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+Project Gutenberg's Ten Boys from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson Sweetser
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ten Boys from Dickens
+
+Author: Kate Dickinson Sweetser
+
+Release Date: February 22, 2004 [EBook #11227]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN BOYS FROM DICKENS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Andrea Ball and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+TEN BOYS from
+DICKENS
+
+By
+Kate Dickinson Sweetser
+
+
+Illustrated by
+George Alfred Williams
+
+1901
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In this small volume there are presented as complete stories the boy-lives
+portrayed in the works of Charles Dickens. The boys are followed only to
+the threshold of manhood, and in all cases the original text of the story
+has been kept, except where of necessity a phrase or paragraph has been
+inserted to connect passages;--while the net-work of characters with which
+the boys are surrounded in the books from which they are taken, has been
+eliminated, except where such characters seem necessary to the development
+of the story in hand.
+
+Charles Dickens was a loyal champion of all boys, and underlying his pen
+pictures of them was an earnest desire to remedy evils which he had found
+existing in London and its suburbs. Poor Jo, who was always being "moved
+on," David Copperfield, whose early life was a picture of Dickens' own
+childhood, workhouse-reared Oliver, and the miserable wretches at Dotheboy
+Hall were no mere creations of an author's vivid imagination. They were
+descriptions of living boys, the victims of tyranny and oppression which
+Dickens felt he must in some way alleviate. And so he wrote his novels
+with the histories in them which affected the London public far more
+deeply, of course, than they affect us, and awakened a storm of
+indignation and protest.
+
+Schools, work-houses, and other public institutions were subjected to a
+rigorous examination, and in consequence several were closed, while all
+were greatly improved. Thus, in his sketches of boy-life, Dickens
+accomplished his object.
+
+My aim is to bring these sketches, with all their beauty and pathos, to
+the notice of the young people of to-day. If through this volume any boy
+or girl should be aroused to a keener interest in the great writer, and
+should learn to love him and his work, my labour will be richly repaid.
+
+KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+TINY TIM
+
+OLIVER TWIST
+
+TOMMY TRADDLES
+
+"DEPUTY"
+
+DOTHEBOYS HALL
+
+DAVID COPPERFIELD
+
+KIT NUBBLES
+
+JO, THE CROSSING SWEEPER
+
+PAUL DOMBEY
+
+PIP
+
+
+
+
+TINY TIM
+
+
+[Illustration: TINY TIM AND HIS FATHER.]
+
+Charles Dickens has given us no picture of Tiny Tim, but at the thought of
+him comes a vision of a delicate figure, less boy than spirit. We seem to
+see a face oval in shape and fair in colouring. We see eyes deep-set and
+grey, shaded by lashes as dark as the hair parted from the middle of his
+low forehead. We see a sunny, patient smile which from time to time lights
+up his whole face, and a mouth whose firm, strong lines reveal clearly the
+beauty of character, and the happiness of disposition, which were Tiny
+Tim's.
+
+He was a rare little chap indeed, and a prime favourite as well. Ask the
+Crachits old and young, whose smile they most desired, whose applause they
+most coveted, whose errands they almost fought with one another to run,
+whose sadness or pain could most affect the family happiness, and with one
+voice they would answer, "Tim's!"
+
+It was Christmas Day, and in all the suburbs of London there was to be no
+merrier celebration than at the Crachits. To be sure, Bob Crachit had but
+fifteen "Bob" himself a week on which to clothe and feed all the little
+Crachits, but what they lacked in luxuries they made up in affection and
+contentment, and would not have changed places, one of them, with any king
+or queen.
+
+While Bob took Tiny Tim to church, preparations for the feast were going
+on at home. Mrs. Crachit was dressed in a twice-turned gown, but brave in
+ribbons which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid
+the cloth, assisted by Belinda, second of her daughters, also brave in
+ribbons, while Master Peter Crachit plunged a fork into a saucepan full of
+potatoes, getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private
+property, conferred upon his son and heir in honour of the day) into his
+mouth, but rejoiced to find himself so finely dressed, and yearning to
+show his linen in the fashionable Parks.
+
+Two smaller Crachits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that
+outside the baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it for their own;
+and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onions, these young Crachits
+danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter Crachit to the skies,
+while he (not proud, although his collar almost choked him) blew the fire,
+until the slow potatoes, bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid
+to be let out and peeled.
+
+"What has ever got your precious father, then?" said Mrs. Crachit. "And
+your brother, Tiny Tim! And Martha warn't as late last Christmas Day by
+half an hour!"
+
+"Here's Martha, mother!" cried the two young Crachits. "_Hurrah_! there's
+_such_ a goose, Martha!"
+
+"Why, bless your heart alive, dear, how late you are!" said Mrs. Crachit,
+kissing the daughter, who lived away from home, a dozen times. "Well,
+never mind as long as you are come!"
+
+"There's father coming!" cried the two young Crachits, who were everywhere
+at once. "_Hide_, Martha, _hide_!"
+
+So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at least
+three feet of comforter hanging down before him, and his threadbare
+clothes darned up and brushed to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his
+shoulder. Why was the child thus carried? Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a
+little crutch and had his limbs supported by an iron frame! Patient little
+Tim,--never was he heard to utter a fretful or complaining word. No wonder
+they cherished him so tenderly!
+
+"Why, where's our Martha?" cried Bob Crachit looking round.
+
+"Not coming!" said Mrs. Crachit.
+
+"Not coming?" said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits; for
+he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and had come home
+rampant.
+
+"Not coming upon Christmas Day!"
+
+Martha didn't like to see him disappointed, if it were only in joke; so
+she ran out from behind the closet door, and ran into his arms, while the
+two young Crachits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house,
+that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper.
+
+"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Crachit; when she had rallied
+Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's
+content.
+
+"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful,
+sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever
+heard. He told me, coming home, that 'he hoped the people saw him in the
+church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to
+remember upon Christmas Day, Who made lame beggars walk and blind men
+see.'"
+
+Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this, and it trembled more
+when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty.
+
+His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim
+before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his
+stool before the fire; and while Bob compounded some hot mixture in a jug
+and put it on the hob to simmer, Master Peter and the two young Crachits
+went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession.
+
+Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought the goose the rarest of
+all birds, and in truth it _was_ something very like it in that house.
+Mrs. Crachit made the gravy hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes
+with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce; Martha
+dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a corner at the
+table; the two young Crachits set chairs for everybody, not forgetting
+themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into their
+mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be
+helped. At last the dishes were set on and grace was said. It was
+succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Crachit, looking slowly along the
+carving knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast. When she did one
+murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by
+the two young Crachits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife,
+and feebly cried "Hurrah!"
+
+There never was such a goose! its tenderness and size, flavour and
+cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by
+apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, every one had enough, and the youngest
+Crachits were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows! But now, the
+plates being changed, Mrs. Crachit left the room alone--too nervous to
+bear witnesses--to take the pudding up, and bring it in.
+
+Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning
+out! All sorts of horrors were supposed.
+
+Hallo! a great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper, and in
+half a minute Mrs. Crachit entered, flushed, but smiling proudly, with the
+pudding blazing in ignited brandy, and with Christmas holly stuck into the
+top.
+
+Its appearance was hailed with cheers and with exclamations of joyous
+admiration. Then, when it was safely landed upon the table, what a racket
+and clatter there was! Such stories and songs and jokes, and such riotous
+applause no one can imagine who was not there to see and hear!
+
+At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept,
+and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted and pronounced
+perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table and a shovelful of
+chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Crachit family drew round the hearth,
+Tiny Tim very close to his father's side, upon his little stool, while he
+gave them a song in his plaintive little voice, about a lost child, and
+sang it very well indeed.
+
+At Bob Crachit's elbow stood the family display of glass; two tumblers and
+a custard cup without a handle. These held the hot stuff from the jug,
+however, as well as golden goblets would have done, and Bob served it out
+with beaming looks, while the chestnuts sputtered and cracked noisily.
+Then Bob proposed:
+
+  "_A merry Christmas to us all, my dears,--God bless us_!"
+
+which was just what was needed to bring the joy and enthusiasm to a
+climax. Cheer after cheer went up, over and over the toast was re-echoed,
+and then one was added for the family ogre, Bob's hard employer, Mr.
+Scrooge, and one for old and for young, for sick and for well, for Father
+Christmas and for Father Crachit and for all the little Crachits;--for
+everyone everywhere who had heard the holiday bells, there was a toast
+given. Then when the uproar ceased for a moment, low and sweet spoke Tiny
+Tim alone:
+
+  "_God bless us every one!"_
+
+Clearly it rang out in the earnest childish voice. There was a sudden hush
+of the merriment, while Bob's arm stole round his son with a firmer grasp
+and for a moment the shadow of a coming Christmas fell upon him, when the
+little stool would be vacant and the little crutch unused.
+
+Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God! Thou didst not know
+that in the benediction of lives like thine, is given the answer to such
+prayers. Much did thy loved ones learn from thee; much can the world learn
+of the nobility of patience from thy sweet child life. Unawares thou wert
+thyself an answer to thy Christmas prayer:
+
+  "_God bless us every one!"_
+
+
+
+
+OLIVER TWIST
+
+
+[Illustration: OLIVER TWIST.]
+
+Oliver Twist was the child of an unknown woman who died in the workhouse
+of an English village, almost as soon as her babe drew his first breath.
+The mother's name being unknown, the workhouse officials called the child
+Oliver Twist, under which title he grew up. For nine years he was farmed
+out at a branch poorhouse, where with twenty or thirty other children he
+bore all the miseries consequent on neglect, abuse, and starvation. He was
+then removed to the workhouse proper to be taught a useful trade.
+
+His ninth birthday found him a pale, thin child, diminutive in stature,
+and decidedly small in circumference, but possessed of a good sturdy
+spirit, which was not broken by the policy of the officials who tried to
+get as much work out of the paupers as possible, and to keep them on as
+scant a supply of food as would sustain life.
+
+The boys were fed in a large stone hall, with a copper at one end, out of
+which the gruel was ladled at meal-times. Of this festive composition each
+boy had one porringer, and no more--except on occasions of great public
+rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The
+bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till
+they shone again; and when they had performed this operation, they would
+sit staring at the copper, as if they could have devoured the very bricks
+of which it was composed; sucking their fingers, with the view of catching
+up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon.
+
+Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions
+suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they
+got so voracious and wild that one boy hinted darkly that unless he had
+another basin of gruel a day, he was afraid he might some night happen to
+eat the boy who slept next him. He had a wild, hungry, eye; and they
+implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should
+walk up to the master, and ask for more, and it fell to Oliver Twist.
+
+The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The gruel was served out,
+and a long grace was said. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each
+other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbours nudged him. Child
+as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose
+and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said, somewhat
+alarmed at his own temerity:
+
+"Please, sir, I want some more!"
+
+The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in
+stupified astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung
+for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the
+boys with fear.
+
+"What?" said the master at length, in a faint voice.
+
+"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more."
+
+The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in
+his arms; and shrieked for the beadle, and when that gentleman appeared,
+an animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant
+confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the
+gate, offering a reward of five pounds to any body who would take Oliver
+Twist off the hands of the parish. In other words, five pounds, and Oliver
+Twist were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any
+trade, business, or calling.
+
+Mr. Sowerberry, the parish undertaker, finally applied for the prize, and
+carried Oliver away with him, which, for the poor boy, was a matter of
+falling from the frying pan into the fire, and in his short career as
+undertaker's assistant he even sighed for the workhouse,--miserable as his
+life there had been. At the undertaker's, Oliver's bed was in the shop.
+The atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. The recess behind
+the counter in which his mattress was thrust, looked like a grave. His
+food was broken bits left from the meals of others, and his constant
+companion was an older boy, Noah Claypole, who, although a charity boy
+himself, was not a workhouse orphan, and therefore considered himself in a
+position above Oliver. He made Oliver's days hideous with his abuse, which
+the younger boy bore as quietly as he could, until the day when Noah made
+a sneering remark about Oliver's dead mother. That was too much. Crimson
+with fury, Oliver started up, seized Noah by the throat, shook him till
+his teeth chattered, and then with one heavy blow, felled him to the
+ground.
+
+This brought about a violent scene, for Noah accused Oliver of attempting
+to murder him, and Mrs. Sowerberry, the maid, and the beadle,--who had
+been hastily summoned,--agreed that Oliver was a hardened wretch, only fit
+for confinement, and he was accordingly placed in the cellar, till the
+undertaker came in, when he was dragged out again to have the story
+retold. To do Mr. Sowerberry justice, he would have been kindly disposed
+towards Oliver, but for the prejudice of his wife against the boy.
+However, to satisfy her, he gave Oliver a sound beating, and shut him up
+in the back kitchen until night, when, amidst the jeers and pointings of
+Noah and Mrs. Sowerberry, he was ordered up-stairs to his dismal bed.
+
+It was then, alone, in the silence of the gloomy workshop, that Oliver
+gave way to his feelings, wept bitterly, and resolved no longer to bear
+such treatment. Softly he undid the fastenings of the door, and looked
+abroad. It was a cold night. The stars seemed, to the boy's eyes, farther
+from the earth than he had ever seen them before; there was no wind; and
+the sombre shadows looked sepulchral and death-like, from being so still.
+He softly reclosed the door, and having availed himself of the expiring
+light of the candle to tie up in a handkerchief the few articles of
+wearing apparel he had, sat himself down to wait for morning.
+
+With the first ray of light, Oliver arose, and again unbarred the door.
+One timid look around,--one minute's pause of hesitation,--he had closed
+it behind him.
+
+He looked to the right, and to the left, uncertain whither to fly. He
+remembered to have seen the waggons, as they went out, toiling up the
+hill, so he took the same route; and arriving at a footpath which he knew
+led out into the road, struck into it, and walked quickly on.
+
+For seven long days he tramped in the direction of London, tasting nothing
+but such scraps of meals as he could beg from the occasional cottages by
+the roadside. On the seventh morning he limped slowly into the little town
+of Barnet, and as he was resting for a few moments on the steps of a
+public-house, a boy crossed over, and walking close to him, said,
+
+"Hullo! my covey! What's the row?"
+
+The boy who addressed this inquiry to the young wayfarer, was about his
+own age: but one of the queerest looking boys that Oliver had ever seen.
+He was a snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy enough; and as dirty a
+juvenile as one would wish to see; but he had about him all the airs and
+manners of a man. He was short, with bow-legs, and little, sharp, ugly,
+eyes. His hat was stuck on the top of his head, and he wore a man's coat
+that reached nearly to his heels.
+
+"Hullo, my covey! What's the row?" said this strange young gentleman to
+Oliver.
+
+"I am very hungry and tired," replied Oliver; the tears standing in his
+eyes as he spoke. "I have walked a long way. I have been walking these
+seven days."
+
+"Going to London?" inquired the strange boy.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Got any lodgings?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Money?"
+
+"No."
+
+The strange boy whistled; and put his arms into his pockets.
+
+"Do you live in London?" inquired Oliver.
+
+"Yes, I do when I'm at home," replied the boy. "I suppose you want some
+place to sleep in to-night, don't you?"
+
+Upon Oliver answering in the affirmative, the strange boy, whose name was
+Jack Dawkins, said, "I've got to be in London to-night; and I know a
+'spectable old genelman as lives there, wot'll give you lodgings for
+nothink, and never ask for the change--that is, if any genelman he knows
+interduces you."
+
+This offer of shelter was too tempting to be resisted, and Oliver trudged
+off with his new friend. Into the city they passed, and through the worst
+and darkest streets, the sight of which filled Oliver with alarm. At
+length they reached the door of a house, which Jack entered, drawing
+Oliver after him, into its dark passage-way, and closing the door after
+them.
+
+Oliver, groping his way with one hand, and having the other firmly grasped
+by his companion, ascended with much difficulty the dark and broken
+stairs, which his conductor mounted with an expedition that showed he was
+well acquainted with them. He threw open the door of a back-room and drew
+Oliver in after him.
+
+The walls and ceiling of the room were perfectly black with age and dirt.
+There was a clothes-horse, over which a great number of silk handkerchiefs
+were hanging; and a deal table before the fire; upon which were a candle,
+stuck in a ginger-beer bottle, two or three pewter pots, a loaf and
+butter, and a plate. In a frying pan, which was on the fire, some sausages
+were cooking, and standing over them, with a toasting-fork in his hand,
+was a very old shrivelled Jew, whose villanous-looking and repulsive face
+was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair.
+
+Several rough beds, made of old sacks, were huddled side by side on the
+floor. Seated round the table were four or five boys, none older than Jack
+Dawkins, familiarly called the Dodger. The boys all crowded about their
+associate, as he whispered a few words to the Jew; and then they turned
+round and grinned at Oliver. So did the Jew himself, toasting-fork in
+hand.
+
+"This is him, Fagin," said Jack Dawkins; "my friend Oliver Twist."
+
+The Jew, making a low bow to Oliver, took him by the hand, and hoped he
+should have the honour of his intimate acquaintance. Upon this the young
+gentlemen came round him, and shook his hand very hard, especially the one
+in which he held his little bundle.
+
+"We are very glad to see you, Oliver, very," said the Jew. "Dodger take
+off the sausages; and draw a tub near the fire for Oliver. Ah, you're
+a-staring at the pocket-handkerchiefs! eh, my dear? There are a good many
+of 'em, ain't there? We've just looked 'em out ready for the wash; that's
+all, Oliver, that's all. Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+The latter part of this speech was hailed by a boisterous shout from the
+boys, who, Oliver found, were all pupils of the merry old gentleman. In
+the midst of which they went to supper.
+
+Oliver ate his share, and the Jew then mixed him a glass of hot gin and
+water, telling him he must drink it off directly because another gentleman
+wanted the tumbler. Oliver did as he was desired. Immediately afterwards,
+he felt himself gently lifted on to one of the sacks; and then he sunk
+into a deep sleep.
+
+It was late next morning when Oliver awoke, from a sound, long sleep.
+There was no other person in the room but the old Jew, who was boiling
+some coffee in a saucepan for breakfast, and whistling softly to himself
+as he stirred it. He would stop every now and then to listen when there
+was the least noise below; and, when he had satisfied himself, he would go
+on, whistling and stirring again, as before.
+
+When the coffee was done, the Jew drew the saucepan to the hob, then he
+turned and looked at Oliver, and called him by name, but the boy did not
+answer, and was to all appearances asleep. After satisfying himself upon
+this head, the Jew stepped gently to the door, which he fastened. He then
+drew forth as it seemed to Oliver, from some trap in the floor a small
+box, which he placed carefully on the table. His eyes glistened as he
+raised the lid, and looked in. Dragging an old chair to the table, he sat
+down, and took from it a magnificent gold watch, sparkling with jewels.
+
+At least half a dozen more were severally drawn forth from the same box,
+besides rings, brooches, bracelets, and other articles of jewellery, of
+such magnificent materials, and costly workmanship, that Oliver had no
+idea, even of their names.
+
+At length the bright, dark eyes of the Jew, which had been staring
+vacantly before him, fell on Oliver's face; the boy's eyes were fixed on
+his in mute curiosity; and, although the recognition was only for an
+instant,--it was enough to show the man that he had been observed. He
+closed the lid of the box with a loud crash; and, laying his hand on a
+bread knife which was on the table, started furiously up.
+
+"What's that?" said the Jew. "What do you watch me for? Why are you awake?
+What have you seen? Speak out, boy! Quick--quick! for your life!"
+
+"I wasn't able to sleep any longer, sir," replied Oliver meekly. "I am
+very sorry if I have disturbed you, sir."
+
+"You were not awake an hour ago?" said the Jew, scowling fiercely.
+
+"No! No indeed!" replied Oliver.
+
+"Are you sure?" cried the Jew, with a still fiercer look than before, and
+a threatening attitude.
+
+"Upon my word I was not, sir," replied Oliver, earnestly. "I was not,
+indeed, sir."
+
+"Tush, tush, my dear!" said the Jew, abruptly resuming his old manner. "Of
+course I know that, my dear, I only tried to frighten you. You're a brave
+boy. Ha! ha! you're a brave boy, Oliver!"
+
+The Jew rubbed his hands with a chuckle, but glanced uneasily at the box,
+notwithstanding.
+
+"Did you see any of these pretty things, my dear?" said the Jew.
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Oliver.
+
+"Ah!" said Fagin, turning rather pale. "They--they're mine, Oliver; my
+little property. All I have to live upon in my old age. The folks call me
+a miser, my dear. Only a miser; that's all."
+
+Oliver thought the old gentleman must be a decided miser to live in such a
+dirty place, with so many watches; but thinking that perhaps his fondness
+for the Dodger and the other boys, cost him a good deal of money, he only
+cast a deferential look at the Jew, and asked if he might get up.
+Permission being granted him, he got up, walked across the room, and
+stooped for an instant to raise the water-pitcher. When he turned his
+head, the box was gone.
+
+Presently the Dodger returned with a friend, Charley Bates, and the four
+sat down to a breakfast of coffee, and some hot rolls, and ham, which the
+Dodger had brought home in the crown of his hat.
+
+"Well," said the Jew, "I hope you've been at work this morning, my dears?"
+
+"Hard," replied the Dodger.
+
+"As Nails," added Charley Bates.
+
+"Good boys, good boys!" said the Jew. "What have _you_ got, Dodger?"
+
+"A couple of pocket-books," replied the young gentleman.
+
+"Lined?" inquired the Jew, with eagerness.
+
+"Pretty well," replied the Dodger, producing two pocket-books.
+
+"And what have you got, my dear?" said Fagin to Charley Bates.
+
+"Wipes," replied Master Bates; at the same time producing four
+pocket-handkerchiefs.
+
+"Well," said the Jew, inspecting them closely; "they 're very good ones,
+very. You haven't marked them well, though, Charley; so the marks shall be
+picked out with a needle, and we'll teach Oliver how to do it. Shall us,
+Oliver, eh?"
+
+"If you please, sir," said Oliver.
+
+"You'd like to be able to make pocket-handkerchiefs as easy as Charley
+Bates, wouldn't you, my dear?" said the Jew.
+
+"Very much indeed, if you'll teach me, sir," replied Oliver.
+
+Master Bates saw something so exquisitely ludicrous in this reply, that he
+burst into a laugh; which laugh, meeting the coffee he was drinking, and
+carrying it down some wrong channel, very nearly terminated in his
+suffocation.
+
+"He is so jolly green!" said Charley, when he recovered, as an apology to
+the company for his unpolite behaviour.
+
+When the breakfast was cleared away, the merry old gentleman and the two
+boys played at a very curious and uncommon game, which was performed in
+this way. Fagin, placing a snuff-box in one pocket of his trousers, a
+notecase in the other, and a watch in his waistcoat pocket, with a
+guard-chain round his neck, and sticking a mock diamond pin in his shirt,
+buttoned his coat tight round him, and putting his spectacle-case and
+handkerchief in his pockets, trotted up and down with a stick, in
+imitation of the manner in which old gentlemen walk about the streets.
+Sometimes he stopped at the fire-place, and sometimes at the door, making
+believe that he was staring with all his might into shop windows. At such
+times he would look constantly round him, for fear of thieves, and would
+keep slapping all his pockets in turn, to see that he hadn't lost
+anything, in such a very funny and natural manner, that Oliver laughed
+till the tears ran down his face.
+
+All this time, the two boys followed him closely about; getting out of his
+sight so nimbly, that it was impossible to follow their motions. At last,
+the Dodger trod upon his toes accidentally, while Charley Bates stumbled
+up against him behind; and in that one moment they took from him, with the
+most extraordinary rapidity, snuff-box, note-case, watch-guard, chain,
+shirt-pin, pocket-handkerchief--even the spectacle-case. If the old
+gentleman felt a hand in one of his pockets, he cried out where it was;
+and then the game began all over again.
+
+When this game had been played a great many times, a couple of young women
+came in; one of whom was named Bet, and the other Nancy, and afterwards
+Oliver discovered that they also were pupils of Fagin's as well as the
+boys.
+
+Later the young people went out, leaving Oliver alone with the Jew, who
+was pacing up and down the room.
+
+"Is my handkerchief hanging out of my pocket, my dear?" said the Jew,
+stopping short, in front of Oliver.
+
+"Yes sir," said Oliver.
+
+"See if you can take it out, without my feeling it: as you saw them do
+when we were at play."
+
+Oliver held up the bottom of the pocket with one hand, as he had seen the
+Dodger hold it, and drew the handkerchief lightly out of it with the
+other.
+
+"Is it gone?" cried the Jew.
+
+"Here it is, sir," said Oliver, showing it in his hand.
+
+"You're a clever boy, my dear," said the playful old gentleman, patting
+Oliver on the head approvingly. "I never saw a sharper lad. Here's a
+shilling for you. If you go on in this way, you'll be the greatest man of
+the time. And now come here, and I'll show you how to take the marks out
+of the handkerchiefs."
+
+Oliver wondered what picking the old gentleman's pocket in play, had to do
+with his chances of being a great man. But, thinking that the Jew, being
+so much his senior, must know best, he followed him quietly to the table,
+and was soon deeply involved in his new study.
+
+For many days Oliver remained in the Jew's room, picking marks out of the
+pocket-handkerchiefs. But at length, he began to languish, and entreated
+Fagin to allow him to go out to work with his two companions. So, one
+morning, he obtained permission to go out, under the guardianship of
+Charley Bates and the Dodger.
+
+The three boys sallied out; the Dodger with his coat-sleeves tucked up,
+and his hat cocked as usual; Master Bates sauntering along with his hands
+in his pockets; and Oliver between them, wondering where they were going,
+and what branch of manufacture he would be instructed in, first.
+
+They were just emerging from a narrow court, when the Dodger made a sudden
+stop; and, laying his finger on his lip, drew his companions back again
+with the greatest caution.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Oliver.
+
+"Hush!" replied the Dodger. "Do you see that old cove at the book-stall?"
+
+"The old gentleman over the way?" said Oliver. "Yes, I see him."
+
+"He'll do," said the Dodger.
+
+"A prime plant," observed Master Charley Bates.
+
+Oliver looked from one to the other, with the greatest surprise; but could
+not ask any questions, for the two boys walked stealthily across the road,
+and slunk close behind the old gentleman. Oliver walked a few paces behind
+them, looking on in silent amazement.
+
+The old gentleman had taken up a book from the stall; and there he stood:
+reading away, perfectly absorbed, and saw not the book-stall, nor the
+street, nor the boys, nor anything but the book itself. What was Oliver's
+horror and alarm to see the Dodger plunge his hand into the old
+gentleman's pocket, and draw from thence a handkerchief! To see him hand
+the same to Charley Bates; and finally to behold them, both, running away
+round the corner at full speed!
+
+In an instant the whole mystery of the handkerchiefs, and the watches, and
+the jewels, and the Jew, rushed upon the boy's mind. He stood, for a
+moment, with the blood tingling through all his veins from terror; then,
+confused and frightened, he took to his heels.
+
+In the very instant when Oliver began to run, the old gentleman, putting
+his hand to his pocket, and missing his handkerchief, turned sharp round.
+Seeing the boy scudding away at such a rapid pace, he very naturally
+concluded him to be the depredator, and, shouting "Stop thief!" with all
+his might, made off after him, book in hand. The Dodger and Master Bates,
+who had merely retired into the first doorway round the corner, no sooner
+heard the cry, and saw Oliver running, than they issued forth with great
+promptitude; and, shouting, "Stop thief! Stop thief!" too, joined in the
+pursuit like good citizens.
+
+"Stop thief!" The cry is taken up by a hundred voices, the tradesman, the
+carman, the butcher, the baker, the milkman, the school-boy, follow in hot
+pursuit. Away they run, pell-mell, helter-skelter, slap-dash: tearing,
+yelling: screaming, knocking down the passengers as they turn the corners,
+splashing through the mud, and rattling along the pavements, following
+after the wretched, breathless, panting child, gaining upon him every
+instant. Stopped at last! A clever blow! He is down upon the pavement,
+covered with mud and dust, looking wildly round upon the heap of faces
+that surround him.
+
+"Yes," said the old gentleman, "I am afraid that is the boy. Poor fellow!
+he has hurt himself!"
+
+Just then a police officer appeared and dragged the half fainting boy off,
+the old gentleman walking beside him, Oliver protesting his innocence as
+they went. At the police station Oliver was searched in vain, and then
+locked in a cell for a time, while the old gentleman sat outside waiting,
+and read his book. Presently the boy was brought out before the
+Magistrate; and the policeman and the old gentleman preferred their
+charges against him. While the case was proceeding, Oliver fell to the
+floor in a fainting fit, and as he lay there the Magistrate uttered his
+penance, "He stands committed for three months of hard labour. Clear the
+office!" A couple of men were about to carry the insensible boy to his
+cell, when an elderly man rushed hastily into the office. "Stop, stop!" he
+said. "Don't take him away! I saw it all. I keep the book-stall. I saw
+three boys loitering on the opposite side of the way when this gentleman
+was reading. The robbery was committed by another boy. I saw it done; and
+I saw that this boy was perfectly amazed and stupified by it!"
+
+Having by this time recovered a little breath, the bookstall keeper
+proceeded to relate in a more coherent manner the exact circumstances of
+the robbery, in consequence of which explanation Oliver Twist was
+discharged, and carried off, still white and faint, in a coach, by the
+kind-hearted old gentleman whose name was Brownlow, who seemed to feel
+himself responsible for the boy's condition, and resolved to have him
+cared for in his own home.
+
+After Charley Bates and the Dodger had seen Oliver dragged away by the
+police officer, they scoured off with great rapidity. Coming to a halt
+Master Bates burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
+
+"What's the matter?" inquired the Dodger.
+
+"I can't help it," said Charley, "I can't help it! To see him splitting
+away at that pace, and cutting round the corners, and knocking up against
+the posts, and starting on again as if he was made of iron, and me with
+the wipe in my pocket, singing out arter him--oh, my eye!" The vivid
+imagination of Master Bates presented the scene before him in too strong
+colours, and he rolled upon a door-step and laughed louder than before.
+
+"What'll Fagin say?" inquired the Dodger, and the question sobered Master
+Bates at once, as both boys stood in great dread of the Jew. And their
+worst fears were realised. Fagin was livid with rage at the loss of his
+promising pupil, as well as fearful of the disclosures he might make.
+After long consultation on the subject, it was agreed by the band that
+Nancy was to go to the police station in a disguised dress, to find out
+what had been done with Oliver, for whom she was to search as her "dear
+little lost brother."
+
+Meanwhile Oliver lay for many days burning with fever and unconscious of
+his surroundings, in the quietly comfortable home of Mr. Brownlow at
+Pentonville. At length, weak, and thin, and pallid, he awoke from what
+seemed a dream, and found himself being nursed by Mrs. Bedwin, Mr.
+Brownlow's motherly old house-keeper, and visited constantly by the
+doctor. Gradually he grew stronger, and soon could sit up a little. Those
+were happy, peaceful days of his recovery, the only happy ones he had ever
+known. Everybody was so kind and gentle that it seemed like Heaven itself,
+as he sat by the fireside in the house-keeper's room. On the wall hung a
+portrait of a beautiful, mild, lady with sorrowful eyes, of which Oliver
+was the living copy. Every feature was the same--to Mr. Brownlow's intense
+astonishment, as he gazed from it to Oliver.
+
+Later, Oliver heard the history of the portrait and his own connection
+with it.
+
+When he was strong enough to put his clothes on, Mr. Brownlow caused a
+complete new suit, and a new cap, and a new pair of shoes, to be provided
+for him. Oliver gave his old clothes to one of the servants who had been
+kind to him, and she sold them to a Jew who came to the house.
+
+One evening Mr. Brownlow sent up word to have Oliver come down into his
+study and see him for a little while,--so Mrs. Bedwin helped him to
+prepare himself, and although there was not even time to crimp the little
+frill that bordered his shirt-collar, he looked so delicate and handsome,
+that she surveyed him with great complacency.
+
+Mr. Brownlow was reading, but when he saw Oliver, he pushed the book away,
+and told him to come near, and sit down, which Oliver did. Then the old
+gentleman began to talk kindly of what Oliver's future was to be.
+Instantly the boy became pallid with fright, and implored Mr. Brownlow to
+let him stay with him, as a servant, as anything, only not to send him out
+into the streets again, and the old gentleman, touched by the appeal,
+assured the boy that unless he should deceive him, he would be his
+faithful friend. He then asked Oliver to relate the whole story of his
+life, which he was beginning to do when an old friend of Mr. Brownlow's--a
+Mr. Grimwig,--entered.
+
+He was an eccentric old man, and was loud in his exclamations of distrust
+in this boy whom Mr. Brownlow was harbouring.
+
+"I'll answer for that boy's truth with my life!" said Mr. Brownlow,
+knocking the table.
+
+"And I for his falsehood with my head!" rejoined Mr. Grimwig, knocking the
+table also.
+
+"We shall see!" said Mr. Brownlow, checking his rising anger.
+
+"We will!" said Mr. Grimwig, with a provoking smile; "we will."
+
+Just then Mrs. Bedwin brought in some books which had been bought of the
+identical book stall-keeper who has already figured in this history. Mr.
+Brownlow was greatly disturbed that the boy who brought them had not
+waited, as there were some other books to be returned.
+
+"Send Oliver with them," suggested Mr. Grimwig, "he will be sure to
+deliver them safely, you know!"
+
+"Yes; do let me take them, if you please, sir," said Oliver "I'll run all
+the way, sir."
+
+Mr. Brownlow was about to refuse to have Oliver go out, when Mr. Grimwig's
+malicious cough made him change his mind, and let the boy go.
+
+"You are to say," said Mr. Brownlow, "that you have brought those books
+back; and that you have come to pay the four pound ten I owe him. This is
+a five-pound note, so you will have to bring me back ten shilling change."
+
+"I won't be ten minutes, sir," replied Oliver, eagerly, as with a
+respectful bow he left the room. Mrs. Bedwin watched him out of sight
+exclaiming, "Bless his sweet face!"--while Oliver looked gaily round, and
+nodded before he turned the corner.
+
+Then Mr. Brownlow drew out his watch and waited, while Mr. Grimwig
+asserted that the boy would never be back. "He has a new suit of clothes
+on his back; a set of valuable books under his arm; and a five-pound note
+in his pocket. He'll join his old friends the thieves, and laugh at you.
+If ever that boy returns to this house, sir," said Mr. Grimwig, "I'll eat
+my head!"
+
+It grew so dark that the figures on the dial-plate were scarcely
+discernible. The gas lamps were lighted; Mrs. Bedwin was waiting anxiously
+at the open door; the servant had run up the street twenty times to see if
+there were any traces of Oliver; and still the two old gentlemen sat,
+perseveringly, in the dark parlour, with the watch between them,
+waiting--but Oliver did not come.
+
+He meanwhile, had walked along, on his way to the bookstall, thinking how
+happy and contented he ought to feel, when he was startled by a young
+woman screaming out very loud, "Oh, my dear brother!"--and then he was
+stopped by having a pair of arms thrown tight round his neck.
+
+"Don't!" cried Oliver, struggling. "Let go of Who is it? What are you
+stopping me for?"
+
+"Oh my gracious!" said the young woman, "I've found him! Oh you naughty
+boy, to make me suffer sich distress on your account! Come home, dear,
+come!" With these and more incoherent exclamations, the young woman burst
+out crying, and told the onlookers that Oliver was her brother, who had
+run away from his respectable parents a month ago, joined a gang of
+thieves and almost broke his mother's heart,--to which Oliver, greatly
+alarmed, replied that he was an orphan, had no sister, and lived at
+Pentonville. Then, catching sight of the woman's face for the first time,
+he cried,--"Why, it's Nancy!"
+
+"You see he knows me!" cried Nancy. "Make him come home, there's good
+people, or he'll kill his dear mother and father, and break my heart!"
+With this a man who was Nancy's accomplice, Bill Sikes by name, came to
+the rescue, tore the volumes from Oliver's grasp, and struck him on the
+head. Weak still, and stupified by the suddenness of the attack,
+overpowered and helpless, what could one poor child do? Darkness had set
+in; it was a low neighbourhood; no help was near--resistance was useless.
+In another moment he was dragged into a labyrinth of dark narrow courts:
+and was forced along them, at a pace which rendered the few cries he dared
+to give utterance to, unintelligible.
+
+At length they turned into a very filthy street, and stopped at an
+apparently untenanted house into which Bill Sikes and Nancy led Oliver,
+and there, were his old friends, Charley Bates, the Dodger, and Fagin.
+
+They greeted Oliver with cheers, and at once rifled his pockets of the
+five-pound note, and relieved him of the books,--although Oliver pleaded
+that the books and money be sent back to Mr. Brownlow. When he found that
+all pleading and resistance were useless, he jumped suddenly to his feet
+and tore wildly from the room, uttering shrieks for help which made the
+bare old house echo to the roof, and then attempted to dart through the
+door, opened for a moment, but he was instantly caught, while Sikes' dog
+would have sprung upon him, except for Nancy's intervention. She was
+struck with Oliver's pallor and great grief and tried to shield him from
+violence. But it was of little avail. He was beaten by the Jew, and then
+led off by Master Bates into an adjacent kitchen to go to bed. His new
+clothes were taken from him and he was given the identical old suit which
+he had so congratulated himself upon leaving off at Mr. Brownlow's, and
+the accidental display of which to Fagin, by the Jew who purchased them,
+had been the first clue to Oliver's whereabouts.
+
+For a week or so the boy was kept locked up, but after that the Jew left
+him at liberty to wander about the house; which was a weird, ghostlike
+place, with the mouldering shutters fast closed, and no evidence from
+outside that it sheltered human creatures. Oliver was constantly with
+Charley Bates and the Dodger, who played the old game with the Jew every
+day. At times Fagin entertained the boys with stories of robberies he had
+committed in his younger days, which made Oliver laugh heartily, and show
+that he was amused in spite of his better feelings. In short, the wily old
+Jew had the boy in his toils, and hoped gradually to instil into his soul
+the poison which would blacken it and change its hue forever.
+
+Meanwhile Fagin, Bill Sikes, and Nancy were arranging a plot in which poor
+Oliver was to play a notable part. One morning he found to his surprise, a
+pair of stout new shoes by his bedside, and at breakfast Fagin told him
+that he was to be taken to the residence of Bill Sikes that night, but no
+reason for this was given. Fagin then left him and presently Nancy came
+in, looking pale and ill. She came from Sikes to take Oliver to him. Her
+countenance was agitated and she trembled.
+
+"I have saved you from being ill-used once, and I will again; and I do
+now," she said, "for those who would have fetched you if I had not, would
+have been far more rough than me. Remember this, and don't let me suffer
+more for you just now. If I could help you, I would; but I have not the
+power. I have promised for your being quiet; if you are not, you will harm
+youself and perhaps be my death. Hush! Give me your hand! Make haste!"
+
+Blowing out the light, she drew Oliver hastily after her, out, and into a
+hackney-cabriolet. The driver wanted no directions, but lashed his horse
+into full speed, and presently they were in a strange house. There, with
+Nancy and Sikes, Oliver remained until an early hour the next morning,
+when the three set out, whither or for what Oliver did not know, but
+before they started Sikes drew out a pistol, and holding it close to
+Oliver's temple said, "If you speak a word while you're out of doors, with
+me, except when I speak to you, that loading will be in your head without
+notice!" And Oliver did not doubt the statement.
+
+In the gray dawn of a cheerless morning the trio started off, and by
+continual tramping, and an occasional lift from a carter reached a public
+house where they lingered for some hours, and then went on again until the
+next night. They turned into no house at Shepperton, as the weary boy had
+expected; but still kept walking on, in mud and darkness, until they came
+in sight of the lights of a town. Then they stopped for a time at a
+solitary, dilapidated house, where they were met by other men. The party
+then crossed a bridge and were soon in the little town of Chertsey. There
+was nobody abroad. They had cleared the town as the church-bell struck
+two. After walking about a quarter of a mile, they stopped before a
+detached house surrounded by a wall: to the top of which one of the men,
+Toby Crackit, climbed in a twinkling.
+
+"The boy next!" said Toby. "Hoist him up; I'll catch hold of him."
+
+Before Oliver had time to look round, Sikes had caught him under the arms;
+and he and Toby were lying on the grass, on the other side of the wall.
+Sikes followed, and they stole towards the house. Now, for the first time
+Oliver realised that robbery, if not murder, was the object of the
+expedition. In vain he pleaded that they let him go,--he was answered only
+by oaths, while the robbers were busy opening a little window not far from
+the ground at the back of the house, which was just large enough to admit
+Oliver. Toby planted himself firmly with his head against the wall beneath
+the window, then Sikes, mounting upon him, put Oliver through the window
+with his feet first, and without leaving hold of his collar, planted him
+safely on the floor inside.
+
+"Take this lantern," whispered Sikes, looking into the room, "You see the
+stairs afore you; go up softly and unfasten the street door."
+
+Oliver, more dead than alive gasped out, "Yes." Sikes then advised him to
+take notice that he was within shot all the way; and that if he faltered,
+he would fall dead that instant.
+
+"It's done in a minute," said Sikes. "Directly I leave go of you, do your
+work. Hark!"
+
+"What's that?" whispered the other man.
+
+"Nothing," said Sikes,--"_Now_!"
+
+In the short time he had to collect his senses, Oliver had resolved that,
+whether he died in the attempt or not, he would make one effort to dart up
+stairs and to alarm the family. Filled with this idea, he advanced at
+once, but stealthily.
+
+"Come back!" suddenly cried Sikes aloud. "_Back! Back!"_
+
+Scared by the sudden breaking of the stillness and by a loud cry which
+followed it, Oliver let his lantern fall and knew not whether to advance
+or fly. The cry was repeated--a light appeared--a vision of two terrified
+half-dressed men at the top of the stairs swam before his eyes--a flash--a
+smoke--a crash somewhere,--and he staggered back.
+
+Sikes had disappeared for an instant; but he was up again, and had Oliver
+by the collar before the smoke had cleared away. He fired his pistol after
+the men, and dragged the boy up.
+
+"Clasp your arm tighter," said Sikes, as he drew him through the window.
+"Give me a shawl here. They've hit him. Quick! How the boy bleeds!"
+
+Then came the loud ringing of a bell, mingled with the noise of fire-arms,
+the shouts of men, and the sensation of being carried over uneven ground
+at a rapid pace. Then the noises grew confused in the distance; and the
+boy saw or heard no more. Bill Sikes had him on his back scudding like the
+wind. Oliver's head hung down, and he was deadly cold. The pursuers were
+close upon Sikes' heels. He dropped the boy in a ditch and fled.
+
+Hours afterwards Oliver came to himself, and found his left arm rudely
+bandaged hung useless at his side. He was so weak that he could scarcely
+move. Trembling from cold and exhaustion he made an effort to stand
+upright, but fell back, groaning with pain. Then a creeping stupor came
+over him, warning him that if he lay there he must surely die. So he got
+upon his feet, and stumbling on, dizzy and half unconscious, drew near to
+the very house which caused him to shudder with horror at the memory of
+last night's dreadful scene.
+
+Within, in the kitchen all the servants were gathered round the fire
+discussing the attempted burglary. While Mr. Giles, the butler, was giving
+his version of the affair, there came a timid knock. They opened the door
+cautiously and beheld poor little Oliver Twist, speechless and exhausted,
+who raised his heavy eyes and mutely solicited their compassion. Instantly
+there was an outcry, and Oliver was seized by one leg and one arm, lugged
+into the hall, and laid on the floor. "Here he is!" bawled Giles up the
+staircase; "here's one of the thieves, ma'am! Here's a thief, miss!
+Wounded, miss. I shot him, miss; and Brittles held the light!" There was
+great confusion then, all the servants talking at once, but the sound of a
+sweet voice from above quelled the commotion. On learning that a wounded
+thief was lying in the house, the voice directed that he be instantly
+carried up-stairs to the room of Mr. Giles, and a doctor be summoned; and
+so for the second time in his short, tragic existence, Oliver fell into
+kind hands at a moment when all hope had left his breast. He was now in
+the home of Mrs. Maylie, a finely preserved, bright-eyed, elderly lady,
+and her fair young adopted niece, Rose.
+
+The attempted burglary had greatly shocked them both, and the fact that
+one of the robbers was in the house added to their nervousness. So when
+Dr. Losberne came, and begged them to accompany him to the patient's room,
+they dreaded to comply with the request, but finally yielded to his
+demand. What was their astonishment when the bed-curtains were drawn
+aside, instead of a black-visaged ruffian, to see a mere child, worn with
+pain, and sunk into a deep sleep. His wounded arm bound and splintered up,
+was crossed upon his breast. His head reclined upon the other arm, which
+was half hidden by his long hair, as it streamed over the pillow. The boy
+smiled in his sleep as at a pleasant dream, when Rose bent tenderly over
+him, while the older lady and the Doctor discussed the probability of the
+child's having been the tool of robbers. Fearing that the doctor might
+influence her aunt to send the boy away, Rose pleaded that he be kept and
+cared for; it was finally decided that when Oliver awoke he should be
+examined as to his past life, and if the result seemed satisfactory, he
+should remain. But not until evening was he able to be questioned. He then
+told them all his simple history. It was a solemn thing to hear the feeble
+voice of the sick child recounting a weary catalogue of evils and
+calamities which hard men had brought upon him, and his hearers were
+profoundly moved by the recital. His pillow was smoothed by gentle hands
+that night and he slept as sleep the calm and happy.
+
+On the following day, officers who had heard of the burglary, and that a
+thief was prisoner in the Maylie house, came from London to arrest him,
+but Dr. Losberne and Mrs. Maylie shielded him, and their joint bail was
+accepted for the boy's appearance in court if it should ever be required.
+
+With the Maylies Oliver remained, and thanks to their tender care,
+gradually throve and prospered, although it was long weeks before he was
+quite himself again. Many times he spoke to the two sweet ladies of his
+gratitude to them, saying that he only desired to serve them always. To
+this they responded that he should go with them to the country, and there
+could serve them in a hundred ways.
+
+Only one cloud was on Oliver's sky. He longed to go to Mr. Brownlow and
+tell him the true story of his seeming ingratitude. So as soon as he was
+sufficiently recovered, Dr. Losberne drove him out to the place where he
+said Mr. Brownlow resided. They hastened to the house, but alas! it was
+empty. There was a bill in the window, "To Let" and upon inquiring, they
+found that Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Grimwig, and Mrs. Bedwin had gone to the West
+Indies.
+
+The disappointment was a cruel one, for all through his sickness Oliver
+had anticipated the delight of seeing his first benefactor, and clearing
+himself of guilt, but now that was impossible.
+
+In a fortnight the Maylies went to the country, and Oliver, whose life had
+been spent in squalid crowds, seemed to enter on a new existence there.
+The sky and the balmy air, the woods and glistening water, the rose and
+honeysuckle, were each a daily joy to him. Every morning he went to a
+white-haired old gentleman who taught him to read better and to write,
+then he would walk and talk with Rose and Mrs. Maylie, and so three happy
+months glided away.
+
+In the summer Rose was taken down with a terrible fever, and anxiety hung
+like a cloud over the cottage where she was so dear, but at length the
+danger passed and the loving hearts grew lighter again.
+
+Meanwhile a man named Monks,--a friend of Fagin's--had by chance seen
+Oliver, had been strangely excited and angered at sight of him, and after
+carefully learning some details of the boy's history, had gone to the
+beadle at the workhouse where Oliver began life, and by dint of bribes,
+had extorted information concerning Oliver's mother, which only one person
+knew. Satisfied with what he learned, Monks conferred with Fagin, telling
+some facts about Oliver which caused Nancy, who happened to overhear them,
+to become terror-stricken.
+
+As soon as she could, she stole away from her companions, out towards the
+West End of London, to a hotel where the Maylies were then boarding, and
+which she had heard Monks mention. Nancy was such a ragged object that she
+found it difficult to have her name carried up to Rose Maylie, but at
+length she succeeded, and was ushered into the sweet young lady's
+presence, where she quickly related what she had come to tell. That Monks
+had accidentally seen Oliver, and found out where he was living, and with
+whom;--that a bargain had been struck with Fagin that he should have a
+certain sum of money if Oliver were brought back, and a still larger
+amount if the boy could be made a thief. Nancy then went on to tell that
+Monks spoke of Oliver as his young brother, and boasted that the proofs of
+the boy's identity lay at the bottom of the river--that he, Monks, had
+money which by right should have been shared with Oliver, and that his one
+desire was to take the boy's life.
+
+These disclosures made Rose Maylie turn pale, and ask many questions, from
+which she discovered that Nancy's confession was actuated by a real liking
+for Oliver and a fierce hatred for the man Monks. Her tale finished, and
+refusing money, or help of any kind, Nancy went as swiftly as she had
+come, and when she left, Rose sank into a chair completely overcome by
+what she had heard.
+
+Of course the matter was too serious to pass over, and the next day, as
+Rose was trying to decide upon a course of action, Oliver settled it for
+her, by rushing in with breathless haste, and exclaiming, "I have seen the
+gentleman--the gentleman who was so good to me--Mr. Brownlow!"
+
+"Where?" asked Rose.
+
+"Going into a house," replied Oliver. "And Giles asked, for me, whether he
+lived there, and they said he did. Look here," producing a scrap of paper,
+"here it is; here's where he lives--I'm going there directly! OH, DEAR ME!
+DEAR ME! what shall I do when I come to hear him speak again!"
+
+With her attention not a little distracted by these exclamations of joy,
+an idea came to Rose, and she determined upon turning this discovery to
+account.
+
+"Quick!" she said, "tell them to fetch a hackney-coach, and be ready to go
+with me. I will take you to see Mr. Brownlow directly."
+
+Oliver needed no urging and they were soon on their way to Craven Street.
+When they arrived, Rose left Oliver in the coach, and sending up her card,
+requested to see Mr. Brownlow on business. She was shown up stairs, and
+presented to Mr. Brownlow, an elderly gentleman of benevolent appearance,
+in a bottle-green coat, and with him was his friend, Mr. Grimwig. Rose
+began at once upon her errand, to the great amazement of the two old
+gentlemen. She related in a few natural words all that had befallen Oliver
+since he left Mr. Brownlow's house, concluding with the assurance that his
+only sorrow for many months had been the not being able to meet with his
+former benefactor and friend.
+
+"Thank God!" said Mr. Brownlow. "This is great happiness to me; great
+happiness! But why not have brought him?"
+
+"He is waiting in a coach at the door," replied Rose.
+
+"At this door!" cried Mr. Brownlow. With which he hurried down the stairs,
+without another word, and came back with Oliver. Then Mrs. Bedwin was sent
+for. "God be good to me!" she cried, embracing him; "it is my innocent
+boy! He would come back--I knew he would! How well he looks, and how like
+a gentleman's son he is dressed again! Where have you been, this long,
+long while?"
+
+Running on thus,--now holding Oliver from her, now clasping him to her and
+passing her fingers through his hair, the good soul laughed and wept upon
+his neck by turns.
+
+Leaving Oliver with her, Mr. Brownlow led Rose into another room, by her
+request, and she narrated her interview with Nancy, which occasioned Mr.
+Brownlow no small amount of perplexity and surprise. After a long
+consultation they decided to take Mrs. Maylie and Dr. Losberne into their
+confidence, also Mr. Grimwig, thus forming a committee for the purpose of
+guarding the young lad from further entanglement in the plots of villains.
+
+Through Nancy, with whom Rose had another interview, the man Monks was
+tracked, and finally captured by Mr. Brownlow, who to his sorrow, found
+that the villain was the erring son of his oldest friend, and his name of
+Monks only an assumed one. Facing him in a room of his own house, to which
+Monks had been brought,--Mr. Brownlow charged the man with one crime after
+another.
+
+The father of Monks had two children who were half brothers, Monks and
+Oliver Twist. The father died suddenly, leaving in Mr. Brownlow's home the
+portrait of Oliver's mother, which was hanging in the house-keeper's room.
+The striking likeness between this portrait and Oliver had led Mr.
+Brownlow to recognise the boy as the child of his dear old friend. Then,
+just when he had determined to adopt Oliver, the boy had disappeared, and
+all efforts to find him had proved unavailing. Mr. Brownlow knew that,
+although the mother and father were dead, the elder brother was alive, and
+at once commenced a search for him. Now he had discovered him in the man
+Monks, the friend of thieves and murderers, and by a chance clue he found
+also that there had been a will, dividing the property between the two
+brothers. That will had been destroyed, together with all proofs of
+Oliver's parentage, so that Monks might have the entire property. Fearing
+discovery, Monks had bargained with Fagin to keep the child a thief or to
+kill him outright.
+
+This revelation of his crime in all its terrible details, told in clear
+cutting tones by Mr. Brownlow, while his eyes never left the man's face,
+overwhelmed the coward Monks. He stood convicted, and confessed his guilt.
+
+Then, because the man was son of his old friend, Mr. Brownlow was
+merciful.
+
+"Will you set your hand to a statement of truth and facts, and repeat it
+before witnesses?" he asked.
+
+"That I promise," said Monks.
+
+"Remain quietly here until such a document is drawn up, and proceed with
+me to such a place as I may deem advisable, to attest it?"
+
+To this also Monks agreed.
+
+"You must do more than that," said Mr. Brownlow; "Make restitution to
+Oliver. You have not forgotten the provisions of the will. Carry them into
+execution so far as your brother is concerned, and then go where you
+please. In this world you need meet no more."
+
+To this also, at length Monks gave fearing assent.
+
+A few days later Oliver found himself in a travelling carriage rolling
+fast towards his native town, with the Maylies, Mrs. Bedwin, Dr. Losberne,
+and Mr. Grimwig, while Mr. Brownlow followed in a post-chaise with Monks.
+
+Oliver was much excited, for he had been told of the disclosures of Monks,
+which, together with journeying over a road which he had last travelled on
+foot, a poor houseless, wandering boy, without a friend, or a roof to
+shelter his head, caused his heart to beat violently and his breath to
+come in quick gasps.
+
+"See there, there!" he cried, "that's the stile I came over; there are the
+hedges I crept behind, for fear anyone should overtake me and force me
+back!"
+
+As they approached the town, and drove through its narrow streets, it
+became matter of no small difficulty to restrain the boy within reasonable
+bounds. There was the undertaker's just as it used to be, only less
+imposing in appearance than he remembered it. There was the workhouse, the
+dreary prison of his youthful days; there was the same lean porter
+standing at the gate. There was nearly everything as if he had left it but
+yesterday, and all his recent life had been a happy dream.
+
+They drove at once to the hotel where Mr. Brownlow joined them with Monks,
+and there in the presence of the whole party, the wretched man made his
+full confession of guilt, and surrendered one half of the property--about
+three thousand pounds--to his half-brother, upon whom even as he spoke, he
+cast looks of hatred so violent that Oliver trembled. From some details of
+his confession it was also discovered that Rose Maylie, who was only an
+adopted niece of Mrs. Maylie, had been the sister of Oliver's mother, and
+was therefore the boy's aunt, the first blood relation, except Monks, that
+he had ever possessed.
+
+"Not aunt," cried Oliver, throwing his arms about her neck, "I'll never
+call her _aunt_. Sister, my own, dear sister, that something taught my
+heart to love so dearly from the first, Rose! dear, darling Rose!" And in
+Rose's close embrace, the boy found compensation for all his past sadness.
+
+The only link to his old life which remained was soon broken. Fagin had
+been captured too, sentenced to death, and was in prison awaiting the
+fulfilment of his doom. In his possession he had papers relating to
+Oliver's parentage, and the boy went with Mr. Brownlow to the prison to
+try to recover them. With Mr. Brownlow, Fagin was obstinately silent, but
+to Oliver he whispered where they could be found, and then begged and
+prayed the boy to help him escape justice, and sent up cry after cry that
+rang in Oliver's ears for months afterwards.
+
+But youth and sorrow are seldom companions for long, and our last glimpse
+of Oliver is of a boy as thoroughly happy as one often is. He is now the
+adopted son of the good Mr. Brownlow. Removing with him and Mrs. Bedwin to
+within a mile of the Maylies' home, Mr. Brownlow gratified the only
+remaining wish of Oliver's warm and earnest heart, and as the happy days
+go swiftly by, the past becomes the shadow of a dream.
+
+Several times a year Mr. Grimwig visits in the neighbourhood, and it is a
+favourite joke for Mr. Brownlow to rally him on his old prophecy
+concerning Oliver, and to remind him of the night on which they sat with
+the watch between them awaiting his return. But Mr. Grimwig contends that
+he was right in the main, and in proof thereof remarks that Oliver _did
+not come back after all_,--which always calls forth a laugh on his side,
+and increases his good humour.
+
+
+
+
+TOMMY TRADDLES
+
+
+[Illustration: TOMMY TRADDLES.]
+
+Poor Traddles! In a tight sky-blue suit that made his arms and legs like
+German sausages, or roly-poly puddings, and with his hair standing
+upright, giving him the expression of a fretful porcupine, he was the
+merriest and most miserable of all the boys at Mr. Creakle's school,
+called Salem House. I never think of him without a strange disposition to
+laugh, and yet with tears in my eyes.
+
+He was always being caned--I think he was caned every day in the half-year
+I spent at Salem House, except one holiday Monday when he was only ruler'd
+on both hands--and was always going to write to his uncle about it, and
+never did. After laying his head on the desk for a little while, he would
+cheer up somehow, begin to laugh again, and draw skeletons all over his
+slate, before his eyes were dry. I used at first to wonder what comfort
+Traddles found in drawing skeletons; and for some time looked upon him as
+a sort of a hermit, who reminded himself by those symbols of mortality
+that caning couldn't last for ever. But I believe he only did it because
+they were easy, and didn't want any features.
+
+He was very honourable, Traddles was; and held it as a solemn duty in the
+boys to stand by one another. He suffered for this code of honour on
+several occasions. One evening we had a great spread up in our room after
+time for lights to be down, and we all got happily out of it but Traddles.
+He was too unfortunate even to come through a supper like anybody else. He
+was taken ill in the night--quite prostrate he was--in consequence of
+Crab; and after being drugged to an extent which Demple (whose father was
+a doctor) said was enough to undermine a horse's constitution, received a
+caning and six chapters of Greek Testament for refusing to confess.
+
+At another time, when Steerforth (who was the only parlour-boarder and the
+lion of the school) laughed in church, the Beadle, who thought the
+offender was Traddles, took _him_ out. I see him now, going away in
+custody, despised by the congregation. He never said who was the real
+offender, although he smarted for it next day, and was imprisoned so many
+hours that he came forth with a whole churchyardful of skeletons swarming
+all over his Latin dictionary. But he had his reward. Steerforth said
+there was nothing of the sneak in Traddles, and we all felt that to be the
+highest praise.
+
+On still a third occasion during my half-year at Salem House I have a
+vivid recollection of Traddles in distress; that time for siding with the
+down-trodden under-teacher, Mr. Mell, in a heated discussion between that
+gentleman and Steerforth.
+
+The discussion took place on a Saturday which should have properly been a
+half-holiday, but as Mr. Creakle was indisposed, and the noise in the
+playground would have disturbed him; and the weather was not favourable
+for going out walking, we were ordered into school in the afternoon, and
+set some lighter tasks than usual; and Mr. Mell, a pale, delicately-built,
+little man, was detailed to keep us in order, which he tried in vain to
+accomplish.
+
+Boys started in and out of their places, playing at puss-in-the-corner
+with other boys; there were laughing boys, singing boys, talking boys,
+dancing boys, howling boys; boys shuffled with their feet, boys whirled
+about him, grinning, making faces, mimicking him behind his back and
+before his eyes: mimicking his poverty, his boots, his coat, his mother,
+every thing belonging to him that they should have had consideration for.
+
+"Silence!" cried Mr. Mell, suddenly rising up, and striking his desk with
+the book. "What does this mean! It's impossible to bear it. It's
+maddening. How can you do it to me, boys?"
+
+The boys all stopped, some suddenly surprised, some half afraid, and some
+sorry perhaps.
+
+Steerforth alone remained in his lounging position, hands in his pockets,
+and looked at Mr. Mell with his mouth shut up as if he were whistling,
+when Mr. Mell looked at him.
+
+"Silence, Mr. Steerforth!" said Mr. Mell.
+
+"Silence yourself," said Steerforth, turning red. "Whom are you talking
+to?"
+
+"Sit down!" said Mr. Mell.
+
+"Sit down yourself!" said Steerforth, "and mind your business."
+
+There was a titter and some applause; but Mr. Mell was so white, that
+silence immediately succeeded.
+
+"When you make use of your position of favouritism, here, sir," pursued
+Mr. Mell, with his lip trembling very much, "to insult a gentleman----"
+
+"A what?--where is he?" said Steerforth.
+
+Here somebody cried out, "Shame, J. Steerforth! Too bad!" It was Traddles;
+whom Mr. Mell instantly discomfited by bidding him to hold his tongue,----
+
+"--to insult one who is not fortunate in life, sir, and who never gave you
+the least offence, and the many reasons for not insulting whom you are old
+enough and wise enough to understand," said Mr. Mell, with his lip
+trembling more and more, "you commit a mean and base action. You can sit
+down or stand up as you please, sir."
+
+"I tell you what, Mr. Mell," said Steerforth, coming forward, "once for
+all. When you take the liberty of calling me mean or base, or anything of
+that sort, you are an impudent beggar. You are always a beggar, you know;
+but when you do that, you are an impudent beggar."
+
+Had Mr. Creakle not entered the room at that moment, there is no knowing
+what might have happened, for the highest pitch of excitement had been
+reached by combatants and lookers-on.
+
+Both Steerforth and the under-teacher at once turned to Mr. Creakle,
+pouring out in his attentive ear the story of the burning wrong to which
+each had subjected the other, and the end of the whole affair was that Mr.
+Mell--having discovered that Mr. Creakle's veneration for money, and fear
+of offending his head-pupil, far outweighed any consideration for the
+teacher's feelings,--taking his flute and a few books from his desk, and
+leaving the key in it for his successor, went out of the school, with his
+property under his arm.
+
+Mr. Creakle then made a speech, in which he thanked Steerforth for
+asserting (though perhaps too warmly) the independence and respectability
+of Salem House; and which he wound up by shaking hands with Steerforth;
+while we gave three cheers--I did not quite know what for, but I supposed
+for Steerforth, and joined in them, though I felt miserable. Mr. Creakle
+then caned Tommy Traddles for being discovered in tears, instead of
+cheers, and went away leaving us to ourselves.
+
+Steerforth was very angry with Traddles, and said he was glad he had
+caught it. Poor Traddles, who had passed the stage of lying with his head
+upon the desk, and was relieving himself as usual with a burst of
+skeletons, said he didn't care. Mr. Mell was ill-used.
+
+"Who has ill-used him, you girl?" said Steerforth.
+
+"Why, you have," returned Traddles.
+
+"What have I done?" said Steerforth.
+
+"What have you done?" retorted Traddles. "Hurt his feelings and lost him
+his situation."
+
+"His feelings!" repeated Steerforth, disdainfully. "His feelings will soon
+get the better of it, I'll be bound. His feelings are not like yours, Miss
+Traddles! As to his situation--which was a precious one, wasn't it?--do
+you suppose I am not going to write home and take care that he gets some
+money?"
+
+We all thought this intention very noble in Steerforth, whose mother was a
+rich widow, and, it was said, would do anything he asked her. We were all
+very glad to see Traddles so put down, and exalted Steerforth to the
+skies, and none of us appreciated at that time that our hero, J.
+Steerforth was very, very small indeed, as to character, in comparison to
+funny, unfortunate Tommy Traddles.
+
+Years later, when Salem House was only a memory, and we were both men,
+Traddles and I met again. He had the same simple character and good temper
+as of old, and had, too, some of his old unlucky fortune, which clung to
+him always; yet notwithstanding that--as all of his trouble came from
+good-natured meddling with other people's affairs, for their benefit, I am
+not at all certain that I would not risk my chance of success--in the
+broadest meaning of that word--in the next world surely, if not in this,
+against all the Steerforths living, if I were Tommy Traddles.
+
+Poor Traddles?--No, happy Traddles!
+
+
+
+
+"DEPUTY"
+
+
+[Illustration: "DEPUTY".]
+
+They were certainly the very oddest pair that ever the moon shone
+on,--Stony Durdles and the boy "Deputy."
+
+Durdles was a stone-mason, from which occupation, undoubtedly, came his
+nickname "Stony," and Deputy was a hideous small boy hired by Durdles to
+pelt him home if he found him out too late at night, which duty the boy
+faithfully performed. In all the length and breadth of Cloisterham there
+was no more noted man than the stone-mason, Durdles, not, I regret to say,
+on account of his virtues, but rather because of his talent for remaining
+out late at night, and not being able to guide his steps homeward. There
+is a coarser term which might have been applied to this talent of Durdles,
+but we have nothing to do with that, here and now; what we desire is an
+introduction to the small boy who is Durdles's shadow.
+
+One night, John Jasper, choir-master in Cloisterham Cathedral, on his way
+home through the Close, is brought to a standstill by the spectacle of
+Stony Durdles, dinner-bundle and all, leaning against the iron railing of
+the burial-ground, while a hideous small boy in rags flings stones at him,
+in the moonlight. Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss
+him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small
+boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph
+through a jagged gap in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are
+wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out, "Mulled agin!" and tries
+to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim.
+
+"What are you doing to the man?" demands Jasper.
+
+"Makin' a cock-shy of him," replies the hideous small boy.
+
+"Give me those stones in your hand."
+
+"Yes, I'll give 'em you down your throat, if you come a ketchin' hold of
+me," says the small boy, shaking himself loose from Jasper's touch, and
+backing. "I'll smash your eye if you don't look out!"
+
+"What has the man done to you?"
+
+"He won't go home."
+
+"What is that to you?"
+
+"He gives me a 'apenny to pelt him home if I ketches him out too late,"
+says the boy. And then chants, like a little savage, half stumbling, and
+half dancing, among the rags and laces of his dilapidated boots,----
+
+  _Widdy widdy wen!
+  I--ke--ches--'im out--ar--ter ten,
+  Widdy widdy wy!
+  Then--'E--don't--go--then--I shy,
+  Widdy widdy Wakecock warning!_
+
+--with a sweeping emphasis on the last word, and one more shot at Durdles.
+The bit of doggerel is evidently a sign which Durdles understands to mean
+either that he must prove himself able to stand clear of the shots, or
+betake himself immediately homeward, but he does not stir.
+
+John Jasper crosses over to the railing where the Stony One is still
+profoundly meditating.
+
+"Do you know this thing, this child?" he asks.
+
+"Deputy," says Durdles, with a nod.
+
+"Is that its--his--name?"
+
+"Deputy," assents Durdles, whereupon the small boy feels called upon to
+speak for himself.
+
+"I'm man-servant up at the Travellers Twopenny in Gas Works Garding," he
+explains. "All us man-servants at Travellers Lodgings is named Deputy, but
+I never pleads to no name, mind yer. When they says to me in the Lockup,
+'What's your name?' I says to 'em 'find out.' Likewise when they says,
+'What's your religion?' I says, 'find out'!" After delivering himself of
+this speech, he withdraws into the road and taking aim, he resumes:----
+
+  _Widdy widdy wen!
+  I--ket--ches--'im--out--ar--ter--_
+
+"Hold your hand!" cries Jasper, "and don't throw while I stand so near
+him, or I'll kill you! Come Durdles, let me walk home with you to-night.
+Shall I carry your bundle?"
+
+"Not on any account," replies Durdles, adjusting it, and continuing to
+talk in a rambling way, as he and Jasper walk on together.
+
+"This creature, Deputy, is behind us," says Jasper, looking back. "Is he
+to follow us?"
+
+The relations between Durdles and Deputy seem to be of a capricious kind,
+for on Durdles turning to look at the boy, Deputy makes a wide circuit
+into the road and stands on the defensive.
+
+"You never cried Widdy Warning before you begun tonight," cries Durdles,
+unexpectedly reminded of, or imagining an injury.
+
+"Yer lie; I did," says Deputy, in his only polite form of contradiction,
+whereupon Durdles turns back again and forgets the offence as unexpectedly
+as he had recalled it, and says to Jasper, in reference to Deputy.
+
+"Own brother, sir, to Peter, the Wild Boy! But I gave him an object in
+life."
+
+"At which he takes aim?" Mr. Jasper suggests.
+
+"That is it, sir," returns Durdles; "at which he takes aim. I took him in
+hand and gave him an object. What was he before? A destroyer. What work
+did he do? Nothing but destruction. What did he earn by it? Short terms in
+Cloisterham jail. Not a person, not a piece of property, not a winder, not
+a horse, nor a dog, nor a cat, nor a bird, nor a fowl, nor a pig, but that
+he stoned for want of an enlightened object. I put that enlightened object
+before him, and now he can turn his honest halfpenny by the three pennorth
+a week."
+
+"I wonder he has no competitors."
+
+"He has plenty, Mr. Jasper, but he stones 'em all away."
+
+"He still keeps behind us," repeats Jasper, looking back, "is he to follow
+us?"
+
+"We can't help going round by the Travellers Twopenny, if we go the short
+way, which is the back way," Durdles answers, "and we'll drop him there."
+
+So they go on; Deputy attentive to every movement of the Stony One, until
+at length nearly at their destination Durdles whistles, and
+calls--"Holloa, you Deputy!"
+
+"Widdy!" is Deputy's shrill response, standing off again.
+
+"Catch that ha'penny. And don't let me see any more of you to-night, after
+we come to the Travellers Twopenny."
+
+"Warning!" returns Deputy, having caught the halfpenny, and appearing by
+this mystic word to express his assent to the arrangement, then off he
+darts.
+
+Such was the occupation of the small boy, Deputy, night after night, week
+after week, month after month, during the year when we catch a glimpse of
+him, and it is reasonable to suppose that the remainder of his life, after
+we lose sight of him was spent, in making a cock-shy of everything that
+came in his way, whether Durdles or inanimate objects. When he had nothing
+living to stone, I believe that he used to stone the dead, through the
+railing of the churchyard. He found this a relishing and piquing pursuit;
+firstly, because their resting place is supposed to be sacred, and,
+secondly, because the tall headstones are sufficiently like themselves to
+justify the delicious fancy that they are hurt when hit.
+
+We have nothing told us to support the theory that Deputy's life ever
+changed in its routine of work, and I am sure you agree with me that there
+were never an odder pair than the two: Durdles, the stone-mason, and
+Deputy, his servant.
+
+Perhaps you will be in Cloisterham at some not far distant time; if so,
+wander out at night in the old graveyard, when the moon is up, and in
+among the cathedral crypts, if you can gain access to them; and see if
+from some shadowy corner of lane or building does not start out before you
+the wraith of the hideous small boy, Deputy, eluding your touch, and
+chanting as he dances in front of you the old song which was the badge of
+his office as the keeper of Durdles,----
+
+  _Widdy widdy wen!
+  I--ket--ches--'im--out--ar--ter--ten,
+  Widdy widdy wy!
+  Then--'E--don't--go--then--I--shy,
+  Widdy widdy Wakecock Warning!_
+
+
+
+
+DOTHEBOYS HALL
+
+
+[Illustration: DOTHEBOYS HALL.]
+
+"Education.--At Mr. Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the
+delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are
+boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all
+necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics,
+orthography geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes,
+algebra, single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic, fortification,
+and every other branch of classical literature. Terms, twenty guineas per
+annum. No extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled. Mr. Squeers is in
+town, and attends daily from one till four, at the Saracen's Head, Snow
+Hill. N.B. An able assistant wanted. Annual salary L5. A Master of Arts
+would be preferred."
+
+When this advertisement in the "London Herald" came to the notice of Mr.
+Nicholas Nickleby, then in search of a position as teacher, it seemed to
+be the opening for which he was looking, and the next day he hastened to
+the Saracen's Head, Snow Hill, to have an interview with Mr. Wackford
+Squeers.
+
+Mr. Squeers's appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye, and
+the popular prejudice runs in favour of two. The blank side of his face
+was much wrinkled and puckered up, which gave him a very sinister
+appearance, especially when he smiled. His hair was very flat and shiny,
+save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protruding
+forehead, which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner. He
+was about two or three and fifty, and a trifle below the middle size; he
+wore a white neckerchief and a suit of scholastic black; but his coat
+sleeves being a great deal too long, and his trousers a great deal too
+short, he appeared ill at ease in his clothes.
+
+In the corner of the room with Mr. Squeers was a very small deal trunk,
+tied round with a scanty piece of cord, and on the trunk was perched--his
+lace-up half-boots and corduroy trousers dangling in the air--a diminutive
+boy, with his shoulders drawn up to his ears, and his hands planted on his
+knees, who glanced timidly at the schoolmaster from time to time, with
+evident dread and apprehension, and at last gave a violent sneeze.
+
+"Halloa, sir!" growled the schoolmaster, turning round. "What's that,
+sir?"
+
+"Nothing, please sir," said the little boy.
+
+"Nothing, sir!" exclaimed Mr. Squeers.
+
+"Please, sir, I sneezed," rejoined the boy, trembling till the little
+trunk shook under him.
+
+"Oh! sneezed, did you?" retorted Mr. Squeers. "Then what did you say
+'nothing' for, sir?"
+
+In default of a better answer to this question, the little boy screwed a
+couple of knuckles into each of his eyes and began to cry; wherefore Mr.
+Squeers knocked him off the trunk with a blow on one side of his face, and
+knocked him on again with a blow on the other.
+
+"Wait till I get you down into Yorkshire, my young gentleman," said Mr.
+Squeers, "and then I'll give you the rest. Will you hold that noise, sir?"
+
+"Ye-ye-yes," sobbed the little boy, rubbing his face very hard.
+
+"Then do so at once, sir," said Squeers. "Do you hear?"
+
+As this admonition was accompanied with a threatening gesture, and uttered
+with a savage aspect, the little boy rubbed his face harder, and between
+alternately sniffing and choking, gave no further vent to his emotions.
+
+"Mr. Squeers," said the waiter, at this juncture; "here's a gentleman
+asking for you."
+
+"Show the gentleman in, Richard," replied Mr. Squeers, in a soft voice.
+"Put your handkerchief in your pocket, you little scoundrel, or I'll
+murder you when the gentleman goes."
+
+The schoolmaster had scarcely uttered these words in a fierce whisper,
+when the stranger entered. Affecting not to see him, Mr. Squeers feigned
+to be intent upon mending a pen, and offering benevolent advice to his
+youthful pupil.
+
+"My dear child," said Mr. Squeers, "All people have their trials. This
+early trial of yours that is fit to make your little heart burst, and your
+very eyes come out of your head with crying, what is it? Less than
+nothing. You are leaving your friends, but you will have a father in me,
+my dear, and a mother in Mrs. Squeers. At the delightful village of
+Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, where youth are boarded,
+clothed, booked, washed, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all
+necessaries----"
+
+Here the waiting stranger interrupted with inquiries about sending his
+boys to Mr. Squeers, and before he and Mr. Squeers had finished their
+talk, Nicholas Nickleby entered. He briefly stated his desire for a
+position, his having seen Mr. Squeers's "Herald" advertisement, and, after
+more or less questioning and examination from the schoolmaster, Nicholas
+was engaged as assistant master for Dotheboys Hall, and it was settled
+that he was to go by coach with Mr. Squeers at eight o'clock the next
+morning.
+
+When he arrived, punctually at the appointed hour, he found that learned
+gentleman sitting at breakfast, with five little boys, whom he was to take
+down with him, ranged in a row on the opposite seat. Mr. Squeers had
+before him a small measure of coffee, a plate of hot toast, and a cold
+round of beef, but he was at that moment intent on preparing breakfast for
+the little boys.
+
+"This is twopenn'orth of milk, is it waiter?" said Mr. Squeers.
+
+"That's twopenn'orth, sir," replied the waiter.
+
+"What a rare article milk is, to be sure, in London!" said Mr. Squeers,
+with a sigh. "Just fill that mug up with lukewarm water, William, will
+you?"
+
+"To the wery top, sir?" inquired the waiter. "Why, the milk will be
+drownded."
+
+"Never you mind that," replied Mr. Squeers. "Serve it right for being so
+dear. You ordered that thick bread and butter for three, did you?"
+
+"Coming directly, sir."
+
+"You needn't hurry yourself," said Squeers, "there's plenty of time.
+Conquer your passions, boys, and don't be eager after vittles." As he
+uttered this moral precept, Mr. Squeers took a large bite out of the cold
+beef, and recognised Nicholas.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Nickleby," said Squeers. "Here we are, a breakfasting, you
+see."
+
+Nicholas did _not_ see that anybody was breakfasting, except Mr. Squeers;
+but he bowed with all becoming reverence, and looked as cheerful as he
+could.
+
+"Oh, that's the milk and water, is it, William?" said Mr. Squeers. "Very
+good; don't forget the bread and butter presently."
+
+At this fresh mention of the bread and butter, the five little boys looked
+very eager, and followed the waiter out, with their eyes; meanwhile Mr.
+Squeers tasted the milk and water.
+
+"Ah," said that gentleman, smacking his lips, "here's richness! Think of
+the many beggars and orphans in the streets that would be glad of this,
+little boys. A shocking thing hunger is, isn't it, Mr. Nickleby?"
+
+"Very shocking, sir," said Nicholas.
+
+"When I say number one," pursued Mr. Squeers, putting the mug before the
+children, "the boy on the left hand nearest the window may take a drink;
+and when I say number two, the boy next him will go in, and so till we
+come to number five, which is the last boy. Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes, sir," cried all the little boys with great eagerness.
+
+"That's right," said Squeers, calmly getting on with his breakfast; "keep
+ready till I tell you to begin. Subdue your appetites, my dears, and
+you've conquered human natur. This is the way we inculcate strength of
+mind, Mr. Nickleby," said the schoolmaster, turning to Nicholas.
+
+Nicholas murmured something--he knew not what--in reply; and the little
+boys, dividing their gaze between the mug, the bread and butter (which by
+this time had arrived) and every morsel which Mr. Squeers took into his
+mouth, remained with strained eyes in torments of expectation.
+
+"Thank God for a good breakfast," said Squeers when he had finished.
+"Number one may take a drink."
+
+Number one seized the mug ravenously, and had just drunk enough to make
+him wish for more, when Mr. Squeers gave the signal for number two, who
+gave up at the same interesting moment to number three; and the process
+was repeated until the milk and water terminated with number five.
+
+"And now," said the schoolmaster, dividing the bread and butter for three
+into as many portions as there were children, "you had better look sharp
+with your breakfast, for the horn will blow in a minute or two, and then
+every boy leaves off."
+
+Permission being thus given to fall to, the boys began to eat voraciously,
+and in desperate haste; while the schoolmaster (who was in high good
+humour after his meal) looked smilingly on. In a very short time the horn
+was heard.
+
+"I thought it wouldn't be long," said Squeers, jumping up and producing a
+little basket from under the seat; "put what you haven't had time to eat,
+in here, boys. You'll want it on the road!"
+
+Nicholas was considerably startled by these very economical arrangements;
+but he had no time to reflect upon them, for the little boys had to be got
+up to the top of the coach, and their boxes had to be brought out and put
+in, and Mr. Squeers's luggage was to be seen carefully deposited in the
+boot, and all these offices were in his department.
+
+Presently, however, the coach was off, and they had started on their long
+trip, made doubly long by the severity of the weather, which caused them
+to be detained several times; so it was not until six o'clock the
+following night, that he and Mr. Squeers, and the little boys, were all
+put down together at the George and New Inn, Greta Bridge.
+
+"Is it much farther to Dotheboys Hall, sir?" asked Nicholas, when they had
+started off, the little boys in one vehicle, he and Mr. Squeers in
+another.
+
+"About three mile from here," replied Squeers. "But you needn't call it a
+Hall down here. The fact is, it ain't a Hall," observed Squeers, drily.
+
+"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas, whom this piece of intelligence much
+astonished.
+
+"No," replied Squeers. "We call it a Hall up in London, because it sounds
+better, but they don't know it by that name in these parts. A man may call
+his house an island if he likes; there's no act of Parliament against
+that, I believe?"
+
+"I believe not, sir," rejoined Nicholas.
+
+Squeers eyed his companion slily at the conclusion of this little
+dialogue, and finding that he had grown thoughtful and appeared in nowise
+disposed to volunteer any observations, contented himself with lashing the
+pony until they reached their journey's end.
+
+"Jump out," said Squeers. "Hallo there! Come and put this horse up. Be
+quick, will you!"
+
+While the schoolmaster was uttering these and other impatient cries,
+Nicholas had time to observe that the school was a long, cold-looking
+house, one story high, with a few straggling outbuildings behind, and a
+barn and stable adjoining. Mr. Squeers had dismounted, and after ordering
+the boy, whom he called Smike, to see to the pony, and to take care that
+he hadn't any more corn that night, he told Nicholas to wait at the front
+door a minute, while he went round and let him in.
+
+A host of unpleasant misgivings, which had been crowding upon Nicholas
+during the whole journey, thronged into his mind. His great distance from
+home, and the impossibility of reaching it, except on foot, should he feel
+ever so anxious, presented itself to him in most alarming colours; and as
+he looked up at the dreary house and dark windows, and upon the wild
+country round, covered with snow, he felt a depression of heart and spirit
+which he never had experienced before.
+
+"Now, then!" cried Squeers, poking his head out at the front door, "Where
+are you, Nickleby?"
+
+"Here, sir," replied Nicholas.
+
+"Come in, then," said Squeers, "the wind blows in, at this door, fit to
+knock a man off his legs."
+
+Nicholas sighed, and hurried in. Mr. Squeers ushered him into a small
+parlour scantily furnished with a few chairs, a yellow map hung against
+the wall, and a couple of tables; one of which bore some preparations for
+supper. Mrs. Squeers then came in, and was duly made acquainted with
+Nicholas, and after some conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, a
+young servant girl brought in a Yorkshire pie, which being set upon the
+table, the boy Smike appeared with a jug of ale.
+
+Mr. Squeers meanwhile was emptying his great-coat pockets of letters to
+different boys, which he had brought down. Smike glanced, with an anxious
+and timid expression, at the papers, as if with a sickly hope that one
+among them might relate to him. The look was a very painful one, and went
+to Nicholas's heart at once; for it told a sad history. He considered the
+boy more attentively, and was surprised to observe the extraordinary
+mixture of garments which formed his dress. Although he could not have
+been less than eighteen or nineteen years old, and was tall for that age,
+he wore a skeleton suit, which, though most absurdly short in the arms and
+legs, was quite wide enough for his attenuated frame. In order that the
+lower part of his legs might be in keeping with this singular dress, he
+had a very large pair of boots, originally made for tops, but now too
+patched and tattered for a beggar. He was lame, and as he feigned to be
+busy arranging the table, glanced at the letters with a look so keen, and
+yet so dispirited and hopeless that Nicholas could hardly bear to watch
+him.
+
+"What are you bothering about there, Smike?" cried Mrs. Squeers; "let the
+things alone, can't you?"
+
+"Eh," said Squeers, looking up. "Oh, it's you, is it?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the youth, pressing his hands together, as though to
+control, by force, the nervous wandering of his fingers. "Is there----"
+
+"Well!" said Squeers.
+
+"Have you--did anybody--has nothing been heard--about me?"
+
+"Not a word," resumed Squeers, "and never will be. Now, this is a pretty
+sort of thing, isn't it, that you should have been left here, all these
+years, and no money paid after the first six--nor no notice taken, nor no
+clue to be got who you belong to? It's a pretty sort of thing that I
+should have to feed a great fellow like you, and never hope to get one
+penny for it, isn't it?"
+
+The boy put his hand to his head as if he were making an effort to
+recollect something, and then, looking vacantly at his questioner,
+gradually broke into a smile, and limped away.
+
+The following morning, when Nicholas appeared downstairs, Mrs. Squeers was
+in a state of great excitement.
+
+"I can't find the school spoon anywhere," she said anxiously.
+
+"Never mind it, my dear," observed Squeers in a soothing manner; "it's of
+no consequence."
+
+"No consequence? Why, how you talk!" retorted Mrs. Squeers sharply, "isn't
+it brimstone morning?"
+
+"I forgot, my dear," rejoined Squeers; "yes, it certainly is. We purify
+the boys' bloods now and then, Nickleby."
+
+"Oh! nonsense," rejoined Mrs. Squeers. "If the young man comes to be a
+teacher here, let him understand, at once, that we don't want any foolery
+about the boys. They have the brimstone and treacle, partly because if
+they hadn't something or other in the way of medicine they 'd be always
+ailing and giving a world of trouble, and partly because it spoils their
+appetites and comes cheaper than breakfast and dinner. So, it does them
+good and us good at the same time, and that's fair enough, I'm sure!"
+
+"But come," said Squeers, "let's go to the schoolroom; and lend me a hand
+with my school-coat, will you?"
+
+Nicholas assisted his master to put on an old fustian shooting jacket, and
+Squeers, arming himself with his cane, led the way across a yard, to a
+door in the rear of the house.
+
+"There," said the schoolmaster, as they stepped in together; "this is our
+shop, Nickleby!"
+
+The "shop" was a bare and dirty room, with a couple of windows, whereof a
+tenth part might be of glass, the remainder being stopped up with old
+copybooks and paper. There were a couple of long, old rickety desks, cut
+and notched, and inked, and damaged, in every possible way; two or three
+forms; a detached desk for Squeers; and another for his assistant. The
+ceiling was supported, like that of a barn, by cross beams and rafters;
+and the walls were so stained and discoloured, that it was impossible to
+tell whether they had ever been touched with paint or whitewash.
+
+But the pupils! How the last faint traces of hope faded from the mind of
+Nicholas as he looked in dismay around! There were pale and haggard faces,
+lank and bony figures, boys of stunted growth; little faces which should
+have been handsome, darkened with the scowl of sullen, dogged suffering;
+vicious-faced boys, brooding with leaden eyes, with every kindly sympathy
+and affection blasted in its birth, with every young and healthy feeling
+flogged and starved down.
+
+And yet this scene, painful as it was, had its grotesque features. Mrs.
+Squeers stood at one of the desks, presiding over an immense basin of
+brimstone and treacle, of which delicious compound she administered a
+large instalment to each boy in succession: using for the purpose a common
+wooden spoon, which widened every young gentleman's mouth considerably:
+they being all obliged, under heavy corporal penalties, to take in the
+whole of the bowl at a gasp.
+
+In another corner, huddled together for companionship, were the little
+boys who had arrived on the preceding night: at no great distance from
+these was seated the juvenile son and heir of Mr. Squeers, Wackford by
+name--a striking likeness of his father--kicking, with great vigour, under
+the hands of Smike, who was fitting upon him a pair of new boots that bore
+a most suspicious resemblance to those which the least of the little boys
+had worn on the journey down--as the little boy himself seemed to think,
+for he was regarding the appropriation with a look of rueful amazement.
+
+"Now," said Squeers, giving the desk a great rap with his cane, which made
+half the little boys nearly jump out of their boots, "is that physicking
+over?"
+
+"Just over," said Mrs. Squeers, choking the last boy in her hurry, and
+tapping the crown of his head with the spoon to restore him. "Here, you
+Smike; take away now. Look sharp!"
+
+Smike shuffled out with the basin, and Mrs. Squeers, hurried out after him
+into a wash-house where there were a number of little wooden bowls which
+were arranged upon a board. Into these bowls, Mrs. Squeers poured a brown
+composition, which was called porridge. A minute wedge of brown bread was
+inserted in each bowl, and when they had eaten their porridge by means of
+it, the boys ate the bread itself, and had finished their breakfast;
+whereupon Mr. Squeers said in a solemn voice, "For what we have received,
+may the Lord make us truly thankful!"--and went away to his own.
+
+After eating his share of porridge, and having further disposed of a slice
+of bread and butter, allotted to him in virtue of his office, Nicholas sat
+himself down, to wait for school-time. He could not but observe how silent
+and sad the boys seemed to be. There was none of the noise and clamour of
+a school-room; none of its boisterous play, or hearty mirth. The only
+pupil who evinced the slightest tendency towards locomotion or playfulness
+was Master Squeers, and as his chief amusement was to tread upon the other
+boys' toes in his new boots, his flow of spirits was rather disagreeable
+than otherwise.
+
+After some half-hour's delay, Mr. Squeers reappeared, and the boys took
+their places and their books, and ranged themselves in front of the
+schoolmaster's desk.
+
+"This is the class in English spelling, and philosophy, Nickleby," said
+Squeers, beckoning Nicholas to stand beside him. "We'll get up a Latin
+one, and hand that over to you. Now, then, where's the first boy?"
+
+"Please, sir, he's cleaning the back parlour window," answered one of the
+class.
+
+"So he is, to be sure," rejoined Squeers. "We go upon the practical mode
+of teaching, Nickleby; the regular education system. C-l-e-a-n, clean,
+verb active, to make bright, to scour. When the boy knows this out of
+book, he goes and does it. Where's the second boy?"
+
+"Please, sir, he's weeding the garden," replied a small voice.
+
+"To be sure," said Squeers. "So he is. B-o-t, bot, t-i-n, tin, n-e-y, ney,
+bottinney, noun substantive, a knowledge of plants. Third boy, what's a
+horse?"
+
+"A beast, sir," replied the boy.
+
+"So it is," said Squeers. "Ain't it, Nickleby?"
+
+"I believe there is no doubt of that, sir," answered Nicholas.
+
+"Of course there isn't," said Squeers. "A horse is a quadruped, and
+quadruped's Latin for beast, as every body that's gone through the grammar
+knows. As you're perfect in that," resumed Squeers, turning to the boy,
+"go and look after _my_ horse, and rub him down well, or I'll rub you
+down. The rest of the class go and draw water up till somebody tells you
+to leave off, for it's washing day to-morrow."
+
+So saying, he dismissed the class, and eyed Nicholas with a look, half
+cunning and half doubtful, as if he were not altogether certain what he
+might think of him by this time.
+
+"That's the way we do it, Nickleby," he said, after a pause.
+
+Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, and said he saw it was.
+
+"And a very good way it is, too," said Squeers. "Now just take them
+fourteen little boys and hear them some reading, because, you know, you
+must begin to be useful."
+
+Mr. Squeers said this as if it had suddenly occurred to him, either that
+he must not say too much to his assistant, or that his assistant did not
+say enough to him in praise of the establishment. The children were
+arranged in a semi-circle round the new master, and he was soon listening
+to their dull, drawling, hesitating recital of stories to be found in the
+old spelling books. In this exciting occupation the morning lagged heavily
+on. At one o'clock, the boys sat down in the kitchen to some hard salt
+beef. After this, there was another hour of crouching in the schoolroom
+and shivering with cold, and then school began again.
+
+It was Mr. Squeers's custom to call the boys together, and make a sort of
+report, after every half-yearly visit to the metropolis, regarding the
+relations and friends he had seen, the news he had heard, the letters he
+had brought down, and so forth. This solemn proceeding took place on the
+afternoon of the day succeeding his return. The boys were recalled from
+house-window, garden and stable, and cow-yard, when Mr. Squeers with a
+small bundle of papers in his hand, and Mrs. Squeers following with a pair
+of canes, entered the room, and proclaimed silence.
+
+"Let any boy speak without leave," said Mr. Squeers mildly, "and I'll take
+the skin off his back."
+
+This special proclamation had the desired effect, and a death-like silence
+immediately prevailed, in the midst of which Mr. Squeers went on to say:
+
+"Boys, I've been to London, and have returned as strong and well as ever."
+
+According to half-yearly custom, the boys gave three feeble cheers at this
+refreshing intelligence. Such cheers! Sighs of extra strength with the
+chill on.
+
+Squeers then proceeded to give several messages of various degrees of
+unpleasantness to sundry of the boys, followed up by vigorous canings
+where he had any grudge to pay off. One by one the boys answered to their
+names.
+
+"Now let us see," said Squeers. "A letter for Cobbey. Stand up, Cobbey."
+
+Another boy stood up and eyed the letter very hard, while Squeers made a
+mental abstract of the same.
+
+"Oh," said Squeers; "Cobbey's grandmother is dead, which is all the news
+his sister sends, except eighteenpence, which will just pay for that
+broken square of glass. Mrs. Squeers, my dear, will you take the money?"
+
+The worthy lady pocketed the eighteenpence with a most business-like air,
+and Squeers passed on to the next boy, as coolly as possible.
+
+"Mobbs's step-mother," said Squeers, "took to her bed on hearing that he
+wouldn't eat fat, and has been very ill ever since. She wishes to know, by
+an early post, where he expects to go to if he quarrels with his vittles;
+and with what feelings he could turn up his nose at the cow's liver broth,
+after his good master had asked a blessing on it. This was told her in the
+London newspapers--not by Mr. Squeers, for he is too kind and good to set
+anybody against anybody--and it has vexed her so much, Mobbs can't think.
+She is sorry to find he is discontented, which is sinful and horrid, and
+hopes Mr. Squeers will flog him into a happier state of mind; and with
+this view, she has also stopped his halfpenny a week pocket-money, and
+given a double-bladed knife with a corkscrew in it to the Missionaries,
+which she had bought on purpose for him."
+
+[Illustration: BOLDER, COBBEY, GRAYMARSH, MOBB'S.]
+
+"A sulky state of feeling," said Squeers, after a terrible pause.
+"Cheerfulness and contentment must be kept up. Mobbs, come to me."
+
+Mobbs moved slowly towards the desk, rubbing his eyes in anticipation of
+good cause for doing so; and he soon afterwards retired by the side door,
+with as good a cause as a boy need have.
+
+Mr. Squeers then proceeded to open a miscellaneous collection of letters;
+some enclosing money, which Mrs. Squeers "took care of;" and others
+referring to small articles of apparel, all of which the same lady stated
+to be too large, or too small, and calculated for nobody but young
+Squeers, who would appear indeed to have had most accommodating limbs,
+since everything that came into the school fitted him to a nicety. His
+head, in particular, must have been singularly elastic, for hats and caps
+of all dimensions were alike to him.
+
+This business despatched, a few slovenly lessons were performed, and
+Squeers retired to his fireside, leaving Nicholas to take care of the boys
+in the schoolroom. There was a small stove at that corner of the room
+which was nearest to the master's desk, and by it Nicholas sat down,
+depressed and degraded by the consciousness of his position. But for the
+present his resolve was taken. He had written to his mother and sister,
+announcing the safe conclusion of his journey, and saying as little about
+Dotheboys Hall, and saying that little as cheerfully, as he could. He
+hoped that by remaining where he was, he might do some good, even there;
+at all events, others depended too much on him to admit of his complaining
+just then.
+
+From the moment of making that resolve, Nicholas got on in his place as
+well as he could, doing his best to improve matters. He arranged a few
+regular lessons for the boys, and saw that they were well attended; but
+his heart sank more and more, for besides the dull, unvarying round of
+misery there was another system of annoyance which nearly drove him wild
+by its injustice and cruelty. Upon the wretched creature Smike, all the
+spleen and ill-humour that could not be vented on Nicholas, were
+unceasingly bestowed. Drudgery would have been nothing--Smike was well
+used to that. Buffetings inflicted without cause would have been equally a
+matter of course, for to them also he had served a long and weary
+apprenticeship; but it was no sooner observed that he had become attached
+to Nicholas, than stripes and blows, morning, noon, and night, were his
+only portion. Squeers was jealous of the influence which his new teacher
+had so soon acquired; and his family hated him, and Smike paid for both.
+Nicholas saw this, and ground his teeth at every repetition of the savage
+and cowardly attack.
+
+Not many weeks later, on a cold January morning, when Nicholas awoke he
+found the entire school agog with quivering excitement. Smike had run
+away, and Squeers's anger was at white heat against him and every one
+else.
+
+"He is off," said Mrs. Squeers, angrily. "The cowhouse and stable are
+locked up, so he can't be there; and he's not down stairs anywhere. He
+must have gone York way, and by a public road too. Then of course,"
+continued Mrs. Squeers, "as he had no money he must beg his way, and he
+could do that nowhere, but on the public road."
+
+"That's true," exclaimed Squeers, clapping his hands.
+
+"True! Yes; but you would never have thought of it, if I hadn't said so,"
+replied his wife. "Now, if you take the chaise and go one road, and I
+borrow Swallow's chaise and go the other, one or other of us is pretty
+certain to lay hold of him!"
+
+This plan was adopted and put in execution without a moment's delay.
+
+After a very hasty breakfast, Squeers started forth in the pony-chaise,
+intent upon discovery and vengeance. Shortly afterwards, Mrs. Squeers
+issued forth in another chaise and another direction, taking with her a
+good-sized bludgeon, several odd pieces of strong cord, and a stout
+labouring man.
+
+Nicholas remained behind, in a tumult of feeling, sensible that whatever
+might be the upshot of the boy's flight, nothing but painful and
+deplorable consequences were likely to ensue from it. The unhappy being
+had established a hold upon his sympathy and compassion, which made his
+heart ache at the prospect of the suffering he was destined to undergo.
+
+The next evening Squeers returned alone and unsuccessful. Another day
+came, and Nicholas was scarcely awake when he heard the wheels of a chaise
+approaching the house. It stopped. The voice of Mrs. Squeers was heard in
+exultation. Nicholas hardly dared to look out of the window; but he did
+so, and the very first object that met his eyes was the wretched Smike: so
+bedabbled with mud and rain, so haggard, and worn, and wild, that, but for
+his garments being such as no scarecrow was ever seen to wear, he might
+have been doubtful, even then, of his identity.
+
+"Lift him out," said Squeers, after he had literally feasted his eyes upon
+the culprit. "Bring him in; bring him in!"
+
+"Take care!" cried Mrs. Squeers. "We tied his legs under the apron and
+made 'em fast to the chaise, to prevent his giving us the slip again."
+
+With hands trembling with delight, Squeers unloosened the cord; and Smike,
+more dead than alive, was brought into the house and securely locked up in
+a cellar.
+
+It may be a matter of surprise to some persons that Mr. and Mrs. Squeers
+should have taken so much trouble to repossess themselves of an
+incumbrance of which it was their wont to complain so loudly; but the
+services of the drudge, if performed by any one else, would have cost some
+ten or twelve shillings per week in the shape of wages; and furthermore,
+all runaways were, as a matter of policy, made severe examples of, at
+Dotheboys Hall, as in consequence of the limited extent of its
+attractions, there was but little inducement, beyond the powerful impulse
+of fear, for any pupil, provided with the usual number of legs and the
+power of using them, to remain.
+
+The news that Smike had been caught and brought back in triumph, ran like
+wild-fire through the hungry community, and expectation was on tiptoe all
+the morning. On tiptoe it was destined to remain, however, until
+afternoon; when Squeers called the school together, and dragged Smike by
+the collar to the front of the room before them all.
+
+"Have you anything to say?" demanded Squeers, giving his right arm two or
+three flourishes to try its power and suppleness. "Stand a little out of
+the way, Mrs. Squeers, my dear; I've hardly got room enough."
+
+"Spare me, sir!" cried Smike.
+
+"Oh! that's all, is it?" said Squeers. "Yes, I'll flog you within an inch
+of your life, and spare you that."
+
+"I was driven to do it," said Smike faintly; and casting an imploring look
+about him.
+
+"Driven to do it, were you?" said Squeers. "Oh! It wasn't your fault; it
+was mine, I suppose--eh?"
+
+Squeers caught the boy firmly in his grip; one desperate cut had fallen on
+his body--he was wincing from the lash and uttering a scream of pain--it
+was raised again, and again about to fall--when Nicholas Nickleby,
+suddenly starting up, cried "Stop!" in a voice that made the rafters ring.
+
+"Who cried stop?" said Squeers, turning savagely round.
+
+"I," said Nicholas, stepping forward. "This must not go on!"
+
+"Must not go on!" cried Squeers, almost in a shriek.
+
+"No!" thundered Nicholas.
+
+Aghast and stupified by the boldness of the interference, Squeers released
+his hold of Smike, and, falling back a pace or two, gazed upon Nicholas
+with looks that were positively frightful.
+
+"I say must not," repeated Nicholas, nothing daunted; "shall not. I will
+prevent it."
+
+Squeers continued to gaze upon him, with his eyes starting out of his
+head; but astonishment had actually, for the moment, bereft him of speech.
+
+"You have disregarded all my quiet interference in the miserable lad's
+behalf," said Nicholas; "you have returned no answer to the letter in
+which I begged forgiveness for him, and offered to be responsible that he
+would remain quietly here. Don't blame me for this public interference.
+You have brought it upon yourself; not I."
+
+"Sit down, beggar!" screamed Squeers, almost beside himself with rage, and
+seizing Smike as he spoke.
+
+"Wretch," rejoined Nicholas, fiercely, "touch him at your peril! I will
+not stand by and see it done. My blood is up, and I have the strength of
+ten such men as you. Look to yourself, for by Heaven I will not spare you,
+if you drive me on!"
+
+"Stand back," cried Squeers, brandishing his weapon.
+
+"I have a long series of insults to avenge," said Nicholas, flushed with
+passion; "and my indignation is aggravated by the dastardly cruelties
+practised on helpless infancy in this foul den. Have a care; for if you do
+rouse the devil within me, the consequences shall fall heavily upon your
+own head!"
+
+He had scarcely spoken, when Squeers, in a violent outbreak of wrath, and
+with a cry like the howl of a wild beast, struck him a blow across the
+face with his instrument of torture, which raised up a bar of livid flesh
+as it was inflicted. Smarting with the agony of the blow, and
+concentrating into that one moment all his feelings of rage, scorn, and
+indignation, Nicholas sprang upon him, wrested the weapon from his hand,
+and pinning him by the throat, beat the ruffian till he roared for mercy.
+
+Then he hastily retired from the fray, leaving Squeers's family to restore
+him as best they might. Seeking his room with all possible haste, Nicholas
+considered seriously what course of action was best for him to adopt.
+
+After a brief consideration, he packed up a few clothes in a small
+leathern valise, and, finding that nobody offered to oppose his progress,
+marched boldly out by the front door, and struck into the road which led
+to Greta Bridge.
+
+When he had cooled, sufficiently to be enabled to give his present
+circumstances some little reflection, they did not appear in a very
+encouraging light; he had only four shillings and a few pence in his
+pocket, and was something more than two hundred and fifty miles from
+London, whither he resolved to direct his steps.
+
+He lay, that night, at a cottage where beds were let at a cheap rate to
+the more humble class of travellers; and, rising betimes next morning,
+made his way before night to Boroughbridge. Passing through that town in
+search of some cheap resting-place, he stumbled upon an empty barn within
+a couple of hundred yards of the road side; in a warm corner of which he
+stretched his weary limbs, and soon fell asleep.
+
+When he awoke next morning, and tried to recollect his dreams, which had
+been all connected with his recent sojourn at Dotheboys Hall, he sat up,
+rubbed his eyes, and stared--not with the most composed countenance
+possible--at some motionless object which seemed to be stationed within a
+few yards in front of him.
+
+"Strange!" cried Nicholas, "can this be some lingering creation of the
+visions that have scarcely left me? It cannot be real--and yet I--I am
+awake! Smike!"
+
+The form moved, rose, advanced, and dropped upon its knees at his feet. It
+was Smike indeed.
+
+"Why do you kneel to me?" said Nicholas, hastily raising him.
+
+"To go with you--anywhere--everywhere--to the world's end--to the
+churchyard grave," replied Smike, clinging to his hand. "Let me, oh, do
+let me. You are my home--my kind friend--take me with you, pray."
+
+I am a friend who can do "little for you," said Nicholas, kindly. "How
+came you here?"
+
+He had followed him, it seemed; had never lost sight of him all the way;
+had watched while he slept, and when he halted for refreshment; and had
+feared to appear before, lest he should be sent back. He had not intended
+to appear now, but Nicholas had awakened more suddenly than he looked for,
+and he had had no time to conceal himself.
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Nicholas, "your hard fate denies you any friend but
+one, and he is nearly as poor and helpless as yourself."
+
+"May I--may I go with you?" asked Smike timidly. "I will be your faithful
+hard-working servant, I will, indeed. I want no clothes," added the poor
+creature, drawing his rags together; "these will do very well. I only want
+to be near you."
+
+"And you shall!" cried Nicholas. "The world shall deal by you as it does
+by me, till one or both of us shall quit it for a better. Come!"
+
+With these words, he strapped his burden on his shoulders, and, taking his
+stick in one hand, extended the other to his delighted charge; and so they
+passed out of the old barn together, out from the nightmare of life at
+Dotheboys Hall, into the busy world outside.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some years later, when Mr. Squeers was making one of his customary
+semi-annual visits to London, he was arrested and sent to jail by persons
+who had discovered his system of fraud and cruelty, as well as the fact
+that he had in his possession a stolen will. Upon John Browdie, a burly
+Scotchman, devolved the duty of carrying the painful news to Mrs. Squeers,
+and of dismissing the school.
+
+So, arriving at Dotheboys Hall, he tied his horse to a gate, and made his
+way to the schoolroom door, which he found locked on the inside. A
+tremendous noise and riot arose from within, and, applying his eye to a
+convenient crevice in the wall, he did not remain long in ignorance of its
+meaning.
+
+The news of Mr. Squeers's downfall had reached Dotheboys; that was quite
+clear. To all appearance, it had very recently become known to the young
+gentlemen; for rebellion had just broken out.
+
+It was one of the brimstone-and-treacle mornings, and Mrs. Squeers had
+entered school according to custom with the large bowl and spoon, followed
+by Miss Squeers and the amiable Wackford: who, during his father's
+absence, had taken upon himself such minor branches of the executive as
+kicking the pupils with his nailed boots, pulling the hair of some of the
+smaller boys, pinching the others in aggravating places, and rendering
+himself in various similar ways a great comfort and happiness to his
+mother. Their entrance, whether by premeditation or a simultaneous
+impulse, was the signal of revolt for the boys. While one detachment
+rushed to the door and locked it, and another mounted the desks and forms,
+the stoutest (and consequently the newest) boy seized the cane, and,
+confronting Mrs. Squeers with a stern countenance, snatched off her cap
+and beaver bonnet, put it on his own head, armed himself with the wooden
+spoon, and bade her, on pain of death, go down upon her knees and take a
+dose directly. Before that estimable lady could recover herself, or offer
+the slightest retaliation, she was forced into a kneeling posture by a
+crowd of shouting tormentors, and compelled to swallow a spoonful of the
+odious mixture, rendered more than usually savoury by the immersion in the
+bowl of Master Wackford's head, whose ducking was entrusted to another
+rebel. The success of this first achievement prompted the malicious crowd,
+whose faces were clustered together in every variety of lank and
+half-starved ugliness, to further acts of outrage. The leader was
+insisting upon Mrs. Squeers repeating her dose, Master Squeers was
+undergoing another dip in the treacle, when John Browdie, bursting open
+the door with a vigorous kick, rushed to the rescue. The shouts, screams,
+groans, hoots, and clapping of hands, suddenly ceased, and a dead silence
+ensued.
+
+"Ye be noice chaps," said John, looking steadily round. "What's to do
+here, thou yoong dogs?"
+
+"Squeers is in prison, and we are going to run away!" cried a score of
+shrill voices. "We won't stop, we won't stop!"
+
+"Weel then, dinnot stop," replied John; "who waants thee to stop? Roon
+awa' loike men, but dinnot hurt the women.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the shrill voices, more shrilly still.
+
+"Hurrah?" repeated John. "Weel, hurrah loike men too. Noo then, look out.
+Hip--hip--hip--hurrah!"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the voices.
+
+"Hurrah! agean," said John. "Looder still."
+
+The boys obeyed.
+
+"Anoother!" said John. "Dinnot be afeared on it Let's have a good un!"
+
+"Hurrah!"
+
+"Noo then," said John, "let's have yan more to end wi', and then coot off
+as quick as you loike. Tak' a good breath noo--Squeers be in jail--the
+school's brokken oop--it's all ower--past and gane--think o' thot, and let
+it be a hearty 'un! Hurrah!"
+
+Such a cheer arose as the walls of Dotheboys Hall had never echoed before,
+and were destined never to respond to again. When the sound had died away,
+the school was empty; and of the busy noisy crowd which had peopled it but
+five minutes before, not one remained.
+
+For some days afterwards, the neighbouring country was overrun with boys,
+who, the report went, had been secretly furnished by Mr. and Mrs. Browdie,
+not only with a hearty meal of bread and meat, but with sundry shillings
+and sixpences to help them on their way.
+
+There were a few timid young children, who, miserable as they had been,
+and many as were the tears they had shed in the wretched school, still
+knew no other home, and had formed for it a sort of attachment which made
+them weep when the bolder spirits fled, and cling to it as a refuge. Of
+these, some were found crying under hedges and in such places, frightened
+at the solitude. One had a dead bird in a little cage; he had wandered
+nearly twenty miles, and when his poor favourite died, lost courage, and
+lay down beside him. Another was discovered in a yard hard by the school,
+sleeping with a dog, who bit at those who came to remove him, and licked
+the sleeping child's pale face.
+
+They were taken back, and some other stragglers were recovered, but by
+degrees they were all claimed, and, in course of time, Dotheboys Hall and
+its last breaking up began to be forgotten by the neighbours, or to be
+only spoken of as among things that had been.
+
+
+
+
+DAVID COPPERFIELD
+
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE EM'LY AND DAVID COPPERFIELD.]
+
+The first things that assume shape and form in the recollections of my
+childhood are my mother, with her pretty hair and youthful shape, and
+Peggotty, our faithful serving maid, with no shape at all, and eyes so
+dark that they seemed to darken their whole neighbourhood in her face, and
+cheeks and arms so hard and red that I wonder the birds didn't peck her in
+preference to apples.
+
+What else do I remember?--let me see. There comes to me a vision of our
+home, Blunderstone Rookery, with its ground-floor kitchen, and long
+passage leading from it to the front door. A dark store-room opens out of
+the kitchen, and in it there is the smell of soap, pickles, pepper,
+candles, and coffee, all at one whiff. Then there are the two
+parlours;--the one in which we sit of an evening, my mother and I and
+Peggotty,--for Peggotty is quite our companion,--and the best parlour
+where we sit on a Sunday; grandly, but not so comfortably, while my mother
+reads the old familiar Bible stories to us.
+
+And now I see the outside of our house, with the latticed bedroom windows,
+and the ragged old rooks' nests dangling in the elm-trees. I see the
+garden--a very preserve of butterflies, where the pigeon house and
+dog-kennel are, and the fruit trees. And I see again my mother winding her
+bright curls around her fingers, and nobody is as proud of her beauty as I
+am.
+
+One night when Peggotty and I had been sitting cosily by the parlour fire,
+my mother came home from spending the evening at a neighbour's, and with
+her was a gentleman with beautiful black hair and whiskers. As my mother
+stooped to kiss me, the gentleman said I was a more highly privileged
+little fellow than a monarch.
+
+"What does that mean?" I asked him. He smiled and patted me on the head in
+reply, but somehow I didn't like him, and I shrank away, jealous that his
+hand should touch my mother's in touching me--although my mother's gentle
+chiding made me ashamed of the involuntary motion, and of my dislike for
+this new friend of hers, but from chance words which I heard Peggotty
+utter, I knew that she too felt as I did.
+
+From that time the gentleman with black whiskers, Mr. Murdstone by name,
+was at our house constantly, and gradually I became used to seeing him,
+but I liked him no better than at first. The sight of him filled me with a
+fear that something was going to happen, and time proved that I was right
+in my apprehension. One night when my mother, as usual, was out, Peggotty
+asked me,
+
+"Master Davy, how should you like to go along with me and spend a
+fortnight at my brother's at Yarmouth? Wouldn't _that_ be a treat?"
+
+"Is your brother an agreeable man, Peggotty?" I inquired, provisionally.
+
+"Oh what an agreeable man he is!" cried Peggotty, holding up her hands.
+"Then there's the sea; and the boats; and the fishermen; and the beach;
+and 'Am to play with----"
+
+Peggotty meant her nephew Ham, but she spoke of him as a morsel of English
+Grammar.
+
+I was flushed with her summary of delights, and replied that it would
+indeed be a treat, but what would my mother say?
+
+But Peggotty was sure that I would be allowed to go, and so it proved. My
+mother did not seem nearly so much surprised as I expected, and arranged
+at once for my visit.
+
+The day soon came for our going. I was in a fever of expectation, and half
+afraid that an earthquake might stop the expedition, but soon after
+breakfast we set off, in a carrier's cart, and the carrier's lazy horse
+shuffled along, carrying us towards Yarmouth. We had a fine basket of
+refreshments, and we ate a good deal, and slept a good deal, and finally
+arrived in Yarmouth, where at the public-house we found Ham waiting for
+us. He was a huge, strong fellow of six feet, with a simpering boy's face
+and curly light hair, and he insisted on carrying me on his back, as well
+as a small box of ours under his arm. We turned down lanes, and went past
+gas-works, boat-builders' yards, and riggers' lofts, and presently Ham
+said,
+
+"Yon's our house, Mas'r Davy!"
+
+I looked over the wilderness, and away at the sea, and away at the river,
+but no house could _I_ make out. There was a black barge not far off, high
+and dry on the ground, with an iron funnel for a chimney, and smoking very
+cosily.
+
+"That's not it?" said I. "That ship-looking thing?"
+
+"That's it, Mas'r Davy," returned Ham.
+
+If it had been Aladdin's palace, I could not have been more charmed with
+the romantic idea of living in it. There was a delightful door cut in the
+side, and it was roofed in, and there were little windows in it. It was
+beautifully clean inside and as tidy as possible. There was a table, and a
+Dutch clock, and a chest of drawers. On the walls were some coloured
+pictures of Biblical subjects. Abraham in red, going to sacrifice Isaac in
+blue, and Daniel in yellow, cast into a den of green lions, were most
+prominent. Also, there was a mantel-shelf, and some lockers and boxes
+which served for seats. Then Peggotty showed me the completest little
+bedroom ever seen, in the stern of the vessel, with a tiny bed, a little
+looking-glass framed in oyster-shells, and a nosegay of seaweed in a blue
+mug on the table. The walls were white-washed, and the patchwork
+counterpane made my eyes quite ache with its brightness.
+
+When I took out my pocket-handkerchief, it smelt as if it had wrapped up a
+lobster. When I confided this to Peggotty, she told me that her brother
+dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish, which accounted for the sea smells
+in the delightful house.
+
+The inmates of the boat were its master, Mr. Peggotty and his orphan
+nephew and niece, Ham and little Em'ly, which latter was a beautiful
+little girl, who wore a necklace of blue beads. There was also Mrs.
+Gummidge, an old lady who sat continually by the fire and knitted, and who
+was the widow of a former partner of Mr. Peggotty's.
+
+With little Em'ly I at once fell violently in love, and we used to walk
+upon the beach in a loving manner, hours and hours. I am sure I loved that
+baby quite as truly and with more purity than can enter into the best love
+of a later time of life; and when the time came for going home, our agony
+of mind at parting was intense.
+
+During my visit I had been completely absorbed in my new companions, but
+no sooner were we turned homeward than my heart began to throb at thought
+of again seeing my mother,--my comforter and friend. To my surprise, when
+we reached the dear old Rookery, not my mother, but a strange servant
+opened the door.
+
+"Why, Peggotty," I said, ruefully, "isn't she come home?"
+
+"Yes, yes, Master Davy," said Peggotty, "She's come home. Wait a bit,
+Master Davy, and I'll--I'll tell you something."
+
+Intensely agitated, Peggotty led me into the kitchen and closed the door,
+then, as she untied her bonnet with a shaking hand, she said breathlessly;
+"Master Davy, what do you think? You have got a Pa!"
+
+I trembled and turned white, and thought of my father's grave in the
+churchyard, which I knew so well.
+
+"A new one," said Peggotty.
+
+"A new one?" I repeated.
+
+Peggotty gasped, as if she were swallowing something very hard, and,
+putting out her hand, said,
+
+"Come and see him."
+
+"I don't want to see him."
+
+"And your mama," said Peggotty.
+
+I ceased to draw back, and we went straight to the best parlour. On one
+side of the fire, sat my mother; on the other, Mr. Murdstone. My mother
+dropped her work, and arose hurriedly, but timidly, I thought.
+
+"Now, Clara, my dear," said Mr. Murdstone. "Recollect! control yourself!
+Davy boy, how do you do?"
+
+I gave him my hand. Then I went over to my mother. She kissed me, patted
+me gently on the shoulder, and sat down again to her work, while Mr.
+Murdstone watched us both. I turned to look out of the window, and as soon
+as I could, I crept up-stairs. My old dear bedroom was changed, and I was
+to sleep a long way off, and there on my bed, thinking miserable thoughts,
+I cried myself to sleep. I was awakened by somebody saying, "Here he is!"
+and there beside me were my mother and Peggotty, asking what was the
+matter.
+
+I answered, "Nothing," and turned over, to hide my trembling lip.
+
+"Davy," said my mother. "Davy, my child!"
+
+Then when she would have caressed me in the old fashion, Mr. Murdstone
+came up and sent the others away.
+
+"David," he said, making his lips thin, by pressing them together, "if I
+have an obstinate horse or dog to deal with, what do you think I do?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"I beat him. I make him wince and smart. I say to myself, 'I'll conquer
+that fellow;' and if it were to cost him all the blood he had, I should do
+it. What is that upon your face?"
+
+"Dirt," I said.
+
+He knew it was the mark of tears as well as I. But if he had asked the
+question twenty times, with twenty blows, I believe my baby heart would
+have burst before I would have told him so.
+
+"You have a good deal of intelligence for a little fellow," he said, "and
+you understood me very well, I see. Wash that face, sir, and come down
+with me."
+
+He pointed to the washstand, and motioned me to obey him directly, and I
+have little doubt that he would have knocked me down, had I hesitated.
+
+As he walked me into the parlour, he said to my mother, "Clara, my dear,
+you will not be made uncomfortable any more, I hope. We shall soon improve
+our youthful humours."
+
+I might have been made another creature for life, by a kind word just
+then. A word of welcome home, of reassurance that it _was_ home, might
+have made me dutiful to my new father, and made me respect instead of hate
+him; but the word was not spoken, and the time for it was gone.
+
+After that my life was a lonely one. Mr. Murdstone seemed to be very fond
+of my mother, and she of him, but also she seemed to stand in great awe of
+him, and dared not do what he might not approve. Soon Miss Murdstone came
+to live with us. She was a gloomy-looking lady, dark like her brother, and
+much like him in character. She assumed the care of the house, and mother
+had nothing more to do with it. Meanwhile, I learnt lessons at home.
+
+Shall I ever forget those lessons! They were presided over nominally by my
+mother, but really by Mr. Murdstone and his sister, who were always
+present, and the very sight of the Murdstones had such an effect upon me,
+that every word I had tried to learn would glide away, and go I know not
+where. I was treated to so much systematic cruelty that after six months,
+I became sullen, dull, and dogged, and this feeling was not lessened by
+the fact that I was more and more shut out from my mother. I believe I
+should have been almost stupified but for the small collection of books
+which had belonged to my own father, and to which I had access. From that
+blessed little room, came forth "Roderick Random," "Peregrine Pickle,"
+"Tom Jones," "The Vicar of Wakefield," "Robinson Crusoe," "Gil Blas," and
+"Don Quixote,"--a glorious company to sustain me. They kept alive my
+fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time--they, and the
+"Arabian Nights" and "Tales of the Genii,"--and were my only comfort.
+
+One morning, when I went into the parlour with my books, I found Mr.
+Murdstone poising a cane in the air, which he had obtained, it seemed, for
+the purpose of flogging me for any mistake I might make. My apprehension
+was so great, that the words of my lessons slipped off by the entire
+page,--I made mistake after mistake, failure upon failure,--and presently
+Mr. Murdstone rose, taking up the cane, and telling me to follow him. As
+he took me out at the door, my mother ran towards us. Miss Murdstone said,
+"Clara! are you a perfect fool?" and interfered. I saw my mother stop her
+ears then, and I heard her crying.
+
+Mr. Murdstone walked me up to my room, and when we got there suddenly
+twisted my head under his arm.
+
+"Mr. Murdstone! Sir!" I cried, "Don't. Pray don't beat me! I have tried to
+learn, sir, but I can't learn while you and Miss Murdstone are by. I can't
+indeed!"
+
+"Can't you, indeed, David?" he said. "We'll try that." He had my head as
+in a vise, but I twined round him somehow, and stopped him for a moment,
+entreating him again not to beat me. It was only for a moment though, for
+he cut me heavily an instant afterwards, and in the same instant I caught
+the hand with which he held me in my mouth and bit it through. It sets my
+teeth on edge to think of it.
+
+He beat me then, as if he would have beaten me to death. Above all the
+noise we made, I heard them running up the stairs and crying out--my
+mother and Peggotty. Then he was gone; and the door was locked outside;
+and I was lying, fevered and hot, and torn, and sore, and raging in my
+puny way, upon the floor.
+
+How well I recollect, when I became quiet, what an unnatural stillness
+seemed to reign through the house! When my passion began to cool, how
+wicked I began to feel! My stripes were sore and stiff, and made me cry
+afresh when I moved, but they were nothing to the guilt I felt. It lay
+like lead upon my breast. For five days I was imprisoned, and of the
+length of those days I can convey no idea to any one. They occupy the
+place of years in my remembrance. On the fifth night Peggotty came to my
+door and whispered my name through the keyhole.
+
+"What is going to be done with me, Peggotty dear?" I asked.
+
+"School. Near London," was Peggotty's answer.
+
+"When, Peggotty?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"Is that the reason why Miss Murdstone took the clothes out of my
+drawers?"
+
+"Yes," said Peggotty. "Box."
+
+"Shan't I see mama?"
+
+"Yes," said Peggotty. "Morning."
+
+Then followed some assurances of affection, which Peggotty sobbed through
+the keyhole, and from that night I had an affection for her greater than
+for any one, except my mother.
+
+In the morning Miss Murdstone appeared and told me what I already knew,
+and said that I was to come down into the parlour, and have my breakfast.
+My mother was there, very pale, and with red eyes, into whose arms I ran,
+and begged her pardon from my suffering soul.
+
+"Oh, Davy," she said. "That you could hurt any one I love! Try to be
+better, pray to be better! I forgive you, but I am so grieved, Davy, that
+you should have such bad passions in your heart!"
+
+They had persuaded her that I was a wicked fellow, and she was more sorry
+for that, than for my going away. I felt it sorely. I tried to eat, but
+tears dropped upon my bread-and-butter, and trickled into my tea, and I
+could not swallow.
+
+Presently the carrier was at the door, my box was in the cart, and before
+I could realise it, my mother was holding me in a farewell embrace, and
+then I got into the cart, and the lazy horse started off.
+
+About half a mile away from home the carrier stopped, and Peggotty burst
+from a hedge and climbed into the cart. She squeezed me until I could
+scarcely speak, and crammed some bags of cakes into my pockets, and a
+purse into my hand, but not a word did she speak. Then with a final hug,
+she climbed down and ran away again, and we started on once more.
+
+Having by this time cried as much as I possibly could, I began to think it
+was of no use crying any more. The carrier agreed with me, and proposed
+that my pocket handkerchief should be spread upon the horse's back to dry,
+to which I assented, and then turned my attention to the purse. It had
+three bright shillings in it, which Peggotty had evidently polished up
+with whitening,--but more precious yet,--were two half-crowns in a bit of
+paper on which my mother had written, "For Davy. With my love."
+
+I was so overcome by this that I asked the carrier to reach me my pocket
+handkerchief again, but he thought I had better do without it, so I wiped
+my eyes on my sleeve and stopped myself--and on we jogged.
+
+At Yarmouth we drove to the inn-yard, where I dismounted, and was given
+dinner, after which I mounted the coach for London, and at three o'clock
+we started off on a trip which was not unpleasant to me, with its many
+novel sights and experiences. In London, at an inn in Whitechapel, I was
+met by a Mr. Mell, one of the teachers at Salem House, the school to which
+I was going. We journeyed on together, and by the next day were at Salem
+House, which was a square brick building with wings, enclosed with a high
+brick wall. I was astonished at the perfect quiet there, until Mr. Mell
+told me that the boys were at their homes on account of it being
+holiday-time, and that even the proprietor was away. And he added that I
+was sent in vacation as a punishment for my misdoing.
+
+I can see the schoolroom now, into which he took me, with its long rows of
+desks and forms, and bristling all round with pegs for hats and slates.
+Scraps of old copy-books and exercises littered the dirty floor, ink had
+been splashed everywhere, and the air of the place was indescribably
+dreary. My companion left me there alone for a while, and as I roamed
+round, I came upon a pasteboard placard, beautifully written, lying on a
+desk, bearing these words, "_Take care of him. He bites_."
+
+I got upon the desk immediately, apprehensive of at least a great dog
+underneath, but I could see nothing of him. I was still peering about,
+when Mr. Mell came back, and asked what I did up there.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said I, "I'm looking for the dog."
+
+"Dog," said he, "What dog?"
+
+"The one that's to be taken care of, sir; that bites."
+
+"Copperfield," said he, gravely, "that's not a dog. That's a boy. My
+instructions are, Copperfield, to put this placard on your back. I am
+sorry to make such a beginning with you, but I must do it."
+
+With that he took me down, and tied the placard on my shoulders, and
+wherever I went afterwards I carried it. What I suffered from that
+placard, nobody can imagine. I always fancied that somebody was reading
+it, and I began to have a dread of myself, as a kind of wild boy who _did_
+bite. Above and beyond all, I dreaded the coming back of the boys and what
+they might think of me, and my days and nights were filled with gloomy
+forebodings. In a month Mr. Creakle, the proprietor of Salem House
+arrived. He was stout, with a bald head, a fiery face, small, deep-set
+eyes, thick veins in his forehead, a little nose, and a large chin. His
+face always looked angry, but what impressed me most about him was that he
+spoke always in a whisper. He inquired at once about my behaviour, and
+seemed disappointed to find that there was nothing against me so far. He
+then told me that he knew my stepfather as a man of strong character, and
+that he should carry out his wishes concerning me. He pinched my ear with
+ferocious playfulness, and I was very much frightened by his manner and
+words; but before I was ordered away, I ventured to ask if the placard
+might not be removed. Whether Mr. Creakle was in earnest, or only meant to
+frighten me, I don't know, but he made a burst out of his chair, before
+which I precipitately retreated, and never once stopped until I reached my
+own bedroom, where, finding I was not pursued, I went to bed, and lay
+quaking for a couple of hours.
+
+The next day the other masters and the scholars began to arrive. Jolly
+Tommy Traddles was the first boy back, and it was a happy circumstance for
+me. He enjoyed my placard so much that he saved me from the embarrassment
+of either disclosure or concealment, by presenting me to the other boys in
+this way; "Look here! Here's a game!" Happily, too, most of the boys came
+back low-spirited, and were not as boisterous at my expense as I expected.
+Some of them did dance about me like wild Indians and pretended I was a
+dog, patting me and saying, "Lie down, sir!" and calling me Towzer, which
+of course was trying, but, on the whole, much better than I had
+anticipated.
+
+I was not considered as formally received into the school until I had met
+J. Steerforth. He was one of the older scholars, reputed to be brilliant
+and clever, and quite the lion of the school. He inquired, under a shed in
+the playground, into the particulars of my punishment, and said it was "a
+jolly shame," which opinion bound me to him ever afterwards. Then he asked
+me what money I had, and when I answered seven shillings, he suggested
+that I spend a couple of shillings or so in a bottle of currant wine, and
+a couple or so in almond cakes, and another in fruit, and another in
+biscuit, for a little celebration that night in our bedroom, in honour of
+my arrival, and of course I said I should be glad to do so. I was a little
+uneasy about wasting my mother's half-crowns, but I did not dare to say
+so, and Steerforth procured the feast and laid it out on my bed, saying,
+"There you are, young Copperfield, and a royal spread you've got."
+
+I couldn't think of doing the honours of the feast, and begged him to
+preside. So he sat upon my pillow, handing round the viands, and
+dispensing the wine. As to me, I sat next to him, and the rest grouped
+about us on the nearest beds and on the floor; and there we sat in the dim
+moonlight, talking in whispers, while I heard all the school gossip, about
+Mr. Creakle and his cruelty, and about the other masters, and that the
+only boy on whom Mr. Creakle never dared to lay a hand was Steerforth. All
+this and much more I heard before we at last betook ourselves to bed.
+
+The next day school began in earnest, and so far as the boys were
+concerned, Steerforth continued his protection of me, and was always a
+very firm and useful friend, as no one dared annoy any one whom he liked.
+
+One night he discovered that my head was filled with stories of my
+favourite heroes, which I could relate with some measure of graphic
+talent, and after that I was obliged to reel off stories by the yard,
+making myself into a regular Sultana Scheherezade for his benefit. I was
+much flattered by his interest in my tales, and the only drawback to
+telling them was that I was often very sleepy at night, and it was
+sometimes very hard work to be roused and forced into a long recital
+before the rising bell rang, but Steerforth was resolute, and as in return
+he explained sums and exercises to me, I was no loser by the transaction.
+Also, I honestly admired and loved the handsome fellow, and desired to
+please him.
+
+And so from week to week the story-telling in the dark went on, and
+whatever I had within me that was romantic or dreamy was encouraged by it.
+By degrees the other boys joined the circle of listeners. Traddles was
+always overcome with mirth at the comic parts of the stories. He used to
+pretend that he couldn't keep his teeth from chattering when an Alguazil
+was mentioned in connection with the adventures of Gil Blas, and I
+remember when Gil Blas met the captain of the robbers in Madrid, Traddles
+counterfeited such an ague of terror, that Mr. Creakle who was prowling
+about the passage, overheard him, and flogged him for disorderly conduct.
+
+There was little of especial moment in my first half-term at Salem House,
+except the quarrel which took place between Steerforth and Mr. Mell; and
+an unexpected visit from Ham and Mr. Peggotty when I had the delight of
+introducing those rollicking fellows to Steerforth, whose bright, easy
+manner charmed them, as it did most persons.
+
+The rest of the half-year is a jumble in my recollection; and then came
+the holidays, which were spent at home. I found my mother as tender as of
+old. She hugged me and kissed me, and on that first blessed night, as Mr.
+and Miss Murdstone were away on a visit, mother and Peggotty and I dined
+together by the fireside in the old fashion. My mother spoke of herself as
+a weak, ignorant young thing whom the Murdstones were endeavouring to make
+as strong in character as themselves. Then we talked about Salem House and
+my experiences and friends there, and were very happy. That evening as the
+last of its race will never pass out of my memory. I was at home for a
+month, but after that first night I felt in the way, for the Murdstones
+were always with my mother. On the evening after my return I made a very
+humble apology to Mr. Murdstone, which he received with cold dignity. I
+tried to spend my evenings in the kitchen with Peggotty, but of this Mr.
+Murdstone did not approve, so I sat wearily in the parlour, waiting for
+the hours to wear themselves away. What walks I took alone! What meals I
+had in silence and embarrassment! What dull evenings, poring over tables
+of weights and measures, and what yawns and dozes I lapsed into in spite
+of all my care! Thus the holidays lagged away, until the morning came when
+Miss Murdstone gave me the closing cup of tea of the vacation. I was not
+sorry to go. I had lapsed into a stupid state; but I was recovering a
+little and looking foward to Steerforth. I kissed my mother, and had
+climbed into the carrier's cart when I heard her calling me. I looked
+back, and she stood at the garden-gate, looking intently at me.
+
+So I lost her. So I saw her afterwards, in my sleep at school,--a silent
+presence near my bed--looking at me with the same intent face,--and the
+vision is still a constant blessing to me.
+
+From then I pass over all that happened at Salem House until my birthday
+in March. On the morning of that day I was summoned into Mr. Creakle's
+august presence. Mrs. Creakle was in the room too, and somehow they broke
+it to me that my mother was very ill. I knew all now!
+
+"She is dead," they said.
+
+There was no need to tell me so. I had already broken out into a desolate
+cry, and felt an orphan in the wide world. If ever child were stricken
+with sincere grief, I was. But I remember even so, that my sorrow was a
+kind of satisfaction to me, when I walked in the playground, while the
+boys were in school, and saw them glancing at me out of the windows, and
+because of my grief I felt distinguished, and of vast importance. We had
+no story-telling that night, and Traddles insisted on lending me his
+pillow as a guarantee of his sympathy, which I understood and accepted.
+
+I left Salem House upon noon the next day, stopping in Yarmouth to be
+measured for my suit of black. Then all too soon I was at home again, only
+it was home no longer, for my mother was not there. Mr. Murdstone, who was
+weeping, took no notice of me. Miss Murdstone gave me her cold fingers,
+and asked if I had been measured for my mourning, and if I had brought
+home my shirts. There was no sign that they thought of my suffering,
+and--alone--except for dear faithful Peggotty, I remained there,
+motherless, and worse than fatherless, still stunned and giddy with the
+shock. As soon as the funeral was over, Peggotty obtained permission to
+take me home with her for a visit, and I was thankful for the change, even
+though I knew that Peggotty was leaving the Rookery forever.
+
+We found the old boat the same pleasant place as ever, only little Em'ly
+and I seldom wandered on the beach now. She had tasks to learn, and
+needlework to do. During the visit I had a great surprise, which was no
+less than Peggotty's marriage to the carrier who had taken me on so many
+trips, and whose affections it seemed, had long been fastened upon
+Peggotty. He took her to a nice little home, and there she showed me a
+room which she said would be mine whenever I chose to occupy it. I felt
+the constancy of my dear old nurse, and thanked her as well as I could,
+but the next day I was obliged to go back to the Murdstones. Peggotty made
+the journey with me, and no words can express my forlorn and desolate
+feelings when the cart took her away again, and I was left alone in the
+place where I used to be so happy.
+
+And now I fell into a state of neglect, apart from other boys of my own
+age, and apart from all friendly faces. What would I not have given to
+have been sent to school! I think Mr. Murdstone's means were straightened
+at that time, and there was no mention of Salem House or of any other
+school. I was not beaten or starved, only coldly neglected. Peggotty I was
+seldom allowed to visit, but once a week she either came to see me or met
+me somewhere, and that, and the dear old books were my only comfort.
+
+One day Mr. Quinion, a visitor at the house, took pains to ask me some
+questions about myself, and afterwards Mr. Murdstone called me to him, and
+said:
+
+"I suppose you know, David, that I am not rich. You have received some
+considerable education already. Education is costly; and even if I could
+afford it, I am of opinion that it would not be at all advantageous to you
+to be kept at a school. There is before you a fight with the world; and
+the sooner you begin it the better. You may have heard of the counting
+house of Murdstone and Grinby, in the wine trade? Mr. Quinion manages the
+business, and he suggests thit it gives employment to some other boys, and
+that he sees no reason why it shouldn't give employment to you. You will
+earn enough to provide for your eating, and drinking, and pocket money.
+Your lodging will be paid by me. So will your washing. Your clothes will
+be looked after for you, too," said Mr. Murdstone, "as you will not be
+able, yet awhile, to get them for yourself. So you are now going to
+London, David, to begin the world on your own account."
+
+Behold me, on the morrow, in a much-worn little white hat, with a crape
+band round it, a black jacket, and stiff corduroy trousers! Behold me so
+attired, and with my little worldly all in a small trunk, sitting, a lone,
+lorn child, in the post-chaise, journeying to London with Mr. Quinion!
+Behold me at ten years old, a little labouring hind in Murdstone and
+Grinby's warehouse on the waterside at Blackfriars! It was a crazy old
+house with a wharf of its own, but rotting with dirt and age. Their trade
+was among many kinds of people, chiefly supplying wines and spirits to
+certain packet ships. My work was pasting labels on full bottles, or
+fitting corks to them, or sealing the corks, and the work was not half so
+distasteful as were my companions, far below me in birth and education.
+The oldest of the regular boys was named Mick Walker, and another boy in
+my department, on account of his complexion, was called Mealy Potatoes. No
+words can express the secret agony of my soul as I sunk into this
+companionship, and thought sadly of Traddles, Steerforth, and those other
+boys, whom I felt sure would grow up to be great men.
+
+I lodged with a Mr. Micawber who lived in Windsor Terrace. My pay at the
+warehouse was six shillings a week. I provided my own breakfast and kept
+bread and cheese to eat at night. Also, child that I was,--sometimes I
+could not resist pastry cakes and puddings in the shop windows, all of
+which made a large hole in my six shillings. From Monday to Saturday I had
+no advice, no encouragement or help of any kind. I worked with common men
+and boys, a shabby child. I lounged about the streets, insufficiently and
+unsatisfactorily fed. But for the mercy of God, I might easily have been,
+for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a little vagabond.
+Yet they were kind to me at the warehouse and that I suffered and was
+miserably unhappy, no one noticed. I concealed the fact even from Peggotty
+(partly for love of her, and partly for shame).
+
+I did my work not unskilfully, and though perfectly familiar with my
+companions, my conduct and manner placed a space between us and I was
+usually spoken of as the "little Gent." In my desolate condition, I became
+really attached to the Micawbers, and when they experienced reverses of
+fortune, and Mr. Micawber was carried off to the Debtors' Prison, I did
+all that I could for them, and remained with Mrs. Micawber in lodgings
+near the prison. But I plainly saw that a parting was near at hand, as it
+was the Micawbers' intention to leave London as soon as Mr. Micawber could
+free himself. So keen was my dread of lodging with new people, added to
+the misery of my daily life at the warehouse, that I could not endure the
+thought, and finally I made a resolution. I would run away!
+
+Many times in the old days, my mother had told me the story of my one
+relative, Aunt Betsey, who had been present at the time of my birth,
+confident in her hopes of a niece who should be named for her, Betsey
+Trotwood, and for whom she proposed to provide liberally. When I, David
+Copperfield, came in place of the longed-for niece, Aunt Betsey shook the
+dust of the place off her feet, and my mother never saw her afterwards. My
+idea now was to find Aunt Betsey. Not knowing where she lived, I wrote a
+long letter to Peggotty, and asked in it incidentally if she knew the
+address, and also if she could lend me half a guinea for a short time. She
+answered promptly and enclosed the half guinea, saying that Miss Betsey
+lived just outside of Dover, which place I at once resolved to set out
+for. However, I considered myself bound to remain at the warehouse until
+Saturday night; and as when I first came there I had been paid for a week
+in advance, not to present myself as usual to receive my wages. For this
+reason I had borrowed the half guinea, that I might have a fund for my
+travelling expenses.
+
+Accordingly, when Saturday night came, I shook Mick Walker's hand, bade
+good-night to Mealy Potatoes--and ran away.
+
+My box was at my old lodging, and I had a card ready for it, addressed to
+"Master David, to be left till called for at the Coach Office, Dover."
+
+I found a young man with a donkey-cart whom I engaged for sixpence, to
+remove my box, and in pulling the card for it out of my pocket, I tumbled
+my half guinea out too. I put it in my mouth for safety, and had just tied
+the card on, when I felt myself violently chucked under the chin by the
+young man, and saw my half guinea fly out of my mouth into his hand.
+
+"You give me my money back, if you please," said I, very much frightened.
+"And leave me alone!"
+
+"Come to the pollis," said he; "you shall prove it yourn to the pollis!"
+
+"Give me my box and money, will you?" I cried, bursting into tears.
+
+The young man still replied, "Come to the pollis!"
+
+Then suddenly changed his mind, jumped into the cart, sat upon my box, and
+exclaiming that he would drive to the pollis straight, rattled away.
+
+I ran after him as fast as I could, narrowly escaping being run over some
+twenty times in a mile, until I had no breath left to call out with. Now I
+lost him, now I saw him, but at length, confused and exhausted, I left him
+to go where he would with my box and money, and, panting and crying, but
+never stopping, I faced about for Greenwich, and had some wild idea of
+running straight to Dover. However, my scattered senses were soon
+collected and I sat down on a doorstep, quite spent. Fortunately, it was a
+fine summer night, and when I had recovered my breath, I went on again.
+But I had only three-halfpence in the world, and as I trudged on, I
+pictured to myself how I should be found dead in a day or two, under some
+hedge. Passing a little pawnshop, I left my waistcoat, and went on, richer
+by ninepence, and I foresaw that my jacket would go next, in fact that I
+should be lucky if I got to Dover in a shirt and a pair of trousers.
+
+It had occurred to me to go on as fast as I could towards Salem House, and
+spend the night behind the wall at the back of my old school, where there
+used to be a haystack. I imagined it would be a kind of company to have
+the boys and the bedroom where I used to tell the stories, so near me. I
+had a hard day's walk, and with great trouble found Salem House, and the
+haystack, and lay down outside the dark and silent house. Never shall I
+forget the lonely sensation of first lying down, without a roof above my
+head! But at last I slept, and dreamed of old school-days, until the warm
+beams of the sun, and the rising bell at Salem House awoke me. As none of
+my old companions could still be there, I had no wish to linger, so I
+crept away from the wall and struck out into the dusty Dover road.
+
+That day I got through three and twenty miles, and at night I passed over
+the bridge at Rochester, footsore and tired, eating bread as I walked.
+There were plenty of signs, "Lodgings for Travellers," but I sought no
+shelter, fearing to spend the few pence I had. Very stiff and sore of foot
+I was in the morning, and I felt that I could go only a short distance
+that day. I took off my jacket, and went into a shop, where I exchanged it
+finally for one and fourpence. For threepence I refreshed myself
+completely, and limped seven miles further. I slept under another
+haystack, after washing my blistered feet in a stream, and went on in
+rather better spirits, coming at last to the bare wide downs near Dover. I
+then began to inquire of everyone I met, about my aunt, but no one knew
+her, and finally, when the morning was far spent, in despair I went into a
+little shop to ask once more. I spoke to the clerk, but a young woman on
+whom he was waiting, took the inquiry to herself.
+
+"My mistress?" she said. "What do you want with her, boy?"
+
+On my replying that I wished to see Miss Trotwood, the young woman told me
+to follow her. I needed no second permission, though by this time my legs
+shook under me. Soon we came to a neat little cottage with cheerful
+bow-windows, in front of it a gravelled court, full of flowers.
+
+"This is Miss Trotwood's," said the young woman, and then she hurried in,
+and left me standing at the gate. My shoes were by this time in a woeful
+condition, my hat was crushed and bent, my shirt and trousers stained and
+torn, my hair had known no comb or brush since I left London, my face,
+neck, and hands, from unaccustomed exposure, were burnt to a berry-brown.
+From head to foot I was powdered with dust. In this plight I waited to
+introduce myself to my formidable aunt.
+
+As I waited, there came out of the house a lady with a handkerchief tied
+over her cap, a pair of gardening gloves on her hands, and carrying a
+great knife. I knew her immediately, for she stalked out of the house
+exactly as my mother had so often described her stalking up our garden at
+home.
+
+"Go away!" said Miss Betsey, shaking her head, and waving her knife. "Go
+along! No boys here!"
+
+I watched her, with my heart at my lips, as she stopped to dig up a root.
+Then I went up and touched her.
+
+"If you please, ma'am," I began.
+
+She started, and looked up.
+
+"If you please, aunt."
+
+"Eh?" exclaimed Miss Betsey, in a tone of amazement I have never heard
+approached.
+
+"If you please, aunt, I am your nephew."
+
+"Oh, Lord!" said my aunt. And sat down flat in the garden-path.
+
+"I am David Copperfield, of Blunderstone, in Suffolk--where you came, on
+the night when I was born, and saw my dear mama. I have been very unhappy
+since she died. I have been slighted and taught nothing, and thrown upon
+myself, and put to work not fit for me. It made me run away to you. I was
+robbed at first setting out, and have walked all the way, and have never
+slept in a bed since I began the journey." Here my self-support gave way
+all at once, and I broke into a passion of crying.
+
+My aunt sat on the gravel, staring at me, until I began to cry, when she
+got up in a great hurry, collared me, and took me into the parlour. Her
+first proceeding there was to unlock a tall press, bring out several
+bottles, and pour some of the contents of each into my mouth. I think they
+must have been taken out at random, for I am sure I tasted aniseed water,
+anchovy sauce, and salad dressing. Then she put me on a sofa with a shawl
+under my head, and a handkerchief under my feet, lest I should soil the
+cover, and then, sitting down so I could not see her face, she ejaculated
+"Mercy on us!" at regular intervals.
+
+After a time she rang a bell, and a grey-headed, florid old gentleman,
+called Mr. Dick, who had the appearance of a grown-up boy, and who lived
+with my aunt, appeared. When my aunt asked his opinion about what to do
+with me, his advice was to wash me.
+
+This Janet, the maid, was preparing to do, when suddenly my aunt became,
+in one moment, rigid with indignation, and cried out, "Janet! Donkeys!"
+
+Upon which, Janet came running as if the house were in flames, and darted
+out on a little piece of green in front, to warn off two donkeys, lady
+ridden, while my aunt seized the bridle of a third animal, laden with a
+child, led him from the sacred spot, and boxed the ears of the unlucky
+urchin in attendance.
+
+To this hour I do not know whether my aunt had any lawful right of way
+over that patch of green, but she had settled it in her own mind that she
+had, and it was all the same to her. The passage of a donkey over that
+spot was the one great outrage of her life. In whatever occupation or
+conversation she was engaged, a donkey turned the current of her ideas,
+and she was upon him straight. Jugs of water were kept in secret places
+ready to be discharged on the offenders, sticks were laid in ambush behind
+the doors; sallies were made at all hours, and incessant war prevailed,
+which was perhaps an agreeable excitement to the donkey boys.
+
+The bath was a great comfort, for I began to feel acute pains in my limbs,
+and was so tired that I could scarcely keep awake for five minutes
+together. Enrobed in clothes belonging to Mr. Dick, and tied up in great
+shawls, I fell asleep, on the sofa, and only awoke in time to dine off a
+roast fowl and pudding, while my aunt asked me a number of questions, and
+spoke of my mother and Peggotty, and in the afternoon we talked again and
+there was another alarm of Donkeys.
+
+After tea we sat at the window until dusk, and shortly afterwards I was
+escorted up to a pleasant room at the top of the house. When I had said my
+prayers, and the candle had burnt out, I lay there yielding to a sensation
+of profound gratitude and rest, nestling in the snow white sheets, and I
+prayed that I might never be houseless any more, and might never forget
+the houseless.
+
+At breakfast the following day, I found myself the object of my aunt's
+most rigid scrutiny.
+
+"Hallo!" she said, after a time to attract my attention, and when I looked
+up she told me that she had written Mr. Murdstone in regard to me, under
+which information I became heavy of heart, for I felt that some efforts
+would be made to force me to return to the warehouse, while the more I saw
+of my aunt, the more sure I felt that she was the one with whom I wished
+to stay; that with all her eccentricities and humours, she was one to be
+honoured and trusted in.
+
+On the second day after my arrival, my Aunt gave a sudden alarm of
+donkeys, and to my consternation I beheld Miss Murdstone ride over the
+sacred piece of green, and stop in front of the house.
+
+"Go along with you!" cried my aunt, shaking her head and her fist at the
+window. "You have no business there. How dare you trespass? Oh! you
+bold-faced thing!"
+
+I hurriedly told her who the offender was, and that Mr. Murdstone was
+behind her, but Aunt Betsey was frantic, and cried, "I don't care who it
+is--I won't allow it! Go away! Janet, lead him off!" and from behind my
+aunt, I saw the donkey pulled round by the bridle, while Mr. Murdstone
+tried to lead him on, and Miss Murdstone struck at Janet with a parasol,
+and several boys shouted vigorously. But my aunt suddenly discovering the
+donkey's guardian to be one of the most inveterate offenders against her,
+rushed out and pounced upon him, while the Murdstones waited until she
+should be at leisure to receive them. She marched past them into the
+house, a little ruffled by the combat, and took no notice of them until
+they were announced by Janet.
+
+"Shall I go away, aunt?" I asked trembling.
+
+"No, sir," said she. "Certainly not!" With which she pushed me into a
+corner, and fenced me in with a chair, as if it were a prison, and there I
+stayed. There were several sharp passages at arms between my aunt and the
+Murdstones, when my past, and my mother's life came up for discussion.
+Finally Mr. Murdstone said:
+
+"I am here to take David back, Miss Trotwood; to dispose of him as I think
+proper, and to deal with him as I think right. I am not here to make any
+promise to anybody. You may possibly have some idea, Miss Trotwood, of
+abetting him in his running away, and in his complaints to you. Now, I
+must caution you, that if you abet him once, you abet him for good and
+all. I cannot trifle, or be trifled with. I am here, for the first and
+last time, to take him away. Is he ready to go? If you tell me he is not,
+it is indifferent to me on what pretence,--my doors are shut against him
+henceforth, and yours, I take it for granted are open to him."
+
+My aunt had listened with the closest attention, her hands folded on her
+knee, and looking grimly at the speaker. When he had finished, she turned
+to Miss Murdstone, and said:
+
+"Well, ma'am, have _you_ got anything to remark?"
+
+As she had not, my aunt turned to me.
+
+"And what does the boy say?" she said. "Are you ready to go, David?"
+
+I answered no, and entreated her not to let me go. I begged and prayed my
+aunt to befriend and protect me, for my father's sake.
+
+My aunt consulted for a moment with Mr. Dick, and then she pulled me
+towards her, and said to Mr. Murdstone:
+
+"You can go when you like; I'll take my chance with the boy. If he's all
+you say he is, at least I can do as much for him then, as you have done.
+But I don't believe a word of it."
+
+There were some additional words on both sides, and then the Murdstones
+stood ready to leave.
+
+"Good day, sir," said my aunt "and good-bye! Good day to you too,
+ma'am,"--turning suddenly upon his sister. "Let me see you ride a donkey
+over my green again, and as sure as you have a head upon your shoulders,
+I'll knock your bonnet off, and tread upon it!"
+
+The manner and matter of this speech were so fiery, that Miss Murdstone
+without a word in answer, discreetly put her arm through her brother's,
+and walked hastily out of the cottage, my aunt remaining at the window,
+prepared in case of the donkey's re-appearance, to carry her threat into
+execution. No attempt at defiance being made, however, her face gradually
+relaxed, and became so pleasant, that I was emboldened to kiss and thank
+her; which I did with great heartiness. She then told me that she wished
+my name to be changed to Trotwood Copperfield, and this notion so pleased
+her, that some ready-made clothes purchased for me that very day, were
+marked "Trotwood Copperfield," in indelible ink before I put them on, and
+it was settled that all my clothes thereafter should be marked in the same
+way.
+
+Thus I began my new life in a new name, and with everything new about me.
+For many days I felt that it was all a dream, and then the truth came over
+me in waves of joy that it was no dream, but blessed, blessed reality!
+
+Aunt Betsey soon sent me to Doctor Strong's excellent school at
+Canterbury. It was decorously ordered on a sound system, with an appeal in
+everything to the honour and good faith of the boys. We all felt that we
+had a part in the management of the place, and learnt with a good will,
+desiring to do it credit. We had noble games out of hours, and plenty of
+liberty, and the whole plan of the school was as superior to that of Salem
+House as can be imagined. I soon became warmly attached to the place, the
+teachers, and the boys, and in a little while the Murdstone and Grinsby
+life became so strange that I hardly believed in it. Of course I wrote to
+Peggotty, relating my experiences, and how my aunt had taken me under her
+care, and returning the half guinea I had borrowed, and Peggotty answered
+promptly, but although she expressed herself as glad in my gladness, I
+could see that she did not take quite kindly to my Aunt as yet.
+
+The days glide swiftly on. I am higher in the school,--I am growing great
+in Latin verse, think dancing school a tiresome affair, and neglect the
+laces of my boots. Doctor Strong refers to me publicly as a promising
+young scholar, at which my aunt remits me a guinea by the next post.
+
+The shade of a young butcher crosses my path. He is the terror of Doctor
+Strong's young gentlemen, whom he publicly disparages. He names
+individuals (myself included) whom he could undertake to settle with one
+hand, and the other tied behind him. He waylays the smaller boys to punch
+their unprotected heads, and calls challenges after me in the streets. For
+these reasons, I resolve to fight the butcher.
+
+We meet by appointment with a select audience. Soon, I don't know where
+the wall is, or where I am, or where anybody is, but after a bloody tangle
+and tussle in the trodden grass, feeling very queer about the head, I
+awake, and augur justly that the victory is not mine. I am taken home in a
+sad plight, to have beef-steaks put to my eyes, and am rubbed with vinegar
+and brandy, and find a great white puffy place on my upper lip, and for
+several days I remain in the house with a green shade over my eyes, and
+yet feeling that I did right to fight the butcher.
+
+I change more and more, and now I am the head boy. I wear a gold watch and
+chain, a ring upon my little finger, and a long-tailed coat. I am
+seventeen, and am smitten with a violent passion for the eldest Miss
+Larkins, who is about thirty. She amuses herself with me as with a new
+toy, wears my ring for a season, and then announces her engagement to a
+Mr. Chestle. I am terribly dejected for a week or two, then I rally,
+become a boy once more, fight the butcher again, gloriously defeat him,
+and feel better,--and soon my school days draw to a close.
+
+My aunt and I had many grave deliberations on the calling to which I
+should devote myself, but could come to no conclusion, as I had no
+particular liking that I could discover, for any profession. So my aunt
+proposed that while I was thinking the matter over, I take a little trip,
+a breathing spell, as it were.
+
+"What I want you to be, Trot," said my aunt,--"I don't mean physically,
+but morally; you are very well physically--is, a firm fellow, a fine, firm
+fellow, with a will of your own, with determination. With character, Trot,
+with strength of character that is not to be influenced, except on good
+reason, by anybody, or by anything. That's what I want you to be."
+
+I intimated that I hoped I should be what she described, and she added
+that it was best for me to go on my trip alone, to learn to rely upon
+myself.
+
+So I was fitted out with a handsome purse of money, and tenderly dismissed
+upon my expedition, promising to write three times a week, and to be back
+in a month's time.
+
+I went first to say farewell to Doctor Strong, and then took my seat on
+the box of the London coach. It was interesting to be sitting up there,
+behind four horses; well educated, well dressed, with plenty of money, and
+to look out for the places where I had slept on my weary journey. I
+stretched my neck eagerly, looking for old landmarks, and when we passed
+Salem House I fairly tingled with emotion. At Charing Cross I stopped at
+the Golden Cross, and as soon as I had taken a room, ordered my dinner,
+trying to appear as old and dignified as possible. In the evening I went
+to the Covent Garden Theatre, and saw Julius Caesar and a pantomime. It
+was new to me, and the mingled reality and mystery of the whole show,
+lights, music, company, and glittering scenery, were so dazzling that when
+I went out at midnight into the rain, I felt as if I had been for a time
+an inmate of another world, and was so excited that instead of going to my
+room in the hotel I ordered some porter and oysters, and sat revolving the
+glorious visions in my mind until past one o'clock. Presently, I began to
+watch a young man near me whose face was very familiar. Finally, I rose,
+and with a fast-beating heart said,
+
+"Steerforth, won't you speak to me?"
+
+He quickly glanced up, but there was no recognition in his face.
+
+"My God," he suddenly exclaimed, "It's little Copperfield!"
+
+Then ensued a violent shaking of hands, and a volley of questions on both
+sides. He was studying at Oxford, but was on his way to visit his mother,
+who lived just out of London. He was as handsome, and fascinating, and
+gay, as ever, in fact quite bewilderingly so to me; and all those things
+which I enjoyed, he pronounced dreadful bores, quite like a man of the
+world. However, we got on famously, and when he invited me to go with him
+to his home at Highgate, I accepted with pleasure, and spent a delightful
+week there in the genteel, old-fashioned, quiet home. At the end of the
+week, Steerforth decided to go with me to Yarmouth, so we travelled on
+together to the inn there, and took rooms.
+
+As early as possible the next day, I visited Peggotty. She did not
+recognise me after our seven years' separation, but when at last it dawned
+on her who I was, she cried, "My darling boy!" and we both burst into
+tears, and were locked in one another's arms as though I were a child
+again.
+
+That evening Steerforth and I went to see Mr. Peggotty and my other
+friends in the boat, and we were so warmly received that it was nearly
+midnight when we took our leave. We stayed in Yarmouth for more than a
+fortnight, and I made many pilgrimages to the dear haunts of my childhood,
+particularly to that place where my mother and father lay, and mingled
+with my sad thoughts were brighter ones, about my future--and of how in it
+I was to become a man of whom they might have been proud.
+
+At the end of the fortnight came a letter from Aunt Betsey, saying that
+she had taken lodgings for a week in London, and that if I would join her,
+we could discuss her latest plan for me, which was that I become a proctor
+in Doctors' Commons.
+
+I mentioned the plan to Steerforth, and he advised me to take kindly to
+it, and by the time that I reached London I had made up my mind to do so.
+My aunt was greatly pleased when I told her this, whereupon I proceeded to
+add that my only objection to the plan lay in the great expense it would
+be to article me,--a thousand pounds at least. I spoke of her past
+liberality to me, and asked her whether I had not better choose some work
+which required less expensive preliminaries.
+
+For a time my aunt was deep in thought. Then she replied:
+
+"Trot, my child, if I have any object in life, it is to provide for your
+being a good, sensible, and happy man. I am bent upon it. It's in vain,
+Trot, to recall the past, unless it has some influence upon the present.
+Perhaps I might have been better friends with your father and mother. When
+you came to me, a little runaway boy, perhaps I thought so. From that time
+until now, Trot, you have ever been a credit to me, and a pride and
+pleasure. I have no other claim upon my means,--and you are my adopted
+child. Only be a loving child to me in my old age, and bear with my whims
+and fancies, and you will do more for an old woman whose prime of life was
+not so happy as it might have been, than ever that old woman did for you."
+
+It was the first time I had heard my aunt refer to her past history. Her
+quiet way of doing it would have exalted her in my respect and affection,
+if anything could.
+
+"All is agreed and understood between us now, Trot," she said, "and we
+need talk of this no more. Give me a kiss, and we'll go to the Commons in
+the morning."
+
+And accordingly at noon the next day we made our way to Doctors' Commons,
+interviewed Mr. Spenlow, of the firm of Spenlow and Jorkins, and I was
+accepted on a month's probation as an articled clerk. Mr. Spenlow then
+conducted me through the Court, that I might see what sort of a place it
+was. Then my aunt and I set off in search of lodgings for me, and before
+night I was the proud and happy owner of the key to a little set of
+chambers in the Adelphi, conveniently situated near the Court, and to my
+taste in all ways. Seeing how enraptured I was with them, my aunt took
+them for a month, with the privilege of a year, made arrangements with the
+landlady about meals and linen, and I was to take possession in two days;
+during which time I saw Aunt Betsey safely started on her homeward journey
+towards Dover, dreading to leave me, but exulting in the coming
+discomfiture of the vagrant donkeys.
+
+It was a wonderfully fine thing to have that lofty castle to myself, and
+when I had taken possession and shut my outer door, I felt like Robinson
+Crusoe, when he had got within his fortification, and pulled his ladder up
+after him. I felt rich, powerful, old, and important, and when I walked
+out about town, with the keys of my house in my pocket, and able to ask
+any fellow to come home with me, without giving anybody any inconvenience,
+I became a quite different personage than ever heretofore.
+
+Whatever there was of happiness or of sorrow, of success or of failure, in
+my later life, does not belong on these pages. The identity of the child,
+and of the boy, David Copperfield is now forever merged in the personality
+of--Trotwood Copperfield, Esquire, householder and Man.
+
+
+
+
+KIT NUBBLES
+
+
+[Illustration: KIT NUBBLES.]
+
+Christopher, or Kit Nubbles, as he was commonly called, was not handsome
+in the estimation of anyone except his mother, and mothers are apt to be
+partial. He was a shock-headed, shambling, awkward lad, with an uncommonly
+wide mouth, very red cheeks, a turned-up nose, and certainly the most
+comical expression of face I ever saw.
+
+He was errand-boy at the Old Curiosity Shop, and deeply attached to both
+little Nell Trent and her grandfather, his employer. And just here let me
+explain that Nell's grandfather led a curious sort of double life; his
+days were spent in the shop, but when night fell, he invariably took his
+cloak, his hat, and his stick, and kissing the child, passed out, leaving
+her alone through the long hours of the night, and Nell had no knowledge
+that in those nightly absences he was haunting the gaming table; risking
+large sums, and ever watching with feverish anticipation for the time when
+he should win a vast fortune to lay by for the child, his pet and darling,
+to keep her from want if death should take him away. But of this little
+Nell knew nothing, or she would have implored him to give up the wicked
+and dangerous pastime.
+
+Nor did she know that it was from Quilp, a strange, rich, little dwarf,
+who had many trades and callings, that her grandfather was borrowing the
+money which he staked nightly in hopes of winning more, pledging his
+little stock as security for the debt.
+
+It was a lonely life that Nell led, with only the old man for companion,
+so she had a genuine affection for the awkward errand-boy, Christopher,
+who was one of the few bits of comedy in her days, and his devotion to her
+verged on worship. One morning Nell's grandfather sent her with a note to
+the little dwarf, Quilp; and Kit, who escorted her, while he waited for
+her, got into a tussle with Quilp's boy, who asserted that Nell was ugly,
+and that she and her grandfather were entirely in Quilp's power.
+
+That was too much for Kit to bear in silence, and he retorted that Quilp
+was the ugliest dwarf that could be seen anywheres for a penny.
+
+This enraged Quilp's boy, who sprang upon Kit, and the two were engaged in
+a hand-to-hand fight, when Quilp appeared and separated them, asking the
+cause of the quarrel, and was told that Kit had called him, "The ugliest
+dwarf that could be seen anywheres for a penny." Poor Kit never dreamed
+that his unguarded remark was to be treasured up against him in the mind
+of the jealous, vindictive, little dwarf, and used to separate him from
+his idolised mistress and her grandfather, but it was even so, for there
+was a power of revenge, a hatred, in the tiny body of the dwarf, entirely
+out of proportion to his size.
+
+Quilp at this time desired to injure the old man and his grandchild, and
+soon made several discoveries in a secret way, which, added to what he
+found out from little Nell's own artless words about her home life, and
+her grandfather's habits, enabled him to put two and two together, and
+guess correctly for what purpose the old man borrowed such large sums from
+him, and he refused him further loans. More than this, he told the old man
+that he (Quilp) held a bill of sale on his stock and property, and that he
+and little Nell would be henceforth homeless and penniless.
+
+The old man pleaded, with agony in his face and voice for one more
+advance,--one more trial,--but Quilp was firm.
+
+"Who is it?" retorted the old man, desperately, "that, notwithstanding all
+my caution, told you? Come, let me know the name,--the person."
+
+The crafty dwarf stopped short in his answer, and said,----
+
+"Now, who do you think?"
+
+"It was Kit. It must have been the boy. He played the spy, and you
+tampered with him."
+
+"How came you to think of him?" said the dwarf. "Yes, it was Kit. Poor
+Kit!" So saying, he nodded in a friendly manner, and took his leave;
+stopping when he passed the outer door a little distance, and grinning
+with extraordinary delight.
+
+"Poor Kit!" muttered Quilp. "I think it was Kit who said I was an uglier
+dwarf than could be seen anywhere for a penny, wasn't it? Ha, ha, ha! Poor
+Kit!"
+
+And with that he went his way, still chuckling as he went.
+
+That evening Kit spent in his own home. The room in which he sat down, was
+an extremely poor and homely place, but with that air of comfort about it,
+nevertheless, which cleanliness and order can always impart in some
+degree. Late as the Dutch clock showed it to be, Kit's mother was still
+hard at work at an ironing-table; a young child lay sleeping in a cradle
+near the fire; and another, a sturdy boy of two or three years old, very
+wide awake, was sitting bolt upright in a clothes-basket, staring over the
+rim with his great round eyes. It was rather a queer-looking family; Kit,
+his mother, and the children, being all strongly alike.
+
+Kit was disposed to be out of temper, but he looked at the youngest child,
+and from him to his other brother in the clothes-basket, and from him to
+his mother, who had been at work without complaint since morning, and
+thought it would be a better and kinder thing to be good-humoured. So he
+rocked the cradle with his foot, made a face at the rebel in the
+clothes-basket, which put him in high good-humour directly, and stoutly
+determined to be talkative, and make himself agreeable.
+
+"Did you tell me just now, that your master hadn't gone out to-night?"
+inquired Mrs. Nubbles.
+
+"Yes," said Kit, "worse luck!"
+
+"You should say better luck, I think," returned his mother, "because Miss
+Nelly won't have been left alone."
+
+"Ah!" said Kit, "I forgot that. I said worse luck, because I've been
+watching ever since eight o'clock, and seen nothing of her. Hark, what's
+that?"
+
+"It's only somebody outside."
+
+"It's somebody crossing over here," said Kit, standing up to listen, "and
+coming very fast too. He can't have gone out after I left, and the house
+caught fire, mother!"
+
+The boy stood for a moment, really bereft, by the apprehension he had
+conjured up, of the power to move. The footsteps drew nearer, the door was
+opened with a hasty hand, and the child herself, pale and breathless,
+hurried into the room.
+
+"Miss Nelly! What is the matter?" cried mother and son together.
+
+"I must not stay a moment," she returned, "grandfather has been taken very
+ill. I found him in a fit upon the floor."
+
+"I'll run for a doctor----" said Kit, seizing his brimless hat. "I'll be
+there directly, I'll----"
+
+"No, no," cried Nell, "there is one there, you're not wanted,
+you--you--must never come near us any more!"
+
+"What!" roared Kit.
+
+"Never again," said the child. "Don't ask me why, for I don't know. Pray
+don't ask me why, pray don't be sorry, pray don't be vexed with me! I have
+nothing to do with it indeed!
+
+"He complains of you and raves of you," added the child, "I don't know
+what you have done, but I hope it's nothing very bad."
+
+"_I_ done!" roared Kit.
+
+"He cries that you're the cause of all his misery," returned the child,
+with tearful eyes. "He screamed and called for you; they say you must not
+come near him, or he will die. You must not return to us any more. I came
+to tell you. I thought it would be better that I should. Oh, Kit, what
+_have_ you done? You, in whom I trusted so much, and who were almost the
+only friend I had!"
+
+The unfortunate Kit looked at his young mistress harder and harder, and
+with eyes growing wider and wider, but was perfectly motionless and still.
+
+"I have brought his money for the week," said the child, looking to the
+woman, and laying it on the table,--"and--and--a little more, for he was
+always good and kind to me. I hope he will be sorry and do well somewhere
+else and not take this to heart too much. It grieves me very much to part
+with him like this, but there is no help. It must be done. Good-night!"
+
+With the tears streaming down her face, and her slight figure trembling
+with intense agitation, the child hastened to the door, and disappeared as
+rapidly as she had come.
+
+The poor woman, who had no cause to doubt her son, but every reason for
+relying on his honesty and truth, was staggered, notwithstanding, by his
+not having advanced one word in his own defence.
+
+Visions of gallantry, knavery, robbery, flocked into her brain and
+rendered her afraid to question him. She rocked herself upon a chair,
+wringing her hands and weeping bitterly. The baby in the cradle woke up
+and cried; the boy in the clothes-basket fell over on his back with the
+basket on him, and was seen no more; the mother wept louder yet and rocked
+faster; but Kit, insensible to all the din and tumult, remained in a state
+of utter stupefaction.
+
+Of course, after that there was nothing for him to do but to keep as far
+away as possible from the shop, which he did, except in the evenings, when
+he often stole beneath Nell's window on a chance of merely seeing her. One
+night he was rewarded by a scrap of whispered conversation with her from
+her window. She told him how sick her grandfather had been, and over and
+over Kit reiterated all there was for him to say--that he had done nothing
+to cause that sickness.
+
+"He'll be sure to get better now," said the boy, anxiously, "when he does,
+say a good word--say a kind word for me, Miss Nell!"
+
+"They tell me I must not even mention your name to him for a long, long
+time," rejoined the child. "I dare not; and even if I might, what good
+would a kind word do you, Kit? We shall be very poor they say. We shall
+scarcely have bread to eat, for everything has been taken from us."
+
+"It's not that I may be taken back," said the boy. "No, it's not that. It
+isn't for the sake of food and wages that I've been waiting about in hopes
+of seeing you. Don't think that I'd come in a time of trouble to talk of
+such things as them. It's something very different from that. Perhaps he
+might think it over-venturesome of me to say--well then,--to say this,"
+said Kit, with sudden boldness. "This home is gone from you and him.
+Mother and I have got a poor one, and why not come there, till he's had
+time to look about and find a better? You think," said the boy, "that it's
+very small and inconvenient. So it is, but it's very clean. Do try, Miss
+Nell, do try. The little front room upstairs is very pleasant. Mother says
+it would be just the thing for you, and so it would; and you'd have her to
+wait upon you both, and me to run errands. We don't mean money, bless you;
+you're not to think of that! Will you try him, Miss Nell? Only say you'll
+try him. Do try to make old master come, and ask him first what I have
+done. Will you only promise that, Miss Nell?"
+
+The street door opened suddenly just then, and, conscious that they were
+overheard, Nell closed her window quickly, and Kit stole away. And that
+was his last view of his beloved mistress, for shortly afterwards the Old
+Curiosity Shop was vacant of its tenants. Little Nell and her grandfather
+had quietly slipped away, under cover of night, to face their poverty in a
+new place; where, no one knew or could find out; and all that remained to
+Kit to remind him of his past, was Nell's bird, which he rescued from the
+shop, (now in Quilp's hands), took home, and hung in his window, to the
+immeasurable delight of his whole family.
+
+It now remained for Kit to find a new situation, and he roamed the city in
+search of one daily. He was quite tired out with pacing the streets, to
+say nothing of repeated disappointments, and was sitting down upon a step
+to rest, one day, when there approached towards him a little clattering,
+jingling, four-wheeled chaise, drawn by a little obstinate-looking,
+rough-coated pony, and driven by a little placid-faced old gentleman.
+Beside the little old gentleman sat a little old lady, plump and placid
+like himself. As they passed where he sat, Kit looked so wistfully at the
+little turnout, that the old gentleman looked at him. Kit rising and
+putting his hand to his hat, the old gentleman intimated to the pony that
+he wished to stop, to which proposal the pony graciously acceded.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said Kit. "I'm sorry you stopped, sir, I only
+meant, did you want your horse minded."
+
+"I'm going to get down in the next street," returned the old gentleman.
+"If you like to come on after us, you may have the job."
+
+Kit thanked him, and joyfully obeyed, and held the refractory little beast
+until the little old lady and little old gentleman came out, and the old
+gentleman, taking his seat and the reins again, put his hand in his pocket
+to find a sixpence for Kit. Not a sixpence could he find, and he thought a
+shilling too much, but there was no shop in the street to get change at,
+so he gave it to the boy.
+
+"There," he said jokingly, "I'm coming here again next Monday at the same
+time, and mind you're here, my lad, to work it out!"
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Kit. "I'll be sure to be here."
+
+He was quite serious, but they laughed heartily at his saying so, and then
+the pony started off on a brisk trot, and Kit was left alone. Having
+expended his treasure in such purchases as he knew would be most
+acceptable at home, not forgetting some seed for the bird, he hastened
+back as fast as he could.
+
+Day after day, as he bent his steps homeward, returning from some new
+effort to procure employment, Kit raised his eyes to the window of the
+little room he had so much commended to the child Nell, and hoped to see
+some indication of her presence.
+
+"I think they must certainly come to-morrow, eh, mother?" said Kit, laying
+aside his hat with a weary air, and sighing as he spoke. "They have been
+gone a week. They surely couldn't stop away more than a week, could they
+now?"
+
+The mother shook her head, and reminded him how often he had been
+disappointed already, and Kit, looking very mournful, clambered up to the
+nail, took down the cage, and set himself to clean it, and to feed the
+bird. His thoughts reverting from this occupation to the little old
+gentleman who had given him the shilling, he suddenly recollected that
+that was the very day--nay, nearly the very hour--at which the old
+gentleman had said he should be at the Notary's office again. He no sooner
+remembered this, than hastily explaining the nature of his errand, he went
+off at full speed to the appointed place, and although when he arrived
+there it was full two minutes after the time set, there was as yet no
+pony-chaise to be seen. Greatly relieved, Kit leaned against a lamp-post
+to take breath, and waited. Before long the pony came trotting round the
+corner of the street, and behind him sat the little old gentleman, and the
+little old lady.
+
+Upon the pony's refusing to stand at the proper place, the old gentleman
+alighted to lead him; whereupon the pony darted off with the old lady, and
+stopped at the right house, leaving the old gentleman to come panting on
+behind.
+
+It was then that Kit presented himself at the pony's head, and touched his
+hat with a smile.
+
+"Why, bless me," cried the old gentleman, "the lad _is_ here! My dear, do
+you see?"
+
+"I said I'd be here, sir," said Kit, patting Whisker's neck. "I hope
+you've had a pleasant ride, sir. He's a very nice little pony."
+
+"My dear," said the old gentleman. "This is an uncommon lad; a good lad,
+I'm sure."
+
+"I'm sure he is," rejoined the old lady, "A very good lad, and I am sure
+he is a good son."
+
+Kit acknowledged these expressions of confidence by touching his hat again
+and blushing very much. Then the old gentleman helped the old lady out,
+and they went into the office--talking about him as they went, Kit could
+not help feeling, and a few minutes later he was called in.
+
+Kit entered in a great tremor, for he was not used to going among strange
+ladies and gentlemen, and the tin boxes and bundles of dusty papers had in
+his eyes an awful and a venerable air. Mr. Witherden, the notary, was a
+bustling gentleman, who talked loud and fast.
+
+"Well, boy," said Mr. Witherden, "you came to work out that shilling,--not
+to get another, hey?"
+
+"No indeed, sir," replied Kit, taking courage to look up. "I never thought
+of such a thing."
+
+"Now," said the old gentleman, Mr. Garland, when they had asked some
+further questions of Kit, "I am not going to give you anything." "But," he
+added, "perhaps I may want to know something more about you, so tell me
+where you live."
+
+Kit told him, and the old gentleman wrote down the address with his
+pencil. He had scarcely done so, than there was a great uproar in the
+street, and the old lady, hurrying to the window, cried that Whisker had
+run away, upon which Kit darted out to the rescue, and the others
+followed. Even in running away, however, Whisker was perverse, for he had
+not gone far when he suddenly stopped. The old lady then stepped into her
+seat, and Mr. Abel, her son, whom they had come to fetch, into his. The
+old gentleman took his place also, and they drove away, more than once
+turning to nod kindly to Kit, as he watched them from the road.
+
+When Kit reached home, to his amazement he found the pony and his owners
+there too.
+
+"We are here before you, you see, Christopher," said Mr. Garland, smiling.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Kit, and as he said it, he looked towards his mother for
+an explanation of the visit.
+
+"The gentleman's been kind enough, my dear," said she, "to ask me whether
+you were in a good place, or in any place at all, and when I told him no,
+he was so good as to say that----"
+
+"That we wanted a good lad in our house," said the old lady and the old
+gentleman both together, "and that perhaps we might think of it, if we
+found everything as we would wish it to be."
+
+As this thinking of it plainly meant the thinking of engaging Kit, he
+immediately fell into a great flutter; for the little old couple were very
+methodical and cautious, and asked so many questions that he began to be
+afraid there was no chance of his success; but to his surprise at last he
+found himself formally hired at an annual income of Six Pounds, over and
+above his board and lodging, by Mr. and Mrs. Garland, of Abel Cottage,
+Finchley; and it was settled that he should repair to his new abode on the
+next day but one.
+
+"Well, mother," said Kit, hurrying back into the house, after he had seen
+the old people to their carriage, "I think my fortune's about made now."
+
+"I should think it was indeed, Kit!" rejoined his mother. "Six pound a
+year! Only think!"
+
+"Ah!" said Kit, trying to maintain the gravity which the consideration of
+such a sum demanded, but grinning with delight in spite of himself.
+"There's a property! Please God, we'll make such a lady of you for
+Sundays, mother! such a scholar of Jacob, such a child of the baby, such a
+room of the one upstairs! Six pound a year!"
+
+The remainder of that day, and the whole of the next, were a busy time for
+the Nubbles family, to whom everything connected with Kit's outfit and
+departure was matter of as great moment as if he had been about to
+penetrate into the interior of Africa, or to take a cruise round the
+world. It would be difficult to suppose that there ever was a box which
+was opened and shut so many times within four-and-twenty hours as that
+which contained his wardrobe and necessaries; and certainly there never
+was one which to two small eyes presented such a mine of clothing as this
+mighty chest, with its three shirts, and proportionate allowance of
+stockings and pocket-handkerchiefs, disclosed to the astonished vision of
+little Jacob.
+
+At last, after many kisses and hugs and tears, Kit left the house on the
+next morning, and set out to walk to Finchley.
+
+He wore no livery, but was dressed in a coat of pepper-and-salt, with
+waistcoat of canary colour, and nether garments of iron-grey; besides
+these glories, he shone in the lustre of a new pair of boots and an
+extremely stiff and shiny hat. And in this attire, rather wondering that
+he attracted so little attention, he made his way towards Abel Cottage.
+
+It was a beautiful little cottage, with a thatched roof and little spires
+at the gable-ends, and pieces of stained glass in some of the windows. On
+one side of the house was a little stable, just the size for the pony,
+with a little room over it, just the size for Kit. White curtains were
+fluttering, and birds in cages were singing at the windows; plants were
+arranged on either side of the path, and clustered about the door; and the
+garden was bright with flowers in full bloom, which shed a sweet odour all
+around.
+
+Everything within the house and without seemed to be the perfection of
+neatness and order. Kit looked about him, and admired, and looked again,
+before he could make up his mind to turn his head and ring the bell.
+
+He rung the bell a great many times, and yet nobody came. But at last, as
+he was sitting upon the box thinking about giants' castles, and princesses
+tied up to pegs by the hair of their heads, and dragons bursting out from
+behind gates, and other incidents of a like nature, common in story-books
+to youths on their first visit to strange houses, the door was gently
+opened, and a little servant-girl, very tidy, modest, and pretty,
+appeared.
+
+"I suppose you're Christopher, sir?" said the servant-girl.
+
+Kit got off the box, and said yes, he was, and was ushered in.
+
+The old gentleman received him very kindly, and so did the old lady, whose
+previous good opinion of him was greatly enhanced by his wiping his boots
+on the mat. He was then taken into the parlour to be inspected in his new
+clothes; and then was shown the garden and his little room, and when the
+old gentleman had said all he had to say in the way of promise and advice,
+and Kit had said all he had to say in the way of assurance and
+thankfulness, he was handed over again to the old lady, who, summoning the
+little servant-girl (whose name was Barbara), instructed her to take him
+downstairs and give him something to eat and drink after his walk.
+
+From that time Kit's was a useful, pleasant life, moving on in a peaceful
+routine of duties and innocent joys from day to day, and from week to
+week,--until the great, longed-for epoch of his life arrived--the day of
+receiving, for the first time, one-fourth part of his annual income of Six
+Pounds. It was to be a half-holiday, devoted to a whirl of entertainments,
+and little Jacob was to know what oysters meant, and to see a play.
+
+The day arrived, and wasn't Mr. Garland kind when he said to
+him,--"Christopher, here's your money, and you have earned it
+well;"--which praise in itself was worth as much as his wages.
+
+Then the play itself! The horses which little Jacob believed from the
+first to be alive,--and the ladies and gentlemen, of whose reality he
+could be by no means persuaded, having never seen or heard anything at all
+like them--the firing, which made Barbara (who had a holiday too)
+wink--the forlorn lady who made her cry--the tyrant who made her
+tremble--the clown who ventured on such familiarities with the military
+man in boots--the lady who jumped over the nine-and-twenty ribbons and
+came down safe upon the horse's back--everything was delightful, splendid,
+and surprising! Little Jacob applauded until his hands were sore; Kit
+cried "an-kor" at the end of everything; and Barbara's mother beat her
+umbrella on the floor, in her ecstasies, until it was nearly worn down to
+the gingham.
+
+What was all this though--even all this--to the extraordinary dissipation
+that ensued, when Kit, walking into an oyster-shop, as bold as if he lived
+there, led his party into a box--a private box, fitted up with red
+curtains, white tablecloth, and cruet-stand complete--and ordered a fierce
+gentleman with whiskers, who acted as waiter, and called him "Christopher
+Nubbles, sir," to bring three dozen of his largest-size oysters, and look
+sharp about it! Then they fell to work upon the supper in earnest; and ate
+and laughed and enjoyed themselves so thoroughly that it did Kit good to
+see them, and made him laugh and eat likewise, from strong sympathy. But
+the greatest miracle of the night was little Jacob, who ate oysters as if
+he had been born and bred to the business. There was the baby, too, who
+sat as good as gold, trying to force a large orange into his mouth, and
+gazing intently at the lights in the chandelier,--there he was, sitting in
+his mother's lap, and making indentations in his soft visage with an
+oyster-shell, so contentedly that a heart of iron must have loved him! In
+short, there never was a more successful supper; and when Kit proposed the
+health of Mrs. and Mr. Garland, there were not six happier people in the
+world. But all happiness has an end, and as it was now growing late, they
+agreed that it was time to turn their faces homeward--and the great day
+was at an end.
+
+One morning just before this, when Kit was out exercising the pony, he was
+called into the office where he had first seen Mr. and Mrs. Garland, to be
+examined by a strange gentleman concerning what he knew of little Nell and
+her grandfather. The gentleman told Kit that he was trying by every means
+in his power to discover their hiding-place; and, finally, after Kit had
+repeated all that he could remember of the life and words of his beloved
+Miss Nelly and the old man, the stranger slipped a half-crown into his
+hand and dismissed him. The strange gentleman liked Kit so much that he
+desired to have him in his own service, but the boy stoutly refused to
+leave his kind employer. At Mr. Garland's suggestion, however, he offered
+his services to the stranger for an hour or two every day, and from that
+came trouble to Kit.
+
+Each day, going up and down, to and from the stranger's room, he had to
+pass through the office of one Sampson Brass, attorney; who, through the
+agency of Quilp, who was Sampson Brass's best client, was prejudiced
+against Kit, and pledged to the little dwarf to do him all the injury that
+he could, for venomous little Quilp had never forgiven the boy who had
+been connected with his ruined client, and had called him "the ugliest
+dwarf to be seen for a penny"; and he desired vengeance at any cost.
+
+Every time that Kit passed through the office, Mr. Brass spoke kindly to
+him, and not seldom gave him half-crowns, which made Kit, who from the
+first had disliked the man, think that he had misjudged him. Then one day
+when Kit had been minding the office a few moments for Mr. Brass, and was
+running towards home, in haste to do his work there, Mr. Brass and his
+clerk, Dick Swiveller, rushed out after him.
+
+"Stop!" cried Sampson, laying his hand on one shoulder, while Mr.
+Swiveller pounced upon the other. "Not so fast, sir. You're in a hurry?"
+
+"Yes, I am," said Kit, looking from one to the other in great surprise.
+
+"I--I--can hardly believe it," panted Sampson, "but something of value is
+missing from the office. I hope you don't know what."
+
+"Know what! good heaven, Mr. Brass!" cried Kit, trembling from head to
+foot; "you don't suppose----"
+
+"No, no," rejoined Brass, quickly, "I don't suppose anything. You will
+come back quietly, I hope?"
+
+"Of course I will," returned Kit. "Why not?"
+
+Kit did turn from white to red, and from red to white again, when they
+secured him, each by an arm, and for a moment he seemed disposed to
+resist. But, quickly recollecting himself, and remembering that if he made
+any struggle, he would perhaps be dragged by the collar through the public
+streets, he suffered them to lead him off.
+
+"Now, you know," said Brass, when they had entered the office, and locked
+the door, "if this is a case of innocence, Christopher, the fullest
+disclosure is the best satisfaction for everybody. Therefore, if you'll
+consent to an examination, it will be a comfortable and pleasant thing for
+all parties."
+
+"_SEARCH ME_" said Kit, proudly, holding up his arms. "But mind, sir,--I
+know you'll be sorry for this to the last day of your life."
+
+"It is certainly a very painful occurrence," said Brass, with a sigh, but
+commencing the search with vigour. All at once an exclamation from Dick
+Swiveller and Miss Brass, Sampson's sister, who was also present, cut the
+lawyer short He turned his head, and saw Dick, who had been holding Kit's
+hat, standing with the missing bank-note in his hand.
+
+"In the hat?" cried Brass, in a sort of shriek, "_Under the handkerchief,
+and tucked beneath the lining_," said Mr. Swiveller, aghast, at the
+discovery. Mr. Brass looked at him, at his sister, at the walls, at the
+ceiling, at the floor, everywhere but at Kit, who stood quite stupefied
+and motionless.
+
+Like one entranced, he stood, eyes wide opened, and fixed upon the ground,
+until the constable came, and he found himself being driven away in a
+coach, to the jail, where he was lodged for the night--still dazed by the
+terrible change in his affairs.
+
+It was a long night, but Kit slept, and dreamed too--always of being at
+liberty. At last the morning dawned, and the turnkey who came to unlock
+his cell, and show him where to wash, told him that there was a regular
+time for visiting every day, and that if any of his friends came to see
+him, he would be fetched down to the grate, and that he was lodged apart
+from the mass of prisoners, because he was not supposed to be utterly
+depraved and irreclaimable. Kit was thankful for this indulgence, and sat
+reading the Church Catechism, until the man entered again.
+
+"Now then," he said. "Come on!"
+
+"Where to, sir?" asked Kit.
+
+The man contented himself by briefly replying "Wisitors," and led Kit down
+behind a grating, outside which, and beyond a railing, Kit saw with a
+palpitating heart, his mother with the baby in her arms; and poor little
+Jacob, who, when he saw his brother, and thrusting his arms between the
+rails to hug him, found that he came no nearer, began to cry most
+piteously, whereupon Kit's mother burst out sobbing and weeping afresh.
+Poor Kit could not help joining them, and not a word was spoken for some
+time.
+
+"Oh, my darling Kit!" said his mother at last "That I should see my poor
+boy here!"
+
+"You don't believe that I did what they accuse me of, mother, dear?" cried
+Kit, in a choking voice.
+
+"I, believe it!" exclaimed the poor woman. "I, that never knew you tell a
+lie or do a bad action from your cradle. I believe it of the son that's
+been a comfort to me from the hour of his birth until this time! _I_
+believe it of _you_, Kit!"
+
+"Why then, thank God!" said Kit. "Come what may, I shall always have one
+drop of happiness in my heart when I think that you said that."
+
+At this the poor woman fell a-crying again, and soon, all too soon, the
+turnkey cried "Time's up!" and Kit was taken off in an instant, with a
+blessing from his mother and a scream from little Jacob ringing in his
+ears.
+
+Eight weary days dragged themselves along, and on the ninth the case of
+Christopher Nubbles came up in Court; and the aforesaid Christopher was
+called upon to plead guilty or not guilty to an indictment for that he,
+the aforesaid Christopher, did feloniously abstract and steal from the
+dwelling-house and office of one Sampson Brass, gentleman, one bank-note
+for five pounds, issued for Governor and Company of the Bank of England.
+
+By a cleverly worked-up case on his opponent's side, Kit is so
+cross-examined as to be found guilty by the jury, and is sentenced to be
+transported for a term of years.
+
+Kit's mother, poor woman, is waiting, and when the news is told a sad
+interview ensues. "_He never did it_!" she cries.
+
+"Well," says the turnkey, "I won't contradict you. It's all one now,
+whether he did it or not."
+
+"Some friend will rise up for us, mother," cried Kit. "I am sure. If not
+now, before long. My innocence will come out, mother, and I shall be
+brought back again, I feel confident of that. You must teach little Jacob
+and the baby how all this was, for if they thought I had ever been
+dishonest, when they grew old enough to understand, it would break my
+heart to know it, if I was thousands of miles away. Oh, is there no good
+gentleman here who will take care of her!"
+
+In all Kit's life that was the darkest moment, when he saw his mother led
+away, half fainting, and heard the grating of his cell door as he
+entered--entangled in a network of false evidence and treachery from which
+there seemed no way of escape.
+
+Meanwhile, however, while Kit was being found guilty, a young servant in
+the employ of the Brasses was also guilty of listening at keyholes,
+listening to a conversation which was not intended for her ears, in which
+she heard the entire plot by which Mr. Brass had entrapped and condemned
+Kit. How he had himself placed the money in Kit's hat while it lay upon
+the office table; and how the whole plan had been successful. The small
+servant, friendly to Kit, and hating her employers, lost no time in
+repeating what she had heard to Mr. Garland, and he, the notary, and the
+strange gentleman, after carefully arranging their plan, confronted the
+Brasses with evidence of their guilt so overwhelmingly true, that they
+could do nothing but confess their crime, and Kit's innocence, while Mr.
+Garland hastened to him with the glad news of his freedom.
+
+Lighted rooms, bright fires, cheerful faces, the music of glad voices,
+words of love and welcome, warm hearts and tears of happiness--what a
+change is this! But it is to such delights that Kit is hastening. They are
+awaiting him, he knows. He fears he will die of joy before he gets among
+them.
+
+When they are drawing near their journey's end he begs they may go more
+slowly, and when the house appears in sight that they may stop,--only for
+a minute or two, to give him time to breathe.
+
+But there is no stopping then, for they are already at the garden gate.
+Next minute they are at the door. There is a noise of tongues and a tread
+of feet inside. It opens. Kit rushes in and finds his mother clinging
+round his neck. And there is Mrs. Garland, neater and nicer than ever,
+fainting away stone dead with nobody to help her; and there is Mr. Abel
+violently blowing his nose and wanting to embrace everybody; and there is
+the strange gentleman hovering round them all, and there is that good,
+dear little Jacob sitting all alone by himself on the bottom stair, with
+his hands on his knees, like an old man, roaring fearfully without giving
+any trouble to anybody; and each and all of them are for the time clean
+out of their wits.
+
+Well! In the next room there are decanters of wine, and all that sort of
+thing set out as grand as if Kit and his friends were first-rate company;
+and there is little Jacob walking, as the popular phrase is, into a
+home-made plum cake at a most surprising rate, and keeping his eye on the
+figs and oranges which are to follow.
+
+Kit no sooner comes in than the strange gentleman drinks his health, and
+tells him he shall never want a friend as long as he lives, and so does
+Mr. Garland, and so does Mrs. Garland, and so does Mr. Abel. But even this
+honour and distinction is not all, for the strange gentleman forthwith
+pulls out of his pocket a massive silver watch--and upon the back of this
+watch is engraved Kit's name with flourishes all over--and in short it is
+Kit's watch, bought expressly for him. Mr. and Mrs. Garland can't help
+hinting about their present, in store, and Mr. Abel tells outright that he
+has his; and Kit is the happiest of the happy.
+
+There is one friend that Kit has not seen yet, and he takes the first
+opportunity of slipping away and hurrying to the stable, and when Kit goes
+up to caress and pat him, the pony rubs his nose against his coat and
+fondles him more lovingly than ever pony fondled man. It is the crowning
+circumstance of his earnest, heartfelt reception; and Kit fairly puts his
+arm round Whisker's neck and hugs him.
+
+Happy Christopher!--the darkest days of his life are past--the brightest
+are yet to be. Let us wish him all joy and prosperity and leave him on the
+threshold of manhood!
+
+
+
+
+JO, THE CROSSING SWEEPER
+
+
+[Illustration: JO, THE CROSSING SWEEPER.]
+
+Jo lives in a ruinous place, known to the likes of him by the name of
+Tom-all-Alone's. It is a black dilapidated street, avoided by all decent
+people; where the crazy houses were seized upon when their decay was far
+advanced, by some bold vagrants, who, after establishing their possession,
+took to letting them out in lodgings.
+
+Jo sweeps his crossing all day long, and if he is asked a question he
+replies that he "don't know nothink." He knows that it's hard to keep the
+mud off the crossing in dirty weather, and harder still to live by doing
+it. Nobody taught him that much--he found it out.
+
+Indeed, everything poor Jo knows he has had to find out for himself, for
+no one has even taken the trouble to tell him his real name.
+
+It must be a strange state to be like Jo, not to know the feeling of a
+whole suit of clothes--to wear even in summer the same queer remnant of a
+fur cap; to be always dirty and ragged; to shuffle through the streets,
+unfamiliar with the shapes, and in utter darkness as to the meaning, of
+those mysterious symbols so abundant over the doors and at corners of the
+streets, and on the doors and in the windows. To see people read, and to
+see people write, and to see the postman deliver letters, and not to have
+the least idea of all that language,--to be to all of it stone blind and
+dumb.
+
+It must be very puzzling to be hustled and jostled, and moved on, and to
+really feel that I have no business here or there or anywhere; and yet to
+be perplexed by the consideration that I _am_ here somehow, too, and
+everybody overlooked me until I became the creature that I am.
+
+One cold winter night when Jo was shivering near his crossing, a stranger
+passed him; turned, looked at him intently, then came back and began to
+ask him questions from which he found out that Jo had not a friend in the
+world.
+
+"Neither have I, not one," added the man, and gave him the price of a
+supper and lodging. And from that day Jo was no longer friendless, for the
+stranger often spoke to him, and asked him whether he slept sound at
+night, and how he bore cold and hunger; and whether he ever wished to die;
+and other strange questions. Then when the man had no money he would say,
+"I am as poor as you to-day, Jo," but when he had any he always shared it
+with Jo.
+
+But there came a time not long after this, when the stranger was found
+dead in his bed, in the house of Crook, the rag-and-bottle merchant, where
+he had lodgings; and nothing could be found out about his life or the
+reason for his sudden death. So a jury had to be brought together to
+ferret out the mystery, if possible, and to discover whether the man's
+death was accidental or whether he died by his own hand. No one knew him,
+and he had never been seen talking to a human soul except the boy that
+swept the crossing, down the lane over the way, round the
+corner,--otherwise Jo.
+
+So Jo was called in as a witness at the inquest. Says the coroner, "Is
+that boy here?"
+
+Says the beadle, "No, sir, he is not here."
+
+Says the coroner, "Go and fetch him then."
+
+"Oh, here's the boy, gentlemen!"
+
+Here he is, very muddy, very hoarse, very ragged. Now, boy! But stop a
+minute. Caution. This boy must be put through a few preliminary paces.
+
+Name Jo. Nothink else that he knows on. Don't know that everybody has two
+names. Don't know that Jo is short for a longer name. Thinks it long
+enough for him. Spell it? No. He can't spell it. No father, no mother, no
+friends. Never been to school. What's home? Knows a broom's a broom, and
+knows it's wicked to tell a lie. Don't recollect who told him about the
+broom or about the lie, but knows both. Can't exactly say what'll be done
+to him after he's dead if he tells a lie to the gentleman here, but
+believes it'll be something wery bad to punish him, and so he'll tell the
+truth. "He wos wery good to me, he wos," added the boy, wiping his eyes
+with his wretched sleeves. "When I see him a-laying so stritched out just
+now, I wished he could have heerd me tell him so. He wos wery good to me,
+he wos."
+
+The jury award their verdict of accidental death, and the stranger is
+hurried into a pine box and into an obscure corner of that great home for
+the friendless and unmourned,--the Potter's field,--and night falls,
+hiding from sight the new-made grave.
+
+With the night comes a slouching figure through the tunnel court, to the
+outside of the iron gate of the Potter's field. It holds the gate with its
+hands, and looks in between the bars. Stands looking in for a little
+while. It then takes an old broom it carries, softly sweeps the step, and
+makes the archway clean. It does so very busily and trimly; looks in again
+a little while, and so departs.
+
+Jo, is it thou? Well, well?
+
+Though thou art neither a gentleman nor the son of a gentleman, there is
+an expression of gratitude and of loyalty, worthy of gentle blood,
+indicative of noble character, in thy muttered reason for this:----
+
+"He wos wery good to me, he wos."
+
+Once more without a friend, Jo sweeps his crossing day after day. Before
+the stranger came into his life, he had drifted along in his accustomed
+place, more unreasoning than an intelligent dog; but the hand of a human
+comrade had been laid in his, and it had awakened his humanity; and now as
+he sweeps he thinks--about the stranger--wonders where he has gone to, and
+how he died.
+
+As it seemed to Jo that the world was bounded on all sides by the events
+in Tom-all-Alone's, he was not at all surprised one day to have another
+stranger come to his crossing and ask him many questions concerning the
+dead man. He was glad to talk of him, to tell again all that he knew of
+his life and death, and to show where they had buried him. The interview
+over, Jo is overwhelmed to find his hand closed over a piece of money
+larger than he has ever owned before.
+
+His first proceeding is to hold the piece of money to the gas-light, and
+to be overpowered at finding that it is yellow gold. His next is to give
+it a one-sided bite at the edge, as a test of its quality. His next, to
+put it in his mouth for safety, and to sweep the step and passage with
+great care. His job done, he sets off for Tom-all-Alone's, stopping in the
+light of innumerable gas-lamps to produce the piece of gold, and give it
+another one-sided bite as a reassurance of its being genuine; and then
+shuffles off, back to his crossing; little dreaming--poor Jo!--that
+because of his presence at the inquest, and because of this interview, the
+rest of his existence is to be even more wretched than his past has been.
+He little dreams that persons great and powerful in the outer world were
+connected with the secret of his friend's life and death; but it is even
+so, and those who fear to have anything brought to light concerning him,
+hire officers to hunt Jo away from Tom-all-Alone's,--the only home he has
+ever known,--to keep him as far out of reach as possible, because he knew
+more about the stranger than any one else. He does not understand it at
+all, but from that minute there seems always to be an officer in sight
+telling him to "move on."
+
+At a summons to his shop one day, Mr. Snagsby, the law-stationer (in whose
+employ the dead man was, and who has always been kind to Jo when chance
+has thrown him in his way), descends to find a police constable holding a
+ragged boy by the arm. "Why, bless my heart," says Mr. Snagsby, "what's
+the matter?"
+
+"This boy," says the constable, calmly, "although he's repeatedly told to,
+won't move on."
+
+"I'm always a-moving on, sir," cries the boy, wiping away his grimy tears
+with his arm. "Where can I possibly move to more nor I do?"
+
+"Don't you come none of that, or I shall make blessed short work of you,"
+says the constable, giving him a passionless shake. "My instructions are
+that you are to move on."
+
+"But where?" cries the boy.
+
+"Well, really, constable, you know," says Mr. Snagsby, "really that _does_
+seem a question. Where, you know?"
+
+"My instructions don't go to that," replies the constable. "My
+instructions are that this boy is to move on, and the sooner you're five
+miles away the better for all parties."
+
+Jo shuffles away from the spot where he has been standing, picking bits of
+fur from his cap and putting them in his mouth; but before he goes Mr.
+Snagsby loads him with some broken meats from the table, which he carries
+away hugging in his arms.
+
+Jo goes on, down to Blackfriars Bridge, where he finds a baking stony
+corner wherein to settle his repast. There he sits munching and
+gnawing--the sun going down, the river running fast, the crowd flowing by
+him in two streams--everything passing on to some purpose, and to one end,
+until he is stirred up, and told to move on again.
+
+Desperate with being moved on so many times, Jo tramps out of London down
+to St. Albans, where, exhausted from hunger and from exposure to extreme
+cold, he takes refuge in the cottage of a bricklayer's wife. A young lady
+who happens to be making a charity call on the woman in the cottage--sees
+his feverish, excited condition, and questions him.
+
+"I am a-being froze," said the boy hoarsely, with his haggard gaze
+wandering about. "And then burnt up, and then froze, and then burnt up,
+ever so many times in an hour, and my head's all sleepy, and all a-going
+mad like--I'm so dry--and my bones isn't half as much bones as pains."
+
+"When did he come from London?" the young lady asked.
+
+"I come from London yesterday," said the boy himself, now flushed and hot.
+"I'm a-going somewheres. Somewheres," he repeated in a louder tone. "I
+have been moved on and moved on, more nor I wos afore. Mrs. Snagsby, she's
+allus a-watching and a-driving of me. What have I done to her? And they're
+all a-watching and a-driving of me. Everyone of them's doing of it from
+the time when I don't get up to the time when I don't go to bed. And I'm
+a-going somewheres, that's where I'm a-going!"
+
+So in an oblivious half-insensible way he shuffled out of the house. The
+young lady hurried after him, and presently came up with him. He must have
+begun his journey with some small bundle under his arm, and must have lost
+it or had it stolen, for he still carried his wretched fragment of a fur
+cap like a bundle, though he went bareheaded through the rain, which now
+fell fast.
+
+He stopped when she called him, standing with his lustrous eyes fixed on
+her, and even arrested in his shivering fit. She urged him to go with her,
+and though at first he shook his head, at last he turned and followed her.
+She led the way to her home, where the servants, sorry for his pitiable
+condition, made a bed for him in a warm loft-room by the stable, where he
+was safely housed for the night and cared for.
+
+The next morning the young lady was awakened at an early hour by an
+unusual noise outside her window, and called out to one of the men to know
+the meaning of it.
+
+"It's the boy, miss," said he.
+
+"Is he worse?" she asked.
+
+"Gone, miss!"
+
+"Dead?"
+
+"Dead, miss? No. Gone clean off!"
+
+At what time of the night he had gone, or how or why, it seemed hopeless
+ever to divine. Every possible inquiry was made, and every place searched.
+The brick-kilns were examined, the cottages were visited, the woman was
+particularly questioned, but she knew nothing of him; the weather had been
+for some time too wet, and the night itself had been too wet, to admit of
+any tracing of footsteps. Hedge and ditch, and wall and rick, and stack
+were examined for a long distance round, lest the boy should be lying in
+such a place insensible or dead; but nothing was seen to indicate that he
+had ever been near. From the time when he left the loft-room he vanished,
+and after five days the search was given up as hopeless. Where had poor Jo
+moved on to now?
+
+For some time it seemed that no one would ever know, but at last, not so
+very long after this, a physician, Allan Woodcourt by name--who had known
+something of Jo and his story--was wandering at night in the miserable
+streets of Tom-all-Alone's, impelled by curiosity to see its haunts by
+gas-light. After stopping to offer assistance to a woman sitting on a
+doorstep, who had evidently come a long distance, he walks away, and as he
+does so he sees a ragged figure coming very cautiously along, crouching
+close to the walls. It is the figure of a youth whose face is hollow, and
+whose eyes have an emaciated glare. He is so intent on getting along
+unseen, that even the apparition of a stranger in whole garments does not
+tempt him to look back. Allan Woodcourt pauses to look after him, with a
+shadowy belief that he has seen the boy before. He cannot recall how or
+where, but there is some association in his mind with such a form.
+
+He is gradually emerging from Tom-all-Alone's in the morning light,
+thinking about it, when he hears running feet behind him, and, looking
+around, sees the boy scouring toward him at a great speed, followed by the
+woman.
+
+"Stop him! stop him!" cries the woman; "stop him, sir!"
+
+Allan, not knowing but that he has just robbed her of her money, follows
+in chase, and runs so hard that he runs the boy down a dozen times; but
+each time the boy makes a curve, ducks, dives under his hands, and scours
+away again. At last the fugitive, hard pressed, takes to a narrow passage
+which has no thoroughfare. Here he is brought to bay, and tumbles down,
+lying down gasping at his pursuer until the woman comes up.
+
+"Oh you Jo," cries the woman, "what, I have found you at last!"
+
+"Jo?" repeats Allan, looking at him with attention,--"Jo? Stay--to be
+sure, I recollect this lad, some time ago, being brought before the
+coroner!"
+
+"Yes, I see you once afore at the Inkwich," whimpered the boy. "What of
+that? Can't you never let such an unfortnet as me alone? An't I unfortnet
+enough for you yet? How unfortnet do you want me for to be? I've been
+a-chivied and a-chivied, fust by one on you and nixt by another on you,
+till I'm worritted to skins and bones. The Inkwich warn't my fault; I done
+nothink. He wos very good to me he wos; he wos the only one I knowed to
+speak to me as ever come across my crossing. It ain't very likely I should
+want him to be Inkwich'd. I only wish I wos myself!"
+
+He says it with such a pitiable air that Allan Woodcourt is softened
+toward him. He says to the woman, "What has he done?"--to which she only
+replies, shaking her head,----
+
+"Oh you Jo! you Jo! I have found you at last!"
+
+"What has he done?" says Allan. "Has he robbed you?"
+
+"No, sir, no. Robbed me? He did nothing but what was kind-hearted by me,
+and that's the wonder of it. But he was along with me, sir, down at St.
+Albans, ill, and a young lady--Lord bless her for a good friend to
+me!--took pity on him and took him home--took him home and made him
+comfortable; and like a thankless monster he ran away in the night and
+never has been seen or heard from since, till I set eyes on him just now.
+And the young lady, that was such a pretty dear, caught his illness, lost
+her beautiful looks, and wouldn't hardly be known for the same young lady
+now. Do you know it? You ungrateful wretch, do you know that this is all
+along of her goodness to you?" demands the woman.
+
+The boy, stunned by what he hears, falls to smearing his dirty forehead
+with his dirty palm, and to staring at the ground, and to shaking from
+head to foot.
+
+"You hear what she says!" Allan says to Joe. "You hear what she says, and
+I know it's true. Have you been here ever since?"
+
+"Wishermaydie if I seen Tom-all-Alone's till this blessed morning,"
+replies Jo, hoarsely.
+
+"Why have you come here now?"
+
+Jo looks all around and finally answers, "I don't know how to do nothink
+and I can't get nothink to do. I'm very poor and ill and I thought I'd
+come back here when there warn't nobody about and lay down and hide
+somewheres as I knows on till arter dark, and then go and beg a trifle of
+Mr. Snagsby. He wos allus willing fur to give me something, he wos, though
+Mrs. Snagsby, she wos allus a-chivying me--like everybody everywheres."
+
+"Now, tell me," proceeds Allan, "tell me how it came about that you left
+that house when the good young lady had been so unfortunate as to pity you
+and take you home?"
+
+Jo suddenly came out of his resignation, and excitedly declares that he
+never known about the young lady; that he would sooner have hurt his own
+self, and that he'd sooner have had his unfortnet head chopped off than
+ever gone a-nigh her; and that she wos wery good to him she wos.
+
+Allan Woodcourt sees that this is not a sham.
+
+"Come, Jo, tell me," he urged.
+
+"No, I durstn't," says Jo. "I durstn't or I would."
+
+"But I must know," returns Allan, "all the same. Come, Jo!"
+
+After two or three such adjurations, Jo lifts up his head again, and says
+in a low voice, "Well, I'll tell you something. I was took away. There!"
+
+"Taken away?--In the night?"
+
+Ah! very apprehensive of being overheard, Jo looks about him, and even
+glances up some ten feet at the top of the boarding, and through the
+cracks in it, lest the object of his distrust should be looking over, or
+hidden on the other side.
+
+"Who took you away?"
+
+"I durstn't name him," says Jo. "I durstn't do it, sir."
+
+"But I want, in the young lady's name, to know. You may trust me. No one
+else shall hear."
+
+"Ah, but I don't know," replies Jo, shaking his head fearfully, "as he
+don't hear. He's in all manner of places all at wunst."
+
+Allan looks at him in perplexity, but discovers some real meaning at the
+bottom of this bewildering reply. He patiently awaits an explicit answer,
+and Jo, more baffled by his patience than by anything else, at last
+desperately whispers a name in his ear.
+
+"Aye," says Allan. "Why, what had you been doing?"
+
+"Nothink, sir. Never done nothink to get myself into no trouble 'cept in
+not moving on, and the Inkwich. But I'm moving on now. I'm moving on to
+the berryin'-ground--that's the move as I'm up to."
+
+"No, no. We will try to prevent that. But what did he do with you?"
+
+"Put me in a horspittle," replies Jo, whispering, "till I wor discharged,
+then gave me a little money. 'Nobody wants you here,' he ses. 'You go and
+tramp,' he ses. 'You move on,' he ses. 'Don't let me ever see you nowheres
+within forty mile of London, or you'll repent it.' So I shall if ever he
+does see me, and he'll see me if I'm above ground," concludes Jo.
+
+Allan considers a little, then remarks, turning to the woman, "He is not
+so ungrateful as you supposed. He had a reason for going away, though it
+was an insufficient one."
+
+"Thank 'ee, sir, thank 'ee!" exclaims Jo. "There, now, see how hard you
+was on me. But on'y you tell the young lady wot the genlmn ses, and it's
+all right. For you wos wery good to me, too, and I knows it."
+
+"Now, Jo," says Allan, "come with me and I will find you a better place
+than this to lie down and hide in."
+
+And Jo, repeating, "On'y you tell the young lady as I never went for to
+hurt her, and what the genlmn ses," nods and shambles and shivers and
+smears and blinks, and half-laughs and half-cries a farewell to the woman,
+and takes his creeping way after Allan Woodcourt.
+
+In a quiet, decent place, among people whom he knows will only treat the
+boy with kindness, Allan finds Jo a room.
+
+"Look here, Jo," says Allan, "this is Mr. George. He is a kind friend to
+you, for he is going to give you a lodging here. You are quite safe here.
+All you have to do at present is to be obedient, and to get strong; and
+mind you tell us the truth here, whatever you do, Jo."
+
+"Wishermaydie if I don't, sir," says Jo, reverting to his favourite
+declaration. "I never done nothink yet but wot you knows on to get myself
+into no trouble. I never wos in no other trouble at all, sir, 'cept not
+knowing nothink and starwation."
+
+"I believe it," said Allan; "and now you must lie down and rest."
+
+"Let me lay here quiet, and not be chivied any more," falters Jo, after he
+has been assisted to his bed and given medicine; "and be so kind any
+person as is a-passing nigh where I used fur to sweep, as to say to Mr.
+Snagsby that Jo, wot he knowed wunst, is a-movin' on right forards with
+his duty, and I'll be wery thankful!"
+
+At the boy's request, later, Mr. Snagsby is sent for, and Jo is very glad
+to see his old friend, and says when they are alone that he "takes it
+uncommon kind as Mr. Snagsby should come so far out of his way on account
+of sich as him."
+
+"Mr. Snagsby," says Jo, "I went and give an illness to a lady, and none of
+'em never says nothink to me for having done it, on account of their being
+so good and my having been so unfortnet. The lady come herself and see me
+yes'day, and she ses, 'Jo,' she ses, 'we thought we'd lost you, Jo,' she
+ses; and she sits down a-smilin' so quiet, and don't pass a word nor yit a
+look upon me for having done it, she don't; and I turns agin the wall, I
+doos, Mr. Snagsby. And Mr. Woodcot, he come to give me somethink to ease
+me, wot he's allus a-doing on day and night, and wen he come over me and
+a-speakin' up so bold, I see his tears a-fallin', Mr. Snagsby."
+
+After this, Jo lies in a stupor most of the time, and Allan Woodcourt,
+coming in a little later, stands looking down on the wasted form, thinking
+of the thousands of strong, merry boys to whom the story of Jo's life
+would sound incredible. As he stands there, Jo rouses with a start.
+
+"Well, Jo, what is the matter? Don't be frightened."
+
+"I thought," says Jo, who had stared and is looking around, "I thought I
+wos in Tom-all-Alone's again. Ain't there nobody here but you, Mr.
+Woodcot?"
+
+"Nobody."
+
+"And I ain't took back to Tom-all-Alone's. Am I, sir?"
+
+"No."
+
+Jo closes his eyes, muttering, "I'm wery thankful!"
+
+After watching him closely for a little while, Allan puts his mouth very
+near his ear, and says to him in a low, distinct voice:
+
+"Jo, did you ever know a prayer?"
+
+"Never knowed no think, sir!"
+
+"Not so much as one short prayer?"
+
+"No, sir. Nothink at all, sir. Mr. Chadbands he wos a-praying wunst at Mr.
+Snagsby's, and I heerd him, but he sounded as if he wos a-speaking to
+hisself and not to me. He prayed a lot, but I couldn't make out nothink on
+it. I never knowed wot it wos all about."
+
+It takes him a long time to say this, and few but an experienced and
+attentive listener could hear, or hearing understand him. After a short
+relapse into sleep or a stupor he makes of a sudden a strong effort to get
+out of bed.
+
+"Stay, Jo, what now?"
+
+"It's time for me to go to that there berrying-ground, sir," he returned
+with a wild look.
+
+"Lie down and tell me what burying-ground, Jo."
+
+"Where they laid him as wos wery good to me; wery good to me indeed he
+wos! It's time for me to go down to that there berrying-ground and ask to
+be put along with him. I wants to go there and be berried. He used fur to
+say to me, 'I am as poor as you to-day, Jo,' he says. I wants to tell him
+that I am as poor as him now, and have come there to be laid along with
+him."
+
+"By-and-by, Jo, by-and-by."
+
+"Ah! P'raps they wouldn't do it if I wos to go myself. But will you
+promise to have me took there, sir, and laid along with him?"
+
+"I will, indeed!"
+
+"Thank 'ee, sir. Thank 'ee, sir. They'll have to get the key of the gate
+afore they can take me in, for it's always locked. And there 's a step
+there as I used fur to clean with my broom. It's turned very dark, sir. Is
+there any light a-coming?"
+
+"It is coming fast, Jo, my poor fellow."
+
+"I hear you, sir, in the dark, but I'm a-gropin'--a-gropin'--let me catch
+hold of your hand!"
+
+"Jo, can you say what I say?"
+
+"I'll say anythink as you say, sir, fur I knows it's good."
+
+"OUR FATHER,"
+
+"Our Father--yes, that's wery good, sir."
+
+"WHICH ART IN HEAVEN,"
+
+"Art in Heaven--is the light a-coming, sir?"
+
+"It is close at hand--HALLOWED BE THY NAME."
+
+"Hallowed be--thy----"
+
+The light is come upon the dark benighted way. The bewildering path is
+cleared of shadows at last. Jo has moved on to a home prepared by Eternal
+Love for such as he.
+
+
+
+
+PAUL DOMBEY
+
+
+[Illustration: PAUL DOMBEY AND HIS SISTER.]
+
+As Mrs. Dombey died when little Paul was born, upon Mr. Dombey--the
+pompous head of the great firm Dombey and Son--fell the entire
+responsibility of bringing up his two children, Florence, then eight years
+of age, and the tiny boy, Paul. Of Florence he took little notice; girls
+never seemed to him to be of any special use in the world, but Paul was
+the light of his eyes, his pride and joy, and in the delicate child with
+his refined features and dreamy eyes, Mr. Dombey saw the future
+representative of the firm, and his heir as well; and he could not do
+enough for the boy who was to perpetuate the name of Dombey after him. It
+seemed to Mr. Dombey that any one so fortunate as to be born his son could
+not but thrive in return for so great a favour. So it was a blow to him
+that Paul did not grow into a burly, hearty fellow. All their vigilance
+and care could not make him a sturdy boy.
+
+He was a pretty little fellow, though there was something wan and wistful
+in his small face. His temper gave abundant promise of being imperious in
+after life; and he had as hopeful an apprehension of his own importance,
+and the rightful subservience of all other things and persons to it as
+heart could wish. He was childish and sportive enough at times, and not of
+a sullen disposition; but he had a strange, old-fashioned, thoughtful way,
+at other times of sitting brooding in his miniature arm-chair. At no time
+did he fall into it so surely as when after dinner he sat with his father
+by the fire. They were the strangest pair at such a time that ever
+fire-light shone upon. Dombey so erect and solemn, gazing at the blaze;
+Paul with an old, old face peering into the red perspective with the fixed
+and rapt attention of a sage, the two so much alike and yet so monstrously
+contrasted. On one of these occasions, when they had both been perfectly
+quiet for a long time, little Paul broke the silence thus:
+
+"Papa, what's money?"
+
+The abrupt question took Mr. Dombey by surprise.
+
+"What is money, Paul?" he answered, "Money?"
+
+"Yes," said the child, laying his hands upon the elbows of his little
+chair, and turning his face up towards Mr. Dombey. "What is money?"
+
+Mr. Dombey was in a difficulty. He would have liked to give him some
+explanation, involving the terms, currency, bullion, rates of exchange,
+etc., but he feared he might not be understood, so he answered:
+
+"Gold and silver and copper. Guineas, shillings, halfpence. You know what
+they are?"
+
+"Oh yes, I know what they are," said Paul. "I don't mean that, papa. I
+mean what is money after all?"
+
+"What is money after all!"--said Mr. Dombey, backing his chair a little,
+that he might the better gaze at the presumptuous atom who propounded such
+an inquiry.
+
+"I mean, papa, what can it do?" returned Paul.
+
+Mr. Dombey patted him on the head. "You'll know better by-and-by, my man,"
+he said. "Money, Paul, can do anything."
+
+"Anything, papa?"
+
+"Yes, anything--almost," said Mr. Dombey.
+
+"Why didn't money save me my mama?" returned the child. "It isn't cruel,
+is it?"
+
+"Cruel?" said Mr. Dombey. "No. A good thing can't be cruel."
+
+"If it's a good thing and can do anything," said the little fellow,
+thoughtfully, as he looked back at the fire, "I wonder why it didn't save
+me my mama."
+
+He didn't ask the question of his father this time. Perhaps he had seen,
+with a child's quickness, that it had already made his father
+uncomfortable. But he repeated the thought aloud, as if it was quite an
+old one to him, and had troubled him very much.
+
+"It can't make me strong and quite well, either, papa; can it?" asked
+Paul, after a short silence; rubbing his tiny hands.
+
+"You are as strong and well as such little people usually are? Eh?" said
+Mr. Dombey.
+
+"Florence is older than I am, but I'm not as strong and well as Florence,
+I know," returned the child; "I am so tired sometimes," said little Paul,
+"and my bones ache so that I don't know what to do."
+
+The unusual tone of that conversation so alarmed Mr. Dombey that the very
+next day he began to inquire into the real state of Paul's health; and as
+the doctor suggested that sea-air might be of benefit to the child, to
+Brighton he was promptly sent, to remain until he should seem benefited.
+He refused to go without Florence to whom he clung with a passion of
+devotion which made Mr. Dombey both irritated and jealous to see, wishing
+himself to absorb the boy's entire affection.
+
+So to Brighton Paul and Florence went, in charge of Paul's nurse, Wickam.
+They found board in the house of an old lady, Mrs. Pipchin by name, whose
+temper was not of the best and whose methods of managing children were
+rather peculiar.
+
+At this exemplary old lady, Paul would sit staring in his little armchair
+for any length of time. He never seemed to know what weariness was when he
+was looking fixedly at Mrs. Pipchin. He was not fond of her, he was not
+afraid of her, but she seemed to have a grotesque attraction for him.
+
+Once she asked him, when they were alone, what he was thinking about.
+
+"You," said Paul, without the least reserve.
+
+"And what are you thinking about me?" asked Mrs. Pipchin.
+
+"I'm thinking how old you must be," said Paul.
+
+"You mustn't say such things as that, young gentleman," returned the dame.
+
+"Why not?" asked Paul.
+
+"Because it's not polite," said Mrs. Pipchin, snappishly.
+
+"Not polite?" said Paul.
+
+"No."
+
+"It's not polite," said Paul innocently, "to eat all the mutton-chops and
+toast, Wickam says."
+
+"Wickam," retorted Mrs. Pipchin colouring, "is a wicked, impudent,
+bold-faced hussy."
+
+"What's that?" inquired Paul.
+
+"Never you mind, sir," retorted Mrs. Pipchin. "Remember the story of the
+little boy that was gored to death by a mad bull for asking questions."
+
+"If the bull was mad," said Paul, "how did he know that the boy had asked
+questions? Nobody can go and whisper secrets to a mad bull. I don't
+believe that story."
+
+"You don't believe it, sir?" repeated Mrs. Pipchin, amazed.
+
+"No," said Paul.
+
+"Not if it should happen to have been a tame bull, you little infidel?"
+said Mrs. Pipchin.
+
+As Paul had not considered the subject in that light, he allowed himself
+to be put down for the present. But he sat turning it over in his mind
+with such an obvious intention of fixing Mrs. Pipchin presently, that even
+that hardy old lady deemed it prudent to retreat until he should have
+forgotten the subject.
+
+From that time Mrs. Pipchin appeared to have something of the same odd
+kind of an attraction towards Paul as Paul had towards her. She would make
+him move his chair to her side of the fire, instead of sitting opposite,
+and there he would remain studying every line of Mrs. Pipchin's face,
+while the old black cat lay coiled up on the fender purring and winking at
+the fire, and Paul went on studying Mrs, Pipchin and the cat and the fire,
+night after night, as if they were a history of necromancy in three
+volumes.
+
+At the end of a week, as Paul was no stronger, though he looked much
+healthier in the face, a little carriage was got for him, in which he
+could be wheeled down to the seaside. Consistent in his odd tastes, the
+child set aside a ruddy faced lad, who was proposed as the drawer of this
+carriage, and selected instead, his grandfather, Glubb by name, a weazen,
+old, crab-faced man, in a suit of battered oilskins, who smelt like a
+weedy sea-beach when the tide is out. With this notable attendant to pull
+him along and Florence always by his side, he went down to the margin of
+the ocean every day; and there he would sit or lie in his carriage for
+hours together, never so distressed as at the company of children.
+
+He had even a dislike at such times to the company of nurse Wickham, and
+was well pleased when she strolled away. His favourite spot was quite a
+lonely one, far away from most loungers, and with Florence sitting by his
+side at work, or reading to him, and the wind blowing on his face, and the
+water coming up among the wheels of his bed, he wanted nothing more.
+
+For a year the children stayed at Brighton, going home but twice during
+that time for a few days, but every Sunday Mr. Dombey spent with them at
+the Brighton Hotel.
+
+During the year Paul had grown strong enough to give up his carriage,
+though he still looked thin and delicate, and still remained the same
+dreamy, quiet child that he had been when consigned to Mrs. Pipchin's
+care.
+
+At length, on a Saturday afternoon, Mr. Dombey appeared with the news that
+he was thinking of removing Paul to the school of one Doctor Blimber, also
+at Brighton.
+
+"I have had some communication with the doctor, Mrs. Pipchin," said Mr.
+Dombey, "and he does not think Paul at all too young for his purposes. My
+son is getting on, Mrs. Pipchin, really he is getting on."
+
+"Six years old!" said Mr. Dombey, settling his neckcloth. "Dear me! six
+will be changed to sixteen before we have time to look about us; and there
+is no doubt, I fear, that in his studies he is behind many children of his
+age--or his youth," said Mr. Dombey--"his youth is a more appropriate
+expression.
+
+"Now, Mrs. Pipchin, instead of being behind his peers, my son ought to be
+before them, far before them. There is an eminence ready for him to mount
+on. There is nothing of chance or doubt before my son. The education of
+such a young gentleman must not be delayed. It must not be left imperfect.
+It must be very steadily and seriously undertaken, Mrs. Pipchin."
+
+"Well, sir," said Mrs. Pipchin, "I can say nothing to the contrary." And
+so to Doctor Blimber's Paul was sent.
+
+The doctor's was a mighty fine house fronting the sea. Upon its doorstep
+one day Paul stood with a fluttering heart, and with his small right hand
+in his father's. His other hand was locked in that of Florence. The doctor
+was sitting in his portentous study, with a globe at each knee, books all
+round him, Homer over the door and Minerva on the mantel-shelf.
+
+Paul being somewhat too small to be seen from where the doctor sat, over
+the books on his table, the doctor made several futile attempts to get a
+view of him round the legs; which Mr. Dombey perceiving, relieved the
+doctor from his embarrassment by taking Paul up in his arms, and sitting
+him on another little table in the middle of the room.
+
+"Ha!" said the doctor, leaning back in his chair. "Now I see my little
+friend. How do you do, my little friend?"
+
+"V-ery well, I thank you, sir," returned Paul.
+
+"Ha!" said Doctor Blimber. "Shall we make a man of him?"
+
+"Do you hear, Paul?" added Mr. Dombey, Paul being silent.
+
+"I had rather be a child," replied Paul.
+
+"Indeed!" said the doctor. "Why?"
+
+The child made no audible answer, and Doctor Blimber continued, "You would
+wish my little friend to acquire----?"
+
+"_Everything_, if you please, doctor," returned Mr. Dombey, firmly.
+
+"Yes," said the doctor. "Yes, exactly. Ha! We shall impart a great variety
+of information to our little friend, and bring him quickly forward."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Blimber entered, followed by her daughter, and they
+were duly presented to the Dombeys. There was no light nonsense about Miss
+Blimber. She kept her hair short and crisp and wore spectacles.
+
+Mrs. Blimber, her mama, was not learned herself, but she pretended to be,
+and that did quite as well. She said at evening parties, that if she could
+have known Cicero, she thought she could have died content. It was the
+steady joy of her life to see the doctor's young gentlemen go out walking,
+in the largest possible shirt-collars and the stiffest possible cravats.
+It was so classical, she said.
+
+After the introductions were accomplished, Mrs. Blimber took Mr. Dombey
+upstairs to inspect the dormitories. While they were gone Paul sat upon
+the table, holding Florence by the hand, and glancing timidly from the
+doctor round and round the room, while the doctor held a book from him at
+arm's length and read.
+
+Presently Mr. Dombey and Mrs. Blimber returned.
+
+"I hope, Mr. Dombey," said the doctor laying down his book, "that the
+arrangements meet with your approval?"
+
+"They are excellent, sir," said Mr. Dombey, and added, "I think I have
+given all the trouble I need, and may now take my leave. Paul my child,
+good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye, papa."
+
+The limp and careless little hand, that Mr. Dombey took in his, was
+singularly out of keeping with the wistful little face. But he had no part
+in its sorrowful expression. It was not addressed to him. No, no! To
+Florence, all to Florence.
+
+"I shall see you soon, Paul," said Mr. Dombey, bending over to kiss the
+child. "You are free on Saturdays and Sundays, you know."
+
+"Yes, papa," returned Paul, looking at his sister. "On Saturdays and
+Sundays."
+
+"And you'll try and learn a great deal here and be a clever man," said Mr.
+Dombey; "won't you?"
+
+"I'll try," said the boy, wearily, and then after his father had patted
+him on the head, and pressed his small hand again, and after he had one
+last long hug from Florence, he was left with the globes, the books, blind
+Homer and Minerva, while Doctor Blimber saw Mr. Dombey to the door.
+
+After the lapse of some minutes, Doctor Blimber came back, and the doctor
+lifting his new pupil off the table delivered him over to Miss Blimber's
+care. Miss Blimber received his young ward from the doctor's hands; and
+Paul, feeling that the spectacles were surveying him, cast down his eyes.
+
+"How much of your Latin Grammar do you know, Dombey?" said Miss Blimber.
+
+"None of it," answered Paul. Feeling that the answer was a shock to Miss
+Blimber's sensibility he added:
+
+"I haven't been well. I have been a weak child. I couldn't learn a Latin
+Grammar when I was out every day with old Glubb. I wish you would tell old
+Glubb to come and see me, if you please."
+
+"What a dreadful low name," said Mrs. Blimber. "Unclassical to a degree!
+Who is the monster, child?"
+
+"What monster!" inquired Paul.
+
+"Glubb," said Mrs. Blimber.
+
+"He's no more a monster than you are," returned Paul.
+
+"What!" cried the doctor, in a terrible voice. "Aye, aye, aye? Aha! What's
+that?"
+
+Paul was dreadfully frightened, but still he made a stand for the absent
+Glubb, though he did it trembling.
+
+"He's a very nice old man, ma'am," he said. "He used to draw my couch; he
+knows all about the deep sea and the fish that are in it, and though old
+Glubb don't know why the sea should make me think of my mama that's dead,
+or what it is that it is always saying,--always saying, he knows a great
+deal about it."
+
+"Ha!" said the doctor, shaking his head: "this is bad, but study will do
+much. Take him round the house, Cornelia, and familiarise him with his new
+sphere. Go with that young lady, Dombey."
+
+Dombey obeyed, giving his hand to Cornelia, who took him first to the
+school-room. Here were eight young gentlemen in various stages of mental
+prostration, all very hard at work and very grave indeed. Toots, the
+oldest boy in the school, to whom Paul had previously been introduced, had
+a desk to himself in one corner, and a magnificent man of immense age, he
+looked in Paul's eyes behind it.
+
+The appearance of a new boy did not create the sensation that might have
+been expected. Mr. Feeder, B.A., gave him a bony hand and told him he was
+glad to see him, and then Paul, instructed by Miss Blimber shook hands
+with all the eight young gentlemen, at work against time. Then Cornelia
+led Paul upstairs to the top of the house: and there, in a front room
+looking over the wild sea, Cornelia showed him a nice little white bed
+with white hangings, close to the window, on which there was already
+written on a card in round text DOMBEY; while two other little bedsteads
+in the same room, were announced through the same means as belonging to
+BRIGGS and TOZER.
+
+Then Miss Blimber said to Dombey that dinner would be ready in a quarter
+of an hour, and perhaps he had better go into the school-room among his
+"friends." So Dombey opened the school-room door a very little way and
+strayed in like a lost boy.
+
+His "friends," were all dispersed about the room. All the boys (Toots
+excepted) were getting ready for dinner--some newly tying their
+neckcloths, and others washing their hands or brushing their hair in an
+adjoining room. Young Toots, who was ready beforehand, and had therefore
+leisure to bestow upon Dombey, said with heavy good-nature,----
+
+"Sit down, Dombey."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Paul.
+
+His endeavouring to hoist himself on to a very high window-seat, and his
+slipping down again, prepared Toots' mind for the reception of a
+discovery.
+
+"You're a very small chap," said Mr. Toots.
+
+"Yes, sir, I'm small," returned Paul. "Thank you, sir." For Toots had
+lifted him into the seat, and done it kindly too.
+
+"Who's your tailor?" inquired Toots, after looking at him for some
+moments.
+
+"It's a woman that has made my clothes as yet," said Paul "My sister's
+dressmaker."
+
+"My tailor's Burgess and Co.," said Toots. "Fash'nable but very dear."
+
+Paul had wit enough to shake his head, as if he would have said it was
+easy to see that.
+
+"Your father's regularly rich, ain't he?" inquired Mr. Toots.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Paul. "He's Dombey and Son."
+
+"And which?" demanded Toots.
+
+"And son, sir," replied Paul.
+
+By this time the other pupils had gathered round, and after a few minutes
+of general conversation the gong sounded, which caused a general move
+towards the dining-room. Paul's chair at the table was next to Miss
+Blimber, but it being found, when he sat in it, that his eyebrows were not
+much above the level of the table-cloth, some books were brought, on which
+he was elevated, and on which he always sat from that time, carrying them
+in and out himself on after occasions, like a little elephant and castle.
+
+Grace having been said by the doctor, dinner began. There was some nice
+soup, also roast meat, boiled meat, vegetables, pie, and cheese. Every
+young gentleman had a massive silver fork and a napkin, and all the
+arrangements were stately and handsome. There was a butler too, in a blue
+coat and brass buttons.
+
+Nobody spoke unless spoken to, except Doctor Blimber, Mrs. Blimber, and
+Miss Blimber. Only once during dinner was there any conversation that
+included the young gentlemen. It happened when the doctor, having hemmed
+twice or thrice; said:----
+
+"It is remarkable, Mr. Feeder, that the Romans----"
+
+At this mention of this terrible people, their implacable enemies, every
+young gentleman fastened his gaze upon the doctor, with an assumption of
+the deepest interest. One of the number happened to be drinking, and when
+he caught the doctor's eye glaring at him through the side of his tumbler,
+he left off so hastily that he was convulsed for some moments, and in the
+sequel ruined Doctor Blimber's point, for at the critical part of the
+Roman tale, Johnson, unable to suppress it any longer, burst into such an
+overwhelming fit of coughing that, although both his immediate neighbours
+thumped him on the back, and Mr. Feeder himself held a glass of water to
+his lips, and the butler walked him up and down several times between his
+own chair and the sideboard, like a sentry, it was full five minutes
+before he was moderately composed, and then there was a profound silence.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Doctor Blimber, "rise for Grace! Cornelia, lift Dombey
+down. Johnson will repeat to me to-morrow morning before breakfast,
+without book, and from the Greek Testament, the first chapter of Saint
+Paul to the Ephesians. We will resume our studies, Mr. Feeder, in
+half-an-hour."
+
+The young gentlemen bowed and withdrew. Through the rest of the day's
+routine of work Paul sat in a corner wondering whether Florence was
+thinking of him and what they were about at Mrs. Pipchin's.
+
+In the confidence of their own room that night Briggs said his head ached
+ready to split. Tozer didn't say much, but he sighed a good deal, and told
+Paul to look out for his turn would come to-morrow. And Tozer was right.
+The next morning Miss Blimber called Dombey to her and gave him a great
+pile of books.
+
+"These are yours, Dombey," said Miss Blimber.
+
+"All of 'em, ma'am?" said Paul.
+
+"Yes," returned Miss Blimber; "and Mr. Feeder will look you out some more
+very soon if you are as studious as I expect you will be, Dombey."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Paul.
+
+"Now, don't lose time, Dombey," continued Miss Blimber, "for you have none
+to spare, but take them downstairs and begin directly."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," answered Paul.
+
+There were so many of them that, although Paul put one hand under the
+bottom book and his other hand and his chin on the top book and hugged
+them all closely, the middle book slipped out before he reached the door,
+and then they all tumbled down on the floor. Miss Blimber said, "Oh,
+Dombey, Dombey, this is really very careless," and piled them up afresh
+for him; and this time by dint of balancing them with great nicety, Paul
+got out of the room and down a few stairs before two of them escaped
+again. But he held the rest so tight that he only left one more on the
+first floor and one in the passage; and when he had got the main body down
+into the school-room, he set off upstairs again to collect the stragglers.
+Having at last amassed the whole library and climbed into his place he
+fell to work, encouraged by a remark from Tozer to the effect that he was
+in for it now; which was the only interruption he received until breakfast
+time, for which meal he had no appetite, and when it was finished, he
+followed Miss Blimber upstairs.
+
+"Now, Dombey, how have you got on with those books?" asked Miss Blimber.
+
+They comprised a little English, and a deal of Latin, names of things,
+declensions of articles and nouns, exercises thereon, and preliminary
+rules; a trifle of orthography, a glance at ancient history, a wink or two
+at modern ditto, a few tables, two or three weights and measures, and a
+little general information. When poor Paul had spelt out number two, he
+found he had no idea of number one, fragments whereof obtruded themselves
+into number three, which slided into number four, which grafted itself on
+to number two. So that whether twenty Romuluses made a Remus, or hic,
+haec, hoc, was troy weight, or a verb always agreed with an ancient
+Briton, or three times four was Taurus, a bull, were open questions with
+him.
+
+"Oh, Dombey, Dombey!" said Miss Blimber, "this is very shocking!"
+
+"If you please," said Paul, "I think if I might sometimes talk a little
+with old Glubb, I should be able to do better."
+
+"Nonsense, Dombey," said Miss Blimber, "I couldn't hear of it; and now
+take away the top book, if you please, Dombey, and return when you are
+master of the theme."
+
+From that time Paul gave his whole mind to the pursuit of knowledge and
+acquitted himself very well, but it was hard work, and only on Saturdays
+did he have time to draw a free breath.
+
+Oh Saturdays, happy Saturdays, when Florence, still at Mrs. Pipchin's,
+came at noon; they made up for all the other days!
+
+It did not take long for the loving sister to discover that Paul needed
+help with the lessons over which he plodded so patiently, and so,
+procuring the books which he used, she kept pace with him in his studies,
+and every Saturday was able to assist him with his next week's work, and
+thus he was kept from sinking underneath the burden which Cornelia Blimber
+piled upon his back.
+
+It was not that Miss Blimber meant to be too hard upon him, or that Doctor
+Blimber meant to bear too heavily upon the young gentlemen in general, but
+comforted by the applause of the young gentlemen's nearest relatives, and
+urged on by their blind vanity and ill-considered haste, it would have
+been strange if Doctor Blimber had discovered his mistake. Thus in the
+case of Paul. When Doctor Blimber said he made great progress and was
+naturally clever, Mr. Dombey was more bent than ever on his being forced
+and crammed.
+
+Such spirits as he had in the outset Paul soon lost. But he retained all
+that was strange and old and thoughtful in his character. The only
+difference was that he kept his character to himself. He grew more
+thoughtful and reserved every day. He loved to be alone; and in those
+short intervals when he was not occupied with his books, he liked nothing
+so well as wandering about the house by himself, or sitting on the stairs
+listening to the great clock in the hall.
+
+They were within some two or three weeks of the holidays when one day
+Cornelia called Dombey to her to hear the analysis of his character that
+she was about to send to his father.
+
+"_Analysis_," said Miss Blimber, "of the character of P. Dombey. It may be
+generally observed of Dombey," said Miss Blimber, reading in a loud voice,
+and at every second word directing her spectacles towards the little
+figure before her, "that his abilities and inclinations are good, and that
+he has made as much progress as under the circumstances could have been
+expected. But it is to be lamented of this young gentleman that he is
+singular (what is usually termed old-fashioned) in his character and
+conduct, and that he is often very unlike other young gentlemen of his age
+and social position. Now, Dombey," said Miss Blimber, laying down the
+paper, "do you understand? This analysis, you see, Dombey," Miss Blimber
+continued, "is going to be sent home to your respected parent. It will
+naturally be very painful to him to find that you are singular in your
+character and conduct. It is naturally very painful to us, for we can't
+like you, you know, Dombey, as well as we could wish."
+
+She touched the child upon a tender point. He had secretly become more
+solicitous from day to day that all the house should like him. He could
+not bear to think that they would be quite indifferent to him when he was
+gone, and he had even made it his business to conciliate a great, hoarse,
+shaggy dog, who had previously been the terror of his life, that even he
+might miss him.
+
+This poor tiny Paul set forth to Miss Blimber as well as he could and
+begged her, in spite of the official analysis, to have the goodness to try
+to like him. To Mrs. Blimber, who had joined them, he preferred the same
+petition; and when she gave her oft-repeated opinion that he was an odd
+child, Paul told her that he was sure that she was quite right; that he
+thought it must be his bones, but he didn't know, and he hoped she would
+overlook it, for he was fond of them all.
+
+"Not so fond," said Paul, with a mixture of frankness and timidity which
+was one of the most peculiar and engaging qualities of his, "not so fond
+as I am of Florence, of course; that could never be. You couldn't expect
+that, could you, ma'am?"
+
+"Oh, the old-fashioned little soul!" cried Mrs. Blimber, in a whisper.
+
+"But I like everybody here very much," pursued Paul, "and I should grieve
+to go away and think that any one was glad I had gone, or didn't care."
+
+Mrs. Blimber was now sure that Paul was the oddest child in the world, and
+when she told the doctor what had passed, he did not controvert his wife's
+opinion.
+
+And Paul's wish was gratified. His purpose was to be a gentle, helpful,
+quiet little fellow, and though he was often to be seen at his old post on
+the stairs, or watching the waves or the clouds from his solitary window,
+he was oftener found too, among the other boys, modestly rendering them
+some little voluntary service. Thus it came to pass that Paul was an
+object of general interest: a fragile little plaything that they all
+liked, and that no one would have thought of treating roughly. But he
+could not change his nature, and so they all agreed that Dombey was
+old-fashioned.
+
+There were some immunities, however, attaching to the character enjoyed by
+no one else. They could have better spared a newer-fashioned child, and
+that alone was much. When the others only bowed to Doctor Blimber and
+family when retiring, Paul would stretch his morsel of a hand, and boldly
+shake the doctor's, also Mrs. Blimber's, also Cornelia's; and if any one
+was to be begged off from impending punishment, Paul was always the
+delegate.
+
+One evening, when the holidays were very near, Paul was in Toots' room
+watching Mr. Feeder and Toots fold, seal, and direct, the invitations for
+the evening party with which the term was to close. Paul's head, which had
+long been ailing more or less, and was sometimes very heavy and painful,
+felt so uneasy that night that he was obliged to support it on his hand.
+And it dropped so that by little and little it sunk on Mr. Toots' knee,
+and rested there.
+
+That was no reason why he should be deaf; but he must have been, he
+thought, for by and by he heard Mr. Feeder calling in his ear, and gently
+shaking him to rouse his attention. And when he raised his head, quite
+scared, he found that Doctor Blimber had come into the room, and that the
+window was open, and that his forehead was wet with sprinkled water.
+
+"Ah! Come, come, that's well. How is my little friend now?" said Doctor
+Blimber.
+
+"Oh, quite well, thank you, sir," said Paul.
+
+But there seemed to be something the matter with the floor, for he
+couldn't stand upon it steadily; and with the walls too, for they were
+inclined to turn round and round.
+
+It was very kind of Mr. Toots to carry him to the top of the house so
+tenderly, and Paul told him that it was. But Mr. Toots said he would do a
+great deal more than that if he could; and, indeed, he did more as it was,
+for he helped Paul to undress and helped him to bed in the kindest manner
+possible, and then sat down by the bedside and chuckled very much, while
+Mr. Feeder leaning over the bottom of the bedstead set all the little
+bristles on his head, bolt upright with his bony hands, and then made
+believe to spar at Paul, with great science, on account of his being all
+right again, which was so funny and kind, too, in Mr. Feeder, that Paul,
+not being able to make up his mind whether to laugh or cry, did both at
+once.
+
+Everything that could minister to Paul's comfort was done for him, and in
+those days just before the holidays when the other young gentlemen were
+labouring for dear life, Paul was such a privileged pupil as had never
+been seen in that house before. He could hardly believe it himself, but
+his liberty lasted from hour to hour, from day to day; and little Dombey
+was caressed by every one.
+
+At last, the great night of the reception arrived.
+
+When Paul was dressed, which was very soon done, for he felt unwell and
+drowsy and not able to stand about it very long, he went down into the
+drawing-room. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Blimber appeared, looking lovely,
+Paul thought, and Miss Blimber came down soon after her mama. Mr. Toots
+and Mr. Feeder were the next arrivals. Each of these gentlemen brought his
+hat in his hand as if he lived somewhere else; and when they were
+announced by the butler. Doctor Blimber said, "Aye, aye, aye! God bless my
+soul!" and seemed extremely glad to see them. Mr. Toots was one blaze of
+jewellery and buttons, and all the other young gentlemen were tightly
+cravatted, curled, and pumped, and all came in with their hats in their
+hands at separate times and were announced and introduced. Soon Paul
+slipped down from the cushioned corner of a sofa, and went downstairs into
+the tearoom to be ready for Florence. Presently she came; looking so
+beautiful in her simple ball-dress, with her fresh flowers in her hand,
+that when she knelt down, to take Paul round the neck and kiss him, he
+could hardly make up his mind to let her go again, or to take away her
+bright and loving eyes from his face.
+
+"But what is the matter, Floy?" asked Paul, almost sure that he saw a tear
+there.
+
+"Nothing, darling, nothing," returned Florence.
+
+Paul touched her cheek gently with his finger, and it _was_ a tear.
+
+"We'll go home together, and I'll nurse you, love," said Florence.
+
+"Nurse me?" echoed Paul.
+
+"Floy," said Paul, holding a ringlet of her dark hair in his hand. "Tell
+me, dear. Do you think I have grown old-fashioned?"
+
+His sister laughed, and fondled him and told him, "No."
+
+Through the evening Paul sat in his corner watching the dancing and
+beaming with pride as he heard praise showered on Dombey's sister. They
+all loved her--how could they help it, Paul had known beforehand that they
+must and would, and few would have thought with what triumph and delight
+he watched her. Thus little Paul sat musing, listening, looking on and
+dreaming; and was very happy. Until the time came for taking leave, and
+then indeed there was a sensation in the party. Every one took the
+heartiest sort of leave of him.
+
+"Good-bye, Doctor Blimber," said Paul, stretching out his hand.
+
+"Good-bye, my little friend," returned the doctor.
+
+"I'm very much obliged to you, sir," said Paul, looking innocently up into
+his awful face. "Ask them to take care of Diogenes, if you please."
+
+Diogenes was the dog who had never received a friend into his confidence,
+before Paul. The doctor promised that every attention should be paid to
+Diogenes in Paul's absence, and Paul having again thanked him, and shaken
+hands with him, bade adieu to Mrs. Blimber and Cornelia. Cornelia, taking
+both Paul's hands in hers said,--"Dombey, Dombey, you have always been my
+favourite pupil. God bless you!" And it showed, Paul thought, how easily
+one might do injustice to a person; for Miss Blimber meant it--although
+she was a Forcer.
+
+A buzz then went round among the young gentlemen, of "Dombey's going!
+little Dombey's going!" and there was a general move after Paul and
+Florence down the staircase and into the hall, in which the whole Blimber
+family were included. The servants with the butler at their head had all
+an interest in seeing Little Dombey go, and even the young man taking out
+his books and trunks to the coach melted visibly. Nothing could restrain
+them from taking quite a noisy leave of Paul; waving hats after him,
+pressing downstairs to shake hands with him, crying individually "Dombey!
+don't forget me!" Paul whispered to Florence, as she wrapped him up before
+the door was opened. Did she hear them? Would she ever forget it? Was she
+glad to know it? And a lively delight was in his eyes as he spoke to her.
+
+Once for a last look he turned and gazed upon the faces thus addressed to
+him, surprised to see how shining and how bright and how numerous they
+were. They swam before him, as he looked, and next moment he was in the
+dark coach outside holding close to Florence. From that time, whenever he
+thought of Doctor Blimber's it came back as he had seen it in this last
+view; and it never seemed a real place again, but always a dream, full of
+eyes.
+
+And so ended little Paul's school days at Doctor Blimber's, for once at
+home again he never rose from his little bed. He lay there (listening to
+the noises in the street), quite tranquilly, not caring much how the time
+went, but watching it and everything about him with observing eyes. When
+the sunbeams struck into his room through the rustling blinds, and
+quivered on the opposite wall like golden water, he knew that evening was
+coming on, and that the sky was red and beautiful. As the reflection died
+away, and a gloom went creeping up the wall, he watched it deepen--deepen,
+into night. Then he thought how the long streets were dotted with lamps,
+and how the peaceful stars were shining overhead. His fancy had a strange
+tendency to wander to the river, which he knew was flowing through the
+great city; and now he thought how black it was and how deep it would look
+reflecting the hosts of stars--and more than all, how steadily it rolled
+away to meet the sea.
+
+As it grew later in the night, and footsteps in the street became so rare
+that he could hear their coming, count them as they passed, and lose them
+in the hollow distance, he would lie and watch the many-coloured ring
+about the candle, and wait patiently for day. When day began to dawn
+again, he watched for the sun and when its cheerful light began to sparkle
+in the room, he pictured to himself--pictured! he saw--the high church
+towers rising up into the morning sky, the town reviving, waking, starting
+into life once more, the river glistening as it rolled (but rolling fast
+as ever), and the country bright with dew. Familiar sounds came by degrees
+into the street below; the servants in the house were roused and busy;
+faces looked in at the door, and voices asked his attendants softly how he
+was. Paul always answered for himself, "I am better. I am a great deal
+better, thank you. Tell papa so."
+
+By little and little he got tired of the bustle of the day, the noise of
+carriages and carts, and people passing and re-passing; and would fall
+asleep, or be troubled with a restless, and uneasy sense again--the child
+could hardly tell whether this were in his sleeping or his waking
+moments--of that rushing river.
+
+"Why will it never stop, Floy?" he would sometimes ask her. "It is bearing
+me away I think."
+
+But Floy could always soothe and reassure him: and it was his daily
+delight to make her lay her head down on his pillow, and take some rest.
+
+"You are always watching me, Floy, let me watch you now." They would prop
+him up with cushions in a corner of his bed, and there he would recline
+the while she lay beside him, bending forwards oftentimes to kiss her.
+
+Thus the flush of the day in its heat and light, would gradually decline;
+and again the golden water would be dancing on the wall.
+
+He was visited by as many as three grave doctors--they used to assemble
+downstairs and come up together--and the room was so quiet and Paul was so
+observant of them (though he never asked of anybody what they said) that
+he even knew the difference in the sound of their watches.
+
+The people round him changed as unaccountably as on that first night at
+Doctor Blimber's--except Florence; Florence never changed. Old Mrs.
+Pipchin dozing in an easy chair, often changed to someone else and Paul
+was quite content to shut his eyes again and see what happened next,
+without emotion. But one figure with its head upon its hand returned so
+often and remained so long, and sat so still and solemn, never speaking,
+never being spoken to, and rarely lifting up its face, that Paul began to
+wonder languidly if it were real.
+
+"Floy," he said, "what is that?"
+
+"Where, dearest?"
+
+"There, at the bottom of the bed."
+
+"There's nothing there except papa."
+
+The figure lifted up its head, and rose, and coming to the bedside said:
+"My own boy! Don't you know me?"
+
+Paul looked it in the face and thought, was this his father? But the face
+so altered to his thinking, thrilled while he gazed, as if it were in
+pain; and before he could reach out both his hands to take it between them
+and draw it towards him, the figure turned away quickly from the little
+bed, and went out at the door. The next time he observed the figure
+sitting at the bottom of the bed, he called to it:
+
+"Don't be so sorry for me, dear papa. Indeed, I am quite happy."
+
+His father coming and bending down to him, which he did quickly, Paul held
+him round the neck and repeated those words to him several times and very
+earnestly. This was the beginning of his always saying in the morning that
+he was a great deal better, and that they were to tell his father so.
+
+How many times the golden water danced on the wall; how many nights the
+dark, dark river rolled away towards the sea in spite of him, Paul never
+counted, never sought to know. If their kindness could have increased, or
+his sense of it, they were more kind, and he more grateful every day; but
+whether they were many days or few appeared of little moment now to the
+gentle boy.
+
+One night he had been thinking of his mother and her picture in the
+drawing-room downstairs. The train of thought suggested to him to inquire
+if he had ever seen his mother; for he could not remember whether they had
+told him yes or no, the river running very fast and confusing his mind.
+
+"Floy, did I ever see mama?"
+
+"No, darling; why?"
+
+"Did I ever see any kind face like mama's looking at me when I was a baby,
+Floy?"
+
+"Oh yes, dear."
+
+"Whose, Floy?"
+
+"Your old nurse's, often."
+
+"And where is my old nurse?" said Paul. "Is she dead, too? Floy are we all
+dead except you?"
+
+There was a hurry in the room for an instant--longer perhaps--then all was
+still again, and Florence, with her face quite colourless but smiling,
+held his head upon her arm. Her arm trembled very much.
+
+"Show me that old nurse, Floy, if you please."
+
+"She is not here, darling; she shall come to-morrow."
+
+"Thank you, Floy."
+
+Paul closed his eyes with these words and fell asleep. When he awoke the
+sun was high and the broad day was clear and warm. He lay a little,
+looking at the windows, which were open, and the curtains rustling in the
+air, and waving to and fro, then he said, "Floy, is it to-morrow? Is she
+come?" The next thing that happened was a noise of footsteps on the
+stairs, and then Paul woke--woke mind and body--and sat upright in his
+bed. He saw them now about him. There was no gray mist before them as
+there had been some time in the night. He knew them every one and called
+them by their names.
+
+"And who is this? Is this my old nurse?" said the child, regarding with a
+radiant smile a figure coming in.
+
+Yes, yes. No other stranger would have shed those tears at sight of him,
+and called him her dear boy, her pretty boy, her own poor blighted child.
+No other woman would have stooped down by his bed, and taken up his wasted
+hand, and put it to her lips and breast, as one who had some right to
+fondle it.
+
+"Floy, this is a kind, good face," said Paul. "I am glad to see it again.
+Don't go away, old nurse. Stay here."
+
+"Good-bye, my child," cried Mrs. Pipchin, hurrying to his bed's head. "Not
+good-bye?"
+
+For an instant Paul looked at her with the wistful face with which he had
+so often gazed upon her in his corner by the fire.
+
+"Ah, yes," he said, placidly, "good-bye. Where is papa?"
+
+He felt his father's breath upon his cheek before the words had parted
+from his lips.
+
+"Now lay me down," he said, "and, Floy, come close to me, and let me see
+you."
+
+Sister and brother wound their arms around each other, and the golden
+light came streaming in, and fell upon them, locked together.
+
+"How fast the river runs, between its green banks and the rushes, Floy.
+But it's very near the sea. I hear the waves."
+
+Presently he told her that the motion of the boat upon the stream was
+lulling him to rest. How near the banks were now. How bright the flowers
+growing on them, and how tall the rushes. Now the boat was out at sea but
+gliding smoothly on. And now there was a shore before him. Who stood on
+the bank?
+
+He put his hands together as he had been used to do at his prayers. He did
+not remove his arms to do it, but they saw him fold them so, behind her
+neck,
+
+"Mama is like you, Floy. I know her by the face. But tell them that the
+print upon the stairs at school is not divine enough. The light about the
+head is shining on me as I go."
+
+The golden ripple on the wall came back again, and nothing else stirred in
+the room. The old, old fashion. The fashion that came in with our first
+garments, and will last unchanged until our race has run its course, and
+the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll. The old, old
+fashion--Death.
+
+Oh, thank God for that older fashion yet,--of Immortality!
+
+
+
+
+PIP
+
+
+[Illustration: PIP AND MISS HAVISHAM.]
+
+My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my
+infant tongue could make of both names nothing more explicit than Pip. So
+I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
+
+My mother and father both being dead, I was brought up by my sister, Mrs.
+Joe Gargery, who was more than twenty years older than I, and a veritable
+shrew by nature. She had acquired a great reputation among the neighbours
+because she had brought me up by hand. Not understanding this expression,
+and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit
+of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe
+Gargery and I were both brought up by hand.
+
+Joe, her husband, was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going,
+foolish, dear fellow, with light curly hair and blue eyes, and he and I
+were great chums, as well as fellow-sufferers under the rule of my
+sharp-tongued sister.
+
+One afternoon I was wandering in the church-yard where my mother and
+father were buried, when I was accosted by a fearful man all in coarse
+grey, with a great iron on his leg. He wore no hat and had broken shoes,
+and an old rag tied round his head. He limped and shivered, and glared and
+growled, his teeth chattering, as he seized me by the chin.
+
+"O don't cut my throat, sir!" I pleaded in terror. "Pray don't do it,
+sir!"
+
+"Tell us your name," said the man, "quick!"
+
+"Pip, sir,"
+
+"Show us where you live," he said. "Point out the place!"
+
+I pointed to where our village lay, and then the man, after looking at me
+for a moment, turned me upside down and emptied my pockets, but there was
+nothing in them except a piece of bread. When the church came to itself,
+for he was so sudden and strong that he made it go head over heels before
+me,--I was seated on a high tombstone trembling, while he ate the bread
+ravenously. Then he came nearer to my tombstone, took me by both arms, and
+tilted me back as far as he could hold me, looking into my eyes.
+
+"Now lookee here," he said, "you get me a file and you get me wittles; you
+bring both to me to-morrow morning early, that file and them wittles. You
+bring the lot to me at that old Battery yonder. You do it, and you never
+dare to say a word concerning your having seen such a person as me, and
+you shall be let live. You fail in any partickler and your heart and your
+liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate! Now I ain't alone, as you may
+think. There is a young man hid with me who hears the words I speak. It is
+in wain for a boy to attempt to hide himself from that young man. A boy
+may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may draw the clothes over his head,
+may think himself comfortable and safe, but that young man will soon creep
+and creep his way to him and tear him open. I am a-keeping the young man
+from harming of you at the present moment with great difficulty. Now what
+do you say?"
+
+I said I would get him the file and what food I could, and would come to
+him early in the morning.
+
+"Say, Lord strike me dead, if you don't!"
+
+I said so and he took me down. I faltered a good night, and he turned to
+go, walking as if he were numb and stiff. When I saw him turn to look once
+more at me, I made the best use of my legs, having a terrible fear of him,
+and of the young man, and I ran home without once stopping.
+
+I found the forge shut up and Joe alone in the kitchen. The minute I
+raised the latch, he said:
+
+"Mrs. Joe has been out a dozen times looking for you, Pip, and she's out
+now, and what's more, she's got Tickler with her."
+
+At this dismal intelligence I looked with great depression at the fire.
+Tickler was a wax-ended piece of cane, worn smooth by contact with my
+tickled frame.
+
+"She sot down," said Joe, "and she got up, and she made a grab at Tickler,
+and she rampaged out. Now she's a-coming! Go behind the door, old chap!"
+
+I took the advice, but my sister, throwing the door wide open, and finding
+an obstruction behind it, guessed the cause, and applied Tickler to its
+further investigation.
+
+"Where have you been, you young monkey?" she asked, stamping her foot;
+"Tell me directly what you've been doing to wear me away with fret and
+fright and worrit?"
+
+"I have only been in the church-yard," said I, crying and rubbing myself,
+but my answer did not satisfy my sister, who kept on scolding and applying
+Tickler to my person until she was obliged to see to the tea things.
+Though I was very hungry, I dared not eat my bread and butter, for I felt
+that I must have something in reserve to take my dreadful acquaintance in
+case I could find nothing else. Therefore, at a moment when no one was
+looking, I put a hunk of bread and butter down the leg of my trousers. Joe
+thought I had eaten it in one gulp, which greatly distressed him, and I
+was borne off and dosed with tar water.
+
+Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy. The guilty
+knowledge that I was going to rob Mrs. Joe, united to the necessity of
+keeping one hand on my bread and butter as I sat or moved about, almost
+drove me out of my mind, but as it was Christmas Eve, I was obliged to
+stir the pudding for next day for one whole hour. I tried to do it with
+the load on my leg, and found the tendency of exercise was to bring the
+bread out at my ankle, so I managed to slip away and deposit it in my
+garret room. Later there was a sound of firing in the distance. "Ah," said
+Joe, "there's another convict off!"
+
+"What does that mean, Joe," said I.
+
+Mrs. Joe answered, "Escaped, escaped," and Joe added,--"There was one off
+last night, and they fired warning of him. And now it appears they're
+firing warning of another."
+
+"Who's firing?" said I.
+
+"Drat that boy," said my sister, frowning. "What a questioner he is! Ask
+no questions and you'll be told no lies!"
+
+I waited a while, and then as a last resort, I said,--"Mrs. Joe, I should
+like to know--if you wouldn't much mind--where the firing comes from?"
+
+"Lord bless the boy!" she exclaimed, "from the Hulks!"
+
+"Oh-h," said I, looking at Joe, "Hulks! And please what's Hulks?"
+
+"That's the way with this boy," exclaimed my sister, "answer him one
+question, and he'll ask you a dozen directly. Hulks are prison ships right
+'cross the meshes." (We always used that name for marshes in our country.)
+
+"I wonder who's put in prison ships, and why they're put there," said I.
+
+This was too much for Mrs. Joe, who immediately rose. "I tell ye what,
+young fellow," said she, "I didn't bring you up by hand to badger people's
+lives out. People are put in the Hulks because they murder and rob and
+forge and do all sorts of bad; and they always begin by asking questions.
+Now you get along to bed!"
+
+I was never allowed a candle and as I crept up in the dark I felt
+fearfully sensible that the Hulks were handy for me. I was clearly on the
+way there. I had begun by asking questions and I was going to rob Mrs.
+Joe. I was also in mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and
+liver, and of my acquaintance with the iron on his leg, and if I slept at
+all that night it was only to imagine myself drifting down the river on a
+strong spring tide to the Hulks, a ghostly pirate calling out to me
+through a speaking trumpet that I had better come ashore and be hanged
+there at once. I was afraid to sleep even if I could have, for I knew that
+at the first dawn of morning I must rob the pantry and be off.
+
+So as early as possible I crept downstairs to the pantry and secured some
+bread, some rind of cheese, half a jar of mincemeat, some brandy from a
+stone bottle which I poured into a bottle of my own and then filled the
+stone one up with water. I also took a meat bone and a beautiful pork pie.
+Then I got a file from among Joe's tools, and with this and my other
+plunder made my way with all dispatch along the river-side. Presently I
+came upon what I supposed was the man I was searching for, for he too was
+dressed in coarse gray and had a great iron on his leg, but his face was
+different.
+
+"It's the young man," I thought, feeling my heart beat fast at the idea.
+He swore at me as I passed, and tried in a weak way to hit me, but then he
+ran away and I continued my trip to the Battery, and there was the right
+man in a ravenous condition. He was gobbling mincemeat, meat-bone, bread,
+cheese, and pork pie all at once, when he turned suddenly and said:
+
+"You're not a deceiving imp? You brought no one with you?" I answered no,
+and he resumed his meal, snapping at the food as a dog would do. While he
+was eating, I ventured to remark that I had met the young man he spoke of,
+at which the man showed the greatest surprise, and became so violently
+excited that I was very much afraid of him. I was also afraid of remaining
+away from home any longer. I told him I must go, but he took no notice, so
+I thought the best thing I could do was to slip off, which I did.
+
+"And where the deuce ha' you been?" was Mrs. Joe's Christmas salutation.
+
+I said I had been down to hear the carols. "Ah well," observed Mrs. Joe,
+"you might ha' done worse," and then went on with her work as we were to
+have company for dinner, and the feast was to be one that occasioned
+extensive arrangements. My sister had too much to do to go to church, but
+Joe and I went, arrayed in our Sunday best. When we reached home we found
+the table laid, Mrs. Joe dressed and the front door unlocked--(it never
+was at any other time) and everything most splendid. And still not a word
+about the robbery. The company arrived; Mr. Wopsle, Mr. and Mrs. Hubble,
+and Uncle Pumblechook, Joe's uncle, who lived in the nearest town and
+drove his own chaise cart.
+
+Dinner was a brilliant success, but so rich that Uncle Pumblechook was
+entirely overcome, and was obliged to call for brandy. Oh heavens! he
+would say it was weak, and I should be lost! I held tight to the leg of
+the table and awaited my fate. The brandy was poured out and Uncle
+Pumblechook drank it off. Instantly he sprang to his feet, turned round
+several times in an appalling, spasmodic whooping-cough dance, and rushed
+out at the door to the great consternation of the company. Mrs. Joe and
+Joe ran out and brought him back, and as he sank into his chair he gasped
+the one word, "Tar!" I had filled up the bottle from the tar-water jug! Oh
+misery! I knew he would be worse by and by!
+
+"Tar?" cried my sister. "Why how ever could tar come there?" Fortunately
+at that moment. Uncle Pumblechook called for hot gin and water, and my
+sister had to employ herself actively in getting it. For the time at
+least, I was saved. By degrees I became calmer and able to partake of
+pudding, and was beginning to think I should get over the day, when my
+sister said, "You must finish with such a delicious present of Uncle
+Pumblechook's, a savoury pork pie!" She went out to the pantry to get it.
+I am not certain whether I uttered a shrill yell of terror merely in
+spirit or in the hearing of the company. I felt that I must run away, so I
+released the leg of the table and ran for my life. But at the door, I ran
+head foremost into a party of soldiers ringing down the butt-ends of their
+muskets on our doorstep. This apparition caused the dinner party to rise
+hastily, while Mrs. Joe who was re-entering the kitchen, empty-handed,
+stopped short in her lament of "Gracious goodness, gracious me, what's
+gone--with the--pie!" and stared at the visitors.
+
+Further acquaintance with the military gentlemen proved that they had not
+come for me, as I fully expected, but merely to have a pair of hand-cuffs
+mended, which Joe at once proceeded to do, and while the soldiers waited
+they stood about the kitchen, and piled their arms in the corner, telling
+us that they were on the search for the two convicts who had escaped from
+the prison ships. When Joe's job was done, he proposed that some of us go
+with them to see the hunt. Only Mr. Wopsle cared to go, and then Joe said
+he would take me. To this Mrs. Joe merely remarked: "If you bring the boy
+back, with his head blown to bits with a musket, don't look to me to put
+it together again!"
+
+The soldiers took a polite leave of the ladies and then we started off,
+Joe whispering to me, "I'd give a shilling if they'd cut and run, Pip!"
+
+There was no doubt in my mind that the man I had succoured and the other
+one I had seen, were the convicts in question, and as we went on and on,
+my heart thumped violently. The man had asked me if I was a deceiving imp.
+Would he believe now that I had betrayed him?
+
+On we went, and on and on, down banks and up banks, and over gates,
+hearing the sound of shouting in the distance. As we came nearer to the
+sound, the soldiers ran like deer. Water was splashing, mud was flying,
+and oaths were being sworn, and then, "Here are both men!" panted the
+sergeant, struggling in a ditch. "Surrender, you two! Come asunder!" Other
+soldiers ran to help, and dragged up from the ditch my convict and the
+other one. Both were bleeding and panting and struggling, but of course I
+knew them both directly. While the manacles were being put on their hands,
+my convict saw me for the first time. I looked at him eagerly, and
+slightly moved my hands and shook my head, trying to assure him of my
+innocence, but he did not in any way show me that he understood my
+gestures. We soon set off, the convicts kept apart, and each surrounded by
+a separate guard. Mr. Wopsle would have liked to turn back, but Joe was
+resolved to see it out, so we went on with the party, carrying torches
+which flared up and lighted our way. We could not go fast because of the
+lameness of the prisoners, and they were so spent that we had to halt two
+or three times while they rested. After an hour or two of this travelling,
+we came to a hut where there was a guard. Here the sergeant made some sort
+of a report, and an entry in a book, and then the other convict was
+drafted to go on board the Hulks first. My convict only looked at me once.
+While we stood in the hut, he looked thoughtfully into the fire. Suddenly
+he turned to the sergeant and remarked that he wished to say something
+about his escape, adding that it might prevent some persons being laid
+under suspicions.
+
+"You can say what you like," returned the sergeant, and the convict
+continued:
+
+"A man can't starve, at least I can't. I took some wittles up at the
+village yonder--where the church stands a'most out on the marshes, and
+I'll tell you where from. From the blacksmith's."
+
+"Halloa, Pip!" said Joe, staring at me.
+
+"It was some broken wittles--and a dram of liquor--and a pie."
+
+"Have you happened to miss such an article as a pie, blacksmith?" asked
+the sergeant.
+
+"My wife did, at the very moment when you came in. Don't you know, Pip?"
+
+"So," said my convict, looking at Joe, "so you're the blacksmith, are you?
+Then I'm sorry to say, I've eat your pie."
+
+"God knows you're welcome to it, so far as it was ever mine," returned
+Joe. "We don't know what you've done, but we wouldn't have you starve to
+death for it, poor miserable fellow-creature, would we, Pip?"
+
+Something that I had noticed before, clicked in the man's throat, and he
+turned his back. The boat was ready for him, and we saw him rowed off by a
+crew of convicts like himself.
+
+We saw the boat go alongside of the Hulks, and we saw the prisoner taken
+up the side and disappear, and then the excitement was all over. I was so
+tired and sleepy by that time that Joe took me on his back and carried me
+home, and when we arrived there I was fast asleep. When at last I was
+roused by the heat and noise and lights, Joe was relating the story of our
+expedition and of the convict's confession of his theft from our pantry.
+This was all I heard that night, for my sister clutched me, as a slumbrous
+offence to the company's eyesight, and assisted me very forcefully up to
+bed, and after that the subject of the convict and the robbery was only
+mentioned on a few occasions when something brought it to mind. In regard
+to my part of it, I do not recall any tenderness of conscience in
+reference to Mrs. Joe, when the fear of being found out was lifted off me.
+But I dearly loved Joe, and it was on my mind that I ought to tell him the
+whole truth. And yet I did not, fearing that I might lose his love and
+confidence, and that he would think me worse than I really was. And so he
+never heard the truth of the matter. At this time I was only odd-boy about
+the forge, or errand boy for any neighbour who wanted a job done, and in
+the evenings I went to a school kept by Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt, who used
+to go to sleep from six to seven every evening, in the society of youth
+who paid twopence per week each for the improving opportunity of seeing
+her do it. With her assistance, and the help of her granddaughter, Biddy,
+I struggled through the alphabet, as if it had been a bramble bush,
+getting considerably worried and scratched by each letter. After that, the
+nine figures began to add to my misery, but at last I began to read,
+write, and cipher on the smallest scale.
+
+One night, about a year after our hunt for the convicts, Joe and I sat
+together in the chimney corner while I struggled with a letter which I was
+writing on my slate to Joe, for practice. As we sat there, Joe made the
+fire and swept the hearth, for we were momentarily expecting Mrs. Joe. It
+was market day, and she had gone to market with Uncle Pumblechook to
+assist him in buying such household stuffs and goods as required a woman's
+judgment. Just as we had completed our preparations, she and Uncle
+Pumblechook drove up, and came in wrapped up to the eyes, for it was a
+bitter night.
+
+"Now," said Mrs. Joe, unwrapping herself in haste and excitement, "if this
+boy ain't grateful to-night, he never will be!"
+
+I looked as grateful as any boy could who had no idea what he was to be
+grateful about, and after many side remarks addressed to the others, Mrs.
+Joe informed me that Miss Havisham wished me to go and play at her house
+for her amusement. "And of course, he's going," added my sister severely,
+"And he had better play there, or I'll work him!"
+
+I had heard of Miss Havisham, everybody for miles round had heard of her,
+as an immensely rich and grim old lady, who lived a life of seclusion in a
+large and dismal house, barricaded against robbers.
+
+"Well, to be sure," said Joe, astounded, "I wonder how she comes to know
+Pip!"
+
+"Noodle," said my sister, "who said she knew him? Couldn't she ask Uncle
+Pumblechook if he knew of a boy to go and play there? And couldn't Uncle
+Pumblechook, being always thoughtful for us, then mention this boy, that I
+have forever been a willing slave to?" After this she added, "For anything
+we can tell, the boy's fortune is made by this. Uncle Pumblechook has
+offered to take him into town to-night and keep him over night, and to
+take him with his own hands to Miss Havisham's to-morrow morning, and
+Lor-a-mussy me!" cried my sister. "Here I stand talking, with Uncle
+Pumblechook waiting, and the mare catching cold at the door, and the boy
+grimed with dirt from the hair of his head to the sole of his foot!" With
+that she pounced on me and I was scraped and kneaded, and towelled and
+thumped, and harrowed and reaped, until I was really quite beside myself.
+When at last my ablutions were completed, I was put into clean linen of
+the stiffest character, and in my tightest and fearfullest suit, I was
+then delivered over to Mr. Pumblechook, who said dramatically: "Boy, be
+forever grateful to all friends, but especially unto them which brought
+you up by hand!"
+
+"Good-bye, Joe."
+
+"God bless you, Pip, old chap!"
+
+I had never parted from him before, and what with my feelings, and what
+with soap-suds, I could at first see no stars from the chaise cart. But
+they twinkled out one by one without throwing any light on the question
+why on earth I was going to play at Miss Havisham's, and what on earth I
+was expected to play at.
+
+I spent the night with Uncle Pumblechook, and the next morning we started
+off for Miss Havisham's, and within a quarter hour had reached the house,
+which looked dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the
+windows had been walled up, and the others were rustily barred. There was
+a court-yard in front which was also barred, so after ringing the bell we
+had to wait until some one should open it. Presently a window was raised
+and a voice asked "What name?" to which my conductor replied,
+"Pumblechook." Then the window was shut, and a very pretty,
+proud-appearing young lady came down with keys in her hand. She opened the
+gate to let me in, and Uncle Pumblechook was about to follow, when the
+young lady remarked that Miss Havisham did not wish to see him. She said
+it in such an undiscussible way that Uncle Pumblechook dared not protest,
+and so I followed my young guide in alone and crossed the court-yard. We
+entered the house by a side door--the great front entrance had chains
+across it--and we went through many passages, and up a staircase, in the
+dark except for a single candle. At last we came to the door of a room,
+and she said, "Go in."
+
+I answered, more in shyness than politeness, "After you, miss." But she
+answered, "Don't be ridiculous, boy; I am not going in," and scornfully
+walked away, and what was worse, took the candle with her.
+
+This was most uncomfortable, and I was half afraid. However, there was
+only one thing to be done, so I knocked at the door, and was told from
+within to enter. I entered and found myself in a pretty, large room, well
+lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. It
+was a dressing-room, as I supposed from the furniture, though much of it
+was of forms and uses quite unknown to me then. But prominent in it was a
+draped table with a gilded looking-glass, and that I made out to be a fine
+lady's dressing-table.
+
+In an arm chair sat the strangest lady I have ever seen or shall ever see.
+She was dressed in rich white--in satin and lace and silks--all of white.
+Even her shoes were white, and she had a long white veil dependent from
+her hair, and bridal flowers in her hair,--and the hair, too, was white.
+Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and hands and others lay sparkling
+on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the one she wore, and
+half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had but one shoe on and the
+other was on the table near by--her veil was but half arranged; her watch
+and chain were not put on; and there were lace, trinkets, handkerchief,
+gloves, some flowers, and a Prayer-book in a heap before the
+looking-glass. Then she spoke, "Who is it?"
+
+"Pip, ma'am."
+
+"Pip?"
+
+"Mr. Pumblechook's boy, ma'am. Come--to play."
+
+"Come nearer; let me look at you. Come close."
+
+When I stood before her, avoiding her eyes, I took in all the details of
+the room and saw that her watch and clock had both stopped.
+
+"Look at me," said Miss Havisham. "You are not afraid of a woman who has
+not seen the sun since you were born?"
+
+I regret to say that I was not afraid of telling the enormous lie
+comprehended in the answer, "No."
+
+"Do you know what I touch here?" she said, laying her hands on her left
+side.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"What do I touch?"
+
+"Your heart."
+
+"Broken."
+
+She said the word eagerly, and with a weird smile that had a kind of boast
+in it.
+
+"I am tired," said Miss Havisham. "I have a sick fancy that I want to see
+some play. I want diversion, and I have done with men and women. There,
+there," with an impatient movement of the fingers of her right hand,
+"play, play, play!"
+
+For a moment, with the fear of my sister "working me" before my eyes, I
+had a desperate idea of starting round the room in the assumed character
+of Mr. Pumblechook's chaise cart. But I felt so unequal to the performance
+that I gave it up, and stood looking at Miss Havisham in what I suppose
+she took for a dogged manner, and presently she said:
+
+"Are you sullen and obstinate?"
+
+"No, ma'am," I said. "I am very sorry for you and very sorry I can't play
+just now. If you complain of me, I shall get into trouble with my sister,
+so I would do it, if I could, but it's new here, and so strange and so
+fine, and--melancholy." I stopped, fearing I might have said too much, and
+we took another look at each other. Before she spoke again, she looked at
+herself in the glass, then she turned, and flashing a look at me, said,
+"Call Estella. You can do that. Call Estella. At the door."
+
+To stand in the dark in the mysterious passage of an unknown house,
+bawling "Estella" to a scornful young lady neither visible nor responsive,
+and feeling it a dreadful liberty to roar out her name, was almost as bad
+as playing to order. But she answered at last, and her light came
+trembling along the dark passage, like a star. Miss Havisham beckoned her
+to come close to her, took up a jewel, and tried its effect against the
+pretty brown hair. "Your own, one day, my dear," she said, "and you will
+use it well. Let me see you play cards with this boy."
+
+"With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring boy!" then she asked, with
+greatest disdain, "What do you play, boy?"
+
+"Nothing but 'beggar my neighbour,' miss."
+
+"Beggar him," said Miss Havisham to Estella. So we sat down to cards, and
+Miss Havisham sat, corpse-like, watching as we played.
+
+"He calls the knaves Jacks, this boy," said Estella, with disdain, before
+the first game was out. "And what coarse hands he has, and what thick
+boots!"
+
+I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before, but now I began
+to notice them. Her contempt for me was so strong that I caught it.
+
+She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural, when I
+knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong, and she denounced me for a
+clumsy, stupid, labouring boy.
+
+"You say nothing of her," remarked Miss Havisham to me. "She says many
+hard things of you, yet you say nothing of her. What do you think of her?"
+
+"I don't like to say," I stammered.
+
+"Tell me in my ear," said Miss Havisham, bending down.
+
+"I think she is very proud," I replied in a whisper--"and very pretty--and
+very insulting."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"I think I should like to go home."
+
+"You shall go soon," said Miss Havisham aloud. "Play the game out!" I
+played the game to an end, and Estella beggared me.
+
+"When shall I have you here again?" said Miss Havisham. "I know nothing of
+the days of the week or of the weeks of the year. Come again after six
+days. You hear?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Estella, take him down. Let him have something to eat, and let him roam
+about and look about him while he eats. Go, Pip."
+
+I followed Estella down as I had followed her up, and at last I stood
+again in the glare of daylight which quite confounded me, for I felt as if
+I had been in the candle-light of the strange room many hours.
+
+"You are to wait here, you boy, you," said Estella, and disappeared in the
+house. While she was gone I looked at my coarse hands and my common boots,
+and they troubled me greatly.
+
+I determined to ask Joe why he had taught me to call the picture-cards
+Jacks. I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I
+should have been so too. Estella came back with some bread and meat and a
+little mug of beer which she set down as insolently as if I were a dog in
+disgrace. I was so humiliated and hurt that tears sprang to my eyes. When
+she saw them she looked at me with a quick delight. This gave me the power
+to keep them back and to look at her; then she gave a contemptuous toss of
+her head, and left me to my meal. At first, so bitter were my feelings
+that, after she was gone, I hid behind one of the gates to the brewery and
+cried. As I cried I kicked the wall and took a hard twist at my hair.
+However, I came out from behind the gate, the bread and meat were
+acceptable and the beer was warm and tingling, and I was soon in spirits
+to look about me. I had surveyed the rank old garden when Estella came
+back with the keys to let me out. She gave me a triumphant look as she
+opened the gate. I was passing out without looking at her, when she
+touched me with a taunting cry,----
+
+"Why don't you cry?"
+
+"Because I don't want to."
+
+"You do," she said; "you have been crying and you are near crying now!" As
+she spoke she laughed, pushed me out, and locked the gate upon me, and I
+set off on the four-mile walk home, pondering as I went along, on what I
+had seen and heard.
+
+Of course, when I reached home they were very curious to know all about
+Miss Havisham's, and asked many questions that I was not in a mood to
+answer. The worst of it was that Uncle Pumblechook, devoured by curiosity,
+came gaping over too at tea-time to have the details divulged to him. I
+was not in a good humour anyway that night, so the sight of my tormentors
+made me vicious in my reticence.
+
+After asking a number of questions with no satisfaction, Uncle Pumblechook
+began again.
+
+"Now, boy," he said, "what was Miss Havisham a-doing of when you went in
+to-day?"
+
+"She was sitting," I answered, "in a black velvet coach."
+
+My hearers stared at one another--as they well might--and repeated, "In a
+black velvet coach?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "and Miss Estella, that's her niece, I think, handed her in
+cake and wine at the coach window on a gold plate. And we all had cake and
+wine on gold plates. And I got up behind the coach to eat mine because she
+told me to."
+
+"Was anybody else there?" asked Mr. Pumblechook.
+
+"Four dogs," said I.
+
+"Large or small?"
+
+"Immense," said I. "And they fought for veal cutlets out of a silver
+basket."
+
+My hearers stared at one another again in utter amazement. I was perfectly
+frantic and would have told them anything.
+
+"Where was this coach, in the name of gracious?" asked my sister.
+
+"In Miss Havisham's room." They stared again. "But there weren't any
+horses to it." I added this saving clause in the moment of rejecting four
+richly caparisoned coursers, which I had had wild thoughts of harnessing.
+
+"Can this be possible, uncle?" asked Mrs. Joe. "What can the boy mean?"
+
+"I'll tell you, mum," said Mr. Pumblechook. "My opinion is it is a
+sedan-chair. Well, boy, and what did you play at?"
+
+"We played with flags," I said.
+
+"Flags!" echoed my sister.
+
+"Yes," said I. "Estella waved a blue flag, and I waved a red one, and Miss
+Havisham waved one sprinkled all over with little gold stars, out at the
+coach window. And then we all waved our swords and hurrahed."
+
+"Swords!" repeated my sister. "Where did you get swords from?"
+
+"Out of the cupboard," said I. "And I saw pistols in it--and jam--and
+pills. And there was only candlelight in the room."
+
+If they had asked me any more questions I should undoubtedly have betrayed
+myself for I was just on the point of mentioning that there was a balloon
+in the yard and should have hazarded the statement, but that my invention
+was divided between that phenomenon and a bear in the brewery.
+
+My hearers were so much occupied, however, in discussing the marvels I had
+already presented to them, that I escaped. The subject still held them
+when Joe came in, and my experiences were at once related to him. Now,
+when I saw his big blue eyes open in helpless amazement, I became
+penitent, but only in regard to him. And so, after Mr. Pumblechook had
+driven off, and my sister was busy, I stole into the forge and confessed
+my guilt.
+
+"You remember all that about Miss Havisham's?" I said.
+
+"Remember!" said Joe. "I believe you! Wonderful!"
+
+"It's a terrible thing, Joe. It ain't true."
+
+"What are you a-telling of, Pip?" cried Joe. "You don't mean to say it!"
+
+"Yes, I do;--it's lies, Joe."
+
+"But not all of it? Why, sure you don't mean to say, Pip, that there was
+no black welvet co-ch?" For I stood there shaking my head. "But at least
+there was dogs, Pip? Come, Pip, if there warn't no weal cutlets, at least
+there was dogs? A puppy, come."
+
+"No, Joe," I said. "There was nothing of the kind."
+
+As I fixed my eyes hopelessly on him, he looked at me in dismay. "Pip, old
+chap," he said, "this won't do, I say. Where do you expect to go to? What
+possessed you?"
+
+"I don't know what possessed me," I replied, hanging my head, "but I wish
+you hadn't taught me to call knaves at cards Jacks, and I wish my boots
+weren't so thick, nor my hands so coarse."
+
+Then I told Joe that I felt very miserable, but I hadn't liked to tell
+Mrs. Joe and Uncle Pumblechook about the beautiful young lady at Miss
+Havisham's who was so proud, and that she had said I was common, and that
+I wished I was not common, and that the lies had come out of it somehow,
+though I didn't know how.
+
+"Well," said Joe after a good deal of thought, "there's one thing you may
+be sure of, Pip, namely, that lies is lies. Howsoever they come, they
+didn't ought to come, and they come from the father of lies and work round
+to the same. Don't you tell no more of 'em, Pip. They ain't the way to get
+out of being common, old chap. And as to being common, I don't make it out
+at all clear. You're sure an uncommon scholar."
+
+This I denied in the face of Joe's most forcible arguments, and at the end
+of our talk, I said, "You are not angry with me, Joe?"
+
+"No, old chap, but if you can't get to being uncommon through going
+straight, you'll never get to do it through going crooked. So don't tell
+no more on 'em, Pip. Don't never do it no more."
+
+When I got up to my little room and said my prayers, I thought over Joe's
+advice and knew that it was right, and yet my mind was in such a disturbed
+and unthankful state, that for a long time I lay awake, not thinking over
+my sins, but still mourning that Joe and Mrs. Joe and I were all common.
+
+That was a memorable day for me, and it wrought great changes in me. I
+began to see things and people from a new point of view, and from that day
+dates the beginning of my great expectations.
+
+One night, a little later, I was at the village Public House with Joe, who
+was smoking his pipe with friends. In the room there was a stranger, who,
+when he heard me addressed as Pip, turned and looked at me. He kept
+looking hard at me, and nodding at me, and I returned his nods as politely
+as possible. Presently, after seeing that Joe was not looking, he nodded
+again and then rubbed his leg--in a very odd way, it struck me--and later,
+he stirred his rum and water pointedly at me, and he tasted it pointedly
+at me. And he did both, not with the spoon but with a file. He did this so
+that nobody but I saw the file, and then he wiped it and put it in his
+pocket I knew it to be Joe's file, and I knew that he was my convict the
+minute I saw the instrument. I sat gazing at him, spell-bound, but he took
+very little more notice of me; only when Joe and I started to go, he
+stopped us.
+
+"Stop half a minute, Mr. Gargery," he said; "I think I've got a bright
+shilling somewhere in my pocket; if I have, the boy shall have it." He
+took it out, folded it in some crumpled paper and gave it to me. "Yours,"
+said he. "Mind--your own!" I thanked him, staring at him beyond the bounds
+of good manners, and holding tight to Joe, and then we went towards home,
+I in a manner stupefied, and thinking only of this turning up of my old
+misdeed and old acquaintance.
+
+We found my sister was not in a very bad temper, and Joe was encouraged to
+tell her about the shilling. I took it out of the paper to show her. "But
+what's this?" she said, catching up the paper. It was nothing less than
+two one-pound notes! Joe caught up his hat and ran with them to the Public
+House to restore them to their owner, only to find that he had gone. Then
+my sister sealed them up in a piece of paper, and put them on the top of a
+press in the state parlour, and there they remained.
+
+On the appointed day I returned to Miss Havisham, and as before, was
+admitted by Estella. As we went up stairs we met a gentleman groping his
+way down. He was bald, with a large head and bushy black eyebrows. His
+eyes were deep set and disagreeably keen. He was nothing to me, but I
+observed him well as he passed.
+
+Estella led me this time into another part of the house, and into a gloomy
+room where there were some other people, saying,----
+
+"You are to go and stand there, boy, till you are wanted."
+
+"There" being the window, I crossed to it and stood looking out, at a
+deserted house and old garden, in a very uncomfortable state of mind.
+There were three ladies and one gentleman in the room, who all stopped
+talking and looked at me. Later I found out that they were particular
+friends of Miss Havisham. The ringing of a distant bell caused Estella to
+say, "Now, boy!" and to conduct me to Miss Havisham's room, leaving me
+near the door, where I stood until Miss Havisham cast her eyes upon me.
+
+"Are you ready to play?" she asked.
+
+I answered, in some confusion, "I don't think I am, ma'am, except at
+cards; I could do that if I was wanted."
+
+She looked searchingly at me and then asked, "If you are unwilling to
+play, boy, are you willing to work?"
+
+As I answered this in the affirmative, she presently laid a hand on my
+shoulder. In the other she had a stick on which she leaned, and she looked
+like the witch of the place. She looked all round the room in a glaring
+manner, and then said, "Come, come, come! walk me, walk me!"
+
+From this I made out that my work was to walk Miss Havisham round and
+round the room. Accordingly I started at once and she leaned on my
+shoulder. She was not strong, and soon she said, "Slower!" Still she went
+at a fitful, impatient speed, and the hand on my shoulder twitched. After
+a while she bade me call Estella, and on we started again round the room.
+If she had been alone I should have been sufficiently embarrassed, but as
+she brought with her the visitors, I didn't know what to do. I would have
+stopped, but Miss Havisham twitched my shoulder, and we posted on,--I
+feeling shamefaced embarrassment. The visitors remained for some time, and
+after they left Miss Havisham directed us to play cards as before, and as
+before, Estella treated me with cold scorn. After half a dozen games, a
+day was set for my return, and I was taken into the yard to be fed in the
+former dog-like manner. Prowling about, I scrambled over the wall into the
+deserted garden that I had seen from the window. I supposed the house
+belonging to it was empty, and to my surprise I was confronted by the
+vision of a pale young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair, in a
+window, who speedily came down and stood beside me.
+
+"Halloa!" said he; "young fellow, who let you in?"
+
+"Miss Estella."
+
+"Who gave you leave to prowl about? Come and fight," said the pale young
+gentleman.
+
+What could I do but follow him? His manner was so final and I was so
+astonished that I followed where he led, as if under a spell. "Stop a
+minute, though," he said, "I ought to give you a reason for fighting too.
+There it is!" In a most irritating manner he slapped his hands against one
+another, flung one of his legs up behind him, pulled my hair, dipped his
+head and butted it into my stomach. This bull-like proceeding, besides
+that it was unquestionably to be regarded in the light of a liberty, was
+particularly disagreeable just after bread and meat. I therefore hit out
+at him and was going to hit out again, when he said, "Aha! Would you?" and
+began dancing backwards and forwards in a manner quite unparalleled within
+my limited experience.
+
+"Laws of the game!" said he. Here he skipped from his left leg on to his
+right. "Regular rules!" Here he skipped from his right leg on to his left.
+"Come to the ground and go through the preliminaries!" Here he dodged
+backwards and forwards, and did all sorts of things, while I looked
+helplessly at him. I was secretly afraid of him, but I felt convinced that
+his light head of hair could have had no business in the pit of my
+stomach. Therefore I followed him without a word, to a retired nook of the
+garden. On his asking me if I was satisfied with the ground, and on my
+replying "Yes," he fetched a bottle of water and a sponge dipped in
+vinegar, and then fell to pulling off, not only his jacket and waistcoat,
+but his shirt too, in a manner at once light-hearted, business-like, and
+bloodthirsty.
+
+My heart failed me when I saw him squaring at me with every demonstration
+of mechanical nicety, and eyeing my anatomy as if he were minutely
+choosing his bone. I never have been so surprised in my life as I was when
+I let out the first blow and saw him lying on his back, with a bloody nose
+and his face exceedingly foreshortened. But he was on his feet directly,
+and after sponging himself began squaring again. The second greatest
+surprise I have ever had in my life was seeing him on his back again,
+looking up at me out of a black eye. His spirit inspired me with great
+respect. He was always knocked down, but he would be up again in a moment,
+sponging himself or drinking out of the water bottle, and then came at me
+with an air and a show that made me believe he really was going to do for
+me at last. He got heavily bruised, for I am sorry to record that the more
+I hit him, the harder I hit him, but he came up again, and again, and
+again, until at last he got a bad fall with the back of his head against
+the wall. Even after that he got up and turned round and round confusedly
+a few times, not knowing where I was, but finally went on his knees to his
+sponge and threw it up, panting out, "That means you have won!"
+
+He seemed so brave and innocent, that although I had not proposed the
+contest, I felt but a gloomy satisfaction in my victory. Indeed, I go so
+far as to hope that I regarded myself as a species of savage young wolf or
+other wild beast. However, I got dressed, and I said, "Can I help you?"
+and he said, "No, thankee," and I said, "Good afternoon," and he said,
+"Same to you!"
+
+When I got into the courtyard I found Estella waiting with the keys to let
+me out. What with the visitors, and what with the cards, and what with the
+fight, my stay had lasted so long that when I neared home the light on the
+spit of sand off the point on the marshes was gleaming against a black
+night-sky, and Joe's furnace was flinging a path of fire across the road.
+
+When the day came for my return to the scene of my fight with the pale
+young gentleman, I became very much afraid as I recalled him on his back
+in various stages of misery, and the more I thought about it, the more
+certain I felt that his blood would be on my head and that the law would
+avenge it, and I felt that I never could go back. However, go to Miss
+Havisham's I must, and go I did. And behold, nothing came of the late
+struggle! The pale young gentleman was nowhere to be seen, and only in the
+corner where the combat had taken place could I detect any evidences of
+his existence. There were traces of his gore in that spot, and I covered
+them with garden-mould from the eye of men, and breathed more quietly
+again.
+
+That same day I began on a regular occupation of pushing Miss Havisham in
+a light garden chair (when she was tired of walking with her hand on my
+shoulder) round through the rooms. Over and over and over again we made
+these journeys, sometimes lasting for three hours at a stretch, and from
+that time I returned to her every alternate day at noon for that purpose,
+and kept returning through a period of eight or ten months. As we began to
+be more used to one another, Miss Havisham talked more to me, and asked me
+many questions about myself. I told her I believed I was to be apprenticed
+to Joe, and enlarged on knowing nothing, and wanting to know everything,
+hoping that she might offer me some help. But she did not, on the contrary
+she seemed to prefer my being ignorant. Nor did she give me any money, nor
+anything but my daily dinner. Estella always let me in and out. Sometimes
+she would coldly tolerate me, sometimes condescend to me, sometimes be
+quite familiar with me, and at other times she would tell me that she
+hated me; and all the time my admiration for her grew apace.
+
+There was a song Joe used to hum at the forge, of which the burden was
+"Old Clem." The song imitated the beating upon iron. Thus you were to
+hammer;--Boys round--Old Clem! With a thump and a sound--Old Clem! Beat it
+out, beat it out--Old Clem! With a clink for the stout--Old Clem! Blow the
+fire, blow the fire--Old Clem! Roaring dryer, soaring higher--Old Clem!
+One day I was crooning this ditty as I pushed Miss Havisham about. It
+happened to catch her fancy and she took it up in a low brooding voice.
+After that it became customary with us to sing it as we moved about, and
+often Estella joined in, though the whole strain was so subdued that it
+made less noise in the grim old house than the lightest breath of wind.
+How could my character fail to be influenced by such surroundings? Is it
+to be wondered at if my thoughts were dazed, as my eyes were, when I came
+out into the natural light from the misty yellow rooms?
+
+We went on this way for a long time, but one day Miss Havisham stopped
+short as she and I were walking and said, with displeasure: "You are
+growing tall, Pip!"
+
+In answer I suggested that this might be a thing over which I had no
+control, and she said no more at that time, but on the following day she
+said:
+
+"Tell me the name again of the blacksmith of yours to whom you were to be
+apprenticed?"
+
+"Joe Gargery, ma'am,"
+
+"You had better be apprenticed at once. Would Gargery come here with you,
+and bring your indentures, do you think?"
+
+I signified that I thought he would consider it an honour to be asked.
+
+"Then let him come!"
+
+"At any particular time, Miss Havisham?"
+
+"There, there, I know nothing about time. Let him come soon, and come
+alone with you!"
+
+In consequence, two days later, Joe, arrayed in his Sunday clothes, set
+out with me to visit Miss Havisham, and as he thought his court dress
+necessary to the occasion, it was not for me to tell him that he looked
+far better in his working dress. We arrived at Miss Havisham's, and as
+usual Estella opened the door, and led the way to Miss Havisham's room.
+She immediately addressed Joe, asking him questions about himself and
+about having me for apprentice and finally she asked to see my indentures,
+which Joe produced; I am afraid I was ashamed of the dear good fellow--I
+know I was when I saw Estella's eyes were laughing mischievously.
+
+Miss Havisham then took a little bag from the table and handed it to me.
+
+"Pip has earned a premium here," she said, "and here it is. There are five
+and twenty guineas in the bag. Give it to your Master, Pip."
+
+I handed it to Joe, who said a few embarrassed words of gratitude to Miss
+Havisham.
+
+"Good-bye, Pip," she said. "Let them out, Estella."
+
+"Am I to come again, Miss Havisham?" I asked.
+
+"No--Gargery is your master now. Gargery! One word!" Joe stepped back and
+she added, "The boy has been a good boy here, and that is his reward. Of
+course, as an honest man, you will expect no other."
+
+Then we went down, and in a moment we were outside of the gate, and it was
+locked and Estella was gone. When we stood in the daylight alone, Joe
+backed up against a wall, breathless with amazement, and repeated at
+intervals, "Astonishing! Pip, I do assure you this is as-ton-ishing!" Then
+we walked away, back to Mr. Pumblechook's, where we found my sister, and
+told her the great news of my earnings, and she was as much pleased as was
+possible for her to be.
+
+It is a miserable thing to feel ashamed of home, I assure you. To me home
+had never been a very pleasant place on account of sister's temper, but
+Joe had sanctified it, and I believed in it. I had believed in the Best
+Parlour, as a most elegant place, I had believed in the Front Door as a
+mysterious portal of the Temple of State, I had believed in the kitchen as
+a chaste though not magnificent apartment; I had believed in the forge, as
+the glowing road to manhood and independence. Within a single year all
+this was changed. Now it was all coarse and common to me, and I would not
+have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it for the world. Once it had
+seemed to me that as Joe's apprentice I should be distinguished and happy.
+Now I regret to say that I was as dejected and miserable as was possible
+to be, and in my ungracious breast there was a shame of all that
+surrounded me.
+
+Toward the end of my first year as Joe's apprentice I suggested that I go
+and call on Miss Havisham. He thought well of it, and so I went.
+
+Everything was unchanged, except that a strange young woman came to the
+door, and I found that Estella was abroad being educated, and Miss
+Havisham was alone.
+
+"Well," said she. "I hope you want nothing; you'll get nothing!"
+
+"No, indeed," I replied, "I only want you to know that I am doing very
+well and am always much obliged to you." We had little other conversation,
+and soon she dismissed me, and as the gate closed on me, I felt more than
+ever dissatisfied with my home, and my trade, and with everything!
+
+When I reached home, some one hastened out to tell me that the house had
+been entered during my absence, and that my sister had been attacked and
+badly injured. Nothing had been taken from the house, but my sister had
+been struck a terrible blow, and lay very ill in bed for months, and when
+at last she could come down stairs again her mind was never quite clear,
+and she was unable to speak. So it was necessary to have Biddy come and
+take up the house-keeping, and meanwhile I kept up the routine of my
+apprenticeship-life, varied only by the arrival of my several birthdays,
+on each of which I paid another visit to Miss Havisham.
+
+On a Saturday night, in the fourth year of my apprenticeship to Joe, he
+and I sat by a fire at the inn--the Three Jolly Bargemen, with a group of
+men. One of them was a strange gentleman who entered into the discussion
+on hand with zest, and then, rising, stood before the fire. "From
+information I have received," said he, looking round, "I have reason to
+believe there is a blacksmith among you, by name Joseph Gargery. Which is
+the man?"
+
+"Here is the man," said Joe.
+
+The gentleman beckoned him out of his place, and said: "You have an
+apprentice called Pip. Is he here?"
+
+To this I responded in the affirmative. The stranger did not recognise me,
+but I recognised him as the gentleman I had met on the stairs on my second
+visit to Miss Havisham. I had known him from the moment I had first been
+confronted with his bushy eyebrows and black eyes.
+
+"I wish to have a private conference with you both," he said. "Perhaps we
+had better go to your house to have it."
+
+So, in a wondering silence, we walked away with him towards home, and when
+we got there Joe let us in by the front door, and our conference was held
+in the state parlour.
+
+The stranger proceeded to tell us that he was a lawyer, Jaggers by name,
+and that he was the bearer of an offer to Joe, which was, that he should
+cancel my indentures, at my request, and for my good. He went on to say
+that his communication was to the effect that I had Great Expectations.
+Joe and I gasped and looked at one another as Mr. Jaggers continued:
+
+"I am instructed to tell Pip that he will come into a handsome property,
+and that it is the desire of the present owner of that property that he be
+at once removed from here, and be brought up as befits a young gentleman
+of Great Expectations."
+
+My dream was out! My wild fancy was realised; Miss Havisham was going to
+make my fortune on a grand scale.
+
+I listened breathlessly while Mr. Jaggers added that my benefactor wished
+me to keep always the name of Pip, and also that the name of the
+benefactor was to remain a secret until such time as the person chose to
+reveal it. After stating these conditions, Mr. Jaggers paused, and asked
+if I had any objections to complying with them, to which I stammered that
+I had not, and Mr. Jaggers continued that he had been made my guardian,
+that he would provide me with a sum of money ample for my education and
+maintenance, and that he should advise my residing in London, and having
+as tutor one Matthew Pocket, whom I had heard mentioned by Miss Havisham.
+
+"First," continued Mr. Jaggers, "you should have some new clothes. You
+will want some money. I will leave you twenty guineas, and will expect you
+in London on this day week."
+
+He produced a purse and counted out the money, then eyeing Joe, he said,
+"Well, Joe Gargery, you look dumbfounded?"
+
+"I am!" said Joe, with decision.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Jaggers, "what if I were to make you a present as
+compensation?"
+
+"For what?" said Joe.
+
+"For the loss of the boy's services."
+
+Joe laid a hand on my shoulder with the touch of a woman, saying:
+
+"Pip is that hearty welcome to go free with his services, to honour and
+fortune, as no words can tell him! But if you think as money can make
+compensation to me for the loss of the little child what come to the
+forge,--and ever the best of friends---"
+
+O dear, good Joe, whom I was so ready to leave, and so unthankful to--I
+see you again to-day, and in a very different light. I feel the loving
+tremble of your hand upon my arm as solemnly to-day as if it had been the
+rustle of an angel's wing. But, at the time, I was lost in the mazes of my
+good fortune, and thought of nothing else, and as Joe remained firm on the
+money question, Mr. Jaggers rose to go, giving me a few last instructions
+for reaching London.
+
+Then he left and we vacated the state parlour at once for the kitchen,
+where my sister and Biddy were sitting. I told the news of my great
+expectations and received congratulations, which had in them a touch of
+sadness which I rather resented.
+
+That night Joe stayed out on the doorstep, smoking a pipe much later than
+usual, which seemed to hint to me that he wanted comforting, for some
+reason, but in my arrogant happiness, I could not understand his feelings.
+
+During the next week I was very busy making my preparations to leave. With
+some assistance I selected a suit, and went also to the hatter's and
+boot-maker's and hosier's, and also engaged my place on the Saturday
+morning coach. Then I went to make my farewells to Uncle Pumblechook, whom
+I found awaiting me with pride and impatience, for the news had reached
+him. He shook hands with me at least a hundred times, and blessed me, and
+stood waving his hand at me until I passed out of sight. It was now
+Friday, and I dressed up in my new clothes to make a farewell visit to
+Miss Havisham. I felt awkward and self-conscious, and rang the bell
+constrainedly on account of the still long fingers of my new gloves. Miss
+Havisham received me as usual, and I explained to her that I was to start
+for London on the morrow, and that I had come into a fortune, for which I
+was more grateful than I could express. She asked me a number of
+questions, and then said:
+
+"Well, you have a promising career before you. Be good, deserve it, and
+abide by Mr. Jagger's instructions. Good-bye, Pip." She stretched out her
+hand, and I knelt down and kissed it,--and so I left my fairy god-mother,
+with both her hands on her crutch-stick, standing in the middle of the
+dimly-lighted room.
+
+I little dreamed then that it was not to her that I owed my Great
+Expectations, but to my older acquaintance, the convict, for whom I had
+robbed my sister's larder long ago. But of this I little dreamed, and knew
+nothing until years later.
+
+And now the six days had gone, and to-morrow looked me in the face. As my
+departure drew near I became more appreciative of the society of my
+family. On this last evening I dressed myself in my new clothes for their
+delight, and sat in my splendour until bedtime. We had a hot supper on the
+occasion, and pretended to be in high spirits, although none of us were.
+
+All night my broken sleep was filled with fantastic visions, and I arose
+early and sat by my window, taking a last look at the familiar view. Then
+came an early, hurried breakfast, and then I kissed my sister and Biddy,
+and threw my arms around Joe's neck, took up my little portmanteau, and
+walked out. Presently I heard a scuffle behind me, and there was Joe,
+throwing an old shoe after me. I waved my hat, and dear old Joe waved his
+arm over his head, crying huskily, "Hooroar!"
+
+I walked away rapidly then, thinking it was not so hard to go, after all.
+But then came a thought of the peaceful village where I had been so
+care-free and innocent, and beyond was the great unknown world,--and in a
+moment, I broke into tears, sobbing:
+
+"Good-bye, oh my dear, dear friend!" I was better after that, more sorry,
+more aware of my ingratitude to Joe, more gentle.
+
+So subdued was I by my tears that when I was on the coach, I deliberated,
+with an aching heart, whether I should not get down when we changed
+horses, and walk back for one more evening at home and a better parting,
+but while I was still deliberating, we went on, and changed again, and
+then it was too late and too far for me to go back, and I must go on. And
+the mists had all solemnly risen about me now, and the world lay spread
+before me, and I must go on. And so my boyhood came to an end, and the
+first stage of my Great Expectations was over.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Ten Boys from Dickens, by Kate Dickinson Sweetser
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