceedings, which impelled him to swagger down the garden, and take up +his position at a convenient ogling distance. Having had great +experience of the sex, and being perfectly acquainted with all those +little artifices which find the readiest road to their hearts, Mr +Chuckster, on taking his ground, planted one hand on his hip, and with +the other adjusted his flowing hair. This is a favourite attitude in +the polite circles, and, accompanied with a graceful whistling, has +been known to do immense execution. + +Such, however, is the difference between town and country, that nobody +took the smallest notice of this insinuating figure; the wretches being +wholly engaged in bidding the travellers farewell, in kissing hands to +each other, waving handkerchiefs, and the like tame and vulgar +practices. For now the single gentleman and Mr Garland were in the +carriage, and the post-boy was in the saddle, and Kit, well wrapped and +muffled up, was in the rumble behind; and Mrs Garland was there, and Mr +Abel was there, and Kit's mother was there, and little Jacob was there, +and Barbara's mother was visible in remote perspective, nursing the +ever-wakeful baby; and all were nodding, beckoning, curtseying, or +crying out, 'Good bye!' with all the energy they could express. In +another minute, the carriage was out of sight; and Mr Chuckster +remained alone on the spot where it had lately been, with a vision of +Kit standing up in the rumble waving his hand to Barbara, and of +Barbara in the full light and lustre of his eyes--his +eyes--Chuckster's--Chuckster the successful--on whom ladies of quality +had looked with favour from phaetons in the parks on Sundays--waving +hers to Kit! + +How Mr Chuckster, entranced by this monstrous fact, stood for some time +rooted to the earth, protesting within himself that Kit was the Prince +of felonious characters, and very Emperor or Great Mogul of Snobs, and +how he clearly traced this revolting circumstance back to that old +villany of the shilling, are matters foreign to our purpose; which is +to track the rolling wheels, and bear the travellers company on their +cold, bleak journey. + +It was a bitter day. A keen wind was blowing, and rushed against them +fiercely: bleaching the hard ground, shaking the white frost from the +trees and hedges, and whirling it away like dust. But little cared Kit +for weather. There was a freedom and freshness in the wind, as it came +howling by, which, let it cut never so sharp, was welcome. As it swept +on with its cloud of frost, bearing down the dry twigs and boughs and +withered leaves, and carrying them away pell-mell, it seemed as though +some general sympathy had got abroad, and everything was in a hurry, +like themselves. The harder the gusts, the better progress they +appeared to make. It was a good thing to go struggling and fighting +forward, vanquishing them one by one; to watch them driving up, +gathering strength and fury as they came along; to bend for a moment, +as they whistled past; and then to look back and see them speed away, +their hoarse noise dying in the distance, and the stout trees cowering +down before them. + +All day long, it blew without cessation. The night was clear and +starlit, but the wind had not fallen, and the cold was piercing. +Sometimes--towards the end of a long stage--Kit could not help wishing +it were a little warmer: but when they stopped to change horses, and he +had had a good run, and what with that, and the bustle of paying the +old postilion, and rousing the new one, and running to and fro again +until the horses were put to, he was so warm that the blood tingled and +smarted in his fingers' ends--then, he felt as if to have it one +degree less cold would be to lose half the delight and glory of the +journey: and up he jumped again, right cheerily, singing to the merry +music of the wheels as they rolled away, and, leaving the townspeople +in their warm beds, pursued their course along the lonely road. + +Meantime the two gentlemen inside, who were little disposed to sleep, +beguiled the time with conversation. As both were anxious and +expectant, it naturally turned upon the subject of their expedition, on +the manner in which it had been brought about, and on the hopes and +fears they entertained respecting it. Of the former they had many, of +the latter few--none perhaps beyond that indefinable uneasiness which +is inseparable from suddenly awakened hope, and protracted expectation. + +In one of the pauses of their discourse, and when half the night had +worn away, the single gentleman, who had gradually become more and more +silent and thoughtful, turned to his companion and said abruptly: + +'Are you a good listener?' + +'Like most other men, I suppose,' returned Mr Garland, smiling. 'I can +be, if I am interested; and if not interested, I should still try to +appear so. Why do you ask?' + +'I have a short narrative on my lips,' rejoined his friend, 'and will +try you with it. It is very brief.' + +Pausing for no reply, he laid his hand on the old gentleman's sleeve, +and proceeded thus: + +'There were once two brothers, who loved each other dearly. There was +a disparity in their ages--some twelve years. I am not sure but they +may insensibly have loved each other the better for that reason. Wide +as the interval between them was, however, they became rivals too soon. +The deepest and strongest affection of both their hearts settled upon +one object. + +'The youngest--there were reasons for his being sensitive and +watchful--was the first to find this out. I will not tell you what +misery he underwent, what agony of soul he knew, how great his mental +struggle was. He had been a sickly child. His brother, patient and +considerate in the midst of his own high health and strength, had many +and many a day denied himself the sports he loved, to sit beside his +couch, telling him old stories till his pale face lighted up with an +unwonted glow; to carry him in his arms to some green spot, where he +could tend the poor pensive boy as he looked upon the bright summer +day, and saw all nature healthy but himself; to be, in any way, his +fond and faithful nurse. I may not dwell on all he did, to make the +poor, weak creature love him, or my tale would have no end. But when +the time of trial came, the younger brother's heart was full of those +old days. Heaven strengthened it to repay the sacrifices of +inconsiderate youth by one of thoughtful manhood. He left his brother +to be happy. The truth never passed his lips, and he quitted the +country, hoping to die abroad. + +'The elder brother married her. She was in Heaven before long, and +left him with an infant daughter. + +'If you have seen the picture-gallery of any one old family, you will +remember how the same face and figure--often the fairest and slightest +of them all--come upon you in different generations; and how you trace +the same sweet girl through a long line of portraits--never growing +old or changing--the Good Angel of the race--abiding by them in all +reverses--redeeming all their sins-- + +'In this daughter the mother lived again. You may judge with what +devotion he who lost that mother almost in the winning, clung to this +girl, her breathing image. She grew to womanhood, and gave her heart +to one who could not know its worth. Well! Her fond father could not +see her pine and droop. He might be more deserving than he thought +him. He surely might become so, with a wife like her. He joined their +hands, and they were married. + +'Through all the misery that followed this union; through all the cold +neglect and undeserved reproach; through all the poverty he brought +upon her; through all the struggles of their daily life, too mean and +pitiful to tell, but dreadful to endure; she toiled on, in the deep +devotion of her spirit, and in her better nature, as only women can. +Her means and substance wasted; her father nearly beggared by her +husband's hand, and the hourly witness (for they lived now under one +roof) of her ill-usage and unhappiness,--she never, but for him, +bewailed her fate. Patient, and upheld by strong affection to the +last, she died a widow of some three weeks' date, leaving to her +father's care two orphans; one a son of ten or twelve years old; the +other a girl--such another infant child--the same in helplessness, in +age, in form, in feature--as she had been herself when her young mother +died. + +'The elder brother, grandfather to these two children, was now a broken +man; crushed and borne down, less by the weight of years than by the +heavy hand of sorrow. With the wreck of his possessions, he began to +trade--in pictures first, and then in curious ancient things. He had +entertained a fondness for such matters from a boy, and the tastes he +had cultivated were now to yield him an anxious and precarious +subsistence. + +'The boy grew like his father in mind and person; the girl so like her +mother, that when the old man had her on his knee, and looked into her +mild blue eyes, he felt as if awakening from a wretched dream, and his +daughter were a little child again. The wayward boy soon spurned the +shelter of his roof, and sought associates more congenial to his taste. +The old man and the child dwelt alone together. + +'It was then, when the love of two dead people who had been nearest and +dearest to his heart, was all transferred to this slight creature; when +her face, constantly before him, reminded him, from hour to hour, of +the too early change he had seen in such another--of all the +sufferings he had watched and known, and all his child had undergone; +when the young man's profligate and hardened course drained him of +money as his father's had, and even sometimes occasioned them temporary +privation and distress; it was then that there began to beset him, and +to be ever in his mind, a gloomy dread of poverty and want. He had no +thought for himself in this. His fear was for the child. It was a +spectre in his house, and haunted him night and day. + +'The younger brother had been a traveller in many countries, and had +made his pilgrimage through life alone. His voluntary banishment had +been misconstrued, and he had borne (not without pain) reproach and +slight for doing that which had wrung his heart, and cast a mournful +shadow on his path. Apart from this, communication between him and the +elder was difficult, and uncertain, and often failed; still, it was not +so wholly broken off but that he learnt--with long blanks and gaps +between each interval of information--all that I have told you now. + +'Then, dreams of their young, happy life--happy to him though laden +with pain and early care--visited his pillow yet oftener than before; +and every night, a boy again, he was at his brother's side. With the +utmost speed he could exert, he settled his affairs; converted into +money all the goods he had; and, with honourable wealth enough for +both, with open heart and hand, with limbs that trembled as they bore +him on, with emotion such as men can hardly bear and live, arrived one +evening at his brother's door!' + +The narrator, whose voice had faltered lately, stopped. + +'The rest,' said Mr Garland, pressing his hand after a pause, 'I know.' + +'Yes,' rejoined his friend, 'we may spare ourselves the sequel. You +know the poor result of all my search. Even when by dint of such +inquiries as the utmost vigilance and sagacity could set on foot, we +found they had been seen with two poor travelling showmen--and in time +discovered the men themselves--and in time, the actual place of their +retreat; even then, we were too late. Pray God, we are not too late +again!' + +'We cannot be,' said Mr Garland. 'This time we must succeed.' + +'I have believed and hoped so,' returned the other. 'I try to believe +and hope so still. But a heavy weight has fallen on my spirits, my +good friend, and the sadness that gathers over me, will yield to +neither hope nor reason.' + +'That does not surprise me,' said Mr Garland; 'it is a natural +consequence of the events you have recalled; of this dreary time and +place; and above all, of this wild and dismal night. A dismal night, +indeed! Hark! how the wind is howling!' + + + + +CHAPTER 70 + +Day broke, and found them still upon their way. Since leaving home, +they had halted here and there for necessary refreshment, and had +frequently been delayed, especially in the night time, by waiting for +fresh horses. They had made no other stoppages, but the weather +continued rough, and the roads were often steep and heavy. It would be +night again before they reached their place of destination. + +Kit, all bluff and hardened with the cold, went on manfully; and, +having enough to do to keep his blood circulating, to picture to +himself the happy end of this adventurous journey, and to look about +him and be amazed at everything, had little spare time for thinking of +discomforts. Though his impatience, and that of his fellow-travellers, +rapidly increased as the day waned, the hours did not stand still. The +short daylight of winter soon faded away, and it was dark again when +they had yet many miles to travel. + +As it grew dusk, the wind fell; its distant moanings were more low and +mournful; and, as it came creeping up the road, and rattling covertly +among the dry brambles on either hand, it seemed like some great +phantom for whom the way was narrow, whose garments rustled as it +stalked along. By degrees it lulled and died away, and then it came on +to snow. + +The flakes fell fast and thick, soon covering the ground some inches +deep, and spreading abroad a solemn stillness. The rolling wheels were +noiseless, and the sharp ring and clatter of the horses' hoofs, became +a dull, muffled tramp. The life of their progress seemed to be slowly +hushed, and something death-like to usurp its place. + +Shading his eyes from the falling snow, which froze upon their lashes +and obscured his sight, Kit often tried to catch the earliest glimpse +of twinkling lights, denoting their approach to some not distant town. +He could descry objects enough at such times, but none correctly. Now, +a tall church spire appeared in view, which presently became a tree, a +barn, a shadow on the ground, thrown on it by their own bright lamps. +Now, there were horsemen, foot-passengers, carriages, going on before, +or meeting them in narrow ways; which, when they were close upon them, +turned to shadows too. A wall, a ruin, a sturdy gable end, would rise +up in the road; and, when they were plunging headlong at it, would be +the road itself. Strange turnings too, bridges, and sheets of water, +appeared to start up here and there, making the way doubtful and +uncertain; and yet they were on the same bare road, and these things, +like the others, as they were passed, turned into dim illusions. + +He descended slowly from his seat--for his limbs were numbed--when +they arrived at a lone posting-house, and inquired how far they had to +go to reach their journey's end. It was a late hour in such by-places, +and the people were abed; but a voice answered from an upper window, +Ten miles. The ten minutes that ensued appeared an hour; but at the +end of that time, a shivering figure led out the horses they required, +and after another brief delay they were again in motion. + +It was a cross-country road, full, after the first three or four miles, +of holes and cart-ruts, which, being covered by the snow, were so many +pitfalls to the trembling horses, and obliged them to keep a footpace. +As it was next to impossible for men so much agitated as they were by +this time, to sit still and move so slowly, all three got out and +plodded on behind the carriage. The distance seemed interminable, and +the walk was most laborious. As each was thinking within himself that +the driver must have lost his way, a church bell, close at hand, struck +the hour of midnight, and the carriage stopped. It had moved softly +enough, but when it ceased to crunch the snow, the silence was as +startling as if some great noise had been replaced by perfect stillness. + +'This is the place, gentlemen,' said the driver, dismounting from his +horse, and knocking at the door of a little inn. 'Halloa! Past twelve +o'clock is the dead of night here.' + +The knocking was loud and long, but it failed to rouse the drowsy +inmates. All continued dark and silent as before. They fell back a +little, and looked up at the windows, which were mere black patches in +the whitened house front. No light appeared. The house might have +been deserted, or the sleepers dead, for any air of life it had about +it. + +They spoke together with a strange inconsistency, in whispers; +unwilling to disturb again the dreary echoes they had just now raised. + +'Let us go on,' said the younger brother, 'and leave this good fellow +to wake them, if he can. I cannot rest until I know that we are not +too late. Let us go on, in the name of Heaven!' + +They did so, leaving the postilion to order such accommodation as the +house afforded, and to renew his knocking. Kit accompanied them with a +little bundle, which he had hung in the carriage when they left home, +and had not forgotten since--the bird in his old cage--just as she had +left him. She would be glad to see her bird, he knew. + +The road wound gently downward. As they proceeded, they lost sight of +the church whose clock they had heard, and of the small village +clustering round it. The knocking, which was now renewed, and which in +that stillness they could plainly hear, troubled them. They wished the +man would forbear, or that they had told him not to break the silence +until they returned. + +The old church tower, clad in a ghostly garb of pure cold white, again +rose up before them, and a few moments brought them close beside it. A +venerable building--grey, even in the midst of the hoary landscape. An +ancient sun-dial on the belfry wall was nearly hidden by the +snow-drift, and scarcely to be known for what it was. Time itself +seemed to have grown dull and old, as if no day were ever to displace +the melancholy night. + +A wicket gate was close at hand, but there was more than one path +across the churchyard to which it led, and, uncertain which to take, +they came to a stand again. + +The village street--if street that could be called which was an +irregular cluster of poor cottages of many heights and ages, some with +their fronts, some with their backs, and some with gable ends towards +the road, with here and there a signpost, or a shed encroaching on the +path--was close at hand. There was a faint light in a chamber window +not far off, and Kit ran towards that house to ask their way. + +His first shout was answered by an old man within, who presently +appeared at the casement, wrapping some garment round his throat as a +protection from the cold, and demanded who was abroad at that +unseasonable hour, wanting him. + +''Tis hard weather this,' he grumbled, 'and not a night to call me up +in. My trade is not of that kind that I need be roused from bed. The +business on which folks want me, will keep cold, especially at this +season. What do you want?' + +'I would not have roused you, if I had known you were old and ill,' +said Kit. + +'Old!' repeated the other peevishly. 'How do you know I am old? Not +so old as you think, friend, perhaps. As to being ill, you will find +many young people in worse case than I am. More's the pity that it +should be so--not that I should be strong and hearty for my years, I +mean, but that they should be weak and tender. I ask your pardon +though,' said the old man, 'if I spoke rather rough at first. My eyes +are not good at night--that's neither age nor illness; they never +were--and I didn't see you were a stranger.' + +'I am sorry to call you from your bed,' said Kit, 'but those gentlemen +you may see by the churchyard gate, are strangers too, who have just +arrived from a long journey, and seek the parsonage-house. You can +direct us?' + +'I should be able to,' answered the old man, in a trembling voice, +'for, come next summer, I have been sexton here, good fifty years. The +right hand path, friend, is the road.--There is no ill news for our +good gentleman, I hope?' + +Kit thanked him, and made him a hasty answer in the negative; he was +turning back, when his attention was caught by the voice of a child. +Looking up, he saw a very little creature at a neighbouring window. + +'What is that?' cried the child, earnestly. 'Has my dream come true? +Pray speak to me, whoever that is, awake and up.' + +'Poor boy!' said the sexton, before Kit could answer, 'how goes it, +darling?' + +'Has my dream come true?' exclaimed the child again, in a +voice so fervent that it might have thrilled to the heart of any +listener. 'But no, that can never be! How could it be--Oh! how could +it!' + +'I guess his meaning,' said the sexton. 'To bed again, poor boy!' + +'Ay!' cried the child, in a burst of despair. 'I knew it could never +be, I felt too sure of that, before I asked! But, all to-night, and +last night too, it was the same. I never fall asleep, but that cruel +dream comes back.' + +'Try to sleep again,' said the old man, soothingly. 'It will go in +time.' + +'No no, I would rather that it staid--cruel as it is, I would rather +that it staid,' rejoined the child. 'I am not afraid to have it in my +sleep, but I am so sad--so very, very sad.' + +The old man blessed him, the child in tears replied Good night, and Kit +was again alone. + +He hurried back, moved by what he had heard, though more by the child's +manner than by anything he had said, as his meaning was hidden from +him. They took the path indicated by the sexton, and soon arrived +before the parsonage wall. Turning round to look about them when they +had got thus far, they saw, among some ruined buildings at a distance, +one single solitary light. + +It shone from what appeared to be an old oriel window, and being +surrounded by the deep shadows of overhanging walls, sparkled like a +star. Bright and glimmering as the stars above their heads, lonely and +motionless as they, it seemed to claim some kindred with the eternal +lamps of Heaven, and to burn in fellowship with them. + +'What light is that!' said the younger brother. + +'It is surely,' said Mr Garland, 'in the ruin where they live. I see +no other ruin hereabouts.' + +'They cannot,' returned the brother hastily, 'be waking at this late +hour--' + +Kit interposed directly, and begged that, while they rang and waited at +the gate, they would let him make his way to where this light was +shining, and try to ascertain if any people were about. Obtaining the +permission he desired, he darted off with breathless eagerness, and, +still carrying the birdcage in his hand, made straight towards the spot. + +It was not easy to hold that pace among the graves, and at another time +he might have gone more slowly, or round by the path. Unmindful of all +obstacles, however, he pressed forward without slackening his speed, +and soon arrived within a few yards of the window. He approached as +softly as he could, and advancing so near the wall as to brush the +whitened ivy with his dress, listened. There was no sound inside. The +church itself was not more quiet. Touching the glass with his cheek, +he listened again. No. And yet there was such a silence all around, +that he felt sure he could have heard even the breathing of a sleeper, +if there had been one there. + +A strange circumstance, a light in such a place at that time of night, +with no one near it. + +A curtain was drawn across the lower portion of the window, and he +could not see into the room. But there was no shadow thrown upon it +from within. To have gained a footing on the wall and tried to look in +from above, would have been attended with some danger--certainly with +some noise, and the chance of terrifying the child, if that really were +her habitation. Again and again he listened; again and again the same +wearisome blank. + +Leaving the spot with slow and cautious steps, and skirting the ruin +for a few paces, he came at length to a door. He knocked. No answer. +But there was a curious noise inside. It was difficult to determine +what it was. It bore a resemblance to the low moaning of one in pain, +but it was not that, being far too regular and constant. Now it seemed +a kind of song, now a wail--seemed, that is, to his changing fancy, for +the sound itself was never changed or checked. It was unlike anything +he had ever heard; and in its tone there was something fearful, +chilling, and unearthly. + +The listener's blood ran colder now than ever it had done in frost and +snow, but he knocked again. There was no answer, and the sound went on +without any interruption. He laid his hand softly upon the latch, and +put his knee against the door. It was secured on the inside, but +yielded to the pressure, and turned upon its hinges. He saw the +glimmering of a fire upon the old walls, and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER 71 + +The dull, red glow of a wood fire--for no lamp or candle burnt within +the room--showed him a figure, seated on the hearth with its back +towards him, bending over the fitful light. The attitude was that of +one who sought the heat. It was, and yet was not. The stooping +posture and the cowering form were there, but no hands were stretched +out to meet the grateful warmth, no shrug or shiver compared its luxury +with the piercing cold outside. With limbs huddled together, head +bowed down, arms crossed upon the breast, and fingers tightly clenched, +it rocked to and fro upon its seat without a moment's pause, +accompanying the action with the mournful sound he had heard. + +The heavy door had closed behind him on his entrance, with a crash that +made him start. The figure neither spoke, nor turned to look, nor gave +in any other way the faintest sign of having heard the noise. The form +was that of an old man, his white head akin in colour to the mouldering +embers upon which he gazed. He, and the failing light and dying fire, +the time-worn room, the solitude, the wasted life, and gloom, were all +in fellowship. Ashes, and dust, and ruin! + +Kit tried to speak, and did pronounce some words, though what they were +he scarcely knew. Still the same terrible low cry went on--still the +same rocking in the chair--the same stricken figure was there, +unchanged and heedless of his presence. + +He had his hand upon the latch, when something in the form--distinctly +seen as one log broke and fell, and, as it fell, blazed up--arrested +it. He returned to where he had stood before--advanced a +pace--another--another still. Another, and he saw the face. Yes! +Changed as it was, he knew it well. + +'Master!' he cried, stooping on one knee and catching at his hand. +'Dear master. Speak to me!' + +The old man turned slowly towards him; and muttered in a hollow voice, + +'This is another!--How many of these spirits there have been to-night!' + +'No spirit, master. No one but your old servant. You know me now, I +am sure? Miss Nell--where is she--where is she?' + +'They all say that!' cried the old man. 'They all ask the same +question. A spirit!' + +'Where is she?' demanded Kit. 'Oh tell me but that,--but that, dear +master!' + +'She is asleep--yonder--in there.' + +'Thank God!' + +'Aye! Thank God!' returned the old man. 'I have prayed to Him, many, +and many, and many a livelong night, when she has been asleep, He +knows. Hark! Did she call?' + +'I heard no voice.' + +'You did. You hear her now. Do you tell me that you don't hear THAT?' + +He started up, and listened again. + +'Nor that?' he cried, with a triumphant smile, 'Can any body know that +voice so well as I? Hush! Hush!' + +Motioning to him to be silent, he stole away into another chamber. +After a short absence (during which he could be heard to speak in a +softened soothing tone) he returned, bearing in his hand a lamp. + +'She is still asleep,' he whispered. 'You were right. She did not +call--unless she did so in her slumber. She has called to me in her +sleep before now, sir; as I have sat by, watching, I have seen her lips +move, and have known, though no sound came from them, that she spoke of +me. I feared the light might dazzle her eyes and wake her, so I +brought it here.' + +He spoke rather to himself than to the visitor, but when he had put the +lamp upon the table, he took it up, as if impelled by some momentary +recollection or curiosity, and held it near his face. Then, as if +forgetting his motive in the very action, he turned away and put it +down again. + +'She is sleeping soundly,' he said; 'but no wonder. Angel hands have +strewn the ground deep with snow, that the lightest footstep may be +lighter yet; and the very birds are dead, that they may not wake her. +She used to feed them, Sir. Though never so cold and hungry, the timid +things would fly from us. They never flew from her!' + +Again he stopped to listen, and scarcely drawing breath, listened for a +long, long time. That fancy past, he opened an old chest, took out +some clothes as fondly as if they had been living things, and began to +smooth and brush them with his hand. + +'Why dost thou lie so idle there, dear Nell,' he murmured, 'when there +are bright red berries out of doors waiting for thee to pluck them! +Why dost thou lie so idle there, when thy little friends come creeping +to the door, crying "where is Nell--sweet Nell?"--and sob, and weep, +because they do not see thee. She was always gentle with children. +The wildest would do her bidding--she had a tender way with them, +indeed she had!' + +Kit had no power to speak. His eyes were filled with tears. + +'Her little homely dress,--her favourite!' cried the old man, pressing +it to his breast, and patting it with his shrivelled hand. 'She will +miss it when she wakes. They have hid it here in sport, but she shall +have it--she shall have it. I would not vex my darling, for the wide +world's riches. See here--these shoes--how worn they are--she kept +them to remind her of our last long journey. You see where the little +feet went bare upon the ground. They told me, afterwards, that the +stones had cut and bruised them. She never told me that. No, no, God +bless her! and, I have remembered since, she walked behind me, sir, +that I might not see how lame she was--but yet she had my hand in hers, +and seemed to lead me still.' + +He pressed them to his lips, and having carefully put them back again, +went on communing with himself--looking wistfully from time to time +towards the chamber he had lately visited. + +'She was not wont to be a lie-abed; but she was well then. We must +have patience. When she is well again, she will rise early, as she +used to do, and ramble abroad in the healthy morning time. I often +tried to track the way she had gone, but her small footstep left no +print upon the dewy ground, to guide me. Who is that? Shut the door. +Quick!--Have we not enough to do to drive away that marble cold, and +keep her warm!' + +The door was indeed opened, for the entrance of Mr Garland and his +friend, accompanied by two other persons. These were the schoolmaster, +and the bachelor. The former held a light in his hand. He had, it +seemed, but gone to his own cottage to replenish the exhausted lamp, at +the moment when Kit came up and found the old man alone. + +He softened again at sight of these two friends, and, laying aside the +angry manner--if to anything so feeble and so sad the term can be +applied--in which he had spoken when the door opened, resumed his +former seat, and subsided, by little and little into the old action, +and the old, dull, wandering sound. + +Of the strangers, he took no heed whatever. He had seen them, but +appeared quite incapable of interest or curiosity. The younger brother +stood apart. The bachelor drew a chair towards the old man, and sat +down close beside him. After a long silence, he ventured to speak. + +'Another night, and not in bed!' he said softly; 'I hoped you would be +more mindful of your promise to me. Why do you not take some rest?' + +'Sleep has left me,' returned the old man. 'It is all with her!' + +'It would pain her very much to know that you were watching thus,' said +the bachelor. 'You would not give her pain?' + +'I am not so sure of that, if it would only rouse her. She has slept +so very long. And yet I am rash to say so. It is a good and happy +sleep--eh?' + +'Indeed it is,' returned the bachelor. 'Indeed, indeed, it is!' + +'That's well!--and the waking--' faltered the old man. + +'Happy too. Happier than tongue can tell, or heart of man conceive.' + +They watched him as he rose and stole on tiptoe to the other chamber +where the lamp had been replaced. They listened as he spoke again +within its silent walls. They looked into the faces of each other, and +no man's cheek was free from tears. He came back, whispering that she +was still asleep, but that he thought she had moved. It was her hand, +he said--a little--a very, very little--but he was pretty sure she had +moved it--perhaps in seeking his. He had known her do that, before +now, though in the deepest sleep the while. And when he had said this, +he dropped into his chair again, and clasping his hands above his head, +uttered a cry never to be forgotten. + +The poor schoolmaster motioned to the bachelor that he would come on +the other side, and speak to him. They gently unlocked his fingers, +which he had twisted in his grey hair, and pressed them in their own. + +'He will hear me,' said the schoolmaster, 'I am sure. He will hear +either me or you if we beseech him. She would, at all times.' + +'I will hear any voice she liked to hear,' cried the old man. 'I love +all she loved!' + +'I know you do,' returned the schoolmaster. 'I am certain of it. +Think of her; think of all the sorrows and afflictions you have shared +together; of all the trials, and all the peaceful pleasures, you have +jointly known.' + +'I do. I do. I think of nothing else.' + +'I would have you think of nothing else to-night--of nothing but those +things which will soften your heart, dear friend, and open it to old +affections and old times. It is so that she would speak to you +herself, and in her name it is that I speak now.' + +'You do well to speak softly,' said the old man. 'We will not wake +her. I should be glad to see her eyes again, and to see her smile. +There is a smile upon her young face now, but it is fixed and +changeless. I would have it come and go. That shall be in Heaven's +good time. We will not wake her.' + +'Let us not talk of her in her sleep, but as she used to be when you +were journeying together, far away--as she was at home, in the old +house from which you fled together--as she was, in the old cheerful +time,' said the schoolmaster. + +'She was always cheerful--very cheerful,' cried the old man, looking +steadfastly at him. 'There was ever something mild and quiet about +her, I remember, from the first; but she was of a happy nature.' + +'We have heard you say,' pursued the schoolmaster, 'that in this and in +all goodness, she was like her mother. You can think of, and remember +her?' + +He maintained his steadfast look, but gave no answer. + +'Or even one before her,' said the bachelor. 'It is many years ago, +and affliction makes the time longer, but you have not forgotten her +whose death contributed to make this child so dear to you, even before +you knew her worth or could read her heart? Say, that you could carry +back your thoughts to very distant days--to the time of your early +life--when, unlike this fair flower, you did not pass your youth alone. +Say, that you could remember, long ago, another child who loved you +dearly, you being but a child yourself. Say, that you had a brother, +long forgotten, long unseen, long separated from you, who now, at last, +in your utmost need came back to comfort and console you--' + +'To be to you what you were once to him,' cried the younger, falling on +his knee before him; 'to repay your old affection, brother dear, by +constant care, solicitude, and love; to be, at your right hand, what he +has never ceased to be when oceans rolled between us; to call to +witness his unchanging truth and mindfulness of bygone days, whole +years of desolation. Give me but one word of recognition, brother--and +never--no never, in the brightest moment of our youngest days, when, +poor silly boys, we thought to pass our lives together--have we been +half as dear and precious to each other as we shall be from this time +hence!' + +The old man looked from face to face, and his lips moved; but no sound +came from them in reply. + +'If we were knit together then,' pursued the younger brother, 'what +will be the bond between us now! Our love and fellowship began in +childhood, when life was all before us, and will be resumed when we +have proved it, and are but children at the last. As many restless +spirits, who have hunted fortune, fame, or pleasure through the world, +retire in their decline to where they first drew breath, vainly seeking +to be children once again before they die, so we, less fortunate than +they in early life, but happier in its closing scenes, will set up our +rest again among our boyish haunts, and going home with no hope +realised, that had its growth in manhood--carrying back nothing that +we brought away, but our old yearnings to each other--saving no +fragment from the wreck of life, but that which first endeared it--may +be, indeed, but children as at first. And even,' he added in an +altered voice, 'even if what I dread to name has come to pass--even if +that be so, or is to be (which Heaven forbid and spare us!)--still, +dear brother, we are not apart, and have that comfort in our great +affliction.' + +By little and little, the old man had drawn back towards the inner +chamber, while these words were spoken. He pointed there, as he +replied, with trembling lips. + +'You plot among you to wean my heart from her. You never will do +that--never while I have life. I have no relative or friend but her--I +never had--I never will have. She is all in all to me. It is too late +to part us now.' + +Waving them off with his hand, and calling softly to her as he went, he +stole into the room. They who were left behind, drew close together, +and after a few whispered words--not unbroken by emotion, or easily +uttered--followed him. They moved so gently, that their footsteps made +no noise; but there were sobs from among the group, and sounds of grief +and mourning. + +For she was dead. There, upon her little bed, she lay at rest. The +solemn stillness was no marvel now. + +She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of +pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand +of God, and waiting for the breath of life; not one who had lived and +suffered death. + +Her couch was dressed with here and there some winter berries and green +leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favour. 'When I die, +put near me something that has loved the light, and had the sky above +it always.' Those were her words. + +She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little +bird--a poor slight thing the pressure of a finger would have +crushed--was stirring nimbly in its cage; and the strong heart of its +child mistress was mute and motionless for ever. + +Where were the traces of her early cares, her sufferings, and fatigues? +All gone. Sorrow was dead indeed in her, but peace and perfect +happiness were born; imaged in her tranquil beauty and profound repose. + +And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes. +The old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed, +like a dream, through haunts of misery and care; at the door of the +poor schoolmaster on the summer evening, before the furnace fire upon +the cold wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had +been the same mild lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their +majesty, after death. + +The old man held one languid arm in his, and had the small hand tight +folded to his breast, for warmth. It was the hand she had stretched +out to him with her last smile--the hand that had led him on, through +all their wanderings. Ever and anon he pressed it to his lips; then +hugged it to his breast again, murmuring that it was warmer now; and, +as he said it, he looked, in agony, to those who stood around, as if +imploring them to help her. + +She was dead, and past all help, or need of it. The ancient rooms she +had seemed to fill with life, even while her own was waning fast--the +garden she had tended--the eyes she had gladdened--the noiseless haunts +of many a thoughtful hour--the paths she had trodden as it were but +yesterday--could know her never more. + +'It is not,' said the schoolmaster, as he bent down to kiss her on the +cheek, and gave his tears free vent, 'it is not on earth that Heaven's +justice ends. Think what earth is, compared with the World to which +her young spirit has winged its early flight; and say, if one +deliberate wish expressed in solemn terms above this bed could call her +back to life, which of us would utter it!' + + + + +CHAPTER 72 + +When morning came, and they could speak more calmly on the subject of +their grief, they heard how her life had closed. + +She had been dead two days. They were all about her at the time, +knowing that the end was drawing on. She died soon after daybreak. +They had read and talked to her in the earlier portion of the night, +but as the hours crept on, she sunk to sleep. They could tell, by what +she faintly uttered in her dreams, that they were of her journeyings +with the old man; they were of no painful scenes, but of people who had +helped and used them kindly, for she often said 'God bless you!' with +great fervour. Waking, she never wandered in her mind but once, and +that was of beautiful music which she said was in the air. God knows. +It may have been. + +Opening her eyes at last, from a very quiet sleep, she begged that they +would kiss her once again. That done, she turned to the old man with a +lovely smile upon her face--such, they said, as they had never seen, +and never could forget--and clung with both her arms about his neck. +They did not know that she was dead, at first. + +She had spoken very often of the two sisters, who, she said, were like +dear friends to her. She wished they could be told how much she +thought about them, and how she had watched them as they walked +together, by the river side at night. She would like to see poor Kit, +she had often said of late. She wished there was somebody to take her +love to Kit. And, even then, she never thought or spoke about him, but +with something of her old, clear, merry laugh. + +For the rest, she had never murmured or complained; but with a quiet +mind, and manner quite unaltered--save that she every day became more +earnest and more grateful to them--faded like the light upon a summer's +evening. + +The child who had been her little friend came there, almost as soon as +it was day, with an offering of dried flowers which he begged them to +lay upon her breast. It was he who had come to the window overnight +and spoken to the sexton, and they saw in the snow traces of small +feet, where he had been lingering near the room in which she lay, +before he went to bed. He had a fancy, it seemed, that they had left +her there alone; and could not bear the thought. + +He told them of his dream again, and that it was of her being restored +to them, just as she used to be. He begged hard to see her, saying +that he would be very quiet, and that they need not fear his being +alarmed, for he had sat alone by his young brother all day long when he +was dead, and had felt glad to be so near him. They let him have his +wish; and indeed he kept his word, and was, in his childish way, a +lesson to them all. + +Up to that time, the old man had not spoken once--except to her--or +stirred from the bedside. But, when he saw her little favourite, he +was moved as they had not seen him yet, and made as though he would +have him come nearer. Then, pointing to the bed, he burst into tears +for the first time, and they who stood by, knowing that the sight of +this child had done him good, left them alone together. + +Soothing him with his artless talk of her, the child persuaded him to +take some rest, to walk abroad, to do almost as he desired him. And +when the day came on, which must remove her in her earthly shape from +earthly eyes for ever, he led him away, that he might not know when she +was taken from him. + +They were to gather fresh leaves and berries for her bed. It was +Sunday--a bright, clear, wintry afternoon--and as they traversed the +village street, those who were walking in their path drew back to make +way for them, and gave them a softened greeting. Some shook the old +man kindly by the hand, some stood uncovered while he tottered by, and +many cried 'God help him!' as he passed along. + +'Neighbour!' said the old man, stopping at the cottage where his young +guide's mother dwelt, 'how is it that the folks are nearly all in black +to-day? I have seen a mourning ribbon or a piece of crape on almost +every one.' + +She could not tell, the woman said. + +'Why, you yourself--you wear the colour too?' he said. 'Windows are +closed that never used to be by day. What does this mean?' + +Again the woman said she could not tell. + +'We must go back,' said the old man, hurriedly. 'We must see what this +is.' + +'No, no,' cried the child, detaining him. 'Remember what you promised. +Our way is to the old green lane, where she and I so often were, and +where you found us, more than once, making those garlands for her +garden. Do not turn back!' + +'Where is she now?' said the old man. 'Tell me that.' + +'Do you not know?' returned the child. 'Did we not leave her, but just +now?' + +'True. True. It was her we left--was it?' + +He pressed his hand upon his brow, looked vacantly round, and as if +impelled by a sudden thought, crossed the road, and entered the +sexton's house. He and his deaf assistant were sitting before the +fire. Both rose up, on seeing who it was. + +The child made a hasty sign to them with his hand. It was the action +of an instant, but that, and the old man's look, were quite enough. + +'Do you--do you bury any one to-day?' he said, eagerly. + +'No, no! Who should we bury, Sir?' returned the sexton. + +'Aye, who indeed! I say with you, who indeed!' + +'It is a holiday with us, good Sir,' returned the sexton mildly. 'We +have no work to do to-day.' + +'Why then, I'll go where you will,' said the old man, turning to the +child. 'You're sure of what you tell me? You would not deceive me? I +am changed, even in the little time since you last saw me.' + +'Go thy ways with him, Sir,' cried the sexton, 'and Heaven be with ye +both!' + +'I am quite ready,' said the old man, meekly. 'Come, boy, come--' and +so submitted to be led away. + +And now the bell--the bell she had so often heard, by night and day, +and listened to with solemn pleasure almost as a living voice--rung +its remorseless toll, for her, so young, so beautiful, so good. +Decrepit age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and helpless +infancy, poured forth--on crutches, in the pride of strength and +health, in the full blush of promise, in the mere dawn of life--to +gather round her tomb. Old men were there, whose eyes were dim and +senses failing--grandmothers, who might have died ten years ago, and +still been old--the deaf, the blind, the lame, the palsied, the living +dead in many shapes and forms, to see the closing of that early grave. +What was the death it would shut in, to that which still could crawl +and creep above it! + +Along the crowded path they bore her now; pure as the newly-fallen snow +that covered it; whose day on earth had been as fleeting. Under the +porch, where she had sat when Heaven in its mercy brought her to that +peaceful spot, she passed again; and the old church received her in its +quiet shade. + +They carried her to one old nook, where she had many and many a time +sat musing, and laid their burden softly on the pavement. The light +streamed on it through the coloured window--a window, where the boughs +of trees were ever rustling in the summer, and where the birds sang +sweetly all day long. With every breath of air that stirred among +those branches in the sunshine, some trembling, changing light, would +fall upon her grave. + +Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust! Many a young hand +dropped in its little wreath, many a stifled sob was heard. Some--and +they were not a few--knelt down. All were sincere and truthful in +their sorrow. + +The service done, the mourners stood apart, and the villagers closed +round to look into the grave before the pavement-stone should be +replaced. One called to mind how he had seen her sitting on that very +spot, and how her book had fallen on her lap, and she was gazing with a +pensive face upon the sky. Another told, how he had wondered much that +one so delicate as she, should be so bold; how she had never feared to +enter the church alone at night, but had loved to linger there when all +was quiet, and even to climb the tower stair, with no more light than +that of the moon rays stealing through the loopholes in the thick old +wall. A whisper went about among the oldest, that she had seen and +talked with angels; and when they called to mind how she had looked, +and spoken, and her early death, some thought it might be so, indeed. +Thus, coming to the grave in little knots, and glancing down, and +giving place to others, and falling off in whispering groups of three +or four, the church was cleared in time, of all but the sexton and the +mourning friends. + +They saw the vault covered, and the stone fixed down. Then, when the +dusk of evening had come on, and not a sound disturbed the sacred +stillness of the place--when the bright moon poured in her light on +tomb and monument, on pillar, wall, and arch, and most of all (it +seemed to them) upon her quiet grave--in that calm time, when outward +things and inward thoughts teem with assurances of immortality, and +worldly hopes and fears are humbled in the dust before them--then, with +tranquil and submissive hearts they turned away, and left the child +with God. + +Oh! it is hard to take to heart the lesson that such deaths will teach, +but let no man reject it, for it is one that all must learn, and is a +mighty, universal Truth. When Death strikes down the innocent and +young, for every fragile form from which he lets the panting spirit +free, a hundred virtues rise, in shapes of mercy, charity, and love, to +walk the world, and bless it. Of every tear that sorrowing mortals +shed on such green graves, some good is born, some gentler nature +comes. In the Destroyer's steps there spring up bright creations that +defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of light to Heaven. + +It was late when the old man came home. The boy had led him to his own +dwelling, under some pretence, on their way back; and, rendered drowsy +by his long ramble and late want of rest, he had sunk into a deep sleep +by the fireside. He was perfectly exhausted, and they were careful not +to rouse him. The slumber held him a long time, and when he at length +awoke the moon was shining. + +The younger brother, uneasy at his protracted absence, was watching at +the door for his coming, when he appeared in the pathway with his +little guide. He advanced to meet them, and tenderly obliging the old +man to lean upon his arm, conducted him with slow and trembling steps +towards the house. + +He repaired to her chamber, straight. Not finding what he had left +there, he returned with distracted looks to the room in which they were +assembled. From that, he rushed into the schoolmaster's cottage, +calling her name. They followed close upon him, and when he had vainly +searched it, brought him home. + +With such persuasive words as pity and affection could suggest, they +prevailed upon him to sit among them and hear what they should tell +him. Then endeavouring by every little artifice to prepare his mind +for what must come, and dwelling with many fervent words upon the happy +lot to which she had been removed, they told him, at last, the truth. +The moment it had passed their lips, he fell down among them like a +murdered man. + +For many hours, they had little hope of his surviving; but grief is +strong, and he recovered. + +If there be any who have never known the blank that follows death--the +weary void--the sense of desolation that will come upon the strongest +minds, when something familiar and beloved is missed at every turn--the +connection between inanimate and senseless things, and the object of +recollection, when every household god becomes a monument and every +room a grave--if there be any who have not known this, and proved it by +their own experience, they can never faintly guess how, for many days, +the old man pined and moped away the time, and wandered here and there +as seeking something, and had no comfort. + +Whatever power of thought or memory he retained, was all bound up in +her. He never understood, or seemed to care to understand, about his +brother. To every endearment and attention he continued listless. If +they spoke to him on this, or any other theme--save one--he would hear +them patiently for awhile, then turn away, and go on seeking as before. + +On that one theme, which was in his and all their minds, it was +impossible to touch. Dead! He could not hear or bear the word. The +slightest hint of it would throw him into a paroxysm, like that he had +had when it was first spoken. In what hope he lived, no man could +tell; but that he had some hope of finding her again--some faint and +shadowy hope, deferred from day to day, and making him from day to day +more sick and sore at heart--was plain to all. + +They bethought them of a removal from the scene of this last sorrow; of +trying whether change of place would rouse or cheer him. His brother +sought the advice of those who were accounted skilful in such matters, +and they came and saw him. Some of the number staid upon the spot, +conversed with him when he would converse, and watched him as he +wandered up and down, alone and silent. Move him where they might, +they said, he would ever seek to get back there. His mind would run +upon that spot. If they confined him closely, and kept a strict guard +upon him, they might hold him prisoner, but if he could by any means +escape, he would surely wander back to that place, or die upon the road. + +The boy, to whom he had submitted at first, had no longer any influence +with him. At times he would suffer the child to walk by his side, or +would even take such notice of his presence as giving him his hand, or +would stop to kiss his cheek, or pat him on the head. At other times, +he would entreat him--not unkindly--to be gone, and would not brook him +near. But, whether alone, or with this pliant friend, or with those +who would have given him, at any cost or sacrifice, some consolation or +some peace of mind, if happily the means could have been devised; he +was at all times the same--with no love or care for anything in life--a +broken-hearted man. + +At length, they found, one day, that he had risen early, and, with his +knapsack on his back, his staff in hand, her own straw hat, and little +basket full of such things as she had been used to carry, was gone. As +they were making ready to pursue him far and wide, a frightened +schoolboy came who had seen him, but a moment before, sitting in the +church--upon her grave, he said. + +They hastened there, and going softly to the door, espied him in the +attitude of one who waited patiently. They did not disturb him then, +but kept a watch upon him all that day. When it grew quite dark, he +rose and returned home, and went to bed, murmuring to himself, 'She +will come to-morrow!' + +Upon the morrow he was there again from sunrise until night; and still +at night he laid him down to rest, and murmured, 'She will come +to-morrow!' + +And thenceforth, every day, and all day long, he waited at her grave, +for her. How many pictures of new journeys over pleasant country, of +resting-places under the free broad sky, of rambles in the fields and +woods, and paths not often trodden--how many tones of that one +well-remembered voice, how many glimpses of the form, the fluttering +dress, the hair that waved so gaily in the wind--how many visions of +what had been, and what he hoped was yet to be--rose up before him, in +the old, dull, silent church! He never told them what he thought, or +where he went. He would sit with them at night, pondering with a +secret satisfaction, they could see, upon the flight that he and she +would take before night came again; and still they would hear him +whisper in his prayers, 'Lord! Let her come to-morrow!' + +The last time was on a genial day in spring. He did not return at the +usual hour, and they went to seek him. He was lying dead upon the +stone. + +They laid him by the side of her whom he had loved so well; and, in the +church where they had often prayed, and mused, and lingered hand in +hand, the child and the old man slept together. + + + + +CHAPTER 73 + +The magic reel, which, rolling on before, has led the chronicler thus +far, now slackens in its pace, and stops. It lies before the goal; the +pursuit is at an end. + +It remains but to dismiss the leaders of the little crowd who have +borne us company upon the road, and so to close the journey. + +Foremost among them, smooth Sampson Brass and Sally, arm in arm, claim +our polite attention. + +Mr Sampson, then, being detained, as already has been shown, by the +justice upon whom he called, and being so strongly pressed to protract +his stay that he could by no means refuse, remained under his +protection for a considerable time, during which the great attention of +his entertainer kept him so extremely close, that he was quite lost to +society, and never even went abroad for exercise saving into a small +paved yard. So well, indeed, was his modest and retiring temper +understood by those with whom he had to deal, and so jealous were they +of his absence, that they required a kind of friendly bond to be +entered into by two substantial housekeepers, in the sum of fifteen +hundred pounds a-piece, before they would suffer him to quit their +hospitable roof--doubting, it appeared, that he would return, if once +let loose, on any other terms. Mr Brass, struck with the humour of +this jest, and carrying out its spirit to the utmost, sought from his +wide connection a pair of friends whose joint possessions fell some +halfpence short of fifteen pence, and proffered them as bail--for that +was the merry word agreed upon both sides. These gentlemen being +rejected after twenty-four hours' pleasantry, Mr Brass consented to +remain, and did remain, until a club of choice spirits called a Grand +jury (who were in the joke) summoned him to a trial before twelve other +wags for perjury and fraud, who in their turn found him guilty with a +most facetious joy,--nay, the very populace entered into the whim, and +when Mr Brass was moving in a hackney-coach towards the building where +these wags assembled, saluted him with rotten eggs and carcases of +kittens, and feigned to wish to tear him into shreds, which greatly +increased the comicality of the thing, and made him relish it the more, +no doubt. + +To work this sportive vein still further, Mr Brass, by his counsel, +moved in arrest of judgment that he had been led to criminate himself, +by assurances of safety and promises of pardon, and claimed the +leniency which the law extends to such confiding natures as are thus +deluded. After solemn argument, this point (with others of a technical +nature, whose humorous extravagance it would be difficult to +exaggerate) was referred to the judges for their decision, Sampson +being meantime removed to his former quarters. Finally, some of the +points were given in Sampson's favour, and some against him; and the +upshot was, that, instead of being desired to travel for a time in +foreign parts, he was permitted to grace the mother country under +certain insignificant restrictions. + +These were, that he should, for a term of years, reside in a spacious +mansion where several other gentlemen were lodged and boarded at the +public charge, who went clad in a sober uniform of grey turned up with +yellow, had their hair cut extremely short, and chiefly lived on gruel +and light soup. It was also required of him that he should partake of +their exercise of constantly ascending an endless flight of stairs; +and, lest his legs, unused to such exertion, should be weakened by it, +that he should wear upon one ankle an amulet or charm of iron. These +conditions being arranged, he was removed one evening to his new abode, +and enjoyed, in common with nine other gentlemen, and two ladies, the +privilege of being taken to his place of retirement in one of Royalty's +own carriages. + +Over and above these trifling penalties, his name was erased and +blotted out from the roll of attorneys; which erasure has been always +held in these latter times to be a great degradation and reproach, and +to imply the commission of some amazing villany--as indeed it would +seem to be the case, when so many worthless names remain among its +better records, unmolested. + +Of Sally Brass, conflicting rumours went abroad. Some said with +confidence that she had gone down to the docks in male attire, and had +become a female sailor; others darkly whispered that she had enlisted +as a private in the second regiment of Foot Guards, and had been seen +in uniform, and on duty, to wit, leaning on her musket and looking out +of a sentry-box in St James's Park, one evening. There were many such +whispers as these in circulation; but the truth appears to be that, +after the lapse of some five years (during which there is no direct +evidence of her having been seen at all), two wretched people were more +than once observed to crawl at dusk from the inmost recesses of St +Giles's, and to take their way along the streets, with shuffling steps +and cowering shivering forms, looking into the roads and kennels as +they went in search of refuse food or disregarded offal. These forms +were never beheld but in those nights of cold and gloom, when the +terrible spectres, who lie at all other times in the obscene +hiding-places of London, in archways, dark vaults and cellars, venture +to creep into the streets; the embodied spirits of Disease, and Vice, +and Famine. It was whispered by those who should have known, that +these were Sampson and his sister Sally; and to this day, it is said, +they sometimes pass, on bad nights, in the same loathsome guise, close +at the elbow of the shrinking passenger. + +The body of Quilp being found--though not until some days had +elapsed--an inquest was held on it near the spot where it had been +washed ashore. The general supposition was that he had committed +suicide, and, this appearing to be favoured by all the circumstances of +his death, the verdict was to that effect. He was left to be buried +with a stake through his heart in the centre of four lonely roads. + +It was rumoured afterwards that this horrible and barbarous ceremony +had been dispensed with, and that the remains had been secretly given +up to Tom Scott. But even here, opinion was divided; for some said Tom +dug them up at midnight, and carried them to a place indicated to him +by the widow. It is probable that both these stories may have had +their origin in the simple fact of Tom's shedding tears upon the +inquest--which he certainly did, extraordinary as it may appear. He +manifested, besides, a strong desire to assault the jury; and being +restrained and conducted out of court, darkened its only window by +standing on his head upon the sill, until he was dexterously tilted +upon his feet again by a cautious beadle. + +Being cast upon the world by his master's death, he determined to go +through it upon his head and hands, and accordingly began to tumble for +his bread. Finding, however, his English birth an insurmountable +obstacle to his advancement in this pursuit (notwithstanding that his +art was in high repute and favour), he assumed the name of an Italian +image lad, with whom he had become acquainted; and afterwards tumbled +with extraordinary success, and to overflowing audiences. + +Little Mrs Quilp never quite forgave herself the one deceit that lay so +heavy on her conscience, and never spoke or thought of it but with +bitter tears. Her husband had no relations, and she was rich. He had +made no will, or she would probably have been poor. Having married the +first time at her mother's instigation, she consulted in her second +choice nobody but herself. It fell upon a smart young fellow enough; +and as he made it a preliminary condition that Mrs Jiniwin should be +thenceforth an out-pensioner, they lived together after marriage with no +more than the average amount of quarrelling, and led a merry life upon +the dead dwarf's money. + +Mr and Mrs Garland, and Mr Abel, went out as usual (except that there +was a change in their household, as will be seen presently), and in due +time the latter went into partnership with his friend the notary, on +which occasion there was a dinner, and a ball, and great extent of +dissipation. Unto this ball there happened to be invited the most +bashful young lady that was ever seen, with whom Mr Abel happened to +fall in love. HOW it happened, or how they found it out, or which of +them first communicated the discovery to the other, nobody knows. But +certain it is that in course of time they were married; and equally +certain it is that they were the happiest of the happy; and no less +certain it is that they deserved to be so. And it is pleasant to write +down that they reared a family; because any propagation of goodness and +benevolence is no small addition to the aristocracy of nature, and no +small subject of rejoicing for mankind at large. + +The pony preserved his character for independence and principle down to +the last moment of his life; which was an unusually long one, and +caused him to be looked upon, indeed, as the very Old Parr of ponies. +He often went to and fro with the little phaeton between Mr Garland's +and his son's, and, as the old people and the young were frequently +together, had a stable of his own at the new establishment, into which +he would walk of himself with surprising dignity. He condescended to +play with the children, as they grew old enough to cultivate his +friendship, and would run up and down the little paddock with them like +a dog; but though he relaxed so far, and allowed them such small +freedoms as caresses, or even to look at his shoes or hang on by his +tail, he never permitted any one among them to mount his back or drive +him; thus showing that even their familiarity must have its limits, and +that there were points between them far too serious for trifling. + +He was not unsusceptible of warm attachments in his later life, for +when the good bachelor came to live with Mr Garland upon the +clergyman's decease, he conceived a great friendship for him, and +amiably submitted to be driven by his hands without the least +resistance. He did no work for two or three years before he died, but +lived in clover; and his last act (like a choleric old gentleman) was +to kick his doctor. + +Mr Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, and entering +into the receipt of his annuity, bought for the Marchioness a handsome +stock of clothes, and put her to school forthwith, in redemption of the +vow he had made upon his fevered bed. After casting about for some +time for a name which should be worthy of her, he decided in favour of +Sophronia Sphynx, as being euphonious and genteel, and furthermore +indicative of mystery. Under this title the Marchioness repaired, in +tears, to the school of his selection, from which, as she soon +distanced all competitors, she was removed before the lapse of many +quarters to one of a higher grade. It is but bare justice to Mr +Swiveller to say, that, although the expenses of her education kept him +in straitened circumstances for half a dozen years, he never slackened +in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by the +accounts he heard (with great gravity) of her advancement, on his +monthly visits to the governess, who looked upon him as a literary +gentleman of eccentric habits, and of a most prodigious talent in +quotation. + +In a word, Mr Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment +until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age-- +good-looking, clever, and good-humoured; when he began to consider +seriously what was to be done next. On one of his periodical visits, +while he was revolving this question in his mind, the Marchioness came +down to him, alone, looking more smiling and more fresh than ever. +Then, it occurred to him, but not for the first time, that if she would +marry him, how comfortable they might be! So Richard asked her; +whatever she said, it wasn't No; and they were married in good earnest +that day week. Which gave Mr Swiveller frequent occasion to remark at +divers subsequent periods that there had been a young lady saving up +for him after all. + +A little cottage at Hampstead being to let, which had in its garden a +smoking-box, the envy of the civilised world, they agreed to become its +tenants, and, when the honey-moon was over, entered upon its +occupation. To this retreat Mr Chuckster repaired regularly every +Sunday to spend the day--usually beginning with breakfast--and here he +was the great purveyor of general news and fashionable intelligence. +For some years he continued a deadly foe to Kit, protesting that he had +a better opinion of him when he was supposed to have stolen the +five-pound note, than when he was shown to be perfectly free of the +crime; inasmuch as his guilt would have had in it something daring and +bold, whereas his innocence was but another proof of a sneaking and +crafty disposition. By slow degrees, however, he was reconciled to him +in the end; and even went so far as to honour him with his patronage, +as one who had in some measure reformed, and was therefore to be +forgiven. But he never forgot or pardoned that circumstance of the +shilling; holding that if he had come back to get another he would have +done well enough, but that his returning to work out the former gift +was a stain upon his moral character which no penitence or contrition +could ever wash away. + +Mr Swiveller, having always been in some measure of a philosophic and +reflective turn, grew immensely contemplative, at times, in the +smoking-box, and was accustomed at such periods to debate in his own +mind the mysterious question of Sophronia's parentage. Sophronia +herself supposed she was an orphan; but Mr Swiveller, putting various +slight circumstances together, often thought Miss Brass must know +better than that; and, having heard from his wife of her strange +interview with Quilp, entertained sundry misgivings whether that +person, in his lifetime, might not also have been able to solve the +riddle, had he chosen. These speculations, however, gave him no +uneasiness; for Sophronia was ever a most cheerful, affectionate, and +provident wife to him; and Dick (excepting for an occasional outbreak +with Mr Chuckster, which she had the good sense rather to encourage +than oppose) was to her an attached and domesticated husband. And they +played many hundred thousand games of cribbage together. And let it be +added, to Dick's honour, that, though we have called her Sophronia, he +called her the Marchioness from first to last; and that upon every +anniversary of the day on which he found her in his sick room, Mr +Chuckster came to dinner, and there was great glorification. + +The gamblers, Isaac List and Jowl, with their trusty confederate Mr +James Groves of unimpeachable memory, pursued their course with varying +success, until the failure of a spirited enterprise in the way of their +profession, dispersed them in various directions, and caused their +career to receive a sudden check from the long and strong arm of the +law. This defeat had its origin in the untoward detection of a new +associate--young Frederick Trent--who thus became the unconscious +instrument of their punishment and his own. + +For the young man himself, he rioted abroad for a brief term, living by +his wits--which means by the abuse of every faculty that worthily +employed raises man above the beasts, and so degraded, sinks him far +below them. It was not long before his body was recognised by a +stranger, who chanced to visit that hospital in Paris where the drowned +are laid out to be owned; despite the bruises and disfigurements which +were said to have been occasioned by some previous scuffle. But the +stranger kept his own counsel until he returned home, and it was never +claimed or cared for. + +The younger brother, or the single gentleman, for that designation is +more familiar, would have drawn the poor schoolmaster from his lone +retreat, and made him his companion and friend. But the humble village +teacher was timid of venturing into the noisy world, and had become +fond of his dwelling in the old churchyard. Calmly happy in his +school, and in the spot, and in the attachment of Her little mourner, +he pursued his quiet course in peace; and was, through the righteous +gratitude of his friend--let this brief mention suffice for that--a +POOR school-master no more. + +That friend--single gentleman, or younger brother, which you will--had +at his heart a heavy sorrow; but it bred in him no misanthropy or +monastic gloom. He went forth into the world, a lover of his kind. +For a long, long time, it was his chief delight to travel in the steps +of the old man and the child (so far as he could trace them from her +last narrative), to halt where they had halted, sympathise where they +had suffered, and rejoice where they had been made glad. Those who had +been kind to them, did not escape his search. The sisters at the +school--they who were her friends, because themselves so +friendless--Mrs Jarley of the wax-work, Codlin, Short--he found them +all; and trust me, the man who fed the furnace fire was not forgotten. + +Kit's story having got abroad, raised him up a host of friends, and +many offers of provision for his future life. He had no idea at first +of ever quitting Mr Garland's service; but, after serious remonstrance +and advice from that gentleman, began to contemplate the possibility of +such a change being brought about in time. A good post was procured +for him, with a rapidity which took away his breath, by some of the +gentlemen who had believed him guilty of the offence laid to his +charge, and who had acted upon that belief. Through the same kind +agency, his mother was secured from want, and made quite happy. Thus, +as Kit often said, his great misfortune turned out to be the source of +all his subsequent prosperity. + +Did Kit live a single man all his days, or did he marry? Of course he +married, and who should be his wife but Barbara? And the best of it +was, he married so soon that little Jacob was an uncle, before the +calves of his legs, already mentioned in this history, had ever been +encased in broadcloth pantaloons,--though that was not quite the best +either, for of necessity the baby was an uncle too. The delight of +Kit's mother and of Barbara's mother upon the great occasion is past +all telling; finding they agreed so well on that, and on all other +subjects, they took up their abode together, and were a most harmonious +pair of friends from that time forth. And hadn't Astley's cause to +bless itself for their all going together once a quarter--to the +pit--and didn't Kit's mother always say, when they painted the outside, +that Kit's last treat had helped to that, and wonder what the manager +would feel if he but knew it as they passed his house! + +When Kit had children six and seven years old, there was a Barbara +among them, and a pretty Barbara she was. Nor was there wanting an +exact facsimile and copy of little Jacob, as he appeared in those +remote times when they taught him what oysters meant. Of course there +was an Abel, own godson to the Mr Garland of that name; and there was a +Dick, whom Mr Swiveller did especially favour. The little group would +often gather round him of a night and beg him to tell again that story +of good Miss Nell who died. This, Kit would do; and when they cried to +hear it, wishing it longer too, he would teach them how she had gone to +Heaven, as all good people did; and how, if they were good, like her, +they might hope to be there too, one day, and to see and know her as he +had done when he was quite a boy. Then, he would relate to them how +needy he used to be, and how she had taught him what he was otherwise +too poor to learn, and how the old man had been used to say 'she always +laughs at Kit;' at which they would brush away their tears, and laugh +themselves to think that she had done so, and be again quite merry. + +He sometimes took them to the street where she had lived; but new +improvements had altered it so much, it was not like the same. The old +house had been long ago pulled down, and a fine broad road was in its +place. At first he would draw with his stick a square upon the ground +to show them where it used to stand. But he soon became uncertain of +the spot, and could only say it was thereabouts, he thought, and these +alterations were confusing. + +Such are the changes which a few years bring about, and so do things +pass away, like a tale that is told! + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP *** + +***** This file should be named 700.txt or 700.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/700/ + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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