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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11126-0.txt b/11126-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfe5282 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7099 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11126 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11126-h.htm or 11126-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/1/2/11126/11126-h/11126-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/1/2/11126/11126-h.zip) + + + + + +TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS + +BY + +KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER + +AUTHOR OF + +"TEN BOYS FROM DICKENS" "TEN GREAT ADVENTURERS" +"BOOK OF INDIAN BRAVES" ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS + + + + + + +[Illustration: LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER] + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +As a companion volume to Ten Boys from Dickens, this book of girl-life, +portrayed by the great author, is offered. + +The sketches have the same underlying motive as those of boy-life, and +have been compiled in the same manner, with the same purpose in view. + +Among them will be found several of the most popular of the creations of +Dickens, notably, The Marchioness, Little Nell, Jenny Wren, and Florence +Dombey, and it is hoped that in this presentation as simple stories of +girlhood, their classic form and beauty may arouse in the young people +of our day a new interest in the novels from which they are taken. + +This volume and its companion will have accomplished their purpose when +they have won fresh laurels and a wider audience for the famous writer +to whom they are indebted for their existence. + +K.D.S. _April, 1902_. + + + +CONTENTS + +THE MARCHIONESS. + +MORLEENA KENWIGS. + +LITTLE NELL. + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON. + +JENNY WREN. + +SISSY JUPE. + +FLORENCE DOMBEY. + +CHARLEY. + +TILLY SLOWBOY. + +AGNES WICKFIELD. + + + +THE MARCHIONESS + +[Illustration: THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER] + + + +THE MARCHIONESS + +The Marchioness was a small servant employed by Sampson Brass and his +sister Sally, as general house-worker and drudge, in which capacity she +was discovered by Mr. Richard Swiveller, upon the very first day of his +entering the Brass establishment as clerk. + +The Brasses' house was a small one in Bevis Marks, London, having upon +its door a plate, "Brass, Solicitor," and a bill tied to the knocker, +"First floor to let to a single gentleman," and served not only as +habitation, but likewise as office for Sampson Brass,--of none too good +legal repute,--and his sister; a gaunt, bony copy of her red-haired +brother, who was his housekeeper, as well as his business partner. + +When the Brasses decided to keep a clerk, Richard Swiveller was chosen +to fill the place; and be it known to whom it may concern, that the said +Richard was the merriest, laziest, weakest, most kind-hearted fellow who +ever sowed a large crop of wild oats, and by a sudden stroke of +good-luck found himself raised to a salaried position. + +Clad in a blue jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, bought for +acquatic expeditions, but now dedicated to office purposes, Richard +entered upon his new duties, and during that first afternoon, while Mr. +Brass and his sister were temporarily absent from the office, he began a +minute examination of its contents. + +Then, after assuaging his thirst with a pint of mild porter, and +receiving and dismissing three or four small boys who dropped in on +legal errands from other attorneys, with about as correct an +understanding of their business as would have been shown by a clown in a +pantomime under similar circumstances, he tried his hand at a +pen-and-ink caricature of Miss Brass, in which work he was busily +engaged, when there came a rapping at the office-door. + +"Come in!" said Dick. "Don't stand on ceremony. The business will get +rather complicated if I have 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 leaned 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 haven'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." + +Just then certain sounds on the passage and staircase seemed to denote +the applicant's impatience. Richard Swiveller, therefore, hurried out to +meet and treat with the single gentleman. + +He was a little surprised to perceive that the sounds were occasioned by +the progress upstairs of a trunk, which the single gentleman and his +coachman were endeavoring to convey up the steep ascent. 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 bedroom, sat down upon it, and +wiped his bald head with his handkerchief. He then announced abruptly +that he would take the room for two years, whereupon, handing a +ten-pound note to the astonished Mr. Swiveller, he began to make ready +to retire, as if it were night instead of day, and Mr. Swiveller walked +downstairs into the office again, filled with wonderment concerning both +the strange new lodger and the small servant who had appeared to +answer the bell. + +After that day, 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 a bell rang, 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 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. + +"Now," said Dick, one day, 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. I _should_ like to know how they +use her!" + +At that moment he caught a glimpse 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, he groped his way down, and arrived at +the kitchen door 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 was screwed up so tight as +to hold no more than a 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 on. + +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 opened the safe, and +brought from it a dreary waste of cold potatoes, looking as eatable as +Stonehenge. This she placed before the small servant, and then, taking +up a great carving-knife, made a mighty show of sharpening it. + +"Do you see this?" she said, slicing off about two square inches of cold +mutton, and holding it out on the point of a fork. + +The small servant looked hard enough at it with her hungry eyes to see +every shred of it 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, locked the meat-safe, +and then overlooked the small servant while she finished the potatoes. +After that, without the smallest cause, she rapped the child with the +blade of the knife, now on her hand, now on her head, and now on her +back. Then, after walking slowly backward towards the door, she darted +suddenly forward, and falling on the small servant again, gave her some +hard blows with her clenched fists. The victim cried, but in a subdued +manner, as if she feared to raise her voice; and Miss Sally ascended the +stairs just as Richard had safely reached the office, fairly beside +himself with anger over the poor child's misery and ill-treatment. + +During the following weeks, when he had become accustomed to the routine +of work which he was expected to accomplish, and being often left alone +in the office, Richard Swiveller began to find time hang heavy on his +hands. For the better preservation of his cheerfulness, therefore, he +accustomed himself to play at cribbage with a dummy. While he was +silently conducting one of these games Mr. Swiveller began to think that +he heard a kind of 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, 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; "it's so very dull downstairs. 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." + +"Well--come in," said Mr. Swiveller, 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 knowed I come up here." + +"Have you got a fire downstairs?" said Dick. + +"A very little one," replied the small servant. + +"Miss Sally couldn't kill me if she knowed 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 an'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 a boy from the public-house, who bore +a plate of bread and beef, and a great pot filled with choice purl. +Relieving the boy of his burden, and charging his little companion to +fasten the door 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, for you're not used to it. Well, is it good?" + +"Oh, _isn't_ it!" said the small servant. + +Mr. Swiveller appeared immensely gratified over her enjoyment, and when +she had satisfied her hunger, applied himself to teaching her the game, +which she soon learned tolerably well, being both sharp-witted +and cunning. + +"Now," said Mr. Swiveller, "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, waited for her lead. + +They had played several rubbers, when the striking of ten o'clock +rendered Mr. Swiveller mindful of the flight of time, and of 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. The Baron Sampsono Brasso and his fair sister are, you tell +me, at the Play?" added 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! Marchioness, +your health." + +The small servant, who was not so well acquainted with theatrical +conventionalities as Mr. Swiveller, was rather alarmed by his manner, +and showed it so plainly that he felt it necessary to discharge his +brigand bearing for one more suitable to private life. + +"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?" asked Mr. Swiveller. + +The Marchioness shook her head violently. + +"H'm!" Dick muttered. "Would it be any breach of confidence, +Marchioness, to relate what they say of the humble individual who has +now the honor to--?" + +"Miss Sally says you are a funny chap," replied his friend. + +"Well, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "that's not uncomplimentary. +Merriment, Marchioness, is not a bad of 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 aren't to be trusted." + +"Why, really, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller thoughtfully, "it's a +popular prejudice, and yet I'm sure I don't know why, for I've 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, adding 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'm your friend, and I +hope we shall play many more rubbers together. But, Marchioness," added +Richard, "it occurs to me that you must be in the constant habit of +airing your eye at keyholes to know this." + +"I only wanted," replied the trembling Marchioness, "to know where the +key of the meat-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 +of course you'd be plumper. Good-night, Marchioness, fare thee well, and +if forever, then forever fare thee well. And put up the chain, +Marchioness, in case of accidents!" + +Upon repairing to Bevis Marks on the following morning, he found Miss +Brass much agitated over the disappearance from the office of several +small articles, as well as three half crowns, and Richard felt much +troubled over the matter, saying to himself, "Then, by Jove, I'm 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, rather +than receive fifty pounds down, he would have the Marchioness +proved innocent. + +While the subject of the thefts was under discussion, Kit Nubbles, a lad +in the employ of a Mr. Garland, passed through the office, on his way +upstairs to the room of the Brasses' lodger, the single gentleman, who +was an intimate friend of Kit's employer. The single gentleman having +been confined to his room for some time by a slight illness, it had +become Kit's daily custom to convey to him messages and notes from Mr. +Garland, and not infrequently Sampson Brass would detain the lad in the +office for a few words of pleasant conversation. + +Having discharged his errand, Kit came downstairs again, finding no one +in the office except Mr. Brass, who, after greeting him affably, +requested him to mind the office for one minute while he ran upstairs. +Mr. Brass returned almost immediately, Mr. Swiveller came in too, at the +same instant, likewise Miss Sally, and Kit, released, at once set off on +a run towards home, eager to make up for lost time. As he was running, +he was suddenly arrested and held in restraint, by no less a person than +Sampson Brass himself, accompanied by Mr. Swiveller. + +A five-pound note was missing from the office. Kit had been alone there +for some minutes. Who could have taken it but Kit? + +Pleased to have suspicion diverted from the Marchioness, but loath to +help in so unpleasant an affair, Mr. Swiveller reluctantly assisted in +bearing the captive back to the office, Kit protesting his innocence at +every step. They searched him, and there under the lining of his hat was +the missing bank-note! + +Still protesting his innocence, and completely stunned by the calamity +which had come upon him, the lad was borne off to prison, where, after +eleven weary days had dragged away, he was brought to trial. Richard +Swiveller was called as a witness against Kit, and told his tale with +reluctance, and an evident desire to make the best of it, for the lad's +sake. His kind heart was also touched with pity for Kit's poor widowed +mother, who sobbed out again and again, that she had never had cause to +doubt her son's honesty, and she never would. + +When the trial was ended, and Kit found guilty, Richard bore the lad's +fainting mother swiftly off in a coach he had ready for the purpose, +and on the way comforted her in his own peculiar fashion, perpetrating +the most astounding absurdities of quotation from song and poem that +ever were heard. Reaching her home, he stayed till she was recovered; +then returned to Bevis Marks, where Mr. Brass met him with the news that +his services would be no longer required in the establishment. + +Feeling sure that this verdict was in consequence of his defence of Kit, +Mr. Swiveller took his dismissal in profound silence, and turned his +back upon Bevis Marks, big with designs for the comforting of Kit's +mother, and the aid of Kit himself. His only regret in regard to the +matter was in having to leave the Marchioness alone and unprotected in +the hands of the Brasses, and little did he dream that to the small +servant herself, to the Marchioness, rather than to him, Kit and his +mother were to owe their heaviest debt of gratitude--but it was so +to be. + +That very night Mr. Richard was seized with an alarming illness, and in +twenty-four hours was stricken with a raging fever, and lay tossing upon +his hot, uneasy bed, unconscious of anything but weariness and worry and +pain, until at length he sank into a deep sleep. He awoke, and with a +sensation of blissful rest better than sleep itself, began to dimly +remember, and to think what a long night it had been, and to wonder +whether he had not been delirious once or twice. Still, he felt +indifferent and happy, and having no curiosity to pursue the subject, +remained in a 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. But he +lacked energy to follow up this train of thought, and in a luxury of +repose, lay 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, when he heard the +cough once more. Raising himself a little in the bed, he looked +about him. + +The same room, certainly, but with what unbounded astonishment did he +see bottles, and basins, and articles of linen airing by the fire--all +very clean and neat, but 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, 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, then 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 dreamed such a real +cough as that before. There's another--and another--I say!--I'm dreaming +rather fast! + +"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." + +Not feeling quite satisfied with this explanation, Mr. Swiveller +determined to take the first opportunity of addressing his companion. An +occasion soon 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 and jewels on their heads!" + +It appeared however, that she had only clapped her hands for joy, as +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, "will you have the goodness to inform +me where I shall find my voice; and 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, Marchioness," said Richard, after a pause, "that I +have been ill." + +"You just have!" replied the small servant, wiping her eyes. "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." + +Mr. Swiveller was silent for a long period. By and by he inquired how +long he had been there. + +"Three weeks to-morrow." replied the small servant, "three long slow +weeks." + +The bare thought of having been in such extremity caused Richard to fall +into another silence. The Marchioness, having arranged the bedclothes +more comfortably, and felt that his hands and forehead were quite cool, +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. She propped him up with pillows, and looked on with unutterable +satisfaction, while he took his poor meal with a relish which the +greatest dainties of the earth might have failed to provoke. Having +cleared away, and disposed everything comfortably about him again, she +sat down to take her own tea. + +"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "have you seen Sally lately?" + +"Seen her!" cried the small servant. "Bless you, I've run away!" + +Mr. Swiveller immediately laid himself down again, and so remained for +about five minutes. After that lapse of time he resumed his sitting +posture, and inquired,-- + +"And where do you live, Marchioness?" + +"Live!" cried the small servant. "Here!" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Swiveller. + +With that he fell down flat again, as suddenly as if he had been shot. +Thus he remained until she had finished her meal, when being propped up +again he opened a further conversation. + +"And so," said Dick, "you have run away?" + +"Yes," said the Marchioness; "and they've been a 'tising of me." + +"Been--I beg your pardon," said Dick. "What have they been doing?" + +"Been a 'tising of me--'tising, you know, in the newspapers," rejoined +the Marchioness. + +"Aye, aye," said Dick, "Advertising?" + +The small servant nodded and winked. + +"Tell me," continued Richard, "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, and I didn't know where you was to be found, you +know. But one morning, when I was near the office keyhole 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. So I run away that night, and come +here, and told 'em you was my brother, and I've been here ever since." + +"This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!" cried +Dick. + +"No, I haven't," she replied, "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, +struggling to express his thanks, but she quickly changed the theme, +urging him to shut his eyes and take a little rest. Being indeed +fatigued, he needed but little urging, and fell into a slumber, from +which he waked in about half an hour, after which his small friend +helped him to sit up again. + +"Marchioness," said Richard suddenly, "What has become of Kit?" + +"He has been sentenced to transportation for a great many years," she +said. + +"Has he gone?" asked Dick, "His mother, what has become of her?" + +His nurse shook her head, and answered that she knew nothing about them. +"But if I thought," said she presently, "that you'd not put yourself +into another fever, I could tell you something--but I won't, now. Wait +till you're better, then I'll tell you." + +Dick looked very earnestly at his little friend, and urged her to tell +him the worst at once. + +Unable to resist his fervent adjurations, the Marchioness spoke thus: + +"Well! Before I run away, I used to sleep in the kitchen. Miss Sally +used to keep the key of the door in her pocket, and she always come down +at night to take away the candle and rake out the fire. Then she left me +to go to bed in the dark, locked the door on the outside, and kept me +locked up till she came down in the morning 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, you know. So, whenever I see an old key, I +picked it up and tried if it would fit the door, and at last I found a +key that did fit it. They kept me very short," said the small servant, +"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, or even pieces +of orange-peel to put into cold water, and make believe it was wine. If +you make believe very much, it's quite nice," continued the small +servant; "but if you don't, you know, it seems as if it would bear a +little more seasoning! Well, one or two nights before the young man was +took, I come upstairs while Mr. Brass and Miss Sally was a-sittin by the +office fire and talking softly together. They whispered and laughed for +a long time, about there being no danger if it was well done; that they +must do what their best client, Quilp, desired, and that for his own +reasons, he hated Kit, and wanted to have his reputation ruined. Then +Mr. Brass pulls out his pocket-book, and says, 'Well, here it +is--Quilp's own five-pound note. Kit is coming to-morrow morning, I +know. I'll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat, +and then convict him of theft. And if that don't get Kit out of Mr. +Quilp's way, and satisfy his grudge against the lad,' he said, 'the +devil's in it,' Then they seemed to be moving away, and I was afraid to +stop any longer. There!" + +The small servant was so much agitated herself that she made no effort +to restrain Mr. Swiveller when he sat up in bed, and hastily demanded +whether this story had been told to anybody. + +"How could it be?" replied his nurse. "When I heard 'em say that you was +gone, and so was the lodger, and ever since I come here, you've been out +of your senses, so what would have been the good of telling you then?" + +"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "if you'll do me the favor 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. "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'm afraid," said Richard dolefully, "that you're right. Now, what is +to be done?" + +It occurred to him, on very little reflection, that the first step to +take would be to communicate with Kit's employer, Mr. Garland, or with +his son Mr. Abel, at once. It was possible that Mr. Abel had not yet +left his office. In as little time as it takes to tell it, the small +servant had the address on a piece of paper, and a description of father +and son, which would enable her to recognize either without difficulty. +Armed with these slender powers, she hurried away, commissioned to bring +either Mr. Garland or Mr. Abel bodily to Mr. Swiveller's 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?" + +"No, nothing." + +"Its 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." + +The small servant went swiftly on her way, towards the office of the +Notary, Mr. Witherden, where Mr. Garland was to be found. She had no +bonnet, only a great cap on her head, which in some old time had been +worn by Sally Brass;--and her shoes being extremely large and slipshod, +flew off every now and then, and were difficult to find. Indeed the poor +little creature experienced so much trouble and delay from having to +grope for them in the mud, and suffered so much jostling, pushing, and +squeezing in these researches, that between it, and her fear of being +recognized by some one, and carried back by force to the Brasses, when +she at last reached the Notary's office, she was fairly worn out, and +could not refrain from tears. But to have got there was a comfort, and +she found Mr. Abel in the act of entering his pony-chaise and driving +away. There was nothing for her to do but to run after the chaise and +call to Mr. Abel to stop. Being out of breath, 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 she could +go no farther, clambered by a vigorous effort into the hinder seat, +where she remained in silence, until she had to some degree recovered +her breath, and become accustomed to the novelty of her position, when +she uttered close into Mr. Abel's 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 is of consequence. There's somebody wants to see +you there. He sent me to say, would you come directly, and that he +knows all about Kit, and could save him yet, and prove his innocence." + +"What do you tell me, child?" + +"The truth, upon my word and honor, I do. But please to drive on--quick, +please! I've been such a time gone, he'll think I'm lost" + +Mr. Abel urged the pony forward, and at last they arrived at the door of +Mr. Swiveller's lodgings. + +"See! It's that room up there," said the Marchioness, pointing to one +where there was a faint light. "Come!" + +Mr. Abel who was naturally timid, hesitated; for he had heard of people +being decoyed into strange places, to be robbed and murdered, under +circumstances very like the present, by guides very like the +Marchioness. His regard for Kit, however, overcame every other +consideration. So he suffered his companion to lead him up the dark and +narrow stair, into a dimly lighted sick-chamber, where a man was lying +tranquilly in bed, in whose wasted face he recognized the features of +Richard Swiveller. + +"Why, how is this?" said Mr. Abel, kindly, "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." + +The story was repeated, without any deviation or omission, after which +Richard Swiveller took the word again; + +"You have heard it all," said Richard. "I'm too giddy and queer to +suggest anything, but you and your friends will know what to do. After +this long delay, every minute is an age. Don't stop to say one word to +me, but go! If you lose another minute in looking at me, sir, I'll never +forgive you!" + +Mr. Abel needed no more persuasion. To Dick's unbounded delight he was +gone in an instant, and Mr. Swiveller, exhausted by the interview, was +soon asleep, murmuring 'Strew, then, oh strew a bed of rushes. Here will +we stay till morning blushes.' "Good-night, Marchioness!" + +On awaking in the morning, he became conscious of whispering voices in +his room, and espied Mr. Garland, Mr. Abel, and two other gentlemen +talking earnestly with the Marchioness. Upon perceiving the invalid to +be awake, Mr. Garland stretched out his hand, and inquired how Mr. +Swiveller felt; adding + +"And what can we do for you?" + +"If you could make the Marchioness yonder, a Marchioness in real, sober +earnest," returned Dick, "I'd thank you to get it done offhand. But as +you can't, the question is, what is it best to do for Kit?" + +Gathering around Mr. Swiveller's bedside, the group of gentlemen then +proceeded to discuss in detail all the evidence against Sampson Brass, +as contained in the confession of the Marchioness, and what course was +wisest to pursue in the matter. After which the gentlemen took their +leaves for a time, or Richard Swiveller must assuredly have been driven +into another fever, in consequence of having entered into such an +exciting discussion. + +Mr. Abel alone remained behind, very often looking at his watch and the +room-door, until the reason of his watchfulness was disclosed when Mr. +Swiveller was roused from a short nap by the delivery at his door of a +mighty hamper, which, being opened, disgorged such treasures of tea, and +coffee, and wine, and rusk, and oranges, and grapes, and fowls, and +calvesfoot jelly, and other delicate restoratives, that the small +servant stood rooted to the spot, with her mouth and eyes watering in +unison, and her power of speech quite gone. With the hamper appeared +also a nice old lady, who bustled about on tiptoe, began to make +chicken-broth, and peel oranges for the sick man, and to ply the small +servant with glasses of wine, and choice bits of everything. The whole +of which was so bewildering that Mr. Swiveller, when he had taken two +oranges and a little jelly, was fain to lie down and fall asleep again, +from sheer inability to entertain such wonders in his mind. + +Meanwhile the other gentlemen, who had left Richard Swiveller's room, +had retired to a coffee-house near by, from whence they sent a +peremptory and mysterious summons to Miss Sally Brass to favor them with +her company there as soon as possible. To this she replied by an almost +immediate appearance, whereupon, without any loss of time, she was +confronted with the tale of the small servant. While it was being +related for her benefit, Sampson Brass himself suddenly opened the door +of the coffee-house and joined the astonished group. Hearing the certain +proofs of his guilt so clearly related, he saw that evasion was useless, +and made a full confession of the scheme whereby Kit was to have been +doomed, but laying the entire blame, however, upon the rich little +dwarf, Quilp, saying that he could not afford to lose his rich client, +nor the large bribe he offered for the arrest of the lad, Kit. + +Having secured the desired confession, the gentlemen hastened back to +Mr. Swiveller's room with the glad tidings, adding that it would now be +possible to accomplish the lad's immediate release, after making which +joyful statement, they took their departure for the night, leaving the +invalid with the small servant and one of their number, Mr. Witherden, +the notary, who remained behind to be the bearer of good news to +the invalid. + +"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. And by the terms of her will, you have fallen into an annuity +of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; I think I may congratulate you +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!" + +Mr. Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, even with the +strong tonic of his good fortune, 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 favor 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 expense of her education kept +him in straightened circumstances for half-a-dozen years, he never +slackened in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by +the accounts he heard of her advancement. + +In a word, Mr. Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment +until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age, at which +time, thanks to her earliest friend and most loyal champion, Richard +Swiveller, the shadows of a bitter past had been chased from her memory +by a happy present, and she was as good-looking, clever, and +good-humored a young woman as ever a real Marchioness might have been. + + + +MORLEENA KENWIGS + + + +[Illustration: THE KENWIGSES] + + + +MORLEENA KENWIGS + +The family who went by the designation of "The Kenwigses" were the wife +and olive branches of one Mr. Kenwigs, a turner in ivory, who was looked +upon as a person of some consideration where he lodged, inasmuch as he +occupied the whole of the first floor, comprising a suite of two rooms. +Mrs. Kenwigs too, was quite a lady in her manners, and of a very genteel +family, having an uncle, Mr. Lillyvick, who collected a water-rate, and +who she fondly hoped, would make her children his heirs. Besides which +distinction, the two eldest of her little girls went twice a week to a +dancing-school in the neighborhood, and had flaxen hair tied with blue +ribbons, hanging in luxuriant pigtails down their backs, and wore little +white trousers with frills round the ankles;--for all of which reasons +Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs, and the four olive Kenwigses, and the baby, were +considered quite important persons to know. + +Upon the eighth anniversary of Mrs. Kenwigs' marriage to Mr. Kenwigs, +they entertained a select party of friends, and on that occasion, after +supper had been served, the group gathered by the fireside; Mr. +Lillyvick being stationed in a large arm-chair, and the four little +Kenwigses disposed on a small form in front of the company, with their +flaxen tails towards them, and their faces to the fire; an arrangement +which was no sooner perfected than Mrs. Kenwigs was overpowered by the +feelings of a mother, and fell upon Mr. Kenwigs' shoulder, dissolved +in tears. + +"They are so beautiful!" she said, sobbing. "I can--not help it, and it +don't signify! Oh, they're too beautiful to live--much too beautiful!" + +On hearing this alarming presentiment of their early death, all four +little girls raised a hideous cry, and, burying their faces in their +mother's lap simultaneously, screamed until the eight flaxen tails +vibrated; Mrs. Kenwigs meanwhile clasping them alternately to her bosom, +with attitudes expressive of distraction. + +At length, however, she permitted herself to be soothed, and the little +Kenwigses were distributed among the company, to prevent the possibility +of Mrs. Kenwigs being again overcome by the blaze of their united +beauty, after which, Morleena, the eldest olive branch--whose name had +been composed by Mrs. Kenwigs herself for the especial benefit of her +daughter--danced a dance. It was a very beautiful figure, comprising a +great deal of work for the arms, and was received with unbounded +applause, as were the various accomplishments displayed by others of the +party. The affair was proceeding most successfully when Mr. Lillyvick +took offence at a remark made by Mr. Kenwigs, and sat swelling and +fuming in offended dignity for some minutes, then burst out in words of +indignation. Here was an untoward event! The great man,--the rich +relation--who had it in his power to make Morleena an heiress, and the +very baby a legatee--was offended. Gracious powers, where would +this end! + +"I am very sorry, sir," said Mr. Kenwigs humbly, but the apology was not +accepted, and Mr. Lillyvick continued to repeat; "Morleena, child, my +hat! Morleena, my hat!" until Mrs. Kenwigs sunk back in her chair, +overcome with grief, while the four little girls (privately instructed +to that effect) clasped their uncle's drab shorts in their arms, and +prayed him to remain. + +"Mr. Lillyvick," said Kenwigs, "I hope for the sake of your niece that +you won't object to being reconciled." + +The collector's face relaxed, as the company added their entreaties to +those of their host. He gave up his hat and held out his hand. + +"There, Kenwigs," he said. "And let me tell you at the same time, to +show you how much out of temper I was, that if I had gone away without +another word, it would have made no difference respecting that pound or +two which I shall leave among your children when I die." + +"Morleena Kenwigs," cried her mother, in a torrent of affection; "go +down upon your knees to your dear uncle and beg him to love you all his +life through, for he's more an angel than a man, and I've always +said so." + +Miss Morleena, approaching to do homage, was summarily caught up and +kissed by Mr. Lillyvick, and thereupon Mrs. Kenwigs herself darted +forward and kissed the collector, and all was forgiven and forgotten. + +No further wave of trouble ruffled the feelings of the party until +suddenly there came shrill and piercing screams from an upper room in +which the infant Kenwigs was enshrined, guarded by a small girl hired +for the purpose. Rushing to the door, Mrs. Kenwigs began to wring her +hands and shriek dismally, amid which cries, and the wails of the four +little girls, a stranger ran downstairs with the baby in his arms, +explaining hastily that, visiting a friend in a room above, he had heard +the cries, and found the baby's guardian asleep with her hair on fire. +This explanation over, the baby, who was unhurt, and who rejoiced in the +name of Lillyvick Kenwigs, was instantly almost suffocated under the +caresses of the audience, and squeezed to his mother's bosom until he +roared again. Then, after drinking the health of the child's preserver, +the company made the discovery that it was nigh two o'clock, whereat +they took their leave, with flattering expressions of the pleasure they +had enjoyed, to which Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs replied by thanking them, and +hoping they had enjoyed themselves only half as well as they said +they had. + +The young man, Nicholas Nickleby by name, who had rescued the baby, made +such an impression upon Mrs. Kenwigs that she felt impelled to propose +through the friend whom he had been visiting, that he should instruct +the four little Kenwigses in the French language at the weekly stipend +of five shillings; being at the rate of one shilling per week, per each +Miss Kenwigs, and one shilling over until such time as the baby might be +able to take it out in grammar. + +This proposition was accepted with alacrity by Nicholas, who betook +himself to the Kenwigs' apartment with all speed. Here he found the four +Miss Kenwigses on their form of audience, and the baby in a dwarf +porter's chair, with a deal tray before it, amusing himself with a toy +horse, while Mrs. Kenwigs spoke to the little girls of the superior +advantages they enjoyed above other children. "But I hope," she said, +"that that will not make them proud; but that they will bless their own +good fortune which has born them superior to common people's children. +And when you go out in the streets, or elsewhere, I desire that you +don't boast of it to the other children," continued Mrs. Kenwigs, "and +that if you must say anything about it, you don't say no more than +'we've got a private master comes to teach us at home, but we ain't +proud, because Ma says its sinful,' Do you hear, Morleena?" + +Upon the eldest Miss Kenwigs replying meekly that she did, permission +was conceded for the lesson to commence, and accordingly the four Miss +Kenwigses again arranged themselves upon their form, in a row, with +their tails all one way, while Nicholas Nickleby began his preliminary +explanations. + +Some months after this, the Kenwigses were thrown into a fever of rage +and disappointment, by receiving the cruel news of their Uncle +Lillyvick's marriage, which blow was a terrible one to Mrs. Kenwigs, +blighting her hopes for her children's future. After weeping and wailing +in the most agonized fashion, Mrs. Kenwigs drew herself up in proud +defiance, and denounced her uncle in terms direct and plain, stating +that he should never again darken her doors. In this terrible state of +affairs, it remained for Morleena of the flaxen tails, to bring about a +family re-union, and in this way: + +It had come to pass that she had received an invitation to repair next +day, per steamer from Westminster bridge, unto the Eel-Pie Island at +Twickenham, there to make merry upon a cold collation, and to dance in +the open air to the music of a locomotive band; the steamer having been +engaged by a dancing-master for his numerous pupils, one of whom had +extended an invitation to Miss Morleena, and Mrs. Kenwigs rightly deemed +the honor of the family was involved in her daughter making the most +splendid appearance possible. Now, between the Italian-ironing of +frills, the flouncing of trousers, the trimming of frocks, the faintings +from overwork and the comings-to again, incidental to the occasion, Mrs. +Kenwigs had been so entirely occupied, that she had not observed, until +within half an hour before, that the flaxen tails of Miss Morleena were +in a manner, run to seed; and that unless she were put under the hands +of a skilful hairdresser she never could achieve that signal triumph +over the daughters of all other people, anything less than which would +be tantamount to defeat. This discovery drove Mrs. Kenwigs to despair, +for the hairdresser lived three streets and eight dangerous crossings +off, and there was nobody to take her. So Mrs. Kenwigs first slapped +Miss Kenwigs for being the cause of her vexation, and then shed tears. + +"I can't help it, ma," replied Morleena, also in tears, "my hair _will_ +grow!" While they were both still bemoaning and weeping, a fellow lodger +in the house came upon them, and hearing of their difficulty, offered to +escort Miss Morleena to the barber-shop, and at once led her in safety +to that establishment. The proprietor, knowing she had three sisters, +each with two flaxen tails, and all good for sixpence apiece a month at +least, promptly deserted an old gentleman whom he had just lathered for +shaving, and waited on the young lady himself. The old gentleman raising +his head, Miss Kenwigs noticed his face and uttered a shrill little +scream,--it was her Uncle Lillyvick! + +Hearing his name pronounced, Mr. Lillyvick groaned, then coughed to hide +it, and consigning himself to the hands of an assistant, commenced a +colloquy with Miss Morleena's escort, rather striving to escape the +notice of Miss Morleena herself, and so remarkable did this behavior +seem to her, that at the imminent hazard of having her ear sliced off, +she could not forbear looking round at him some score of times. + +The cutting and curling being at last concluded, the old gentleman, who +had been finished some time, and simply waiting, rose to go also, and +walked out of the establishment with Miss Morleena and her escort, +proceeding with them, in profound silence until they had nearly reached +Miss Morleena's home, when he asked if her family had been very much +overpowered by the news of his marriage. + +"It made ma cry when she knew it," answered Miss Morleena, "and pa was +very low in his spirits, but he is better now, and I was very ill, but I +am better too." + +"Would you give your great-uncle Lillyvick a kiss, if he was to ask you, +Morleena?" said the collector, with some hesitation. + +"Yes, Uncle Lillyvick, I would," returned Miss Morleena with no +hesitation whatsoever, whereupon Mr. Lillyvick caught her in his arms +and kissed her, and being by this time at the door of the house, he +walked straight up into the Kenwigses' sitting-room and put her down in +their midst. The surprise and delight that reigned in the bosom of the +Kenwigses at the unexpected sight, was only heightened by the joyful +intelligence that their uncle's married life had been both brief and +unsatisfactory, and by his further statement: + +"Out of regard for you, Susan and Kenwigs, I shall to-morrow morning +settle upon your children, and make payable to their survivors when they +come of age, or marry, that money which I once meant to leave 'em in my +will. The deed shall be executed to-morrow!" + +Overcome by this noble and generous offer, and by their emotion, Mr. +Kenwigs, Mrs. Kenwigs, and Miss Morleena Kenwigs all began to sob +together, and the noise communicating itself to the next room where the +other children lay a-bed, and causing them to cry too, Mr. Kenwigs +rushed wildly in, and bringing them out in his arms, by two and two, +tumbled them down in their night-caps and gowns at the feet of Mr. +Lillyvick, and called upon them to thank and bless him. + +And this wonderful domestic scene,--this family reconciliation was +brought about by Miss Morleena, eldest of the four little Kenwigses, +with the flaxen tails! + + + +LITTLE NELL + + + +[Illustration: LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER] + + + +LITTLE NELL + +There was once an old man, whose daughter dying, left in his care two +orphan children, a son twelve years old, and little Nell, a younger +girl. The grandfather was now an old and feeble man, but gathering +himself together as best he could, he began to trade;--in pictures +first--and then in curious ancient things, and from the Old Curiosity +Shop, as it was called, he was able to obtain a slender income. + +The boy grew into a wayward youth, and soon quitted his grandfather's +home for companions more suited to his taste, but sweet little Nell +remained, and grew 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 his daughter +had come back, a child again. + +The old man and little Nell dwelt alone,--he loving her with a +passionate devotion, and haunted with a fearful dread lest she should be +left to a life of poverty and want, when he should be called to leave +her. This fear so overmastered him that it led him to the gaming-table, +and--for her sake--he became a professional gambler, hoping to lay by a +vast fortune for her future use. But he lost heavily and constantly, +until his slender resources were exhausted, and he was obliged to borrow +money from the rich little dwarf money-lender, Quilp, pledging his stock +as security for the loans. + +But of all this Little Nell knew nothing, or she would have implored +him to give up the dangerous practice. She only knew that, after her +monotonous days, uncheckered by variety and uncheered by pleasant +companionship, the old man, who seemed always agitated by some hidden +care, and weak and wandering in his mind, taking his cloak and hat and +stick, would pass from the house, leaving her alone through the dreary +evenings and long solitary nights. + +It was not the absence of such pleasures as make young hearts beat high, +that brought tears to Nell's eyes. It was the sight of the old man's +feeble state of mind and body, and the fear that some night he should +fail to come home, having been overtaken by illness or sudden death. +Such fears as these drove the roses from her smooth young cheeks, and +stilled the songs which before had rung through the dim old shop, while +the gay, lightsome step passed among the dusty treasures. Now she seldom +smiled or sang, and among the few bits of comedy in her sad days, were +the visits of Kit Nubbles, her grandfather's errand boy, a shock-headed, +shambling, comical lad, whose devotion to the beautiful child verged on +worship. Appreciating Nell's loneliness, Kit visited the shop as often +as possible, and the exquisite oddity and awkwardness of his manner so +amused her that at sight of him she would give way to genuine merriment. +Kit himself, being always flattered by the sensation he produced, would +often burst into a loud roar, and stand with his mouth wide open, and +his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently. + +Twice every week Nell gave the lad a writing lesson, to the great mirth +and enjoyment of them both, and each time Kit tucked up his sleeves, +squared his elbows, and put his face very close to the copy-book, +squinting horribly at the lines, fairly wallowing in blots, and daubing +himself with ink up to the roots of his hair,--and if he did by accident +form a letter properly, he immediately smeared it out again with his +arm--and at every fresh mistake there was a fresh burst of merriment +from the child and from poor Kit himself. + +But of such happy times sweet Nell had few, and she became more anxious +about her grandfather's health, as he became daily more worried over the +secret which he would not share with her, and which preyed upon his mind +and body with increasing ravages. + +Fortune did not favor his ventures, and Quilp, having discovered for +what purpose he borrowed such large sums, refused him further loans. In +an agony of apprehension for the future, the old man told Nell that he +had had heavy losses, that they would soon be 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, gestures, "O, 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, "do not +let me see such change in you, 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, as the child added, "Let us +be beggars. I have no fear but we shall have enough: I'm sure we shall. +Let us walk through country places, and never think of money again, or +anything that can make you sad, but rest at nights, and have the sun +and wind on 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 places 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. + +That very day news came that the Old Curiosity Shop and its contents +would at once pass into Quilp's hands, in payment of the old man's +debts. In vain he pleaded for one more chance to redeem himself--for one +more loan--Quilp was firm in his refusal of further help, and little +Nell found the old man, overcome by the news, lying upon the floor of +his room, alarmingly ill. For weeks he lay raving in the delirium of +fever, little Nell alone beside him, nursing him with a single-hearted +devotion. The house was no longer theirs; even the sick chamber they +retained by special favor until such time as the old man could be +removed. Meanwhile, Mr. Quilp had taken formal possession of the +premises, and to make sure that no more business was transacted in the +shop, was encamped in the back parlor. So keen was Nell's dread of even +the sound of the dwarfs voice, that she lived in continual apprehension +of meeting him on the stairs, or in the passage, and seldom stirred from +her grandfather's room. + +At length the old man began to mend--he was patient and quiet, easily +amused, and made no complaint, but his mind was forever weakened, and he +seemed to have only a dazed recollection of what had happened. Even when +Quilp told him that in two days he must be moved out of the shop, he +seemed not to take it to heart, wandering around the house, a very child +in act and thought. But a change came over him on the second evening; as +he and little Nell sat silently together. He was moved--shed +tears--begged Nell's forgiveness for what he had made her suffer--seemed +like one coming out of a dream--and urged her to help him in acting upon +what they had talked of doing long before. + +"We will not stop here another day," he said, "we will go far away from +here. 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 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; but thou wilt be well again, and merry too, when we +are far away. To-morrow morning, dear, we will turn our faces from this +scene of sorrow, and be as free and happy as the birds." + +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 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, 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, and a staff to support +his feeble steps. But this was not all her task, for now she must say +farewell to her own little room, where she had so often knelt down and +prayed at night--prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning now! +There were some trifles there, which she would have liked to take away, +but that was impossible. She wept bitterly to leave her poor bird +behind, until the idea occurred to her that it might fall into the hands +of Kit, who would keep and cherish it for her sake. She was calmed and +comforted by this thought, and went to rest with a lighter heart. + +At length the day began to glimmer, when she arose and dressed herself +for the journey, and with the old man, trod lightly down the stairs. At +last they reached the ground-floor, 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 to the right and left, +then at her, and shook his head. It was plain that she was henceforth +his guide and leader. The child felt it, but had no doubts or +misgivings, 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 free of +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. Every object was bright and fresh; nothing reminded +them, otherwise than by contrast, of the monotony and restraint they +had left behind. + +Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor +adventurers, wandering they knew not whither, often pressing each +other's hands, or exchanging a smile, as they pursued their way through +the city streets, through the haunts of traffic and great commerce, +where business was already rife. The old man looked about him with a +bewildered gaze, for these were places that he hoped to shun, nor did he +seem at ease until at last they felt that they were clear of London, and +sat down to rest, and eat their frugal breakfast from little +Nell's basket. + +The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the +waving grass, the wild flowers, and the thousand exquisite scents and +sounds that floated in the air, 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 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. + +"Are you tired?" asked 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 are too near to stop and be at +rest. Come!" + +They were now in the open country, through which they walked all day, +and slept that night at a cottage where beds were let to travellers. +Next morning they were afoot again, and still kept on until nearly five +o'clock in the afternoon, when they stopped at a laborer's hut, asking +permission to rest awhile and buy a draught of milk. The request was +granted, and after having some refreshments and rest, Nell yielded to +the old man's fretful demand to travel on again, and they trudged +forward for another mile, thankful for a lift given them by a kindly +driver going their way, for they 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 in one corner of the +cart when she fell fast asleep, and was only awakened by its stopping +when their ways parted. The driver pointing out the town in the near +distance, directed them to take the path leading through the churchyard. +Accordingly, to this spot they directed their weary steps, and presently +came upon two men who were seated upon the grass. It was not difficult +to divine that they were 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; while scattered upon the ground, and jumbled +together in a long box, were the other persons of the drama. The hero's +wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the foreign gentleman, +the executioner, and the devil, all were here. Their owners had +evidently come to that spot to make some needful repairs in their stock, +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. + +They greeted the strangers with a nod, and the old man sitting down +beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight, began to +talk. While they chatted, Mr. Short, a little merry, red-faced man with +twinkling eyes, turning over the figures in the box, drew one forth, +saying ruefully to his companion, Codlin by name: "Look here, here's all +this Judy's clothes falling to pieces again. You haven't got needle and +thread, I suppose?" + +The little man shook his head, and seeing that they were at a loss, +Nell 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." + +As Mr. Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable, +Nelly 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 toward 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. The long, low, white +house there. It's very cheap." + +The old man, who would have remained in the churchyard all night if his +new acquaintances had stayed there too, yielded to this suggestion a +ready and rapturous assent, and they all rose and walked away together +to the public house, where, after witnessing an exhibition of the show, +they had a good supper, but Nell was too tired to eat, and was grateful +when they retired to the loft where they were to rest. 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 sat there till he +slept, then went to her own room and sat thinking 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 might be increased a +hundredfold. It would be best to hide this coin, and never produce it +unless their case was absolutely desperate. 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. + +On the following morning, Mr. Short asked Nell, "And where are you going +to-day?" + +"Indeed I hardly know," replied the child. + +"We're going on to the races," said the little man. "If you'd like to +have us for company, let us travel together." + +"Well go with you," said the old man eagerly. "Nell--with them, with +them." + +The child considered for a moment, and reflecting that she must soon +beg, and could scarcely do so at a better place, thanked the little man +for his offer, and said they would accompany him. + +Presently they started off and made a long day's journey, and were yet +upon the road when night came on. Threatening clouds soon gave place to +a heavy rain, and the party took refuge for the night in a roadside inn, +where they found a mighty fire blazing upon the hearth, and savory +smells coming from iron pots. + +Furnished with slippers and dry garments, and overpowered by the warmth +and comfort of the room and the fatigue they had undergone, Nelly and +the old man had not long taken seats in the warm chimney-corner when +they fell asleep. + +"Who are they?" whispered the landlord. + +Short and Codlin shook their heads. "They're no harm," said Short. +"Depend upon that I tell you what--it's plain that the old man aren't in +his right mind--I believe that he's given his friends the slip and +persuaded this delicate young creature, 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-goin' to stand that. I'm +not a-goin' 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 dewelop an +intention of parting company from us, I shall take measures for +detainin' of 'em and restoring them 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, "it's possible there may be uncommon good +sense in what you've said. If there is, and there should be a reward, +Short, remember that we are partners in everything!" + +His companion had only time to nod a brief assent to this proposition, +for the child awoke at the instant, as strange footsteps were heard +without, and fresh company entered. + +These were no other than four very dismal dogs, who came pattering in, +headed by an old bandy dog, who erected himself upon his hind legs, and +looked around at his companions, who immediately stood upon their hind +legs in a grave and melancholy row. These dogs each wore a kind of +little coat of some gaudy color, trimmed with tarnished spangles, and +one of them had a cap upon his head, tied 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 with rain, and that the +wearers were all splashed and dirty, and some idea may be formed of the +unusual appearance of the new visitors to the inn. Jerry, the manager of +these dancing dogs, disencumbering himself of a barrel-organ, and +retaining in his hand a small whip, came up to the fire and entered into +conversation. The landlord then busied himself in laying the cloth for +supper, which, being at length ready to serve, little Nell ventured to +say grace, and supper began. + +At this juncture the poor dogs were standing upon 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, please. That +dog," said Jerry, pointing out the old leader of the troop, and speaking +in a terrible voice, "lost a half-penny to-day. He goes without +his supper." + +The unfortunate creature dropped upon his forelegs 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, 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 is called, eats. Carlo!" + +The lucky individual whose name was called, snapped up the morsel thrown +towards him, but none of the others moved a muscle. 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 around, and applied himself with +increased diligence to the Old Hundredth. + +That night, from various conversations in which Codlin and Short took +pains to engage her, little Nell began to have misgivings concerning +their protestations of friendship, and to suspect their motives. These +misgivings made the child anxious and uneasy, as the party travelled on +towards the town where the races were to begin next day. + +It was dark when they reached the town, and there all was tumult and +confusion. The streets were filled with throngs of people, the +church-bells rang out their noisy peals, and flags streamed from windows +and house-tops, while shrill flageolets and deafening drums added to +the uproar. + +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 she should be separated from him, and left to find +her way alone. Quickening their steps they made for the racecourse, +which was upon an open heath. There were many people here, none of the +best-favored or best clad, busily erecting tents, but the child felt it +an escape from the town, and drew her breath more freely. After a scanty +supper, 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 Nell stole out, and plucked a few wild +roses and such humble flowers, to make into little nosegays and offer 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, tying her flowers together, while Codlin and Short +lay dozing in another corner, she 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'm 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, adding, "Grandfather, these men suspect that we have +secretly left our friends, and mean to carry us before some gentlemen, +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 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. 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. + +"Making some nosegays," the child replied; "I'm going to try to sell +some. Will you have one?--as a present, I mean." Mr. Codlin stuck it in +his buttonhole with an air of ineffable complacency, and laid himself +down again. + +As the morning wore on, the tents assumed a more brilliant appearance. +Men, who had lounged about in smock frocks and leather leggings, came +out in silken vests and hats and plumes, as jugglers or mountebanks. +Black-eyed gypsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to +tell fortunes. 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 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 at his heels went Thomas Codlin, bearing the show, and +keeping his eyes 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 looks, to offer them at some +gay carriage, but, alas! there were many bolder beggars there, adepts at +their trade, and although some ladies smiled gently as they shook their +heads, and others cried: "See, what a pretty face!" they let the pretty +face pass on, and never thought that it looked tired or hungry, and +among all that gay throng, there was but one lady, who, taking her +flowers, put money in the child's trembling hand. + +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, was roused from +her meditation by a loud laugh at some witticism of Mr. Short. + +If they were ever to get away unseen, that was the very moment. Short +and Codlin were absorbed in giving the show, and in coaxing sixpences +from the people's pockets, and the spectators were looking on with +laughing faces. That was the moment for escape. They seized it and fled. + +They made a path through booths, and carriages, and throngs of people, +and never once stopped to look behind, but creeping under the brow of +the hill at a quick pace, made for the open fields, and not until they +were quite exhausted ventured to sit down to rest upon the borders of a +little wood, and some time elapsed before the child could reassure her +trembling companion, or restore him to a state of moderate +tranquillity. His terrors affected her. 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 in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped. +Then, remembering how weak her companion was, and how destitute and +helpless he would be if she failed him, she was animated with new +strength and fortitude, and assured him that they had nothing to fear. +Luring him onward through the woods with happy looks and smiles, the +serenity which she had at 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 +of the woods, the more they felt that the tranquil mind of God was +there, and shed its peace on them. + +At length the path brought them to a public road which to their great +joy at last led into the centre of a small village. Uncertain where to +seek a lodging, they approached an old man sitting in a garden before +his cottage. He was the schoolmaster, and had "School" written over his +window in black letters. He was a pale, simple-looking man, and sat +among his flowers and beehives, taking no notice of the travellers, +until Nell approached him, dropping a curtsey, and asking if he could +direct them anywhere to obtain a shelter for the night. + +"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 schoolroom, +which was parlor and kitchen likewise, and told them they were welcome +to remain till morning. Before they had done thanking him, he spread the +table, and besought them to eat and drink. + +After a sound night's rest in the little cottage, Nell rose early, and +was attempting to make the room in which she had supped last night neat +and comfortable, when their kind host came in. She asked leave to +prepare breakfast, and the three soon partook of it together. While the +meal was in progress, their host remarked that the old man stood in need +of rest, and that he should be glad of their company for another night. +It required no great persuasion to induce the child to answer that they +would remain. She was happy to show her gratitude to the kind +schoolmaster by performing such household duties as his little cottage +stood in need of. When these were done, she took some needlework from +her basket, and sat down beside the lattice, where the honeysuckle and +woodbine filled the room 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. Presently the schoolmaster took his seat behind his desk, and as +he seemed pleased to have little Nell beside him, she busied herself +with her work, entering into conversation with the schoolmaster while +the scholars conned their lessons, and watching the boys with eager and +attentive interest. + +Upon the following morning there remained for the travellers only to +take leave of the poor schoolmaster, and wander forth once more. With a +trembling and reluctant hand, the child held out to their kind host the +money which the lady had given her at the races for her flowers, +faltering in her thanks, and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her +put it up, and kissing her cheek, wished her good fortune and happiness, +adding, "If you ever pass this way again, you will 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." + +They bade him farewell very many times, often looking back, until they +could see him no more. They trudged onward now at a quicker pace, +resolving to keep the main road, and go wherever it might lead them. The +afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening when the road struck +across a common. On the border of this common, a caravan was drawn up +to rest. + +It was not a shabby, dingy 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. 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 upon the frowzy grass. Neither was it a gypsy 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 refreshing one of +drinking tea. The tea things were set forth upon a drum covered with a +napkin; and there sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the +prospect. As she was in the act of setting down her cup, she 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, "Yes, to be sure--Who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate?" + +"Won what, ma'am?" asked Nell. + +"The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child. Can't you say who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate when you're asked a 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," rejoined 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 them? Does this +caravan look as if it know'd 'em?" + +"No, ma'am, no," said the child, fearing that she had committed some +grievous fault, "I beg your pardon." + +It was granted immediately, and the child then explained that they had +left the races on the first day, and were travelling to the next town, +and ventured to inquire how far it was. The stout lady's reply was +rather discouraging, and Nell could scarcely repress a tear at hearing +that it was eight miles off. Her grandfather made no complaint, and the +two were about to pass on, when the lady of the caravan called to the +child to return. Beckoning to her to ascend the steps, she asked,--"Are +you hungry?" + +"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're agreeable to that, old gentleman?" + +The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat, and thanked her, and sitting +down, they made a hearty meal, enjoying it to the utmost. + +While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan held a short +conversation with her driver, after which she informed Nell that she and +her grandfather were to go forward in the caravan with her, for which +kindness Nell thanked the lady with unaffected earnestness. She helped +with great alacrity to put away the tea-things, and mounted into the +vehicle, followed by her delighted grandfather. Their patroness then +shut the door, and away they went, with a great noise of flapping, and +creaking, and straining, and the bright brass knocker, knocking one +perpetual double knock of its own accord as they jolted heavily along. + +When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance, Nell +looked around the caravan, and observed it more closely. One half of it +was carpeted, with a sleeping place, after the fashion of a berth on +board ship, partitioned off at the farther end, which was shaded 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, and the necessary +cooking utensils, which latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which +in the other portion of the establishment were decorated with a number +of well-thumbed musical instruments. + +Presently the old man fell asleep, and the lady of the caravan 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 that it was very pleasant indeed. Instead +of speaking again, the lady of the caravan sat looking at the child for +a long time in silence, then getting up, brought out a 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." + +The lady of the caravan then unfolded another scroll, whereon was the +inscription, "One hundred figures the full size of life," then several +smaller ones with such inscriptions as, "The genuine and only Jarley," +"Jarley is the delight of the nobility and gentry," "The royal family +are the patrons of Jarley." When she had exhibited these to the +astonished child, she brought forth 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 others were composed with a view to +the lighter and more facetious spirits, as a parody on the favorite air +of "If I had a donkey," beginning: + + "If I know'd a donkey what 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 other compositions in prose, 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, Mrs. Jarley then rolled these +testimonials up, and having put them carefully away, sat down and looked +at the child in triumph. + +"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 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 life-like, that if wax-work only +spoke and walked about, you'd hardly know the difference." + +"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? It's gone on in the other wans to the room where +it'll be exhibited the day after to-morrow. You're going to the same +town, and you'll see it, I dare say." + +"I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am," said the child. + +This answer appeared to greatly astonish Mrs. Jarley, who asked so many +questions that Nell was led to tell her some of the details concerning +their poverty and wanderings, after which the lady of the caravan +relapsed into a thoughtful silence. At length she shook off her fit of +meditation, and held a long conversation with the driver, which +conference being concluded, she beckoned Nell to approach. + +"And the old gentleman, too," said Mrs. Jarley. "I want to have a word +with him. Do you want a good situation for your granddaughter, master? +If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do you say?" + +"I can't leave her, ma'am," answered the old man. "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," whispered the child. "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, +but presently she addressed the grandfather again: + +"If you're really disposed to employ yourself," she said, "you could +help to dust the figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want +your granddaughter for is to point 'em out to the company. It's not a +common offer, bear in mind," said the lady. "It's Jarley's wax-work, +remember. The duties very light and genteel, the company particularly +select. There is none of your open-air wagrancy at Jarley's, recollect; +there is no tarpaulin and saw-dust at Jarley's, remember. Every +expectation held out in the hand-bills is realized 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 to the details of common life, when she had +reached this point, Mrs. Jarley remarked that she could pledge herself +to no specific salary until she had tested Nell's ability, but that she +could promise both good board and lodging for the child and her +grandfather. Her offer was thankfully accepted. + +"And you'll never be sorry for it," said Mrs. Jarley. "I'm pretty sure +of that. So, as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper." + +In the mean while the caravan blundered on, and came at last upon a +town, near midnight. As it was too late to repair to the exhibition +rooms, they drew up near to another caravan bearing the great name of +Jarley, which being empty, was assigned to the old man as his +sleeping-place. As for Nell herself, she was to sleep in Mrs. Jarley's +own travelling-carriage as a signal mark of that lady's favor. + +On the following morning Nell was put to work at once, helping to unpack +the chests and arrange the draperies in the exhibition rooms. When this +was accomplished, the stupendous collection of figures was uncovered, +standing more or less unsteadily upon their legs, 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 was at great pains to instruct Nell in her duty. + +"That," said Mrs. Jarley, in her exhibition tones, as Nell touched a +figure, "is an unfortunate maid-of-honor 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, +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 curved, 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. So well did Nell +profit by her instructions, that at the end of a couple of hours, she +was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, and +perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors, and Mrs. Jarley +was not slow to express her admiration at this happy result. + +In the midst of the various devices used later for attracting visitors +to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The cart in which the +Brigand usually made his perambulations, being gayly dressed with flags +and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, Nell sat beside him, +decorated with artificial flowers, and rode slowly through the town +every morning, dispersing hand-bills 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, became a mere secondary consideration, and important only as +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 inclosures of nuts +and apples at the wax-work door. + +This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs. Jarley, who, lest Nell +should become too cheap, 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. + +Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found the lady of +the caravan a very kind and considerate person indeed. 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, Nell had no cause for anxiety until one holiday +evening, when they went out together for a walk. They had been closely +confined for some days, and the weather being warm, had strolled a long +distance, when they were caught in a most terrific thunder-shower, from +which they sought refuge in a roadside tavern, where some men sat +playing cards with a pile of silver money between them. When the old +man's eye lighted upon them, the child saw with alarm that his whole +appearance underwent a complete change. His face was flushed and eager, +his breath came short and quick, and the hand he laid upon her arm +trembled so violently, that she shook beneath its grasp. To his frenzied +appeal for money, Nell repeated a firm refusal, but he was insistent. + +"Give me the money," he exclaimed--"I must have it. There there--that's +my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child, never fear!" + +She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it, and hastened to +the other side of the screen where the two men were playing. Almost +immediately they invited him to join their game, whereupon, throwing +Nell's purse down upon the table, he gathered up the cards as a miser +would clutch at gold. The child sat by and watched the game in a perfect +agony of fear, 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. + +The storm had raged for full three hours, when at length the play came +to an end. Nell's little purse lay empty, and still the old man sat +poring over the cards until the child laid her arm upon his shoulder, +telling him that it was near midnight. + +Now Nell had still the piece of gold, and considering the lateness of +the hour, and into what a state of consternation they would throw Mrs. +Jarley by knocking her up at that hour, proposed to her grandfather that +they stay where they were for the night. As they would leave very early +in the morning, the child was anxious to pay for their entertainment +before they retired, 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 out secretly, and following the landlord into the bar, +tendered it to him there. She was returning, when she fancied she saw a +figure gliding in at the door. There was only a 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, she +felt that she had been watched. She was still thinking of this, when a +girl came to light her to bed. + +It was a great gloomy house, which the flaring candles seemed to make +yet more gloomy, and the child did not feel comfortable when she was +left alone. She could not help thinking of the figure stealing through +the passage downstairs. At last a broken and fitful sleep stole upon +her. A deeper slumber followed this--and then--What! That figure in the +room! A figure was there, it crouched and slunk along, stealing round +the bed. She had no voice to cry for help, no power to move,--on it +came--silently and stealthily to the bed's head. There it remained, +motionless as she. At length, it busied its hands in something, and she +heard the chink of money. Then it dropped upon its hands and knees, and +crawled away. It reached the door at last, the steps creaked beneath its +noiseless tread, and it was gone. + +The first impulse of the child was not to be alone--and with no +consciousness of having moved, she gained the door. Once in her +grandfather's room, she would be safe. An idea flashed suddenly upon +her--what if the figure should enter there, and have a design upon the +old man's life? She turned faint and sick. She saw it creeping in front +of her. It went in. 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 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. + +With steps more unsteady than those with which she had approached the +room, the child groped her way back into her own chamber. The terror +which she had lately felt was nothing compared with that which now +oppressed her. The grey-haired 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 far more dreadful than anything her wildest fancy +could have suggested. The feeling which beset her was one of uncertain +horror. She had no fear of the dear old grandfather, but the man she had +seen that night seemed like another creature in his shape. 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! + +She sat thinking of these things, until she felt it would be a relief to +hear his voice, or if he were asleep, even to see him, and so she stole +down the passage again. Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly +on his bed, fast asleep. 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, softly kissing 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. 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. Upon searching her pocket on the following +morning she found her money was all gone--not a sixpence remained. + +"Grandfather," she said in a tremulous voice, after they had walked +about a mile on their road in silence, "Do you think they are honest +people at the house yonder? I ask because I lost some money last +night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by some one 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--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. It was not the lightest part of +her sorrow that this was done for her. + +"Let me persuade you, dear grandfather," she said earnestly, "Oh, do let +me persuade you to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no +fortune but the fortune we pursue together. Only remember what we have +been since that bright morning when we turned our backs upon that +unhappy house for the last time," continued Nell. "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, and +walked on, looking as if he were painfully trying to collect his +thoughts. Once she saw tears in his eyes. When they 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 by degrees +settled down into his usual quiet way, and suffered her to lead him +where she would. + +As Nell had anticipated, they found Mrs. Jarley was not yet out of bed, +and that although she had suffered some uneasiness on their account, she +had felt sure that being overtaken by the storm, they had sought the +nearest shelter for the night. And as they sat down to breakfast, she +requested Nell to go that morning to Miss Monflather's Boarding and Day +School to present its principal with a parcel of new bills, as her +establishment had yet sent but half-a-dozen representatives to see the +stupendous wax-work collection. Nell's expedition met with no success, +to Mrs. Jarley's great indignation, and Nell would have been +disappointed herself at its failure, had she not had anxieties of a +deeper kind to occupy her thoughts. + +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, she +sat up alone until he returned--penniless, broken spirited, and +wretched, but still hotly bent upon his infatuation. + +"Give me money," he said wildly, "I must have money, Nell. It shall be +paid thee back with gallant interest one day, but all the money which +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 burned him, +and put him perhaps beyond recovery. Distracted by these thoughts, +tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever he was absent, and +dreading alike his stay and his return, the color forsook her cheek, her +eyes grew dim, and her heart was oppressed and heavy. + +One evening, wandering alone not far from home, the child came suddenly +upon a gypsy camp, and looking at the group of men around the fire saw +to her horror and dismay that one was her grandfather. The others she +recognized as the card-players at the public-house on the eventful night +of the storm. Drawing near, where she could listen unseen, she heard +their conversation; heard them obtain her grandfather's promise to rob +Mrs. Jarley of the tin box in which she kept her savings--and to play a +game of cards with them, with its contents for stakes. + +"God be merciful to us!" cried the child, "and help us in this trying +hour! What shall I do to save him?" + +The remainder of the conversation related merely to the execution of +their project, after which the old man shook hands with his tempters, +and withdrew. Then Nell crept away, fled home as quickly as she could, +and threw herself upon her bed, distracted. The first idea that flashed +upon her mind was instant flight. Then she remembered that the crime was +not to be committed until next night, and there was time for resolving +what to do. Then she was distracted with a horrible fear that he might +be committing it at that moment. She stole to the room where the money +was, and looked in. God be praised! he was not there, and Mrs. Jarley +was sleeping soundly. She went back to her own room, and tried to +prepare herself for bed, but who could sleep--sleep! 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, +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. "A dreadful, horrible +dream! I have had it once before. It is a dream of gray-haired men like +you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing the 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. We must +fly. There is no time to lose;" 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. +Nothing but flight can save us. Up!" + +The old man arose, 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. 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, his staff too, and then she led +him forth. + +Through the streets their trembling feet passed quickly, and at last the +child looked back upon the sleeping town, on the far-off river, 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. Her +momentary weakness passed, she again summoned the resolution to keep +steadily in view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and +crime, and that her grandfather's preservation depended solely on her +firmness. While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to shrink and cower down +before her, 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. "I have saved him," she thought, "in all +distresses and dangers 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, +would have filled her with sorrow and regret. But now, all other +considerations were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties, and in +the desperation of their condition. + +In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate +face where thoughtful care already mingled with a 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. The night +crept on apace, the moon went down and when the sun had climbed 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, and they slept side by side. A +confusion of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her, and she +discovered a man of rough appearance standing over her, while his +companions were looking on from a canal-boat which had come close to the +bank while she was sleeping. The man spoke to Nell, asking what was the +matter, and where she and her grandfather were going. Nell faltered, +pointing at hazard toward the west--and upon the man inquiring if she +meant a certain town which he named, Nell, to avoid more questioning, +said "Yes, that was the place." After asking some other questions, he +mounted one of the horses towing the boat, which at once went on. +Presently it stopped again, and the man beckoned to Nell: "You may go +with us if you like," he said. "We're going to the same place." + +The child hesitated for one moment. Thinking that the men whom she had +seen with her grandfather might perhaps in their eagerness for the +booty, follow them, and regain their influence over him, and that if +they went on the canal-boat all traces of them must be surely +lost--accepted the offer. Before she had any more time for +consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, gliding smoothly +down the canal, through the bright water. + +They did not reach their destination until the following morning, and +Nell was glad indeed when the trip was ended, for the noisy rugged +fellows on the boat were rough enough to make her heart palpitate for +fear, but though they quarrelled among themselves, they were civil +enough to their two passengers; and at length the boat floated into its +destination. The men were occupied directly, and the child and her +grandfather, after waiting in vain to thank them, or ask whither they +should go, passed out into a crowded noisy street of a manufacturing +village, and stood, in the pouring rain, distressed and confused. +Evening came on. They were still wandering up and down, bewildered by +the hurry they beheld, but had no part in. Shivering with the cold and +damp, ill in body, and sick to death at heart, the child needed her +utmost resolution to creep along. No prospect of relief appearing, they +retraced their steps to the wharf, hoping to be allowed to sleep on +board the boat that night. But here again they were disappointed, for +the gate was closed. + +"Why did you bring me here?" asked 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, +"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, +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?" + +Wandering on, they took shelter in an old doorway from which the figure +of a man came forth, who, touched with the misery of their situation, +and with Nell's drenched condition, offered them such lodging as he had +at his command, in the great foundry where he was employed. He led them +through the bewildering sights and deafening sounds of the huge +building, to his furnace, and there spread Nell's little cloak upon a +heap of ashes, and showing her where to hang her outer clothes to dry, +signed to her and the old man to lie down and sleep. The warmth of her +bed, combined with her great fatigue, caused the tumult of the place to +lull the child to sleep, and the old man was stretched beside her, as +she lay and dreamed. On the following morning her friend shared his +breakfast with the child and her grandfather, and parting with them left +in Nell's hand two 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? + +With an intense longing for pure air and open country, they toiled +slowly on, the child walking with extreme difficulty, for the pains that +racked her joints were of no common severity, and every exertion +increased them. But they wrung from her no complaint, as the two +proceeded slowly on, clearing the town in course of time. They slept +that night with nothing between them and the sky, amid the horrors of a +manufacturing suburb, and who shall tell the terrors of that night to +the young wandering child. + +And yet she had no fear for herself, for she was past it, but put up a +prayer for the old man. A penny loaf was all that they had had that day. +It was very little, but even hunger was forgotten in the strange +tranquillity that crept over her senses. So very weak and spent she felt +as she lay down, 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. Morning came--much weaker, yet the child made no complaint--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. Objects appeared more dim, the noise less, the +path more 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. + +They were dragging themselves along toward evening and the child felt +that the time was close at hand when she could bear no more. Before them +she saw a traveller reading from a book which he carried. + +It was not an easy matter to come up with him, and beseech his aid, for +he walked fast. 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 faintly to implore his help. + +He turned his head. Nell clapped her hands together, uttered a wild +shriek, and fell senseless at his feet. It was no other than the poor +schoolmaster. Scarcely less moved and surprised than the child herself, +he stood for a moment, silent and confounded by the unexpected +apparition, without even presence of mind to raise her from the ground. +But, quickly recovering his self-possession, and dropping on one knee +beside her, he endeavored to restore her to herself. + +"She is quite exhausted," he said, glancing upward into the old man's +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 bore her away at his utmost +speed to a small inn within sight. + +The landlady came running in, with hot brandy and water, with which and +other restoratives, the child was so far recovered as to be able to +thank them in a faint voice. Without suffering her to speak another +word, the woman carried her off to bed, and after having been made warm +and comfortable, she had a visit from the doctor himself, who ordered +rest and nourishment. As Nell evinced extraordinary uneasiness on being +apart from her grandfather, he took his supper with her. Finding her +still restless on this head, they made him up a bed in an inner room, to +which he presently retired. The key of this chamber happening 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. + +In the morning the child was better, but so weak that she would at least +require a day's rest and careful nursing before she could proceed upon +her journey. The schoolmaster decided to remain also, and that evening +visited Nell in her room. His frank kindness, and the affectionate +earnestness of his speech and manner, gave the child a confidence in +him. She told him all--that they had no friend or relative--and that she +sought a home in some remote place, where the temptation before which +her grandfather had fallen would never enter, and her late sorrows and +distresses could have no place. + +The schoolmaster heard her with astonishment, and with admiration for +the heroism and patience of one so young. He then told her that he had +been appointed clerk and schoolmaster to a village a long way off, at +five-and-thirty pounds a year, and that he was on his way there now. He +concluded by saying that she and her grandfather must accompany him, and +that he would endeavor to find them some occupation by which they +could subsist. + +Accordingly next evening they travelled on, with Nell comfortably +bestowed in a stage-wagon 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. + +It was a fine clear autumn morning, when they came upon the village of +their destination, and every bit of scenery, and stick and stone looked +beautiful to the child who had passed through such scenes of poverty and +horror. Leaving Nell and her grandfather upon the church porch, the +schoolmaster hurried off to present a letter, and to make inquiries +concerning his new position. After a long time he appeared, jingling a +bundle of rusty keys, and quite breathless with pleasure and haste. As a +result of his exertions on their behalf, Nell and her grandfather were +to occupy a small house next to the one apportioned to him. Having +disburdened himself of this great surprise, the schoolmaster then told +Nell that the house which was henceforth to be hers, had been occupied +by an old person who kept the keys of the church, opened and closed it +for the services, and showed it to strangers; that she had died not many +weeks ago, and nobody having yet been found to fill the office, he had +made bold to ask for it for her and her grandfather. As a result of his +testimony to their ability and honesty, they were already appointed to +the vacant post. + +"There's a small allowance of money," said the schoolmaster. "It is not +much, but 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!" + +To make their dwellings habitable, and as full of comfort as they +could, was now their pleasant care, and in a short time each had a +cheerful fire crackling on the hearth. Nell, busily plying her needle, +repaired the tattered window-hangings, and made them whole and decent. +The schoolmaster swept the ground before the door, trimmed the long +grass, trained the ivy and creeping plants, and gave to the outer walls +a cheery air of home. The old man lent his aid to both, went here and +there on little patient services and was happy. Neighbors too, 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 all +too soon. + +They took their supper together, and when they had finished it, drew +round the fire and 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. + +When every sound was hushed, and her grandfather sleeping, the child +lingered before the dying embers, and thought of her past fortunes as if +they had been a dream, and the deep and thoughtful feelings which +absorbed her, gave her no sensation of terror or alarm. A change had +been gradually stealing over her, in the time of her loneliness and +sorrow. With failing strength and heightened resolution, there had +sprung up a purified and altered mind; there had grown in her bosom +those blessed hopes and thoughts which are the portion of few but the +weak and drooping. There were none to see the frail figure as it glided +from the fire and leaned pensively at the casement; none but the stars +to look into the upturned face and read its history. + +It was long before the child closed the window, and approached her +bed--but when she did--it was to sink into a sleep filled with sweet and +happy dreams. + +With the morning came the renewal of yesterday's labors, the revival of +its pleasant thoughts, the restoration of its energies, cheerfulness and +hope. They worked gayly until noon, and then visited the clergyman, who +received them kindly, and at once showed an interest in Nell. 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 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 night," said the old +gentleman, laying his hand upon her head, "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 the solemn ruins." + +After more kind words, they withdrew, and from that time Nell's heart +was filled with a serene and peaceful joy, and she occupied herself with +such light tasks as were hers to accomplish, and the peace of the simple +village moved her deeply, while more and more she grew to love the old +and silent chapel. + +She sat down one day in this old and silent place, among the stark +figures on the tombs and gazing round with a feeling of awe tempered +with calm delight, felt that now she was happy and at rest. She took a +Bible and read; then laying it down, thought of the summer days and +bright springtime that would come--of the rays of sun that would fall in +aslant upon the sleeping forms--of the song of birds, and growth of buds +and blossoms out of doors--What if the spot awakened thoughts of death? +Die who would, 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, and climbed to its turret-top. Oh! the glory of the +sudden burst of light; the freshness of the fields and woods, meeting +the bright blue sky; everything so beautiful and happy! It was like +passing from death to life; it was drawing nearer heaven. And yet the +dim old chapel had for her a depth of fascination which the outer world +did not possess. Again that day, twice, she stole back to the chapel, +and read from the same book, or indulged in the same quiet train of +thought. Even when night fell, she sat like one rooted to the spot until +they found her there and took her home. She looked pale but very happy, +but as the schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek, he thought he +felt a tear upon his face. + +From a village bachelor, who took great interest in the beautiful child, +Nell soon learned the histories connected with every tomb and +gravestone, with every gallery, wall, and crypt in the dim old church. +These she treasured in her mind, dwelling on them often in her thoughts +and repeating them to those sightseers who cared to hear them. Her +duties were not arduous, but she did not regain her strength, and in her +grandfather's mind sprang up a solicitude about her which never left +him. From the time of his awakening to her weakness, never did he have +any care for himself, any thought of his own comfort, which could +distract his attention from the gentle object of his love and care, He +would follow her up and down, waiting till she should tire, and lean +upon his arm--he would sit opposite to her, 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 night to listen to her breathing in her +sleep. 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 upon the poor old man. + +Weeks crept on--sometimes the child, exhausted, would pass whole +evenings on a couch beside the fire. At such times, the schoolmaster +would read aloud to her, and seldom an evening passed but the bachelor +came in and took his turn at reading. During the daytime the child was +mostly out of doors, and all the strangers who came to see the church, +praised the child's beauty and sense, and all the neighbors, and all the +villagers, and the very schoolboys grew to have a fondness for +poor Nell. + +Meanwhile, in that busy world which Nell and her grandfather had left +behind them so many months before, there had appeared a stranger, who +gave up all his time and energy to endeavoring to trace the wanderers. +He was Nell's grandfather's younger brother, who had for many years been +a traveller in distant lands, with almost no information of his brother. +His thoughts began to revert constantly to the days when they were boys +together, and obeying the impulse which impelled him, he hastened home, +arriving one evening at his brother's door, only to find the +wanderers gone. + +By dint of ceaseless watchfulness and vigilance, at last he gained a +clue to their retreat, and lost no time in following it up, taking with +him Kit Nubbles, the errand-boy at the Shop in old days, who, though +now in the employ of kind Mr. Garland, was still loyal to the memory of +his beloved Miss Nelly--and only too grateful to be allowed to go in +search of her, with the stranger whom she would not recognize. So +together they journeyed to the peaceful village, where Nell and her +grandfather were hidden, Kit carrying with him Nell's bird in his own +cage. She would be glad to see it, he knew, but alas for Kit--they found +sweet Nell in the sleep that knows no waking on this our earth. + +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 favor. "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 forever. + +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, there had been the same mild lovely look. So shall we +know the angels in their majesty, after death. + +The old man 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 paths she had trodden, +as it were, but yesterday--could know her never more. + +She had been dead two days. 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 fervor. 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 arms about his neck. They did +not know that she was dead, at first. + +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. + +They carried her to an 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 colored 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. + +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 she had loved to linger in the +church when all was quiet, and even to climb the tower stair with no +more light than that of the moon's 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. Then, when the dusk of evening had come +on, 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 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 to defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of +light to heaven. + + + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON + + + +[Illustration: THE INFANT PHENOMENON] + + + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON + +Mr. Vincent Crummles was manager of a theatrical company, and also the +head of a most remarkable family indeed, each member of which was gifted +with an extraordinary combination of talent and attractiveness, and most +remarkable of all the family was the Infant Phenomenon. + +After Nicholas Nickleby, teacher at Dotheboys Hall, quitted that +wretched institution in disgrace, because he had resented injuries +inflicted upon the scholars in general, and upon the poor half-starved, +ill-used drudge, Smike, in particular, Smike stole away from the place +where he had been so cruelly used, to follow his defender, and the two +journeyed on together towards Portsmouth, resting for the night at a +roadside inn some miles from their destination. At the inn they met Mr. +Crummles who, upon discovering them to be destitute of money, and +desirous of obtaining employment as soon as possible, offered them both +engagements in his company, which offer, after a brief deliberation, +Nicholas decided to accept, until something more to his liking should be +available. + +Accordingly they journeyed to Portsmouth, together with Mr. Crummles and +the master Crummleses, and accompanied the manager through the town on +his way to the theatre. + +They passed a great many bills pasted against the wall, and displayed +in windows, wherein the names of Mr. Vincent Crummles, Mrs. Vincent +Crummles, Master Crummles, Master Peter Crummles, and Miss Crummles, +were printed in large letters, and everything else in very small +letters; and turning at length into an entry in which was a strong smell +of orange-peel and lamp-oil, with an under-current of saw-dust, groping +their way through a dark passage, and descending a step or two, emerged +upon the stage of the Portsmouth theatre. + +It was not very light, and as Nicholas looked about him, ceiling, pit, +boxes, gallery, orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind,--all +looked coarse, cold, gloomy and wretched. + +"Is this a theatre?" whispered Smike, in amazement; "I thought it was a +blaze of light and finery." + +"Why, so it is," replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; "But not by +day, Smike,--not by day." + +At this moment the manager's voice was heard, introducing the +new-comers, under the stage names of Johnson and Digby, to Mrs. +Crummles, a portly lady in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet +dangling by the strings, and with a quantity of hair braided in a large +festoon over each temple; who greeted them with great cordiality. + +While they were chatting with her, there suddenly bounded on to the +stage from some mysterious inlet, a little girl in a dirty white frock, +with tucks up to the knees, short trousers, sandalled shoes, white +spencer, pink gauze bonnet, green veil and curl papers, who turned a +pirouette, then looking off in the opposite wing, shrieked, bounded +forward to within six inches of the footlights, and fell into a +beautiful attitude of terror, as a shabby gentleman in an old pair of +buff slippers came in at one powerful slide, and chattering his teeth +fiercely, brandished a walking-stick. + +"They are going through, 'The Indian Savage and the Maiden,'" said Mrs. +Crummles. + +"Oh!" said the manager, "the little ballet interlude. Very good. Go on. +A little this way, if you please, Mr. Johnson. That'll do. Now!" + +The manager clapped his hands as a signal to proceed, and the Savage, +becoming ferocious, made a slide towards the Maiden; but the Maiden +avoided him in six twirls, and came down, at the end of the last one, +upon the very points of her toes. This seemed to make some impression +upon the Savage, for after a little more ferocity and chasing of the +Maiden into corners, he began to relent, and stroked his face several +times with his right thumb and forefingers, thereby intimating that he +was struck with admiration of the Maiden's beauty. Acting upon the +impulse of this passion, he began to hit himself severe thumps in the +chest, and to exhibit other indications of being desperately in love, +which, being rather a prosy proceeding, was very likely the cause of the +Maiden's falling asleep; whether it was or no, asleep she did fall, +sound as a church, on a sloping bank, and the Savage, perceiving it, +leant his left ear on his left hand, and nodded sideways, to intimate to +all whom it might concern that she _was_ asleep, and no shamming. Being +left to himself, the Savage had a dance all alone. Just as he left off, +the Maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance +all alone too--such a dance that the Savage looked on in ecstacy all the +while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighboring tree some +botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it +to the Maiden, who at first wouldn't have it, but on the Savage shedding +tears, relented. Then the Savage jumped for joy; then the Maiden jumped +for rapture at the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage; then the Savage +and the Maiden danced violently together, and finally the Savage +dropped down on one knee, and the Maiden stood on one leg upon his other +knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state +of pleasing uncertainty whether she would ultimately marry the Savage, +or return to her friends. + +"Bravo!" cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. +"Beautiful!" + +"This, sir," said Mr. Vincent Crummles, bringing the Maiden forward, +"This is the Infant Phenomenon--Miss Ninetta Crummles." + +"Your daughter?" inquired Nicholas. + +"My daughter--my daughter," replied Mr. Crummles; "the idol of every +place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this +girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town +in England." + +"I am not surprised at that," said Nicholas; "she must be quite a +natural genius." + +"Quite a--!" Mr. Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to +describe the Infant Phenomenon. "I'll tell you what, sir," he said; "the +talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, +sir--seen--to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your +mother, my dear." + +"May I ask how old she is?" inquired Nicholas. + +"You may, sir," replied Mr. Crummles, "She is ten years of age, sir," + +"Not more?" + +"Not a day." + +"Dear me," said Nicholas, "it's extraordinary." + +It was; for the Infant Phenomenon certainly looked older, and had +moreover, been precisely the same age for certainly five years. But she +had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance +of gin and water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps +this system of training had produced in the Infant Phenomenon these +additional phenomena. + +When this dialogue was concluded, another member of the company, Mr. +Folair, joined Nicholas, and confided to him the contempt of the entire +troupe for the Infant Phenomenon. "Infant Humbug sir!" he said. "There +isn't a female child of common sharpness in a charity school that +couldn't do better than that. She may thank her stars she was born a +manager's daughter." + +"You seem to take it to heart," observed Nicholas with a smile. + +"Yes, by Jove, and well I may," said Mr. Folair testily "isn't it enough +to make a man crusty, to see the little sprawler put up in the best +business every night, and actually keeping money out of the house by +being forced down the people's throats while other people are passed +over? Why, I know of fifteen-and-sixpence that came to Southampton last +month to see me dance the Highland Fling, and what's the consequence? +I've never been put up at it since--never once--while the 'Infant +Phenomenon' has been grinning through artificial flowers at five people +and a baby in the pit, and two boys in the gallery, every night." + +From these bitter remarks, it may be inferred that there were two ways +of looking at the performances of the Infant Phenomenon, but as jealousy +is well known to be unjust in its criticism, and as the Infant was too +highly praised by her own band of admirers to be much affected by such +remarks, if any of them reached her ears, there is no evidence that her +joy was diminished by reason of the complaints of captious +fault-finders. + +At the first evening performance which Nicholas witnessed, he found the +various members of the company very much changed; by reason of false +hair, false color, false calves, false muscles, they had become +different beings; the stage also was set in the most elaborate +fashion,--in short everything was on a scale of the utmost splendor and +preparation. + +Nicholas was standing contemplating the first scene when the manager +accosted him. + +"Been in front to-night?" said Mr. Crummles. + +"No," replied Nicholas, "not yet. I am going to see the play." + +"We've had a pretty good Let," said Mr. Crummles. "Four front places in +the centre, and the whole of the stage box." + +"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas; "a family, I suppose?" + +"Yes," replied Mr. Crummles. "It's an affecting thing. There are six +children, and they never come unless the Phenomenon plays." + +It would have been difficult for any party to have visited the theatre +on a night when the Phenomenon did _not_ play, inasmuch as she always +sustained one, and not uncommonly two or three characters, every night; +but Nicholas, sympathizing with the feelings of a father, refrained from +hinting at this trifling circumstance, and Mr. Crummies continued: + +"Six,--pa and ma eight,--aunt nine,--governess ten,--grandfather and +grandmother, twelve. Then, there's the footman who stands outside with a +bag of oranges and a jug of toast-and-water, and sees the play for +nothing through the little pane of glass in the box-door--it's cheap at +a guinea; they gain by taking a box." + +"I wonder you allow so many," observed Nicholas. + +"There's no help for it," replied Mr. Crummles; "it's always expected +in the country. If there are six children, six people come to hold them +in their laps. Ring in the orchestra, Grudden!" + +It was Mr. Crummles' habit to give a benefit performance, commonly +called a "bespeak," to any member of his company fortunate enough to +have either a birthday or any other anniversary of sufficient importance +to challenge attention on the posters, and not long after Nicholas +entered the company, this honor fell to the lot of one of the prominent +actresses, Miss Snevellicci. Mr. Crummles then informed Nicholas that +there was some work for him to do before that event took place. + +"There's a little canvassing takes place on these occasions," said Mr. +Crummles, "among the patrons, and the fact is, Snevellicci has had so +many bespeaks in this place that she wants an attraction. She had one +when her stepmother died, and when her uncle died; and Mrs. Crummles and +myself have had them on the anniversary of the Phenomenon's birthday, +and our wedding-day, and occasions of that description; so that, in +fact, it is hard to get a good one. Now, won't you help this poor girl, +Mr. Johnson, by calling with her to-morrow morning upon one or two of +the principal people?"--asked the manager in a persuasive tone, adding, +"The Infant will accompany her. There will not be the smallest +impropriety, sir. It would be of material service--the gentleman from +London--author of the new piece--actor in the new piece--first +appearance on any boards--it would lead to a great bespeak, +Mr. Johnson." + +The idea was extremely distasteful to Nicholas; but out of kindness to +Miss Snevellicci, he reluctantly consented to be one of the canvassing +party, and accordingly the next morning, sallied forth with Miss +Snevellicci and the Infant Phenomenon. + +The Phenomenon was rather a troublesome companion, for first the right +sandal came down, and then the left, and these mischances being +repaired, one leg of the little white trousers was discovered to be +longer than the other; then the little green parasol with a broad fringe +border and no handle, which she bore in her hand, was dropped down an +iron grating, and only fished up again by dint of much exertion. +However, it was impossible to scold her, as she was the manager's +daughter, so Nicholas took it all in perfect good humor and walked on, +with Miss Snevellicci, arm in arm, on one side, and the offending infant +on the other. + +At the first house they visited, after having a long conversation +concerning the stage, and its relation to life, they at length disposed +of two boxes, and retired, glad that the conference was at an end. + +At the next house they were in great glory, for there resided the six +children who had been enraptured with the Phenomenon, and who, being +called down from the nursery to be treated with a private view of that +young lady, proceeded to poke their fingers into her eyes, and tread +upon her toes, and show her many other little attentions peculiar to +their time of life. + +"I shall certainly persuade Mr. Borum to take a private box," said the +lady of the house, after a most gracious reception; "Augustus, you +naughty boy, leave the little girl alone." This was addressed to a young +gentleman who was pinching the Phenomenon from behind, apparently with a +view to ascertaining whether she was real. + +"I am sure you must be very tired," said the mamma, turning to Miss +Snevellicci. "I cannot think of allowing you to go without first taking +a glass of wine. Fie, Charlotte, I am ashamed of you: Miss Lane, my +dear, pray see to the children." + +This entreaty addressed to the governess, was rendered necessary by the +behavior of the youngest Miss Borum, who, having filched the +Phenomenon's little green parasol, was now carrying it bodily off, while +the distracted Infant looked helplessly on, and presently the poor child +was really in a fair way to be torn limb from limb, for two strong +little boys, one holding on by each of her hands, were dragging her in +different directions as a trial of strength. However, at this juncture +Miss Lane rescued the unhappy victim, who was presently taken away, +after sustaining no more serious damage than a flattening of the pink +gauze bonnet, and a rather extensive creasing of the white frock and +trousers. Her companions were thankful not only when the call was ended, +but when the whole trying morning, with its series of visits, was over. + +The benefit performance was a great success, and the new actor made such +a decided hit on that night and the succeeding ones, that Mr. Crummies +prolonged his stay in Portsmouth for a fortnight beyond the days +allotted to it, during which time Nicholas attracted so many people to +the theatre that the manager finally decided upon giving him a benefit, +calculating that it would be a promising speculation. From it Nicholas +realized no less a sum than twenty pounds, which, added to what he had +earned before, made him feel quite rich and comfortable. + +At that time he received a letter containing news of his sister in +London, and a danger that menaced her, which made him prepare to leave +Portsmouth without an hour's delay, if he should be summoned. + +Accordingly he decided to acquaint his manager with the possibility of +his withdrawal from the company, and hastened to the green-room for that +purpose, where he found Mrs. Crummies in full regal costume, with the +Phenomenon as the Maiden, in her maternal arms. He broke the news to +the group as gently as possible, but it was received with great dismay, +and there were both protestations and tears, while the Phenomenon, being +of an affectionate nature and moreover excitable, raised a loud cry, and +was soothed with extreme difficulty, showing that the child's heart was +in the right place, notwithstanding the constant strain upon her +emotions from being so often obliged to simulate unnatural ones. + +Mr. Crummles was no sooner acquainted with the news than he evinced many +tokens of grief, but finding Nicholas determined in his purpose, at once +suggested a grand farewell performance, to be advertised as a brilliant +display of fireworks. + +"That would be rather expensive," suggested Nicholas dryly. + +"Eighteen-pence would do it," said Mr. Crummles; "You on the top of a +pair of steps with the Phenomenon in an attitude; 'FAREWELL,' on a +transparency behind; and nine people at the wings with a squib in each +hand--all the dozen and a half going off at once--it would be very +grand--awful from the front, quite awful." + +As Nicholas appeared by no means impressed with the idea, but laughed +heartily at it, Mr. Crummles abandoned the project, and gloomily +observed that they must make up the best bill they could, with combats +and hornpipes, and so stick to the legitimate drama. + +Next day the posters appeared, and the public were informed that Mr. +Johnson would have the honor of making his last appearance that evening, +and that an early application for places was requested, in consequence +of the extraordinary overflow attendant on his performances. + +Upon entering the theatre that night, Nicholas found all the company in +a state of extreme excitement, and Mr. Crummles at once informed him in +an agitated voice that there was a London manager in one of the boxes. + +"It's the Phenomenon, depend upon it, sir," said Crummies. "I have not +the smallest doubt it's the fame of the Phenomenon. She shall have ten +pound a week, Johnson; she shall not appear on the London boards for a +farthing less. They shan't engage her either, unless they engage Mrs. +Crummles too; twenty pound a week for the pair, or I'll throw in myself +and the two boys, and they shall have the family for thirty. Thirty +pound a week. It's too cheap, Johnson. It's dirt cheap." + +Every individual member of the company had in the same manner decided +that it was his or her attractions that had drawn the great man's +attention to the Portsmouth theatre, and each one secretly decided upon +the amount of inducement necessary to persuade him or her to make a new +engagement. Everybody played to the stranger, everybody sang to him, +everything was done for his exclusive benefit, and it was a cruel blow +to the general expectations when he was discovered to be asleep, and +shortly after that he woke up and went away: in consequence of which, +the feelings of the company, collectively and severally, underwent a +severe reaction. Nicholas alone, had no feeling whatsoever on the +subject, except of amusement. He went through his part as briskly as he +could, then took Smike's arm and walked home to bed. + +With the post next morning came the letter he had been expecting, +calling him instantly to London, and he at once hurried off to say +farewell to Mr. Crummles. His news was received with keen regret by that +gentleman, who, always mindful of theatrical effects followed Nicholas +even to the coach itself. As that vehicle stood in the open street, +ready to start, and Nicholas was about to enter it, he was not a little +astonished to find himself suddenly clutched in a violent embrace which +nearly took him off his legs; while Mr. Crummles' voice exclaimed, "It +is he--my friend, my friend!" + +"Bless my heart," cried Nicholas, struggling in the manager's arms, +"What are you about?" + +The manager made no reply, but strained him to his breast again, +exclaiming, "Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!" + +In fact Mr. Crummles, who could never lose any opportunity for +professional display, had turned out for the express purpose of taking a +public farewell of Nicholas, and to render it the more imposing, the +elder Master Crummles was going through a similar ceremony with Smike; +while Master Percy Crummles, with a second-hand cloak worn theatrically +over his left shoulder, stood by, in attitude of an attendant officer +waiting to convey two victims to the scaffold. + +The lookers-on laughed very heartily, and as it was well to put a good +face upon the matter, Nicholas laughed too, when he had succeeded in +disengaging himself; and rescuing the astonished Smike, climbed up to +the coach-roof after him, waving farewell, as they rolled away. + +Some years later, when Nicholas was residing in London, under very +different circumstances from those of his Portsmouth experience, and +with a very different occupation; walking home one evening, he stood +outside a minor theatre which he had to pass, and found himself poring +over a huge play-bill which announced in large letters; + +_Positively the last appearance of Mr. Vincent Crummles, of Provincial +Celebrity!!!_ + +"Nonsense!" said Nicholas, preparing to resume his walk, then turning +back again, "It can't be,"--but adding on second thoughts--"Surely it +_must_ be the same man. There can't be two Vincent Crummleses." + +The better to settle the question he referred to the bill again, and +finding there was a Baron in the first piece, whose son was enacted by +one Master Crummles, and his nephew by one Master Percy Crummles, and +that, incidental to the piece was a castanet _pas seul_ by the Infant +Phenomenon, he no longer entertained any doubt; and presenting himself +at the stage door at once, sent in a scrap of paper with "Mr. Johnson" +written thereon in pencil, and was presently conducted into the presence +of his former manager. + +Mr. Crummles was unfeignedly glad to see him, and in the course of a +long conversation informed Nicholas that the next morning he and his +were to sail for America, that he had made up his mind to settle there +permanently, in the hope of acquiring some land of his own, which would +support them in their old age, and which they could afterward bequeath +to their children. Nicholas, having highly commended this resolution, +Mr. Crummles imparted such further intelligence relative to their mutual +friends as he thought might prove interesting, and added a hearty +invitation to Nicholas to attend that night a farewell supper, to be +given in their honor at a neighboring tavern. + +This invitation Nicholas instantly accepted, promising to return at the +conclusion of the performances, and availed himself of this interval to +go out and buy a silver snuff-box as a token of remembrance for Mr. +Crummles, also a pair of ear-rings for Mrs. Crummles, a necklace for the +Phenomenon, and a flaming shirt-pin for each of the young gentlemen, +after making which purchases he returned to the theatre, and repaired to +the tavern with Mr. Crummles. + +He was received with great cordiality by those of the party whom he +knew, and with particular joy by Mrs. Crummles, who at once said: "Here +is one whom you know,"--thrusting forward the Phenomenon, in a blue +gauze frock, extensively flounced, and trousers of the same. + +Nicholas stooped down to salute the Phenomenon, and then, supper being +on table, Mrs. Crummles gave her hand to Nicholas and repaired with a +stately step to the repast, followed by the other guests. + +The board being at length cleared of food; and punch, wine, and spirits +being placed upon it, and handed about, speeches were made, and health +drunk to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Crummles and the young Crummleses, after +which ceremony, with many adieus and embraces, the company dispersed. + +Nicholas waited until he was alone with the family, to give his little +presents, and then with honest warmth of feeling said farewell to Mr. +and Mrs. Crummles, the Master Crummleses, and the Infant +Phenomenon,--and history has not chronicled their further career, nor +recorded to what greater heights of popularity the Infant Phenomenon has +since attained. + + + +JENNY WREN + + + +[Illustration: JENNY WREN] + + + +JENNY WREN + +Her real name was Fanny Cleaver, but she had long ago dropped it, and +chosen to bestow upon herself the fanciful appellation of Miss Jenny +Wren, by which title she was known to the entire circle of her friends +and business acquaintances. + +Miss Wren's home was in a certain little street called Church Street, +running out from a certain square called Smith Square, at Millbank, and +there the little lady plied her trade, early and late, having for +companions her father and a lodger, Lizzie Hexam. Her father had once +been a good workman at his own trade, but unfortunately for poor little +Jenny Wren, was so weak in character and so confirmed in bad habits that +she could place no trust in him, and had come to consider herself the +head of the family, and to speak of him as "my child," or "my bad boy," +ordering him about as if he were in truth, a child. + +When Lizzie Hexam's brother and a friend, Bradley Headstone, paid their +first visit to the house on Church Street, they knocked at the door, +which promptly opened and disclosed a child--a dwarf, a girl--sitting on +a little, low, old-fashioned arm-chair, which had a kind of little +working-bench before it. + +"I can't get up," said the child, "because my back's bad and my legs are +queer. But I'm the person of the house." + +"Who else is at home?" asked Charley Hexam, staring? + +"Nobody's at home at present," returned the child, with a glib +assertion of her dignity, "except the person of the house." + +The queer little figure, and the queer, but not ugly little face, with +its bright grey eyes, was so sharp that the sharpness of the manner +seemed unavoidable. + +The person of the house continued the conversation: "Your sister will be +in," she said, "in about a quarter of an hour. I'm very fond of your +sister. Take a seat. And would you please to shut the street door first? +I can't very well do it myself, because my back's so bad and my legs are +so queer." + +They complied, and the little figure went on with its work of gumming or +gluing together pieces of cardboard and thin wood, cut into various +shapes. The scissors and knives upon the bench, showed that the child +herself had cut them; and the bright scraps of velvet and silk and +ribbon also strewn upon the bench showed that when duly stuffed, she was +to cover them smartly. The dexterity of her nimble fingers was +remarkable, and as she brought two thin edges accurately together by +giving them a little bite, she would glance at the visitors out of the +corners of her grey eyes with a look that out-sharpened all her other +sharpness. + +"You can't tell me the name of my trade, I'll be bound," she said. + +"You make pincushions," said Charley. + +"What else do I make?" + +"Penwipers," said his friend. + +"Ha, ha! What else do I make?" + +"You do something," he returned, pointing to a corner of the little +bench, "with straw; but I don't know what." + +"Well done, you!" cried the person of the house. "I only make +pincushions and penwipers, to use up my waste. But my straw really does +belong to my business. Try again. What do I make with my straw?" + +"Dinner-mats?" + +"Dinner-mats! I'll give you a clue to my trade in a game of forfeits. I +love my love with a B because she's beautiful; I hate my love with a B +because she is brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar; and I +treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer and she lives in +Bedlam--now, what do I make with my straw?" + +"Ladies' bonnets?" + +"Fine ladies'," said the person of the house, nodding assent. "Dolls'. +I'm a Doll's dressmaker." + +"I hope it's a good business?" + +The person of the house shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No. +Poorly paid. And I'm often so pressed for time. I had a doll married +last week, and was obliged to work all night. And they take no care of +their clothes, and they never keep to the same fashions a month. I work +for a doll with three daughters. Bless you, she's enough to ruin her +husband!" The person of the house gave a weird little laugh, and gave +them another look but of the corners of her eyes. She had an elfin chin +that was capable of great expression; and whenever she gave this look, +she hitched this chin up, as if her eyes and her chin worked together on +the same wires. + +"Are you always as busy as you are now?" + +"Busier. I'm slack just now. I finished a large mourning order the day +before yesterday. Doll I work for lost a canary bird." + +"Are you alone all day?" asked Bradley Headstone. "Don't any of the +neighboring children--?" + +"Ah," cried the person of the house, with a little scream as if the word +had pricked her. "Don't talk of children. I can't bear children. I know +their tricks and their manners!" She said this with an angry little +shake of her right fist, adding: + +"Always running about and screeching, always playing and fighting, +always skip--skip--skipping on the pavement, and chalking it for their +games! Oh--I know their tricks and their manners!" Shaking the little +fist as before. "And that's not all. Ever so often calling names in +through a person's keyhole, and imitating a person's back and legs. Oh! +_I_ know their tricks and their manners. And I tell you what I'd do to +punish 'em. There's doors under the church in the Square--black doors +leading into black vaults. Well! I'd open one of those doors, and I'd +cram 'em all in, and then I'd lock the door and through the keyhole I'd +blow in pepper." + +"What would be the good of blowing in pepper?" asked Charley Hexam. + +"To set 'em sneezing," said the person of the house, "and make their +eyes water. And when they were all sneezing and inflamed, I'd mock 'em +through the keyhole. Just as they, with their tricks and their manners, +mock a person through a person's keyhole!" + +An emphatic shake of her little fist, seemed to ease the mind of the +person of the house; for she added with recovered composure, "No, no, +no. No children for me. Give me grown-ups." + +It was difficult to guess the age of this strange creature, for her poor +figure furnished no clue to it, and her face was at once so young and so +old. Twelve, or at the most thirteen, might be near the mark. + +"I always did like grown-ups," she went on, "and always kept company +with them. So sensible. Sit so quiet. Don't go prancing and capering +about! And I mean always to keep among none but grown-ups till I marry. +I suppose I must make up my mind to marry, one of these days!" + +At that moment Lizzie Hexam entered, and the visitors after saying +farewell to the dolls' dressmaker, took Lizzie out with them for a +short walk. + +The person of the house, dolls' dressmaker, and manufacturer of +ornamental pincushions and penwipers, sat in her quaint little low +arm-chair, singing in the dark, until Lizzie came back. + +"Well, Lizzie--Mizzie--Wizzie," said she, breaking off in her song. +"What's the news out of doors?" + +"What's the news indoors?" returned Lizzie playfully, smoothing the +bright long fair hair, which grew very luxuriant and beautiful on the +head of the dolls' dressmaker. It being Lizzie's regular occupation when +they were alone of an evening to brush out and smooth the long fair +hair, she unfastened a ribbon that kept it back while the little +creature was at work, and it fell in a beautiful shower over the poor +shoulders that were much in need of such adorning rain. + +Lizzie then lighted a candle, put the room door and the house door open, +and turned the little low chair and its occupant toward the outer air. +It was a sultry night, and this was a fine weather arrangement when the +day's work was done. To complete it, she seated herself by the side of +the little chair, and protectingly drew under her arm the spare hand +that crept up to her. + +"This is what your loving Jenny Wren calls the best time of the day and +night," said the person of the house; adding, "I have been thinking +to-day what a thing it would be, if I should be able to have your +company till I am married, or at least courted. Because when I'm +courted, I shall make _him_ do some of the things that you do for me. He +couldn't brush my hair like you do, or help me up and downstairs like +you do, and he couldn't do anything like you do; but he could take my +work home, and he could call for orders in his clumsy way. And he shall +too. _I'll_ trot him about, I can tell him!" + +Jenny Wren had her personal vanities--happily for her--and no intentions +were stronger in her breast than the various trials and torments that +were, in the fulness of time, to be inflicted upon "him." + +"Wherever he may happen to be just at present, or whoever he may happen +to be," said Miss Wren, "_I_ know his tricks and his manners, and I give +him warning to look out." + +"Don't you think you're rather hard upon him?" asked her friend smiling, +and smoothing her hair. + +"Not a bit," replied the sage Miss Wren, with an air of vast experience. +"My dear, they don't care for you, those fellows, if you're not hard +upon 'em?" + +In such light and playful conversation, which was the dear delight of +Jenny Wren, they continued until interrupted by Mr. Wrayburn, a friend +of Lizzie's, who fell to talking playfully with Jenny Wren. + +"I think of setting up a doll, Miss Jenny," he said. + +"You had better not," replied the dressmaker. + +"Why not?" + +"You are sure to break it. All you children do." + +"But that makes good for trade, you know, Miss Wren," he returned. + +"I don't know about that," Miss Wren retorted; "but you'd better by half +set up a pen-wiper, and turn industrious, and use it." + +"Why, if we were all as industrious as you, little Busy Body, we should +begin to work as soon as we could crawl, and there would be a +bad thing!" + +"Do you mean," returned the little creature with a flush suffusing her +face, "bad for your backs and your legs?" + +"No, no," said the visitor, shocked at the thought of trifling with her +infirmity. "Bad for business. If we all set to work as soon as we could +use our hands, it would be all over with the dolls' dressmakers. + +"There's something in that," replied Miss Wren, "you have a sort of an +idea in your noddle sometimes!" Then, resting one arm upon the elbow of +her chair, resting her chin upon that hand, and looking vacantly before +her, she said in a changed tone: "Talking of ideas, my Lizzie, I wonder +how it happens that when I am working here all alone in the summer-time, +I smell flowers. This is not a flowery neighborhood. It's anything but +that. And yet as I sit at work, I smell miles of flowers; I smell +rose-leaves till I think I see the rose-leaves lying in heaps, bushels, +on the floor; I smell fallen leaves, till I put down my hand--so--and +expect to make them rustle; I smell the white and the pink May in the +hedges, and all sorts of flowers that I never was among. For I have seen +very few flowers indeed in my life." + +"Pleasant fancies to have, Jenny dear!" said her friend with a glance +toward their visitor, as if she would have asked him whether they were +given the child in compensation for her losses. + +"So I think, Lizzie, when they come to me. And the birds I hear! Oh!" +cried the little creature, holding out her hand and looking upward, "How +they sing!" + +There was something in the face and action for the moment quite inspired +and beautiful. Then the chin dropped musingly upon the hand again. + +"I dare say my birds sing better than other birds, and my flowers smell +better than other flowers. For when I was a little child," in a tone as +though it were ages ago, "the children that I used to see early in the +morning were very different from any others I ever saw. They were not +like me; they were not chilled, anxious, ragged, or beaten; they were +never in pain. They were not like the children of the neighbors; they +never made me tremble all over, by setting up shrill noises; and they +never mocked me. Such numbers of them too! All in white dresses, and +with something shining on the borders, and on their heads, that I have +never been able to imitate with my work, though I know it so well. They +used to come down in long, bright, slanting rows, and say all together, +'Who is this in pain! Who is this in pain!' When I told them who it was, +they answered, 'Come and play with us!' When I said 'I never play! I +can't play,' they swept about me and took me up, and made me light. Then +it was all delicious ease and rest till they laid me down, and said all +together, 'Have patience, and we will come again.' Whenever they came +back, I used to know they were coming before I saw the long bright rows, +by hearing them ask, all together a long way off, 'Who is this in pain! +Who is this in pain!' And I used to cry out, 'Oh my blessed children, +it's poor me. Have pity on me. Take me up and make me light!'" + +By degrees as she progressed in this remembrance, the hand was raised, +the last ecstatic look returned, and she became quite beautiful again. +Having so paused for a moment, silent, with a listening smile upon her +face, she looked round and recalled herself. + +"What poor fun you think me, don't you," she said to the visitor. "You +may well look tired of me. But it's Saturday night, and I won't +detain you." + +"That is to say, Miss Wren," observed the visitor, rather weary of the +person of the house, and quite ready to profit by her hint, "you wish +me to go?" + +"Well, it's Saturday night," she returned, "and my child's coming home. +And my child is a troublesome, bad child, and costs me a world of +scolding. I would rather you didn't see my child." + +"A doll?" said the visitor, not understanding, and looking for an +explanation. + +But Lizzie, with her lips only, shaping the two words, "_Her father_," +he took his leave immediately, and presently the weak and shambling +figure of the child's father stumbled in, to be expostulated with, and +scolded, and treated as the person of the house always treated him, when +he came home in such a pitiable condition. + +While they ate their supper, Lizzie tried to bring the child round again +to that prettier and better state. But the charm was broken. The dolls' +dressmaker had become a little quaint shrew, of the world, worldly; of +the earth, earthy. + +Poor dolls' dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should +have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the +eternal road and asking guidance! Poor, poor little dolls' dressmaker. + +One of Miss Jenny's firmest friends was an aged Jew, Mr. Riah, by name; +of venerable aspect, and a generous and noble nature. He was supposedly +the head of the firm of Pubsey and Co., at Saint-Mary-Axe, but really +only the agent of one Mr. Fledgeby, a miserly young dandy who directed +all the aged Jew's transactions, and forced him into sharp, unfair +dealings with those whom Mr. Riah himself would gladly have befriended; +shielding his own meanness and dishonesty behind the venerable figure of +the Jew, and keeping his own connection with the firm a profound secret. +Mr. Riah suffered himself to remain in such a position only because once +when he had had sickness and misfortune, and owed Mr. Fledgeby's father +both principal and interest, the son inheriting, had been merciful and +placed him there; and little did the guileless old man realize that he +had long since, richly repaid the debt; his age and serene +respectability, added to the characteristics ascribed to his race, +making a valuable screen to hide his employer's misdeeds. + +The aged Jew often befriended the dolls' dressmaker, and she called him, +in her fanciful way, "godmother." + +On his roof-top garden, Jenny Wren and her friend Lizzie were sitting +one day, together, when Mr. Fledgeby came up and joined the party, +interrupting their conversation. For the girls, perhaps with some old +instinct of his race, the gentle Jew had spread a carpet. Seated on it, +against no more romantic object than a blackened chimney-stack, over +which some humble creeper had been trained, they both pored over one +book, while a basket of common fruit, and another basket of strings of +beads and tinsel scraps were lying near. + +"This, sir," explained the old Jew, "is a little dressmaker for little +people. Explain to the master, Jenny." + +"Dolls; that's all," said Jenny shortly. "Very difficult to fit too, +because their figures are so uncertain. You never know where to expect +their waists." + +"I made acquaintance with my guests, sir," pursued the old Jew, with an +evident purpose of drawing out the dressmaker, "through their coming +here to buy our damage and waste for Miss Jenny's millinery. They wear +it in their hair, and on their ball-dresses, and even (so she tells me) +are presented at court with it." + +"Ah!" said Fledgeby, "she's been buying that basketful to-day, I +suppose." + +"I suppose she has," Miss Jenny interposed, "and paying for it too, most +likely," adding, "we are thankful to come up here for rest, sir; for +the quiet and the air, and because it's so high. And you see the clouds +rushing on above the narrow streets, not minding them, and you see the +golden arrows pointing at the mountains in the sky, from which the wind +comes, and, you feel as if you were dead." + +"How do you feel when you are dead?" asked the practical Mr. Fledgeby, +much perplexed. + +"Oh so tranquil!" cried the little creature smiling. "Oh so peaceful and +so thankful! And you hear the people, who are alive, crying and working +and calling to one another in the close dark streets and you seem to +pity them so! And such a chain has fallen from you, and such a strange, +good, sorrowful happiness comes upon you!" + +Her eyes fell upon the old man, who, with his hands folded, quietly +looked on. + +"Why, it was only just now," said the little creature, pointing at him, +"that I fancied I saw him come out of his grave! He toiled out at that +low door, so bent and worn, and then he took his breath, and stood +upright and looked all around him at the sky, and the wind blew upon +him, and his life down in the dark was over!--Till he was called back to +life," she added, looking round at Fledgeby with that lower look of +sharpness, "Why did you call him back? But you are not dead, you know," +said Jenny Wren. "Get down to life!" + +Mr. Fledgeby seemed to think it a rather good suggestion, and with a nod +turned round and took his leave. As Mr. Riah followed him down the +stairs, the little creature called out to the Jew in a silvery tone, +"Don't be gone long. Come back and be dead!" And still as they went +down, they heard the little sweet voice, more and more faintly, half +calling and half singing, "Come back and be dead. Come back and be +dead!" And as the old man again mounted, the call or song began to +sound in his ears again, and looking above, he saw the face of the +little creature looking down out of the glory of her long, bright, +radiant hair, and musically repeating to him like a vision: + +"Come up and be dead! Come up and be dead!" + +Not long after this, there came a heavy trial to the dolls' dressmaker +in the loss from her home of her friend and lodger, Lizzie Hexam. +Lizzie, having disagreed with her brother upon a subject of vital +interest to herself, and having an intense desire to escape from persons +whom she knew would pursue her so long as she remained in London, felt +it wisest to quietly disappear from the city, leaving no trace of her +whereabouts. With the help of Mr. Riah she accomplished this, and found +occupation in a paper-mill in the country, leaving poor Jenny Wren with +only the slight consolation of her letters, and with the aged Jew for +her sole counsellor and friend. He was frequently with Jenny Wren, often +escorting her upon her necessary trips, in returning her fine ladies to +their homes in various parts of the city, and sometimes the little +creature accompanied him upon his own business trips, as well. + +One foggy evening as usual, he set out for Church Street, and, wading +through the fog, waded to the doorstep of the dolls' dressmaker. + +Miss Wren expected him. He could see her through the window, by the +light of her low fire--carefully banked up with damp cinders, that it +might last the longer, and waste the less when she went out--sitting +waiting for him, in her bonnet. His tap at the glass roused her from the +musing solitude in which she sat, and she opened the door, aiding her +steps with a little crutch-stick. + +"Good evening, godmother!" said Miss Jenny Wren. + +The old man laughed, and gave her his arm to lean on. "Won't you come +in and warm yourself, godmother?" she asked. + +"Not if you are ready, Cinderella, my dear." + +"Well!" exclaimed Miss Wren, delighted. "Now you ARE a clever old boy! +If we only gave prizes at this establishment you should have the first +silver medal for taking me up so quick." As she spake thus, Miss Wren +removed the key of the house-door from the keyhole, and put it in her +pocket. Satisfied that her dwelling was safe, she drew one hand through +the old man's arm, and prepared to ply her crutch-stick with the other. +But the key was of such gigantic proportions that before they started, +Riah proposed to carry it. + +"No, no, no! I'll carry it myself," returned Miss Wren. "I'm awfully +lop-sided, you know, and stowed down in my pocket, it'll trim the ship. +To let you into a secret, godmother, I wear my pocket on my high side +o' purpose." + +With that they began their plodding through the fog. + +"Yes, it was truly sharp of you, godmother," returned Miss Wren, with +great approbation, "to understand me. But, you see, you _are_ so like +the fairy godmother in the bright little books! You look so unlike the +rest of the people, and so much as if you had changed yourself into that +shape, just this moment, with some benevolent object. Bah!" cried Miss +Jenny, putting her face close to the old man's, "I can see your +features, godmother, behind the beard." + +"Does the fancy go to my changing other objects, too, Jenny?" + +"Ah! That it does! If you'd only borrow my stick, and tap this piece of +pavement, it would start up a coach and six. I say,--Let's believe so!" + +"With all my heart," replied the good old man. + +"And I'll tell you what I must ask you to do, godmother. I must ask you +to be so kind as to give my child a tap, and change him altogether. Oh, +my child has been such a bad, bad child of late! It worries me almost +out of my wits. Not done a stroke of work these ten days." + +"What shall be changed after him?" asked Riah, in a compassionately +playful voice. + +"Upon my word, godmother, I am afraid I must be selfish next, and get +you to set me right in the back and legs. It's a little thing to you +with your power, godmother, but it's a great deal to poor, weak, +aching me." + +There was no querulous complaining in the words, but they were not the +less touching for that. + +"And then?" + +"Yes, and then--_you_ know, godmother. Well both jump into the coach and +six, and go to Lizzie. This reminds me, godmother, to ask you a serious +question. You are as wise as wise can be (having been brought up by the +fairies), and you can tell me this,--Is it better to have had a good +thing and lost it, or never to have had it?" + +"Explain, goddaughter." + +"I feel so much more solitary and helpless without Lizzie now than I +used to feel before I knew her." (Tears were in her eyes as she +said so.) + +"Some beloved companionship fades out of most lives, my dear," said the +Jew, "that of a wife, and a fair daughter, and a son of promise, has +faded out of my own life--but the happiness _was_" + +"Ah!" said Miss Wren thoughtfully, by no means convinced. "Then I tell +you what change I think you had better begin with, godmother. You had +better change Is into Was, and Was into Is, and keep them so." + +"Would that suit your case? Would you not be always in pain then?" asked +the old man tenderly. + +"Right!" exclaimed Miss Wren. "You have changed me wiser, godmother. +Not," she added, with a quaint hitch of her chin and eyes, "that you +need to be a very wonderful godmother to do that, indeed!" + +Thus conversing, they pursued their way over London Bridge, and struck +down the river, and held their still foggier course that way. As they +were going along, Jennie twisted her venerable friend aside to a +brilliantly lighted toy-shop window, and said: "Now, look at 'em! All +my work!" + +This referred to a dazzling semicircle of dolls in all the colors of the +rainbow, who were dressed for all the gay events of life. + +"Pretty, pretty, pretty!" said the old man with a clap of his hands. +"Most elegant taste!" + +"Glad you like 'em," returned Miss Wren loftily. "But the fun is, +godmother, how I make the great ladies try my dresses on. Though it's +the hardest part of my business, and would be, even if my back were not +bad and my legs queer." + +He looked at her as not understanding what she said. + +"Bless you, godmother," said Miss Wren, "I have to scud about town at +all hours. If it was only sitting at my bench, cutting out and sewing, +it would be comparatively easy work; but it's the trying-on by the great +ladies that takes it out of me." + +"How the trying-on?" asked Riah. + +"What a moony godmother you are, after all!" returned Miss Wren. "Look +here. There's a Drawing-room, or a grand day in the Park, or a show or a +fete, or what you like. Very well. I squeeze among the crowd, and I look +about me. When I see a great lady very suitable for my business, I say, +'You'll do, my dear!' and I take particular notice of her again, and +run home and cut her out, and baste her. Then another day I come +scudding back again to try on. Sometimes she plainly seems to say, 'How +that little creature _is_ staring!' All the time I am only saying to +myself, 'I must hollow out a bit here; I must slope away there'; and I +am making a perfect slave of her, making her try on my doll's dress. +Evening parties are severer work for me, because there's only a doorway +for full view, and what with hobbling among the wheels of the carriages +and the legs of the horses, I fully expect to be run over some night. +Whenever they go bobbing into the hall from the carriage, and catch a +glimpse of my little physiognomy poked out from behind a policeman's +cape in the rain, I daresay they think I am wondering and admiring with +all my eyes and heart, but they little think they're only working for my +dolls! There was Lady Belinda Whitrose. I said one night when she came +out of the carriage. 'You'll do, my dear!' and I ran straight home, and +cut her out, and basted her. Back I came again, and waited behind the +men that called the carriages. Very bad night too. At last, 'Lady +Belinda's Whitrose's carriage!' Lady Belinda Whitrose coming down! And I +made her try on--oh! and take pains about it too--before she got seated. +That's Lady Belinda hanging up by the waist, much too near the gas-light +for a wax one, with her toes turned in." + +When they had plodded on for some time, they reached a certain tavern, +where Mr. Riah had some business to transact with its proprietress, Miss +Abbey Potterson, to whom he presented himself, and was about to +introduce his young companion when Miss Wren interrupted him: + +"Stop a bit," she said, "I'll give the lady my card." She produced it +from her pocket with an air, and Miss Abbey took the diminutive +document, and found it to run thus: + + Miss JENNY WREN. + + _Dolls' Dressmaker._. + + _Dolls attended at their own residences_. + +So great were her amusement and astonishment, and so interested was she +in the odd little creature that she at once asked: + +"Did you ever taste shrub, child?" + +Miss Wren shook her head. + +"Should you like to?" + +"Should if it's good," returned Miss Wren. + +"You shall try. Put your little feet on the fender. It's a cold, cold +night, and the fog clings so." As Miss Abbey helped her to turn her +chair, her loosened bonnet fell on the floor. "Why, what lovely hair!" +cried Miss Abbey. "And enough to make wigs: for all the dolls in the +world. What a quantity!" + +"Call _that_ a quantity?" returned Miss Wren. "_Poof_! What do you say +to the rest of it?" As she spoke, she untied a band, and the golden +stream fell over herself, and over the chair, and flowed down to the +ground. Miss Abbey's admiration seemed to increase her perplexity. She +beckoned the Jew towards her, and whispered: + +"Child or woman?" + +"Child in years," was the answer; "woman in self-reliance and trial." + +"You are talking about me, good people," thought Miss Jenny, sitting in +her golden bower, warming her feet. "I can't hear what you say, but I +know your tricks and your manners!" + +The shrub, mixed by Miss Potterson's skilful hands, was perfectly +satisfactory to Miss Jenny's palate, and she sat and sipped it leisurely +while the interview between Mr. Riah and Miss Potterson proceeded, +keenly regretting when the bottom of the glass was reached, and the +interview at an end. + +There was at this time much curiosity among Lizzie Hexam's acquaintances +to discover her hiding-place, and many of them paid visits to the dolls' +dressmaker in hopes of obtaining from her the desired address. Among +these was Mr. Wrayburn, whom we find calling upon Miss Wren one evening: + +"And so, Miss Jenny," he said, "I cannot persuade you to dress me a +doll?" + +"No," replied Miss Wren snappishly; "If you want one, go and buy it at +the shop." + +"And my charming young goddaughter," said Mr. Wrayburn plaintively, +"down in Hertfordshire--" + +("Humbugshire, you mean, I think," interposed Miss Wren)--"is to be put +upon the cold footing of the general public, and is to derive no +advantage from my private acquaintance with the Court dressmaker?" + +"If it's any advantage to your charming godchild, and oh, a precious +godfather she has got!" replied Miss Wren, pricking at him in the air +with her needle, "to be informed that the Court dressmaker knows your +tricks and your manners, you may tell her so, by post, with my +compliments." + +Miss Wren was busy with her work, by candlelight, and Mr. Wrayburn, half +amused and half vexed, stood by her bench looking on, while her +troublesome child was in the corner, in deep disgrace on account of his +bad behavior, and as Miss Jenny worked, she rated him severely, +accompanying each reproach with a stamp of her foot. + +"Pay five shillings for you indeed!" she exclaimed in response to his +appeal for money. "How many hours do you suppose it costs me to earn +five shillings, you infamous boy? Don't cry like that, or I'll throw a +doll at you. Pay five shillings fine for you, indeed! Fine in more ways +than one, I think! I'd give the dustman five shillings to carry you off +in the dust-cart." + +The figure in the corner continuing to whine and whimper, Miss Wren +covered her face with her hand. "There!" she said, "I can't bear to look +at you. Go upstairs and get me my bonnet and shawl. Make yourself useful +in some way, bad boy, and let me have your room instead of your company, +for one half minute." + +Obeying her, he shambled out, and Mr. Wrayburn, pitying, saw the tears +exude between the little creature's fingers, as she kept her hand +before her eyes. + +"I am going to the Italian Opera to try on," said Miss Wren, taking away +her hand, and laughing satirically to hide that she had been crying. +"But let me first tell you, Mr. Wrayburn, once for all, that it's no use +your paying visits to me. You wouldn't get what you want of me, no, not +if you brought pincers with you to tear it out." + +With which statement, and a further admonition to her father, who had +come back, she blew her candles out, and taking her big door-key in her +pocket, and her crutch-stick in her hand, marched off. + +Not many months later, one day while Miss Wren was waiting in the office +of Pubsey and Co., for Mr. Riah to come in and sell her the waste she +was accustomed to buy, she overheard a conversation between Mr. +Fledgeby, who had apparently happened in, and a friend who was also +waiting for Mr. Riah. + +This conversation led her to infer that her old friend was both a +treacherous and dishonest man, and entirely unworthy to be trusted in +any capacity. Seemingly the conversation was not meant for her ears, but +Mr. Fledgeby had planned that she should hear it, and that it should +have the very effect upon her which it had. This was Mr. Fledgeby's +retort upon Miss Wren for the over-sharpness with which she always +treated him, and also a pleasant instance of his humor as regarded the +old Jew. "He has got a bad name as an old Jew, and he is paid for the +use of it, and I'll have my money's worth out of him." Thus ran Mr. +Fledgeby's reflections on the subject, and Miss Wren sat listening to +the conversation with a fallen countenance, until Mr. Riah came in, when +Mr. Fledgeby led the old man to make statements which seemed further to +emphasize his hard-heartedness and dishonesty. + +Then Mr. Riah filled Miss Wren's little basket with such scraps as she +could buy, saying: + +"There, my Cinderella dear, the basket's full now. Bless you, and get +you gone!" + +"Don't call me your Cinderella dear," returned Miss Wren, "Oh, you cruel +godmother!" + +She shook that emphatic little forefinger of hers in his face at +parting, and as he did not attempt to vindicate himself, went on her +way, to return no more to Saint Mary Axe; chance having disclosed to her +(as she supposed) the flinty and hypocritical character of Mr. Riah. She +often moralized over her work on the tricks and the manners of that +venerable cheat, but made her little purchases elsewhere, and lived a +secluded life. But during several interviews which she chanced to have +later with Mr. Fledgeby, the clever little creature made him by his own +words, disclose his system of treachery and trickery, and prove that the +aged Jew had been screening his employer at his own expense. Thereupon +Miss Jenny lost no time in once again proceeding to the place of +business of Pubsey and Co., where she found the old man sitting at his +desk. In less time than it takes to tell it, she had folded her arms +about his neck, and kissed him, imploring his forgiveness for her lack +of faith in him, adding: "It did look bad, now, didn't it?" + +"It looked so bad, Jenny," responded the old man with gravity, "that I +was hateful in mine own eyes. I perceived that the obligation was upon +me to leave this service. Whereupon I indited a letter to my master to +that effect, but he held me to certain months of servitude, which were +his lawful term of notice. They expire to-morrow. Upon their +expiration--not before--I had meant to set myself right with my +Cinderella." + +While they were thus conversing, the aged Jew received an angry +communication from Mr. Fledgeby, releasing Mr. Riah at once from his +service, to the great satisfaction of the old man, who then got his few +goods together in a black bag, closed the shutters, pulled down the +office blind, and issued forth upon the steps. There, while Miss Jenny +held the bag, the old man locked the house door, and handed the key over +to the messenger who had brought the note of dismissal. + +"Well, godmother," said Miss Wren, "and so you're thrown upon the +world!" + +"It would appear so, Jenny, and rather suddenly." + +"Where are you going to seek your fortune?" asked Miss Wren. The old man +smiled, but gazed about him with a look of having lost his way in life, +which did not escape the dolls' dressmaker. + +"The best thing you can do," said Jenny, "for the time being, at all +events, is to come home with me, godmother. Nobody's there but my bad +child, and Lizzie's lodging stands empty." + +The old man, when satisfied that no inconvenience could be entailed on +any one by this move, readily complied, and the singularly assorted +couple once more went through the streets together. + +And it was a kindly Providence which placed the child's hand in the aged +Jew's protecting one that night. Before they reached home, they met a +sad party, bearing in their arms an inanimate form, at which the dolls' +dressmaker needed but to take one look. + +"Oh gentlemen, gentlemen," she cried, "He belongs to me!" "Belongs to +you!" said the head of the party, stopping;--"Oh yes, dear gentlemen, +he's my child, out without leave. My poor, bad, bad boy! And he don't +know me, he don't know me! Oh, what _shall_ I do?" cried the little +creature, wildly beating her hands together, "when my own child +don't know me!" + +The head of the party looked to the old Jew for explanation. He +whispered, as the dolls' dressmaker bent over the still form, and vainly +tried to extract some sign of recognition from it; "It's her +drunken father." + +Then the sad party with their lifeless burden went through the streets. +After it, went the dolls' dressmaker, hiding her face in the Jewish +skirts, and clinging to them with one hand, while with the other she +plied her stick, and at last the little home in Church Street +was reached. + +Many flaunting dolls had to be gaily dressed, before the money was in +the dressmaker's pocket to get mourning for her father. As Mr. Riah sat +by, helping her in such small ways as he could, he found it difficult to +make out whether she realized that the deceased had really been +her father. + +"If my poor boy," she would say, "had been brought up better, he might +have done better. Not that I reproach myself. I hope I have no cause +for that." + +"None, indeed, Jenny, I am very certain." + +"Thank you, godmother. It cheers me to hear you say so. But you see it +is so hard to bring up a child well, when you work, work, work, all day. +When he was out of employment, I couldn't always keep him near me. He +got fractious and nervous, and I was obliged to let him go into the +streets. And he never did well in the streets, he never did well out of +sight. How often it happens with children! How can I say what I might +have turned out myself, but for my back having been so bad and my legs +so queer, when I was young!" the dressmaker would go on. "I had nothing +to do but work, so I worked. I couldn't play. But my poor, unfortunate +child could play, and it turned out worse for him." + +"And not for him alone, Jenny." + +"Well, I don't know, godmother. He suffered heavily, did my unfortunate +boy. He was very, very ill sometimes. And I called him a quantity of +names;" shaking her head over her work, and dropping tears. + +"You are a good girl, you are a patient girl." + +"As for patience," she would reply with a shrug, "not much of that, +godmother. If I had been patient, I should never have called him names. +But I hope I did it for his good. And besides, I felt my responsibility +as a mother so much. I tried reasoning, and reasoning failed. I tried +coaxing, and coaxing failed. I tried scolding, and scolding failed. But +I was bound to try everything, with such a charge on my hands. Where +would have been my duty to my poor lost boy, if I had not tried +everything?" + +With such talk, mostly in a cheerful tone on the part of the industrious +little creature, the day work and the night work were beguiled, until +enough of smart dolls had gone forth to bring in the sombre stuff that +the occasion required, and to bring into the house the other sombre +preparations. "And now," said Miss Jenny, "having knocked off my +rosy-cheeked young friends, I'll knock off my white-cheeked self." This +referred to her making her own dress which at last was done, in time for +the simple service, the arrangements for which were of her own planning. +The service ended, and the solitary dressmaker having returned to her +home, she said: + +"I must have a very short cry, godmother, before I cheer up for good. +Because after all, a child is a child, you know." + +It was a longer cry than might have been expected. Howbeit, it wore +itself out in a shadowy corner, and then the dressmaker came forth, and +washed her face, and made the tea. + +"You wouldn't mind my cutting out something while we are at tea, would +you?" she asked with a coaxing air. + +"Cinderella, dear child," the old man expostulated. "Will you never +rest?" + +"Oh! It's not work, cutting out a pattern isn't," said Miss Jenny, with +her busy little scissors already snipping at some paper; "The truth is, +godmother, I want to fix it, while I have it correct in my mind." + +"Have you seen it to-day, then?" asked Riah. + +"Yes, godmother. Saw it just now. It's a surplice, that's what it is. +Thing our clergymen wear, you know," explained Miss Jenny, in +consideration of his professing another faith. + +"And what have you to do with that, Jenny?" + +"Why, godmother," replied the dressmaker, "you must know that we +professors, who live upon our taste and invention, are obliged to keep +our eyes always open. And you know already that I have many extra +expenses to meet. So it came into my head, while I was weeping at my +poor boy's grave, that something in my way might be done with a +clergyman. Not a funeral, never fear;" said Miss Jenny. "The public +don't like to be made melancholy, I know very well. But a doll +clergyman, my dear,--glossy black curls and whiskers--uniting two of my +young friends in matrimony," said Miss Jenny shaking her forefinger, "is +quite another affair. If you don't see those three at the altar in Bond +Street, in a jiffy, my name's Jack Robinson!" + +With her expert little ways in sharp action, she had got a doll into +whitey-brown paper orders, before the meal was over, and displayed it +for the edification of the Jewish mind, and Mr. Riah was lost in +admiration for the brave, resolute little soul, who could so put aside +her sadness to meet and face her pressing need. + +And many times thereafter was he likewise lost in admiration of his +little friend, who continued her business as of old, only without the +burden of responsibility by which her life had heretofore been clouded, +and more able to give her imagination free play along the lines of her +interests, without the pressure of home care resting upon her poor +shoulders. + +Our last glimpse of her, is as usual, before her little workbench, at +work upon a full-dressed, large sized doll, when there comes a knock +upon the door. When it is opened there is disclosed a young fellow known +to his friends and employer, as Sloppy. + +Sloppy was full private No 1 in the Awkward Squad of the rank and file +of life, and yet had his glimmering notions of standing true to his +colors, and in instinctive refinement of feeling was much above others +who outranked him in birth and education. + +"Come in, sir," said Miss Wren, "and who may you be?" + +Mr. Sloppy introduced himself by name and buttons. + +"Oh, indeed," cried Jenny, "I have heard of you." + +Sloppy, grinning, was so glad to hear it that he threw back his head and +laughed. + +"Bless us!" exclaimed Miss Wren, with a start, "Don't open your mouth as +wide as that, young man, or it'll catch so, and not shut again, +some day." + +Mr. Sloppy opened it, if possible, wider, and kept it open, until his +laugh was out. + +"Why, you're like the giant," said Miss Wren, "when he came home in the +land of Beanstalk, and wanted Jack for supper." + +"Was he good looking, Miss?" asked Sloppy. + +"No," said Miss Wren. "Ugly." + +Her visitor glanced round the room--which had many comforts in it now, +that it had not had before--and said: + +"This is a pretty place, Miss. + +"Glad you think so, sir," returned Miss Wren. "And what do you think of +Me?" + +The honesty of Mr. Sloppy being severely taxed by the question, he +twisted a button, grinned, and faltered. + +"Out with it," said Miss Wren, with an arch look. "Don't you think me a +queer little comicality?" In shaking her head at him after asking the +question, she shook her hair down. + +"Oh!" cried Sloppy in a burst of admiration. "What a lot, and what a +color!" + +Miss Wren with her usual expressive hitch, went on with her work. But +left her hair as it was, not displeased by the effect it had made. + +"You don't live here alone, do you, Miss?" asked Sloppy. + +"No," said Miss Wren with a chop. "Live here with my fairy godmother." + +"With;" Mr. Sloppy couldn't make it out; "with, who did you say, Miss?" + +"Well!" replied Miss Wren more seriously. "With my second father. Or +with my first, for that matter." And she shook her head and drew a sigh. +"If you had known a poor child I used to have here," she added, "you'd +have understood me. But you didn't and you can't. All the better!" + +"You must have been taught a long time, Miss," said Sloppy, glancing at +the array of dolls on hand, "before you came to work so neatly, Miss, +and with such a pretty taste." + +"Never was taught a stitch, young man!" returned the dressmaker, tossing +her head. "Just gobbled and gobbled, till I found out how to do it. +Badly enough at first, but better now." + +"And here have I," said Sloppy, in a self-reproachful tone, "been +a-learning and a-learning at cabinet-making, ever so long! I'll tell you +what, Miss, I should like to make you something." + +"Much obliged, but what?" + +"I could make you," said Sloppy, surveying the room, "a handy set of +nests to lay the dolls in. Or a little set of drawers to keep your silks +and threads and scraps in. Or I could turn you a rare handle for that +crutch-stick, if it belongs to him you call your father." + +"It belongs to me," said the little creature, with a quick flush of her +face and neck. "I am lame." + +Poor Sloppy flushed too, for there was an instinctive delicacy behind +his buttons. He said perhaps, the best thing in the way of amends that +could be said. "I am very glad it's yours, because I'd rather ornament +it for you than for any one else. Please, may I look at it?" + +Miss Wren was in the act of handing it over to him when she paused. +"But you had better see me use it," she said sharply. "This is the way. +Hoppetty, kicketty, peg-peg-peg. Not pretty, is it?" + +"It seems to me that you hardly want it at all," said Sloppy. + +The little dressmaker sat down again, and gave it into his hand, saying +with that better look upon her, and with a smile: + +"Thank you! You are a very kind young man, a really kind young man. I +accept your offer--I suppose _He_ won't mind," she added as an +afterthought, shrugging her shoulders; "and if he does, he may!" + +"Meaning him you call your father, Miss?" said Sloppy. + +"No, no," replied Miss Wren. "Him, _him_, HIM!" + +"_Him_, HIM, HIM?" repeated Sloppy, staring about, as if for him. + +"Him who is coming to court and marry me," returned Miss Wren. "Dear me, +how slow you are!" + +"Oh! HIM!" said Sloppy, "I never thought of him. When is he coming, +Miss?" + +"What a question!" cried Miss Wren. "How should I know?" + +"Where is he coming from, Miss?" + +"Why, good gracious, how can I tell! He is coming from somewhere or +other, I suppose, and he is coming some day or other, I suppose. I don't +know any more about him, at present." + +This tickled Mr. Sloppy as an extraordinarily good joke, and he threw +back his head and laughed with measureless enjoyment. At the sight of +him laughing in that absurd way, the dolls' dressmaker laughed very +heartily indeed. So they both laughed till they were tired. + +"There, there, there!" said Miss Wren. "For goodness sake, stop, Giant, +or I shall be swallowed up alive, before I know it. And to this minute +you haven't said what you've come for?" + +"I have come for little Miss Harmonses' doll," said Sloppy. + +"I thought as much," remarked Miss Wren, "and here is little Miss +Harmonses' doll waiting for you. She's folded up in silver paper, you +see, as if she was wrapped from head to foot in new banknotes. Take care +of her--and there's my hand--and thank you again." + +"I'll take more care of her than if she was a gold image," said Sloppy, +"and there's _both_ my hands, Miss, and I'll soon come back again!" + +Here we leave the little dolls' dressmaker, under the protecting care of +her "godmother," the first real guardian she has ever known, and with a +new friendship to supply her life with that youthful intercourse which +has never been hers. And so in leaving her our hearts are light, for +Miss Jenny Wren is brighter now, and happier now, and younger now, than +ever before. + + + +SISSY JUPE + + + +[Illustration: SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER] + + + +SISSY JUPE + +"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but +Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out +everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon +Facts: nothing else will be of any service to them. This is the +principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle +on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!" + +The scene was a bare, plain, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the +speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observation. The emphasis was +helped by his square wall of a forehead, by his thin and hardset mouth, +by his inflexible and dictatorial voice, and by the hair which bristled +on the skirts of his bald head, as if the head had scarcely warehouse +room for the hard facts stowed inside. The speaker's obstinate carriage, +square coat, square legs, square shoulders,--nay, his very neckcloth, +trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a +stubborn fact, as it was,--all helped the emphasis. + +"In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir! Nothing but Facts!" + +The speaker, Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, and the schoolmaster, Mr. +M'Choakumchild, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, +and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and +there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of Facts poured +into them until they were full to the brim. + +"Girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his +square forefinger, "I don't know that girl. Who is that girl?" + +"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and +curtseying. + +"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Call yourself Cecilia." + +"It's father as calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl with +another curtsey. + +"Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Tell him he +mustn't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?" + +"He belongs to the horse-riding, if you please, sir." + +Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable calling with his +hand. + +"We don't want to know anything about that here. Your father breaks +horses, don't he?" + +"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they do break +horses in the ring." + +"You mustn't tell us about the ring here. Very well, then. Describe your +father as a horse-breaker. He doctors sick horses, I dare say?" + +"Oh, yes, sir." + +"Very well, then. He is a veterinary surgeon, a farrier and +horse-breaker. Give me your definition of a horse." + +(Sissy Jupe thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand). + +"Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!" said Mr. Gradgrind, for +the general behoof of all the little pitchers. "Girl number twenty +possessed of no facts in reference to one of the commonest of animals! +Some boy's definition of a horse. Bitzer, yours!" + +"Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, +four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy +countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with +iron. Age known by marks in mouth." Thus (and much more) Bitzer. + +"Now, girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, "you know what a horse +is." + +She curtsied again, blushed, and sat down, and the third gentleman +present stepped forth, briskly smiling and folding his arms. "That's a +horse," he said. "Now, let me ask you, boys and girls, would you paper a +room with representations of horses?" + +After a pause, one-half of the children cried in chorus, "Yes, sir!" +Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman's face that Yes was +wrong, cried out in chorus, "No, sir!" + +"Of course, No. Why wouldn't you?" + +A pause. One boy ventured the answer, because he wouldn't paper a room +at all, but would paint it. + +"You must paper it," said Thomas Gradgrind, "whether you like it or not. +Don't tell us you wouldn't paper it. What do you mean, boy?" + +"I'll explain to you then," said the gentleman, after another pause, +"why you wouldn't paper a room with a representation of horses. Do you +ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality--in +fact? Of course, No. Why then, you are not to see anywhere what you +don't see in fact; you are not to have anywhere what you don't have in +fact. This is a new principle, a great discovery," said the gentleman. +"Now I'll try you again. Would you use a carpet having a representation +of flowers upon it?" + +"There being a general conviction by this time that, 'No sir!' was +always the right answer to this gentleman, the chorus of No was very +strong. Only a few feeble stragglers said Yes; among them Sissy Jupe." + +"Girl number twenty," said the gentleman, "why would you carpet your +room with representations of flowers?" + +"If you please, sir, I'm very fond of flowers," returned the girl. + +"And is that why you would put tables and chairs upon them, and have +people walking over them with heavy boots?" + +"It wouldn't hurt them, sir. They wouldn't crush and wither, please sir. +They would be the pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant, sir, +and I would fancy--" + +"Ay, ay, ay! but you mustn't fancy," cried the gentleman, quite elated +by coming so happily to his point. "You are never to fancy." + +"You are not, Cecilia Jupe," Thomas Gradgrind solemnly repeated, "to do +anything of that kind. You don't walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot +be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets. You don't find that foreign +birds and butterflies come and perch upon your crockery; you cannot be +permitted to paint foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery. You +never meet with quadrupeds going up and down walls; you must not have +quadrupeds represented upon walls. You must use," said the gentleman, +"for all these purposes, combinations and modifications in primary +colors of mathematical figures which are susceptible of proof and +demonstration. This is the new discovery. This is fact. This is taste." + +The girl curtseyed and sat down. She was very young, and she looked as +if she were frightened by the matter-of-fact prospect the world +afforded; while the teacher proceeded to give a lesson based upon hard +Fact for the benefit of his visitors. + +Mr. Gradgrind walked homeward from the school, in a state of +considerable satisfaction. It was his school, and he intended it to be a +model. He intended every child in it to be a model, just as the five +young Gradgrinds were all models. + +No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon; no little +Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, "Twinkle, twinkle, little +star, How I wonder what you are"; each little Gradgrind having at five +years old dissected the Great Bear, and driven Charles's Wain like a +locomotive engine-driver. No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow +in a field with that famous cow with a crumpled horn who tossed the dog, +who worried the cat, who killed the rat, who ate the malt, or with that +more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb. It had never heard of those +celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous, +ruminating quadruped with several stomachs. + +To his matter-of-fact home, which was called Stone Lodge, Mr. Gradgrind +directed his steps, walking on in a hopeful and satisfied frame of mind. +He was an affectionate father, after his manner; but allowed no foolish +sentiment to interfere with the practical basis of his childrens' +education and bringing-up. + +He had reached the outskirts of the town, when his ears were invaded by +the sound of the band attached to the horse-riding establishment, which +had there set up its rest in a wooden pavilion. A flag floating from the +summit of the temple, proclaimed to mankind that it was Sleary's +Horse-Riding which claimed their suffrages. Among the many pleasing +wonders which must be seen to be believed, Signor Jupe was that +afternoon to "elucidate the diverting accomplishments of his highly +trained performing dog, Merrylegs," He was also to exhibit "his +astounding feat of throwing seventy-five hundred weight in rapid +succession back-handed over his head, thus forming a fountain of solid +iron in midair, a feat never before attempted in this or any other +country, and which having elicited such rapturous plaudits from +enthusiastic throngs it cannot be withdrawn." The same Signor Jupe was +to "enliven the varied performances at frequent intervals with his +chaste Shakesperean quips and retorts." Lastly, he was to wind them up +by appearing in his favorite character of Mr. William Button, of Tooley +Street, in "the highly novel and laughable Hippo Comedietta of The +Tailor's Journey to Brentford." + +Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities, but passed on, as a +practical man ought to pass on. But, at the back of the booth he saw a +number of children congregated in a number of stealthy attitudes, +striving to peep in at the hidden glories of the place. What did he then +behold but his own Louisa peeping with all her might through a hole in a +deal board, and his own Thomas abasing himself on the ground to catch +but a hoof of the graceful Tyrolean Flower-act! + +Dumb with amazement, Mr. Gradgrind crossed to the spot where his family +was thus disgraced, laid his hand upon each erring child, and said: + +"Louisa!! Thomas!!" + +Both rose, red and disconcerted. + +"In the name of wonder, idleness, and folly!" said Mr. Gradgrind, +leading each away by a hand; "what do you do here?" + +"Wanted to see what it was like," returned Louisa shortly. + +"You!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind. "Thomas and you, to whom the circle of +the sciences is open; who may be said to be replete with Fact; who have +been trained to mathematical exactness; Thomas and you, here! In this +degraded position! I am amazed." + +"I was tired, father," said Louisa. + +"Tired? Of what?" asked the astonished father. + +"I don't know of what--of everything, I think." + +"Say not another word," returned Mr. Gradgrind. "You are childish. I +will hear no more." With which remark he led the culprits to their home +in silence, into the presence of their fretful invalid mother, who was +much annoyed at the disturbance they had created. While she was +peevishly expressing her mind on the subject, Mr. Gradgrind was gravely +pondering upon the matter. + +"Whether," he said, "whether any instructor or servant can have +suggested anything? Whether, in spite of all precautions, any idle +story-book can have got into the house for Louisa or Thomas to read? +Because in minds that have been practically formed by rule and line, +from the cradle upwards, this is incomprehensible." + +"Stop a bit!" cried his friend Bounderby. "You have one of those +Stroller's children in the school, Cecilia Jupe by name! I tell you +what, Gradgrind, turn this girl to the right-about, and there is an +end of it." + +"I am much of your opinion." + +"Do it at once," said Bounderby, "has always been my motto. Do you the +same. Do this at once!" + +"I have the father's address," said his friend. "Perhaps you would not +mind walking to town with me?" + +"Not the least in the world," said Mr. Bounderby, "as long as you do it +at once!" + +So Mr. Gradgrind and his friend immediately set out to find Cecilia +Jupe, and to order her from henceforth to remain away from school. On +the way there they met her. "Now, girl," said Mr. Gradgrind, "take this +gentleman and me to your father's; we are going there. What have you got +in that bottle you are carrying?" + +"It's the nine oils." + +"The what?" cried Mr. Bounderby. + +"The nine oils, sir, to rub father with. It is what our people always +use, sir, when they get any hurts in the ring," replied the girl, "they +bruise themselves very bad sometimes." + +"Serves them right," said Mr. Bounderby, "for being idle." The girl +glanced up at his face with mingled astonishment and dread as he said +this, but she led them on down a narrow road, until they stopped at the +door of a little public house. + +"This is it, sir," she said. "It's only crossing the bar, sir, and up +the stairs, if you wouldn't mind; and waiting there for a moment till I +get a candle. If you should hear a dog, sir, it's only Merrylegs, and he +only barks." + +They followed the girl up some steep stairs, and stopped while she went +on for a candle. Reappearing, with a face of great surprise, she said, +"Father is not in our room, sir. If you wouldn't mind walking in, sir? +I'll find him directly." + +They walked in; and Sissy having set two chairs for them, sped away with +a quick, light step. They heard the doors of rooms above opening and +shutting, as Sissy went from one to another in quest of her father. She +came bounding down again in a great hurry, opened an old hair trunk, +found it empty, and looked around with her face full of terror. + +"Father must have gone down to the Booth, sir. I'll bring him in a +minute!" She was gone directly, without her bonnet; with her long, dark, +childish hair streaming behind her. + +"What does she mean!" said Mr. Gradgrind. "Back in a minute? It's more +than a mile off." + +Before Mr. Bounderby could reply, a young man mentioned in the bills of +the day as Mr. E.W.B. Childers,--justly celebrated for his daring +vaulting act as the wild huntsman of the North American prairies, +appeared. Upon entering into conversation with Mr. Gradgrind he informed +that gentleman of his opinion that Jupe was off. + +"Do you mean that he has deserted his daughter?" asked Mr. Gradgrind. + +"I mean," said Mr. Childers with a nod, "that he has cut. He has been +short in his leaps and bad in his tumbling lately, missed his tip +several times, too. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night +before last, he was goosed to-day. He has lately got in the way of being +always goosed, and he can't stand it." + +"Why has he been--so very much--goosed?" asked Mr. Gradgrind, forcing +the word out of himself, with great solemnity and reluctance. + +"His joints are turning stiff, and he is getting used up," said +Childers. "He has his points as a Cackler still, a speaker, if the +gentleman likes it better--but he can't get a living out of _that_. Now +it's a remarkable fact, sir, that it cut that man deeper to know that +his daughter knew of his being goosed than to go through with it. Jupe +sent her out on an errand not an hour ago, and then was seen to slip out +himself, with his dog behind him and a bundle under his arm. She will +never believe it of her father, but he has cut away and left her. + +"Poor Sissy! he had better have apprenticed her," added Mr. Childers, +"Now, he leaves her without anything to take to. Her father always had +it in his head, that she was to be taught the deuce-and-all of +education. He has been picking up a bit of reading for her, here--and a +bit of writing for her, there--and a bit of ciphering for her, somewhere +else--these seven years. When Sissy got into the school here," he +pursued, "he was as pleased as Punch. I suppose he had this move in his +mind--he was always half cracked--and then considered her provided for. +If you should have happened to have looked in to-night to tell him that +you were going to do her any little service," added Mr. Childers, "it +would be very fortunate and well-timed." + +"On the contrary," returned Mr. Gradgrind, "I came to tell her that she +could not attend our school any more. Still, if her father really has +left her without any connivance on her part!--Bounderby, let me have a +word with you." + +Upon this, Mr. Childers politely betook himself outside the door, and +there stood while the two gentlemen were engaged in conversation. + +Meanwhile the various members of Sleary's company gathered together in +the room. Last of all appeared Mr. Sleary himself, who was stout, and +troubled with asthma, and whose breath came far too thick and heavy for +the letter s. Bowing to Mr. Gradgrind, he asked: + +"Ith it your intention to do anything for the poor girl, Thquire?" + +"I shall have something to propose to her when she comes back," said Mr. +Gradgrind. + +"Glad to hear it, Thquire. Not that I want to get rid of the child, any +more than I want to thtand in her way. I'm willing to take her +prenthith, though at her age ith late." + +Here his daughter Josephine--a pretty, fair-haired girl of eighteen, who +had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at +twelve, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying +desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies--cried "Father, +hush! she has come back!" Then came Sissy Jupe, running into the room +as she had run out of it. And when she saw them all assembled, and saw +their looks, and saw no father there, she broke into a most deplorable +cry, and took refuge on the bosom of the most accomplished tight-rope +lady, who knelt down on the floor to nurse her, and to weep over her. + +"Ith an infernal shame, upon my thoul it ith," said Sleary. + +"O my dear father, my good, kind father, where are you gone? You are +gone to try to do me some good, I know! You are gone away for my sake, I +am sure. And how miserable and helpless you will be without me, poor, +poor father, until you come back!" It was so pathetic to hear her saying +many things of this kind, with her face turned upward, and her arms +stretched out as if she were trying to stop his departing shadow and +embrace it, that no one spoke a word until Mr. Bounderby (growing +impatient) took the case in hand. + +"Now, good people all," said he, "this is wanton waste of time. Let the +girl understand the fact. Here, what's your name! Your father has +absconded, deserted you--and you mustn't expect to see him again as long +as you live." + +They cared so little for plain fact, these people, that instead of being +impressed by the speaker's strong common sense, they took it in +extraordinary dudgeon. The men muttered "Shame!" and the women, "Brute!" +Whereupon Mr. Gradgrind found an opening for his eminently practical +exposition of the subject. + +"It is of no moment," said he, "whether this person is to be expected +back at any time, or the contrary. He is gone away, and there is no +present expectation of his return. That, I believe, is agreed on +all hands." + +"Thath agreed, Thquire. Thtick to that!" from Sleary. + +"Well, then. I, who came here to inform the father of the poor girl, +Jupe, that she could not be received at the school any more, in +consequence of there being practical objections, into which I need not +enter, to the reception there of the children of persons so employed, am +prepared in these altered circumstances to make a proposal. I am willing +to take charge of you, Jupe, and to educate you, and provide for you. +The only condition (over and above your good behavior) I make is, that +you decide now, at once, whether to accompany me or remain here. Also, +that if you accompany me now, it is understood that you communicate no +more with any of your friends who are here present. These observations +comprise the whole of the case." + +"At the thame time," said Sleary, "I muth put in my word, Thquire, tho +that both thides of the banner may be equally theen. If you like, +Thethillia, to be prentitht, you know the natur' of the work, and you +know your companionth. Emma Gordon, in whothe lap you're a lying at +prethent, would be a mother to you, and Joth'phine would be a thithther +to you. I don't pretend to be of the angel breed myself, and I don't +thay but what, when you mith'd your tip, you'd find me cut up rough, and +thwear a oath or two at you. But what I thay, Thquire, ith, that good +tempered or bad tempered, I never did a horthe a injury yet, no more +than thwearing at him went, and that I don't expect I thall begin +otherwithe at my time of life, with a rider. I never wath much of a +cackler, Thquire, and I have thed my thay." + +The latter part of this speech was addressed to Mr. Gradgrind, who +received it with a grave inclination of his head, and then remarked: + +"The only observation I will make to you, Jupe, in the way of +influencing your decision, is, that it is highly desirable to have a +sound practical education, and that even your father himself (from what +I understand) appears, on your behalf, to have known and felt +that much." + +The last words had a visible effect upon her. She stopped in her wild +crying, and turned her face full upon her patron. The whole company +perceived the force of the change, and drew a long breath, together, +that plainly said, "She will go!" + +"Be sure you know your own mind, Jupe," Mr. Gradgrind cautioned her; "I +say no more. Be sure you know your own mind!" + +"When father comes back," cried the girl, bursting into tears again +after a minute's silence, "how will he ever find me if I go away!" + +"You may be quite at ease," said Mr. Gradgrind calmly; he worked out the +whole matter like a sum; "you may be quite at ease, Jupe, on that score. +In such a case, your father, I apprehend, must find out Mr. Sleary, who +would then let him know where you went. I should have no power of +keeping you against his wish." + +There was another silence; and then Sissy exclaimed sobbing, "Oh, give +me my clothes, give me my clothes, and let me go away before I break +my heart!" + +The women sadly bestirred themselves to get the clothes together, and to +pack them. They then brought Sissy's bonnet to her and put it on. Then +they pressed about her, kissing and embracing her: and brought the +children to take leave of her; and were a tender-hearted, simple, +foolish, set of women altogether. Then she had to take her farewell of +the male part of the company, and last of all of Mr. Sleary. + +"Farewell, Thethilia!" he said, "my latht wordth to you ith thith: +Thtick to the termth of your engagement, be obedient to the Thquire, and +forget uth. But if, when you're grown up and married and well off, you +come upon any horthe-riding ever, don't be hard upon it, don't be croth +with it, give it a Bethpeak if you can, and think you might do worth. +People must be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow," continued Sleary, "they +can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning. +Make the betht of uth; not the wurtht. I've got my living out of +horthe-riding all my life, I know, but I conthider that I lay down the +philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you, Thquire, make the betht +of uth; not the wurtht!" + +The Sleary philosophy was propounded as they went downstairs; and the +fixed eye of Philosophy--and its rolling eye, too,--soon lost the three +figures, and the basket in the darkness of the street. + +To Mr. Bounderby's house the weeping Sissy was conducted, and remained +there while Mr. Gradgrind returned to Stone Lodge to mature his plans +for the clown's daughter. He soon came back to Mr. Bounderby's, bringing +his daughter Louisa with him, and Sissy Jupe stood before them, with +downcast eyes, while Mr. Gradgrind thus addressed her: + +"Jupe, I have made up my mind to take you into my house; and when you +are not at school, to employ you about Mrs. Gradgrind, who is rather an +invalid. I have explained to Miss Louisa--this is Miss Louisa--the +miserable but natural end of your late career; and you are to understand +that the subject is not to be referred to any more. From this time you +begin your history. You are at present ignorant, I know." + +"Yes, sir, very," she answered curtseying. + +"I shall have the satisfaction of causing you to be strictly educated; +and you will be a living proof of the advantages of the training you +will receive. You will be reclaimed and formed. You have been in the +habit now of reading to your father, and those people I found you among, +I dare say?" said Mr. Gradgrind. + +"Only to father and to Merrylegs, sir. At least I mean to father, when +Merrylegs was always there." + +"Never mind Merrylegs, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind with a frown. "I don't +ask about him. I understand you have been in the habit of reading to +your father, and what did you read to him, Jupe?" + +"About the fairies, sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the +Genies," she sobbed out: "And about--" + +"Hush!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind, "that is enough. Never breathe a word +of such destructive nonsense any more." + +Then Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter took Cecilia Jupe off with them to +Stone Lodge, where she speedily grew as pale as wax, and as heavy-eyed +as all the other victims of Mr. Gradgrind's practical system of +training. She had not an easy time of it, between Mr. M'Choakumchild and +Mrs. Gradgrind, and was not without strong impulses, in the first months +of her probation, to run away. It hailed facts all day long, so very +hard, and life in general was opened to her as such a closely ruled +ciphering book, that assuredly she would have run away, but for only one +restraint. She believed that her father had not deserted her; she lived +in the hope that he would come back, and in the faith that he would be +made the happier by her remaining where she was. + +The wretched ignorance with which Jupe clung to this consolation, +rejecting the superior comfort of knowing on a sound arithmetical basis +that her father was an unnatural vagabond, filled Mr. Gradgrind with +pity. Yet, what was to be done? Mr. M'Choakumchild reported that she had +a very dense head for figures; that, once possessed with a general idea +of the globe, she took the smallest conceivable interest in its exact +measurements; that after eight weeks of induction into the elements of +Political Economy, she had only yesterday returned to the question, +"What is the first principle of this science?" the absurd answer, "To do +unto others as I would that they should do unto me." + +Mr. Gradgrind observed, shaking his head, that all this was very bad; +that it showed the necessity of infinite grinding at the mill of +knowledge, and that Jupe must be "kept to it." So Jupe was kept to it, +and became low spirited, but no wiser. + +"It would be a fine thing to be you, Miss Louisa!" She said one night, +when Louisa had endeavored to make her perplexities for next day +something clearer to her, to which Louisa answered, "I don't know that, +Sissy. You are more useful to my mother. You are pleasanter to yourself, +than _I_ am to _myself._" + +"But, if you please, Miss Louisa," Sissy pleaded, "I am--Oh so stupid! +All through school hours I make mistakes. To-day for instance, Mr. +M'Choakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity." + +"National, I think it must have been," observed Louisa. + +"National Prosperity," corrected Sissy, "and he said, Now, this +schoolroom is a Nation, and in this nation there are fifty millions of +money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty. Isn't this a +prosperous nation, and a'n't you in a thriving state? Miss Louisa, I +said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a +prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, +unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But +that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all," said +Sissy, wiping her eyes. + +"That was a great mistake of yours," observed Louisa. + +"Yes, Miss Louisa, I know it was now. Then Mr. M'Choakumchild said he +would try me again. And he said, This Schoolroom is an immense town, and +in it there are a million inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are +starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your +remark on that proportion? And my remark was, that I thought it must be +just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a +million or a million million. And that was wrong too. Then Mr. +M'Choakumchild said he would try me once more. And he said That in a +given time a hundred thousand persons went to sea on long voyages, and +only five hundred of them were drowned or burned to death. What is the +percentage? And I said, Miss;" here Sissy fairly sobbed in confessing to +her great error; "I said it was nothing, Miss--to the relations and +friends of the people who were killed--I shall never learn," said Sissy. +"And the worst of all is, that although my poor father wished me so much +to learn, and although I am so anxious to learn, because he wished me +to, I am afraid I don't like it." + +Louisa stood looking at the pretty, modest head, as it drooped abashed +before her, until it was raised again to glance at her face. Then +she asked: + +"Did your father know so much himself, that he wished you to be well +taught too?" + +Sissy hesitated before replying, for this was forbidden ground, but +Louisa insisted upon continuing the conversation. + +"No, Miss Louisa," answered Sissy, "father knows very little indeed. But +he said mother was quite a scholar. She died when I was born. She +was"--Sissy made the terrible communication, nervously--"she was a +dancer. We travelled about the country. Father's a"--Sissy whispered the +awful word--"a clown." + +"To make the people laugh?" said Louisa with a nod of intelligence. + +"Yes." But they wouldn't laugh sometimes. Lately they very often +wouldn't, and he used to come home despairing. + +I tried to comfort him the best I could, and father said I did. I used +to read to him to cheer up his courage, and he was very fond of that. +Often and often of a night, he used to forget all his troubles in +wondering whether the Sultan would let the lady go on with her story, or +would have her head cut off before it was finished." + +"And your father was always kind?" asked Louisa. + +"Always, always!" returned Sissy, clasping her hands. "Kinder and kinder +than I can tell. He was angry only one night, and that was not at me, +but Merrylegs, his performing dog. After he beat the dog, he lay down +crying on the floor with him in his arms, and the dog licked his face." + +Louisa saw that she was sobbing, and going to her, kissed her, took her +hand, and sat down beside her. + +"Finish by telling me how your father left you, Sissy. The blame of +telling the story, if there is any blame, is mine, not yours." + +"Dear Miss Louisa," said Sissy, sobbing yet; "I came home from the +school that afternoon, and found poor father just come home too, from +the booth. And he sat rocking himself over the fire, as if he was in +pain. And I said, 'have you hurt yourself father?' and he said, 'A +little, my darling.' Then I saw that he was crying. The more I spoke to +him, the more he hid his face; and shook all over, and said nothing but +'My darling'; and 'My love!' Then he said he never gave any satisfaction +now, that he was a shame and disgrace, and I should have done better +without him all along. I said all the affectionate things to him that +came into my heart, and presently he was quiet, and put his arms around +my neck, and kissed me a great many times. Then he asked me to fetch +some of the stuff he used, for the little hurt he had had, and to get it +at the best place, which was at the other end of town. Then after +kissing me again, he let me go. There is no more to tell, Miss Louisa. I +keep the nine oils ready for him, and I know he will come back. Every +letter that I see in Mr. Gradgrind's hand takes my breath away, and +blinds my eyes, for I think it comes from father, or from Mr. Sleary +about father." + +After this whenever Sissy dropped a curtsey to Mr. Gradgrind in the +presence of his family, and asked if he had had any letter yet about +her, Louisa would suspend the occupation of the moment, and look for the +reply as earnestly as Sissy did. And when Mr. Gradgrind answered, "No, +Jupe, nothing of the sort," the trembling of Sissy's lips would be +repeated in Louisa's face, and her eyes would follow Sissy with +compassion to the door. Thus a warm friendship sprang up between the +girls, and a similar one between the mathematical Thomas and the +clown's daughter. + +Time with his innumerable horse-power presently turned out young Thomas +Gradgrind a young man and Louisa a young woman. The same great +manufacturer passed Sissy onward in his mill, and worked her up into a +very pretty article, indeed. + +"I fear, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that your continuance at the school +any longer would be useless." + +"I am afraid it would, sir," Sissy answered with a curtsey. + +"I cannot disguise from you, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that the result +of your probation there has greatly disappointed me. You are extremely +deficient in your facts. Your acquaintance with figures is very limited. +You are altogether backward, and below the mark, yet I believe you have +tried hard. I have observed you, and I can find no fault with you in +that respect." + +"Thank you, sir. I have thought sometimes;" Sissy faltered, "that +perhaps I tried to learn too much, and that if I had asked to be +allowed to try a little less, I might have--" + +"No, Jupe, no," said Mr. Gradgrind, shaking his head. "No. The course +you pursued, you pursued according to the system, and there is no more +to be said about it. I can only suppose that the circumstances of your +early life were too unfavorable to the development of your reasoning +powers, and that we began too late. Still, as I have said already, I am +disappointed." + +"I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment, sir, of your kindness +to a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you, and of your protection +of her." said Sissy, weeping. + +"Don't shed tears," added Mr. Gradgrind, "I don't complain of you. You +are an affectionate, earnest, good young woman, and we must make +that do." + +"Thank you, sir, very much," said Sissy, with a grateful curtsey. + +"You are useful to Mrs. Gradgrind, and you are serviceable in the family +also; so I understand from Miss Louisa, and indeed, so I have observed +myself. I therefore hope," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that you can make +yourself happy in those relations." + +"I should have nothing to wish, sir, if--" + +"I understand you," said Mr. Gradgrind; "you refer to your father. I +have heard from Miss Louisa that you still preserve that bottle. Well! +If your training in the science of arriving at exact results had been +more successful, you would have been wiser on these points. I will +say no more." + +He really liked Sissy too well to have contempt for her. Somehow or +other, he had become possessed by an idea that there was something in +this girl which could hardly be set forth in a tabular form; that there +was something in her composition which defied the cold analysis of Fact; +that there was some great virtue in her loving-kindness which more than +compensated for her deficiencies of mind. + +From that time Sissy lived at Stone Lodge on equal terms with the rest +of the family, and after Louisa's marriage, cared for fretful Mrs. +Gradgrind in her invalidism, with a sweet patience that endeared her to +the poor woman. Indeed the entire household were deeply attached to +Sissy, and, seeing the unselfishness of her daily life, even Mr. +Gradgrind himself was forced to acknowledge that there was a greater +Teacher than M'Choakumchild, with a system of education superior to the +Gradgrind system, and that the same great Teacher had educated the +clown's daughter to a higher degree of usefulness and courage than the +Gradgrind system had yet been able to produce. + +In fact, as time went on, Mr. Gradgrind was slowly discovering the flaws +in his mathematical theories; finding out that laws and logic can never +take the place of love in the development of a nature, and the discovery +was a bitter one to him. + +Despite their careful bringing-up by rule and measure, neither Louisa +nor Thomas Gradgrind, in their maturity, did any credit to their +father's system, and when his mistakes with them became evident to the +cold, proud man, and he realized how nearly he had wrecked their lives +by those errors, the weight of his suffering was heavy upon him. Then, +realizing that all the Facts in his storehouse of learning, could not +teach him how to save his children, and win their love, it was to Sissy +that he turned for the information that he needed. + +When young Thomas Gradgrind robbed the Bank with which he was connected, +and was obliged to flee from justice, it was Sissy who saved him from +ruin. She sent him, with a note of explanation, to her old friend, Mr. +Sleary,--whose whereabouts she happened to know at the time, and asked +him to hide young Thomas until he should have further advice from her. +Then she and Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind journeyed hurriedly to the town, +where they found the Circus. A performance was just beginning when they +arrived, and they found the culprit in the ring, disguised as a +black servant. + +When the performance was over, Mr. Sleary came out and greeted them with +great heartiness, exclaiming; "Thethilia, it doth me good to thee you. +You wath always a favorite with uth, and you've done uth credit thinth +the old timeth, I'm thure." + +He then suggested that such members of his troupe as would remember her +be called to see her, and presently Sissy found herself amid the +familiar scenes of her childhood, surrounded by an eager and +affectionate group of her old comrades. While she was busily talking +with them, Mr. Sleary entered into a consultation with Mr. Gradgrind +upon the subject of his erring son's future. He then told the poor, +distressed father that for Sissy's sake, and because Mr. Gradgrind had +been so kind to her, he would help the culprit to escape from the +country, secretly, by night Then, growing confidential, he added: + +"Thquire, you don't need to be told that dogth ith wonderful animalth." + +"Their instinct," said Mr. Gradgrind, "is surprising." + +"Whatever you call it--and I'm bletht if I know what to call it"--said +Sleary, "it ith athtonithing. Ith fourteen month ago, Thquire, thinthe +we wath at Chethter. One morning there cometh into our Ring, by the +thage door, a dog. He had travelled a long way, he wath in very bad +condition, he wath lame and pretty well blind. He went round as if he +wath a theeking for a child he know'd; and then he comed to me, and +thood on hith two fore-legth, weak ath he wath, and then he wagged hith +tail and died. Thquire, that dog wath Merrylegth." + +"Sissy's father's dog!" + +"Thethilia's fatherth old dog. Now, Thquire, I can take my oath, from my +knowledge of that dog, that that man wath dead--and buried--afore that +dog came back to me. We talked it over a long time, whether I thould +write or not, but we agreed, No. There'th nothing comfortable to tell; +why unthettle her mind, and make her unhappy? Tho, whether her father +bathely detherted her; or whether he broke his own heart alone, rather +than pull her down along with him, never will be known, now, Thquire, +till we know how the dogth findth uth out!" + +"She keeps the bottle that he sent her for, to this hour, and she will +believe in his affection to the last moment of her life," said Mr. +Gradgrind. + +"It theemth to prethent two things to a perthon, don't it?" said Mr. +Sleary musingly, "one, that there ith a love in the world, not all +thelf-interest, after all, but thomething very different; t'other, that +it hath a way of its own of calculating with ith as hard to give a name +to, ath the wayth of the dogth ith!" + +Mr. Gradgrind looked out of the window, and made no reply. He was deep +in thought, and the result of his meditation became evident from that +day in a gradual broadening of his nature and purposes. He never again +attempted to replace nature's instincts and affections by his own system +of education, and as the years went by he made no further attempt to +destroy Sissy's loving faith in that father who had left her long ago; +he only tried to compensate her for that loss as best he could;--and +for the education which led to the softening of his hard, cold nature, +the credit belongs to the daughter of a clown, to whom love meant more +than logic. + + + +FLORENCE DOMBEY + + + +[Illustration: FLORENCE DOMBEY] + + + +FLORENCE DOMBEY + +There never was a child more loving or more lovable than Florence +Dombey. There never was a child more ready to respond to loving +ministrations than she, more eager to yield herself in docile obedience +to a parent's wish; and to her mother she clung with a desperate +affection at variance with her years. + +But the sad day came when, clasped in her mother's arms, the little +creature, with her perfectly colorless face, and deep, dark eyes, never +moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, nor looked on those who +stood around, nor shed a tear, understanding that soon she would be +bereft of that mother's care and love. + +"Mamma!" cried the child at last, sobbing aloud; "Oh, dear mamma! oh, +dear mamma!" + +Then, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother +drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the +world, leaving Florence and the new-born baby brother in the +father's care. + +Alas for Florence! To that father,--the pompous head of the great firm +of Dombey and Son--girls never showed a sufficient justification for +their existence, and this one of his own was an object of supreme +indifference to him; while upon the tiny boy, his heir and future +partner in the firm, he lavished all his interest, centred all his hopes +and affection. + +After her mother's death, Florence was taken away by an aunt; and a +nurse, named Polly Richards, was secured for baby Paul. A few weeks +later, as Polly was sitting in her own room with her young charge, the +door was quietly opened, and a dark-eyed little girl looked in. + +"It's Miss Florence, come home from her aunt's, no doubt," thought +Richards, who had never seen the child before. "Hope I see you +well, miss." + +"Is that my brother?" asked the child, pointing to the baby. + +"Yes, my pretty," answered Richards, "come and kiss him." + +But the child, instead of advancing, looked her earnestly in the face, +and said: + +"What have you done with my mamma?" + +"Lord bless the little creetur!" cried Richards. "What a sad question! +_I_ done? Nothing, miss." + +"What have they done with my mamma?" cried the child. + +"I never saw such a melting thing in all my life!" said Richards. "Come +nearer here; come, my dear miss! Don't be afraid of me." + +"I'm not afraid of you," said the child, drawing nearer, "but I want to +know what they have done with my mamma." + +"My darling," said Richards, "come and sit down by me, and I'll tell you +a story." + +With a quick perception that it was intended to relate to what she had +asked, little Florence sat down on a stool at the nurse's feet, looking +up into her face. + +"Once upon a time," said Richards, "there was a lady--a very good lady, +and her little daughter dearly loved her--who, when God thought it right +that it should be so, was taken ill, and died. Died, never to be seen +again by anyone on earth, and was buried in the ground where the +trees grow." + +"The cold ground," said the child, shuddering. + +"No, the warm ground," returned Polly, seizing her advantage, "where the +ugly little seeds turn into beautiful flowers, and into grass, and into +corn, and I don't know what all besides. Where good people turn into +bright angels, and fly away to heaven!" + +The child who had drooped her head, raised it again, and sat looking at +her intently. + +"So; let me see," said Polly, not a little flurried between this earnest +scrutiny, her desire to comfort the child, her sudden success, and her +very slight confidence in her own powers. "So, when this lady died, she +went to God! and she prayed to Him, this lady did," said Polly, +affecting herself beyond measure, being heartily in earnest, "to teach +her little daughter to be sure of that in her heart; and to know that +she was happy there, and loved her still; and to hope and try--oh, all +her life--to meet her there one day, never, never, never to part +any more." + +"It was my mamma!" exclaimed the child, springing up, and clasping her +around the neck. + +"And the child's heart," said Polly, drawing her to her breast, "the +little daughter's heart was so full of the truth of this, that even when +she heard it from a strange nurse that couldn't tell it right, but was a +poor mother herself, and that was all, she found a comfort in it--didn't +feel so lonely--sobbed and cried upon her bosom--took kindly to the baby +lying in her lap--and--there, there, there!" said Polly, smoothing the +child's curls, and dropping tears upon her. "There, poor dear!" + +"Oh, well, Miss Floy! and won't your pa be angry neither?" cried a quick +voice at the door, proceeding from a short, brown womanly girl of +fourteen, with little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads, "when it +was tickerlerly given out that you wasn't to go and worrit the nurse." + +"She don't worry me," was the surprised rejoinder of Polly. "I'm very +fond of children. Miss Florence has just come home, hasn't she?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Richards, and here, Miss Floy, before you've been in the +house a quarter of an hour, you go a-smearing your wet face against the +expensive mourning that Mrs. Richards is a-wearing for your ma!" With +this remonstrance, young Spitfire, whose real name was Susan Nipper, +detached the child from her new friend by a wrench--as if she were a +tooth. But she seemed to do it more in the sharp exercise of her +official functions, than with any deliberate unkindness. + +"She'll be quite happy, now that she's come home again," said Polly, +nodding to her with a smile, "and will be so pleased to see her dear +papa to-night." + +"Lork, Mrs. Richards!" cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words with a +jerk, "Don't! See her dear papa, indeed! I should like to see her do it! +Her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else; and before there was +somebody else to be wrapped up in, she never was a favorite. Girls are +thrown away in this house, I assure you." + +"You surprise me," cried Polly. "Hasn't Mr. Dombey seen her since--" + +"No," interrupted Miss Nipper. "Not once since. And he hadn't hardly set +his eyes upon her before that, for months and months, and I don't think +he would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets +to-morrow. Oh, there's a Tartar within a hundred miles of here, I can +tell you, Mrs. Richards!" said Susan Nipper; "Wish you good morning, +Mrs. Richards. Now Miss Floy, you come along with me, and don't go +hanging back like a naughty wicked child, that judgments is no example +to, don't." + +In spite of being thus adjured, and in spite also of some hauling on the +part of Susan Nipper, little Florence broke away, and kissed her new +friend affectionately, but Susan Nipper made a charge at her, and swept +her out of the room. + +When Polly Richards was left alone, her heart was sore for the +motherless little girl, and she determined to devise some means of +having Florence beside her lawfully and without rebellion. An opening +happened to present itself that very night. + +She had been rung down into the conservatory, as usual, and was walking +about with the baby in her arms, when Mr. Dombey came up and +stopped her. + +"He looks thriving," said Mr. Dombey, glancing with great interest at +Paul's tiny face, which she uncovered for his observation. "They give +you everything that you want, I hope?" + +"Oh, yes, thank you, sir;" + +She hesitated so, however, that Mr. Dombey stopped again and looked at +her inquiringly. + +"I believe nothing is so good for making children lively, sir, as seeing +other children playing about them," observed Polly, taking courage. + +"I think I mentioned to you, Richards, when you came here," said Mr. +Dombey, with a frown; "that I wished you to see as little of your family +as possible. You can continue your walk, if you please." + +With that he disappeared into an inner room, and Polly felt that she had +fallen into disgrace without the least advancement of her purpose; but +next night when she came down, he called her to him. "If you really +think that kind of society is good for the child," he said sharply, as +if there had been no interval since she proposed it, "where's Miss +Florence?" + +"Nothing could be better than Miss Florence, sir," said Polly eagerly, +"but I understood from her little maid that they were not to--" But Mr. +Dombey rang the bell, and gave his orders before she had a chance to +finish the sentence. + +"Tell them always to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she +chooses," he commanded; and, the iron being hot, Richards striking on it +boldly, requested that the child might be sent down at once to make +friends with her little brother. + +When Florence timidly presented herself, had Mr. Dombey looked towards +her with a father's eye, he might have read in her keen glance the +passionate desire to run to him, crying, "Oh, father, try to love +me,--there is no one else"; the dread of a repulse; the fear of being +too bold and of offending him. But he saw nothing of this. He saw her +pause at the door and look towards him, and he saw no more. + +"Come here, Florence," said her father coldly. "Have you nothing to say +to me?" + +The tears that stood in her eyes as she raised them quickly to his face, +were frozen by the expression it wore. She looked down again, and put +out her trembling hand, which Mr. Dombey took loosely in his own. + +"There! be a good girl," he said, patting her on the head, and regarding +her with a disturbed and doubtful look, "go to Richards! go!" + +His little daughter hesitated for another instant, as though she would +have clung about him still, or had some lingering hope that he might +raise her in his arms and kiss her. But he dropped her hand and turned +away. Still Polly persevered, and managed so well with little Paul as to +make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's +company. When it was time for Florence to go to bed, the nurse urged her +to say good night to her father, but the child hesitated, and Mr. Dombey +called from the inner room; "It doesn't matter. You can let her come and +go without regarding me." + +The child shrunk as she listened, and was gone before her humble friend +looked around again. + + * * * * * + +Just around the corner from Mr. Dombey's office was the little shop of a +nautical-instrument maker whose name was Solomon Gills. The +stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, +telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, and every kind of an instrument +used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's +reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discovery. Old prints of ships +hung in frames upon the walls; outlandish shells, seaweeds and mosses +decorated the chimney-piece; the little wainscoted parlor was lighted by +a skylight, like a cabin, The shop itself seemed almost to become a +sea-going ship-shape concern, wanting only good sea room, in the event +of an unexpected launch, to work its way securely to any desert island +in the world. + +Here Solomon Gills lived, in skipper-like state, all alone with his +nephew, Walter; a boy of fourteen, who looked quite enough like a +midshipman to carry out the prevailing idea. + +It is half past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon. Solomon Gills is +wondering where Walter is, when a voice exclaims, "Halloa, Uncle Sol!" +and the instrument-maker, turning briskly around, sees a +cheerful-looking, merry boy fresh with running home in the rain; +fair-faced, bright-eyed and curly-haired. + +"Well, uncle, how have you got on without me all day? Is dinner ready? +I'm so hungry." + +"As to getting on," said Solomon, good-naturedly, "It would be odd if I +couldn't get on without a young dog like you a great deal better than +with you. As to dinner being ready, it's been waiting for you this +half-hour. As to being hungry, I am!" + +"Come along, then, uncle!" cried the boy, and Uncle Sol and his nephew +were speedily engaged on a fried sole, with a prospect of steak +to follow. + +"Now," said the old man eagerly, "Let's hear something about the Firm." + +"Oh! there's not much to be told, uncle," said the boy, plying his knife +and fork. "When Mr. Dombey came in, he walked up to my seat--I wish he +wasn't so solemn and stiff, uncle--and told me you had spoken to him +about me, and that he had found me employment in the House accordingly, +and that I was expected to be attentive and punctual, and then he went +away. I thought he didn't seem to like me much." + +"You mean, I suppose." observed the instrument-maker, "that you didn't +seem to like him much." + +"Well, uncle," returned the boy laughing, "perhaps so; I never thought +of that." + +Solomon looked a little graver as he finished his dinner, and glanced +from time to time at the boy's bright face. When dinner was done, he +went down into a little cellar, and returned with a bottle covered with +dust and dirt. + +"Why, uncle Sol!" said the boy, "What are you about? that's the +wonderful Madeira--there's only one more bottle!" + +Uncle Sol nodded his head, and having drawn the cork in solemn silence, +filled two glasses, and set the bottle and a third clean glass on +the table. + +"You shall drink the other bottle, Wally," he said, "When you come to +good fortune; when you are a thriving, respected, happy man; when the +start in life you have made to-day shall have brought you--as I pray +Heaven it may!--to a smooth part of the course you have to run, my +child. My love to you!" + +They clinked their glasses together, and were deep in conversation, when +an addition to the little party made its appearance, in the shape of a +gentleman with a hook instead of a hand attached to his right wrist; +very bushy black eyebrows; and a thick stick in his left hand, covered +all over (like his nose) with knobs. He wore a loose black silk +handkerchief round his neck, and such a very large shirt-collar that it +looked like a small sail over his wide suit of blue. He was evidently +the person for whom the spare wineglass was intended, and evidently knew +it; for having taken off his coat, and hung up his hard glazed hat, he +brought a chair to where the clean glass was, and sat himself down +behind it. He was usually addressed as Captain, this visitor; and had +been a pilot, or a skipper, or a privateer's man, or all three perhaps; +and was a very salt looking man indeed. His face brightened as he shook +hands with uncle and nephew; but he seemed to be of a laconic +disposition, and merely said: "How goes it?" + +"All well," said Mr. Gills, pushing the bottle towards the new-comer, +Captain Cuttle, who thereupon proceeded to fill his glass, and the +wonderful Madeira loosened his tongue to the extent of giving utterance +to a prodigous oration for Walter's benefit. + +"Come," cried Solomon Gills, "we must finish the bottle." + +"Stand by!" said Captain Cuttle, filling his glass again. "Give the boy +some more." + +"Yes," said Sol, "a little more. We'll finish the bottle to the +House,--Walter's house. Why, it may be his house one of these days, in +part. Who knows? Sir Richard Whittington married his master's daughter." + +"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and when you are old, +you will never depart from it," interposed the Captain. "Wal'r, overhaul +the book, my lad!" + +"And although Mr. Dombey hasn't a daughter--" Sol began. + +"Yes, yes, he has, uncle," said the boy, reddening and laughing. "I know +he has. Some of them were talking about it in the office to-day. And +they do say that he's taken a dislike to her, and that she's left +unnoticed among the servants, while he thinks of no one but his son. +That's what they say. Of course I don't know." + +"He knows all about her already, you see," said the instrument-maker. + +"Nonsense, uncle," cried the boy reddening again; "how can I help +hearing what they tell me?" + +"The son's a little in our way at present, I'm afraid," added the old +man, humoring the joke. "Nevertheless, we'll drink to him," pursued Sol. +"So, here's to Dombey and Son." + +"Oh, very well, uncle," said the boy merrily. "Since you have introduced +the mention of her, and have said that I know all about her, I shall +make bold to amend the toast. So,--here's to Dombey--and Son--and +Daughter!" + +Meanwhile, in Mr. Dombey's mansion, baby Paul was thriving under the +watchful care of Polly Richards, Mr. Dombey, and Mr. Dombey's friends, +and the day of his christening arrived. On that important occasion, the +baby's excitement was so great that no one could soothe him until +Florence was summoned. As she hid behind her nurse, he followed her with +his eyes; and when she peeped out with a merry cry to him, he sprang up +and crowed lustily--laughing outright when she ran in upon him, and +seeming to fondle her curls with his tiny hands while she smothered him +with kisses. + +Was Mr. Dombey pleased to see this? He did not show it. If any sunbeam +stole into the room to light the children at their play, it never +reached his face. He looked on so coldly that the warm light vanished, +even from the laughing eyes of little Florence when, at last, they +happened to meet his. + +The contemplation of Paul in his christening robe made his nurse yearn +for a sight of her own first-born, although this was a pleasure strictly +forbidden by Mr. Dombey's orders. But the longing so overpowered her +that she consulted Miss Nipper as to the possibility of gratifying it, +and that young woman, eager herself for an expedition, urged Polly to +visit her home. So, the next morning the two nurses set out together: +Richards carrying Paul, and Susan leading little Florence by the hand, +and giving her such jerks and pokes as she considered it wholesome to +administer. Then for a brief half-hour, Polly enjoyed the longed-for +pleasure of being again in the bosom of her family, but the visit had a +sad ending, for on the way back, passing through a crowded thoroughfare +the little party became separated. A thundering alarm of Mad Bull! was +raised. With a wild confusion of people running up and down, and +shouting, and wheels running over them, and boys fighting, and mad bulls +coming up, and the nurse in the midst of all these dangers, being torn +to pieces, Florence screamed and ran. She ran until she was exhausted, +then found with a sensation of terror not to be described, that she was +quite alone. + +"Susan! Susan!" cried Florence. "Oh, where are they?" + +"Where are they?" said an old woman, hobbling across from the opposite +side of the road. "Why did you run away from 'em?" + +"I was frightened," answered Florence. "I didn't know what I did. I +thought they were with me. Where are they?" + +The old woman took her by the wrist, and said, "I'll show you." + +She was a very ugly old woman indeed, miserably dressed, and carried +some skins over her arm. Florence was afraid of her, and looked, +hesitating, up the street. It was a solitary place, and there was no one +in it but herself and the old woman. + +"You needn't be frightened now," said the old woman, still holding her +tight "Come along with me." + +"I--don't know you. What's your name?" asked Florence. + +"Mrs. Brown," said the old woman, "Good Mrs. Brown. Susan ain't far +off," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and the others are close to her, and +nobody's hurt." + +The child shed tears of delight on hearing this, and accompanied the old +woman willingly. They had not gone far, when they stopped before a +shabby little house in a dirty little lane. Opening the door with a key +she took out of her pocket, Mrs. Brown pushed the child into a back +room, where there was a great heap of rags lying on the floor, a heap of +bones, and a heap of sifted dust. But there was no furniture at all, and +the walls and ceiling were quite black. + +The child became so terrified, that she was stricken speechless, and +looked as though about to swoon. + +"Now, don't be a young mule," said Good Mrs. Brown, reviving her with a +shake. "I'm not a' going to keep you, even above an hour. Don't vex me. +If you don't, I tell you, I won't hurt you. But if you do, I'll kill +you. I could have you killed at any time--even if you was in your own +bed at home. Now let's know who you are, and what you are, and all +about it." + +The old woman's threats and promises, and Florence's habit of being +quiet, and repressing what she felt, enabled her to tell her little +history. Mrs. Brown listened attentively until she had finished. + +"I want that pretty frock, Miss Dombey," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and that +little bonnet, and a petticoat or two, and those shoes, Miss Dombey, and +anything else you can spare. Come! take 'em off." + +Florence obeyed as fast as her trembling hands could allow, keeping all +the while, a frightened eye on Mrs. Brown, who examined each article of +apparel at leisure, and seemed tolerably well satisfied with their +quality and value; she then produced a worn-out girl's cloak, and the +crushed remnants of a girl's bonnet, as well as other tattered things. +In this dainty raiment she instructed Florence to dress herself, and as +this seemed a prelude to her release, the child complied as fast as +possible. Mrs. Brown then resumed her seat on the bones, and smoked a +very short, black pipe, after which she gave the child a rabbit-skin to +carry, that she might appear like her ordinary companion, and led her +forth into the streets; but she cautioned her, with threats of deadly +vengeance in case of disobedience, to go directly to her father's office +in the city, also to wait at the street corner where she would be left, +until the clock struck three, and these directions Florence promised +faithfully to observe. + +At length Mrs. Brown left her changed and ragged little friend at a +corner, where, true to her promise, she remained until the steeple rang +out three o'clock, when after often looking over her shoulder, lest the +all-powerful spies of Mrs. Brown should take offence at that, she +hurried off as fast as she could in her slipshod shoes, holding the +rabbit-skin tight in her hand. + +Tired of walking, stunned by the noise and confusion, anxious for her +brother and the nurses, terrified by what she had undergone, and what +was yet before her, Florence once or twice could not help stopping and +crying bitterly, but few people noticed her, in the garb she wore, or if +they did, believed that she was tutored to excite compassion, and passed +on. It was late in the afternoon when she peeped into a kind of wharf, +and asked a stout man there if he could tell her the way to Dombey +& Son's. + +The man looked attentively at her, then called another man, who ran up +an archway, and very soon returned with a blithe-looking boy who he said +was in Mr. Dombey's employ. + +Hearing this, Florence felt re-assured; ran eagerly up to him, and +caught his hand in both of hers. + +"I'm lost, if you please!" said Florence. "I was lost this morning, a +long way from here--and I have had my own clothes taken away since--and +my name is Florence Dombey, and, oh dear, take care of me, if you +please!" sobbed Florence, giving full vent to her childish feelings. + +"Don't cry, Miss Dombey," said young Walter Gay, the nephew of Solomon +Gills, in a transport of enthusiasm. "What a wonderful thing for me that +I am here. You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's +crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Oh, don't cry!" + +"I won't cry any more," said Florence. "I'm only crying for joy." + +"Crying for joy!" thought Walter, "and I'm the cause of it. Come along, +Miss Dombey, let me see the villain who will molest you now!" + +So Walter, looking immensely fierce, led off Florence looking very +happy; and as Mr. Dombey's office was closed for the night, he led her +to his uncle's, to leave her there while he should go and tell Mr. +Dombey that she was safe, and bring her back some clothes. + +"Halloa, Uncle Sol," cried Walter, bursting into the shop; "Here's a +wonderful adventure! Here's Mr. Dombey's daughter lost in the streets, +and robbed of her clothes by an old witch of a woman--found by +me--brought home to our parlor to rest--Here--just help me lift the +little sofa near the fire, will you, uncle Sol?--Cut some dinner for +her, will you, uncle; throw those shoes under the grate, Miss +Florence--put your feet on the fender to dry--how damp they are!--Here's +an adventure, uncle, eh?--God bless my soul, how hot I am!" + +Solomon Gills was quite as hot, by sympathy; and in excessive +bewilderment, he patted Florence's head, pressed her to eat, pressed her +to drink, rubbed the soles of her feet with his pocket-handkerchief, +heated at the fire, followed his locomotive nephew with his eyes and +ears, and had no clear perception of anything except that he was being +constantly knocked against, and tumbled over by that excited young +gentleman, as he darted about the room, attempting to accomplish twenty +things at once, and doing nothing at all. + +"Here, wait a minute, uncle," he continued, "till I run upstairs and get +another jacket on, and then I'll be off. I say, uncle, isn't this an +adventure?" + +"My dear boy," said Solomon, "it is the most extraordinary--" + +"No, but do, uncle, please--do, Miss Florence--dinner, you know, uncle." + +"Yes, yes, yes," cutting instantly into a leg of mutton, as if he were +catering for a giant. "I'll take care of her, Wally! Pretty dear! +Famished, of course. You go and get ready. Lord bless me! Sir Richard +Whittington, thrice Mayor of London!" + +While Walter was preparing to leave, Florence, overcome by fatigue, had +sunk into a doze before the fire and when the boy returned, she was +sleeping peacefully. + +"That's capital!" he whispered, "Don't wake her, uncle Sol!" + +"No, no," answered Solomon, "Pretty child!" + +"_Pretty_, indeed!" cried Walter, "I never saw such a face! Now I'm +off." + +Arriving at Mr. Dombey's house, and breathlessly announcing his errand +to the servant, Walter was shown into the library, where he confronted +Mr. Dombey. + +"Oh! beg your pardon, sir," said Walter, rushing up to him; "but I'm +happy to say, it's all right, sir. Miss Dombey's found!" + +"I told you she would certainly be found," said Mr. Dombey calmly, to +the others in the room. "Let the servants know that no further steps are +necessary. This boy who brings the information is young Gay from the +office. How was my daughter found, sir? I know how she was lost." Here +he looked majestically at Richards. "But how was she found? Who +found her?" + +It was quite out of Walter's power to be coherent, but he rendered +himself as explanatory as he could, in his breathless state, and told +why he had come alone. + +"You hear this, girl?" said Mr. Dombey sternly, to Susan Nipper. "Take +what is necessary and return immediately with this young man to fetch +Miss Florence home. Gay, you will be rewarded to-morrow." + +"Oh! thank you, sir," said Walter. "You are very kind. I'm sure I was +not thinking of any reward sir." + +"You are a boy," said Mr. Dombey, almost fiercely; "and what you think +of, or what you affect to think of, is of little consequence. You have +done well, sir. Don't undo it." + +Returning to his uncle's with Miss Nipper, Walter found that Florence, +much refreshed by sleep, had dined and come to be on terms of perfect +confidence and ease with old Sol. Miss Nipper caught her in her arms, +and made a very hysterical meeting of it. Then, converting the parlor +into a private tiring-room, she dressed her in proper clothes, and +presently led her forth to say farewell. + +"Good-night," said Florence to the elder man, "you have been very good +to me." + +Uncle Sol was quite delighted, and kissed her like her grandfather. + +"Good-night, Walter," she said, "I'll never forget you, No! Indeed I +never will. Good-by!" + +The entrance of the lost child at home made a slight sensation, but not +much. Mr. Dombey kissed her once upon the forehead, and cautioned her +not to wander anywhere again with treacherous attendants. He then +dismissed the culprit Polly Richards, from his service, telling her to +leave immediately, and it was a dagger in the haughty father's heart to +see Florence holding to her dress, and crying to her not to go. Not that +he cared to whom his daughter turned, or from whom turned away. The +swift, sharp agony struck through him as he thought of what his +son might do. + +His son cried lustily that night, at all events; and the next day a new +nurse, Wickam by name, took Polly's place. + +She lavished every care upon little Paul, yet all her vigilance could +not make him a thriving boy. When he was nearly five years old, he was +a pretty little fellow, but so very delicate that Mr. Dombey became +alarmed about him, and decided to send him at once to the seashore. + +So to Brighton, Paul and Florence and nurse Wickam went, and boarded +with a certain Mrs. Pipchin there. On Saturdays Mr. Dombey came down to +a hotel near by, and Paul and Florence would go and have tea with him, +and every day they spent their time upon the sands, and Florence was +always content when Paul was happy. + +While the children were thus living at Brighton, a warrant was served +upon old Solomon Gills, by a broker, because of a payment overdue upon a +bond debt. Old Sol was overcome by the extent of this calamity, which he +could not avert, and Walter hurried out to fetch Captain Cuttle to +discuss the situation. To the lad's dismay, the Captain insisted upon +applying to Mr. Dombey at once for the necessary loan which would help +old Sol out of his difficulty. So Walter proceeded with him to Brighton +as fast as coach horses could carry them, and on a Sunday morning while +Mr. Dombey was at breakfast, Florence came running in, her face suffused +with a bright color, and her eyes sparkling joyfully, and cried: + +"Papa! Papa! here's Walter, and he won't come in!" + +"Who?" cried Mr. Dombey, "What does she mean,--what is this?" + +"Walter, Papa," said Florence timidly; "who found me when I was lost!" + +"Tell the boy to come in," said Mr. Dombey. "Now, Gay, what is the +matter?" + +Tremblingly Walter Gay stood in the presence of his proud employer, and +made known his uncle's distress, and when he ceased speaking, Captain +Cuttle stepped forward, and clearing a space among the breakfast cups at +Mr. Dombey's elbow, produced a silver watch, ready money to the amount +of thirteen pounds and half a crown, two teaspoons and a pair of +battered sugar-tongs, and piling them up into a heap, that they might +look as precious as possible, said: + +"Half a loaf is better than no bread, and the same remark holds good +with crumbs. There's a few. Annuity of one hundred pounds p'rannum also +ready to be made over!" + +Florence had listened tearfully to Walter's sad tale and to the +captain's offer of his valuables, and little Paul now tried to comfort +her; but Mr. Dombey, watching them, saw only his son's wistful +expression, thought only of his pleasure, and after taking the child on +his knee, and having a brief consulation with him, he announced +pompously that Master Paul would lend the money to Walter's uncle. Young +Gay tried to express his gratitude for this favor, but Mr. Dombey +stopped him short. Then, sweeping the captain's property from him, he +added, "Have the goodness to take these things away, sir!" + +Captain Cuttle was so much struck by the magnanimity of Mr. Dombey, in +refusing treasures lying heaped up to his hand, that when he had +deposited them in his pockets again, he could not refrain from grasping +that gentleman's right hand in his own solitary left, before following +Walter out of the room, and Mr. Dombey shivered at his touch. + +Florence was running after them, to send some message to old Sol, when +Mr. Dombey called her back, bidding her stay where she was, and so the +episode ended. + +When the children had been nearly twelve months at Mrs. Pipchin's, Mr. +Dombey decided to send Paul to Dr. Blimber's boarding-school where his +education would be properly begun. Accordingly, Paul began his studies +in that hot-bed of learning, where the dreamy, delicate child with his +quaint ways soon became a favorite with teachers and pupils. The +process of being educated was difficult for one so young and frail, and +he might have sunk beneath the burden of his tasks but for looking +forward to the weekly visit to his sister at Mrs. Pipchin's. + +Oh, Saturdays! Oh, happy Saturdays! When Florence always came for him at +noon, and never would in any weather stay away: these Saturdays were +Sabbaths for at least two little Christians among all the Jews, and did +the holy Sabbath work of strengthening and knitting up a brother's and a +sister's love. + +Seeing her brother's difficulty with his lessons, Florence procured +books similar to his, and sat down at night to track his footsteps +through the thorny ways of learning; and being naturally quick, and +taught by that most wonderful of masters, Love, it was not long before +she gained upon Paul's heels, and caught, and passed him. + +And high was her reward, when one Saturday evening she sat down by his +side and made all that was so dark, clear and plain before him. It was +nothing but a startled look in Paul's wan face--a flush--a smile--and +then a close embrace--but God knows how her heart leaped up at this rich +payment for her trouble. + +"Oh, Floy!" he cried, "how I love you!" + +He said no more about it, but all that evening sat close by her, very +quiet; and in the night he called out from his little room, three or +four times, that he loved her. Regularly after that Florence sat down +with him on Saturday night, and assisted him through so much as they +could anticipate together of his next week's work. + +And so the months went by, until the midsummer vacation was near at +hand, and the great party which was to celebrate the breaking up of +school, was about to come off. Some weeks before this, Paul had had a +fainting turn, and had not recovered his strength, in consequence of +which, he was enjoying complete rest from lessons, and it was clear to +every one, that, once at home, he would never come back to Dr. Blimber's +or to any school again, and to no one was the sad truth more evident +than to Florence. + +On the evening of the great party Florence came, looking so beautiful in +her simple ball dress, with her fresh flowers in her hand, that she was +the admiration of all the young gentlemen of the school, and +particularly of Mr. Toots, the head boy; a simple youth with an engaging +manner, and the habit of blushing and chuckling when addressed. Mr. +Toots had made Paul his especial favorite and charge, and was well +repaid for his devotion to the boy by the gracious appreciation which +Florence showed him for it, and it was to the care of Mr. Toots that +Paul, when leaving, intrusted the dog Diogenes, who had never received a +friend into his confidence before Paul had become his companion. + +The brother and sister remained together for a time at Mrs. Pipchin's, +then went back to their home in London, where little Paul's life ebbed +away, and his father's hopes were crushed by the blow. + +There was a hush through Mr. Dombey's great mansion when the child was +gone, and Florence;--was she so alone in the bleak world that nothing +else remained to her except her little maid? Nothing. + +At first, when the house subsided into its accustomed course she could +do nothing but weep, and wander up and down, and sometimes, in a sudden +pang of desolate remembrance, fly to her own chamber, lay her face down +on her bed, and know no consolation. But it is not in the nature of pure +love to burn so fiercely and unkindly long. Soon, in the midst of the +dismal house, her low voice in the twilight slowly touched an old air to +which she had so often listened with Paul's head upon her arm. And +after that, and when it was quite dark, a little strain of music +trembled in the room, repeated often, in the shadowy solitude; and +broken murmurs of the strain still trembled on the keys when the sweet +voice was hushed in tears. + +One day Florence was amazed at receiving a visit from Mr. Toots, who +entered the room with much hesitation, and, with a series of chuckles, +laughs, and blushes, informed her that he had brought her little Paul's +pet, the dog Diogenes, as a companion in her loneliness. + +"He ain't a lady's dog, you know," said Mr. Toots, "but I hope you won't +mind that. If you would like to have him, he's at the door." + +In fact, Diogenes was at that moment staring through the window of a +hackney cabriolet, into which he had been ensnared on a false pretence +of rats among the straw. Sooth to say, he was as unlike a lady's dog as +dog might be; and in his gruff anxiety to get out, gave short yelps, and +overbalancing himself by the intensity of his efforts, tumbled down into +the straw, and then sprung up panting again, putting out his tongue, as +if he had come express to a Dispensary to be examined for his health. + +But though Diogenes was as ridiculous a dog as one would meet with on a +summer's day; a blundering, ill-favored, clumsy, bullet-headed dog, +continually acting on the wrong idea that there was an enemy in the +neighborhood whom it was meritorious to bark at; and though he was far +from good-tempered, and certainly was not clever, and had hair all over +his eyes, and a comical nose, and an inconsistent tail, and a gruff +voice,--he was dearer to Florence, in virtue of Paul's parting +remembrance of him, and that request that he might be taken care of, +than the most valuable and beautiful of his kind. So dear, indeed, was +this same ugly Diogenes, and so welcome to her, that she kissed the +hand of Mr. Toots in her gratitude. And when Diogenes, released, came +tearing up the stairs and, bouncing into the room, dived under all the +furniture, and wound a long iron chain that dangled from his neck round +legs of chairs and tables, and then tugged at it until his eyes nearly +started out of his head; and when he growled at Mr. Toots, who affected +familiarity, Florence was as pleased with him as if he had been a +miracle of discretion. + +Mr. Toots was so overjoyed by the success of his present, and so +delighted to see Florence bending over Diogenes, smoothing his coarse +back with her little delicate hand--Diogenes graciously allowing it from +the first moment of their acquaintance--that he felt it difficult to +take leave, and would, no doubt have been a much longer time in making +up his mind to do so, if he had not been assisted by Diogenes himself, +who suddenly took it into his head to bay at Mr. Toots, and to make +short runs at him with his mouth open. Not exactly seeing his way to the +end of these demonstrations, Mr. Toot with chuckles, lapsed out of the +door, and got away. + +"Come, then, Di! Dear Di! Make friends with your new mistress. Let us +love each other, Di!" said Florence, fondling his shaggy head. And Di, +the rough and gruff, as if his hairy hide were pervious to the tear that +dropped upon it, and his dog's heart melted as it fell, put his nose up +to her face and swore fidelity. + +A banquet was immediately provided for him, and when he had eaten and +drunk his fill, he went to Florence, rose up on his hind legs, with his +awkward fore-paws on her shoulders, licked her face and hands, nestled +his great head against her heart, and wagged his tail till he was tired +Finally, he coiled himself up at her feet, and went to sleep. + +That same night Susan Nipper told her mistress that Mr. Dombey was to +leave home the next day for a trip,--which piece of news filled Florence +with dismay, and she sat musing sadly until midnight. + +She was little more than a child in years,--not yet fourteen--and the +loneliness and gloom of such an hour in the great house might have set +an older fancy brooding on vague terrors. But her innocent imagination +was too full of one theme to admit them. Nothing wandered in her thought +but love; a wandering love indeed, and cast away, but turning always to +her father. + +She could not go to bed, without making her nightly pilgrimage to his +door. The moment she touched it she found that it was open, and there +was a light within. The first impulse of the timid child--and she +yielded to it--was to retire swiftly. A next, to go back, and to enter. +She turned back, urged on by the love within her, and glided in. + +Her father sat at his old table, in the middle of the room. His face was +turned towards her. It looked worn and dejected, and in the loneliness +surrounding him, there was an appeal to Florence that struck home, but +when she spoke to him, the sternness of his glance and words so overcame +her that she shrank away,--and sobbing, silently ascended to her +room again. + +Diogenes was broad awake, and waiting for his little mistress. + +"Oh, Di! Oh, dear Di! Love me for his sake!" + +Diogenes already loved her for his own, and did not care how much he +showed it. So he made himself vastly ridiculous by performing a variety +of uncouth bounces, and concluded, when poor Florence was at last +asleep, by scratching open her bedroom door; rolling up his bed into a +pillow; lying down on the boards at the full length of his tether with +his head toward her; and looking lazily at her, upside down, out of the +tops of his eyes, until, from winking and blinking, he fell asleep +himself, and dreamed with gruff barks, of his enemy. + +About this time Walter Gay was informed by Mr. Dombey of his appointment +to a junior position in the firm's counting house in the Barbadoes. The +boy ever since he first saw Florence had thought of her with admiration +and compassion, pitying her loneliness; and now when he was about to +cross the ocean, his first thought was to seek audience with her little +maid, to tell her of his going, to say to her that his uncle had had an +interest in Miss Dombey ever since the night when she was lost, and +always wished her well and happy, and always would be proud and glad to +serve her, if she should need that service. + +Upon receiving the message, Florence hastened with Susan Nipper to the +old Instrument-maker's Shop, and they passed into the parlor so suddenly +that Uncle Sol, in surprise at seeing them, sprang out of his own chair +and nearly tumbled over another, as he exclaimed, "Miss Dombey!" + +"Is it possible!" cried Walter, starting up in his turn. "Here!" + +"Yes," said Florence, advancing to him. "I was afraid you might be going +away, and hardly thinking of me. And, Walter, there is something I wish +to say to you before you go, and you must call me Florence, if you +please, and not speak like a stranger. My dear brother before he died +said that he was very fond of you, and said, 'remember Walter'; and if +you will be a brother to me, Walter, now that I have none on earth, I'll +be your sister all my life, and think of you like one, wherever we +may be!" + +In her sweet simplicity, she held out both her hands, and Walter, taking +them, stooped down and touched the tearful face; and it seemed to him +in doing so, that he responded to her innocent appeal beside the dead +child's bed. + +After Walter's departure, Florence lived alone as before, in the great +dreary house, and the blank walls looked down upon her with a vacant +stare, as if they had a Gorgon-like mind to stare her youth and beauty +into stone. + +No magic dwelling-place in magic story, shut up in the heart of a thick +wood, was ever more solitary and deserted to the fancy than was her +father's mansion in its grim reality. The spell upon it was more wasting +than the spell which used to set enchanted houses sleeping once upon a +time, but left their waking freshness unimpaired. But Florence bloomed +there, like the King's fair daughter in the story. Her books, her music, +and her daily teachers were her only real companions, except Susan +Nipper and Diogenes, and she lived within the circle of her innocent +pursuits and thoughts, and nothing harmed her. She could go down to her +father's rooms now without fear of repulse. She could put everything in +order for him, binding little nosegays for his table, changing them as +they withered, and he did not come back, preparing something for him +every day, and leaving some timid mark of her presence near his usual +seat. Waking in the night, perhaps, she would tremble at the thought of +his coming home and angrily rejecting it, and would hurry down and bring +it away. At another time she would only lay her face upon his desk, and +leave a kiss there, and a tear. + +Still no one knew of this. Her father did not know--she held it from +that time--how much she loved him. She was very young, and had no +mother, and had never learned, by some fault or misfortune, how to +express to him that she loved him. She would try to gain that art in +time, and win him to a better knowledge of his only child. + +Thus Florence lived alone in the deserted house, and day succeeded day +in a monotony of loneliness until yielding to Susan Nipper's constant +request Florence consented to pay a visit to some friends who lived at +Fulham on the Thames. + +Just at this time she learned that Walter's ship was overdue, and no +news had been received of her, and, her mind filled with sad +forebodings, she went to see old Sol, She found him tearful and +desolate, broken down by the weight of his anxiety, refusing to be +comforted even by the hopeful words of Captain Cuttle. So it was with a +heavy heart that she went to pay her visit, accompanied by her +little maid. + +There were some other children staying at the Skettleses. Children who +were frank and happy, with fathers and mothers. Children who had no +restraint upon their love, and showed it freely. Florence thoughtfully +observed them, sought to find out from them what simple art they knew, +and she knew not; how she could be taught by them to show her father how +she loved him, and to win his love again. But all her efforts failed to +give her the secret of the nameless grace she sought, among the youthful +company who were assembled in the house, or among the children of the +poor, whom she often visited. + +Of Walter she thought constantly. Her tears fell often for his +sufferings, but rarely for his supposed death, and never long. Thus +matters stood with Florence on the day she went home, gladly, to her old +secluded life. + +"You'll be glad to go through the old rooms, won't you, Susan," said +Florence as they turned into the familiar street. + +"Well, Miss," returned the Nipper, "I wont deny but what I shall, though +I shall hate them again to-morrow, very likely!"--adding +breathlessly--"Why gracious me, _where's our house_?"-- + +There was a labyrinth of scaffolding raised all around the house. Loads +of bricks and stones, and heaps of mortar, and piles of wood, blocked up +half of the broad street. Ladders were raised against the walls; men +were at work upon the scaffolding; painters and decorators were busy +inside; great rolls of paper were being delivered from a cart at the +door; an upholsterer's wagon also stopped the way; nothing was to be +seen but workmen, swarming from the kitchens to the garret. Inside and +outside alike; bricklayers, painters, carpenters, masons; hammer, hod, +brush, pickaxe, saw, trowel: all at work together, in full chorus. + +Florence descended from the coach, half doubting if it could be the +right house, until she recognized Towlinson, the butler, standing at the +door to receive her. She passed him as if she were in a dream, and +hurried upstairs. Her own room was not yet touched within, but there +were beams and boards raised against it without. She went up swiftly to +that other bedroom, where her brother's little bed was; and a dark giant +of a man, with a pipe in his mouth, and his head tied up in a pocket +handkerchief, was staring in at the window. + +It was here that Susan Nipper found her, and said would she go +downstairs to her papa, who wished to speak to her? + +"At home! and wishing to speak to me!" cried Florence, pale and +agitated, hurrying down without a moment's hesitation. She thought upon +the way down, would she dare to kiss him? Her father might have heard +her heart beat when she came into his presence. He was not alone. There +were two ladies there. One was old, and the other was young and very +beautiful, and of an elegant figure. + +"Edith," said Mr. Dombey, "this is my daughter. Florence, this lady will +soon be your mamma." + +The girl started, and looked up at the beautiful face in a conflict of +emotions, among which the tears that name awakened struggled for a +moment with surprise, interest, admiration, and an indefinable sort of +fear. Then she cried out, "Oh, papa, may you be happy! May you be very, +very happy all your life!" then fell weeping on the lady's bosom. + +The beautiful lady held her to her breast, and pressed the hand with +which she clasped her, as if to reassure and comfort her, and bent her +head down over Florence and kissed her on the cheek. + +And now Florence began to hope that she would learn from her new and +beautiful mamma how to gain her father's love. And in her sleep that +night her own mother smiled radiantly upon the hope, and blessed it. + +Even in the busy weeks before the wedding-day, the bride-elect had time +to win the heart of the lonely girl, and Florence responded to her +advances with trustful love, and was happy and hopeful, while the new +mother's affection deepened daily. But it soon became evident that the +affection aroused Mr. Dombey's keen jealousy, and his wife thought it +best to repress her feelings for Florence. + +The girl soon became aware that there was no real sympathy between her +father and his second wife, and that the happiness in their home, of +which she had dreamed, would never be a reality. In truth the cold, +proud man with all his wealth and power, could not win from his wife one +smile such as she had often bestowed upon Florence in his presence, and +this added to his dislike for the girl. + +Once only, as Mr. Dombey sat and watched his daughter, the sight of her +in her beauty, now almost changed into a woman, roused within him a +fleeting feeling of regret at having had a household spirit bending at +his feet, and of having overlooked it in his stiff-necked pride. He felt +inclined to call her to him; the words were rising to his lips, when +they were checked by the entrance of his wife, whose haughty bearing and +indifference to him caused the gentle impulse to flee from him, and it +never returned. + +The breach between husband and wife was daily growing wider, when one +morning, riding to the city, Mr. Dombey was thrown from his horse, and +being brought home, he gloomily retired to his own rooms, where he was +attended by servants, not approached by his wife. Late that night there +arose in Florence's mind the image of her father, wounded and in pain, +alone, in his own home. + +With the same child's heart within her as of old, even as with the +child's sweet, timid eyes and clustering hair, Florence, as strange to +her father in her early maiden bloom as in her nursery days, crept down +to his room and looked in. The housekeeper was fast asleep in an +easy-chair before the fire. All was so very still that she knew he was +asleep. There was a cut upon his forehead. One of his arms, resting +outside of the bed, was bandaged up, and he was very white. After the +first assurance of his sleeping quietly, Florence stole close to the +bed, and softly kissed him and put the arm with which she dared not +touch him, waking, round about him on the pillow, praying to God to +bless her father, and to soften him towards her, if it might be so. + +On the following day Susan Nipper braced herself for a great feat which +she had long been contemplating; forced an entrance into Mr. Dombey's +room, and told him in most emphatic language what she thought of his +treatment of the motherless little girl who had so long been her charge. +Speechless with rage and amazement, Mr. Dombey attempted to summon some +one to protect him from her flow of language, but there was no bell-rope +near, and he could not move, so he was forced to listen to her tirade +until the entrance of the housekeeper cut it short. Susan Nipper was +then instantly discharged, and bestirred herself to get her trunks in +order, sobbing heartily as she thought of Florence, but exulting at the +memory of Mr. Dombey's discomfiture. Florence dared not interfere with +her father's commands, and took a sad farewell of the faithful little +maid, who had for so long been her companion. + +Now Florence was quite alone. She had grown to be seventeen; timid and +retiring as her solitary life had made her, it had not embittered her. A +child in innocent simplicity: a woman in her modest self-reliance and +her deep intensity of feeling, both child and woman seemed at once +expressed in her fair face and fragile delicacy of shape; in her +thrilling voice, her calm eyes, and sometimes in a strange ethereal +light that seemed to rest upon her head. + +Mrs. Dombey she seldom saw, and the day soon came when she lost her +entirely. The wife's supreme indifference to himself and his wishes, +stung Mr. Dombey more than any other kind of treatment could have done, +and he determined to bend her to his will. She was the first person who +had ever ventured to oppose him in the slightest particular;--their +pride, however different in kind, was equal in degree, and their flinty +opposition struck out fire which consumed the tie between them--and soon +the final separation came. + +One evening after a dispute with her husband, Mrs. Dombey went out to +dinner, and did not return. In the confusion of that dreadful night, +compassion for her father was the first distinct emotion that +overwhelmed Florence. At daybreak she hastened to him with her arms +stretched out, crying, "Oh, dear, dear papa!" as if she would have +clasped him around the neck. But in his frenzy he answered her with +brutal words, and lifted up his cruel arm and struck her, with that +heaviness, that she tottered on the marble floor. She did not sink down +at his feet; she did not shut out the sight of him with her trembling +hands; she did not utter one word of reproach. But she looked at him, +and a cry of desolation issued from her heart. She saw she had no father +upon earth, and ran out, orphaned, from his house. Another moment and +Florence, with her head bent down to hide her agony of tears, was in +the street. + +In the wildness of her sorrow, shame, and terror, the forlorn girl +hurried through the sunshine of a bright morning as if it were the +darkness of a winter night. Wringing her hands and weeping bitterly, she +fled without a thought, without a hope, without a purpose, but to fly +somewhere--anywhere. Suddenly she thought of the only other time she had +been lost in the wide wilderness of London--and went that way. To the +home of Walter's uncle. + +Checking her sobs and endeavoring to calm the agitation of her manner, +so as to avoid attracting notice, Florence was going more quietly when +Diogenes, panting for breath, and making the street ring with his glad +bark, was at her feet. + +She bent down on the pavement, and laid his rough loving foolish head +against her breast, and they went on together. + +At length the little shop came into view. She ran in and found Captain +Cuttle, in his glazed hat, standing over the fire, making his morning's +cocoa. Hearing a footstep and the rustle of a dress, the captain turned +at the instant when Florence reeled and fell upon the floor. + +The captain, pale as Florence, calling her by his childhood's name for +her, raised her like a baby, and laid her upon the same old sofa upon +which she had slumbered long ago. + +"It's Heart's Delight!" he exclaimed; "It's the sweet creetur grow'd a +woman!" + +But Florence did not stir, and the captain moistened her lips and +forehead, put back her hair, covered her feet with his own coat, patted +her hand--so small in his, that he was struck with wonder when he +touched it--and seeing that her eyelids quivered and that her lips began +to move, continued these restorative applications with a better heart. + +At last she opened her eyes, and spoke: "Captain Cuttle! Is it you? Is +Walter's uncle here?" + +"Here, Pretty?" returned the captain. "He a'n't been here this many a +long day. He a'n't been heer'd on since he sheered off arter poor Wal'r. +But," said the captain, as a quotation, "Though lost to sight, to memory +dear, and England, home, and beauty!" + +"Do you live here?" asked Florence. + +"Yes, my Lady Lass," returned the captain. + +"Oh, Captain Cuttle!" cried Florence, "Save me! Keep me here! Let no one +know where I am! I will tell you what has happened by and by, when I +can. I have no one in the world to go to. Do not send me away!" + +"Send you away, my Lady Lass!" exclaimed the captain; "you, my Heart's +Delight!--Stay a bit! We'll put up this dead-light, and take a double +turn on the key." + +With these words the captain got out the shutter of the door, put it up, +made it all fast, and locked the door itself. + +"And now," said he, "You must take some breakfast, Lady Lass, and the +dog shall have some too, and after that you shall go aloft to old Sol +Gill's room, and fall asleep there, like an angel." + +The room to which the captain presently carried Florence was very clean, +and being an orderly man, and accustomed to make things ship-shape, he +converted the bed into a couch by covering it with a clean white +drapery. By a similar contrivance he converted the little dressing-table +into a species of altar, on which he set forth two silver teaspoons, a +flower-pot, a telescope, his celebrated watch, a pocket-comb and a +song-book, as a small collection of rareties that made a choice +appearance. + +Having darkened the window, the captain walked on tiptoe out of the +room, and from sheer exhaustion Florence soon fell asleep. + +When she awoke the sun was getting low in the West, and after cooling +her aching head and burning face in fresh water, she made ready to go +downstairs again. What to do or where to live, she--poor, inexperienced +girl!--could not yet consider. All was dim and clouded to her mind. She +only knew that she had no father upon earth, and she said so many times, +with her suppliant head hidden from all but her Father who was in +Heaven. Then she tried to calm her thoughts and stay her tears, and went +down to her kind protector. + +The captain had cooked the evening meal and spread the cloth with great +care, and when Florence appeared he dressed for dinner, by taking off +his glazed hat and putting on his coat. That done, he wheeled the table +against her on the sofa, said Grace, and did the honors of the table. + +"My Lady Lass," said he, "Cheer up, and try to eat a bit. Stand by, +dearie! Liver wing it is. Sarse it is. Sassage it is. And potato!" + +All of these delicacies the captain ranged symetrically on the plate, +pouring hot gravy on the whole and adding: "Try and pick a bit, my +Pretty. If Wal'r was here--" + +"Ah! If I had him for my brother now!" cried Florence. + +"Don't take on, my Pretty," said the captain: "awast, to obleege me. He +was your nat'r'l born friend like, wa'n't he, Pet? Well, well! If our +poor Wal'r was here, my Lady Lass--or if he could be--for he's drowned, +a'n't he?--As I was saying, if he could be here, he'd beg and pray of +you, my precious, to pick a leetle bit, with a look-out for your own +sweet health. Whereby, hold your own, my Lady Lass, as if it was for +Wal'r's sake, and lay your pretty head to the wind!" + +Florence essayed to eat a morsel for the captain's pleasure, but she was +so tired and so sad that she could do scant justice to the meal, and was +glad indeed when the time came to retire. + +She slept that night in the same little room, and the next day sat in +the small parlor, busy with her needle, and more calm and tranquil than +she had been on the day preceding. The captain, looking at her, often +hitched his arm chair close to her, as if he were going to say something +very confidential, and hitched it away again, as not being able to make +up his mind how to begin. In the course of the day he cruised completely +around the parlor in that frail bark, and more than once went ashore +against the wainscot, or the closet door, in a very distressed +condition. + +It was not until deep twilight that he fairly dropped anchor at last by +the side of Florence, and began to talk connectedly. He spoke in such a +trembling voice, and looked at Florence with a face so pale and agitated +that she clung to his hand in affright, and her color came and went as +she listened. + +"There's perils and dangers on the deep, my Beauty," said the captain; +"and over many a brave ship, and many and many a bold heart the secret +waters has closed up, and never told no tales. But there's escapes upon +the deep, too, and sometimes one man out of a score--ah! maybe out of a +hundred, Pretty, has been saved by the mercy of God, and come home, +after being given over for dead, and told of all hands lost, I--I know a +story, Heart's Delight," stammered the captain, "o' this natur', as was +told to me once; and being on this here tack, and you and me sitting by +the fire, maybe you'd like to hear me tell it. Would you, deary?" + +Florence, trembling with an agitation which she could not control or +understand, involuntarily followed his glance, which went behind her +into the shop where a lamp was burning. The instant that she turned her +head, the captain sprung out of his chair, and interposed his hand. + +"There's nothing there, my Beauty," said the captain. "Don't look +there!" + +Then he murmured something about its being dull that way, and about the +fire being cheerful. He drew the door ajar, which had been standing open +until now, and resumed his seat. Florence looked intently in his face. + +"The story was about a ship, my Lady Lass," began the captain, "as +sailed out of the port of London, with a fair wind and in fair weather, +bound for--Don't be took aback my Lady Lass, she was only out'ard. +Pretty, only out'ard bound!" + +The expression on Florence's face alarmed the captain, who was himself +very hot and flurried, and showed scarcely less agitation than she did. + +"Shall I go on, Beauty?" said the captain. + +"Yes, yes, pray!" cried Florence. + +The captain made a gulp as if to get down something that was stuck in +his throat, and nervously proceeded: + +"That there unfortunate ship met with such foul weather, out at sea, as +don't blow once in twenty year, my darling. There was hurricanes ashore +as tore up forests and blowed down towns, and there was gales at sea, +even in them latitudes, as not the stoutest wessel ever launched could +live in. Day arter day, that there unfort'nate ship behaved noble, I'm +told, and did her duty brave, my Pretty, but at one blow a'most her +bulwarks was stove in, her masts and rudder carried away, her best men +swept overboard, and she left in the mercy of the storm as had no mercy, +but blowed harder and harder yet, while the waves dashed over her, and +beat her in, and every time they come a thundering at her, broke her +like a shell. Every black spot in every mountain of water that rolled +away was a bit of the ship's life, or a living man, and so she went to +pieces, Beauty, and no grass will never grow upon the graves of them as +manned that ship." + +"They were not all lost!" cried Florence. "Some were saved! Was one?" + +"Aboard o' that there unfortunate wessel," said the captain, rising from +his chair, and clenching his hand with prodigious energy and exultation, +"was a lad, a gallant lad--as I've heard tell--that had loved when he +was a boy to read and talk about brave actions in shipwrecks--I've heerd +him!--I've heerd him!--and he remembered of 'em in his hour of need; for +when the stoutest hearts and oldest hands was hove down, he was firm and +cheery. It wa'n't the want of objects to like and love ashore that gave +him courage; it was his nat'ral mind. I've seen it in his face when he +was no more than a child--ah, many a time!--and when I thought it +nothing but his good looks, bless him!" + +"And was he saved?" cried Florence. "Was he saved?" + +"That brave lad," said the captain,--"look at me, pretty! Don't look +round--" + +Florence had hardly power to repeat, "Why not?" + +"Because there's nothing there, my deary," said the captain. "Don't be +took aback, pretty creetur! Don't for the sake of Wal'r as was dear to +all on us! That there lad," said the captain, "arter working with the +best, and standing by the fainthearted, and never making no complaint +nor sign of fear, and keeping up a spirit in all hands that made 'em +honor him as if he'd been a admiral--that lad, alone with the second +mate and one seaman, was left, of all the beatin' hearts that went +aboard that ship, the only living creeturs--lashed to a fragment of the +wreck, and drifting on the stormy sea." + +"Were they saved?" cried Florence. + +"Days and nights they drifted on them endless waters," said the captain, +"until at last--no! don't look that way, Pretty!--a sail bore down upon +'em, and they was, by the Lord's mercy, took aboard, two living, and +one dead." + +"Which of them was dead?" cried Florence. + +"Not the lad I speak on," said the captain. + +"Thank God! Oh, thank God!" + +"Amen!" returned the captain hurriedly. "Don't be took aback! A minute +more, my Lady Lass! with a good heart!--Aboard that ship, they went a +long voyage, right away across the chart (for there wa'n't no touching +nowhere), and on that voyage the seaman as was picked up with him died. +But he was spared, and--." + +The captain, without knowing what he did, had cut a slice of bread from +the loaf, and put it on his hook (which was his usual toasting fork), on +which he now held it to the fire; looking behind Florence with great +emotions in his face, and suffering the bread to blaze and burn +like fuel. + +"Was spared," repeated Florence, "and--" + +"And come home in that ship," said the captain, still looking in the +same direction, "and--don't be frightened, Pretty!--and landed; and one +morning come cautiously to his own door to take a observation, knowing +that his friends would think him drowned, when he sheered off at the +unexpected--" + +"At the unexpected barking of a dog?" cried Florence quickly. + +"Yes!" roared the captain. "Steady, darling! courage! Don't look round +yet. See there! upon the wall!" + +There was the shadow of a man upon the wall close to her. She started +up, looked round, and, with a piercing cry, saw Walter Gay behind her! + +She had no thought of him but as a brother, a brother rescued from the +grave; a shipwrecked brother, saved, and at her side,--and rushed into +his arms. In all the world he seemed to be her hope, her comfort, +refuge, natural protector. In his home-coming,--her champion and +knight-errant from childhood's early days,--there came to Florence a +compensation for all that she had suffered. + +On that night within the little Shop a light arose for her that never +ceased to shed its brilliance on her path. Young, strong, and powerful, +Walter Gay in his chivalrous reverence and love for her, would +henceforth protect her life from sadness. + +Except from that one great sorrow that he could not lift;--she was +estranged from her father's love and care;--but in sweet submission she +bent her shoulders to the burden of that loss, and accepted the new joy +of Walter's return with a lightened heart. + +Years later, when Mr. Dombey by a turn of fortune's wheel, was left +alone in his dreary mansion, broken in mind and body, bereft of all his +wealth; deserted alike by friends and servants;--it was Florence, the +neglected, spurned, exiled daughter, who came like a good household +angel and clung to him, caressing him, forgetting all but love, and love +that outlasts injuries. + +As she clung close to him, he kissed her on the lips and lifting up his +eyes, said, "Oh, my God, _forgive me_, for I need it very much!" + +With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over her and caressing +her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long, time; +they remaining clasped in one another's arms, in the glorious sunshine +that had crept in with Florence. And so we leave them--Father and +Daughter--united at last in an undying affection. + + + +CHARLEY + + + +[Illustration: CHARLEY] + + + +CHARLEY + +When I, Esther Summerson, was taken from the school where the early +years of my childhood had been spent; having no home or parents, as had +the other girls in the school, my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, gave me a home +with him, where I was companion to his young and lovely ward, Ada Clare. +I soon grew deeply attached to Ada, the dearest girl in the world; to my +guardian, the kindest and most thoughtful of men; and to Bleak House, my +happy home. + +One day, upon hearing of the death of a poor man whom we had known, and +learning that he had left three motherless children in great poverty, my +guardian and I set out to discover for ourselves the extent of their +need. We were directed to a chandler's shop in Bell Yard, a narrow, dark +alley, where we found an old woman, who replied to my inquiry for +Neckett's children: "Yes, surely, Miss. Three pair, if you please. Door +right opposite the stairs." And she handed me a key across the counter. +As she seemed to take it for granted I knew what to do with the key, I +inferred it must be intended for the children's door, so without any +more questions I led the way up a dark stair. + +Reaching the top room designated, I tapped at the door, and a little +shrill voice inside said, "We are locked in. Mrs. Blinder's got +the key!" + +I applied the key, and opened the door. In a poor room, with a sloping +ceiling, and containing very little furniture, was a mite of a boy, +some five or six years old, nursing and hushing a heavy child of +eighteen months. There was no fire, though the weather was cold; both +children were wrapped in some poor shawls and tippets, as a substitute. +Their clothing was not so warm, however, but that their noses looked red +and pinched, and their small figures shrunken, as the boy walked up and +down, nursing and hushing the child with its head on his shoulder. + +"Who has locked you up here alone?" we naturally asked. + +"Charley," said the boy. + +"Is Charley your brother?" + +"No, she's my sister, Charlotte. Father called her Charley." + +"Are there any more of you besides Charley?" + +"Me," said the boy, "and Emma," patting the child he was nursing, "and +Charley." + +"Where is Charley now?" + +"Out a-washing," said the boy, beginning to walk up and down again, and +even as he spoke there came into the room a very little girl, childish +in figure, but shrewd and older looking in the face--pretty faced, +too--wearing a womanly sort of a bonnet, much too large for her, and +drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white +and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking, which she +wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child, playing +at washing, and imitating a poor working woman with a quick observation +of the truth. + +She had come running from some place in the neighborhood. Consequently, +though she was very light, she was out of breath, and could not speak at +first, as she stood panting and wiping her arms. "O, here's Charley!" +said the boy. + +The child he was nursing stretched forward its arms and cried out to be +taken by Charley. The little girl took it, in a womanly sort of manner +belonging to the apron and the bonnet, and stood looking at us over the +burden that clung to her most affectionately. + +"Is it possible," whispered my guardian, as he put a chair for the +little creature, and got her to sit down with her load, the boy holding +to her apron, "that this child works for the rest? + +"Charley, Charley!" he questioned. "How old are you?" + +"Over thirteen, sir," replied the child. + +"O, what a great age!" said my guardian. "And do you live here alone +with these babies, Charley?" + +"Yes, sir," returned the child, looking up into his face with perfect +confidence, "since father died." + +"And how do you live, Charley," said my guardian, "how do you live?" + +"Since father died, sir, I've gone out to work. I'm out washing to-day." + +"God help you, Charley!" said my guardian. "You're not tall enough to +reach the tub!" + +"In pattens I am, sir," she said quickly. "I've got a high pair as +belonged to mother. Mother died just after Emma was born," said the +child, glancing at the face upon her bosom. "Then father said I was to +be as good a mother to her as I could. And so I tried. And so I worked +at home, and did cleaning, and nursing, and washing, for a long time +before I began to go out. And that's how I know how, don't you +see, sir?" + +"And do you often go out?" + +"As often as I can, sir," said Charley, opening her eyes and smiling, +"because of earning sixpences and shillings!" + +"And do you always lock the babies up when you go out?" + +"To keep 'em safe, sir, don't you see?" said Charley. "Mrs. Blinder +comes up now and then, and Mr. Gridley comes up sometimes, and perhaps I +can run in sometimes, and they can play you know, and Tom ain't afraid +of being locked up, are you, Tom?" + +"No--o," said Tom stoutly. + +"When it comes on dark, the lamps are lighted down in the courts, and +they show up here quite bright--almost quite bright. Don't they, Tom?" + +"Yes, Charley," said Tom, "almost quite bright." + +"Then he's as good as gold," said the little creature, oh, in such a +motherly, womanly way. "And when Emma's tired, he puts her to bed. And +when he's tired he goes to bed himself. And when I come home and light +the candle, and has a bit of supper, he sits up again and has it with +me. Don't you, Tom?" + +"O yes, Charley!" said Tom. "That I do!" and either in this glimpse of +the great pleasure of his life, or in gratitude and love for Charley, he +laid his face among the scanty folds of her frock, and passed from +laughing into crying. + +It was the first time since our entry, that a tear had been shed among +these children. The little orphan girl had spoken of their father and +their mother, as if all that sorrow was subdued by the necessity of +taking courage, and by her childish importance in being able to work, +and by her bustling busy way. But now, when Tom cried; although she sat +quite tranquil, looking quietly at us, and did not by any movement +disturb a hair of the head of either of her little charges, I saw two +silent tears fall down her face. + +I stood at the window pretending to look out, when I found that Mrs. +Blinder, from the shop below, had come in, and was talking to +my guardian. + +"It's not much to forgive 'em the rent, sir,---who could take it from +them!" + +"Well, well!" said my guardian to us two. "It is enough that the time +will come when this good woman will find that it _was_ much, and that +forasmuch as she did it to one of the least of these--! This child," he +added after a few moments, "Could she possibly continue this?" + +"Really, sir, I think she might," said Mrs. Blinder. "She's as handy as +it's possible to be. Bless you sir, the way she tended them two +children, after the mother died, was the talk of the yard! And it was a +wonder to see her with him, after he was took ill, it really was!--'Mrs. +Blinder,' he said to me, the very last he spoke--'Mrs. Blinder, whatever +my calling may have been, I see a Angel sitting in this room last night +along with my child, and I trust her to our Father!'" + +From all that we had heard and seen, we felt a deep interest in the +bright, self-reliant little creature, with her womanly ways and burden +of family cares, and my thoughts turned towards her many times, after we +had kissed her, and taken her downstairs with us, and stopped to see her +run away to her work. We saw her run, such a little, little creature, in +her womanly bonnet and apron, through a covered way at the bottom of the +court, and melt into the city's strife and sound, like a dewdrop in +an ocean. + +Some weeks later, at the close of a happy evening spent at Bleak House +with my guardian and my dearest girl, I went at last to my own room, and +presently heard a soft tap at the door, so I said, "Come in!" and there +came in a pretty little girl, neatly dressed in mourning, who dropped +a curtsey. + +"If you please, miss," said the little girl in a soft voice, "I am +Charley." + +"Why so you are," said I, stooping down in astonishment, and giving her +a kiss. "How glad am I to see you, Charley!" + +"If you please, miss," pursued Charley, "I'm your maid!" + +"Charley?" + +"If you please, miss, I'm a present to you, with Mr. Jarndyce's love. +And O, miss," says Charley, clapping her hands, with the tears starting +down her dimpled cheeks, "Tom's at school, if you please, and learning +so good, and little Emma, she's with Mrs. Blinder, miss, a-being took +such care of! and Tom, he would have been at school--and Emma she would +have been left with Mrs. Blinder--and me, I should have been here--all a +deal sooner, miss; only Mr. Jarndyce thought Tom and Emma and me had +better get a little used to parting, we was so small. Don't cry, if you +please, miss." + +"I can't help it, Charley." + +"No, miss, nor I can't help it," said Charley. "And if you please, +miss," said Charley, "Mr. Jarndyce's love, and he thinks you'll like to +teach me now and then. And if you please, Tom and Emma and me is to see +each other once a month. And I'm so happy and so thankful, miss," cried +Charley with a heaving heart,--"and I'll try to be such a good maid!" + +Charley dried her eyes, and entered on her functions: going in her +matronly little way about and about the room, and folding up everything +she could lay her hands upon. Presently she came creeping back to my +side, and said: + +"O don't cry, if you please, miss." + +And I said again, "I can't help it." + +And Charley said again, "No, miss, nor I can't help it." And so, after +all, I did cry for joy indeed, and so did she--and from that night my +little maid shared in all the cares and duties, joys and sorrows of her +mistress, and I grew to lean heavily upon the womanly, loving, +little creature. + +According to my guardian's suggestion, I gave considerable time to +Charley's education, but I regret to say the results never reflected +much credit upon my educational powers. As for writing--it was a trying +business to Charley, in whose hand every pen appeared to become +perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop and +splash, and sidle into corners, like a saddle donkey. It was very odd to +see what old letters Charley's young hands had made. They, so shrivelled +and tottering; it, so plump and round. Yet Charley was uncommonly expert +at other things, and had as nimble little fingers as I ever watched. + +"Well, Charley," said I, looking over a copy of the letter O in which it +was represented as square, triangular, pear-shaped, and collapsed in all +kinds of ways, "We are improving. If we only get to make it round, we +shall be perfect, Charley." + +Then I made one, and Charley made one, and the pen wouldn't join +Charley's neatly, but twisted it up into a knot. + +"Never mind, Charley. We shall do it in time." + +Charley laid down her pen, opened and shut her cramped little hand; and +thanking me, got up and dropped me a curtsey, asking me if I knew a poor +person by the name of Jenny. I answered that I did, but thought she had +left the neighborhood altogether, "So she had, miss," said Charley, "but +she's come back again, and she came about the house three or four days, +hoping to get a glimpse of you, miss, but you were away. She saw me +a-goin' about, miss," said Charley, with a short laugh of the greatest +delight and pride, "and she thought I looked like your maid!" + +"Did she though, really, Charley?" + +"Yes, miss!" said Charley, "really and truly." And Charley, with +another short laugh of the purest glee, made her eyes very round again, +and looked as serious as became my maid. I was never tired of seeing +Charley in the full enjoyment of that great dignity, standing before me +with her youthful face and figure, and her steady manner, and her +childish exultation breaking through it now and then in the pleasantest +way. And so long as she lived, the dignity of having been in my service +was the greatest crown of glory to my little maid. + +Although my efforts to make a scholar of Charley were never crowned with +success, she had her own tastes and accomplishments, and dearly loved to +bustle about the house, in her own particularly womanly way. To surround +herself with great heaps of needlework--baskets-full and tables +full--and do a little,--and spend a great deal of time in staring with +her round eyes at what there was to do, and persuade herself that she +was going to do it, were Charley's great dignities and delights. + +When we went to see the woman, Jenny, we found her in her poor little +cottage, nursing a vagrant boy called Jo, a crossing-sweeper, who had +tramped down from London, and was tramping he didn't know where. Jenny, +who had known him in London, had found him in a corner of the town, +burning with fever, and taken him home to care for, Seeing that he was +very ill, and fearing her husband's anger at her having harbored him, +when it was time for her husband to return home, she put a few +half-pence together in his hand, and thrust him out of the house. We +followed the wretched boy, and pitying his forlorn condition led him +home with us, where he was made comfortable for the night in a loft-room +by the stable. Charley's last report was, that the boy was quiet. I went +to bed very happy to think that he was sheltered, and was much shocked +and grieved the next morning, when upon visiting his room we found him +gone. At what time he had left, or how, or why, it seemed hopeless ever +to divine, and after a thorough search of the country around, which +lasted for five days, we abandoned all thought of ever clearing up the +mystery surrounding the boy's departure, nor was it until some time +later that the secret was discovered. + +Meanwhile, poor Jo left behind him a dread and infectious disease which +Charley caught from him, and in twelve hours after his escape she was +very, very ill. I nursed her myself, with tenderest care, bringing her +back to her old childish likeness again. Then the disease came upon me, +and in my weeks of mortal sickness, it was Charley's love and care, and +unending devotion that saved my life. It was Charley's hand which +removed every looking-glass from my rooms, that in my convalescence I +might not be shocked by the alteration which the disease had wrought in +the face she loved so dearly. + +When I was able, Charley and I went away together, to the most friendly +of villages, and in the home which my guardian's care had provided, we +enjoyed the hours of returning strength. There was a kindly housekeeper +to trot after me with restoratives and strengthening delicacies, and a +pony expressly for my use, and soon there were friendly faces of +greeting in every cottage as we passed by. Thus with being much in the +open air, playing with the village children, gossiping in many cottages, +going on with Charley's education, and writing long letters to my +dearest girl, time slipped away, and I found myself quite strong again. + +And to Charley,--now as well, and rosy, and pretty as one of Flora's +attendants, I give due credit, and the bond which binds me to my little +maid is one which will only be severed when the days of Charley's happy +life are over. + + + +TILLY SLOWBOY + + + +[Illustration: TILLY SLOWBOY] + + + +TILLY SLOWBOY + +Although still in her earliest teens, Tilly Slowboy was a nursery-maid +for little Mrs. Peerybingle's baby, and despite her extreme youth, was a +most enthusiastic and unusual nursery-maid indeed. + +It may be noted of Miss Slowboy that she had a rare and surprising +talent for getting the baby into difficulties; and had several times +imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own. + +She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that +her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those +sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung. Her costume +was remarkable for the partial development on all possible occasions, of +some flannel vestment of a singular structure; also affording glimpses, +in the region of the back, of a pair of stays, in color a dead green. + +Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed +besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress's perfections, +and the baby's, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment may be +said to have done equal honor to her head and to her heart; and though +these did less honor to the baby's head, which they were the occasional +means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, +bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest +results of Tilly Slowboy's constant astonishment at finding herself so +kindly treated and installed in such a comfortable home. For the +maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had +been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only +differing from fondling by one vowel's length, is very different in +meaning, and expresses quite another thing. + +It was a singularly happy and united family in which Tilly's lot was +cast. Honest John Peerybingle, Carrier; his pretty little wife, whom he +called Dot; the very remarkable doll of a baby; the dog Boxer; and the +Cricket on the Hearth, whose cheerful chirp, chirp, chirp, was a +continual family blessing and good-omen;--were collectively and +severally the objects of Tilly's unbounded admiration. + +If ever a person or thing alarmed Tilly, she would hastily seek +protection near the skirts of her pretty little mistress; or, failing +that, would make a charge or butt at the object of her fright with the +only offensive instrument within her reach--which usually happened to be +the baby. Tilly's bump of good fortune being extraordinarily well +developed, the baby usually managed to come out from the siege unharmed, +to be soothed and comforted in Tilly's own peculiar fashion; her most +common method of amusement being to reproduce for its entertainment +scraps of conversation current in the house, with all the sense left out +of them, and all the nouns changed to the plural number, as--"Did its +mothers make it up a beds then! And did its hair grow brown and curly +when its cap was lifted off, and frighten it, a precious Pets, a-sitting +by the fire!" + +It was a notable and exciting event to Miss Slowboy when she set out one +day in the Carrier's cart, with her little mistress and the remarkable +baby, to have dinner with Caleb Plummer's blind daughter, Bertha, who +was Mrs. Dot's devoted friend. + +In consequence of the departure, there was a pretty sharp commotion at +John Peerybingle's, for to get the baby under weigh took time. Not that +there was much of the baby, speaking of it as a thing of weight and +measure, but there was a vast deal to do about it, and all had to be +done by easy stages. When the baby was got, by hook and by crook, to a +certain point of dressing, and you might have supposed that another +touch or two would finish him off, he was unexpectedly extinguished, and +hustled off to bed; where he simmered (so to speak) between two blankets +for the best part of an hour, while Mrs. Peerybingle took advantage of +the interval to make herself smart for the trip, and during the same +short truce, Miss Slowboy insinuated herself into a spencer, of a +fashion so surprising and ingenious, that it had no connection with +herself, or anything else in the universe, but was a shrunken, +dog's-eared, independent fact, pursuing its lonely course without the +least regard to anybody. By this time, the baby, being all alive again, +was invested by the united efforts of Mrs. Peerybingle and Miss Slowboy, +with a cream-colored mantle for its body, and a sort of nankeen +raised-pie for its head, and in course of time they all three got down +to the door, where the old horse was waiting to convey them on +their trip. + +In reference to Miss Slowboy's ascent into the cart, if I might be +allowed to mention a young lady's legs, on any terms, I would observe of +her that there was a fatality about hers which rendered them singularly +liable to be grazed; and that she never effected the smallest ascent or +descent without recording the circumstance upon them with a notch, as +Robinson Crusoe marked the days upon his wooden calendar. But as this +might be considered ungenteel, I'll think of it--merely observing that +when the three were all safely settled in the cart, and the basket +containing the Veal-and-Ham Pie and other delicacies, which Mrs. +Peerybingle always carried when she visited the blind girl, was stowed +away, they jogged on for some little time in silence. + +But not for long, for everybody on the road had something to say to the +occupants of John Peerybingle's cart, and sometimes passengers on foot, +or horseback, plodded on a little way beside the cart, for the express +purpose of having a chat. Then, too, the packages and parcels for the +errand cart were numerous, and there were many stoppages to take them in +and give them out, which was not the least interesting part of +the journey. + +Of all the little incidents of the day, Dot was the amused and open-eyed +spectatress from her chair in the cart; making a charming little +portrait as she sat there, looking on. And this delighted John the +Carrier beyond measure. + +The trip was a little foggy, to be sure, in the January weather, and was +raw and cold. But who cared for such trifles! Not Dot, decidedly. Not +Tilly Slowboy, for she deemed sitting in a cart on any terms, to be the +highest point of human joy; the crowning circumstance of earthly hopes. +Not the baby, I'll be sworn; for it's not in baby nature to be warmer or +more sound asleep than that blessed young Peerybingle was all the way. + +In one place there was a mound of weeds burning, and they watched the +fire until, in consequence, as she observed, of the smoke "getting up +her nose," Miss Slowboy choked--she could do anything of that sort on +the smallest provocation--and woke the baby, who wouldn't go to +sleep again. + +But, at that moment they came in sight of the blind girl's home, where +she was waiting with keen anticipation to receive them. + +Bertha had other visitors as well that day, and the picnic dinner +proceeded in a very stately and dignified manner. Miss Slowboy was +isolated, for the time being, from every article of furniture but the +chair she sat on, that she might have nothing else to knock the baby's +head against, and sat staring about her in unspeakable delight. To her +the day was all too short, and when that evening John Peerybingle making +his return trip, called to take them home, Miss Slowboy's regret +was intense. + +As long as her little mistress smiled, Tilly's face too was wreathed in +smiles; but when a hidden shadow darkened the Perrybingle sky, +overclouding the happiness of the little home, and Dot cried all night, +Tilly's eyes were red and swollen too, the next morning. + +It happened in this way. Pretty little Dot gave good John Perrybingle +cause for anxiety by her actions, and the honest carrier, disturbed and +misled, felt that he had reason to doubt her love for him, which almost +broke his honest, faithful heart. While he was worrying over this, and +over her, his little wife was merely shielding a secret belonging to +Edward Plummer, Bertha's brother, who had just come back, after many +year's absence in the golden South Americas. + +So unaccustomed was Dot to keeping a secret that it caused her to act +very strangely, and give her husband reason to misjudge her, which +almost broke her loving little heart. All of which trouble Tilly Slowboy +did not understand, but was deeply affected by it, and when she found +her mistress alone, sobbing piteously, was quite horrified, exclaiming: + +"Ow, if you please, don't! It's enough to dead and bury the baby, so it +is, if you please!" + +"Will you bring him sometimes, to see his father, Tilly?" inquired her +mistress, drying her eyes; "when I can't live here, and have gone to my +old home?" + +"Ow, if you please, _don't!_" cried Tilly, throwing back her head and +bursting out into a howl--she looked at the moment uncommonly like +Boxer--"Ow, if you please, don't! Ow, what has everybody been and gone +and done with everybody, making everybody else so wretched. Ow-w-w-w!" + +The soft-hearted Slowboy trailed off at this juncture, into such a +deplorable howl, the more tremendous from its long suppression, that she +must infallibly have wakened the baby and frightened him into something +serious (probably convulsions) if her attention had not been forcibly +diverted from her misery for a moment, after which she stood for some +time silent, with her mouth wide open; and then, posting off to the bed +on which the baby lay asleep, danced in a weird, Saint Vitus manner, on +the floor, and at the same time rummaged with her face and head among +the bedclothes, apparently deriving much relief from those extraordinary +operations. + +Fortunately for all concerned in the little domestic drama, before a +crisis had been reached, Edward Plummer revealed his secret, and his +reasons for having been obliged to keep it. This cleared up the mystery +concerning Mrs. Dot's conduct, proving her to be the same loyal, loving +little wife she always was: to the exquisite satisfaction of the honest +carrier, his family and friends, and last but not least, Miss Slowboy, +who wept copiously for joy, and wishing to include her young charge in +the general interchange of congratulations, handed round the baby to +everybody in succession, as if it were something to eat or drink. + +Of course it became a serious duty now, to make such a day of it as +should mark these events for a high feast and festival in the +Peerybingle Calendar forevermore. Accordingly, Dot went to work to +produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honor on the +house and on every one concerned, and in a very short space of time +everybody in the house was in a state of flutter and domestic turmoil +and during the flurry of preparation, everybody tumbled over Tilly +Slowboy and the baby everywhere. Tilly never came out in such force +before. Her ubiquity was the theme of universal admiration. She was a +stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two; a +man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely; and a pitfall in the +garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three. The baby's head was, as it +were, a test and touchstone for every description of matter,--animal, +vegetable, and mineral. Nothing was in use that day that didn't come, at +some time or other, into close acquaintance with it. + +That was a great celebration indeed, with Dot doing the honors in her +wedding-gown, her eyes sparkling with happiness, and the good carrier, +so jovial and so ruddy at the bottom of the table, and all their guests +aiding to make the occasion a memorable and happy one. + +There was a dance in the evening, for which Bertha played her liveliest +tune. Inspired by infectious joy, old and young get up and join the +whirling throng. Suddenly Caleb Plummer clutches Tilly Slowboy by both +hands and goes off at score, Miss Slowboy firm in the belief that diving +hotly in among the couples, and effecting any number of concussions with +them, is your only principle of footing it, and ecstatically glad to +abandon herself to the delights of the occasion, so long as she sees joy +written again on the pretty face of her beloved little mistress, and +feels that happiness has been restored to honest John Peerybingle and +his family. + +Hark! How the Cricket on the Hearth joins in the music, with its Chirp, +Chirp, Chirp, and how the kettle hums! + + + +AGNES WICKFIELD + + + +[Illustration: AGNES WICKFIELD] + + + +AGNES WICKFIELD + +When I became the adopted son of my aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood, my new +clothes were marked Trotwood Copperfield, instead of the old familiar +David of my childhood; and I began my new life, not only in the new +name, but with everything new about me, and felt for many days like one +in a dream, until I had proved the happy reality to be a fact. + +My aunt's first desire was to place me in a good school at Canterbury, +and, lack of education having been my chief source of anxiety, this +resolve gave me unbounded delight. So it was with a flutter of joyful +anticipation that I accompanied her to Canterbury to call upon her agent +and friend Mr. Wickfield, and to confer with him upon the all-important +subject of schools and boarding places. + +Arriving at Canterbury, we stopped before a very old house, bulging out +over the road, with long low latticed windows bulging out still further, +and beams with carved heads on the ends bulging out too; so that I +fancied the whole house was leaning forward, trying to see who was +passing on the pavement below. It was quite spotless in its cleanliness. +The old-fashioned brass knocker on the low arched door, ornamented with +carved garlands of fruit and flowers, twinkled like a star; the two +stone steps descending to the door were as white as if they had been +covered with fair linen, and all the angles, and corners, and carvings, +and mouldings, and quaint little panes of glass, and quainter little +windows, were as pure as any snow that ever fell upon the hills. + +When the pony chaise stopped at the door, we alighted and had a long +conference with Mr. Wickfield, an elderly gentleman with grey hair and +black eyebrows. He approved of my aunt's selection of Dr. Strong's +school, and in regard to a home for me, made the following proposal: + +"Leave your nephew here for the present. He's a quiet fellow. He won't +disturb me at all. It's a capital house for study. As quiet as a +monastery, and almost as roomy. Leave him here." + +My aunt evidently liked the offer, but was delicate of accepting it, +until Mr. Wickfield cried, "Come! I know how you feel, you shall not be +oppressed by the receipt of favors, Miss Trotwood. You may pay for him +if you like." + +"On that understanding," said my aunt, "though it doesn't lessen the +real obligation, I shall be very glad to leave him." + +"Then come and see my little housekeeper," said Mr. Wickfield. + +We accordingly went up a wonderful old staircase, with a balustrade so +broad that we might have gone up that, almost as easily, and into a +shady old drawing-room, lighted by three or four quaint windows which +had old oak seats in them, that seemed to have come of the same trees as +the shining oak floor, and the great beams in the ceiling. It was a +prettily furnished room, with a piano, and some lively furniture in red +and green, and some flowers. It seemed to be all odd nooks and corners; +and in every nook and corner there was some queer little table, or +cupboard, or bookcase, or seat, or something or other, that made me +think there was not such another corner in the room, until I looked at +the next one and found it equal to it if not better. On everything +there was the same air of refinement and cleanliness that marked the +house outside. + +Mr. Wickfield tapped at a door in a corner of the panelled wall, and a +girl of about my own age came quickly out and kissed him. On her face, I +saw immediately the placid and sweet expression of a lady whose portrait +I had seen downstairs. It seemed to my imagination as if the portrait +had grown womanly, and the original had remained a child. Although her +face was quite bright and happy, there was a tranquillity about it, and +about her--a quiet, good, calm, spirit--that I never have forgotten; +that I never shall forget. + +This was his little housekeeper, his daughter Agnes, Mr. Wickfield said. +When I heard how he said it, and saw how he held her hand, I guessed +what the one motive of his life was. + +She had a little basket-trifle hanging at her side with keys in it; and +she looked as staid and discreet a housekeeper as the old house could +have. She listened to her father as he told her about me, with a +pleasant face; and when he had concluded, proposed to my aunt that we +should go upstairs, and see my room. We all went together, she before +us. A glorious old room it was, with more oak beams, and diamond panes; +and the broad balustrade going all the way up to it. + +I cannot call to mind where or when, in my childhood, I had seen a +stained-glass window in a church. Nor do I recollect its subject. But I +know that when I saw her turn round, in the grave light of the old +staircase, and wait for us above, I thought of that window; and I +associated something of its tranquil brightness with Agnes Wickfield +ever afterwards. + +My aunt was as happy as I was, in the arrangement made for me, and we +went down to the drawing-room again, well pleased and gratified, and +shortly after this my aunt took her departure, in consequence of which +for some hours I was very much dejected. But by five o'clock, which was +Mr. Wickfield's dinner hour, I had mustered up my spirits again, and was +ready for my knife and fork. The cloth was only laid for us two; but +Agnes was waiting in the drawing-room before dinner, and went down with +her father, and sat opposite to him at table. I doubted whether he could +have dined without her. + +We did not stay there after dinner, but came upstairs into the +drawing-room again, in one snug corner of which Agnes set glasses for +her father, and a decanter of port wine. There he sat, taking his wine, +while Agnes played on the piano, worked, and talked to him and me. Later +Agnes made the tea, and presided over it; and the time passed away after +it as after dinner, until she went to bed; when her father took her in +his arms and kissed her, and, she being gone, ordered candles in his +office. Then I went to bed too. + +Next morning I entered on my new school life at Dr. Strong's, and began +a happy existence in an excellent establishment, the character and +dignity of which we each felt it our duty to maintain. We felt that we +had a part in the management of the school, and learned with a good +will, desiring to do it credit. We had noble games out of hours, and +plenty of liberty; but were well spoken of in the town, and rarely did +any disgrace by our appearance or manner, to the reputation of Dr. +Strong or Dr. Strong's boys, and the Doctor himself was the idol of the +whole school. + +On that first day when I returned home from school, Agnes was in the +drawing-room, waiting for her father. She met me with her pleasant +smile, and asked me how I liked the school. I told her I should like it +very much, I hoped; but I was a little strange to it at first. + +"You have never been to school," I said, "have you?" + +"Oh yes! every day." + +"Ah, but you mean here, at your own home?" + +"Papa couldn't spare me to go anywhere else," she answered smiling and +shaking her head, "His housekeeper must be in his house, you know." + +"He's very fond of you, I am sure," I said. + +She nodded, "Yes," and went to the door to listen for his coming up, +that she might meet him on the stairs. But as he was not there, she came +back again. + +"Mamma has been dead ever since I was born," she said in her quiet way. +"I only know her picture, downstairs. I saw you looking at it yesterday. +Did you think whose it was?" + +I told her yes, because it was so like herself. + +"Papa says so, too," said Agnes, pleased. "Hark! that's Papa now!" + +Her bright calm face lighted up with pleasure as she went to meet him, +and as they came in, hand in hand; and from that time as I watched her +day by day, I saw no trace in Agnes of anything but single-hearted +devotion to that father, whose wants she cared for so untiringly in her +beautiful quiet way. + +When we had dined that night, we went upstairs again, where everything +went on exactly as on the previous day. Agnes set the glasses and +decanters in the same corner, and Mr. Wickfield sat down to drink. Agnes +played the piano to him, sat by him, and worked and talked, and played +some games at dominoes with me. In good time she made tea; and +afterwards, when I brought down my books, looked into them, and showed +me what she knew of them (which was no slight matter, though she said it +was), and what was the best way to learn and understand them. I see her, +with her modest, orderly, placid, manner, and I hear her beautiful, +calm voice, as I write these words. The influence for all good, which +she came to exercise over me at a later time begins already to descend +upon my breast. I love little Emily, and I don't love Agnes--no, not at +all in that way--but I feel that there are goodness, peace, and truth +wherever Agnes is; and that the soft light of the colored window in the +church, seen long ago, falls on her always, and on me when I am near +her, and on everything around. + +The time having come for her withdrawal for the night, as I gave Mr. +Wickfield my hand, preparatory to going away myself, he checked me and +said; "Should you like to stay with us, Trotwood, or go elsewhere?" + +"To stay," I answered quickly. + +"You are sure?" + +"If you please. If I may." + +"Why, it's but a dull life that we lead here, boy, I'm afraid," he said. + +"Not more dull for me than Agnes, sir. Not dull at all!" + +"Than Agnes," he repeated, walking slowly to the great chimney-piece, +and leaning against it. "Than Agnes! Now I wonder," he muttered, +"whether my Agnes tires of me. When should I ever tire of her? But +that's different, that's quite different." + +He was musing, not speaking to me; so I remained quiet. + +"A dull, old house," he said, "and a monotonous life, Stay with us, +Trotwood, eh?" he added in his usual manner, and as if he were +answering something I had just said. "I'm glad of it. You are company to +us both. It is wholesome to have you here. Wholesome for me, wholesome +for Agnes wholesome perhaps for all of us." + +"I'm sure it is for me, sir," I said, "I'm so glad to be here." + +"That's a fine fellow!" said Mr. Wickfield. "As long as you are glad to +be here, you shall stay here." + +And so I lived at Mr. Wickfield's through the remainder of my +schooldays, and to Agnes, as the months went by, I turned more and more +often for advice and counsel. + +We saw a good deal of Dr. Strong's wife, both because she had taken a +liking to me, and because she was very fond of Agnes, and was often +backwards and forwards at our house, and we had pleasant evenings at the +doctor's too, with other guests, when we had merry round games of cards, +or music--for both Mrs. Strong and Agnes sang sweetly--and so, with +weekly visits from my aunt, and walks and talks with Agnes, and the +events and phases of feeling too numerous to chronicle, which make up a +boy's existence, my schooldays glided all too swiftly by. + +Time has stolen on unobserved. I am higher in the school and no one +breaks my peace. Dr. Strong refers to me in public as a promising young +scholar, and my aunt remits me a guinea by next post. And what comes +now? I am the head boy! I look down on the line of boys below me, with a +condescending interest in such of them as bring to my mind the boy I was +myself, when I first came there. That little fellow seems to be no part +of me; I remember him as something left behind upon the road of +life--and almost think of him as of some one else. + +What other changes have come upon me, beside the changes in my growth +and looks, and in the knowledge I have garnered all this while? I wear a +gold watch and chain, a ring upon my little finger, and a long-tailed +coat; and twice have I been desperately in love with a fair damsel, and +have twice recovered. + +And the little girl I saw on that first day at Mr. Wickfield's, where +is she? Gone also. In her stead, the perfect likeness of the picture, a +child's likeness no more, moves about the house; and Agnes, my sweet +sister, as I call her in my thoughts, my counsellor and friend, the +better angel of the lives of all who come within her calm, good, +self-denying influence--is quite a woman. + +When the time came to take leave of Agnes and her father, though it +saddened me, my mind was so filled with thoughts of self that I paid +little heed to Agnes and her brave farewell, nor did I realize what her +loneliness would be when the old and silent house was made doubly silent +by the removal of a boy's presence. I did not then understand what her +devotion to the elderly father and his interests held of sacrifice for +one so young, nor of what fine clay the girl was moulded. But in later +years I realized it fully, and looking back, I always saw her as when on +that first day, in the grave light of the old staircase, I thought of +the stained-glass window, associating something of its tranquil +brightness with her ever afterwards. + +With Agnes the woman, and the influence for all good which she came to +exercise over me at a later time, this story does not deal. It need only +record the simple details of the girl's quiet life,--of the girl's calm +strong nature,--that there were goodness, peace and truth wherever Agnes +was,--Agnes, my boyhood's sister, counsellor and friend. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11126 *** diff --git a/11126-h/11126-h.htm b/11126-h/11126-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8196ea --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/11126-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7188 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ten Girls from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson Sweetser</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size:10pt;} + // --> + .ind { MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; MARGIN-RIGHT: 10% } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11126 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Ten Girls from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson +Sweetser, Illustrated by George Alfred Williams</h1> + + +</pre> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0266.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0266.jpg" width = "35%" alt="LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."> +</a><br><b>"LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h1>TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4> + +<br> +<h3>"TEN BOYS FROM DICKENS" "TEN GREAT ADVENTURERS" +"BOOK OF INDIAN BRAVES" ETC.</h3> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY +GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS</h4> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS</h2> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> + +<p>As a companion volume to Ten Boys from Dickens, this book of girl-life, +portrayed by the great author, is offered.</p> + +<p>The sketches have the same underlying motive as those of boy-life, and +have been compiled in the same manner, with the same purpose in view.</p> + +<p>Among them will be found several of the most popular of the creations of +Dickens, notably, The Marchioness, Little Nell, Jenny Wren, and Florence +Dombey, and it is hoped that in this presentation as simple stories of +girlhood, their classic form and beauty may arouse in the young people +of our day a new interest in the novels from which they are taken.</p> + +<p>This volume and its companion will have accomplished their purpose when +they have won fresh laurels and a wider audience for the famous writer +to whom they are indebted for their existence.</p> + +<p>K.D.S. <i>April, 1902</i>.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<ul> +<li><a href="#THE_MARCHIONESS.">THE MARCHIONESS.</a></li> +<li><a href="#MORLEENA_KENWIGS.">MORLEENA KENWIGS.</a></li> +<li><a href="#LITTLE_NELL.">LITTLE NELL.</a></li> +<li><a href="#THE_INFANT_PHENOMENON.">THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</a></li> +<li><a href="#JENNY_WREN.">JENNY WREN.</a></li> +<li><a href="#SISSY_JUPE.">SISSY JUPE.</a></li> +<li><a href="#FLORENCE_DOMBEY.">FLORENCE DOMBEY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHARLEY.">CHARLEY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#TILLY_SLOWBOY.">TILLY SLOWBOY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#AGNES_WICKFIELD.">AGNES WICKFIELD.</a></li> +</ul> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="THE_MARCHIONESS."></a>THE MARCHIONESS.</h2> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0268.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0268.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER."> +</a><br><b>"THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>THE MARCHIONESS.</h2> + +<p>The Marchioness was a small servant employed by Sampson Brass and his +sister Sally, as general house-worker and drudge, in which capacity she +was discovered by Mr. Richard Swiveller, upon the very first day of his +entering the Brass establishment as clerk.</p> + +<p>The Brasses' house was a small one in Bevis Marks, London, having upon +its door a plate, "Brass, Solicitor," and a bill tied to the knocker, +"First floor to let to a single gentleman," and served not only as +habitation, but likewise as office for Sampson Brass,--of none too good +legal repute,--and his sister; a gaunt, bony copy of her red-haired +brother, who was his housekeeper, as well as his business partner.</p> + +<p>When the Brasses decided to keep a clerk, Richard Swiveller was chosen +to fill the place; and be it known to whom it may concern, that the said +Richard was the merriest, laziest, weakest, most kind-hearted fellow who +ever sowed a large crop of wild oats, and by a sudden stroke of +good-luck found himself raised to a salaried position.</p> + +<p>Clad in a blue jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, bought for +acquatic expeditions, but now dedicated to office purposes, Richard +entered upon his new duties, and during that first afternoon, while Mr. +Brass and his sister were temporarily absent from the office, he began a +minute examination of its contents.</p> + +<p>Then, after assuaging his thirst with a pint of mild porter, and +receiving and dismissing three or four small boys who dropped in on +legal errands from other attorneys, with about as correct an +understanding of their business as would have been shown by a clown in a +pantomime under similar circumstances, he tried his hand at a +pen-and-ink caricature of Miss Brass, in which work he was busily +engaged, when there came a rapping at the office-door.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" said Dick. "Don't stand on ceremony. The business will get +rather complicated if I have many more customers. Come in!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please," said a little voice very low down in the doorway, "will +you come and show the lodgings?"</p> + +<p>Dick leaned 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.</p> + +<p>"Why, who are you?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>To which the only reply was, "Oh, please, will you come and show the +lodgings?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I haven't got anything to do with the lodgings," said Dick. "Tell 'em +to call again."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you show 'em yourself? You seem to know all about 'em," said +Dick.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally said I wasn't to, because people wouldn't believe the +attendance was good if they saw how small I was, first."</p> + +<p>"Well, but they'll see how small you are afterwards, won't they?" said +Dick.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"This is a queer sort of thing," muttered Dick, rising. "What do you +mean to say you are--the cook?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I do plain cooking," replied the child. "I'm housemaid too. I do +all the work of the house."</p> + +<p>Just then certain sounds on the passage and staircase seemed to denote +the applicant's impatience. Richard Swiveller, therefore, hurried out to +meet and treat with the single gentleman.</p> + +<p>He was a little surprised to perceive that the sounds were occasioned by +the progress upstairs of a trunk, which the single gentleman and his +coachman were endeavoring to convey up the steep ascent. Mr. Swiveller +followed slowly behind, entering a new protest on every stair against +the house of Mr. Sampson Brass being thus taken by storm.</p> + +<p>To these remonstrances the single gentleman answered not a word, but +when the trunk was at last got into the bedroom, sat down upon it, and +wiped his bald head with his handkerchief. He then announced abruptly +that he would take the room for two years, whereupon, handing a +ten-pound note to the astonished Mr. Swiveller, he began to make ready +to retire, as if it were night instead of day, and Mr. Swiveller walked +downstairs into the office again, filled with wonderment concerning both +the strange new lodger and the small servant who had appeared to +answer the bell.</p> + +<p>After that day, 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 a bell rang, 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 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.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Dick, one day, 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. I <i>should</i> like to know how they +use her!"</p> + +<p>At that moment he caught a glimpse of Miss Brass flitting down the +kitchen stairs. "And, by Jove!" thought Dick, "She's going to feed the +small servant. Now or never!"</p> + +<p>First peeping over the handrail, he groped his way down, and arrived at +the kitchen door immediately after Miss Brass had entered the same, +bearing in her hand a cold leg of mutton.</p> + +<p>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 was screwed up so tight as +to hold no more than a 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 on.</p> + +<p>The small servant stood with humility in presence of Miss Sally, and +hung her head.</p> + +<p>"Are you there?" said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>"Yes ma'am," was the answer, in a weak voice.</p> + +<p>"Go further away from the leg of mutton, or you'll be picking it, I +know," said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>The girl withdrew into a corner, while Miss Brass opened the safe, and +brought from it a dreary waste of cold potatoes, looking as eatable as +Stonehenge. This she placed before the small servant, and then, taking +up a great carving-knife, made a mighty show of sharpening it.</p> + +<p>"Do you see this?" she said, slicing off about two square inches of cold +mutton, and holding it out on the point of a fork.</p> + +<p>The small servant looked hard enough at it with her hungry eyes to see +every shred of it and answered, "Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then don't you ever go and say," retorted Miss Sally, "that you hadn't +meat here. There, eat it up."</p> + +<p>This was soon done.</p> + +<p>"Now, do you want any more?" said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>The hungry creature answered with a faint "No." They were evidently +going through an established form.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>With those words, Miss Sally put the meat away, locked the meat-safe, +and then overlooked the small servant while she finished the potatoes. +After that, without the smallest cause, she rapped the child with the +blade of the knife, now on her hand, now on her head, and now on her +back. Then, after walking slowly backward towards the door, she darted +suddenly forward, and falling on the small servant again, gave her some +hard blows with her clenched fists. The victim cried, but in a subdued +manner, as if she feared to raise her voice; and Miss Sally ascended the +stairs just as Richard had safely reached the office, fairly beside +himself with anger over the poor child's misery and ill-treatment.</p> + +<p>During the following weeks, when he had become accustomed to the routine +of work which he was expected to accomplish, and being often left alone +in the office, Richard Swiveller began to find time hang heavy on his +hands. For the better preservation of his cheerfulness, therefore, he +accustomed himself to play at cribbage with a dummy. While he was +silently conducting one of these games Mr. Swiveller began to think that +he heard a kind of 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, 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.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I didn't mean any harm, indeed, upon my word I didn't," cried the +small servant; "it's so very dull downstairs. Please don't you tell upon +me, please don't."</p> + +<p>"Tell upon you!" said Dick. "Do you mean to say you were looking through +the keyhole for company?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, upon my word I was," replied the small servant.</p> + +<p>"How long have you been cooling your eye there?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ever since you first began to play them cards, and long before."</p> + +<p>"Well--come in," said Mr. Swiveller, after a little consideration. +"Here--sit down, and I'll teach you how to play."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I durstn't do it," rejoined the small servant; "Miss Sally 'ud kill +me if she knowed I come up here."</p> + +<p>"Have you got a fire downstairs?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>"A very little one," replied the small servant.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally couldn't kill me if she knowed 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?"</p> + +<p>"It an't my fault."</p> + +<p>"Could you eat any bread and meat?" said Dick, taking down his hat "Yes? +Ah! I thought so. Did you ever taste beer?"</p> + +<p>"I had a sip of it once," said the small servant.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently he returned, followed by a boy from the public-house, who bore +a plate of bread and beef, and a great pot filled with choice purl. +Relieving the boy of his burden, and charging his little companion to +fasten the door to prevent surprise, Mr. Swiveller followed her into +the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Richard, putting the plate before her. "First of all, +clear that off, and then you'll see what's next."</p> + +<p>The small servant needed no second bidding, and the plate was soon +empty.</p> + +<p>"Next," said Dick, handing the purl, "take a pull at that, but moderate +your transports, for you're not used to it. Well, is it good?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>isn't</i> it!" said the small servant.</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller appeared immensely gratified over her enjoyment, and when +she had satisfied her hunger, applied himself to teaching her the game, +which she soon learned tolerably well, being both sharp-witted +and cunning.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Mr. Swiveller, "to make it seem more real and pleasant, I +shall call you the Marchioness, do you hear?"</p> + +<p>The small servant nodded.</p> + +<p>"Then, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "fire away!"</p> + +<p>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, waited for her lead.</p> + +<p>They had played several rubbers, when the striking of ten o'clock +rendered Mr. Swiveller mindful of the flight of time, and of the +expediency of withdrawing before Mr. Sampson and Miss Sally +Brass returned.</p> + +<p>"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. The Baron Sampsono Brasso and his fair sister are, you tell +me, at the Play?" added 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.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness nodded.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said Mr. Swiveller, with a portentous frown. "'Tis well. +Marchioness!--but no matter. Some wine there, ho! Marchioness, +your health."</p> + +<p>The small servant, who was not so well acquainted with theatrical +conventionalities as Mr. Swiveller, was rather alarmed by his manner, +and showed it so plainly that he felt it necessary to discharge his +brigand bearing for one more suitable to private life.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness nodded amazingly.</p> + +<p>"Complimentary?" asked Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness shook her head violently.</p> + +<p>"H'm!" Dick muttered. "Would it be any breach of confidence, +Marchioness, to relate what they say of the humble individual who has +now the honor to--?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally says you are a funny chap," replied his friend.</p> + +<p>"Well, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "that's not uncomplimentary. +Merriment, Marchioness, is not a bad of a degrading quality. Old King +Cole was himself a merry old soul, if we may put any faith in the pages +of history."</p> + +<p>"But she says," pursued his companion, "that you aren't to be trusted."</p> + +<p>"Why, really, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller thoughtfully, "it's a +popular prejudice, and yet I'm sure I don't know why, for I've 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?"</p> + +<p>His friend nodded again, adding imploringly, "But don't you ever tell +upon me, or I shall be beat to death."</p> + +<p>"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'm your friend, and I +hope we shall play many more rubbers together. But, Marchioness," added +Richard, "it occurs to me that you must be in the constant habit of +airing your eye at keyholes to know this."</p> + +<p>"I only wanted," replied the trembling Marchioness, "to know where the +key of the meat-safe was hid--that was all; and I wouldn't have taken +much if I had found it--only enough to squench my hunger."</p> + +<p>"You didn't find it, then?" said Dick, "but, of course, you didn't, or +of course you'd be plumper. Good-night, Marchioness, fare thee well, and +if forever, then forever fare thee well. And put up the chain, +Marchioness, in case of accidents!"</p> + +<p>Upon repairing to Bevis Marks on the following morning, he found Miss +Brass much agitated over the disappearance from the office of several +small articles, as well as three half crowns, and Richard felt much +troubled over the matter, saying to himself, "Then, by Jove, I'm afraid +the Marchioness is done for!"</p> + +<p>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, rather +than receive fifty pounds down, he would have the Marchioness +proved innocent.</p> + +<p>While the subject of the thefts was under discussion, Kit Nubbles, a lad +in the employ of a Mr. Garland, passed through the office, on his way +upstairs to the room of the Brasses' lodger, the single gentleman, who +was an intimate friend of Kit's employer. The single gentleman having +been confined to his room for some time by a slight illness, it had +become Kit's daily custom to convey to him messages and notes from Mr. +Garland, and not infrequently Sampson Brass would detain the lad in the +office for a few words of pleasant conversation.</p> + +<p>Having discharged his errand, Kit came downstairs again, finding no one +in the office except Mr. Brass, who, after greeting him affably, +requested him to mind the office for one minute while he ran upstairs. +Mr. Brass returned almost immediately, Mr. Swiveller came in too, at the +same instant, likewise Miss Sally, and Kit, released, at once set off on +a run towards home, eager to make up for lost time. As he was running, +he was suddenly arrested and held in restraint, by no less a person than +Sampson Brass himself, accompanied by Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>A five-pound note was missing from the office. Kit had been alone there +for some minutes. Who could have taken it but Kit?</p> + +<p>Pleased to have suspicion diverted from the Marchioness, but loath to +help in so unpleasant an affair, Mr. Swiveller reluctantly assisted in +bearing the captive back to the office, Kit protesting his innocence at +every step. They searched him, and there under the lining of his hat was +the missing bank-note!</p> + +<p>Still protesting his innocence, and completely stunned by the calamity +which had come upon him, the lad was borne off to prison, where, after +eleven weary days had dragged away, he was brought to trial. Richard +Swiveller was called as a witness against Kit, and told his tale with +reluctance, and an evident desire to make the best of it, for the lad's +sake. His kind heart was also touched with pity for Kit's poor widowed +mother, who sobbed out again and again, that she had never had cause to +doubt her son's honesty, and she never would.</p> + +<p>When the trial was ended, and Kit found guilty, Richard bore the lad's +fainting mother swiftly off in a coach he had ready for the purpose, +and on the way comforted her in his own peculiar fashion, perpetrating +the most astounding absurdities of quotation from song and poem that +ever were heard. Reaching her home, he stayed till she was recovered; +then returned to Bevis Marks, where Mr. Brass met him with the news that +his services would be no longer required in the establishment.</p> + +<p>Feeling sure that this verdict was in consequence of his defence of Kit, +Mr. Swiveller took his dismissal in profound silence, and turned his +back upon Bevis Marks, big with designs for the comforting of Kit's +mother, and the aid of Kit himself. His only regret in regard to the +matter was in having to leave the Marchioness alone and unprotected in +the hands of the Brasses, and little did he dream that to the small +servant herself, to the Marchioness, rather than to him, Kit and his +mother were to owe their heaviest debt of gratitude--but it was so +to be.</p> + +<p>That very night Mr. Richard was seized with an alarming illness, and in +twenty-four hours was stricken with a raging fever, and lay tossing upon +his hot, uneasy bed, unconscious of anything but weariness and worry and +pain, until at length he sank into a deep sleep. He awoke, and with a +sensation of blissful rest better than sleep itself, began to dimly +remember, and to think what a long night it had been, and to wonder +whether he had not been delirious once or twice. Still, he felt +indifferent and happy, and having no curiosity to pursue the subject, +remained in a 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. But he +lacked energy to follow up this train of thought, and in a luxury of +repose, lay 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.</p> + +<p>He was rambling in imagination on these terraces, when he heard the +cough once more. Raising himself a little in the bed, he looked +about him.</p> + +<p>The same room, certainly, but with what unbounded astonishment did he +see bottles, and basins, and articles of linen airing by the fire--all +very clean and neat, but 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!</p> + +<p>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, going through all the mysteries of cribbage as if +she had been in full practice from her cradle!</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller contemplated these things for a short time, then laid his +head on the pillow again.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Here the small servant had another cough.</p> + +<p>"Very remarkable!" thought Mr. Swiveller. "I never dreamed such a real +cough as that before. There's another--and another--I say!--I'm dreaming +rather fast!</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Not feeling quite satisfied with this explanation, Mr. Swiveller +determined to take the first opportunity of addressing his companion. An +occasion soon 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!"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness jumped up quickly, and clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"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 and jewels on their heads!"</p> + +<p>It appeared however, that she had only clapped her hands for joy, as +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."</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "will you have the goodness to inform +me where I shall find my voice; and what has become of my flesh?"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness only shook her head mournfully, and cried again, +whereupon Mr. Swiveller (being very weak) felt his own eyes +affected likewise.</p> + +<p>"I begin to infer, Marchioness," said Richard, after a pause, "that I +have been ill."</p> + +<p>"You just have!" replied the small servant, wiping her eyes. "Haven't +you been a-talking nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!", said Dick. "Very ill, Marchioness, have I been?"</p> + +<p>"Dead, all but," replied the small servant. "I never thought you'd get +better."</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller was silent for a long period. By and by he inquired how +long he had been there.</p> + +<p>"Three weeks to-morrow." replied the small servant, "three long slow +weeks."</p> + +<p>The bare thought of having been in such extremity caused Richard to fall +into another silence. The Marchioness, having arranged the bedclothes +more comfortably, and felt that his hands and forehead were quite cool, +cried a little more, and then applied herself to getting tea ready, and +making some thin dry toast.</p> + +<p>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. She propped him up with pillows, and looked on with unutterable +satisfaction, while he took his poor meal with a relish which the +greatest dainties of the earth might have failed to provoke. Having +cleared away, and disposed everything comfortably about him again, she +sat down to take her own tea.</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "have you seen Sally lately?"</p> + +<p>"Seen her!" cried the small servant. "Bless you, I've run away!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller immediately laid himself down again, and so remained for +about five minutes. After that lapse of time he resumed his sitting +posture, and inquired,--</p> + +<p>"And where do you live, Marchioness?"</p> + +<p>"Live!" cried the small servant. "Here!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>With that he fell down flat again, as suddenly as if he had been shot. +Thus he remained until she had finished her meal, when being propped up +again he opened a further conversation.</p> + +<p>"And so," said Dick, "you have run away?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Marchioness; "and they've been a 'tising of me."</p> + +<p>"Been--I beg your pardon," said Dick. "What have they been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Been a 'tising of me--'tising, you know, in the newspapers," rejoined +the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye," said Dick, "Advertising?"</p> + +<p>The small servant nodded and winked.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," continued Richard, "how it was that you thought of coming +here?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you see," returned the Marchioness, "when you was gone, I hadn't +any friend at all, and I didn't know where you was to be found, you +know. But one morning, when I was near the office keyhole 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. So I run away that night, and come +here, and told 'em you was my brother, and I've been here ever since."</p> + +<p>"This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!" cried +Dick.</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't," she replied, "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."</p> + +<p>"Liverer, indeed!" said Dick thoughtfully. "It's well I am a liverer. I +strongly suspect I should have died, Marchioness, but for you."</p> + +<p>At this point, Mr. Swiveller took the small servant's hand in his, +struggling to express his thanks, but she quickly changed the theme, +urging him to shut his eyes and take a little rest. Being indeed +fatigued, he needed but little urging, and fell into a slumber, from +which he waked in about half an hour, after which his small friend +helped him to sit up again.</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Richard suddenly, "What has become of Kit?"</p> + +<p>"He has been sentenced to transportation for a great many years," she +said.</p> + +<p>"Has he gone?" asked Dick, "His mother, what has become of her?"</p> + +<p>His nurse shook her head, and answered that she knew nothing about them. +"But if I thought," said she presently, "that you'd not put yourself +into another fever, I could tell you something--but I won't, now. Wait +till you're better, then I'll tell you."</p> + +<p>Dick looked very earnestly at his little friend, and urged her to tell +him the worst at once.</p> + +<p>Unable to resist his fervent adjurations, the Marchioness spoke thus:</p> + +<p>"Well! Before I run away, I used to sleep in the kitchen. Miss Sally +used to keep the key of the door in her pocket, and she always come down +at night to take away the candle and rake out the fire. Then she left me +to go to bed in the dark, locked the door on the outside, and kept me +locked up till she came down in the morning 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, you know. So, whenever I see an old key, I +picked it up and tried if it would fit the door, and at last I found a +key that did fit it. They kept me very short," said the small servant, +"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, or even pieces +of orange-peel to put into cold water, and make believe it was wine. If +you make believe very much, it's quite nice," continued the small +servant; "but if you don't, you know, it seems as if it would bear a +little more seasoning! Well, one or two nights before the young man was +took, I come upstairs while Mr. Brass and Miss Sally was a-sittin by the +office fire and talking softly together. They whispered and laughed for +a long time, about there being no danger if it was well done; that they +must do what their best client, Quilp, desired, and that for his own +reasons, he hated Kit, and wanted to have his reputation ruined. Then +Mr. Brass pulls out his pocket-book, and says, 'Well, here it +is--Quilp's own five-pound note. Kit is coming to-morrow morning, I +know. I'll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat, +and then convict him of theft. And if that don't get Kit out of Mr. +Quilp's way, and satisfy his grudge against the lad,' he said, 'the +devil's in it,' Then they seemed to be moving away, and I was afraid to +stop any longer. There!"</p> + +<p>The small servant was so much agitated herself that she made no effort +to restrain Mr. Swiveller when he sat up in bed, and hastily demanded +whether this story had been told to anybody.</p> + +<p>"How could it be?" replied his nurse. "When I heard 'em say that you was +gone, and so was the lodger, and ever since I come here, you've been out +of your senses, so what would have been the good of telling you then?"</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "if you'll do me the favor to retire +for a few minutes, and see what sort of a night it is, I'll get up,"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think of such a thing," cried his nurse.</p> + +<p>"I must indeed," said the patient. "Whereabouts are my clothes?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad--you haven't got any," replied the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Ma'am!" said Mr. Swiveller, in great astonishment.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," said Richard dolefully, "that you're right. Now, what is +to be done?"</p> + +<p>It occurred to him, on very little reflection, that the first step to +take would be to communicate with Kit's employer, Mr. Garland, or with +his son Mr. Abel, at once. It was possible that Mr. Abel had not yet +left his office. In as little time as it takes to tell it, the small +servant had the address on a piece of paper, and a description of father +and son, which would enable her to recognize either without difficulty. +Armed with these slender powers, she hurried away, commissioned to bring +either Mr. Garland or Mr. Abel bodily to Mr. Swiveller's apartment.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No, nothing."</p> + +<p>"Its 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."</p> + +<p>The small servant went swiftly on her way, towards the office of the +Notary, Mr. Witherden, where Mr. Garland was to be found. She had no +bonnet, only a great cap on her head, which in some old time had been +worn by Sally Brass;--and her shoes being extremely large and slipshod, +flew off every now and then, and were difficult to find. Indeed the poor +little creature experienced so much trouble and delay from having to +grope for them in the mud, and suffered so much jostling, pushing, and +squeezing in these researches, that between it, and her fear of being +recognized by some one, and carried back by force to the Brasses, when +she at last reached the Notary's office, she was fairly worn out, and +could not refrain from tears. But to have got there was a comfort, and +she found Mr. Abel in the act of entering his pony-chaise and driving +away. There was nothing for her to do but to run after the chaise and +call to Mr. Abel to stop. Being out of breath, 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 she could +go no farther, clambered by a vigorous effort into the hinder seat, +where she remained in silence, until she had to some degree recovered +her breath, and become accustomed to the novelty of her position, when +she uttered close into Mr. Abel's ear the words,--</p> + +<p>"I say, sir."</p> + +<p>He turned his head quickly enough then, and stopping the pony, cried +with some trepidation, "God bless me! what is this?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be frightened, sir," replied the still panting messenger. "Oh, +I've run such a way after you!"</p> + +<p>"What do you want with me?" said Mr. Abel. "How did you come here?"</p> + +<p>"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 is of consequence. There's somebody wants to see +you there. He sent me to say, would you come directly, and that he +knows all about Kit, and could save him yet, and prove his innocence."</p> + +<p>"What do you tell me, child?"</p> + +<p>"The truth, upon my word and honor, I do. But please to drive on--quick, +please! I've been such a time gone, he'll think I'm lost"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel urged the pony forward, and at last they arrived at the door of +Mr. Swiveller's lodgings.</p> + +<p>"See! It's that room up there," said the Marchioness, pointing to one +where there was a faint light. "Come!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel who was naturally timid, hesitated; for he had heard of people +being decoyed into strange places, to be robbed and murdered, under +circumstances very like the present, by guides very like the +Marchioness. His regard for Kit, however, overcame every other +consideration. So he suffered his companion to lead him up the dark and +narrow stair, into a dimly lighted sick-chamber, where a man was lying +tranquilly in bed, in whose wasted face he recognized the features of +Richard Swiveller.</p> + +<p>"Why, how is this?" said Mr. Abel, kindly, "You have been ill?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel seemed rather astonished to hear of the quality of his guide, +and took a chair by the bedside.</p> + +<p>"I have sent for you, sir," said Dick--"but she told you on what +account?"</p> + +<p>"She did. I am quite bewildered by all this. I really don't know what to +say or think," replied Mr. Abel.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The story was repeated, without any deviation or omission, after which +Richard Swiveller took the word again;</p> + +<p>"You have heard it all," said Richard. "I'm too giddy and queer to +suggest anything, but you and your friends will know what to do. After +this long delay, every minute is an age. Don't stop to say one word to +me, but go! If you lose another minute in looking at me, sir, I'll never +forgive you!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel needed no more persuasion. To Dick's unbounded delight he was +gone in an instant, and Mr. Swiveller, exhausted by the interview, was +soon asleep, murmuring 'Strew, then, oh strew a bed of rushes. Here will +we stay till morning blushes.' "Good-night, Marchioness!"</p> + +<p>On awaking in the morning, he became conscious of whispering voices in +his room, and espied Mr. Garland, Mr. Abel, and two other gentlemen +talking earnestly with the Marchioness. Upon perceiving the invalid to +be awake, Mr. Garland stretched out his hand, and inquired how Mr. +Swiveller felt; adding</p> + +<p>"And what can we do for you?"</p> + +<p>"If you could make the Marchioness yonder, a Marchioness in real, sober +earnest," returned Dick, "I'd thank you to get it done offhand. But as +you can't, the question is, what is it best to do for Kit?"</p> + +<p>Gathering around Mr. Swiveller's bedside, the group of gentlemen then +proceeded to discuss in detail all the evidence against Sampson Brass, +as contained in the confession of the Marchioness, and what course was +wisest to pursue in the matter. After which the gentlemen took their +leaves for a time, or Richard Swiveller must assuredly have been driven +into another fever, in consequence of having entered into such an +exciting discussion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel alone remained behind, very often looking at his watch and the +room-door, until the reason of his watchfulness was disclosed when Mr. +Swiveller was roused from a short nap by the delivery at his door of a +mighty hamper, which, being opened, disgorged such treasures of tea, and +coffee, and wine, and rusk, and oranges, and grapes, and fowls, and +calvesfoot jelly, and other delicate restoratives, that the small +servant stood rooted to the spot, with her mouth and eyes watering in +unison, and her power of speech quite gone. With the hamper appeared +also a nice old lady, who bustled about on tiptoe, began to make +chicken-broth, and peel oranges for the sick man, and to ply the small +servant with glasses of wine, and choice bits of everything. The whole +of which was so bewildering that Mr. Swiveller, when he had taken two +oranges and a little jelly, was fain to lie down and fall asleep again, +from sheer inability to entertain such wonders in his mind.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the other gentlemen, who had left Richard Swiveller's room, +had retired to a coffee-house near by, from whence they sent a +peremptory and mysterious summons to Miss Sally Brass to favor them with +her company there as soon as possible. To this she replied by an almost +immediate appearance, whereupon, without any loss of time, she was +confronted with the tale of the small servant. While it was being +related for her benefit, Sampson Brass himself suddenly opened the door +of the coffee-house and joined the astonished group. Hearing the certain +proofs of his guilt so clearly related, he saw that evasion was useless, +and made a full confession of the scheme whereby Kit was to have been +doomed, but laying the entire blame, however, upon the rich little +dwarf, Quilp, saying that he could not afford to lose his rich client, +nor the large bribe he offered for the arrest of the lad, Kit.</p> + +<p>Having secured the desired confession, the gentlemen hastened back to +Mr. Swiveller's room with the glad tidings, adding that it would now be +possible to accomplish the lad's immediate release, after making which +joyful statement, they took their departure for the night, leaving the +invalid with the small servant and one of their number, Mr. Witherden, +the notary, who remained behind to be the bearer of good news to +the invalid.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Deceased!" cried Dick.</p> + +<p>"Deceased. And by the terms of her will, you have fallen into an annuity +of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; I think I may congratulate you +upon that."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, even with the +strong tonic of his good fortune, 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.</p> + +<p>After casting about for some time for a name which should be worthy of +her, he decided in favor 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 expense of her education kept +him in straightened circumstances for half-a-dozen years, he never +slackened in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by +the accounts he heard of her advancement.</p> + +<p>In a word, Mr. Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment +until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age, at which +time, thanks to her earliest friend and most loyal champion, Richard +Swiveller, the shadows of a bitter past had been chased from her memory +by a happy present, and she was as good-looking, clever, and +good-humored a young woman as ever a real Marchioness might have been.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="MORLEENA_KENWIGS."></a>MORLEENA KENWIGS.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0270.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0270.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE KENWIGSES."> +</a><br><b>"THE KENWIGSES."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>MORLEENA KENWIGS.</h2> + +<p>The family who went by the designation of "The Kenwigses" were the wife +and olive branches of one Mr. Kenwigs, a turner in ivory, who was looked +upon as a person of some consideration where he lodged, inasmuch as he +occupied the whole of the first floor, comprising a suite of two rooms. +Mrs. Kenwigs too, was quite a lady in her manners, and of a very genteel +family, having an uncle, Mr. Lillyvick, who collected a water-rate, and +who she fondly hoped, would make her children his heirs. Besides which +distinction, the two eldest of her little girls went twice a week to a +dancing-school in the neighborhood, and had flaxen hair tied with blue +ribbons, hanging in luxuriant pigtails down their backs, and wore little +white trousers with frills round the ankles;--for all of which reasons +Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs, and the four olive Kenwigses, and the baby, were +considered quite important persons to know.</p> + +<p>Upon the eighth anniversary of Mrs. Kenwigs' marriage to Mr. Kenwigs, +they entertained a select party of friends, and on that occasion, after +supper had been served, the group gathered by the fireside; Mr. +Lillyvick being stationed in a large arm-chair, and the four little +Kenwigses disposed on a small form in front of the company, with their +flaxen tails towards them, and their faces to the fire; an arrangement +which was no sooner perfected than Mrs. Kenwigs was overpowered by the +feelings of a mother, and fell upon Mr. Kenwigs' shoulder, dissolved +in tears.</p> + +<p>"They are so beautiful!" she said, sobbing. "I can--not help it, and it +don't signify! Oh, they're too beautiful to live--much too beautiful!"</p> + +<p>On hearing this alarming presentiment of their early death, all four +little girls raised a hideous cry, and, burying their faces in their +mother's lap simultaneously, screamed until the eight flaxen tails +vibrated; Mrs. Kenwigs meanwhile clasping them alternately to her bosom, +with attitudes expressive of distraction.</p> + +<p>At length, however, she permitted herself to be soothed, and the little +Kenwigses were distributed among the company, to prevent the possibility +of Mrs. Kenwigs being again overcome by the blaze of their united +beauty, after which, Morleena, the eldest olive branch--whose name had +been composed by Mrs. Kenwigs herself for the especial benefit of her +daughter--danced a dance. It was a very beautiful figure, comprising a +great deal of work for the arms, and was received with unbounded +applause, as were the various accomplishments displayed by others of the +party. The affair was proceeding most successfully when Mr. Lillyvick +took offence at a remark made by Mr. Kenwigs, and sat swelling and +fuming in offended dignity for some minutes, then burst out in words of +indignation. Here was an untoward event! The great man,--the rich +relation--who had it in his power to make Morleena an heiress, and the +very baby a legatee--was offended. Gracious powers, where would +this end!</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, sir," said Mr. Kenwigs humbly, but the apology was not +accepted, and Mr. Lillyvick continued to repeat; "Morleena, child, my +hat! Morleena, my hat!" until Mrs. Kenwigs sunk back in her chair, +overcome with grief, while the four little girls (privately instructed +to that effect) clasped their uncle's drab shorts in their arms, and +prayed him to remain.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lillyvick," said Kenwigs, "I hope for the sake of your niece that +you won't object to being reconciled."</p> + +<p>The collector's face relaxed, as the company added their entreaties to +those of their host. He gave up his hat and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"There, Kenwigs," he said. "And let me tell you at the same time, to +show you how much out of temper I was, that if I had gone away without +another word, it would have made no difference respecting that pound or +two which I shall leave among your children when I die."</p> + +<p>"Morleena Kenwigs," cried her mother, in a torrent of affection; "go +down upon your knees to your dear uncle and beg him to love you all his +life through, for he's more an angel than a man, and I've always +said so."</p> + +<p>Miss Morleena, approaching to do homage, was summarily caught up and +kissed by Mr. Lillyvick, and thereupon Mrs. Kenwigs herself darted +forward and kissed the collector, and all was forgiven and forgotten.</p> + +<p>No further wave of trouble ruffled the feelings of the party until +suddenly there came shrill and piercing screams from an upper room in +which the infant Kenwigs was enshrined, guarded by a small girl hired +for the purpose. Rushing to the door, Mrs. Kenwigs began to wring her +hands and shriek dismally, amid which cries, and the wails of the four +little girls, a stranger ran downstairs with the baby in his arms, +explaining hastily that, visiting a friend in a room above, he had heard +the cries, and found the baby's guardian asleep with her hair on fire. +This explanation over, the baby, who was unhurt, and who rejoiced in the +name of Lillyvick Kenwigs, was instantly almost suffocated under the +caresses of the audience, and squeezed to his mother's bosom until he +roared again. Then, after drinking the health of the child's preserver, +the company made the discovery that it was nigh two o'clock, whereat +they took their leave, with flattering expressions of the pleasure they +had enjoyed, to which Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs replied by thanking them, and +hoping they had enjoyed themselves only half as well as they said +they had.</p> + +<p>The young man, Nicholas Nickleby by name, who had rescued the baby, made +such an impression upon Mrs. Kenwigs that she felt impelled to propose +through the friend whom he had been visiting, that he should instruct +the four little Kenwigses in the French language at the weekly stipend +of five shillings; being at the rate of one shilling per week, per each +Miss Kenwigs, and one shilling over until such time as the baby might be +able to take it out in grammar.</p> + +<p>This proposition was accepted with alacrity by Nicholas, who betook +himself to the Kenwigs' apartment with all speed. Here he found the four +Miss Kenwigses on their form of audience, and the baby in a dwarf +porter's chair, with a deal tray before it, amusing himself with a toy +horse, while Mrs. Kenwigs spoke to the little girls of the superior +advantages they enjoyed above other children. "But I hope," she said, +"that that will not make them proud; but that they will bless their own +good fortune which has born them superior to common people's children. +And when you go out in the streets, or elsewhere, I desire that you +don't boast of it to the other children," continued Mrs. Kenwigs, "and +that if you must say anything about it, you don't say no more than +'we've got a private master comes to teach us at home, but we ain't +proud, because Ma says its sinful,' Do you hear, Morleena?"</p> + +<p>Upon the eldest Miss Kenwigs replying meekly that she did, permission +was conceded for the lesson to commence, and accordingly the four Miss +Kenwigses again arranged themselves upon their form, in a row, with +their tails all one way, while Nicholas Nickleby began his preliminary +explanations.</p> + +<p>Some months after this, the Kenwigses were thrown into a fever of rage +and disappointment, by receiving the cruel news of their Uncle +Lillyvick's marriage, which blow was a terrible one to Mrs. Kenwigs, +blighting her hopes for her children's future. After weeping and wailing +in the most agonized fashion, Mrs. Kenwigs drew herself up in proud +defiance, and denounced her uncle in terms direct and plain, stating +that he should never again darken her doors. In this terrible state of +affairs, it remained for Morleena of the flaxen tails, to bring about a +family re-union, and in this way:</p> + +<p>It had come to pass that she had received an invitation to repair next +day, per steamer from Westminster bridge, unto the Eel-Pie Island at +Twickenham, there to make merry upon a cold collation, and to dance in +the open air to the music of a locomotive band; the steamer having been +engaged by a dancing-master for his numerous pupils, one of whom had +extended an invitation to Miss Morleena, and Mrs. Kenwigs rightly deemed +the honor of the family was involved in her daughter making the most +splendid appearance possible. Now, between the Italian-ironing of +frills, the flouncing of trousers, the trimming of frocks, the faintings +from overwork and the comings-to again, incidental to the occasion, Mrs. +Kenwigs had been so entirely occupied, that she had not observed, until +within half an hour before, that the flaxen tails of Miss Morleena were +in a manner, run to seed; and that unless she were put under the hands +of a skilful hairdresser she never could achieve that signal triumph +over the daughters of all other people, anything less than which would +be tantamount to defeat. This discovery drove Mrs. Kenwigs to despair, +for the hairdresser lived three streets and eight dangerous crossings +off, and there was nobody to take her. So Mrs. Kenwigs first slapped +Miss Kenwigs for being the cause of her vexation, and then shed tears.</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, ma," replied Morleena, also in tears, "my hair <i>will</i> +grow!" While they were both still bemoaning and weeping, a fellow lodger +in the house came upon them, and hearing of their difficulty, offered to +escort Miss Morleena to the barber-shop, and at once led her in safety +to that establishment. The proprietor, knowing she had three sisters, +each with two flaxen tails, and all good for sixpence apiece a month at +least, promptly deserted an old gentleman whom he had just lathered for +shaving, and waited on the young lady himself. The old gentleman raising +his head, Miss Kenwigs noticed his face and uttered a shrill little +scream,--it was her Uncle Lillyvick!</p> + +<p>Hearing his name pronounced, Mr. Lillyvick groaned, then coughed to hide +it, and consigning himself to the hands of an assistant, commenced a +colloquy with Miss Morleena's escort, rather striving to escape the +notice of Miss Morleena herself, and so remarkable did this behavior +seem to her, that at the imminent hazard of having her ear sliced off, +she could not forbear looking round at him some score of times.</p> + +<p>The cutting and curling being at last concluded, the old gentleman, who +had been finished some time, and simply waiting, rose to go also, and +walked out of the establishment with Miss Morleena and her escort, +proceeding with them, in profound silence until they had nearly reached +Miss Morleena's home, when he asked if her family had been very much +overpowered by the news of his marriage.</p> + +<p>"It made ma cry when she knew it," answered Miss Morleena, "and pa was +very low in his spirits, but he is better now, and I was very ill, but I +am better too."</p> + +<p>"Would you give your great-uncle Lillyvick a kiss, if he was to ask you, +Morleena?" said the collector, with some hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Uncle Lillyvick, I would," returned Miss Morleena with no +hesitation whatsoever, whereupon Mr. Lillyvick caught her in his arms +and kissed her, and being by this time at the door of the house, he +walked straight up into the Kenwigses' sitting-room and put her down in +their midst. The surprise and delight that reigned in the bosom of the +Kenwigses at the unexpected sight, was only heightened by the joyful +intelligence that their uncle's married life had been both brief and +unsatisfactory, and by his further statement:</p> + +<p>"Out of regard for you, Susan and Kenwigs, I shall to-morrow morning +settle upon your children, and make payable to their survivors when they +come of age, or marry, that money which I once meant to leave 'em in my +will. The deed shall be executed to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>Overcome by this noble and generous offer, and by their emotion, Mr. +Kenwigs, Mrs. Kenwigs, and Miss Morleena Kenwigs all began to sob +together, and the noise communicating itself to the next room where the +other children lay a-bed, and causing them to cry too, Mr. Kenwigs +rushed wildly in, and bringing them out in his arms, by two and two, +tumbled them down in their night-caps and gowns at the feet of Mr. +Lillyvick, and called upon them to thank and bless him.</p> + +<p>And this wonderful domestic scene,--this family reconciliation was +brought about by Miss Morleena, eldest of the four little Kenwigses, +with the flaxen tails!</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="LITTLE_NELL."></a>LITTLE NELL.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0272.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0272.jpg" width = "35%" alt="LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."> +</a><br><b>"LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>LITTLE NELL.</h2> + +<p>There was once an old man, whose daughter dying, left in his care two +orphan children, a son twelve years old, and little Nell, a younger +girl. The grandfather was now an old and feeble man, but gathering +himself together as best he could, he began to trade;--in pictures +first--and then in curious ancient things, and from the Old Curiosity +Shop, as it was called, he was able to obtain a slender income.</p> + +<p>The boy grew into a wayward youth, and soon quitted his grandfather's +home for companions more suited to his taste, but sweet little Nell +remained, and grew 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 his daughter +had come back, a child again.</p> + +<p>The old man and little Nell dwelt alone,--he loving her with a +passionate devotion, and haunted with a fearful dread lest she should be +left to a life of poverty and want, when he should be called to leave +her. This fear so overmastered him that it led him to the gaming-table, +and--for her sake--he became a professional gambler, hoping to lay by a +vast fortune for her future use. But he lost heavily and constantly, +until his slender resources were exhausted, and he was obliged to borrow +money from the rich little dwarf money-lender, Quilp, pledging his stock +as security for the loans.</p> + +<p>But of all this Little Nell knew nothing, or she would have implored +him to give up the dangerous practice. She only knew that, after her +monotonous days, uncheckered by variety and uncheered by pleasant +companionship, the old man, who seemed always agitated by some hidden +care, and weak and wandering in his mind, taking his cloak and hat and +stick, would pass from the house, leaving her alone through the dreary +evenings and long solitary nights.</p> + +<p>It was not the absence of such pleasures as make young hearts beat high, +that brought tears to Nell's eyes. It was the sight of the old man's +feeble state of mind and body, and the fear that some night he should +fail to come home, having been overtaken by illness or sudden death. +Such fears as these drove the roses from her smooth young cheeks, and +stilled the songs which before had rung through the dim old shop, while +the gay, lightsome step passed among the dusty treasures. Now she seldom +smiled or sang, and among the few bits of comedy in her sad days, were +the visits of Kit Nubbles, her grandfather's errand boy, a shock-headed, +shambling, comical lad, whose devotion to the beautiful child verged on +worship. Appreciating Nell's loneliness, Kit visited the shop as often +as possible, and the exquisite oddity and awkwardness of his manner so +amused her that at sight of him she would give way to genuine merriment. +Kit himself, being always flattered by the sensation he produced, would +often burst into a loud roar, and stand with his mouth wide open, and +his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently.</p> + +<p>Twice every week Nell gave the lad a writing lesson, to the great mirth +and enjoyment of them both, and each time Kit tucked up his sleeves, +squared his elbows, and put his face very close to the copy-book, +squinting horribly at the lines, fairly wallowing in blots, and daubing +himself with ink up to the roots of his hair,--and if he did by accident +form a letter properly, he immediately smeared it out again with his +arm--and at every fresh mistake there was a fresh burst of merriment +from the child and from poor Kit himself.</p> + +<p>But of such happy times sweet Nell had few, and she became more anxious +about her grandfather's health, as he became daily more worried over the +secret which he would not share with her, and which preyed upon his mind +and body with increasing ravages.</p> + +<p>Fortune did not favor his ventures, and Quilp, having discovered for +what purpose he borrowed such large sums, refused him further loans. In +an agony of apprehension for the future, the old man told Nell that he +had had heavy losses, that they would soon be beggars.</p> + +<p>"What if we are?" said the child boldly. "Let us be beggars, and be +happy."</p> + +<p>"Beggars--and happy!" said the old man. "Poor child!"</p> + +<p>"Dear grandfather," cried the girl, with an energy which shone in her +flushed face, trembling voice, and impassioned, gestures, "O, 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."</p> + +<p>"Nelly!" said the old man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, rather than live as we do now," the child repeated, "do not +let me see such change in you, 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."</p> + +<p>The old man covered his face with his hands, as the child added, "Let us +be beggars. I have no fear but we shall have enough: I'm sure we shall. +Let us walk through country places, and never think of money again, or +anything that can make you sad, but rest at nights, and have the sun +and wind on 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 places we can find, and I will go and beg +for both."</p> + +<p>The child's voice was lost in sobs as she dropped upon the old man's +neck; nor did she weep alone.</p> + +<p>That very day news came that the Old Curiosity Shop and its contents +would at once pass into Quilp's hands, in payment of the old man's +debts. In vain he pleaded for one more chance to redeem himself--for one +more loan--Quilp was firm in his refusal of further help, and little +Nell found the old man, overcome by the news, lying upon the floor of +his room, alarmingly ill. For weeks he lay raving in the delirium of +fever, little Nell alone beside him, nursing him with a single-hearted +devotion. The house was no longer theirs; even the sick chamber they +retained by special favor until such time as the old man could be +removed. Meanwhile, Mr. Quilp had taken formal possession of the +premises, and to make sure that no more business was transacted in the +shop, was encamped in the back parlor. So keen was Nell's dread of even +the sound of the dwarfs voice, that she lived in continual apprehension +of meeting him on the stairs, or in the passage, and seldom stirred from +her grandfather's room.</p> + +<p>At length the old man began to mend--he was patient and quiet, easily +amused, and made no complaint, but his mind was forever weakened, and he +seemed to have only a dazed recollection of what had happened. Even when +Quilp told him that in two days he must be moved out of the shop, he +seemed not to take it to heart, wandering around the house, a very child +in act and thought. But a change came over him on the second evening; as +he and little Nell sat silently together. He was moved--shed +tears--begged Nell's forgiveness for what he had made her suffer--seemed +like one coming out of a dream--and urged her to help him in acting upon +what they had talked of doing long before.</p> + +<p>"We will not stop here another day," he said, "we will go far away from +here. 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 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."</p> + +<p>"We will be happy," cried the child. "We never can be, here!"</p> + +<p>"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; but thou wilt be well again, and merry too, when we +are far away. To-morrow morning, dear, we will turn our faces from this +scene of sorrow, and be as free and happy as the birds."</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>The old man had slept for some hours soundly, 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, and a staff to support +his feeble steps. But this was not all her task, for now she must say +farewell to her own little room, where she had so often knelt down and +prayed at night--prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning now! +There were some trifles there, which she would have liked to take away, +but that was impossible. She wept bitterly to leave her poor bird +behind, until the idea occurred to her that it might fall into the hands +of Kit, who would keep and cherish it for her sake. She was calmed and +comforted by this thought, and went to rest with a lighter heart.</p> + +<p>At length the day began to glimmer, when she arose and dressed herself +for the journey, and with the old man, trod lightly down the stairs. At +last they reached the ground-floor, got the door open without noise, and +passing into the street, stood still.</p> + +<p>"Which way?" said the child.</p> + +<p>The old man looked irresolutely and helplessly to the right and left, +then at her, and shook his head. It was plain that she was henceforth +his guide and leader. The child felt it, but had no doubts or +misgivings, and putting her hand in his, led him gently away.</p> + +<p>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 free of +passengers, the houses and shops were closed, and the healthy air of +morning fell like breath from angels on the sleeping town.</p> + +<p>The old man and the child passed on through the glad silence, elate with +hope and pleasure. Every object was bright and fresh; nothing reminded +them, otherwise than by contrast, of the monotony and restraint they +had left behind.</p> + +<p>Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor +adventurers, wandering they knew not whither, often pressing each +other's hands, or exchanging a smile, as they pursued their way through +the city streets, through the haunts of traffic and great commerce, +where business was already rife. The old man looked about him with a +bewildered gaze, for these were places that he hoped to shun, nor did he +seem at ease until at last they felt that they were clear of London, and +sat down to rest, and eat their frugal breakfast from little +Nell's basket.</p> + +<p>The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the +waving grass, the wild flowers, and the thousand exquisite scents and +sounds that floated in the air, 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 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.</p> + +<p>"Are you tired?" asked the child. "Are you sure you don't feel ill from +this long walk?"</p> + +<p>"I shall never feel ill again, now that we are once away," was his +reply. "Let us be stirring, Nell. We are too near to stop and be at +rest. Come!"</p> + +<p>They were now in the open country, through which they walked all day, +and slept that night at a cottage where beds were let to travellers. +Next morning they were afoot again, and still kept on until nearly five +o'clock in the afternoon, when they stopped at a laborer's hut, asking +permission to rest awhile and buy a draught of milk. The request was +granted, and after having some refreshments and rest, Nell yielded to +the old man's fretful demand to travel on again, and they trudged +forward for another mile, thankful for a lift given them by a kindly +driver going their way, for they 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 in one corner of the +cart when she fell fast asleep, and was only awakened by its stopping +when their ways parted. The driver pointing out the town in the near +distance, directed them to take the path leading through the churchyard. +Accordingly, to this spot they directed their weary steps, and presently +came upon two men who were seated upon the grass. It was not difficult +to divine that they were 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; while scattered upon the ground, and jumbled +together in a long box, were the other persons of the drama. The hero's +wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the foreign gentleman, +the executioner, and the devil, all were here. Their owners had +evidently come to that spot to make some needful repairs in their stock, +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.</p> + +<p>They greeted the strangers with a nod, and the old man sitting down +beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight, began to +talk. While they chatted, Mr. Short, a little merry, red-faced man with +twinkling eyes, turning over the figures in the box, drew one forth, +saying ruefully to his companion, Codlin by name: "Look here, here's all +this Judy's clothes falling to pieces again. You haven't got needle and +thread, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>The little man shook his head, and seeing that they were at a loss, +Nell said timidly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>As Mr. Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable, +Nelly 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.</p> + +<p>"N-no further to-night, I think," said the child, looking toward her +grandfather.</p> + +<p>"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. The long, low, white +house there. It's very cheap."</p> + +<p>The old man, who would have remained in the churchyard all night if his +new acquaintances had stayed there too, yielded to this suggestion a +ready and rapturous assent, and they all rose and walked away together +to the public house, where, after witnessing an exhibition of the show, +they had a good supper, but Nell was too tired to eat, and was grateful +when they retired to the loft where they were to rest. 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 sat there till he +slept, then went to her own room and sat thinking of the life that was +before them.</p> + +<p>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 might be increased a +hundredfold. It would be best to hide this coin, and never produce it +unless their case was absolutely desperate. 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.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, Mr. Short asked Nell, "And where are you going +to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I hardly know," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"We're going on to the races," said the little man. "If you'd like to +have us for company, let us travel together."</p> + +<p>"Well go with you," said the old man eagerly. "Nell--with them, with +them."</p> + +<p>The child considered for a moment, and reflecting that she must soon +beg, and could scarcely do so at a better place, thanked the little man +for his offer, and said they would accompany him.</p> + +<p>Presently they started off and made a long day's journey, and were yet +upon the road when night came on. Threatening clouds soon gave place to +a heavy rain, and the party took refuge for the night in a roadside inn, +where they found a mighty fire blazing upon the hearth, and savory +smells coming from iron pots.</p> + +<p>Furnished with slippers and dry garments, and overpowered by the warmth +and comfort of the room and the fatigue they had undergone, Nelly and +the old man had not long taken seats in the warm chimney-corner when +they fell asleep.</p> + +<p>"Who are they?" whispered the landlord.</p> + +<p>Short and Codlin shook their heads. "They're no harm," said Short. +"Depend upon that I tell you what--it's plain that the old man aren't in +his right mind--I believe that he's given his friends the slip and +persuaded this delicate young creature, 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-goin' to stand that. I'm +not a-goin' 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 dewelop an +intention of parting company from us, I shall take measures for +detainin' of 'em and restoring them to their friends, who, I dare say, +have had their disconsolation pasted up on every wall in London by +this time.</p> + +<p>"Short," said Mr. Codlin, "it's possible there may be uncommon good +sense in what you've said. If there is, and there should be a reward, +Short, remember that we are partners in everything!"</p> + +<p>His companion had only time to nod a brief assent to this proposition, +for the child awoke at the instant, as strange footsteps were heard +without, and fresh company entered.</p> + +<p>These were no other than four very dismal dogs, who came pattering in, +headed by an old bandy dog, who erected himself upon his hind legs, and +looked around at his companions, who immediately stood upon their hind +legs in a grave and melancholy row. These dogs each wore a kind of +little coat of some gaudy color, trimmed with tarnished spangles, and +one of them had a cap upon his head, tied 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 with rain, and that the +wearers were all splashed and dirty, and some idea may be formed of the +unusual appearance of the new visitors to the inn. Jerry, the manager of +these dancing dogs, disencumbering himself of a barrel-organ, and +retaining in his hand a small whip, came up to the fire and entered into +conversation. The landlord then busied himself in laying the cloth for +supper, which, being at length ready to serve, little Nell ventured to +say grace, and supper began.</p> + +<p>At this juncture the poor dogs were standing upon 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.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, no, not an atom from anybody's hand but mine, please. That +dog," said Jerry, pointing out the old leader of the troop, and speaking +in a terrible voice, "lost a half-penny to-day. He goes without +his supper."</p> + +<p>The unfortunate creature dropped upon his forelegs directly, wagged his +tail, and looked imploringly at his master.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The dog immediately began to grind most mournful music. His master, +having shown him the whip, called up the others, who, at his directions, +formed in a row, standing upright as a file of soldiers.</p> + +<p>"Now, gentlemen," said Jerry, looking at them attentively, "the dog +whose name is called, eats. Carlo!"</p> + +<p>The lucky individual whose name was called, snapped up the morsel thrown +towards him, but none of the others moved a muscle. 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 around, and applied himself with +increased diligence to the Old Hundredth.</p> + +<p>That night, from various conversations in which Codlin and Short took +pains to engage her, little Nell began to have misgivings concerning +their protestations of friendship, and to suspect their motives. These +misgivings made the child anxious and uneasy, as the party travelled on +towards the town where the races were to begin next day.</p> + +<p>It was dark when they reached the town, and there all was tumult and +confusion. The streets were filled with throngs of people, the +church-bells rang out their noisy peals, and flags streamed from windows +and house-tops, while shrill flageolets and deafening drums added to +the uproar.</p> + +<p>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 she should be separated from him, and left to find +her way alone. Quickening their steps they made for the racecourse, +which was upon an open heath. There were many people here, none of the +best-favored or best clad, busily erecting tents, but the child felt it +an escape from the town, and drew her breath more freely. After a scanty +supper, 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.</p> + +<p>And now they had come to the time when they must beg their bread. Soon +after sunrise in the morning Nell stole out, and plucked a few wild +roses and such humble flowers, to make into little nosegays and offer 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, tying her flowers together, while Codlin and Short +lay dozing in another corner, she said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, don't look at those I talk of, and don't seem as if I +spoke of anything but what I'm 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?"</p> + +<p>The old man turned to her with an aspect of wild terror; but she checked +him by a look, adding, "Grandfather, these men suspect that we have +secretly left our friends, and mean to carry us before some gentlemen, +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."</p> + +<p>"How?" muttered the old man. "Dear Nelly, how? They will shut me up in a +stone room, dark and cold, and chain me to the wall, Nell--flog me with +whips, and never let me see thee more!"</p> + +<p>"You're trembling again!" said the child. "Keep close to me all day. 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."</p> + +<p>"Halloa! what are you up to, my dear?" said Mr. Codlin, raising his head +and yawning.</p> + +<p>"Making some nosegays," the child replied; "I'm going to try to sell +some. Will you have one?--as a present, I mean." Mr. Codlin stuck it in +his buttonhole with an air of ineffable complacency, and laid himself +down again.</p> + +<p>As the morning wore on, the tents assumed a more brilliant appearance. +Men, who had lounged about in smock frocks and leather leggings, came +out in silken vests and hats and plumes, as jugglers or mountebanks. +Black-eyed gypsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to +tell fortunes. 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 corners in which they had passed the +night, and flourished boldly in the sun.</p> + +<p>Along the uncleared course, Short led his party, sounding the brazen +trumpet, and at his heels went Thomas Codlin, bearing the show, and +keeping his eyes 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 looks, to offer them at some +gay carriage, but, alas! there were many bolder beggars there, adepts at +their trade, and although some ladies smiled gently as they shook their +heads, and others cried: "See, what a pretty face!" they let the pretty +face pass on, and never thought that it looked tired or hungry, and +among all that gay throng, there was but one lady, who, taking her +flowers, put money in the child's trembling hand.</p> + +<p>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, was roused from +her meditation by a loud laugh at some witticism of Mr. Short.</p> + +<p>If they were ever to get away unseen, that was the very moment. Short +and Codlin were absorbed in giving the show, and in coaxing sixpences +from the people's pockets, and the spectators were looking on with +laughing faces. That was the moment for escape. They seized it and fled.</p> + +<p>They made a path through booths, and carriages, and throngs of people, +and never once stopped to look behind, but creeping under the brow of +the hill at a quick pace, made for the open fields, and not until they +were quite exhausted ventured to sit down to rest upon the borders of a +little wood, and some time elapsed before the child could reassure her +trembling companion, or restore him to a state of moderate +tranquillity. His terrors affected her. 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 in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped. +Then, remembering how weak her companion was, and how destitute and +helpless he would be if she failed him, she was animated with new +strength and fortitude, and assured him that they had nothing to fear. +Luring him onward through the woods with happy looks and smiles, the +serenity which she had at 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 +of the woods, the more they felt that the tranquil mind of God was +there, and shed its peace on them.</p> + +<p>At length the path brought them to a public road which to their great +joy at last led into the centre of a small village. Uncertain where to +seek a lodging, they approached an old man sitting in a garden before +his cottage. He was the schoolmaster, and had "School" written over his +window in black letters. He was a pale, simple-looking man, and sat +among his flowers and beehives, taking no notice of the travellers, +until Nell approached him, dropping a curtsey, and asking if he could +direct them anywhere to obtain a shelter for the night.</p> + +<p>"You have been walking a long way?" said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"A long way, sir," the child replied.</p> + +<p>"You're a young traveller, my child," he said, laying his hand gently on +her head. "Your grandchild, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir," cried the old man, "and the stay and comfort of my life."</p> + +<p>"Come in," said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>Without further preface, he conducted them into his little schoolroom, +which was parlor and kitchen likewise, and told them they were welcome +to remain till morning. Before they had done thanking him, he spread the +table, and besought them to eat and drink.</p> + +<p>After a sound night's rest in the little cottage, Nell rose early, and +was attempting to make the room in which she had supped last night neat +and comfortable, when their kind host came in. She asked leave to +prepare breakfast, and the three soon partook of it together. While the +meal was in progress, their host remarked that the old man stood in need +of rest, and that he should be glad of their company for another night. +It required no great persuasion to induce the child to answer that they +would remain. She was happy to show her gratitude to the kind +schoolmaster by performing such household duties as his little cottage +stood in need of. When these were done, she took some needlework from +her basket, and sat down beside the lattice, where the honeysuckle and +woodbine filled the room 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. Presently the schoolmaster took his seat behind his desk, and as +he seemed pleased to have little Nell beside him, she busied herself +with her work, entering into conversation with the schoolmaster while +the scholars conned their lessons, and watching the boys with eager and +attentive interest.</p> + +<p>Upon the following morning there remained for the travellers only to +take leave of the poor schoolmaster, and wander forth once more. With a +trembling and reluctant hand, the child held out to their kind host the +money which the lady had given her at the races for her flowers, +faltering in her thanks, and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her +put it up, and kissing her cheek, wished her good fortune and happiness, +adding, "If you ever pass this way again, you will not forget the little +village school?"</p> + +<p>"We shall never forget it, sir," rejoined Nell, "nor ever forget to be +grateful to you for your kindness to us."</p> + +<p>They bade him farewell very many times, often looking back, until they +could see him no more. They trudged onward now at a quicker pace, +resolving to keep the main road, and go wherever it might lead them. The +afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening when the road struck +across a common. On the border of this common, a caravan was drawn up +to rest.</p> + +<p>It was not a shabby, dingy 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. 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 upon the frowzy grass. Neither was it a gypsy 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 refreshing one of +drinking tea. The tea things were set forth upon a drum covered with a +napkin; and there sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the +prospect. As she was in the act of setting down her cup, she beheld an +old man and a young child walking slowly by, and glancing at her +proceedings with eyes of modest but hungry admiration.</p> + +<p>"Hey!" cried the lady of the caravan, "Yes, to be sure--Who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate?"</p> + +<p>"Won what, ma'am?" asked Nell.</p> + +<p>"The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child. Can't you say who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate when you're asked a question civilly?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"Don't know!" repeated the lady of the caravan; "Why, you were there. I +saw you with my own eyes."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I was not there by choice," rejoined 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?"</p> + +<p>"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 them? Does this +caravan look as if it know'd 'em?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, no," said the child, fearing that she had committed some +grievous fault, "I beg your pardon."</p> + +<p>It was granted immediately, and the child then explained that they had +left the races on the first day, and were travelling to the next town, +and ventured to inquire how far it was. The stout lady's reply was +rather discouraging, and Nell could scarcely repress a tear at hearing +that it was eight miles off. Her grandfather made no complaint, and the +two were about to pass on, when the lady of the caravan called to the +child to return. Beckoning to her to ascend the steps, she asked,--"Are +you hungry?"</p> + +<p>"Not very, but we are tired, and it's--it is a long way."</p> + +<p>"Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea," rejoined her new +acquaintance. "I suppose you're agreeable to that, old gentleman?"</p> + +<p>The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat, and thanked her, and sitting +down, they made a hearty meal, enjoying it to the utmost.</p> + +<p>While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan held a short +conversation with her driver, after which she informed Nell that she and +her grandfather were to go forward in the caravan with her, for which +kindness Nell thanked the lady with unaffected earnestness. She helped +with great alacrity to put away the tea-things, and mounted into the +vehicle, followed by her delighted grandfather. Their patroness then +shut the door, and away they went, with a great noise of flapping, and +creaking, and straining, and the bright brass knocker, knocking one +perpetual double knock of its own accord as they jolted heavily along.</p> + +<p>When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance, Nell +looked around the caravan, and observed it more closely. One half of it +was carpeted, with a sleeping place, after the fashion of a berth on +board ship, partitioned off at the farther end, which was shaded 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, and the necessary +cooking utensils, which latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which +in the other portion of the establishment were decorated with a number +of well-thumbed musical instruments.</p> + +<p>Presently the old man fell asleep, and the lady of the caravan invited +Nell to come and sit beside her.</p> + +<p>"Well, child," she said, "how do you like this way of travelling?"</p> + +<p>Nell replied that she thought that it was very pleasant indeed. Instead +of speaking again, the lady of the caravan sat looking at the child for +a long time in silence, then getting up, brought out a 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.</p> + +<p>"There, child," she said, "read that."</p> + +<p>Nell walked down it, and read aloud, in enormous black letters, the +inscription, <b>"JARLEY'S WAX-WORK."</b></p> + +<p>"Read it again," said the lady complacently.</p> + +<p>"Jarley's Wax-Work," repeated Nell.</p> + +<p>"That's me," said the lady. "I am Mrs. Jarley."</p> + +<p>The lady of the caravan then unfolded another scroll, whereon was the +inscription, "One hundred figures the full size of life," then several +smaller ones with such inscriptions as, "The genuine and only Jarley," +"Jarley is the delight of the nobility and gentry," "The royal family +are the patrons of Jarley." When she had exhibited these to the +astonished child, she brought forth 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 others were composed with a view to +the lighter and more facetious spirits, as a parody on the favorite air +of "If I had a donkey," beginning:</p> + +<blockquote> +"If I know'd a donkey what wouldn't go<br> +To see MRS. JARLEY'S wax-work show,<br> +Do you think I'd acknowledge him?<br> +Oh, no, no!<br> +Then run to Jarley's"--<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>besides other compositions in prose, 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, Mrs. Jarley then rolled these +testimonials up, and having put them carefully away, sat down and looked +at the child in triumph.</p> + +<p>"I never saw any wax-work, ma'am," said Nell. "Is it funnier than +Punch?"</p> + +<p>"Funnier!" said Mrs. Jarley, in a shrill voice. "It is not funny at +all."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Nell, with all possible humility.</p> + +<p>"It isn't funny at all," repeated Mrs. Jarley. "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 life-like, that if wax-work only +spoke and walked about, you'd hardly know the difference."</p> + +<p>"Is it here, ma'am?" asked Nell, whose curiosity was awakened by this +description.</p> + +<p>"Is what here, child?"</p> + +<p>"The wax-work, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"Why, bless you, child, what are you thinking of? How could such a +collection be here? It's gone on in the other wans to the room where +it'll be exhibited the day after to-morrow. You're going to the same +town, and you'll see it, I dare say."</p> + +<p>"I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am," said the child.</p> + +<p>This answer appeared to greatly astonish Mrs. Jarley, who asked so many +questions that Nell was led to tell her some of the details concerning +their poverty and wanderings, after which the lady of the caravan +relapsed into a thoughtful silence. At length she shook off her fit of +meditation, and held a long conversation with the driver, which +conference being concluded, she beckoned Nell to approach.</p> + +<p>"And the old gentleman, too," said Mrs. Jarley. "I want to have a word +with him. Do you want a good situation for your granddaughter, master? +If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"I can't leave her, ma'am," answered the old man. "What would become of +me without her?"</p> + +<p>"I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself, if +you ever will be," retorted Mrs. Jarley sharply.</p> + +<p>"But he never will be," whispered the child. "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."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jarley was a little disconcerted by this reception of her proposal, +but presently she addressed the grandfather again:</p> + +<p>"If you're really disposed to employ yourself," she said, "you could +help to dust the figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want +your granddaughter for is to point 'em out to the company. It's not a +common offer, bear in mind," said the lady. "It's Jarley's wax-work, +remember. The duties very light and genteel, the company particularly +select. There is none of your open-air wagrancy at Jarley's, recollect; +there is no tarpaulin and saw-dust at Jarley's, remember. Every +expectation held out in the hand-bills is realized 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!"</p> + +<p>Descending from the sublime to the details of common life, when she had +reached this point, Mrs. Jarley remarked that she could pledge herself +to no specific salary until she had tested Nell's ability, but that she +could promise both good board and lodging for the child and her +grandfather. Her offer was thankfully accepted.</p> + +<p>"And you'll never be sorry for it," said Mrs. Jarley. "I'm pretty sure +of that. So, as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper."</p> + +<p>In the mean while the caravan blundered on, and came at last upon a +town, near midnight. As it was too late to repair to the exhibition +rooms, they drew up near to another caravan bearing the great name of +Jarley, which being empty, was assigned to the old man as his +sleeping-place. As for Nell herself, she was to sleep in Mrs. Jarley's +own travelling-carriage as a signal mark of that lady's favor.</p> + +<p>On the following morning Nell was put to work at once, helping to unpack +the chests and arrange the draperies in the exhibition rooms. When this +was accomplished, the stupendous collection of figures was uncovered, +standing more or less unsteadily upon their legs, 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.</p> + +<p>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 was at great pains to instruct Nell in her duty.</p> + +<p>"That," said Mrs. Jarley, in her exhibition tones, as Nell touched a +figure, "is an unfortunate maid-of-honor 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"That, ladies and gentlemen," said Mrs. Jarley, "is Jasper Packlemerton, +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 curved, as if in the act of tickling, and +that his face is represented with a wink, as he appeared when committing +his barbarous murders."</p> + +<p>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. So well did Nell +profit by her instructions, that at the end of a couple of hours, she +was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, and +perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors, and Mrs. Jarley +was not slow to express her admiration at this happy result.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the various devices used later for attracting visitors +to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The cart in which the +Brigand usually made his perambulations, being gayly dressed with flags +and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, Nell sat beside him, +decorated with artificial flowers, and rode slowly through the town +every morning, dispersing hand-bills 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, became a mere secondary consideration, and important only as +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 inclosures of nuts +and apples at the wax-work door.</p> + +<p>This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs. Jarley, who, lest Nell +should become too cheap, 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.</p> + +<p>Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found the lady of +the caravan a very kind and considerate person indeed. 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, Nell had no cause for anxiety until one holiday +evening, when they went out together for a walk. They had been closely +confined for some days, and the weather being warm, had strolled a long +distance, when they were caught in a most terrific thunder-shower, from +which they sought refuge in a roadside tavern, where some men sat +playing cards with a pile of silver money between them. When the old +man's eye lighted upon them, the child saw with alarm that his whole +appearance underwent a complete change. His face was flushed and eager, +his breath came short and quick, and the hand he laid upon her arm +trembled so violently, that she shook beneath its grasp. To his frenzied +appeal for money, Nell repeated a firm refusal, but he was insistent.</p> + +<p>"Give me the money," he exclaimed--"I must have it. There there--that's +my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child, never fear!"</p> + +<p>She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it, and hastened to +the other side of the screen where the two men were playing. Almost +immediately they invited him to join their game, whereupon, throwing +Nell's purse down upon the table, he gathered up the cards as a miser +would clutch at gold. The child sat by and watched the game in a perfect +agony of fear, 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.</p> + +<p>The storm had raged for full three hours, when at length the play came +to an end. Nell's little purse lay empty, and still the old man sat +poring over the cards until the child laid her arm upon his shoulder, +telling him that it was near midnight.</p> + +<p>Now Nell had still the piece of gold, and considering the lateness of +the hour, and into what a state of consternation they would throw Mrs. +Jarley by knocking her up at that hour, proposed to her grandfather that +they stay where they were for the night. As they would leave very early +in the morning, the child was anxious to pay for their entertainment +before they retired, 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 out secretly, and following the landlord into the bar, +tendered it to him there. She was returning, when she fancied she saw a +figure gliding in at the door. There was only a 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, she +felt that she had been watched. She was still thinking of this, when a +girl came to light her to bed.</p> + +<p>It was a great gloomy house, which the flaring candles seemed to make +yet more gloomy, and the child did not feel comfortable when she was +left alone. She could not help thinking of the figure stealing through +the passage downstairs. At last a broken and fitful sleep stole upon +her. A deeper slumber followed this--and then--What! That figure in the +room! A figure was there, it crouched and slunk along, stealing round +the bed. She had no voice to cry for help, no power to move,--on it +came--silently and stealthily to the bed's head. There it remained, +motionless as she. At length, it busied its hands in something, and she +heard the chink of money. Then it dropped upon its hands and knees, and +crawled away. It reached the door at last, the steps creaked beneath its +noiseless tread, and it was gone.</p> + +<p>The first impulse of the child was not to be alone--and with no +consciousness of having moved, she gained the door. Once in her +grandfather's room, she would be safe. An idea flashed suddenly upon +her--what if the figure should enter there, and have a design upon the +old man's life? She turned faint and sick. She saw it creeping in front +of her. It went in. Not knowing what she meant to do, but meaning to +preserve him, or be killed herself, she staggered forward and looked in.</p> + +<p>What sight was that which met her view?</p> + +<p>The bed 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.</p> + +<p>With steps more unsteady than those with which she had approached the +room, the child groped her way back into her own chamber. The terror +which she had lately felt was nothing compared with that which now +oppressed her. The grey-haired 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 far more dreadful than anything her wildest fancy +could have suggested. The feeling which beset her was one of uncertain +horror. She had no fear of the dear old grandfather, but the man she had +seen that night seemed like another creature in his shape. 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!</p> + +<p>She sat thinking of these things, until she felt it would be a relief to +hear his voice, or if he were asleep, even to see him, and so she stole +down the passage again. Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly +on his bed, fast asleep. 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.</p> + +<p>"God bless him," said the child, softly kissing 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. God +bless us both!"</p> + +<p>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. Upon searching her pocket on the following +morning she found her money was all gone--not a sixpence remained.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather," she said in a tremulous voice, after they had walked +about a mile on their road in silence, "Do you think they are honest +people at the house yonder? I ask because I lost some money last +night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by some one in +jest--only in jest, dear grandfather, which would make me laugh heartily +if I could but know it--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then it was stolen out of my room, dear," said the child, whose last +hope was destroyed by the manner of this reply.</p> + +<p>"But is there no more, Nell," said the old man--"no more anywhere? Was +it all taken--was there nothing left?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>The child hung down her head and wept. It was not the lightest part of +her sorrow that this was done for her.</p> + +<p>"Let me persuade you, dear grandfather," she said earnestly, "Oh, do let +me persuade you to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no +fortune but the fortune we pursue together. Only remember what we have +been since that bright morning when we turned our backs upon that +unhappy house for the last time," continued Nell. "Think what beautiful +things we have seen, and how contented we have felt, and why was this +blessed change?"</p> + +<p>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, and +walked on, looking as if he were painfully trying to collect his +thoughts. Once she saw tears in his eyes. When they 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 by degrees +settled down into his usual quiet way, and suffered her to lead him +where she would.</p> + +<p>As Nell had anticipated, they found Mrs. Jarley was not yet out of bed, +and that although she had suffered some uneasiness on their account, she +had felt sure that being overtaken by the storm, they had sought the +nearest shelter for the night. And as they sat down to breakfast, she +requested Nell to go that morning to Miss Monflather's Boarding and Day +School to present its principal with a parcel of new bills, as her +establishment had yet sent but half-a-dozen representatives to see the +stupendous wax-work collection. Nell's expedition met with no success, +to Mrs. Jarley's great indignation, and Nell would have been +disappointed herself at its failure, had she not had anxieties of a +deeper kind to occupy her thoughts.</p> + +<p>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, she +sat up alone until he returned--penniless, broken spirited, and +wretched, but still hotly bent upon his infatuation.</p> + +<p>"Give me money," he said wildly, "I must have money, Nell. It shall be +paid thee back with gallant interest one day, but all the money which +comes into thy hands must be mine--not for myself, but to use for thee. +Remember, Nell, to use for thee!"</p> + +<p>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 burned him, +and put him perhaps beyond recovery. Distracted by these thoughts, +tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever he was absent, and +dreading alike his stay and his return, the color forsook her cheek, her +eyes grew dim, and her heart was oppressed and heavy.</p> + +<p>One evening, wandering alone not far from home, the child came suddenly +upon a gypsy camp, and looking at the group of men around the fire saw +to her horror and dismay that one was her grandfather. The others she +recognized as the card-players at the public-house on the eventful night +of the storm. Drawing near, where she could listen unseen, she heard +their conversation; heard them obtain her grandfather's promise to rob +Mrs. Jarley of the tin box in which she kept her savings--and to play a +game of cards with them, with its contents for stakes.</p> + +<p>"God be merciful to us!" cried the child, "and help us in this trying +hour! What shall I do to save him?"</p> + +<p>The remainder of the conversation related merely to the execution of +their project, after which the old man shook hands with his tempters, +and withdrew. Then Nell crept away, fled home as quickly as she could, +and threw herself upon her bed, distracted. The first idea that flashed +upon her mind was instant flight. Then she remembered that the crime was +not to be committed until next night, and there was time for resolving +what to do. Then she was distracted with a horrible fear that he might +be committing it at that moment. She stole to the room where the money +was, and looked in. God be praised! he was not there, and Mrs. Jarley +was sleeping soundly. She went back to her own room, and tried to +prepare herself for bed, but who could sleep--sleep! 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, +and roused him from his sleep.</p> + +<p>"What's this?" he cried, starting up in bed, and fixing his eyes upon +her spectral face.</p> + +<p>"I have had a dreadful dream," said the child. "A dreadful, horrible +dream! I have had it once before. It is a dream of gray-haired men like +you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing the sleepers of their gold. Up, +up!" The old man shook in every joint, and folded his hands like one +who prays.</p> + +<p>"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. We must +fly. There is no time to lose;" said the child. "Up! and away with me!"</p> + +<p>"To-night?" murmured the old man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to-night," replied the child. "To-morrow night will be too late. +Nothing but flight can save us. Up!"</p> + +<p>The old man arose, 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. 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, his staff too, and then she led +him forth.</p> + +<p>Through the streets their trembling feet passed quickly, and at last the +child looked back upon the sleeping town, on the far-off river, 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. Her +momentary weakness passed, she again summoned the resolution to keep +steadily in view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and +crime, and that her grandfather's preservation depended solely on her +firmness. While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to shrink and cower down +before her, 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. "I have saved him," she thought, "in all +distresses and dangers I will remember that."</p> + +<p>At any other time the recollection of having deserted the friend who had +shown them so much homely kindness, without a word of justification, +would have filled her with sorrow and regret. But now, all other +considerations were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties, and in +the desperation of their condition.</p> + +<p>In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate +face where thoughtful care already mingled with a 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. The night +crept on apace, the moon went down and when the sun had climbed into the +sky, and there was warmth in its cheerful beams, they laid them down to +sleep upon a bank hard by some water.</p> + +<p>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, and they slept side by side. A +confusion of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her, and she +discovered a man of rough appearance standing over her, while his +companions were looking on from a canal-boat which had come close to the +bank while she was sleeping. The man spoke to Nell, asking what was the +matter, and where she and her grandfather were going. Nell faltered, +pointing at hazard toward the west--and upon the man inquiring if she +meant a certain town which he named, Nell, to avoid more questioning, +said "Yes, that was the place." After asking some other questions, he +mounted one of the horses towing the boat, which at once went on. +Presently it stopped again, and the man beckoned to Nell: "You may go +with us if you like," he said. "We're going to the same place."</p> + +<p>The child hesitated for one moment. Thinking that the men whom she had +seen with her grandfather might perhaps in their eagerness for the +booty, follow them, and regain their influence over him, and that if +they went on the canal-boat all traces of them must be surely +lost--accepted the offer. Before she had any more time for +consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, gliding smoothly +down the canal, through the bright water.</p> + +<p>They did not reach their destination until the following morning, and +Nell was glad indeed when the trip was ended, for the noisy rugged +fellows on the boat were rough enough to make her heart palpitate for +fear, but though they quarrelled among themselves, they were civil +enough to their two passengers; and at length the boat floated into its +destination. The men were occupied directly, and the child and her +grandfather, after waiting in vain to thank them, or ask whither they +should go, passed out into a crowded noisy street of a manufacturing +village, and stood, in the pouring rain, distressed and confused. +Evening came on. They were still wandering up and down, bewildered by +the hurry they beheld, but had no part in. Shivering with the cold and +damp, ill in body, and sick to death at heart, the child needed her +utmost resolution to creep along. No prospect of relief appearing, they +retraced their steps to the wharf, hoping to be allowed to sleep on +board the boat that night. But here again they were disappointed, for +the gate was closed.</p> + +<p>"Why did you bring me here?" asked 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?"</p> + +<p>"Because I must have that dream I told you of, no more," said the child, +"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."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Poor, houseless, wandering, motherless child!" cried the old man, +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?"</p> + +<p>Wandering on, they took shelter in an old doorway from which the figure +of a man came forth, who, touched with the misery of their situation, +and with Nell's drenched condition, offered them such lodging as he had +at his command, in the great foundry where he was employed. He led them +through the bewildering sights and deafening sounds of the huge +building, to his furnace, and there spread Nell's little cloak upon a +heap of ashes, and showing her where to hang her outer clothes to dry, +signed to her and the old man to lie down and sleep. The warmth of her +bed, combined with her great fatigue, caused the tumult of the place to +lull the child to sleep, and the old man was stretched beside her, as +she lay and dreamed. On the following morning her friend shared his +breakfast with the child and her grandfather, and parting with them left +in Nell's hand two 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?</p> + +<p>With an intense longing for pure air and open country, they toiled +slowly on, the child walking with extreme difficulty, for the pains that +racked her joints were of no common severity, and every exertion +increased them. But they wrung from her no complaint, as the two +proceeded slowly on, clearing the town in course of time. They slept +that night with nothing between them and the sky, amid the horrors of a +manufacturing suburb, and who shall tell the terrors of that night to +the young wandering child.</p> + +<p>And yet she had no fear for herself, for she was past it, but put up a +prayer for the old man. A penny loaf was all that they had had that day. +It was very little, but even hunger was forgotten in the strange +tranquillity that crept over her senses. So very weak and spent she felt +as she lay down, 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. Morning came--much weaker, yet the child made no complaint--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. Objects appeared more dim, the noise less, the +path more 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.</p> + +<p>They were dragging themselves along toward evening and the child felt +that the time was close at hand when she could bear no more. Before them +she saw a traveller reading from a book which he carried.</p> + +<p>It was not an easy matter to come up with him, and beseech his aid, for +he walked fast. 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 faintly to implore his help.</p> + +<p>He turned his head. Nell clapped her hands together, uttered a wild +shriek, and fell senseless at his feet. It was no other than the poor +schoolmaster. Scarcely less moved and surprised than the child herself, +he stood for a moment, silent and confounded by the unexpected +apparition, without even presence of mind to raise her from the ground. +But, quickly recovering his self-possession, and dropping on one knee +beside her, he endeavored to restore her to herself.</p> + +<p>"She is quite exhausted," he said, glancing upward into the old man's +face. "You have taxed her powers too far, friend."</p> + +<p>"She is perishing of want," rejoined the old man. "I never thought how +weak and ill she was, till now."</p> + +<p>Casting a look upon him, half-reproachful and half-compassionate, the +schoolmaster took the child in his arms, and bore her away at his utmost +speed to a small inn within sight.</p> + +<p>The landlady came running in, with hot brandy and water, with which and +other restoratives, the child was so far recovered as to be able to +thank them in a faint voice. Without suffering her to speak another +word, the woman carried her off to bed, and after having been made warm +and comfortable, she had a visit from the doctor himself, who ordered +rest and nourishment. As Nell evinced extraordinary uneasiness on being +apart from her grandfather, he took his supper with her. Finding her +still restless on this head, they made him up a bed in an inner room, to +which he presently retired. The key of this chamber happening 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.</p> + +<p>In the morning the child was better, but so weak that she would at least +require a day's rest and careful nursing before she could proceed upon +her journey. The schoolmaster decided to remain also, and that evening +visited Nell in her room. His frank kindness, and the affectionate +earnestness of his speech and manner, gave the child a confidence in +him. She told him all--that they had no friend or relative--and that she +sought a home in some remote place, where the temptation before which +her grandfather had fallen would never enter, and her late sorrows and +distresses could have no place.</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster heard her with astonishment, and with admiration for +the heroism and patience of one so young. He then told her that he had +been appointed clerk and schoolmaster to a village a long way off, at +five-and-thirty pounds a year, and that he was on his way there now. He +concluded by saying that she and her grandfather must accompany him, and +that he would endeavor to find them some occupation by which they +could subsist.</p> + +<p>Accordingly next evening they travelled on, with Nell comfortably +bestowed in a stage-wagon 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.</p> + +<p>It was a fine clear autumn morning, when they came upon the village of +their destination, and every bit of scenery, and stick and stone looked +beautiful to the child who had passed through such scenes of poverty and +horror. Leaving Nell and her grandfather upon the church porch, the +schoolmaster hurried off to present a letter, and to make inquiries +concerning his new position. After a long time he appeared, jingling a +bundle of rusty keys, and quite breathless with pleasure and haste. As a +result of his exertions on their behalf, Nell and her grandfather were +to occupy a small house next to the one apportioned to him. Having +disburdened himself of this great surprise, the schoolmaster then told +Nell that the house which was henceforth to be hers, had been occupied +by an old person who kept the keys of the church, opened and closed it +for the services, and showed it to strangers; that she had died not many +weeks ago, and nobody having yet been found to fill the office, he had +made bold to ask for it for her and her grandfather. As a result of his +testimony to their ability and honesty, they were already appointed to +the vacant post.</p> + +<p>"There's a small allowance of money," said the schoolmaster. "It is not +much, but enough to live upon in this retired spot. By clubbing our +funds together, we shall do bravely; no fear of that."</p> + +<p>"Heaven bless and prosper you!" sobbed the child.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>To make their dwellings habitable, and as full of comfort as they +could, was now their pleasant care, and in a short time each had a +cheerful fire crackling on the hearth. Nell, busily plying her needle, +repaired the tattered window-hangings, and made them whole and decent. +The schoolmaster swept the ground before the door, trimmed the long +grass, trained the ivy and creeping plants, and gave to the outer walls +a cheery air of home. The old man lent his aid to both, went here and +there on little patient services and was happy. Neighbors too, 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 all +too soon.</p> + +<p>They took their supper together, and when they had finished it, drew +round the fire and 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.</p> + +<p>When every sound was hushed, and her grandfather sleeping, the child +lingered before the dying embers, and thought of her past fortunes as if +they had been a dream, and the deep and thoughtful feelings which +absorbed her, gave her no sensation of terror or alarm. A change had +been gradually stealing over her, in the time of her loneliness and +sorrow. With failing strength and heightened resolution, there had +sprung up a purified and altered mind; there had grown in her bosom +those blessed hopes and thoughts which are the portion of few but the +weak and drooping. There were none to see the frail figure as it glided +from the fire and leaned pensively at the casement; none but the stars +to look into the upturned face and read its history.</p> + +<p>It was long before the child closed the window, and approached her +bed--but when she did--it was to sink into a sleep filled with sweet and +happy dreams.</p> + +<p>With the morning came the renewal of yesterday's labors, the revival of +its pleasant thoughts, the restoration of its energies, cheerfulness and +hope. They worked gayly until noon, and then visited the clergyman, who +received them kindly, and at once showed an interest in Nell. 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.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said the clergyman. "Let it be as you desire, she is very +young."</p> + +<p>"Old in adversity and trial, sir," replied the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"God help her. Let her rest and forget them," said the old gentleman. +"But an old church is a gloomy place for one so young as you, my child."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, sir," returned Nell, "I have no such thoughts, indeed."</p> + +<p>"I would rather see her dancing on the green at night," said the old +gentleman, laying his hand upon her head, "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 the solemn ruins."</p> + +<p>After more kind words, they withdrew, and from that time Nell's heart +was filled with a serene and peaceful joy, and she occupied herself with +such light tasks as were hers to accomplish, and the peace of the simple +village moved her deeply, while more and more she grew to love the old +and silent chapel.</p> + +<p>She sat down one day in this old and silent place, among the stark +figures on the tombs and gazing round with a feeling of awe tempered +with calm delight, felt that now she was happy and at rest. She took a +Bible and read; then laying it down, thought of the summer days and +bright springtime that would come--of the rays of sun that would fall in +aslant upon the sleeping forms--of the song of birds, and growth of buds +and blossoms out of doors--What if the spot awakened thoughts of death? +Die who would, these sights and sounds would still go on, as happily as +ever. It would be no pain to sleep amidst them.</p> + +<p>She left the chapel, and climbed to its turret-top. Oh! the glory of the +sudden burst of light; the freshness of the fields and woods, meeting +the bright blue sky; everything so beautiful and happy! It was like +passing from death to life; it was drawing nearer heaven. And yet the +dim old chapel had for her a depth of fascination which the outer world +did not possess. Again that day, twice, she stole back to the chapel, +and read from the same book, or indulged in the same quiet train of +thought. Even when night fell, she sat like one rooted to the spot until +they found her there and took her home. She looked pale but very happy, +but as the schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek, he thought he +felt a tear upon his face.</p> + +<p>From a village bachelor, who took great interest in the beautiful child, +Nell soon learned the histories connected with every tomb and +gravestone, with every gallery, wall, and crypt in the dim old church. +These she treasured in her mind, dwelling on them often in her thoughts +and repeating them to those sightseers who cared to hear them. Her +duties were not arduous, but she did not regain her strength, and in her +grandfather's mind sprang up a solicitude about her which never left +him. From the time of his awakening to her weakness, never did he have +any care for himself, any thought of his own comfort, which could +distract his attention from the gentle object of his love and care, He +would follow her up and down, waiting till she should tire, and lean +upon his arm--he would sit opposite to her, 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 night to listen to her breathing in her +sleep. 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 upon the poor old man.</p> + +<p>Weeks crept on--sometimes the child, exhausted, would pass whole +evenings on a couch beside the fire. At such times, the schoolmaster +would read aloud to her, and seldom an evening passed but the bachelor +came in and took his turn at reading. During the daytime the child was +mostly out of doors, and all the strangers who came to see the church, +praised the child's beauty and sense, and all the neighbors, and all the +villagers, and the very schoolboys grew to have a fondness for +poor Nell.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in that busy world which Nell and her grandfather had left +behind them so many months before, there had appeared a stranger, who +gave up all his time and energy to endeavoring to trace the wanderers. +He was Nell's grandfather's younger brother, who had for many years been +a traveller in distant lands, with almost no information of his brother. +His thoughts began to revert constantly to the days when they were boys +together, and obeying the impulse which impelled him, he hastened home, +arriving one evening at his brother's door, only to find the +wanderers gone.</p> + +<p>By dint of ceaseless watchfulness and vigilance, at last he gained a +clue to their retreat, and lost no time in following it up, taking with +him Kit Nubbles, the errand-boy at the Shop in old days, who, though +now in the employ of kind Mr. Garland, was still loyal to the memory of +his beloved Miss Nelly--and only too grateful to be allowed to go in +search of her, with the stranger whom she would not recognize. So +together they journeyed to the peaceful village, where Nell and her +grandfather were hidden, Kit carrying with him Nell's bird in his own +cage. She would be glad to see it, he knew, but alas for Kit--they found +sweet Nell in the sleep that knows no waking on this our earth.</p> + +<p>There, upon her little bed, she lay at rest. The solemn stillness was no +marvel now.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Her couch was dressed with here and there some winter berries and green +leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. "When I die, put +near me something that has loved the light, and had the sky above it +always." Those were her words.</p> + +<p>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 forever.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, there had been the same mild lovely look. So shall we +know the angels in their majesty, after death.</p> + +<p>The old man 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.</p> + +<p>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 paths she had trodden, +as it were, but yesterday--could know her never more.</p> + +<p>She had been dead two days. 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 fervor. 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.</p> + +<p>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 arms about his neck. They did +not know that she was dead, at first.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They carried her to an 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 colored 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.</p> + +<p>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 she had loved to linger in the +church when all was quiet, and even to climb the tower stair with no +more light than that of the moon's 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. Then, when the dusk of evening had come +on, with tranquil and submissive hearts they turned away, and left the +child with God.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is hard to take to heart the lesson that such deaths will teach; +but let no man reject it, for it 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 to defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of +light to heaven.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="THE_INFANT_PHENOMENON."></a>THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0274.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0274.jpg" width = "25%" alt="THE INFANT PHENOMENON."> +</a><br><b>"THE INFANT PHENOMENON."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</h2> + +<p>Mr. Vincent Crummles was manager of a theatrical company, and also the +head of a most remarkable family indeed, each member of which was gifted +with an extraordinary combination of talent and attractiveness, and most +remarkable of all the family was the Infant Phenomenon.</p> + +<p>After Nicholas Nickleby, teacher at Dotheboys Hall, quitted that +wretched institution in disgrace, because he had resented injuries +inflicted upon the scholars in general, and upon the poor half-starved, +ill-used drudge, Smike, in particular, Smike stole away from the place +where he had been so cruelly used, to follow his defender, and the two +journeyed on together towards Portsmouth, resting for the night at a +roadside inn some miles from their destination. At the inn they met Mr. +Crummles who, upon discovering them to be destitute of money, and +desirous of obtaining employment as soon as possible, offered them both +engagements in his company, which offer, after a brief deliberation, +Nicholas decided to accept, until something more to his liking should be +available.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they journeyed to Portsmouth, together with Mr. Crummles and +the master Crummleses, and accompanied the manager through the town on +his way to the theatre.</p> + +<p>They passed a great many bills pasted against the wall, and displayed +in windows, wherein the names of Mr. Vincent Crummles, Mrs. Vincent +Crummles, Master Crummles, Master Peter Crummles, and Miss Crummles, +were printed in large letters, and everything else in very small +letters; and turning at length into an entry in which was a strong smell +of orange-peel and lamp-oil, with an under-current of saw-dust, groping +their way through a dark passage, and descending a step or two, emerged +upon the stage of the Portsmouth theatre.</p> + +<p>It was not very light, and as Nicholas looked about him, ceiling, pit, +boxes, gallery, orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind,--all +looked coarse, cold, gloomy and wretched.</p> + +<p>"Is this a theatre?" whispered Smike, in amazement; "I thought it was a +blaze of light and finery."</p> + +<p>"Why, so it is," replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; "But not by +day, Smike,--not by day."</p> + +<p>At this moment the manager's voice was heard, introducing the +new-comers, under the stage names of Johnson and Digby, to Mrs. +Crummles, a portly lady in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet +dangling by the strings, and with a quantity of hair braided in a large +festoon over each temple; who greeted them with great cordiality.</p> + +<p>While they were chatting with her, there suddenly bounded on to the +stage from some mysterious inlet, a little girl in a dirty white frock, +with tucks up to the knees, short trousers, sandalled shoes, white +spencer, pink gauze bonnet, green veil and curl papers, who turned a +pirouette, then looking off in the opposite wing, shrieked, bounded +forward to within six inches of the footlights, and fell into a +beautiful attitude of terror, as a shabby gentleman in an old pair of +buff slippers came in at one powerful slide, and chattering his teeth +fiercely, brandished a walking-stick.</p> + +<p>"They are going through, 'The Indian Savage and the Maiden,'" said Mrs. +Crummles.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said the manager, "the little ballet interlude. Very good. Go on. +A little this way, if you please, Mr. Johnson. That'll do. Now!"</p> + +<p>The manager clapped his hands as a signal to proceed, and the Savage, +becoming ferocious, made a slide towards the Maiden; but the Maiden +avoided him in six twirls, and came down, at the end of the last one, +upon the very points of her toes. This seemed to make some impression +upon the Savage, for after a little more ferocity and chasing of the +Maiden into corners, he began to relent, and stroked his face several +times with his right thumb and forefingers, thereby intimating that he +was struck with admiration of the Maiden's beauty. Acting upon the +impulse of this passion, he began to hit himself severe thumps in the +chest, and to exhibit other indications of being desperately in love, +which, being rather a prosy proceeding, was very likely the cause of the +Maiden's falling asleep; whether it was or no, asleep she did fall, +sound as a church, on a sloping bank, and the Savage, perceiving it, +leant his left ear on his left hand, and nodded sideways, to intimate to +all whom it might concern that she <i>was</i> asleep, and no shamming. Being +left to himself, the Savage had a dance all alone. Just as he left off, +the Maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance +all alone too--such a dance that the Savage looked on in ecstacy all the +while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighboring tree some +botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it +to the Maiden, who at first wouldn't have it, but on the Savage shedding +tears, relented. Then the Savage jumped for joy; then the Maiden jumped +for rapture at the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage; then the Savage +and the Maiden danced violently together, and finally the Savage +dropped down on one knee, and the Maiden stood on one leg upon his other +knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state +of pleasing uncertainty whether she would ultimately marry the Savage, +or return to her friends.</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. +"Beautiful!"</p> + +<p>"This, sir," said Mr. Vincent Crummles, bringing the Maiden forward, +"This is the Infant Phenomenon--Miss Ninetta Crummles."</p> + +<p>"Your daughter?" inquired Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"My daughter--my daughter," replied Mr. Crummles; "the idol of every +place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this +girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town +in England."</p> + +<p>"I am not surprised at that," said Nicholas; "she must be quite a +natural genius."</p> + +<p>"Quite a--!" Mr. Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to +describe the Infant Phenomenon. "I'll tell you what, sir," he said; "the +talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, +sir--seen--to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your +mother, my dear."</p> + +<p>"May I ask how old she is?" inquired Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"You may, sir," replied Mr. Crummles, "She is ten years of age, sir,"</p> + +<p>"Not more?"</p> + +<p>"Not a day."</p> + +<p>"Dear me," said Nicholas, "it's extraordinary."</p> + +<p>It was; for the Infant Phenomenon certainly looked older, and had +moreover, been precisely the same age for certainly five years. But she +had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance +of gin and water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps +this system of training had produced in the Infant Phenomenon these +additional phenomena.</p> + +<p>When this dialogue was concluded, another member of the company, Mr. +Folair, joined Nicholas, and confided to him the contempt of the entire +troupe for the Infant Phenomenon. "Infant Humbug sir!" he said. "There +isn't a female child of common sharpness in a charity school that +couldn't do better than that. She may thank her stars she was born a +manager's daughter."</p> + +<p>"You seem to take it to heart," observed Nicholas with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes, by Jove, and well I may," said Mr. Folair testily "isn't it enough +to make a man crusty, to see the little sprawler put up in the best +business every night, and actually keeping money out of the house by +being forced down the people's throats while other people are passed +over? Why, I know of fifteen-and-sixpence that came to Southampton last +month to see me dance the Highland Fling, and what's the consequence? +I've never been put up at it since--never once--while the 'Infant +Phenomenon' has been grinning through artificial flowers at five people +and a baby in the pit, and two boys in the gallery, every night."</p> + +<p>From these bitter remarks, it may be inferred that there were two ways +of looking at the performances of the Infant Phenomenon, but as jealousy +is well known to be unjust in its criticism, and as the Infant was too +highly praised by her own band of admirers to be much affected by such +remarks, if any of them reached her ears, there is no evidence that her +joy was diminished by reason of the complaints of captious +fault-finders.</p> + +<p>At the first evening performance which Nicholas witnessed, he found the +various members of the company very much changed; by reason of false +hair, false color, false calves, false muscles, they had become +different beings; the stage also was set in the most elaborate +fashion,--in short everything was on a scale of the utmost splendor and +preparation.</p> + +<p>Nicholas was standing contemplating the first scene when the manager +accosted him.</p> + +<p>"Been in front to-night?" said Mr. Crummles.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Nicholas, "not yet. I am going to see the play."</p> + +<p>"We've had a pretty good Let," said Mr. Crummles. "Four front places in +the centre, and the whole of the stage box."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas; "a family, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mr. Crummles. "It's an affecting thing. There are six +children, and they never come unless the Phenomenon plays."</p> + +<p>It would have been difficult for any party to have visited the theatre +on a night when the Phenomenon did <i>not</i> play, inasmuch as she always +sustained one, and not uncommonly two or three characters, every night; +but Nicholas, sympathizing with the feelings of a father, refrained from +hinting at this trifling circumstance, and Mr. Crummies continued:</p> + +<p>"Six,--pa and ma eight,--aunt nine,--governess ten,--grandfather and +grandmother, twelve. Then, there's the footman who stands outside with a +bag of oranges and a jug of toast-and-water, and sees the play for +nothing through the little pane of glass in the box-door--it's cheap at +a guinea; they gain by taking a box."</p> + +<p>"I wonder you allow so many," observed Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"There's no help for it," replied Mr. Crummles; "it's always expected +in the country. If there are six children, six people come to hold them +in their laps. Ring in the orchestra, Grudden!"</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Crummles' habit to give a benefit performance, commonly +called a "bespeak," to any member of his company fortunate enough to +have either a birthday or any other anniversary of sufficient importance +to challenge attention on the posters, and not long after Nicholas +entered the company, this honor fell to the lot of one of the prominent +actresses, Miss Snevellicci. Mr. Crummles then informed Nicholas that +there was some work for him to do before that event took place.</p> + +<p>"There's a little canvassing takes place on these occasions," said Mr. +Crummles, "among the patrons, and the fact is, Snevellicci has had so +many bespeaks in this place that she wants an attraction. She had one +when her stepmother died, and when her uncle died; and Mrs. Crummles and +myself have had them on the anniversary of the Phenomenon's birthday, +and our wedding-day, and occasions of that description; so that, in +fact, it is hard to get a good one. Now, won't you help this poor girl, +Mr. Johnson, by calling with her to-morrow morning upon one or two of +the principal people?"--asked the manager in a persuasive tone, adding, +"The Infant will accompany her. There will not be the smallest +impropriety, sir. It would be of material service--the gentleman from +London--author of the new piece--actor in the new piece--first +appearance on any boards--it would lead to a great bespeak, +Mr. Johnson."</p> + +<p>The idea was extremely distasteful to Nicholas; but out of kindness to +Miss Snevellicci, he reluctantly consented to be one of the canvassing +party, and accordingly the next morning, sallied forth with Miss +Snevellicci and the Infant Phenomenon.</p> + +<p>The Phenomenon was rather a troublesome companion, for first the right +sandal came down, and then the left, and these mischances being +repaired, one leg of the little white trousers was discovered to be +longer than the other; then the little green parasol with a broad fringe +border and no handle, which she bore in her hand, was dropped down an +iron grating, and only fished up again by dint of much exertion. +However, it was impossible to scold her, as she was the manager's +daughter, so Nicholas took it all in perfect good humor and walked on, +with Miss Snevellicci, arm in arm, on one side, and the offending infant +on the other.</p> + +<p>At the first house they visited, after having a long conversation +concerning the stage, and its relation to life, they at length disposed +of two boxes, and retired, glad that the conference was at an end.</p> + +<p>At the next house they were in great glory, for there resided the six +children who had been enraptured with the Phenomenon, and who, being +called down from the nursery to be treated with a private view of that +young lady, proceeded to poke their fingers into her eyes, and tread +upon her toes, and show her many other little attentions peculiar to +their time of life.</p> + +<p>"I shall certainly persuade Mr. Borum to take a private box," said the +lady of the house, after a most gracious reception; "Augustus, you +naughty boy, leave the little girl alone." This was addressed to a young +gentleman who was pinching the Phenomenon from behind, apparently with a +view to ascertaining whether she was real.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you must be very tired," said the mamma, turning to Miss +Snevellicci. "I cannot think of allowing you to go without first taking +a glass of wine. Fie, Charlotte, I am ashamed of you: Miss Lane, my +dear, pray see to the children."</p> + +<p>This entreaty addressed to the governess, was rendered necessary by the +behavior of the youngest Miss Borum, who, having filched the +Phenomenon's little green parasol, was now carrying it bodily off, while +the distracted Infant looked helplessly on, and presently the poor child +was really in a fair way to be torn limb from limb, for two strong +little boys, one holding on by each of her hands, were dragging her in +different directions as a trial of strength. However, at this juncture +Miss Lane rescued the unhappy victim, who was presently taken away, +after sustaining no more serious damage than a flattening of the pink +gauze bonnet, and a rather extensive creasing of the white frock and +trousers. Her companions were thankful not only when the call was ended, +but when the whole trying morning, with its series of visits, was over.</p> + +<p>The benefit performance was a great success, and the new actor made such +a decided hit on that night and the succeeding ones, that Mr. Crummies +prolonged his stay in Portsmouth for a fortnight beyond the days +allotted to it, during which time Nicholas attracted so many people to +the theatre that the manager finally decided upon giving him a benefit, +calculating that it would be a promising speculation. From it Nicholas +realized no less a sum than twenty pounds, which, added to what he had +earned before, made him feel quite rich and comfortable.</p> + +<p>At that time he received a letter containing news of his sister in +London, and a danger that menaced her, which made him prepare to leave +Portsmouth without an hour's delay, if he should be summoned.</p> + +<p>Accordingly he decided to acquaint his manager with the possibility of +his withdrawal from the company, and hastened to the green-room for that +purpose, where he found Mrs. Crummies in full regal costume, with the +Phenomenon as the Maiden, in her maternal arms. He broke the news to +the group as gently as possible, but it was received with great dismay, +and there were both protestations and tears, while the Phenomenon, being +of an affectionate nature and moreover excitable, raised a loud cry, and +was soothed with extreme difficulty, showing that the child's heart was +in the right place, notwithstanding the constant strain upon her +emotions from being so often obliged to simulate unnatural ones.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crummles was no sooner acquainted with the news than he evinced many +tokens of grief, but finding Nicholas determined in his purpose, at once +suggested a grand farewell performance, to be advertised as a brilliant +display of fireworks.</p> + +<p>"That would be rather expensive," suggested Nicholas dryly.</p> + +<p>"Eighteen-pence would do it," said Mr. Crummles; "You on the top of a +pair of steps with the Phenomenon in an attitude; 'FAREWELL,' on a +transparency behind; and nine people at the wings with a squib in each +hand--all the dozen and a half going off at once--it would be very +grand--awful from the front, quite awful."</p> + +<p>As Nicholas appeared by no means impressed with the idea, but laughed +heartily at it, Mr. Crummles abandoned the project, and gloomily +observed that they must make up the best bill they could, with combats +and hornpipes, and so stick to the legitimate drama.</p> + +<p>Next day the posters appeared, and the public were informed that Mr. +Johnson would have the honor of making his last appearance that evening, +and that an early application for places was requested, in consequence +of the extraordinary overflow attendant on his performances.</p> + +<p>Upon entering the theatre that night, Nicholas found all the company in +a state of extreme excitement, and Mr. Crummles at once informed him in +an agitated voice that there was a London manager in one of the boxes.</p> + +<p>"It's the Phenomenon, depend upon it, sir," said Crummies. "I have not +the smallest doubt it's the fame of the Phenomenon. She shall have ten +pound a week, Johnson; she shall not appear on the London boards for a +farthing less. They shan't engage her either, unless they engage Mrs. +Crummles too; twenty pound a week for the pair, or I'll throw in myself +and the two boys, and they shall have the family for thirty. Thirty +pound a week. It's too cheap, Johnson. It's dirt cheap."</p> + +<p>Every individual member of the company had in the same manner decided +that it was his or her attractions that had drawn the great man's +attention to the Portsmouth theatre, and each one secretly decided upon +the amount of inducement necessary to persuade him or her to make a new +engagement. Everybody played to the stranger, everybody sang to him, +everything was done for his exclusive benefit, and it was a cruel blow +to the general expectations when he was discovered to be asleep, and +shortly after that he woke up and went away: in consequence of which, +the feelings of the company, collectively and severally, underwent a +severe reaction. Nicholas alone, had no feeling whatsoever on the +subject, except of amusement. He went through his part as briskly as he +could, then took Smike's arm and walked home to bed.</p> + +<p>With the post next morning came the letter he had been expecting, +calling him instantly to London, and he at once hurried off to say +farewell to Mr. Crummles. His news was received with keen regret by that +gentleman, who, always mindful of theatrical effects followed Nicholas +even to the coach itself. As that vehicle stood in the open street, +ready to start, and Nicholas was about to enter it, he was not a little +astonished to find himself suddenly clutched in a violent embrace which +nearly took him off his legs; while Mr. Crummles' voice exclaimed, "It +is he--my friend, my friend!"</p> + +<p>"Bless my heart," cried Nicholas, struggling in the manager's arms, +"What are you about?"</p> + +<p>The manager made no reply, but strained him to his breast again, +exclaiming, "Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!"</p> + +<p>In fact Mr. Crummles, who could never lose any opportunity for +professional display, had turned out for the express purpose of taking a +public farewell of Nicholas, and to render it the more imposing, the +elder Master Crummles was going through a similar ceremony with Smike; +while Master Percy Crummles, with a second-hand cloak worn theatrically +over his left shoulder, stood by, in attitude of an attendant officer +waiting to convey two victims to the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The lookers-on laughed very heartily, and as it was well to put a good +face upon the matter, Nicholas laughed too, when he had succeeded in +disengaging himself; and rescuing the astonished Smike, climbed up to +the coach-roof after him, waving farewell, as they rolled away.</p> + +<p>Some years later, when Nicholas was residing in London, under very +different circumstances from those of his Portsmouth experience, and +with a very different occupation; walking home one evening, he stood +outside a minor theatre which he had to pass, and found himself poring +over a huge play-bill which announced in large letters;</p> + +<p><i>Positively the last appearance of Mr. Vincent Crummles, of Provincial +Celebrity!!!</i></p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said Nicholas, preparing to resume his walk, then turning +back again, "It can't be,"--but adding on second thoughts--"Surely it +<i>must</i> be the same man. There can't be two Vincent Crummleses."</p> + +<p>The better to settle the question he referred to the bill again, and +finding there was a Baron in the first piece, whose son was enacted by +one Master Crummles, and his nephew by one Master Percy Crummles, and +that, incidental to the piece was a castanet <i>pas seul</i> by the Infant +Phenomenon, he no longer entertained any doubt; and presenting himself +at the stage door at once, sent in a scrap of paper with "Mr. Johnson" +written thereon in pencil, and was presently conducted into the presence +of his former manager.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crummles was unfeignedly glad to see him, and in the course of a +long conversation informed Nicholas that the next morning he and his +were to sail for America, that he had made up his mind to settle there +permanently, in the hope of acquiring some land of his own, which would +support them in their old age, and which they could afterward bequeath +to their children. Nicholas, having highly commended this resolution, +Mr. Crummles imparted such further intelligence relative to their mutual +friends as he thought might prove interesting, and added a hearty +invitation to Nicholas to attend that night a farewell supper, to be +given in their honor at a neighboring tavern.</p> + +<p>This invitation Nicholas instantly accepted, promising to return at the +conclusion of the performances, and availed himself of this interval to +go out and buy a silver snuff-box as a token of remembrance for Mr. +Crummles, also a pair of ear-rings for Mrs. Crummles, a necklace for the +Phenomenon, and a flaming shirt-pin for each of the young gentlemen, +after making which purchases he returned to the theatre, and repaired to +the tavern with Mr. Crummles.</p> + +<p>He was received with great cordiality by those of the party whom he +knew, and with particular joy by Mrs. Crummles, who at once said: "Here +is one whom you know,"--thrusting forward the Phenomenon, in a blue +gauze frock, extensively flounced, and trousers of the same.</p> + +<p>Nicholas stooped down to salute the Phenomenon, and then, supper being +on table, Mrs. Crummles gave her hand to Nicholas and repaired with a +stately step to the repast, followed by the other guests.</p> + +<p>The board being at length cleared of food; and punch, wine, and spirits +being placed upon it, and handed about, speeches were made, and health +drunk to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Crummles and the young Crummleses, after +which ceremony, with many adieus and embraces, the company dispersed.</p> + +<p>Nicholas waited until he was alone with the family, to give his little +presents, and then with honest warmth of feeling said farewell to Mr. +and Mrs. Crummles, the Master Crummleses, and the Infant +Phenomenon,--and history has not chronicled their further career, nor +recorded to what greater heights of popularity the Infant Phenomenon has +since attained.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="JENNY_WREN."></a>JENNY WREN.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0276.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0276.jpg" width = "25%" alt="JENNY WREN."> +</a><br><b>"JENNY WREN."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>JENNY WREN.</h2> + +<p>Her real name was Fanny Cleaver, but she had long ago dropped it, and +chosen to bestow upon herself the fanciful appellation of Miss Jenny +Wren, by which title she was known to the entire circle of her friends +and business acquaintances.</p> + +<p>Miss Wren's home was in a certain little street called Church Street, +running out from a certain square called Smith Square, at Millbank, and +there the little lady plied her trade, early and late, having for +companions her father and a lodger, Lizzie Hexam. Her father had once +been a good workman at his own trade, but unfortunately for poor little +Jenny Wren, was so weak in character and so confirmed in bad habits that +she could place no trust in him, and had come to consider herself the +head of the family, and to speak of him as "my child," or "my bad boy," +ordering him about as if he were in truth, a child.</p> + +<p>When Lizzie Hexam's brother and a friend, Bradley Headstone, paid their +first visit to the house on Church Street, they knocked at the door, +which promptly opened and disclosed a child--a dwarf, a girl--sitting on +a little, low, old-fashioned arm-chair, which had a kind of little +working-bench before it.</p> + +<p>"I can't get up," said the child, "because my back's bad and my legs are +queer. But I'm the person of the house."</p> + +<p>"Who else is at home?" asked Charley Hexam, staring?</p> + +<p>"Nobody's at home at present," returned the child, with a glib +assertion of her dignity, "except the person of the house."</p> + +<p>The queer little figure, and the queer, but not ugly little face, with +its bright grey eyes, was so sharp that the sharpness of the manner +seemed unavoidable.</p> + +<p>The person of the house continued the conversation: "Your sister will be +in," she said, "in about a quarter of an hour. I'm very fond of your +sister. Take a seat. And would you please to shut the street door first? +I can't very well do it myself, because my back's so bad and my legs are +so queer."</p> + +<p>They complied, and the little figure went on with its work of gumming or +gluing together pieces of cardboard and thin wood, cut into various +shapes. The scissors and knives upon the bench, showed that the child +herself had cut them; and the bright scraps of velvet and silk and +ribbon also strewn upon the bench showed that when duly stuffed, she was +to cover them smartly. The dexterity of her nimble fingers was +remarkable, and as she brought two thin edges accurately together by +giving them a little bite, she would glance at the visitors out of the +corners of her grey eyes with a look that out-sharpened all her other +sharpness.</p> + +<p>"You can't tell me the name of my trade, I'll be bound," she said.</p> + +<p>"You make pincushions," said Charley.</p> + +<p>"What else do I make?"</p> + +<p>"Penwipers," said his friend.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! What else do I make?"</p> + +<p>"You do something," he returned, pointing to a corner of the little +bench, "with straw; but I don't know what."</p> + +<p>"Well done, you!" cried the person of the house. "I only make +pincushions and penwipers, to use up my waste. But my straw really does +belong to my business. Try again. What do I make with my straw?"</p> + +<p>"Dinner-mats?"</p> + +<p>"Dinner-mats! I'll give you a clue to my trade in a game of forfeits. I +love my love with a B because she's beautiful; I hate my love with a B +because she is brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar; and I +treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer and she lives in +Bedlam--now, what do I make with my straw?"</p> + +<p>"Ladies' bonnets?"</p> + +<p>"Fine ladies'," said the person of the house, nodding assent. "Dolls'. +I'm a Doll's dressmaker."</p> + +<p>"I hope it's a good business?"</p> + +<p>The person of the house shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No. +Poorly paid. And I'm often so pressed for time. I had a doll married +last week, and was obliged to work all night. And they take no care of +their clothes, and they never keep to the same fashions a month. I work +for a doll with three daughters. Bless you, she's enough to ruin her +husband!" The person of the house gave a weird little laugh, and gave +them another look but of the corners of her eyes. She had an elfin chin +that was capable of great expression; and whenever she gave this look, +she hitched this chin up, as if her eyes and her chin worked together on +the same wires.</p> + +<p>"Are you always as busy as you are now?"</p> + +<p>"Busier. I'm slack just now. I finished a large mourning order the day +before yesterday. Doll I work for lost a canary bird."</p> + +<p>"Are you alone all day?" asked Bradley Headstone. "Don't any of the +neighboring children--?"</p> + +<p>"Ah," cried the person of the house, with a little scream as if the word +had pricked her. "Don't talk of children. I can't bear children. I know +their tricks and their manners!" She said this with an angry little +shake of her right fist, adding:</p> + +<p>"Always running about and screeching, always playing and fighting, +always skip--skip--skipping on the pavement, and chalking it for their +games! Oh--I know their tricks and their manners!" Shaking the little +fist as before. "And that's not all. Ever so often calling names in +through a person's keyhole, and imitating a person's back and legs. Oh! +<i>I</i> know their tricks and their manners. And I tell you what I'd do to +punish 'em. There's doors under the church in the Square--black doors +leading into black vaults. Well! I'd open one of those doors, and I'd +cram 'em all in, and then I'd lock the door and through the keyhole I'd +blow in pepper."</p> + +<p>"What would be the good of blowing in pepper?" asked Charley Hexam.</p> + +<p>"To set 'em sneezing," said the person of the house, "and make their +eyes water. And when they were all sneezing and inflamed, I'd mock 'em +through the keyhole. Just as they, with their tricks and their manners, +mock a person through a person's keyhole!"</p> + +<p>An emphatic shake of her little fist, seemed to ease the mind of the +person of the house; for she added with recovered composure, "No, no, +no. No children for me. Give me grown-ups."</p> + +<p>It was difficult to guess the age of this strange creature, for her poor +figure furnished no clue to it, and her face was at once so young and so +old. Twelve, or at the most thirteen, might be near the mark.</p> + +<p>"I always did like grown-ups," she went on, "and always kept company +with them. So sensible. Sit so quiet. Don't go prancing and capering +about! And I mean always to keep among none but grown-ups till I marry. +I suppose I must make up my mind to marry, one of these days!"</p> + +<p>At that moment Lizzie Hexam entered, and the visitors after saying +farewell to the dolls' dressmaker, took Lizzie out with them for a +short walk.</p> + +<p>The person of the house, dolls' dressmaker, and manufacturer of +ornamental pincushions and penwipers, sat in her quaint little low +arm-chair, singing in the dark, until Lizzie came back.</p> + +<p>"Well, Lizzie--Mizzie--Wizzie," said she, breaking off in her song. +"What's the news out of doors?"</p> + +<p>"What's the news indoors?" returned Lizzie playfully, smoothing the +bright long fair hair, which grew very luxuriant and beautiful on the +head of the dolls' dressmaker. It being Lizzie's regular occupation when +they were alone of an evening to brush out and smooth the long fair +hair, she unfastened a ribbon that kept it back while the little +creature was at work, and it fell in a beautiful shower over the poor +shoulders that were much in need of such adorning rain.</p> + +<p>Lizzie then lighted a candle, put the room door and the house door open, +and turned the little low chair and its occupant toward the outer air. +It was a sultry night, and this was a fine weather arrangement when the +day's work was done. To complete it, she seated herself by the side of +the little chair, and protectingly drew under her arm the spare hand +that crept up to her.</p> + +<p>"This is what your loving Jenny Wren calls the best time of the day and +night," said the person of the house; adding, "I have been thinking +to-day what a thing it would be, if I should be able to have your +company till I am married, or at least courted. Because when I'm +courted, I shall make <i>him</i> do some of the things that you do for me. He +couldn't brush my hair like you do, or help me up and downstairs like +you do, and he couldn't do anything like you do; but he could take my +work home, and he could call for orders in his clumsy way. And he shall +too. <i>I'll</i> trot him about, I can tell him!"</p> + +<p>Jenny Wren had her personal vanities--happily for her--and no intentions +were stronger in her breast than the various trials and torments that +were, in the fulness of time, to be inflicted upon "him."</p> + +<p>"Wherever he may happen to be just at present, or whoever he may happen +to be," said Miss Wren, "<i>I</i> know his tricks and his manners, and I give +him warning to look out."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you're rather hard upon him?" asked her friend smiling, +and smoothing her hair.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," replied the sage Miss Wren, with an air of vast experience. +"My dear, they don't care for you, those fellows, if you're not hard +upon 'em?"</p> + +<p>In such light and playful conversation, which was the dear delight of +Jenny Wren, they continued until interrupted by Mr. Wrayburn, a friend +of Lizzie's, who fell to talking playfully with Jenny Wren.</p> + +<p>"I think of setting up a doll, Miss Jenny," he said.</p> + +<p>"You had better not," replied the dressmaker.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"You are sure to break it. All you children do."</p> + +<p>"But that makes good for trade, you know, Miss Wren," he returned.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," Miss Wren retorted; "but you'd better by half +set up a pen-wiper, and turn industrious, and use it."</p> + +<p>"Why, if we were all as industrious as you, little Busy Body, we should +begin to work as soon as we could crawl, and there would be a +bad thing!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," returned the little creature with a flush suffusing her +face, "bad for your backs and your legs?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," said the visitor, shocked at the thought of trifling with her +infirmity. "Bad for business. If we all set to work as soon as we could +use our hands, it would be all over with the dolls' dressmakers.</p> + +<p>"There's something in that," replied Miss Wren, "you have a sort of an +idea in your noddle sometimes!" Then, resting one arm upon the elbow of +her chair, resting her chin upon that hand, and looking vacantly before +her, she said in a changed tone: "Talking of ideas, my Lizzie, I wonder +how it happens that when I am working here all alone in the summer-time, +I smell flowers. This is not a flowery neighborhood. It's anything but +that. And yet as I sit at work, I smell miles of flowers; I smell +rose-leaves till I think I see the rose-leaves lying in heaps, bushels, +on the floor; I smell fallen leaves, till I put down my hand--so--and +expect to make them rustle; I smell the white and the pink May in the +hedges, and all sorts of flowers that I never was among. For I have seen +very few flowers indeed in my life."</p> + +<p>"Pleasant fancies to have, Jenny dear!" said her friend with a glance +toward their visitor, as if she would have asked him whether they were +given the child in compensation for her losses.</p> + +<p>"So I think, Lizzie, when they come to me. And the birds I hear! Oh!" +cried the little creature, holding out her hand and looking upward, "How +they sing!"</p> + +<p>There was something in the face and action for the moment quite inspired +and beautiful. Then the chin dropped musingly upon the hand again.</p> + +<p>"I dare say my birds sing better than other birds, and my flowers smell +better than other flowers. For when I was a little child," in a tone as +though it were ages ago, "the children that I used to see early in the +morning were very different from any others I ever saw. They were not +like me; they were not chilled, anxious, ragged, or beaten; they were +never in pain. They were not like the children of the neighbors; they +never made me tremble all over, by setting up shrill noises; and they +never mocked me. Such numbers of them too! All in white dresses, and +with something shining on the borders, and on their heads, that I have +never been able to imitate with my work, though I know it so well. They +used to come down in long, bright, slanting rows, and say all together, +'Who is this in pain! Who is this in pain!' When I told them who it was, +they answered, 'Come and play with us!' When I said 'I never play! I +can't play,' they swept about me and took me up, and made me light. Then +it was all delicious ease and rest till they laid me down, and said all +together, 'Have patience, and we will come again.' Whenever they came +back, I used to know they were coming before I saw the long bright rows, +by hearing them ask, all together a long way off, 'Who is this in pain! +Who is this in pain!' And I used to cry out, 'Oh my blessed children, +it's poor me. Have pity on me. Take me up and make me light!'"</p> + +<p>By degrees as she progressed in this remembrance, the hand was raised, +the last ecstatic look returned, and she became quite beautiful again. +Having so paused for a moment, silent, with a listening smile upon her +face, she looked round and recalled herself.</p> + +<p>"What poor fun you think me, don't you," she said to the visitor. "You +may well look tired of me. But it's Saturday night, and I won't +detain you."</p> + +<p>"That is to say, Miss Wren," observed the visitor, rather weary of the +person of the house, and quite ready to profit by her hint, "you wish +me to go?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's Saturday night," she returned, "and my child's coming home. +And my child is a troublesome, bad child, and costs me a world of +scolding. I would rather you didn't see my child."</p> + +<p>"A doll?" said the visitor, not understanding, and looking for an +explanation.</p> + +<p>But Lizzie, with her lips only, shaping the two words, "<i>Her father</i>," +he took his leave immediately, and presently the weak and shambling +figure of the child's father stumbled in, to be expostulated with, and +scolded, and treated as the person of the house always treated him, when +he came home in such a pitiable condition.</p> + +<p>While they ate their supper, Lizzie tried to bring the child round again +to that prettier and better state. But the charm was broken. The dolls' +dressmaker had become a little quaint shrew, of the world, worldly; of +the earth, earthy.</p> + +<p>Poor dolls' dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should +have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the +eternal road and asking guidance! Poor, poor little dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>One of Miss Jenny's firmest friends was an aged Jew, Mr. Riah, by name; +of venerable aspect, and a generous and noble nature. He was supposedly +the head of the firm of Pubsey and Co., at Saint-Mary-Axe, but really +only the agent of one Mr. Fledgeby, a miserly young dandy who directed +all the aged Jew's transactions, and forced him into sharp, unfair +dealings with those whom Mr. Riah himself would gladly have befriended; +shielding his own meanness and dishonesty behind the venerable figure of +the Jew, and keeping his own connection with the firm a profound secret. +Mr. Riah suffered himself to remain in such a position only because once +when he had had sickness and misfortune, and owed Mr. Fledgeby's father +both principal and interest, the son inheriting, had been merciful and +placed him there; and little did the guileless old man realize that he +had long since, richly repaid the debt; his age and serene +respectability, added to the characteristics ascribed to his race, +making a valuable screen to hide his employer's misdeeds.</p> + +<p>The aged Jew often befriended the dolls' dressmaker, and she called him, +in her fanciful way, "godmother."</p> + +<p>On his roof-top garden, Jenny Wren and her friend Lizzie were sitting +one day, together, when Mr. Fledgeby came up and joined the party, +interrupting their conversation. For the girls, perhaps with some old +instinct of his race, the gentle Jew had spread a carpet. Seated on it, +against no more romantic object than a blackened chimney-stack, over +which some humble creeper had been trained, they both pored over one +book, while a basket of common fruit, and another basket of strings of +beads and tinsel scraps were lying near.</p> + +<p>"This, sir," explained the old Jew, "is a little dressmaker for little +people. Explain to the master, Jenny."</p> + +<p>"Dolls; that's all," said Jenny shortly. "Very difficult to fit too, +because their figures are so uncertain. You never know where to expect +their waists."</p> + +<p>"I made acquaintance with my guests, sir," pursued the old Jew, with an +evident purpose of drawing out the dressmaker, "through their coming +here to buy our damage and waste for Miss Jenny's millinery. They wear +it in their hair, and on their ball-dresses, and even (so she tells me) +are presented at court with it."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Fledgeby, "she's been buying that basketful to-day, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"I suppose she has," Miss Jenny interposed, "and paying for it too, most +likely," adding, "we are thankful to come up here for rest, sir; for +the quiet and the air, and because it's so high. And you see the clouds +rushing on above the narrow streets, not minding them, and you see the +golden arrows pointing at the mountains in the sky, from which the wind +comes, and, you feel as if you were dead."</p> + +<p>"How do you feel when you are dead?" asked the practical Mr. Fledgeby, +much perplexed.</p> + +<p>"Oh so tranquil!" cried the little creature smiling. "Oh so peaceful and +so thankful! And you hear the people, who are alive, crying and working +and calling to one another in the close dark streets and you seem to +pity them so! And such a chain has fallen from you, and such a strange, +good, sorrowful happiness comes upon you!"</p> + +<p>Her eyes fell upon the old man, who, with his hands folded, quietly +looked on.</p> + +<p>"Why, it was only just now," said the little creature, pointing at him, +"that I fancied I saw him come out of his grave! He toiled out at that +low door, so bent and worn, and then he took his breath, and stood +upright and looked all around him at the sky, and the wind blew upon +him, and his life down in the dark was over!--Till he was called back to +life," she added, looking round at Fledgeby with that lower look of +sharpness, "Why did you call him back? But you are not dead, you know," +said Jenny Wren. "Get down to life!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Fledgeby seemed to think it a rather good suggestion, and with a nod +turned round and took his leave. As Mr. Riah followed him down the +stairs, the little creature called out to the Jew in a silvery tone, +"Don't be gone long. Come back and be dead!" And still as they went +down, they heard the little sweet voice, more and more faintly, half +calling and half singing, "Come back and be dead. Come back and be +dead!" And as the old man again mounted, the call or song began to +sound in his ears again, and looking above, he saw the face of the +little creature looking down out of the glory of her long, bright, +radiant hair, and musically repeating to him like a vision:</p> + +<p>"Come up and be dead! Come up and be dead!"</p> + +<p>Not long after this, there came a heavy trial to the dolls' dressmaker +in the loss from her home of her friend and lodger, Lizzie Hexam. +Lizzie, having disagreed with her brother upon a subject of vital +interest to herself, and having an intense desire to escape from persons +whom she knew would pursue her so long as she remained in London, felt +it wisest to quietly disappear from the city, leaving no trace of her +whereabouts. With the help of Mr. Riah she accomplished this, and found +occupation in a paper-mill in the country, leaving poor Jenny Wren with +only the slight consolation of her letters, and with the aged Jew for +her sole counsellor and friend. He was frequently with Jenny Wren, often +escorting her upon her necessary trips, in returning her fine ladies to +their homes in various parts of the city, and sometimes the little +creature accompanied him upon his own business trips, as well.</p> + +<p>One foggy evening as usual, he set out for Church Street, and, wading +through the fog, waded to the doorstep of the dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>Miss Wren expected him. He could see her through the window, by the +light of her low fire--carefully banked up with damp cinders, that it +might last the longer, and waste the less when she went out--sitting +waiting for him, in her bonnet. His tap at the glass roused her from the +musing solitude in which she sat, and she opened the door, aiding her +steps with a little crutch-stick.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, godmother!" said Miss Jenny Wren.</p> + +<p>The old man laughed, and gave her his arm to lean on. "Won't you come +in and warm yourself, godmother?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Not if you are ready, Cinderella, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Well!" exclaimed Miss Wren, delighted. "Now you ARE a clever old boy! +If we only gave prizes at this establishment you should have the first +silver medal for taking me up so quick." As she spake thus, Miss Wren +removed the key of the house-door from the keyhole, and put it in her +pocket. Satisfied that her dwelling was safe, she drew one hand through +the old man's arm, and prepared to ply her crutch-stick with the other. +But the key was of such gigantic proportions that before they started, +Riah proposed to carry it.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no! I'll carry it myself," returned Miss Wren. "I'm awfully +lop-sided, you know, and stowed down in my pocket, it'll trim the ship. +To let you into a secret, godmother, I wear my pocket on my high side +o' purpose."</p> + +<p>With that they began their plodding through the fog.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was truly sharp of you, godmother," returned Miss Wren, with +great approbation, "to understand me. But, you see, you <i>are</i> so like +the fairy godmother in the bright little books! You look so unlike the +rest of the people, and so much as if you had changed yourself into that +shape, just this moment, with some benevolent object. Bah!" cried Miss +Jenny, putting her face close to the old man's, "I can see your +features, godmother, behind the beard."</p> + +<p>"Does the fancy go to my changing other objects, too, Jenny?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! That it does! If you'd only borrow my stick, and tap this piece of +pavement, it would start up a coach and six. I say,--Let's believe so!"</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," replied the good old man.</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell you what I must ask you to do, godmother. I must ask you +to be so kind as to give my child a tap, and change him altogether. Oh, +my child has been such a bad, bad child of late! It worries me almost +out of my wits. Not done a stroke of work these ten days."</p> + +<p>"What shall be changed after him?" asked Riah, in a compassionately +playful voice.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, godmother, I am afraid I must be selfish next, and get +you to set me right in the back and legs. It's a little thing to you +with your power, godmother, but it's a great deal to poor, weak, +aching me."</p> + +<p>There was no querulous complaining in the words, but they were not the +less touching for that.</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then--<i>you</i> know, godmother. Well both jump into the coach and +six, and go to Lizzie. This reminds me, godmother, to ask you a serious +question. You are as wise as wise can be (having been brought up by the +fairies), and you can tell me this,--Is it better to have had a good +thing and lost it, or never to have had it?"</p> + +<p>"Explain, goddaughter."</p> + +<p>"I feel so much more solitary and helpless without Lizzie now than I +used to feel before I knew her." (Tears were in her eyes as she +said so.)</p> + +<p>"Some beloved companionship fades out of most lives, my dear," said the +Jew, "that of a wife, and a fair daughter, and a son of promise, has +faded out of my own life--but the happiness <i>was</i>"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Miss Wren thoughtfully, by no means convinced. "Then I tell +you what change I think you had better begin with, godmother. You had +better change Is into Was, and Was into Is, and keep them so."</p> + +<p>"Would that suit your case? Would you not be always in pain then?" asked +the old man tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Right!" exclaimed Miss Wren. "You have changed me wiser, godmother. +Not," she added, with a quaint hitch of her chin and eyes, "that you +need to be a very wonderful godmother to do that, indeed!"</p> + +<p>Thus conversing, they pursued their way over London Bridge, and struck +down the river, and held their still foggier course that way. As they +were going along, Jennie twisted her venerable friend aside to a +brilliantly lighted toy-shop window, and said: "Now, look at 'em! All +my work!"</p> + +<p>This referred to a dazzling semicircle of dolls in all the colors of the +rainbow, who were dressed for all the gay events of life.</p> + +<p>"Pretty, pretty, pretty!" said the old man with a clap of his hands. +"Most elegant taste!"</p> + +<p>"Glad you like 'em," returned Miss Wren loftily. "But the fun is, +godmother, how I make the great ladies try my dresses on. Though it's +the hardest part of my business, and would be, even if my back were not +bad and my legs queer."</p> + +<p>He looked at her as not understanding what she said.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, godmother," said Miss Wren, "I have to scud about town at +all hours. If it was only sitting at my bench, cutting out and sewing, +it would be comparatively easy work; but it's the trying-on by the great +ladies that takes it out of me."</p> + +<p>"How the trying-on?" asked Riah.</p> + +<p>"What a moony godmother you are, after all!" returned Miss Wren. "Look +here. There's a Drawing-room, or a grand day in the Park, or a show or a +fête, or what you like. Very well. I squeeze among the crowd, and I look +about me. When I see a great lady very suitable for my business, I say, +'You'll do, my dear!' and I take particular notice of her again, and +run home and cut her out, and baste her. Then another day I come +scudding back again to try on. Sometimes she plainly seems to say, 'How +that little creature <i>is</i> staring!' All the time I am only saying to +myself, 'I must hollow out a bit here; I must slope away there'; and I +am making a perfect slave of her, making her try on my doll's dress. +Evening parties are severer work for me, because there's only a doorway +for full view, and what with hobbling among the wheels of the carriages +and the legs of the horses, I fully expect to be run over some night. +Whenever they go bobbing into the hall from the carriage, and catch a +glimpse of my little physiognomy poked out from behind a policeman's +cape in the rain, I daresay they think I am wondering and admiring with +all my eyes and heart, but they little think they're only working for my +dolls! There was Lady Belinda Whitrose. I said one night when she came +out of the carriage. 'You'll do, my dear!' and I ran straight home, and +cut her out, and basted her. Back I came again, and waited behind the +men that called the carriages. Very bad night too. At last, 'Lady +Belinda's Whitrose's carriage!' Lady Belinda Whitrose coming down! And I +made her try on--oh! and take pains about it too--before she got seated. +That's Lady Belinda hanging up by the waist, much too near the gas-light +for a wax one, with her toes turned in."</p> + +<p>When they had plodded on for some time, they reached a certain tavern, +where Mr. Riah had some business to transact with its proprietress, Miss +Abbey Potterson, to whom he presented himself, and was about to +introduce his young companion when Miss Wren interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"Stop a bit," she said, "I'll give the lady my card." She produced it +from her pocket with an air, and Miss Abbey took the diminutive +document, and found it to run thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +Miss JENNY WREN.<br><br> + +<b><i>Dolls' Dressmaker.</i></b>.<br><br> + +<i>Dolls attended at their own residences</i>.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>So great were her amusement and astonishment, and so interested was she +in the odd little creature that she at once asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you ever taste shrub, child?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Should you like to?"</p> + +<p>"Should if it's good," returned Miss Wren.</p> + +<p>"You shall try. Put your little feet on the fender. It's a cold, cold +night, and the fog clings so." As Miss Abbey helped her to turn her +chair, her loosened bonnet fell on the floor. "Why, what lovely hair!" +cried Miss Abbey. "And enough to make wigs: for all the dolls in the +world. What a quantity!"</p> + +<p>"Call <i>that</i> a quantity?" returned Miss Wren. "<i>Poof</i>! What do you say +to the rest of it?" As she spoke, she untied a band, and the golden +stream fell over herself, and over the chair, and flowed down to the +ground. Miss Abbey's admiration seemed to increase her perplexity. She +beckoned the Jew towards her, and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Child or woman?"</p> + +<p>"Child in years," was the answer; "woman in self-reliance and trial."</p> + +<p>"You are talking about me, good people," thought Miss Jenny, sitting in +her golden bower, warming her feet. "I can't hear what you say, but I +know your tricks and your manners!"</p> + +<p>The shrub, mixed by Miss Potterson's skilful hands, was perfectly +satisfactory to Miss Jenny's palate, and she sat and sipped it leisurely +while the interview between Mr. Riah and Miss Potterson proceeded, +keenly regretting when the bottom of the glass was reached, and the +interview at an end.</p> + +<p>There was at this time much curiosity among Lizzie Hexam's acquaintances +to discover her hiding-place, and many of them paid visits to the dolls' +dressmaker in hopes of obtaining from her the desired address. Among +these was Mr. Wrayburn, whom we find calling upon Miss Wren one evening:</p> + +<p>"And so, Miss Jenny," he said, "I cannot persuade you to dress me a +doll?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Miss Wren snappishly; "If you want one, go and buy it at +the shop."</p> + +<p>"And my charming young goddaughter," said Mr. Wrayburn plaintively, +"down in Hertfordshire--"</p> + +<p>("Humbugshire, you mean, I think," interposed Miss Wren)--"is to be put +upon the cold footing of the general public, and is to derive no +advantage from my private acquaintance with the Court dressmaker?"</p> + +<p>"If it's any advantage to your charming godchild, and oh, a precious +godfather she has got!" replied Miss Wren, pricking at him in the air +with her needle, "to be informed that the Court dressmaker knows your +tricks and your manners, you may tell her so, by post, with my +compliments."</p> + +<p>Miss Wren was busy with her work, by candlelight, and Mr. Wrayburn, half +amused and half vexed, stood by her bench looking on, while her +troublesome child was in the corner, in deep disgrace on account of his +bad behavior, and as Miss Jenny worked, she rated him severely, +accompanying each reproach with a stamp of her foot.</p> + +<p>"Pay five shillings for you indeed!" she exclaimed in response to his +appeal for money. "How many hours do you suppose it costs me to earn +five shillings, you infamous boy? Don't cry like that, or I'll throw a +doll at you. Pay five shillings fine for you, indeed! Fine in more ways +than one, I think! I'd give the dustman five shillings to carry you off +in the dust-cart."</p> + +<p>The figure in the corner continuing to whine and whimper, Miss Wren +covered her face with her hand. "There!" she said, "I can't bear to look +at you. Go upstairs and get me my bonnet and shawl. Make yourself useful +in some way, bad boy, and let me have your room instead of your company, +for one half minute."</p> + +<p>Obeying her, he shambled out, and Mr. Wrayburn, pitying, saw the tears +exude between the little creature's fingers, as she kept her hand +before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am going to the Italian Opera to try on," said Miss Wren, taking away +her hand, and laughing satirically to hide that she had been crying. +"But let me first tell you, Mr. Wrayburn, once for all, that it's no use +your paying visits to me. You wouldn't get what you want of me, no, not +if you brought pincers with you to tear it out."</p> + +<p>With which statement, and a further admonition to her father, who had +come back, she blew her candles out, and taking her big door-key in her +pocket, and her crutch-stick in her hand, marched off.</p> + +<p>Not many months later, one day while Miss Wren was waiting in the office +of Pubsey and Co., for Mr. Riah to come in and sell her the waste she +was accustomed to buy, she overheard a conversation between Mr. +Fledgeby, who had apparently happened in, and a friend who was also +waiting for Mr. Riah.</p> + +<p>This conversation led her to infer that her old friend was both a +treacherous and dishonest man, and entirely unworthy to be trusted in +any capacity. Seemingly the conversation was not meant for her ears, but +Mr. Fledgeby had planned that she should hear it, and that it should +have the very effect upon her which it had. This was Mr. Fledgeby's +retort upon Miss Wren for the over-sharpness with which she always +treated him, and also a pleasant instance of his humor as regarded the +old Jew. "He has got a bad name as an old Jew, and he is paid for the +use of it, and I'll have my money's worth out of him." Thus ran Mr. +Fledgeby's reflections on the subject, and Miss Wren sat listening to +the conversation with a fallen countenance, until Mr. Riah came in, when +Mr. Fledgeby led the old man to make statements which seemed further to +emphasize his hard-heartedness and dishonesty.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Riah filled Miss Wren's little basket with such scraps as she +could buy, saying:</p> + +<p>"There, my Cinderella dear, the basket's full now. Bless you, and get +you gone!"</p> + +<p>"Don't call me your Cinderella dear," returned Miss Wren, "Oh, you cruel +godmother!"</p> + +<p>She shook that emphatic little forefinger of hers in his face at +parting, and as he did not attempt to vindicate himself, went on her +way, to return no more to Saint Mary Axe; chance having disclosed to her +(as she supposed) the flinty and hypocritical character of Mr. Riah. She +often moralized over her work on the tricks and the manners of that +venerable cheat, but made her little purchases elsewhere, and lived a +secluded life. But during several interviews which she chanced to have +later with Mr. Fledgeby, the clever little creature made him by his own +words, disclose his system of treachery and trickery, and prove that the +aged Jew had been screening his employer at his own expense. Thereupon +Miss Jenny lost no time in once again proceeding to the place of +business of Pubsey and Co., where she found the old man sitting at his +desk. In less time than it takes to tell it, she had folded her arms +about his neck, and kissed him, imploring his forgiveness for her lack +of faith in him, adding: "It did look bad, now, didn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It looked so bad, Jenny," responded the old man with gravity, "that I +was hateful in mine own eyes. I perceived that the obligation was upon +me to leave this service. Whereupon I indited a letter to my master to +that effect, but he held me to certain months of servitude, which were +his lawful term of notice. They expire to-morrow. Upon their +expiration--not before--I had meant to set myself right with my +Cinderella."</p> + +<p>While they were thus conversing, the aged Jew received an angry +communication from Mr. Fledgeby, releasing Mr. Riah at once from his +service, to the great satisfaction of the old man, who then got his few +goods together in a black bag, closed the shutters, pulled down the +office blind, and issued forth upon the steps. There, while Miss Jenny +held the bag, the old man locked the house door, and handed the key over +to the messenger who had brought the note of dismissal.</p> + +<p>"Well, godmother," said Miss Wren, "and so you're thrown upon the +world!"</p> + +<p>"It would appear so, Jenny, and rather suddenly."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to seek your fortune?" asked Miss Wren. The old man +smiled, but gazed about him with a look of having lost his way in life, +which did not escape the dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>"The best thing you can do," said Jenny, "for the time being, at all +events, is to come home with me, godmother. Nobody's there but my bad +child, and Lizzie's lodging stands empty."</p> + +<p>The old man, when satisfied that no inconvenience could be entailed on +any one by this move, readily complied, and the singularly assorted +couple once more went through the streets together.</p> + +<p>And it was a kindly Providence which placed the child's hand in the aged +Jew's protecting one that night. Before they reached home, they met a +sad party, bearing in their arms an inanimate form, at which the dolls' +dressmaker needed but to take one look.</p> + +<p>"Oh gentlemen, gentlemen," she cried, "He belongs to me!" "Belongs to +you!" said the head of the party, stopping;--"Oh yes, dear gentlemen, +he's my child, out without leave. My poor, bad, bad boy! And he don't +know me, he don't know me! Oh, what <i>shall</i> I do?" cried the little +creature, wildly beating her hands together, "when my own child +don't know me!"</p> + +<p>The head of the party looked to the old Jew for explanation. He +whispered, as the dolls' dressmaker bent over the still form, and vainly +tried to extract some sign of recognition from it; "It's her +drunken father."</p> + +<p>Then the sad party with their lifeless burden went through the streets. +After it, went the dolls' dressmaker, hiding her face in the Jewish +skirts, and clinging to them with one hand, while with the other she +plied her stick, and at last the little home in Church Street +was reached.</p> + +<p>Many flaunting dolls had to be gaily dressed, before the money was in +the dressmaker's pocket to get mourning for her father. As Mr. Riah sat +by, helping her in such small ways as he could, he found it difficult to +make out whether she realized that the deceased had really been +her father.</p> + +<p>"If my poor boy," she would say, "had been brought up better, he might +have done better. Not that I reproach myself. I hope I have no cause +for that."</p> + +<p>"None, indeed, Jenny, I am very certain."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, godmother. It cheers me to hear you say so. But you see it +is so hard to bring up a child well, when you work, work, work, all day. +When he was out of employment, I couldn't always keep him near me. He +got fractious and nervous, and I was obliged to let him go into the +streets. And he never did well in the streets, he never did well out of +sight. How often it happens with children! How can I say what I might +have turned out myself, but for my back having been so bad and my legs +so queer, when I was young!" the dressmaker would go on. "I had nothing +to do but work, so I worked. I couldn't play. But my poor, unfortunate +child could play, and it turned out worse for him."</p> + +<p>"And not for him alone, Jenny."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, godmother. He suffered heavily, did my unfortunate +boy. He was very, very ill sometimes. And I called him a quantity of +names;" shaking her head over her work, and dropping tears.</p> + +<p>"You are a good girl, you are a patient girl."</p> + +<p>"As for patience," she would reply with a shrug, "not much of that, +godmother. If I had been patient, I should never have called him names. +But I hope I did it for his good. And besides, I felt my responsibility +as a mother so much. I tried reasoning, and reasoning failed. I tried +coaxing, and coaxing failed. I tried scolding, and scolding failed. But +I was bound to try everything, with such a charge on my hands. Where +would have been my duty to my poor lost boy, if I had not tried +everything?"</p> + +<p>With such talk, mostly in a cheerful tone on the part of the industrious +little creature, the day work and the night work were beguiled, until +enough of smart dolls had gone forth to bring in the sombre stuff that +the occasion required, and to bring into the house the other sombre +preparations. "And now," said Miss Jenny, "having knocked off my +rosy-cheeked young friends, I'll knock off my white-cheeked self." This +referred to her making her own dress which at last was done, in time for +the simple service, the arrangements for which were of her own planning. +The service ended, and the solitary dressmaker having returned to her +home, she said:</p> + +<p>"I must have a very short cry, godmother, before I cheer up for good. +Because after all, a child is a child, you know."</p> + +<p>It was a longer cry than might have been expected. Howbeit, it wore +itself out in a shadowy corner, and then the dressmaker came forth, and +washed her face, and made the tea.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't mind my cutting out something while we are at tea, would +you?" she asked with a coaxing air.</p> + +<p>"Cinderella, dear child," the old man expostulated. "Will you never +rest?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! It's not work, cutting out a pattern isn't," said Miss Jenny, with +her busy little scissors already snipping at some paper; "The truth is, +godmother, I want to fix it, while I have it correct in my mind."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen it to-day, then?" asked Riah.</p> + +<p>"Yes, godmother. Saw it just now. It's a surplice, that's what it is. +Thing our clergymen wear, you know," explained Miss Jenny, in +consideration of his professing another faith.</p> + +<p>"And what have you to do with that, Jenny?"</p> + +<p>"Why, godmother," replied the dressmaker, "you must know that we +professors, who live upon our taste and invention, are obliged to keep +our eyes always open. And you know already that I have many extra +expenses to meet. So it came into my head, while I was weeping at my +poor boy's grave, that something in my way might be done with a +clergyman. Not a funeral, never fear;" said Miss Jenny. "The public +don't like to be made melancholy, I know very well. But a doll +clergyman, my dear,--glossy black curls and whiskers--uniting two of my +young friends in matrimony," said Miss Jenny shaking her forefinger, "is +quite another affair. If you don't see those three at the altar in Bond +Street, in a jiffy, my name's Jack Robinson!"</p> + +<p>With her expert little ways in sharp action, she had got a doll into +whitey-brown paper orders, before the meal was over, and displayed it +for the edification of the Jewish mind, and Mr. Riah was lost in +admiration for the brave, resolute little soul, who could so put aside +her sadness to meet and face her pressing need.</p> + +<p>And many times thereafter was he likewise lost in admiration of his +little friend, who continued her business as of old, only without the +burden of responsibility by which her life had heretofore been clouded, +and more able to give her imagination free play along the lines of her +interests, without the pressure of home care resting upon her poor +shoulders.</p> + +<p>Our last glimpse of her, is as usual, before her little workbench, at +work upon a full-dressed, large sized doll, when there comes a knock +upon the door. When it is opened there is disclosed a young fellow known +to his friends and employer, as Sloppy.</p> + +<p>Sloppy was full private No 1 in the Awkward Squad of the rank and file +of life, and yet had his glimmering notions of standing true to his +colors, and in instinctive refinement of feeling was much above others +who outranked him in birth and education.</p> + +<p>"Come in, sir," said Miss Wren, "and who may you be?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Sloppy introduced himself by name and buttons.</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed," cried Jenny, "I have heard of you."</p> + +<p>Sloppy, grinning, was so glad to hear it that he threw back his head and +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Bless us!" exclaimed Miss Wren, with a start, "Don't open your mouth as +wide as that, young man, or it'll catch so, and not shut again, +some day."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sloppy opened it, if possible, wider, and kept it open, until his +laugh was out.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're like the giant," said Miss Wren, "when he came home in the +land of Beanstalk, and wanted Jack for supper."</p> + +<p>"Was he good looking, Miss?" asked Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Miss Wren. "Ugly."</p> + +<p>Her visitor glanced round the room--which had many comforts in it now, +that it had not had before--and said:</p> + +<p>"This is a pretty place, Miss.</p> + +<p>"Glad you think so, sir," returned Miss Wren. "And what do you think of +Me?"</p> + +<p>The honesty of Mr. Sloppy being severely taxed by the question, he +twisted a button, grinned, and faltered.</p> + +<p>"Out with it," said Miss Wren, with an arch look. "Don't you think me a +queer little comicality?" In shaking her head at him after asking the +question, she shook her hair down.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Sloppy in a burst of admiration. "What a lot, and what a +color!"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren with her usual expressive hitch, went on with her work. But +left her hair as it was, not displeased by the effect it had made.</p> + +<p>"You don't live here alone, do you, Miss?" asked Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Miss Wren with a chop. "Live here with my fairy godmother."</p> + +<p>"With;" Mr. Sloppy couldn't make it out; "with, who did you say, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Well!" replied Miss Wren more seriously. "With my second father. Or +with my first, for that matter." And she shook her head and drew a sigh. +"If you had known a poor child I used to have here," she added, "you'd +have understood me. But you didn't and you can't. All the better!"</p> + +<p>"You must have been taught a long time, Miss," said Sloppy, glancing at +the array of dolls on hand, "before you came to work so neatly, Miss, +and with such a pretty taste."</p> + +<p>"Never was taught a stitch, young man!" returned the dressmaker, tossing +her head. "Just gobbled and gobbled, till I found out how to do it. +Badly enough at first, but better now."</p> + +<p>"And here have I," said Sloppy, in a self-reproachful tone, "been +a-learning and a-learning at cabinet-making, ever so long! I'll tell you +what, Miss, I should like to make you something."</p> + +<p>"Much obliged, but what?"</p> + +<p>"I could make you," said Sloppy, surveying the room, "a handy set of +nests to lay the dolls in. Or a little set of drawers to keep your silks +and threads and scraps in. Or I could turn you a rare handle for that +crutch-stick, if it belongs to him you call your father."</p> + +<p>"It belongs to me," said the little creature, with a quick flush of her +face and neck. "I am lame."</p> + +<p>Poor Sloppy flushed too, for there was an instinctive delicacy behind +his buttons. He said perhaps, the best thing in the way of amends that +could be said. "I am very glad it's yours, because I'd rather ornament +it for you than for any one else. Please, may I look at it?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren was in the act of handing it over to him when she paused. +"But you had better see me use it," she said sharply. "This is the way. +Hoppetty, kicketty, peg-peg-peg. Not pretty, is it?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that you hardly want it at all," said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>The little dressmaker sat down again, and gave it into his hand, saying +with that better look upon her, and with a smile:</p> + +<p>"Thank you! You are a very kind young man, a really kind young man. I +accept your offer--I suppose <i>He</i> won't mind," she added as an +afterthought, shrugging her shoulders; "and if he does, he may!"</p> + +<p>"Meaning him you call your father, Miss?" said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No, no," replied Miss Wren. "Him, <i>him</i>, HIM!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Him</i>, HIM, HIM?" repeated Sloppy, staring about, as if for him.</p> + +<p>"Him who is coming to court and marry me," returned Miss Wren. "Dear me, +how slow you are!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! HIM!" said Sloppy, "I never thought of him. When is he coming, +Miss?"</p> + +<p>"What a question!" cried Miss Wren. "How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"Where is he coming from, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Why, good gracious, how can I tell! He is coming from somewhere or +other, I suppose, and he is coming some day or other, I suppose. I don't +know any more about him, at present."</p> + +<p>This tickled Mr. Sloppy as an extraordinarily good joke, and he threw +back his head and laughed with measureless enjoyment. At the sight of +him laughing in that absurd way, the dolls' dressmaker laughed very +heartily indeed. So they both laughed till they were tired.</p> + +<p>"There, there, there!" said Miss Wren. "For goodness sake, stop, Giant, +or I shall be swallowed up alive, before I know it. And to this minute +you haven't said what you've come for?"</p> + +<p>"I have come for little Miss Harmonses' doll," said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"I thought as much," remarked Miss Wren, "and here is little Miss +Harmonses' doll waiting for you. She's folded up in silver paper, you +see, as if she was wrapped from head to foot in new banknotes. Take care +of her--and there's my hand--and thank you again."</p> + +<p>"I'll take more care of her than if she was a gold image," said Sloppy, +"and there's <i>both</i> my hands, Miss, and I'll soon come back again!"</p> + +<p>Here we leave the little dolls' dressmaker, under the protecting care of +her "godmother," the first real guardian she has ever known, and with a +new friendship to supply her life with that youthful intercourse which +has never been hers. And so in leaving her our hearts are light, for +Miss Jenny Wren is brighter now, and happier now, and younger now, than +ever before.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="SISSY_JUPE."></a>SISSY JUPE.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0286.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0286.jpg" width = "25%" alt="SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER."> +</a><br><b>"SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>SISSY JUPE.</h2> + +<p>"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but +Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out +everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon +Facts: nothing else will be of any service to them. This is the +principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle +on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!"</p> + +<p>The scene was a bare, plain, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the +speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observation. The emphasis was +helped by his square wall of a forehead, by his thin and hardset mouth, +by his inflexible and dictatorial voice, and by the hair which bristled +on the skirts of his bald head, as if the head had scarcely warehouse +room for the hard facts stowed inside. The speaker's obstinate carriage, +square coat, square legs, square shoulders,--nay, his very neckcloth, +trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a +stubborn fact, as it was,--all helped the emphasis.</p> + +<p>"In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir! Nothing but Facts!"</p> + +<p>The speaker, Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, and the schoolmaster, Mr. +M'Choakumchild, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, +and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and +there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of Facts poured +into them until they were full to the brim.</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his +square forefinger, "I don't know that girl. Who is that girl?"</p> + +<p>"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and +curtseying.</p> + +<p>"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Call yourself Cecilia."</p> + +<p>"It's father as calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl with +another curtsey.</p> + +<p>"Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Tell him he +mustn't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?"</p> + +<p>"He belongs to the horse-riding, if you please, sir."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable calling with his +hand.</p> + +<p>"We don't want to know anything about that here. Your father breaks +horses, don't he?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they do break +horses in the ring."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't tell us about the ring here. Very well, then. Describe your +father as a horse-breaker. He doctors sick horses, I dare say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. He is a veterinary surgeon, a farrier and +horse-breaker. Give me your definition of a horse."</p> + +<p>(Sissy Jupe thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand).</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!" said Mr. Gradgrind, for +the general behoof of all the little pitchers. "Girl number twenty +possessed of no facts in reference to one of the commonest of animals! +Some boy's definition of a horse. Bitzer, yours!"</p> + +<p>"Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, +four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy +countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with +iron. Age known by marks in mouth." Thus (and much more) Bitzer.</p> + +<p>"Now, girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, "you know what a horse +is."</p> + +<p>She curtsied again, blushed, and sat down, and the third gentleman +present stepped forth, briskly smiling and folding his arms. "That's a +horse," he said. "Now, let me ask you, boys and girls, would you paper a +room with representations of horses?"</p> + +<p>After a pause, one-half of the children cried in chorus, "Yes, sir!" +Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman's face that Yes was +wrong, cried out in chorus, "No, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Of course, No. Why wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>A pause. One boy ventured the answer, because he wouldn't paper a room +at all, but would paint it.</p> + +<p>"You must paper it," said Thomas Gradgrind, "whether you like it or not. +Don't tell us you wouldn't paper it. What do you mean, boy?"</p> + +<p>"I'll explain to you then," said the gentleman, after another pause, +"why you wouldn't paper a room with a representation of horses. Do you +ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality--in +fact? Of course, No. Why then, you are not to see anywhere what you +don't see in fact; you are not to have anywhere what you don't have in +fact. This is a new principle, a great discovery," said the gentleman. +"Now I'll try you again. Would you use a carpet having a representation +of flowers upon it?"</p> + +<p>"There being a general conviction by this time that, 'No sir!' was +always the right answer to this gentleman, the chorus of No was very +strong. Only a few feeble stragglers said Yes; among them Sissy Jupe."</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty," said the gentleman, "why would you carpet your +room with representations of flowers?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, I'm very fond of flowers," returned the girl.</p> + +<p>"And is that why you would put tables and chairs upon them, and have +people walking over them with heavy boots?"</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't hurt them, sir. They wouldn't crush and wither, please sir. +They would be the pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant, sir, +and I would fancy--"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, ay! but you mustn't fancy," cried the gentleman, quite elated +by coming so happily to his point. "You are never to fancy."</p> + +<p>"You are not, Cecilia Jupe," Thomas Gradgrind solemnly repeated, "to do +anything of that kind. You don't walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot +be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets. You don't find that foreign +birds and butterflies come and perch upon your crockery; you cannot be +permitted to paint foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery. You +never meet with quadrupeds going up and down walls; you must not have +quadrupeds represented upon walls. You must use," said the gentleman, +"for all these purposes, combinations and modifications in primary +colors of mathematical figures which are susceptible of proof and +demonstration. This is the new discovery. This is fact. This is taste."</p> + +<p>The girl curtseyed and sat down. She was very young, and she looked as +if she were frightened by the matter-of-fact prospect the world +afforded; while the teacher proceeded to give a lesson based upon hard +Fact for the benefit of his visitors.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind walked homeward from the school, in a state of +considerable satisfaction. It was his school, and he intended it to be a +model. He intended every child in it to be a model, just as the five +young Gradgrinds were all models.</p> + +<p>No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon; no little +Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, "Twinkle, twinkle, little +star, How I wonder what you are"; each little Gradgrind having at five +years old dissected the Great Bear, and driven Charles's Wain like a +locomotive engine-driver. No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow +in a field with that famous cow with a crumpled horn who tossed the dog, +who worried the cat, who killed the rat, who ate the malt, or with that +more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb. It had never heard of those +celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous, +ruminating quadruped with several stomachs.</p> + +<p>To his matter-of-fact home, which was called Stone Lodge, Mr. Gradgrind +directed his steps, walking on in a hopeful and satisfied frame of mind. +He was an affectionate father, after his manner; but allowed no foolish +sentiment to interfere with the practical basis of his childrens' +education and bringing-up.</p> + +<p>He had reached the outskirts of the town, when his ears were invaded by +the sound of the band attached to the horse-riding establishment, which +had there set up its rest in a wooden pavilion. A flag floating from the +summit of the temple, proclaimed to mankind that it was Sleary's +Horse-Riding which claimed their suffrages. Among the many pleasing +wonders which must be seen to be believed, Signor Jupe was that +afternoon to "elucidate the diverting accomplishments of his highly +trained performing dog, Merrylegs," He was also to exhibit "his +astounding feat of throwing seventy-five hundred weight in rapid +succession back-handed over his head, thus forming a fountain of solid +iron in midair, a feat never before attempted in this or any other +country, and which having elicited such rapturous plaudits from +enthusiastic throngs it cannot be withdrawn." The same Signor Jupe was +to "enliven the varied performances at frequent intervals with his +chaste Shakesperean quips and retorts." Lastly, he was to wind them up +by appearing in his favorite character of Mr. William Button, of Tooley +Street, in "the highly novel and laughable Hippo Comedietta of The +Tailor's Journey to Brentford."</p> + +<p>Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities, but passed on, as a +practical man ought to pass on. But, at the back of the booth he saw a +number of children congregated in a number of stealthy attitudes, +striving to peep in at the hidden glories of the place. What did he then +behold but his own Louisa peeping with all her might through a hole in a +deal board, and his own Thomas abasing himself on the ground to catch +but a hoof of the graceful Tyrolean Flower-act!</p> + +<p>Dumb with amazement, Mr. Gradgrind crossed to the spot where his family +was thus disgraced, laid his hand upon each erring child, and said:</p> + +<p>"Louisa!! Thomas!!"</p> + +<p>Both rose, red and disconcerted.</p> + +<p>"In the name of wonder, idleness, and folly!" said Mr. Gradgrind, +leading each away by a hand; "what do you do here?"</p> + +<p>"Wanted to see what it was like," returned Louisa shortly.</p> + +<p>"You!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind. "Thomas and you, to whom the circle of +the sciences is open; who may be said to be replete with Fact; who have +been trained to mathematical exactness; Thomas and you, here! In this +degraded position! I am amazed."</p> + +<p>"I was tired, father," said Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Tired? Of what?" asked the astonished father.</p> + +<p>"I don't know of what--of everything, I think."</p> + +<p>"Say not another word," returned Mr. Gradgrind. "You are childish. I +will hear no more." With which remark he led the culprits to their home +in silence, into the presence of their fretful invalid mother, who was +much annoyed at the disturbance they had created. While she was +peevishly expressing her mind on the subject, Mr. Gradgrind was gravely +pondering upon the matter.</p> + +<p>"Whether," he said, "whether any instructor or servant can have +suggested anything? Whether, in spite of all precautions, any idle +story-book can have got into the house for Louisa or Thomas to read? +Because in minds that have been practically formed by rule and line, +from the cradle upwards, this is incomprehensible."</p> + +<p>"Stop a bit!" cried his friend Bounderby. "You have one of those +Stroller's children in the school, Cecilia Jupe by name! I tell you +what, Gradgrind, turn this girl to the right-about, and there is an +end of it."</p> + +<p>"I am much of your opinion."</p> + +<p>"Do it at once," said Bounderby, "has always been my motto. Do you the +same. Do this at once!"</p> + +<p>"I have the father's address," said his friend. "Perhaps you would not +mind walking to town with me?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least in the world," said Mr. Bounderby, "as long as you do it +at once!"</p> + +<p>So Mr. Gradgrind and his friend immediately set out to find Cecilia +Jupe, and to order her from henceforth to remain away from school. On +the way there they met her. "Now, girl," said Mr. Gradgrind, "take this +gentleman and me to your father's; we are going there. What have you got +in that bottle you are carrying?"</p> + +<p>"It's the nine oils."</p> + +<p>"The what?" cried Mr. Bounderby.</p> + +<p>"The nine oils, sir, to rub father with. It is what our people always +use, sir, when they get any hurts in the ring," replied the girl, "they +bruise themselves very bad sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Serves them right," said Mr. Bounderby, "for being idle." The girl +glanced up at his face with mingled astonishment and dread as he said +this, but she led them on down a narrow road, until they stopped at the +door of a little public house.</p> + +<p>"This is it, sir," she said. "It's only crossing the bar, sir, and up +the stairs, if you wouldn't mind; and waiting there for a moment till I +get a candle. If you should hear a dog, sir, it's only Merrylegs, and he +only barks."</p> + +<p>They followed the girl up some steep stairs, and stopped while she went +on for a candle. Reappearing, with a face of great surprise, she said, +"Father is not in our room, sir. If you wouldn't mind walking in, sir? +I'll find him directly."</p> + +<p>They walked in; and Sissy having set two chairs for them, sped away with +a quick, light step. They heard the doors of rooms above opening and +shutting, as Sissy went from one to another in quest of her father. She +came bounding down again in a great hurry, opened an old hair trunk, +found it empty, and looked around with her face full of terror.</p> + +<p>"Father must have gone down to the Booth, sir. I'll bring him in a +minute!" She was gone directly, without her bonnet; with her long, dark, +childish hair streaming behind her.</p> + +<p>"What does she mean!" said Mr. Gradgrind. "Back in a minute? It's more +than a mile off."</p> + +<p>Before Mr. Bounderby could reply, a young man mentioned in the bills of +the day as Mr. E.W.B. Childers,--justly celebrated for his daring +vaulting act as the wild huntsman of the North American prairies, +appeared. Upon entering into conversation with Mr. Gradgrind he informed +that gentleman of his opinion that Jupe was off.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that he has deserted his daughter?" asked Mr. Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"I mean," said Mr. Childers with a nod, "that he has cut. He has been +short in his leaps and bad in his tumbling lately, missed his tip +several times, too. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night +before last, he was goosed to-day. He has lately got in the way of being +always goosed, and he can't stand it."</p> + +<p>"Why has he been--so very much--goosed?" asked Mr. Gradgrind, forcing +the word out of himself, with great solemnity and reluctance.</p> + +<p>"His joints are turning stiff, and he is getting used up," said +Childers. "He has his points as a Cackler still, a speaker, if the +gentleman likes it better--but he can't get a living out of <i>that</i>. Now +it's a remarkable fact, sir, that it cut that man deeper to know that +his daughter knew of his being goosed than to go through with it. Jupe +sent her out on an errand not an hour ago, and then was seen to slip out +himself, with his dog behind him and a bundle under his arm. She will +never believe it of her father, but he has cut away and left her.</p> + +<p>"Poor Sissy! he had better have apprenticed her," added Mr. Childers, +"Now, he leaves her without anything to take to. Her father always had +it in his head, that she was to be taught the deuce-and-all of +education. He has been picking up a bit of reading for her, here--and a +bit of writing for her, there--and a bit of ciphering for her, somewhere +else--these seven years. When Sissy got into the school here," he +pursued, "he was as pleased as Punch. I suppose he had this move in his +mind--he was always half cracked--and then considered her provided for. +If you should have happened to have looked in to-night to tell him that +you were going to do her any little service," added Mr. Childers, "it +would be very fortunate and well-timed."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," returned Mr. Gradgrind, "I came to tell her that she +could not attend our school any more. Still, if her father really has +left her without any connivance on her part!--Bounderby, let me have a +word with you."</p> + +<p>Upon this, Mr. Childers politely betook himself outside the door, and +there stood while the two gentlemen were engaged in conversation.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the various members of Sleary's company gathered together in +the room. Last of all appeared Mr. Sleary himself, who was stout, and +troubled with asthma, and whose breath came far too thick and heavy for +the letter s. Bowing to Mr. Gradgrind, he asked:</p> + +<p>"Ith it your intention to do anything for the poor girl, Thquire?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have something to propose to her when she comes back," said Mr. +Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"Glad to hear it, Thquire. Not that I want to get rid of the child, any +more than I want to thtand in her way. I'm willing to take her +prenthith, though at her age ith late."</p> + +<p>Here his daughter Josephine--a pretty, fair-haired girl of eighteen, who +had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at +twelve, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying +desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies--cried "Father, +hush! she has come back!" Then came Sissy Jupe, running into the room +as she had run out of it. And when she saw them all assembled, and saw +their looks, and saw no father there, she broke into a most deplorable +cry, and took refuge on the bosom of the most accomplished tight-rope +lady, who knelt down on the floor to nurse her, and to weep over her.</p> + +<p>"Ith an infernal shame, upon my thoul it ith," said Sleary.</p> + +<p>"O my dear father, my good, kind father, where are you gone? You are +gone to try to do me some good, I know! You are gone away for my sake, I +am sure. And how miserable and helpless you will be without me, poor, +poor father, until you come back!" It was so pathetic to hear her saying +many things of this kind, with her face turned upward, and her arms +stretched out as if she were trying to stop his departing shadow and +embrace it, that no one spoke a word until Mr. Bounderby (growing +impatient) took the case in hand.</p> + +<p>"Now, good people all," said he, "this is wanton waste of time. Let the +girl understand the fact. Here, what's your name! Your father has +absconded, deserted you--and you mustn't expect to see him again as long +as you live."</p> + +<p>They cared so little for plain fact, these people, that instead of being +impressed by the speaker's strong common sense, they took it in +extraordinary dudgeon. The men muttered "Shame!" and the women, "Brute!" +Whereupon Mr. Gradgrind found an opening for his eminently practical +exposition of the subject.</p> + +<p>"It is of no moment," said he, "whether this person is to be expected +back at any time, or the contrary. He is gone away, and there is no +present expectation of his return. That, I believe, is agreed on +all hands."</p> + +<p>"Thath agreed, Thquire. Thtick to that!" from Sleary.</p> + +<p>"Well, then. I, who came here to inform the father of the poor girl, +Jupe, that she could not be received at the school any more, in +consequence of there being practical objections, into which I need not +enter, to the reception there of the children of persons so employed, am +prepared in these altered circumstances to make a proposal. I am willing +to take charge of you, Jupe, and to educate you, and provide for you. +The only condition (over and above your good behavior) I make is, that +you decide now, at once, whether to accompany me or remain here. Also, +that if you accompany me now, it is understood that you communicate no +more with any of your friends who are here present. These observations +comprise the whole of the case."</p> + +<p>"At the thame time," said Sleary, "I muth put in my word, Thquire, tho +that both thides of the banner may be equally theen. If you like, +Thethillia, to be prentitht, you know the natur' of the work, and you +know your companionth. Emma Gordon, in whothe lap you're a lying at +prethent, would be a mother to you, and Joth'phine would be a thithther +to you. I don't pretend to be of the angel breed myself, and I don't +thay but what, when you mith'd your tip, you'd find me cut up rough, and +thwear a oath or two at you. But what I thay, Thquire, ith, that good +tempered or bad tempered, I never did a horthe a injury yet, no more +than thwearing at him went, and that I don't expect I thall begin +otherwithe at my time of life, with a rider. I never wath much of a +cackler, Thquire, and I have thed my thay."</p> + +<p>The latter part of this speech was addressed to Mr. Gradgrind, who +received it with a grave inclination of his head, and then remarked:</p> + +<p>"The only observation I will make to you, Jupe, in the way of +influencing your decision, is, that it is highly desirable to have a +sound practical education, and that even your father himself (from what +I understand) appears, on your behalf, to have known and felt +that much."</p> + +<p>The last words had a visible effect upon her. She stopped in her wild +crying, and turned her face full upon her patron. The whole company +perceived the force of the change, and drew a long breath, together, +that plainly said, "She will go!"</p> + +<p>"Be sure you know your own mind, Jupe," Mr. Gradgrind cautioned her; "I +say no more. Be sure you know your own mind!"</p> + +<p>"When father comes back," cried the girl, bursting into tears again +after a minute's silence, "how will he ever find me if I go away!"</p> + +<p>"You may be quite at ease," said Mr. Gradgrind calmly; he worked out the +whole matter like a sum; "you may be quite at ease, Jupe, on that score. +In such a case, your father, I apprehend, must find out Mr. Sleary, who +would then let him know where you went. I should have no power of +keeping you against his wish."</p> + +<p>There was another silence; and then Sissy exclaimed sobbing, "Oh, give +me my clothes, give me my clothes, and let me go away before I break +my heart!"</p> + +<p>The women sadly bestirred themselves to get the clothes together, and to +pack them. They then brought Sissy's bonnet to her and put it on. Then +they pressed about her, kissing and embracing her: and brought the +children to take leave of her; and were a tender-hearted, simple, +foolish, set of women altogether. Then she had to take her farewell of +the male part of the company, and last of all of Mr. Sleary.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, Thethilia!" he said, "my latht wordth to you ith thith: +Thtick to the termth of your engagement, be obedient to the Thquire, and +forget uth. But if, when you're grown up and married and well off, you +come upon any horthe-riding ever, don't be hard upon it, don't be croth +with it, give it a Bethpeak if you can, and think you might do worth. +People must be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow," continued Sleary, "they +can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning. +Make the betht of uth; not the wurtht. I've got my living out of +horthe-riding all my life, I know, but I conthider that I lay down the +philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you, Thquire, make the betht +of uth; not the wurtht!"</p> + +<p>The Sleary philosophy was propounded as they went downstairs; and the +fixed eye of Philosophy--and its rolling eye, too,--soon lost the three +figures, and the basket in the darkness of the street.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Bounderby's house the weeping Sissy was conducted, and remained +there while Mr. Gradgrind returned to Stone Lodge to mature his plans +for the clown's daughter. He soon came back to Mr. Bounderby's, bringing +his daughter Louisa with him, and Sissy Jupe stood before them, with +downcast eyes, while Mr. Gradgrind thus addressed her:</p> + +<p>"Jupe, I have made up my mind to take you into my house; and when you +are not at school, to employ you about Mrs. Gradgrind, who is rather an +invalid. I have explained to Miss Louisa--this is Miss Louisa--the +miserable but natural end of your late career; and you are to understand +that the subject is not to be referred to any more. From this time you +begin your history. You are at present ignorant, I know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, very," she answered curtseying.</p> + +<p>"I shall have the satisfaction of causing you to be strictly educated; +and you will be a living proof of the advantages of the training you +will receive. You will be reclaimed and formed. You have been in the +habit now of reading to your father, and those people I found you among, +I dare say?" said Mr. Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"Only to father and to Merrylegs, sir. At least I mean to father, when +Merrylegs was always there."</p> + +<p>"Never mind Merrylegs, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind with a frown. "I don't +ask about him. I understand you have been in the habit of reading to +your father, and what did you read to him, Jupe?"</p> + +<p>"About the fairies, sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the +Genies," she sobbed out: "And about--"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind, "that is enough. Never breathe a word +of such destructive nonsense any more."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter took Cecilia Jupe off with them to +Stone Lodge, where she speedily grew as pale as wax, and as heavy-eyed +as all the other victims of Mr. Gradgrind's practical system of +training. She had not an easy time of it, between Mr. M'Choakumchild and +Mrs. Gradgrind, and was not without strong impulses, in the first months +of her probation, to run away. It hailed facts all day long, so very +hard, and life in general was opened to her as such a closely ruled +ciphering book, that assuredly she would have run away, but for only one +restraint. She believed that her father had not deserted her; she lived +in the hope that he would come back, and in the faith that he would be +made the happier by her remaining where she was.</p> + +<p>The wretched ignorance with which Jupe clung to this consolation, +rejecting the superior comfort of knowing on a sound arithmetical basis +that her father was an unnatural vagabond, filled Mr. Gradgrind with +pity. Yet, what was to be done? Mr. M'Choakumchild reported that she had +a very dense head for figures; that, once possessed with a general idea +of the globe, she took the smallest conceivable interest in its exact +measurements; that after eight weeks of induction into the elements of +Political Economy, she had only yesterday returned to the question, +"What is the first principle of this science?" the absurd answer, "To do +unto others as I would that they should do unto me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind observed, shaking his head, that all this was very bad; +that it showed the necessity of infinite grinding at the mill of +knowledge, and that Jupe must be "kept to it." So Jupe was kept to it, +and became low spirited, but no wiser.</p> + +<p>"It would be a fine thing to be you, Miss Louisa!" She said one night, +when Louisa had endeavored to make her perplexities for next day +something clearer to her, to which Louisa answered, "I don't know that, +Sissy. You are more useful to my mother. You are pleasanter to yourself, +than <i>I</i> am to <i>myself.</i>"</p> + +<p>"But, if you please, Miss Louisa," Sissy pleaded, "I am--Oh so stupid! +All through school hours I make mistakes. To-day for instance, Mr. +M'Choakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity."</p> + +<p>"National, I think it must have been," observed Louisa.</p> + +<p>"National Prosperity," corrected Sissy, "and he said, Now, this +schoolroom is a Nation, and in this nation there are fifty millions of +money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty. Isn't this a +prosperous nation, and a'n't you in a thriving state? Miss Louisa, I +said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a +prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, +unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But +that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all," said +Sissy, wiping her eyes.</p> + +<p>"That was a great mistake of yours," observed Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Louisa, I know it was now. Then Mr. M'Choakumchild said he +would try me again. And he said, This Schoolroom is an immense town, and +in it there are a million inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are +starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your +remark on that proportion? And my remark was, that I thought it must be +just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a +million or a million million. And that was wrong too. Then Mr. +M'Choakumchild said he would try me once more. And he said That in a +given time a hundred thousand persons went to sea on long voyages, and +only five hundred of them were drowned or burned to death. What is the +percentage? And I said, Miss;" here Sissy fairly sobbed in confessing to +her great error; "I said it was nothing, Miss--to the relations and +friends of the people who were killed--I shall never learn," said Sissy. +"And the worst of all is, that although my poor father wished me so much +to learn, and although I am so anxious to learn, because he wished me +to, I am afraid I don't like it."</p> + +<p>Louisa stood looking at the pretty, modest head, as it drooped abashed +before her, until it was raised again to glance at her face. Then +she asked:</p> + +<p>"Did your father know so much himself, that he wished you to be well +taught too?"</p> + +<p>Sissy hesitated before replying, for this was forbidden ground, but +Louisa insisted upon continuing the conversation.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Louisa," answered Sissy, "father knows very little indeed. But +he said mother was quite a scholar. She died when I was born. She +was"--Sissy made the terrible communication, nervously--"she was a +dancer. We travelled about the country. Father's a"--Sissy whispered the +awful word--"a clown."</p> + +<p>"To make the people laugh?" said Louisa with a nod of intelligence.</p> + +<p>"Yes." But they wouldn't laugh sometimes. Lately they very often +wouldn't, and he used to come home despairing.</p> + +<p>I tried to comfort him the best I could, and father said I did. I used +to read to him to cheer up his courage, and he was very fond of that. +Often and often of a night, he used to forget all his troubles in +wondering whether the Sultan would let the lady go on with her story, or +would have her head cut off before it was finished."</p> + +<p>"And your father was always kind?" asked Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Always, always!" returned Sissy, clasping her hands. "Kinder and kinder +than I can tell. He was angry only one night, and that was not at me, +but Merrylegs, his performing dog. After he beat the dog, he lay down +crying on the floor with him in his arms, and the dog licked his face."</p> + +<p>Louisa saw that she was sobbing, and going to her, kissed her, took her +hand, and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"Finish by telling me how your father left you, Sissy. The blame of +telling the story, if there is any blame, is mine, not yours."</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Louisa," said Sissy, sobbing yet; "I came home from the +school that afternoon, and found poor father just come home too, from +the booth. And he sat rocking himself over the fire, as if he was in +pain. And I said, 'have you hurt yourself father?' and he said, 'A +little, my darling.' Then I saw that he was crying. The more I spoke to +him, the more he hid his face; and shook all over, and said nothing but +'My darling'; and 'My love!' Then he said he never gave any satisfaction +now, that he was a shame and disgrace, and I should have done better +without him all along. I said all the affectionate things to him that +came into my heart, and presently he was quiet, and put his arms around +my neck, and kissed me a great many times. Then he asked me to fetch +some of the stuff he used, for the little hurt he had had, and to get it +at the best place, which was at the other end of town. Then after +kissing me again, he let me go. There is no more to tell, Miss Louisa. I +keep the nine oils ready for him, and I know he will come back. Every +letter that I see in Mr. Gradgrind's hand takes my breath away, and +blinds my eyes, for I think it comes from father, or from Mr. Sleary +about father."</p> + +<p>After this whenever Sissy dropped a curtsey to Mr. Gradgrind in the +presence of his family, and asked if he had had any letter yet about +her, Louisa would suspend the occupation of the moment, and look for the +reply as earnestly as Sissy did. And when Mr. Gradgrind answered, "No, +Jupe, nothing of the sort," the trembling of Sissy's lips would be +repeated in Louisa's face, and her eyes would follow Sissy with +compassion to the door. Thus a warm friendship sprang up between the +girls, and a similar one between the mathematical Thomas and the +clown's daughter.</p> + +<p>Time with his innumerable horse-power presently turned out young Thomas +Gradgrind a young man and Louisa a young woman. The same great +manufacturer passed Sissy onward in his mill, and worked her up into a +very pretty article, indeed.</p> + +<p>"I fear, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that your continuance at the school +any longer would be useless."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it would, sir," Sissy answered with a curtsey.</p> + +<p>"I cannot disguise from you, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that the result +of your probation there has greatly disappointed me. You are extremely +deficient in your facts. Your acquaintance with figures is very limited. +You are altogether backward, and below the mark, yet I believe you have +tried hard. I have observed you, and I can find no fault with you in +that respect."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir. I have thought sometimes;" Sissy faltered, "that +perhaps I tried to learn too much, and that if I had asked to be +allowed to try a little less, I might have--"</p> + +<p>"No, Jupe, no," said Mr. Gradgrind, shaking his head. "No. The course +you pursued, you pursued according to the system, and there is no more +to be said about it. I can only suppose that the circumstances of your +early life were too unfavorable to the development of your reasoning +powers, and that we began too late. Still, as I have said already, I am +disappointed."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment, sir, of your kindness +to a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you, and of your protection +of her." said Sissy, weeping.</p> + +<p>"Don't shed tears," added Mr. Gradgrind, "I don't complain of you. You +are an affectionate, earnest, good young woman, and we must make +that do."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir, very much," said Sissy, with a grateful curtsey.</p> + +<p>"You are useful to Mrs. Gradgrind, and you are serviceable in the family +also; so I understand from Miss Louisa, and indeed, so I have observed +myself. I therefore hope," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that you can make +yourself happy in those relations."</p> + +<p>"I should have nothing to wish, sir, if--"</p> + +<p>"I understand you," said Mr. Gradgrind; "you refer to your father. I +have heard from Miss Louisa that you still preserve that bottle. Well! +If your training in the science of arriving at exact results had been +more successful, you would have been wiser on these points. I will +say no more."</p> + +<p>He really liked Sissy too well to have contempt for her. Somehow or +other, he had become possessed by an idea that there was something in +this girl which could hardly be set forth in a tabular form; that there +was something in her composition which defied the cold analysis of Fact; +that there was some great virtue in her loving-kindness which more than +compensated for her deficiencies of mind.</p> + +<p>From that time Sissy lived at Stone Lodge on equal terms with the rest +of the family, and after Louisa's marriage, cared for fretful Mrs. +Gradgrind in her invalidism, with a sweet patience that endeared her to +the poor woman. Indeed the entire household were deeply attached to +Sissy, and, seeing the unselfishness of her daily life, even Mr. +Gradgrind himself was forced to acknowledge that there was a greater +Teacher than M'Choakumchild, with a system of education superior to the +Gradgrind system, and that the same great Teacher had educated the +clown's daughter to a higher degree of usefulness and courage than the +Gradgrind system had yet been able to produce.</p> + +<p>In fact, as time went on, Mr. Gradgrind was slowly discovering the flaws +in his mathematical theories; finding out that laws and logic can never +take the place of love in the development of a nature, and the discovery +was a bitter one to him.</p> + +<p>Despite their careful bringing-up by rule and measure, neither Louisa +nor Thomas Gradgrind, in their maturity, did any credit to their +father's system, and when his mistakes with them became evident to the +cold, proud man, and he realized how nearly he had wrecked their lives +by those errors, the weight of his suffering was heavy upon him. Then, +realizing that all the Facts in his storehouse of learning, could not +teach him how to save his children, and win their love, it was to Sissy +that he turned for the information that he needed.</p> + +<p>When young Thomas Gradgrind robbed the Bank with which he was connected, +and was obliged to flee from justice, it was Sissy who saved him from +ruin. She sent him, with a note of explanation, to her old friend, Mr. +Sleary,--whose whereabouts she happened to know at the time, and asked +him to hide young Thomas until he should have further advice from her. +Then she and Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind journeyed hurriedly to the town, +where they found the Circus. A performance was just beginning when they +arrived, and they found the culprit in the ring, disguised as a +black servant.</p> + +<p>When the performance was over, Mr. Sleary came out and greeted them with +great heartiness, exclaiming; "Thethilia, it doth me good to thee you. +You wath always a favorite with uth, and you've done uth credit thinth +the old timeth, I'm thure."</p> + +<p>He then suggested that such members of his troupe as would remember her +be called to see her, and presently Sissy found herself amid the +familiar scenes of her childhood, surrounded by an eager and +affectionate group of her old comrades. While she was busily talking +with them, Mr. Sleary entered into a consultation with Mr. Gradgrind +upon the subject of his erring son's future. He then told the poor, +distressed father that for Sissy's sake, and because Mr. Gradgrind had +been so kind to her, he would help the culprit to escape from the +country, secretly, by night Then, growing confidential, he added:</p> + +<p>"Thquire, you don't need to be told that dogth ith wonderful animalth."</p> + +<p>"Their instinct," said Mr. Gradgrind, "is surprising."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you call it--and I'm bletht if I know what to call it"--said +Sleary, "it ith athtonithing. Ith fourteen month ago, Thquire, thinthe +we wath at Chethter. One morning there cometh into our Ring, by the +thage door, a dog. He had travelled a long way, he wath in very bad +condition, he wath lame and pretty well blind. He went round as if he +wath a theeking for a child he know'd; and then he comed to me, and +thood on hith two fore-legth, weak ath he wath, and then he wagged hith +tail and died. Thquire, that dog wath Merrylegth."</p> + +<p>"Sissy's father's dog!"</p> + +<p>"Thethilia's fatherth old dog. Now, Thquire, I can take my oath, from my +knowledge of that dog, that that man wath dead--and buried--afore that +dog came back to me. We talked it over a long time, whether I thould +write or not, but we agreed, No. There'th nothing comfortable to tell; +why unthettle her mind, and make her unhappy? Tho, whether her father +bathely detherted her; or whether he broke his own heart alone, rather +than pull her down along with him, never will be known, now, Thquire, +till we know how the dogth findth uth out!"</p> + +<p>"She keeps the bottle that he sent her for, to this hour, and she will +believe in his affection to the last moment of her life," said Mr. +Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"It theemth to prethent two things to a perthon, don't it?" said Mr. +Sleary musingly, "one, that there ith a love in the world, not all +thelf-interest, after all, but thomething very different; t'other, that +it hath a way of its own of calculating with ith as hard to give a name +to, ath the wayth of the dogth ith!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind looked out of the window, and made no reply. He was deep +in thought, and the result of his meditation became evident from that +day in a gradual broadening of his nature and purposes. He never again +attempted to replace nature's instincts and affections by his own system +of education, and as the years went by he made no further attempt to +destroy Sissy's loving faith in that father who had left her long ago; +he only tried to compensate her for that loss as best he could;--and +for the education which led to the softening of his hard, cold nature, +the credit belongs to the daughter of a clown, to whom love meant more +than logic.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="FLORENCE_DOMBEY."></a>FLORENCE DOMBEY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0278.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0278.jpg" width = "25%" alt="FLORENCE DOMBEY."> +</a><br><b>"FLORENCE DOMBEY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>FLORENCE DOMBEY.</h2> + +<p>There never was a child more loving or more lovable than Florence +Dombey. There never was a child more ready to respond to loving +ministrations than she, more eager to yield herself in docile obedience +to a parent's wish; and to her mother she clung with a desperate +affection at variance with her years.</p> + +<p>But the sad day came when, clasped in her mother's arms, the little +creature, with her perfectly colorless face, and deep, dark eyes, never +moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, nor looked on those who +stood around, nor shed a tear, understanding that soon she would be +bereft of that mother's care and love.</p> + +<p>"Mamma!" cried the child at last, sobbing aloud; "Oh, dear mamma! oh, +dear mamma!"</p> + +<p>Then, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother +drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the +world, leaving Florence and the new-born baby brother in the +father's care.</p> + +<p>Alas for Florence! To that father,--the pompous head of the great firm +of Dombey and Son--girls never showed a sufficient justification for +their existence, and this one of his own was an object of supreme +indifference to him; while upon the tiny boy, his heir and future +partner in the firm, he lavished all his interest, centred all his hopes +and affection.</p> + +<p>After her mother's death, Florence was taken away by an aunt; and a +nurse, named Polly Richards, was secured for baby Paul. A few weeks +later, as Polly was sitting in her own room with her young charge, the +door was quietly opened, and a dark-eyed little girl looked in.</p> + +<p>"It's Miss Florence, come home from her aunt's, no doubt," thought +Richards, who had never seen the child before. "Hope I see you +well, miss."</p> + +<p>"Is that my brother?" asked the child, pointing to the baby.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my pretty," answered Richards, "come and kiss him."</p> + +<p>But the child, instead of advancing, looked her earnestly in the face, +and said:</p> + +<p>"What have you done with my mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Lord bless the little creetur!" cried Richards. "What a sad question! +<i>I</i> done? Nothing, miss."</p> + +<p>"What have they done with my mamma?" cried the child.</p> + +<p>"I never saw such a melting thing in all my life!" said Richards. "Come +nearer here; come, my dear miss! Don't be afraid of me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of you," said the child, drawing nearer, "but I want to +know what they have done with my mamma."</p> + +<p>"My darling," said Richards, "come and sit down by me, and I'll tell you +a story."</p> + +<p>With a quick perception that it was intended to relate to what she had +asked, little Florence sat down on a stool at the nurse's feet, looking +up into her face.</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time," said Richards, "there was a lady--a very good lady, +and her little daughter dearly loved her--who, when God thought it right +that it should be so, was taken ill, and died. Died, never to be seen +again by anyone on earth, and was buried in the ground where the +trees grow."</p> + +<p>"The cold ground," said the child, shuddering.</p> + +<p>"No, the warm ground," returned Polly, seizing her advantage, "where the +ugly little seeds turn into beautiful flowers, and into grass, and into +corn, and I don't know what all besides. Where good people turn into +bright angels, and fly away to heaven!"</p> + +<p>The child who had drooped her head, raised it again, and sat looking at +her intently.</p> + +<p>"So; let me see," said Polly, not a little flurried between this earnest +scrutiny, her desire to comfort the child, her sudden success, and her +very slight confidence in her own powers. "So, when this lady died, she +went to God! and she prayed to Him, this lady did," said Polly, +affecting herself beyond measure, being heartily in earnest, "to teach +her little daughter to be sure of that in her heart; and to know that +she was happy there, and loved her still; and to hope and try--oh, all +her life--to meet her there one day, never, never, never to part +any more."</p> + +<p>"It was my mamma!" exclaimed the child, springing up, and clasping her +around the neck.</p> + +<p>"And the child's heart," said Polly, drawing her to her breast, "the +little daughter's heart was so full of the truth of this, that even when +she heard it from a strange nurse that couldn't tell it right, but was a +poor mother herself, and that was all, she found a comfort in it--didn't +feel so lonely--sobbed and cried upon her bosom--took kindly to the baby +lying in her lap--and--there, there, there!" said Polly, smoothing the +child's curls, and dropping tears upon her. "There, poor dear!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, Miss Floy! and won't your pa be angry neither?" cried a quick +voice at the door, proceeding from a short, brown womanly girl of +fourteen, with little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads, "when it +was tickerlerly given out that you wasn't to go and worrit the nurse."</p> + +<p>"She don't worry me," was the surprised rejoinder of Polly. "I'm very +fond of children. Miss Florence has just come home, hasn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Richards, and here, Miss Floy, before you've been in the +house a quarter of an hour, you go a-smearing your wet face against the +expensive mourning that Mrs. Richards is a-wearing for your ma!" With +this remonstrance, young Spitfire, whose real name was Susan Nipper, +detached the child from her new friend by a wrench--as if she were a +tooth. But she seemed to do it more in the sharp exercise of her +official functions, than with any deliberate unkindness.</p> + +<p>"She'll be quite happy, now that she's come home again," said Polly, +nodding to her with a smile, "and will be so pleased to see her dear +papa to-night."</p> + +<p>"Lork, Mrs. Richards!" cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words with a +jerk, "Don't! See her dear papa, indeed! I should like to see her do it! +Her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else; and before there was +somebody else to be wrapped up in, she never was a favorite. Girls are +thrown away in this house, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"You surprise me," cried Polly. "Hasn't Mr. Dombey seen her since--"</p> + +<p>"No," interrupted Miss Nipper. "Not once since. And he hadn't hardly set +his eyes upon her before that, for months and months, and I don't think +he would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets +to-morrow. Oh, there's a Tartar within a hundred miles of here, I can +tell you, Mrs. Richards!" said Susan Nipper; "Wish you good morning, +Mrs. Richards. Now Miss Floy, you come along with me, and don't go +hanging back like a naughty wicked child, that judgments is no example +to, don't."</p> + +<p>In spite of being thus adjured, and in spite also of some hauling on the +part of Susan Nipper, little Florence broke away, and kissed her new +friend affectionately, but Susan Nipper made a charge at her, and swept +her out of the room.</p> + +<p>When Polly Richards was left alone, her heart was sore for the +motherless little girl, and she determined to devise some means of +having Florence beside her lawfully and without rebellion. An opening +happened to present itself that very night.</p> + +<p>She had been rung down into the conservatory, as usual, and was walking +about with the baby in her arms, when Mr. Dombey came up and +stopped her.</p> + +<p>"He looks thriving," said Mr. Dombey, glancing with great interest at +Paul's tiny face, which she uncovered for his observation. "They give +you everything that you want, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, thank you, sir;"</p> + +<p>She hesitated so, however, that Mr. Dombey stopped again and looked at +her inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I believe nothing is so good for making children lively, sir, as seeing +other children playing about them," observed Polly, taking courage.</p> + +<p>"I think I mentioned to you, Richards, when you came here," said Mr. +Dombey, with a frown; "that I wished you to see as little of your family +as possible. You can continue your walk, if you please."</p> + +<p>With that he disappeared into an inner room, and Polly felt that she had +fallen into disgrace without the least advancement of her purpose; but +next night when she came down, he called her to him. "If you really +think that kind of society is good for the child," he said sharply, as +if there had been no interval since she proposed it, "where's Miss +Florence?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better than Miss Florence, sir," said Polly eagerly, +"but I understood from her little maid that they were not to--" But Mr. +Dombey rang the bell, and gave his orders before she had a chance to +finish the sentence.</p> + +<p>"Tell them always to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she +chooses," he commanded; and, the iron being hot, Richards striking on it +boldly, requested that the child might be sent down at once to make +friends with her little brother.</p> + +<p>When Florence timidly presented herself, had Mr. Dombey looked towards +her with a father's eye, he might have read in her keen glance the +passionate desire to run to him, crying, "Oh, father, try to love +me,--there is no one else"; the dread of a repulse; the fear of being +too bold and of offending him. But he saw nothing of this. He saw her +pause at the door and look towards him, and he saw no more.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Florence," said her father coldly. "Have you nothing to say +to me?"</p> + +<p>The tears that stood in her eyes as she raised them quickly to his face, +were frozen by the expression it wore. She looked down again, and put +out her trembling hand, which Mr. Dombey took loosely in his own.</p> + +<p>"There! be a good girl," he said, patting her on the head, and regarding +her with a disturbed and doubtful look, "go to Richards! go!"</p> + +<p>His little daughter hesitated for another instant, as though she would +have clung about him still, or had some lingering hope that he might +raise her in his arms and kiss her. But he dropped her hand and turned +away. Still Polly persevered, and managed so well with little Paul as to +make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's +company. When it was time for Florence to go to bed, the nurse urged her +to say good night to her father, but the child hesitated, and Mr. Dombey +called from the inner room; "It doesn't matter. You can let her come and +go without regarding me."</p> + +<p>The child shrunk as she listened, and was gone before her humble friend +looked around again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Just around the corner from Mr. Dombey's office was the little shop of a +nautical-instrument maker whose name was Solomon Gills. The +stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, +telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, and every kind of an instrument +used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's +reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discovery. Old prints of ships +hung in frames upon the walls; outlandish shells, seaweeds and mosses +decorated the chimney-piece; the little wainscoted parlor was lighted by +a skylight, like a cabin, The shop itself seemed almost to become a +sea-going ship-shape concern, wanting only good sea room, in the event +of an unexpected launch, to work its way securely to any desert island +in the world.</p> + +<p>Here Solomon Gills lived, in skipper-like state, all alone with his +nephew, Walter; a boy of fourteen, who looked quite enough like a +midshipman to carry out the prevailing idea.</p> + +<p>It is half past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon. Solomon Gills is +wondering where Walter is, when a voice exclaims, "Halloa, Uncle Sol!" +and the instrument-maker, turning briskly around, sees a +cheerful-looking, merry boy fresh with running home in the rain; +fair-faced, bright-eyed and curly-haired.</p> + +<p>"Well, uncle, how have you got on without me all day? Is dinner ready? +I'm so hungry."</p> + +<p>"As to getting on," said Solomon, good-naturedly, "It would be odd if I +couldn't get on without a young dog like you a great deal better than +with you. As to dinner being ready, it's been waiting for you this +half-hour. As to being hungry, I am!"</p> + +<p>"Come along, then, uncle!" cried the boy, and Uncle Sol and his nephew +were speedily engaged on a fried sole, with a prospect of steak +to follow.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the old man eagerly, "Let's hear something about the Firm."</p> + +<p>"Oh! there's not much to be told, uncle," said the boy, plying his knife +and fork. "When Mr. Dombey came in, he walked up to my seat--I wish he +wasn't so solemn and stiff, uncle--and told me you had spoken to him +about me, and that he had found me employment in the House accordingly, +and that I was expected to be attentive and punctual, and then he went +away. I thought he didn't seem to like me much."</p> + +<p>"You mean, I suppose." observed the instrument-maker, "that you didn't +seem to like him much."</p> + +<p>"Well, uncle," returned the boy laughing, "perhaps so; I never thought +of that."</p> + +<p>Solomon looked a little graver as he finished his dinner, and glanced +from time to time at the boy's bright face. When dinner was done, he +went down into a little cellar, and returned with a bottle covered with +dust and dirt.</p> + +<p>"Why, uncle Sol!" said the boy, "What are you about? that's the +wonderful Madeira--there's only one more bottle!"</p> + +<p>Uncle Sol nodded his head, and having drawn the cork in solemn silence, +filled two glasses, and set the bottle and a third clean glass on +the table.</p> + +<p>"You shall drink the other bottle, Wally," he said, "When you come to +good fortune; when you are a thriving, respected, happy man; when the +start in life you have made to-day shall have brought you--as I pray +Heaven it may!--to a smooth part of the course you have to run, my +child. My love to you!"</p> + +<p>They clinked their glasses together, and were deep in conversation, when +an addition to the little party made its appearance, in the shape of a +gentleman with a hook instead of a hand attached to his right wrist; +very bushy black eyebrows; and a thick stick in his left hand, covered +all over (like his nose) with knobs. He wore a loose black silk +handkerchief round his neck, and such a very large shirt-collar that it +looked like a small sail over his wide suit of blue. He was evidently +the person for whom the spare wineglass was intended, and evidently knew +it; for having taken off his coat, and hung up his hard glazed hat, he +brought a chair to where the clean glass was, and sat himself down +behind it. He was usually addressed as Captain, this visitor; and had +been a pilot, or a skipper, or a privateer's man, or all three perhaps; +and was a very salt looking man indeed. His face brightened as he shook +hands with uncle and nephew; but he seemed to be of a laconic +disposition, and merely said: "How goes it?"</p> + +<p>"All well," said Mr. Gills, pushing the bottle towards the new-comer, +Captain Cuttle, who thereupon proceeded to fill his glass, and the +wonderful Madeira loosened his tongue to the extent of giving utterance +to a prodigous oration for Walter's benefit.</p> + +<p>"Come," cried Solomon Gills, "we must finish the bottle."</p> + +<p>"Stand by!" said Captain Cuttle, filling his glass again. "Give the boy +some more."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sol, "a little more. We'll finish the bottle to the +House,--Walter's house. Why, it may be his house one of these days, in +part. Who knows? Sir Richard Whittington married his master's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and when you are old, +you will never depart from it," interposed the Captain. "Wal'r, overhaul +the book, my lad!"</p> + +<p>"And although Mr. Dombey hasn't a daughter--" Sol began.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, he has, uncle," said the boy, reddening and laughing. "I know +he has. Some of them were talking about it in the office to-day. And +they do say that he's taken a dislike to her, and that she's left +unnoticed among the servants, while he thinks of no one but his son. +That's what they say. Of course I don't know."</p> + +<p>"He knows all about her already, you see," said the instrument-maker.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, uncle," cried the boy reddening again; "how can I help +hearing what they tell me?"</p> + +<p>"The son's a little in our way at present, I'm afraid," added the old +man, humoring the joke. "Nevertheless, we'll drink to him," pursued Sol. +"So, here's to Dombey and Son."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, uncle," said the boy merrily. "Since you have introduced +the mention of her, and have said that I know all about her, I shall +make bold to amend the toast. So,--here's to Dombey--and Son--and +Daughter!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in Mr. Dombey's mansion, baby Paul was thriving under the +watchful care of Polly Richards, Mr. Dombey, and Mr. Dombey's friends, +and the day of his christening arrived. On that important occasion, the +baby's excitement was so great that no one could soothe him until +Florence was summoned. As she hid behind her nurse, he followed her with +his eyes; and when she peeped out with a merry cry to him, he sprang up +and crowed lustily--laughing outright when she ran in upon him, and +seeming to fondle her curls with his tiny hands while she smothered him +with kisses.</p> + +<p>Was Mr. Dombey pleased to see this? He did not show it. If any sunbeam +stole into the room to light the children at their play, it never +reached his face. He looked on so coldly that the warm light vanished, +even from the laughing eyes of little Florence when, at last, they +happened to meet his.</p> + +<p>The contemplation of Paul in his christening robe made his nurse yearn +for a sight of her own first-born, although this was a pleasure strictly +forbidden by Mr. Dombey's orders. But the longing so overpowered her +that she consulted Miss Nipper as to the possibility of gratifying it, +and that young woman, eager herself for an expedition, urged Polly to +visit her home. So, the next morning the two nurses set out together: +Richards carrying Paul, and Susan leading little Florence by the hand, +and giving her such jerks and pokes as she considered it wholesome to +administer. Then for a brief half-hour, Polly enjoyed the longed-for +pleasure of being again in the bosom of her family, but the visit had a +sad ending, for on the way back, passing through a crowded thoroughfare +the little party became separated. A thundering alarm of Mad Bull! was +raised. With a wild confusion of people running up and down, and +shouting, and wheels running over them, and boys fighting, and mad bulls +coming up, and the nurse in the midst of all these dangers, being torn +to pieces, Florence screamed and ran. She ran until she was exhausted, +then found with a sensation of terror not to be described, that she was +quite alone.</p> + +<p>"Susan! Susan!" cried Florence. "Oh, where are they?"</p> + +<p>"Where are they?" said an old woman, hobbling across from the opposite +side of the road. "Why did you run away from 'em?"</p> + +<p>"I was frightened," answered Florence. "I didn't know what I did. I +thought they were with me. Where are they?"</p> + +<p>The old woman took her by the wrist, and said, "I'll show you."</p> + +<p>She was a very ugly old woman indeed, miserably dressed, and carried +some skins over her arm. Florence was afraid of her, and looked, +hesitating, up the street. It was a solitary place, and there was no one +in it but herself and the old woman.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be frightened now," said the old woman, still holding her +tight "Come along with me."</p> + +<p>"I--don't know you. What's your name?" asked Florence.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Brown," said the old woman, "Good Mrs. Brown. Susan ain't far +off," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and the others are close to her, and +nobody's hurt."</p> + +<p>The child shed tears of delight on hearing this, and accompanied the old +woman willingly. They had not gone far, when they stopped before a +shabby little house in a dirty little lane. Opening the door with a key +she took out of her pocket, Mrs. Brown pushed the child into a back +room, where there was a great heap of rags lying on the floor, a heap of +bones, and a heap of sifted dust. But there was no furniture at all, and +the walls and ceiling were quite black.</p> + +<p>The child became so terrified, that she was stricken speechless, and +looked as though about to swoon.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be a young mule," said Good Mrs. Brown, reviving her with a +shake. "I'm not a' going to keep you, even above an hour. Don't vex me. +If you don't, I tell you, I won't hurt you. But if you do, I'll kill +you. I could have you killed at any time--even if you was in your own +bed at home. Now let's know who you are, and what you are, and all +about it."</p> + +<p>The old woman's threats and promises, and Florence's habit of being +quiet, and repressing what she felt, enabled her to tell her little +history. Mrs. Brown listened attentively until she had finished.</p> + +<p>"I want that pretty frock, Miss Dombey," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and that +little bonnet, and a petticoat or two, and those shoes, Miss Dombey, and +anything else you can spare. Come! take 'em off."</p> + +<p>Florence obeyed as fast as her trembling hands could allow, keeping all +the while, a frightened eye on Mrs. Brown, who examined each article of +apparel at leisure, and seemed tolerably well satisfied with their +quality and value; she then produced a worn-out girl's cloak, and the +crushed remnants of a girl's bonnet, as well as other tattered things. +In this dainty raiment she instructed Florence to dress herself, and as +this seemed a prelude to her release, the child complied as fast as +possible. Mrs. Brown then resumed her seat on the bones, and smoked a +very short, black pipe, after which she gave the child a rabbit-skin to +carry, that she might appear like her ordinary companion, and led her +forth into the streets; but she cautioned her, with threats of deadly +vengeance in case of disobedience, to go directly to her father's office +in the city, also to wait at the street corner where she would be left, +until the clock struck three, and these directions Florence promised +faithfully to observe.</p> + +<p>At length Mrs. Brown left her changed and ragged little friend at a +corner, where, true to her promise, she remained until the steeple rang +out three o'clock, when after often looking over her shoulder, lest the +all-powerful spies of Mrs. Brown should take offence at that, she +hurried off as fast as she could in her slipshod shoes, holding the +rabbit-skin tight in her hand.</p> + +<p>Tired of walking, stunned by the noise and confusion, anxious for her +brother and the nurses, terrified by what she had undergone, and what +was yet before her, Florence once or twice could not help stopping and +crying bitterly, but few people noticed her, in the garb she wore, or if +they did, believed that she was tutored to excite compassion, and passed +on. It was late in the afternoon when she peeped into a kind of wharf, +and asked a stout man there if he could tell her the way to Dombey +& Son's.</p> + +<p>The man looked attentively at her, then called another man, who ran up +an archway, and very soon returned with a blithe-looking boy who he said +was in Mr. Dombey's employ.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Florence felt re-assured; ran eagerly up to him, and +caught his hand in both of hers.</p> + +<p>"I'm lost, if you please!" said Florence. "I was lost this morning, a +long way from here--and I have had my own clothes taken away since--and +my name is Florence Dombey, and, oh dear, take care of me, if you +please!" sobbed Florence, giving full vent to her childish feelings.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, Miss Dombey," said young Walter Gay, the nephew of Solomon +Gills, in a transport of enthusiasm. "What a wonderful thing for me that +I am here. You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's +crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Oh, don't cry!"</p> + +<p>"I won't cry any more," said Florence. "I'm only crying for joy."</p> + +<p>"Crying for joy!" thought Walter, "and I'm the cause of it. Come along, +Miss Dombey, let me see the villain who will molest you now!"</p> + +<p>So Walter, looking immensely fierce, led off Florence looking very +happy; and as Mr. Dombey's office was closed for the night, he led her +to his uncle's, to leave her there while he should go and tell Mr. +Dombey that she was safe, and bring her back some clothes.</p> + +<p>"Halloa, Uncle Sol," cried Walter, bursting into the shop; "Here's a +wonderful adventure! Here's Mr. Dombey's daughter lost in the streets, +and robbed of her clothes by an old witch of a woman--found by +me--brought home to our parlor to rest--Here--just help me lift the +little sofa near the fire, will you, uncle Sol?--Cut some dinner for +her, will you, uncle; throw those shoes under the grate, Miss +Florence--put your feet on the fender to dry--how damp they are!--Here's +an adventure, uncle, eh?--God bless my soul, how hot I am!"</p> + +<p>Solomon Gills was quite as hot, by sympathy; and in excessive +bewilderment, he patted Florence's head, pressed her to eat, pressed her +to drink, rubbed the soles of her feet with his pocket-handkerchief, +heated at the fire, followed his locomotive nephew with his eyes and +ears, and had no clear perception of anything except that he was being +constantly knocked against, and tumbled over by that excited young +gentleman, as he darted about the room, attempting to accomplish twenty +things at once, and doing nothing at all.</p> + +<p>"Here, wait a minute, uncle," he continued, "till I run upstairs and get +another jacket on, and then I'll be off. I say, uncle, isn't this an +adventure?"</p> + +<p>"My dear boy," said Solomon, "it is the most extraordinary--"</p> + +<p>"No, but do, uncle, please--do, Miss Florence--dinner, you know, uncle."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, yes," cutting instantly into a leg of mutton, as if he were +catering for a giant. "I'll take care of her, Wally! Pretty dear! +Famished, of course. You go and get ready. Lord bless me! Sir Richard +Whittington, thrice Mayor of London!"</p> + +<p>While Walter was preparing to leave, Florence, overcome by fatigue, had +sunk into a doze before the fire and when the boy returned, she was +sleeping peacefully.</p> + +<p>"That's capital!" he whispered, "Don't wake her, uncle Sol!"</p> + +<p>"No, no," answered Solomon, "Pretty child!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Pretty</i>, indeed!" cried Walter, "I never saw such a face! Now I'm +off."</p> + +<p>Arriving at Mr. Dombey's house, and breathlessly announcing his errand +to the servant, Walter was shown into the library, where he confronted +Mr. Dombey.</p> + +<p>"Oh! beg your pardon, sir," said Walter, rushing up to him; "but I'm +happy to say, it's all right, sir. Miss Dombey's found!"</p> + +<p>"I told you she would certainly be found," said Mr. Dombey calmly, to +the others in the room. "Let the servants know that no further steps are +necessary. This boy who brings the information is young Gay from the +office. How was my daughter found, sir? I know how she was lost." Here +he looked majestically at Richards. "But how was she found? Who +found her?"</p> + +<p>It was quite out of Walter's power to be coherent, but he rendered +himself as explanatory as he could, in his breathless state, and told +why he had come alone.</p> + +<p>"You hear this, girl?" said Mr. Dombey sternly, to Susan Nipper. "Take +what is necessary and return immediately with this young man to fetch +Miss Florence home. Gay, you will be rewarded to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh! thank you, sir," said Walter. "You are very kind. I'm sure I was +not thinking of any reward sir."</p> + +<p>"You are a boy," said Mr. Dombey, almost fiercely; "and what you think +of, or what you affect to think of, is of little consequence. You have +done well, sir. Don't undo it."</p> + +<p>Returning to his uncle's with Miss Nipper, Walter found that Florence, +much refreshed by sleep, had dined and come to be on terms of perfect +confidence and ease with old Sol. Miss Nipper caught her in her arms, +and made a very hysterical meeting of it. Then, converting the parlor +into a private tiring-room, she dressed her in proper clothes, and +presently led her forth to say farewell.</p> + +<p>"Good-night," said Florence to the elder man, "you have been very good +to me."</p> + +<p>Uncle Sol was quite delighted, and kissed her like her grandfather.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Walter," she said, "I'll never forget you, No! Indeed I +never will. Good-by!"</p> + +<p>The entrance of the lost child at home made a slight sensation, but not +much. Mr. Dombey kissed her once upon the forehead, and cautioned her +not to wander anywhere again with treacherous attendants. He then +dismissed the culprit Polly Richards, from his service, telling her to +leave immediately, and it was a dagger in the haughty father's heart to +see Florence holding to her dress, and crying to her not to go. Not that +he cared to whom his daughter turned, or from whom turned away. The +swift, sharp agony struck through him as he thought of what his +son might do.</p> + +<p>His son cried lustily that night, at all events; and the next day a new +nurse, Wickam by name, took Polly's place.</p> + +<p>She lavished every care upon little Paul, yet all her vigilance could +not make him a thriving boy. When he was nearly five years old, he was +a pretty little fellow, but so very delicate that Mr. Dombey became +alarmed about him, and decided to send him at once to the seashore.</p> + +<p>So to Brighton, Paul and Florence and nurse Wickam went, and boarded +with a certain Mrs. Pipchin there. On Saturdays Mr. Dombey came down to +a hotel near by, and Paul and Florence would go and have tea with him, +and every day they spent their time upon the sands, and Florence was +always content when Paul was happy.</p> + +<p>While the children were thus living at Brighton, a warrant was served +upon old Solomon Gills, by a broker, because of a payment overdue upon a +bond debt. Old Sol was overcome by the extent of this calamity, which he +could not avert, and Walter hurried out to fetch Captain Cuttle to +discuss the situation. To the lad's dismay, the Captain insisted upon +applying to Mr. Dombey at once for the necessary loan which would help +old Sol out of his difficulty. So Walter proceeded with him to Brighton +as fast as coach horses could carry them, and on a Sunday morning while +Mr. Dombey was at breakfast, Florence came running in, her face suffused +with a bright color, and her eyes sparkling joyfully, and cried:</p> + +<p>"Papa! Papa! here's Walter, and he won't come in!"</p> + +<p>"Who?" cried Mr. Dombey, "What does she mean,--what is this?"</p> + +<p>"Walter, Papa," said Florence timidly; "who found me when I was lost!"</p> + +<p>"Tell the boy to come in," said Mr. Dombey. "Now, Gay, what is the +matter?"</p> + +<p>Tremblingly Walter Gay stood in the presence of his proud employer, and +made known his uncle's distress, and when he ceased speaking, Captain +Cuttle stepped forward, and clearing a space among the breakfast cups at +Mr. Dombey's elbow, produced a silver watch, ready money to the amount +of thirteen pounds and half a crown, two teaspoons and a pair of +battered sugar-tongs, and piling them up into a heap, that they might +look as precious as possible, said:</p> + +<p>"Half a loaf is better than no bread, and the same remark holds good +with crumbs. There's a few. Annuity of one hundred pounds p'rannum also +ready to be made over!"</p> + +<p>Florence had listened tearfully to Walter's sad tale and to the +captain's offer of his valuables, and little Paul now tried to comfort +her; but Mr. Dombey, watching them, saw only his son's wistful +expression, thought only of his pleasure, and after taking the child on +his knee, and having a brief consulation with him, he announced +pompously that Master Paul would lend the money to Walter's uncle. Young +Gay tried to express his gratitude for this favor, but Mr. Dombey +stopped him short. Then, sweeping the captain's property from him, he +added, "Have the goodness to take these things away, sir!"</p> + +<p>Captain Cuttle was so much struck by the magnanimity of Mr. Dombey, in +refusing treasures lying heaped up to his hand, that when he had +deposited them in his pockets again, he could not refrain from grasping +that gentleman's right hand in his own solitary left, before following +Walter out of the room, and Mr. Dombey shivered at his touch.</p> + +<p>Florence was running after them, to send some message to old Sol, when +Mr. Dombey called her back, bidding her stay where she was, and so the +episode ended.</p> + +<p>When the children had been nearly twelve months at Mrs. Pipchin's, Mr. +Dombey decided to send Paul to Dr. Blimber's boarding-school where his +education would be properly begun. Accordingly, Paul began his studies +in that hot-bed of learning, where the dreamy, delicate child with his +quaint ways soon became a favorite with teachers and pupils. The +process of being educated was difficult for one so young and frail, and +he might have sunk beneath the burden of his tasks but for looking +forward to the weekly visit to his sister at Mrs. Pipchin's.</p> + +<p>Oh, Saturdays! Oh, happy Saturdays! When Florence always came for him at +noon, and never would in any weather stay away: these Saturdays were +Sabbaths for at least two little Christians among all the Jews, and did +the holy Sabbath work of strengthening and knitting up a brother's and a +sister's love.</p> + +<p>Seeing her brother's difficulty with his lessons, Florence procured +books similar to his, and sat down at night to track his footsteps +through the thorny ways of learning; and being naturally quick, and +taught by that most wonderful of masters, Love, it was not long before +she gained upon Paul's heels, and caught, and passed him.</p> + +<p>And high was her reward, when one Saturday evening she sat down by his +side and made all that was so dark, clear and plain before him. It was +nothing but a startled look in Paul's wan face--a flush--a smile--and +then a close embrace--but God knows how her heart leaped up at this rich +payment for her trouble.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Floy!" he cried, "how I love you!"</p> + +<p>He said no more about it, but all that evening sat close by her, very +quiet; and in the night he called out from his little room, three or +four times, that he loved her. Regularly after that Florence sat down +with him on Saturday night, and assisted him through so much as they +could anticipate together of his next week's work.</p> + +<p>And so the months went by, until the midsummer vacation was near at +hand, and the great party which was to celebrate the breaking up of +school, was about to come off. Some weeks before this, Paul had had a +fainting turn, and had not recovered his strength, in consequence of +which, he was enjoying complete rest from lessons, and it was clear to +every one, that, once at home, he would never come back to Dr. Blimber's +or to any school again, and to no one was the sad truth more evident +than to Florence.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the great party Florence came, looking so beautiful in +her simple ball dress, with her fresh flowers in her hand, that she was +the admiration of all the young gentlemen of the school, and +particularly of Mr. Toots, the head boy; a simple youth with an engaging +manner, and the habit of blushing and chuckling when addressed. Mr. +Toots had made Paul his especial favorite and charge, and was well +repaid for his devotion to the boy by the gracious appreciation which +Florence showed him for it, and it was to the care of Mr. Toots that +Paul, when leaving, intrusted the dog Diogenes, who had never received a +friend into his confidence before Paul had become his companion.</p> + +<p>The brother and sister remained together for a time at Mrs. Pipchin's, +then went back to their home in London, where little Paul's life ebbed +away, and his father's hopes were crushed by the blow.</p> + +<p>There was a hush through Mr. Dombey's great mansion when the child was +gone, and Florence;--was she so alone in the bleak world that nothing +else remained to her except her little maid? Nothing.</p> + +<p>At first, when the house subsided into its accustomed course she could +do nothing but weep, and wander up and down, and sometimes, in a sudden +pang of desolate remembrance, fly to her own chamber, lay her face down +on her bed, and know no consolation. But it is not in the nature of pure +love to burn so fiercely and unkindly long. Soon, in the midst of the +dismal house, her low voice in the twilight slowly touched an old air to +which she had so often listened with Paul's head upon her arm. And +after that, and when it was quite dark, a little strain of music +trembled in the room, repeated often, in the shadowy solitude; and +broken murmurs of the strain still trembled on the keys when the sweet +voice was hushed in tears.</p> + +<p>One day Florence was amazed at receiving a visit from Mr. Toots, who +entered the room with much hesitation, and, with a series of chuckles, +laughs, and blushes, informed her that he had brought her little Paul's +pet, the dog Diogenes, as a companion in her loneliness.</p> + +<p>"He ain't a lady's dog, you know," said Mr. Toots, "but I hope you won't +mind that. If you would like to have him, he's at the door."</p> + +<p>In fact, Diogenes was at that moment staring through the window of a +hackney cabriolet, into which he had been ensnared on a false pretence +of rats among the straw. Sooth to say, he was as unlike a lady's dog as +dog might be; and in his gruff anxiety to get out, gave short yelps, and +overbalancing himself by the intensity of his efforts, tumbled down into +the straw, and then sprung up panting again, putting out his tongue, as +if he had come express to a Dispensary to be examined for his health.</p> + +<p>But though Diogenes was as ridiculous a dog as one would meet with on a +summer's day; a blundering, ill-favored, clumsy, bullet-headed dog, +continually acting on the wrong idea that there was an enemy in the +neighborhood whom it was meritorious to bark at; and though he was far +from good-tempered, and certainly was not clever, and had hair all over +his eyes, and a comical nose, and an inconsistent tail, and a gruff +voice,--he was dearer to Florence, in virtue of Paul's parting +remembrance of him, and that request that he might be taken care of, +than the most valuable and beautiful of his kind. So dear, indeed, was +this same ugly Diogenes, and so welcome to her, that she kissed the +hand of Mr. Toots in her gratitude. And when Diogenes, released, came +tearing up the stairs and, bouncing into the room, dived under all the +furniture, and wound a long iron chain that dangled from his neck round +legs of chairs and tables, and then tugged at it until his eyes nearly +started out of his head; and when he growled at Mr. Toots, who affected +familiarity, Florence was as pleased with him as if he had been a +miracle of discretion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Toots was so overjoyed by the success of his present, and so +delighted to see Florence bending over Diogenes, smoothing his coarse +back with her little delicate hand--Diogenes graciously allowing it from +the first moment of their acquaintance--that he felt it difficult to +take leave, and would, no doubt have been a much longer time in making +up his mind to do so, if he had not been assisted by Diogenes himself, +who suddenly took it into his head to bay at Mr. Toots, and to make +short runs at him with his mouth open. Not exactly seeing his way to the +end of these demonstrations, Mr. Toot with chuckles, lapsed out of the +door, and got away.</p> + +<p>"Come, then, Di! Dear Di! Make friends with your new mistress. Let us +love each other, Di!" said Florence, fondling his shaggy head. And Di, +the rough and gruff, as if his hairy hide were pervious to the tear that +dropped upon it, and his dog's heart melted as it fell, put his nose up +to her face and swore fidelity.</p> + +<p>A banquet was immediately provided for him, and when he had eaten and +drunk his fill, he went to Florence, rose up on his hind legs, with his +awkward fore-paws on her shoulders, licked her face and hands, nestled +his great head against her heart, and wagged his tail till he was tired +Finally, he coiled himself up at her feet, and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>That same night Susan Nipper told her mistress that Mr. Dombey was to +leave home the next day for a trip,--which piece of news filled Florence +with dismay, and she sat musing sadly until midnight.</p> + +<p>She was little more than a child in years,--not yet fourteen--and the +loneliness and gloom of such an hour in the great house might have set +an older fancy brooding on vague terrors. But her innocent imagination +was too full of one theme to admit them. Nothing wandered in her thought +but love; a wandering love indeed, and cast away, but turning always to +her father.</p> + +<p>She could not go to bed, without making her nightly pilgrimage to his +door. The moment she touched it she found that it was open, and there +was a light within. The first impulse of the timid child--and she +yielded to it--was to retire swiftly. A next, to go back, and to enter. +She turned back, urged on by the love within her, and glided in.</p> + +<p>Her father sat at his old table, in the middle of the room. His face was +turned towards her. It looked worn and dejected, and in the loneliness +surrounding him, there was an appeal to Florence that struck home, but +when she spoke to him, the sternness of his glance and words so overcame +her that she shrank away,--and sobbing, silently ascended to her +room again.</p> + +<p>Diogenes was broad awake, and waiting for his little mistress.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Di! Oh, dear Di! Love me for his sake!"</p> + +<p>Diogenes already loved her for his own, and did not care how much he +showed it. So he made himself vastly ridiculous by performing a variety +of uncouth bounces, and concluded, when poor Florence was at last +asleep, by scratching open her bedroom door; rolling up his bed into a +pillow; lying down on the boards at the full length of his tether with +his head toward her; and looking lazily at her, upside down, out of the +tops of his eyes, until, from winking and blinking, he fell asleep +himself, and dreamed with gruff barks, of his enemy.</p> + +<p>About this time Walter Gay was informed by Mr. Dombey of his appointment +to a junior position in the firm's counting house in the Barbadoes. The +boy ever since he first saw Florence had thought of her with admiration +and compassion, pitying her loneliness; and now when he was about to +cross the ocean, his first thought was to seek audience with her little +maid, to tell her of his going, to say to her that his uncle had had an +interest in Miss Dombey ever since the night when she was lost, and +always wished her well and happy, and always would be proud and glad to +serve her, if she should need that service.</p> + +<p>Upon receiving the message, Florence hastened with Susan Nipper to the +old Instrument-maker's Shop, and they passed into the parlor so suddenly +that Uncle Sol, in surprise at seeing them, sprang out of his own chair +and nearly tumbled over another, as he exclaimed, "Miss Dombey!"</p> + +<p>"Is it possible!" cried Walter, starting up in his turn. "Here!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Florence, advancing to him. "I was afraid you might be going +away, and hardly thinking of me. And, Walter, there is something I wish +to say to you before you go, and you must call me Florence, if you +please, and not speak like a stranger. My dear brother before he died +said that he was very fond of you, and said, 'remember Walter'; and if +you will be a brother to me, Walter, now that I have none on earth, I'll +be your sister all my life, and think of you like one, wherever we +may be!"</p> + +<p>In her sweet simplicity, she held out both her hands, and Walter, taking +them, stooped down and touched the tearful face; and it seemed to him +in doing so, that he responded to her innocent appeal beside the dead +child's bed.</p> + +<p>After Walter's departure, Florence lived alone as before, in the great +dreary house, and the blank walls looked down upon her with a vacant +stare, as if they had a Gorgon-like mind to stare her youth and beauty +into stone.</p> + +<p>No magic dwelling-place in magic story, shut up in the heart of a thick +wood, was ever more solitary and deserted to the fancy than was her +father's mansion in its grim reality. The spell upon it was more wasting +than the spell which used to set enchanted houses sleeping once upon a +time, but left their waking freshness unimpaired. But Florence bloomed +there, like the King's fair daughter in the story. Her books, her music, +and her daily teachers were her only real companions, except Susan +Nipper and Diogenes, and she lived within the circle of her innocent +pursuits and thoughts, and nothing harmed her. She could go down to her +father's rooms now without fear of repulse. She could put everything in +order for him, binding little nosegays for his table, changing them as +they withered, and he did not come back, preparing something for him +every day, and leaving some timid mark of her presence near his usual +seat. Waking in the night, perhaps, she would tremble at the thought of +his coming home and angrily rejecting it, and would hurry down and bring +it away. At another time she would only lay her face upon his desk, and +leave a kiss there, and a tear.</p> + +<p>Still no one knew of this. Her father did not know--she held it from +that time--how much she loved him. She was very young, and had no +mother, and had never learned, by some fault or misfortune, how to +express to him that she loved him. She would try to gain that art in +time, and win him to a better knowledge of his only child.</p> + +<p>Thus Florence lived alone in the deserted house, and day succeeded day +in a monotony of loneliness until yielding to Susan Nipper's constant +request Florence consented to pay a visit to some friends who lived at +Fulham on the Thames.</p> + +<p>Just at this time she learned that Walter's ship was overdue, and no +news had been received of her, and, her mind filled with sad +forebodings, she went to see old Sol, She found him tearful and +desolate, broken down by the weight of his anxiety, refusing to be +comforted even by the hopeful words of Captain Cuttle. So it was with a +heavy heart that she went to pay her visit, accompanied by her +little maid.</p> + +<p>There were some other children staying at the Skettleses. Children who +were frank and happy, with fathers and mothers. Children who had no +restraint upon their love, and showed it freely. Florence thoughtfully +observed them, sought to find out from them what simple art they knew, +and she knew not; how she could be taught by them to show her father how +she loved him, and to win his love again. But all her efforts failed to +give her the secret of the nameless grace she sought, among the youthful +company who were assembled in the house, or among the children of the +poor, whom she often visited.</p> + +<p>Of Walter she thought constantly. Her tears fell often for his +sufferings, but rarely for his supposed death, and never long. Thus +matters stood with Florence on the day she went home, gladly, to her old +secluded life.</p> + +<p>"You'll be glad to go through the old rooms, won't you, Susan," said +Florence as they turned into the familiar street.</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss," returned the Nipper, "I wont deny but what I shall, though +I shall hate them again to-morrow, very likely!"--adding +breathlessly--"Why gracious me, <i>where's our house</i>?"--</p> + +<p>There was a labyrinth of scaffolding raised all around the house. Loads +of bricks and stones, and heaps of mortar, and piles of wood, blocked up +half of the broad street. Ladders were raised against the walls; men +were at work upon the scaffolding; painters and decorators were busy +inside; great rolls of paper were being delivered from a cart at the +door; an upholsterer's wagon also stopped the way; nothing was to be +seen but workmen, swarming from the kitchens to the garret. Inside and +outside alike; bricklayers, painters, carpenters, masons; hammer, hod, +brush, pickaxe, saw, trowel: all at work together, in full chorus.</p> + +<p>Florence descended from the coach, half doubting if it could be the +right house, until she recognized Towlinson, the butler, standing at the +door to receive her. She passed him as if she were in a dream, and +hurried upstairs. Her own room was not yet touched within, but there +were beams and boards raised against it without. She went up swiftly to +that other bedroom, where her brother's little bed was; and a dark giant +of a man, with a pipe in his mouth, and his head tied up in a pocket +handkerchief, was staring in at the window.</p> + +<p>It was here that Susan Nipper found her, and said would she go +downstairs to her papa, who wished to speak to her?</p> + +<p>"At home! and wishing to speak to me!" cried Florence, pale and +agitated, hurrying down without a moment's hesitation. She thought upon +the way down, would she dare to kiss him? Her father might have heard +her heart beat when she came into his presence. He was not alone. There +were two ladies there. One was old, and the other was young and very +beautiful, and of an elegant figure.</p> + +<p>"Edith," said Mr. Dombey, "this is my daughter. Florence, this lady will +soon be your mamma."</p> + +<p>The girl started, and looked up at the beautiful face in a conflict of +emotions, among which the tears that name awakened struggled for a +moment with surprise, interest, admiration, and an indefinable sort of +fear. Then she cried out, "Oh, papa, may you be happy! May you be very, +very happy all your life!" then fell weeping on the lady's bosom.</p> + +<p>The beautiful lady held her to her breast, and pressed the hand with +which she clasped her, as if to reassure and comfort her, and bent her +head down over Florence and kissed her on the cheek.</p> + +<p>And now Florence began to hope that she would learn from her new and +beautiful mamma how to gain her father's love. And in her sleep that +night her own mother smiled radiantly upon the hope, and blessed it.</p> + +<p>Even in the busy weeks before the wedding-day, the bride-elect had time +to win the heart of the lonely girl, and Florence responded to her +advances with trustful love, and was happy and hopeful, while the new +mother's affection deepened daily. But it soon became evident that the +affection aroused Mr. Dombey's keen jealousy, and his wife thought it +best to repress her feelings for Florence.</p> + +<p>The girl soon became aware that there was no real sympathy between her +father and his second wife, and that the happiness in their home, of +which she had dreamed, would never be a reality. In truth the cold, +proud man with all his wealth and power, could not win from his wife one +smile such as she had often bestowed upon Florence in his presence, and +this added to his dislike for the girl.</p> + +<p>Once only, as Mr. Dombey sat and watched his daughter, the sight of her +in her beauty, now almost changed into a woman, roused within him a +fleeting feeling of regret at having had a household spirit bending at +his feet, and of having overlooked it in his stiff-necked pride. He felt +inclined to call her to him; the words were rising to his lips, when +they were checked by the entrance of his wife, whose haughty bearing and +indifference to him caused the gentle impulse to flee from him, and it +never returned.</p> + +<p>The breach between husband and wife was daily growing wider, when one +morning, riding to the city, Mr. Dombey was thrown from his horse, and +being brought home, he gloomily retired to his own rooms, where he was +attended by servants, not approached by his wife. Late that night there +arose in Florence's mind the image of her father, wounded and in pain, +alone, in his own home.</p> + +<p>With the same child's heart within her as of old, even as with the +child's sweet, timid eyes and clustering hair, Florence, as strange to +her father in her early maiden bloom as in her nursery days, crept down +to his room and looked in. The housekeeper was fast asleep in an +easy-chair before the fire. All was so very still that she knew he was +asleep. There was a cut upon his forehead. One of his arms, resting +outside of the bed, was bandaged up, and he was very white. After the +first assurance of his sleeping quietly, Florence stole close to the +bed, and softly kissed him and put the arm with which she dared not +touch him, waking, round about him on the pillow, praying to God to +bless her father, and to soften him towards her, if it might be so.</p> + +<p>On the following day Susan Nipper braced herself for a great feat which +she had long been contemplating; forced an entrance into Mr. Dombey's +room, and told him in most emphatic language what she thought of his +treatment of the motherless little girl who had so long been her charge. +Speechless with rage and amazement, Mr. Dombey attempted to summon some +one to protect him from her flow of language, but there was no bell-rope +near, and he could not move, so he was forced to listen to her tirade +until the entrance of the housekeeper cut it short. Susan Nipper was +then instantly discharged, and bestirred herself to get her trunks in +order, sobbing heartily as she thought of Florence, but exulting at the +memory of Mr. Dombey's discomfiture. Florence dared not interfere with +her father's commands, and took a sad farewell of the faithful little +maid, who had for so long been her companion.</p> + +<p>Now Florence was quite alone. She had grown to be seventeen; timid and +retiring as her solitary life had made her, it had not embittered her. A +child in innocent simplicity: a woman in her modest self-reliance and +her deep intensity of feeling, both child and woman seemed at once +expressed in her fair face and fragile delicacy of shape; in her +thrilling voice, her calm eyes, and sometimes in a strange ethereal +light that seemed to rest upon her head.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dombey she seldom saw, and the day soon came when she lost her +entirely. The wife's supreme indifference to himself and his wishes, +stung Mr. Dombey more than any other kind of treatment could have done, +and he determined to bend her to his will. She was the first person who +had ever ventured to oppose him in the slightest particular;--their +pride, however different in kind, was equal in degree, and their flinty +opposition struck out fire which consumed the tie between them--and soon +the final separation came.</p> + +<p>One evening after a dispute with her husband, Mrs. Dombey went out to +dinner, and did not return. In the confusion of that dreadful night, +compassion for her father was the first distinct emotion that +overwhelmed Florence. At daybreak she hastened to him with her arms +stretched out, crying, "Oh, dear, dear papa!" as if she would have +clasped him around the neck. But in his frenzy he answered her with +brutal words, and lifted up his cruel arm and struck her, with that +heaviness, that she tottered on the marble floor. She did not sink down +at his feet; she did not shut out the sight of him with her trembling +hands; she did not utter one word of reproach. But she looked at him, +and a cry of desolation issued from her heart. She saw she had no father +upon earth, and ran out, orphaned, from his house. Another moment and +Florence, with her head bent down to hide her agony of tears, was in +the street.</p> + +<p>In the wildness of her sorrow, shame, and terror, the forlorn girl +hurried through the sunshine of a bright morning as if it were the +darkness of a winter night. Wringing her hands and weeping bitterly, she +fled without a thought, without a hope, without a purpose, but to fly +somewhere--anywhere. Suddenly she thought of the only other time she had +been lost in the wide wilderness of London--and went that way. To the +home of Walter's uncle.</p> + +<p>Checking her sobs and endeavoring to calm the agitation of her manner, +so as to avoid attracting notice, Florence was going more quietly when +Diogenes, panting for breath, and making the street ring with his glad +bark, was at her feet.</p> + +<p>She bent down on the pavement, and laid his rough loving foolish head +against her breast, and they went on together.</p> + +<p>At length the little shop came into view. She ran in and found Captain +Cuttle, in his glazed hat, standing over the fire, making his morning's +cocoa. Hearing a footstep and the rustle of a dress, the captain turned +at the instant when Florence reeled and fell upon the floor.</p> + +<p>The captain, pale as Florence, calling her by his childhood's name for +her, raised her like a baby, and laid her upon the same old sofa upon +which she had slumbered long ago.</p> + +<p>"It's Heart's Delight!" he exclaimed; "It's the sweet creetur grow'd a +woman!"</p> + +<p>But Florence did not stir, and the captain moistened her lips and +forehead, put back her hair, covered her feet with his own coat, patted +her hand--so small in his, that he was struck with wonder when he +touched it--and seeing that her eyelids quivered and that her lips began +to move, continued these restorative applications with a better heart.</p> + +<p>At last she opened her eyes, and spoke: "Captain Cuttle! Is it you? Is +Walter's uncle here?"</p> + +<p>"Here, Pretty?" returned the captain. "He a'n't been here this many a +long day. He a'n't been heer'd on since he sheered off arter poor Wal'r. +But," said the captain, as a quotation, "Though lost to sight, to memory +dear, and England, home, and beauty!"</p> + +<p>"Do you live here?" asked Florence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my Lady Lass," returned the captain.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Captain Cuttle!" cried Florence, "Save me! Keep me here! Let no one +know where I am! I will tell you what has happened by and by, when I +can. I have no one in the world to go to. Do not send me away!"</p> + +<p>"Send you away, my Lady Lass!" exclaimed the captain; "you, my Heart's +Delight!--Stay a bit! We'll put up this dead-light, and take a double +turn on the key."</p> + +<p>With these words the captain got out the shutter of the door, put it up, +made it all fast, and locked the door itself.</p> + +<p>"And now," said he, "You must take some breakfast, Lady Lass, and the +dog shall have some too, and after that you shall go aloft to old Sol +Gill's room, and fall asleep there, like an angel."</p> + +<p>The room to which the captain presently carried Florence was very clean, +and being an orderly man, and accustomed to make things ship-shape, he +converted the bed into a couch by covering it with a clean white +drapery. By a similar contrivance he converted the little dressing-table +into a species of altar, on which he set forth two silver teaspoons, a +flower-pot, a telescope, his celebrated watch, a pocket-comb and a +song-book, as a small collection of rareties that made a choice +appearance.</p> + +<p>Having darkened the window, the captain walked on tiptoe out of the +room, and from sheer exhaustion Florence soon fell asleep.</p> + +<p>When she awoke the sun was getting low in the West, and after cooling +her aching head and burning face in fresh water, she made ready to go +downstairs again. What to do or where to live, she--poor, inexperienced +girl!--could not yet consider. All was dim and clouded to her mind. She +only knew that she had no father upon earth, and she said so many times, +with her suppliant head hidden from all but her Father who was in +Heaven. Then she tried to calm her thoughts and stay her tears, and went +down to her kind protector.</p> + +<p>The captain had cooked the evening meal and spread the cloth with great +care, and when Florence appeared he dressed for dinner, by taking off +his glazed hat and putting on his coat. That done, he wheeled the table +against her on the sofa, said Grace, and did the honors of the table.</p> + +<p>"My Lady Lass," said he, "Cheer up, and try to eat a bit. Stand by, +dearie! Liver wing it is. Sarse it is. Sassage it is. And potato!"</p> + +<p>All of these delicacies the captain ranged symetrically on the plate, +pouring hot gravy on the whole and adding: "Try and pick a bit, my +Pretty. If Wal'r was here--"</p> + +<p>"Ah! If I had him for my brother now!" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Don't take on, my Pretty," said the captain: "awast, to obleege me. He +was your nat'r'l born friend like, wa'n't he, Pet? Well, well! If our +poor Wal'r was here, my Lady Lass--or if he could be--for he's drowned, +a'n't he?--As I was saying, if he could be here, he'd beg and pray of +you, my precious, to pick a leetle bit, with a look-out for your own +sweet health. Whereby, hold your own, my Lady Lass, as if it was for +Wal'r's sake, and lay your pretty head to the wind!"</p> + +<p>Florence essayed to eat a morsel for the captain's pleasure, but she was +so tired and so sad that she could do scant justice to the meal, and was +glad indeed when the time came to retire.</p> + +<p>She slept that night in the same little room, and the next day sat in +the small parlor, busy with her needle, and more calm and tranquil than +she had been on the day preceding. The captain, looking at her, often +hitched his arm chair close to her, as if he were going to say something +very confidential, and hitched it away again, as not being able to make +up his mind how to begin. In the course of the day he cruised completely +around the parlor in that frail bark, and more than once went ashore +against the wainscot, or the closet door, in a very distressed +condition.</p> + +<p>It was not until deep twilight that he fairly dropped anchor at last by +the side of Florence, and began to talk connectedly. He spoke in such a +trembling voice, and looked at Florence with a face so pale and agitated +that she clung to his hand in affright, and her color came and went as +she listened.</p> + +<p>"There's perils and dangers on the deep, my Beauty," said the captain; +"and over many a brave ship, and many and many a bold heart the secret +waters has closed up, and never told no tales. But there's escapes upon +the deep, too, and sometimes one man out of a score--ah! maybe out of a +hundred, Pretty, has been saved by the mercy of God, and come home, +after being given over for dead, and told of all hands lost, I--I know a +story, Heart's Delight," stammered the captain, "o' this natur', as was +told to me once; and being on this here tack, and you and me sitting by +the fire, maybe you'd like to hear me tell it. Would you, deary?"</p> + +<p>Florence, trembling with an agitation which she could not control or +understand, involuntarily followed his glance, which went behind her +into the shop where a lamp was burning. The instant that she turned her +head, the captain sprung out of his chair, and interposed his hand.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing there, my Beauty," said the captain. "Don't look +there!"</p> + +<p>Then he murmured something about its being dull that way, and about the +fire being cheerful. He drew the door ajar, which had been standing open +until now, and resumed his seat. Florence looked intently in his face.</p> + +<p>"The story was about a ship, my Lady Lass," began the captain, "as +sailed out of the port of London, with a fair wind and in fair weather, +bound for--Don't be took aback my Lady Lass, she was only out'ard. +Pretty, only out'ard bound!"</p> + +<p>The expression on Florence's face alarmed the captain, who was himself +very hot and flurried, and showed scarcely less agitation than she did.</p> + +<p>"Shall I go on, Beauty?" said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, pray!" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>The captain made a gulp as if to get down something that was stuck in +his throat, and nervously proceeded:</p> + +<p>"That there unfortunate ship met with such foul weather, out at sea, as +don't blow once in twenty year, my darling. There was hurricanes ashore +as tore up forests and blowed down towns, and there was gales at sea, +even in them latitudes, as not the stoutest wessel ever launched could +live in. Day arter day, that there unfort'nate ship behaved noble, I'm +told, and did her duty brave, my Pretty, but at one blow a'most her +bulwarks was stove in, her masts and rudder carried away, her best men +swept overboard, and she left in the mercy of the storm as had no mercy, +but blowed harder and harder yet, while the waves dashed over her, and +beat her in, and every time they come a thundering at her, broke her +like a shell. Every black spot in every mountain of water that rolled +away was a bit of the ship's life, or a living man, and so she went to +pieces, Beauty, and no grass will never grow upon the graves of them as +manned that ship."</p> + +<p>"They were not all lost!" cried Florence. "Some were saved! Was one?"</p> + +<p>"Aboard o' that there unfortunate wessel," said the captain, rising from +his chair, and clenching his hand with prodigious energy and exultation, +"was a lad, a gallant lad--as I've heard tell--that had loved when he +was a boy to read and talk about brave actions in shipwrecks--I've heerd +him!--I've heerd him!--and he remembered of 'em in his hour of need; for +when the stoutest hearts and oldest hands was hove down, he was firm and +cheery. It wa'n't the want of objects to like and love ashore that gave +him courage; it was his nat'ral mind. I've seen it in his face when he +was no more than a child--ah, many a time!--and when I thought it +nothing but his good looks, bless him!"</p> + +<p>"And was he saved?" cried Florence. "Was he saved?"</p> + +<p>"That brave lad," said the captain,--"look at me, pretty! Don't look +round--"</p> + +<p>Florence had hardly power to repeat, "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because there's nothing there, my deary," said the captain. "Don't be +took aback, pretty creetur! Don't for the sake of Wal'r as was dear to +all on us! That there lad," said the captain, "arter working with the +best, and standing by the fainthearted, and never making no complaint +nor sign of fear, and keeping up a spirit in all hands that made 'em +honor him as if he'd been a admiral--that lad, alone with the second +mate and one seaman, was left, of all the beatin' hearts that went +aboard that ship, the only living creeturs--lashed to a fragment of the +wreck, and drifting on the stormy sea."</p> + +<p>"Were they saved?" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Days and nights they drifted on them endless waters," said the captain, +"until at last--no! don't look that way, Pretty!--a sail bore down upon +'em, and they was, by the Lord's mercy, took aboard, two living, and +one dead."</p> + +<p>"Which of them was dead?" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Not the lad I speak on," said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Thank God! Oh, thank God!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" returned the captain hurriedly. "Don't be took aback! A minute +more, my Lady Lass! with a good heart!--Aboard that ship, they went a +long voyage, right away across the chart (for there wa'n't no touching +nowhere), and on that voyage the seaman as was picked up with him died. +But he was spared, and--."</p> + +<p>The captain, without knowing what he did, had cut a slice of bread from +the loaf, and put it on his hook (which was his usual toasting fork), on +which he now held it to the fire; looking behind Florence with great +emotions in his face, and suffering the bread to blaze and burn +like fuel.</p> + +<p>"Was spared," repeated Florence, "and--"</p> + +<p>"And come home in that ship," said the captain, still looking in the +same direction, "and--don't be frightened, Pretty!--and landed; and one +morning come cautiously to his own door to take a observation, knowing +that his friends would think him drowned, when he sheered off at the +unexpected--"</p> + +<p>"At the unexpected barking of a dog?" cried Florence quickly.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" roared the captain. "Steady, darling! courage! Don't look round +yet. See there! upon the wall!"</p> + +<p>There was the shadow of a man upon the wall close to her. She started +up, looked round, and, with a piercing cry, saw Walter Gay behind her!</p> + +<p>She had no thought of him but as a brother, a brother rescued from the +grave; a shipwrecked brother, saved, and at her side,--and rushed into +his arms. In all the world he seemed to be her hope, her comfort, +refuge, natural protector. In his home-coming,--her champion and +knight-errant from childhood's early days,--there came to Florence a +compensation for all that she had suffered.</p> + +<p>On that night within the little Shop a light arose for her that never +ceased to shed its brilliance on her path. Young, strong, and powerful, +Walter Gay in his chivalrous reverence and love for her, would +henceforth protect her life from sadness.</p> + +<p>Except from that one great sorrow that he could not lift;--she was +estranged from her father's love and care;--but in sweet submission she +bent her shoulders to the burden of that loss, and accepted the new joy +of Walter's return with a lightened heart.</p> + +<p>Years later, when Mr. Dombey by a turn of fortune's wheel, was left +alone in his dreary mansion, broken in mind and body, bereft of all his +wealth; deserted alike by friends and servants;--it was Florence, the +neglected, spurned, exiled daughter, who came like a good household +angel and clung to him, caressing him, forgetting all but love, and love +that outlasts injuries.</p> + +<p>As she clung close to him, he kissed her on the lips and lifting up his +eyes, said, "Oh, my God, <i>forgive me</i>, for I need it very much!"</p> + +<p>With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over her and caressing +her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long, time; +they remaining clasped in one another's arms, in the glorious sunshine +that had crept in with Florence. And so we leave them--Father and +Daughter--united at last in an undying affection.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHARLEY."></a>CHARLEY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0280.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0280.jpg" width = "25%" alt="CHARLEY."> +</a><br><b>"CHARLEY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CHARLEY.</h2> + +<p>When I, Esther Summerson, was taken from the school where the early +years of my childhood had been spent; having no home or parents, as had +the other girls in the school, my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, gave me a home +with him, where I was companion to his young and lovely ward, Ada Clare. +I soon grew deeply attached to Ada, the dearest girl in the world; to my +guardian, the kindest and most thoughtful of men; and to Bleak House, my +happy home.</p> + +<p>One day, upon hearing of the death of a poor man whom we had known, and +learning that he had left three motherless children in great poverty, my +guardian and I set out to discover for ourselves the extent of their +need. We were directed to a chandler's shop in Bell Yard, a narrow, dark +alley, where we found an old woman, who replied to my inquiry for +Neckett's children: "Yes, surely, Miss. Three pair, if you please. Door +right opposite the stairs." And she handed me a key across the counter. +As she seemed to take it for granted I knew what to do with the key, I +inferred it must be intended for the children's door, so without any +more questions I led the way up a dark stair.</p> + +<p>Reaching the top room designated, I tapped at the door, and a little +shrill voice inside said, "We are locked in. Mrs. Blinder's got +the key!"</p> + +<p>I applied the key, and opened the door. In a poor room, with a sloping +ceiling, and containing very little furniture, was a mite of a boy, +some five or six years old, nursing and hushing a heavy child of +eighteen months. There was no fire, though the weather was cold; both +children were wrapped in some poor shawls and tippets, as a substitute. +Their clothing was not so warm, however, but that their noses looked red +and pinched, and their small figures shrunken, as the boy walked up and +down, nursing and hushing the child with its head on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Who has locked you up here alone?" we naturally asked.</p> + +<p>"Charley," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Is Charley your brother?"</p> + +<p>"No, she's my sister, Charlotte. Father called her Charley."</p> + +<p>"Are there any more of you besides Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Me," said the boy, "and Emma," patting the child he was nursing, "and +Charley."</p> + +<p>"Where is Charley now?"</p> + +<p>"Out a-washing," said the boy, beginning to walk up and down again, and +even as he spoke there came into the room a very little girl, childish +in figure, but shrewd and older looking in the face--pretty faced, +too--wearing a womanly sort of a bonnet, much too large for her, and +drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white +and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking, which she +wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child, playing +at washing, and imitating a poor working woman with a quick observation +of the truth.</p> + +<p>She had come running from some place in the neighborhood. Consequently, +though she was very light, she was out of breath, and could not speak at +first, as she stood panting and wiping her arms. "O, here's Charley!" +said the boy.</p> + +<p>The child he was nursing stretched forward its arms and cried out to be +taken by Charley. The little girl took it, in a womanly sort of manner +belonging to the apron and the bonnet, and stood looking at us over the +burden that clung to her most affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible," whispered my guardian, as he put a chair for the +little creature, and got her to sit down with her load, the boy holding +to her apron, "that this child works for the rest?</p> + +<p>"Charley, Charley!" he questioned. "How old are you?"</p> + +<p>"Over thirteen, sir," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"O, what a great age!" said my guardian. "And do you live here alone +with these babies, Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," returned the child, looking up into his face with perfect +confidence, "since father died."</p> + +<p>"And how do you live, Charley," said my guardian, "how do you live?"</p> + +<p>"Since father died, sir, I've gone out to work. I'm out washing to-day."</p> + +<p>"God help you, Charley!" said my guardian. "You're not tall enough to +reach the tub!"</p> + +<p>"In pattens I am, sir," she said quickly. "I've got a high pair as +belonged to mother. Mother died just after Emma was born," said the +child, glancing at the face upon her bosom. "Then father said I was to +be as good a mother to her as I could. And so I tried. And so I worked +at home, and did cleaning, and nursing, and washing, for a long time +before I began to go out. And that's how I know how, don't you +see, sir?"</p> + +<p>"And do you often go out?"</p> + +<p>"As often as I can, sir," said Charley, opening her eyes and smiling, +"because of earning sixpences and shillings!"</p> + +<p>"And do you always lock the babies up when you go out?"</p> + +<p>"To keep 'em safe, sir, don't you see?" said Charley. "Mrs. Blinder +comes up now and then, and Mr. Gridley comes up sometimes, and perhaps I +can run in sometimes, and they can play you know, and Tom ain't afraid +of being locked up, are you, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"No--o," said Tom stoutly.</p> + +<p>"When it comes on dark, the lamps are lighted down in the courts, and +they show up here quite bright--almost quite bright. Don't they, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Charley," said Tom, "almost quite bright."</p> + +<p>"Then he's as good as gold," said the little creature, oh, in such a +motherly, womanly way. "And when Emma's tired, he puts her to bed. And +when he's tired he goes to bed himself. And when I come home and light +the candle, and has a bit of supper, he sits up again and has it with +me. Don't you, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"O yes, Charley!" said Tom. "That I do!" and either in this glimpse of +the great pleasure of his life, or in gratitude and love for Charley, he +laid his face among the scanty folds of her frock, and passed from +laughing into crying.</p> + +<p>It was the first time since our entry, that a tear had been shed among +these children. The little orphan girl had spoken of their father and +their mother, as if all that sorrow was subdued by the necessity of +taking courage, and by her childish importance in being able to work, +and by her bustling busy way. But now, when Tom cried; although she sat +quite tranquil, looking quietly at us, and did not by any movement +disturb a hair of the head of either of her little charges, I saw two +silent tears fall down her face.</p> + +<p>I stood at the window pretending to look out, when I found that Mrs. +Blinder, from the shop below, had come in, and was talking to +my guardian.</p> + +<p>"It's not much to forgive 'em the rent, sir,---who could take it from +them!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" said my guardian to us two. "It is enough that the time +will come when this good woman will find that it <i>was</i> much, and that +forasmuch as she did it to one of the least of these--! This child," he +added after a few moments, "Could she possibly continue this?"</p> + +<p>"Really, sir, I think she might," said Mrs. Blinder. "She's as handy as +it's possible to be. Bless you sir, the way she tended them two +children, after the mother died, was the talk of the yard! And it was a +wonder to see her with him, after he was took ill, it really was!--'Mrs. +Blinder,' he said to me, the very last he spoke--'Mrs. Blinder, whatever +my calling may have been, I see a Angel sitting in this room last night +along with my child, and I trust her to our Father!'"</p> + +<p>From all that we had heard and seen, we felt a deep interest in the +bright, self-reliant little creature, with her womanly ways and burden +of family cares, and my thoughts turned towards her many times, after we +had kissed her, and taken her downstairs with us, and stopped to see her +run away to her work. We saw her run, such a little, little creature, in +her womanly bonnet and apron, through a covered way at the bottom of the +court, and melt into the city's strife and sound, like a dewdrop in +an ocean.</p> + +<p>Some weeks later, at the close of a happy evening spent at Bleak House +with my guardian and my dearest girl, I went at last to my own room, and +presently heard a soft tap at the door, so I said, "Come in!" and there +came in a pretty little girl, neatly dressed in mourning, who dropped +a curtsey.</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss," said the little girl in a soft voice, "I am +Charley."</p> + +<p>"Why so you are," said I, stooping down in astonishment, and giving her +a kiss. "How glad am I to see you, Charley!"</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss," pursued Charley, "I'm your maid!"</p> + +<p>"Charley?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss, I'm a present to you, with Mr. Jarndyce's love. +And O, miss," says Charley, clapping her hands, with the tears starting +down her dimpled cheeks, "Tom's at school, if you please, and learning +so good, and little Emma, she's with Mrs. Blinder, miss, a-being took +such care of! and Tom, he would have been at school--and Emma she would +have been left with Mrs. Blinder--and me, I should have been here--all a +deal sooner, miss; only Mr. Jarndyce thought Tom and Emma and me had +better get a little used to parting, we was so small. Don't cry, if you +please, miss."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, Charley."</p> + +<p>"No, miss, nor I can't help it," said Charley. "And if you please, +miss," said Charley, "Mr. Jarndyce's love, and he thinks you'll like to +teach me now and then. And if you please, Tom and Emma and me is to see +each other once a month. And I'm so happy and so thankful, miss," cried +Charley with a heaving heart,--"and I'll try to be such a good maid!"</p> + +<p>Charley dried her eyes, and entered on her functions: going in her +matronly little way about and about the room, and folding up everything +she could lay her hands upon. Presently she came creeping back to my +side, and said:</p> + +<p>"O don't cry, if you please, miss."</p> + +<p>And I said again, "I can't help it."</p> + +<p>And Charley said again, "No, miss, nor I can't help it." And so, after +all, I did cry for joy indeed, and so did she--and from that night my +little maid shared in all the cares and duties, joys and sorrows of her +mistress, and I grew to lean heavily upon the womanly, loving, +little creature.</p> + +<p>According to my guardian's suggestion, I gave considerable time to +Charley's education, but I regret to say the results never reflected +much credit upon my educational powers. As for writing--it was a trying +business to Charley, in whose hand every pen appeared to become +perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop and +splash, and sidle into corners, like a saddle donkey. It was very odd to +see what old letters Charley's young hands had made. They, so shrivelled +and tottering; it, so plump and round. Yet Charley was uncommonly expert +at other things, and had as nimble little fingers as I ever watched.</p> + +<p>"Well, Charley," said I, looking over a copy of the letter O in which it +was represented as square, triangular, pear-shaped, and collapsed in all +kinds of ways, "We are improving. If we only get to make it round, we +shall be perfect, Charley."</p> + +<p>Then I made one, and Charley made one, and the pen wouldn't join +Charley's neatly, but twisted it up into a knot.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Charley. We shall do it in time."</p> + +<p>Charley laid down her pen, opened and shut her cramped little hand; and +thanking me, got up and dropped me a curtsey, asking me if I knew a poor +person by the name of Jenny. I answered that I did, but thought she had +left the neighborhood altogether, "So she had, miss," said Charley, "but +she's come back again, and she came about the house three or four days, +hoping to get a glimpse of you, miss, but you were away. She saw me +a-goin' about, miss," said Charley, with a short laugh of the greatest +delight and pride, "and she thought I looked like your maid!"</p> + +<p>"Did she though, really, Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss!" said Charley, "really and truly." And Charley, with +another short laugh of the purest glee, made her eyes very round again, +and looked as serious as became my maid. I was never tired of seeing +Charley in the full enjoyment of that great dignity, standing before me +with her youthful face and figure, and her steady manner, and her +childish exultation breaking through it now and then in the pleasantest +way. And so long as she lived, the dignity of having been in my service +was the greatest crown of glory to my little maid.</p> + +<p>Although my efforts to make a scholar of Charley were never crowned with +success, she had her own tastes and accomplishments, and dearly loved to +bustle about the house, in her own particularly womanly way. To surround +herself with great heaps of needlework--baskets-full and tables +full--and do a little,--and spend a great deal of time in staring with +her round eyes at what there was to do, and persuade herself that she +was going to do it, were Charley's great dignities and delights.</p> + +<p>When we went to see the woman, Jenny, we found her in her poor little +cottage, nursing a vagrant boy called Jo, a crossing-sweeper, who had +tramped down from London, and was tramping he didn't know where. Jenny, +who had known him in London, had found him in a corner of the town, +burning with fever, and taken him home to care for, Seeing that he was +very ill, and fearing her husband's anger at her having harbored him, +when it was time for her husband to return home, she put a few +half-pence together in his hand, and thrust him out of the house. We +followed the wretched boy, and pitying his forlorn condition led him +home with us, where he was made comfortable for the night in a loft-room +by the stable. Charley's last report was, that the boy was quiet. I went +to bed very happy to think that he was sheltered, and was much shocked +and grieved the next morning, when upon visiting his room we found him +gone. At what time he had left, or how, or why, it seemed hopeless ever +to divine, and after a thorough search of the country around, which +lasted for five days, we abandoned all thought of ever clearing up the +mystery surrounding the boy's departure, nor was it until some time +later that the secret was discovered.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, poor Jo left behind him a dread and infectious disease which +Charley caught from him, and in twelve hours after his escape she was +very, very ill. I nursed her myself, with tenderest care, bringing her +back to her old childish likeness again. Then the disease came upon me, +and in my weeks of mortal sickness, it was Charley's love and care, and +unending devotion that saved my life. It was Charley's hand which +removed every looking-glass from my rooms, that in my convalescence I +might not be shocked by the alteration which the disease had wrought in +the face she loved so dearly.</p> + +<p>When I was able, Charley and I went away together, to the most friendly +of villages, and in the home which my guardian's care had provided, we +enjoyed the hours of returning strength. There was a kindly housekeeper +to trot after me with restoratives and strengthening delicacies, and a +pony expressly for my use, and soon there were friendly faces of +greeting in every cottage as we passed by. Thus with being much in the +open air, playing with the village children, gossiping in many cottages, +going on with Charley's education, and writing long letters to my +dearest girl, time slipped away, and I found myself quite strong again.</p> + +<p>And to Charley,--now as well, and rosy, and pretty as one of Flora's +attendants, I give due credit, and the bond which binds me to my little +maid is one which will only be severed when the days of Charley's happy +life are over.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="TILLY_SLOWBOY."></a>TILLY SLOWBOY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0282.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0282.jpg" width = "25%" alt="TILLY SLOWBOY."> +</a><br><b>"TILLY SLOWBOY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>TILLY SLOWBOY.</h2> + +<p>Although still in her earliest teens, Tilly Slowboy was a nursery-maid +for little Mrs. Peerybingle's baby, and despite her extreme youth, was a +most enthusiastic and unusual nursery-maid indeed.</p> + +<p>It may be noted of Miss Slowboy that she had a rare and surprising +talent for getting the baby into difficulties; and had several times +imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own.</p> + +<p>She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that +her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those +sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung. Her costume +was remarkable for the partial development on all possible occasions, of +some flannel vestment of a singular structure; also affording glimpses, +in the region of the back, of a pair of stays, in color a dead green.</p> + +<p>Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed +besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress's perfections, +and the baby's, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment may be +said to have done equal honor to her head and to her heart; and though +these did less honor to the baby's head, which they were the occasional +means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, +bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest +results of Tilly Slowboy's constant astonishment at finding herself so +kindly treated and installed in such a comfortable home. For the +maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had +been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only +differing from fondling by one vowel's length, is very different in +meaning, and expresses quite another thing.</p> + +<p>It was a singularly happy and united family in which Tilly's lot was +cast. Honest John Peerybingle, Carrier; his pretty little wife, whom he +called Dot; the very remarkable doll of a baby; the dog Boxer; and the +Cricket on the Hearth, whose cheerful chirp, chirp, chirp, was a +continual family blessing and good-omen;--were collectively and +severally the objects of Tilly's unbounded admiration.</p> + +<p>If ever a person or thing alarmed Tilly, she would hastily seek +protection near the skirts of her pretty little mistress; or, failing +that, would make a charge or butt at the object of her fright with the +only offensive instrument within her reach--which usually happened to be +the baby. Tilly's bump of good fortune being extraordinarily well +developed, the baby usually managed to come out from the siege unharmed, +to be soothed and comforted in Tilly's own peculiar fashion; her most +common method of amusement being to reproduce for its entertainment +scraps of conversation current in the house, with all the sense left out +of them, and all the nouns changed to the plural number, as--"Did its +mothers make it up a beds then! And did its hair grow brown and curly +when its cap was lifted off, and frighten it, a precious Pets, a-sitting +by the fire!"</p> + +<p>It was a notable and exciting event to Miss Slowboy when she set out one +day in the Carrier's cart, with her little mistress and the remarkable +baby, to have dinner with Caleb Plummer's blind daughter, Bertha, who +was Mrs. Dot's devoted friend.</p> + +<p>In consequence of the departure, there was a pretty sharp commotion at +John Peerybingle's, for to get the baby under weigh took time. Not that +there was much of the baby, speaking of it as a thing of weight and +measure, but there was a vast deal to do about it, and all had to be +done by easy stages. When the baby was got, by hook and by crook, to a +certain point of dressing, and you might have supposed that another +touch or two would finish him off, he was unexpectedly extinguished, and +hustled off to bed; where he simmered (so to speak) between two blankets +for the best part of an hour, while Mrs. Peerybingle took advantage of +the interval to make herself smart for the trip, and during the same +short truce, Miss Slowboy insinuated herself into a spencer, of a +fashion so surprising and ingenious, that it had no connection with +herself, or anything else in the universe, but was a shrunken, +dog's-eared, independent fact, pursuing its lonely course without the +least regard to anybody. By this time, the baby, being all alive again, +was invested by the united efforts of Mrs. Peerybingle and Miss Slowboy, +with a cream-colored mantle for its body, and a sort of nankeen +raised-pie for its head, and in course of time they all three got down +to the door, where the old horse was waiting to convey them on +their trip.</p> + +<p>In reference to Miss Slowboy's ascent into the cart, if I might be +allowed to mention a young lady's legs, on any terms, I would observe of +her that there was a fatality about hers which rendered them singularly +liable to be grazed; and that she never effected the smallest ascent or +descent without recording the circumstance upon them with a notch, as +Robinson Crusoe marked the days upon his wooden calendar. But as this +might be considered ungenteel, I'll think of it--merely observing that +when the three were all safely settled in the cart, and the basket +containing the Veal-and-Ham Pie and other delicacies, which Mrs. +Peerybingle always carried when she visited the blind girl, was stowed +away, they jogged on for some little time in silence.</p> + +<p>But not for long, for everybody on the road had something to say to the +occupants of John Peerybingle's cart, and sometimes passengers on foot, +or horseback, plodded on a little way beside the cart, for the express +purpose of having a chat. Then, too, the packages and parcels for the +errand cart were numerous, and there were many stoppages to take them in +and give them out, which was not the least interesting part of +the journey.</p> + +<p>Of all the little incidents of the day, Dot was the amused and open-eyed +spectatress from her chair in the cart; making a charming little +portrait as she sat there, looking on. And this delighted John the +Carrier beyond measure.</p> + +<p>The trip was a little foggy, to be sure, in the January weather, and was +raw and cold. But who cared for such trifles! Not Dot, decidedly. Not +Tilly Slowboy, for she deemed sitting in a cart on any terms, to be the +highest point of human joy; the crowning circumstance of earthly hopes. +Not the baby, I'll be sworn; for it's not in baby nature to be warmer or +more sound asleep than that blessed young Peerybingle was all the way.</p> + +<p>In one place there was a mound of weeds burning, and they watched the +fire until, in consequence, as she observed, of the smoke "getting up +her nose," Miss Slowboy choked--she could do anything of that sort on +the smallest provocation--and woke the baby, who wouldn't go to +sleep again.</p> + +<p>But, at that moment they came in sight of the blind girl's home, where +she was waiting with keen anticipation to receive them.</p> + +<p>Bertha had other visitors as well that day, and the picnic dinner +proceeded in a very stately and dignified manner. Miss Slowboy was +isolated, for the time being, from every article of furniture but the +chair she sat on, that she might have nothing else to knock the baby's +head against, and sat staring about her in unspeakable delight. To her +the day was all too short, and when that evening John Peerybingle making +his return trip, called to take them home, Miss Slowboy's regret +was intense.</p> + +<p>As long as her little mistress smiled, Tilly's face too was wreathed in +smiles; but when a hidden shadow darkened the Perrybingle sky, +overclouding the happiness of the little home, and Dot cried all night, +Tilly's eyes were red and swollen too, the next morning.</p> + +<p>It happened in this way. Pretty little Dot gave good John Perrybingle +cause for anxiety by her actions, and the honest carrier, disturbed and +misled, felt that he had reason to doubt her love for him, which almost +broke his honest, faithful heart. While he was worrying over this, and +over her, his little wife was merely shielding a secret belonging to +Edward Plummer, Bertha's brother, who had just come back, after many +year's absence in the golden South Americas.</p> + +<p>So unaccustomed was Dot to keeping a secret that it caused her to act +very strangely, and give her husband reason to misjudge her, which +almost broke her loving little heart. All of which trouble Tilly Slowboy +did not understand, but was deeply affected by it, and when she found +her mistress alone, sobbing piteously, was quite horrified, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ow, if you please, don't! It's enough to dead and bury the baby, so it +is, if you please!"</p> + +<p>"Will you bring him sometimes, to see his father, Tilly?" inquired her +mistress, drying her eyes; "when I can't live here, and have gone to my +old home?"</p> + +<p>"Ow, if you please, <i>don't!</i>" cried Tilly, throwing back her head and +bursting out into a howl--she looked at the moment uncommonly like +Boxer--"Ow, if you please, don't! Ow, what has everybody been and gone +and done with everybody, making everybody else so wretched. Ow-w-w-w!"</p> + +<p>The soft-hearted Slowboy trailed off at this juncture, into such a +deplorable howl, the more tremendous from its long suppression, that she +must infallibly have wakened the baby and frightened him into something +serious (probably convulsions) if her attention had not been forcibly +diverted from her misery for a moment, after which she stood for some +time silent, with her mouth wide open; and then, posting off to the bed +on which the baby lay asleep, danced in a weird, Saint Vitus manner, on +the floor, and at the same time rummaged with her face and head among +the bedclothes, apparently deriving much relief from those extraordinary +operations.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for all concerned in the little domestic drama, before a +crisis had been reached, Edward Plummer revealed his secret, and his +reasons for having been obliged to keep it. This cleared up the mystery +concerning Mrs. Dot's conduct, proving her to be the same loyal, loving +little wife she always was: to the exquisite satisfaction of the honest +carrier, his family and friends, and last but not least, Miss Slowboy, +who wept copiously for joy, and wishing to include her young charge in +the general interchange of congratulations, handed round the baby to +everybody in succession, as if it were something to eat or drink.</p> + +<p>Of course it became a serious duty now, to make such a day of it as +should mark these events for a high feast and festival in the +Peerybingle Calendar forevermore. Accordingly, Dot went to work to +produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honor on the +house and on every one concerned, and in a very short space of time +everybody in the house was in a state of flutter and domestic turmoil +and during the flurry of preparation, everybody tumbled over Tilly +Slowboy and the baby everywhere. Tilly never came out in such force +before. Her ubiquity was the theme of universal admiration. She was a +stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two; a +man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely; and a pitfall in the +garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three. The baby's head was, as it +were, a test and touchstone for every description of matter,--animal, +vegetable, and mineral. Nothing was in use that day that didn't come, at +some time or other, into close acquaintance with it.</p> + +<p>That was a great celebration indeed, with Dot doing the honors in her +wedding-gown, her eyes sparkling with happiness, and the good carrier, +so jovial and so ruddy at the bottom of the table, and all their guests +aiding to make the occasion a memorable and happy one.</p> + +<p>There was a dance in the evening, for which Bertha played her liveliest +tune. Inspired by infectious joy, old and young get up and join the +whirling throng. Suddenly Caleb Plummer clutches Tilly Slowboy by both +hands and goes off at score, Miss Slowboy firm in the belief that diving +hotly in among the couples, and effecting any number of concussions with +them, is your only principle of footing it, and ecstatically glad to +abandon herself to the delights of the occasion, so long as she sees joy +written again on the pretty face of her beloved little mistress, and +feels that happiness has been restored to honest John Peerybingle and +his family.</p> + +<p>Hark! How the Cricket on the Hearth joins in the music, with its Chirp, +Chirp, Chirp, and how the kettle hums!</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="AGNES_WICKFIELD."></a>AGNES WICKFIELD.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0284.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0284.jpg" width = "25%" alt="AGNES WICKFIELD."> +</a><br><b>"AGNES WICKFIELD."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>AGNES WICKFIELD.</h2> + +<p>When I became the adopted son of my aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood, my new +clothes were marked Trotwood Copperfield, instead of the old familiar +David of my childhood; and I began my new life, not only in the new +name, but with everything new about me, and felt for many days like one +in a dream, until I had proved the happy reality to be a fact.</p> + +<p>My aunt's first desire was to place me in a good school at Canterbury, +and, lack of education having been my chief source of anxiety, this +resolve gave me unbounded delight. So it was with a flutter of joyful +anticipation that I accompanied her to Canterbury to call upon her agent +and friend Mr. Wickfield, and to confer with him upon the all-important +subject of schools and boarding places.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Canterbury, we stopped before a very old house, bulging out +over the road, with long low latticed windows bulging out still further, +and beams with carved heads on the ends bulging out too; so that I +fancied the whole house was leaning forward, trying to see who was +passing on the pavement below. It was quite spotless in its cleanliness. +The old-fashioned brass knocker on the low arched door, ornamented with +carved garlands of fruit and flowers, twinkled like a star; the two +stone steps descending to the door were as white as if they had been +covered with fair linen, and all the angles, and corners, and carvings, +and mouldings, and quaint little panes of glass, and quainter little +windows, were as pure as any snow that ever fell upon the hills.</p> + +<p>When the pony chaise stopped at the door, we alighted and had a long +conference with Mr. Wickfield, an elderly gentleman with grey hair and +black eyebrows. He approved of my aunt's selection of Dr. Strong's +school, and in regard to a home for me, made the following proposal:</p> + +<p>"Leave your nephew here for the present. He's a quiet fellow. He won't +disturb me at all. It's a capital house for study. As quiet as a +monastery, and almost as roomy. Leave him here."</p> + +<p>My aunt evidently liked the offer, but was delicate of accepting it, +until Mr. Wickfield cried, "Come! I know how you feel, you shall not be +oppressed by the receipt of favors, Miss Trotwood. You may pay for him +if you like."</p> + +<p>"On that understanding," said my aunt, "though it doesn't lessen the +real obligation, I shall be very glad to leave him."</p> + +<p>"Then come and see my little housekeeper," said Mr. Wickfield.</p> + +<p>We accordingly went up a wonderful old staircase, with a balustrade so +broad that we might have gone up that, almost as easily, and into a +shady old drawing-room, lighted by three or four quaint windows which +had old oak seats in them, that seemed to have come of the same trees as +the shining oak floor, and the great beams in the ceiling. It was a +prettily furnished room, with a piano, and some lively furniture in red +and green, and some flowers. It seemed to be all odd nooks and corners; +and in every nook and corner there was some queer little table, or +cupboard, or bookcase, or seat, or something or other, that made me +think there was not such another corner in the room, until I looked at +the next one and found it equal to it if not better. On everything +there was the same air of refinement and cleanliness that marked the +house outside.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wickfield tapped at a door in a corner of the panelled wall, and a +girl of about my own age came quickly out and kissed him. On her face, I +saw immediately the placid and sweet expression of a lady whose portrait +I had seen downstairs. It seemed to my imagination as if the portrait +had grown womanly, and the original had remained a child. Although her +face was quite bright and happy, there was a tranquillity about it, and +about her--a quiet, good, calm, spirit--that I never have forgotten; +that I never shall forget.</p> + +<p>This was his little housekeeper, his daughter Agnes, Mr. Wickfield said. +When I heard how he said it, and saw how he held her hand, I guessed +what the one motive of his life was.</p> + +<p>She had a little basket-trifle hanging at her side with keys in it; and +she looked as staid and discreet a housekeeper as the old house could +have. She listened to her father as he told her about me, with a +pleasant face; and when he had concluded, proposed to my aunt that we +should go upstairs, and see my room. We all went together, she before +us. A glorious old room it was, with more oak beams, and diamond panes; +and the broad balustrade going all the way up to it.</p> + +<p>I cannot call to mind where or when, in my childhood, I had seen a +stained-glass window in a church. Nor do I recollect its subject. But I +know that when I saw her turn round, in the grave light of the old +staircase, and wait for us above, I thought of that window; and I +associated something of its tranquil brightness with Agnes Wickfield +ever afterwards.</p> + +<p>My aunt was as happy as I was, in the arrangement made for me, and we +went down to the drawing-room again, well pleased and gratified, and +shortly after this my aunt took her departure, in consequence of which +for some hours I was very much dejected. But by five o'clock, which was +Mr. Wickfield's dinner hour, I had mustered up my spirits again, and was +ready for my knife and fork. The cloth was only laid for us two; but +Agnes was waiting in the drawing-room before dinner, and went down with +her father, and sat opposite to him at table. I doubted whether he could +have dined without her.</p> + +<p>We did not stay there after dinner, but came upstairs into the +drawing-room again, in one snug corner of which Agnes set glasses for +her father, and a decanter of port wine. There he sat, taking his wine, +while Agnes played on the piano, worked, and talked to him and me. Later +Agnes made the tea, and presided over it; and the time passed away after +it as after dinner, until she went to bed; when her father took her in +his arms and kissed her, and, she being gone, ordered candles in his +office. Then I went to bed too.</p> + +<p>Next morning I entered on my new school life at Dr. Strong's, and began +a happy existence in an excellent establishment, the character and +dignity of which we each felt it our duty to maintain. We felt that we +had a part in the management of the school, and learned with a good +will, desiring to do it credit. We had noble games out of hours, and +plenty of liberty; but were well spoken of in the town, and rarely did +any disgrace by our appearance or manner, to the reputation of Dr. +Strong or Dr. Strong's boys, and the Doctor himself was the idol of the +whole school.</p> + +<p>On that first day when I returned home from school, Agnes was in the +drawing-room, waiting for her father. She met me with her pleasant +smile, and asked me how I liked the school. I told her I should like it +very much, I hoped; but I was a little strange to it at first.</p> + +<p>"You have never been to school," I said, "have you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! every day."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but you mean here, at your own home?"</p> + +<p>"Papa couldn't spare me to go anywhere else," she answered smiling and +shaking her head, "His housekeeper must be in his house, you know."</p> + +<p>"He's very fond of you, I am sure," I said.</p> + +<p>She nodded, "Yes," and went to the door to listen for his coming up, +that she might meet him on the stairs. But as he was not there, she came +back again.</p> + +<p>"Mamma has been dead ever since I was born," she said in her quiet way. +"I only know her picture, downstairs. I saw you looking at it yesterday. +Did you think whose it was?"</p> + +<p>I told her yes, because it was so like herself.</p> + +<p>"Papa says so, too," said Agnes, pleased. "Hark! that's Papa now!"</p> + +<p>Her bright calm face lighted up with pleasure as she went to meet him, +and as they came in, hand in hand; and from that time as I watched her +day by day, I saw no trace in Agnes of anything but single-hearted +devotion to that father, whose wants she cared for so untiringly in her +beautiful quiet way.</p> + +<p>When we had dined that night, we went upstairs again, where everything +went on exactly as on the previous day. Agnes set the glasses and +decanters in the same corner, and Mr. Wickfield sat down to drink. Agnes +played the piano to him, sat by him, and worked and talked, and played +some games at dominoes with me. In good time she made tea; and +afterwards, when I brought down my books, looked into them, and showed +me what she knew of them (which was no slight matter, though she said it +was), and what was the best way to learn and understand them. I see her, +with her modest, orderly, placid, manner, and I hear her beautiful, +calm voice, as I write these words. The influence for all good, which +she came to exercise over me at a later time begins already to descend +upon my breast. I love little Emily, and I don't love Agnes--no, not at +all in that way--but I feel that there are goodness, peace, and truth +wherever Agnes is; and that the soft light of the colored window in the +church, seen long ago, falls on her always, and on me when I am near +her, and on everything around.</p> + +<p>The time having come for her withdrawal for the night, as I gave Mr. +Wickfield my hand, preparatory to going away myself, he checked me and +said; "Should you like to stay with us, Trotwood, or go elsewhere?"</p> + +<p>"To stay," I answered quickly.</p> + +<p>"You are sure?"</p> + +<p>"If you please. If I may."</p> + +<p>"Why, it's but a dull life that we lead here, boy, I'm afraid," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not more dull for me than Agnes, sir. Not dull at all!"</p> + +<p>"Than Agnes," he repeated, walking slowly to the great chimney-piece, +and leaning against it. "Than Agnes! Now I wonder," he muttered, +"whether my Agnes tires of me. When should I ever tire of her? But +that's different, that's quite different."</p> + +<p>He was musing, not speaking to me; so I remained quiet.</p> + +<p>"A dull, old house," he said, "and a monotonous life, Stay with us, +Trotwood, eh?" he added in his usual manner, and as if he were +answering something I had just said. "I'm glad of it. You are company to +us both. It is wholesome to have you here. Wholesome for me, wholesome +for Agnes wholesome perhaps for all of us."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it is for me, sir," I said, "I'm so glad to be here."</p> + +<p>"That's a fine fellow!" said Mr. Wickfield. "As long as you are glad to +be here, you shall stay here."</p> + +<p>And so I lived at Mr. Wickfield's through the remainder of my +schooldays, and to Agnes, as the months went by, I turned more and more +often for advice and counsel.</p> + +<p>We saw a good deal of Dr. Strong's wife, both because she had taken a +liking to me, and because she was very fond of Agnes, and was often +backwards and forwards at our house, and we had pleasant evenings at the +doctor's too, with other guests, when we had merry round games of cards, +or music--for both Mrs. Strong and Agnes sang sweetly--and so, with +weekly visits from my aunt, and walks and talks with Agnes, and the +events and phases of feeling too numerous to chronicle, which make up a +boy's existence, my schooldays glided all too swiftly by.</p> + +<p>Time has stolen on unobserved. I am higher in the school and no one +breaks my peace. Dr. Strong refers to me in public as a promising young +scholar, and my aunt remits me a guinea by next post. And what comes +now? I am the head boy! I look down on the line of boys below me, with a +condescending interest in such of them as bring to my mind the boy I was +myself, when I first came there. That little fellow seems to be no part +of me; I remember him as something left behind upon the road of +life--and almost think of him as of some one else.</p> + +<p>What other changes have come upon me, beside the changes in my growth +and looks, and in the knowledge I have garnered all this while? I wear a +gold watch and chain, a ring upon my little finger, and a long-tailed +coat; and twice have I been desperately in love with a fair damsel, and +have twice recovered.</p> + +<p>And the little girl I saw on that first day at Mr. Wickfield's, where +is she? Gone also. In her stead, the perfect likeness of the picture, a +child's likeness no more, moves about the house; and Agnes, my sweet +sister, as I call her in my thoughts, my counsellor and friend, the +better angel of the lives of all who come within her calm, good, +self-denying influence--is quite a woman.</p> + +<p>When the time came to take leave of Agnes and her father, though it +saddened me, my mind was so filled with thoughts of self that I paid +little heed to Agnes and her brave farewell, nor did I realize what her +loneliness would be when the old and silent house was made doubly silent +by the removal of a boy's presence. I did not then understand what her +devotion to the elderly father and his interests held of sacrifice for +one so young, nor of what fine clay the girl was moulded. But in later +years I realized it fully, and looking back, I always saw her as when on +that first day, in the grave light of the old staircase, I thought of +the stained-glass window, associating something of its tranquil +brightness with her ever afterwards.</p> + +<p>With Agnes the woman, and the influence for all good which she came to +exercise over me at a later time, this story does not deal. It need only +record the simple details of the girl's quiet life,--of the girl's calm +strong nature,--that there were goodness, peace and truth wherever Agnes +was,--Agnes, my boyhood's sister, counsellor and friend.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<pre> + + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11126 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0266.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0266.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..da98e32 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0266.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0268.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0268.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b8e33e --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0268.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0270.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0270.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f175917 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0270.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0272.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0272.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23a5c15 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0272.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0274.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0274.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81e361f --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0274.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0276.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0276.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..abc4d33 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0276.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0278.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0278.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..55e79be --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0278.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0280.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0280.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c84f14b --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0280.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0282.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0282.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33fe843 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0282.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0284.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0284.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2393a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0284.jpg diff --git a/11126-h/images/Illus0286.jpg b/11126-h/images/Illus0286.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f60c27 --- /dev/null +++ b/11126-h/images/Illus0286.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a85e028 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11126 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11126) diff --git a/old/11126-h.zip b/old/11126-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7f5d30 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11126-h.zip diff --git a/old/11126-h/11126-h.htm b/old/11126-h/11126-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1912c9b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11126-h/11126-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7596 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ten Girls from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson Sweetser</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size:10pt;} + // --> + .ind { MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; MARGIN-RIGHT: 10% } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Ten Girls from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson +Sweetser, Illustrated by George Alfred Williams</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a> + +Title: Ten Girls from Dickens + +Author: Kate Dickinson Sweetser + +Release Date: February 17, 2004 [eBook #11126] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS*** + + +</pre> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0266.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0266.jpg" width = "35%" alt="LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."> +</a><br><b>"LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h1>TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4> + +<br> +<h3>"TEN BOYS FROM DICKENS" "TEN GREAT ADVENTURERS" +"BOOK OF INDIAN BRAVES" ETC.</h3> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY +GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS</h4> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS</h2> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> + +<p>As a companion volume to Ten Boys from Dickens, this book of girl-life, +portrayed by the great author, is offered.</p> + +<p>The sketches have the same underlying motive as those of boy-life, and +have been compiled in the same manner, with the same purpose in view.</p> + +<p>Among them will be found several of the most popular of the creations of +Dickens, notably, The Marchioness, Little Nell, Jenny Wren, and Florence +Dombey, and it is hoped that in this presentation as simple stories of +girlhood, their classic form and beauty may arouse in the young people +of our day a new interest in the novels from which they are taken.</p> + +<p>This volume and its companion will have accomplished their purpose when +they have won fresh laurels and a wider audience for the famous writer +to whom they are indebted for their existence.</p> + +<p>K.D.S. <i>April, 1902</i>.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<ul> +<li><a href="#THE_MARCHIONESS.">THE MARCHIONESS.</a></li> +<li><a href="#MORLEENA_KENWIGS.">MORLEENA KENWIGS.</a></li> +<li><a href="#LITTLE_NELL.">LITTLE NELL.</a></li> +<li><a href="#THE_INFANT_PHENOMENON.">THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</a></li> +<li><a href="#JENNY_WREN.">JENNY WREN.</a></li> +<li><a href="#SISSY_JUPE.">SISSY JUPE.</a></li> +<li><a href="#FLORENCE_DOMBEY.">FLORENCE DOMBEY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHARLEY.">CHARLEY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#TILLY_SLOWBOY.">TILLY SLOWBOY.</a></li> +<li><a href="#AGNES_WICKFIELD.">AGNES WICKFIELD.</a></li> +</ul> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="THE_MARCHIONESS."></a>THE MARCHIONESS.</h2> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0268.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0268.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER."> +</a><br><b>"THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>THE MARCHIONESS.</h2> + +<p>The Marchioness was a small servant employed by Sampson Brass and his +sister Sally, as general house-worker and drudge, in which capacity she +was discovered by Mr. Richard Swiveller, upon the very first day of his +entering the Brass establishment as clerk.</p> + +<p>The Brasses' house was a small one in Bevis Marks, London, having upon +its door a plate, "Brass, Solicitor," and a bill tied to the knocker, +"First floor to let to a single gentleman," and served not only as +habitation, but likewise as office for Sampson Brass,--of none too good +legal repute,--and his sister; a gaunt, bony copy of her red-haired +brother, who was his housekeeper, as well as his business partner.</p> + +<p>When the Brasses decided to keep a clerk, Richard Swiveller was chosen +to fill the place; and be it known to whom it may concern, that the said +Richard was the merriest, laziest, weakest, most kind-hearted fellow who +ever sowed a large crop of wild oats, and by a sudden stroke of +good-luck found himself raised to a salaried position.</p> + +<p>Clad in a blue jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, bought for +acquatic expeditions, but now dedicated to office purposes, Richard +entered upon his new duties, and during that first afternoon, while Mr. +Brass and his sister were temporarily absent from the office, he began a +minute examination of its contents.</p> + +<p>Then, after assuaging his thirst with a pint of mild porter, and +receiving and dismissing three or four small boys who dropped in on +legal errands from other attorneys, with about as correct an +understanding of their business as would have been shown by a clown in a +pantomime under similar circumstances, he tried his hand at a +pen-and-ink caricature of Miss Brass, in which work he was busily +engaged, when there came a rapping at the office-door.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" said Dick. "Don't stand on ceremony. The business will get +rather complicated if I have many more customers. Come in!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please," said a little voice very low down in the doorway, "will +you come and show the lodgings?"</p> + +<p>Dick leaned 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.</p> + +<p>"Why, who are you?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>To which the only reply was, "Oh, please, will you come and show the +lodgings?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I haven't got anything to do with the lodgings," said Dick. "Tell 'em +to call again."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you show 'em yourself? You seem to know all about 'em," said +Dick.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally said I wasn't to, because people wouldn't believe the +attendance was good if they saw how small I was, first."</p> + +<p>"Well, but they'll see how small you are afterwards, won't they?" said +Dick.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"This is a queer sort of thing," muttered Dick, rising. "What do you +mean to say you are--the cook?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I do plain cooking," replied the child. "I'm housemaid too. I do +all the work of the house."</p> + +<p>Just then certain sounds on the passage and staircase seemed to denote +the applicant's impatience. Richard Swiveller, therefore, hurried out to +meet and treat with the single gentleman.</p> + +<p>He was a little surprised to perceive that the sounds were occasioned by +the progress upstairs of a trunk, which the single gentleman and his +coachman were endeavoring to convey up the steep ascent. Mr. Swiveller +followed slowly behind, entering a new protest on every stair against +the house of Mr. Sampson Brass being thus taken by storm.</p> + +<p>To these remonstrances the single gentleman answered not a word, but +when the trunk was at last got into the bedroom, sat down upon it, and +wiped his bald head with his handkerchief. He then announced abruptly +that he would take the room for two years, whereupon, handing a +ten-pound note to the astonished Mr. Swiveller, he began to make ready +to retire, as if it were night instead of day, and Mr. Swiveller walked +downstairs into the office again, filled with wonderment concerning both +the strange new lodger and the small servant who had appeared to +answer the bell.</p> + +<p>After that day, 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 a bell rang, 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 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.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Dick, one day, 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. I <i>should</i> like to know how they +use her!"</p> + +<p>At that moment he caught a glimpse of Miss Brass flitting down the +kitchen stairs. "And, by Jove!" thought Dick, "She's going to feed the +small servant. Now or never!"</p> + +<p>First peeping over the handrail, he groped his way down, and arrived at +the kitchen door immediately after Miss Brass had entered the same, +bearing in her hand a cold leg of mutton.</p> + +<p>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 was screwed up so tight as +to hold no more than a 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 on.</p> + +<p>The small servant stood with humility in presence of Miss Sally, and +hung her head.</p> + +<p>"Are you there?" said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>"Yes ma'am," was the answer, in a weak voice.</p> + +<p>"Go further away from the leg of mutton, or you'll be picking it, I +know," said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>The girl withdrew into a corner, while Miss Brass opened the safe, and +brought from it a dreary waste of cold potatoes, looking as eatable as +Stonehenge. This she placed before the small servant, and then, taking +up a great carving-knife, made a mighty show of sharpening it.</p> + +<p>"Do you see this?" she said, slicing off about two square inches of cold +mutton, and holding it out on the point of a fork.</p> + +<p>The small servant looked hard enough at it with her hungry eyes to see +every shred of it and answered, "Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then don't you ever go and say," retorted Miss Sally, "that you hadn't +meat here. There, eat it up."</p> + +<p>This was soon done.</p> + +<p>"Now, do you want any more?" said Miss Sally.</p> + +<p>The hungry creature answered with a faint "No." They were evidently +going through an established form.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>With those words, Miss Sally put the meat away, locked the meat-safe, +and then overlooked the small servant while she finished the potatoes. +After that, without the smallest cause, she rapped the child with the +blade of the knife, now on her hand, now on her head, and now on her +back. Then, after walking slowly backward towards the door, she darted +suddenly forward, and falling on the small servant again, gave her some +hard blows with her clenched fists. The victim cried, but in a subdued +manner, as if she feared to raise her voice; and Miss Sally ascended the +stairs just as Richard had safely reached the office, fairly beside +himself with anger over the poor child's misery and ill-treatment.</p> + +<p>During the following weeks, when he had become accustomed to the routine +of work which he was expected to accomplish, and being often left alone +in the office, Richard Swiveller began to find time hang heavy on his +hands. For the better preservation of his cheerfulness, therefore, he +accustomed himself to play at cribbage with a dummy. While he was +silently conducting one of these games Mr. Swiveller began to think that +he heard a kind of 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, 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.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I didn't mean any harm, indeed, upon my word I didn't," cried the +small servant; "it's so very dull downstairs. Please don't you tell upon +me, please don't."</p> + +<p>"Tell upon you!" said Dick. "Do you mean to say you were looking through +the keyhole for company?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, upon my word I was," replied the small servant.</p> + +<p>"How long have you been cooling your eye there?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ever since you first began to play them cards, and long before."</p> + +<p>"Well--come in," said Mr. Swiveller, after a little consideration. +"Here--sit down, and I'll teach you how to play."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I durstn't do it," rejoined the small servant; "Miss Sally 'ud kill +me if she knowed I come up here."</p> + +<p>"Have you got a fire downstairs?" said Dick.</p> + +<p>"A very little one," replied the small servant.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally couldn't kill me if she knowed 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?"</p> + +<p>"It an't my fault."</p> + +<p>"Could you eat any bread and meat?" said Dick, taking down his hat "Yes? +Ah! I thought so. Did you ever taste beer?"</p> + +<p>"I had a sip of it once," said the small servant.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently he returned, followed by a boy from the public-house, who bore +a plate of bread and beef, and a great pot filled with choice purl. +Relieving the boy of his burden, and charging his little companion to +fasten the door to prevent surprise, Mr. Swiveller followed her into +the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Richard, putting the plate before her. "First of all, +clear that off, and then you'll see what's next."</p> + +<p>The small servant needed no second bidding, and the plate was soon +empty.</p> + +<p>"Next," said Dick, handing the purl, "take a pull at that, but moderate +your transports, for you're not used to it. Well, is it good?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>isn't</i> it!" said the small servant.</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller appeared immensely gratified over her enjoyment, and when +she had satisfied her hunger, applied himself to teaching her the game, +which she soon learned tolerably well, being both sharp-witted +and cunning.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Mr. Swiveller, "to make it seem more real and pleasant, I +shall call you the Marchioness, do you hear?"</p> + +<p>The small servant nodded.</p> + +<p>"Then, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "fire away!"</p> + +<p>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, waited for her lead.</p> + +<p>They had played several rubbers, when the striking of ten o'clock +rendered Mr. Swiveller mindful of the flight of time, and of the +expediency of withdrawing before Mr. Sampson and Miss Sally +Brass returned.</p> + +<p>"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. The Baron Sampsono Brasso and his fair sister are, you tell +me, at the Play?" added 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.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness nodded.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said Mr. Swiveller, with a portentous frown. "'Tis well. +Marchioness!--but no matter. Some wine there, ho! Marchioness, +your health."</p> + +<p>The small servant, who was not so well acquainted with theatrical +conventionalities as Mr. Swiveller, was rather alarmed by his manner, +and showed it so plainly that he felt it necessary to discharge his +brigand bearing for one more suitable to private life.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness nodded amazingly.</p> + +<p>"Complimentary?" asked Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness shook her head violently.</p> + +<p>"H'm!" Dick muttered. "Would it be any breach of confidence, +Marchioness, to relate what they say of the humble individual who has +now the honor to--?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally says you are a funny chap," replied his friend.</p> + +<p>"Well, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "that's not uncomplimentary. +Merriment, Marchioness, is not a bad of a degrading quality. Old King +Cole was himself a merry old soul, if we may put any faith in the pages +of history."</p> + +<p>"But she says," pursued his companion, "that you aren't to be trusted."</p> + +<p>"Why, really, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller thoughtfully, "it's a +popular prejudice, and yet I'm sure I don't know why, for I've 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?"</p> + +<p>His friend nodded again, adding imploringly, "But don't you ever tell +upon me, or I shall be beat to death."</p> + +<p>"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'm your friend, and I +hope we shall play many more rubbers together. But, Marchioness," added +Richard, "it occurs to me that you must be in the constant habit of +airing your eye at keyholes to know this."</p> + +<p>"I only wanted," replied the trembling Marchioness, "to know where the +key of the meat-safe was hid--that was all; and I wouldn't have taken +much if I had found it--only enough to squench my hunger."</p> + +<p>"You didn't find it, then?" said Dick, "but, of course, you didn't, or +of course you'd be plumper. Good-night, Marchioness, fare thee well, and +if forever, then forever fare thee well. And put up the chain, +Marchioness, in case of accidents!"</p> + +<p>Upon repairing to Bevis Marks on the following morning, he found Miss +Brass much agitated over the disappearance from the office of several +small articles, as well as three half crowns, and Richard felt much +troubled over the matter, saying to himself, "Then, by Jove, I'm afraid +the Marchioness is done for!"</p> + +<p>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, rather +than receive fifty pounds down, he would have the Marchioness +proved innocent.</p> + +<p>While the subject of the thefts was under discussion, Kit Nubbles, a lad +in the employ of a Mr. Garland, passed through the office, on his way +upstairs to the room of the Brasses' lodger, the single gentleman, who +was an intimate friend of Kit's employer. The single gentleman having +been confined to his room for some time by a slight illness, it had +become Kit's daily custom to convey to him messages and notes from Mr. +Garland, and not infrequently Sampson Brass would detain the lad in the +office for a few words of pleasant conversation.</p> + +<p>Having discharged his errand, Kit came downstairs again, finding no one +in the office except Mr. Brass, who, after greeting him affably, +requested him to mind the office for one minute while he ran upstairs. +Mr. Brass returned almost immediately, Mr. Swiveller came in too, at the +same instant, likewise Miss Sally, and Kit, released, at once set off on +a run towards home, eager to make up for lost time. As he was running, +he was suddenly arrested and held in restraint, by no less a person than +Sampson Brass himself, accompanied by Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>A five-pound note was missing from the office. Kit had been alone there +for some minutes. Who could have taken it but Kit?</p> + +<p>Pleased to have suspicion diverted from the Marchioness, but loath to +help in so unpleasant an affair, Mr. Swiveller reluctantly assisted in +bearing the captive back to the office, Kit protesting his innocence at +every step. They searched him, and there under the lining of his hat was +the missing bank-note!</p> + +<p>Still protesting his innocence, and completely stunned by the calamity +which had come upon him, the lad was borne off to prison, where, after +eleven weary days had dragged away, he was brought to trial. Richard +Swiveller was called as a witness against Kit, and told his tale with +reluctance, and an evident desire to make the best of it, for the lad's +sake. His kind heart was also touched with pity for Kit's poor widowed +mother, who sobbed out again and again, that she had never had cause to +doubt her son's honesty, and she never would.</p> + +<p>When the trial was ended, and Kit found guilty, Richard bore the lad's +fainting mother swiftly off in a coach he had ready for the purpose, +and on the way comforted her in his own peculiar fashion, perpetrating +the most astounding absurdities of quotation from song and poem that +ever were heard. Reaching her home, he stayed till she was recovered; +then returned to Bevis Marks, where Mr. Brass met him with the news that +his services would be no longer required in the establishment.</p> + +<p>Feeling sure that this verdict was in consequence of his defence of Kit, +Mr. Swiveller took his dismissal in profound silence, and turned his +back upon Bevis Marks, big with designs for the comforting of Kit's +mother, and the aid of Kit himself. His only regret in regard to the +matter was in having to leave the Marchioness alone and unprotected in +the hands of the Brasses, and little did he dream that to the small +servant herself, to the Marchioness, rather than to him, Kit and his +mother were to owe their heaviest debt of gratitude--but it was so +to be.</p> + +<p>That very night Mr. Richard was seized with an alarming illness, and in +twenty-four hours was stricken with a raging fever, and lay tossing upon +his hot, uneasy bed, unconscious of anything but weariness and worry and +pain, until at length he sank into a deep sleep. He awoke, and with a +sensation of blissful rest better than sleep itself, began to dimly +remember, and to think what a long night it had been, and to wonder +whether he had not been delirious once or twice. Still, he felt +indifferent and happy, and having no curiosity to pursue the subject, +remained in a 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. But he +lacked energy to follow up this train of thought, and in a luxury of +repose, lay 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.</p> + +<p>He was rambling in imagination on these terraces, when he heard the +cough once more. Raising himself a little in the bed, he looked +about him.</p> + +<p>The same room, certainly, but with what unbounded astonishment did he +see bottles, and basins, and articles of linen airing by the fire--all +very clean and neat, but 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!</p> + +<p>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, going through all the mysteries of cribbage as if +she had been in full practice from her cradle!</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller contemplated these things for a short time, then laid his +head on the pillow again.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Here the small servant had another cough.</p> + +<p>"Very remarkable!" thought Mr. Swiveller. "I never dreamed such a real +cough as that before. There's another--and another--I say!--I'm dreaming +rather fast!</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Not feeling quite satisfied with this explanation, Mr. Swiveller +determined to take the first opportunity of addressing his companion. An +occasion soon 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!"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness jumped up quickly, and clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"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 and jewels on their heads!"</p> + +<p>It appeared however, that she had only clapped her hands for joy, as +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."</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "will you have the goodness to inform +me where I shall find my voice; and what has become of my flesh?"</p> + +<p>The Marchioness only shook her head mournfully, and cried again, +whereupon Mr. Swiveller (being very weak) felt his own eyes +affected likewise.</p> + +<p>"I begin to infer, Marchioness," said Richard, after a pause, "that I +have been ill."</p> + +<p>"You just have!" replied the small servant, wiping her eyes. "Haven't +you been a-talking nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!", said Dick. "Very ill, Marchioness, have I been?"</p> + +<p>"Dead, all but," replied the small servant. "I never thought you'd get +better."</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller was silent for a long period. By and by he inquired how +long he had been there.</p> + +<p>"Three weeks to-morrow." replied the small servant, "three long slow +weeks."</p> + +<p>The bare thought of having been in such extremity caused Richard to fall +into another silence. The Marchioness, having arranged the bedclothes +more comfortably, and felt that his hands and forehead were quite cool, +cried a little more, and then applied herself to getting tea ready, and +making some thin dry toast.</p> + +<p>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. She propped him up with pillows, and looked on with unutterable +satisfaction, while he took his poor meal with a relish which the +greatest dainties of the earth might have failed to provoke. Having +cleared away, and disposed everything comfortably about him again, she +sat down to take her own tea.</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "have you seen Sally lately?"</p> + +<p>"Seen her!" cried the small servant. "Bless you, I've run away!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller immediately laid himself down again, and so remained for +about five minutes. After that lapse of time he resumed his sitting +posture, and inquired,--</p> + +<p>"And where do you live, Marchioness?"</p> + +<p>"Live!" cried the small servant. "Here!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Swiveller.</p> + +<p>With that he fell down flat again, as suddenly as if he had been shot. +Thus he remained until she had finished her meal, when being propped up +again he opened a further conversation.</p> + +<p>"And so," said Dick, "you have run away?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Marchioness; "and they've been a 'tising of me."</p> + +<p>"Been--I beg your pardon," said Dick. "What have they been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Been a 'tising of me--'tising, you know, in the newspapers," rejoined +the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye," said Dick, "Advertising?"</p> + +<p>The small servant nodded and winked.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," continued Richard, "how it was that you thought of coming +here?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you see," returned the Marchioness, "when you was gone, I hadn't +any friend at all, and I didn't know where you was to be found, you +know. But one morning, when I was near the office keyhole 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. So I run away that night, and come +here, and told 'em you was my brother, and I've been here ever since."</p> + +<p>"This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!" cried +Dick.</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't," she replied, "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."</p> + +<p>"Liverer, indeed!" said Dick thoughtfully. "It's well I am a liverer. I +strongly suspect I should have died, Marchioness, but for you."</p> + +<p>At this point, Mr. Swiveller took the small servant's hand in his, +struggling to express his thanks, but she quickly changed the theme, +urging him to shut his eyes and take a little rest. Being indeed +fatigued, he needed but little urging, and fell into a slumber, from +which he waked in about half an hour, after which his small friend +helped him to sit up again.</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Richard suddenly, "What has become of Kit?"</p> + +<p>"He has been sentenced to transportation for a great many years," she +said.</p> + +<p>"Has he gone?" asked Dick, "His mother, what has become of her?"</p> + +<p>His nurse shook her head, and answered that she knew nothing about them. +"But if I thought," said she presently, "that you'd not put yourself +into another fever, I could tell you something--but I won't, now. Wait +till you're better, then I'll tell you."</p> + +<p>Dick looked very earnestly at his little friend, and urged her to tell +him the worst at once.</p> + +<p>Unable to resist his fervent adjurations, the Marchioness spoke thus:</p> + +<p>"Well! Before I run away, I used to sleep in the kitchen. Miss Sally +used to keep the key of the door in her pocket, and she always come down +at night to take away the candle and rake out the fire. Then she left me +to go to bed in the dark, locked the door on the outside, and kept me +locked up till she came down in the morning 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, you know. So, whenever I see an old key, I +picked it up and tried if it would fit the door, and at last I found a +key that did fit it. They kept me very short," said the small servant, +"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, or even pieces +of orange-peel to put into cold water, and make believe it was wine. If +you make believe very much, it's quite nice," continued the small +servant; "but if you don't, you know, it seems as if it would bear a +little more seasoning! Well, one or two nights before the young man was +took, I come upstairs while Mr. Brass and Miss Sally was a-sittin by the +office fire and talking softly together. They whispered and laughed for +a long time, about there being no danger if it was well done; that they +must do what their best client, Quilp, desired, and that for his own +reasons, he hated Kit, and wanted to have his reputation ruined. Then +Mr. Brass pulls out his pocket-book, and says, 'Well, here it +is--Quilp's own five-pound note. Kit is coming to-morrow morning, I +know. I'll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat, +and then convict him of theft. And if that don't get Kit out of Mr. +Quilp's way, and satisfy his grudge against the lad,' he said, 'the +devil's in it,' Then they seemed to be moving away, and I was afraid to +stop any longer. There!"</p> + +<p>The small servant was so much agitated herself that she made no effort +to restrain Mr. Swiveller when he sat up in bed, and hastily demanded +whether this story had been told to anybody.</p> + +<p>"How could it be?" replied his nurse. "When I heard 'em say that you was +gone, and so was the lodger, and ever since I come here, you've been out +of your senses, so what would have been the good of telling you then?"</p> + +<p>"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "if you'll do me the favor to retire +for a few minutes, and see what sort of a night it is, I'll get up,"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think of such a thing," cried his nurse.</p> + +<p>"I must indeed," said the patient. "Whereabouts are my clothes?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad--you haven't got any," replied the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Ma'am!" said Mr. Swiveller, in great astonishment.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," said Richard dolefully, "that you're right. Now, what is +to be done?"</p> + +<p>It occurred to him, on very little reflection, that the first step to +take would be to communicate with Kit's employer, Mr. Garland, or with +his son Mr. Abel, at once. It was possible that Mr. Abel had not yet +left his office. In as little time as it takes to tell it, the small +servant had the address on a piece of paper, and a description of father +and son, which would enable her to recognize either without difficulty. +Armed with these slender powers, she hurried away, commissioned to bring +either Mr. Garland or Mr. Abel bodily to Mr. Swiveller's apartment.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No, nothing."</p> + +<p>"Its 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."</p> + +<p>The small servant went swiftly on her way, towards the office of the +Notary, Mr. Witherden, where Mr. Garland was to be found. She had no +bonnet, only a great cap on her head, which in some old time had been +worn by Sally Brass;--and her shoes being extremely large and slipshod, +flew off every now and then, and were difficult to find. Indeed the poor +little creature experienced so much trouble and delay from having to +grope for them in the mud, and suffered so much jostling, pushing, and +squeezing in these researches, that between it, and her fear of being +recognized by some one, and carried back by force to the Brasses, when +she at last reached the Notary's office, she was fairly worn out, and +could not refrain from tears. But to have got there was a comfort, and +she found Mr. Abel in the act of entering his pony-chaise and driving +away. There was nothing for her to do but to run after the chaise and +call to Mr. Abel to stop. Being out of breath, 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 she could +go no farther, clambered by a vigorous effort into the hinder seat, +where she remained in silence, until she had to some degree recovered +her breath, and become accustomed to the novelty of her position, when +she uttered close into Mr. Abel's ear the words,--</p> + +<p>"I say, sir."</p> + +<p>He turned his head quickly enough then, and stopping the pony, cried +with some trepidation, "God bless me! what is this?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be frightened, sir," replied the still panting messenger. "Oh, +I've run such a way after you!"</p> + +<p>"What do you want with me?" said Mr. Abel. "How did you come here?"</p> + +<p>"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 is of consequence. There's somebody wants to see +you there. He sent me to say, would you come directly, and that he +knows all about Kit, and could save him yet, and prove his innocence."</p> + +<p>"What do you tell me, child?"</p> + +<p>"The truth, upon my word and honor, I do. But please to drive on--quick, +please! I've been such a time gone, he'll think I'm lost"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel urged the pony forward, and at last they arrived at the door of +Mr. Swiveller's lodgings.</p> + +<p>"See! It's that room up there," said the Marchioness, pointing to one +where there was a faint light. "Come!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel who was naturally timid, hesitated; for he had heard of people +being decoyed into strange places, to be robbed and murdered, under +circumstances very like the present, by guides very like the +Marchioness. His regard for Kit, however, overcame every other +consideration. So he suffered his companion to lead him up the dark and +narrow stair, into a dimly lighted sick-chamber, where a man was lying +tranquilly in bed, in whose wasted face he recognized the features of +Richard Swiveller.</p> + +<p>"Why, how is this?" said Mr. Abel, kindly, "You have been ill?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel seemed rather astonished to hear of the quality of his guide, +and took a chair by the bedside.</p> + +<p>"I have sent for you, sir," said Dick--"but she told you on what +account?"</p> + +<p>"She did. I am quite bewildered by all this. I really don't know what to +say or think," replied Mr. Abel.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The story was repeated, without any deviation or omission, after which +Richard Swiveller took the word again;</p> + +<p>"You have heard it all," said Richard. "I'm too giddy and queer to +suggest anything, but you and your friends will know what to do. After +this long delay, every minute is an age. Don't stop to say one word to +me, but go! If you lose another minute in looking at me, sir, I'll never +forgive you!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel needed no more persuasion. To Dick's unbounded delight he was +gone in an instant, and Mr. Swiveller, exhausted by the interview, was +soon asleep, murmuring 'Strew, then, oh strew a bed of rushes. Here will +we stay till morning blushes.' "Good-night, Marchioness!"</p> + +<p>On awaking in the morning, he became conscious of whispering voices in +his room, and espied Mr. Garland, Mr. Abel, and two other gentlemen +talking earnestly with the Marchioness. Upon perceiving the invalid to +be awake, Mr. Garland stretched out his hand, and inquired how Mr. +Swiveller felt; adding</p> + +<p>"And what can we do for you?"</p> + +<p>"If you could make the Marchioness yonder, a Marchioness in real, sober +earnest," returned Dick, "I'd thank you to get it done offhand. But as +you can't, the question is, what is it best to do for Kit?"</p> + +<p>Gathering around Mr. Swiveller's bedside, the group of gentlemen then +proceeded to discuss in detail all the evidence against Sampson Brass, +as contained in the confession of the Marchioness, and what course was +wisest to pursue in the matter. After which the gentlemen took their +leaves for a time, or Richard Swiveller must assuredly have been driven +into another fever, in consequence of having entered into such an +exciting discussion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Abel alone remained behind, very often looking at his watch and the +room-door, until the reason of his watchfulness was disclosed when Mr. +Swiveller was roused from a short nap by the delivery at his door of a +mighty hamper, which, being opened, disgorged such treasures of tea, and +coffee, and wine, and rusk, and oranges, and grapes, and fowls, and +calvesfoot jelly, and other delicate restoratives, that the small +servant stood rooted to the spot, with her mouth and eyes watering in +unison, and her power of speech quite gone. With the hamper appeared +also a nice old lady, who bustled about on tiptoe, began to make +chicken-broth, and peel oranges for the sick man, and to ply the small +servant with glasses of wine, and choice bits of everything. The whole +of which was so bewildering that Mr. Swiveller, when he had taken two +oranges and a little jelly, was fain to lie down and fall asleep again, +from sheer inability to entertain such wonders in his mind.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the other gentlemen, who had left Richard Swiveller's room, +had retired to a coffee-house near by, from whence they sent a +peremptory and mysterious summons to Miss Sally Brass to favor them with +her company there as soon as possible. To this she replied by an almost +immediate appearance, whereupon, without any loss of time, she was +confronted with the tale of the small servant. While it was being +related for her benefit, Sampson Brass himself suddenly opened the door +of the coffee-house and joined the astonished group. Hearing the certain +proofs of his guilt so clearly related, he saw that evasion was useless, +and made a full confession of the scheme whereby Kit was to have been +doomed, but laying the entire blame, however, upon the rich little +dwarf, Quilp, saying that he could not afford to lose his rich client, +nor the large bribe he offered for the arrest of the lad, Kit.</p> + +<p>Having secured the desired confession, the gentlemen hastened back to +Mr. Swiveller's room with the glad tidings, adding that it would now be +possible to accomplish the lad's immediate release, after making which +joyful statement, they took their departure for the night, leaving the +invalid with the small servant and one of their number, Mr. Witherden, +the notary, who remained behind to be the bearer of good news to +the invalid.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Deceased!" cried Dick.</p> + +<p>"Deceased. And by the terms of her will, you have fallen into an annuity +of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; I think I may congratulate you +upon that."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, even with the +strong tonic of his good fortune, 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.</p> + +<p>After casting about for some time for a name which should be worthy of +her, he decided in favor 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 expense of her education kept +him in straightened circumstances for half-a-dozen years, he never +slackened in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by +the accounts he heard of her advancement.</p> + +<p>In a word, Mr. Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment +until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age, at which +time, thanks to her earliest friend and most loyal champion, Richard +Swiveller, the shadows of a bitter past had been chased from her memory +by a happy present, and she was as good-looking, clever, and +good-humored a young woman as ever a real Marchioness might have been.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="MORLEENA_KENWIGS."></a>MORLEENA KENWIGS.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0270.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0270.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE KENWIGSES."> +</a><br><b>"THE KENWIGSES."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>MORLEENA KENWIGS.</h2> + +<p>The family who went by the designation of "The Kenwigses" were the wife +and olive branches of one Mr. Kenwigs, a turner in ivory, who was looked +upon as a person of some consideration where he lodged, inasmuch as he +occupied the whole of the first floor, comprising a suite of two rooms. +Mrs. Kenwigs too, was quite a lady in her manners, and of a very genteel +family, having an uncle, Mr. Lillyvick, who collected a water-rate, and +who she fondly hoped, would make her children his heirs. Besides which +distinction, the two eldest of her little girls went twice a week to a +dancing-school in the neighborhood, and had flaxen hair tied with blue +ribbons, hanging in luxuriant pigtails down their backs, and wore little +white trousers with frills round the ankles;--for all of which reasons +Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs, and the four olive Kenwigses, and the baby, were +considered quite important persons to know.</p> + +<p>Upon the eighth anniversary of Mrs. Kenwigs' marriage to Mr. Kenwigs, +they entertained a select party of friends, and on that occasion, after +supper had been served, the group gathered by the fireside; Mr. +Lillyvick being stationed in a large arm-chair, and the four little +Kenwigses disposed on a small form in front of the company, with their +flaxen tails towards them, and their faces to the fire; an arrangement +which was no sooner perfected than Mrs. Kenwigs was overpowered by the +feelings of a mother, and fell upon Mr. Kenwigs' shoulder, dissolved +in tears.</p> + +<p>"They are so beautiful!" she said, sobbing. "I can--not help it, and it +don't signify! Oh, they're too beautiful to live--much too beautiful!"</p> + +<p>On hearing this alarming presentiment of their early death, all four +little girls raised a hideous cry, and, burying their faces in their +mother's lap simultaneously, screamed until the eight flaxen tails +vibrated; Mrs. Kenwigs meanwhile clasping them alternately to her bosom, +with attitudes expressive of distraction.</p> + +<p>At length, however, she permitted herself to be soothed, and the little +Kenwigses were distributed among the company, to prevent the possibility +of Mrs. Kenwigs being again overcome by the blaze of their united +beauty, after which, Morleena, the eldest olive branch--whose name had +been composed by Mrs. Kenwigs herself for the especial benefit of her +daughter--danced a dance. It was a very beautiful figure, comprising a +great deal of work for the arms, and was received with unbounded +applause, as were the various accomplishments displayed by others of the +party. The affair was proceeding most successfully when Mr. Lillyvick +took offence at a remark made by Mr. Kenwigs, and sat swelling and +fuming in offended dignity for some minutes, then burst out in words of +indignation. Here was an untoward event! The great man,--the rich +relation--who had it in his power to make Morleena an heiress, and the +very baby a legatee--was offended. Gracious powers, where would +this end!</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, sir," said Mr. Kenwigs humbly, but the apology was not +accepted, and Mr. Lillyvick continued to repeat; "Morleena, child, my +hat! Morleena, my hat!" until Mrs. Kenwigs sunk back in her chair, +overcome with grief, while the four little girls (privately instructed +to that effect) clasped their uncle's drab shorts in their arms, and +prayed him to remain.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lillyvick," said Kenwigs, "I hope for the sake of your niece that +you won't object to being reconciled."</p> + +<p>The collector's face relaxed, as the company added their entreaties to +those of their host. He gave up his hat and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"There, Kenwigs," he said. "And let me tell you at the same time, to +show you how much out of temper I was, that if I had gone away without +another word, it would have made no difference respecting that pound or +two which I shall leave among your children when I die."</p> + +<p>"Morleena Kenwigs," cried her mother, in a torrent of affection; "go +down upon your knees to your dear uncle and beg him to love you all his +life through, for he's more an angel than a man, and I've always +said so."</p> + +<p>Miss Morleena, approaching to do homage, was summarily caught up and +kissed by Mr. Lillyvick, and thereupon Mrs. Kenwigs herself darted +forward and kissed the collector, and all was forgiven and forgotten.</p> + +<p>No further wave of trouble ruffled the feelings of the party until +suddenly there came shrill and piercing screams from an upper room in +which the infant Kenwigs was enshrined, guarded by a small girl hired +for the purpose. Rushing to the door, Mrs. Kenwigs began to wring her +hands and shriek dismally, amid which cries, and the wails of the four +little girls, a stranger ran downstairs with the baby in his arms, +explaining hastily that, visiting a friend in a room above, he had heard +the cries, and found the baby's guardian asleep with her hair on fire. +This explanation over, the baby, who was unhurt, and who rejoiced in the +name of Lillyvick Kenwigs, was instantly almost suffocated under the +caresses of the audience, and squeezed to his mother's bosom until he +roared again. Then, after drinking the health of the child's preserver, +the company made the discovery that it was nigh two o'clock, whereat +they took their leave, with flattering expressions of the pleasure they +had enjoyed, to which Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs replied by thanking them, and +hoping they had enjoyed themselves only half as well as they said +they had.</p> + +<p>The young man, Nicholas Nickleby by name, who had rescued the baby, made +such an impression upon Mrs. Kenwigs that she felt impelled to propose +through the friend whom he had been visiting, that he should instruct +the four little Kenwigses in the French language at the weekly stipend +of five shillings; being at the rate of one shilling per week, per each +Miss Kenwigs, and one shilling over until such time as the baby might be +able to take it out in grammar.</p> + +<p>This proposition was accepted with alacrity by Nicholas, who betook +himself to the Kenwigs' apartment with all speed. Here he found the four +Miss Kenwigses on their form of audience, and the baby in a dwarf +porter's chair, with a deal tray before it, amusing himself with a toy +horse, while Mrs. Kenwigs spoke to the little girls of the superior +advantages they enjoyed above other children. "But I hope," she said, +"that that will not make them proud; but that they will bless their own +good fortune which has born them superior to common people's children. +And when you go out in the streets, or elsewhere, I desire that you +don't boast of it to the other children," continued Mrs. Kenwigs, "and +that if you must say anything about it, you don't say no more than +'we've got a private master comes to teach us at home, but we ain't +proud, because Ma says its sinful,' Do you hear, Morleena?"</p> + +<p>Upon the eldest Miss Kenwigs replying meekly that she did, permission +was conceded for the lesson to commence, and accordingly the four Miss +Kenwigses again arranged themselves upon their form, in a row, with +their tails all one way, while Nicholas Nickleby began his preliminary +explanations.</p> + +<p>Some months after this, the Kenwigses were thrown into a fever of rage +and disappointment, by receiving the cruel news of their Uncle +Lillyvick's marriage, which blow was a terrible one to Mrs. Kenwigs, +blighting her hopes for her children's future. After weeping and wailing +in the most agonized fashion, Mrs. Kenwigs drew herself up in proud +defiance, and denounced her uncle in terms direct and plain, stating +that he should never again darken her doors. In this terrible state of +affairs, it remained for Morleena of the flaxen tails, to bring about a +family re-union, and in this way:</p> + +<p>It had come to pass that she had received an invitation to repair next +day, per steamer from Westminster bridge, unto the Eel-Pie Island at +Twickenham, there to make merry upon a cold collation, and to dance in +the open air to the music of a locomotive band; the steamer having been +engaged by a dancing-master for his numerous pupils, one of whom had +extended an invitation to Miss Morleena, and Mrs. Kenwigs rightly deemed +the honor of the family was involved in her daughter making the most +splendid appearance possible. Now, between the Italian-ironing of +frills, the flouncing of trousers, the trimming of frocks, the faintings +from overwork and the comings-to again, incidental to the occasion, Mrs. +Kenwigs had been so entirely occupied, that she had not observed, until +within half an hour before, that the flaxen tails of Miss Morleena were +in a manner, run to seed; and that unless she were put under the hands +of a skilful hairdresser she never could achieve that signal triumph +over the daughters of all other people, anything less than which would +be tantamount to defeat. This discovery drove Mrs. Kenwigs to despair, +for the hairdresser lived three streets and eight dangerous crossings +off, and there was nobody to take her. So Mrs. Kenwigs first slapped +Miss Kenwigs for being the cause of her vexation, and then shed tears.</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, ma," replied Morleena, also in tears, "my hair <i>will</i> +grow!" While they were both still bemoaning and weeping, a fellow lodger +in the house came upon them, and hearing of their difficulty, offered to +escort Miss Morleena to the barber-shop, and at once led her in safety +to that establishment. The proprietor, knowing she had three sisters, +each with two flaxen tails, and all good for sixpence apiece a month at +least, promptly deserted an old gentleman whom he had just lathered for +shaving, and waited on the young lady himself. The old gentleman raising +his head, Miss Kenwigs noticed his face and uttered a shrill little +scream,--it was her Uncle Lillyvick!</p> + +<p>Hearing his name pronounced, Mr. Lillyvick groaned, then coughed to hide +it, and consigning himself to the hands of an assistant, commenced a +colloquy with Miss Morleena's escort, rather striving to escape the +notice of Miss Morleena herself, and so remarkable did this behavior +seem to her, that at the imminent hazard of having her ear sliced off, +she could not forbear looking round at him some score of times.</p> + +<p>The cutting and curling being at last concluded, the old gentleman, who +had been finished some time, and simply waiting, rose to go also, and +walked out of the establishment with Miss Morleena and her escort, +proceeding with them, in profound silence until they had nearly reached +Miss Morleena's home, when he asked if her family had been very much +overpowered by the news of his marriage.</p> + +<p>"It made ma cry when she knew it," answered Miss Morleena, "and pa was +very low in his spirits, but he is better now, and I was very ill, but I +am better too."</p> + +<p>"Would you give your great-uncle Lillyvick a kiss, if he was to ask you, +Morleena?" said the collector, with some hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Uncle Lillyvick, I would," returned Miss Morleena with no +hesitation whatsoever, whereupon Mr. Lillyvick caught her in his arms +and kissed her, and being by this time at the door of the house, he +walked straight up into the Kenwigses' sitting-room and put her down in +their midst. The surprise and delight that reigned in the bosom of the +Kenwigses at the unexpected sight, was only heightened by the joyful +intelligence that their uncle's married life had been both brief and +unsatisfactory, and by his further statement:</p> + +<p>"Out of regard for you, Susan and Kenwigs, I shall to-morrow morning +settle upon your children, and make payable to their survivors when they +come of age, or marry, that money which I once meant to leave 'em in my +will. The deed shall be executed to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>Overcome by this noble and generous offer, and by their emotion, Mr. +Kenwigs, Mrs. Kenwigs, and Miss Morleena Kenwigs all began to sob +together, and the noise communicating itself to the next room where the +other children lay a-bed, and causing them to cry too, Mr. Kenwigs +rushed wildly in, and bringing them out in his arms, by two and two, +tumbled them down in their night-caps and gowns at the feet of Mr. +Lillyvick, and called upon them to thank and bless him.</p> + +<p>And this wonderful domestic scene,--this family reconciliation was +brought about by Miss Morleena, eldest of the four little Kenwigses, +with the flaxen tails!</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="LITTLE_NELL."></a>LITTLE NELL.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0272.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0272.jpg" width = "35%" alt="LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."> +</a><br><b>"LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>LITTLE NELL.</h2> + +<p>There was once an old man, whose daughter dying, left in his care two +orphan children, a son twelve years old, and little Nell, a younger +girl. The grandfather was now an old and feeble man, but gathering +himself together as best he could, he began to trade;--in pictures +first--and then in curious ancient things, and from the Old Curiosity +Shop, as it was called, he was able to obtain a slender income.</p> + +<p>The boy grew into a wayward youth, and soon quitted his grandfather's +home for companions more suited to his taste, but sweet little Nell +remained, and grew 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 his daughter +had come back, a child again.</p> + +<p>The old man and little Nell dwelt alone,--he loving her with a +passionate devotion, and haunted with a fearful dread lest she should be +left to a life of poverty and want, when he should be called to leave +her. This fear so overmastered him that it led him to the gaming-table, +and--for her sake--he became a professional gambler, hoping to lay by a +vast fortune for her future use. But he lost heavily and constantly, +until his slender resources were exhausted, and he was obliged to borrow +money from the rich little dwarf money-lender, Quilp, pledging his stock +as security for the loans.</p> + +<p>But of all this Little Nell knew nothing, or she would have implored +him to give up the dangerous practice. She only knew that, after her +monotonous days, uncheckered by variety and uncheered by pleasant +companionship, the old man, who seemed always agitated by some hidden +care, and weak and wandering in his mind, taking his cloak and hat and +stick, would pass from the house, leaving her alone through the dreary +evenings and long solitary nights.</p> + +<p>It was not the absence of such pleasures as make young hearts beat high, +that brought tears to Nell's eyes. It was the sight of the old man's +feeble state of mind and body, and the fear that some night he should +fail to come home, having been overtaken by illness or sudden death. +Such fears as these drove the roses from her smooth young cheeks, and +stilled the songs which before had rung through the dim old shop, while +the gay, lightsome step passed among the dusty treasures. Now she seldom +smiled or sang, and among the few bits of comedy in her sad days, were +the visits of Kit Nubbles, her grandfather's errand boy, a shock-headed, +shambling, comical lad, whose devotion to the beautiful child verged on +worship. Appreciating Nell's loneliness, Kit visited the shop as often +as possible, and the exquisite oddity and awkwardness of his manner so +amused her that at sight of him she would give way to genuine merriment. +Kit himself, being always flattered by the sensation he produced, would +often burst into a loud roar, and stand with his mouth wide open, and +his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently.</p> + +<p>Twice every week Nell gave the lad a writing lesson, to the great mirth +and enjoyment of them both, and each time Kit tucked up his sleeves, +squared his elbows, and put his face very close to the copy-book, +squinting horribly at the lines, fairly wallowing in blots, and daubing +himself with ink up to the roots of his hair,--and if he did by accident +form a letter properly, he immediately smeared it out again with his +arm--and at every fresh mistake there was a fresh burst of merriment +from the child and from poor Kit himself.</p> + +<p>But of such happy times sweet Nell had few, and she became more anxious +about her grandfather's health, as he became daily more worried over the +secret which he would not share with her, and which preyed upon his mind +and body with increasing ravages.</p> + +<p>Fortune did not favor his ventures, and Quilp, having discovered for +what purpose he borrowed such large sums, refused him further loans. In +an agony of apprehension for the future, the old man told Nell that he +had had heavy losses, that they would soon be beggars.</p> + +<p>"What if we are?" said the child boldly. "Let us be beggars, and be +happy."</p> + +<p>"Beggars--and happy!" said the old man. "Poor child!"</p> + +<p>"Dear grandfather," cried the girl, with an energy which shone in her +flushed face, trembling voice, and impassioned, gestures, "O, 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."</p> + +<p>"Nelly!" said the old man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, rather than live as we do now," the child repeated, "do not +let me see such change in you, 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."</p> + +<p>The old man covered his face with his hands, as the child added, "Let us +be beggars. I have no fear but we shall have enough: I'm sure we shall. +Let us walk through country places, and never think of money again, or +anything that can make you sad, but rest at nights, and have the sun +and wind on 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 places we can find, and I will go and beg +for both."</p> + +<p>The child's voice was lost in sobs as she dropped upon the old man's +neck; nor did she weep alone.</p> + +<p>That very day news came that the Old Curiosity Shop and its contents +would at once pass into Quilp's hands, in payment of the old man's +debts. In vain he pleaded for one more chance to redeem himself--for one +more loan--Quilp was firm in his refusal of further help, and little +Nell found the old man, overcome by the news, lying upon the floor of +his room, alarmingly ill. For weeks he lay raving in the delirium of +fever, little Nell alone beside him, nursing him with a single-hearted +devotion. The house was no longer theirs; even the sick chamber they +retained by special favor until such time as the old man could be +removed. Meanwhile, Mr. Quilp had taken formal possession of the +premises, and to make sure that no more business was transacted in the +shop, was encamped in the back parlor. So keen was Nell's dread of even +the sound of the dwarfs voice, that she lived in continual apprehension +of meeting him on the stairs, or in the passage, and seldom stirred from +her grandfather's room.</p> + +<p>At length the old man began to mend--he was patient and quiet, easily +amused, and made no complaint, but his mind was forever weakened, and he +seemed to have only a dazed recollection of what had happened. Even when +Quilp told him that in two days he must be moved out of the shop, he +seemed not to take it to heart, wandering around the house, a very child +in act and thought. But a change came over him on the second evening; as +he and little Nell sat silently together. He was moved--shed +tears--begged Nell's forgiveness for what he had made her suffer--seemed +like one coming out of a dream--and urged her to help him in acting upon +what they had talked of doing long before.</p> + +<p>"We will not stop here another day," he said, "we will go far away from +here. 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 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."</p> + +<p>"We will be happy," cried the child. "We never can be, here!"</p> + +<p>"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; but thou wilt be well again, and merry too, when we +are far away. To-morrow morning, dear, we will turn our faces from this +scene of sorrow, and be as free and happy as the birds."</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>The old man had slept for some hours soundly, 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, and a staff to support +his feeble steps. But this was not all her task, for now she must say +farewell to her own little room, where she had so often knelt down and +prayed at night--prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning now! +There were some trifles there, which she would have liked to take away, +but that was impossible. She wept bitterly to leave her poor bird +behind, until the idea occurred to her that it might fall into the hands +of Kit, who would keep and cherish it for her sake. She was calmed and +comforted by this thought, and went to rest with a lighter heart.</p> + +<p>At length the day began to glimmer, when she arose and dressed herself +for the journey, and with the old man, trod lightly down the stairs. At +last they reached the ground-floor, got the door open without noise, and +passing into the street, stood still.</p> + +<p>"Which way?" said the child.</p> + +<p>The old man looked irresolutely and helplessly to the right and left, +then at her, and shook his head. It was plain that she was henceforth +his guide and leader. The child felt it, but had no doubts or +misgivings, and putting her hand in his, led him gently away.</p> + +<p>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 free of +passengers, the houses and shops were closed, and the healthy air of +morning fell like breath from angels on the sleeping town.</p> + +<p>The old man and the child passed on through the glad silence, elate with +hope and pleasure. Every object was bright and fresh; nothing reminded +them, otherwise than by contrast, of the monotony and restraint they +had left behind.</p> + +<p>Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor +adventurers, wandering they knew not whither, often pressing each +other's hands, or exchanging a smile, as they pursued their way through +the city streets, through the haunts of traffic and great commerce, +where business was already rife. The old man looked about him with a +bewildered gaze, for these were places that he hoped to shun, nor did he +seem at ease until at last they felt that they were clear of London, and +sat down to rest, and eat their frugal breakfast from little +Nell's basket.</p> + +<p>The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the +waving grass, the wild flowers, and the thousand exquisite scents and +sounds that floated in the air, 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 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.</p> + +<p>"Are you tired?" asked the child. "Are you sure you don't feel ill from +this long walk?"</p> + +<p>"I shall never feel ill again, now that we are once away," was his +reply. "Let us be stirring, Nell. We are too near to stop and be at +rest. Come!"</p> + +<p>They were now in the open country, through which they walked all day, +and slept that night at a cottage where beds were let to travellers. +Next morning they were afoot again, and still kept on until nearly five +o'clock in the afternoon, when they stopped at a laborer's hut, asking +permission to rest awhile and buy a draught of milk. The request was +granted, and after having some refreshments and rest, Nell yielded to +the old man's fretful demand to travel on again, and they trudged +forward for another mile, thankful for a lift given them by a kindly +driver going their way, for they 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 in one corner of the +cart when she fell fast asleep, and was only awakened by its stopping +when their ways parted. The driver pointing out the town in the near +distance, directed them to take the path leading through the churchyard. +Accordingly, to this spot they directed their weary steps, and presently +came upon two men who were seated upon the grass. It was not difficult +to divine that they were 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; while scattered upon the ground, and jumbled +together in a long box, were the other persons of the drama. The hero's +wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the foreign gentleman, +the executioner, and the devil, all were here. Their owners had +evidently come to that spot to make some needful repairs in their stock, +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.</p> + +<p>They greeted the strangers with a nod, and the old man sitting down +beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight, began to +talk. While they chatted, Mr. Short, a little merry, red-faced man with +twinkling eyes, turning over the figures in the box, drew one forth, +saying ruefully to his companion, Codlin by name: "Look here, here's all +this Judy's clothes falling to pieces again. You haven't got needle and +thread, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>The little man shook his head, and seeing that they were at a loss, +Nell said timidly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>As Mr. Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable, +Nelly 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.</p> + +<p>"N-no further to-night, I think," said the child, looking toward her +grandfather.</p> + +<p>"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. The long, low, white +house there. It's very cheap."</p> + +<p>The old man, who would have remained in the churchyard all night if his +new acquaintances had stayed there too, yielded to this suggestion a +ready and rapturous assent, and they all rose and walked away together +to the public house, where, after witnessing an exhibition of the show, +they had a good supper, but Nell was too tired to eat, and was grateful +when they retired to the loft where they were to rest. 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 sat there till he +slept, then went to her own room and sat thinking of the life that was +before them.</p> + +<p>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 might be increased a +hundredfold. It would be best to hide this coin, and never produce it +unless their case was absolutely desperate. 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.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, Mr. Short asked Nell, "And where are you going +to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I hardly know," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"We're going on to the races," said the little man. "If you'd like to +have us for company, let us travel together."</p> + +<p>"Well go with you," said the old man eagerly. "Nell--with them, with +them."</p> + +<p>The child considered for a moment, and reflecting that she must soon +beg, and could scarcely do so at a better place, thanked the little man +for his offer, and said they would accompany him.</p> + +<p>Presently they started off and made a long day's journey, and were yet +upon the road when night came on. Threatening clouds soon gave place to +a heavy rain, and the party took refuge for the night in a roadside inn, +where they found a mighty fire blazing upon the hearth, and savory +smells coming from iron pots.</p> + +<p>Furnished with slippers and dry garments, and overpowered by the warmth +and comfort of the room and the fatigue they had undergone, Nelly and +the old man had not long taken seats in the warm chimney-corner when +they fell asleep.</p> + +<p>"Who are they?" whispered the landlord.</p> + +<p>Short and Codlin shook their heads. "They're no harm," said Short. +"Depend upon that I tell you what--it's plain that the old man aren't in +his right mind--I believe that he's given his friends the slip and +persuaded this delicate young creature, 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-goin' to stand that. I'm +not a-goin' 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 dewelop an +intention of parting company from us, I shall take measures for +detainin' of 'em and restoring them to their friends, who, I dare say, +have had their disconsolation pasted up on every wall in London by +this time.</p> + +<p>"Short," said Mr. Codlin, "it's possible there may be uncommon good +sense in what you've said. If there is, and there should be a reward, +Short, remember that we are partners in everything!"</p> + +<p>His companion had only time to nod a brief assent to this proposition, +for the child awoke at the instant, as strange footsteps were heard +without, and fresh company entered.</p> + +<p>These were no other than four very dismal dogs, who came pattering in, +headed by an old bandy dog, who erected himself upon his hind legs, and +looked around at his companions, who immediately stood upon their hind +legs in a grave and melancholy row. These dogs each wore a kind of +little coat of some gaudy color, trimmed with tarnished spangles, and +one of them had a cap upon his head, tied 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 with rain, and that the +wearers were all splashed and dirty, and some idea may be formed of the +unusual appearance of the new visitors to the inn. Jerry, the manager of +these dancing dogs, disencumbering himself of a barrel-organ, and +retaining in his hand a small whip, came up to the fire and entered into +conversation. The landlord then busied himself in laying the cloth for +supper, which, being at length ready to serve, little Nell ventured to +say grace, and supper began.</p> + +<p>At this juncture the poor dogs were standing upon 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.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, no, not an atom from anybody's hand but mine, please. That +dog," said Jerry, pointing out the old leader of the troop, and speaking +in a terrible voice, "lost a half-penny to-day. He goes without +his supper."</p> + +<p>The unfortunate creature dropped upon his forelegs directly, wagged his +tail, and looked imploringly at his master.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The dog immediately began to grind most mournful music. His master, +having shown him the whip, called up the others, who, at his directions, +formed in a row, standing upright as a file of soldiers.</p> + +<p>"Now, gentlemen," said Jerry, looking at them attentively, "the dog +whose name is called, eats. Carlo!"</p> + +<p>The lucky individual whose name was called, snapped up the morsel thrown +towards him, but none of the others moved a muscle. 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 around, and applied himself with +increased diligence to the Old Hundredth.</p> + +<p>That night, from various conversations in which Codlin and Short took +pains to engage her, little Nell began to have misgivings concerning +their protestations of friendship, and to suspect their motives. These +misgivings made the child anxious and uneasy, as the party travelled on +towards the town where the races were to begin next day.</p> + +<p>It was dark when they reached the town, and there all was tumult and +confusion. The streets were filled with throngs of people, the +church-bells rang out their noisy peals, and flags streamed from windows +and house-tops, while shrill flageolets and deafening drums added to +the uproar.</p> + +<p>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 she should be separated from him, and left to find +her way alone. Quickening their steps they made for the racecourse, +which was upon an open heath. There were many people here, none of the +best-favored or best clad, busily erecting tents, but the child felt it +an escape from the town, and drew her breath more freely. After a scanty +supper, 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.</p> + +<p>And now they had come to the time when they must beg their bread. Soon +after sunrise in the morning Nell stole out, and plucked a few wild +roses and such humble flowers, to make into little nosegays and offer 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, tying her flowers together, while Codlin and Short +lay dozing in another corner, she said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, don't look at those I talk of, and don't seem as if I +spoke of anything but what I'm 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?"</p> + +<p>The old man turned to her with an aspect of wild terror; but she checked +him by a look, adding, "Grandfather, these men suspect that we have +secretly left our friends, and mean to carry us before some gentlemen, +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."</p> + +<p>"How?" muttered the old man. "Dear Nelly, how? They will shut me up in a +stone room, dark and cold, and chain me to the wall, Nell--flog me with +whips, and never let me see thee more!"</p> + +<p>"You're trembling again!" said the child. "Keep close to me all day. 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."</p> + +<p>"Halloa! what are you up to, my dear?" said Mr. Codlin, raising his head +and yawning.</p> + +<p>"Making some nosegays," the child replied; "I'm going to try to sell +some. Will you have one?--as a present, I mean." Mr. Codlin stuck it in +his buttonhole with an air of ineffable complacency, and laid himself +down again.</p> + +<p>As the morning wore on, the tents assumed a more brilliant appearance. +Men, who had lounged about in smock frocks and leather leggings, came +out in silken vests and hats and plumes, as jugglers or mountebanks. +Black-eyed gypsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to +tell fortunes. 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 corners in which they had passed the +night, and flourished boldly in the sun.</p> + +<p>Along the uncleared course, Short led his party, sounding the brazen +trumpet, and at his heels went Thomas Codlin, bearing the show, and +keeping his eyes 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 looks, to offer them at some +gay carriage, but, alas! there were many bolder beggars there, adepts at +their trade, and although some ladies smiled gently as they shook their +heads, and others cried: "See, what a pretty face!" they let the pretty +face pass on, and never thought that it looked tired or hungry, and +among all that gay throng, there was but one lady, who, taking her +flowers, put money in the child's trembling hand.</p> + +<p>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, was roused from +her meditation by a loud laugh at some witticism of Mr. Short.</p> + +<p>If they were ever to get away unseen, that was the very moment. Short +and Codlin were absorbed in giving the show, and in coaxing sixpences +from the people's pockets, and the spectators were looking on with +laughing faces. That was the moment for escape. They seized it and fled.</p> + +<p>They made a path through booths, and carriages, and throngs of people, +and never once stopped to look behind, but creeping under the brow of +the hill at a quick pace, made for the open fields, and not until they +were quite exhausted ventured to sit down to rest upon the borders of a +little wood, and some time elapsed before the child could reassure her +trembling companion, or restore him to a state of moderate +tranquillity. His terrors affected her. 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 in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped. +Then, remembering how weak her companion was, and how destitute and +helpless he would be if she failed him, she was animated with new +strength and fortitude, and assured him that they had nothing to fear. +Luring him onward through the woods with happy looks and smiles, the +serenity which she had at 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 +of the woods, the more they felt that the tranquil mind of God was +there, and shed its peace on them.</p> + +<p>At length the path brought them to a public road which to their great +joy at last led into the centre of a small village. Uncertain where to +seek a lodging, they approached an old man sitting in a garden before +his cottage. He was the schoolmaster, and had "School" written over his +window in black letters. He was a pale, simple-looking man, and sat +among his flowers and beehives, taking no notice of the travellers, +until Nell approached him, dropping a curtsey, and asking if he could +direct them anywhere to obtain a shelter for the night.</p> + +<p>"You have been walking a long way?" said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"A long way, sir," the child replied.</p> + +<p>"You're a young traveller, my child," he said, laying his hand gently on +her head. "Your grandchild, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir," cried the old man, "and the stay and comfort of my life."</p> + +<p>"Come in," said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>Without further preface, he conducted them into his little schoolroom, +which was parlor and kitchen likewise, and told them they were welcome +to remain till morning. Before they had done thanking him, he spread the +table, and besought them to eat and drink.</p> + +<p>After a sound night's rest in the little cottage, Nell rose early, and +was attempting to make the room in which she had supped last night neat +and comfortable, when their kind host came in. She asked leave to +prepare breakfast, and the three soon partook of it together. While the +meal was in progress, their host remarked that the old man stood in need +of rest, and that he should be glad of their company for another night. +It required no great persuasion to induce the child to answer that they +would remain. She was happy to show her gratitude to the kind +schoolmaster by performing such household duties as his little cottage +stood in need of. When these were done, she took some needlework from +her basket, and sat down beside the lattice, where the honeysuckle and +woodbine filled the room 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. Presently the schoolmaster took his seat behind his desk, and as +he seemed pleased to have little Nell beside him, she busied herself +with her work, entering into conversation with the schoolmaster while +the scholars conned their lessons, and watching the boys with eager and +attentive interest.</p> + +<p>Upon the following morning there remained for the travellers only to +take leave of the poor schoolmaster, and wander forth once more. With a +trembling and reluctant hand, the child held out to their kind host the +money which the lady had given her at the races for her flowers, +faltering in her thanks, and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her +put it up, and kissing her cheek, wished her good fortune and happiness, +adding, "If you ever pass this way again, you will not forget the little +village school?"</p> + +<p>"We shall never forget it, sir," rejoined Nell, "nor ever forget to be +grateful to you for your kindness to us."</p> + +<p>They bade him farewell very many times, often looking back, until they +could see him no more. They trudged onward now at a quicker pace, +resolving to keep the main road, and go wherever it might lead them. The +afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening when the road struck +across a common. On the border of this common, a caravan was drawn up +to rest.</p> + +<p>It was not a shabby, dingy 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. 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 upon the frowzy grass. Neither was it a gypsy 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 refreshing one of +drinking tea. The tea things were set forth upon a drum covered with a +napkin; and there sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the +prospect. As she was in the act of setting down her cup, she beheld an +old man and a young child walking slowly by, and glancing at her +proceedings with eyes of modest but hungry admiration.</p> + +<p>"Hey!" cried the lady of the caravan, "Yes, to be sure--Who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate?"</p> + +<p>"Won what, ma'am?" asked Nell.</p> + +<p>"The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child. Can't you say who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate when you're asked a question civilly?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"Don't know!" repeated the lady of the caravan; "Why, you were there. I +saw you with my own eyes."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I was not there by choice," rejoined 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?"</p> + +<p>"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 them? Does this +caravan look as if it know'd 'em?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, no," said the child, fearing that she had committed some +grievous fault, "I beg your pardon."</p> + +<p>It was granted immediately, and the child then explained that they had +left the races on the first day, and were travelling to the next town, +and ventured to inquire how far it was. The stout lady's reply was +rather discouraging, and Nell could scarcely repress a tear at hearing +that it was eight miles off. Her grandfather made no complaint, and the +two were about to pass on, when the lady of the caravan called to the +child to return. Beckoning to her to ascend the steps, she asked,--"Are +you hungry?"</p> + +<p>"Not very, but we are tired, and it's--it is a long way."</p> + +<p>"Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea," rejoined her new +acquaintance. "I suppose you're agreeable to that, old gentleman?"</p> + +<p>The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat, and thanked her, and sitting +down, they made a hearty meal, enjoying it to the utmost.</p> + +<p>While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan held a short +conversation with her driver, after which she informed Nell that she and +her grandfather were to go forward in the caravan with her, for which +kindness Nell thanked the lady with unaffected earnestness. She helped +with great alacrity to put away the tea-things, and mounted into the +vehicle, followed by her delighted grandfather. Their patroness then +shut the door, and away they went, with a great noise of flapping, and +creaking, and straining, and the bright brass knocker, knocking one +perpetual double knock of its own accord as they jolted heavily along.</p> + +<p>When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance, Nell +looked around the caravan, and observed it more closely. One half of it +was carpeted, with a sleeping place, after the fashion of a berth on +board ship, partitioned off at the farther end, which was shaded 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, and the necessary +cooking utensils, which latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which +in the other portion of the establishment were decorated with a number +of well-thumbed musical instruments.</p> + +<p>Presently the old man fell asleep, and the lady of the caravan invited +Nell to come and sit beside her.</p> + +<p>"Well, child," she said, "how do you like this way of travelling?"</p> + +<p>Nell replied that she thought that it was very pleasant indeed. Instead +of speaking again, the lady of the caravan sat looking at the child for +a long time in silence, then getting up, brought out a 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.</p> + +<p>"There, child," she said, "read that."</p> + +<p>Nell walked down it, and read aloud, in enormous black letters, the +inscription, <b>"JARLEY'S WAX-WORK."</b></p> + +<p>"Read it again," said the lady complacently.</p> + +<p>"Jarley's Wax-Work," repeated Nell.</p> + +<p>"That's me," said the lady. "I am Mrs. Jarley."</p> + +<p>The lady of the caravan then unfolded another scroll, whereon was the +inscription, "One hundred figures the full size of life," then several +smaller ones with such inscriptions as, "The genuine and only Jarley," +"Jarley is the delight of the nobility and gentry," "The royal family +are the patrons of Jarley." When she had exhibited these to the +astonished child, she brought forth 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 others were composed with a view to +the lighter and more facetious spirits, as a parody on the favorite air +of "If I had a donkey," beginning:</p> + +<blockquote> +"If I know'd a donkey what wouldn't go<br> +To see MRS. JARLEY'S wax-work show,<br> +Do you think I'd acknowledge him?<br> +Oh, no, no!<br> +Then run to Jarley's"--<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>besides other compositions in prose, 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, Mrs. Jarley then rolled these +testimonials up, and having put them carefully away, sat down and looked +at the child in triumph.</p> + +<p>"I never saw any wax-work, ma'am," said Nell. "Is it funnier than +Punch?"</p> + +<p>"Funnier!" said Mrs. Jarley, in a shrill voice. "It is not funny at +all."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Nell, with all possible humility.</p> + +<p>"It isn't funny at all," repeated Mrs. Jarley. "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 life-like, that if wax-work only +spoke and walked about, you'd hardly know the difference."</p> + +<p>"Is it here, ma'am?" asked Nell, whose curiosity was awakened by this +description.</p> + +<p>"Is what here, child?"</p> + +<p>"The wax-work, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"Why, bless you, child, what are you thinking of? How could such a +collection be here? It's gone on in the other wans to the room where +it'll be exhibited the day after to-morrow. You're going to the same +town, and you'll see it, I dare say."</p> + +<p>"I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am," said the child.</p> + +<p>This answer appeared to greatly astonish Mrs. Jarley, who asked so many +questions that Nell was led to tell her some of the details concerning +their poverty and wanderings, after which the lady of the caravan +relapsed into a thoughtful silence. At length she shook off her fit of +meditation, and held a long conversation with the driver, which +conference being concluded, she beckoned Nell to approach.</p> + +<p>"And the old gentleman, too," said Mrs. Jarley. "I want to have a word +with him. Do you want a good situation for your granddaughter, master? +If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"I can't leave her, ma'am," answered the old man. "What would become of +me without her?"</p> + +<p>"I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself, if +you ever will be," retorted Mrs. Jarley sharply.</p> + +<p>"But he never will be," whispered the child. "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."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jarley was a little disconcerted by this reception of her proposal, +but presently she addressed the grandfather again:</p> + +<p>"If you're really disposed to employ yourself," she said, "you could +help to dust the figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want +your granddaughter for is to point 'em out to the company. It's not a +common offer, bear in mind," said the lady. "It's Jarley's wax-work, +remember. The duties very light and genteel, the company particularly +select. There is none of your open-air wagrancy at Jarley's, recollect; +there is no tarpaulin and saw-dust at Jarley's, remember. Every +expectation held out in the hand-bills is realized 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!"</p> + +<p>Descending from the sublime to the details of common life, when she had +reached this point, Mrs. Jarley remarked that she could pledge herself +to no specific salary until she had tested Nell's ability, but that she +could promise both good board and lodging for the child and her +grandfather. Her offer was thankfully accepted.</p> + +<p>"And you'll never be sorry for it," said Mrs. Jarley. "I'm pretty sure +of that. So, as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper."</p> + +<p>In the mean while the caravan blundered on, and came at last upon a +town, near midnight. As it was too late to repair to the exhibition +rooms, they drew up near to another caravan bearing the great name of +Jarley, which being empty, was assigned to the old man as his +sleeping-place. As for Nell herself, she was to sleep in Mrs. Jarley's +own travelling-carriage as a signal mark of that lady's favor.</p> + +<p>On the following morning Nell was put to work at once, helping to unpack +the chests and arrange the draperies in the exhibition rooms. When this +was accomplished, the stupendous collection of figures was uncovered, +standing more or less unsteadily upon their legs, 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.</p> + +<p>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 was at great pains to instruct Nell in her duty.</p> + +<p>"That," said Mrs. Jarley, in her exhibition tones, as Nell touched a +figure, "is an unfortunate maid-of-honor 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"That, ladies and gentlemen," said Mrs. Jarley, "is Jasper Packlemerton, +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 curved, as if in the act of tickling, and +that his face is represented with a wink, as he appeared when committing +his barbarous murders."</p> + +<p>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. So well did Nell +profit by her instructions, that at the end of a couple of hours, she +was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, and +perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors, and Mrs. Jarley +was not slow to express her admiration at this happy result.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the various devices used later for attracting visitors +to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The cart in which the +Brigand usually made his perambulations, being gayly dressed with flags +and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, Nell sat beside him, +decorated with artificial flowers, and rode slowly through the town +every morning, dispersing hand-bills 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, became a mere secondary consideration, and important only as +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 inclosures of nuts +and apples at the wax-work door.</p> + +<p>This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs. Jarley, who, lest Nell +should become too cheap, 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.</p> + +<p>Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found the lady of +the caravan a very kind and considerate person indeed. 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, Nell had no cause for anxiety until one holiday +evening, when they went out together for a walk. They had been closely +confined for some days, and the weather being warm, had strolled a long +distance, when they were caught in a most terrific thunder-shower, from +which they sought refuge in a roadside tavern, where some men sat +playing cards with a pile of silver money between them. When the old +man's eye lighted upon them, the child saw with alarm that his whole +appearance underwent a complete change. His face was flushed and eager, +his breath came short and quick, and the hand he laid upon her arm +trembled so violently, that she shook beneath its grasp. To his frenzied +appeal for money, Nell repeated a firm refusal, but he was insistent.</p> + +<p>"Give me the money," he exclaimed--"I must have it. There there--that's +my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child, never fear!"</p> + +<p>She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it, and hastened to +the other side of the screen where the two men were playing. Almost +immediately they invited him to join their game, whereupon, throwing +Nell's purse down upon the table, he gathered up the cards as a miser +would clutch at gold. The child sat by and watched the game in a perfect +agony of fear, 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.</p> + +<p>The storm had raged for full three hours, when at length the play came +to an end. Nell's little purse lay empty, and still the old man sat +poring over the cards until the child laid her arm upon his shoulder, +telling him that it was near midnight.</p> + +<p>Now Nell had still the piece of gold, and considering the lateness of +the hour, and into what a state of consternation they would throw Mrs. +Jarley by knocking her up at that hour, proposed to her grandfather that +they stay where they were for the night. As they would leave very early +in the morning, the child was anxious to pay for their entertainment +before they retired, 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 out secretly, and following the landlord into the bar, +tendered it to him there. She was returning, when she fancied she saw a +figure gliding in at the door. There was only a 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, she +felt that she had been watched. She was still thinking of this, when a +girl came to light her to bed.</p> + +<p>It was a great gloomy house, which the flaring candles seemed to make +yet more gloomy, and the child did not feel comfortable when she was +left alone. She could not help thinking of the figure stealing through +the passage downstairs. At last a broken and fitful sleep stole upon +her. A deeper slumber followed this--and then--What! That figure in the +room! A figure was there, it crouched and slunk along, stealing round +the bed. She had no voice to cry for help, no power to move,--on it +came--silently and stealthily to the bed's head. There it remained, +motionless as she. At length, it busied its hands in something, and she +heard the chink of money. Then it dropped upon its hands and knees, and +crawled away. It reached the door at last, the steps creaked beneath its +noiseless tread, and it was gone.</p> + +<p>The first impulse of the child was not to be alone--and with no +consciousness of having moved, she gained the door. Once in her +grandfather's room, she would be safe. An idea flashed suddenly upon +her--what if the figure should enter there, and have a design upon the +old man's life? She turned faint and sick. She saw it creeping in front +of her. It went in. Not knowing what she meant to do, but meaning to +preserve him, or be killed herself, she staggered forward and looked in.</p> + +<p>What sight was that which met her view?</p> + +<p>The bed 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.</p> + +<p>With steps more unsteady than those with which she had approached the +room, the child groped her way back into her own chamber. The terror +which she had lately felt was nothing compared with that which now +oppressed her. The grey-haired 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 far more dreadful than anything her wildest fancy +could have suggested. The feeling which beset her was one of uncertain +horror. She had no fear of the dear old grandfather, but the man she had +seen that night seemed like another creature in his shape. 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!</p> + +<p>She sat thinking of these things, until she felt it would be a relief to +hear his voice, or if he were asleep, even to see him, and so she stole +down the passage again. Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly +on his bed, fast asleep. 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.</p> + +<p>"God bless him," said the child, softly kissing 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. God +bless us both!"</p> + +<p>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. Upon searching her pocket on the following +morning she found her money was all gone--not a sixpence remained.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather," she said in a tremulous voice, after they had walked +about a mile on their road in silence, "Do you think they are honest +people at the house yonder? I ask because I lost some money last +night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by some one in +jest--only in jest, dear grandfather, which would make me laugh heartily +if I could but know it--"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then it was stolen out of my room, dear," said the child, whose last +hope was destroyed by the manner of this reply.</p> + +<p>"But is there no more, Nell," said the old man--"no more anywhere? Was +it all taken--was there nothing left?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>The child hung down her head and wept. It was not the lightest part of +her sorrow that this was done for her.</p> + +<p>"Let me persuade you, dear grandfather," she said earnestly, "Oh, do let +me persuade you to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no +fortune but the fortune we pursue together. Only remember what we have +been since that bright morning when we turned our backs upon that +unhappy house for the last time," continued Nell. "Think what beautiful +things we have seen, and how contented we have felt, and why was this +blessed change?"</p> + +<p>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, and +walked on, looking as if he were painfully trying to collect his +thoughts. Once she saw tears in his eyes. When they 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 by degrees +settled down into his usual quiet way, and suffered her to lead him +where she would.</p> + +<p>As Nell had anticipated, they found Mrs. Jarley was not yet out of bed, +and that although she had suffered some uneasiness on their account, she +had felt sure that being overtaken by the storm, they had sought the +nearest shelter for the night. And as they sat down to breakfast, she +requested Nell to go that morning to Miss Monflather's Boarding and Day +School to present its principal with a parcel of new bills, as her +establishment had yet sent but half-a-dozen representatives to see the +stupendous wax-work collection. Nell's expedition met with no success, +to Mrs. Jarley's great indignation, and Nell would have been +disappointed herself at its failure, had she not had anxieties of a +deeper kind to occupy her thoughts.</p> + +<p>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, she +sat up alone until he returned--penniless, broken spirited, and +wretched, but still hotly bent upon his infatuation.</p> + +<p>"Give me money," he said wildly, "I must have money, Nell. It shall be +paid thee back with gallant interest one day, but all the money which +comes into thy hands must be mine--not for myself, but to use for thee. +Remember, Nell, to use for thee!"</p> + +<p>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 burned him, +and put him perhaps beyond recovery. Distracted by these thoughts, +tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever he was absent, and +dreading alike his stay and his return, the color forsook her cheek, her +eyes grew dim, and her heart was oppressed and heavy.</p> + +<p>One evening, wandering alone not far from home, the child came suddenly +upon a gypsy camp, and looking at the group of men around the fire saw +to her horror and dismay that one was her grandfather. The others she +recognized as the card-players at the public-house on the eventful night +of the storm. Drawing near, where she could listen unseen, she heard +their conversation; heard them obtain her grandfather's promise to rob +Mrs. Jarley of the tin box in which she kept her savings--and to play a +game of cards with them, with its contents for stakes.</p> + +<p>"God be merciful to us!" cried the child, "and help us in this trying +hour! What shall I do to save him?"</p> + +<p>The remainder of the conversation related merely to the execution of +their project, after which the old man shook hands with his tempters, +and withdrew. Then Nell crept away, fled home as quickly as she could, +and threw herself upon her bed, distracted. The first idea that flashed +upon her mind was instant flight. Then she remembered that the crime was +not to be committed until next night, and there was time for resolving +what to do. Then she was distracted with a horrible fear that he might +be committing it at that moment. She stole to the room where the money +was, and looked in. God be praised! he was not there, and Mrs. Jarley +was sleeping soundly. She went back to her own room, and tried to +prepare herself for bed, but who could sleep--sleep! 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, +and roused him from his sleep.</p> + +<p>"What's this?" he cried, starting up in bed, and fixing his eyes upon +her spectral face.</p> + +<p>"I have had a dreadful dream," said the child. "A dreadful, horrible +dream! I have had it once before. It is a dream of gray-haired men like +you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing the sleepers of their gold. Up, +up!" The old man shook in every joint, and folded his hands like one +who prays.</p> + +<p>"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. We must +fly. There is no time to lose;" said the child. "Up! and away with me!"</p> + +<p>"To-night?" murmured the old man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to-night," replied the child. "To-morrow night will be too late. +Nothing but flight can save us. Up!"</p> + +<p>The old man arose, 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. 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, his staff too, and then she led +him forth.</p> + +<p>Through the streets their trembling feet passed quickly, and at last the +child looked back upon the sleeping town, on the far-off river, 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. Her +momentary weakness passed, she again summoned the resolution to keep +steadily in view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and +crime, and that her grandfather's preservation depended solely on her +firmness. While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to shrink and cower down +before her, 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. "I have saved him," she thought, "in all +distresses and dangers I will remember that."</p> + +<p>At any other time the recollection of having deserted the friend who had +shown them so much homely kindness, without a word of justification, +would have filled her with sorrow and regret. But now, all other +considerations were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties, and in +the desperation of their condition.</p> + +<p>In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate +face where thoughtful care already mingled with a 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. The night +crept on apace, the moon went down and when the sun had climbed into the +sky, and there was warmth in its cheerful beams, they laid them down to +sleep upon a bank hard by some water.</p> + +<p>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, and they slept side by side. A +confusion of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her, and she +discovered a man of rough appearance standing over her, while his +companions were looking on from a canal-boat which had come close to the +bank while she was sleeping. The man spoke to Nell, asking what was the +matter, and where she and her grandfather were going. Nell faltered, +pointing at hazard toward the west--and upon the man inquiring if she +meant a certain town which he named, Nell, to avoid more questioning, +said "Yes, that was the place." After asking some other questions, he +mounted one of the horses towing the boat, which at once went on. +Presently it stopped again, and the man beckoned to Nell: "You may go +with us if you like," he said. "We're going to the same place."</p> + +<p>The child hesitated for one moment. Thinking that the men whom she had +seen with her grandfather might perhaps in their eagerness for the +booty, follow them, and regain their influence over him, and that if +they went on the canal-boat all traces of them must be surely +lost--accepted the offer. Before she had any more time for +consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, gliding smoothly +down the canal, through the bright water.</p> + +<p>They did not reach their destination until the following morning, and +Nell was glad indeed when the trip was ended, for the noisy rugged +fellows on the boat were rough enough to make her heart palpitate for +fear, but though they quarrelled among themselves, they were civil +enough to their two passengers; and at length the boat floated into its +destination. The men were occupied directly, and the child and her +grandfather, after waiting in vain to thank them, or ask whither they +should go, passed out into a crowded noisy street of a manufacturing +village, and stood, in the pouring rain, distressed and confused. +Evening came on. They were still wandering up and down, bewildered by +the hurry they beheld, but had no part in. Shivering with the cold and +damp, ill in body, and sick to death at heart, the child needed her +utmost resolution to creep along. No prospect of relief appearing, they +retraced their steps to the wharf, hoping to be allowed to sleep on +board the boat that night. But here again they were disappointed, for +the gate was closed.</p> + +<p>"Why did you bring me here?" asked 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?"</p> + +<p>"Because I must have that dream I told you of, no more," said the child, +"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."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Poor, houseless, wandering, motherless child!" cried the old man, +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?"</p> + +<p>Wandering on, they took shelter in an old doorway from which the figure +of a man came forth, who, touched with the misery of their situation, +and with Nell's drenched condition, offered them such lodging as he had +at his command, in the great foundry where he was employed. He led them +through the bewildering sights and deafening sounds of the huge +building, to his furnace, and there spread Nell's little cloak upon a +heap of ashes, and showing her where to hang her outer clothes to dry, +signed to her and the old man to lie down and sleep. The warmth of her +bed, combined with her great fatigue, caused the tumult of the place to +lull the child to sleep, and the old man was stretched beside her, as +she lay and dreamed. On the following morning her friend shared his +breakfast with the child and her grandfather, and parting with them left +in Nell's hand two 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?</p> + +<p>With an intense longing for pure air and open country, they toiled +slowly on, the child walking with extreme difficulty, for the pains that +racked her joints were of no common severity, and every exertion +increased them. But they wrung from her no complaint, as the two +proceeded slowly on, clearing the town in course of time. They slept +that night with nothing between them and the sky, amid the horrors of a +manufacturing suburb, and who shall tell the terrors of that night to +the young wandering child.</p> + +<p>And yet she had no fear for herself, for she was past it, but put up a +prayer for the old man. A penny loaf was all that they had had that day. +It was very little, but even hunger was forgotten in the strange +tranquillity that crept over her senses. So very weak and spent she felt +as she lay down, 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. Morning came--much weaker, yet the child made no complaint--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. Objects appeared more dim, the noise less, the +path more 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.</p> + +<p>They were dragging themselves along toward evening and the child felt +that the time was close at hand when she could bear no more. Before them +she saw a traveller reading from a book which he carried.</p> + +<p>It was not an easy matter to come up with him, and beseech his aid, for +he walked fast. 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 faintly to implore his help.</p> + +<p>He turned his head. Nell clapped her hands together, uttered a wild +shriek, and fell senseless at his feet. It was no other than the poor +schoolmaster. Scarcely less moved and surprised than the child herself, +he stood for a moment, silent and confounded by the unexpected +apparition, without even presence of mind to raise her from the ground. +But, quickly recovering his self-possession, and dropping on one knee +beside her, he endeavored to restore her to herself.</p> + +<p>"She is quite exhausted," he said, glancing upward into the old man's +face. "You have taxed her powers too far, friend."</p> + +<p>"She is perishing of want," rejoined the old man. "I never thought how +weak and ill she was, till now."</p> + +<p>Casting a look upon him, half-reproachful and half-compassionate, the +schoolmaster took the child in his arms, and bore her away at his utmost +speed to a small inn within sight.</p> + +<p>The landlady came running in, with hot brandy and water, with which and +other restoratives, the child was so far recovered as to be able to +thank them in a faint voice. Without suffering her to speak another +word, the woman carried her off to bed, and after having been made warm +and comfortable, she had a visit from the doctor himself, who ordered +rest and nourishment. As Nell evinced extraordinary uneasiness on being +apart from her grandfather, he took his supper with her. Finding her +still restless on this head, they made him up a bed in an inner room, to +which he presently retired. The key of this chamber happening 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.</p> + +<p>In the morning the child was better, but so weak that she would at least +require a day's rest and careful nursing before she could proceed upon +her journey. The schoolmaster decided to remain also, and that evening +visited Nell in her room. His frank kindness, and the affectionate +earnestness of his speech and manner, gave the child a confidence in +him. She told him all--that they had no friend or relative--and that she +sought a home in some remote place, where the temptation before which +her grandfather had fallen would never enter, and her late sorrows and +distresses could have no place.</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster heard her with astonishment, and with admiration for +the heroism and patience of one so young. He then told her that he had +been appointed clerk and schoolmaster to a village a long way off, at +five-and-thirty pounds a year, and that he was on his way there now. He +concluded by saying that she and her grandfather must accompany him, and +that he would endeavor to find them some occupation by which they +could subsist.</p> + +<p>Accordingly next evening they travelled on, with Nell comfortably +bestowed in a stage-wagon 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.</p> + +<p>It was a fine clear autumn morning, when they came upon the village of +their destination, and every bit of scenery, and stick and stone looked +beautiful to the child who had passed through such scenes of poverty and +horror. Leaving Nell and her grandfather upon the church porch, the +schoolmaster hurried off to present a letter, and to make inquiries +concerning his new position. After a long time he appeared, jingling a +bundle of rusty keys, and quite breathless with pleasure and haste. As a +result of his exertions on their behalf, Nell and her grandfather were +to occupy a small house next to the one apportioned to him. Having +disburdened himself of this great surprise, the schoolmaster then told +Nell that the house which was henceforth to be hers, had been occupied +by an old person who kept the keys of the church, opened and closed it +for the services, and showed it to strangers; that she had died not many +weeks ago, and nobody having yet been found to fill the office, he had +made bold to ask for it for her and her grandfather. As a result of his +testimony to their ability and honesty, they were already appointed to +the vacant post.</p> + +<p>"There's a small allowance of money," said the schoolmaster. "It is not +much, but enough to live upon in this retired spot. By clubbing our +funds together, we shall do bravely; no fear of that."</p> + +<p>"Heaven bless and prosper you!" sobbed the child.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>To make their dwellings habitable, and as full of comfort as they +could, was now their pleasant care, and in a short time each had a +cheerful fire crackling on the hearth. Nell, busily plying her needle, +repaired the tattered window-hangings, and made them whole and decent. +The schoolmaster swept the ground before the door, trimmed the long +grass, trained the ivy and creeping plants, and gave to the outer walls +a cheery air of home. The old man lent his aid to both, went here and +there on little patient services and was happy. Neighbors too, 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 all +too soon.</p> + +<p>They took their supper together, and when they had finished it, drew +round the fire and 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.</p> + +<p>When every sound was hushed, and her grandfather sleeping, the child +lingered before the dying embers, and thought of her past fortunes as if +they had been a dream, and the deep and thoughtful feelings which +absorbed her, gave her no sensation of terror or alarm. A change had +been gradually stealing over her, in the time of her loneliness and +sorrow. With failing strength and heightened resolution, there had +sprung up a purified and altered mind; there had grown in her bosom +those blessed hopes and thoughts which are the portion of few but the +weak and drooping. There were none to see the frail figure as it glided +from the fire and leaned pensively at the casement; none but the stars +to look into the upturned face and read its history.</p> + +<p>It was long before the child closed the window, and approached her +bed--but when she did--it was to sink into a sleep filled with sweet and +happy dreams.</p> + +<p>With the morning came the renewal of yesterday's labors, the revival of +its pleasant thoughts, the restoration of its energies, cheerfulness and +hope. They worked gayly until noon, and then visited the clergyman, who +received them kindly, and at once showed an interest in Nell. 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.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said the clergyman. "Let it be as you desire, she is very +young."</p> + +<p>"Old in adversity and trial, sir," replied the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"God help her. Let her rest and forget them," said the old gentleman. +"But an old church is a gloomy place for one so young as you, my child."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, sir," returned Nell, "I have no such thoughts, indeed."</p> + +<p>"I would rather see her dancing on the green at night," said the old +gentleman, laying his hand upon her head, "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 the solemn ruins."</p> + +<p>After more kind words, they withdrew, and from that time Nell's heart +was filled with a serene and peaceful joy, and she occupied herself with +such light tasks as were hers to accomplish, and the peace of the simple +village moved her deeply, while more and more she grew to love the old +and silent chapel.</p> + +<p>She sat down one day in this old and silent place, among the stark +figures on the tombs and gazing round with a feeling of awe tempered +with calm delight, felt that now she was happy and at rest. She took a +Bible and read; then laying it down, thought of the summer days and +bright springtime that would come--of the rays of sun that would fall in +aslant upon the sleeping forms--of the song of birds, and growth of buds +and blossoms out of doors--What if the spot awakened thoughts of death? +Die who would, these sights and sounds would still go on, as happily as +ever. It would be no pain to sleep amidst them.</p> + +<p>She left the chapel, and climbed to its turret-top. Oh! the glory of the +sudden burst of light; the freshness of the fields and woods, meeting +the bright blue sky; everything so beautiful and happy! It was like +passing from death to life; it was drawing nearer heaven. And yet the +dim old chapel had for her a depth of fascination which the outer world +did not possess. Again that day, twice, she stole back to the chapel, +and read from the same book, or indulged in the same quiet train of +thought. Even when night fell, she sat like one rooted to the spot until +they found her there and took her home. She looked pale but very happy, +but as the schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek, he thought he +felt a tear upon his face.</p> + +<p>From a village bachelor, who took great interest in the beautiful child, +Nell soon learned the histories connected with every tomb and +gravestone, with every gallery, wall, and crypt in the dim old church. +These she treasured in her mind, dwelling on them often in her thoughts +and repeating them to those sightseers who cared to hear them. Her +duties were not arduous, but she did not regain her strength, and in her +grandfather's mind sprang up a solicitude about her which never left +him. From the time of his awakening to her weakness, never did he have +any care for himself, any thought of his own comfort, which could +distract his attention from the gentle object of his love and care, He +would follow her up and down, waiting till she should tire, and lean +upon his arm--he would sit opposite to her, 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 night to listen to her breathing in her +sleep. 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 upon the poor old man.</p> + +<p>Weeks crept on--sometimes the child, exhausted, would pass whole +evenings on a couch beside the fire. At such times, the schoolmaster +would read aloud to her, and seldom an evening passed but the bachelor +came in and took his turn at reading. During the daytime the child was +mostly out of doors, and all the strangers who came to see the church, +praised the child's beauty and sense, and all the neighbors, and all the +villagers, and the very schoolboys grew to have a fondness for +poor Nell.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in that busy world which Nell and her grandfather had left +behind them so many months before, there had appeared a stranger, who +gave up all his time and energy to endeavoring to trace the wanderers. +He was Nell's grandfather's younger brother, who had for many years been +a traveller in distant lands, with almost no information of his brother. +His thoughts began to revert constantly to the days when they were boys +together, and obeying the impulse which impelled him, he hastened home, +arriving one evening at his brother's door, only to find the +wanderers gone.</p> + +<p>By dint of ceaseless watchfulness and vigilance, at last he gained a +clue to their retreat, and lost no time in following it up, taking with +him Kit Nubbles, the errand-boy at the Shop in old days, who, though +now in the employ of kind Mr. Garland, was still loyal to the memory of +his beloved Miss Nelly--and only too grateful to be allowed to go in +search of her, with the stranger whom she would not recognize. So +together they journeyed to the peaceful village, where Nell and her +grandfather were hidden, Kit carrying with him Nell's bird in his own +cage. She would be glad to see it, he knew, but alas for Kit--they found +sweet Nell in the sleep that knows no waking on this our earth.</p> + +<p>There, upon her little bed, she lay at rest. The solemn stillness was no +marvel now.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Her couch was dressed with here and there some winter berries and green +leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. "When I die, put +near me something that has loved the light, and had the sky above it +always." Those were her words.</p> + +<p>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 forever.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, there had been the same mild lovely look. So shall we +know the angels in their majesty, after death.</p> + +<p>The old man 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.</p> + +<p>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 paths she had trodden, +as it were, but yesterday--could know her never more.</p> + +<p>She had been dead two days. 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 fervor. 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.</p> + +<p>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 arms about his neck. They did +not know that she was dead, at first.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They carried her to an 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 colored 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.</p> + +<p>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 she had loved to linger in the +church when all was quiet, and even to climb the tower stair with no +more light than that of the moon's 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. Then, when the dusk of evening had come +on, with tranquil and submissive hearts they turned away, and left the +child with God.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is hard to take to heart the lesson that such deaths will teach; +but let no man reject it, for it 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 to defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of +light to heaven.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="THE_INFANT_PHENOMENON."></a>THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0274.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0274.jpg" width = "25%" alt="THE INFANT PHENOMENON."> +</a><br><b>"THE INFANT PHENOMENON."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>THE INFANT PHENOMENON.</h2> + +<p>Mr. Vincent Crummles was manager of a theatrical company, and also the +head of a most remarkable family indeed, each member of which was gifted +with an extraordinary combination of talent and attractiveness, and most +remarkable of all the family was the Infant Phenomenon.</p> + +<p>After Nicholas Nickleby, teacher at Dotheboys Hall, quitted that +wretched institution in disgrace, because he had resented injuries +inflicted upon the scholars in general, and upon the poor half-starved, +ill-used drudge, Smike, in particular, Smike stole away from the place +where he had been so cruelly used, to follow his defender, and the two +journeyed on together towards Portsmouth, resting for the night at a +roadside inn some miles from their destination. At the inn they met Mr. +Crummles who, upon discovering them to be destitute of money, and +desirous of obtaining employment as soon as possible, offered them both +engagements in his company, which offer, after a brief deliberation, +Nicholas decided to accept, until something more to his liking should be +available.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they journeyed to Portsmouth, together with Mr. Crummles and +the master Crummleses, and accompanied the manager through the town on +his way to the theatre.</p> + +<p>They passed a great many bills pasted against the wall, and displayed +in windows, wherein the names of Mr. Vincent Crummles, Mrs. Vincent +Crummles, Master Crummles, Master Peter Crummles, and Miss Crummles, +were printed in large letters, and everything else in very small +letters; and turning at length into an entry in which was a strong smell +of orange-peel and lamp-oil, with an under-current of saw-dust, groping +their way through a dark passage, and descending a step or two, emerged +upon the stage of the Portsmouth theatre.</p> + +<p>It was not very light, and as Nicholas looked about him, ceiling, pit, +boxes, gallery, orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind,--all +looked coarse, cold, gloomy and wretched.</p> + +<p>"Is this a theatre?" whispered Smike, in amazement; "I thought it was a +blaze of light and finery."</p> + +<p>"Why, so it is," replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; "But not by +day, Smike,--not by day."</p> + +<p>At this moment the manager's voice was heard, introducing the +new-comers, under the stage names of Johnson and Digby, to Mrs. +Crummles, a portly lady in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet +dangling by the strings, and with a quantity of hair braided in a large +festoon over each temple; who greeted them with great cordiality.</p> + +<p>While they were chatting with her, there suddenly bounded on to the +stage from some mysterious inlet, a little girl in a dirty white frock, +with tucks up to the knees, short trousers, sandalled shoes, white +spencer, pink gauze bonnet, green veil and curl papers, who turned a +pirouette, then looking off in the opposite wing, shrieked, bounded +forward to within six inches of the footlights, and fell into a +beautiful attitude of terror, as a shabby gentleman in an old pair of +buff slippers came in at one powerful slide, and chattering his teeth +fiercely, brandished a walking-stick.</p> + +<p>"They are going through, 'The Indian Savage and the Maiden,'" said Mrs. +Crummles.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said the manager, "the little ballet interlude. Very good. Go on. +A little this way, if you please, Mr. Johnson. That'll do. Now!"</p> + +<p>The manager clapped his hands as a signal to proceed, and the Savage, +becoming ferocious, made a slide towards the Maiden; but the Maiden +avoided him in six twirls, and came down, at the end of the last one, +upon the very points of her toes. This seemed to make some impression +upon the Savage, for after a little more ferocity and chasing of the +Maiden into corners, he began to relent, and stroked his face several +times with his right thumb and forefingers, thereby intimating that he +was struck with admiration of the Maiden's beauty. Acting upon the +impulse of this passion, he began to hit himself severe thumps in the +chest, and to exhibit other indications of being desperately in love, +which, being rather a prosy proceeding, was very likely the cause of the +Maiden's falling asleep; whether it was or no, asleep she did fall, +sound as a church, on a sloping bank, and the Savage, perceiving it, +leant his left ear on his left hand, and nodded sideways, to intimate to +all whom it might concern that she <i>was</i> asleep, and no shamming. Being +left to himself, the Savage had a dance all alone. Just as he left off, +the Maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance +all alone too--such a dance that the Savage looked on in ecstacy all the +while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighboring tree some +botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it +to the Maiden, who at first wouldn't have it, but on the Savage shedding +tears, relented. Then the Savage jumped for joy; then the Maiden jumped +for rapture at the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage; then the Savage +and the Maiden danced violently together, and finally the Savage +dropped down on one knee, and the Maiden stood on one leg upon his other +knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state +of pleasing uncertainty whether she would ultimately marry the Savage, +or return to her friends.</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. +"Beautiful!"</p> + +<p>"This, sir," said Mr. Vincent Crummles, bringing the Maiden forward, +"This is the Infant Phenomenon--Miss Ninetta Crummles."</p> + +<p>"Your daughter?" inquired Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"My daughter--my daughter," replied Mr. Crummles; "the idol of every +place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this +girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town +in England."</p> + +<p>"I am not surprised at that," said Nicholas; "she must be quite a +natural genius."</p> + +<p>"Quite a--!" Mr. Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to +describe the Infant Phenomenon. "I'll tell you what, sir," he said; "the +talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, +sir--seen--to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your +mother, my dear."</p> + +<p>"May I ask how old she is?" inquired Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"You may, sir," replied Mr. Crummles, "She is ten years of age, sir,"</p> + +<p>"Not more?"</p> + +<p>"Not a day."</p> + +<p>"Dear me," said Nicholas, "it's extraordinary."</p> + +<p>It was; for the Infant Phenomenon certainly looked older, and had +moreover, been precisely the same age for certainly five years. But she +had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance +of gin and water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps +this system of training had produced in the Infant Phenomenon these +additional phenomena.</p> + +<p>When this dialogue was concluded, another member of the company, Mr. +Folair, joined Nicholas, and confided to him the contempt of the entire +troupe for the Infant Phenomenon. "Infant Humbug sir!" he said. "There +isn't a female child of common sharpness in a charity school that +couldn't do better than that. She may thank her stars she was born a +manager's daughter."</p> + +<p>"You seem to take it to heart," observed Nicholas with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes, by Jove, and well I may," said Mr. Folair testily "isn't it enough +to make a man crusty, to see the little sprawler put up in the best +business every night, and actually keeping money out of the house by +being forced down the people's throats while other people are passed +over? Why, I know of fifteen-and-sixpence that came to Southampton last +month to see me dance the Highland Fling, and what's the consequence? +I've never been put up at it since--never once--while the 'Infant +Phenomenon' has been grinning through artificial flowers at five people +and a baby in the pit, and two boys in the gallery, every night."</p> + +<p>From these bitter remarks, it may be inferred that there were two ways +of looking at the performances of the Infant Phenomenon, but as jealousy +is well known to be unjust in its criticism, and as the Infant was too +highly praised by her own band of admirers to be much affected by such +remarks, if any of them reached her ears, there is no evidence that her +joy was diminished by reason of the complaints of captious +fault-finders.</p> + +<p>At the first evening performance which Nicholas witnessed, he found the +various members of the company very much changed; by reason of false +hair, false color, false calves, false muscles, they had become +different beings; the stage also was set in the most elaborate +fashion,--in short everything was on a scale of the utmost splendor and +preparation.</p> + +<p>Nicholas was standing contemplating the first scene when the manager +accosted him.</p> + +<p>"Been in front to-night?" said Mr. Crummles.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Nicholas, "not yet. I am going to see the play."</p> + +<p>"We've had a pretty good Let," said Mr. Crummles. "Four front places in +the centre, and the whole of the stage box."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas; "a family, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mr. Crummles. "It's an affecting thing. There are six +children, and they never come unless the Phenomenon plays."</p> + +<p>It would have been difficult for any party to have visited the theatre +on a night when the Phenomenon did <i>not</i> play, inasmuch as she always +sustained one, and not uncommonly two or three characters, every night; +but Nicholas, sympathizing with the feelings of a father, refrained from +hinting at this trifling circumstance, and Mr. Crummies continued:</p> + +<p>"Six,--pa and ma eight,--aunt nine,--governess ten,--grandfather and +grandmother, twelve. Then, there's the footman who stands outside with a +bag of oranges and a jug of toast-and-water, and sees the play for +nothing through the little pane of glass in the box-door--it's cheap at +a guinea; they gain by taking a box."</p> + +<p>"I wonder you allow so many," observed Nicholas.</p> + +<p>"There's no help for it," replied Mr. Crummles; "it's always expected +in the country. If there are six children, six people come to hold them +in their laps. Ring in the orchestra, Grudden!"</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Crummles' habit to give a benefit performance, commonly +called a "bespeak," to any member of his company fortunate enough to +have either a birthday or any other anniversary of sufficient importance +to challenge attention on the posters, and not long after Nicholas +entered the company, this honor fell to the lot of one of the prominent +actresses, Miss Snevellicci. Mr. Crummles then informed Nicholas that +there was some work for him to do before that event took place.</p> + +<p>"There's a little canvassing takes place on these occasions," said Mr. +Crummles, "among the patrons, and the fact is, Snevellicci has had so +many bespeaks in this place that she wants an attraction. She had one +when her stepmother died, and when her uncle died; and Mrs. Crummles and +myself have had them on the anniversary of the Phenomenon's birthday, +and our wedding-day, and occasions of that description; so that, in +fact, it is hard to get a good one. Now, won't you help this poor girl, +Mr. Johnson, by calling with her to-morrow morning upon one or two of +the principal people?"--asked the manager in a persuasive tone, adding, +"The Infant will accompany her. There will not be the smallest +impropriety, sir. It would be of material service--the gentleman from +London--author of the new piece--actor in the new piece--first +appearance on any boards--it would lead to a great bespeak, +Mr. Johnson."</p> + +<p>The idea was extremely distasteful to Nicholas; but out of kindness to +Miss Snevellicci, he reluctantly consented to be one of the canvassing +party, and accordingly the next morning, sallied forth with Miss +Snevellicci and the Infant Phenomenon.</p> + +<p>The Phenomenon was rather a troublesome companion, for first the right +sandal came down, and then the left, and these mischances being +repaired, one leg of the little white trousers was discovered to be +longer than the other; then the little green parasol with a broad fringe +border and no handle, which she bore in her hand, was dropped down an +iron grating, and only fished up again by dint of much exertion. +However, it was impossible to scold her, as she was the manager's +daughter, so Nicholas took it all in perfect good humor and walked on, +with Miss Snevellicci, arm in arm, on one side, and the offending infant +on the other.</p> + +<p>At the first house they visited, after having a long conversation +concerning the stage, and its relation to life, they at length disposed +of two boxes, and retired, glad that the conference was at an end.</p> + +<p>At the next house they were in great glory, for there resided the six +children who had been enraptured with the Phenomenon, and who, being +called down from the nursery to be treated with a private view of that +young lady, proceeded to poke their fingers into her eyes, and tread +upon her toes, and show her many other little attentions peculiar to +their time of life.</p> + +<p>"I shall certainly persuade Mr. Borum to take a private box," said the +lady of the house, after a most gracious reception; "Augustus, you +naughty boy, leave the little girl alone." This was addressed to a young +gentleman who was pinching the Phenomenon from behind, apparently with a +view to ascertaining whether she was real.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you must be very tired," said the mamma, turning to Miss +Snevellicci. "I cannot think of allowing you to go without first taking +a glass of wine. Fie, Charlotte, I am ashamed of you: Miss Lane, my +dear, pray see to the children."</p> + +<p>This entreaty addressed to the governess, was rendered necessary by the +behavior of the youngest Miss Borum, who, having filched the +Phenomenon's little green parasol, was now carrying it bodily off, while +the distracted Infant looked helplessly on, and presently the poor child +was really in a fair way to be torn limb from limb, for two strong +little boys, one holding on by each of her hands, were dragging her in +different directions as a trial of strength. However, at this juncture +Miss Lane rescued the unhappy victim, who was presently taken away, +after sustaining no more serious damage than a flattening of the pink +gauze bonnet, and a rather extensive creasing of the white frock and +trousers. Her companions were thankful not only when the call was ended, +but when the whole trying morning, with its series of visits, was over.</p> + +<p>The benefit performance was a great success, and the new actor made such +a decided hit on that night and the succeeding ones, that Mr. Crummies +prolonged his stay in Portsmouth for a fortnight beyond the days +allotted to it, during which time Nicholas attracted so many people to +the theatre that the manager finally decided upon giving him a benefit, +calculating that it would be a promising speculation. From it Nicholas +realized no less a sum than twenty pounds, which, added to what he had +earned before, made him feel quite rich and comfortable.</p> + +<p>At that time he received a letter containing news of his sister in +London, and a danger that menaced her, which made him prepare to leave +Portsmouth without an hour's delay, if he should be summoned.</p> + +<p>Accordingly he decided to acquaint his manager with the possibility of +his withdrawal from the company, and hastened to the green-room for that +purpose, where he found Mrs. Crummies in full regal costume, with the +Phenomenon as the Maiden, in her maternal arms. He broke the news to +the group as gently as possible, but it was received with great dismay, +and there were both protestations and tears, while the Phenomenon, being +of an affectionate nature and moreover excitable, raised a loud cry, and +was soothed with extreme difficulty, showing that the child's heart was +in the right place, notwithstanding the constant strain upon her +emotions from being so often obliged to simulate unnatural ones.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crummles was no sooner acquainted with the news than he evinced many +tokens of grief, but finding Nicholas determined in his purpose, at once +suggested a grand farewell performance, to be advertised as a brilliant +display of fireworks.</p> + +<p>"That would be rather expensive," suggested Nicholas dryly.</p> + +<p>"Eighteen-pence would do it," said Mr. Crummles; "You on the top of a +pair of steps with the Phenomenon in an attitude; 'FAREWELL,' on a +transparency behind; and nine people at the wings with a squib in each +hand--all the dozen and a half going off at once--it would be very +grand--awful from the front, quite awful."</p> + +<p>As Nicholas appeared by no means impressed with the idea, but laughed +heartily at it, Mr. Crummles abandoned the project, and gloomily +observed that they must make up the best bill they could, with combats +and hornpipes, and so stick to the legitimate drama.</p> + +<p>Next day the posters appeared, and the public were informed that Mr. +Johnson would have the honor of making his last appearance that evening, +and that an early application for places was requested, in consequence +of the extraordinary overflow attendant on his performances.</p> + +<p>Upon entering the theatre that night, Nicholas found all the company in +a state of extreme excitement, and Mr. Crummles at once informed him in +an agitated voice that there was a London manager in one of the boxes.</p> + +<p>"It's the Phenomenon, depend upon it, sir," said Crummies. "I have not +the smallest doubt it's the fame of the Phenomenon. She shall have ten +pound a week, Johnson; she shall not appear on the London boards for a +farthing less. They shan't engage her either, unless they engage Mrs. +Crummles too; twenty pound a week for the pair, or I'll throw in myself +and the two boys, and they shall have the family for thirty. Thirty +pound a week. It's too cheap, Johnson. It's dirt cheap."</p> + +<p>Every individual member of the company had in the same manner decided +that it was his or her attractions that had drawn the great man's +attention to the Portsmouth theatre, and each one secretly decided upon +the amount of inducement necessary to persuade him or her to make a new +engagement. Everybody played to the stranger, everybody sang to him, +everything was done for his exclusive benefit, and it was a cruel blow +to the general expectations when he was discovered to be asleep, and +shortly after that he woke up and went away: in consequence of which, +the feelings of the company, collectively and severally, underwent a +severe reaction. Nicholas alone, had no feeling whatsoever on the +subject, except of amusement. He went through his part as briskly as he +could, then took Smike's arm and walked home to bed.</p> + +<p>With the post next morning came the letter he had been expecting, +calling him instantly to London, and he at once hurried off to say +farewell to Mr. Crummles. His news was received with keen regret by that +gentleman, who, always mindful of theatrical effects followed Nicholas +even to the coach itself. As that vehicle stood in the open street, +ready to start, and Nicholas was about to enter it, he was not a little +astonished to find himself suddenly clutched in a violent embrace which +nearly took him off his legs; while Mr. Crummles' voice exclaimed, "It +is he--my friend, my friend!"</p> + +<p>"Bless my heart," cried Nicholas, struggling in the manager's arms, +"What are you about?"</p> + +<p>The manager made no reply, but strained him to his breast again, +exclaiming, "Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!"</p> + +<p>In fact Mr. Crummles, who could never lose any opportunity for +professional display, had turned out for the express purpose of taking a +public farewell of Nicholas, and to render it the more imposing, the +elder Master Crummles was going through a similar ceremony with Smike; +while Master Percy Crummles, with a second-hand cloak worn theatrically +over his left shoulder, stood by, in attitude of an attendant officer +waiting to convey two victims to the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The lookers-on laughed very heartily, and as it was well to put a good +face upon the matter, Nicholas laughed too, when he had succeeded in +disengaging himself; and rescuing the astonished Smike, climbed up to +the coach-roof after him, waving farewell, as they rolled away.</p> + +<p>Some years later, when Nicholas was residing in London, under very +different circumstances from those of his Portsmouth experience, and +with a very different occupation; walking home one evening, he stood +outside a minor theatre which he had to pass, and found himself poring +over a huge play-bill which announced in large letters;</p> + +<p><i>Positively the last appearance of Mr. Vincent Crummles, of Provincial +Celebrity!!!</i></p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said Nicholas, preparing to resume his walk, then turning +back again, "It can't be,"--but adding on second thoughts--"Surely it +<i>must</i> be the same man. There can't be two Vincent Crummleses."</p> + +<p>The better to settle the question he referred to the bill again, and +finding there was a Baron in the first piece, whose son was enacted by +one Master Crummles, and his nephew by one Master Percy Crummles, and +that, incidental to the piece was a castanet <i>pas seul</i> by the Infant +Phenomenon, he no longer entertained any doubt; and presenting himself +at the stage door at once, sent in a scrap of paper with "Mr. Johnson" +written thereon in pencil, and was presently conducted into the presence +of his former manager.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crummles was unfeignedly glad to see him, and in the course of a +long conversation informed Nicholas that the next morning he and his +were to sail for America, that he had made up his mind to settle there +permanently, in the hope of acquiring some land of his own, which would +support them in their old age, and which they could afterward bequeath +to their children. Nicholas, having highly commended this resolution, +Mr. Crummles imparted such further intelligence relative to their mutual +friends as he thought might prove interesting, and added a hearty +invitation to Nicholas to attend that night a farewell supper, to be +given in their honor at a neighboring tavern.</p> + +<p>This invitation Nicholas instantly accepted, promising to return at the +conclusion of the performances, and availed himself of this interval to +go out and buy a silver snuff-box as a token of remembrance for Mr. +Crummles, also a pair of ear-rings for Mrs. Crummles, a necklace for the +Phenomenon, and a flaming shirt-pin for each of the young gentlemen, +after making which purchases he returned to the theatre, and repaired to +the tavern with Mr. Crummles.</p> + +<p>He was received with great cordiality by those of the party whom he +knew, and with particular joy by Mrs. Crummles, who at once said: "Here +is one whom you know,"--thrusting forward the Phenomenon, in a blue +gauze frock, extensively flounced, and trousers of the same.</p> + +<p>Nicholas stooped down to salute the Phenomenon, and then, supper being +on table, Mrs. Crummles gave her hand to Nicholas and repaired with a +stately step to the repast, followed by the other guests.</p> + +<p>The board being at length cleared of food; and punch, wine, and spirits +being placed upon it, and handed about, speeches were made, and health +drunk to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Crummles and the young Crummleses, after +which ceremony, with many adieus and embraces, the company dispersed.</p> + +<p>Nicholas waited until he was alone with the family, to give his little +presents, and then with honest warmth of feeling said farewell to Mr. +and Mrs. Crummles, the Master Crummleses, and the Infant +Phenomenon,--and history has not chronicled their further career, nor +recorded to what greater heights of popularity the Infant Phenomenon has +since attained.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="JENNY_WREN."></a>JENNY WREN.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0276.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0276.jpg" width = "25%" alt="JENNY WREN."> +</a><br><b>"JENNY WREN."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>JENNY WREN.</h2> + +<p>Her real name was Fanny Cleaver, but she had long ago dropped it, and +chosen to bestow upon herself the fanciful appellation of Miss Jenny +Wren, by which title she was known to the entire circle of her friends +and business acquaintances.</p> + +<p>Miss Wren's home was in a certain little street called Church Street, +running out from a certain square called Smith Square, at Millbank, and +there the little lady plied her trade, early and late, having for +companions her father and a lodger, Lizzie Hexam. Her father had once +been a good workman at his own trade, but unfortunately for poor little +Jenny Wren, was so weak in character and so confirmed in bad habits that +she could place no trust in him, and had come to consider herself the +head of the family, and to speak of him as "my child," or "my bad boy," +ordering him about as if he were in truth, a child.</p> + +<p>When Lizzie Hexam's brother and a friend, Bradley Headstone, paid their +first visit to the house on Church Street, they knocked at the door, +which promptly opened and disclosed a child--a dwarf, a girl--sitting on +a little, low, old-fashioned arm-chair, which had a kind of little +working-bench before it.</p> + +<p>"I can't get up," said the child, "because my back's bad and my legs are +queer. But I'm the person of the house."</p> + +<p>"Who else is at home?" asked Charley Hexam, staring?</p> + +<p>"Nobody's at home at present," returned the child, with a glib +assertion of her dignity, "except the person of the house."</p> + +<p>The queer little figure, and the queer, but not ugly little face, with +its bright grey eyes, was so sharp that the sharpness of the manner +seemed unavoidable.</p> + +<p>The person of the house continued the conversation: "Your sister will be +in," she said, "in about a quarter of an hour. I'm very fond of your +sister. Take a seat. And would you please to shut the street door first? +I can't very well do it myself, because my back's so bad and my legs are +so queer."</p> + +<p>They complied, and the little figure went on with its work of gumming or +gluing together pieces of cardboard and thin wood, cut into various +shapes. The scissors and knives upon the bench, showed that the child +herself had cut them; and the bright scraps of velvet and silk and +ribbon also strewn upon the bench showed that when duly stuffed, she was +to cover them smartly. The dexterity of her nimble fingers was +remarkable, and as she brought two thin edges accurately together by +giving them a little bite, she would glance at the visitors out of the +corners of her grey eyes with a look that out-sharpened all her other +sharpness.</p> + +<p>"You can't tell me the name of my trade, I'll be bound," she said.</p> + +<p>"You make pincushions," said Charley.</p> + +<p>"What else do I make?"</p> + +<p>"Penwipers," said his friend.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! What else do I make?"</p> + +<p>"You do something," he returned, pointing to a corner of the little +bench, "with straw; but I don't know what."</p> + +<p>"Well done, you!" cried the person of the house. "I only make +pincushions and penwipers, to use up my waste. But my straw really does +belong to my business. Try again. What do I make with my straw?"</p> + +<p>"Dinner-mats?"</p> + +<p>"Dinner-mats! I'll give you a clue to my trade in a game of forfeits. I +love my love with a B because she's beautiful; I hate my love with a B +because she is brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar; and I +treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer and she lives in +Bedlam--now, what do I make with my straw?"</p> + +<p>"Ladies' bonnets?"</p> + +<p>"Fine ladies'," said the person of the house, nodding assent. "Dolls'. +I'm a Doll's dressmaker."</p> + +<p>"I hope it's a good business?"</p> + +<p>The person of the house shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No. +Poorly paid. And I'm often so pressed for time. I had a doll married +last week, and was obliged to work all night. And they take no care of +their clothes, and they never keep to the same fashions a month. I work +for a doll with three daughters. Bless you, she's enough to ruin her +husband!" The person of the house gave a weird little laugh, and gave +them another look but of the corners of her eyes. She had an elfin chin +that was capable of great expression; and whenever she gave this look, +she hitched this chin up, as if her eyes and her chin worked together on +the same wires.</p> + +<p>"Are you always as busy as you are now?"</p> + +<p>"Busier. I'm slack just now. I finished a large mourning order the day +before yesterday. Doll I work for lost a canary bird."</p> + +<p>"Are you alone all day?" asked Bradley Headstone. "Don't any of the +neighboring children--?"</p> + +<p>"Ah," cried the person of the house, with a little scream as if the word +had pricked her. "Don't talk of children. I can't bear children. I know +their tricks and their manners!" She said this with an angry little +shake of her right fist, adding:</p> + +<p>"Always running about and screeching, always playing and fighting, +always skip--skip--skipping on the pavement, and chalking it for their +games! Oh--I know their tricks and their manners!" Shaking the little +fist as before. "And that's not all. Ever so often calling names in +through a person's keyhole, and imitating a person's back and legs. Oh! +<i>I</i> know their tricks and their manners. And I tell you what I'd do to +punish 'em. There's doors under the church in the Square--black doors +leading into black vaults. Well! I'd open one of those doors, and I'd +cram 'em all in, and then I'd lock the door and through the keyhole I'd +blow in pepper."</p> + +<p>"What would be the good of blowing in pepper?" asked Charley Hexam.</p> + +<p>"To set 'em sneezing," said the person of the house, "and make their +eyes water. And when they were all sneezing and inflamed, I'd mock 'em +through the keyhole. Just as they, with their tricks and their manners, +mock a person through a person's keyhole!"</p> + +<p>An emphatic shake of her little fist, seemed to ease the mind of the +person of the house; for she added with recovered composure, "No, no, +no. No children for me. Give me grown-ups."</p> + +<p>It was difficult to guess the age of this strange creature, for her poor +figure furnished no clue to it, and her face was at once so young and so +old. Twelve, or at the most thirteen, might be near the mark.</p> + +<p>"I always did like grown-ups," she went on, "and always kept company +with them. So sensible. Sit so quiet. Don't go prancing and capering +about! And I mean always to keep among none but grown-ups till I marry. +I suppose I must make up my mind to marry, one of these days!"</p> + +<p>At that moment Lizzie Hexam entered, and the visitors after saying +farewell to the dolls' dressmaker, took Lizzie out with them for a +short walk.</p> + +<p>The person of the house, dolls' dressmaker, and manufacturer of +ornamental pincushions and penwipers, sat in her quaint little low +arm-chair, singing in the dark, until Lizzie came back.</p> + +<p>"Well, Lizzie--Mizzie--Wizzie," said she, breaking off in her song. +"What's the news out of doors?"</p> + +<p>"What's the news indoors?" returned Lizzie playfully, smoothing the +bright long fair hair, which grew very luxuriant and beautiful on the +head of the dolls' dressmaker. It being Lizzie's regular occupation when +they were alone of an evening to brush out and smooth the long fair +hair, she unfastened a ribbon that kept it back while the little +creature was at work, and it fell in a beautiful shower over the poor +shoulders that were much in need of such adorning rain.</p> + +<p>Lizzie then lighted a candle, put the room door and the house door open, +and turned the little low chair and its occupant toward the outer air. +It was a sultry night, and this was a fine weather arrangement when the +day's work was done. To complete it, she seated herself by the side of +the little chair, and protectingly drew under her arm the spare hand +that crept up to her.</p> + +<p>"This is what your loving Jenny Wren calls the best time of the day and +night," said the person of the house; adding, "I have been thinking +to-day what a thing it would be, if I should be able to have your +company till I am married, or at least courted. Because when I'm +courted, I shall make <i>him</i> do some of the things that you do for me. He +couldn't brush my hair like you do, or help me up and downstairs like +you do, and he couldn't do anything like you do; but he could take my +work home, and he could call for orders in his clumsy way. And he shall +too. <i>I'll</i> trot him about, I can tell him!"</p> + +<p>Jenny Wren had her personal vanities--happily for her--and no intentions +were stronger in her breast than the various trials and torments that +were, in the fulness of time, to be inflicted upon "him."</p> + +<p>"Wherever he may happen to be just at present, or whoever he may happen +to be," said Miss Wren, "<i>I</i> know his tricks and his manners, and I give +him warning to look out."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you're rather hard upon him?" asked her friend smiling, +and smoothing her hair.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," replied the sage Miss Wren, with an air of vast experience. +"My dear, they don't care for you, those fellows, if you're not hard +upon 'em?"</p> + +<p>In such light and playful conversation, which was the dear delight of +Jenny Wren, they continued until interrupted by Mr. Wrayburn, a friend +of Lizzie's, who fell to talking playfully with Jenny Wren.</p> + +<p>"I think of setting up a doll, Miss Jenny," he said.</p> + +<p>"You had better not," replied the dressmaker.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"You are sure to break it. All you children do."</p> + +<p>"But that makes good for trade, you know, Miss Wren," he returned.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," Miss Wren retorted; "but you'd better by half +set up a pen-wiper, and turn industrious, and use it."</p> + +<p>"Why, if we were all as industrious as you, little Busy Body, we should +begin to work as soon as we could crawl, and there would be a +bad thing!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," returned the little creature with a flush suffusing her +face, "bad for your backs and your legs?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," said the visitor, shocked at the thought of trifling with her +infirmity. "Bad for business. If we all set to work as soon as we could +use our hands, it would be all over with the dolls' dressmakers.</p> + +<p>"There's something in that," replied Miss Wren, "you have a sort of an +idea in your noddle sometimes!" Then, resting one arm upon the elbow of +her chair, resting her chin upon that hand, and looking vacantly before +her, she said in a changed tone: "Talking of ideas, my Lizzie, I wonder +how it happens that when I am working here all alone in the summer-time, +I smell flowers. This is not a flowery neighborhood. It's anything but +that. And yet as I sit at work, I smell miles of flowers; I smell +rose-leaves till I think I see the rose-leaves lying in heaps, bushels, +on the floor; I smell fallen leaves, till I put down my hand--so--and +expect to make them rustle; I smell the white and the pink May in the +hedges, and all sorts of flowers that I never was among. For I have seen +very few flowers indeed in my life."</p> + +<p>"Pleasant fancies to have, Jenny dear!" said her friend with a glance +toward their visitor, as if she would have asked him whether they were +given the child in compensation for her losses.</p> + +<p>"So I think, Lizzie, when they come to me. And the birds I hear! Oh!" +cried the little creature, holding out her hand and looking upward, "How +they sing!"</p> + +<p>There was something in the face and action for the moment quite inspired +and beautiful. Then the chin dropped musingly upon the hand again.</p> + +<p>"I dare say my birds sing better than other birds, and my flowers smell +better than other flowers. For when I was a little child," in a tone as +though it were ages ago, "the children that I used to see early in the +morning were very different from any others I ever saw. They were not +like me; they were not chilled, anxious, ragged, or beaten; they were +never in pain. They were not like the children of the neighbors; they +never made me tremble all over, by setting up shrill noises; and they +never mocked me. Such numbers of them too! All in white dresses, and +with something shining on the borders, and on their heads, that I have +never been able to imitate with my work, though I know it so well. They +used to come down in long, bright, slanting rows, and say all together, +'Who is this in pain! Who is this in pain!' When I told them who it was, +they answered, 'Come and play with us!' When I said 'I never play! I +can't play,' they swept about me and took me up, and made me light. Then +it was all delicious ease and rest till they laid me down, and said all +together, 'Have patience, and we will come again.' Whenever they came +back, I used to know they were coming before I saw the long bright rows, +by hearing them ask, all together a long way off, 'Who is this in pain! +Who is this in pain!' And I used to cry out, 'Oh my blessed children, +it's poor me. Have pity on me. Take me up and make me light!'"</p> + +<p>By degrees as she progressed in this remembrance, the hand was raised, +the last ecstatic look returned, and she became quite beautiful again. +Having so paused for a moment, silent, with a listening smile upon her +face, she looked round and recalled herself.</p> + +<p>"What poor fun you think me, don't you," she said to the visitor. "You +may well look tired of me. But it's Saturday night, and I won't +detain you."</p> + +<p>"That is to say, Miss Wren," observed the visitor, rather weary of the +person of the house, and quite ready to profit by her hint, "you wish +me to go?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's Saturday night," she returned, "and my child's coming home. +And my child is a troublesome, bad child, and costs me a world of +scolding. I would rather you didn't see my child."</p> + +<p>"A doll?" said the visitor, not understanding, and looking for an +explanation.</p> + +<p>But Lizzie, with her lips only, shaping the two words, "<i>Her father</i>," +he took his leave immediately, and presently the weak and shambling +figure of the child's father stumbled in, to be expostulated with, and +scolded, and treated as the person of the house always treated him, when +he came home in such a pitiable condition.</p> + +<p>While they ate their supper, Lizzie tried to bring the child round again +to that prettier and better state. But the charm was broken. The dolls' +dressmaker had become a little quaint shrew, of the world, worldly; of +the earth, earthy.</p> + +<p>Poor dolls' dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should +have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the +eternal road and asking guidance! Poor, poor little dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>One of Miss Jenny's firmest friends was an aged Jew, Mr. Riah, by name; +of venerable aspect, and a generous and noble nature. He was supposedly +the head of the firm of Pubsey and Co., at Saint-Mary-Axe, but really +only the agent of one Mr. Fledgeby, a miserly young dandy who directed +all the aged Jew's transactions, and forced him into sharp, unfair +dealings with those whom Mr. Riah himself would gladly have befriended; +shielding his own meanness and dishonesty behind the venerable figure of +the Jew, and keeping his own connection with the firm a profound secret. +Mr. Riah suffered himself to remain in such a position only because once +when he had had sickness and misfortune, and owed Mr. Fledgeby's father +both principal and interest, the son inheriting, had been merciful and +placed him there; and little did the guileless old man realize that he +had long since, richly repaid the debt; his age and serene +respectability, added to the characteristics ascribed to his race, +making a valuable screen to hide his employer's misdeeds.</p> + +<p>The aged Jew often befriended the dolls' dressmaker, and she called him, +in her fanciful way, "godmother."</p> + +<p>On his roof-top garden, Jenny Wren and her friend Lizzie were sitting +one day, together, when Mr. Fledgeby came up and joined the party, +interrupting their conversation. For the girls, perhaps with some old +instinct of his race, the gentle Jew had spread a carpet. Seated on it, +against no more romantic object than a blackened chimney-stack, over +which some humble creeper had been trained, they both pored over one +book, while a basket of common fruit, and another basket of strings of +beads and tinsel scraps were lying near.</p> + +<p>"This, sir," explained the old Jew, "is a little dressmaker for little +people. Explain to the master, Jenny."</p> + +<p>"Dolls; that's all," said Jenny shortly. "Very difficult to fit too, +because their figures are so uncertain. You never know where to expect +their waists."</p> + +<p>"I made acquaintance with my guests, sir," pursued the old Jew, with an +evident purpose of drawing out the dressmaker, "through their coming +here to buy our damage and waste for Miss Jenny's millinery. They wear +it in their hair, and on their ball-dresses, and even (so she tells me) +are presented at court with it."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Fledgeby, "she's been buying that basketful to-day, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"I suppose she has," Miss Jenny interposed, "and paying for it too, most +likely," adding, "we are thankful to come up here for rest, sir; for +the quiet and the air, and because it's so high. And you see the clouds +rushing on above the narrow streets, not minding them, and you see the +golden arrows pointing at the mountains in the sky, from which the wind +comes, and, you feel as if you were dead."</p> + +<p>"How do you feel when you are dead?" asked the practical Mr. Fledgeby, +much perplexed.</p> + +<p>"Oh so tranquil!" cried the little creature smiling. "Oh so peaceful and +so thankful! And you hear the people, who are alive, crying and working +and calling to one another in the close dark streets and you seem to +pity them so! And such a chain has fallen from you, and such a strange, +good, sorrowful happiness comes upon you!"</p> + +<p>Her eyes fell upon the old man, who, with his hands folded, quietly +looked on.</p> + +<p>"Why, it was only just now," said the little creature, pointing at him, +"that I fancied I saw him come out of his grave! He toiled out at that +low door, so bent and worn, and then he took his breath, and stood +upright and looked all around him at the sky, and the wind blew upon +him, and his life down in the dark was over!--Till he was called back to +life," she added, looking round at Fledgeby with that lower look of +sharpness, "Why did you call him back? But you are not dead, you know," +said Jenny Wren. "Get down to life!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Fledgeby seemed to think it a rather good suggestion, and with a nod +turned round and took his leave. As Mr. Riah followed him down the +stairs, the little creature called out to the Jew in a silvery tone, +"Don't be gone long. Come back and be dead!" And still as they went +down, they heard the little sweet voice, more and more faintly, half +calling and half singing, "Come back and be dead. Come back and be +dead!" And as the old man again mounted, the call or song began to +sound in his ears again, and looking above, he saw the face of the +little creature looking down out of the glory of her long, bright, +radiant hair, and musically repeating to him like a vision:</p> + +<p>"Come up and be dead! Come up and be dead!"</p> + +<p>Not long after this, there came a heavy trial to the dolls' dressmaker +in the loss from her home of her friend and lodger, Lizzie Hexam. +Lizzie, having disagreed with her brother upon a subject of vital +interest to herself, and having an intense desire to escape from persons +whom she knew would pursue her so long as she remained in London, felt +it wisest to quietly disappear from the city, leaving no trace of her +whereabouts. With the help of Mr. Riah she accomplished this, and found +occupation in a paper-mill in the country, leaving poor Jenny Wren with +only the slight consolation of her letters, and with the aged Jew for +her sole counsellor and friend. He was frequently with Jenny Wren, often +escorting her upon her necessary trips, in returning her fine ladies to +their homes in various parts of the city, and sometimes the little +creature accompanied him upon his own business trips, as well.</p> + +<p>One foggy evening as usual, he set out for Church Street, and, wading +through the fog, waded to the doorstep of the dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>Miss Wren expected him. He could see her through the window, by the +light of her low fire--carefully banked up with damp cinders, that it +might last the longer, and waste the less when she went out--sitting +waiting for him, in her bonnet. His tap at the glass roused her from the +musing solitude in which she sat, and she opened the door, aiding her +steps with a little crutch-stick.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, godmother!" said Miss Jenny Wren.</p> + +<p>The old man laughed, and gave her his arm to lean on. "Won't you come +in and warm yourself, godmother?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Not if you are ready, Cinderella, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Well!" exclaimed Miss Wren, delighted. "Now you ARE a clever old boy! +If we only gave prizes at this establishment you should have the first +silver medal for taking me up so quick." As she spake thus, Miss Wren +removed the key of the house-door from the keyhole, and put it in her +pocket. Satisfied that her dwelling was safe, she drew one hand through +the old man's arm, and prepared to ply her crutch-stick with the other. +But the key was of such gigantic proportions that before they started, +Riah proposed to carry it.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no! I'll carry it myself," returned Miss Wren. "I'm awfully +lop-sided, you know, and stowed down in my pocket, it'll trim the ship. +To let you into a secret, godmother, I wear my pocket on my high side +o' purpose."</p> + +<p>With that they began their plodding through the fog.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was truly sharp of you, godmother," returned Miss Wren, with +great approbation, "to understand me. But, you see, you <i>are</i> so like +the fairy godmother in the bright little books! You look so unlike the +rest of the people, and so much as if you had changed yourself into that +shape, just this moment, with some benevolent object. Bah!" cried Miss +Jenny, putting her face close to the old man's, "I can see your +features, godmother, behind the beard."</p> + +<p>"Does the fancy go to my changing other objects, too, Jenny?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! That it does! If you'd only borrow my stick, and tap this piece of +pavement, it would start up a coach and six. I say,--Let's believe so!"</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," replied the good old man.</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell you what I must ask you to do, godmother. I must ask you +to be so kind as to give my child a tap, and change him altogether. Oh, +my child has been such a bad, bad child of late! It worries me almost +out of my wits. Not done a stroke of work these ten days."</p> + +<p>"What shall be changed after him?" asked Riah, in a compassionately +playful voice.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, godmother, I am afraid I must be selfish next, and get +you to set me right in the back and legs. It's a little thing to you +with your power, godmother, but it's a great deal to poor, weak, +aching me."</p> + +<p>There was no querulous complaining in the words, but they were not the +less touching for that.</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then--<i>you</i> know, godmother. Well both jump into the coach and +six, and go to Lizzie. This reminds me, godmother, to ask you a serious +question. You are as wise as wise can be (having been brought up by the +fairies), and you can tell me this,--Is it better to have had a good +thing and lost it, or never to have had it?"</p> + +<p>"Explain, goddaughter."</p> + +<p>"I feel so much more solitary and helpless without Lizzie now than I +used to feel before I knew her." (Tears were in her eyes as she +said so.)</p> + +<p>"Some beloved companionship fades out of most lives, my dear," said the +Jew, "that of a wife, and a fair daughter, and a son of promise, has +faded out of my own life--but the happiness <i>was</i>"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Miss Wren thoughtfully, by no means convinced. "Then I tell +you what change I think you had better begin with, godmother. You had +better change Is into Was, and Was into Is, and keep them so."</p> + +<p>"Would that suit your case? Would you not be always in pain then?" asked +the old man tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Right!" exclaimed Miss Wren. "You have changed me wiser, godmother. +Not," she added, with a quaint hitch of her chin and eyes, "that you +need to be a very wonderful godmother to do that, indeed!"</p> + +<p>Thus conversing, they pursued their way over London Bridge, and struck +down the river, and held their still foggier course that way. As they +were going along, Jennie twisted her venerable friend aside to a +brilliantly lighted toy-shop window, and said: "Now, look at 'em! All +my work!"</p> + +<p>This referred to a dazzling semicircle of dolls in all the colors of the +rainbow, who were dressed for all the gay events of life.</p> + +<p>"Pretty, pretty, pretty!" said the old man with a clap of his hands. +"Most elegant taste!"</p> + +<p>"Glad you like 'em," returned Miss Wren loftily. "But the fun is, +godmother, how I make the great ladies try my dresses on. Though it's +the hardest part of my business, and would be, even if my back were not +bad and my legs queer."</p> + +<p>He looked at her as not understanding what she said.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, godmother," said Miss Wren, "I have to scud about town at +all hours. If it was only sitting at my bench, cutting out and sewing, +it would be comparatively easy work; but it's the trying-on by the great +ladies that takes it out of me."</p> + +<p>"How the trying-on?" asked Riah.</p> + +<p>"What a moony godmother you are, after all!" returned Miss Wren. "Look +here. There's a Drawing-room, or a grand day in the Park, or a show or a +fête, or what you like. Very well. I squeeze among the crowd, and I look +about me. When I see a great lady very suitable for my business, I say, +'You'll do, my dear!' and I take particular notice of her again, and +run home and cut her out, and baste her. Then another day I come +scudding back again to try on. Sometimes she plainly seems to say, 'How +that little creature <i>is</i> staring!' All the time I am only saying to +myself, 'I must hollow out a bit here; I must slope away there'; and I +am making a perfect slave of her, making her try on my doll's dress. +Evening parties are severer work for me, because there's only a doorway +for full view, and what with hobbling among the wheels of the carriages +and the legs of the horses, I fully expect to be run over some night. +Whenever they go bobbing into the hall from the carriage, and catch a +glimpse of my little physiognomy poked out from behind a policeman's +cape in the rain, I daresay they think I am wondering and admiring with +all my eyes and heart, but they little think they're only working for my +dolls! There was Lady Belinda Whitrose. I said one night when she came +out of the carriage. 'You'll do, my dear!' and I ran straight home, and +cut her out, and basted her. Back I came again, and waited behind the +men that called the carriages. Very bad night too. At last, 'Lady +Belinda's Whitrose's carriage!' Lady Belinda Whitrose coming down! And I +made her try on--oh! and take pains about it too--before she got seated. +That's Lady Belinda hanging up by the waist, much too near the gas-light +for a wax one, with her toes turned in."</p> + +<p>When they had plodded on for some time, they reached a certain tavern, +where Mr. Riah had some business to transact with its proprietress, Miss +Abbey Potterson, to whom he presented himself, and was about to +introduce his young companion when Miss Wren interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"Stop a bit," she said, "I'll give the lady my card." She produced it +from her pocket with an air, and Miss Abbey took the diminutive +document, and found it to run thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +Miss JENNY WREN.<br><br> + +<b><i>Dolls' Dressmaker.</i></b>.<br><br> + +<i>Dolls attended at their own residences</i>.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>So great were her amusement and astonishment, and so interested was she +in the odd little creature that she at once asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you ever taste shrub, child?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Should you like to?"</p> + +<p>"Should if it's good," returned Miss Wren.</p> + +<p>"You shall try. Put your little feet on the fender. It's a cold, cold +night, and the fog clings so." As Miss Abbey helped her to turn her +chair, her loosened bonnet fell on the floor. "Why, what lovely hair!" +cried Miss Abbey. "And enough to make wigs: for all the dolls in the +world. What a quantity!"</p> + +<p>"Call <i>that</i> a quantity?" returned Miss Wren. "<i>Poof</i>! What do you say +to the rest of it?" As she spoke, she untied a band, and the golden +stream fell over herself, and over the chair, and flowed down to the +ground. Miss Abbey's admiration seemed to increase her perplexity. She +beckoned the Jew towards her, and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Child or woman?"</p> + +<p>"Child in years," was the answer; "woman in self-reliance and trial."</p> + +<p>"You are talking about me, good people," thought Miss Jenny, sitting in +her golden bower, warming her feet. "I can't hear what you say, but I +know your tricks and your manners!"</p> + +<p>The shrub, mixed by Miss Potterson's skilful hands, was perfectly +satisfactory to Miss Jenny's palate, and she sat and sipped it leisurely +while the interview between Mr. Riah and Miss Potterson proceeded, +keenly regretting when the bottom of the glass was reached, and the +interview at an end.</p> + +<p>There was at this time much curiosity among Lizzie Hexam's acquaintances +to discover her hiding-place, and many of them paid visits to the dolls' +dressmaker in hopes of obtaining from her the desired address. Among +these was Mr. Wrayburn, whom we find calling upon Miss Wren one evening:</p> + +<p>"And so, Miss Jenny," he said, "I cannot persuade you to dress me a +doll?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Miss Wren snappishly; "If you want one, go and buy it at +the shop."</p> + +<p>"And my charming young goddaughter," said Mr. Wrayburn plaintively, +"down in Hertfordshire--"</p> + +<p>("Humbugshire, you mean, I think," interposed Miss Wren)--"is to be put +upon the cold footing of the general public, and is to derive no +advantage from my private acquaintance with the Court dressmaker?"</p> + +<p>"If it's any advantage to your charming godchild, and oh, a precious +godfather she has got!" replied Miss Wren, pricking at him in the air +with her needle, "to be informed that the Court dressmaker knows your +tricks and your manners, you may tell her so, by post, with my +compliments."</p> + +<p>Miss Wren was busy with her work, by candlelight, and Mr. Wrayburn, half +amused and half vexed, stood by her bench looking on, while her +troublesome child was in the corner, in deep disgrace on account of his +bad behavior, and as Miss Jenny worked, she rated him severely, +accompanying each reproach with a stamp of her foot.</p> + +<p>"Pay five shillings for you indeed!" she exclaimed in response to his +appeal for money. "How many hours do you suppose it costs me to earn +five shillings, you infamous boy? Don't cry like that, or I'll throw a +doll at you. Pay five shillings fine for you, indeed! Fine in more ways +than one, I think! I'd give the dustman five shillings to carry you off +in the dust-cart."</p> + +<p>The figure in the corner continuing to whine and whimper, Miss Wren +covered her face with her hand. "There!" she said, "I can't bear to look +at you. Go upstairs and get me my bonnet and shawl. Make yourself useful +in some way, bad boy, and let me have your room instead of your company, +for one half minute."</p> + +<p>Obeying her, he shambled out, and Mr. Wrayburn, pitying, saw the tears +exude between the little creature's fingers, as she kept her hand +before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am going to the Italian Opera to try on," said Miss Wren, taking away +her hand, and laughing satirically to hide that she had been crying. +"But let me first tell you, Mr. Wrayburn, once for all, that it's no use +your paying visits to me. You wouldn't get what you want of me, no, not +if you brought pincers with you to tear it out."</p> + +<p>With which statement, and a further admonition to her father, who had +come back, she blew her candles out, and taking her big door-key in her +pocket, and her crutch-stick in her hand, marched off.</p> + +<p>Not many months later, one day while Miss Wren was waiting in the office +of Pubsey and Co., for Mr. Riah to come in and sell her the waste she +was accustomed to buy, she overheard a conversation between Mr. +Fledgeby, who had apparently happened in, and a friend who was also +waiting for Mr. Riah.</p> + +<p>This conversation led her to infer that her old friend was both a +treacherous and dishonest man, and entirely unworthy to be trusted in +any capacity. Seemingly the conversation was not meant for her ears, but +Mr. Fledgeby had planned that she should hear it, and that it should +have the very effect upon her which it had. This was Mr. Fledgeby's +retort upon Miss Wren for the over-sharpness with which she always +treated him, and also a pleasant instance of his humor as regarded the +old Jew. "He has got a bad name as an old Jew, and he is paid for the +use of it, and I'll have my money's worth out of him." Thus ran Mr. +Fledgeby's reflections on the subject, and Miss Wren sat listening to +the conversation with a fallen countenance, until Mr. Riah came in, when +Mr. Fledgeby led the old man to make statements which seemed further to +emphasize his hard-heartedness and dishonesty.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Riah filled Miss Wren's little basket with such scraps as she +could buy, saying:</p> + +<p>"There, my Cinderella dear, the basket's full now. Bless you, and get +you gone!"</p> + +<p>"Don't call me your Cinderella dear," returned Miss Wren, "Oh, you cruel +godmother!"</p> + +<p>She shook that emphatic little forefinger of hers in his face at +parting, and as he did not attempt to vindicate himself, went on her +way, to return no more to Saint Mary Axe; chance having disclosed to her +(as she supposed) the flinty and hypocritical character of Mr. Riah. She +often moralized over her work on the tricks and the manners of that +venerable cheat, but made her little purchases elsewhere, and lived a +secluded life. But during several interviews which she chanced to have +later with Mr. Fledgeby, the clever little creature made him by his own +words, disclose his system of treachery and trickery, and prove that the +aged Jew had been screening his employer at his own expense. Thereupon +Miss Jenny lost no time in once again proceeding to the place of +business of Pubsey and Co., where she found the old man sitting at his +desk. In less time than it takes to tell it, she had folded her arms +about his neck, and kissed him, imploring his forgiveness for her lack +of faith in him, adding: "It did look bad, now, didn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It looked so bad, Jenny," responded the old man with gravity, "that I +was hateful in mine own eyes. I perceived that the obligation was upon +me to leave this service. Whereupon I indited a letter to my master to +that effect, but he held me to certain months of servitude, which were +his lawful term of notice. They expire to-morrow. Upon their +expiration--not before--I had meant to set myself right with my +Cinderella."</p> + +<p>While they were thus conversing, the aged Jew received an angry +communication from Mr. Fledgeby, releasing Mr. Riah at once from his +service, to the great satisfaction of the old man, who then got his few +goods together in a black bag, closed the shutters, pulled down the +office blind, and issued forth upon the steps. There, while Miss Jenny +held the bag, the old man locked the house door, and handed the key over +to the messenger who had brought the note of dismissal.</p> + +<p>"Well, godmother," said Miss Wren, "and so you're thrown upon the +world!"</p> + +<p>"It would appear so, Jenny, and rather suddenly."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to seek your fortune?" asked Miss Wren. The old man +smiled, but gazed about him with a look of having lost his way in life, +which did not escape the dolls' dressmaker.</p> + +<p>"The best thing you can do," said Jenny, "for the time being, at all +events, is to come home with me, godmother. Nobody's there but my bad +child, and Lizzie's lodging stands empty."</p> + +<p>The old man, when satisfied that no inconvenience could be entailed on +any one by this move, readily complied, and the singularly assorted +couple once more went through the streets together.</p> + +<p>And it was a kindly Providence which placed the child's hand in the aged +Jew's protecting one that night. Before they reached home, they met a +sad party, bearing in their arms an inanimate form, at which the dolls' +dressmaker needed but to take one look.</p> + +<p>"Oh gentlemen, gentlemen," she cried, "He belongs to me!" "Belongs to +you!" said the head of the party, stopping;--"Oh yes, dear gentlemen, +he's my child, out without leave. My poor, bad, bad boy! And he don't +know me, he don't know me! Oh, what <i>shall</i> I do?" cried the little +creature, wildly beating her hands together, "when my own child +don't know me!"</p> + +<p>The head of the party looked to the old Jew for explanation. He +whispered, as the dolls' dressmaker bent over the still form, and vainly +tried to extract some sign of recognition from it; "It's her +drunken father."</p> + +<p>Then the sad party with their lifeless burden went through the streets. +After it, went the dolls' dressmaker, hiding her face in the Jewish +skirts, and clinging to them with one hand, while with the other she +plied her stick, and at last the little home in Church Street +was reached.</p> + +<p>Many flaunting dolls had to be gaily dressed, before the money was in +the dressmaker's pocket to get mourning for her father. As Mr. Riah sat +by, helping her in such small ways as he could, he found it difficult to +make out whether she realized that the deceased had really been +her father.</p> + +<p>"If my poor boy," she would say, "had been brought up better, he might +have done better. Not that I reproach myself. I hope I have no cause +for that."</p> + +<p>"None, indeed, Jenny, I am very certain."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, godmother. It cheers me to hear you say so. But you see it +is so hard to bring up a child well, when you work, work, work, all day. +When he was out of employment, I couldn't always keep him near me. He +got fractious and nervous, and I was obliged to let him go into the +streets. And he never did well in the streets, he never did well out of +sight. How often it happens with children! How can I say what I might +have turned out myself, but for my back having been so bad and my legs +so queer, when I was young!" the dressmaker would go on. "I had nothing +to do but work, so I worked. I couldn't play. But my poor, unfortunate +child could play, and it turned out worse for him."</p> + +<p>"And not for him alone, Jenny."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, godmother. He suffered heavily, did my unfortunate +boy. He was very, very ill sometimes. And I called him a quantity of +names;" shaking her head over her work, and dropping tears.</p> + +<p>"You are a good girl, you are a patient girl."</p> + +<p>"As for patience," she would reply with a shrug, "not much of that, +godmother. If I had been patient, I should never have called him names. +But I hope I did it for his good. And besides, I felt my responsibility +as a mother so much. I tried reasoning, and reasoning failed. I tried +coaxing, and coaxing failed. I tried scolding, and scolding failed. But +I was bound to try everything, with such a charge on my hands. Where +would have been my duty to my poor lost boy, if I had not tried +everything?"</p> + +<p>With such talk, mostly in a cheerful tone on the part of the industrious +little creature, the day work and the night work were beguiled, until +enough of smart dolls had gone forth to bring in the sombre stuff that +the occasion required, and to bring into the house the other sombre +preparations. "And now," said Miss Jenny, "having knocked off my +rosy-cheeked young friends, I'll knock off my white-cheeked self." This +referred to her making her own dress which at last was done, in time for +the simple service, the arrangements for which were of her own planning. +The service ended, and the solitary dressmaker having returned to her +home, she said:</p> + +<p>"I must have a very short cry, godmother, before I cheer up for good. +Because after all, a child is a child, you know."</p> + +<p>It was a longer cry than might have been expected. Howbeit, it wore +itself out in a shadowy corner, and then the dressmaker came forth, and +washed her face, and made the tea.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't mind my cutting out something while we are at tea, would +you?" she asked with a coaxing air.</p> + +<p>"Cinderella, dear child," the old man expostulated. "Will you never +rest?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! It's not work, cutting out a pattern isn't," said Miss Jenny, with +her busy little scissors already snipping at some paper; "The truth is, +godmother, I want to fix it, while I have it correct in my mind."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen it to-day, then?" asked Riah.</p> + +<p>"Yes, godmother. Saw it just now. It's a surplice, that's what it is. +Thing our clergymen wear, you know," explained Miss Jenny, in +consideration of his professing another faith.</p> + +<p>"And what have you to do with that, Jenny?"</p> + +<p>"Why, godmother," replied the dressmaker, "you must know that we +professors, who live upon our taste and invention, are obliged to keep +our eyes always open. And you know already that I have many extra +expenses to meet. So it came into my head, while I was weeping at my +poor boy's grave, that something in my way might be done with a +clergyman. Not a funeral, never fear;" said Miss Jenny. "The public +don't like to be made melancholy, I know very well. But a doll +clergyman, my dear,--glossy black curls and whiskers--uniting two of my +young friends in matrimony," said Miss Jenny shaking her forefinger, "is +quite another affair. If you don't see those three at the altar in Bond +Street, in a jiffy, my name's Jack Robinson!"</p> + +<p>With her expert little ways in sharp action, she had got a doll into +whitey-brown paper orders, before the meal was over, and displayed it +for the edification of the Jewish mind, and Mr. Riah was lost in +admiration for the brave, resolute little soul, who could so put aside +her sadness to meet and face her pressing need.</p> + +<p>And many times thereafter was he likewise lost in admiration of his +little friend, who continued her business as of old, only without the +burden of responsibility by which her life had heretofore been clouded, +and more able to give her imagination free play along the lines of her +interests, without the pressure of home care resting upon her poor +shoulders.</p> + +<p>Our last glimpse of her, is as usual, before her little workbench, at +work upon a full-dressed, large sized doll, when there comes a knock +upon the door. When it is opened there is disclosed a young fellow known +to his friends and employer, as Sloppy.</p> + +<p>Sloppy was full private No 1 in the Awkward Squad of the rank and file +of life, and yet had his glimmering notions of standing true to his +colors, and in instinctive refinement of feeling was much above others +who outranked him in birth and education.</p> + +<p>"Come in, sir," said Miss Wren, "and who may you be?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Sloppy introduced himself by name and buttons.</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed," cried Jenny, "I have heard of you."</p> + +<p>Sloppy, grinning, was so glad to hear it that he threw back his head and +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Bless us!" exclaimed Miss Wren, with a start, "Don't open your mouth as +wide as that, young man, or it'll catch so, and not shut again, +some day."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sloppy opened it, if possible, wider, and kept it open, until his +laugh was out.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're like the giant," said Miss Wren, "when he came home in the +land of Beanstalk, and wanted Jack for supper."</p> + +<p>"Was he good looking, Miss?" asked Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Miss Wren. "Ugly."</p> + +<p>Her visitor glanced round the room--which had many comforts in it now, +that it had not had before--and said:</p> + +<p>"This is a pretty place, Miss.</p> + +<p>"Glad you think so, sir," returned Miss Wren. "And what do you think of +Me?"</p> + +<p>The honesty of Mr. Sloppy being severely taxed by the question, he +twisted a button, grinned, and faltered.</p> + +<p>"Out with it," said Miss Wren, with an arch look. "Don't you think me a +queer little comicality?" In shaking her head at him after asking the +question, she shook her hair down.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Sloppy in a burst of admiration. "What a lot, and what a +color!"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren with her usual expressive hitch, went on with her work. But +left her hair as it was, not displeased by the effect it had made.</p> + +<p>"You don't live here alone, do you, Miss?" asked Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Miss Wren with a chop. "Live here with my fairy godmother."</p> + +<p>"With;" Mr. Sloppy couldn't make it out; "with, who did you say, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Well!" replied Miss Wren more seriously. "With my second father. Or +with my first, for that matter." And she shook her head and drew a sigh. +"If you had known a poor child I used to have here," she added, "you'd +have understood me. But you didn't and you can't. All the better!"</p> + +<p>"You must have been taught a long time, Miss," said Sloppy, glancing at +the array of dolls on hand, "before you came to work so neatly, Miss, +and with such a pretty taste."</p> + +<p>"Never was taught a stitch, young man!" returned the dressmaker, tossing +her head. "Just gobbled and gobbled, till I found out how to do it. +Badly enough at first, but better now."</p> + +<p>"And here have I," said Sloppy, in a self-reproachful tone, "been +a-learning and a-learning at cabinet-making, ever so long! I'll tell you +what, Miss, I should like to make you something."</p> + +<p>"Much obliged, but what?"</p> + +<p>"I could make you," said Sloppy, surveying the room, "a handy set of +nests to lay the dolls in. Or a little set of drawers to keep your silks +and threads and scraps in. Or I could turn you a rare handle for that +crutch-stick, if it belongs to him you call your father."</p> + +<p>"It belongs to me," said the little creature, with a quick flush of her +face and neck. "I am lame."</p> + +<p>Poor Sloppy flushed too, for there was an instinctive delicacy behind +his buttons. He said perhaps, the best thing in the way of amends that +could be said. "I am very glad it's yours, because I'd rather ornament +it for you than for any one else. Please, may I look at it?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren was in the act of handing it over to him when she paused. +"But you had better see me use it," she said sharply. "This is the way. +Hoppetty, kicketty, peg-peg-peg. Not pretty, is it?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that you hardly want it at all," said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>The little dressmaker sat down again, and gave it into his hand, saying +with that better look upon her, and with a smile:</p> + +<p>"Thank you! You are a very kind young man, a really kind young man. I +accept your offer--I suppose <i>He</i> won't mind," she added as an +afterthought, shrugging her shoulders; "and if he does, he may!"</p> + +<p>"Meaning him you call your father, Miss?" said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"No, no," replied Miss Wren. "Him, <i>him</i>, HIM!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Him</i>, HIM, HIM?" repeated Sloppy, staring about, as if for him.</p> + +<p>"Him who is coming to court and marry me," returned Miss Wren. "Dear me, +how slow you are!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! HIM!" said Sloppy, "I never thought of him. When is he coming, +Miss?"</p> + +<p>"What a question!" cried Miss Wren. "How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"Where is he coming from, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Why, good gracious, how can I tell! He is coming from somewhere or +other, I suppose, and he is coming some day or other, I suppose. I don't +know any more about him, at present."</p> + +<p>This tickled Mr. Sloppy as an extraordinarily good joke, and he threw +back his head and laughed with measureless enjoyment. At the sight of +him laughing in that absurd way, the dolls' dressmaker laughed very +heartily indeed. So they both laughed till they were tired.</p> + +<p>"There, there, there!" said Miss Wren. "For goodness sake, stop, Giant, +or I shall be swallowed up alive, before I know it. And to this minute +you haven't said what you've come for?"</p> + +<p>"I have come for little Miss Harmonses' doll," said Sloppy.</p> + +<p>"I thought as much," remarked Miss Wren, "and here is little Miss +Harmonses' doll waiting for you. She's folded up in silver paper, you +see, as if she was wrapped from head to foot in new banknotes. Take care +of her--and there's my hand--and thank you again."</p> + +<p>"I'll take more care of her than if she was a gold image," said Sloppy, +"and there's <i>both</i> my hands, Miss, and I'll soon come back again!"</p> + +<p>Here we leave the little dolls' dressmaker, under the protecting care of +her "godmother," the first real guardian she has ever known, and with a +new friendship to supply her life with that youthful intercourse which +has never been hers. And so in leaving her our hearts are light, for +Miss Jenny Wren is brighter now, and happier now, and younger now, than +ever before.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="SISSY_JUPE."></a>SISSY JUPE.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0286.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0286.jpg" width = "25%" alt="SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER."> +</a><br><b>"SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>SISSY JUPE.</h2> + +<p>"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but +Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out +everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon +Facts: nothing else will be of any service to them. This is the +principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle +on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!"</p> + +<p>The scene was a bare, plain, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the +speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observation. The emphasis was +helped by his square wall of a forehead, by his thin and hardset mouth, +by his inflexible and dictatorial voice, and by the hair which bristled +on the skirts of his bald head, as if the head had scarcely warehouse +room for the hard facts stowed inside. The speaker's obstinate carriage, +square coat, square legs, square shoulders,--nay, his very neckcloth, +trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a +stubborn fact, as it was,--all helped the emphasis.</p> + +<p>"In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir! Nothing but Facts!"</p> + +<p>The speaker, Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, and the schoolmaster, Mr. +M'Choakumchild, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, +and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and +there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of Facts poured +into them until they were full to the brim.</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his +square forefinger, "I don't know that girl. Who is that girl?"</p> + +<p>"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and +curtseying.</p> + +<p>"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Call yourself Cecilia."</p> + +<p>"It's father as calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl with +another curtsey.</p> + +<p>"Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Tell him he +mustn't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?"</p> + +<p>"He belongs to the horse-riding, if you please, sir."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable calling with his +hand.</p> + +<p>"We don't want to know anything about that here. Your father breaks +horses, don't he?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they do break +horses in the ring."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't tell us about the ring here. Very well, then. Describe your +father as a horse-breaker. He doctors sick horses, I dare say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. He is a veterinary surgeon, a farrier and +horse-breaker. Give me your definition of a horse."</p> + +<p>(Sissy Jupe thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand).</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!" said Mr. Gradgrind, for +the general behoof of all the little pitchers. "Girl number twenty +possessed of no facts in reference to one of the commonest of animals! +Some boy's definition of a horse. Bitzer, yours!"</p> + +<p>"Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, +four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy +countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with +iron. Age known by marks in mouth." Thus (and much more) Bitzer.</p> + +<p>"Now, girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, "you know what a horse +is."</p> + +<p>She curtsied again, blushed, and sat down, and the third gentleman +present stepped forth, briskly smiling and folding his arms. "That's a +horse," he said. "Now, let me ask you, boys and girls, would you paper a +room with representations of horses?"</p> + +<p>After a pause, one-half of the children cried in chorus, "Yes, sir!" +Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman's face that Yes was +wrong, cried out in chorus, "No, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Of course, No. Why wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>A pause. One boy ventured the answer, because he wouldn't paper a room +at all, but would paint it.</p> + +<p>"You must paper it," said Thomas Gradgrind, "whether you like it or not. +Don't tell us you wouldn't paper it. What do you mean, boy?"</p> + +<p>"I'll explain to you then," said the gentleman, after another pause, +"why you wouldn't paper a room with a representation of horses. Do you +ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality--in +fact? Of course, No. Why then, you are not to see anywhere what you +don't see in fact; you are not to have anywhere what you don't have in +fact. This is a new principle, a great discovery," said the gentleman. +"Now I'll try you again. Would you use a carpet having a representation +of flowers upon it?"</p> + +<p>"There being a general conviction by this time that, 'No sir!' was +always the right answer to this gentleman, the chorus of No was very +strong. Only a few feeble stragglers said Yes; among them Sissy Jupe."</p> + +<p>"Girl number twenty," said the gentleman, "why would you carpet your +room with representations of flowers?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, I'm very fond of flowers," returned the girl.</p> + +<p>"And is that why you would put tables and chairs upon them, and have +people walking over them with heavy boots?"</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't hurt them, sir. They wouldn't crush and wither, please sir. +They would be the pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant, sir, +and I would fancy--"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, ay! but you mustn't fancy," cried the gentleman, quite elated +by coming so happily to his point. "You are never to fancy."</p> + +<p>"You are not, Cecilia Jupe," Thomas Gradgrind solemnly repeated, "to do +anything of that kind. You don't walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot +be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets. You don't find that foreign +birds and butterflies come and perch upon your crockery; you cannot be +permitted to paint foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery. You +never meet with quadrupeds going up and down walls; you must not have +quadrupeds represented upon walls. You must use," said the gentleman, +"for all these purposes, combinations and modifications in primary +colors of mathematical figures which are susceptible of proof and +demonstration. This is the new discovery. This is fact. This is taste."</p> + +<p>The girl curtseyed and sat down. She was very young, and she looked as +if she were frightened by the matter-of-fact prospect the world +afforded; while the teacher proceeded to give a lesson based upon hard +Fact for the benefit of his visitors.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind walked homeward from the school, in a state of +considerable satisfaction. It was his school, and he intended it to be a +model. He intended every child in it to be a model, just as the five +young Gradgrinds were all models.</p> + +<p>No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon; no little +Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, "Twinkle, twinkle, little +star, How I wonder what you are"; each little Gradgrind having at five +years old dissected the Great Bear, and driven Charles's Wain like a +locomotive engine-driver. No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow +in a field with that famous cow with a crumpled horn who tossed the dog, +who worried the cat, who killed the rat, who ate the malt, or with that +more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb. It had never heard of those +celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous, +ruminating quadruped with several stomachs.</p> + +<p>To his matter-of-fact home, which was called Stone Lodge, Mr. Gradgrind +directed his steps, walking on in a hopeful and satisfied frame of mind. +He was an affectionate father, after his manner; but allowed no foolish +sentiment to interfere with the practical basis of his childrens' +education and bringing-up.</p> + +<p>He had reached the outskirts of the town, when his ears were invaded by +the sound of the band attached to the horse-riding establishment, which +had there set up its rest in a wooden pavilion. A flag floating from the +summit of the temple, proclaimed to mankind that it was Sleary's +Horse-Riding which claimed their suffrages. Among the many pleasing +wonders which must be seen to be believed, Signor Jupe was that +afternoon to "elucidate the diverting accomplishments of his highly +trained performing dog, Merrylegs," He was also to exhibit "his +astounding feat of throwing seventy-five hundred weight in rapid +succession back-handed over his head, thus forming a fountain of solid +iron in midair, a feat never before attempted in this or any other +country, and which having elicited such rapturous plaudits from +enthusiastic throngs it cannot be withdrawn." The same Signor Jupe was +to "enliven the varied performances at frequent intervals with his +chaste Shakesperean quips and retorts." Lastly, he was to wind them up +by appearing in his favorite character of Mr. William Button, of Tooley +Street, in "the highly novel and laughable Hippo Comedietta of The +Tailor's Journey to Brentford."</p> + +<p>Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities, but passed on, as a +practical man ought to pass on. But, at the back of the booth he saw a +number of children congregated in a number of stealthy attitudes, +striving to peep in at the hidden glories of the place. What did he then +behold but his own Louisa peeping with all her might through a hole in a +deal board, and his own Thomas abasing himself on the ground to catch +but a hoof of the graceful Tyrolean Flower-act!</p> + +<p>Dumb with amazement, Mr. Gradgrind crossed to the spot where his family +was thus disgraced, laid his hand upon each erring child, and said:</p> + +<p>"Louisa!! Thomas!!"</p> + +<p>Both rose, red and disconcerted.</p> + +<p>"In the name of wonder, idleness, and folly!" said Mr. Gradgrind, +leading each away by a hand; "what do you do here?"</p> + +<p>"Wanted to see what it was like," returned Louisa shortly.</p> + +<p>"You!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind. "Thomas and you, to whom the circle of +the sciences is open; who may be said to be replete with Fact; who have +been trained to mathematical exactness; Thomas and you, here! In this +degraded position! I am amazed."</p> + +<p>"I was tired, father," said Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Tired? Of what?" asked the astonished father.</p> + +<p>"I don't know of what--of everything, I think."</p> + +<p>"Say not another word," returned Mr. Gradgrind. "You are childish. I +will hear no more." With which remark he led the culprits to their home +in silence, into the presence of their fretful invalid mother, who was +much annoyed at the disturbance they had created. While she was +peevishly expressing her mind on the subject, Mr. Gradgrind was gravely +pondering upon the matter.</p> + +<p>"Whether," he said, "whether any instructor or servant can have +suggested anything? Whether, in spite of all precautions, any idle +story-book can have got into the house for Louisa or Thomas to read? +Because in minds that have been practically formed by rule and line, +from the cradle upwards, this is incomprehensible."</p> + +<p>"Stop a bit!" cried his friend Bounderby. "You have one of those +Stroller's children in the school, Cecilia Jupe by name! I tell you +what, Gradgrind, turn this girl to the right-about, and there is an +end of it."</p> + +<p>"I am much of your opinion."</p> + +<p>"Do it at once," said Bounderby, "has always been my motto. Do you the +same. Do this at once!"</p> + +<p>"I have the father's address," said his friend. "Perhaps you would not +mind walking to town with me?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least in the world," said Mr. Bounderby, "as long as you do it +at once!"</p> + +<p>So Mr. Gradgrind and his friend immediately set out to find Cecilia +Jupe, and to order her from henceforth to remain away from school. On +the way there they met her. "Now, girl," said Mr. Gradgrind, "take this +gentleman and me to your father's; we are going there. What have you got +in that bottle you are carrying?"</p> + +<p>"It's the nine oils."</p> + +<p>"The what?" cried Mr. Bounderby.</p> + +<p>"The nine oils, sir, to rub father with. It is what our people always +use, sir, when they get any hurts in the ring," replied the girl, "they +bruise themselves very bad sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Serves them right," said Mr. Bounderby, "for being idle." The girl +glanced up at his face with mingled astonishment and dread as he said +this, but she led them on down a narrow road, until they stopped at the +door of a little public house.</p> + +<p>"This is it, sir," she said. "It's only crossing the bar, sir, and up +the stairs, if you wouldn't mind; and waiting there for a moment till I +get a candle. If you should hear a dog, sir, it's only Merrylegs, and he +only barks."</p> + +<p>They followed the girl up some steep stairs, and stopped while she went +on for a candle. Reappearing, with a face of great surprise, she said, +"Father is not in our room, sir. If you wouldn't mind walking in, sir? +I'll find him directly."</p> + +<p>They walked in; and Sissy having set two chairs for them, sped away with +a quick, light step. They heard the doors of rooms above opening and +shutting, as Sissy went from one to another in quest of her father. She +came bounding down again in a great hurry, opened an old hair trunk, +found it empty, and looked around with her face full of terror.</p> + +<p>"Father must have gone down to the Booth, sir. I'll bring him in a +minute!" She was gone directly, without her bonnet; with her long, dark, +childish hair streaming behind her.</p> + +<p>"What does she mean!" said Mr. Gradgrind. "Back in a minute? It's more +than a mile off."</p> + +<p>Before Mr. Bounderby could reply, a young man mentioned in the bills of +the day as Mr. E.W.B. Childers,--justly celebrated for his daring +vaulting act as the wild huntsman of the North American prairies, +appeared. Upon entering into conversation with Mr. Gradgrind he informed +that gentleman of his opinion that Jupe was off.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that he has deserted his daughter?" asked Mr. Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"I mean," said Mr. Childers with a nod, "that he has cut. He has been +short in his leaps and bad in his tumbling lately, missed his tip +several times, too. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night +before last, he was goosed to-day. He has lately got in the way of being +always goosed, and he can't stand it."</p> + +<p>"Why has he been--so very much--goosed?" asked Mr. Gradgrind, forcing +the word out of himself, with great solemnity and reluctance.</p> + +<p>"His joints are turning stiff, and he is getting used up," said +Childers. "He has his points as a Cackler still, a speaker, if the +gentleman likes it better--but he can't get a living out of <i>that</i>. Now +it's a remarkable fact, sir, that it cut that man deeper to know that +his daughter knew of his being goosed than to go through with it. Jupe +sent her out on an errand not an hour ago, and then was seen to slip out +himself, with his dog behind him and a bundle under his arm. She will +never believe it of her father, but he has cut away and left her.</p> + +<p>"Poor Sissy! he had better have apprenticed her," added Mr. Childers, +"Now, he leaves her without anything to take to. Her father always had +it in his head, that she was to be taught the deuce-and-all of +education. He has been picking up a bit of reading for her, here--and a +bit of writing for her, there--and a bit of ciphering for her, somewhere +else--these seven years. When Sissy got into the school here," he +pursued, "he was as pleased as Punch. I suppose he had this move in his +mind--he was always half cracked--and then considered her provided for. +If you should have happened to have looked in to-night to tell him that +you were going to do her any little service," added Mr. Childers, "it +would be very fortunate and well-timed."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," returned Mr. Gradgrind, "I came to tell her that she +could not attend our school any more. Still, if her father really has +left her without any connivance on her part!--Bounderby, let me have a +word with you."</p> + +<p>Upon this, Mr. Childers politely betook himself outside the door, and +there stood while the two gentlemen were engaged in conversation.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the various members of Sleary's company gathered together in +the room. Last of all appeared Mr. Sleary himself, who was stout, and +troubled with asthma, and whose breath came far too thick and heavy for +the letter s. Bowing to Mr. Gradgrind, he asked:</p> + +<p>"Ith it your intention to do anything for the poor girl, Thquire?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have something to propose to her when she comes back," said Mr. +Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"Glad to hear it, Thquire. Not that I want to get rid of the child, any +more than I want to thtand in her way. I'm willing to take her +prenthith, though at her age ith late."</p> + +<p>Here his daughter Josephine--a pretty, fair-haired girl of eighteen, who +had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at +twelve, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying +desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies--cried "Father, +hush! she has come back!" Then came Sissy Jupe, running into the room +as she had run out of it. And when she saw them all assembled, and saw +their looks, and saw no father there, she broke into a most deplorable +cry, and took refuge on the bosom of the most accomplished tight-rope +lady, who knelt down on the floor to nurse her, and to weep over her.</p> + +<p>"Ith an infernal shame, upon my thoul it ith," said Sleary.</p> + +<p>"O my dear father, my good, kind father, where are you gone? You are +gone to try to do me some good, I know! You are gone away for my sake, I +am sure. And how miserable and helpless you will be without me, poor, +poor father, until you come back!" It was so pathetic to hear her saying +many things of this kind, with her face turned upward, and her arms +stretched out as if she were trying to stop his departing shadow and +embrace it, that no one spoke a word until Mr. Bounderby (growing +impatient) took the case in hand.</p> + +<p>"Now, good people all," said he, "this is wanton waste of time. Let the +girl understand the fact. Here, what's your name! Your father has +absconded, deserted you--and you mustn't expect to see him again as long +as you live."</p> + +<p>They cared so little for plain fact, these people, that instead of being +impressed by the speaker's strong common sense, they took it in +extraordinary dudgeon. The men muttered "Shame!" and the women, "Brute!" +Whereupon Mr. Gradgrind found an opening for his eminently practical +exposition of the subject.</p> + +<p>"It is of no moment," said he, "whether this person is to be expected +back at any time, or the contrary. He is gone away, and there is no +present expectation of his return. That, I believe, is agreed on +all hands."</p> + +<p>"Thath agreed, Thquire. Thtick to that!" from Sleary.</p> + +<p>"Well, then. I, who came here to inform the father of the poor girl, +Jupe, that she could not be received at the school any more, in +consequence of there being practical objections, into which I need not +enter, to the reception there of the children of persons so employed, am +prepared in these altered circumstances to make a proposal. I am willing +to take charge of you, Jupe, and to educate you, and provide for you. +The only condition (over and above your good behavior) I make is, that +you decide now, at once, whether to accompany me or remain here. Also, +that if you accompany me now, it is understood that you communicate no +more with any of your friends who are here present. These observations +comprise the whole of the case."</p> + +<p>"At the thame time," said Sleary, "I muth put in my word, Thquire, tho +that both thides of the banner may be equally theen. If you like, +Thethillia, to be prentitht, you know the natur' of the work, and you +know your companionth. Emma Gordon, in whothe lap you're a lying at +prethent, would be a mother to you, and Joth'phine would be a thithther +to you. I don't pretend to be of the angel breed myself, and I don't +thay but what, when you mith'd your tip, you'd find me cut up rough, and +thwear a oath or two at you. But what I thay, Thquire, ith, that good +tempered or bad tempered, I never did a horthe a injury yet, no more +than thwearing at him went, and that I don't expect I thall begin +otherwithe at my time of life, with a rider. I never wath much of a +cackler, Thquire, and I have thed my thay."</p> + +<p>The latter part of this speech was addressed to Mr. Gradgrind, who +received it with a grave inclination of his head, and then remarked:</p> + +<p>"The only observation I will make to you, Jupe, in the way of +influencing your decision, is, that it is highly desirable to have a +sound practical education, and that even your father himself (from what +I understand) appears, on your behalf, to have known and felt +that much."</p> + +<p>The last words had a visible effect upon her. She stopped in her wild +crying, and turned her face full upon her patron. The whole company +perceived the force of the change, and drew a long breath, together, +that plainly said, "She will go!"</p> + +<p>"Be sure you know your own mind, Jupe," Mr. Gradgrind cautioned her; "I +say no more. Be sure you know your own mind!"</p> + +<p>"When father comes back," cried the girl, bursting into tears again +after a minute's silence, "how will he ever find me if I go away!"</p> + +<p>"You may be quite at ease," said Mr. Gradgrind calmly; he worked out the +whole matter like a sum; "you may be quite at ease, Jupe, on that score. +In such a case, your father, I apprehend, must find out Mr. Sleary, who +would then let him know where you went. I should have no power of +keeping you against his wish."</p> + +<p>There was another silence; and then Sissy exclaimed sobbing, "Oh, give +me my clothes, give me my clothes, and let me go away before I break +my heart!"</p> + +<p>The women sadly bestirred themselves to get the clothes together, and to +pack them. They then brought Sissy's bonnet to her and put it on. Then +they pressed about her, kissing and embracing her: and brought the +children to take leave of her; and were a tender-hearted, simple, +foolish, set of women altogether. Then she had to take her farewell of +the male part of the company, and last of all of Mr. Sleary.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, Thethilia!" he said, "my latht wordth to you ith thith: +Thtick to the termth of your engagement, be obedient to the Thquire, and +forget uth. But if, when you're grown up and married and well off, you +come upon any horthe-riding ever, don't be hard upon it, don't be croth +with it, give it a Bethpeak if you can, and think you might do worth. +People must be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow," continued Sleary, "they +can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning. +Make the betht of uth; not the wurtht. I've got my living out of +horthe-riding all my life, I know, but I conthider that I lay down the +philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you, Thquire, make the betht +of uth; not the wurtht!"</p> + +<p>The Sleary philosophy was propounded as they went downstairs; and the +fixed eye of Philosophy--and its rolling eye, too,--soon lost the three +figures, and the basket in the darkness of the street.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Bounderby's house the weeping Sissy was conducted, and remained +there while Mr. Gradgrind returned to Stone Lodge to mature his plans +for the clown's daughter. He soon came back to Mr. Bounderby's, bringing +his daughter Louisa with him, and Sissy Jupe stood before them, with +downcast eyes, while Mr. Gradgrind thus addressed her:</p> + +<p>"Jupe, I have made up my mind to take you into my house; and when you +are not at school, to employ you about Mrs. Gradgrind, who is rather an +invalid. I have explained to Miss Louisa--this is Miss Louisa--the +miserable but natural end of your late career; and you are to understand +that the subject is not to be referred to any more. From this time you +begin your history. You are at present ignorant, I know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, very," she answered curtseying.</p> + +<p>"I shall have the satisfaction of causing you to be strictly educated; +and you will be a living proof of the advantages of the training you +will receive. You will be reclaimed and formed. You have been in the +habit now of reading to your father, and those people I found you among, +I dare say?" said Mr. Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"Only to father and to Merrylegs, sir. At least I mean to father, when +Merrylegs was always there."</p> + +<p>"Never mind Merrylegs, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind with a frown. "I don't +ask about him. I understand you have been in the habit of reading to +your father, and what did you read to him, Jupe?"</p> + +<p>"About the fairies, sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the +Genies," she sobbed out: "And about--"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind, "that is enough. Never breathe a word +of such destructive nonsense any more."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter took Cecilia Jupe off with them to +Stone Lodge, where she speedily grew as pale as wax, and as heavy-eyed +as all the other victims of Mr. Gradgrind's practical system of +training. She had not an easy time of it, between Mr. M'Choakumchild and +Mrs. Gradgrind, and was not without strong impulses, in the first months +of her probation, to run away. It hailed facts all day long, so very +hard, and life in general was opened to her as such a closely ruled +ciphering book, that assuredly she would have run away, but for only one +restraint. She believed that her father had not deserted her; she lived +in the hope that he would come back, and in the faith that he would be +made the happier by her remaining where she was.</p> + +<p>The wretched ignorance with which Jupe clung to this consolation, +rejecting the superior comfort of knowing on a sound arithmetical basis +that her father was an unnatural vagabond, filled Mr. Gradgrind with +pity. Yet, what was to be done? Mr. M'Choakumchild reported that she had +a very dense head for figures; that, once possessed with a general idea +of the globe, she took the smallest conceivable interest in its exact +measurements; that after eight weeks of induction into the elements of +Political Economy, she had only yesterday returned to the question, +"What is the first principle of this science?" the absurd answer, "To do +unto others as I would that they should do unto me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind observed, shaking his head, that all this was very bad; +that it showed the necessity of infinite grinding at the mill of +knowledge, and that Jupe must be "kept to it." So Jupe was kept to it, +and became low spirited, but no wiser.</p> + +<p>"It would be a fine thing to be you, Miss Louisa!" She said one night, +when Louisa had endeavored to make her perplexities for next day +something clearer to her, to which Louisa answered, "I don't know that, +Sissy. You are more useful to my mother. You are pleasanter to yourself, +than <i>I</i> am to <i>myself.</i>"</p> + +<p>"But, if you please, Miss Louisa," Sissy pleaded, "I am--Oh so stupid! +All through school hours I make mistakes. To-day for instance, Mr. +M'Choakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity."</p> + +<p>"National, I think it must have been," observed Louisa.</p> + +<p>"National Prosperity," corrected Sissy, "and he said, Now, this +schoolroom is a Nation, and in this nation there are fifty millions of +money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty. Isn't this a +prosperous nation, and a'n't you in a thriving state? Miss Louisa, I +said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a +prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, +unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But +that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all," said +Sissy, wiping her eyes.</p> + +<p>"That was a great mistake of yours," observed Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Louisa, I know it was now. Then Mr. M'Choakumchild said he +would try me again. And he said, This Schoolroom is an immense town, and +in it there are a million inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are +starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your +remark on that proportion? And my remark was, that I thought it must be +just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a +million or a million million. And that was wrong too. Then Mr. +M'Choakumchild said he would try me once more. And he said That in a +given time a hundred thousand persons went to sea on long voyages, and +only five hundred of them were drowned or burned to death. What is the +percentage? And I said, Miss;" here Sissy fairly sobbed in confessing to +her great error; "I said it was nothing, Miss--to the relations and +friends of the people who were killed--I shall never learn," said Sissy. +"And the worst of all is, that although my poor father wished me so much +to learn, and although I am so anxious to learn, because he wished me +to, I am afraid I don't like it."</p> + +<p>Louisa stood looking at the pretty, modest head, as it drooped abashed +before her, until it was raised again to glance at her face. Then +she asked:</p> + +<p>"Did your father know so much himself, that he wished you to be well +taught too?"</p> + +<p>Sissy hesitated before replying, for this was forbidden ground, but +Louisa insisted upon continuing the conversation.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Louisa," answered Sissy, "father knows very little indeed. But +he said mother was quite a scholar. She died when I was born. She +was"--Sissy made the terrible communication, nervously--"she was a +dancer. We travelled about the country. Father's a"--Sissy whispered the +awful word--"a clown."</p> + +<p>"To make the people laugh?" said Louisa with a nod of intelligence.</p> + +<p>"Yes." But they wouldn't laugh sometimes. Lately they very often +wouldn't, and he used to come home despairing.</p> + +<p>I tried to comfort him the best I could, and father said I did. I used +to read to him to cheer up his courage, and he was very fond of that. +Often and often of a night, he used to forget all his troubles in +wondering whether the Sultan would let the lady go on with her story, or +would have her head cut off before it was finished."</p> + +<p>"And your father was always kind?" asked Louisa.</p> + +<p>"Always, always!" returned Sissy, clasping her hands. "Kinder and kinder +than I can tell. He was angry only one night, and that was not at me, +but Merrylegs, his performing dog. After he beat the dog, he lay down +crying on the floor with him in his arms, and the dog licked his face."</p> + +<p>Louisa saw that she was sobbing, and going to her, kissed her, took her +hand, and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"Finish by telling me how your father left you, Sissy. The blame of +telling the story, if there is any blame, is mine, not yours."</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Louisa," said Sissy, sobbing yet; "I came home from the +school that afternoon, and found poor father just come home too, from +the booth. And he sat rocking himself over the fire, as if he was in +pain. And I said, 'have you hurt yourself father?' and he said, 'A +little, my darling.' Then I saw that he was crying. The more I spoke to +him, the more he hid his face; and shook all over, and said nothing but +'My darling'; and 'My love!' Then he said he never gave any satisfaction +now, that he was a shame and disgrace, and I should have done better +without him all along. I said all the affectionate things to him that +came into my heart, and presently he was quiet, and put his arms around +my neck, and kissed me a great many times. Then he asked me to fetch +some of the stuff he used, for the little hurt he had had, and to get it +at the best place, which was at the other end of town. Then after +kissing me again, he let me go. There is no more to tell, Miss Louisa. I +keep the nine oils ready for him, and I know he will come back. Every +letter that I see in Mr. Gradgrind's hand takes my breath away, and +blinds my eyes, for I think it comes from father, or from Mr. Sleary +about father."</p> + +<p>After this whenever Sissy dropped a curtsey to Mr. Gradgrind in the +presence of his family, and asked if he had had any letter yet about +her, Louisa would suspend the occupation of the moment, and look for the +reply as earnestly as Sissy did. And when Mr. Gradgrind answered, "No, +Jupe, nothing of the sort," the trembling of Sissy's lips would be +repeated in Louisa's face, and her eyes would follow Sissy with +compassion to the door. Thus a warm friendship sprang up between the +girls, and a similar one between the mathematical Thomas and the +clown's daughter.</p> + +<p>Time with his innumerable horse-power presently turned out young Thomas +Gradgrind a young man and Louisa a young woman. The same great +manufacturer passed Sissy onward in his mill, and worked her up into a +very pretty article, indeed.</p> + +<p>"I fear, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that your continuance at the school +any longer would be useless."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it would, sir," Sissy answered with a curtsey.</p> + +<p>"I cannot disguise from you, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that the result +of your probation there has greatly disappointed me. You are extremely +deficient in your facts. Your acquaintance with figures is very limited. +You are altogether backward, and below the mark, yet I believe you have +tried hard. I have observed you, and I can find no fault with you in +that respect."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir. I have thought sometimes;" Sissy faltered, "that +perhaps I tried to learn too much, and that if I had asked to be +allowed to try a little less, I might have--"</p> + +<p>"No, Jupe, no," said Mr. Gradgrind, shaking his head. "No. The course +you pursued, you pursued according to the system, and there is no more +to be said about it. I can only suppose that the circumstances of your +early life were too unfavorable to the development of your reasoning +powers, and that we began too late. Still, as I have said already, I am +disappointed."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment, sir, of your kindness +to a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you, and of your protection +of her." said Sissy, weeping.</p> + +<p>"Don't shed tears," added Mr. Gradgrind, "I don't complain of you. You +are an affectionate, earnest, good young woman, and we must make +that do."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir, very much," said Sissy, with a grateful curtsey.</p> + +<p>"You are useful to Mrs. Gradgrind, and you are serviceable in the family +also; so I understand from Miss Louisa, and indeed, so I have observed +myself. I therefore hope," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that you can make +yourself happy in those relations."</p> + +<p>"I should have nothing to wish, sir, if--"</p> + +<p>"I understand you," said Mr. Gradgrind; "you refer to your father. I +have heard from Miss Louisa that you still preserve that bottle. Well! +If your training in the science of arriving at exact results had been +more successful, you would have been wiser on these points. I will +say no more."</p> + +<p>He really liked Sissy too well to have contempt for her. Somehow or +other, he had become possessed by an idea that there was something in +this girl which could hardly be set forth in a tabular form; that there +was something in her composition which defied the cold analysis of Fact; +that there was some great virtue in her loving-kindness which more than +compensated for her deficiencies of mind.</p> + +<p>From that time Sissy lived at Stone Lodge on equal terms with the rest +of the family, and after Louisa's marriage, cared for fretful Mrs. +Gradgrind in her invalidism, with a sweet patience that endeared her to +the poor woman. Indeed the entire household were deeply attached to +Sissy, and, seeing the unselfishness of her daily life, even Mr. +Gradgrind himself was forced to acknowledge that there was a greater +Teacher than M'Choakumchild, with a system of education superior to the +Gradgrind system, and that the same great Teacher had educated the +clown's daughter to a higher degree of usefulness and courage than the +Gradgrind system had yet been able to produce.</p> + +<p>In fact, as time went on, Mr. Gradgrind was slowly discovering the flaws +in his mathematical theories; finding out that laws and logic can never +take the place of love in the development of a nature, and the discovery +was a bitter one to him.</p> + +<p>Despite their careful bringing-up by rule and measure, neither Louisa +nor Thomas Gradgrind, in their maturity, did any credit to their +father's system, and when his mistakes with them became evident to the +cold, proud man, and he realized how nearly he had wrecked their lives +by those errors, the weight of his suffering was heavy upon him. Then, +realizing that all the Facts in his storehouse of learning, could not +teach him how to save his children, and win their love, it was to Sissy +that he turned for the information that he needed.</p> + +<p>When young Thomas Gradgrind robbed the Bank with which he was connected, +and was obliged to flee from justice, it was Sissy who saved him from +ruin. She sent him, with a note of explanation, to her old friend, Mr. +Sleary,--whose whereabouts she happened to know at the time, and asked +him to hide young Thomas until he should have further advice from her. +Then she and Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind journeyed hurriedly to the town, +where they found the Circus. A performance was just beginning when they +arrived, and they found the culprit in the ring, disguised as a +black servant.</p> + +<p>When the performance was over, Mr. Sleary came out and greeted them with +great heartiness, exclaiming; "Thethilia, it doth me good to thee you. +You wath always a favorite with uth, and you've done uth credit thinth +the old timeth, I'm thure."</p> + +<p>He then suggested that such members of his troupe as would remember her +be called to see her, and presently Sissy found herself amid the +familiar scenes of her childhood, surrounded by an eager and +affectionate group of her old comrades. While she was busily talking +with them, Mr. Sleary entered into a consultation with Mr. Gradgrind +upon the subject of his erring son's future. He then told the poor, +distressed father that for Sissy's sake, and because Mr. Gradgrind had +been so kind to her, he would help the culprit to escape from the +country, secretly, by night Then, growing confidential, he added:</p> + +<p>"Thquire, you don't need to be told that dogth ith wonderful animalth."</p> + +<p>"Their instinct," said Mr. Gradgrind, "is surprising."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you call it--and I'm bletht if I know what to call it"--said +Sleary, "it ith athtonithing. Ith fourteen month ago, Thquire, thinthe +we wath at Chethter. One morning there cometh into our Ring, by the +thage door, a dog. He had travelled a long way, he wath in very bad +condition, he wath lame and pretty well blind. He went round as if he +wath a theeking for a child he know'd; and then he comed to me, and +thood on hith two fore-legth, weak ath he wath, and then he wagged hith +tail and died. Thquire, that dog wath Merrylegth."</p> + +<p>"Sissy's father's dog!"</p> + +<p>"Thethilia's fatherth old dog. Now, Thquire, I can take my oath, from my +knowledge of that dog, that that man wath dead--and buried--afore that +dog came back to me. We talked it over a long time, whether I thould +write or not, but we agreed, No. There'th nothing comfortable to tell; +why unthettle her mind, and make her unhappy? Tho, whether her father +bathely detherted her; or whether he broke his own heart alone, rather +than pull her down along with him, never will be known, now, Thquire, +till we know how the dogth findth uth out!"</p> + +<p>"She keeps the bottle that he sent her for, to this hour, and she will +believe in his affection to the last moment of her life," said Mr. +Gradgrind.</p> + +<p>"It theemth to prethent two things to a perthon, don't it?" said Mr. +Sleary musingly, "one, that there ith a love in the world, not all +thelf-interest, after all, but thomething very different; t'other, that +it hath a way of its own of calculating with ith as hard to give a name +to, ath the wayth of the dogth ith!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gradgrind looked out of the window, and made no reply. He was deep +in thought, and the result of his meditation became evident from that +day in a gradual broadening of his nature and purposes. He never again +attempted to replace nature's instincts and affections by his own system +of education, and as the years went by he made no further attempt to +destroy Sissy's loving faith in that father who had left her long ago; +he only tried to compensate her for that loss as best he could;--and +for the education which led to the softening of his hard, cold nature, +the credit belongs to the daughter of a clown, to whom love meant more +than logic.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="FLORENCE_DOMBEY."></a>FLORENCE DOMBEY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0278.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0278.jpg" width = "25%" alt="FLORENCE DOMBEY."> +</a><br><b>"FLORENCE DOMBEY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>FLORENCE DOMBEY.</h2> + +<p>There never was a child more loving or more lovable than Florence +Dombey. There never was a child more ready to respond to loving +ministrations than she, more eager to yield herself in docile obedience +to a parent's wish; and to her mother she clung with a desperate +affection at variance with her years.</p> + +<p>But the sad day came when, clasped in her mother's arms, the little +creature, with her perfectly colorless face, and deep, dark eyes, never +moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, nor looked on those who +stood around, nor shed a tear, understanding that soon she would be +bereft of that mother's care and love.</p> + +<p>"Mamma!" cried the child at last, sobbing aloud; "Oh, dear mamma! oh, +dear mamma!"</p> + +<p>Then, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother +drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the +world, leaving Florence and the new-born baby brother in the +father's care.</p> + +<p>Alas for Florence! To that father,--the pompous head of the great firm +of Dombey and Son--girls never showed a sufficient justification for +their existence, and this one of his own was an object of supreme +indifference to him; while upon the tiny boy, his heir and future +partner in the firm, he lavished all his interest, centred all his hopes +and affection.</p> + +<p>After her mother's death, Florence was taken away by an aunt; and a +nurse, named Polly Richards, was secured for baby Paul. A few weeks +later, as Polly was sitting in her own room with her young charge, the +door was quietly opened, and a dark-eyed little girl looked in.</p> + +<p>"It's Miss Florence, come home from her aunt's, no doubt," thought +Richards, who had never seen the child before. "Hope I see you +well, miss."</p> + +<p>"Is that my brother?" asked the child, pointing to the baby.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my pretty," answered Richards, "come and kiss him."</p> + +<p>But the child, instead of advancing, looked her earnestly in the face, +and said:</p> + +<p>"What have you done with my mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Lord bless the little creetur!" cried Richards. "What a sad question! +<i>I</i> done? Nothing, miss."</p> + +<p>"What have they done with my mamma?" cried the child.</p> + +<p>"I never saw such a melting thing in all my life!" said Richards. "Come +nearer here; come, my dear miss! Don't be afraid of me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of you," said the child, drawing nearer, "but I want to +know what they have done with my mamma."</p> + +<p>"My darling," said Richards, "come and sit down by me, and I'll tell you +a story."</p> + +<p>With a quick perception that it was intended to relate to what she had +asked, little Florence sat down on a stool at the nurse's feet, looking +up into her face.</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time," said Richards, "there was a lady--a very good lady, +and her little daughter dearly loved her--who, when God thought it right +that it should be so, was taken ill, and died. Died, never to be seen +again by anyone on earth, and was buried in the ground where the +trees grow."</p> + +<p>"The cold ground," said the child, shuddering.</p> + +<p>"No, the warm ground," returned Polly, seizing her advantage, "where the +ugly little seeds turn into beautiful flowers, and into grass, and into +corn, and I don't know what all besides. Where good people turn into +bright angels, and fly away to heaven!"</p> + +<p>The child who had drooped her head, raised it again, and sat looking at +her intently.</p> + +<p>"So; let me see," said Polly, not a little flurried between this earnest +scrutiny, her desire to comfort the child, her sudden success, and her +very slight confidence in her own powers. "So, when this lady died, she +went to God! and she prayed to Him, this lady did," said Polly, +affecting herself beyond measure, being heartily in earnest, "to teach +her little daughter to be sure of that in her heart; and to know that +she was happy there, and loved her still; and to hope and try--oh, all +her life--to meet her there one day, never, never, never to part +any more."</p> + +<p>"It was my mamma!" exclaimed the child, springing up, and clasping her +around the neck.</p> + +<p>"And the child's heart," said Polly, drawing her to her breast, "the +little daughter's heart was so full of the truth of this, that even when +she heard it from a strange nurse that couldn't tell it right, but was a +poor mother herself, and that was all, she found a comfort in it--didn't +feel so lonely--sobbed and cried upon her bosom--took kindly to the baby +lying in her lap--and--there, there, there!" said Polly, smoothing the +child's curls, and dropping tears upon her. "There, poor dear!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, Miss Floy! and won't your pa be angry neither?" cried a quick +voice at the door, proceeding from a short, brown womanly girl of +fourteen, with little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads, "when it +was tickerlerly given out that you wasn't to go and worrit the nurse."</p> + +<p>"She don't worry me," was the surprised rejoinder of Polly. "I'm very +fond of children. Miss Florence has just come home, hasn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Richards, and here, Miss Floy, before you've been in the +house a quarter of an hour, you go a-smearing your wet face against the +expensive mourning that Mrs. Richards is a-wearing for your ma!" With +this remonstrance, young Spitfire, whose real name was Susan Nipper, +detached the child from her new friend by a wrench--as if she were a +tooth. But she seemed to do it more in the sharp exercise of her +official functions, than with any deliberate unkindness.</p> + +<p>"She'll be quite happy, now that she's come home again," said Polly, +nodding to her with a smile, "and will be so pleased to see her dear +papa to-night."</p> + +<p>"Lork, Mrs. Richards!" cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words with a +jerk, "Don't! See her dear papa, indeed! I should like to see her do it! +Her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else; and before there was +somebody else to be wrapped up in, she never was a favorite. Girls are +thrown away in this house, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"You surprise me," cried Polly. "Hasn't Mr. Dombey seen her since--"</p> + +<p>"No," interrupted Miss Nipper. "Not once since. And he hadn't hardly set +his eyes upon her before that, for months and months, and I don't think +he would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets +to-morrow. Oh, there's a Tartar within a hundred miles of here, I can +tell you, Mrs. Richards!" said Susan Nipper; "Wish you good morning, +Mrs. Richards. Now Miss Floy, you come along with me, and don't go +hanging back like a naughty wicked child, that judgments is no example +to, don't."</p> + +<p>In spite of being thus adjured, and in spite also of some hauling on the +part of Susan Nipper, little Florence broke away, and kissed her new +friend affectionately, but Susan Nipper made a charge at her, and swept +her out of the room.</p> + +<p>When Polly Richards was left alone, her heart was sore for the +motherless little girl, and she determined to devise some means of +having Florence beside her lawfully and without rebellion. An opening +happened to present itself that very night.</p> + +<p>She had been rung down into the conservatory, as usual, and was walking +about with the baby in her arms, when Mr. Dombey came up and +stopped her.</p> + +<p>"He looks thriving," said Mr. Dombey, glancing with great interest at +Paul's tiny face, which she uncovered for his observation. "They give +you everything that you want, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, thank you, sir;"</p> + +<p>She hesitated so, however, that Mr. Dombey stopped again and looked at +her inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I believe nothing is so good for making children lively, sir, as seeing +other children playing about them," observed Polly, taking courage.</p> + +<p>"I think I mentioned to you, Richards, when you came here," said Mr. +Dombey, with a frown; "that I wished you to see as little of your family +as possible. You can continue your walk, if you please."</p> + +<p>With that he disappeared into an inner room, and Polly felt that she had +fallen into disgrace without the least advancement of her purpose; but +next night when she came down, he called her to him. "If you really +think that kind of society is good for the child," he said sharply, as +if there had been no interval since she proposed it, "where's Miss +Florence?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better than Miss Florence, sir," said Polly eagerly, +"but I understood from her little maid that they were not to--" But Mr. +Dombey rang the bell, and gave his orders before she had a chance to +finish the sentence.</p> + +<p>"Tell them always to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she +chooses," he commanded; and, the iron being hot, Richards striking on it +boldly, requested that the child might be sent down at once to make +friends with her little brother.</p> + +<p>When Florence timidly presented herself, had Mr. Dombey looked towards +her with a father's eye, he might have read in her keen glance the +passionate desire to run to him, crying, "Oh, father, try to love +me,--there is no one else"; the dread of a repulse; the fear of being +too bold and of offending him. But he saw nothing of this. He saw her +pause at the door and look towards him, and he saw no more.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Florence," said her father coldly. "Have you nothing to say +to me?"</p> + +<p>The tears that stood in her eyes as she raised them quickly to his face, +were frozen by the expression it wore. She looked down again, and put +out her trembling hand, which Mr. Dombey took loosely in his own.</p> + +<p>"There! be a good girl," he said, patting her on the head, and regarding +her with a disturbed and doubtful look, "go to Richards! go!"</p> + +<p>His little daughter hesitated for another instant, as though she would +have clung about him still, or had some lingering hope that he might +raise her in his arms and kiss her. But he dropped her hand and turned +away. Still Polly persevered, and managed so well with little Paul as to +make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's +company. When it was time for Florence to go to bed, the nurse urged her +to say good night to her father, but the child hesitated, and Mr. Dombey +called from the inner room; "It doesn't matter. You can let her come and +go without regarding me."</p> + +<p>The child shrunk as she listened, and was gone before her humble friend +looked around again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Just around the corner from Mr. Dombey's office was the little shop of a +nautical-instrument maker whose name was Solomon Gills. The +stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, +telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, and every kind of an instrument +used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's +reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discovery. Old prints of ships +hung in frames upon the walls; outlandish shells, seaweeds and mosses +decorated the chimney-piece; the little wainscoted parlor was lighted by +a skylight, like a cabin, The shop itself seemed almost to become a +sea-going ship-shape concern, wanting only good sea room, in the event +of an unexpected launch, to work its way securely to any desert island +in the world.</p> + +<p>Here Solomon Gills lived, in skipper-like state, all alone with his +nephew, Walter; a boy of fourteen, who looked quite enough like a +midshipman to carry out the prevailing idea.</p> + +<p>It is half past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon. Solomon Gills is +wondering where Walter is, when a voice exclaims, "Halloa, Uncle Sol!" +and the instrument-maker, turning briskly around, sees a +cheerful-looking, merry boy fresh with running home in the rain; +fair-faced, bright-eyed and curly-haired.</p> + +<p>"Well, uncle, how have you got on without me all day? Is dinner ready? +I'm so hungry."</p> + +<p>"As to getting on," said Solomon, good-naturedly, "It would be odd if I +couldn't get on without a young dog like you a great deal better than +with you. As to dinner being ready, it's been waiting for you this +half-hour. As to being hungry, I am!"</p> + +<p>"Come along, then, uncle!" cried the boy, and Uncle Sol and his nephew +were speedily engaged on a fried sole, with a prospect of steak +to follow.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the old man eagerly, "Let's hear something about the Firm."</p> + +<p>"Oh! there's not much to be told, uncle," said the boy, plying his knife +and fork. "When Mr. Dombey came in, he walked up to my seat--I wish he +wasn't so solemn and stiff, uncle--and told me you had spoken to him +about me, and that he had found me employment in the House accordingly, +and that I was expected to be attentive and punctual, and then he went +away. I thought he didn't seem to like me much."</p> + +<p>"You mean, I suppose." observed the instrument-maker, "that you didn't +seem to like him much."</p> + +<p>"Well, uncle," returned the boy laughing, "perhaps so; I never thought +of that."</p> + +<p>Solomon looked a little graver as he finished his dinner, and glanced +from time to time at the boy's bright face. When dinner was done, he +went down into a little cellar, and returned with a bottle covered with +dust and dirt.</p> + +<p>"Why, uncle Sol!" said the boy, "What are you about? that's the +wonderful Madeira--there's only one more bottle!"</p> + +<p>Uncle Sol nodded his head, and having drawn the cork in solemn silence, +filled two glasses, and set the bottle and a third clean glass on +the table.</p> + +<p>"You shall drink the other bottle, Wally," he said, "When you come to +good fortune; when you are a thriving, respected, happy man; when the +start in life you have made to-day shall have brought you--as I pray +Heaven it may!--to a smooth part of the course you have to run, my +child. My love to you!"</p> + +<p>They clinked their glasses together, and were deep in conversation, when +an addition to the little party made its appearance, in the shape of a +gentleman with a hook instead of a hand attached to his right wrist; +very bushy black eyebrows; and a thick stick in his left hand, covered +all over (like his nose) with knobs. He wore a loose black silk +handkerchief round his neck, and such a very large shirt-collar that it +looked like a small sail over his wide suit of blue. He was evidently +the person for whom the spare wineglass was intended, and evidently knew +it; for having taken off his coat, and hung up his hard glazed hat, he +brought a chair to where the clean glass was, and sat himself down +behind it. He was usually addressed as Captain, this visitor; and had +been a pilot, or a skipper, or a privateer's man, or all three perhaps; +and was a very salt looking man indeed. His face brightened as he shook +hands with uncle and nephew; but he seemed to be of a laconic +disposition, and merely said: "How goes it?"</p> + +<p>"All well," said Mr. Gills, pushing the bottle towards the new-comer, +Captain Cuttle, who thereupon proceeded to fill his glass, and the +wonderful Madeira loosened his tongue to the extent of giving utterance +to a prodigous oration for Walter's benefit.</p> + +<p>"Come," cried Solomon Gills, "we must finish the bottle."</p> + +<p>"Stand by!" said Captain Cuttle, filling his glass again. "Give the boy +some more."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sol, "a little more. We'll finish the bottle to the +House,--Walter's house. Why, it may be his house one of these days, in +part. Who knows? Sir Richard Whittington married his master's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and when you are old, +you will never depart from it," interposed the Captain. "Wal'r, overhaul +the book, my lad!"</p> + +<p>"And although Mr. Dombey hasn't a daughter--" Sol began.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, he has, uncle," said the boy, reddening and laughing. "I know +he has. Some of them were talking about it in the office to-day. And +they do say that he's taken a dislike to her, and that she's left +unnoticed among the servants, while he thinks of no one but his son. +That's what they say. Of course I don't know."</p> + +<p>"He knows all about her already, you see," said the instrument-maker.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, uncle," cried the boy reddening again; "how can I help +hearing what they tell me?"</p> + +<p>"The son's a little in our way at present, I'm afraid," added the old +man, humoring the joke. "Nevertheless, we'll drink to him," pursued Sol. +"So, here's to Dombey and Son."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, uncle," said the boy merrily. "Since you have introduced +the mention of her, and have said that I know all about her, I shall +make bold to amend the toast. So,--here's to Dombey--and Son--and +Daughter!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in Mr. Dombey's mansion, baby Paul was thriving under the +watchful care of Polly Richards, Mr. Dombey, and Mr. Dombey's friends, +and the day of his christening arrived. On that important occasion, the +baby's excitement was so great that no one could soothe him until +Florence was summoned. As she hid behind her nurse, he followed her with +his eyes; and when she peeped out with a merry cry to him, he sprang up +and crowed lustily--laughing outright when she ran in upon him, and +seeming to fondle her curls with his tiny hands while she smothered him +with kisses.</p> + +<p>Was Mr. Dombey pleased to see this? He did not show it. If any sunbeam +stole into the room to light the children at their play, it never +reached his face. He looked on so coldly that the warm light vanished, +even from the laughing eyes of little Florence when, at last, they +happened to meet his.</p> + +<p>The contemplation of Paul in his christening robe made his nurse yearn +for a sight of her own first-born, although this was a pleasure strictly +forbidden by Mr. Dombey's orders. But the longing so overpowered her +that she consulted Miss Nipper as to the possibility of gratifying it, +and that young woman, eager herself for an expedition, urged Polly to +visit her home. So, the next morning the two nurses set out together: +Richards carrying Paul, and Susan leading little Florence by the hand, +and giving her such jerks and pokes as she considered it wholesome to +administer. Then for a brief half-hour, Polly enjoyed the longed-for +pleasure of being again in the bosom of her family, but the visit had a +sad ending, for on the way back, passing through a crowded thoroughfare +the little party became separated. A thundering alarm of Mad Bull! was +raised. With a wild confusion of people running up and down, and +shouting, and wheels running over them, and boys fighting, and mad bulls +coming up, and the nurse in the midst of all these dangers, being torn +to pieces, Florence screamed and ran. She ran until she was exhausted, +then found with a sensation of terror not to be described, that she was +quite alone.</p> + +<p>"Susan! Susan!" cried Florence. "Oh, where are they?"</p> + +<p>"Where are they?" said an old woman, hobbling across from the opposite +side of the road. "Why did you run away from 'em?"</p> + +<p>"I was frightened," answered Florence. "I didn't know what I did. I +thought they were with me. Where are they?"</p> + +<p>The old woman took her by the wrist, and said, "I'll show you."</p> + +<p>She was a very ugly old woman indeed, miserably dressed, and carried +some skins over her arm. Florence was afraid of her, and looked, +hesitating, up the street. It was a solitary place, and there was no one +in it but herself and the old woman.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be frightened now," said the old woman, still holding her +tight "Come along with me."</p> + +<p>"I--don't know you. What's your name?" asked Florence.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Brown," said the old woman, "Good Mrs. Brown. Susan ain't far +off," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and the others are close to her, and +nobody's hurt."</p> + +<p>The child shed tears of delight on hearing this, and accompanied the old +woman willingly. They had not gone far, when they stopped before a +shabby little house in a dirty little lane. Opening the door with a key +she took out of her pocket, Mrs. Brown pushed the child into a back +room, where there was a great heap of rags lying on the floor, a heap of +bones, and a heap of sifted dust. But there was no furniture at all, and +the walls and ceiling were quite black.</p> + +<p>The child became so terrified, that she was stricken speechless, and +looked as though about to swoon.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be a young mule," said Good Mrs. Brown, reviving her with a +shake. "I'm not a' going to keep you, even above an hour. Don't vex me. +If you don't, I tell you, I won't hurt you. But if you do, I'll kill +you. I could have you killed at any time--even if you was in your own +bed at home. Now let's know who you are, and what you are, and all +about it."</p> + +<p>The old woman's threats and promises, and Florence's habit of being +quiet, and repressing what she felt, enabled her to tell her little +history. Mrs. Brown listened attentively until she had finished.</p> + +<p>"I want that pretty frock, Miss Dombey," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and that +little bonnet, and a petticoat or two, and those shoes, Miss Dombey, and +anything else you can spare. Come! take 'em off."</p> + +<p>Florence obeyed as fast as her trembling hands could allow, keeping all +the while, a frightened eye on Mrs. Brown, who examined each article of +apparel at leisure, and seemed tolerably well satisfied with their +quality and value; she then produced a worn-out girl's cloak, and the +crushed remnants of a girl's bonnet, as well as other tattered things. +In this dainty raiment she instructed Florence to dress herself, and as +this seemed a prelude to her release, the child complied as fast as +possible. Mrs. Brown then resumed her seat on the bones, and smoked a +very short, black pipe, after which she gave the child a rabbit-skin to +carry, that she might appear like her ordinary companion, and led her +forth into the streets; but she cautioned her, with threats of deadly +vengeance in case of disobedience, to go directly to her father's office +in the city, also to wait at the street corner where she would be left, +until the clock struck three, and these directions Florence promised +faithfully to observe.</p> + +<p>At length Mrs. Brown left her changed and ragged little friend at a +corner, where, true to her promise, she remained until the steeple rang +out three o'clock, when after often looking over her shoulder, lest the +all-powerful spies of Mrs. Brown should take offence at that, she +hurried off as fast as she could in her slipshod shoes, holding the +rabbit-skin tight in her hand.</p> + +<p>Tired of walking, stunned by the noise and confusion, anxious for her +brother and the nurses, terrified by what she had undergone, and what +was yet before her, Florence once or twice could not help stopping and +crying bitterly, but few people noticed her, in the garb she wore, or if +they did, believed that she was tutored to excite compassion, and passed +on. It was late in the afternoon when she peeped into a kind of wharf, +and asked a stout man there if he could tell her the way to Dombey +& Son's.</p> + +<p>The man looked attentively at her, then called another man, who ran up +an archway, and very soon returned with a blithe-looking boy who he said +was in Mr. Dombey's employ.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Florence felt re-assured; ran eagerly up to him, and +caught his hand in both of hers.</p> + +<p>"I'm lost, if you please!" said Florence. "I was lost this morning, a +long way from here--and I have had my own clothes taken away since--and +my name is Florence Dombey, and, oh dear, take care of me, if you +please!" sobbed Florence, giving full vent to her childish feelings.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, Miss Dombey," said young Walter Gay, the nephew of Solomon +Gills, in a transport of enthusiasm. "What a wonderful thing for me that +I am here. You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's +crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Oh, don't cry!"</p> + +<p>"I won't cry any more," said Florence. "I'm only crying for joy."</p> + +<p>"Crying for joy!" thought Walter, "and I'm the cause of it. Come along, +Miss Dombey, let me see the villain who will molest you now!"</p> + +<p>So Walter, looking immensely fierce, led off Florence looking very +happy; and as Mr. Dombey's office was closed for the night, he led her +to his uncle's, to leave her there while he should go and tell Mr. +Dombey that she was safe, and bring her back some clothes.</p> + +<p>"Halloa, Uncle Sol," cried Walter, bursting into the shop; "Here's a +wonderful adventure! Here's Mr. Dombey's daughter lost in the streets, +and robbed of her clothes by an old witch of a woman--found by +me--brought home to our parlor to rest--Here--just help me lift the +little sofa near the fire, will you, uncle Sol?--Cut some dinner for +her, will you, uncle; throw those shoes under the grate, Miss +Florence--put your feet on the fender to dry--how damp they are!--Here's +an adventure, uncle, eh?--God bless my soul, how hot I am!"</p> + +<p>Solomon Gills was quite as hot, by sympathy; and in excessive +bewilderment, he patted Florence's head, pressed her to eat, pressed her +to drink, rubbed the soles of her feet with his pocket-handkerchief, +heated at the fire, followed his locomotive nephew with his eyes and +ears, and had no clear perception of anything except that he was being +constantly knocked against, and tumbled over by that excited young +gentleman, as he darted about the room, attempting to accomplish twenty +things at once, and doing nothing at all.</p> + +<p>"Here, wait a minute, uncle," he continued, "till I run upstairs and get +another jacket on, and then I'll be off. I say, uncle, isn't this an +adventure?"</p> + +<p>"My dear boy," said Solomon, "it is the most extraordinary--"</p> + +<p>"No, but do, uncle, please--do, Miss Florence--dinner, you know, uncle."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, yes," cutting instantly into a leg of mutton, as if he were +catering for a giant. "I'll take care of her, Wally! Pretty dear! +Famished, of course. You go and get ready. Lord bless me! Sir Richard +Whittington, thrice Mayor of London!"</p> + +<p>While Walter was preparing to leave, Florence, overcome by fatigue, had +sunk into a doze before the fire and when the boy returned, she was +sleeping peacefully.</p> + +<p>"That's capital!" he whispered, "Don't wake her, uncle Sol!"</p> + +<p>"No, no," answered Solomon, "Pretty child!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Pretty</i>, indeed!" cried Walter, "I never saw such a face! Now I'm +off."</p> + +<p>Arriving at Mr. Dombey's house, and breathlessly announcing his errand +to the servant, Walter was shown into the library, where he confronted +Mr. Dombey.</p> + +<p>"Oh! beg your pardon, sir," said Walter, rushing up to him; "but I'm +happy to say, it's all right, sir. Miss Dombey's found!"</p> + +<p>"I told you she would certainly be found," said Mr. Dombey calmly, to +the others in the room. "Let the servants know that no further steps are +necessary. This boy who brings the information is young Gay from the +office. How was my daughter found, sir? I know how she was lost." Here +he looked majestically at Richards. "But how was she found? Who +found her?"</p> + +<p>It was quite out of Walter's power to be coherent, but he rendered +himself as explanatory as he could, in his breathless state, and told +why he had come alone.</p> + +<p>"You hear this, girl?" said Mr. Dombey sternly, to Susan Nipper. "Take +what is necessary and return immediately with this young man to fetch +Miss Florence home. Gay, you will be rewarded to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh! thank you, sir," said Walter. "You are very kind. I'm sure I was +not thinking of any reward sir."</p> + +<p>"You are a boy," said Mr. Dombey, almost fiercely; "and what you think +of, or what you affect to think of, is of little consequence. You have +done well, sir. Don't undo it."</p> + +<p>Returning to his uncle's with Miss Nipper, Walter found that Florence, +much refreshed by sleep, had dined and come to be on terms of perfect +confidence and ease with old Sol. Miss Nipper caught her in her arms, +and made a very hysterical meeting of it. Then, converting the parlor +into a private tiring-room, she dressed her in proper clothes, and +presently led her forth to say farewell.</p> + +<p>"Good-night," said Florence to the elder man, "you have been very good +to me."</p> + +<p>Uncle Sol was quite delighted, and kissed her like her grandfather.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Walter," she said, "I'll never forget you, No! Indeed I +never will. Good-by!"</p> + +<p>The entrance of the lost child at home made a slight sensation, but not +much. Mr. Dombey kissed her once upon the forehead, and cautioned her +not to wander anywhere again with treacherous attendants. He then +dismissed the culprit Polly Richards, from his service, telling her to +leave immediately, and it was a dagger in the haughty father's heart to +see Florence holding to her dress, and crying to her not to go. Not that +he cared to whom his daughter turned, or from whom turned away. The +swift, sharp agony struck through him as he thought of what his +son might do.</p> + +<p>His son cried lustily that night, at all events; and the next day a new +nurse, Wickam by name, took Polly's place.</p> + +<p>She lavished every care upon little Paul, yet all her vigilance could +not make him a thriving boy. When he was nearly five years old, he was +a pretty little fellow, but so very delicate that Mr. Dombey became +alarmed about him, and decided to send him at once to the seashore.</p> + +<p>So to Brighton, Paul and Florence and nurse Wickam went, and boarded +with a certain Mrs. Pipchin there. On Saturdays Mr. Dombey came down to +a hotel near by, and Paul and Florence would go and have tea with him, +and every day they spent their time upon the sands, and Florence was +always content when Paul was happy.</p> + +<p>While the children were thus living at Brighton, a warrant was served +upon old Solomon Gills, by a broker, because of a payment overdue upon a +bond debt. Old Sol was overcome by the extent of this calamity, which he +could not avert, and Walter hurried out to fetch Captain Cuttle to +discuss the situation. To the lad's dismay, the Captain insisted upon +applying to Mr. Dombey at once for the necessary loan which would help +old Sol out of his difficulty. So Walter proceeded with him to Brighton +as fast as coach horses could carry them, and on a Sunday morning while +Mr. Dombey was at breakfast, Florence came running in, her face suffused +with a bright color, and her eyes sparkling joyfully, and cried:</p> + +<p>"Papa! Papa! here's Walter, and he won't come in!"</p> + +<p>"Who?" cried Mr. Dombey, "What does she mean,--what is this?"</p> + +<p>"Walter, Papa," said Florence timidly; "who found me when I was lost!"</p> + +<p>"Tell the boy to come in," said Mr. Dombey. "Now, Gay, what is the +matter?"</p> + +<p>Tremblingly Walter Gay stood in the presence of his proud employer, and +made known his uncle's distress, and when he ceased speaking, Captain +Cuttle stepped forward, and clearing a space among the breakfast cups at +Mr. Dombey's elbow, produced a silver watch, ready money to the amount +of thirteen pounds and half a crown, two teaspoons and a pair of +battered sugar-tongs, and piling them up into a heap, that they might +look as precious as possible, said:</p> + +<p>"Half a loaf is better than no bread, and the same remark holds good +with crumbs. There's a few. Annuity of one hundred pounds p'rannum also +ready to be made over!"</p> + +<p>Florence had listened tearfully to Walter's sad tale and to the +captain's offer of his valuables, and little Paul now tried to comfort +her; but Mr. Dombey, watching them, saw only his son's wistful +expression, thought only of his pleasure, and after taking the child on +his knee, and having a brief consulation with him, he announced +pompously that Master Paul would lend the money to Walter's uncle. Young +Gay tried to express his gratitude for this favor, but Mr. Dombey +stopped him short. Then, sweeping the captain's property from him, he +added, "Have the goodness to take these things away, sir!"</p> + +<p>Captain Cuttle was so much struck by the magnanimity of Mr. Dombey, in +refusing treasures lying heaped up to his hand, that when he had +deposited them in his pockets again, he could not refrain from grasping +that gentleman's right hand in his own solitary left, before following +Walter out of the room, and Mr. Dombey shivered at his touch.</p> + +<p>Florence was running after them, to send some message to old Sol, when +Mr. Dombey called her back, bidding her stay where she was, and so the +episode ended.</p> + +<p>When the children had been nearly twelve months at Mrs. Pipchin's, Mr. +Dombey decided to send Paul to Dr. Blimber's boarding-school where his +education would be properly begun. Accordingly, Paul began his studies +in that hot-bed of learning, where the dreamy, delicate child with his +quaint ways soon became a favorite with teachers and pupils. The +process of being educated was difficult for one so young and frail, and +he might have sunk beneath the burden of his tasks but for looking +forward to the weekly visit to his sister at Mrs. Pipchin's.</p> + +<p>Oh, Saturdays! Oh, happy Saturdays! When Florence always came for him at +noon, and never would in any weather stay away: these Saturdays were +Sabbaths for at least two little Christians among all the Jews, and did +the holy Sabbath work of strengthening and knitting up a brother's and a +sister's love.</p> + +<p>Seeing her brother's difficulty with his lessons, Florence procured +books similar to his, and sat down at night to track his footsteps +through the thorny ways of learning; and being naturally quick, and +taught by that most wonderful of masters, Love, it was not long before +she gained upon Paul's heels, and caught, and passed him.</p> + +<p>And high was her reward, when one Saturday evening she sat down by his +side and made all that was so dark, clear and plain before him. It was +nothing but a startled look in Paul's wan face--a flush--a smile--and +then a close embrace--but God knows how her heart leaped up at this rich +payment for her trouble.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Floy!" he cried, "how I love you!"</p> + +<p>He said no more about it, but all that evening sat close by her, very +quiet; and in the night he called out from his little room, three or +four times, that he loved her. Regularly after that Florence sat down +with him on Saturday night, and assisted him through so much as they +could anticipate together of his next week's work.</p> + +<p>And so the months went by, until the midsummer vacation was near at +hand, and the great party which was to celebrate the breaking up of +school, was about to come off. Some weeks before this, Paul had had a +fainting turn, and had not recovered his strength, in consequence of +which, he was enjoying complete rest from lessons, and it was clear to +every one, that, once at home, he would never come back to Dr. Blimber's +or to any school again, and to no one was the sad truth more evident +than to Florence.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the great party Florence came, looking so beautiful in +her simple ball dress, with her fresh flowers in her hand, that she was +the admiration of all the young gentlemen of the school, and +particularly of Mr. Toots, the head boy; a simple youth with an engaging +manner, and the habit of blushing and chuckling when addressed. Mr. +Toots had made Paul his especial favorite and charge, and was well +repaid for his devotion to the boy by the gracious appreciation which +Florence showed him for it, and it was to the care of Mr. Toots that +Paul, when leaving, intrusted the dog Diogenes, who had never received a +friend into his confidence before Paul had become his companion.</p> + +<p>The brother and sister remained together for a time at Mrs. Pipchin's, +then went back to their home in London, where little Paul's life ebbed +away, and his father's hopes were crushed by the blow.</p> + +<p>There was a hush through Mr. Dombey's great mansion when the child was +gone, and Florence;--was she so alone in the bleak world that nothing +else remained to her except her little maid? Nothing.</p> + +<p>At first, when the house subsided into its accustomed course she could +do nothing but weep, and wander up and down, and sometimes, in a sudden +pang of desolate remembrance, fly to her own chamber, lay her face down +on her bed, and know no consolation. But it is not in the nature of pure +love to burn so fiercely and unkindly long. Soon, in the midst of the +dismal house, her low voice in the twilight slowly touched an old air to +which she had so often listened with Paul's head upon her arm. And +after that, and when it was quite dark, a little strain of music +trembled in the room, repeated often, in the shadowy solitude; and +broken murmurs of the strain still trembled on the keys when the sweet +voice was hushed in tears.</p> + +<p>One day Florence was amazed at receiving a visit from Mr. Toots, who +entered the room with much hesitation, and, with a series of chuckles, +laughs, and blushes, informed her that he had brought her little Paul's +pet, the dog Diogenes, as a companion in her loneliness.</p> + +<p>"He ain't a lady's dog, you know," said Mr. Toots, "but I hope you won't +mind that. If you would like to have him, he's at the door."</p> + +<p>In fact, Diogenes was at that moment staring through the window of a +hackney cabriolet, into which he had been ensnared on a false pretence +of rats among the straw. Sooth to say, he was as unlike a lady's dog as +dog might be; and in his gruff anxiety to get out, gave short yelps, and +overbalancing himself by the intensity of his efforts, tumbled down into +the straw, and then sprung up panting again, putting out his tongue, as +if he had come express to a Dispensary to be examined for his health.</p> + +<p>But though Diogenes was as ridiculous a dog as one would meet with on a +summer's day; a blundering, ill-favored, clumsy, bullet-headed dog, +continually acting on the wrong idea that there was an enemy in the +neighborhood whom it was meritorious to bark at; and though he was far +from good-tempered, and certainly was not clever, and had hair all over +his eyes, and a comical nose, and an inconsistent tail, and a gruff +voice,--he was dearer to Florence, in virtue of Paul's parting +remembrance of him, and that request that he might be taken care of, +than the most valuable and beautiful of his kind. So dear, indeed, was +this same ugly Diogenes, and so welcome to her, that she kissed the +hand of Mr. Toots in her gratitude. And when Diogenes, released, came +tearing up the stairs and, bouncing into the room, dived under all the +furniture, and wound a long iron chain that dangled from his neck round +legs of chairs and tables, and then tugged at it until his eyes nearly +started out of his head; and when he growled at Mr. Toots, who affected +familiarity, Florence was as pleased with him as if he had been a +miracle of discretion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Toots was so overjoyed by the success of his present, and so +delighted to see Florence bending over Diogenes, smoothing his coarse +back with her little delicate hand--Diogenes graciously allowing it from +the first moment of their acquaintance--that he felt it difficult to +take leave, and would, no doubt have been a much longer time in making +up his mind to do so, if he had not been assisted by Diogenes himself, +who suddenly took it into his head to bay at Mr. Toots, and to make +short runs at him with his mouth open. Not exactly seeing his way to the +end of these demonstrations, Mr. Toot with chuckles, lapsed out of the +door, and got away.</p> + +<p>"Come, then, Di! Dear Di! Make friends with your new mistress. Let us +love each other, Di!" said Florence, fondling his shaggy head. And Di, +the rough and gruff, as if his hairy hide were pervious to the tear that +dropped upon it, and his dog's heart melted as it fell, put his nose up +to her face and swore fidelity.</p> + +<p>A banquet was immediately provided for him, and when he had eaten and +drunk his fill, he went to Florence, rose up on his hind legs, with his +awkward fore-paws on her shoulders, licked her face and hands, nestled +his great head against her heart, and wagged his tail till he was tired +Finally, he coiled himself up at her feet, and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>That same night Susan Nipper told her mistress that Mr. Dombey was to +leave home the next day for a trip,--which piece of news filled Florence +with dismay, and she sat musing sadly until midnight.</p> + +<p>She was little more than a child in years,--not yet fourteen--and the +loneliness and gloom of such an hour in the great house might have set +an older fancy brooding on vague terrors. But her innocent imagination +was too full of one theme to admit them. Nothing wandered in her thought +but love; a wandering love indeed, and cast away, but turning always to +her father.</p> + +<p>She could not go to bed, without making her nightly pilgrimage to his +door. The moment she touched it she found that it was open, and there +was a light within. The first impulse of the timid child--and she +yielded to it--was to retire swiftly. A next, to go back, and to enter. +She turned back, urged on by the love within her, and glided in.</p> + +<p>Her father sat at his old table, in the middle of the room. His face was +turned towards her. It looked worn and dejected, and in the loneliness +surrounding him, there was an appeal to Florence that struck home, but +when she spoke to him, the sternness of his glance and words so overcame +her that she shrank away,--and sobbing, silently ascended to her +room again.</p> + +<p>Diogenes was broad awake, and waiting for his little mistress.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Di! Oh, dear Di! Love me for his sake!"</p> + +<p>Diogenes already loved her for his own, and did not care how much he +showed it. So he made himself vastly ridiculous by performing a variety +of uncouth bounces, and concluded, when poor Florence was at last +asleep, by scratching open her bedroom door; rolling up his bed into a +pillow; lying down on the boards at the full length of his tether with +his head toward her; and looking lazily at her, upside down, out of the +tops of his eyes, until, from winking and blinking, he fell asleep +himself, and dreamed with gruff barks, of his enemy.</p> + +<p>About this time Walter Gay was informed by Mr. Dombey of his appointment +to a junior position in the firm's counting house in the Barbadoes. The +boy ever since he first saw Florence had thought of her with admiration +and compassion, pitying her loneliness; and now when he was about to +cross the ocean, his first thought was to seek audience with her little +maid, to tell her of his going, to say to her that his uncle had had an +interest in Miss Dombey ever since the night when she was lost, and +always wished her well and happy, and always would be proud and glad to +serve her, if she should need that service.</p> + +<p>Upon receiving the message, Florence hastened with Susan Nipper to the +old Instrument-maker's Shop, and they passed into the parlor so suddenly +that Uncle Sol, in surprise at seeing them, sprang out of his own chair +and nearly tumbled over another, as he exclaimed, "Miss Dombey!"</p> + +<p>"Is it possible!" cried Walter, starting up in his turn. "Here!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Florence, advancing to him. "I was afraid you might be going +away, and hardly thinking of me. And, Walter, there is something I wish +to say to you before you go, and you must call me Florence, if you +please, and not speak like a stranger. My dear brother before he died +said that he was very fond of you, and said, 'remember Walter'; and if +you will be a brother to me, Walter, now that I have none on earth, I'll +be your sister all my life, and think of you like one, wherever we +may be!"</p> + +<p>In her sweet simplicity, she held out both her hands, and Walter, taking +them, stooped down and touched the tearful face; and it seemed to him +in doing so, that he responded to her innocent appeal beside the dead +child's bed.</p> + +<p>After Walter's departure, Florence lived alone as before, in the great +dreary house, and the blank walls looked down upon her with a vacant +stare, as if they had a Gorgon-like mind to stare her youth and beauty +into stone.</p> + +<p>No magic dwelling-place in magic story, shut up in the heart of a thick +wood, was ever more solitary and deserted to the fancy than was her +father's mansion in its grim reality. The spell upon it was more wasting +than the spell which used to set enchanted houses sleeping once upon a +time, but left their waking freshness unimpaired. But Florence bloomed +there, like the King's fair daughter in the story. Her books, her music, +and her daily teachers were her only real companions, except Susan +Nipper and Diogenes, and she lived within the circle of her innocent +pursuits and thoughts, and nothing harmed her. She could go down to her +father's rooms now without fear of repulse. She could put everything in +order for him, binding little nosegays for his table, changing them as +they withered, and he did not come back, preparing something for him +every day, and leaving some timid mark of her presence near his usual +seat. Waking in the night, perhaps, she would tremble at the thought of +his coming home and angrily rejecting it, and would hurry down and bring +it away. At another time she would only lay her face upon his desk, and +leave a kiss there, and a tear.</p> + +<p>Still no one knew of this. Her father did not know--she held it from +that time--how much she loved him. She was very young, and had no +mother, and had never learned, by some fault or misfortune, how to +express to him that she loved him. She would try to gain that art in +time, and win him to a better knowledge of his only child.</p> + +<p>Thus Florence lived alone in the deserted house, and day succeeded day +in a monotony of loneliness until yielding to Susan Nipper's constant +request Florence consented to pay a visit to some friends who lived at +Fulham on the Thames.</p> + +<p>Just at this time she learned that Walter's ship was overdue, and no +news had been received of her, and, her mind filled with sad +forebodings, she went to see old Sol, She found him tearful and +desolate, broken down by the weight of his anxiety, refusing to be +comforted even by the hopeful words of Captain Cuttle. So it was with a +heavy heart that she went to pay her visit, accompanied by her +little maid.</p> + +<p>There were some other children staying at the Skettleses. Children who +were frank and happy, with fathers and mothers. Children who had no +restraint upon their love, and showed it freely. Florence thoughtfully +observed them, sought to find out from them what simple art they knew, +and she knew not; how she could be taught by them to show her father how +she loved him, and to win his love again. But all her efforts failed to +give her the secret of the nameless grace she sought, among the youthful +company who were assembled in the house, or among the children of the +poor, whom she often visited.</p> + +<p>Of Walter she thought constantly. Her tears fell often for his +sufferings, but rarely for his supposed death, and never long. Thus +matters stood with Florence on the day she went home, gladly, to her old +secluded life.</p> + +<p>"You'll be glad to go through the old rooms, won't you, Susan," said +Florence as they turned into the familiar street.</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss," returned the Nipper, "I wont deny but what I shall, though +I shall hate them again to-morrow, very likely!"--adding +breathlessly--"Why gracious me, <i>where's our house</i>?"--</p> + +<p>There was a labyrinth of scaffolding raised all around the house. Loads +of bricks and stones, and heaps of mortar, and piles of wood, blocked up +half of the broad street. Ladders were raised against the walls; men +were at work upon the scaffolding; painters and decorators were busy +inside; great rolls of paper were being delivered from a cart at the +door; an upholsterer's wagon also stopped the way; nothing was to be +seen but workmen, swarming from the kitchens to the garret. Inside and +outside alike; bricklayers, painters, carpenters, masons; hammer, hod, +brush, pickaxe, saw, trowel: all at work together, in full chorus.</p> + +<p>Florence descended from the coach, half doubting if it could be the +right house, until she recognized Towlinson, the butler, standing at the +door to receive her. She passed him as if she were in a dream, and +hurried upstairs. Her own room was not yet touched within, but there +were beams and boards raised against it without. She went up swiftly to +that other bedroom, where her brother's little bed was; and a dark giant +of a man, with a pipe in his mouth, and his head tied up in a pocket +handkerchief, was staring in at the window.</p> + +<p>It was here that Susan Nipper found her, and said would she go +downstairs to her papa, who wished to speak to her?</p> + +<p>"At home! and wishing to speak to me!" cried Florence, pale and +agitated, hurrying down without a moment's hesitation. She thought upon +the way down, would she dare to kiss him? Her father might have heard +her heart beat when she came into his presence. He was not alone. There +were two ladies there. One was old, and the other was young and very +beautiful, and of an elegant figure.</p> + +<p>"Edith," said Mr. Dombey, "this is my daughter. Florence, this lady will +soon be your mamma."</p> + +<p>The girl started, and looked up at the beautiful face in a conflict of +emotions, among which the tears that name awakened struggled for a +moment with surprise, interest, admiration, and an indefinable sort of +fear. Then she cried out, "Oh, papa, may you be happy! May you be very, +very happy all your life!" then fell weeping on the lady's bosom.</p> + +<p>The beautiful lady held her to her breast, and pressed the hand with +which she clasped her, as if to reassure and comfort her, and bent her +head down over Florence and kissed her on the cheek.</p> + +<p>And now Florence began to hope that she would learn from her new and +beautiful mamma how to gain her father's love. And in her sleep that +night her own mother smiled radiantly upon the hope, and blessed it.</p> + +<p>Even in the busy weeks before the wedding-day, the bride-elect had time +to win the heart of the lonely girl, and Florence responded to her +advances with trustful love, and was happy and hopeful, while the new +mother's affection deepened daily. But it soon became evident that the +affection aroused Mr. Dombey's keen jealousy, and his wife thought it +best to repress her feelings for Florence.</p> + +<p>The girl soon became aware that there was no real sympathy between her +father and his second wife, and that the happiness in their home, of +which she had dreamed, would never be a reality. In truth the cold, +proud man with all his wealth and power, could not win from his wife one +smile such as she had often bestowed upon Florence in his presence, and +this added to his dislike for the girl.</p> + +<p>Once only, as Mr. Dombey sat and watched his daughter, the sight of her +in her beauty, now almost changed into a woman, roused within him a +fleeting feeling of regret at having had a household spirit bending at +his feet, and of having overlooked it in his stiff-necked pride. He felt +inclined to call her to him; the words were rising to his lips, when +they were checked by the entrance of his wife, whose haughty bearing and +indifference to him caused the gentle impulse to flee from him, and it +never returned.</p> + +<p>The breach between husband and wife was daily growing wider, when one +morning, riding to the city, Mr. Dombey was thrown from his horse, and +being brought home, he gloomily retired to his own rooms, where he was +attended by servants, not approached by his wife. Late that night there +arose in Florence's mind the image of her father, wounded and in pain, +alone, in his own home.</p> + +<p>With the same child's heart within her as of old, even as with the +child's sweet, timid eyes and clustering hair, Florence, as strange to +her father in her early maiden bloom as in her nursery days, crept down +to his room and looked in. The housekeeper was fast asleep in an +easy-chair before the fire. All was so very still that she knew he was +asleep. There was a cut upon his forehead. One of his arms, resting +outside of the bed, was bandaged up, and he was very white. After the +first assurance of his sleeping quietly, Florence stole close to the +bed, and softly kissed him and put the arm with which she dared not +touch him, waking, round about him on the pillow, praying to God to +bless her father, and to soften him towards her, if it might be so.</p> + +<p>On the following day Susan Nipper braced herself for a great feat which +she had long been contemplating; forced an entrance into Mr. Dombey's +room, and told him in most emphatic language what she thought of his +treatment of the motherless little girl who had so long been her charge. +Speechless with rage and amazement, Mr. Dombey attempted to summon some +one to protect him from her flow of language, but there was no bell-rope +near, and he could not move, so he was forced to listen to her tirade +until the entrance of the housekeeper cut it short. Susan Nipper was +then instantly discharged, and bestirred herself to get her trunks in +order, sobbing heartily as she thought of Florence, but exulting at the +memory of Mr. Dombey's discomfiture. Florence dared not interfere with +her father's commands, and took a sad farewell of the faithful little +maid, who had for so long been her companion.</p> + +<p>Now Florence was quite alone. She had grown to be seventeen; timid and +retiring as her solitary life had made her, it had not embittered her. A +child in innocent simplicity: a woman in her modest self-reliance and +her deep intensity of feeling, both child and woman seemed at once +expressed in her fair face and fragile delicacy of shape; in her +thrilling voice, her calm eyes, and sometimes in a strange ethereal +light that seemed to rest upon her head.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dombey she seldom saw, and the day soon came when she lost her +entirely. The wife's supreme indifference to himself and his wishes, +stung Mr. Dombey more than any other kind of treatment could have done, +and he determined to bend her to his will. She was the first person who +had ever ventured to oppose him in the slightest particular;--their +pride, however different in kind, was equal in degree, and their flinty +opposition struck out fire which consumed the tie between them--and soon +the final separation came.</p> + +<p>One evening after a dispute with her husband, Mrs. Dombey went out to +dinner, and did not return. In the confusion of that dreadful night, +compassion for her father was the first distinct emotion that +overwhelmed Florence. At daybreak she hastened to him with her arms +stretched out, crying, "Oh, dear, dear papa!" as if she would have +clasped him around the neck. But in his frenzy he answered her with +brutal words, and lifted up his cruel arm and struck her, with that +heaviness, that she tottered on the marble floor. She did not sink down +at his feet; she did not shut out the sight of him with her trembling +hands; she did not utter one word of reproach. But she looked at him, +and a cry of desolation issued from her heart. She saw she had no father +upon earth, and ran out, orphaned, from his house. Another moment and +Florence, with her head bent down to hide her agony of tears, was in +the street.</p> + +<p>In the wildness of her sorrow, shame, and terror, the forlorn girl +hurried through the sunshine of a bright morning as if it were the +darkness of a winter night. Wringing her hands and weeping bitterly, she +fled without a thought, without a hope, without a purpose, but to fly +somewhere--anywhere. Suddenly she thought of the only other time she had +been lost in the wide wilderness of London--and went that way. To the +home of Walter's uncle.</p> + +<p>Checking her sobs and endeavoring to calm the agitation of her manner, +so as to avoid attracting notice, Florence was going more quietly when +Diogenes, panting for breath, and making the street ring with his glad +bark, was at her feet.</p> + +<p>She bent down on the pavement, and laid his rough loving foolish head +against her breast, and they went on together.</p> + +<p>At length the little shop came into view. She ran in and found Captain +Cuttle, in his glazed hat, standing over the fire, making his morning's +cocoa. Hearing a footstep and the rustle of a dress, the captain turned +at the instant when Florence reeled and fell upon the floor.</p> + +<p>The captain, pale as Florence, calling her by his childhood's name for +her, raised her like a baby, and laid her upon the same old sofa upon +which she had slumbered long ago.</p> + +<p>"It's Heart's Delight!" he exclaimed; "It's the sweet creetur grow'd a +woman!"</p> + +<p>But Florence did not stir, and the captain moistened her lips and +forehead, put back her hair, covered her feet with his own coat, patted +her hand--so small in his, that he was struck with wonder when he +touched it--and seeing that her eyelids quivered and that her lips began +to move, continued these restorative applications with a better heart.</p> + +<p>At last she opened her eyes, and spoke: "Captain Cuttle! Is it you? Is +Walter's uncle here?"</p> + +<p>"Here, Pretty?" returned the captain. "He a'n't been here this many a +long day. He a'n't been heer'd on since he sheered off arter poor Wal'r. +But," said the captain, as a quotation, "Though lost to sight, to memory +dear, and England, home, and beauty!"</p> + +<p>"Do you live here?" asked Florence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my Lady Lass," returned the captain.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Captain Cuttle!" cried Florence, "Save me! Keep me here! Let no one +know where I am! I will tell you what has happened by and by, when I +can. I have no one in the world to go to. Do not send me away!"</p> + +<p>"Send you away, my Lady Lass!" exclaimed the captain; "you, my Heart's +Delight!--Stay a bit! We'll put up this dead-light, and take a double +turn on the key."</p> + +<p>With these words the captain got out the shutter of the door, put it up, +made it all fast, and locked the door itself.</p> + +<p>"And now," said he, "You must take some breakfast, Lady Lass, and the +dog shall have some too, and after that you shall go aloft to old Sol +Gill's room, and fall asleep there, like an angel."</p> + +<p>The room to which the captain presently carried Florence was very clean, +and being an orderly man, and accustomed to make things ship-shape, he +converted the bed into a couch by covering it with a clean white +drapery. By a similar contrivance he converted the little dressing-table +into a species of altar, on which he set forth two silver teaspoons, a +flower-pot, a telescope, his celebrated watch, a pocket-comb and a +song-book, as a small collection of rareties that made a choice +appearance.</p> + +<p>Having darkened the window, the captain walked on tiptoe out of the +room, and from sheer exhaustion Florence soon fell asleep.</p> + +<p>When she awoke the sun was getting low in the West, and after cooling +her aching head and burning face in fresh water, she made ready to go +downstairs again. What to do or where to live, she--poor, inexperienced +girl!--could not yet consider. All was dim and clouded to her mind. She +only knew that she had no father upon earth, and she said so many times, +with her suppliant head hidden from all but her Father who was in +Heaven. Then she tried to calm her thoughts and stay her tears, and went +down to her kind protector.</p> + +<p>The captain had cooked the evening meal and spread the cloth with great +care, and when Florence appeared he dressed for dinner, by taking off +his glazed hat and putting on his coat. That done, he wheeled the table +against her on the sofa, said Grace, and did the honors of the table.</p> + +<p>"My Lady Lass," said he, "Cheer up, and try to eat a bit. Stand by, +dearie! Liver wing it is. Sarse it is. Sassage it is. And potato!"</p> + +<p>All of these delicacies the captain ranged symetrically on the plate, +pouring hot gravy on the whole and adding: "Try and pick a bit, my +Pretty. If Wal'r was here--"</p> + +<p>"Ah! If I had him for my brother now!" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Don't take on, my Pretty," said the captain: "awast, to obleege me. He +was your nat'r'l born friend like, wa'n't he, Pet? Well, well! If our +poor Wal'r was here, my Lady Lass--or if he could be--for he's drowned, +a'n't he?--As I was saying, if he could be here, he'd beg and pray of +you, my precious, to pick a leetle bit, with a look-out for your own +sweet health. Whereby, hold your own, my Lady Lass, as if it was for +Wal'r's sake, and lay your pretty head to the wind!"</p> + +<p>Florence essayed to eat a morsel for the captain's pleasure, but she was +so tired and so sad that she could do scant justice to the meal, and was +glad indeed when the time came to retire.</p> + +<p>She slept that night in the same little room, and the next day sat in +the small parlor, busy with her needle, and more calm and tranquil than +she had been on the day preceding. The captain, looking at her, often +hitched his arm chair close to her, as if he were going to say something +very confidential, and hitched it away again, as not being able to make +up his mind how to begin. In the course of the day he cruised completely +around the parlor in that frail bark, and more than once went ashore +against the wainscot, or the closet door, in a very distressed +condition.</p> + +<p>It was not until deep twilight that he fairly dropped anchor at last by +the side of Florence, and began to talk connectedly. He spoke in such a +trembling voice, and looked at Florence with a face so pale and agitated +that she clung to his hand in affright, and her color came and went as +she listened.</p> + +<p>"There's perils and dangers on the deep, my Beauty," said the captain; +"and over many a brave ship, and many and many a bold heart the secret +waters has closed up, and never told no tales. But there's escapes upon +the deep, too, and sometimes one man out of a score--ah! maybe out of a +hundred, Pretty, has been saved by the mercy of God, and come home, +after being given over for dead, and told of all hands lost, I--I know a +story, Heart's Delight," stammered the captain, "o' this natur', as was +told to me once; and being on this here tack, and you and me sitting by +the fire, maybe you'd like to hear me tell it. Would you, deary?"</p> + +<p>Florence, trembling with an agitation which she could not control or +understand, involuntarily followed his glance, which went behind her +into the shop where a lamp was burning. The instant that she turned her +head, the captain sprung out of his chair, and interposed his hand.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing there, my Beauty," said the captain. "Don't look +there!"</p> + +<p>Then he murmured something about its being dull that way, and about the +fire being cheerful. He drew the door ajar, which had been standing open +until now, and resumed his seat. Florence looked intently in his face.</p> + +<p>"The story was about a ship, my Lady Lass," began the captain, "as +sailed out of the port of London, with a fair wind and in fair weather, +bound for--Don't be took aback my Lady Lass, she was only out'ard. +Pretty, only out'ard bound!"</p> + +<p>The expression on Florence's face alarmed the captain, who was himself +very hot and flurried, and showed scarcely less agitation than she did.</p> + +<p>"Shall I go on, Beauty?" said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, pray!" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>The captain made a gulp as if to get down something that was stuck in +his throat, and nervously proceeded:</p> + +<p>"That there unfortunate ship met with such foul weather, out at sea, as +don't blow once in twenty year, my darling. There was hurricanes ashore +as tore up forests and blowed down towns, and there was gales at sea, +even in them latitudes, as not the stoutest wessel ever launched could +live in. Day arter day, that there unfort'nate ship behaved noble, I'm +told, and did her duty brave, my Pretty, but at one blow a'most her +bulwarks was stove in, her masts and rudder carried away, her best men +swept overboard, and she left in the mercy of the storm as had no mercy, +but blowed harder and harder yet, while the waves dashed over her, and +beat her in, and every time they come a thundering at her, broke her +like a shell. Every black spot in every mountain of water that rolled +away was a bit of the ship's life, or a living man, and so she went to +pieces, Beauty, and no grass will never grow upon the graves of them as +manned that ship."</p> + +<p>"They were not all lost!" cried Florence. "Some were saved! Was one?"</p> + +<p>"Aboard o' that there unfortunate wessel," said the captain, rising from +his chair, and clenching his hand with prodigious energy and exultation, +"was a lad, a gallant lad--as I've heard tell--that had loved when he +was a boy to read and talk about brave actions in shipwrecks--I've heerd +him!--I've heerd him!--and he remembered of 'em in his hour of need; for +when the stoutest hearts and oldest hands was hove down, he was firm and +cheery. It wa'n't the want of objects to like and love ashore that gave +him courage; it was his nat'ral mind. I've seen it in his face when he +was no more than a child--ah, many a time!--and when I thought it +nothing but his good looks, bless him!"</p> + +<p>"And was he saved?" cried Florence. "Was he saved?"</p> + +<p>"That brave lad," said the captain,--"look at me, pretty! Don't look +round--"</p> + +<p>Florence had hardly power to repeat, "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because there's nothing there, my deary," said the captain. "Don't be +took aback, pretty creetur! Don't for the sake of Wal'r as was dear to +all on us! That there lad," said the captain, "arter working with the +best, and standing by the fainthearted, and never making no complaint +nor sign of fear, and keeping up a spirit in all hands that made 'em +honor him as if he'd been a admiral--that lad, alone with the second +mate and one seaman, was left, of all the beatin' hearts that went +aboard that ship, the only living creeturs--lashed to a fragment of the +wreck, and drifting on the stormy sea."</p> + +<p>"Were they saved?" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Days and nights they drifted on them endless waters," said the captain, +"until at last--no! don't look that way, Pretty!--a sail bore down upon +'em, and they was, by the Lord's mercy, took aboard, two living, and +one dead."</p> + +<p>"Which of them was dead?" cried Florence.</p> + +<p>"Not the lad I speak on," said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Thank God! Oh, thank God!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" returned the captain hurriedly. "Don't be took aback! A minute +more, my Lady Lass! with a good heart!--Aboard that ship, they went a +long voyage, right away across the chart (for there wa'n't no touching +nowhere), and on that voyage the seaman as was picked up with him died. +But he was spared, and--."</p> + +<p>The captain, without knowing what he did, had cut a slice of bread from +the loaf, and put it on his hook (which was his usual toasting fork), on +which he now held it to the fire; looking behind Florence with great +emotions in his face, and suffering the bread to blaze and burn +like fuel.</p> + +<p>"Was spared," repeated Florence, "and--"</p> + +<p>"And come home in that ship," said the captain, still looking in the +same direction, "and--don't be frightened, Pretty!--and landed; and one +morning come cautiously to his own door to take a observation, knowing +that his friends would think him drowned, when he sheered off at the +unexpected--"</p> + +<p>"At the unexpected barking of a dog?" cried Florence quickly.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" roared the captain. "Steady, darling! courage! Don't look round +yet. See there! upon the wall!"</p> + +<p>There was the shadow of a man upon the wall close to her. She started +up, looked round, and, with a piercing cry, saw Walter Gay behind her!</p> + +<p>She had no thought of him but as a brother, a brother rescued from the +grave; a shipwrecked brother, saved, and at her side,--and rushed into +his arms. In all the world he seemed to be her hope, her comfort, +refuge, natural protector. In his home-coming,--her champion and +knight-errant from childhood's early days,--there came to Florence a +compensation for all that she had suffered.</p> + +<p>On that night within the little Shop a light arose for her that never +ceased to shed its brilliance on her path. Young, strong, and powerful, +Walter Gay in his chivalrous reverence and love for her, would +henceforth protect her life from sadness.</p> + +<p>Except from that one great sorrow that he could not lift;--she was +estranged from her father's love and care;--but in sweet submission she +bent her shoulders to the burden of that loss, and accepted the new joy +of Walter's return with a lightened heart.</p> + +<p>Years later, when Mr. Dombey by a turn of fortune's wheel, was left +alone in his dreary mansion, broken in mind and body, bereft of all his +wealth; deserted alike by friends and servants;--it was Florence, the +neglected, spurned, exiled daughter, who came like a good household +angel and clung to him, caressing him, forgetting all but love, and love +that outlasts injuries.</p> + +<p>As she clung close to him, he kissed her on the lips and lifting up his +eyes, said, "Oh, my God, <i>forgive me</i>, for I need it very much!"</p> + +<p>With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over her and caressing +her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long, time; +they remaining clasped in one another's arms, in the glorious sunshine +that had crept in with Florence. And so we leave them--Father and +Daughter--united at last in an undying affection.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHARLEY."></a>CHARLEY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0280.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0280.jpg" width = "25%" alt="CHARLEY."> +</a><br><b>"CHARLEY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CHARLEY.</h2> + +<p>When I, Esther Summerson, was taken from the school where the early +years of my childhood had been spent; having no home or parents, as had +the other girls in the school, my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, gave me a home +with him, where I was companion to his young and lovely ward, Ada Clare. +I soon grew deeply attached to Ada, the dearest girl in the world; to my +guardian, the kindest and most thoughtful of men; and to Bleak House, my +happy home.</p> + +<p>One day, upon hearing of the death of a poor man whom we had known, and +learning that he had left three motherless children in great poverty, my +guardian and I set out to discover for ourselves the extent of their +need. We were directed to a chandler's shop in Bell Yard, a narrow, dark +alley, where we found an old woman, who replied to my inquiry for +Neckett's children: "Yes, surely, Miss. Three pair, if you please. Door +right opposite the stairs." And she handed me a key across the counter. +As she seemed to take it for granted I knew what to do with the key, I +inferred it must be intended for the children's door, so without any +more questions I led the way up a dark stair.</p> + +<p>Reaching the top room designated, I tapped at the door, and a little +shrill voice inside said, "We are locked in. Mrs. Blinder's got +the key!"</p> + +<p>I applied the key, and opened the door. In a poor room, with a sloping +ceiling, and containing very little furniture, was a mite of a boy, +some five or six years old, nursing and hushing a heavy child of +eighteen months. There was no fire, though the weather was cold; both +children were wrapped in some poor shawls and tippets, as a substitute. +Their clothing was not so warm, however, but that their noses looked red +and pinched, and their small figures shrunken, as the boy walked up and +down, nursing and hushing the child with its head on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Who has locked you up here alone?" we naturally asked.</p> + +<p>"Charley," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Is Charley your brother?"</p> + +<p>"No, she's my sister, Charlotte. Father called her Charley."</p> + +<p>"Are there any more of you besides Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Me," said the boy, "and Emma," patting the child he was nursing, "and +Charley."</p> + +<p>"Where is Charley now?"</p> + +<p>"Out a-washing," said the boy, beginning to walk up and down again, and +even as he spoke there came into the room a very little girl, childish +in figure, but shrewd and older looking in the face--pretty faced, +too--wearing a womanly sort of a bonnet, much too large for her, and +drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white +and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking, which she +wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child, playing +at washing, and imitating a poor working woman with a quick observation +of the truth.</p> + +<p>She had come running from some place in the neighborhood. Consequently, +though she was very light, she was out of breath, and could not speak at +first, as she stood panting and wiping her arms. "O, here's Charley!" +said the boy.</p> + +<p>The child he was nursing stretched forward its arms and cried out to be +taken by Charley. The little girl took it, in a womanly sort of manner +belonging to the apron and the bonnet, and stood looking at us over the +burden that clung to her most affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible," whispered my guardian, as he put a chair for the +little creature, and got her to sit down with her load, the boy holding +to her apron, "that this child works for the rest?</p> + +<p>"Charley, Charley!" he questioned. "How old are you?"</p> + +<p>"Over thirteen, sir," replied the child.</p> + +<p>"O, what a great age!" said my guardian. "And do you live here alone +with these babies, Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," returned the child, looking up into his face with perfect +confidence, "since father died."</p> + +<p>"And how do you live, Charley," said my guardian, "how do you live?"</p> + +<p>"Since father died, sir, I've gone out to work. I'm out washing to-day."</p> + +<p>"God help you, Charley!" said my guardian. "You're not tall enough to +reach the tub!"</p> + +<p>"In pattens I am, sir," she said quickly. "I've got a high pair as +belonged to mother. Mother died just after Emma was born," said the +child, glancing at the face upon her bosom. "Then father said I was to +be as good a mother to her as I could. And so I tried. And so I worked +at home, and did cleaning, and nursing, and washing, for a long time +before I began to go out. And that's how I know how, don't you +see, sir?"</p> + +<p>"And do you often go out?"</p> + +<p>"As often as I can, sir," said Charley, opening her eyes and smiling, +"because of earning sixpences and shillings!"</p> + +<p>"And do you always lock the babies up when you go out?"</p> + +<p>"To keep 'em safe, sir, don't you see?" said Charley. "Mrs. Blinder +comes up now and then, and Mr. Gridley comes up sometimes, and perhaps I +can run in sometimes, and they can play you know, and Tom ain't afraid +of being locked up, are you, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"No--o," said Tom stoutly.</p> + +<p>"When it comes on dark, the lamps are lighted down in the courts, and +they show up here quite bright--almost quite bright. Don't they, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Charley," said Tom, "almost quite bright."</p> + +<p>"Then he's as good as gold," said the little creature, oh, in such a +motherly, womanly way. "And when Emma's tired, he puts her to bed. And +when he's tired he goes to bed himself. And when I come home and light +the candle, and has a bit of supper, he sits up again and has it with +me. Don't you, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"O yes, Charley!" said Tom. "That I do!" and either in this glimpse of +the great pleasure of his life, or in gratitude and love for Charley, he +laid his face among the scanty folds of her frock, and passed from +laughing into crying.</p> + +<p>It was the first time since our entry, that a tear had been shed among +these children. The little orphan girl had spoken of their father and +their mother, as if all that sorrow was subdued by the necessity of +taking courage, and by her childish importance in being able to work, +and by her bustling busy way. But now, when Tom cried; although she sat +quite tranquil, looking quietly at us, and did not by any movement +disturb a hair of the head of either of her little charges, I saw two +silent tears fall down her face.</p> + +<p>I stood at the window pretending to look out, when I found that Mrs. +Blinder, from the shop below, had come in, and was talking to +my guardian.</p> + +<p>"It's not much to forgive 'em the rent, sir,---who could take it from +them!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" said my guardian to us two. "It is enough that the time +will come when this good woman will find that it <i>was</i> much, and that +forasmuch as she did it to one of the least of these--! This child," he +added after a few moments, "Could she possibly continue this?"</p> + +<p>"Really, sir, I think she might," said Mrs. Blinder. "She's as handy as +it's possible to be. Bless you sir, the way she tended them two +children, after the mother died, was the talk of the yard! And it was a +wonder to see her with him, after he was took ill, it really was!--'Mrs. +Blinder,' he said to me, the very last he spoke--'Mrs. Blinder, whatever +my calling may have been, I see a Angel sitting in this room last night +along with my child, and I trust her to our Father!'"</p> + +<p>From all that we had heard and seen, we felt a deep interest in the +bright, self-reliant little creature, with her womanly ways and burden +of family cares, and my thoughts turned towards her many times, after we +had kissed her, and taken her downstairs with us, and stopped to see her +run away to her work. We saw her run, such a little, little creature, in +her womanly bonnet and apron, through a covered way at the bottom of the +court, and melt into the city's strife and sound, like a dewdrop in +an ocean.</p> + +<p>Some weeks later, at the close of a happy evening spent at Bleak House +with my guardian and my dearest girl, I went at last to my own room, and +presently heard a soft tap at the door, so I said, "Come in!" and there +came in a pretty little girl, neatly dressed in mourning, who dropped +a curtsey.</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss," said the little girl in a soft voice, "I am +Charley."</p> + +<p>"Why so you are," said I, stooping down in astonishment, and giving her +a kiss. "How glad am I to see you, Charley!"</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss," pursued Charley, "I'm your maid!"</p> + +<p>"Charley?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, miss, I'm a present to you, with Mr. Jarndyce's love. +And O, miss," says Charley, clapping her hands, with the tears starting +down her dimpled cheeks, "Tom's at school, if you please, and learning +so good, and little Emma, she's with Mrs. Blinder, miss, a-being took +such care of! and Tom, he would have been at school--and Emma she would +have been left with Mrs. Blinder--and me, I should have been here--all a +deal sooner, miss; only Mr. Jarndyce thought Tom and Emma and me had +better get a little used to parting, we was so small. Don't cry, if you +please, miss."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, Charley."</p> + +<p>"No, miss, nor I can't help it," said Charley. "And if you please, +miss," said Charley, "Mr. Jarndyce's love, and he thinks you'll like to +teach me now and then. And if you please, Tom and Emma and me is to see +each other once a month. And I'm so happy and so thankful, miss," cried +Charley with a heaving heart,--"and I'll try to be such a good maid!"</p> + +<p>Charley dried her eyes, and entered on her functions: going in her +matronly little way about and about the room, and folding up everything +she could lay her hands upon. Presently she came creeping back to my +side, and said:</p> + +<p>"O don't cry, if you please, miss."</p> + +<p>And I said again, "I can't help it."</p> + +<p>And Charley said again, "No, miss, nor I can't help it." And so, after +all, I did cry for joy indeed, and so did she--and from that night my +little maid shared in all the cares and duties, joys and sorrows of her +mistress, and I grew to lean heavily upon the womanly, loving, +little creature.</p> + +<p>According to my guardian's suggestion, I gave considerable time to +Charley's education, but I regret to say the results never reflected +much credit upon my educational powers. As for writing--it was a trying +business to Charley, in whose hand every pen appeared to become +perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop and +splash, and sidle into corners, like a saddle donkey. It was very odd to +see what old letters Charley's young hands had made. They, so shrivelled +and tottering; it, so plump and round. Yet Charley was uncommonly expert +at other things, and had as nimble little fingers as I ever watched.</p> + +<p>"Well, Charley," said I, looking over a copy of the letter O in which it +was represented as square, triangular, pear-shaped, and collapsed in all +kinds of ways, "We are improving. If we only get to make it round, we +shall be perfect, Charley."</p> + +<p>Then I made one, and Charley made one, and the pen wouldn't join +Charley's neatly, but twisted it up into a knot.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Charley. We shall do it in time."</p> + +<p>Charley laid down her pen, opened and shut her cramped little hand; and +thanking me, got up and dropped me a curtsey, asking me if I knew a poor +person by the name of Jenny. I answered that I did, but thought she had +left the neighborhood altogether, "So she had, miss," said Charley, "but +she's come back again, and she came about the house three or four days, +hoping to get a glimpse of you, miss, but you were away. She saw me +a-goin' about, miss," said Charley, with a short laugh of the greatest +delight and pride, "and she thought I looked like your maid!"</p> + +<p>"Did she though, really, Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss!" said Charley, "really and truly." And Charley, with +another short laugh of the purest glee, made her eyes very round again, +and looked as serious as became my maid. I was never tired of seeing +Charley in the full enjoyment of that great dignity, standing before me +with her youthful face and figure, and her steady manner, and her +childish exultation breaking through it now and then in the pleasantest +way. And so long as she lived, the dignity of having been in my service +was the greatest crown of glory to my little maid.</p> + +<p>Although my efforts to make a scholar of Charley were never crowned with +success, she had her own tastes and accomplishments, and dearly loved to +bustle about the house, in her own particularly womanly way. To surround +herself with great heaps of needlework--baskets-full and tables +full--and do a little,--and spend a great deal of time in staring with +her round eyes at what there was to do, and persuade herself that she +was going to do it, were Charley's great dignities and delights.</p> + +<p>When we went to see the woman, Jenny, we found her in her poor little +cottage, nursing a vagrant boy called Jo, a crossing-sweeper, who had +tramped down from London, and was tramping he didn't know where. Jenny, +who had known him in London, had found him in a corner of the town, +burning with fever, and taken him home to care for, Seeing that he was +very ill, and fearing her husband's anger at her having harbored him, +when it was time for her husband to return home, she put a few +half-pence together in his hand, and thrust him out of the house. We +followed the wretched boy, and pitying his forlorn condition led him +home with us, where he was made comfortable for the night in a loft-room +by the stable. Charley's last report was, that the boy was quiet. I went +to bed very happy to think that he was sheltered, and was much shocked +and grieved the next morning, when upon visiting his room we found him +gone. At what time he had left, or how, or why, it seemed hopeless ever +to divine, and after a thorough search of the country around, which +lasted for five days, we abandoned all thought of ever clearing up the +mystery surrounding the boy's departure, nor was it until some time +later that the secret was discovered.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, poor Jo left behind him a dread and infectious disease which +Charley caught from him, and in twelve hours after his escape she was +very, very ill. I nursed her myself, with tenderest care, bringing her +back to her old childish likeness again. Then the disease came upon me, +and in my weeks of mortal sickness, it was Charley's love and care, and +unending devotion that saved my life. It was Charley's hand which +removed every looking-glass from my rooms, that in my convalescence I +might not be shocked by the alteration which the disease had wrought in +the face she loved so dearly.</p> + +<p>When I was able, Charley and I went away together, to the most friendly +of villages, and in the home which my guardian's care had provided, we +enjoyed the hours of returning strength. There was a kindly housekeeper +to trot after me with restoratives and strengthening delicacies, and a +pony expressly for my use, and soon there were friendly faces of +greeting in every cottage as we passed by. Thus with being much in the +open air, playing with the village children, gossiping in many cottages, +going on with Charley's education, and writing long letters to my +dearest girl, time slipped away, and I found myself quite strong again.</p> + +<p>And to Charley,--now as well, and rosy, and pretty as one of Flora's +attendants, I give due credit, and the bond which binds me to my little +maid is one which will only be severed when the days of Charley's happy +life are over.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="TILLY_SLOWBOY."></a>TILLY SLOWBOY.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0282.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0282.jpg" width = "25%" alt="TILLY SLOWBOY."> +</a><br><b>"TILLY SLOWBOY."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>TILLY SLOWBOY.</h2> + +<p>Although still in her earliest teens, Tilly Slowboy was a nursery-maid +for little Mrs. Peerybingle's baby, and despite her extreme youth, was a +most enthusiastic and unusual nursery-maid indeed.</p> + +<p>It may be noted of Miss Slowboy that she had a rare and surprising +talent for getting the baby into difficulties; and had several times +imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own.</p> + +<p>She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that +her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those +sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung. Her costume +was remarkable for the partial development on all possible occasions, of +some flannel vestment of a singular structure; also affording glimpses, +in the region of the back, of a pair of stays, in color a dead green.</p> + +<p>Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed +besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress's perfections, +and the baby's, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment may be +said to have done equal honor to her head and to her heart; and though +these did less honor to the baby's head, which they were the occasional +means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, +bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest +results of Tilly Slowboy's constant astonishment at finding herself so +kindly treated and installed in such a comfortable home. For the +maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had +been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only +differing from fondling by one vowel's length, is very different in +meaning, and expresses quite another thing.</p> + +<p>It was a singularly happy and united family in which Tilly's lot was +cast. Honest John Peerybingle, Carrier; his pretty little wife, whom he +called Dot; the very remarkable doll of a baby; the dog Boxer; and the +Cricket on the Hearth, whose cheerful chirp, chirp, chirp, was a +continual family blessing and good-omen;--were collectively and +severally the objects of Tilly's unbounded admiration.</p> + +<p>If ever a person or thing alarmed Tilly, she would hastily seek +protection near the skirts of her pretty little mistress; or, failing +that, would make a charge or butt at the object of her fright with the +only offensive instrument within her reach--which usually happened to be +the baby. Tilly's bump of good fortune being extraordinarily well +developed, the baby usually managed to come out from the siege unharmed, +to be soothed and comforted in Tilly's own peculiar fashion; her most +common method of amusement being to reproduce for its entertainment +scraps of conversation current in the house, with all the sense left out +of them, and all the nouns changed to the plural number, as--"Did its +mothers make it up a beds then! And did its hair grow brown and curly +when its cap was lifted off, and frighten it, a precious Pets, a-sitting +by the fire!"</p> + +<p>It was a notable and exciting event to Miss Slowboy when she set out one +day in the Carrier's cart, with her little mistress and the remarkable +baby, to have dinner with Caleb Plummer's blind daughter, Bertha, who +was Mrs. Dot's devoted friend.</p> + +<p>In consequence of the departure, there was a pretty sharp commotion at +John Peerybingle's, for to get the baby under weigh took time. Not that +there was much of the baby, speaking of it as a thing of weight and +measure, but there was a vast deal to do about it, and all had to be +done by easy stages. When the baby was got, by hook and by crook, to a +certain point of dressing, and you might have supposed that another +touch or two would finish him off, he was unexpectedly extinguished, and +hustled off to bed; where he simmered (so to speak) between two blankets +for the best part of an hour, while Mrs. Peerybingle took advantage of +the interval to make herself smart for the trip, and during the same +short truce, Miss Slowboy insinuated herself into a spencer, of a +fashion so surprising and ingenious, that it had no connection with +herself, or anything else in the universe, but was a shrunken, +dog's-eared, independent fact, pursuing its lonely course without the +least regard to anybody. By this time, the baby, being all alive again, +was invested by the united efforts of Mrs. Peerybingle and Miss Slowboy, +with a cream-colored mantle for its body, and a sort of nankeen +raised-pie for its head, and in course of time they all three got down +to the door, where the old horse was waiting to convey them on +their trip.</p> + +<p>In reference to Miss Slowboy's ascent into the cart, if I might be +allowed to mention a young lady's legs, on any terms, I would observe of +her that there was a fatality about hers which rendered them singularly +liable to be grazed; and that she never effected the smallest ascent or +descent without recording the circumstance upon them with a notch, as +Robinson Crusoe marked the days upon his wooden calendar. But as this +might be considered ungenteel, I'll think of it--merely observing that +when the three were all safely settled in the cart, and the basket +containing the Veal-and-Ham Pie and other delicacies, which Mrs. +Peerybingle always carried when she visited the blind girl, was stowed +away, they jogged on for some little time in silence.</p> + +<p>But not for long, for everybody on the road had something to say to the +occupants of John Peerybingle's cart, and sometimes passengers on foot, +or horseback, plodded on a little way beside the cart, for the express +purpose of having a chat. Then, too, the packages and parcels for the +errand cart were numerous, and there were many stoppages to take them in +and give them out, which was not the least interesting part of +the journey.</p> + +<p>Of all the little incidents of the day, Dot was the amused and open-eyed +spectatress from her chair in the cart; making a charming little +portrait as she sat there, looking on. And this delighted John the +Carrier beyond measure.</p> + +<p>The trip was a little foggy, to be sure, in the January weather, and was +raw and cold. But who cared for such trifles! Not Dot, decidedly. Not +Tilly Slowboy, for she deemed sitting in a cart on any terms, to be the +highest point of human joy; the crowning circumstance of earthly hopes. +Not the baby, I'll be sworn; for it's not in baby nature to be warmer or +more sound asleep than that blessed young Peerybingle was all the way.</p> + +<p>In one place there was a mound of weeds burning, and they watched the +fire until, in consequence, as she observed, of the smoke "getting up +her nose," Miss Slowboy choked--she could do anything of that sort on +the smallest provocation--and woke the baby, who wouldn't go to +sleep again.</p> + +<p>But, at that moment they came in sight of the blind girl's home, where +she was waiting with keen anticipation to receive them.</p> + +<p>Bertha had other visitors as well that day, and the picnic dinner +proceeded in a very stately and dignified manner. Miss Slowboy was +isolated, for the time being, from every article of furniture but the +chair she sat on, that she might have nothing else to knock the baby's +head against, and sat staring about her in unspeakable delight. To her +the day was all too short, and when that evening John Peerybingle making +his return trip, called to take them home, Miss Slowboy's regret +was intense.</p> + +<p>As long as her little mistress smiled, Tilly's face too was wreathed in +smiles; but when a hidden shadow darkened the Perrybingle sky, +overclouding the happiness of the little home, and Dot cried all night, +Tilly's eyes were red and swollen too, the next morning.</p> + +<p>It happened in this way. Pretty little Dot gave good John Perrybingle +cause for anxiety by her actions, and the honest carrier, disturbed and +misled, felt that he had reason to doubt her love for him, which almost +broke his honest, faithful heart. While he was worrying over this, and +over her, his little wife was merely shielding a secret belonging to +Edward Plummer, Bertha's brother, who had just come back, after many +year's absence in the golden South Americas.</p> + +<p>So unaccustomed was Dot to keeping a secret that it caused her to act +very strangely, and give her husband reason to misjudge her, which +almost broke her loving little heart. All of which trouble Tilly Slowboy +did not understand, but was deeply affected by it, and when she found +her mistress alone, sobbing piteously, was quite horrified, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ow, if you please, don't! It's enough to dead and bury the baby, so it +is, if you please!"</p> + +<p>"Will you bring him sometimes, to see his father, Tilly?" inquired her +mistress, drying her eyes; "when I can't live here, and have gone to my +old home?"</p> + +<p>"Ow, if you please, <i>don't!</i>" cried Tilly, throwing back her head and +bursting out into a howl--she looked at the moment uncommonly like +Boxer--"Ow, if you please, don't! Ow, what has everybody been and gone +and done with everybody, making everybody else so wretched. Ow-w-w-w!"</p> + +<p>The soft-hearted Slowboy trailed off at this juncture, into such a +deplorable howl, the more tremendous from its long suppression, that she +must infallibly have wakened the baby and frightened him into something +serious (probably convulsions) if her attention had not been forcibly +diverted from her misery for a moment, after which she stood for some +time silent, with her mouth wide open; and then, posting off to the bed +on which the baby lay asleep, danced in a weird, Saint Vitus manner, on +the floor, and at the same time rummaged with her face and head among +the bedclothes, apparently deriving much relief from those extraordinary +operations.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for all concerned in the little domestic drama, before a +crisis had been reached, Edward Plummer revealed his secret, and his +reasons for having been obliged to keep it. This cleared up the mystery +concerning Mrs. Dot's conduct, proving her to be the same loyal, loving +little wife she always was: to the exquisite satisfaction of the honest +carrier, his family and friends, and last but not least, Miss Slowboy, +who wept copiously for joy, and wishing to include her young charge in +the general interchange of congratulations, handed round the baby to +everybody in succession, as if it were something to eat or drink.</p> + +<p>Of course it became a serious duty now, to make such a day of it as +should mark these events for a high feast and festival in the +Peerybingle Calendar forevermore. Accordingly, Dot went to work to +produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honor on the +house and on every one concerned, and in a very short space of time +everybody in the house was in a state of flutter and domestic turmoil +and during the flurry of preparation, everybody tumbled over Tilly +Slowboy and the baby everywhere. Tilly never came out in such force +before. Her ubiquity was the theme of universal admiration. She was a +stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two; a +man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely; and a pitfall in the +garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three. The baby's head was, as it +were, a test and touchstone for every description of matter,--animal, +vegetable, and mineral. Nothing was in use that day that didn't come, at +some time or other, into close acquaintance with it.</p> + +<p>That was a great celebration indeed, with Dot doing the honors in her +wedding-gown, her eyes sparkling with happiness, and the good carrier, +so jovial and so ruddy at the bottom of the table, and all their guests +aiding to make the occasion a memorable and happy one.</p> + +<p>There was a dance in the evening, for which Bertha played her liveliest +tune. Inspired by infectious joy, old and young get up and join the +whirling throng. Suddenly Caleb Plummer clutches Tilly Slowboy by both +hands and goes off at score, Miss Slowboy firm in the belief that diving +hotly in among the couples, and effecting any number of concussions with +them, is your only principle of footing it, and ecstatically glad to +abandon herself to the delights of the occasion, so long as she sees joy +written again on the pretty face of her beloved little mistress, and +feels that happiness has been restored to honest John Peerybingle and +his family.</p> + +<p>Hark! How the Cricket on the Hearth joins in the music, with its Chirp, +Chirp, Chirp, and how the kettle hums!</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="AGNES_WICKFIELD."></a>AGNES WICKFIELD.</h2> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="images/Illus0284.jpg"> +<img src="images/Illus0284.jpg" width = "25%" alt="AGNES WICKFIELD."> +</a><br><b>"AGNES WICKFIELD."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>AGNES WICKFIELD.</h2> + +<p>When I became the adopted son of my aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood, my new +clothes were marked Trotwood Copperfield, instead of the old familiar +David of my childhood; and I began my new life, not only in the new +name, but with everything new about me, and felt for many days like one +in a dream, until I had proved the happy reality to be a fact.</p> + +<p>My aunt's first desire was to place me in a good school at Canterbury, +and, lack of education having been my chief source of anxiety, this +resolve gave me unbounded delight. So it was with a flutter of joyful +anticipation that I accompanied her to Canterbury to call upon her agent +and friend Mr. Wickfield, and to confer with him upon the all-important +subject of schools and boarding places.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Canterbury, we stopped before a very old house, bulging out +over the road, with long low latticed windows bulging out still further, +and beams with carved heads on the ends bulging out too; so that I +fancied the whole house was leaning forward, trying to see who was +passing on the pavement below. It was quite spotless in its cleanliness. +The old-fashioned brass knocker on the low arched door, ornamented with +carved garlands of fruit and flowers, twinkled like a star; the two +stone steps descending to the door were as white as if they had been +covered with fair linen, and all the angles, and corners, and carvings, +and mouldings, and quaint little panes of glass, and quainter little +windows, were as pure as any snow that ever fell upon the hills.</p> + +<p>When the pony chaise stopped at the door, we alighted and had a long +conference with Mr. Wickfield, an elderly gentleman with grey hair and +black eyebrows. He approved of my aunt's selection of Dr. Strong's +school, and in regard to a home for me, made the following proposal:</p> + +<p>"Leave your nephew here for the present. He's a quiet fellow. He won't +disturb me at all. It's a capital house for study. As quiet as a +monastery, and almost as roomy. Leave him here."</p> + +<p>My aunt evidently liked the offer, but was delicate of accepting it, +until Mr. Wickfield cried, "Come! I know how you feel, you shall not be +oppressed by the receipt of favors, Miss Trotwood. You may pay for him +if you like."</p> + +<p>"On that understanding," said my aunt, "though it doesn't lessen the +real obligation, I shall be very glad to leave him."</p> + +<p>"Then come and see my little housekeeper," said Mr. Wickfield.</p> + +<p>We accordingly went up a wonderful old staircase, with a balustrade so +broad that we might have gone up that, almost as easily, and into a +shady old drawing-room, lighted by three or four quaint windows which +had old oak seats in them, that seemed to have come of the same trees as +the shining oak floor, and the great beams in the ceiling. It was a +prettily furnished room, with a piano, and some lively furniture in red +and green, and some flowers. It seemed to be all odd nooks and corners; +and in every nook and corner there was some queer little table, or +cupboard, or bookcase, or seat, or something or other, that made me +think there was not such another corner in the room, until I looked at +the next one and found it equal to it if not better. On everything +there was the same air of refinement and cleanliness that marked the +house outside.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wickfield tapped at a door in a corner of the panelled wall, and a +girl of about my own age came quickly out and kissed him. On her face, I +saw immediately the placid and sweet expression of a lady whose portrait +I had seen downstairs. It seemed to my imagination as if the portrait +had grown womanly, and the original had remained a child. Although her +face was quite bright and happy, there was a tranquillity about it, and +about her--a quiet, good, calm, spirit--that I never have forgotten; +that I never shall forget.</p> + +<p>This was his little housekeeper, his daughter Agnes, Mr. Wickfield said. +When I heard how he said it, and saw how he held her hand, I guessed +what the one motive of his life was.</p> + +<p>She had a little basket-trifle hanging at her side with keys in it; and +she looked as staid and discreet a housekeeper as the old house could +have. She listened to her father as he told her about me, with a +pleasant face; and when he had concluded, proposed to my aunt that we +should go upstairs, and see my room. We all went together, she before +us. A glorious old room it was, with more oak beams, and diamond panes; +and the broad balustrade going all the way up to it.</p> + +<p>I cannot call to mind where or when, in my childhood, I had seen a +stained-glass window in a church. Nor do I recollect its subject. But I +know that when I saw her turn round, in the grave light of the old +staircase, and wait for us above, I thought of that window; and I +associated something of its tranquil brightness with Agnes Wickfield +ever afterwards.</p> + +<p>My aunt was as happy as I was, in the arrangement made for me, and we +went down to the drawing-room again, well pleased and gratified, and +shortly after this my aunt took her departure, in consequence of which +for some hours I was very much dejected. But by five o'clock, which was +Mr. Wickfield's dinner hour, I had mustered up my spirits again, and was +ready for my knife and fork. The cloth was only laid for us two; but +Agnes was waiting in the drawing-room before dinner, and went down with +her father, and sat opposite to him at table. I doubted whether he could +have dined without her.</p> + +<p>We did not stay there after dinner, but came upstairs into the +drawing-room again, in one snug corner of which Agnes set glasses for +her father, and a decanter of port wine. There he sat, taking his wine, +while Agnes played on the piano, worked, and talked to him and me. Later +Agnes made the tea, and presided over it; and the time passed away after +it as after dinner, until she went to bed; when her father took her in +his arms and kissed her, and, she being gone, ordered candles in his +office. Then I went to bed too.</p> + +<p>Next morning I entered on my new school life at Dr. Strong's, and began +a happy existence in an excellent establishment, the character and +dignity of which we each felt it our duty to maintain. We felt that we +had a part in the management of the school, and learned with a good +will, desiring to do it credit. We had noble games out of hours, and +plenty of liberty; but were well spoken of in the town, and rarely did +any disgrace by our appearance or manner, to the reputation of Dr. +Strong or Dr. Strong's boys, and the Doctor himself was the idol of the +whole school.</p> + +<p>On that first day when I returned home from school, Agnes was in the +drawing-room, waiting for her father. She met me with her pleasant +smile, and asked me how I liked the school. I told her I should like it +very much, I hoped; but I was a little strange to it at first.</p> + +<p>"You have never been to school," I said, "have you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! every day."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but you mean here, at your own home?"</p> + +<p>"Papa couldn't spare me to go anywhere else," she answered smiling and +shaking her head, "His housekeeper must be in his house, you know."</p> + +<p>"He's very fond of you, I am sure," I said.</p> + +<p>She nodded, "Yes," and went to the door to listen for his coming up, +that she might meet him on the stairs. But as he was not there, she came +back again.</p> + +<p>"Mamma has been dead ever since I was born," she said in her quiet way. +"I only know her picture, downstairs. I saw you looking at it yesterday. +Did you think whose it was?"</p> + +<p>I told her yes, because it was so like herself.</p> + +<p>"Papa says so, too," said Agnes, pleased. "Hark! that's Papa now!"</p> + +<p>Her bright calm face lighted up with pleasure as she went to meet him, +and as they came in, hand in hand; and from that time as I watched her +day by day, I saw no trace in Agnes of anything but single-hearted +devotion to that father, whose wants she cared for so untiringly in her +beautiful quiet way.</p> + +<p>When we had dined that night, we went upstairs again, where everything +went on exactly as on the previous day. Agnes set the glasses and +decanters in the same corner, and Mr. Wickfield sat down to drink. Agnes +played the piano to him, sat by him, and worked and talked, and played +some games at dominoes with me. In good time she made tea; and +afterwards, when I brought down my books, looked into them, and showed +me what she knew of them (which was no slight matter, though she said it +was), and what was the best way to learn and understand them. I see her, +with her modest, orderly, placid, manner, and I hear her beautiful, +calm voice, as I write these words. The influence for all good, which +she came to exercise over me at a later time begins already to descend +upon my breast. I love little Emily, and I don't love Agnes--no, not at +all in that way--but I feel that there are goodness, peace, and truth +wherever Agnes is; and that the soft light of the colored window in the +church, seen long ago, falls on her always, and on me when I am near +her, and on everything around.</p> + +<p>The time having come for her withdrawal for the night, as I gave Mr. +Wickfield my hand, preparatory to going away myself, he checked me and +said; "Should you like to stay with us, Trotwood, or go elsewhere?"</p> + +<p>"To stay," I answered quickly.</p> + +<p>"You are sure?"</p> + +<p>"If you please. If I may."</p> + +<p>"Why, it's but a dull life that we lead here, boy, I'm afraid," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not more dull for me than Agnes, sir. Not dull at all!"</p> + +<p>"Than Agnes," he repeated, walking slowly to the great chimney-piece, +and leaning against it. "Than Agnes! Now I wonder," he muttered, +"whether my Agnes tires of me. When should I ever tire of her? But +that's different, that's quite different."</p> + +<p>He was musing, not speaking to me; so I remained quiet.</p> + +<p>"A dull, old house," he said, "and a monotonous life, Stay with us, +Trotwood, eh?" he added in his usual manner, and as if he were +answering something I had just said. "I'm glad of it. You are company to +us both. It is wholesome to have you here. Wholesome for me, wholesome +for Agnes wholesome perhaps for all of us."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it is for me, sir," I said, "I'm so glad to be here."</p> + +<p>"That's a fine fellow!" said Mr. Wickfield. "As long as you are glad to +be here, you shall stay here."</p> + +<p>And so I lived at Mr. Wickfield's through the remainder of my +schooldays, and to Agnes, as the months went by, I turned more and more +often for advice and counsel.</p> + +<p>We saw a good deal of Dr. Strong's wife, both because she had taken a +liking to me, and because she was very fond of Agnes, and was often +backwards and forwards at our house, and we had pleasant evenings at the +doctor's too, with other guests, when we had merry round games of cards, +or music--for both Mrs. Strong and Agnes sang sweetly--and so, with +weekly visits from my aunt, and walks and talks with Agnes, and the +events and phases of feeling too numerous to chronicle, which make up a +boy's existence, my schooldays glided all too swiftly by.</p> + +<p>Time has stolen on unobserved. I am higher in the school and no one +breaks my peace. Dr. Strong refers to me in public as a promising young +scholar, and my aunt remits me a guinea by next post. And what comes +now? I am the head boy! I look down on the line of boys below me, with a +condescending interest in such of them as bring to my mind the boy I was +myself, when I first came there. That little fellow seems to be no part +of me; I remember him as something left behind upon the road of +life--and almost think of him as of some one else.</p> + +<p>What other changes have come upon me, beside the changes in my growth +and looks, and in the knowledge I have garnered all this while? I wear a +gold watch and chain, a ring upon my little finger, and a long-tailed +coat; and twice have I been desperately in love with a fair damsel, and +have twice recovered.</p> + +<p>And the little girl I saw on that first day at Mr. Wickfield's, where +is she? Gone also. In her stead, the perfect likeness of the picture, a +child's likeness no more, moves about the house; and Agnes, my sweet +sister, as I call her in my thoughts, my counsellor and friend, the +better angel of the lives of all who come within her calm, good, +self-denying influence--is quite a woman.</p> + +<p>When the time came to take leave of Agnes and her father, though it +saddened me, my mind was so filled with thoughts of self that I paid +little heed to Agnes and her brave farewell, nor did I realize what her +loneliness would be when the old and silent house was made doubly silent +by the removal of a boy's presence. I did not then understand what her +devotion to the elderly father and his interests held of sacrifice for +one so young, nor of what fine clay the girl was moulded. But in later +years I realized it fully, and looking back, I always saw her as when on +that first day, in the grave light of the old staircase, I thought of +the stained-glass window, associating something of its tranquil +brightness with her ever afterwards.</p> + +<p>With Agnes the woman, and the influence for all good which she came to +exercise over me at a later time, this story does not deal. It need only +record the simple details of the girl's quiet life,--of the girl's calm +strong nature,--that there were goodness, peace and truth wherever Agnes +was,--Agnes, my boyhood's sister, counsellor and friend.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<pre> + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS*** + +******* This file should be named 11126-h.txt or 11126-h.zip ******* + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/2/11126">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/2/11126</a> + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Ten Girls from Dickens + +Author: Kate Dickinson Sweetser + +Release Date: February 17, 2004 [eBook #11126] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11126-h.htm or 11126-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/1/2/11126/11126-h/11126-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/1/2/11126/11126-h.zip) + + + + + +TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS + +BY + +KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER + +AUTHOR OF + +"TEN BOYS FROM DICKENS" "TEN GREAT ADVENTURERS" +"BOOK OF INDIAN BRAVES" ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS + + + + + + +[Illustration: LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER] + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +As a companion volume to Ten Boys from Dickens, this book of girl-life, +portrayed by the great author, is offered. + +The sketches have the same underlying motive as those of boy-life, and +have been compiled in the same manner, with the same purpose in view. + +Among them will be found several of the most popular of the creations of +Dickens, notably, The Marchioness, Little Nell, Jenny Wren, and Florence +Dombey, and it is hoped that in this presentation as simple stories of +girlhood, their classic form and beauty may arouse in the young people +of our day a new interest in the novels from which they are taken. + +This volume and its companion will have accomplished their purpose when +they have won fresh laurels and a wider audience for the famous writer +to whom they are indebted for their existence. + +K.D.S. _April, 1902_. + + + +CONTENTS + +THE MARCHIONESS. + +MORLEENA KENWIGS. + +LITTLE NELL. + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON. + +JENNY WREN. + +SISSY JUPE. + +FLORENCE DOMBEY. + +CHARLEY. + +TILLY SLOWBOY. + +AGNES WICKFIELD. + + + +THE MARCHIONESS + +[Illustration: THE MARCHIONESS AND DICK SWIVELLER] + + + +THE MARCHIONESS + +The Marchioness was a small servant employed by Sampson Brass and his +sister Sally, as general house-worker and drudge, in which capacity she +was discovered by Mr. Richard Swiveller, upon the very first day of his +entering the Brass establishment as clerk. + +The Brasses' house was a small one in Bevis Marks, London, having upon +its door a plate, "Brass, Solicitor," and a bill tied to the knocker, +"First floor to let to a single gentleman," and served not only as +habitation, but likewise as office for Sampson Brass,--of none too good +legal repute,--and his sister; a gaunt, bony copy of her red-haired +brother, who was his housekeeper, as well as his business partner. + +When the Brasses decided to keep a clerk, Richard Swiveller was chosen +to fill the place; and be it known to whom it may concern, that the said +Richard was the merriest, laziest, weakest, most kind-hearted fellow who +ever sowed a large crop of wild oats, and by a sudden stroke of +good-luck found himself raised to a salaried position. + +Clad in a blue jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, bought for +acquatic expeditions, but now dedicated to office purposes, Richard +entered upon his new duties, and during that first afternoon, while Mr. +Brass and his sister were temporarily absent from the office, he began a +minute examination of its contents. + +Then, after assuaging his thirst with a pint of mild porter, and +receiving and dismissing three or four small boys who dropped in on +legal errands from other attorneys, with about as correct an +understanding of their business as would have been shown by a clown in a +pantomime under similar circumstances, he tried his hand at a +pen-and-ink caricature of Miss Brass, in which work he was busily +engaged, when there came a rapping at the office-door. + +"Come in!" said Dick. "Don't stand on ceremony. The business will get +rather complicated if I have 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 leaned 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 haven'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." + +Just then certain sounds on the passage and staircase seemed to denote +the applicant's impatience. Richard Swiveller, therefore, hurried out to +meet and treat with the single gentleman. + +He was a little surprised to perceive that the sounds were occasioned by +the progress upstairs of a trunk, which the single gentleman and his +coachman were endeavoring to convey up the steep ascent. 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 bedroom, sat down upon it, and +wiped his bald head with his handkerchief. He then announced abruptly +that he would take the room for two years, whereupon, handing a +ten-pound note to the astonished Mr. Swiveller, he began to make ready +to retire, as if it were night instead of day, and Mr. Swiveller walked +downstairs into the office again, filled with wonderment concerning both +the strange new lodger and the small servant who had appeared to +answer the bell. + +After that day, 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 a bell rang, 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 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. + +"Now," said Dick, one day, 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. I _should_ like to know how they +use her!" + +At that moment he caught a glimpse 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, he groped his way down, and arrived at +the kitchen door 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 was screwed up so tight as +to hold no more than a 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 on. + +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 opened the safe, and +brought from it a dreary waste of cold potatoes, looking as eatable as +Stonehenge. This she placed before the small servant, and then, taking +up a great carving-knife, made a mighty show of sharpening it. + +"Do you see this?" she said, slicing off about two square inches of cold +mutton, and holding it out on the point of a fork. + +The small servant looked hard enough at it with her hungry eyes to see +every shred of it 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, locked the meat-safe, +and then overlooked the small servant while she finished the potatoes. +After that, without the smallest cause, she rapped the child with the +blade of the knife, now on her hand, now on her head, and now on her +back. Then, after walking slowly backward towards the door, she darted +suddenly forward, and falling on the small servant again, gave her some +hard blows with her clenched fists. The victim cried, but in a subdued +manner, as if she feared to raise her voice; and Miss Sally ascended the +stairs just as Richard had safely reached the office, fairly beside +himself with anger over the poor child's misery and ill-treatment. + +During the following weeks, when he had become accustomed to the routine +of work which he was expected to accomplish, and being often left alone +in the office, Richard Swiveller began to find time hang heavy on his +hands. For the better preservation of his cheerfulness, therefore, he +accustomed himself to play at cribbage with a dummy. While he was +silently conducting one of these games Mr. Swiveller began to think that +he heard a kind of 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, 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; "it's so very dull downstairs. 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." + +"Well--come in," said Mr. Swiveller, 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 knowed I come up here." + +"Have you got a fire downstairs?" said Dick. + +"A very little one," replied the small servant. + +"Miss Sally couldn't kill me if she knowed 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 an'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 a boy from the public-house, who bore +a plate of bread and beef, and a great pot filled with choice purl. +Relieving the boy of his burden, and charging his little companion to +fasten the door 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, for you're not used to it. Well, is it good?" + +"Oh, _isn't_ it!" said the small servant. + +Mr. Swiveller appeared immensely gratified over her enjoyment, and when +she had satisfied her hunger, applied himself to teaching her the game, +which she soon learned tolerably well, being both sharp-witted +and cunning. + +"Now," said Mr. Swiveller, "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, waited for her lead. + +They had played several rubbers, when the striking of ten o'clock +rendered Mr. Swiveller mindful of the flight of time, and of 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. The Baron Sampsono Brasso and his fair sister are, you tell +me, at the Play?" added 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! Marchioness, +your health." + +The small servant, who was not so well acquainted with theatrical +conventionalities as Mr. Swiveller, was rather alarmed by his manner, +and showed it so plainly that he felt it necessary to discharge his +brigand bearing for one more suitable to private life. + +"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?" asked Mr. Swiveller. + +The Marchioness shook her head violently. + +"H'm!" Dick muttered. "Would it be any breach of confidence, +Marchioness, to relate what they say of the humble individual who has +now the honor to--?" + +"Miss Sally says you are a funny chap," replied his friend. + +"Well, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "that's not uncomplimentary. +Merriment, Marchioness, is not a bad of 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 aren't to be trusted." + +"Why, really, Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller thoughtfully, "it's a +popular prejudice, and yet I'm sure I don't know why, for I've 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, adding 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'm your friend, and I +hope we shall play many more rubbers together. But, Marchioness," added +Richard, "it occurs to me that you must be in the constant habit of +airing your eye at keyholes to know this." + +"I only wanted," replied the trembling Marchioness, "to know where the +key of the meat-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 +of course you'd be plumper. Good-night, Marchioness, fare thee well, and +if forever, then forever fare thee well. And put up the chain, +Marchioness, in case of accidents!" + +Upon repairing to Bevis Marks on the following morning, he found Miss +Brass much agitated over the disappearance from the office of several +small articles, as well as three half crowns, and Richard felt much +troubled over the matter, saying to himself, "Then, by Jove, I'm 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, rather +than receive fifty pounds down, he would have the Marchioness +proved innocent. + +While the subject of the thefts was under discussion, Kit Nubbles, a lad +in the employ of a Mr. Garland, passed through the office, on his way +upstairs to the room of the Brasses' lodger, the single gentleman, who +was an intimate friend of Kit's employer. The single gentleman having +been confined to his room for some time by a slight illness, it had +become Kit's daily custom to convey to him messages and notes from Mr. +Garland, and not infrequently Sampson Brass would detain the lad in the +office for a few words of pleasant conversation. + +Having discharged his errand, Kit came downstairs again, finding no one +in the office except Mr. Brass, who, after greeting him affably, +requested him to mind the office for one minute while he ran upstairs. +Mr. Brass returned almost immediately, Mr. Swiveller came in too, at the +same instant, likewise Miss Sally, and Kit, released, at once set off on +a run towards home, eager to make up for lost time. As he was running, +he was suddenly arrested and held in restraint, by no less a person than +Sampson Brass himself, accompanied by Mr. Swiveller. + +A five-pound note was missing from the office. Kit had been alone there +for some minutes. Who could have taken it but Kit? + +Pleased to have suspicion diverted from the Marchioness, but loath to +help in so unpleasant an affair, Mr. Swiveller reluctantly assisted in +bearing the captive back to the office, Kit protesting his innocence at +every step. They searched him, and there under the lining of his hat was +the missing bank-note! + +Still protesting his innocence, and completely stunned by the calamity +which had come upon him, the lad was borne off to prison, where, after +eleven weary days had dragged away, he was brought to trial. Richard +Swiveller was called as a witness against Kit, and told his tale with +reluctance, and an evident desire to make the best of it, for the lad's +sake. His kind heart was also touched with pity for Kit's poor widowed +mother, who sobbed out again and again, that she had never had cause to +doubt her son's honesty, and she never would. + +When the trial was ended, and Kit found guilty, Richard bore the lad's +fainting mother swiftly off in a coach he had ready for the purpose, +and on the way comforted her in his own peculiar fashion, perpetrating +the most astounding absurdities of quotation from song and poem that +ever were heard. Reaching her home, he stayed till she was recovered; +then returned to Bevis Marks, where Mr. Brass met him with the news that +his services would be no longer required in the establishment. + +Feeling sure that this verdict was in consequence of his defence of Kit, +Mr. Swiveller took his dismissal in profound silence, and turned his +back upon Bevis Marks, big with designs for the comforting of Kit's +mother, and the aid of Kit himself. His only regret in regard to the +matter was in having to leave the Marchioness alone and unprotected in +the hands of the Brasses, and little did he dream that to the small +servant herself, to the Marchioness, rather than to him, Kit and his +mother were to owe their heaviest debt of gratitude--but it was so +to be. + +That very night Mr. Richard was seized with an alarming illness, and in +twenty-four hours was stricken with a raging fever, and lay tossing upon +his hot, uneasy bed, unconscious of anything but weariness and worry and +pain, until at length he sank into a deep sleep. He awoke, and with a +sensation of blissful rest better than sleep itself, began to dimly +remember, and to think what a long night it had been, and to wonder +whether he had not been delirious once or twice. Still, he felt +indifferent and happy, and having no curiosity to pursue the subject, +remained in a 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. But he +lacked energy to follow up this train of thought, and in a luxury of +repose, lay 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, when he heard the +cough once more. Raising himself a little in the bed, he looked +about him. + +The same room, certainly, but with what unbounded astonishment did he +see bottles, and basins, and articles of linen airing by the fire--all +very clean and neat, but 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, 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, then 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 dreamed such a real +cough as that before. There's another--and another--I say!--I'm dreaming +rather fast! + +"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." + +Not feeling quite satisfied with this explanation, Mr. Swiveller +determined to take the first opportunity of addressing his companion. An +occasion soon 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 and jewels on their heads!" + +It appeared however, that she had only clapped her hands for joy, as +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, "will you have the goodness to inform +me where I shall find my voice; and 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, Marchioness," said Richard, after a pause, "that I +have been ill." + +"You just have!" replied the small servant, wiping her eyes. "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." + +Mr. Swiveller was silent for a long period. By and by he inquired how +long he had been there. + +"Three weeks to-morrow." replied the small servant, "three long slow +weeks." + +The bare thought of having been in such extremity caused Richard to fall +into another silence. The Marchioness, having arranged the bedclothes +more comfortably, and felt that his hands and forehead were quite cool, +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. She propped him up with pillows, and looked on with unutterable +satisfaction, while he took his poor meal with a relish which the +greatest dainties of the earth might have failed to provoke. Having +cleared away, and disposed everything comfortably about him again, she +sat down to take her own tea. + +"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "have you seen Sally lately?" + +"Seen her!" cried the small servant. "Bless you, I've run away!" + +Mr. Swiveller immediately laid himself down again, and so remained for +about five minutes. After that lapse of time he resumed his sitting +posture, and inquired,-- + +"And where do you live, Marchioness?" + +"Live!" cried the small servant. "Here!" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Swiveller. + +With that he fell down flat again, as suddenly as if he had been shot. +Thus he remained until she had finished her meal, when being propped up +again he opened a further conversation. + +"And so," said Dick, "you have run away?" + +"Yes," said the Marchioness; "and they've been a 'tising of me." + +"Been--I beg your pardon," said Dick. "What have they been doing?" + +"Been a 'tising of me--'tising, you know, in the newspapers," rejoined +the Marchioness. + +"Aye, aye," said Dick, "Advertising?" + +The small servant nodded and winked. + +"Tell me," continued Richard, "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, and I didn't know where you was to be found, you +know. But one morning, when I was near the office keyhole 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. So I run away that night, and come +here, and told 'em you was my brother, and I've been here ever since." + +"This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!" cried +Dick. + +"No, I haven't," she replied, "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, +struggling to express his thanks, but she quickly changed the theme, +urging him to shut his eyes and take a little rest. Being indeed +fatigued, he needed but little urging, and fell into a slumber, from +which he waked in about half an hour, after which his small friend +helped him to sit up again. + +"Marchioness," said Richard suddenly, "What has become of Kit?" + +"He has been sentenced to transportation for a great many years," she +said. + +"Has he gone?" asked Dick, "His mother, what has become of her?" + +His nurse shook her head, and answered that she knew nothing about them. +"But if I thought," said she presently, "that you'd not put yourself +into another fever, I could tell you something--but I won't, now. Wait +till you're better, then I'll tell you." + +Dick looked very earnestly at his little friend, and urged her to tell +him the worst at once. + +Unable to resist his fervent adjurations, the Marchioness spoke thus: + +"Well! Before I run away, I used to sleep in the kitchen. Miss Sally +used to keep the key of the door in her pocket, and she always come down +at night to take away the candle and rake out the fire. Then she left me +to go to bed in the dark, locked the door on the outside, and kept me +locked up till she came down in the morning 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, you know. So, whenever I see an old key, I +picked it up and tried if it would fit the door, and at last I found a +key that did fit it. They kept me very short," said the small servant, +"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, or even pieces +of orange-peel to put into cold water, and make believe it was wine. If +you make believe very much, it's quite nice," continued the small +servant; "but if you don't, you know, it seems as if it would bear a +little more seasoning! Well, one or two nights before the young man was +took, I come upstairs while Mr. Brass and Miss Sally was a-sittin by the +office fire and talking softly together. They whispered and laughed for +a long time, about there being no danger if it was well done; that they +must do what their best client, Quilp, desired, and that for his own +reasons, he hated Kit, and wanted to have his reputation ruined. Then +Mr. Brass pulls out his pocket-book, and says, 'Well, here it +is--Quilp's own five-pound note. Kit is coming to-morrow morning, I +know. I'll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat, +and then convict him of theft. And if that don't get Kit out of Mr. +Quilp's way, and satisfy his grudge against the lad,' he said, 'the +devil's in it,' Then they seemed to be moving away, and I was afraid to +stop any longer. There!" + +The small servant was so much agitated herself that she made no effort +to restrain Mr. Swiveller when he sat up in bed, and hastily demanded +whether this story had been told to anybody. + +"How could it be?" replied his nurse. "When I heard 'em say that you was +gone, and so was the lodger, and ever since I come here, you've been out +of your senses, so what would have been the good of telling you then?" + +"Marchioness," said Mr. Swiveller, "if you'll do me the favor 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. "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'm afraid," said Richard dolefully, "that you're right. Now, what is +to be done?" + +It occurred to him, on very little reflection, that the first step to +take would be to communicate with Kit's employer, Mr. Garland, or with +his son Mr. Abel, at once. It was possible that Mr. Abel had not yet +left his office. In as little time as it takes to tell it, the small +servant had the address on a piece of paper, and a description of father +and son, which would enable her to recognize either without difficulty. +Armed with these slender powers, she hurried away, commissioned to bring +either Mr. Garland or Mr. Abel bodily to Mr. Swiveller's 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?" + +"No, nothing." + +"Its 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." + +The small servant went swiftly on her way, towards the office of the +Notary, Mr. Witherden, where Mr. Garland was to be found. She had no +bonnet, only a great cap on her head, which in some old time had been +worn by Sally Brass;--and her shoes being extremely large and slipshod, +flew off every now and then, and were difficult to find. Indeed the poor +little creature experienced so much trouble and delay from having to +grope for them in the mud, and suffered so much jostling, pushing, and +squeezing in these researches, that between it, and her fear of being +recognized by some one, and carried back by force to the Brasses, when +she at last reached the Notary's office, she was fairly worn out, and +could not refrain from tears. But to have got there was a comfort, and +she found Mr. Abel in the act of entering his pony-chaise and driving +away. There was nothing for her to do but to run after the chaise and +call to Mr. Abel to stop. Being out of breath, 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 she could +go no farther, clambered by a vigorous effort into the hinder seat, +where she remained in silence, until she had to some degree recovered +her breath, and become accustomed to the novelty of her position, when +she uttered close into Mr. Abel's 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 is of consequence. There's somebody wants to see +you there. He sent me to say, would you come directly, and that he +knows all about Kit, and could save him yet, and prove his innocence." + +"What do you tell me, child?" + +"The truth, upon my word and honor, I do. But please to drive on--quick, +please! I've been such a time gone, he'll think I'm lost" + +Mr. Abel urged the pony forward, and at last they arrived at the door of +Mr. Swiveller's lodgings. + +"See! It's that room up there," said the Marchioness, pointing to one +where there was a faint light. "Come!" + +Mr. Abel who was naturally timid, hesitated; for he had heard of people +being decoyed into strange places, to be robbed and murdered, under +circumstances very like the present, by guides very like the +Marchioness. His regard for Kit, however, overcame every other +consideration. So he suffered his companion to lead him up the dark and +narrow stair, into a dimly lighted sick-chamber, where a man was lying +tranquilly in bed, in whose wasted face he recognized the features of +Richard Swiveller. + +"Why, how is this?" said Mr. Abel, kindly, "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." + +The story was repeated, without any deviation or omission, after which +Richard Swiveller took the word again; + +"You have heard it all," said Richard. "I'm too giddy and queer to +suggest anything, but you and your friends will know what to do. After +this long delay, every minute is an age. Don't stop to say one word to +me, but go! If you lose another minute in looking at me, sir, I'll never +forgive you!" + +Mr. Abel needed no more persuasion. To Dick's unbounded delight he was +gone in an instant, and Mr. Swiveller, exhausted by the interview, was +soon asleep, murmuring 'Strew, then, oh strew a bed of rushes. Here will +we stay till morning blushes.' "Good-night, Marchioness!" + +On awaking in the morning, he became conscious of whispering voices in +his room, and espied Mr. Garland, Mr. Abel, and two other gentlemen +talking earnestly with the Marchioness. Upon perceiving the invalid to +be awake, Mr. Garland stretched out his hand, and inquired how Mr. +Swiveller felt; adding + +"And what can we do for you?" + +"If you could make the Marchioness yonder, a Marchioness in real, sober +earnest," returned Dick, "I'd thank you to get it done offhand. But as +you can't, the question is, what is it best to do for Kit?" + +Gathering around Mr. Swiveller's bedside, the group of gentlemen then +proceeded to discuss in detail all the evidence against Sampson Brass, +as contained in the confession of the Marchioness, and what course was +wisest to pursue in the matter. After which the gentlemen took their +leaves for a time, or Richard Swiveller must assuredly have been driven +into another fever, in consequence of having entered into such an +exciting discussion. + +Mr. Abel alone remained behind, very often looking at his watch and the +room-door, until the reason of his watchfulness was disclosed when Mr. +Swiveller was roused from a short nap by the delivery at his door of a +mighty hamper, which, being opened, disgorged such treasures of tea, and +coffee, and wine, and rusk, and oranges, and grapes, and fowls, and +calvesfoot jelly, and other delicate restoratives, that the small +servant stood rooted to the spot, with her mouth and eyes watering in +unison, and her power of speech quite gone. With the hamper appeared +also a nice old lady, who bustled about on tiptoe, began to make +chicken-broth, and peel oranges for the sick man, and to ply the small +servant with glasses of wine, and choice bits of everything. The whole +of which was so bewildering that Mr. Swiveller, when he had taken two +oranges and a little jelly, was fain to lie down and fall asleep again, +from sheer inability to entertain such wonders in his mind. + +Meanwhile the other gentlemen, who had left Richard Swiveller's room, +had retired to a coffee-house near by, from whence they sent a +peremptory and mysterious summons to Miss Sally Brass to favor them with +her company there as soon as possible. To this she replied by an almost +immediate appearance, whereupon, without any loss of time, she was +confronted with the tale of the small servant. While it was being +related for her benefit, Sampson Brass himself suddenly opened the door +of the coffee-house and joined the astonished group. Hearing the certain +proofs of his guilt so clearly related, he saw that evasion was useless, +and made a full confession of the scheme whereby Kit was to have been +doomed, but laying the entire blame, however, upon the rich little +dwarf, Quilp, saying that he could not afford to lose his rich client, +nor the large bribe he offered for the arrest of the lad, Kit. + +Having secured the desired confession, the gentlemen hastened back to +Mr. Swiveller's room with the glad tidings, adding that it would now be +possible to accomplish the lad's immediate release, after making which +joyful statement, they took their departure for the night, leaving the +invalid with the small servant and one of their number, Mr. Witherden, +the notary, who remained behind to be the bearer of good news to +the invalid. + +"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. And by the terms of her will, you have fallen into an annuity +of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; I think I may congratulate you +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!" + +Mr. Swiveller, recovering very slowly from his illness, even with the +strong tonic of his good fortune, 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 favor 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 expense of her education kept +him in straightened circumstances for half-a-dozen years, he never +slackened in his zeal, and always held himself sufficiently repaid by +the accounts he heard of her advancement. + +In a word, Mr. Swiveller kept the Marchioness at this establishment +until she was, at a moderate guess, full nineteen years of age, at which +time, thanks to her earliest friend and most loyal champion, Richard +Swiveller, the shadows of a bitter past had been chased from her memory +by a happy present, and she was as good-looking, clever, and +good-humored a young woman as ever a real Marchioness might have been. + + + +MORLEENA KENWIGS + + + +[Illustration: THE KENWIGSES] + + + +MORLEENA KENWIGS + +The family who went by the designation of "The Kenwigses" were the wife +and olive branches of one Mr. Kenwigs, a turner in ivory, who was looked +upon as a person of some consideration where he lodged, inasmuch as he +occupied the whole of the first floor, comprising a suite of two rooms. +Mrs. Kenwigs too, was quite a lady in her manners, and of a very genteel +family, having an uncle, Mr. Lillyvick, who collected a water-rate, and +who she fondly hoped, would make her children his heirs. Besides which +distinction, the two eldest of her little girls went twice a week to a +dancing-school in the neighborhood, and had flaxen hair tied with blue +ribbons, hanging in luxuriant pigtails down their backs, and wore little +white trousers with frills round the ankles;--for all of which reasons +Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs, and the four olive Kenwigses, and the baby, were +considered quite important persons to know. + +Upon the eighth anniversary of Mrs. Kenwigs' marriage to Mr. Kenwigs, +they entertained a select party of friends, and on that occasion, after +supper had been served, the group gathered by the fireside; Mr. +Lillyvick being stationed in a large arm-chair, and the four little +Kenwigses disposed on a small form in front of the company, with their +flaxen tails towards them, and their faces to the fire; an arrangement +which was no sooner perfected than Mrs. Kenwigs was overpowered by the +feelings of a mother, and fell upon Mr. Kenwigs' shoulder, dissolved +in tears. + +"They are so beautiful!" she said, sobbing. "I can--not help it, and it +don't signify! Oh, they're too beautiful to live--much too beautiful!" + +On hearing this alarming presentiment of their early death, all four +little girls raised a hideous cry, and, burying their faces in their +mother's lap simultaneously, screamed until the eight flaxen tails +vibrated; Mrs. Kenwigs meanwhile clasping them alternately to her bosom, +with attitudes expressive of distraction. + +At length, however, she permitted herself to be soothed, and the little +Kenwigses were distributed among the company, to prevent the possibility +of Mrs. Kenwigs being again overcome by the blaze of their united +beauty, after which, Morleena, the eldest olive branch--whose name had +been composed by Mrs. Kenwigs herself for the especial benefit of her +daughter--danced a dance. It was a very beautiful figure, comprising a +great deal of work for the arms, and was received with unbounded +applause, as were the various accomplishments displayed by others of the +party. The affair was proceeding most successfully when Mr. Lillyvick +took offence at a remark made by Mr. Kenwigs, and sat swelling and +fuming in offended dignity for some minutes, then burst out in words of +indignation. Here was an untoward event! The great man,--the rich +relation--who had it in his power to make Morleena an heiress, and the +very baby a legatee--was offended. Gracious powers, where would +this end! + +"I am very sorry, sir," said Mr. Kenwigs humbly, but the apology was not +accepted, and Mr. Lillyvick continued to repeat; "Morleena, child, my +hat! Morleena, my hat!" until Mrs. Kenwigs sunk back in her chair, +overcome with grief, while the four little girls (privately instructed +to that effect) clasped their uncle's drab shorts in their arms, and +prayed him to remain. + +"Mr. Lillyvick," said Kenwigs, "I hope for the sake of your niece that +you won't object to being reconciled." + +The collector's face relaxed, as the company added their entreaties to +those of their host. He gave up his hat and held out his hand. + +"There, Kenwigs," he said. "And let me tell you at the same time, to +show you how much out of temper I was, that if I had gone away without +another word, it would have made no difference respecting that pound or +two which I shall leave among your children when I die." + +"Morleena Kenwigs," cried her mother, in a torrent of affection; "go +down upon your knees to your dear uncle and beg him to love you all his +life through, for he's more an angel than a man, and I've always +said so." + +Miss Morleena, approaching to do homage, was summarily caught up and +kissed by Mr. Lillyvick, and thereupon Mrs. Kenwigs herself darted +forward and kissed the collector, and all was forgiven and forgotten. + +No further wave of trouble ruffled the feelings of the party until +suddenly there came shrill and piercing screams from an upper room in +which the infant Kenwigs was enshrined, guarded by a small girl hired +for the purpose. Rushing to the door, Mrs. Kenwigs began to wring her +hands and shriek dismally, amid which cries, and the wails of the four +little girls, a stranger ran downstairs with the baby in his arms, +explaining hastily that, visiting a friend in a room above, he had heard +the cries, and found the baby's guardian asleep with her hair on fire. +This explanation over, the baby, who was unhurt, and who rejoiced in the +name of Lillyvick Kenwigs, was instantly almost suffocated under the +caresses of the audience, and squeezed to his mother's bosom until he +roared again. Then, after drinking the health of the child's preserver, +the company made the discovery that it was nigh two o'clock, whereat +they took their leave, with flattering expressions of the pleasure they +had enjoyed, to which Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs replied by thanking them, and +hoping they had enjoyed themselves only half as well as they said +they had. + +The young man, Nicholas Nickleby by name, who had rescued the baby, made +such an impression upon Mrs. Kenwigs that she felt impelled to propose +through the friend whom he had been visiting, that he should instruct +the four little Kenwigses in the French language at the weekly stipend +of five shillings; being at the rate of one shilling per week, per each +Miss Kenwigs, and one shilling over until such time as the baby might be +able to take it out in grammar. + +This proposition was accepted with alacrity by Nicholas, who betook +himself to the Kenwigs' apartment with all speed. Here he found the four +Miss Kenwigses on their form of audience, and the baby in a dwarf +porter's chair, with a deal tray before it, amusing himself with a toy +horse, while Mrs. Kenwigs spoke to the little girls of the superior +advantages they enjoyed above other children. "But I hope," she said, +"that that will not make them proud; but that they will bless their own +good fortune which has born them superior to common people's children. +And when you go out in the streets, or elsewhere, I desire that you +don't boast of it to the other children," continued Mrs. Kenwigs, "and +that if you must say anything about it, you don't say no more than +'we've got a private master comes to teach us at home, but we ain't +proud, because Ma says its sinful,' Do you hear, Morleena?" + +Upon the eldest Miss Kenwigs replying meekly that she did, permission +was conceded for the lesson to commence, and accordingly the four Miss +Kenwigses again arranged themselves upon their form, in a row, with +their tails all one way, while Nicholas Nickleby began his preliminary +explanations. + +Some months after this, the Kenwigses were thrown into a fever of rage +and disappointment, by receiving the cruel news of their Uncle +Lillyvick's marriage, which blow was a terrible one to Mrs. Kenwigs, +blighting her hopes for her children's future. After weeping and wailing +in the most agonized fashion, Mrs. Kenwigs drew herself up in proud +defiance, and denounced her uncle in terms direct and plain, stating +that he should never again darken her doors. In this terrible state of +affairs, it remained for Morleena of the flaxen tails, to bring about a +family re-union, and in this way: + +It had come to pass that she had received an invitation to repair next +day, per steamer from Westminster bridge, unto the Eel-Pie Island at +Twickenham, there to make merry upon a cold collation, and to dance in +the open air to the music of a locomotive band; the steamer having been +engaged by a dancing-master for his numerous pupils, one of whom had +extended an invitation to Miss Morleena, and Mrs. Kenwigs rightly deemed +the honor of the family was involved in her daughter making the most +splendid appearance possible. Now, between the Italian-ironing of +frills, the flouncing of trousers, the trimming of frocks, the faintings +from overwork and the comings-to again, incidental to the occasion, Mrs. +Kenwigs had been so entirely occupied, that she had not observed, until +within half an hour before, that the flaxen tails of Miss Morleena were +in a manner, run to seed; and that unless she were put under the hands +of a skilful hairdresser she never could achieve that signal triumph +over the daughters of all other people, anything less than which would +be tantamount to defeat. This discovery drove Mrs. Kenwigs to despair, +for the hairdresser lived three streets and eight dangerous crossings +off, and there was nobody to take her. So Mrs. Kenwigs first slapped +Miss Kenwigs for being the cause of her vexation, and then shed tears. + +"I can't help it, ma," replied Morleena, also in tears, "my hair _will_ +grow!" While they were both still bemoaning and weeping, a fellow lodger +in the house came upon them, and hearing of their difficulty, offered to +escort Miss Morleena to the barber-shop, and at once led her in safety +to that establishment. The proprietor, knowing she had three sisters, +each with two flaxen tails, and all good for sixpence apiece a month at +least, promptly deserted an old gentleman whom he had just lathered for +shaving, and waited on the young lady himself. The old gentleman raising +his head, Miss Kenwigs noticed his face and uttered a shrill little +scream,--it was her Uncle Lillyvick! + +Hearing his name pronounced, Mr. Lillyvick groaned, then coughed to hide +it, and consigning himself to the hands of an assistant, commenced a +colloquy with Miss Morleena's escort, rather striving to escape the +notice of Miss Morleena herself, and so remarkable did this behavior +seem to her, that at the imminent hazard of having her ear sliced off, +she could not forbear looking round at him some score of times. + +The cutting and curling being at last concluded, the old gentleman, who +had been finished some time, and simply waiting, rose to go also, and +walked out of the establishment with Miss Morleena and her escort, +proceeding with them, in profound silence until they had nearly reached +Miss Morleena's home, when he asked if her family had been very much +overpowered by the news of his marriage. + +"It made ma cry when she knew it," answered Miss Morleena, "and pa was +very low in his spirits, but he is better now, and I was very ill, but I +am better too." + +"Would you give your great-uncle Lillyvick a kiss, if he was to ask you, +Morleena?" said the collector, with some hesitation. + +"Yes, Uncle Lillyvick, I would," returned Miss Morleena with no +hesitation whatsoever, whereupon Mr. Lillyvick caught her in his arms +and kissed her, and being by this time at the door of the house, he +walked straight up into the Kenwigses' sitting-room and put her down in +their midst. The surprise and delight that reigned in the bosom of the +Kenwigses at the unexpected sight, was only heightened by the joyful +intelligence that their uncle's married life had been both brief and +unsatisfactory, and by his further statement: + +"Out of regard for you, Susan and Kenwigs, I shall to-morrow morning +settle upon your children, and make payable to their survivors when they +come of age, or marry, that money which I once meant to leave 'em in my +will. The deed shall be executed to-morrow!" + +Overcome by this noble and generous offer, and by their emotion, Mr. +Kenwigs, Mrs. Kenwigs, and Miss Morleena Kenwigs all began to sob +together, and the noise communicating itself to the next room where the +other children lay a-bed, and causing them to cry too, Mr. Kenwigs +rushed wildly in, and bringing them out in his arms, by two and two, +tumbled them down in their night-caps and gowns at the feet of Mr. +Lillyvick, and called upon them to thank and bless him. + +And this wonderful domestic scene,--this family reconciliation was +brought about by Miss Morleena, eldest of the four little Kenwigses, +with the flaxen tails! + + + +LITTLE NELL + + + +[Illustration: LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER] + + + +LITTLE NELL + +There was once an old man, whose daughter dying, left in his care two +orphan children, a son twelve years old, and little Nell, a younger +girl. The grandfather was now an old and feeble man, but gathering +himself together as best he could, he began to trade;--in pictures +first--and then in curious ancient things, and from the Old Curiosity +Shop, as it was called, he was able to obtain a slender income. + +The boy grew into a wayward youth, and soon quitted his grandfather's +home for companions more suited to his taste, but sweet little Nell +remained, and grew 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 his daughter +had come back, a child again. + +The old man and little Nell dwelt alone,--he loving her with a +passionate devotion, and haunted with a fearful dread lest she should be +left to a life of poverty and want, when he should be called to leave +her. This fear so overmastered him that it led him to the gaming-table, +and--for her sake--he became a professional gambler, hoping to lay by a +vast fortune for her future use. But he lost heavily and constantly, +until his slender resources were exhausted, and he was obliged to borrow +money from the rich little dwarf money-lender, Quilp, pledging his stock +as security for the loans. + +But of all this Little Nell knew nothing, or she would have implored +him to give up the dangerous practice. She only knew that, after her +monotonous days, uncheckered by variety and uncheered by pleasant +companionship, the old man, who seemed always agitated by some hidden +care, and weak and wandering in his mind, taking his cloak and hat and +stick, would pass from the house, leaving her alone through the dreary +evenings and long solitary nights. + +It was not the absence of such pleasures as make young hearts beat high, +that brought tears to Nell's eyes. It was the sight of the old man's +feeble state of mind and body, and the fear that some night he should +fail to come home, having been overtaken by illness or sudden death. +Such fears as these drove the roses from her smooth young cheeks, and +stilled the songs which before had rung through the dim old shop, while +the gay, lightsome step passed among the dusty treasures. Now she seldom +smiled or sang, and among the few bits of comedy in her sad days, were +the visits of Kit Nubbles, her grandfather's errand boy, a shock-headed, +shambling, comical lad, whose devotion to the beautiful child verged on +worship. Appreciating Nell's loneliness, Kit visited the shop as often +as possible, and the exquisite oddity and awkwardness of his manner so +amused her that at sight of him she would give way to genuine merriment. +Kit himself, being always flattered by the sensation he produced, would +often burst into a loud roar, and stand with his mouth wide open, and +his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently. + +Twice every week Nell gave the lad a writing lesson, to the great mirth +and enjoyment of them both, and each time Kit tucked up his sleeves, +squared his elbows, and put his face very close to the copy-book, +squinting horribly at the lines, fairly wallowing in blots, and daubing +himself with ink up to the roots of his hair,--and if he did by accident +form a letter properly, he immediately smeared it out again with his +arm--and at every fresh mistake there was a fresh burst of merriment +from the child and from poor Kit himself. + +But of such happy times sweet Nell had few, and she became more anxious +about her grandfather's health, as he became daily more worried over the +secret which he would not share with her, and which preyed upon his mind +and body with increasing ravages. + +Fortune did not favor his ventures, and Quilp, having discovered for +what purpose he borrowed such large sums, refused him further loans. In +an agony of apprehension for the future, the old man told Nell that he +had had heavy losses, that they would soon be 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, gestures, "O, 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, "do not +let me see such change in you, 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, as the child added, "Let us +be beggars. I have no fear but we shall have enough: I'm sure we shall. +Let us walk through country places, and never think of money again, or +anything that can make you sad, but rest at nights, and have the sun +and wind on 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 places 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. + +That very day news came that the Old Curiosity Shop and its contents +would at once pass into Quilp's hands, in payment of the old man's +debts. In vain he pleaded for one more chance to redeem himself--for one +more loan--Quilp was firm in his refusal of further help, and little +Nell found the old man, overcome by the news, lying upon the floor of +his room, alarmingly ill. For weeks he lay raving in the delirium of +fever, little Nell alone beside him, nursing him with a single-hearted +devotion. The house was no longer theirs; even the sick chamber they +retained by special favor until such time as the old man could be +removed. Meanwhile, Mr. Quilp had taken formal possession of the +premises, and to make sure that no more business was transacted in the +shop, was encamped in the back parlor. So keen was Nell's dread of even +the sound of the dwarfs voice, that she lived in continual apprehension +of meeting him on the stairs, or in the passage, and seldom stirred from +her grandfather's room. + +At length the old man began to mend--he was patient and quiet, easily +amused, and made no complaint, but his mind was forever weakened, and he +seemed to have only a dazed recollection of what had happened. Even when +Quilp told him that in two days he must be moved out of the shop, he +seemed not to take it to heart, wandering around the house, a very child +in act and thought. But a change came over him on the second evening; as +he and little Nell sat silently together. He was moved--shed +tears--begged Nell's forgiveness for what he had made her suffer--seemed +like one coming out of a dream--and urged her to help him in acting upon +what they had talked of doing long before. + +"We will not stop here another day," he said, "we will go far away from +here. 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 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; but thou wilt be well again, and merry too, when we +are far away. To-morrow morning, dear, we will turn our faces from this +scene of sorrow, and be as free and happy as the birds." + +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 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, 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, and a staff to support +his feeble steps. But this was not all her task, for now she must say +farewell to her own little room, where she had so often knelt down and +prayed at night--prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning now! +There were some trifles there, which she would have liked to take away, +but that was impossible. She wept bitterly to leave her poor bird +behind, until the idea occurred to her that it might fall into the hands +of Kit, who would keep and cherish it for her sake. She was calmed and +comforted by this thought, and went to rest with a lighter heart. + +At length the day began to glimmer, when she arose and dressed herself +for the journey, and with the old man, trod lightly down the stairs. At +last they reached the ground-floor, 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 to the right and left, +then at her, and shook his head. It was plain that she was henceforth +his guide and leader. The child felt it, but had no doubts or +misgivings, 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 free of +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. Every object was bright and fresh; nothing reminded +them, otherwise than by contrast, of the monotony and restraint they +had left behind. + +Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor +adventurers, wandering they knew not whither, often pressing each +other's hands, or exchanging a smile, as they pursued their way through +the city streets, through the haunts of traffic and great commerce, +where business was already rife. The old man looked about him with a +bewildered gaze, for these were places that he hoped to shun, nor did he +seem at ease until at last they felt that they were clear of London, and +sat down to rest, and eat their frugal breakfast from little +Nell's basket. + +The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the +waving grass, the wild flowers, and the thousand exquisite scents and +sounds that floated in the air, 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 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. + +"Are you tired?" asked 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 are too near to stop and be at +rest. Come!" + +They were now in the open country, through which they walked all day, +and slept that night at a cottage where beds were let to travellers. +Next morning they were afoot again, and still kept on until nearly five +o'clock in the afternoon, when they stopped at a laborer's hut, asking +permission to rest awhile and buy a draught of milk. The request was +granted, and after having some refreshments and rest, Nell yielded to +the old man's fretful demand to travel on again, and they trudged +forward for another mile, thankful for a lift given them by a kindly +driver going their way, for they 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 in one corner of the +cart when she fell fast asleep, and was only awakened by its stopping +when their ways parted. The driver pointing out the town in the near +distance, directed them to take the path leading through the churchyard. +Accordingly, to this spot they directed their weary steps, and presently +came upon two men who were seated upon the grass. It was not difficult +to divine that they were 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; while scattered upon the ground, and jumbled +together in a long box, were the other persons of the drama. The hero's +wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the foreign gentleman, +the executioner, and the devil, all were here. Their owners had +evidently come to that spot to make some needful repairs in their stock, +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. + +They greeted the strangers with a nod, and the old man sitting down +beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight, began to +talk. While they chatted, Mr. Short, a little merry, red-faced man with +twinkling eyes, turning over the figures in the box, drew one forth, +saying ruefully to his companion, Codlin by name: "Look here, here's all +this Judy's clothes falling to pieces again. You haven't got needle and +thread, I suppose?" + +The little man shook his head, and seeing that they were at a loss, +Nell 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." + +As Mr. Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable, +Nelly 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 toward 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. The long, low, white +house there. It's very cheap." + +The old man, who would have remained in the churchyard all night if his +new acquaintances had stayed there too, yielded to this suggestion a +ready and rapturous assent, and they all rose and walked away together +to the public house, where, after witnessing an exhibition of the show, +they had a good supper, but Nell was too tired to eat, and was grateful +when they retired to the loft where they were to rest. 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 sat there till he +slept, then went to her own room and sat thinking 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 might be increased a +hundredfold. It would be best to hide this coin, and never produce it +unless their case was absolutely desperate. 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. + +On the following morning, Mr. Short asked Nell, "And where are you going +to-day?" + +"Indeed I hardly know," replied the child. + +"We're going on to the races," said the little man. "If you'd like to +have us for company, let us travel together." + +"Well go with you," said the old man eagerly. "Nell--with them, with +them." + +The child considered for a moment, and reflecting that she must soon +beg, and could scarcely do so at a better place, thanked the little man +for his offer, and said they would accompany him. + +Presently they started off and made a long day's journey, and were yet +upon the road when night came on. Threatening clouds soon gave place to +a heavy rain, and the party took refuge for the night in a roadside inn, +where they found a mighty fire blazing upon the hearth, and savory +smells coming from iron pots. + +Furnished with slippers and dry garments, and overpowered by the warmth +and comfort of the room and the fatigue they had undergone, Nelly and +the old man had not long taken seats in the warm chimney-corner when +they fell asleep. + +"Who are they?" whispered the landlord. + +Short and Codlin shook their heads. "They're no harm," said Short. +"Depend upon that I tell you what--it's plain that the old man aren't in +his right mind--I believe that he's given his friends the slip and +persuaded this delicate young creature, 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-goin' to stand that. I'm +not a-goin' 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 dewelop an +intention of parting company from us, I shall take measures for +detainin' of 'em and restoring them 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, "it's possible there may be uncommon good +sense in what you've said. If there is, and there should be a reward, +Short, remember that we are partners in everything!" + +His companion had only time to nod a brief assent to this proposition, +for the child awoke at the instant, as strange footsteps were heard +without, and fresh company entered. + +These were no other than four very dismal dogs, who came pattering in, +headed by an old bandy dog, who erected himself upon his hind legs, and +looked around at his companions, who immediately stood upon their hind +legs in a grave and melancholy row. These dogs each wore a kind of +little coat of some gaudy color, trimmed with tarnished spangles, and +one of them had a cap upon his head, tied 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 with rain, and that the +wearers were all splashed and dirty, and some idea may be formed of the +unusual appearance of the new visitors to the inn. Jerry, the manager of +these dancing dogs, disencumbering himself of a barrel-organ, and +retaining in his hand a small whip, came up to the fire and entered into +conversation. The landlord then busied himself in laying the cloth for +supper, which, being at length ready to serve, little Nell ventured to +say grace, and supper began. + +At this juncture the poor dogs were standing upon 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, please. That +dog," said Jerry, pointing out the old leader of the troop, and speaking +in a terrible voice, "lost a half-penny to-day. He goes without +his supper." + +The unfortunate creature dropped upon his forelegs 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, 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 is called, eats. Carlo!" + +The lucky individual whose name was called, snapped up the morsel thrown +towards him, but none of the others moved a muscle. 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 around, and applied himself with +increased diligence to the Old Hundredth. + +That night, from various conversations in which Codlin and Short took +pains to engage her, little Nell began to have misgivings concerning +their protestations of friendship, and to suspect their motives. These +misgivings made the child anxious and uneasy, as the party travelled on +towards the town where the races were to begin next day. + +It was dark when they reached the town, and there all was tumult and +confusion. The streets were filled with throngs of people, the +church-bells rang out their noisy peals, and flags streamed from windows +and house-tops, while shrill flageolets and deafening drums added to +the uproar. + +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 she should be separated from him, and left to find +her way alone. Quickening their steps they made for the racecourse, +which was upon an open heath. There were many people here, none of the +best-favored or best clad, busily erecting tents, but the child felt it +an escape from the town, and drew her breath more freely. After a scanty +supper, 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 Nell stole out, and plucked a few wild +roses and such humble flowers, to make into little nosegays and offer 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, tying her flowers together, while Codlin and Short +lay dozing in another corner, she 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'm 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, adding, "Grandfather, these men suspect that we have +secretly left our friends, and mean to carry us before some gentlemen, +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 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. 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. + +"Making some nosegays," the child replied; "I'm going to try to sell +some. Will you have one?--as a present, I mean." Mr. Codlin stuck it in +his buttonhole with an air of ineffable complacency, and laid himself +down again. + +As the morning wore on, the tents assumed a more brilliant appearance. +Men, who had lounged about in smock frocks and leather leggings, came +out in silken vests and hats and plumes, as jugglers or mountebanks. +Black-eyed gypsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to +tell fortunes. 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 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 at his heels went Thomas Codlin, bearing the show, and +keeping his eyes 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 looks, to offer them at some +gay carriage, but, alas! there were many bolder beggars there, adepts at +their trade, and although some ladies smiled gently as they shook their +heads, and others cried: "See, what a pretty face!" they let the pretty +face pass on, and never thought that it looked tired or hungry, and +among all that gay throng, there was but one lady, who, taking her +flowers, put money in the child's trembling hand. + +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, was roused from +her meditation by a loud laugh at some witticism of Mr. Short. + +If they were ever to get away unseen, that was the very moment. Short +and Codlin were absorbed in giving the show, and in coaxing sixpences +from the people's pockets, and the spectators were looking on with +laughing faces. That was the moment for escape. They seized it and fled. + +They made a path through booths, and carriages, and throngs of people, +and never once stopped to look behind, but creeping under the brow of +the hill at a quick pace, made for the open fields, and not until they +were quite exhausted ventured to sit down to rest upon the borders of a +little wood, and some time elapsed before the child could reassure her +trembling companion, or restore him to a state of moderate +tranquillity. His terrors affected her. 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 in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped. +Then, remembering how weak her companion was, and how destitute and +helpless he would be if she failed him, she was animated with new +strength and fortitude, and assured him that they had nothing to fear. +Luring him onward through the woods with happy looks and smiles, the +serenity which she had at 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 +of the woods, the more they felt that the tranquil mind of God was +there, and shed its peace on them. + +At length the path brought them to a public road which to their great +joy at last led into the centre of a small village. Uncertain where to +seek a lodging, they approached an old man sitting in a garden before +his cottage. He was the schoolmaster, and had "School" written over his +window in black letters. He was a pale, simple-looking man, and sat +among his flowers and beehives, taking no notice of the travellers, +until Nell approached him, dropping a curtsey, and asking if he could +direct them anywhere to obtain a shelter for the night. + +"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 schoolroom, +which was parlor and kitchen likewise, and told them they were welcome +to remain till morning. Before they had done thanking him, he spread the +table, and besought them to eat and drink. + +After a sound night's rest in the little cottage, Nell rose early, and +was attempting to make the room in which she had supped last night neat +and comfortable, when their kind host came in. She asked leave to +prepare breakfast, and the three soon partook of it together. While the +meal was in progress, their host remarked that the old man stood in need +of rest, and that he should be glad of their company for another night. +It required no great persuasion to induce the child to answer that they +would remain. She was happy to show her gratitude to the kind +schoolmaster by performing such household duties as his little cottage +stood in need of. When these were done, she took some needlework from +her basket, and sat down beside the lattice, where the honeysuckle and +woodbine filled the room 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. Presently the schoolmaster took his seat behind his desk, and as +he seemed pleased to have little Nell beside him, she busied herself +with her work, entering into conversation with the schoolmaster while +the scholars conned their lessons, and watching the boys with eager and +attentive interest. + +Upon the following morning there remained for the travellers only to +take leave of the poor schoolmaster, and wander forth once more. With a +trembling and reluctant hand, the child held out to their kind host the +money which the lady had given her at the races for her flowers, +faltering in her thanks, and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her +put it up, and kissing her cheek, wished her good fortune and happiness, +adding, "If you ever pass this way again, you will 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." + +They bade him farewell very many times, often looking back, until they +could see him no more. They trudged onward now at a quicker pace, +resolving to keep the main road, and go wherever it might lead them. The +afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening when the road struck +across a common. On the border of this common, a caravan was drawn up +to rest. + +It was not a shabby, dingy 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. 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 upon the frowzy grass. Neither was it a gypsy 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 refreshing one of +drinking tea. The tea things were set forth upon a drum covered with a +napkin; and there sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the +prospect. As she was in the act of setting down her cup, she 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, "Yes, to be sure--Who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate?" + +"Won what, ma'am?" asked Nell. + +"The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child. Can't you say who won the +Helter-Skelter Plate when you're asked a 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," rejoined 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 them? Does this +caravan look as if it know'd 'em?" + +"No, ma'am, no," said the child, fearing that she had committed some +grievous fault, "I beg your pardon." + +It was granted immediately, and the child then explained that they had +left the races on the first day, and were travelling to the next town, +and ventured to inquire how far it was. The stout lady's reply was +rather discouraging, and Nell could scarcely repress a tear at hearing +that it was eight miles off. Her grandfather made no complaint, and the +two were about to pass on, when the lady of the caravan called to the +child to return. Beckoning to her to ascend the steps, she asked,--"Are +you hungry?" + +"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're agreeable to that, old gentleman?" + +The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat, and thanked her, and sitting +down, they made a hearty meal, enjoying it to the utmost. + +While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan held a short +conversation with her driver, after which she informed Nell that she and +her grandfather were to go forward in the caravan with her, for which +kindness Nell thanked the lady with unaffected earnestness. She helped +with great alacrity to put away the tea-things, and mounted into the +vehicle, followed by her delighted grandfather. Their patroness then +shut the door, and away they went, with a great noise of flapping, and +creaking, and straining, and the bright brass knocker, knocking one +perpetual double knock of its own accord as they jolted heavily along. + +When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance, Nell +looked around the caravan, and observed it more closely. One half of it +was carpeted, with a sleeping place, after the fashion of a berth on +board ship, partitioned off at the farther end, which was shaded 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, and the necessary +cooking utensils, which latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which +in the other portion of the establishment were decorated with a number +of well-thumbed musical instruments. + +Presently the old man fell asleep, and the lady of the caravan 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 that it was very pleasant indeed. Instead +of speaking again, the lady of the caravan sat looking at the child for +a long time in silence, then getting up, brought out a 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." + +The lady of the caravan then unfolded another scroll, whereon was the +inscription, "One hundred figures the full size of life," then several +smaller ones with such inscriptions as, "The genuine and only Jarley," +"Jarley is the delight of the nobility and gentry," "The royal family +are the patrons of Jarley." When she had exhibited these to the +astonished child, she brought forth 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 others were composed with a view to +the lighter and more facetious spirits, as a parody on the favorite air +of "If I had a donkey," beginning: + + "If I know'd a donkey what 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 other compositions in prose, 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, Mrs. Jarley then rolled these +testimonials up, and having put them carefully away, sat down and looked +at the child in triumph. + +"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 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 life-like, that if wax-work only +spoke and walked about, you'd hardly know the difference." + +"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? It's gone on in the other wans to the room where +it'll be exhibited the day after to-morrow. You're going to the same +town, and you'll see it, I dare say." + +"I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am," said the child. + +This answer appeared to greatly astonish Mrs. Jarley, who asked so many +questions that Nell was led to tell her some of the details concerning +their poverty and wanderings, after which the lady of the caravan +relapsed into a thoughtful silence. At length she shook off her fit of +meditation, and held a long conversation with the driver, which +conference being concluded, she beckoned Nell to approach. + +"And the old gentleman, too," said Mrs. Jarley. "I want to have a word +with him. Do you want a good situation for your granddaughter, master? +If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do you say?" + +"I can't leave her, ma'am," answered the old man. "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," whispered the child. "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, +but presently she addressed the grandfather again: + +"If you're really disposed to employ yourself," she said, "you could +help to dust the figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want +your granddaughter for is to point 'em out to the company. It's not a +common offer, bear in mind," said the lady. "It's Jarley's wax-work, +remember. The duties very light and genteel, the company particularly +select. There is none of your open-air wagrancy at Jarley's, recollect; +there is no tarpaulin and saw-dust at Jarley's, remember. Every +expectation held out in the hand-bills is realized 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 to the details of common life, when she had +reached this point, Mrs. Jarley remarked that she could pledge herself +to no specific salary until she had tested Nell's ability, but that she +could promise both good board and lodging for the child and her +grandfather. Her offer was thankfully accepted. + +"And you'll never be sorry for it," said Mrs. Jarley. "I'm pretty sure +of that. So, as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper." + +In the mean while the caravan blundered on, and came at last upon a +town, near midnight. As it was too late to repair to the exhibition +rooms, they drew up near to another caravan bearing the great name of +Jarley, which being empty, was assigned to the old man as his +sleeping-place. As for Nell herself, she was to sleep in Mrs. Jarley's +own travelling-carriage as a signal mark of that lady's favor. + +On the following morning Nell was put to work at once, helping to unpack +the chests and arrange the draperies in the exhibition rooms. When this +was accomplished, the stupendous collection of figures was uncovered, +standing more or less unsteadily upon their legs, 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 was at great pains to instruct Nell in her duty. + +"That," said Mrs. Jarley, in her exhibition tones, as Nell touched a +figure, "is an unfortunate maid-of-honor 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, +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 curved, 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. So well did Nell +profit by her instructions, that at the end of a couple of hours, she +was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, and +perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors, and Mrs. Jarley +was not slow to express her admiration at this happy result. + +In the midst of the various devices used later for attracting visitors +to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The cart in which the +Brigand usually made his perambulations, being gayly dressed with flags +and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, Nell sat beside him, +decorated with artificial flowers, and rode slowly through the town +every morning, dispersing hand-bills 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, became a mere secondary consideration, and important only as +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 inclosures of nuts +and apples at the wax-work door. + +This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs. Jarley, who, lest Nell +should become too cheap, 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. + +Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found the lady of +the caravan a very kind and considerate person indeed. 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, Nell had no cause for anxiety until one holiday +evening, when they went out together for a walk. They had been closely +confined for some days, and the weather being warm, had strolled a long +distance, when they were caught in a most terrific thunder-shower, from +which they sought refuge in a roadside tavern, where some men sat +playing cards with a pile of silver money between them. When the old +man's eye lighted upon them, the child saw with alarm that his whole +appearance underwent a complete change. His face was flushed and eager, +his breath came short and quick, and the hand he laid upon her arm +trembled so violently, that she shook beneath its grasp. To his frenzied +appeal for money, Nell repeated a firm refusal, but he was insistent. + +"Give me the money," he exclaimed--"I must have it. There there--that's +my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child, never fear!" + +She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it, and hastened to +the other side of the screen where the two men were playing. Almost +immediately they invited him to join their game, whereupon, throwing +Nell's purse down upon the table, he gathered up the cards as a miser +would clutch at gold. The child sat by and watched the game in a perfect +agony of fear, 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. + +The storm had raged for full three hours, when at length the play came +to an end. Nell's little purse lay empty, and still the old man sat +poring over the cards until the child laid her arm upon his shoulder, +telling him that it was near midnight. + +Now Nell had still the piece of gold, and considering the lateness of +the hour, and into what a state of consternation they would throw Mrs. +Jarley by knocking her up at that hour, proposed to her grandfather that +they stay where they were for the night. As they would leave very early +in the morning, the child was anxious to pay for their entertainment +before they retired, 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 out secretly, and following the landlord into the bar, +tendered it to him there. She was returning, when she fancied she saw a +figure gliding in at the door. There was only a 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, she +felt that she had been watched. She was still thinking of this, when a +girl came to light her to bed. + +It was a great gloomy house, which the flaring candles seemed to make +yet more gloomy, and the child did not feel comfortable when she was +left alone. She could not help thinking of the figure stealing through +the passage downstairs. At last a broken and fitful sleep stole upon +her. A deeper slumber followed this--and then--What! That figure in the +room! A figure was there, it crouched and slunk along, stealing round +the bed. She had no voice to cry for help, no power to move,--on it +came--silently and stealthily to the bed's head. There it remained, +motionless as she. At length, it busied its hands in something, and she +heard the chink of money. Then it dropped upon its hands and knees, and +crawled away. It reached the door at last, the steps creaked beneath its +noiseless tread, and it was gone. + +The first impulse of the child was not to be alone--and with no +consciousness of having moved, she gained the door. Once in her +grandfather's room, she would be safe. An idea flashed suddenly upon +her--what if the figure should enter there, and have a design upon the +old man's life? She turned faint and sick. She saw it creeping in front +of her. It went in. 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 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. + +With steps more unsteady than those with which she had approached the +room, the child groped her way back into her own chamber. The terror +which she had lately felt was nothing compared with that which now +oppressed her. The grey-haired 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 far more dreadful than anything her wildest fancy +could have suggested. The feeling which beset her was one of uncertain +horror. She had no fear of the dear old grandfather, but the man she had +seen that night seemed like another creature in his shape. 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! + +She sat thinking of these things, until she felt it would be a relief to +hear his voice, or if he were asleep, even to see him, and so she stole +down the passage again. Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly +on his bed, fast asleep. 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, softly kissing 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. 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. Upon searching her pocket on the following +morning she found her money was all gone--not a sixpence remained. + +"Grandfather," she said in a tremulous voice, after they had walked +about a mile on their road in silence, "Do you think they are honest +people at the house yonder? I ask because I lost some money last +night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by some one 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--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. It was not the lightest part of +her sorrow that this was done for her. + +"Let me persuade you, dear grandfather," she said earnestly, "Oh, do let +me persuade you to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no +fortune but the fortune we pursue together. Only remember what we have +been since that bright morning when we turned our backs upon that +unhappy house for the last time," continued Nell. "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, and +walked on, looking as if he were painfully trying to collect his +thoughts. Once she saw tears in his eyes. When they 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 by degrees +settled down into his usual quiet way, and suffered her to lead him +where she would. + +As Nell had anticipated, they found Mrs. Jarley was not yet out of bed, +and that although she had suffered some uneasiness on their account, she +had felt sure that being overtaken by the storm, they had sought the +nearest shelter for the night. And as they sat down to breakfast, she +requested Nell to go that morning to Miss Monflather's Boarding and Day +School to present its principal with a parcel of new bills, as her +establishment had yet sent but half-a-dozen representatives to see the +stupendous wax-work collection. Nell's expedition met with no success, +to Mrs. Jarley's great indignation, and Nell would have been +disappointed herself at its failure, had she not had anxieties of a +deeper kind to occupy her thoughts. + +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, she +sat up alone until he returned--penniless, broken spirited, and +wretched, but still hotly bent upon his infatuation. + +"Give me money," he said wildly, "I must have money, Nell. It shall be +paid thee back with gallant interest one day, but all the money which +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 burned him, +and put him perhaps beyond recovery. Distracted by these thoughts, +tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever he was absent, and +dreading alike his stay and his return, the color forsook her cheek, her +eyes grew dim, and her heart was oppressed and heavy. + +One evening, wandering alone not far from home, the child came suddenly +upon a gypsy camp, and looking at the group of men around the fire saw +to her horror and dismay that one was her grandfather. The others she +recognized as the card-players at the public-house on the eventful night +of the storm. Drawing near, where she could listen unseen, she heard +their conversation; heard them obtain her grandfather's promise to rob +Mrs. Jarley of the tin box in which she kept her savings--and to play a +game of cards with them, with its contents for stakes. + +"God be merciful to us!" cried the child, "and help us in this trying +hour! What shall I do to save him?" + +The remainder of the conversation related merely to the execution of +their project, after which the old man shook hands with his tempters, +and withdrew. Then Nell crept away, fled home as quickly as she could, +and threw herself upon her bed, distracted. The first idea that flashed +upon her mind was instant flight. Then she remembered that the crime was +not to be committed until next night, and there was time for resolving +what to do. Then she was distracted with a horrible fear that he might +be committing it at that moment. She stole to the room where the money +was, and looked in. God be praised! he was not there, and Mrs. Jarley +was sleeping soundly. She went back to her own room, and tried to +prepare herself for bed, but who could sleep--sleep! 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, +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. "A dreadful, horrible +dream! I have had it once before. It is a dream of gray-haired men like +you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing the 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. We must +fly. There is no time to lose;" 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. +Nothing but flight can save us. Up!" + +The old man arose, 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. 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, his staff too, and then she led +him forth. + +Through the streets their trembling feet passed quickly, and at last the +child looked back upon the sleeping town, on the far-off river, 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. Her +momentary weakness passed, she again summoned the resolution to keep +steadily in view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and +crime, and that her grandfather's preservation depended solely on her +firmness. While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to shrink and cower down +before her, 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. "I have saved him," she thought, "in all +distresses and dangers 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, +would have filled her with sorrow and regret. But now, all other +considerations were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties, and in +the desperation of their condition. + +In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate +face where thoughtful care already mingled with a 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. The night +crept on apace, the moon went down and when the sun had climbed 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, and they slept side by side. A +confusion of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her, and she +discovered a man of rough appearance standing over her, while his +companions were looking on from a canal-boat which had come close to the +bank while she was sleeping. The man spoke to Nell, asking what was the +matter, and where she and her grandfather were going. Nell faltered, +pointing at hazard toward the west--and upon the man inquiring if she +meant a certain town which he named, Nell, to avoid more questioning, +said "Yes, that was the place." After asking some other questions, he +mounted one of the horses towing the boat, which at once went on. +Presently it stopped again, and the man beckoned to Nell: "You may go +with us if you like," he said. "We're going to the same place." + +The child hesitated for one moment. Thinking that the men whom she had +seen with her grandfather might perhaps in their eagerness for the +booty, follow them, and regain their influence over him, and that if +they went on the canal-boat all traces of them must be surely +lost--accepted the offer. Before she had any more time for +consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, gliding smoothly +down the canal, through the bright water. + +They did not reach their destination until the following morning, and +Nell was glad indeed when the trip was ended, for the noisy rugged +fellows on the boat were rough enough to make her heart palpitate for +fear, but though they quarrelled among themselves, they were civil +enough to their two passengers; and at length the boat floated into its +destination. The men were occupied directly, and the child and her +grandfather, after waiting in vain to thank them, or ask whither they +should go, passed out into a crowded noisy street of a manufacturing +village, and stood, in the pouring rain, distressed and confused. +Evening came on. They were still wandering up and down, bewildered by +the hurry they beheld, but had no part in. Shivering with the cold and +damp, ill in body, and sick to death at heart, the child needed her +utmost resolution to creep along. No prospect of relief appearing, they +retraced their steps to the wharf, hoping to be allowed to sleep on +board the boat that night. But here again they were disappointed, for +the gate was closed. + +"Why did you bring me here?" asked 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, +"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, +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?" + +Wandering on, they took shelter in an old doorway from which the figure +of a man came forth, who, touched with the misery of their situation, +and with Nell's drenched condition, offered them such lodging as he had +at his command, in the great foundry where he was employed. He led them +through the bewildering sights and deafening sounds of the huge +building, to his furnace, and there spread Nell's little cloak upon a +heap of ashes, and showing her where to hang her outer clothes to dry, +signed to her and the old man to lie down and sleep. The warmth of her +bed, combined with her great fatigue, caused the tumult of the place to +lull the child to sleep, and the old man was stretched beside her, as +she lay and dreamed. On the following morning her friend shared his +breakfast with the child and her grandfather, and parting with them left +in Nell's hand two 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? + +With an intense longing for pure air and open country, they toiled +slowly on, the child walking with extreme difficulty, for the pains that +racked her joints were of no common severity, and every exertion +increased them. But they wrung from her no complaint, as the two +proceeded slowly on, clearing the town in course of time. They slept +that night with nothing between them and the sky, amid the horrors of a +manufacturing suburb, and who shall tell the terrors of that night to +the young wandering child. + +And yet she had no fear for herself, for she was past it, but put up a +prayer for the old man. A penny loaf was all that they had had that day. +It was very little, but even hunger was forgotten in the strange +tranquillity that crept over her senses. So very weak and spent she felt +as she lay down, 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. Morning came--much weaker, yet the child made no complaint--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. Objects appeared more dim, the noise less, the +path more 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. + +They were dragging themselves along toward evening and the child felt +that the time was close at hand when she could bear no more. Before them +she saw a traveller reading from a book which he carried. + +It was not an easy matter to come up with him, and beseech his aid, for +he walked fast. 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 faintly to implore his help. + +He turned his head. Nell clapped her hands together, uttered a wild +shriek, and fell senseless at his feet. It was no other than the poor +schoolmaster. Scarcely less moved and surprised than the child herself, +he stood for a moment, silent and confounded by the unexpected +apparition, without even presence of mind to raise her from the ground. +But, quickly recovering his self-possession, and dropping on one knee +beside her, he endeavored to restore her to herself. + +"She is quite exhausted," he said, glancing upward into the old man's +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 bore her away at his utmost +speed to a small inn within sight. + +The landlady came running in, with hot brandy and water, with which and +other restoratives, the child was so far recovered as to be able to +thank them in a faint voice. Without suffering her to speak another +word, the woman carried her off to bed, and after having been made warm +and comfortable, she had a visit from the doctor himself, who ordered +rest and nourishment. As Nell evinced extraordinary uneasiness on being +apart from her grandfather, he took his supper with her. Finding her +still restless on this head, they made him up a bed in an inner room, to +which he presently retired. The key of this chamber happening 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. + +In the morning the child was better, but so weak that she would at least +require a day's rest and careful nursing before she could proceed upon +her journey. The schoolmaster decided to remain also, and that evening +visited Nell in her room. His frank kindness, and the affectionate +earnestness of his speech and manner, gave the child a confidence in +him. She told him all--that they had no friend or relative--and that she +sought a home in some remote place, where the temptation before which +her grandfather had fallen would never enter, and her late sorrows and +distresses could have no place. + +The schoolmaster heard her with astonishment, and with admiration for +the heroism and patience of one so young. He then told her that he had +been appointed clerk and schoolmaster to a village a long way off, at +five-and-thirty pounds a year, and that he was on his way there now. He +concluded by saying that she and her grandfather must accompany him, and +that he would endeavor to find them some occupation by which they +could subsist. + +Accordingly next evening they travelled on, with Nell comfortably +bestowed in a stage-wagon 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. + +It was a fine clear autumn morning, when they came upon the village of +their destination, and every bit of scenery, and stick and stone looked +beautiful to the child who had passed through such scenes of poverty and +horror. Leaving Nell and her grandfather upon the church porch, the +schoolmaster hurried off to present a letter, and to make inquiries +concerning his new position. After a long time he appeared, jingling a +bundle of rusty keys, and quite breathless with pleasure and haste. As a +result of his exertions on their behalf, Nell and her grandfather were +to occupy a small house next to the one apportioned to him. Having +disburdened himself of this great surprise, the schoolmaster then told +Nell that the house which was henceforth to be hers, had been occupied +by an old person who kept the keys of the church, opened and closed it +for the services, and showed it to strangers; that she had died not many +weeks ago, and nobody having yet been found to fill the office, he had +made bold to ask for it for her and her grandfather. As a result of his +testimony to their ability and honesty, they were already appointed to +the vacant post. + +"There's a small allowance of money," said the schoolmaster. "It is not +much, but 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!" + +To make their dwellings habitable, and as full of comfort as they +could, was now their pleasant care, and in a short time each had a +cheerful fire crackling on the hearth. Nell, busily plying her needle, +repaired the tattered window-hangings, and made them whole and decent. +The schoolmaster swept the ground before the door, trimmed the long +grass, trained the ivy and creeping plants, and gave to the outer walls +a cheery air of home. The old man lent his aid to both, went here and +there on little patient services and was happy. Neighbors too, 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 all +too soon. + +They took their supper together, and when they had finished it, drew +round the fire and 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. + +When every sound was hushed, and her grandfather sleeping, the child +lingered before the dying embers, and thought of her past fortunes as if +they had been a dream, and the deep and thoughtful feelings which +absorbed her, gave her no sensation of terror or alarm. A change had +been gradually stealing over her, in the time of her loneliness and +sorrow. With failing strength and heightened resolution, there had +sprung up a purified and altered mind; there had grown in her bosom +those blessed hopes and thoughts which are the portion of few but the +weak and drooping. There were none to see the frail figure as it glided +from the fire and leaned pensively at the casement; none but the stars +to look into the upturned face and read its history. + +It was long before the child closed the window, and approached her +bed--but when she did--it was to sink into a sleep filled with sweet and +happy dreams. + +With the morning came the renewal of yesterday's labors, the revival of +its pleasant thoughts, the restoration of its energies, cheerfulness and +hope. They worked gayly until noon, and then visited the clergyman, who +received them kindly, and at once showed an interest in Nell. 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 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 night," said the old +gentleman, laying his hand upon her head, "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 the solemn ruins." + +After more kind words, they withdrew, and from that time Nell's heart +was filled with a serene and peaceful joy, and she occupied herself with +such light tasks as were hers to accomplish, and the peace of the simple +village moved her deeply, while more and more she grew to love the old +and silent chapel. + +She sat down one day in this old and silent place, among the stark +figures on the tombs and gazing round with a feeling of awe tempered +with calm delight, felt that now she was happy and at rest. She took a +Bible and read; then laying it down, thought of the summer days and +bright springtime that would come--of the rays of sun that would fall in +aslant upon the sleeping forms--of the song of birds, and growth of buds +and blossoms out of doors--What if the spot awakened thoughts of death? +Die who would, 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, and climbed to its turret-top. Oh! the glory of the +sudden burst of light; the freshness of the fields and woods, meeting +the bright blue sky; everything so beautiful and happy! It was like +passing from death to life; it was drawing nearer heaven. And yet the +dim old chapel had for her a depth of fascination which the outer world +did not possess. Again that day, twice, she stole back to the chapel, +and read from the same book, or indulged in the same quiet train of +thought. Even when night fell, she sat like one rooted to the spot until +they found her there and took her home. She looked pale but very happy, +but as the schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek, he thought he +felt a tear upon his face. + +From a village bachelor, who took great interest in the beautiful child, +Nell soon learned the histories connected with every tomb and +gravestone, with every gallery, wall, and crypt in the dim old church. +These she treasured in her mind, dwelling on them often in her thoughts +and repeating them to those sightseers who cared to hear them. Her +duties were not arduous, but she did not regain her strength, and in her +grandfather's mind sprang up a solicitude about her which never left +him. From the time of his awakening to her weakness, never did he have +any care for himself, any thought of his own comfort, which could +distract his attention from the gentle object of his love and care, He +would follow her up and down, waiting till she should tire, and lean +upon his arm--he would sit opposite to her, 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 night to listen to her breathing in her +sleep. 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 upon the poor old man. + +Weeks crept on--sometimes the child, exhausted, would pass whole +evenings on a couch beside the fire. At such times, the schoolmaster +would read aloud to her, and seldom an evening passed but the bachelor +came in and took his turn at reading. During the daytime the child was +mostly out of doors, and all the strangers who came to see the church, +praised the child's beauty and sense, and all the neighbors, and all the +villagers, and the very schoolboys grew to have a fondness for +poor Nell. + +Meanwhile, in that busy world which Nell and her grandfather had left +behind them so many months before, there had appeared a stranger, who +gave up all his time and energy to endeavoring to trace the wanderers. +He was Nell's grandfather's younger brother, who had for many years been +a traveller in distant lands, with almost no information of his brother. +His thoughts began to revert constantly to the days when they were boys +together, and obeying the impulse which impelled him, he hastened home, +arriving one evening at his brother's door, only to find the +wanderers gone. + +By dint of ceaseless watchfulness and vigilance, at last he gained a +clue to their retreat, and lost no time in following it up, taking with +him Kit Nubbles, the errand-boy at the Shop in old days, who, though +now in the employ of kind Mr. Garland, was still loyal to the memory of +his beloved Miss Nelly--and only too grateful to be allowed to go in +search of her, with the stranger whom she would not recognize. So +together they journeyed to the peaceful village, where Nell and her +grandfather were hidden, Kit carrying with him Nell's bird in his own +cage. She would be glad to see it, he knew, but alas for Kit--they found +sweet Nell in the sleep that knows no waking on this our earth. + +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 favor. "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 forever. + +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, there had been the same mild lovely look. So shall we +know the angels in their majesty, after death. + +The old man 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 paths she had trodden, +as it were, but yesterday--could know her never more. + +She had been dead two days. 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 fervor. 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 arms about his neck. They did +not know that she was dead, at first. + +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. + +They carried her to an 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 colored 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. + +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 she had loved to linger in the +church when all was quiet, and even to climb the tower stair with no +more light than that of the moon's 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. Then, when the dusk of evening had come +on, 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 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 to defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of +light to heaven. + + + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON + + + +[Illustration: THE INFANT PHENOMENON] + + + +THE INFANT PHENOMENON + +Mr. Vincent Crummles was manager of a theatrical company, and also the +head of a most remarkable family indeed, each member of which was gifted +with an extraordinary combination of talent and attractiveness, and most +remarkable of all the family was the Infant Phenomenon. + +After Nicholas Nickleby, teacher at Dotheboys Hall, quitted that +wretched institution in disgrace, because he had resented injuries +inflicted upon the scholars in general, and upon the poor half-starved, +ill-used drudge, Smike, in particular, Smike stole away from the place +where he had been so cruelly used, to follow his defender, and the two +journeyed on together towards Portsmouth, resting for the night at a +roadside inn some miles from their destination. At the inn they met Mr. +Crummles who, upon discovering them to be destitute of money, and +desirous of obtaining employment as soon as possible, offered them both +engagements in his company, which offer, after a brief deliberation, +Nicholas decided to accept, until something more to his liking should be +available. + +Accordingly they journeyed to Portsmouth, together with Mr. Crummles and +the master Crummleses, and accompanied the manager through the town on +his way to the theatre. + +They passed a great many bills pasted against the wall, and displayed +in windows, wherein the names of Mr. Vincent Crummles, Mrs. Vincent +Crummles, Master Crummles, Master Peter Crummles, and Miss Crummles, +were printed in large letters, and everything else in very small +letters; and turning at length into an entry in which was a strong smell +of orange-peel and lamp-oil, with an under-current of saw-dust, groping +their way through a dark passage, and descending a step or two, emerged +upon the stage of the Portsmouth theatre. + +It was not very light, and as Nicholas looked about him, ceiling, pit, +boxes, gallery, orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind,--all +looked coarse, cold, gloomy and wretched. + +"Is this a theatre?" whispered Smike, in amazement; "I thought it was a +blaze of light and finery." + +"Why, so it is," replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; "But not by +day, Smike,--not by day." + +At this moment the manager's voice was heard, introducing the +new-comers, under the stage names of Johnson and Digby, to Mrs. +Crummles, a portly lady in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet +dangling by the strings, and with a quantity of hair braided in a large +festoon over each temple; who greeted them with great cordiality. + +While they were chatting with her, there suddenly bounded on to the +stage from some mysterious inlet, a little girl in a dirty white frock, +with tucks up to the knees, short trousers, sandalled shoes, white +spencer, pink gauze bonnet, green veil and curl papers, who turned a +pirouette, then looking off in the opposite wing, shrieked, bounded +forward to within six inches of the footlights, and fell into a +beautiful attitude of terror, as a shabby gentleman in an old pair of +buff slippers came in at one powerful slide, and chattering his teeth +fiercely, brandished a walking-stick. + +"They are going through, 'The Indian Savage and the Maiden,'" said Mrs. +Crummles. + +"Oh!" said the manager, "the little ballet interlude. Very good. Go on. +A little this way, if you please, Mr. Johnson. That'll do. Now!" + +The manager clapped his hands as a signal to proceed, and the Savage, +becoming ferocious, made a slide towards the Maiden; but the Maiden +avoided him in six twirls, and came down, at the end of the last one, +upon the very points of her toes. This seemed to make some impression +upon the Savage, for after a little more ferocity and chasing of the +Maiden into corners, he began to relent, and stroked his face several +times with his right thumb and forefingers, thereby intimating that he +was struck with admiration of the Maiden's beauty. Acting upon the +impulse of this passion, he began to hit himself severe thumps in the +chest, and to exhibit other indications of being desperately in love, +which, being rather a prosy proceeding, was very likely the cause of the +Maiden's falling asleep; whether it was or no, asleep she did fall, +sound as a church, on a sloping bank, and the Savage, perceiving it, +leant his left ear on his left hand, and nodded sideways, to intimate to +all whom it might concern that she _was_ asleep, and no shamming. Being +left to himself, the Savage had a dance all alone. Just as he left off, +the Maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance +all alone too--such a dance that the Savage looked on in ecstacy all the +while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighboring tree some +botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it +to the Maiden, who at first wouldn't have it, but on the Savage shedding +tears, relented. Then the Savage jumped for joy; then the Maiden jumped +for rapture at the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage; then the Savage +and the Maiden danced violently together, and finally the Savage +dropped down on one knee, and the Maiden stood on one leg upon his other +knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state +of pleasing uncertainty whether she would ultimately marry the Savage, +or return to her friends. + +"Bravo!" cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. +"Beautiful!" + +"This, sir," said Mr. Vincent Crummles, bringing the Maiden forward, +"This is the Infant Phenomenon--Miss Ninetta Crummles." + +"Your daughter?" inquired Nicholas. + +"My daughter--my daughter," replied Mr. Crummles; "the idol of every +place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this +girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town +in England." + +"I am not surprised at that," said Nicholas; "she must be quite a +natural genius." + +"Quite a--!" Mr. Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to +describe the Infant Phenomenon. "I'll tell you what, sir," he said; "the +talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, +sir--seen--to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your +mother, my dear." + +"May I ask how old she is?" inquired Nicholas. + +"You may, sir," replied Mr. Crummles, "She is ten years of age, sir," + +"Not more?" + +"Not a day." + +"Dear me," said Nicholas, "it's extraordinary." + +It was; for the Infant Phenomenon certainly looked older, and had +moreover, been precisely the same age for certainly five years. But she +had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance +of gin and water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps +this system of training had produced in the Infant Phenomenon these +additional phenomena. + +When this dialogue was concluded, another member of the company, Mr. +Folair, joined Nicholas, and confided to him the contempt of the entire +troupe for the Infant Phenomenon. "Infant Humbug sir!" he said. "There +isn't a female child of common sharpness in a charity school that +couldn't do better than that. She may thank her stars she was born a +manager's daughter." + +"You seem to take it to heart," observed Nicholas with a smile. + +"Yes, by Jove, and well I may," said Mr. Folair testily "isn't it enough +to make a man crusty, to see the little sprawler put up in the best +business every night, and actually keeping money out of the house by +being forced down the people's throats while other people are passed +over? Why, I know of fifteen-and-sixpence that came to Southampton last +month to see me dance the Highland Fling, and what's the consequence? +I've never been put up at it since--never once--while the 'Infant +Phenomenon' has been grinning through artificial flowers at five people +and a baby in the pit, and two boys in the gallery, every night." + +From these bitter remarks, it may be inferred that there were two ways +of looking at the performances of the Infant Phenomenon, but as jealousy +is well known to be unjust in its criticism, and as the Infant was too +highly praised by her own band of admirers to be much affected by such +remarks, if any of them reached her ears, there is no evidence that her +joy was diminished by reason of the complaints of captious +fault-finders. + +At the first evening performance which Nicholas witnessed, he found the +various members of the company very much changed; by reason of false +hair, false color, false calves, false muscles, they had become +different beings; the stage also was set in the most elaborate +fashion,--in short everything was on a scale of the utmost splendor and +preparation. + +Nicholas was standing contemplating the first scene when the manager +accosted him. + +"Been in front to-night?" said Mr. Crummles. + +"No," replied Nicholas, "not yet. I am going to see the play." + +"We've had a pretty good Let," said Mr. Crummles. "Four front places in +the centre, and the whole of the stage box." + +"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas; "a family, I suppose?" + +"Yes," replied Mr. Crummles. "It's an affecting thing. There are six +children, and they never come unless the Phenomenon plays." + +It would have been difficult for any party to have visited the theatre +on a night when the Phenomenon did _not_ play, inasmuch as she always +sustained one, and not uncommonly two or three characters, every night; +but Nicholas, sympathizing with the feelings of a father, refrained from +hinting at this trifling circumstance, and Mr. Crummies continued: + +"Six,--pa and ma eight,--aunt nine,--governess ten,--grandfather and +grandmother, twelve. Then, there's the footman who stands outside with a +bag of oranges and a jug of toast-and-water, and sees the play for +nothing through the little pane of glass in the box-door--it's cheap at +a guinea; they gain by taking a box." + +"I wonder you allow so many," observed Nicholas. + +"There's no help for it," replied Mr. Crummles; "it's always expected +in the country. If there are six children, six people come to hold them +in their laps. Ring in the orchestra, Grudden!" + +It was Mr. Crummles' habit to give a benefit performance, commonly +called a "bespeak," to any member of his company fortunate enough to +have either a birthday or any other anniversary of sufficient importance +to challenge attention on the posters, and not long after Nicholas +entered the company, this honor fell to the lot of one of the prominent +actresses, Miss Snevellicci. Mr. Crummles then informed Nicholas that +there was some work for him to do before that event took place. + +"There's a little canvassing takes place on these occasions," said Mr. +Crummles, "among the patrons, and the fact is, Snevellicci has had so +many bespeaks in this place that she wants an attraction. She had one +when her stepmother died, and when her uncle died; and Mrs. Crummles and +myself have had them on the anniversary of the Phenomenon's birthday, +and our wedding-day, and occasions of that description; so that, in +fact, it is hard to get a good one. Now, won't you help this poor girl, +Mr. Johnson, by calling with her to-morrow morning upon one or two of +the principal people?"--asked the manager in a persuasive tone, adding, +"The Infant will accompany her. There will not be the smallest +impropriety, sir. It would be of material service--the gentleman from +London--author of the new piece--actor in the new piece--first +appearance on any boards--it would lead to a great bespeak, +Mr. Johnson." + +The idea was extremely distasteful to Nicholas; but out of kindness to +Miss Snevellicci, he reluctantly consented to be one of the canvassing +party, and accordingly the next morning, sallied forth with Miss +Snevellicci and the Infant Phenomenon. + +The Phenomenon was rather a troublesome companion, for first the right +sandal came down, and then the left, and these mischances being +repaired, one leg of the little white trousers was discovered to be +longer than the other; then the little green parasol with a broad fringe +border and no handle, which she bore in her hand, was dropped down an +iron grating, and only fished up again by dint of much exertion. +However, it was impossible to scold her, as she was the manager's +daughter, so Nicholas took it all in perfect good humor and walked on, +with Miss Snevellicci, arm in arm, on one side, and the offending infant +on the other. + +At the first house they visited, after having a long conversation +concerning the stage, and its relation to life, they at length disposed +of two boxes, and retired, glad that the conference was at an end. + +At the next house they were in great glory, for there resided the six +children who had been enraptured with the Phenomenon, and who, being +called down from the nursery to be treated with a private view of that +young lady, proceeded to poke their fingers into her eyes, and tread +upon her toes, and show her many other little attentions peculiar to +their time of life. + +"I shall certainly persuade Mr. Borum to take a private box," said the +lady of the house, after a most gracious reception; "Augustus, you +naughty boy, leave the little girl alone." This was addressed to a young +gentleman who was pinching the Phenomenon from behind, apparently with a +view to ascertaining whether she was real. + +"I am sure you must be very tired," said the mamma, turning to Miss +Snevellicci. "I cannot think of allowing you to go without first taking +a glass of wine. Fie, Charlotte, I am ashamed of you: Miss Lane, my +dear, pray see to the children." + +This entreaty addressed to the governess, was rendered necessary by the +behavior of the youngest Miss Borum, who, having filched the +Phenomenon's little green parasol, was now carrying it bodily off, while +the distracted Infant looked helplessly on, and presently the poor child +was really in a fair way to be torn limb from limb, for two strong +little boys, one holding on by each of her hands, were dragging her in +different directions as a trial of strength. However, at this juncture +Miss Lane rescued the unhappy victim, who was presently taken away, +after sustaining no more serious damage than a flattening of the pink +gauze bonnet, and a rather extensive creasing of the white frock and +trousers. Her companions were thankful not only when the call was ended, +but when the whole trying morning, with its series of visits, was over. + +The benefit performance was a great success, and the new actor made such +a decided hit on that night and the succeeding ones, that Mr. Crummies +prolonged his stay in Portsmouth for a fortnight beyond the days +allotted to it, during which time Nicholas attracted so many people to +the theatre that the manager finally decided upon giving him a benefit, +calculating that it would be a promising speculation. From it Nicholas +realized no less a sum than twenty pounds, which, added to what he had +earned before, made him feel quite rich and comfortable. + +At that time he received a letter containing news of his sister in +London, and a danger that menaced her, which made him prepare to leave +Portsmouth without an hour's delay, if he should be summoned. + +Accordingly he decided to acquaint his manager with the possibility of +his withdrawal from the company, and hastened to the green-room for that +purpose, where he found Mrs. Crummies in full regal costume, with the +Phenomenon as the Maiden, in her maternal arms. He broke the news to +the group as gently as possible, but it was received with great dismay, +and there were both protestations and tears, while the Phenomenon, being +of an affectionate nature and moreover excitable, raised a loud cry, and +was soothed with extreme difficulty, showing that the child's heart was +in the right place, notwithstanding the constant strain upon her +emotions from being so often obliged to simulate unnatural ones. + +Mr. Crummles was no sooner acquainted with the news than he evinced many +tokens of grief, but finding Nicholas determined in his purpose, at once +suggested a grand farewell performance, to be advertised as a brilliant +display of fireworks. + +"That would be rather expensive," suggested Nicholas dryly. + +"Eighteen-pence would do it," said Mr. Crummles; "You on the top of a +pair of steps with the Phenomenon in an attitude; 'FAREWELL,' on a +transparency behind; and nine people at the wings with a squib in each +hand--all the dozen and a half going off at once--it would be very +grand--awful from the front, quite awful." + +As Nicholas appeared by no means impressed with the idea, but laughed +heartily at it, Mr. Crummles abandoned the project, and gloomily +observed that they must make up the best bill they could, with combats +and hornpipes, and so stick to the legitimate drama. + +Next day the posters appeared, and the public were informed that Mr. +Johnson would have the honor of making his last appearance that evening, +and that an early application for places was requested, in consequence +of the extraordinary overflow attendant on his performances. + +Upon entering the theatre that night, Nicholas found all the company in +a state of extreme excitement, and Mr. Crummles at once informed him in +an agitated voice that there was a London manager in one of the boxes. + +"It's the Phenomenon, depend upon it, sir," said Crummies. "I have not +the smallest doubt it's the fame of the Phenomenon. She shall have ten +pound a week, Johnson; she shall not appear on the London boards for a +farthing less. They shan't engage her either, unless they engage Mrs. +Crummles too; twenty pound a week for the pair, or I'll throw in myself +and the two boys, and they shall have the family for thirty. Thirty +pound a week. It's too cheap, Johnson. It's dirt cheap." + +Every individual member of the company had in the same manner decided +that it was his or her attractions that had drawn the great man's +attention to the Portsmouth theatre, and each one secretly decided upon +the amount of inducement necessary to persuade him or her to make a new +engagement. Everybody played to the stranger, everybody sang to him, +everything was done for his exclusive benefit, and it was a cruel blow +to the general expectations when he was discovered to be asleep, and +shortly after that he woke up and went away: in consequence of which, +the feelings of the company, collectively and severally, underwent a +severe reaction. Nicholas alone, had no feeling whatsoever on the +subject, except of amusement. He went through his part as briskly as he +could, then took Smike's arm and walked home to bed. + +With the post next morning came the letter he had been expecting, +calling him instantly to London, and he at once hurried off to say +farewell to Mr. Crummles. His news was received with keen regret by that +gentleman, who, always mindful of theatrical effects followed Nicholas +even to the coach itself. As that vehicle stood in the open street, +ready to start, and Nicholas was about to enter it, he was not a little +astonished to find himself suddenly clutched in a violent embrace which +nearly took him off his legs; while Mr. Crummles' voice exclaimed, "It +is he--my friend, my friend!" + +"Bless my heart," cried Nicholas, struggling in the manager's arms, +"What are you about?" + +The manager made no reply, but strained him to his breast again, +exclaiming, "Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!" + +In fact Mr. Crummles, who could never lose any opportunity for +professional display, had turned out for the express purpose of taking a +public farewell of Nicholas, and to render it the more imposing, the +elder Master Crummles was going through a similar ceremony with Smike; +while Master Percy Crummles, with a second-hand cloak worn theatrically +over his left shoulder, stood by, in attitude of an attendant officer +waiting to convey two victims to the scaffold. + +The lookers-on laughed very heartily, and as it was well to put a good +face upon the matter, Nicholas laughed too, when he had succeeded in +disengaging himself; and rescuing the astonished Smike, climbed up to +the coach-roof after him, waving farewell, as they rolled away. + +Some years later, when Nicholas was residing in London, under very +different circumstances from those of his Portsmouth experience, and +with a very different occupation; walking home one evening, he stood +outside a minor theatre which he had to pass, and found himself poring +over a huge play-bill which announced in large letters; + +_Positively the last appearance of Mr. Vincent Crummles, of Provincial +Celebrity!!!_ + +"Nonsense!" said Nicholas, preparing to resume his walk, then turning +back again, "It can't be,"--but adding on second thoughts--"Surely it +_must_ be the same man. There can't be two Vincent Crummleses." + +The better to settle the question he referred to the bill again, and +finding there was a Baron in the first piece, whose son was enacted by +one Master Crummles, and his nephew by one Master Percy Crummles, and +that, incidental to the piece was a castanet _pas seul_ by the Infant +Phenomenon, he no longer entertained any doubt; and presenting himself +at the stage door at once, sent in a scrap of paper with "Mr. Johnson" +written thereon in pencil, and was presently conducted into the presence +of his former manager. + +Mr. Crummles was unfeignedly glad to see him, and in the course of a +long conversation informed Nicholas that the next morning he and his +were to sail for America, that he had made up his mind to settle there +permanently, in the hope of acquiring some land of his own, which would +support them in their old age, and which they could afterward bequeath +to their children. Nicholas, having highly commended this resolution, +Mr. Crummles imparted such further intelligence relative to their mutual +friends as he thought might prove interesting, and added a hearty +invitation to Nicholas to attend that night a farewell supper, to be +given in their honor at a neighboring tavern. + +This invitation Nicholas instantly accepted, promising to return at the +conclusion of the performances, and availed himself of this interval to +go out and buy a silver snuff-box as a token of remembrance for Mr. +Crummles, also a pair of ear-rings for Mrs. Crummles, a necklace for the +Phenomenon, and a flaming shirt-pin for each of the young gentlemen, +after making which purchases he returned to the theatre, and repaired to +the tavern with Mr. Crummles. + +He was received with great cordiality by those of the party whom he +knew, and with particular joy by Mrs. Crummles, who at once said: "Here +is one whom you know,"--thrusting forward the Phenomenon, in a blue +gauze frock, extensively flounced, and trousers of the same. + +Nicholas stooped down to salute the Phenomenon, and then, supper being +on table, Mrs. Crummles gave her hand to Nicholas and repaired with a +stately step to the repast, followed by the other guests. + +The board being at length cleared of food; and punch, wine, and spirits +being placed upon it, and handed about, speeches were made, and health +drunk to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Crummles and the young Crummleses, after +which ceremony, with many adieus and embraces, the company dispersed. + +Nicholas waited until he was alone with the family, to give his little +presents, and then with honest warmth of feeling said farewell to Mr. +and Mrs. Crummles, the Master Crummleses, and the Infant +Phenomenon,--and history has not chronicled their further career, nor +recorded to what greater heights of popularity the Infant Phenomenon has +since attained. + + + +JENNY WREN + + + +[Illustration: JENNY WREN] + + + +JENNY WREN + +Her real name was Fanny Cleaver, but she had long ago dropped it, and +chosen to bestow upon herself the fanciful appellation of Miss Jenny +Wren, by which title she was known to the entire circle of her friends +and business acquaintances. + +Miss Wren's home was in a certain little street called Church Street, +running out from a certain square called Smith Square, at Millbank, and +there the little lady plied her trade, early and late, having for +companions her father and a lodger, Lizzie Hexam. Her father had once +been a good workman at his own trade, but unfortunately for poor little +Jenny Wren, was so weak in character and so confirmed in bad habits that +she could place no trust in him, and had come to consider herself the +head of the family, and to speak of him as "my child," or "my bad boy," +ordering him about as if he were in truth, a child. + +When Lizzie Hexam's brother and a friend, Bradley Headstone, paid their +first visit to the house on Church Street, they knocked at the door, +which promptly opened and disclosed a child--a dwarf, a girl--sitting on +a little, low, old-fashioned arm-chair, which had a kind of little +working-bench before it. + +"I can't get up," said the child, "because my back's bad and my legs are +queer. But I'm the person of the house." + +"Who else is at home?" asked Charley Hexam, staring? + +"Nobody's at home at present," returned the child, with a glib +assertion of her dignity, "except the person of the house." + +The queer little figure, and the queer, but not ugly little face, with +its bright grey eyes, was so sharp that the sharpness of the manner +seemed unavoidable. + +The person of the house continued the conversation: "Your sister will be +in," she said, "in about a quarter of an hour. I'm very fond of your +sister. Take a seat. And would you please to shut the street door first? +I can't very well do it myself, because my back's so bad and my legs are +so queer." + +They complied, and the little figure went on with its work of gumming or +gluing together pieces of cardboard and thin wood, cut into various +shapes. The scissors and knives upon the bench, showed that the child +herself had cut them; and the bright scraps of velvet and silk and +ribbon also strewn upon the bench showed that when duly stuffed, she was +to cover them smartly. The dexterity of her nimble fingers was +remarkable, and as she brought two thin edges accurately together by +giving them a little bite, she would glance at the visitors out of the +corners of her grey eyes with a look that out-sharpened all her other +sharpness. + +"You can't tell me the name of my trade, I'll be bound," she said. + +"You make pincushions," said Charley. + +"What else do I make?" + +"Penwipers," said his friend. + +"Ha, ha! What else do I make?" + +"You do something," he returned, pointing to a corner of the little +bench, "with straw; but I don't know what." + +"Well done, you!" cried the person of the house. "I only make +pincushions and penwipers, to use up my waste. But my straw really does +belong to my business. Try again. What do I make with my straw?" + +"Dinner-mats?" + +"Dinner-mats! I'll give you a clue to my trade in a game of forfeits. I +love my love with a B because she's beautiful; I hate my love with a B +because she is brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar; and I +treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer and she lives in +Bedlam--now, what do I make with my straw?" + +"Ladies' bonnets?" + +"Fine ladies'," said the person of the house, nodding assent. "Dolls'. +I'm a Doll's dressmaker." + +"I hope it's a good business?" + +The person of the house shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No. +Poorly paid. And I'm often so pressed for time. I had a doll married +last week, and was obliged to work all night. And they take no care of +their clothes, and they never keep to the same fashions a month. I work +for a doll with three daughters. Bless you, she's enough to ruin her +husband!" The person of the house gave a weird little laugh, and gave +them another look but of the corners of her eyes. She had an elfin chin +that was capable of great expression; and whenever she gave this look, +she hitched this chin up, as if her eyes and her chin worked together on +the same wires. + +"Are you always as busy as you are now?" + +"Busier. I'm slack just now. I finished a large mourning order the day +before yesterday. Doll I work for lost a canary bird." + +"Are you alone all day?" asked Bradley Headstone. "Don't any of the +neighboring children--?" + +"Ah," cried the person of the house, with a little scream as if the word +had pricked her. "Don't talk of children. I can't bear children. I know +their tricks and their manners!" She said this with an angry little +shake of her right fist, adding: + +"Always running about and screeching, always playing and fighting, +always skip--skip--skipping on the pavement, and chalking it for their +games! Oh--I know their tricks and their manners!" Shaking the little +fist as before. "And that's not all. Ever so often calling names in +through a person's keyhole, and imitating a person's back and legs. Oh! +_I_ know their tricks and their manners. And I tell you what I'd do to +punish 'em. There's doors under the church in the Square--black doors +leading into black vaults. Well! I'd open one of those doors, and I'd +cram 'em all in, and then I'd lock the door and through the keyhole I'd +blow in pepper." + +"What would be the good of blowing in pepper?" asked Charley Hexam. + +"To set 'em sneezing," said the person of the house, "and make their +eyes water. And when they were all sneezing and inflamed, I'd mock 'em +through the keyhole. Just as they, with their tricks and their manners, +mock a person through a person's keyhole!" + +An emphatic shake of her little fist, seemed to ease the mind of the +person of the house; for she added with recovered composure, "No, no, +no. No children for me. Give me grown-ups." + +It was difficult to guess the age of this strange creature, for her poor +figure furnished no clue to it, and her face was at once so young and so +old. Twelve, or at the most thirteen, might be near the mark. + +"I always did like grown-ups," she went on, "and always kept company +with them. So sensible. Sit so quiet. Don't go prancing and capering +about! And I mean always to keep among none but grown-ups till I marry. +I suppose I must make up my mind to marry, one of these days!" + +At that moment Lizzie Hexam entered, and the visitors after saying +farewell to the dolls' dressmaker, took Lizzie out with them for a +short walk. + +The person of the house, dolls' dressmaker, and manufacturer of +ornamental pincushions and penwipers, sat in her quaint little low +arm-chair, singing in the dark, until Lizzie came back. + +"Well, Lizzie--Mizzie--Wizzie," said she, breaking off in her song. +"What's the news out of doors?" + +"What's the news indoors?" returned Lizzie playfully, smoothing the +bright long fair hair, which grew very luxuriant and beautiful on the +head of the dolls' dressmaker. It being Lizzie's regular occupation when +they were alone of an evening to brush out and smooth the long fair +hair, she unfastened a ribbon that kept it back while the little +creature was at work, and it fell in a beautiful shower over the poor +shoulders that were much in need of such adorning rain. + +Lizzie then lighted a candle, put the room door and the house door open, +and turned the little low chair and its occupant toward the outer air. +It was a sultry night, and this was a fine weather arrangement when the +day's work was done. To complete it, she seated herself by the side of +the little chair, and protectingly drew under her arm the spare hand +that crept up to her. + +"This is what your loving Jenny Wren calls the best time of the day and +night," said the person of the house; adding, "I have been thinking +to-day what a thing it would be, if I should be able to have your +company till I am married, or at least courted. Because when I'm +courted, I shall make _him_ do some of the things that you do for me. He +couldn't brush my hair like you do, or help me up and downstairs like +you do, and he couldn't do anything like you do; but he could take my +work home, and he could call for orders in his clumsy way. And he shall +too. _I'll_ trot him about, I can tell him!" + +Jenny Wren had her personal vanities--happily for her--and no intentions +were stronger in her breast than the various trials and torments that +were, in the fulness of time, to be inflicted upon "him." + +"Wherever he may happen to be just at present, or whoever he may happen +to be," said Miss Wren, "_I_ know his tricks and his manners, and I give +him warning to look out." + +"Don't you think you're rather hard upon him?" asked her friend smiling, +and smoothing her hair. + +"Not a bit," replied the sage Miss Wren, with an air of vast experience. +"My dear, they don't care for you, those fellows, if you're not hard +upon 'em?" + +In such light and playful conversation, which was the dear delight of +Jenny Wren, they continued until interrupted by Mr. Wrayburn, a friend +of Lizzie's, who fell to talking playfully with Jenny Wren. + +"I think of setting up a doll, Miss Jenny," he said. + +"You had better not," replied the dressmaker. + +"Why not?" + +"You are sure to break it. All you children do." + +"But that makes good for trade, you know, Miss Wren," he returned. + +"I don't know about that," Miss Wren retorted; "but you'd better by half +set up a pen-wiper, and turn industrious, and use it." + +"Why, if we were all as industrious as you, little Busy Body, we should +begin to work as soon as we could crawl, and there would be a +bad thing!" + +"Do you mean," returned the little creature with a flush suffusing her +face, "bad for your backs and your legs?" + +"No, no," said the visitor, shocked at the thought of trifling with her +infirmity. "Bad for business. If we all set to work as soon as we could +use our hands, it would be all over with the dolls' dressmakers. + +"There's something in that," replied Miss Wren, "you have a sort of an +idea in your noddle sometimes!" Then, resting one arm upon the elbow of +her chair, resting her chin upon that hand, and looking vacantly before +her, she said in a changed tone: "Talking of ideas, my Lizzie, I wonder +how it happens that when I am working here all alone in the summer-time, +I smell flowers. This is not a flowery neighborhood. It's anything but +that. And yet as I sit at work, I smell miles of flowers; I smell +rose-leaves till I think I see the rose-leaves lying in heaps, bushels, +on the floor; I smell fallen leaves, till I put down my hand--so--and +expect to make them rustle; I smell the white and the pink May in the +hedges, and all sorts of flowers that I never was among. For I have seen +very few flowers indeed in my life." + +"Pleasant fancies to have, Jenny dear!" said her friend with a glance +toward their visitor, as if she would have asked him whether they were +given the child in compensation for her losses. + +"So I think, Lizzie, when they come to me. And the birds I hear! Oh!" +cried the little creature, holding out her hand and looking upward, "How +they sing!" + +There was something in the face and action for the moment quite inspired +and beautiful. Then the chin dropped musingly upon the hand again. + +"I dare say my birds sing better than other birds, and my flowers smell +better than other flowers. For when I was a little child," in a tone as +though it were ages ago, "the children that I used to see early in the +morning were very different from any others I ever saw. They were not +like me; they were not chilled, anxious, ragged, or beaten; they were +never in pain. They were not like the children of the neighbors; they +never made me tremble all over, by setting up shrill noises; and they +never mocked me. Such numbers of them too! All in white dresses, and +with something shining on the borders, and on their heads, that I have +never been able to imitate with my work, though I know it so well. They +used to come down in long, bright, slanting rows, and say all together, +'Who is this in pain! Who is this in pain!' When I told them who it was, +they answered, 'Come and play with us!' When I said 'I never play! I +can't play,' they swept about me and took me up, and made me light. Then +it was all delicious ease and rest till they laid me down, and said all +together, 'Have patience, and we will come again.' Whenever they came +back, I used to know they were coming before I saw the long bright rows, +by hearing them ask, all together a long way off, 'Who is this in pain! +Who is this in pain!' And I used to cry out, 'Oh my blessed children, +it's poor me. Have pity on me. Take me up and make me light!'" + +By degrees as she progressed in this remembrance, the hand was raised, +the last ecstatic look returned, and she became quite beautiful again. +Having so paused for a moment, silent, with a listening smile upon her +face, she looked round and recalled herself. + +"What poor fun you think me, don't you," she said to the visitor. "You +may well look tired of me. But it's Saturday night, and I won't +detain you." + +"That is to say, Miss Wren," observed the visitor, rather weary of the +person of the house, and quite ready to profit by her hint, "you wish +me to go?" + +"Well, it's Saturday night," she returned, "and my child's coming home. +And my child is a troublesome, bad child, and costs me a world of +scolding. I would rather you didn't see my child." + +"A doll?" said the visitor, not understanding, and looking for an +explanation. + +But Lizzie, with her lips only, shaping the two words, "_Her father_," +he took his leave immediately, and presently the weak and shambling +figure of the child's father stumbled in, to be expostulated with, and +scolded, and treated as the person of the house always treated him, when +he came home in such a pitiable condition. + +While they ate their supper, Lizzie tried to bring the child round again +to that prettier and better state. But the charm was broken. The dolls' +dressmaker had become a little quaint shrew, of the world, worldly; of +the earth, earthy. + +Poor dolls' dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should +have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the +eternal road and asking guidance! Poor, poor little dolls' dressmaker. + +One of Miss Jenny's firmest friends was an aged Jew, Mr. Riah, by name; +of venerable aspect, and a generous and noble nature. He was supposedly +the head of the firm of Pubsey and Co., at Saint-Mary-Axe, but really +only the agent of one Mr. Fledgeby, a miserly young dandy who directed +all the aged Jew's transactions, and forced him into sharp, unfair +dealings with those whom Mr. Riah himself would gladly have befriended; +shielding his own meanness and dishonesty behind the venerable figure of +the Jew, and keeping his own connection with the firm a profound secret. +Mr. Riah suffered himself to remain in such a position only because once +when he had had sickness and misfortune, and owed Mr. Fledgeby's father +both principal and interest, the son inheriting, had been merciful and +placed him there; and little did the guileless old man realize that he +had long since, richly repaid the debt; his age and serene +respectability, added to the characteristics ascribed to his race, +making a valuable screen to hide his employer's misdeeds. + +The aged Jew often befriended the dolls' dressmaker, and she called him, +in her fanciful way, "godmother." + +On his roof-top garden, Jenny Wren and her friend Lizzie were sitting +one day, together, when Mr. Fledgeby came up and joined the party, +interrupting their conversation. For the girls, perhaps with some old +instinct of his race, the gentle Jew had spread a carpet. Seated on it, +against no more romantic object than a blackened chimney-stack, over +which some humble creeper had been trained, they both pored over one +book, while a basket of common fruit, and another basket of strings of +beads and tinsel scraps were lying near. + +"This, sir," explained the old Jew, "is a little dressmaker for little +people. Explain to the master, Jenny." + +"Dolls; that's all," said Jenny shortly. "Very difficult to fit too, +because their figures are so uncertain. You never know where to expect +their waists." + +"I made acquaintance with my guests, sir," pursued the old Jew, with an +evident purpose of drawing out the dressmaker, "through their coming +here to buy our damage and waste for Miss Jenny's millinery. They wear +it in their hair, and on their ball-dresses, and even (so she tells me) +are presented at court with it." + +"Ah!" said Fledgeby, "she's been buying that basketful to-day, I +suppose." + +"I suppose she has," Miss Jenny interposed, "and paying for it too, most +likely," adding, "we are thankful to come up here for rest, sir; for +the quiet and the air, and because it's so high. And you see the clouds +rushing on above the narrow streets, not minding them, and you see the +golden arrows pointing at the mountains in the sky, from which the wind +comes, and, you feel as if you were dead." + +"How do you feel when you are dead?" asked the practical Mr. Fledgeby, +much perplexed. + +"Oh so tranquil!" cried the little creature smiling. "Oh so peaceful and +so thankful! And you hear the people, who are alive, crying and working +and calling to one another in the close dark streets and you seem to +pity them so! And such a chain has fallen from you, and such a strange, +good, sorrowful happiness comes upon you!" + +Her eyes fell upon the old man, who, with his hands folded, quietly +looked on. + +"Why, it was only just now," said the little creature, pointing at him, +"that I fancied I saw him come out of his grave! He toiled out at that +low door, so bent and worn, and then he took his breath, and stood +upright and looked all around him at the sky, and the wind blew upon +him, and his life down in the dark was over!--Till he was called back to +life," she added, looking round at Fledgeby with that lower look of +sharpness, "Why did you call him back? But you are not dead, you know," +said Jenny Wren. "Get down to life!" + +Mr. Fledgeby seemed to think it a rather good suggestion, and with a nod +turned round and took his leave. As Mr. Riah followed him down the +stairs, the little creature called out to the Jew in a silvery tone, +"Don't be gone long. Come back and be dead!" And still as they went +down, they heard the little sweet voice, more and more faintly, half +calling and half singing, "Come back and be dead. Come back and be +dead!" And as the old man again mounted, the call or song began to +sound in his ears again, and looking above, he saw the face of the +little creature looking down out of the glory of her long, bright, +radiant hair, and musically repeating to him like a vision: + +"Come up and be dead! Come up and be dead!" + +Not long after this, there came a heavy trial to the dolls' dressmaker +in the loss from her home of her friend and lodger, Lizzie Hexam. +Lizzie, having disagreed with her brother upon a subject of vital +interest to herself, and having an intense desire to escape from persons +whom she knew would pursue her so long as she remained in London, felt +it wisest to quietly disappear from the city, leaving no trace of her +whereabouts. With the help of Mr. Riah she accomplished this, and found +occupation in a paper-mill in the country, leaving poor Jenny Wren with +only the slight consolation of her letters, and with the aged Jew for +her sole counsellor and friend. He was frequently with Jenny Wren, often +escorting her upon her necessary trips, in returning her fine ladies to +their homes in various parts of the city, and sometimes the little +creature accompanied him upon his own business trips, as well. + +One foggy evening as usual, he set out for Church Street, and, wading +through the fog, waded to the doorstep of the dolls' dressmaker. + +Miss Wren expected him. He could see her through the window, by the +light of her low fire--carefully banked up with damp cinders, that it +might last the longer, and waste the less when she went out--sitting +waiting for him, in her bonnet. His tap at the glass roused her from the +musing solitude in which she sat, and she opened the door, aiding her +steps with a little crutch-stick. + +"Good evening, godmother!" said Miss Jenny Wren. + +The old man laughed, and gave her his arm to lean on. "Won't you come +in and warm yourself, godmother?" she asked. + +"Not if you are ready, Cinderella, my dear." + +"Well!" exclaimed Miss Wren, delighted. "Now you ARE a clever old boy! +If we only gave prizes at this establishment you should have the first +silver medal for taking me up so quick." As she spake thus, Miss Wren +removed the key of the house-door from the keyhole, and put it in her +pocket. Satisfied that her dwelling was safe, she drew one hand through +the old man's arm, and prepared to ply her crutch-stick with the other. +But the key was of such gigantic proportions that before they started, +Riah proposed to carry it. + +"No, no, no! I'll carry it myself," returned Miss Wren. "I'm awfully +lop-sided, you know, and stowed down in my pocket, it'll trim the ship. +To let you into a secret, godmother, I wear my pocket on my high side +o' purpose." + +With that they began their plodding through the fog. + +"Yes, it was truly sharp of you, godmother," returned Miss Wren, with +great approbation, "to understand me. But, you see, you _are_ so like +the fairy godmother in the bright little books! You look so unlike the +rest of the people, and so much as if you had changed yourself into that +shape, just this moment, with some benevolent object. Bah!" cried Miss +Jenny, putting her face close to the old man's, "I can see your +features, godmother, behind the beard." + +"Does the fancy go to my changing other objects, too, Jenny?" + +"Ah! That it does! If you'd only borrow my stick, and tap this piece of +pavement, it would start up a coach and six. I say,--Let's believe so!" + +"With all my heart," replied the good old man. + +"And I'll tell you what I must ask you to do, godmother. I must ask you +to be so kind as to give my child a tap, and change him altogether. Oh, +my child has been such a bad, bad child of late! It worries me almost +out of my wits. Not done a stroke of work these ten days." + +"What shall be changed after him?" asked Riah, in a compassionately +playful voice. + +"Upon my word, godmother, I am afraid I must be selfish next, and get +you to set me right in the back and legs. It's a little thing to you +with your power, godmother, but it's a great deal to poor, weak, +aching me." + +There was no querulous complaining in the words, but they were not the +less touching for that. + +"And then?" + +"Yes, and then--_you_ know, godmother. Well both jump into the coach and +six, and go to Lizzie. This reminds me, godmother, to ask you a serious +question. You are as wise as wise can be (having been brought up by the +fairies), and you can tell me this,--Is it better to have had a good +thing and lost it, or never to have had it?" + +"Explain, goddaughter." + +"I feel so much more solitary and helpless without Lizzie now than I +used to feel before I knew her." (Tears were in her eyes as she +said so.) + +"Some beloved companionship fades out of most lives, my dear," said the +Jew, "that of a wife, and a fair daughter, and a son of promise, has +faded out of my own life--but the happiness _was_" + +"Ah!" said Miss Wren thoughtfully, by no means convinced. "Then I tell +you what change I think you had better begin with, godmother. You had +better change Is into Was, and Was into Is, and keep them so." + +"Would that suit your case? Would you not be always in pain then?" asked +the old man tenderly. + +"Right!" exclaimed Miss Wren. "You have changed me wiser, godmother. +Not," she added, with a quaint hitch of her chin and eyes, "that you +need to be a very wonderful godmother to do that, indeed!" + +Thus conversing, they pursued their way over London Bridge, and struck +down the river, and held their still foggier course that way. As they +were going along, Jennie twisted her venerable friend aside to a +brilliantly lighted toy-shop window, and said: "Now, look at 'em! All +my work!" + +This referred to a dazzling semicircle of dolls in all the colors of the +rainbow, who were dressed for all the gay events of life. + +"Pretty, pretty, pretty!" said the old man with a clap of his hands. +"Most elegant taste!" + +"Glad you like 'em," returned Miss Wren loftily. "But the fun is, +godmother, how I make the great ladies try my dresses on. Though it's +the hardest part of my business, and would be, even if my back were not +bad and my legs queer." + +He looked at her as not understanding what she said. + +"Bless you, godmother," said Miss Wren, "I have to scud about town at +all hours. If it was only sitting at my bench, cutting out and sewing, +it would be comparatively easy work; but it's the trying-on by the great +ladies that takes it out of me." + +"How the trying-on?" asked Riah. + +"What a moony godmother you are, after all!" returned Miss Wren. "Look +here. There's a Drawing-room, or a grand day in the Park, or a show or a +fete, or what you like. Very well. I squeeze among the crowd, and I look +about me. When I see a great lady very suitable for my business, I say, +'You'll do, my dear!' and I take particular notice of her again, and +run home and cut her out, and baste her. Then another day I come +scudding back again to try on. Sometimes she plainly seems to say, 'How +that little creature _is_ staring!' All the time I am only saying to +myself, 'I must hollow out a bit here; I must slope away there'; and I +am making a perfect slave of her, making her try on my doll's dress. +Evening parties are severer work for me, because there's only a doorway +for full view, and what with hobbling among the wheels of the carriages +and the legs of the horses, I fully expect to be run over some night. +Whenever they go bobbing into the hall from the carriage, and catch a +glimpse of my little physiognomy poked out from behind a policeman's +cape in the rain, I daresay they think I am wondering and admiring with +all my eyes and heart, but they little think they're only working for my +dolls! There was Lady Belinda Whitrose. I said one night when she came +out of the carriage. 'You'll do, my dear!' and I ran straight home, and +cut her out, and basted her. Back I came again, and waited behind the +men that called the carriages. Very bad night too. At last, 'Lady +Belinda's Whitrose's carriage!' Lady Belinda Whitrose coming down! And I +made her try on--oh! and take pains about it too--before she got seated. +That's Lady Belinda hanging up by the waist, much too near the gas-light +for a wax one, with her toes turned in." + +When they had plodded on for some time, they reached a certain tavern, +where Mr. Riah had some business to transact with its proprietress, Miss +Abbey Potterson, to whom he presented himself, and was about to +introduce his young companion when Miss Wren interrupted him: + +"Stop a bit," she said, "I'll give the lady my card." She produced it +from her pocket with an air, and Miss Abbey took the diminutive +document, and found it to run thus: + + Miss JENNY WREN. + + _Dolls' Dressmaker._. + + _Dolls attended at their own residences_. + +So great were her amusement and astonishment, and so interested was she +in the odd little creature that she at once asked: + +"Did you ever taste shrub, child?" + +Miss Wren shook her head. + +"Should you like to?" + +"Should if it's good," returned Miss Wren. + +"You shall try. Put your little feet on the fender. It's a cold, cold +night, and the fog clings so." As Miss Abbey helped her to turn her +chair, her loosened bonnet fell on the floor. "Why, what lovely hair!" +cried Miss Abbey. "And enough to make wigs: for all the dolls in the +world. What a quantity!" + +"Call _that_ a quantity?" returned Miss Wren. "_Poof_! What do you say +to the rest of it?" As she spoke, she untied a band, and the golden +stream fell over herself, and over the chair, and flowed down to the +ground. Miss Abbey's admiration seemed to increase her perplexity. She +beckoned the Jew towards her, and whispered: + +"Child or woman?" + +"Child in years," was the answer; "woman in self-reliance and trial." + +"You are talking about me, good people," thought Miss Jenny, sitting in +her golden bower, warming her feet. "I can't hear what you say, but I +know your tricks and your manners!" + +The shrub, mixed by Miss Potterson's skilful hands, was perfectly +satisfactory to Miss Jenny's palate, and she sat and sipped it leisurely +while the interview between Mr. Riah and Miss Potterson proceeded, +keenly regretting when the bottom of the glass was reached, and the +interview at an end. + +There was at this time much curiosity among Lizzie Hexam's acquaintances +to discover her hiding-place, and many of them paid visits to the dolls' +dressmaker in hopes of obtaining from her the desired address. Among +these was Mr. Wrayburn, whom we find calling upon Miss Wren one evening: + +"And so, Miss Jenny," he said, "I cannot persuade you to dress me a +doll?" + +"No," replied Miss Wren snappishly; "If you want one, go and buy it at +the shop." + +"And my charming young goddaughter," said Mr. Wrayburn plaintively, +"down in Hertfordshire--" + +("Humbugshire, you mean, I think," interposed Miss Wren)--"is to be put +upon the cold footing of the general public, and is to derive no +advantage from my private acquaintance with the Court dressmaker?" + +"If it's any advantage to your charming godchild, and oh, a precious +godfather she has got!" replied Miss Wren, pricking at him in the air +with her needle, "to be informed that the Court dressmaker knows your +tricks and your manners, you may tell her so, by post, with my +compliments." + +Miss Wren was busy with her work, by candlelight, and Mr. Wrayburn, half +amused and half vexed, stood by her bench looking on, while her +troublesome child was in the corner, in deep disgrace on account of his +bad behavior, and as Miss Jenny worked, she rated him severely, +accompanying each reproach with a stamp of her foot. + +"Pay five shillings for you indeed!" she exclaimed in response to his +appeal for money. "How many hours do you suppose it costs me to earn +five shillings, you infamous boy? Don't cry like that, or I'll throw a +doll at you. Pay five shillings fine for you, indeed! Fine in more ways +than one, I think! I'd give the dustman five shillings to carry you off +in the dust-cart." + +The figure in the corner continuing to whine and whimper, Miss Wren +covered her face with her hand. "There!" she said, "I can't bear to look +at you. Go upstairs and get me my bonnet and shawl. Make yourself useful +in some way, bad boy, and let me have your room instead of your company, +for one half minute." + +Obeying her, he shambled out, and Mr. Wrayburn, pitying, saw the tears +exude between the little creature's fingers, as she kept her hand +before her eyes. + +"I am going to the Italian Opera to try on," said Miss Wren, taking away +her hand, and laughing satirically to hide that she had been crying. +"But let me first tell you, Mr. Wrayburn, once for all, that it's no use +your paying visits to me. You wouldn't get what you want of me, no, not +if you brought pincers with you to tear it out." + +With which statement, and a further admonition to her father, who had +come back, she blew her candles out, and taking her big door-key in her +pocket, and her crutch-stick in her hand, marched off. + +Not many months later, one day while Miss Wren was waiting in the office +of Pubsey and Co., for Mr. Riah to come in and sell her the waste she +was accustomed to buy, she overheard a conversation between Mr. +Fledgeby, who had apparently happened in, and a friend who was also +waiting for Mr. Riah. + +This conversation led her to infer that her old friend was both a +treacherous and dishonest man, and entirely unworthy to be trusted in +any capacity. Seemingly the conversation was not meant for her ears, but +Mr. Fledgeby had planned that she should hear it, and that it should +have the very effect upon her which it had. This was Mr. Fledgeby's +retort upon Miss Wren for the over-sharpness with which she always +treated him, and also a pleasant instance of his humor as regarded the +old Jew. "He has got a bad name as an old Jew, and he is paid for the +use of it, and I'll have my money's worth out of him." Thus ran Mr. +Fledgeby's reflections on the subject, and Miss Wren sat listening to +the conversation with a fallen countenance, until Mr. Riah came in, when +Mr. Fledgeby led the old man to make statements which seemed further to +emphasize his hard-heartedness and dishonesty. + +Then Mr. Riah filled Miss Wren's little basket with such scraps as she +could buy, saying: + +"There, my Cinderella dear, the basket's full now. Bless you, and get +you gone!" + +"Don't call me your Cinderella dear," returned Miss Wren, "Oh, you cruel +godmother!" + +She shook that emphatic little forefinger of hers in his face at +parting, and as he did not attempt to vindicate himself, went on her +way, to return no more to Saint Mary Axe; chance having disclosed to her +(as she supposed) the flinty and hypocritical character of Mr. Riah. She +often moralized over her work on the tricks and the manners of that +venerable cheat, but made her little purchases elsewhere, and lived a +secluded life. But during several interviews which she chanced to have +later with Mr. Fledgeby, the clever little creature made him by his own +words, disclose his system of treachery and trickery, and prove that the +aged Jew had been screening his employer at his own expense. Thereupon +Miss Jenny lost no time in once again proceeding to the place of +business of Pubsey and Co., where she found the old man sitting at his +desk. In less time than it takes to tell it, she had folded her arms +about his neck, and kissed him, imploring his forgiveness for her lack +of faith in him, adding: "It did look bad, now, didn't it?" + +"It looked so bad, Jenny," responded the old man with gravity, "that I +was hateful in mine own eyes. I perceived that the obligation was upon +me to leave this service. Whereupon I indited a letter to my master to +that effect, but he held me to certain months of servitude, which were +his lawful term of notice. They expire to-morrow. Upon their +expiration--not before--I had meant to set myself right with my +Cinderella." + +While they were thus conversing, the aged Jew received an angry +communication from Mr. Fledgeby, releasing Mr. Riah at once from his +service, to the great satisfaction of the old man, who then got his few +goods together in a black bag, closed the shutters, pulled down the +office blind, and issued forth upon the steps. There, while Miss Jenny +held the bag, the old man locked the house door, and handed the key over +to the messenger who had brought the note of dismissal. + +"Well, godmother," said Miss Wren, "and so you're thrown upon the +world!" + +"It would appear so, Jenny, and rather suddenly." + +"Where are you going to seek your fortune?" asked Miss Wren. The old man +smiled, but gazed about him with a look of having lost his way in life, +which did not escape the dolls' dressmaker. + +"The best thing you can do," said Jenny, "for the time being, at all +events, is to come home with me, godmother. Nobody's there but my bad +child, and Lizzie's lodging stands empty." + +The old man, when satisfied that no inconvenience could be entailed on +any one by this move, readily complied, and the singularly assorted +couple once more went through the streets together. + +And it was a kindly Providence which placed the child's hand in the aged +Jew's protecting one that night. Before they reached home, they met a +sad party, bearing in their arms an inanimate form, at which the dolls' +dressmaker needed but to take one look. + +"Oh gentlemen, gentlemen," she cried, "He belongs to me!" "Belongs to +you!" said the head of the party, stopping;--"Oh yes, dear gentlemen, +he's my child, out without leave. My poor, bad, bad boy! And he don't +know me, he don't know me! Oh, what _shall_ I do?" cried the little +creature, wildly beating her hands together, "when my own child +don't know me!" + +The head of the party looked to the old Jew for explanation. He +whispered, as the dolls' dressmaker bent over the still form, and vainly +tried to extract some sign of recognition from it; "It's her +drunken father." + +Then the sad party with their lifeless burden went through the streets. +After it, went the dolls' dressmaker, hiding her face in the Jewish +skirts, and clinging to them with one hand, while with the other she +plied her stick, and at last the little home in Church Street +was reached. + +Many flaunting dolls had to be gaily dressed, before the money was in +the dressmaker's pocket to get mourning for her father. As Mr. Riah sat +by, helping her in such small ways as he could, he found it difficult to +make out whether she realized that the deceased had really been +her father. + +"If my poor boy," she would say, "had been brought up better, he might +have done better. Not that I reproach myself. I hope I have no cause +for that." + +"None, indeed, Jenny, I am very certain." + +"Thank you, godmother. It cheers me to hear you say so. But you see it +is so hard to bring up a child well, when you work, work, work, all day. +When he was out of employment, I couldn't always keep him near me. He +got fractious and nervous, and I was obliged to let him go into the +streets. And he never did well in the streets, he never did well out of +sight. How often it happens with children! How can I say what I might +have turned out myself, but for my back having been so bad and my legs +so queer, when I was young!" the dressmaker would go on. "I had nothing +to do but work, so I worked. I couldn't play. But my poor, unfortunate +child could play, and it turned out worse for him." + +"And not for him alone, Jenny." + +"Well, I don't know, godmother. He suffered heavily, did my unfortunate +boy. He was very, very ill sometimes. And I called him a quantity of +names;" shaking her head over her work, and dropping tears. + +"You are a good girl, you are a patient girl." + +"As for patience," she would reply with a shrug, "not much of that, +godmother. If I had been patient, I should never have called him names. +But I hope I did it for his good. And besides, I felt my responsibility +as a mother so much. I tried reasoning, and reasoning failed. I tried +coaxing, and coaxing failed. I tried scolding, and scolding failed. But +I was bound to try everything, with such a charge on my hands. Where +would have been my duty to my poor lost boy, if I had not tried +everything?" + +With such talk, mostly in a cheerful tone on the part of the industrious +little creature, the day work and the night work were beguiled, until +enough of smart dolls had gone forth to bring in the sombre stuff that +the occasion required, and to bring into the house the other sombre +preparations. "And now," said Miss Jenny, "having knocked off my +rosy-cheeked young friends, I'll knock off my white-cheeked self." This +referred to her making her own dress which at last was done, in time for +the simple service, the arrangements for which were of her own planning. +The service ended, and the solitary dressmaker having returned to her +home, she said: + +"I must have a very short cry, godmother, before I cheer up for good. +Because after all, a child is a child, you know." + +It was a longer cry than might have been expected. Howbeit, it wore +itself out in a shadowy corner, and then the dressmaker came forth, and +washed her face, and made the tea. + +"You wouldn't mind my cutting out something while we are at tea, would +you?" she asked with a coaxing air. + +"Cinderella, dear child," the old man expostulated. "Will you never +rest?" + +"Oh! It's not work, cutting out a pattern isn't," said Miss Jenny, with +her busy little scissors already snipping at some paper; "The truth is, +godmother, I want to fix it, while I have it correct in my mind." + +"Have you seen it to-day, then?" asked Riah. + +"Yes, godmother. Saw it just now. It's a surplice, that's what it is. +Thing our clergymen wear, you know," explained Miss Jenny, in +consideration of his professing another faith. + +"And what have you to do with that, Jenny?" + +"Why, godmother," replied the dressmaker, "you must know that we +professors, who live upon our taste and invention, are obliged to keep +our eyes always open. And you know already that I have many extra +expenses to meet. So it came into my head, while I was weeping at my +poor boy's grave, that something in my way might be done with a +clergyman. Not a funeral, never fear;" said Miss Jenny. "The public +don't like to be made melancholy, I know very well. But a doll +clergyman, my dear,--glossy black curls and whiskers--uniting two of my +young friends in matrimony," said Miss Jenny shaking her forefinger, "is +quite another affair. If you don't see those three at the altar in Bond +Street, in a jiffy, my name's Jack Robinson!" + +With her expert little ways in sharp action, she had got a doll into +whitey-brown paper orders, before the meal was over, and displayed it +for the edification of the Jewish mind, and Mr. Riah was lost in +admiration for the brave, resolute little soul, who could so put aside +her sadness to meet and face her pressing need. + +And many times thereafter was he likewise lost in admiration of his +little friend, who continued her business as of old, only without the +burden of responsibility by which her life had heretofore been clouded, +and more able to give her imagination free play along the lines of her +interests, without the pressure of home care resting upon her poor +shoulders. + +Our last glimpse of her, is as usual, before her little workbench, at +work upon a full-dressed, large sized doll, when there comes a knock +upon the door. When it is opened there is disclosed a young fellow known +to his friends and employer, as Sloppy. + +Sloppy was full private No 1 in the Awkward Squad of the rank and file +of life, and yet had his glimmering notions of standing true to his +colors, and in instinctive refinement of feeling was much above others +who outranked him in birth and education. + +"Come in, sir," said Miss Wren, "and who may you be?" + +Mr. Sloppy introduced himself by name and buttons. + +"Oh, indeed," cried Jenny, "I have heard of you." + +Sloppy, grinning, was so glad to hear it that he threw back his head and +laughed. + +"Bless us!" exclaimed Miss Wren, with a start, "Don't open your mouth as +wide as that, young man, or it'll catch so, and not shut again, +some day." + +Mr. Sloppy opened it, if possible, wider, and kept it open, until his +laugh was out. + +"Why, you're like the giant," said Miss Wren, "when he came home in the +land of Beanstalk, and wanted Jack for supper." + +"Was he good looking, Miss?" asked Sloppy. + +"No," said Miss Wren. "Ugly." + +Her visitor glanced round the room--which had many comforts in it now, +that it had not had before--and said: + +"This is a pretty place, Miss. + +"Glad you think so, sir," returned Miss Wren. "And what do you think of +Me?" + +The honesty of Mr. Sloppy being severely taxed by the question, he +twisted a button, grinned, and faltered. + +"Out with it," said Miss Wren, with an arch look. "Don't you think me a +queer little comicality?" In shaking her head at him after asking the +question, she shook her hair down. + +"Oh!" cried Sloppy in a burst of admiration. "What a lot, and what a +color!" + +Miss Wren with her usual expressive hitch, went on with her work. But +left her hair as it was, not displeased by the effect it had made. + +"You don't live here alone, do you, Miss?" asked Sloppy. + +"No," said Miss Wren with a chop. "Live here with my fairy godmother." + +"With;" Mr. Sloppy couldn't make it out; "with, who did you say, Miss?" + +"Well!" replied Miss Wren more seriously. "With my second father. Or +with my first, for that matter." And she shook her head and drew a sigh. +"If you had known a poor child I used to have here," she added, "you'd +have understood me. But you didn't and you can't. All the better!" + +"You must have been taught a long time, Miss," said Sloppy, glancing at +the array of dolls on hand, "before you came to work so neatly, Miss, +and with such a pretty taste." + +"Never was taught a stitch, young man!" returned the dressmaker, tossing +her head. "Just gobbled and gobbled, till I found out how to do it. +Badly enough at first, but better now." + +"And here have I," said Sloppy, in a self-reproachful tone, "been +a-learning and a-learning at cabinet-making, ever so long! I'll tell you +what, Miss, I should like to make you something." + +"Much obliged, but what?" + +"I could make you," said Sloppy, surveying the room, "a handy set of +nests to lay the dolls in. Or a little set of drawers to keep your silks +and threads and scraps in. Or I could turn you a rare handle for that +crutch-stick, if it belongs to him you call your father." + +"It belongs to me," said the little creature, with a quick flush of her +face and neck. "I am lame." + +Poor Sloppy flushed too, for there was an instinctive delicacy behind +his buttons. He said perhaps, the best thing in the way of amends that +could be said. "I am very glad it's yours, because I'd rather ornament +it for you than for any one else. Please, may I look at it?" + +Miss Wren was in the act of handing it over to him when she paused. +"But you had better see me use it," she said sharply. "This is the way. +Hoppetty, kicketty, peg-peg-peg. Not pretty, is it?" + +"It seems to me that you hardly want it at all," said Sloppy. + +The little dressmaker sat down again, and gave it into his hand, saying +with that better look upon her, and with a smile: + +"Thank you! You are a very kind young man, a really kind young man. I +accept your offer--I suppose _He_ won't mind," she added as an +afterthought, shrugging her shoulders; "and if he does, he may!" + +"Meaning him you call your father, Miss?" said Sloppy. + +"No, no," replied Miss Wren. "Him, _him_, HIM!" + +"_Him_, HIM, HIM?" repeated Sloppy, staring about, as if for him. + +"Him who is coming to court and marry me," returned Miss Wren. "Dear me, +how slow you are!" + +"Oh! HIM!" said Sloppy, "I never thought of him. When is he coming, +Miss?" + +"What a question!" cried Miss Wren. "How should I know?" + +"Where is he coming from, Miss?" + +"Why, good gracious, how can I tell! He is coming from somewhere or +other, I suppose, and he is coming some day or other, I suppose. I don't +know any more about him, at present." + +This tickled Mr. Sloppy as an extraordinarily good joke, and he threw +back his head and laughed with measureless enjoyment. At the sight of +him laughing in that absurd way, the dolls' dressmaker laughed very +heartily indeed. So they both laughed till they were tired. + +"There, there, there!" said Miss Wren. "For goodness sake, stop, Giant, +or I shall be swallowed up alive, before I know it. And to this minute +you haven't said what you've come for?" + +"I have come for little Miss Harmonses' doll," said Sloppy. + +"I thought as much," remarked Miss Wren, "and here is little Miss +Harmonses' doll waiting for you. She's folded up in silver paper, you +see, as if she was wrapped from head to foot in new banknotes. Take care +of her--and there's my hand--and thank you again." + +"I'll take more care of her than if she was a gold image," said Sloppy, +"and there's _both_ my hands, Miss, and I'll soon come back again!" + +Here we leave the little dolls' dressmaker, under the protecting care of +her "godmother," the first real guardian she has ever known, and with a +new friendship to supply her life with that youthful intercourse which +has never been hers. And so in leaving her our hearts are light, for +Miss Jenny Wren is brighter now, and happier now, and younger now, than +ever before. + + + +SISSY JUPE + + + +[Illustration: SISSY JUPE AND HER FATHER] + + + +SISSY JUPE + +"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but +Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out +everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon +Facts: nothing else will be of any service to them. This is the +principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle +on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!" + +The scene was a bare, plain, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the +speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observation. The emphasis was +helped by his square wall of a forehead, by his thin and hardset mouth, +by his inflexible and dictatorial voice, and by the hair which bristled +on the skirts of his bald head, as if the head had scarcely warehouse +room for the hard facts stowed inside. The speaker's obstinate carriage, +square coat, square legs, square shoulders,--nay, his very neckcloth, +trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a +stubborn fact, as it was,--all helped the emphasis. + +"In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir! Nothing but Facts!" + +The speaker, Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, and the schoolmaster, Mr. +M'Choakumchild, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, +and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and +there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of Facts poured +into them until they were full to the brim. + +"Girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his +square forefinger, "I don't know that girl. Who is that girl?" + +"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and +curtseying. + +"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Call yourself Cecilia." + +"It's father as calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl with +another curtsey. + +"Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Tell him he +mustn't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?" + +"He belongs to the horse-riding, if you please, sir." + +Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable calling with his +hand. + +"We don't want to know anything about that here. Your father breaks +horses, don't he?" + +"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they do break +horses in the ring." + +"You mustn't tell us about the ring here. Very well, then. Describe your +father as a horse-breaker. He doctors sick horses, I dare say?" + +"Oh, yes, sir." + +"Very well, then. He is a veterinary surgeon, a farrier and +horse-breaker. Give me your definition of a horse." + +(Sissy Jupe thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand). + +"Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!" said Mr. Gradgrind, for +the general behoof of all the little pitchers. "Girl number twenty +possessed of no facts in reference to one of the commonest of animals! +Some boy's definition of a horse. Bitzer, yours!" + +"Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, +four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy +countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with +iron. Age known by marks in mouth." Thus (and much more) Bitzer. + +"Now, girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, "you know what a horse +is." + +She curtsied again, blushed, and sat down, and the third gentleman +present stepped forth, briskly smiling and folding his arms. "That's a +horse," he said. "Now, let me ask you, boys and girls, would you paper a +room with representations of horses?" + +After a pause, one-half of the children cried in chorus, "Yes, sir!" +Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman's face that Yes was +wrong, cried out in chorus, "No, sir!" + +"Of course, No. Why wouldn't you?" + +A pause. One boy ventured the answer, because he wouldn't paper a room +at all, but would paint it. + +"You must paper it," said Thomas Gradgrind, "whether you like it or not. +Don't tell us you wouldn't paper it. What do you mean, boy?" + +"I'll explain to you then," said the gentleman, after another pause, +"why you wouldn't paper a room with a representation of horses. Do you +ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality--in +fact? Of course, No. Why then, you are not to see anywhere what you +don't see in fact; you are not to have anywhere what you don't have in +fact. This is a new principle, a great discovery," said the gentleman. +"Now I'll try you again. Would you use a carpet having a representation +of flowers upon it?" + +"There being a general conviction by this time that, 'No sir!' was +always the right answer to this gentleman, the chorus of No was very +strong. Only a few feeble stragglers said Yes; among them Sissy Jupe." + +"Girl number twenty," said the gentleman, "why would you carpet your +room with representations of flowers?" + +"If you please, sir, I'm very fond of flowers," returned the girl. + +"And is that why you would put tables and chairs upon them, and have +people walking over them with heavy boots?" + +"It wouldn't hurt them, sir. They wouldn't crush and wither, please sir. +They would be the pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant, sir, +and I would fancy--" + +"Ay, ay, ay! but you mustn't fancy," cried the gentleman, quite elated +by coming so happily to his point. "You are never to fancy." + +"You are not, Cecilia Jupe," Thomas Gradgrind solemnly repeated, "to do +anything of that kind. You don't walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot +be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets. You don't find that foreign +birds and butterflies come and perch upon your crockery; you cannot be +permitted to paint foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery. You +never meet with quadrupeds going up and down walls; you must not have +quadrupeds represented upon walls. You must use," said the gentleman, +"for all these purposes, combinations and modifications in primary +colors of mathematical figures which are susceptible of proof and +demonstration. This is the new discovery. This is fact. This is taste." + +The girl curtseyed and sat down. She was very young, and she looked as +if she were frightened by the matter-of-fact prospect the world +afforded; while the teacher proceeded to give a lesson based upon hard +Fact for the benefit of his visitors. + +Mr. Gradgrind walked homeward from the school, in a state of +considerable satisfaction. It was his school, and he intended it to be a +model. He intended every child in it to be a model, just as the five +young Gradgrinds were all models. + +No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon; no little +Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, "Twinkle, twinkle, little +star, How I wonder what you are"; each little Gradgrind having at five +years old dissected the Great Bear, and driven Charles's Wain like a +locomotive engine-driver. No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow +in a field with that famous cow with a crumpled horn who tossed the dog, +who worried the cat, who killed the rat, who ate the malt, or with that +more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb. It had never heard of those +celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous, +ruminating quadruped with several stomachs. + +To his matter-of-fact home, which was called Stone Lodge, Mr. Gradgrind +directed his steps, walking on in a hopeful and satisfied frame of mind. +He was an affectionate father, after his manner; but allowed no foolish +sentiment to interfere with the practical basis of his childrens' +education and bringing-up. + +He had reached the outskirts of the town, when his ears were invaded by +the sound of the band attached to the horse-riding establishment, which +had there set up its rest in a wooden pavilion. A flag floating from the +summit of the temple, proclaimed to mankind that it was Sleary's +Horse-Riding which claimed their suffrages. Among the many pleasing +wonders which must be seen to be believed, Signor Jupe was that +afternoon to "elucidate the diverting accomplishments of his highly +trained performing dog, Merrylegs," He was also to exhibit "his +astounding feat of throwing seventy-five hundred weight in rapid +succession back-handed over his head, thus forming a fountain of solid +iron in midair, a feat never before attempted in this or any other +country, and which having elicited such rapturous plaudits from +enthusiastic throngs it cannot be withdrawn." The same Signor Jupe was +to "enliven the varied performances at frequent intervals with his +chaste Shakesperean quips and retorts." Lastly, he was to wind them up +by appearing in his favorite character of Mr. William Button, of Tooley +Street, in "the highly novel and laughable Hippo Comedietta of The +Tailor's Journey to Brentford." + +Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities, but passed on, as a +practical man ought to pass on. But, at the back of the booth he saw a +number of children congregated in a number of stealthy attitudes, +striving to peep in at the hidden glories of the place. What did he then +behold but his own Louisa peeping with all her might through a hole in a +deal board, and his own Thomas abasing himself on the ground to catch +but a hoof of the graceful Tyrolean Flower-act! + +Dumb with amazement, Mr. Gradgrind crossed to the spot where his family +was thus disgraced, laid his hand upon each erring child, and said: + +"Louisa!! Thomas!!" + +Both rose, red and disconcerted. + +"In the name of wonder, idleness, and folly!" said Mr. Gradgrind, +leading each away by a hand; "what do you do here?" + +"Wanted to see what it was like," returned Louisa shortly. + +"You!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind. "Thomas and you, to whom the circle of +the sciences is open; who may be said to be replete with Fact; who have +been trained to mathematical exactness; Thomas and you, here! In this +degraded position! I am amazed." + +"I was tired, father," said Louisa. + +"Tired? Of what?" asked the astonished father. + +"I don't know of what--of everything, I think." + +"Say not another word," returned Mr. Gradgrind. "You are childish. I +will hear no more." With which remark he led the culprits to their home +in silence, into the presence of their fretful invalid mother, who was +much annoyed at the disturbance they had created. While she was +peevishly expressing her mind on the subject, Mr. Gradgrind was gravely +pondering upon the matter. + +"Whether," he said, "whether any instructor or servant can have +suggested anything? Whether, in spite of all precautions, any idle +story-book can have got into the house for Louisa or Thomas to read? +Because in minds that have been practically formed by rule and line, +from the cradle upwards, this is incomprehensible." + +"Stop a bit!" cried his friend Bounderby. "You have one of those +Stroller's children in the school, Cecilia Jupe by name! I tell you +what, Gradgrind, turn this girl to the right-about, and there is an +end of it." + +"I am much of your opinion." + +"Do it at once," said Bounderby, "has always been my motto. Do you the +same. Do this at once!" + +"I have the father's address," said his friend. "Perhaps you would not +mind walking to town with me?" + +"Not the least in the world," said Mr. Bounderby, "as long as you do it +at once!" + +So Mr. Gradgrind and his friend immediately set out to find Cecilia +Jupe, and to order her from henceforth to remain away from school. On +the way there they met her. "Now, girl," said Mr. Gradgrind, "take this +gentleman and me to your father's; we are going there. What have you got +in that bottle you are carrying?" + +"It's the nine oils." + +"The what?" cried Mr. Bounderby. + +"The nine oils, sir, to rub father with. It is what our people always +use, sir, when they get any hurts in the ring," replied the girl, "they +bruise themselves very bad sometimes." + +"Serves them right," said Mr. Bounderby, "for being idle." The girl +glanced up at his face with mingled astonishment and dread as he said +this, but she led them on down a narrow road, until they stopped at the +door of a little public house. + +"This is it, sir," she said. "It's only crossing the bar, sir, and up +the stairs, if you wouldn't mind; and waiting there for a moment till I +get a candle. If you should hear a dog, sir, it's only Merrylegs, and he +only barks." + +They followed the girl up some steep stairs, and stopped while she went +on for a candle. Reappearing, with a face of great surprise, she said, +"Father is not in our room, sir. If you wouldn't mind walking in, sir? +I'll find him directly." + +They walked in; and Sissy having set two chairs for them, sped away with +a quick, light step. They heard the doors of rooms above opening and +shutting, as Sissy went from one to another in quest of her father. She +came bounding down again in a great hurry, opened an old hair trunk, +found it empty, and looked around with her face full of terror. + +"Father must have gone down to the Booth, sir. I'll bring him in a +minute!" She was gone directly, without her bonnet; with her long, dark, +childish hair streaming behind her. + +"What does she mean!" said Mr. Gradgrind. "Back in a minute? It's more +than a mile off." + +Before Mr. Bounderby could reply, a young man mentioned in the bills of +the day as Mr. E.W.B. Childers,--justly celebrated for his daring +vaulting act as the wild huntsman of the North American prairies, +appeared. Upon entering into conversation with Mr. Gradgrind he informed +that gentleman of his opinion that Jupe was off. + +"Do you mean that he has deserted his daughter?" asked Mr. Gradgrind. + +"I mean," said Mr. Childers with a nod, "that he has cut. He has been +short in his leaps and bad in his tumbling lately, missed his tip +several times, too. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night +before last, he was goosed to-day. He has lately got in the way of being +always goosed, and he can't stand it." + +"Why has he been--so very much--goosed?" asked Mr. Gradgrind, forcing +the word out of himself, with great solemnity and reluctance. + +"His joints are turning stiff, and he is getting used up," said +Childers. "He has his points as a Cackler still, a speaker, if the +gentleman likes it better--but he can't get a living out of _that_. Now +it's a remarkable fact, sir, that it cut that man deeper to know that +his daughter knew of his being goosed than to go through with it. Jupe +sent her out on an errand not an hour ago, and then was seen to slip out +himself, with his dog behind him and a bundle under his arm. She will +never believe it of her father, but he has cut away and left her. + +"Poor Sissy! he had better have apprenticed her," added Mr. Childers, +"Now, he leaves her without anything to take to. Her father always had +it in his head, that she was to be taught the deuce-and-all of +education. He has been picking up a bit of reading for her, here--and a +bit of writing for her, there--and a bit of ciphering for her, somewhere +else--these seven years. When Sissy got into the school here," he +pursued, "he was as pleased as Punch. I suppose he had this move in his +mind--he was always half cracked--and then considered her provided for. +If you should have happened to have looked in to-night to tell him that +you were going to do her any little service," added Mr. Childers, "it +would be very fortunate and well-timed." + +"On the contrary," returned Mr. Gradgrind, "I came to tell her that she +could not attend our school any more. Still, if her father really has +left her without any connivance on her part!--Bounderby, let me have a +word with you." + +Upon this, Mr. Childers politely betook himself outside the door, and +there stood while the two gentlemen were engaged in conversation. + +Meanwhile the various members of Sleary's company gathered together in +the room. Last of all appeared Mr. Sleary himself, who was stout, and +troubled with asthma, and whose breath came far too thick and heavy for +the letter s. Bowing to Mr. Gradgrind, he asked: + +"Ith it your intention to do anything for the poor girl, Thquire?" + +"I shall have something to propose to her when she comes back," said Mr. +Gradgrind. + +"Glad to hear it, Thquire. Not that I want to get rid of the child, any +more than I want to thtand in her way. I'm willing to take her +prenthith, though at her age ith late." + +Here his daughter Josephine--a pretty, fair-haired girl of eighteen, who +had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at +twelve, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying +desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies--cried "Father, +hush! she has come back!" Then came Sissy Jupe, running into the room +as she had run out of it. And when she saw them all assembled, and saw +their looks, and saw no father there, she broke into a most deplorable +cry, and took refuge on the bosom of the most accomplished tight-rope +lady, who knelt down on the floor to nurse her, and to weep over her. + +"Ith an infernal shame, upon my thoul it ith," said Sleary. + +"O my dear father, my good, kind father, where are you gone? You are +gone to try to do me some good, I know! You are gone away for my sake, I +am sure. And how miserable and helpless you will be without me, poor, +poor father, until you come back!" It was so pathetic to hear her saying +many things of this kind, with her face turned upward, and her arms +stretched out as if she were trying to stop his departing shadow and +embrace it, that no one spoke a word until Mr. Bounderby (growing +impatient) took the case in hand. + +"Now, good people all," said he, "this is wanton waste of time. Let the +girl understand the fact. Here, what's your name! Your father has +absconded, deserted you--and you mustn't expect to see him again as long +as you live." + +They cared so little for plain fact, these people, that instead of being +impressed by the speaker's strong common sense, they took it in +extraordinary dudgeon. The men muttered "Shame!" and the women, "Brute!" +Whereupon Mr. Gradgrind found an opening for his eminently practical +exposition of the subject. + +"It is of no moment," said he, "whether this person is to be expected +back at any time, or the contrary. He is gone away, and there is no +present expectation of his return. That, I believe, is agreed on +all hands." + +"Thath agreed, Thquire. Thtick to that!" from Sleary. + +"Well, then. I, who came here to inform the father of the poor girl, +Jupe, that she could not be received at the school any more, in +consequence of there being practical objections, into which I need not +enter, to the reception there of the children of persons so employed, am +prepared in these altered circumstances to make a proposal. I am willing +to take charge of you, Jupe, and to educate you, and provide for you. +The only condition (over and above your good behavior) I make is, that +you decide now, at once, whether to accompany me or remain here. Also, +that if you accompany me now, it is understood that you communicate no +more with any of your friends who are here present. These observations +comprise the whole of the case." + +"At the thame time," said Sleary, "I muth put in my word, Thquire, tho +that both thides of the banner may be equally theen. If you like, +Thethillia, to be prentitht, you know the natur' of the work, and you +know your companionth. Emma Gordon, in whothe lap you're a lying at +prethent, would be a mother to you, and Joth'phine would be a thithther +to you. I don't pretend to be of the angel breed myself, and I don't +thay but what, when you mith'd your tip, you'd find me cut up rough, and +thwear a oath or two at you. But what I thay, Thquire, ith, that good +tempered or bad tempered, I never did a horthe a injury yet, no more +than thwearing at him went, and that I don't expect I thall begin +otherwithe at my time of life, with a rider. I never wath much of a +cackler, Thquire, and I have thed my thay." + +The latter part of this speech was addressed to Mr. Gradgrind, who +received it with a grave inclination of his head, and then remarked: + +"The only observation I will make to you, Jupe, in the way of +influencing your decision, is, that it is highly desirable to have a +sound practical education, and that even your father himself (from what +I understand) appears, on your behalf, to have known and felt +that much." + +The last words had a visible effect upon her. She stopped in her wild +crying, and turned her face full upon her patron. The whole company +perceived the force of the change, and drew a long breath, together, +that plainly said, "She will go!" + +"Be sure you know your own mind, Jupe," Mr. Gradgrind cautioned her; "I +say no more. Be sure you know your own mind!" + +"When father comes back," cried the girl, bursting into tears again +after a minute's silence, "how will he ever find me if I go away!" + +"You may be quite at ease," said Mr. Gradgrind calmly; he worked out the +whole matter like a sum; "you may be quite at ease, Jupe, on that score. +In such a case, your father, I apprehend, must find out Mr. Sleary, who +would then let him know where you went. I should have no power of +keeping you against his wish." + +There was another silence; and then Sissy exclaimed sobbing, "Oh, give +me my clothes, give me my clothes, and let me go away before I break +my heart!" + +The women sadly bestirred themselves to get the clothes together, and to +pack them. They then brought Sissy's bonnet to her and put it on. Then +they pressed about her, kissing and embracing her: and brought the +children to take leave of her; and were a tender-hearted, simple, +foolish, set of women altogether. Then she had to take her farewell of +the male part of the company, and last of all of Mr. Sleary. + +"Farewell, Thethilia!" he said, "my latht wordth to you ith thith: +Thtick to the termth of your engagement, be obedient to the Thquire, and +forget uth. But if, when you're grown up and married and well off, you +come upon any horthe-riding ever, don't be hard upon it, don't be croth +with it, give it a Bethpeak if you can, and think you might do worth. +People must be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow," continued Sleary, "they +can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning. +Make the betht of uth; not the wurtht. I've got my living out of +horthe-riding all my life, I know, but I conthider that I lay down the +philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you, Thquire, make the betht +of uth; not the wurtht!" + +The Sleary philosophy was propounded as they went downstairs; and the +fixed eye of Philosophy--and its rolling eye, too,--soon lost the three +figures, and the basket in the darkness of the street. + +To Mr. Bounderby's house the weeping Sissy was conducted, and remained +there while Mr. Gradgrind returned to Stone Lodge to mature his plans +for the clown's daughter. He soon came back to Mr. Bounderby's, bringing +his daughter Louisa with him, and Sissy Jupe stood before them, with +downcast eyes, while Mr. Gradgrind thus addressed her: + +"Jupe, I have made up my mind to take you into my house; and when you +are not at school, to employ you about Mrs. Gradgrind, who is rather an +invalid. I have explained to Miss Louisa--this is Miss Louisa--the +miserable but natural end of your late career; and you are to understand +that the subject is not to be referred to any more. From this time you +begin your history. You are at present ignorant, I know." + +"Yes, sir, very," she answered curtseying. + +"I shall have the satisfaction of causing you to be strictly educated; +and you will be a living proof of the advantages of the training you +will receive. You will be reclaimed and formed. You have been in the +habit now of reading to your father, and those people I found you among, +I dare say?" said Mr. Gradgrind. + +"Only to father and to Merrylegs, sir. At least I mean to father, when +Merrylegs was always there." + +"Never mind Merrylegs, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind with a frown. "I don't +ask about him. I understand you have been in the habit of reading to +your father, and what did you read to him, Jupe?" + +"About the fairies, sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the +Genies," she sobbed out: "And about--" + +"Hush!" exclaimed Mr. Gradgrind, "that is enough. Never breathe a word +of such destructive nonsense any more." + +Then Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter took Cecilia Jupe off with them to +Stone Lodge, where she speedily grew as pale as wax, and as heavy-eyed +as all the other victims of Mr. Gradgrind's practical system of +training. She had not an easy time of it, between Mr. M'Choakumchild and +Mrs. Gradgrind, and was not without strong impulses, in the first months +of her probation, to run away. It hailed facts all day long, so very +hard, and life in general was opened to her as such a closely ruled +ciphering book, that assuredly she would have run away, but for only one +restraint. She believed that her father had not deserted her; she lived +in the hope that he would come back, and in the faith that he would be +made the happier by her remaining where she was. + +The wretched ignorance with which Jupe clung to this consolation, +rejecting the superior comfort of knowing on a sound arithmetical basis +that her father was an unnatural vagabond, filled Mr. Gradgrind with +pity. Yet, what was to be done? Mr. M'Choakumchild reported that she had +a very dense head for figures; that, once possessed with a general idea +of the globe, she took the smallest conceivable interest in its exact +measurements; that after eight weeks of induction into the elements of +Political Economy, she had only yesterday returned to the question, +"What is the first principle of this science?" the absurd answer, "To do +unto others as I would that they should do unto me." + +Mr. Gradgrind observed, shaking his head, that all this was very bad; +that it showed the necessity of infinite grinding at the mill of +knowledge, and that Jupe must be "kept to it." So Jupe was kept to it, +and became low spirited, but no wiser. + +"It would be a fine thing to be you, Miss Louisa!" She said one night, +when Louisa had endeavored to make her perplexities for next day +something clearer to her, to which Louisa answered, "I don't know that, +Sissy. You are more useful to my mother. You are pleasanter to yourself, +than _I_ am to _myself._" + +"But, if you please, Miss Louisa," Sissy pleaded, "I am--Oh so stupid! +All through school hours I make mistakes. To-day for instance, Mr. +M'Choakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity." + +"National, I think it must have been," observed Louisa. + +"National Prosperity," corrected Sissy, "and he said, Now, this +schoolroom is a Nation, and in this nation there are fifty millions of +money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty. Isn't this a +prosperous nation, and a'n't you in a thriving state? Miss Louisa, I +said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a +prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, +unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But +that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all," said +Sissy, wiping her eyes. + +"That was a great mistake of yours," observed Louisa. + +"Yes, Miss Louisa, I know it was now. Then Mr. M'Choakumchild said he +would try me again. And he said, This Schoolroom is an immense town, and +in it there are a million inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are +starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your +remark on that proportion? And my remark was, that I thought it must be +just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a +million or a million million. And that was wrong too. Then Mr. +M'Choakumchild said he would try me once more. And he said That in a +given time a hundred thousand persons went to sea on long voyages, and +only five hundred of them were drowned or burned to death. What is the +percentage? And I said, Miss;" here Sissy fairly sobbed in confessing to +her great error; "I said it was nothing, Miss--to the relations and +friends of the people who were killed--I shall never learn," said Sissy. +"And the worst of all is, that although my poor father wished me so much +to learn, and although I am so anxious to learn, because he wished me +to, I am afraid I don't like it." + +Louisa stood looking at the pretty, modest head, as it drooped abashed +before her, until it was raised again to glance at her face. Then +she asked: + +"Did your father know so much himself, that he wished you to be well +taught too?" + +Sissy hesitated before replying, for this was forbidden ground, but +Louisa insisted upon continuing the conversation. + +"No, Miss Louisa," answered Sissy, "father knows very little indeed. But +he said mother was quite a scholar. She died when I was born. She +was"--Sissy made the terrible communication, nervously--"she was a +dancer. We travelled about the country. Father's a"--Sissy whispered the +awful word--"a clown." + +"To make the people laugh?" said Louisa with a nod of intelligence. + +"Yes." But they wouldn't laugh sometimes. Lately they very often +wouldn't, and he used to come home despairing. + +I tried to comfort him the best I could, and father said I did. I used +to read to him to cheer up his courage, and he was very fond of that. +Often and often of a night, he used to forget all his troubles in +wondering whether the Sultan would let the lady go on with her story, or +would have her head cut off before it was finished." + +"And your father was always kind?" asked Louisa. + +"Always, always!" returned Sissy, clasping her hands. "Kinder and kinder +than I can tell. He was angry only one night, and that was not at me, +but Merrylegs, his performing dog. After he beat the dog, he lay down +crying on the floor with him in his arms, and the dog licked his face." + +Louisa saw that she was sobbing, and going to her, kissed her, took her +hand, and sat down beside her. + +"Finish by telling me how your father left you, Sissy. The blame of +telling the story, if there is any blame, is mine, not yours." + +"Dear Miss Louisa," said Sissy, sobbing yet; "I came home from the +school that afternoon, and found poor father just come home too, from +the booth. And he sat rocking himself over the fire, as if he was in +pain. And I said, 'have you hurt yourself father?' and he said, 'A +little, my darling.' Then I saw that he was crying. The more I spoke to +him, the more he hid his face; and shook all over, and said nothing but +'My darling'; and 'My love!' Then he said he never gave any satisfaction +now, that he was a shame and disgrace, and I should have done better +without him all along. I said all the affectionate things to him that +came into my heart, and presently he was quiet, and put his arms around +my neck, and kissed me a great many times. Then he asked me to fetch +some of the stuff he used, for the little hurt he had had, and to get it +at the best place, which was at the other end of town. Then after +kissing me again, he let me go. There is no more to tell, Miss Louisa. I +keep the nine oils ready for him, and I know he will come back. Every +letter that I see in Mr. Gradgrind's hand takes my breath away, and +blinds my eyes, for I think it comes from father, or from Mr. Sleary +about father." + +After this whenever Sissy dropped a curtsey to Mr. Gradgrind in the +presence of his family, and asked if he had had any letter yet about +her, Louisa would suspend the occupation of the moment, and look for the +reply as earnestly as Sissy did. And when Mr. Gradgrind answered, "No, +Jupe, nothing of the sort," the trembling of Sissy's lips would be +repeated in Louisa's face, and her eyes would follow Sissy with +compassion to the door. Thus a warm friendship sprang up between the +girls, and a similar one between the mathematical Thomas and the +clown's daughter. + +Time with his innumerable horse-power presently turned out young Thomas +Gradgrind a young man and Louisa a young woman. The same great +manufacturer passed Sissy onward in his mill, and worked her up into a +very pretty article, indeed. + +"I fear, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that your continuance at the school +any longer would be useless." + +"I am afraid it would, sir," Sissy answered with a curtsey. + +"I cannot disguise from you, Jupe," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that the result +of your probation there has greatly disappointed me. You are extremely +deficient in your facts. Your acquaintance with figures is very limited. +You are altogether backward, and below the mark, yet I believe you have +tried hard. I have observed you, and I can find no fault with you in +that respect." + +"Thank you, sir. I have thought sometimes;" Sissy faltered, "that +perhaps I tried to learn too much, and that if I had asked to be +allowed to try a little less, I might have--" + +"No, Jupe, no," said Mr. Gradgrind, shaking his head. "No. The course +you pursued, you pursued according to the system, and there is no more +to be said about it. I can only suppose that the circumstances of your +early life were too unfavorable to the development of your reasoning +powers, and that we began too late. Still, as I have said already, I am +disappointed." + +"I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment, sir, of your kindness +to a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you, and of your protection +of her." said Sissy, weeping. + +"Don't shed tears," added Mr. Gradgrind, "I don't complain of you. You +are an affectionate, earnest, good young woman, and we must make +that do." + +"Thank you, sir, very much," said Sissy, with a grateful curtsey. + +"You are useful to Mrs. Gradgrind, and you are serviceable in the family +also; so I understand from Miss Louisa, and indeed, so I have observed +myself. I therefore hope," said Mr. Gradgrind, "that you can make +yourself happy in those relations." + +"I should have nothing to wish, sir, if--" + +"I understand you," said Mr. Gradgrind; "you refer to your father. I +have heard from Miss Louisa that you still preserve that bottle. Well! +If your training in the science of arriving at exact results had been +more successful, you would have been wiser on these points. I will +say no more." + +He really liked Sissy too well to have contempt for her. Somehow or +other, he had become possessed by an idea that there was something in +this girl which could hardly be set forth in a tabular form; that there +was something in her composition which defied the cold analysis of Fact; +that there was some great virtue in her loving-kindness which more than +compensated for her deficiencies of mind. + +From that time Sissy lived at Stone Lodge on equal terms with the rest +of the family, and after Louisa's marriage, cared for fretful Mrs. +Gradgrind in her invalidism, with a sweet patience that endeared her to +the poor woman. Indeed the entire household were deeply attached to +Sissy, and, seeing the unselfishness of her daily life, even Mr. +Gradgrind himself was forced to acknowledge that there was a greater +Teacher than M'Choakumchild, with a system of education superior to the +Gradgrind system, and that the same great Teacher had educated the +clown's daughter to a higher degree of usefulness and courage than the +Gradgrind system had yet been able to produce. + +In fact, as time went on, Mr. Gradgrind was slowly discovering the flaws +in his mathematical theories; finding out that laws and logic can never +take the place of love in the development of a nature, and the discovery +was a bitter one to him. + +Despite their careful bringing-up by rule and measure, neither Louisa +nor Thomas Gradgrind, in their maturity, did any credit to their +father's system, and when his mistakes with them became evident to the +cold, proud man, and he realized how nearly he had wrecked their lives +by those errors, the weight of his suffering was heavy upon him. Then, +realizing that all the Facts in his storehouse of learning, could not +teach him how to save his children, and win their love, it was to Sissy +that he turned for the information that he needed. + +When young Thomas Gradgrind robbed the Bank with which he was connected, +and was obliged to flee from justice, it was Sissy who saved him from +ruin. She sent him, with a note of explanation, to her old friend, Mr. +Sleary,--whose whereabouts she happened to know at the time, and asked +him to hide young Thomas until he should have further advice from her. +Then she and Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind journeyed hurriedly to the town, +where they found the Circus. A performance was just beginning when they +arrived, and they found the culprit in the ring, disguised as a +black servant. + +When the performance was over, Mr. Sleary came out and greeted them with +great heartiness, exclaiming; "Thethilia, it doth me good to thee you. +You wath always a favorite with uth, and you've done uth credit thinth +the old timeth, I'm thure." + +He then suggested that such members of his troupe as would remember her +be called to see her, and presently Sissy found herself amid the +familiar scenes of her childhood, surrounded by an eager and +affectionate group of her old comrades. While she was busily talking +with them, Mr. Sleary entered into a consultation with Mr. Gradgrind +upon the subject of his erring son's future. He then told the poor, +distressed father that for Sissy's sake, and because Mr. Gradgrind had +been so kind to her, he would help the culprit to escape from the +country, secretly, by night Then, growing confidential, he added: + +"Thquire, you don't need to be told that dogth ith wonderful animalth." + +"Their instinct," said Mr. Gradgrind, "is surprising." + +"Whatever you call it--and I'm bletht if I know what to call it"--said +Sleary, "it ith athtonithing. Ith fourteen month ago, Thquire, thinthe +we wath at Chethter. One morning there cometh into our Ring, by the +thage door, a dog. He had travelled a long way, he wath in very bad +condition, he wath lame and pretty well blind. He went round as if he +wath a theeking for a child he know'd; and then he comed to me, and +thood on hith two fore-legth, weak ath he wath, and then he wagged hith +tail and died. Thquire, that dog wath Merrylegth." + +"Sissy's father's dog!" + +"Thethilia's fatherth old dog. Now, Thquire, I can take my oath, from my +knowledge of that dog, that that man wath dead--and buried--afore that +dog came back to me. We talked it over a long time, whether I thould +write or not, but we agreed, No. There'th nothing comfortable to tell; +why unthettle her mind, and make her unhappy? Tho, whether her father +bathely detherted her; or whether he broke his own heart alone, rather +than pull her down along with him, never will be known, now, Thquire, +till we know how the dogth findth uth out!" + +"She keeps the bottle that he sent her for, to this hour, and she will +believe in his affection to the last moment of her life," said Mr. +Gradgrind. + +"It theemth to prethent two things to a perthon, don't it?" said Mr. +Sleary musingly, "one, that there ith a love in the world, not all +thelf-interest, after all, but thomething very different; t'other, that +it hath a way of its own of calculating with ith as hard to give a name +to, ath the wayth of the dogth ith!" + +Mr. Gradgrind looked out of the window, and made no reply. He was deep +in thought, and the result of his meditation became evident from that +day in a gradual broadening of his nature and purposes. He never again +attempted to replace nature's instincts and affections by his own system +of education, and as the years went by he made no further attempt to +destroy Sissy's loving faith in that father who had left her long ago; +he only tried to compensate her for that loss as best he could;--and +for the education which led to the softening of his hard, cold nature, +the credit belongs to the daughter of a clown, to whom love meant more +than logic. + + + +FLORENCE DOMBEY + + + +[Illustration: FLORENCE DOMBEY] + + + +FLORENCE DOMBEY + +There never was a child more loving or more lovable than Florence +Dombey. There never was a child more ready to respond to loving +ministrations than she, more eager to yield herself in docile obedience +to a parent's wish; and to her mother she clung with a desperate +affection at variance with her years. + +But the sad day came when, clasped in her mother's arms, the little +creature, with her perfectly colorless face, and deep, dark eyes, never +moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, nor looked on those who +stood around, nor shed a tear, understanding that soon she would be +bereft of that mother's care and love. + +"Mamma!" cried the child at last, sobbing aloud; "Oh, dear mamma! oh, +dear mamma!" + +Then, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother +drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the +world, leaving Florence and the new-born baby brother in the +father's care. + +Alas for Florence! To that father,--the pompous head of the great firm +of Dombey and Son--girls never showed a sufficient justification for +their existence, and this one of his own was an object of supreme +indifference to him; while upon the tiny boy, his heir and future +partner in the firm, he lavished all his interest, centred all his hopes +and affection. + +After her mother's death, Florence was taken away by an aunt; and a +nurse, named Polly Richards, was secured for baby Paul. A few weeks +later, as Polly was sitting in her own room with her young charge, the +door was quietly opened, and a dark-eyed little girl looked in. + +"It's Miss Florence, come home from her aunt's, no doubt," thought +Richards, who had never seen the child before. "Hope I see you +well, miss." + +"Is that my brother?" asked the child, pointing to the baby. + +"Yes, my pretty," answered Richards, "come and kiss him." + +But the child, instead of advancing, looked her earnestly in the face, +and said: + +"What have you done with my mamma?" + +"Lord bless the little creetur!" cried Richards. "What a sad question! +_I_ done? Nothing, miss." + +"What have they done with my mamma?" cried the child. + +"I never saw such a melting thing in all my life!" said Richards. "Come +nearer here; come, my dear miss! Don't be afraid of me." + +"I'm not afraid of you," said the child, drawing nearer, "but I want to +know what they have done with my mamma." + +"My darling," said Richards, "come and sit down by me, and I'll tell you +a story." + +With a quick perception that it was intended to relate to what she had +asked, little Florence sat down on a stool at the nurse's feet, looking +up into her face. + +"Once upon a time," said Richards, "there was a lady--a very good lady, +and her little daughter dearly loved her--who, when God thought it right +that it should be so, was taken ill, and died. Died, never to be seen +again by anyone on earth, and was buried in the ground where the +trees grow." + +"The cold ground," said the child, shuddering. + +"No, the warm ground," returned Polly, seizing her advantage, "where the +ugly little seeds turn into beautiful flowers, and into grass, and into +corn, and I don't know what all besides. Where good people turn into +bright angels, and fly away to heaven!" + +The child who had drooped her head, raised it again, and sat looking at +her intently. + +"So; let me see," said Polly, not a little flurried between this earnest +scrutiny, her desire to comfort the child, her sudden success, and her +very slight confidence in her own powers. "So, when this lady died, she +went to God! and she prayed to Him, this lady did," said Polly, +affecting herself beyond measure, being heartily in earnest, "to teach +her little daughter to be sure of that in her heart; and to know that +she was happy there, and loved her still; and to hope and try--oh, all +her life--to meet her there one day, never, never, never to part +any more." + +"It was my mamma!" exclaimed the child, springing up, and clasping her +around the neck. + +"And the child's heart," said Polly, drawing her to her breast, "the +little daughter's heart was so full of the truth of this, that even when +she heard it from a strange nurse that couldn't tell it right, but was a +poor mother herself, and that was all, she found a comfort in it--didn't +feel so lonely--sobbed and cried upon her bosom--took kindly to the baby +lying in her lap--and--there, there, there!" said Polly, smoothing the +child's curls, and dropping tears upon her. "There, poor dear!" + +"Oh, well, Miss Floy! and won't your pa be angry neither?" cried a quick +voice at the door, proceeding from a short, brown womanly girl of +fourteen, with little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads, "when it +was tickerlerly given out that you wasn't to go and worrit the nurse." + +"She don't worry me," was the surprised rejoinder of Polly. "I'm very +fond of children. Miss Florence has just come home, hasn't she?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Richards, and here, Miss Floy, before you've been in the +house a quarter of an hour, you go a-smearing your wet face against the +expensive mourning that Mrs. Richards is a-wearing for your ma!" With +this remonstrance, young Spitfire, whose real name was Susan Nipper, +detached the child from her new friend by a wrench--as if she were a +tooth. But she seemed to do it more in the sharp exercise of her +official functions, than with any deliberate unkindness. + +"She'll be quite happy, now that she's come home again," said Polly, +nodding to her with a smile, "and will be so pleased to see her dear +papa to-night." + +"Lork, Mrs. Richards!" cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words with a +jerk, "Don't! See her dear papa, indeed! I should like to see her do it! +Her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else; and before there was +somebody else to be wrapped up in, she never was a favorite. Girls are +thrown away in this house, I assure you." + +"You surprise me," cried Polly. "Hasn't Mr. Dombey seen her since--" + +"No," interrupted Miss Nipper. "Not once since. And he hadn't hardly set +his eyes upon her before that, for months and months, and I don't think +he would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets +to-morrow. Oh, there's a Tartar within a hundred miles of here, I can +tell you, Mrs. Richards!" said Susan Nipper; "Wish you good morning, +Mrs. Richards. Now Miss Floy, you come along with me, and don't go +hanging back like a naughty wicked child, that judgments is no example +to, don't." + +In spite of being thus adjured, and in spite also of some hauling on the +part of Susan Nipper, little Florence broke away, and kissed her new +friend affectionately, but Susan Nipper made a charge at her, and swept +her out of the room. + +When Polly Richards was left alone, her heart was sore for the +motherless little girl, and she determined to devise some means of +having Florence beside her lawfully and without rebellion. An opening +happened to present itself that very night. + +She had been rung down into the conservatory, as usual, and was walking +about with the baby in her arms, when Mr. Dombey came up and +stopped her. + +"He looks thriving," said Mr. Dombey, glancing with great interest at +Paul's tiny face, which she uncovered for his observation. "They give +you everything that you want, I hope?" + +"Oh, yes, thank you, sir;" + +She hesitated so, however, that Mr. Dombey stopped again and looked at +her inquiringly. + +"I believe nothing is so good for making children lively, sir, as seeing +other children playing about them," observed Polly, taking courage. + +"I think I mentioned to you, Richards, when you came here," said Mr. +Dombey, with a frown; "that I wished you to see as little of your family +as possible. You can continue your walk, if you please." + +With that he disappeared into an inner room, and Polly felt that she had +fallen into disgrace without the least advancement of her purpose; but +next night when she came down, he called her to him. "If you really +think that kind of society is good for the child," he said sharply, as +if there had been no interval since she proposed it, "where's Miss +Florence?" + +"Nothing could be better than Miss Florence, sir," said Polly eagerly, +"but I understood from her little maid that they were not to--" But Mr. +Dombey rang the bell, and gave his orders before she had a chance to +finish the sentence. + +"Tell them always to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she +chooses," he commanded; and, the iron being hot, Richards striking on it +boldly, requested that the child might be sent down at once to make +friends with her little brother. + +When Florence timidly presented herself, had Mr. Dombey looked towards +her with a father's eye, he might have read in her keen glance the +passionate desire to run to him, crying, "Oh, father, try to love +me,--there is no one else"; the dread of a repulse; the fear of being +too bold and of offending him. But he saw nothing of this. He saw her +pause at the door and look towards him, and he saw no more. + +"Come here, Florence," said her father coldly. "Have you nothing to say +to me?" + +The tears that stood in her eyes as she raised them quickly to his face, +were frozen by the expression it wore. She looked down again, and put +out her trembling hand, which Mr. Dombey took loosely in his own. + +"There! be a good girl," he said, patting her on the head, and regarding +her with a disturbed and doubtful look, "go to Richards! go!" + +His little daughter hesitated for another instant, as though she would +have clung about him still, or had some lingering hope that he might +raise her in his arms and kiss her. But he dropped her hand and turned +away. Still Polly persevered, and managed so well with little Paul as to +make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's +company. When it was time for Florence to go to bed, the nurse urged her +to say good night to her father, but the child hesitated, and Mr. Dombey +called from the inner room; "It doesn't matter. You can let her come and +go without regarding me." + +The child shrunk as she listened, and was gone before her humble friend +looked around again. + + * * * * * + +Just around the corner from Mr. Dombey's office was the little shop of a +nautical-instrument maker whose name was Solomon Gills. The +stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, +telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, and every kind of an instrument +used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's +reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discovery. Old prints of ships +hung in frames upon the walls; outlandish shells, seaweeds and mosses +decorated the chimney-piece; the little wainscoted parlor was lighted by +a skylight, like a cabin, The shop itself seemed almost to become a +sea-going ship-shape concern, wanting only good sea room, in the event +of an unexpected launch, to work its way securely to any desert island +in the world. + +Here Solomon Gills lived, in skipper-like state, all alone with his +nephew, Walter; a boy of fourteen, who looked quite enough like a +midshipman to carry out the prevailing idea. + +It is half past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon. Solomon Gills is +wondering where Walter is, when a voice exclaims, "Halloa, Uncle Sol!" +and the instrument-maker, turning briskly around, sees a +cheerful-looking, merry boy fresh with running home in the rain; +fair-faced, bright-eyed and curly-haired. + +"Well, uncle, how have you got on without me all day? Is dinner ready? +I'm so hungry." + +"As to getting on," said Solomon, good-naturedly, "It would be odd if I +couldn't get on without a young dog like you a great deal better than +with you. As to dinner being ready, it's been waiting for you this +half-hour. As to being hungry, I am!" + +"Come along, then, uncle!" cried the boy, and Uncle Sol and his nephew +were speedily engaged on a fried sole, with a prospect of steak +to follow. + +"Now," said the old man eagerly, "Let's hear something about the Firm." + +"Oh! there's not much to be told, uncle," said the boy, plying his knife +and fork. "When Mr. Dombey came in, he walked up to my seat--I wish he +wasn't so solemn and stiff, uncle--and told me you had spoken to him +about me, and that he had found me employment in the House accordingly, +and that I was expected to be attentive and punctual, and then he went +away. I thought he didn't seem to like me much." + +"You mean, I suppose." observed the instrument-maker, "that you didn't +seem to like him much." + +"Well, uncle," returned the boy laughing, "perhaps so; I never thought +of that." + +Solomon looked a little graver as he finished his dinner, and glanced +from time to time at the boy's bright face. When dinner was done, he +went down into a little cellar, and returned with a bottle covered with +dust and dirt. + +"Why, uncle Sol!" said the boy, "What are you about? that's the +wonderful Madeira--there's only one more bottle!" + +Uncle Sol nodded his head, and having drawn the cork in solemn silence, +filled two glasses, and set the bottle and a third clean glass on +the table. + +"You shall drink the other bottle, Wally," he said, "When you come to +good fortune; when you are a thriving, respected, happy man; when the +start in life you have made to-day shall have brought you--as I pray +Heaven it may!--to a smooth part of the course you have to run, my +child. My love to you!" + +They clinked their glasses together, and were deep in conversation, when +an addition to the little party made its appearance, in the shape of a +gentleman with a hook instead of a hand attached to his right wrist; +very bushy black eyebrows; and a thick stick in his left hand, covered +all over (like his nose) with knobs. He wore a loose black silk +handkerchief round his neck, and such a very large shirt-collar that it +looked like a small sail over his wide suit of blue. He was evidently +the person for whom the spare wineglass was intended, and evidently knew +it; for having taken off his coat, and hung up his hard glazed hat, he +brought a chair to where the clean glass was, and sat himself down +behind it. He was usually addressed as Captain, this visitor; and had +been a pilot, or a skipper, or a privateer's man, or all three perhaps; +and was a very salt looking man indeed. His face brightened as he shook +hands with uncle and nephew; but he seemed to be of a laconic +disposition, and merely said: "How goes it?" + +"All well," said Mr. Gills, pushing the bottle towards the new-comer, +Captain Cuttle, who thereupon proceeded to fill his glass, and the +wonderful Madeira loosened his tongue to the extent of giving utterance +to a prodigous oration for Walter's benefit. + +"Come," cried Solomon Gills, "we must finish the bottle." + +"Stand by!" said Captain Cuttle, filling his glass again. "Give the boy +some more." + +"Yes," said Sol, "a little more. We'll finish the bottle to the +House,--Walter's house. Why, it may be his house one of these days, in +part. Who knows? Sir Richard Whittington married his master's daughter." + +"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and when you are old, +you will never depart from it," interposed the Captain. "Wal'r, overhaul +the book, my lad!" + +"And although Mr. Dombey hasn't a daughter--" Sol began. + +"Yes, yes, he has, uncle," said the boy, reddening and laughing. "I know +he has. Some of them were talking about it in the office to-day. And +they do say that he's taken a dislike to her, and that she's left +unnoticed among the servants, while he thinks of no one but his son. +That's what they say. Of course I don't know." + +"He knows all about her already, you see," said the instrument-maker. + +"Nonsense, uncle," cried the boy reddening again; "how can I help +hearing what they tell me?" + +"The son's a little in our way at present, I'm afraid," added the old +man, humoring the joke. "Nevertheless, we'll drink to him," pursued Sol. +"So, here's to Dombey and Son." + +"Oh, very well, uncle," said the boy merrily. "Since you have introduced +the mention of her, and have said that I know all about her, I shall +make bold to amend the toast. So,--here's to Dombey--and Son--and +Daughter!" + +Meanwhile, in Mr. Dombey's mansion, baby Paul was thriving under the +watchful care of Polly Richards, Mr. Dombey, and Mr. Dombey's friends, +and the day of his christening arrived. On that important occasion, the +baby's excitement was so great that no one could soothe him until +Florence was summoned. As she hid behind her nurse, he followed her with +his eyes; and when she peeped out with a merry cry to him, he sprang up +and crowed lustily--laughing outright when she ran in upon him, and +seeming to fondle her curls with his tiny hands while she smothered him +with kisses. + +Was Mr. Dombey pleased to see this? He did not show it. If any sunbeam +stole into the room to light the children at their play, it never +reached his face. He looked on so coldly that the warm light vanished, +even from the laughing eyes of little Florence when, at last, they +happened to meet his. + +The contemplation of Paul in his christening robe made his nurse yearn +for a sight of her own first-born, although this was a pleasure strictly +forbidden by Mr. Dombey's orders. But the longing so overpowered her +that she consulted Miss Nipper as to the possibility of gratifying it, +and that young woman, eager herself for an expedition, urged Polly to +visit her home. So, the next morning the two nurses set out together: +Richards carrying Paul, and Susan leading little Florence by the hand, +and giving her such jerks and pokes as she considered it wholesome to +administer. Then for a brief half-hour, Polly enjoyed the longed-for +pleasure of being again in the bosom of her family, but the visit had a +sad ending, for on the way back, passing through a crowded thoroughfare +the little party became separated. A thundering alarm of Mad Bull! was +raised. With a wild confusion of people running up and down, and +shouting, and wheels running over them, and boys fighting, and mad bulls +coming up, and the nurse in the midst of all these dangers, being torn +to pieces, Florence screamed and ran. She ran until she was exhausted, +then found with a sensation of terror not to be described, that she was +quite alone. + +"Susan! Susan!" cried Florence. "Oh, where are they?" + +"Where are they?" said an old woman, hobbling across from the opposite +side of the road. "Why did you run away from 'em?" + +"I was frightened," answered Florence. "I didn't know what I did. I +thought they were with me. Where are they?" + +The old woman took her by the wrist, and said, "I'll show you." + +She was a very ugly old woman indeed, miserably dressed, and carried +some skins over her arm. Florence was afraid of her, and looked, +hesitating, up the street. It was a solitary place, and there was no one +in it but herself and the old woman. + +"You needn't be frightened now," said the old woman, still holding her +tight "Come along with me." + +"I--don't know you. What's your name?" asked Florence. + +"Mrs. Brown," said the old woman, "Good Mrs. Brown. Susan ain't far +off," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and the others are close to her, and +nobody's hurt." + +The child shed tears of delight on hearing this, and accompanied the old +woman willingly. They had not gone far, when they stopped before a +shabby little house in a dirty little lane. Opening the door with a key +she took out of her pocket, Mrs. Brown pushed the child into a back +room, where there was a great heap of rags lying on the floor, a heap of +bones, and a heap of sifted dust. But there was no furniture at all, and +the walls and ceiling were quite black. + +The child became so terrified, that she was stricken speechless, and +looked as though about to swoon. + +"Now, don't be a young mule," said Good Mrs. Brown, reviving her with a +shake. "I'm not a' going to keep you, even above an hour. Don't vex me. +If you don't, I tell you, I won't hurt you. But if you do, I'll kill +you. I could have you killed at any time--even if you was in your own +bed at home. Now let's know who you are, and what you are, and all +about it." + +The old woman's threats and promises, and Florence's habit of being +quiet, and repressing what she felt, enabled her to tell her little +history. Mrs. Brown listened attentively until she had finished. + +"I want that pretty frock, Miss Dombey," said Good Mrs. Brown, "and that +little bonnet, and a petticoat or two, and those shoes, Miss Dombey, and +anything else you can spare. Come! take 'em off." + +Florence obeyed as fast as her trembling hands could allow, keeping all +the while, a frightened eye on Mrs. Brown, who examined each article of +apparel at leisure, and seemed tolerably well satisfied with their +quality and value; she then produced a worn-out girl's cloak, and the +crushed remnants of a girl's bonnet, as well as other tattered things. +In this dainty raiment she instructed Florence to dress herself, and as +this seemed a prelude to her release, the child complied as fast as +possible. Mrs. Brown then resumed her seat on the bones, and smoked a +very short, black pipe, after which she gave the child a rabbit-skin to +carry, that she might appear like her ordinary companion, and led her +forth into the streets; but she cautioned her, with threats of deadly +vengeance in case of disobedience, to go directly to her father's office +in the city, also to wait at the street corner where she would be left, +until the clock struck three, and these directions Florence promised +faithfully to observe. + +At length Mrs. Brown left her changed and ragged little friend at a +corner, where, true to her promise, she remained until the steeple rang +out three o'clock, when after often looking over her shoulder, lest the +all-powerful spies of Mrs. Brown should take offence at that, she +hurried off as fast as she could in her slipshod shoes, holding the +rabbit-skin tight in her hand. + +Tired of walking, stunned by the noise and confusion, anxious for her +brother and the nurses, terrified by what she had undergone, and what +was yet before her, Florence once or twice could not help stopping and +crying bitterly, but few people noticed her, in the garb she wore, or if +they did, believed that she was tutored to excite compassion, and passed +on. It was late in the afternoon when she peeped into a kind of wharf, +and asked a stout man there if he could tell her the way to Dombey +& Son's. + +The man looked attentively at her, then called another man, who ran up +an archway, and very soon returned with a blithe-looking boy who he said +was in Mr. Dombey's employ. + +Hearing this, Florence felt re-assured; ran eagerly up to him, and +caught his hand in both of hers. + +"I'm lost, if you please!" said Florence. "I was lost this morning, a +long way from here--and I have had my own clothes taken away since--and +my name is Florence Dombey, and, oh dear, take care of me, if you +please!" sobbed Florence, giving full vent to her childish feelings. + +"Don't cry, Miss Dombey," said young Walter Gay, the nephew of Solomon +Gills, in a transport of enthusiasm. "What a wonderful thing for me that +I am here. You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's +crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Oh, don't cry!" + +"I won't cry any more," said Florence. "I'm only crying for joy." + +"Crying for joy!" thought Walter, "and I'm the cause of it. Come along, +Miss Dombey, let me see the villain who will molest you now!" + +So Walter, looking immensely fierce, led off Florence looking very +happy; and as Mr. Dombey's office was closed for the night, he led her +to his uncle's, to leave her there while he should go and tell Mr. +Dombey that she was safe, and bring her back some clothes. + +"Halloa, Uncle Sol," cried Walter, bursting into the shop; "Here's a +wonderful adventure! Here's Mr. Dombey's daughter lost in the streets, +and robbed of her clothes by an old witch of a woman--found by +me--brought home to our parlor to rest--Here--just help me lift the +little sofa near the fire, will you, uncle Sol?--Cut some dinner for +her, will you, uncle; throw those shoes under the grate, Miss +Florence--put your feet on the fender to dry--how damp they are!--Here's +an adventure, uncle, eh?--God bless my soul, how hot I am!" + +Solomon Gills was quite as hot, by sympathy; and in excessive +bewilderment, he patted Florence's head, pressed her to eat, pressed her +to drink, rubbed the soles of her feet with his pocket-handkerchief, +heated at the fire, followed his locomotive nephew with his eyes and +ears, and had no clear perception of anything except that he was being +constantly knocked against, and tumbled over by that excited young +gentleman, as he darted about the room, attempting to accomplish twenty +things at once, and doing nothing at all. + +"Here, wait a minute, uncle," he continued, "till I run upstairs and get +another jacket on, and then I'll be off. I say, uncle, isn't this an +adventure?" + +"My dear boy," said Solomon, "it is the most extraordinary--" + +"No, but do, uncle, please--do, Miss Florence--dinner, you know, uncle." + +"Yes, yes, yes," cutting instantly into a leg of mutton, as if he were +catering for a giant. "I'll take care of her, Wally! Pretty dear! +Famished, of course. You go and get ready. Lord bless me! Sir Richard +Whittington, thrice Mayor of London!" + +While Walter was preparing to leave, Florence, overcome by fatigue, had +sunk into a doze before the fire and when the boy returned, she was +sleeping peacefully. + +"That's capital!" he whispered, "Don't wake her, uncle Sol!" + +"No, no," answered Solomon, "Pretty child!" + +"_Pretty_, indeed!" cried Walter, "I never saw such a face! Now I'm +off." + +Arriving at Mr. Dombey's house, and breathlessly announcing his errand +to the servant, Walter was shown into the library, where he confronted +Mr. Dombey. + +"Oh! beg your pardon, sir," said Walter, rushing up to him; "but I'm +happy to say, it's all right, sir. Miss Dombey's found!" + +"I told you she would certainly be found," said Mr. Dombey calmly, to +the others in the room. "Let the servants know that no further steps are +necessary. This boy who brings the information is young Gay from the +office. How was my daughter found, sir? I know how she was lost." Here +he looked majestically at Richards. "But how was she found? Who +found her?" + +It was quite out of Walter's power to be coherent, but he rendered +himself as explanatory as he could, in his breathless state, and told +why he had come alone. + +"You hear this, girl?" said Mr. Dombey sternly, to Susan Nipper. "Take +what is necessary and return immediately with this young man to fetch +Miss Florence home. Gay, you will be rewarded to-morrow." + +"Oh! thank you, sir," said Walter. "You are very kind. I'm sure I was +not thinking of any reward sir." + +"You are a boy," said Mr. Dombey, almost fiercely; "and what you think +of, or what you affect to think of, is of little consequence. You have +done well, sir. Don't undo it." + +Returning to his uncle's with Miss Nipper, Walter found that Florence, +much refreshed by sleep, had dined and come to be on terms of perfect +confidence and ease with old Sol. Miss Nipper caught her in her arms, +and made a very hysterical meeting of it. Then, converting the parlor +into a private tiring-room, she dressed her in proper clothes, and +presently led her forth to say farewell. + +"Good-night," said Florence to the elder man, "you have been very good +to me." + +Uncle Sol was quite delighted, and kissed her like her grandfather. + +"Good-night, Walter," she said, "I'll never forget you, No! Indeed I +never will. Good-by!" + +The entrance of the lost child at home made a slight sensation, but not +much. Mr. Dombey kissed her once upon the forehead, and cautioned her +not to wander anywhere again with treacherous attendants. He then +dismissed the culprit Polly Richards, from his service, telling her to +leave immediately, and it was a dagger in the haughty father's heart to +see Florence holding to her dress, and crying to her not to go. Not that +he cared to whom his daughter turned, or from whom turned away. The +swift, sharp agony struck through him as he thought of what his +son might do. + +His son cried lustily that night, at all events; and the next day a new +nurse, Wickam by name, took Polly's place. + +She lavished every care upon little Paul, yet all her vigilance could +not make him a thriving boy. When he was nearly five years old, he was +a pretty little fellow, but so very delicate that Mr. Dombey became +alarmed about him, and decided to send him at once to the seashore. + +So to Brighton, Paul and Florence and nurse Wickam went, and boarded +with a certain Mrs. Pipchin there. On Saturdays Mr. Dombey came down to +a hotel near by, and Paul and Florence would go and have tea with him, +and every day they spent their time upon the sands, and Florence was +always content when Paul was happy. + +While the children were thus living at Brighton, a warrant was served +upon old Solomon Gills, by a broker, because of a payment overdue upon a +bond debt. Old Sol was overcome by the extent of this calamity, which he +could not avert, and Walter hurried out to fetch Captain Cuttle to +discuss the situation. To the lad's dismay, the Captain insisted upon +applying to Mr. Dombey at once for the necessary loan which would help +old Sol out of his difficulty. So Walter proceeded with him to Brighton +as fast as coach horses could carry them, and on a Sunday morning while +Mr. Dombey was at breakfast, Florence came running in, her face suffused +with a bright color, and her eyes sparkling joyfully, and cried: + +"Papa! Papa! here's Walter, and he won't come in!" + +"Who?" cried Mr. Dombey, "What does she mean,--what is this?" + +"Walter, Papa," said Florence timidly; "who found me when I was lost!" + +"Tell the boy to come in," said Mr. Dombey. "Now, Gay, what is the +matter?" + +Tremblingly Walter Gay stood in the presence of his proud employer, and +made known his uncle's distress, and when he ceased speaking, Captain +Cuttle stepped forward, and clearing a space among the breakfast cups at +Mr. Dombey's elbow, produced a silver watch, ready money to the amount +of thirteen pounds and half a crown, two teaspoons and a pair of +battered sugar-tongs, and piling them up into a heap, that they might +look as precious as possible, said: + +"Half a loaf is better than no bread, and the same remark holds good +with crumbs. There's a few. Annuity of one hundred pounds p'rannum also +ready to be made over!" + +Florence had listened tearfully to Walter's sad tale and to the +captain's offer of his valuables, and little Paul now tried to comfort +her; but Mr. Dombey, watching them, saw only his son's wistful +expression, thought only of his pleasure, and after taking the child on +his knee, and having a brief consulation with him, he announced +pompously that Master Paul would lend the money to Walter's uncle. Young +Gay tried to express his gratitude for this favor, but Mr. Dombey +stopped him short. Then, sweeping the captain's property from him, he +added, "Have the goodness to take these things away, sir!" + +Captain Cuttle was so much struck by the magnanimity of Mr. Dombey, in +refusing treasures lying heaped up to his hand, that when he had +deposited them in his pockets again, he could not refrain from grasping +that gentleman's right hand in his own solitary left, before following +Walter out of the room, and Mr. Dombey shivered at his touch. + +Florence was running after them, to send some message to old Sol, when +Mr. Dombey called her back, bidding her stay where she was, and so the +episode ended. + +When the children had been nearly twelve months at Mrs. Pipchin's, Mr. +Dombey decided to send Paul to Dr. Blimber's boarding-school where his +education would be properly begun. Accordingly, Paul began his studies +in that hot-bed of learning, where the dreamy, delicate child with his +quaint ways soon became a favorite with teachers and pupils. The +process of being educated was difficult for one so young and frail, and +he might have sunk beneath the burden of his tasks but for looking +forward to the weekly visit to his sister at Mrs. Pipchin's. + +Oh, Saturdays! Oh, happy Saturdays! When Florence always came for him at +noon, and never would in any weather stay away: these Saturdays were +Sabbaths for at least two little Christians among all the Jews, and did +the holy Sabbath work of strengthening and knitting up a brother's and a +sister's love. + +Seeing her brother's difficulty with his lessons, Florence procured +books similar to his, and sat down at night to track his footsteps +through the thorny ways of learning; and being naturally quick, and +taught by that most wonderful of masters, Love, it was not long before +she gained upon Paul's heels, and caught, and passed him. + +And high was her reward, when one Saturday evening she sat down by his +side and made all that was so dark, clear and plain before him. It was +nothing but a startled look in Paul's wan face--a flush--a smile--and +then a close embrace--but God knows how her heart leaped up at this rich +payment for her trouble. + +"Oh, Floy!" he cried, "how I love you!" + +He said no more about it, but all that evening sat close by her, very +quiet; and in the night he called out from his little room, three or +four times, that he loved her. Regularly after that Florence sat down +with him on Saturday night, and assisted him through so much as they +could anticipate together of his next week's work. + +And so the months went by, until the midsummer vacation was near at +hand, and the great party which was to celebrate the breaking up of +school, was about to come off. Some weeks before this, Paul had had a +fainting turn, and had not recovered his strength, in consequence of +which, he was enjoying complete rest from lessons, and it was clear to +every one, that, once at home, he would never come back to Dr. Blimber's +or to any school again, and to no one was the sad truth more evident +than to Florence. + +On the evening of the great party Florence came, looking so beautiful in +her simple ball dress, with her fresh flowers in her hand, that she was +the admiration of all the young gentlemen of the school, and +particularly of Mr. Toots, the head boy; a simple youth with an engaging +manner, and the habit of blushing and chuckling when addressed. Mr. +Toots had made Paul his especial favorite and charge, and was well +repaid for his devotion to the boy by the gracious appreciation which +Florence showed him for it, and it was to the care of Mr. Toots that +Paul, when leaving, intrusted the dog Diogenes, who had never received a +friend into his confidence before Paul had become his companion. + +The brother and sister remained together for a time at Mrs. Pipchin's, +then went back to their home in London, where little Paul's life ebbed +away, and his father's hopes were crushed by the blow. + +There was a hush through Mr. Dombey's great mansion when the child was +gone, and Florence;--was she so alone in the bleak world that nothing +else remained to her except her little maid? Nothing. + +At first, when the house subsided into its accustomed course she could +do nothing but weep, and wander up and down, and sometimes, in a sudden +pang of desolate remembrance, fly to her own chamber, lay her face down +on her bed, and know no consolation. But it is not in the nature of pure +love to burn so fiercely and unkindly long. Soon, in the midst of the +dismal house, her low voice in the twilight slowly touched an old air to +which she had so often listened with Paul's head upon her arm. And +after that, and when it was quite dark, a little strain of music +trembled in the room, repeated often, in the shadowy solitude; and +broken murmurs of the strain still trembled on the keys when the sweet +voice was hushed in tears. + +One day Florence was amazed at receiving a visit from Mr. Toots, who +entered the room with much hesitation, and, with a series of chuckles, +laughs, and blushes, informed her that he had brought her little Paul's +pet, the dog Diogenes, as a companion in her loneliness. + +"He ain't a lady's dog, you know," said Mr. Toots, "but I hope you won't +mind that. If you would like to have him, he's at the door." + +In fact, Diogenes was at that moment staring through the window of a +hackney cabriolet, into which he had been ensnared on a false pretence +of rats among the straw. Sooth to say, he was as unlike a lady's dog as +dog might be; and in his gruff anxiety to get out, gave short yelps, and +overbalancing himself by the intensity of his efforts, tumbled down into +the straw, and then sprung up panting again, putting out his tongue, as +if he had come express to a Dispensary to be examined for his health. + +But though Diogenes was as ridiculous a dog as one would meet with on a +summer's day; a blundering, ill-favored, clumsy, bullet-headed dog, +continually acting on the wrong idea that there was an enemy in the +neighborhood whom it was meritorious to bark at; and though he was far +from good-tempered, and certainly was not clever, and had hair all over +his eyes, and a comical nose, and an inconsistent tail, and a gruff +voice,--he was dearer to Florence, in virtue of Paul's parting +remembrance of him, and that request that he might be taken care of, +than the most valuable and beautiful of his kind. So dear, indeed, was +this same ugly Diogenes, and so welcome to her, that she kissed the +hand of Mr. Toots in her gratitude. And when Diogenes, released, came +tearing up the stairs and, bouncing into the room, dived under all the +furniture, and wound a long iron chain that dangled from his neck round +legs of chairs and tables, and then tugged at it until his eyes nearly +started out of his head; and when he growled at Mr. Toots, who affected +familiarity, Florence was as pleased with him as if he had been a +miracle of discretion. + +Mr. Toots was so overjoyed by the success of his present, and so +delighted to see Florence bending over Diogenes, smoothing his coarse +back with her little delicate hand--Diogenes graciously allowing it from +the first moment of their acquaintance--that he felt it difficult to +take leave, and would, no doubt have been a much longer time in making +up his mind to do so, if he had not been assisted by Diogenes himself, +who suddenly took it into his head to bay at Mr. Toots, and to make +short runs at him with his mouth open. Not exactly seeing his way to the +end of these demonstrations, Mr. Toot with chuckles, lapsed out of the +door, and got away. + +"Come, then, Di! Dear Di! Make friends with your new mistress. Let us +love each other, Di!" said Florence, fondling his shaggy head. And Di, +the rough and gruff, as if his hairy hide were pervious to the tear that +dropped upon it, and his dog's heart melted as it fell, put his nose up +to her face and swore fidelity. + +A banquet was immediately provided for him, and when he had eaten and +drunk his fill, he went to Florence, rose up on his hind legs, with his +awkward fore-paws on her shoulders, licked her face and hands, nestled +his great head against her heart, and wagged his tail till he was tired +Finally, he coiled himself up at her feet, and went to sleep. + +That same night Susan Nipper told her mistress that Mr. Dombey was to +leave home the next day for a trip,--which piece of news filled Florence +with dismay, and she sat musing sadly until midnight. + +She was little more than a child in years,--not yet fourteen--and the +loneliness and gloom of such an hour in the great house might have set +an older fancy brooding on vague terrors. But her innocent imagination +was too full of one theme to admit them. Nothing wandered in her thought +but love; a wandering love indeed, and cast away, but turning always to +her father. + +She could not go to bed, without making her nightly pilgrimage to his +door. The moment she touched it she found that it was open, and there +was a light within. The first impulse of the timid child--and she +yielded to it--was to retire swiftly. A next, to go back, and to enter. +She turned back, urged on by the love within her, and glided in. + +Her father sat at his old table, in the middle of the room. His face was +turned towards her. It looked worn and dejected, and in the loneliness +surrounding him, there was an appeal to Florence that struck home, but +when she spoke to him, the sternness of his glance and words so overcame +her that she shrank away,--and sobbing, silently ascended to her +room again. + +Diogenes was broad awake, and waiting for his little mistress. + +"Oh, Di! Oh, dear Di! Love me for his sake!" + +Diogenes already loved her for his own, and did not care how much he +showed it. So he made himself vastly ridiculous by performing a variety +of uncouth bounces, and concluded, when poor Florence was at last +asleep, by scratching open her bedroom door; rolling up his bed into a +pillow; lying down on the boards at the full length of his tether with +his head toward her; and looking lazily at her, upside down, out of the +tops of his eyes, until, from winking and blinking, he fell asleep +himself, and dreamed with gruff barks, of his enemy. + +About this time Walter Gay was informed by Mr. Dombey of his appointment +to a junior position in the firm's counting house in the Barbadoes. The +boy ever since he first saw Florence had thought of her with admiration +and compassion, pitying her loneliness; and now when he was about to +cross the ocean, his first thought was to seek audience with her little +maid, to tell her of his going, to say to her that his uncle had had an +interest in Miss Dombey ever since the night when she was lost, and +always wished her well and happy, and always would be proud and glad to +serve her, if she should need that service. + +Upon receiving the message, Florence hastened with Susan Nipper to the +old Instrument-maker's Shop, and they passed into the parlor so suddenly +that Uncle Sol, in surprise at seeing them, sprang out of his own chair +and nearly tumbled over another, as he exclaimed, "Miss Dombey!" + +"Is it possible!" cried Walter, starting up in his turn. "Here!" + +"Yes," said Florence, advancing to him. "I was afraid you might be going +away, and hardly thinking of me. And, Walter, there is something I wish +to say to you before you go, and you must call me Florence, if you +please, and not speak like a stranger. My dear brother before he died +said that he was very fond of you, and said, 'remember Walter'; and if +you will be a brother to me, Walter, now that I have none on earth, I'll +be your sister all my life, and think of you like one, wherever we +may be!" + +In her sweet simplicity, she held out both her hands, and Walter, taking +them, stooped down and touched the tearful face; and it seemed to him +in doing so, that he responded to her innocent appeal beside the dead +child's bed. + +After Walter's departure, Florence lived alone as before, in the great +dreary house, and the blank walls looked down upon her with a vacant +stare, as if they had a Gorgon-like mind to stare her youth and beauty +into stone. + +No magic dwelling-place in magic story, shut up in the heart of a thick +wood, was ever more solitary and deserted to the fancy than was her +father's mansion in its grim reality. The spell upon it was more wasting +than the spell which used to set enchanted houses sleeping once upon a +time, but left their waking freshness unimpaired. But Florence bloomed +there, like the King's fair daughter in the story. Her books, her music, +and her daily teachers were her only real companions, except Susan +Nipper and Diogenes, and she lived within the circle of her innocent +pursuits and thoughts, and nothing harmed her. She could go down to her +father's rooms now without fear of repulse. She could put everything in +order for him, binding little nosegays for his table, changing them as +they withered, and he did not come back, preparing something for him +every day, and leaving some timid mark of her presence near his usual +seat. Waking in the night, perhaps, she would tremble at the thought of +his coming home and angrily rejecting it, and would hurry down and bring +it away. At another time she would only lay her face upon his desk, and +leave a kiss there, and a tear. + +Still no one knew of this. Her father did not know--she held it from +that time--how much she loved him. She was very young, and had no +mother, and had never learned, by some fault or misfortune, how to +express to him that she loved him. She would try to gain that art in +time, and win him to a better knowledge of his only child. + +Thus Florence lived alone in the deserted house, and day succeeded day +in a monotony of loneliness until yielding to Susan Nipper's constant +request Florence consented to pay a visit to some friends who lived at +Fulham on the Thames. + +Just at this time she learned that Walter's ship was overdue, and no +news had been received of her, and, her mind filled with sad +forebodings, she went to see old Sol, She found him tearful and +desolate, broken down by the weight of his anxiety, refusing to be +comforted even by the hopeful words of Captain Cuttle. So it was with a +heavy heart that she went to pay her visit, accompanied by her +little maid. + +There were some other children staying at the Skettleses. Children who +were frank and happy, with fathers and mothers. Children who had no +restraint upon their love, and showed it freely. Florence thoughtfully +observed them, sought to find out from them what simple art they knew, +and she knew not; how she could be taught by them to show her father how +she loved him, and to win his love again. But all her efforts failed to +give her the secret of the nameless grace she sought, among the youthful +company who were assembled in the house, or among the children of the +poor, whom she often visited. + +Of Walter she thought constantly. Her tears fell often for his +sufferings, but rarely for his supposed death, and never long. Thus +matters stood with Florence on the day she went home, gladly, to her old +secluded life. + +"You'll be glad to go through the old rooms, won't you, Susan," said +Florence as they turned into the familiar street. + +"Well, Miss," returned the Nipper, "I wont deny but what I shall, though +I shall hate them again to-morrow, very likely!"--adding +breathlessly--"Why gracious me, _where's our house_?"-- + +There was a labyrinth of scaffolding raised all around the house. Loads +of bricks and stones, and heaps of mortar, and piles of wood, blocked up +half of the broad street. Ladders were raised against the walls; men +were at work upon the scaffolding; painters and decorators were busy +inside; great rolls of paper were being delivered from a cart at the +door; an upholsterer's wagon also stopped the way; nothing was to be +seen but workmen, swarming from the kitchens to the garret. Inside and +outside alike; bricklayers, painters, carpenters, masons; hammer, hod, +brush, pickaxe, saw, trowel: all at work together, in full chorus. + +Florence descended from the coach, half doubting if it could be the +right house, until she recognized Towlinson, the butler, standing at the +door to receive her. She passed him as if she were in a dream, and +hurried upstairs. Her own room was not yet touched within, but there +were beams and boards raised against it without. She went up swiftly to +that other bedroom, where her brother's little bed was; and a dark giant +of a man, with a pipe in his mouth, and his head tied up in a pocket +handkerchief, was staring in at the window. + +It was here that Susan Nipper found her, and said would she go +downstairs to her papa, who wished to speak to her? + +"At home! and wishing to speak to me!" cried Florence, pale and +agitated, hurrying down without a moment's hesitation. She thought upon +the way down, would she dare to kiss him? Her father might have heard +her heart beat when she came into his presence. He was not alone. There +were two ladies there. One was old, and the other was young and very +beautiful, and of an elegant figure. + +"Edith," said Mr. Dombey, "this is my daughter. Florence, this lady will +soon be your mamma." + +The girl started, and looked up at the beautiful face in a conflict of +emotions, among which the tears that name awakened struggled for a +moment with surprise, interest, admiration, and an indefinable sort of +fear. Then she cried out, "Oh, papa, may you be happy! May you be very, +very happy all your life!" then fell weeping on the lady's bosom. + +The beautiful lady held her to her breast, and pressed the hand with +which she clasped her, as if to reassure and comfort her, and bent her +head down over Florence and kissed her on the cheek. + +And now Florence began to hope that she would learn from her new and +beautiful mamma how to gain her father's love. And in her sleep that +night her own mother smiled radiantly upon the hope, and blessed it. + +Even in the busy weeks before the wedding-day, the bride-elect had time +to win the heart of the lonely girl, and Florence responded to her +advances with trustful love, and was happy and hopeful, while the new +mother's affection deepened daily. But it soon became evident that the +affection aroused Mr. Dombey's keen jealousy, and his wife thought it +best to repress her feelings for Florence. + +The girl soon became aware that there was no real sympathy between her +father and his second wife, and that the happiness in their home, of +which she had dreamed, would never be a reality. In truth the cold, +proud man with all his wealth and power, could not win from his wife one +smile such as she had often bestowed upon Florence in his presence, and +this added to his dislike for the girl. + +Once only, as Mr. Dombey sat and watched his daughter, the sight of her +in her beauty, now almost changed into a woman, roused within him a +fleeting feeling of regret at having had a household spirit bending at +his feet, and of having overlooked it in his stiff-necked pride. He felt +inclined to call her to him; the words were rising to his lips, when +they were checked by the entrance of his wife, whose haughty bearing and +indifference to him caused the gentle impulse to flee from him, and it +never returned. + +The breach between husband and wife was daily growing wider, when one +morning, riding to the city, Mr. Dombey was thrown from his horse, and +being brought home, he gloomily retired to his own rooms, where he was +attended by servants, not approached by his wife. Late that night there +arose in Florence's mind the image of her father, wounded and in pain, +alone, in his own home. + +With the same child's heart within her as of old, even as with the +child's sweet, timid eyes and clustering hair, Florence, as strange to +her father in her early maiden bloom as in her nursery days, crept down +to his room and looked in. The housekeeper was fast asleep in an +easy-chair before the fire. All was so very still that she knew he was +asleep. There was a cut upon his forehead. One of his arms, resting +outside of the bed, was bandaged up, and he was very white. After the +first assurance of his sleeping quietly, Florence stole close to the +bed, and softly kissed him and put the arm with which she dared not +touch him, waking, round about him on the pillow, praying to God to +bless her father, and to soften him towards her, if it might be so. + +On the following day Susan Nipper braced herself for a great feat which +she had long been contemplating; forced an entrance into Mr. Dombey's +room, and told him in most emphatic language what she thought of his +treatment of the motherless little girl who had so long been her charge. +Speechless with rage and amazement, Mr. Dombey attempted to summon some +one to protect him from her flow of language, but there was no bell-rope +near, and he could not move, so he was forced to listen to her tirade +until the entrance of the housekeeper cut it short. Susan Nipper was +then instantly discharged, and bestirred herself to get her trunks in +order, sobbing heartily as she thought of Florence, but exulting at the +memory of Mr. Dombey's discomfiture. Florence dared not interfere with +her father's commands, and took a sad farewell of the faithful little +maid, who had for so long been her companion. + +Now Florence was quite alone. She had grown to be seventeen; timid and +retiring as her solitary life had made her, it had not embittered her. A +child in innocent simplicity: a woman in her modest self-reliance and +her deep intensity of feeling, both child and woman seemed at once +expressed in her fair face and fragile delicacy of shape; in her +thrilling voice, her calm eyes, and sometimes in a strange ethereal +light that seemed to rest upon her head. + +Mrs. Dombey she seldom saw, and the day soon came when she lost her +entirely. The wife's supreme indifference to himself and his wishes, +stung Mr. Dombey more than any other kind of treatment could have done, +and he determined to bend her to his will. She was the first person who +had ever ventured to oppose him in the slightest particular;--their +pride, however different in kind, was equal in degree, and their flinty +opposition struck out fire which consumed the tie between them--and soon +the final separation came. + +One evening after a dispute with her husband, Mrs. Dombey went out to +dinner, and did not return. In the confusion of that dreadful night, +compassion for her father was the first distinct emotion that +overwhelmed Florence. At daybreak she hastened to him with her arms +stretched out, crying, "Oh, dear, dear papa!" as if she would have +clasped him around the neck. But in his frenzy he answered her with +brutal words, and lifted up his cruel arm and struck her, with that +heaviness, that she tottered on the marble floor. She did not sink down +at his feet; she did not shut out the sight of him with her trembling +hands; she did not utter one word of reproach. But she looked at him, +and a cry of desolation issued from her heart. She saw she had no father +upon earth, and ran out, orphaned, from his house. Another moment and +Florence, with her head bent down to hide her agony of tears, was in +the street. + +In the wildness of her sorrow, shame, and terror, the forlorn girl +hurried through the sunshine of a bright morning as if it were the +darkness of a winter night. Wringing her hands and weeping bitterly, she +fled without a thought, without a hope, without a purpose, but to fly +somewhere--anywhere. Suddenly she thought of the only other time she had +been lost in the wide wilderness of London--and went that way. To the +home of Walter's uncle. + +Checking her sobs and endeavoring to calm the agitation of her manner, +so as to avoid attracting notice, Florence was going more quietly when +Diogenes, panting for breath, and making the street ring with his glad +bark, was at her feet. + +She bent down on the pavement, and laid his rough loving foolish head +against her breast, and they went on together. + +At length the little shop came into view. She ran in and found Captain +Cuttle, in his glazed hat, standing over the fire, making his morning's +cocoa. Hearing a footstep and the rustle of a dress, the captain turned +at the instant when Florence reeled and fell upon the floor. + +The captain, pale as Florence, calling her by his childhood's name for +her, raised her like a baby, and laid her upon the same old sofa upon +which she had slumbered long ago. + +"It's Heart's Delight!" he exclaimed; "It's the sweet creetur grow'd a +woman!" + +But Florence did not stir, and the captain moistened her lips and +forehead, put back her hair, covered her feet with his own coat, patted +her hand--so small in his, that he was struck with wonder when he +touched it--and seeing that her eyelids quivered and that her lips began +to move, continued these restorative applications with a better heart. + +At last she opened her eyes, and spoke: "Captain Cuttle! Is it you? Is +Walter's uncle here?" + +"Here, Pretty?" returned the captain. "He a'n't been here this many a +long day. He a'n't been heer'd on since he sheered off arter poor Wal'r. +But," said the captain, as a quotation, "Though lost to sight, to memory +dear, and England, home, and beauty!" + +"Do you live here?" asked Florence. + +"Yes, my Lady Lass," returned the captain. + +"Oh, Captain Cuttle!" cried Florence, "Save me! Keep me here! Let no one +know where I am! I will tell you what has happened by and by, when I +can. I have no one in the world to go to. Do not send me away!" + +"Send you away, my Lady Lass!" exclaimed the captain; "you, my Heart's +Delight!--Stay a bit! We'll put up this dead-light, and take a double +turn on the key." + +With these words the captain got out the shutter of the door, put it up, +made it all fast, and locked the door itself. + +"And now," said he, "You must take some breakfast, Lady Lass, and the +dog shall have some too, and after that you shall go aloft to old Sol +Gill's room, and fall asleep there, like an angel." + +The room to which the captain presently carried Florence was very clean, +and being an orderly man, and accustomed to make things ship-shape, he +converted the bed into a couch by covering it with a clean white +drapery. By a similar contrivance he converted the little dressing-table +into a species of altar, on which he set forth two silver teaspoons, a +flower-pot, a telescope, his celebrated watch, a pocket-comb and a +song-book, as a small collection of rareties that made a choice +appearance. + +Having darkened the window, the captain walked on tiptoe out of the +room, and from sheer exhaustion Florence soon fell asleep. + +When she awoke the sun was getting low in the West, and after cooling +her aching head and burning face in fresh water, she made ready to go +downstairs again. What to do or where to live, she--poor, inexperienced +girl!--could not yet consider. All was dim and clouded to her mind. She +only knew that she had no father upon earth, and she said so many times, +with her suppliant head hidden from all but her Father who was in +Heaven. Then she tried to calm her thoughts and stay her tears, and went +down to her kind protector. + +The captain had cooked the evening meal and spread the cloth with great +care, and when Florence appeared he dressed for dinner, by taking off +his glazed hat and putting on his coat. That done, he wheeled the table +against her on the sofa, said Grace, and did the honors of the table. + +"My Lady Lass," said he, "Cheer up, and try to eat a bit. Stand by, +dearie! Liver wing it is. Sarse it is. Sassage it is. And potato!" + +All of these delicacies the captain ranged symetrically on the plate, +pouring hot gravy on the whole and adding: "Try and pick a bit, my +Pretty. If Wal'r was here--" + +"Ah! If I had him for my brother now!" cried Florence. + +"Don't take on, my Pretty," said the captain: "awast, to obleege me. He +was your nat'r'l born friend like, wa'n't he, Pet? Well, well! If our +poor Wal'r was here, my Lady Lass--or if he could be--for he's drowned, +a'n't he?--As I was saying, if he could be here, he'd beg and pray of +you, my precious, to pick a leetle bit, with a look-out for your own +sweet health. Whereby, hold your own, my Lady Lass, as if it was for +Wal'r's sake, and lay your pretty head to the wind!" + +Florence essayed to eat a morsel for the captain's pleasure, but she was +so tired and so sad that she could do scant justice to the meal, and was +glad indeed when the time came to retire. + +She slept that night in the same little room, and the next day sat in +the small parlor, busy with her needle, and more calm and tranquil than +she had been on the day preceding. The captain, looking at her, often +hitched his arm chair close to her, as if he were going to say something +very confidential, and hitched it away again, as not being able to make +up his mind how to begin. In the course of the day he cruised completely +around the parlor in that frail bark, and more than once went ashore +against the wainscot, or the closet door, in a very distressed +condition. + +It was not until deep twilight that he fairly dropped anchor at last by +the side of Florence, and began to talk connectedly. He spoke in such a +trembling voice, and looked at Florence with a face so pale and agitated +that she clung to his hand in affright, and her color came and went as +she listened. + +"There's perils and dangers on the deep, my Beauty," said the captain; +"and over many a brave ship, and many and many a bold heart the secret +waters has closed up, and never told no tales. But there's escapes upon +the deep, too, and sometimes one man out of a score--ah! maybe out of a +hundred, Pretty, has been saved by the mercy of God, and come home, +after being given over for dead, and told of all hands lost, I--I know a +story, Heart's Delight," stammered the captain, "o' this natur', as was +told to me once; and being on this here tack, and you and me sitting by +the fire, maybe you'd like to hear me tell it. Would you, deary?" + +Florence, trembling with an agitation which she could not control or +understand, involuntarily followed his glance, which went behind her +into the shop where a lamp was burning. The instant that she turned her +head, the captain sprung out of his chair, and interposed his hand. + +"There's nothing there, my Beauty," said the captain. "Don't look +there!" + +Then he murmured something about its being dull that way, and about the +fire being cheerful. He drew the door ajar, which had been standing open +until now, and resumed his seat. Florence looked intently in his face. + +"The story was about a ship, my Lady Lass," began the captain, "as +sailed out of the port of London, with a fair wind and in fair weather, +bound for--Don't be took aback my Lady Lass, she was only out'ard. +Pretty, only out'ard bound!" + +The expression on Florence's face alarmed the captain, who was himself +very hot and flurried, and showed scarcely less agitation than she did. + +"Shall I go on, Beauty?" said the captain. + +"Yes, yes, pray!" cried Florence. + +The captain made a gulp as if to get down something that was stuck in +his throat, and nervously proceeded: + +"That there unfortunate ship met with such foul weather, out at sea, as +don't blow once in twenty year, my darling. There was hurricanes ashore +as tore up forests and blowed down towns, and there was gales at sea, +even in them latitudes, as not the stoutest wessel ever launched could +live in. Day arter day, that there unfort'nate ship behaved noble, I'm +told, and did her duty brave, my Pretty, but at one blow a'most her +bulwarks was stove in, her masts and rudder carried away, her best men +swept overboard, and she left in the mercy of the storm as had no mercy, +but blowed harder and harder yet, while the waves dashed over her, and +beat her in, and every time they come a thundering at her, broke her +like a shell. Every black spot in every mountain of water that rolled +away was a bit of the ship's life, or a living man, and so she went to +pieces, Beauty, and no grass will never grow upon the graves of them as +manned that ship." + +"They were not all lost!" cried Florence. "Some were saved! Was one?" + +"Aboard o' that there unfortunate wessel," said the captain, rising from +his chair, and clenching his hand with prodigious energy and exultation, +"was a lad, a gallant lad--as I've heard tell--that had loved when he +was a boy to read and talk about brave actions in shipwrecks--I've heerd +him!--I've heerd him!--and he remembered of 'em in his hour of need; for +when the stoutest hearts and oldest hands was hove down, he was firm and +cheery. It wa'n't the want of objects to like and love ashore that gave +him courage; it was his nat'ral mind. I've seen it in his face when he +was no more than a child--ah, many a time!--and when I thought it +nothing but his good looks, bless him!" + +"And was he saved?" cried Florence. "Was he saved?" + +"That brave lad," said the captain,--"look at me, pretty! Don't look +round--" + +Florence had hardly power to repeat, "Why not?" + +"Because there's nothing there, my deary," said the captain. "Don't be +took aback, pretty creetur! Don't for the sake of Wal'r as was dear to +all on us! That there lad," said the captain, "arter working with the +best, and standing by the fainthearted, and never making no complaint +nor sign of fear, and keeping up a spirit in all hands that made 'em +honor him as if he'd been a admiral--that lad, alone with the second +mate and one seaman, was left, of all the beatin' hearts that went +aboard that ship, the only living creeturs--lashed to a fragment of the +wreck, and drifting on the stormy sea." + +"Were they saved?" cried Florence. + +"Days and nights they drifted on them endless waters," said the captain, +"until at last--no! don't look that way, Pretty!--a sail bore down upon +'em, and they was, by the Lord's mercy, took aboard, two living, and +one dead." + +"Which of them was dead?" cried Florence. + +"Not the lad I speak on," said the captain. + +"Thank God! Oh, thank God!" + +"Amen!" returned the captain hurriedly. "Don't be took aback! A minute +more, my Lady Lass! with a good heart!--Aboard that ship, they went a +long voyage, right away across the chart (for there wa'n't no touching +nowhere), and on that voyage the seaman as was picked up with him died. +But he was spared, and--." + +The captain, without knowing what he did, had cut a slice of bread from +the loaf, and put it on his hook (which was his usual toasting fork), on +which he now held it to the fire; looking behind Florence with great +emotions in his face, and suffering the bread to blaze and burn +like fuel. + +"Was spared," repeated Florence, "and--" + +"And come home in that ship," said the captain, still looking in the +same direction, "and--don't be frightened, Pretty!--and landed; and one +morning come cautiously to his own door to take a observation, knowing +that his friends would think him drowned, when he sheered off at the +unexpected--" + +"At the unexpected barking of a dog?" cried Florence quickly. + +"Yes!" roared the captain. "Steady, darling! courage! Don't look round +yet. See there! upon the wall!" + +There was the shadow of a man upon the wall close to her. She started +up, looked round, and, with a piercing cry, saw Walter Gay behind her! + +She had no thought of him but as a brother, a brother rescued from the +grave; a shipwrecked brother, saved, and at her side,--and rushed into +his arms. In all the world he seemed to be her hope, her comfort, +refuge, natural protector. In his home-coming,--her champion and +knight-errant from childhood's early days,--there came to Florence a +compensation for all that she had suffered. + +On that night within the little Shop a light arose for her that never +ceased to shed its brilliance on her path. Young, strong, and powerful, +Walter Gay in his chivalrous reverence and love for her, would +henceforth protect her life from sadness. + +Except from that one great sorrow that he could not lift;--she was +estranged from her father's love and care;--but in sweet submission she +bent her shoulders to the burden of that loss, and accepted the new joy +of Walter's return with a lightened heart. + +Years later, when Mr. Dombey by a turn of fortune's wheel, was left +alone in his dreary mansion, broken in mind and body, bereft of all his +wealth; deserted alike by friends and servants;--it was Florence, the +neglected, spurned, exiled daughter, who came like a good household +angel and clung to him, caressing him, forgetting all but love, and love +that outlasts injuries. + +As she clung close to him, he kissed her on the lips and lifting up his +eyes, said, "Oh, my God, _forgive me_, for I need it very much!" + +With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over her and caressing +her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long, time; +they remaining clasped in one another's arms, in the glorious sunshine +that had crept in with Florence. And so we leave them--Father and +Daughter--united at last in an undying affection. + + + +CHARLEY + + + +[Illustration: CHARLEY] + + + +CHARLEY + +When I, Esther Summerson, was taken from the school where the early +years of my childhood had been spent; having no home or parents, as had +the other girls in the school, my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, gave me a home +with him, where I was companion to his young and lovely ward, Ada Clare. +I soon grew deeply attached to Ada, the dearest girl in the world; to my +guardian, the kindest and most thoughtful of men; and to Bleak House, my +happy home. + +One day, upon hearing of the death of a poor man whom we had known, and +learning that he had left three motherless children in great poverty, my +guardian and I set out to discover for ourselves the extent of their +need. We were directed to a chandler's shop in Bell Yard, a narrow, dark +alley, where we found an old woman, who replied to my inquiry for +Neckett's children: "Yes, surely, Miss. Three pair, if you please. Door +right opposite the stairs." And she handed me a key across the counter. +As she seemed to take it for granted I knew what to do with the key, I +inferred it must be intended for the children's door, so without any +more questions I led the way up a dark stair. + +Reaching the top room designated, I tapped at the door, and a little +shrill voice inside said, "We are locked in. Mrs. Blinder's got +the key!" + +I applied the key, and opened the door. In a poor room, with a sloping +ceiling, and containing very little furniture, was a mite of a boy, +some five or six years old, nursing and hushing a heavy child of +eighteen months. There was no fire, though the weather was cold; both +children were wrapped in some poor shawls and tippets, as a substitute. +Their clothing was not so warm, however, but that their noses looked red +and pinched, and their small figures shrunken, as the boy walked up and +down, nursing and hushing the child with its head on his shoulder. + +"Who has locked you up here alone?" we naturally asked. + +"Charley," said the boy. + +"Is Charley your brother?" + +"No, she's my sister, Charlotte. Father called her Charley." + +"Are there any more of you besides Charley?" + +"Me," said the boy, "and Emma," patting the child he was nursing, "and +Charley." + +"Where is Charley now?" + +"Out a-washing," said the boy, beginning to walk up and down again, and +even as he spoke there came into the room a very little girl, childish +in figure, but shrewd and older looking in the face--pretty faced, +too--wearing a womanly sort of a bonnet, much too large for her, and +drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white +and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking, which she +wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child, playing +at washing, and imitating a poor working woman with a quick observation +of the truth. + +She had come running from some place in the neighborhood. Consequently, +though she was very light, she was out of breath, and could not speak at +first, as she stood panting and wiping her arms. "O, here's Charley!" +said the boy. + +The child he was nursing stretched forward its arms and cried out to be +taken by Charley. The little girl took it, in a womanly sort of manner +belonging to the apron and the bonnet, and stood looking at us over the +burden that clung to her most affectionately. + +"Is it possible," whispered my guardian, as he put a chair for the +little creature, and got her to sit down with her load, the boy holding +to her apron, "that this child works for the rest? + +"Charley, Charley!" he questioned. "How old are you?" + +"Over thirteen, sir," replied the child. + +"O, what a great age!" said my guardian. "And do you live here alone +with these babies, Charley?" + +"Yes, sir," returned the child, looking up into his face with perfect +confidence, "since father died." + +"And how do you live, Charley," said my guardian, "how do you live?" + +"Since father died, sir, I've gone out to work. I'm out washing to-day." + +"God help you, Charley!" said my guardian. "You're not tall enough to +reach the tub!" + +"In pattens I am, sir," she said quickly. "I've got a high pair as +belonged to mother. Mother died just after Emma was born," said the +child, glancing at the face upon her bosom. "Then father said I was to +be as good a mother to her as I could. And so I tried. And so I worked +at home, and did cleaning, and nursing, and washing, for a long time +before I began to go out. And that's how I know how, don't you +see, sir?" + +"And do you often go out?" + +"As often as I can, sir," said Charley, opening her eyes and smiling, +"because of earning sixpences and shillings!" + +"And do you always lock the babies up when you go out?" + +"To keep 'em safe, sir, don't you see?" said Charley. "Mrs. Blinder +comes up now and then, and Mr. Gridley comes up sometimes, and perhaps I +can run in sometimes, and they can play you know, and Tom ain't afraid +of being locked up, are you, Tom?" + +"No--o," said Tom stoutly. + +"When it comes on dark, the lamps are lighted down in the courts, and +they show up here quite bright--almost quite bright. Don't they, Tom?" + +"Yes, Charley," said Tom, "almost quite bright." + +"Then he's as good as gold," said the little creature, oh, in such a +motherly, womanly way. "And when Emma's tired, he puts her to bed. And +when he's tired he goes to bed himself. And when I come home and light +the candle, and has a bit of supper, he sits up again and has it with +me. Don't you, Tom?" + +"O yes, Charley!" said Tom. "That I do!" and either in this glimpse of +the great pleasure of his life, or in gratitude and love for Charley, he +laid his face among the scanty folds of her frock, and passed from +laughing into crying. + +It was the first time since our entry, that a tear had been shed among +these children. The little orphan girl had spoken of their father and +their mother, as if all that sorrow was subdued by the necessity of +taking courage, and by her childish importance in being able to work, +and by her bustling busy way. But now, when Tom cried; although she sat +quite tranquil, looking quietly at us, and did not by any movement +disturb a hair of the head of either of her little charges, I saw two +silent tears fall down her face. + +I stood at the window pretending to look out, when I found that Mrs. +Blinder, from the shop below, had come in, and was talking to +my guardian. + +"It's not much to forgive 'em the rent, sir,---who could take it from +them!" + +"Well, well!" said my guardian to us two. "It is enough that the time +will come when this good woman will find that it _was_ much, and that +forasmuch as she did it to one of the least of these--! This child," he +added after a few moments, "Could she possibly continue this?" + +"Really, sir, I think she might," said Mrs. Blinder. "She's as handy as +it's possible to be. Bless you sir, the way she tended them two +children, after the mother died, was the talk of the yard! And it was a +wonder to see her with him, after he was took ill, it really was!--'Mrs. +Blinder,' he said to me, the very last he spoke--'Mrs. Blinder, whatever +my calling may have been, I see a Angel sitting in this room last night +along with my child, and I trust her to our Father!'" + +From all that we had heard and seen, we felt a deep interest in the +bright, self-reliant little creature, with her womanly ways and burden +of family cares, and my thoughts turned towards her many times, after we +had kissed her, and taken her downstairs with us, and stopped to see her +run away to her work. We saw her run, such a little, little creature, in +her womanly bonnet and apron, through a covered way at the bottom of the +court, and melt into the city's strife and sound, like a dewdrop in +an ocean. + +Some weeks later, at the close of a happy evening spent at Bleak House +with my guardian and my dearest girl, I went at last to my own room, and +presently heard a soft tap at the door, so I said, "Come in!" and there +came in a pretty little girl, neatly dressed in mourning, who dropped +a curtsey. + +"If you please, miss," said the little girl in a soft voice, "I am +Charley." + +"Why so you are," said I, stooping down in astonishment, and giving her +a kiss. "How glad am I to see you, Charley!" + +"If you please, miss," pursued Charley, "I'm your maid!" + +"Charley?" + +"If you please, miss, I'm a present to you, with Mr. Jarndyce's love. +And O, miss," says Charley, clapping her hands, with the tears starting +down her dimpled cheeks, "Tom's at school, if you please, and learning +so good, and little Emma, she's with Mrs. Blinder, miss, a-being took +such care of! and Tom, he would have been at school--and Emma she would +have been left with Mrs. Blinder--and me, I should have been here--all a +deal sooner, miss; only Mr. Jarndyce thought Tom and Emma and me had +better get a little used to parting, we was so small. Don't cry, if you +please, miss." + +"I can't help it, Charley." + +"No, miss, nor I can't help it," said Charley. "And if you please, +miss," said Charley, "Mr. Jarndyce's love, and he thinks you'll like to +teach me now and then. And if you please, Tom and Emma and me is to see +each other once a month. And I'm so happy and so thankful, miss," cried +Charley with a heaving heart,--"and I'll try to be such a good maid!" + +Charley dried her eyes, and entered on her functions: going in her +matronly little way about and about the room, and folding up everything +she could lay her hands upon. Presently she came creeping back to my +side, and said: + +"O don't cry, if you please, miss." + +And I said again, "I can't help it." + +And Charley said again, "No, miss, nor I can't help it." And so, after +all, I did cry for joy indeed, and so did she--and from that night my +little maid shared in all the cares and duties, joys and sorrows of her +mistress, and I grew to lean heavily upon the womanly, loving, +little creature. + +According to my guardian's suggestion, I gave considerable time to +Charley's education, but I regret to say the results never reflected +much credit upon my educational powers. As for writing--it was a trying +business to Charley, in whose hand every pen appeared to become +perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop and +splash, and sidle into corners, like a saddle donkey. It was very odd to +see what old letters Charley's young hands had made. They, so shrivelled +and tottering; it, so plump and round. Yet Charley was uncommonly expert +at other things, and had as nimble little fingers as I ever watched. + +"Well, Charley," said I, looking over a copy of the letter O in which it +was represented as square, triangular, pear-shaped, and collapsed in all +kinds of ways, "We are improving. If we only get to make it round, we +shall be perfect, Charley." + +Then I made one, and Charley made one, and the pen wouldn't join +Charley's neatly, but twisted it up into a knot. + +"Never mind, Charley. We shall do it in time." + +Charley laid down her pen, opened and shut her cramped little hand; and +thanking me, got up and dropped me a curtsey, asking me if I knew a poor +person by the name of Jenny. I answered that I did, but thought she had +left the neighborhood altogether, "So she had, miss," said Charley, "but +she's come back again, and she came about the house three or four days, +hoping to get a glimpse of you, miss, but you were away. She saw me +a-goin' about, miss," said Charley, with a short laugh of the greatest +delight and pride, "and she thought I looked like your maid!" + +"Did she though, really, Charley?" + +"Yes, miss!" said Charley, "really and truly." And Charley, with +another short laugh of the purest glee, made her eyes very round again, +and looked as serious as became my maid. I was never tired of seeing +Charley in the full enjoyment of that great dignity, standing before me +with her youthful face and figure, and her steady manner, and her +childish exultation breaking through it now and then in the pleasantest +way. And so long as she lived, the dignity of having been in my service +was the greatest crown of glory to my little maid. + +Although my efforts to make a scholar of Charley were never crowned with +success, she had her own tastes and accomplishments, and dearly loved to +bustle about the house, in her own particularly womanly way. To surround +herself with great heaps of needlework--baskets-full and tables +full--and do a little,--and spend a great deal of time in staring with +her round eyes at what there was to do, and persuade herself that she +was going to do it, were Charley's great dignities and delights. + +When we went to see the woman, Jenny, we found her in her poor little +cottage, nursing a vagrant boy called Jo, a crossing-sweeper, who had +tramped down from London, and was tramping he didn't know where. Jenny, +who had known him in London, had found him in a corner of the town, +burning with fever, and taken him home to care for, Seeing that he was +very ill, and fearing her husband's anger at her having harbored him, +when it was time for her husband to return home, she put a few +half-pence together in his hand, and thrust him out of the house. We +followed the wretched boy, and pitying his forlorn condition led him +home with us, where he was made comfortable for the night in a loft-room +by the stable. Charley's last report was, that the boy was quiet. I went +to bed very happy to think that he was sheltered, and was much shocked +and grieved the next morning, when upon visiting his room we found him +gone. At what time he had left, or how, or why, it seemed hopeless ever +to divine, and after a thorough search of the country around, which +lasted for five days, we abandoned all thought of ever clearing up the +mystery surrounding the boy's departure, nor was it until some time +later that the secret was discovered. + +Meanwhile, poor Jo left behind him a dread and infectious disease which +Charley caught from him, and in twelve hours after his escape she was +very, very ill. I nursed her myself, with tenderest care, bringing her +back to her old childish likeness again. Then the disease came upon me, +and in my weeks of mortal sickness, it was Charley's love and care, and +unending devotion that saved my life. It was Charley's hand which +removed every looking-glass from my rooms, that in my convalescence I +might not be shocked by the alteration which the disease had wrought in +the face she loved so dearly. + +When I was able, Charley and I went away together, to the most friendly +of villages, and in the home which my guardian's care had provided, we +enjoyed the hours of returning strength. There was a kindly housekeeper +to trot after me with restoratives and strengthening delicacies, and a +pony expressly for my use, and soon there were friendly faces of +greeting in every cottage as we passed by. Thus with being much in the +open air, playing with the village children, gossiping in many cottages, +going on with Charley's education, and writing long letters to my +dearest girl, time slipped away, and I found myself quite strong again. + +And to Charley,--now as well, and rosy, and pretty as one of Flora's +attendants, I give due credit, and the bond which binds me to my little +maid is one which will only be severed when the days of Charley's happy +life are over. + + + +TILLY SLOWBOY + + + +[Illustration: TILLY SLOWBOY] + + + +TILLY SLOWBOY + +Although still in her earliest teens, Tilly Slowboy was a nursery-maid +for little Mrs. Peerybingle's baby, and despite her extreme youth, was a +most enthusiastic and unusual nursery-maid indeed. + +It may be noted of Miss Slowboy that she had a rare and surprising +talent for getting the baby into difficulties; and had several times +imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own. + +She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that +her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those +sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung. Her costume +was remarkable for the partial development on all possible occasions, of +some flannel vestment of a singular structure; also affording glimpses, +in the region of the back, of a pair of stays, in color a dead green. + +Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed +besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress's perfections, +and the baby's, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment may be +said to have done equal honor to her head and to her heart; and though +these did less honor to the baby's head, which they were the occasional +means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, +bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest +results of Tilly Slowboy's constant astonishment at finding herself so +kindly treated and installed in such a comfortable home. For the +maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had +been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only +differing from fondling by one vowel's length, is very different in +meaning, and expresses quite another thing. + +It was a singularly happy and united family in which Tilly's lot was +cast. Honest John Peerybingle, Carrier; his pretty little wife, whom he +called Dot; the very remarkable doll of a baby; the dog Boxer; and the +Cricket on the Hearth, whose cheerful chirp, chirp, chirp, was a +continual family blessing and good-omen;--were collectively and +severally the objects of Tilly's unbounded admiration. + +If ever a person or thing alarmed Tilly, she would hastily seek +protection near the skirts of her pretty little mistress; or, failing +that, would make a charge or butt at the object of her fright with the +only offensive instrument within her reach--which usually happened to be +the baby. Tilly's bump of good fortune being extraordinarily well +developed, the baby usually managed to come out from the siege unharmed, +to be soothed and comforted in Tilly's own peculiar fashion; her most +common method of amusement being to reproduce for its entertainment +scraps of conversation current in the house, with all the sense left out +of them, and all the nouns changed to the plural number, as--"Did its +mothers make it up a beds then! And did its hair grow brown and curly +when its cap was lifted off, and frighten it, a precious Pets, a-sitting +by the fire!" + +It was a notable and exciting event to Miss Slowboy when she set out one +day in the Carrier's cart, with her little mistress and the remarkable +baby, to have dinner with Caleb Plummer's blind daughter, Bertha, who +was Mrs. Dot's devoted friend. + +In consequence of the departure, there was a pretty sharp commotion at +John Peerybingle's, for to get the baby under weigh took time. Not that +there was much of the baby, speaking of it as a thing of weight and +measure, but there was a vast deal to do about it, and all had to be +done by easy stages. When the baby was got, by hook and by crook, to a +certain point of dressing, and you might have supposed that another +touch or two would finish him off, he was unexpectedly extinguished, and +hustled off to bed; where he simmered (so to speak) between two blankets +for the best part of an hour, while Mrs. Peerybingle took advantage of +the interval to make herself smart for the trip, and during the same +short truce, Miss Slowboy insinuated herself into a spencer, of a +fashion so surprising and ingenious, that it had no connection with +herself, or anything else in the universe, but was a shrunken, +dog's-eared, independent fact, pursuing its lonely course without the +least regard to anybody. By this time, the baby, being all alive again, +was invested by the united efforts of Mrs. Peerybingle and Miss Slowboy, +with a cream-colored mantle for its body, and a sort of nankeen +raised-pie for its head, and in course of time they all three got down +to the door, where the old horse was waiting to convey them on +their trip. + +In reference to Miss Slowboy's ascent into the cart, if I might be +allowed to mention a young lady's legs, on any terms, I would observe of +her that there was a fatality about hers which rendered them singularly +liable to be grazed; and that she never effected the smallest ascent or +descent without recording the circumstance upon them with a notch, as +Robinson Crusoe marked the days upon his wooden calendar. But as this +might be considered ungenteel, I'll think of it--merely observing that +when the three were all safely settled in the cart, and the basket +containing the Veal-and-Ham Pie and other delicacies, which Mrs. +Peerybingle always carried when she visited the blind girl, was stowed +away, they jogged on for some little time in silence. + +But not for long, for everybody on the road had something to say to the +occupants of John Peerybingle's cart, and sometimes passengers on foot, +or horseback, plodded on a little way beside the cart, for the express +purpose of having a chat. Then, too, the packages and parcels for the +errand cart were numerous, and there were many stoppages to take them in +and give them out, which was not the least interesting part of +the journey. + +Of all the little incidents of the day, Dot was the amused and open-eyed +spectatress from her chair in the cart; making a charming little +portrait as she sat there, looking on. And this delighted John the +Carrier beyond measure. + +The trip was a little foggy, to be sure, in the January weather, and was +raw and cold. But who cared for such trifles! Not Dot, decidedly. Not +Tilly Slowboy, for she deemed sitting in a cart on any terms, to be the +highest point of human joy; the crowning circumstance of earthly hopes. +Not the baby, I'll be sworn; for it's not in baby nature to be warmer or +more sound asleep than that blessed young Peerybingle was all the way. + +In one place there was a mound of weeds burning, and they watched the +fire until, in consequence, as she observed, of the smoke "getting up +her nose," Miss Slowboy choked--she could do anything of that sort on +the smallest provocation--and woke the baby, who wouldn't go to +sleep again. + +But, at that moment they came in sight of the blind girl's home, where +she was waiting with keen anticipation to receive them. + +Bertha had other visitors as well that day, and the picnic dinner +proceeded in a very stately and dignified manner. Miss Slowboy was +isolated, for the time being, from every article of furniture but the +chair she sat on, that she might have nothing else to knock the baby's +head against, and sat staring about her in unspeakable delight. To her +the day was all too short, and when that evening John Peerybingle making +his return trip, called to take them home, Miss Slowboy's regret +was intense. + +As long as her little mistress smiled, Tilly's face too was wreathed in +smiles; but when a hidden shadow darkened the Perrybingle sky, +overclouding the happiness of the little home, and Dot cried all night, +Tilly's eyes were red and swollen too, the next morning. + +It happened in this way. Pretty little Dot gave good John Perrybingle +cause for anxiety by her actions, and the honest carrier, disturbed and +misled, felt that he had reason to doubt her love for him, which almost +broke his honest, faithful heart. While he was worrying over this, and +over her, his little wife was merely shielding a secret belonging to +Edward Plummer, Bertha's brother, who had just come back, after many +year's absence in the golden South Americas. + +So unaccustomed was Dot to keeping a secret that it caused her to act +very strangely, and give her husband reason to misjudge her, which +almost broke her loving little heart. All of which trouble Tilly Slowboy +did not understand, but was deeply affected by it, and when she found +her mistress alone, sobbing piteously, was quite horrified, exclaiming: + +"Ow, if you please, don't! It's enough to dead and bury the baby, so it +is, if you please!" + +"Will you bring him sometimes, to see his father, Tilly?" inquired her +mistress, drying her eyes; "when I can't live here, and have gone to my +old home?" + +"Ow, if you please, _don't!_" cried Tilly, throwing back her head and +bursting out into a howl--she looked at the moment uncommonly like +Boxer--"Ow, if you please, don't! Ow, what has everybody been and gone +and done with everybody, making everybody else so wretched. Ow-w-w-w!" + +The soft-hearted Slowboy trailed off at this juncture, into such a +deplorable howl, the more tremendous from its long suppression, that she +must infallibly have wakened the baby and frightened him into something +serious (probably convulsions) if her attention had not been forcibly +diverted from her misery for a moment, after which she stood for some +time silent, with her mouth wide open; and then, posting off to the bed +on which the baby lay asleep, danced in a weird, Saint Vitus manner, on +the floor, and at the same time rummaged with her face and head among +the bedclothes, apparently deriving much relief from those extraordinary +operations. + +Fortunately for all concerned in the little domestic drama, before a +crisis had been reached, Edward Plummer revealed his secret, and his +reasons for having been obliged to keep it. This cleared up the mystery +concerning Mrs. Dot's conduct, proving her to be the same loyal, loving +little wife she always was: to the exquisite satisfaction of the honest +carrier, his family and friends, and last but not least, Miss Slowboy, +who wept copiously for joy, and wishing to include her young charge in +the general interchange of congratulations, handed round the baby to +everybody in succession, as if it were something to eat or drink. + +Of course it became a serious duty now, to make such a day of it as +should mark these events for a high feast and festival in the +Peerybingle Calendar forevermore. Accordingly, Dot went to work to +produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honor on the +house and on every one concerned, and in a very short space of time +everybody in the house was in a state of flutter and domestic turmoil +and during the flurry of preparation, everybody tumbled over Tilly +Slowboy and the baby everywhere. Tilly never came out in such force +before. Her ubiquity was the theme of universal admiration. She was a +stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two; a +man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely; and a pitfall in the +garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three. The baby's head was, as it +were, a test and touchstone for every description of matter,--animal, +vegetable, and mineral. Nothing was in use that day that didn't come, at +some time or other, into close acquaintance with it. + +That was a great celebration indeed, with Dot doing the honors in her +wedding-gown, her eyes sparkling with happiness, and the good carrier, +so jovial and so ruddy at the bottom of the table, and all their guests +aiding to make the occasion a memorable and happy one. + +There was a dance in the evening, for which Bertha played her liveliest +tune. Inspired by infectious joy, old and young get up and join the +whirling throng. Suddenly Caleb Plummer clutches Tilly Slowboy by both +hands and goes off at score, Miss Slowboy firm in the belief that diving +hotly in among the couples, and effecting any number of concussions with +them, is your only principle of footing it, and ecstatically glad to +abandon herself to the delights of the occasion, so long as she sees joy +written again on the pretty face of her beloved little mistress, and +feels that happiness has been restored to honest John Peerybingle and +his family. + +Hark! How the Cricket on the Hearth joins in the music, with its Chirp, +Chirp, Chirp, and how the kettle hums! + + + +AGNES WICKFIELD + + + +[Illustration: AGNES WICKFIELD] + + + +AGNES WICKFIELD + +When I became the adopted son of my aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood, my new +clothes were marked Trotwood Copperfield, instead of the old familiar +David of my childhood; and I began my new life, not only in the new +name, but with everything new about me, and felt for many days like one +in a dream, until I had proved the happy reality to be a fact. + +My aunt's first desire was to place me in a good school at Canterbury, +and, lack of education having been my chief source of anxiety, this +resolve gave me unbounded delight. So it was with a flutter of joyful +anticipation that I accompanied her to Canterbury to call upon her agent +and friend Mr. Wickfield, and to confer with him upon the all-important +subject of schools and boarding places. + +Arriving at Canterbury, we stopped before a very old house, bulging out +over the road, with long low latticed windows bulging out still further, +and beams with carved heads on the ends bulging out too; so that I +fancied the whole house was leaning forward, trying to see who was +passing on the pavement below. It was quite spotless in its cleanliness. +The old-fashioned brass knocker on the low arched door, ornamented with +carved garlands of fruit and flowers, twinkled like a star; the two +stone steps descending to the door were as white as if they had been +covered with fair linen, and all the angles, and corners, and carvings, +and mouldings, and quaint little panes of glass, and quainter little +windows, were as pure as any snow that ever fell upon the hills. + +When the pony chaise stopped at the door, we alighted and had a long +conference with Mr. Wickfield, an elderly gentleman with grey hair and +black eyebrows. He approved of my aunt's selection of Dr. Strong's +school, and in regard to a home for me, made the following proposal: + +"Leave your nephew here for the present. He's a quiet fellow. He won't +disturb me at all. It's a capital house for study. As quiet as a +monastery, and almost as roomy. Leave him here." + +My aunt evidently liked the offer, but was delicate of accepting it, +until Mr. Wickfield cried, "Come! I know how you feel, you shall not be +oppressed by the receipt of favors, Miss Trotwood. You may pay for him +if you like." + +"On that understanding," said my aunt, "though it doesn't lessen the +real obligation, I shall be very glad to leave him." + +"Then come and see my little housekeeper," said Mr. Wickfield. + +We accordingly went up a wonderful old staircase, with a balustrade so +broad that we might have gone up that, almost as easily, and into a +shady old drawing-room, lighted by three or four quaint windows which +had old oak seats in them, that seemed to have come of the same trees as +the shining oak floor, and the great beams in the ceiling. It was a +prettily furnished room, with a piano, and some lively furniture in red +and green, and some flowers. It seemed to be all odd nooks and corners; +and in every nook and corner there was some queer little table, or +cupboard, or bookcase, or seat, or something or other, that made me +think there was not such another corner in the room, until I looked at +the next one and found it equal to it if not better. On everything +there was the same air of refinement and cleanliness that marked the +house outside. + +Mr. Wickfield tapped at a door in a corner of the panelled wall, and a +girl of about my own age came quickly out and kissed him. On her face, I +saw immediately the placid and sweet expression of a lady whose portrait +I had seen downstairs. It seemed to my imagination as if the portrait +had grown womanly, and the original had remained a child. Although her +face was quite bright and happy, there was a tranquillity about it, and +about her--a quiet, good, calm, spirit--that I never have forgotten; +that I never shall forget. + +This was his little housekeeper, his daughter Agnes, Mr. Wickfield said. +When I heard how he said it, and saw how he held her hand, I guessed +what the one motive of his life was. + +She had a little basket-trifle hanging at her side with keys in it; and +she looked as staid and discreet a housekeeper as the old house could +have. She listened to her father as he told her about me, with a +pleasant face; and when he had concluded, proposed to my aunt that we +should go upstairs, and see my room. We all went together, she before +us. A glorious old room it was, with more oak beams, and diamond panes; +and the broad balustrade going all the way up to it. + +I cannot call to mind where or when, in my childhood, I had seen a +stained-glass window in a church. Nor do I recollect its subject. But I +know that when I saw her turn round, in the grave light of the old +staircase, and wait for us above, I thought of that window; and I +associated something of its tranquil brightness with Agnes Wickfield +ever afterwards. + +My aunt was as happy as I was, in the arrangement made for me, and we +went down to the drawing-room again, well pleased and gratified, and +shortly after this my aunt took her departure, in consequence of which +for some hours I was very much dejected. But by five o'clock, which was +Mr. Wickfield's dinner hour, I had mustered up my spirits again, and was +ready for my knife and fork. The cloth was only laid for us two; but +Agnes was waiting in the drawing-room before dinner, and went down with +her father, and sat opposite to him at table. I doubted whether he could +have dined without her. + +We did not stay there after dinner, but came upstairs into the +drawing-room again, in one snug corner of which Agnes set glasses for +her father, and a decanter of port wine. There he sat, taking his wine, +while Agnes played on the piano, worked, and talked to him and me. Later +Agnes made the tea, and presided over it; and the time passed away after +it as after dinner, until she went to bed; when her father took her in +his arms and kissed her, and, she being gone, ordered candles in his +office. Then I went to bed too. + +Next morning I entered on my new school life at Dr. Strong's, and began +a happy existence in an excellent establishment, the character and +dignity of which we each felt it our duty to maintain. We felt that we +had a part in the management of the school, and learned with a good +will, desiring to do it credit. We had noble games out of hours, and +plenty of liberty; but were well spoken of in the town, and rarely did +any disgrace by our appearance or manner, to the reputation of Dr. +Strong or Dr. Strong's boys, and the Doctor himself was the idol of the +whole school. + +On that first day when I returned home from school, Agnes was in the +drawing-room, waiting for her father. She met me with her pleasant +smile, and asked me how I liked the school. I told her I should like it +very much, I hoped; but I was a little strange to it at first. + +"You have never been to school," I said, "have you?" + +"Oh yes! every day." + +"Ah, but you mean here, at your own home?" + +"Papa couldn't spare me to go anywhere else," she answered smiling and +shaking her head, "His housekeeper must be in his house, you know." + +"He's very fond of you, I am sure," I said. + +She nodded, "Yes," and went to the door to listen for his coming up, +that she might meet him on the stairs. But as he was not there, she came +back again. + +"Mamma has been dead ever since I was born," she said in her quiet way. +"I only know her picture, downstairs. I saw you looking at it yesterday. +Did you think whose it was?" + +I told her yes, because it was so like herself. + +"Papa says so, too," said Agnes, pleased. "Hark! that's Papa now!" + +Her bright calm face lighted up with pleasure as she went to meet him, +and as they came in, hand in hand; and from that time as I watched her +day by day, I saw no trace in Agnes of anything but single-hearted +devotion to that father, whose wants she cared for so untiringly in her +beautiful quiet way. + +When we had dined that night, we went upstairs again, where everything +went on exactly as on the previous day. Agnes set the glasses and +decanters in the same corner, and Mr. Wickfield sat down to drink. Agnes +played the piano to him, sat by him, and worked and talked, and played +some games at dominoes with me. In good time she made tea; and +afterwards, when I brought down my books, looked into them, and showed +me what she knew of them (which was no slight matter, though she said it +was), and what was the best way to learn and understand them. I see her, +with her modest, orderly, placid, manner, and I hear her beautiful, +calm voice, as I write these words. The influence for all good, which +she came to exercise over me at a later time begins already to descend +upon my breast. I love little Emily, and I don't love Agnes--no, not at +all in that way--but I feel that there are goodness, peace, and truth +wherever Agnes is; and that the soft light of the colored window in the +church, seen long ago, falls on her always, and on me when I am near +her, and on everything around. + +The time having come for her withdrawal for the night, as I gave Mr. +Wickfield my hand, preparatory to going away myself, he checked me and +said; "Should you like to stay with us, Trotwood, or go elsewhere?" + +"To stay," I answered quickly. + +"You are sure?" + +"If you please. If I may." + +"Why, it's but a dull life that we lead here, boy, I'm afraid," he said. + +"Not more dull for me than Agnes, sir. Not dull at all!" + +"Than Agnes," he repeated, walking slowly to the great chimney-piece, +and leaning against it. "Than Agnes! Now I wonder," he muttered, +"whether my Agnes tires of me. When should I ever tire of her? But +that's different, that's quite different." + +He was musing, not speaking to me; so I remained quiet. + +"A dull, old house," he said, "and a monotonous life, Stay with us, +Trotwood, eh?" he added in his usual manner, and as if he were +answering something I had just said. "I'm glad of it. You are company to +us both. It is wholesome to have you here. Wholesome for me, wholesome +for Agnes wholesome perhaps for all of us." + +"I'm sure it is for me, sir," I said, "I'm so glad to be here." + +"That's a fine fellow!" said Mr. Wickfield. "As long as you are glad to +be here, you shall stay here." + +And so I lived at Mr. Wickfield's through the remainder of my +schooldays, and to Agnes, as the months went by, I turned more and more +often for advice and counsel. + +We saw a good deal of Dr. Strong's wife, both because she had taken a +liking to me, and because she was very fond of Agnes, and was often +backwards and forwards at our house, and we had pleasant evenings at the +doctor's too, with other guests, when we had merry round games of cards, +or music--for both Mrs. Strong and Agnes sang sweetly--and so, with +weekly visits from my aunt, and walks and talks with Agnes, and the +events and phases of feeling too numerous to chronicle, which make up a +boy's existence, my schooldays glided all too swiftly by. + +Time has stolen on unobserved. I am higher in the school and no one +breaks my peace. Dr. Strong refers to me in public as a promising young +scholar, and my aunt remits me a guinea by next post. And what comes +now? I am the head boy! I look down on the line of boys below me, with a +condescending interest in such of them as bring to my mind the boy I was +myself, when I first came there. That little fellow seems to be no part +of me; I remember him as something left behind upon the road of +life--and almost think of him as of some one else. + +What other changes have come upon me, beside the changes in my growth +and looks, and in the knowledge I have garnered all this while? I wear a +gold watch and chain, a ring upon my little finger, and a long-tailed +coat; and twice have I been desperately in love with a fair damsel, and +have twice recovered. + +And the little girl I saw on that first day at Mr. Wickfield's, where +is she? Gone also. In her stead, the perfect likeness of the picture, a +child's likeness no more, moves about the house; and Agnes, my sweet +sister, as I call her in my thoughts, my counsellor and friend, the +better angel of the lives of all who come within her calm, good, +self-denying influence--is quite a woman. + +When the time came to take leave of Agnes and her father, though it +saddened me, my mind was so filled with thoughts of self that I paid +little heed to Agnes and her brave farewell, nor did I realize what her +loneliness would be when the old and silent house was made doubly silent +by the removal of a boy's presence. I did not then understand what her +devotion to the elderly father and his interests held of sacrifice for +one so young, nor of what fine clay the girl was moulded. But in later +years I realized it fully, and looking back, I always saw her as when on +that first day, in the grave light of the old staircase, I thought of +the stained-glass window, associating something of its tranquil +brightness with her ever afterwards. + +With Agnes the woman, and the influence for all good which she came to +exercise over me at a later time, this story does not deal. It need only +record the simple details of the girl's quiet life,--of the girl's calm +strong nature,--that there were goodness, peace and truth wherever Agnes +was,--Agnes, my boyhood's sister, counsellor and friend. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN GIRLS FROM DICKENS*** + + +******* This file should be named 11126.txt or 11126.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/2/11126 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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