 Chapter 20 of Dombi and Son. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Cynthia Lyons. Dombi and Son by Charles Dickens. Chapter 20. Mr. Dombi Goes Upon a Journey. Mr. Dombi, sir, said Major Bagstock. Joey B. is not in general a man of sentiment, for Joseph is tough. But Joe has his feelings, sir, and when they are awakened, damn Mr. Dombi cried the major with sudden ferocity. This is weakness and I won't submit to it. Major Bagstock delivered himself of these expressions on receiving Mr. Dombi as his guest at the head of his own staircase in Princess's place. Mr. Dombi had come to breakfast with the Major, previous to their setting forth on their trip, and the ill-starred native had already undergone a world of misery arising out of the muffins while, in connection with the general question of boiled eggs, life was a burden to him. It is not for an old soldier of the Bagstock breed observed the Major, relapsing into a mild state, to deliver himself up a prey to his own emotions. But, damn me, sir, cried the Major in another spasm of ferocity. I condole with you. The Major's purple visage deepened in its hue, and the Major's lobster eyes stood out in bolder relief as he shook Mr. Dombi by the hand, imparting to that peaceful action as defiant a character as if it had been the prelude to his immediately boxing Mr. Dombi for a thousand pound aside and the championship of England. With a roratory motion of his head and a wheeze very like the cough of a horse, the Major then conducted his visitor to the sitting-room and there welcomed him, having now composed his feelings with the freedom and frankness of a travelling companion. Dombi said the Major, I'm glad to see you. I'm proud to see you. There are not many men in Europe to whom Jay Bagstock would say that. For Josh is blunt, sir. It's his nature. But Joey B. is proud to see you, Dombi. Major returned Mr. Dombi. You are very obliging. No, sir, said the Major. Devil a bit. That's not my character. If that had been Joe's character, Joe might have been, by this time, Lieutenant General Sir Joseph Bagstock, K.C.B., and might have received you in very different quarters. You don't know old Joe yet, I find. But this occasion being special is a source of pride to me. By the Lord, sir, said the Major resolutely. It's an honour to me. Mr. Dombi, in his estimation of himself and his money, felt that this was very true and therefore did not dispute the point. But the instinctive recognition of such a truth by the Major and his plain avowal of it were very agreeable. It was a confirmation to Mr. Dombi if he had required any of his not being mistaken in the Major. It was an assurance to him that his power extended beyond his own immediate sphere and that the Major, as an officer and a gentleman, had a no less becoming sense of it than the beetle of the Royal Exchange. And if it were ever consolatory to know this or the like of this, it was consolatory then when the impotence of his will, the instability of his hopes, the feebleness of wealth, had been so direly impressed upon him. What could it do, his boy had asked him. Sometimes, thinking of the baby question, he could hardly forbear inquiring himself what could it do indeed, what had it done. But these were lonely thoughts bred late at night in the sullen despondency and gloom of his retirement, and pride easily found its reassurance in many testimonies to the truth, as unimpeachable and precious as the Major's. Mr. Dombi, in his friendlessness, inclined to the Major. It cannot be said that he warmed towards him, but he thought a little. The Major had had some part, and not too much, in the days by the seaside. He was a man of the world and knew some great people. He talked much and told stories, and Mr. Dombi was disposed to regard him as a choice spirit known in society, and who had not that poisonous ingredient of poverty with which choice spirits in general are too much adulterated. His station was undeniable. Although the Major was a creditable companion, well accustomed to a life of leisure, and to such places as that they were about to visit and having an air of gentlemanly ease about him that mixed well enough with his own city character and did not compete with it at all. If Mr. Dombi had any lingering idea that the Major as a man accustomed in the way of his calling to make light of the ruthless hand that had lately crushed his hopes might unconsciously impart some useful philosophy to him and scare away his weak regrets, he hid it from himself and left it lying at the bottom of his pride, unexamined. Where is my scoundrel? said the Major, looking wrathfully round the room. The native, who had no particular name, but answered to any vituperative epithet, presented himself instantly at the door and ventured to come no nearer. You villains! said the choleric Major. Where's the breakfast? The dark servant disappeared in search of it and was quickly heard re-ascending the stairs in such a tremulous state that the plates and dishes on the tray he carried, trembling sympathetically as he came, rattled again all the way up. Dombi said the Major, glancing at the native as he arranged the table and encouraging him with an awful shake of his fist when he upset a spoon. Here is a deviled grill, a savory pie, a dish of kidneys, and so forth. Praise it down, old Joe can give you nothing but campfare, you see. Very excellent fair Major replied, his guest and not in mere politeness either, for the Major always took the best possible care of himself and indeed ate rather more of rich meats than was good for him in so much that his imperial complexion was mainly referred by the faculty to that circumstance. You have been looking over the way, sir, observed the Major. Have you seen our friend? You mean Miss Tox retorted Mr. Dombi? No. Charming woman, sir, said the Major, with a fat laugh rising in his short throat and nearly suffocating him. Miss Tox is a very good sort of person, I believe, replied Mr. Dombi. The haughty coldness of the reply seemed to afford Major Bagstock infinite delight. He swelled and swelled exceedingly and even laid down his knife and fork for a moment to rub his hands. Old Joe, sir, said the Major, was a bit of a favorite in that quarter once, but Joe has had his day. Jay Bagstock is extinguished. The rival floored, sir. I should have supposed Mr. Dombi replied that the lady's day for favorites was over, but perhaps your adjusting Major. Perhaps you adjusting Dombi was the Major's rejoinder. There never was a more unlikely possibility. It was so clearly expressed in Mr. Dombi's face that the Major apologized. Sir, pardon, he said. I see you are in earnest. I tell you what, Dombi. The Major paused in his eating and looked mysteriously indignant. That's a devilish, ambitious woman, sir. Mr. Dombi said, indeed, with frigid indifference mingled perhaps with some contemptuous incredulity as to Miss Tox having the presumption to harbor such a superior quality. That woman, sir, said the Major, is in her way a Lucifer. Joey B. has had his day, sir, but he keeps his eyes. He sees, does Joe, his royal highness the Duke of York observed of Joey at a levee that he saw. The Major accomplished this with such a look in between eating, drinking hot tea, devil grill, muffins, and meaning was altogether so swollen and inflamed about the head that even Mr. Dombi showed some anxiety for him. That ridiculous old spectacle, sir, pursued the Major, aspires. She aspires sky-high, sir, matrimonially, Dombi. I am sorry for her, said Mr. Dombi. Don't say that, Dombi, returned the Major in a warning voice. Why should I not, Major, said Mr. Dombi. The Major gave no answer, but the horse's cough and went on eating vigorously. She has taken an interest in your household, said the Major, stopping short again, and has been a frequent visitor at your house for some time now. Yes, replied Mr. Dombi with great stateliness. Miss Talks was originally received there at the time of Mrs. Dombi's death as a friend of my sister's, and being a well-behaved person and showing a liking for the poor infant she was permitted. I may say encouraged to repeat her visits with my sister and gradually to occupy a kind of footing of familiarity in the family. I have, said Mr. Dombi, in the tone of a man who is making a great and valuable concession. I have a respect for Miss Talks. She has been so obliging as to render many little services in my house, trifling and insignificant services perhaps, Major, but not to be disparaged on that account. And I hope I have had the good fortune to be enabled to acknowledge them by such attention and notice as it has been in my power to bestow. I hold myself indebted to Miss Talks, Major, added Mr. Dombi with a slight wave of his hand, for the pleasure of your acquaintance. Dombi, said the Major warmly, No, no, sir. Joseph Backstock can never permit that assertion to pass uncontradicted. Your knowledge of old Joe, sir, such as he is, and old Joe's knowledge of you, sir, had its origin in a noble fellow, sir, in a great creature, sir, Dombi, said the Major, with a struggle which it was not very difficult to parade, his whole life being a struggle against all kinds of apoplectic symptoms, we knew each other through your boy. Mr. Dombi seemed touched as it is not improbable the Major designed he should be by this illusion. He looked down and sighed, and the Major, rousing himself fiercely, again said in reference to the state of mind into which he felt himself in danger of falling, that this was weakness and nothing should induce him to submit to it. Our friend has a remote connection with that event, said the Major, and all the credit that belongs to her JB is willing to give her, sir, not withstanding which, ma'am, he added, raising his eyes from his plate and casting them across Princess's place to where Miss Tox was at the moment visible at her window watering her flowers. You're a screaming Jade, ma'am, and your ambition is a piece of monstrous impudence. If it only made yourself ridiculous, ma'am, said the Major, rolling his head at the unconscious Miss Tox while his starting eyes appeared to make a leap towards her. You might do that to your heart's content, ma'am, without any objection. I assure you on the part of Bagstock. Here the Major laughed frightfully up in the tips of his ears and in the veins of his head. But when, ma'am, said the Major, you compromise other people and generous, unsuspicious people, too, as a repayment for their condescension, you stir the blood of old Joe in his body. Major said, Mr. Dombie, reddening, I hope you do not hint at anything so absurd on the part of Miss Tox as, Dombie, return the Major, I hint at nothing. But Joey B. has lived in the world, sir. And his ears cocked, and Joe tells you, Dombie, that there's a devilish, artful, and ambitious woman over the way. Mr. Dombie involuntarily glanced over the way and an angry glance he sent in that direction, too. That's all on such a subject that shall pass the lips of Joseph Bagstock, said the Major, firmly. Joe is not a tale-bearer, but there are times when he must speak, when he will speak. Confound your arts, ma'am, cried the Major. Again, apostrophizing his fair neighbor with great ire, when the provocation is too strong to admit of his remaining silent. The emotion of this outbreak threw the Major into a paroxysm of horses' coughs, which held him for a long time. On recovering, he added, and now, Dombie, as you have invited Joe, old Joe who has no other merits, sir, but that he is tough and hardy to be your guest and guide at Leamington, command him in any way you please, and he is wholly yours. I don't know, sir, said the Major, wagging his double chin with a jocose air. What it is you people see in Joe to make you hold him in such great request, all of you, but this I know, sir, that if he wasn't pretty tough and obstinate in his refusals, you'd kill him among you with your invitations and so forth in double quick time. Mr. Dombie, in a few words, expressed his sense of the preference he received over those other distinguished members of society who were clamoring for the possession of Major Bagstock. But the Major cut him short by giving him to understand that he followed his own inclinations and that they had risen up in a body and said with one accord, J. B. Dombie is the man for you to choose as a friend. The Major being by this time in a state of repletion with essence of savory pie losing out at the corners of his eye and deviled grill and kidneys tightening his cravat and the time moreover approaching for the departure of the railway train to Birmingham by which they were to leave town, the native got him into his great coat with immense difficulty and buttoned him up until his face looked staring and gasping over the top of that garment as if he were in a barrel. The native then handed him separately and with a decent interval between each supply his wash leather gloves, his thick stick and his hat which latter article the Major wore with a rakish air on one side of his head by way of toning down his remarkable visage. The native had previously packed in all possible and impossible parts of Mr. Dombie's chariot which was in waiting an unusual quantity of carpet bags and small part-mantos no less apoplectic in appearance than the Major himself and having filled his own pockets with seltzer water, East India sherry, sandwiches, shawls, telescopes, maps and newspapers, any or all of which light baggage the Major might require at any instant of the journey. He announced that everything was ready. To complete the equipment of this unfortunate foreigner currently believed to be a prince in his own country when he took his seat in the rumble by the side of Mr. Talinson a pile of the Major's cloaks and great coats were hurled upon him by the landlord who aimed at him from the pavement with those great missiles like a titan and so covered him up that he proceeded in a living tomb to the railroad station. But before the carriage moved away and while the native was in the act of sepulcher Miss Tux, appearing at her window waved a lily-white handkerchief. Mr. Dombie received this parting salutation very coldly, very coldly even for him and honoring her with the slightest possible inclination of his head leaned back in the carriage with a very discontented look. His mock behavior seemed to afford the Major who was all politeness in his recognition of Miss Tux unbounded satisfaction and he sat for a long time afterwards leering and choking an overfed Mephistopheles. During the bustle of preparation at the railway Mr. Dombie and the Major walked up and down the platform side by side the former taciturn and gloomy and the latter entertaining him or entertaining himself with a variety of anecdotes and reminiscences in most of which Joe Bagstock was the principal performer. Neither of the two observed that in the course of these walks they attracted the attention of a working man who was standing near the engine and who touched his hat every time they passed. For Mr. Dombie habitually looked over the vulgar herd not at them and the Major was looking at the time into the core of one of his stories. At length, however, this man stepped before them as they turned round pulling his hat off and keeping it off ducked his head to Mr. Dombie. Beg your pardon, sir, said the man but I hope you're a-doing pretty well, sir. He was dressed in a canvas suit abundantly besmeared with cold dust and oil and had cindered in his whiskers and a smell of half-slaked ashes all over him. He was not a bad-looking fellow nor even what could be fairly called a dirty-looking fellow in spite of this and, in short, he was Mr. Toodle professionally clothed. I shall have the honor of stoking you down, sir, said Mr. Toodle. Beg your pardon, sir, I hope you find yourself a-coming round. Mr. Dombie looked at him in return for his tone in interest as if a man like that would make his very eyesight dirty. Excuse the liberties, sir, said Toodle, seeing he was not clearly remembered. But my wife Polly, as was called Richard's in your family, a change in Mr. Dombie's face which seemed to express recollection of him and so it did but it expressed in a much stronger degree an angry sense of humiliation stopped Mr. Toodle short. Your wife wants money, I suppose, said Mr. Dombie, putting his hand in his pocket and speaking but that he always did heartily. No thank you, sir, returned Toodle. I can't say she does. I don't. Mr. Dombie was stopped short now in his turn and awkwardly with his hand in his pocket. No, sir, said Toodle, turning his oil-skin cap round and round. We're doing pretty well, sir. We haven't no cause to complain in the worldly way, sir. We've had four more since then, sir, but we rubbed on. Mr. Dombie would have rubbed on to his own carriage, though in so doing he had rubbed the stoker underneath the wheels. But his attention was arrested by something in connection with the cap still going slowly round and round in the man's hand. We lost one, Bebe. Observed Toodle, there's no denying. Lately, added Mr. Dombie, looking at the cap. No, sir, up into three years ago, but all the rest is hearty. And in the matter of reading, sir, said Toodle, ducking again, as if to remind Mr. Dombie of what had passed between them on that subject long ago. Boys of mine, they learned me among them after all. There made a very tolerable scholar of me, sir, them boys. Come, major, said Mr. Dombie. Beg your pardon, sir, resumed Toodle taking a step before them and deferentially stopping them again, still cap in hand. I wouldn't have trouble you with such a point, except as a way of getting in the name of my son Byler. Criss and Robin, him as you were so good as to make a charitable grinder on. Wellman, said Mr. Dombie in his severest manner. What about him? Why, sir, returned Toodle, shaking his head with a face of great anxiety and distress. I'm forced to say, sir, that he's gone wrong. He has gone wrong, has he, said Mr. Dombie, with a hard kind of satisfaction. He has fell into bad company, you see, gentlemen. Pursued the father, looking wistfully at both and evidently taking the major into the conversation with the hope of having his sympathy. He has got into bad ways. God send he may come to again, gentlemen. But he's on the wrong track now. You could hardly be off hearing of it somehow, sir, said Toodle, again addressing Mr. Dombie individually. And it's better I should out and say my boy's gone rather wrong. Polly's dreadful down about it, gentlemen, said Toodle, with the same dejected look and another appeal to the major. A son of this man's whom I caused to be educated major, said Mr. Dombie, giving him his arm. The usual return. Take advice from plain old Joe and never educate that sort of people, sir, return the major. Dammy, sir, it never does, it always fails. The simple father was beginning to submit that he hoped his son, the quantum grinder, huffed and cuffed and flogged and badged and taught, as parrots are, by a brute jobbed into his place of school master with as much fitness for it as a hound might not have been educated on quite a right plan in some undiscovered respect when Mr. Dombie angrily repeating, the usual return led the major away. And the major being heavy to hoist into Mr. Dombie's carriage, elevated in mid-air and having to stop and swear that he would flay the native alive and break every bone in his skin and visit other physical torments upon him every time he couldn't get his foot on the step and fell back on that dark exile had barely time before they started to repeat hoarsely that it would never do, that it always failed and that if he were to educate his own vagabond, he would certainly be hanged. Mr. Dombie assented bitterly but there was something more in his bitterness and in his moody way of falling back in the carriage and looking with knitted brows at the changing objects without than the failure of that noble educational system administered by the grinder's company. He had seen upon the man's rough cap a piece of new crepe and he had assured himself from his manner and his answers that he wore it for his son. So from high to low at home or abroad from Florence in his great house to the coarse churl who was feeding the fire then smoking before them everyone set up some claim or other to a share in his dead boy and was a bitter against him. Could he ever forget how that woman had wept over his pillow called him her own child or how he, waking from his sleep, had asked for her and had raised himself in his bed and brightened when she came in? To think of this presumptuous raker among coals and ashes going on before there with his sign of mourning to think that he dared to enter even by a common show like that into the trial and disappointment of a proud gentleman's secret heart to think that this lost child who was to have divided with him his riches and his projects and his power and allied with whom he was to have shut out all the world as with a double door of gold should have let in such a herd to insult him with their knowledge of his defeated hopes and their boasts of claiming community of feeling with himself so far removed if not of having crept into the place wherein he would have lorded it alone. He found no pleasure or relief in the journey tortured by these thoughts he carried monotony with him through the rushing landscape and hurried headlong not through a rich and varied country but a wilderness of blighted plans and annoying jealousies the very speed at which the train was whirled along mocked the swift course of the young life that had been born away so steadily and so inexorably to its fordoomed end the power that forced itself upon its iron way its own defiant of all paths and roads piercing through the heart of every obstacle and dragging living creatures of all classes, ages degrees behind it was a type of the triumphant monster death away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle from the town burrowing among the dwellings of men and making the streets hum flashing out into the meadows for a moment mining it through the damp earth booming on in darkness and heavy air bursting out again into the sunny days so bright and wide away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle through the fields, through the woods, through the corn through the hay, through the chalk, through the mold through the clay, through the rock among objects close at hand and almost in the grass ever flying from the traveler and a deceitful distance ever moving slowly within him like as in the track of the remorseless monster death through the hollow on the height, by the heath by the orchard, by the park, by the garden over the canal across the river where the sheep are feeding, where the mill is going where the barge is floating, where the dead are lying where the factory is smoking, where the stream is running where the village clusters, where the great cathedral rises where the bleak moor lies and the wild breeze smooths or ruffles it at its inconstant will away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle and no trace to leave behind but dust and vapor like as in the track of the remorseless monster death breasting the wind and light, the shower and sunshine away and still away, it rolls and roars fierce and rapid, smooth and certain and great works and massive bridges crossing up above fall like a beam of shadow an inch broad upon the eye and then are lost away and still away, onward and onward ever glimpses of cottage homes of houses, mansions rich estates of husbandry and handicraft of people of old road and paths that look deserted small and insignificant as they are left behind and so they do and what else is there but such glimpses in the track of the indomitable monster death away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle plunging down into the earth again and working on in such a storm of energy and perseverance that amidst the darkness and whirlwind the motion seems reversed and to tend furiously backward until a ray of light upon the wet wall shows its surface flying past like a fierce stream away once more into the day and through the day with a shrill yell of exultation roaring, rattling, tearing on, spurning everything with its dark breath sometimes pausing for a minute where a crowd of faces are that in a minute more are not sometimes lapping water greedily and before the spout at which it drinks has ceased to drip upon the ground shrieking, roaring, rattling through the purple distance louder and louder yet it shrieks and cries as it comes tearing on resistless to the goal and now its way still like the way of death is strewn with ashes thickly everything around is blackened there are dark pools of water muddy lanes and miserable habitations far below there are jagged walls and falling houses close at hand and through the battered roofs and broken windows wretched rooms are seen where want and fever hide themselves in many wretched shapes while smoke and crowded gables and distorted chimneys and deformity of brick and mortar penning up deformity of mind and body choke the murky distance as Mr. Dombie looks out of his carriage window it is never in his thoughts that the monster who has brought him there has let the light of day in on these things not made or caused them it was the journey's fitting end and might have been the end of everything it was so ruinous and dreary so pursuing the one course of thought he had the one relentless monster still before him all things looked black and cold and deadly upon him and he on them he found a likeness to his misfortune everywhere there was a remorseless triumph going on about him and it galled and stung him in his pride and jealousy whatever form it took though most of all when it divided with him the love and memory of his lost boy there was a face he had looked upon it on the previous night and it on him with eyes that read his soul though they were dim with tears and hidden soon behind two quivering hands Stefan had attended him in fancy on this ride he had seen it with the expression of last night timidly pleading to him it was not reproachful but there was something of doubt almost of hopeless incredulity in it which as he once more saw that fade away into a desolate certainty of his dislike was like reproach it was a trouble to him to think of this face of Florence because he felt any new compunction toward it no because the feeling it awakened in him of which he had had some old foreshadowing in older times was full form now and spoke out plainly moving him too much and threatening to grow too strong for his composure because the face was abroad in the expression of defeat and persecution that seemed to encircle him like the air because it barbed the arrow of that cruel and remorseless enemy on which his thoughts so ran and put into its grasp a double-headed sword because he knew full well in his own breast as he stood there tinging the scene of transition before him with the morbid colors of his own mind and making it a ruin and a picture of decay instead of hopeful change and promise of better things that life had quite as much to do with his complainings as death one child was gone and one child left why was the object of his hope removed instead of her the sweet calm gentle presence in his fancy moved him to no reflection but that she had been unwelcome to him from the first she was an aggravation of his bitterness now if his son had been his only child and the same blow had fallen on him it would have been heavy to bear but infinitely lighter than now when it might have fallen on her whom he could have lost or he believed it without a pang and had not her loving and innocent face rising before him had no softening or winning influence he rejected the angel and took up with the tormenting spirit crouching in his bosom her patience, goodness, youth, devotion, love were as so many atoms in the ashes upon which he set his heel he saw her image in the blight and blackness all around him not irradiating but deepening the gloom more than once upon this journey and now again as he stood pondering at this journey's end tracing figures in the dust with his stick the thought came into his mind what was there he could interpose between himself and it the major who had been blowing and panting all the way down like another engine and whose eye had often wandered from his newspaper to leer at the prospect as if there were a procession of discomfited mistoxes pouring out in the smoke of the train and flying away over the fields to hide themselves in any place of refuge aroused his friend by informing him that the post horses were harnessed and the carriage ready Dombie said the major wrapping him on the arm with his cane don't be thoughtful it's a bad habit old Joe sir wouldn't be as tough as you see him if he had ever encouraged it you are too great a man Dombie to be thoughtful in your position sir you're far above that kind of thing the major even in his friendly remonstrances thus consulting the dignity and honor of Mr. Dombie and showing a lively sense of their importance Mr. Dombie felt more than ever disposed to defer to a gentleman possessing so much good sense and such a well-regulated mind accordingly he made an effort to listen to the major's stories as they trotted along the Turnpike Road and the major finding both the pace and the road a great deal better adapted to his conversational powers than the mode of traveling they had just relinquished came out for his entertainment but still the major blunt and tough as he was and as he so very often said he was administered some palatable catering to his companion's appetite he related or rather suffered it to escape him accidentally and as one might say grudgingly and against his will how there was a great curiosity and excitement at the club in regard to his friend Dombie how he was suffocated with questions sir how old Joe Backstock was a greater man than ever on the strength of Dombie how they said Backstock your friend Dombie now what is the view he takes of such and such a question though by the rude sir said the major with a broad stare how they discovered that JB ever came to know you is a mystery in this flow of spirits and conversation only interrupted by his usual plethoric symptoms and by intervals of lunch and from time to time by some violent assault upon the native who wore a pair of earrings in his dark brown ears and on whom his European clothes sat with an outlandish impossibility of adjustment being of their own accord and without any reference to the tailor's art long where they ought to be short short where they ought to be long tight where they ought to be loose and loose where they ought to be tight and to which he imparted a new grace whenever the major attacked him by shrinking into them like a shriveled nut or a cold monkey in this flow of spirits and conversation the major continued all day so that when evening came on and found them trotting through the green and leafy road near Leamington the major's voice what with talking and eating and chuckling and choking appeared to be in the box under the rumble or in some neighboring haystack nor did the major improve it at the Royal Hotel where rooms and dinner had been ordered and where he so oppressed his organs of speech by eating and drinking that when he retired to bed he had no voice at all except to cough with and could only make himself intelligible to that dark servant by gasping at him he not only rose next morning however like a giant refreshed but conducted himself at breakfast like a giant refreshing at this meal they arranged their daily habits the major was to take the responsibility of ordering everything to eat and drink and they were to have a late breakfast together every morning and a late dinner together every day Mr. Dombie would prefer remaining in his own room or walking in the country by himself on that first day of their sojourn at Leamington but next morning he would be happy to accompany the major to the pump room and about the town so they parted until dinner time Mr. Dombie retired to nurse his wholesome thoughts in his own way the major attended by the native carrying a campstool a great coat and an umbrella swaggered up and down through all the public places looking in to subscription books to find out who was there looking up old ladies by whom he was much admired reporting J.B. tougher than ever and puffing his rich friend Dombie wherever he went there never was a man who stood by a friend more staunchly than the major when in puffing him he puffed himself it was surprising how much new conversation the major had to let off at dinner time and what occasion he gave Mr. Dombie to admire his social qualities at breakfast next morning he knew the contents of the latest newspapers received and mentioned several subjects in connection with them on which his opinion had recently been sought by persons of such power and might that they were only to be obscurely hinted at Mr. Dombie who had been so long shut up within himself and who had rarely at any time overstepped the enchanted circle within which the operations on Dombie and son were conducted began to think this an improvement on his solitary life and in place of excusing himself for another day as he had thought of doing when alone walked out with the major arm in arm End of Chapter 20 Chapter 21 of Dombie and Son this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Dombie and Son by Charles Dickens recording by Cynthia Lyons Chapter 21 New Faces the major more blue-faced and staring more overripe as it were than ever and giving vent every now and then to one of the horse's coughs not so much of necessity as in a spontaneous explosion of importance walked arm in arm with Mr. Dombie up the sunny side of the way with his cheeks swelling over his tight stock his legs majestically wide apart and his great head wagging from side to side as if he were remonstrating within himself for being such a captivating object they had not walked many yards before the major encountered somebody he knew nor many yards farther before the major encountered somebody else he knew but he merely shook his fingers at them as he passed and led Mr. Dombie on pointing out the localities as they went and enlivening the walk with any current scandal suggested by them in this manner the major and Mr. Dombie were walking arm in arm much to their own satisfaction when they beheld advancing towards them a wheeled chair in which a lady was seated indolently steering her carriage by a kind of rudder in front while it was propelled by some unseen power in the rear although the lady was not young she was very blooming in the face quite rosy and her dress and attitude were perfectly juvenile walking by the side of the chair and carrying her gossamer parasol with a proud and weary air as if so great an effort must be soon abandoned and the parasol dropped sauntered a much younger lady very handsome very haughty very willful who tossed her head and drooped her eyelids as though if there were anything in all the world worth looking into save a mirror it certainly was not the earth or sky why what the devil have we here sir cried the major stopping as this little cavalcade drew near my dearest Edith draw the lady in the chair major back stock the major no sooner heard the voice than he relinquished Mr. Dombie's arm darted forward took the hand of the lady in the chair and pressed it to his lips with no less gallantry the major folded both his gloves upon his heart and bowed low to the other lady and now the chair having stopped the motive power became visible in the shape of a flushed page pushing behind who seemed to have in part outgrown and in part out pushed his strength for when he stood upright he was tall and wan and thin and his plight appeared the more forlorn from his having injured the shape of his hat by butting at the carriage with his head to urge it forward as is sometimes done by elephants in oriental countries Joe back stock said the major to both ladies is a proud and happy man for the rest of his life you false creature said the old lady in the chair insipidly where do you come from I can't bear you then suffer old Joe to present a friend ma'am said the major promptly as a reason for being tolerated Mr. Donby Mrs. Skeuten the lady in the chair was gracious Mr. Donby Mrs. Granger the lady with the parasol was faintly conscious of Mr. Donby's taking off his hat and bowing low I am delighted sir said the major to have this opportunity the major seemed in earnest for he looked at all the three and leered in his ugliest manner Mrs. Skeuten Donby said the major makes havoc in the heart of old Josh Mr. Donby signified that he didn't wonder at it you perfidious goblin said the lady in the chair have done how long have you been here bad man one day replied the major and can you be a day or even a minute return the lady slightly settling her false curls and false eyebrows with her fan and showing her false teeth set off by her false complexion in the garden of what's its name Eden I suppose ma'am interrupted the younger lady scornfully my dear Edith said the other I cannot help it I can never remember those frightful names without having your whole soul and being inspired by the sight of nature by the perfume said Mrs. Skeuten rustling a handkerchief that was faint and sticky with essences of her artless breath you creature the discrepancy between Mrs. Skeuten's fresh enthusiasm of words and forlornly faded manner was hardly less observable than that between her age which was about 70 and her dress which would have been youthful for 27 her attitude in the wheelchair which she never varied was one in which she had been taken in a barouche some 50 years before by a then fashionable artist who had appended to his published sketch the name of Cleopatra in consequence of a discovery made by the critics of the time that it bore an exact resemblance to that princess as she reclined on board her galley Mrs. Skeuten was a beauty then and bucks threw wine glasses over their heads by dozens in her honor the beauty and the barouche had both passed away but she still preserved the attitude and for this reason expressly maintained the wheelchair and the budding page then there being nothing whatever except the attitude to prevent her from walking Mr. Dombie is devoted to nature I trust said Mrs. Skeuten settling her diamond brouche and by the way she chiefly lived upon the reputation of some diamonds and her family connections my friend Dombie ma'am returned the major may be devoted to her in secret but a man who is paramount in the greatest city in the universe no one can be a stranger said Mrs. Skeuten to Mr. Dombie's immense influence as Mr. Dombie acknowledged the compliment with a bend of his head the younger lady glancing at him met his eyes you reside here madam said Mr. Dombie addressing her no we have been to a great many places to harrogate and scarborough and into Devonshire we have been visiting and resting here and there mama likes change Edith of course does not said Mrs. Skeuten with a ghastly archeness I have not found that there is any change in such places was the answer delivered with supreme indifference they libel me there is only one change Mr. Dombie observed Mrs. Skeuten with a mincing sigh for which I really care and that I fear I shall never be permitted to enjoy people cannot spare one but seclusion and contemplation are my what's his name if you mean paradise mama you had better say so to render yourself intelligible said the younger lady my dearest Edith return Mrs. Skeuten you know that I am wholly dependent upon you for those odious names I assure you Mr. Dombie nature intended me for an Arcadium I am thrown away in society cows are my passion what I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm and live entirely surrounded by animals and China this curious association of objects suggesting a remembrance of the celebrated bull who got by mistake into a crockery shop was received with perfect gravity by Mr. Dombie who intimated his opinion that nature was no doubt a very respectable institution what I want to say is that it was frightfully true in one sense if not in that in which she used the phrase what I want is frankness, confidence less conventionality and freer play of soul we are dreadfully artificial we were indeed in short said Mrs. Skeuten everywhere it would be so extremely charming nature is inviting us away now mama if you are ready said the younger lady curling her handsom lip at this hint the one page who had been surveying the party over the top of the chair vanished behind it as if the ground had swallowed him up stop a moment withers said Mrs. Skeuten as the chair began to move calling to the page with all the language dignity with which she had called in days of yore to a coachman with a wig cauliflower nose gay and silk stockings where are you staying? abomination the major was staying at the royal hotel with his friend Dombie you may come and see us any evening when you are good lisp, Mrs. Skeuten Mr. Dombie will honor us we shall be happy withers go on the major again pressed to his blue lips the tips of the fingers that were disposed on the ledge of the wheelchair with careful carelessness after the Cleopatra model and Mr. Dombie bowed the elder lady honored them both with a very gracious smile and a girlish wave of her hand the younger lady with the very slightest inclination ahead that common courtesy allowed the last glimpse of the wrinkled face of the mother with that patched color on it which the sun made infinitely more haggard and dismal than any want of color could have been and of the proud beauty of the daughter with her graceful figure and erect deportment engendered such an involuntary disposition on the part of both the major and Mr. Dombie to look after them that they both turned at the same moment the page nearly as much a slant as his own shadow was toiling after the chair uphill like a slow battering ram the top of Cleopatra's bonnet was fluttering in exactly the same corner to the inch as before and the beauty by herself a little in advance expressed in all her elegant form from head to foot the same supreme disregard of everything and everybody I tell you what, sir said the major as they resumed their walk again if Joe Backstock were a younger man there's not a woman in the world whom he'd prefer for Mrs. Backstock to that woman sir said the major she's superb do you mean the daughter inquired Mr. Dombie is Joey B a turnip Dombie said the major that he should mean the mother you were complimentary to the mother returned Mr. Dombie an ancient flame sir chuckled major Backstock devilish ancient I humor her she impresses me as being gentle said Mr. Dombie gentile sir said the major stopping short and staring in his companion's face the honorable Mrs. Skeuten sir is sister to the laid lord phoenix and aunt to the present lord the family are not wealthy they're poor indeed and she lives upon a small jointure but if you come to blood sir the major gave a flourish with his stick and walked on again in despair of being able to say what you came to if you came to that you addressed the daughter I observed said Mr. Dombie after a short pause as Mrs. Granger Edith Skeuten sir returned the major stopping short again and punching a mark in the ground with his cane to represent her married at 18 Granger of whom the major indicated by another punch Granger sir said the major tapping the last ideal portrait and rolling his head emphatically was Colonel of devilish handsome fellow of 41 he died sir in the second year of his marriage the major round the representative of the deceased Granger through and through the body with his walking stick and went on again carrying the stick over his shoulder how long is this ago asked Mr. Dombie making another halt Edith Granger sir replied the major shutting one eye putting his head on one side passing his cane into his left hand and smoothing his shirt frill with his right is at the present time not quite 30 and damn sir said the major shouldering his stick once more and walking on again she's a peerless woman was there any family asked Mr. Dombie presently yes sir said the major there was a boy Mr. Dombie's eyes sought the ground over his face who was drowned sir pursued the major when a child of 4 or 5 years old indeed said Mr. Dombie raising his head by the upsetting of a boat in which his nurse had no business to have put him said the major that's his history Edith Granger is Edith Granger still but if tough old Joey B sir were a little younger and a little richer the name of that immortal paragon should be bag stock the major heaved his shoulders and his cheeks and laughed more like an overfed Mephistopheles than ever as he said the words provided the lady made no objection I suppose said Mr. Dombie coldly by Gad sir said the major the bag stock breed are not accustomed to that sort of obstacle though it's true enough that Edith might have married 20 times but for being proud sir proud Mr. Dombie seemed by his face to think no worse of her for that it's a great quality after all said the major by the lord it's a high quality Dombie you are proud yourself and your friend old Joe respects you for it sir with this tribute to the character of his ally which seemed to be rung from him by the force of circumstances and the irresistible tendency of their conversation the major closed the subject and glided into a general exposition of the extent to which he had been beloved and doted on by splendid women and brilliant creatures on the next day but one Mr. Dombie and the major encountered the honourable Mrs. Skeuten and her daughter in the pump room on the day after they met them again very near the place where they had met them first after meeting them thus three or four times in all it became a point of mere civility to old acquaintances that the major should go there one evening Mr. Dombie had not originally intended to pay visits but on the major announcing this intention he said he would have the pleasure of accompanying him so the major told the native to go round before dinner and say with his and Mr. Dombie's compliments that they would have the honour of visiting the ladies that same evening if the ladies were alone an answer to which message the native brought back a very small note with a very large quantity of scent about it indicted by the honourable Mrs. Skeuten to major bag stock and briefly saying you are a shocking bear and I have a great mind not to forgive you but if you are very good indeed which was underlined you may come compliments in which Edith unites to Mr. Dombie the honourable Mrs. Skeuten Mr. Granger resided while at Leamington in lodgings that were fashionable enough and dear enough but rather limited in point of space and conveniences so that the honourable Mrs. Skeuten being in bed had her feet in the window and her head in the fireplace while the honourable Mrs. Skeuten's made was courted in a closet within the drawing room so extremely small to avoid developing the whole of its accommodations she was obliged to ride in and out of the door like a beautiful serpent withers the wand page slept out of the house immediately under the tiles at a neighbouring milk shop and the wheel chair which was the stone of that young Sisyphus passed the night in a shed belonging to the same dairy new laid eggs were produced by the poultry connected with the establishment who roosted on a broken donkey cart persuaded to all appearances that it grew there and was a species of tree Mr. Dombie and the major found Mrs. Skeuten arranged as Cleopatra among the cushions of a sofa very airily dressed and certainly not resembling Shakespeare's Cleopatra whom age could not wither on the way upstairs they had heard the sound of a harp but it had ceased on their being announced and Edith now stood beside it handsomer and haughtier than ever it was a remarkable characteristic of this lady's beauty that it appeared to vaunt and assert itself without her aid and against her will she knew that she was beautiful it was impossible that it could be otherwise but she seemed with her own pride to defy her very self whether she held cheap attractions that could only call forth admiration that was worthless to her or whether she designed to render them more precious to admirers by this usage of them those to whom they were was seldom paused to consider I hope Mrs. Granger said Mr. Dombie advancing a step towards her we are not the cause of your ceasing to play you oh no why do you not go on then my dearest Edith said Cleopatra I left off as I began of my own fancy the exquisite indifference of her manner in saying this an indifference quite removed from dullness or insensibility for it was pointed with proud purpose was well set off by the carelessness with which she drew her hand across the strings and came from that part of the room do you know Mr. Dombie said her languishing mother playing with a handscreen that occasionally my dearest Edith and myself actually almost differ not quite sometimes mama said Edith oh never quite my darling it would break my heart making a faint attempt to pat her with the screen which Edith made no movement to meet about these cold conventionalities of manner that are observed in little things why are we not more natural near me with all those yearnings and gushings and impulsive throbbing that we have implanted in our souls and which are so very charming why are we not more natural Mr. Dombie said it was very true very true we could be more natural I suppose if we tried Mr. Dombie thought it possible devil a bit mam said the major we couldn't afford it the world was peopled with J.B.'s tough and blunt old Joe's mam playing red herrings with hard rows sir we couldn't afford it it wouldn't do you naughty infidel said Mrs. Skeuten be mute Cleopatra commands returned the major kissing his hand and Anthony Bagstock obeys the man has no sensitiveness said Mrs. Skeuten cruelly holding up the handscreen so as to shut the major out no sympathy and what do we live for but sympathy what else is so extremely charming without that gleam of sunshine on our cold cold earth said Mrs. Skeuten arranging her lace tucker and complacently observing the effect on her bare lean arm looking upward from the wrist how could we possibly bear it in short, obdurate man glancing at the major round the screen I would have my world all heart and faith is so excessively charming that I won't allow you to disturb it do you hear the major replied that it was hard in Cleopatra to require the world to be all heart and yet to appropriate to herself the hearts of all the world which obliged Cleopatra to remind him that flattery was insupportable to her and that if he had the boldness to address her in that strain anymore she would positively send him home withers the wand at this period handing round the tea Mr. Dombi again addressed himself to Edith there is not much company here it would seem said Mr. Dombi in his own pretentious womanly way I believe not we see none why really observed Mrs. Scuton from her couch there are no people here just now with whom we care to associate they have not enough heart said Edith with a smile the very twilight of a smile so singularly were its light and darkness blended my dearest Edith rallies me you see my mother shaking her head which shook a little of itself sometimes as if the palsy twinkled now and then in opposition to the diamonds wicked one you have been here before if I am not mistaken said Mr. Dombi still to Edith oh several times I think we have been everywhere a beautiful country I suppose it is everybody says so your cousin Phoenix raves about it Edith interposed her mother from her couch the daughter slightly turned her graceful head and raising her eyebrows by a hair's breath as if her cousin Phoenix were of all the mortal world the least to be regarded turned her eyes again towards Mr. Dombi I hope for the credit of my good taste that I am tired of the neighborhood she said you have almost reason to be madam he replied glancing at a variety of landscape drawings of which he had already recognized several as representing neighboring points of view and which was strewn abundantly about the room if these beautiful productions are from your hand she gave him no reply but sat in disdainful beauty quite amazing have they that interest said Mr. Dombi are they yours yes and you play I already know yes and sing yes she answered all these questions with a strange reluctance and with that remarkable air of opposition to herself already noticed as belonging to her beauty yet she was not embarrassed but wholly self possessed neither did she seem to wish to avoid the conversation for she addressed her face and so far as she could her manner also to him and continued to do so when he was silent you have many resources against weariness at least said Mr. Dombi whatever their efficiency may be she returned you know them all now I have no more may I hope to prove them all Mr. Dombi with solemn gallantry laying down a drawing he had held and motioning towards the harp oh certainly if you desire it she rose as she spoke and crossing by her mother's couch and directing a stately look towards her which was instantaneous in its duration but inclusive if anyone had seen it of a multitude of expressions among which that of the twilight smile without the smile itself overshadowed all the rest went out of the room the major who was quite forgiven by this time had wheeled a little table up to Cleopatra and was sitting down to play pk with her Mr. Dombi not knowing the game sat down to watch them for his edification until Edith should return we are going to have some music Mr. Dombi I hope said Cleopatra Mrs. Granger has been kind enough to promise so ah that's very nice do you propose major no ma'am said the major couldn't do it you are a barbarous being replied the lady and my hands destroyed you are fond of music Mr. Dombi eminently so was Mr. Dombi's answer very nice said Cleopatra looking at her cards so much heart in it undeveloped recollections of a previous state of existence and all that which is so truly charming do you know simpered Cleopatra reversing the nave of clubs who had come into her game with heels uppermost that if anything could tempt me to put a period to my life it would be curiosity to find out what it's all about and what it means there are so many provoking mysteries really that are hidden from us major you to play the major played and Mr. Dombi looking on for his instruction would soon have been in a state of dire confusion but that he gave no attention to the game whatever and sat wondering instead when Edith would come back she came at last and sat down to her harp and Mr. Dombi rose and stood beside her listening he had little taste for music and no knowledge of the strain she played but he saw her bending over it and perhaps he heard among the sounding strings some distant music of his own that tamed the monster of the iron road and made it less inexorable Cleopatra had a sharp eye verily at piquet it glistened like a bird and did not fix itself upon the game but pierced the room from end to end and gleamed on harp performer, listener everything when the haughty beauty had concluded she rose and receiving Mr. Dombi's thanks and compliments in exactly the same manner as before went with scarcely any pause to the piano and began there Edith Granger any song but that Edith Granger you are very handsome and your touch upon the keys is brilliant and your voice is deep and rich but not the air that his neglected daughter sang to his dead son alas he knows it not and if he did what air of hers would stir him rigid man sleep lonely Florence sleep peace in thy dreams although the night has turned dark and the clouds are gathering and threatened to discharge themselves in hail End of Chapter 21