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diff --git a/old/curio10.txt b/old/curio10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94f3cdc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/curio10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24996 @@ +*****The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Old Curiosity Shop***** +#12 in our series by Charles Dickens + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Benedictine + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Benedictine University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +The Old Curiosity Shop + +By Charles Dickens + + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + + +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 for ever passing and repassing on the bridges (on +those which are free of toil at last), 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 +heaver 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 thrust, 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 mind 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 a 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 there 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 men 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, 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 men, 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 ensure 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 lunging 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 mind. 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 +resistence 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 propritiatory +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,' repled 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 the 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 sleeply and discontented, and had more than +once suggested the proprieity 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 picket. '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 thought, +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 litle creature; poor protector as he was, say that he died--what +we 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 +solitutde 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 best 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 forthly, because the company being +accustomed to acandalise 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 venture'd 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 him. 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 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 thiniking.' + +'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 pursing 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 expresively 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 betwen 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 that 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 pactitioner; 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 home 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 bot 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 to 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 addresed, 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, fainly. 'Began to ---' + +'To be so thoughtful and dejected, and to forget our old way ot +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 afectionate 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 neary 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 condtiion, 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 alrmed 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 the moddy 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 supose 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, Richards 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 mind +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 left 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 stars 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. It 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, dispached 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 certin 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 +arrive of a small pewter pyramid, curously 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 poato +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 it!--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 setle when he should be passing presently, he displayed +some pertubation 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, Richards 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 imperturable 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 tom-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 Chesea, 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 circumbmbient 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 solitrary young lady of tender years standing on +the scraper on the tips of her toes and making futile attempts to reach +the knocker with spelling-book. The several duties of instruction in +this establishment were this discharged. English grammar, +composition, geography, and the use of the dumb-bells, by Miss +Melissa Wackles; writing, arthmetic, 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, busom girl of twenty; and Miss Jane +numbered scarcely sixteen years. Mrs Wackles was an excellent +but rather vemenous 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, embelished 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 +dilitory kind which is usuaully 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 ben 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 snubb 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 Chegs,' 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 intenions 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 premeturely shrill +and shrewish, gave such undue importance to her part that Mr +Swiviller retired in dudgeon, resigning his mistress to Mr Cheggs +and converying a definance 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 legt 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 wormword 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 Cheegs! 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 mean time, 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 cries 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.' + +'Here 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,'-- +'Wo-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 on 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 school- +house, 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 57 + + +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 @ 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 rol 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 rest 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 +starlight, 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 The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Old Curiosity Shop + |