 Chapter The Seventh Book The Second of Little Dorit Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff Little Dorit by Charles Dickens Book The Second Chapter The Seventh Mostly Prunes and Prism Mrs. General, always on her coach-box keeping the proprieties well together, took pains to form a surface on her very dear young friend, and Mrs. General's very dear young friend tried hard to receive it. Hard as she had tried in her laborious life to attain many ends, she had never tried harder than she did now to be varnished by Mrs. General. It made her anxious and ill at ease to be operated upon by that smoothing hand, it is true, but she submitted herself to the family want in its greatness as she had submitted herself to the family want in its littleness and yielded to her own inclinations in this thing no more than she had yielded to her hunger itself in the days when she had saved her dinner that her father might have his supper. One comfort that she had under the ordeal by General was more sustaining to her and made her more grateful than to a less devoted and affectionate spirit, not habituated to her struggles and sacrifices, might appear quite reasonable. And indeed, it may often be observed in life that spirits like Little Dorit do not appear to reason half as carefully as the folks who get the better of them. The continued kindness of her sister was discomfort to Little Dorit. It was nothing to her that the kindness took the form of tolerant patronage. She was used to that. It was nothing to her that it kept her in a tributary position and showed her in attendance on the flaming car in which Miss Fanny sat on an elevated seat, exacting homage. She sought no better place, always admiring Fanny's beauty and grace and readiness, and not now asking herself how much of her disposition to be strongly attached to Fanny was due to her own heart and how much to Fanny's, she gave her all the sisterly fondness her great heart contained. The wholesale amount of prunes and prism which Mrs. General infused into the family life, combined with the perpetual plunges made by Fanny into society, left but a very small residue of any natural deposit at the bottom of the mixture. This rendered confidences with Fanny doubly precious to Little Dorit and heightened the relief they afforded her. Amy said Fanny to her one night when they were alone, after a day so tiring that Little Dorit was quite worn out, though Fanny would have taken another dip into society with the greatest pleasure in life. I'm going to put something into your little head. You won't guess what it is, I suspect? I don't think that's likely, dear, said Little Dorit. Come, I'll give you a clue, child, said Fanny. Mrs. General! Prunes and prism. In a thousand combinations, having been wearily in the ascendant all day, everything having been surface and varnish and show without substance, Little Dorit looked as if she had hoped that Mrs. General was safely tucked up in bed for some hours. Now, can you guess, Amy? said Fanny. No, dear, unless I have done anything, said Little Dorit rather alarmed, and meaning anything calculated to crack varnish and ruffle surface. Fanny was so very much amused by the misgiving that she took up her favorite fan, being then seated at her dressing table with her armory of cruel instruments about her, most of them reeking from the heart of Sparkler, and tapped her sister frequently on the nose with it, laughing all the time. Oh, our Amy, our Amy! said Fanny. What a timid little goose our Amy is, but this is nothing to laugh at. On the contrary, I am very cross, my dear. As it is not with me, Fanny, I don't mind. Returned her sister, smiling. Ah, but I do mind, said Fanny. And so will you, Pet, when I enlighten you. Amy, has it never struck you that somebody is monstrously polite to Mrs. General? Everybody is polite to Mrs. General, said Little Dorit, because she freezes them into it, interrupted Fanny. I don't mean that, quite different from that. Come, has it never struck you, Amy, that Pai's monstrously polite to Mrs. General? Amy, murmuring no, looked quite confounded. No, I dare say not, but he is, said Fanny. He is Amy, and remember my words. Mrs. General has designs on Pai. Dear Fanny, do you think it possible that Mrs. General has designs on anyone? Do I think it possible? retorted Fanny. My love, I know it. I know she has designs on Pai. And more than that, I tell you Pai considers her such a wonder, such a paragon of accomplishment, and such an acquisition to our family, that he is ready to get himself into a state of perfect infatuation with her at any moment, and that opens a pretty picture of things, I hope. Think of me with Mrs. General for a mama. Little Dorit did not reply. Think of me with Mrs. General for a mama. But she looked anxious, and seriously inquired what had led Fanny to these conclusions. Lord, my darling, said Fanny tartly, you might as well ask me how I know when a man is struck with myself, but of course I do know. It happens pretty often, but I always know it. I know this in much the same way, I suppose. At all events, I know it. You never heard Papa say anything? Say anything? repeated Fanny. My dearest darling child, what necessity has he had yet a while to say anything? And you have never heard Mrs. General say anything? My goodness me, Amy? returned Fanny. Is she the sort of woman to say anything? Isn't it perfectly plain and clear that she has nothing to do at present but to hold herself upright, keep her aggravating glance on and go sweeping about? Say anything? If she had the ace of drums in her hand at whilst, she wouldn't say anything, child. It would come out when she played it. At least you may be mistaken, Fanny. Now may you not? Oh yes, I may be, said Fanny, but I am not. However, I am glad you can contemplate such an escape, my dear, and I am glad that you can take this for the present with sufficient coolness to think of such a chance. It makes me hope that you may be able to bear the connection. I should not be able to bear it, and I should not try. And marry young Sparkle first. Oh, you would never marry him Fanny under any circumstances. Upon my word, my dear, rejoined that young lady with exceeding indifference. I wouldn't positively answer even for that. There is no knowing what might happen, especially as I should have many opportunities afterwards of treating that woman, his mother, in her own style, which I most decidedly should not be slow to avail myself of, Amy. No more past between the sisters, then. But what had passed gave the two subjects of Mrs. General and Mr. Sparkle a great prominence in little Dorit's mind. And thenceforth, she thought very much of both. Mrs. General, having long ago formed her own surface to such perfection that it hid whatever was below it, if anything, no observation was to be made in that quarter. Mr. Dorit was undeniably very polite to her and had a high opinion of her, but Fanny, impetuous at most times, might easily be wrong for all that. Whereas the Sparkle question was on the different footing, that anyone could see what was going on there, and little Dorit saw it and pondered on it with many doubts and wonderings. The devotion of Mr. Sparkle was only to be equaled by the caprice and cruelty of his enslave. Sometimes she would prefer him to such distinction of notice that he would chuckle aloud with joy. Next day, or next hour, she would overlook him so completely and drop him into such an abyss of obscurity that he would groan under a weak pretense of coughing. The constancy of his attendance never touched Fanny, though he was so inseparable from Edward that, when that gentleman wished for a change of society, he was under the irksome necessity of gliding out like a conspirator in disguised boats and by secret doors and back ways. Though he was so solicitous to know how Mr. Dorit was, that he called every other day to inquire as if Mr. Dorit were the prey of an intermittent fever. Though he was so constantly being paddled up and down before the principal windows, that he might have been supposed to have made a wager at a large stake to be paddled a thousand miles in a thousand hours, though whenever the gondola of his mistress left the gate, the gondola of Mr. Sparkler shot out from some watery ambush and gave chase, as if she were a fair smuggler and he a custom house officer. It was probably owing to this fortification of the natural strength of his constitution with so much exposure to the air and the salt sea that Mr. Sparkler did not pine outwardly. But whatever the cause, he was so far from having any prospect of moving his mistress by a languishing state of health that he grew bluffer every day. And that peculiarity in his appearance of seeming rather a swirled boy than a young man became developed to an extraordinary degree of roddy puffiness. Blandwa calling to pay his respects, Mr. Dorit received him with affability as the friend of Mr. Gowan and mentioned to him his idea of commissioning Mr. Gowan to transmit him to posterity. Blandwa highly extolling it, it occurred to Mr. Dorit that it might be agreeable to Blandwa to communicate to his friend the great opportunity reserved for him. Blandwa accepted the commission with his own free elegance of manner and swore he would discharge it before he was an hour older. On his imparting the news to Gowan that master gave Mr. Dorit to the devil with great liberality some round dozen of times, for he resented patronage almost as much as he resented the want of it and was inclined to quarrel with his friend for bringing him the message. It may be a defect in my mental vision, Blandwa, said he, but may I die if I see what you have to do with this? Death of my life, replied Blandwa, nor I neither except that I thought I was serving my friend. By putting an upstart's hair in his pocket, said Gowan frowning, do you mean that? Tell your other friend to get his head painted for the sign of some public house and to get it done by a sign painter. Who am I and who is he? Professor, returned the ambassador. And who is Blandwa? Without appearing at all interested in the latter question, Gowan angrily whistled Mr. Dorit away, but next day he resumed the subject by saying in his offhand manner and with a slighting laugh, Well, Blandwa, when shall we go to this myseen as of yours? We journeymen must take jobs when we can get them. When shall we go and look after this job? When you will, said the injured Blandwa. As you please, what have I to do with it? What is it to me? I can tell you what it is to me, said Gowan. Bread and cheese, one must eat. So come along, my Blandwa. Mr. Dorit received them in the presence of his daughters and of Mr. Sparkler, who happened by some surprising accident to be calling there. How are you, Sparkler? said Gowan carelessly. When you have to live by your mother with old boy, I hope you may get on better than I do. Mr. Dorit then mentioned his proposal. Sir, said Gowan, laughing after receiving it gracefully enough, I am new to the trade and not expert at its mysteries. I believe I ought to look at you in various lights, tell you you are a capital subject, and consider when I shall be sufficiently disengaged to devote myself with the necessary enthusiasm to the fine picture I mean to make of you. I assure you. And he laughed again. I feel quite a traitor in the camp of those dear, gifted, good noble fellows, my brother-artists, by not doing the hocus pocus better. But I have not been brought up to it, and it's too late to learn it. Now the fact is, I am a very bad painter, but not much worse than the generality. If you are going to throw away a hundred guineas or so, I am as poor as a poor relation of great people usually is, and I shall be very much obliged to you if you'll throw them away upon me. I'll do the best I can for the money, and if the best should be bad, why even then you may probably have a bad picture with a small name to it, instead of a bad picture with a large name to it. This stone, though not what he had expected, on the whole suited Mr. Dorit remarkably well. It showed that the gentleman highly connected and not a mere workman would be under an obligation to him. He expressed his satisfaction in placing himself in Mr. Gowan's hands and trusted that he would have the pleasure in their characters of private gentlemen of improving his acquaintance. You are very good, said Gowan. I have not foresworn society since I joined the brotherhood of the brush, the most delightful fellows on the face of the earth, and I'm glad enough to smell the old fine gunpowder now and then, though it did blow me into mid-air and my present calling. You'll not think, Mr. Dorit, and here he laughed again in the easiest way, that I am lapsing into the Freemasonry of the craft, for it's not so. Upon my life I can't help betraying it wherever I go, though by Jupiter I love and honour the craft with all my might. If I propose a stipulation as to time and place? Ha! Mr. Dorit could erect no suspicion of that kind on Mr. Gowan's frankness. Again you are very good, said Gowan. Mr. Dorit, I hear you are going to Rome. I am going to Rome, having friends there. Let me begin to do the injustice I have conspired to do you, there, not here. We shall all be harried during the rest of our stay here, and though there is not a poorer man with whole elbows in Venice than myself, I have not quite got all the amateur out of me yet, comprising the trade again you see, and can't fall on to order in hurry for the mere sake of the sixpences. These remarks were not less favourably received by Mr. Dorit than their predecessors. There were the prelude to the first reception of Mr. and Mrs. Gowan at dinner, and they skillfully placed Gowan on his usual ground in the new family. His wife, too, they placed on her usual ground. Miss Fanny understood, with particular distinctness, that Mrs. Gowan's good looks had cost her husband very dear, that there had been a great disturbance about her in the barnacle family, and that the dowager Mrs. Gowan, nearly heartbroken, had resolutely set her face against the marriage, until overpowered by her maternal feelings. Mrs. General likewise clearly understood that the attachment had occasioned much family grief and dissension. Of honest Mr. Meagles no mention was made, except that it was natural enough that a person of that sort should wish to raise his daughter out of his own obscurity, and that no one could blame him for trying his best to do so. Little Dorit's interest in the fair subject of this easily accepted belief was too earnest and watchful to fail in accurate observation. She could see that it had its part in throwing upon Mrs. Gowan the touch of a shadow under which she lived, and she even had an instinctive knowledge that there was not the least truth in it. But it had an influence in placing obstacles in the way of her association with Mrs. Gowan by making the prunes and prisms school excessively polite to her, but not very intimate with her. And Little Dorit, as an enforced cizer of that college, was obliged to submit herself humbly to its ordinances. Nevertheless, there was a sympathetic understanding already established between the two, which would have carried them over greater difficulties, and made a friendship out of a more restricted intercourse. As though accidents were determined to be favorable to it, they had a new assurance of congeniality in the aversion which each perceived that the other felt towards Blandois of Paris, an aversion amounting to the repugnance and horror of a natural antipathy towards an odious creature of the reptile kind. And there was a passive congeniality between them, besides this active one. To both of them Blandois behaved in exactly the same manner, and to both of them his manner had uniformly something in it which they both knew to be different from his bearing towards others. The difference was too minute in its expression to be perceived by others, but they knew it to be there. A mere trick of his evil eyes, a mere turn of his smooth wide hand, a mere hair's breadth of addition to the fall of his nose and the rise of the moustache in the most frequent movement of his face conveyed to both of them equally a swagger personal to themselves. It was as if he had said, I have a secret power in this quarter, I know what I know. This had never been felt by them both in so great a degree, and never by each so perfectly to the knowledge of the other, as on a day when he came to Mr Doritz to take his leave before quitting Venice. Mrs Gowon was herself there for the same purpose, and he came upon the two together, the rest of the family being out. The two had not been together five minutes, and the peculiar manner seemed to convey to them, you are going to talk about me, ha, behold me here to prevent it. Gowon is coming here? said Blandois with a smile. Mrs Gowon replied he was not coming. Not coming? said Blandois. Permit your devoted servant when you leave here to escort you home. Thank you, I am not going home. Not going home? said Blandois. Then I am forlorn. That he might be, but he was not so forlorn as to roam away and leave them together. He sat entertaining them with his finest compliments and his choicest conversation, but he conveyed to them all the time, no, no, no dear ladies, behold me here expressly to prevent it. He conveyed it to them with so much meaning, and he had such a diabolical persistency in him that at length Mrs Gowon rose to depart. On his offering his hand to Mrs Gowon to lead her down the staircase, she retained little Doritz' hand in hers with a cautious pressure and said, No thank you, but if you will please to see if my boatman is there I shall be obliged to you. It left him no choice but to go down before them. As he did so, had in hand Mrs Gowon whispered, He killed the talk. Does Mr Gowon know it? Little Doritz whispered, No one knows it, don't look towards me, look towards him. He would turn his face in a moment. No one knows it, but I am sure he did. You are? I, I think so. Little Doritz answered. Henry likes him, and he will not think ill of him. He is so generous and open himself, but you and I feel sure that we think of him as he deserves. He argued with Henry that the talk had been already poisoned when he changed so, and sprang at him. Henry believes it, but we do not. I see he is listening, but can't hear. Goodbye my love, goodbye. The last words were spoken aloud, as the vigilant Blandois stopped, turned his head, and looked at them from the bottom of the staircase. Assuredly he did look then, though he looked his politest, as if any real philanthropist could have desired no better employment than to lash a great stone to his neck, and drop him into the water flowing beyond the dark arched gateway in which he stood. No such benefactor to Mankind being on the spot, he handed Mrs. Gowen to her boat, and stood there until it had shot out of the narrow view, when he handed himself into his own boat and followed. Little Doritz had sometimes thought, and now thought again, as she retraced her steps up the staircase, that he had made his way too easily into her father's house. But so many and such varieties of people did the same through Mr. Doritz' participation in his elder daughter's society mania, that it was hardly an exceptional case. A perfect fury for making acquaintances on whom to impress their riches and importance had seized the house of Doritz. It appeared on the whole to Little Doritz herself that this same society in which they lived greatly resembled a superior sort of martial sea. Numbers of people seemed to come abroad pretty much as people had come into the prison. They were brought into these foreign towns in the custody of couriers and local followers, just as the debtors had been brought into the prison. They prowled about the churches and picture galleries, much in the old dreary prison yard manner. They were usually going away again tomorrow or next week and rarely knew their own minds, and seldom did what they said to them to be a part of the prison. They knew their own minds, and seldom did what they said they would do, or went where they said they would go. In all this again, very like the prison debtors, they paid high for poor accommodation and disparaged a place while they pretended to like it, which was exactly the martial sea custom. They were envied when they went away by people left behind, feigning not to want to go, and that again was the martial sea habit invariably. A certain set of words and phrases, as much belonging to tourists as the college and the snaggery belonged to the jail, was always in their mouths. They had precisely the same incapacity for settling down to anything as the prisoners used to have. They rather deteriorated one another as the prisoners used to do, and they wore untied addresses and fell into a slouching way of life. Still, always like the people in the martial sea. The period of the family's stay at Venice came in its course to an end, and they moved with their retinue to Rome. Through a repetition of the former Italian scenes, growing more dirty and more haggard as they went on and bringing them at length to where the very air was diseased, they passed to their destination. A fine residence had been taken for them on the Corso, and there they took up their abode, in a city where everything seemed to be trying to stand still forever on the ruins of something else, except the water, which, following eternal laws, tumbled and rolled from its glorious multitude of fountains. Here it seemed to little Dorrid that a change came over the martial sea spirit of their society, and that prunes and prism got the upper hand. Everybody was walking about St. Peter's and the Vatican on somebody else's cork legs, and straining every visible object through somebody else's sieve. Nobody said what anything was, but everybody said what the Mrs. Generals, Mr. Eustace, or somebody else said it was. The whole body of travellers seemed to be a collection of voluntary human sacrifices, bound hand and food, and delivered over to Mr. Eustace and his attendants to have the entrails of their intellects arranged according to the taste of that sacred priesthood. Through the ragged remains of temples and tombs and palaces and senate halls and theatres and amphitheaters of ancient days, hosts of tongue-tied and blindfolded moderns were carefully feeling their way, incessantly repeating prunes and prism in the endeavour to set their lips according to the received form. Mrs. Generals was in her pure element. Nobody had an opinion. There was a formation of surface going on around her on an amazing scale and it had not a flaw of courage or honest free speech in it. Another modification of prunes and prism insinuated itself on little Dorit's notice very shortly after their arrival. They received an early visit from Mrs. Muddle, who led that extensive department of life in the eternal city that winter, and the skillful manner in which she and Fanny fenced with one another on the occasion almost made her quiet sister wink, like the glittering of small swords. So delighted, said Mrs. Muddle, to resume an acquaintance so inauspiciously begun at Martinie. At Martinie, of course, said Fanny, charmed, I am sure. I understand, said Mrs. Muddle, from my son Edmund Sparkler, that he has already improved that chance occasion. He has returned quite transported with Venice. Indeed, returned the careless Fanny. Was he there long? I might refer that question to Mr. Dorit, said Mrs. Muddle turning the bosom towards that gentleman, Edmund having been so much indebted to him for rendering his stay agreeable. Oh, pray don't speak of it! returned Fanny. I believe Popeye had the pleasure of inviting Mr. Sparkler twice or thrice, but it was nothing. We had so many people about us and kept such open house, but if he had that pleasure it was less than nothing. Except, my dear, said Mr. Dorit, except as it afforded me unusual gratification to him, shown by any means, however slight and worthless, the high estimation in which, in common with the rest of the world, I hold so distinguished and princely a character as Mr. Muddle's. The bosom received this tribute in its most engaging manner. Mr. Muddle, observed Fanny as a means of dismissing Mr. Sparkler into the background, is quite a theme of Popeye's you must know, Mrs. Muddle. I have been home, disappointed, madam, said Mr. Dorit, to understand from Mr. Sparkler that there is no great probability of Mr. Muddle's coming abroad. Why indeed, said Mrs. Muddle, is so much engaged and is such request that I fear not. He has not been able to get abroad for years. You, Mr. Dorit, I believe have been almost continually abroad for a long time. Oh, dear, yes, drove Fanny with the greatest hardyhood, an immense number of years. So I should have inferred, said Mrs. Muddle. Exactly, said Fanny. I trust, however, resumed Mr. Dorit, that if we have not the great advantage of becoming known to Mr. Muddle on this side of the Arps or Mediterranean, I shall have that honour on returning to England. It is an honour I particularly desire and shall particularly esteem. Mr. Muddle, said Mrs. Muddle, who had been looking admiringly at Fanny through her eyeglass, will esteem it, I am sure, no less. Little Dorit, still habitually thoughtful and solitary, though no longer alone, at first supposed this to be mere prunes and prism. But as her father, when they had been to a brilliant reception at Mrs. Muddle's, harped at their own family breakfast table on his wish to know Mr. Muddle, with the contingent view of benefiting by the advice of that wonderful man in the disposal of his fortune, she began to think it had a real meaning and to entertain a curiosity on her own part to see the shining light of the time. End of chapter the 7th, Book the 2nd. This recording is in the public domain. Chapter the 8th, Book the 2nd of Little Dorit. Read fullyprivox.org by Alice Christoff. Little Dorit by Charles Dickens. Book the 2nd. Chapter the 8th. The Dowager, Mrs. Cowan, is reminded that it never does. While the waters of Venice and the ruins of Rome were sunning themselves for the pleasure of the Dorit family and were daily being sketched out of all earthly proportion, lineament and likeness, by travelling pencils innumerable, the firm of doys and clenum hammered away in bleeding hard-yard and the vigorous clink of iron upon iron was heard there through the working hours. The younger partner had by this time brought the business into sound trim and the elder left free to follow his own ingenious devices had done much to enhance the character of the factory. As an ingenious man he had necessarily to encounter every discouragement that the ruling powers for a length of time had been able by any means to put in the way of this class of culprits that was only reasonable self-defense in the powers, since how to do it must obviously be regarded as the natural and mortal enemy of how not to do it. In this was to be found the basis of the wise system by tooth and nail upheld by the circumlocution office of warning every ingenious British subject to be ingenious at his peril, of harassing him, abstracting him, inviting robbers remedy uncertain and expensive to blunder him and at the best of confiscating his property after a short term of enjoyment as though invention were on a par with felony. The system had uniformly found great favor with the barnacles and that was only reasonable too for one who worthily invents must be earnest and the barnacles abhorred and dreaded nothing half so much. That again was very reasonable since in a country suffering under the affliction of a great amount of earnestness, there might in an exceeding short space of time be not a single barnacle left sticking to a post. Daniel Dois faced his condition with its pains and penalties attached to it and soberly worked on for the work's sake. Clenum cheering him with a hearty cooperation was the moral support to him besides doing good service in his business relation. The concern prospered and the partners were fast friends but Daniel could not forget the old design of so many years. It was not in reason to be expected that he should. If he could have lightly forgotten it he could never have conceived it or had the patience and perseverance to work it out. So Clenum thought when he sometimes observed him of an evening looking over the modals and drawings and consoling himself by muttering as he put them away again that the thing was as true as it ever was. To show no sympathy with so much endeavor and so much disappointment would have been to fail in what Clenum regarded as among the implied obligations of his partnership. A revival of the passing interest in the subject which had been by chance awakened at the door of the circumlocution office originated in this feeling. He asked his partner to explain to him having a lenient consideration. He stipulated for my being no workman doys. No workman said doys. You would have been a thorough workman if you had given yourself to it. You have as good a head for understanding such things as I have met with. A totally uneducated one I am sorry to add said Clenum. I don't know that return doys and I wouldn't have you say that the sense who has been generally improved and has improved himself can be called quite an educated as to anything. I don't particularly favor mysteries. I would as soon on a fair and clear explanation be judged by one class of man as another provided he had the qualification I have named. At all events said Clenum, this sounds as if we were exchanging compliments but we know we are not. I shall have the advantage of a qualification as can be given. Well, said Daniel in his steady even way I'll try to make it so. He had the power often to be found in union with such a character of explaining what he himself perceived and meant with the direct force and distinctness with which it struck his own mind. His manner of demonstration was so orderly and neat and simple that it was not easy to mistake him. There was something almost ludicrous in the complete irreconcilability of the vague conventional notion that he must be a visionary man. With the precise, sagacious traveling of his eye and thumb over the plans, their patient stoppages at particular points, their careful returns to other points, when slid little channels of explanation had to be traced up and his steady manner of making everything good and everything sound at each important time before taking his hero on a lion's breath farther. His dismissal of himself from his description was hardly less remarkable. He never said, I discovered this adaptation or invented that combination, but showed the whole thing as if the divine artificer had made it and he had happened to find it. So modest he was about it, such a pleasant touch of respect was mingled with his quiet admiration of it and so calmly convinced he was that it was established on irrefragable laws. Not only that evening, but for several succeeding evenings Glennon was quite charmed by this investigation. The more he pursued it, and the oftener he glanced at the grey head bending over it and the shrewd eye kindling with pleasure in it and love of it, instrument for probing his heart though it had been made for twelve long years, the less he could reconcile it to his younger energy to let it go without one effort more. At length he said, Dois, it came to this at last, that the business was to be sunk with heaven knows how many more wrecks saw begun all over again. Yes, returned Dois, that's what the noble men and gentlemen made of it after a dozen years. And pretty fellows too, said Glennon Bitterly. The usual thing, observed Dois, I must not make a matter of myself when I am one of so large a company. Relinquish it or begin it all over again, mused Glennon. That was exactly the long and the short of it, said Dois. Then my friend, cried Glennon starting up and taking his work roughened hand, it shall be begun all over again. Dois looked alarmed and replied in a hurry for him. No, no, better put it by, it will be heard of one day. I can put it by. You forget my good Glennon, I have put it by. It's all at an end. Yes, Dois, returned Glennon, at an end as far as your efforts and rebuffs are concerned, I admit, but not as far as mine are. I am younger than you, I have only once set foot in that precious office, and I am fresh game for them. Come, I'll try them. I have been doing since we have been together. I will add, as I easily can, to what I have been doing, the attempt to get public justice done to you. And unless I have some success to report, you shall hear no more of it. Daniel Dois was still reluctant to consent, and again and again urged that they had better put it by. But it was natural that he should gradually allow himself to be over persuaded by Glennon, and should yield. Yield he did. So Arthur resumed the long and hopeless labour of striving to make way with the circumlocution office. The waiting rooms of that department soon began to be familiar with his presence, and he was generally ushered into them by his janitors, much as a pickpocket might be shown into a police office. The principal difference being that the object of the latter class of public business is to keep the pickpocket while the circumlocution object was to get rid of Glennon. However, he was resolved to stick to the great department, and so the work of form-filling, corresponding, minuting, memorandum-making, signing, counter-signing, counter-counter-signing, referring backwards and forwards, and referring sideways, crosswise, and zig-zag, recommend. Here arises a feature of the circumlocution office not previously mentioned in the present record. An admirable department got into trouble, and was by some infuriated members of parliament, whom the smaller barnacles almost suspected of laboring under diabolic possession, attacked on the merits of no individual case, but as an institution wholly abominable and bedlamite. Then the noble or right honourable barnacle who represented it in the house would smite that member and cleave him asunder the statement of the quantitative business or the prevention of business done by the circumlocution office. Then would that noble or right honourable barnacle hold in his hand a paper containing a few figures, to which, with the permission of the house, he would entreat its attention. Then would the inferior barnacles exclaim, obeying orders, here, here, here, and read. Then would the noble or right honourable barnacle perceive, sir, from this little document which he thought might carry conviction even to the perversist mind, derisive laughter and cheering from the barnacle fry, that within the short compass of the last financial half-year, this much maligned department, cheers, had written and received fifteen thousand letters, loud cheers, had written twenty-four thousand minutes, louder cheers, and thirty-two thousand five hundred and seventeen memoranda, vehement cheering, nay, an ingenious gentleman connected with the department and himself a valuable public servant, had done him the favour to make a curious calculation of the amount of stationery consumed in it during the same period. It formed a part of this same short document, and he derived from it the remarkable fact that the sheets of full-scap paper it had devoted to the public service would pave the footways on both sides of Oxford Street from end to end and leave nearly a quarter of a mile to spare for the park. Immense cheering and laughter. While of tape-red tape it had used enough to stretch in graceful festoons from Hyde Park corner to the general post office. Then, amidst a burst of official exaltation, would the noble or right honourable barnacle sit down, leaving the mutilated fragments of the member on the field. No one, after that exemplary demolition of him, would have the hard-ehood to hint that the more the circumlocution office did, the less was done, and that the greatest blessing it could confer on an unhappy public would be to do nothing. With sufficient occupation on his hands, now that he had this additional task, such a task had many and many a serviceable man died of before his day, Arthur Clenham led a life of slight variety. Regular visits to his mother's Dalcy Croom, and visits scarcely less regular to Mr. Meagles at Twickenham, were its only changes during many months. He sadly and sorely missed little Dorrid. He had been prepared to miss her very much, but not so much. He knew to the full extent only through experience what a large place in his life was left blank when her familiar little figure went out of it. He felt, too, that he must relinquish the hope of its return, understanding the family character sufficiently well to be assured that he and she were divided by a broad ground of separation. The old interest he had had in her, and her old trusting reliance on him, were tinged with melancholy in his mind. So soon had changed stolen over them, and so soon had they glided into the past with other secret tendernesses. When he received her letter, it was greatly moved, but did not the less sensibly feel that she was far divided from him by more than distance. It helped him to a clearer and cleaner perception of the place assigned him by the family. He felt that he was cherished in her grateful remembrance secretly, and that they resented him with the jail and the rest of its belongings. Through all these meditations which every day of his life crowded about her, he thought of her otherwise in the old way. She was his innocent friend, his delicate child, his dear little Dorot. This very change of circumstances fitted curiously in with the habit began on the night when the roses floated away, of considering himself as a much older man than his years really made him. He regarded her from a point of view which in its remoteness tender as it was, his little thought would have been unspeakable agony to her. He speculated about her future destiny and about the husband she might have with an affection for her which would have drained her heart of its dearest drop of hope and broken it. Everything about him tended to confirm him in the custom of looking on himself as an elderly man from whom such aspirations as he had combated in the case of Minigawon though that was not so long ago either, reckoning by months and seasons, were finally departed. His relations with her father and mother were like those on which a widower's son-in-law might have stood. If the twin sister who was dead had lived to pass away in the bloom of womanhood, and he had been her husband, the nature of his intercourse with Mr. and Mrs. Miggles would probably have been just what it was. This imperceptibly helped to render habitual the impression within him that he had done with and dismissed that part of life. He invariably heard of many from them as telling them in her letters how happy she was and how she loved her husband but inseparable from that subject he invariably saw the old cloud on Mr. Miggles' face. Mr. Miggles had never been quite so radiant since the marriage as before. He had never quite recovered the separation from pet. He was the same good-humoured, open creature but as if his face from being much turned towards the pictures of his two children which could show him only one look unconsciously adopted a characteristic from them it always had now, through all its changes of expression, a look of loss in it. One wintery Saturday when Glenham was at the cottage, the dowager Mrs. Gowan drove up in the Humpton Court Equipage which pretended to be the exclusive equipage of so many individual proprietors. She descended in her shady emboscade of green fan to favour Mr. and Mrs. Miggles with a call and how do you both do Papa and Mama Miggles? Said she encouraging her humble connections and when did you last hear from all about my poor fellow? My poor fellow was her son and this mode of speaking of him politely kept alive without any offence in the world the pretence that he had fallen a victim to the Miggles' wiles and the dear pretty one said Mrs. Gowan have you late news of her than I have? Which also delicately implied that her son had been captured by mere beauty and under its fascination had foregone all sorts of worldly advantages. I am sure said Mrs. Gowan without straining her attention on the answers she received. It's an unspeakable comfort to know they continue happy. My poor fellow is of such a restless disposition and has been so used to roving about and to being in constant and popular among all manner of people that it's the greatest comfort in life. I suppose poor as mice, Papa Miggles? Mr. Miggles fidgety under the question replied I hope not ma'am I hope they will manage their little income Oh my dearest Miggles returned the lady tapping him on the arm with the green fan and then adroitly interposing it between a yawn and a company How can you as a man of the world and one of the most businesslike of human beings for you know you are businesslike and a great deal too much for us who are not which went to the former purpose by making Mr. Miggles out to be an artful schemer How can you talk about them managing their little means My poor dear fellow the idea of his managing hundreds and the sweet pretty creature too the notion of her managing Papa Miggles don't Well ma'am said Mr. Miggles gravely I am sorry to admit then that Henry certainly does anticipate his means My dear good man I use no ceremony with you because we are a kind of relations positively ma'am Miggles exclaimed Mrs. Garwin cheerfully as if the absurd coincidence then flashed upon her for the first time a kind of relations my dear good man in this world none of us can have everything our own way this again went to the former point and showed Mr. Miggles with all good breeding that so far he had been brilliantly successful in his deep designs Mrs. Garwin thought that he'd so good a one that she dwelt upon it repeating not everything no no in this world we must not expect everything Papa Miggles and may I ask ma'am retorted Mr. Miggles a little heightened in colour who does expect everything oh nobody nobody said Mrs. Garwin I was going to say but you put me out you interrupting Papa what was I going to say drooping her large green fan she looked musingly at Mr. Miggles while she thought about it a performance not tending to the cooling of that gentleman's rather heated spirits ah yes to be sure said Mrs. Garwin you must remember that my poor fellow has always been accustomed to expectations they may have been realized or they may not have been realized let us say then may not have been realized observed Mr. Miggles the dowager for a moment gave him an angry look but tossed it off with her head and her fan and pursued the tenor of her way in her former manner it makes no difference my poor fellow has been accustomed to that sort of thing and of course you knew it and were prepared for the consequences I myself always clearly foresaw the consequences and I'm not surprised and you must not be surprised in fact can be surprised must have been prepared for it Mr. Miggles looked at his wife and at Glenham bit his lip and coughed and now here's my poor fellow Mrs. Garwin pursued receiving notice that he is to hold himself in expectation of a baby and all the expenses attendant on such an addition to his family poor Henry but it can be helped now it's too late to help it now only don't talk of anticipating means Papa Miggles as a discovery because that would be too much too much ma'am said Mr. Miggles as seeking an explanation there there there I know that you needn't tell me that Papa Miggles I know it very well what was it I said just now that it was a great comfort they continued happy it is to be hoped they will still continue happy it is to be hoped pretty one will do everything she can to make my poor fellow happy it is to be hoped they will still continue happy it is to be hoped pretty one will do everything she can to make my poor fellow happy and keep him contented Papa and Mama Miggles we had better say no more about it we never did look at this subject from the same side and we never shall there there now I am good truly having by this time said everything she could say in maintenance of her wonderfully mythical position and in admonition to Mr. Miggles that he must not expect to bear his honors of alliance too cheaply Mrs. Gowan was disposed to forego the rest if Mr. Miggles had submitted to a glance of entreaty from Mrs. Miggles and an expressive gesture from Clenum he would have left her in the undisturbed enjoyment of this state of mind but Pet was the darling and pride of his heart and if he could ever have championed her more devotedly or loved her better than in the days when she was the sunlight of his house it would have been now when as his daily grace and delight she was lost to it Mrs. Gowan ma'am said Mr. Miggles I have been a plain man all my life if I was to try no matter whether on myself on somebody else or both any gentle mystifications I should probably not succeed in them Papa Miggles returned the dowager with an affable smile and with the bloom on her cheeks standing out a little more vividly than usual as the neighbouring surface became paler probably not therefore my good madam said Mr. Miggles had great pains to restrain himself I hope I may without offence ask to have no such mystification played off upon me Mama Miggles observed Mrs. Gowan you are good man is incomprehensible her turning to that worthy lady was an artifice to bring her into the discussion quarrel with her and vanquish her Mr. Miggles interposed to prevent that consummation mother said he you're an inexpert my dear and it is not a fair match let me beg of you to remain quiet come Mrs. Gowan come let us try to be sensible let us try to be good natured let us try to be fair don't you pity Henry and I won't pity pet and don't be one-sided my dear madam it's not considerate it's not kind don't let us say that we hope pet will make Henry happy or even that we hope Henry will make pet happy Mr. Miggles himself did not look happy as he spoke the words but let us hope they will make each other happy yes sure and there leave it father said Mrs. Miggles the kind hearted and comfortable why mother no returned Mr. Miggles not exactly there I can't quite leave it there I must say just half a dozen words more Mrs. Gowan I hope I am not oversensitive I believe I don't look it indeed you do not said Mrs. Gowan shaking her head and the great green fan together for emphasis thank you ma'am that's well notwithstanding which I feel a little I don't want to use a strong word now shall I say heard ask Mr. Miggles at once with frankness and moderation and with a conciliatory appeal in his tone say what you like answered Mrs. Gowan it is perfectly indifferent to me no no don't say that urged Mr. Miggles because that's not responding amably I feel a little hurt when I hear references made to consequences having been foreseen and to its being too late now and so forth do you Papa Miggles said Mrs. Gowan I am not surprised well ma'am reasoned Mr. Miggles I was in hopes you would have been at least surprised because to hurt me willfully on so tender a subject is surely not generous I am not responsible said Mrs. Gowan for your conscience you know poor Mr. Miggles looked aghast with astonishment if I am unluckily obliged to carry a cap about with me which is yours and fits you pursued Mrs. Gowan don't blame me for its pattern Papa Miggles I beg why good lord ma'am Mr. Miggles broke out that's as much as to state now Papa Miggles Papa Miggles said Mrs. Gowan who became extremely deliberate and prepossessing in manner whenever that gentleman became at all warm perhaps to prevent confusion I had better speak for myself than trouble your kindness to speak for me it's as much as to state you begin if you please I will finish the sentence it is as much as to state not that I wish to press it or even recall it where it is of no use now and my only wish is to make the best of existing circumstances that from the first to the last I always objected to this match of yours and at a very late period yielded a most unwilling consent to it mother cried Mr. Miggles do you hear this Arthur do you hear this the room being of a convenient size said Mrs. Gowan looking about as she fanned herself and quite charmingly adapted in all respects to conversation I should imagine I am audible in any part of it some moments passed in silence before Mr. Miggles could hold himself in his chair with sufficient security to prevent his breaking out of it at the next word he spoke at last he said ma'am I am very unwilling to revive them but I must remind you what my opinions and my cause were all along on that unfortunate subject oh my dear sir said Mrs. Gowan smiling and shaking her head with accusatory intelligence they were well understood by me I assure you I never ma'am said Mr. Miggles knew unhappiness before that time I never knew anxiety before that time it was a time of such distress to me that that Mr. Miggles could really say no more about it in short but passed his handkerchief before his face I understood the whole affair said Mrs. Gowan compositely looking over her fan as you have appealed to Mr. Clenham I may appeal to Mr. Clenham too he knows whether I did or not I am very unwilling said Clenham looked to by all parties to take any share in this discussion more especially because I wish to preserve the best understanding and the clearest relations with Mr. Henry Gowan I have very strong reasons indeed for entertaining that wish Mrs. Gowan attributed certain views of furthering the marriage to my friend here in conversation with me before it took place and I endeavored to undeceive her I represented that I knew him as I did and do to be strenuously opposed to it both in opinion and action you see said Mrs. Gowan turning the palms of her hands towards Mr. Miggles as if she were justice herself representing to him that he had better confess or he had got not a leg to stand on you see very good here she rose allow me to take the liberty of putting an end to this rather formidable controversy I will not say another word upon its merits I will only say that it is an additional proof of what one knows from all experience that this kind of thing never answers as my poor fellow himself would say that it never pays that it never does Mr. Miggles asked what kind of thing it is in vain said Mrs. Gowan for people to attempt to get on together who have such extremely different antecedents who are jumbled against each other in this accidental matrimonial sort of way and who cannot look at the untoward circumstance which has shaken them together in the same light that it never does Mr. Miggles was beginning permit me to say mom no I don't returned Mrs. Gowan why should you it is an ascertained fact it never does I will therefore if you please go my way leaving you to yours I shall at all times be happy to receive my poor fellow's pretty wife and I shall always make a point of being on the most affectionate terms with her these terms semi-family and semi-stranger semi-coring and semi-boring they form a state of things quite amusing in its impractic ability I assure you it never does the Dowager here made a smiling obeisance rather to the room than to anyone in it and therewith took a final farewell of Papa and Mama Miggles Clenum stepped forward to hand her to the pill box which was at the service of all the pills in the Quenton Court Palace and she got into that vehicle with distinguished serenity and was driven away then swore the Dowager with a light and careless humour often recounted to her particular acquaintance how after a hard trial she had found it impossible to know those people who belonged to Henry's wife and who had made that desperate set to catch him whether she had come to the conclusion that to get rid of them would give her favourite pretence a better heir might save her some occasional inconvenience and could risk no loss a pretty creature being fast married and her father devoted to her was best known to herself though this history has its opinion on that point too and decidedly in the affirmative End of chapter the 8th Book II of Little Dorit This recording is in the public domain Book II Chapter IX of Little Dorit Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff Little Dorit by Charles Dickens Book II Chapter IX Appearance and Disappearance Arthur, my dear boy said Mr. Meagles on the evening of the following day Mother and I have been talking this over and we don't feel comfortable in remaining as we are that elegant connection of ours that dear lady who was here yesterday I understand, said Arthur even that avable and condescending ornament of society pursued Mr. Meagles may misrepresent us, we are afraid we could bear a great deal Arthur for her sake but we think we would rather not bear that if it was all the same to her Good, said Arthur go on you see, proceeded Mr. Meagles it might put us wrong with our son in law it might even put us wrong with our daughter and it might lead to a great deal of domestic trouble you see, don't you? yes indeed, returned Arthur there is much reason in what you say he had glanced at Mrs. Meagles who was always on the good and sensible side and a petition had shown out of her honest face that he would support Mr. Meagles for his decent inclinings so, we are very much disposed our mother and I said Mr. Meagles to pack up bags and baggage and go among their longers and marchongers once more I mean, we are very much disposed to be off strike right through France into Italy and see our pet and I don't think replied Arthur touched by the motherly anticipation in the bright face of Mrs. Meagles she must have been very like her daughter once that you could do better and if you ask me for my advice it is that you set off tomorrow is it really though said Mr. Meagles mother, this is being backed in an idea mother with a look which thanked Clenem in a manner very agreeable to him answered that it was indeed the fact is besides Arthur said Mr. Meagles the old cloud coming over his face that my son-in-law is already in debt again and that I suppose I must clear him again it may be as well, even on this account that I should step over there and look him up in a friendly way then again, his mother foolishly anxious and yet naturally too about pet state of health and that she should not be left to feel lonesome at the present time it's undeniably a long way of Arthur and a strange place for the poor love under all the circumstances let her be as well cared for as any lady and still it is a long way off just as home is home though it's never so homely why you see said Mr. Meagles adding a new version to the proverb Rome is Rome though it's never so romely all perfectly true observed Arthur and all sufficient reasons for going I am glad you think so it decides me mother, my dear, you may get ready we have lost our pleasant interpreter who spoke three foreign languages beautifully Arthur you have heard her many a time and you must pull me through it mother as well as you can I require a great deal of pulling through Arthur said Mr. Meagles shaking his head a deal of pulling through I stick at everything beyond a noun substantive and I stick at him if he's at all a tight one now I think of it returned Clenum there's Cavaletto I could not afford to lose him but you will bring him safe back well I am much obliged to you my boy said Mr. Meagles turning it over but I think not no I think I'll be pulled through by mother Cavaluro I stick at this very name to start with and it sounds like the chorus to a comic song is so necessary to you that I don't like the thought of taking him away more than that there is no saying when we may come home again and it would never do to take him away for an indefinite time the cottage is not what it was it only holds two little people less than it ever did pattern her poor and fortunate mate Taticorum but it seems empty now once out of it there is no knowing when we may come back to it no Arthur I'll be pulled through by mother they would do best by themselves perhaps after all Clenum thought therefore did not press his proposal if you would come down and stay here for a change when it wouldn't trouble you Mr. Meagles resumed I should be glad to think and so would mother too I know that you were brightening up the old place with a bit of life it was used to when it was full and that the babies on the wall there had a kind eye upon them sometimes you so belong to the sport and to them Arthur and we should every one of us have been so happy if it had fallen out how is the weather for traveling now Mr. Meagles broke off cleared his throat and got up to look out of the window they agreed that the weather was of high promise and Clenum kept the talk in that safe direction until it had become easy again when he gently diverted it to Henry Gowan and his quick sense and agreeable qualities when he was delicately dealt with he likewise dwelt on the indisputable affection he entertained for his wife and did not fail of his effect upon good Mr. Meagles from these commendations greatly cheered and who took mother to witness that the single and cordial desire of his heart in reference to their daughter's husband was harmoniously to exchange friendship for friendship and confidence for confidence within a few hours the cottage furniture began to be wrapped up for preservation in the family absence or as Mr. Meagles expressed it the house began to put its hair in papers and within a few days father and mother were gone Mrs. Ticket and Dr. Bucken were posted as of your behind the parlour blind and Arthur's solitary feet were wrestling among the dry fallen leaves in the garden walks as he had a liking for the spot he seldom let a week pass without paying a visit sometimes he went down alone from Saturday to Monday sometimes his partner accompanied him sometimes he merely strolled an hour or two about the house and garden saw that all was right and returned to London again at all times and under all circumstances Mrs. Ticket with her dark row of curls and Dr. Bucken sat in the parlour window looking out for the family return on one of his visits Mrs. Ticket received him with the words I have something to tell you Mr. Clenham that will surprise you so surprising was the something in question that it actually brought Mrs. Ticket out of the parlour window and produced her in the garden walk when Clenham went in at the gate on its being opened for him what is it Mrs. Ticket said he sir returned that faithful housekeeper having taken him into the parlour and closed the door if ever I saw the letter way and deluded child in my life I saw her identically in the dusk of yesterday evening you don't mean that he and yes I do quote Mrs. Ticket clearing the disclosure at a leap where? Mr. Clenham returned Mrs. Ticket I was a little heavy in my eyes being that I was waiting longer than customary for my cup of tea which was then preparing by Mary Jane I was not sleeping nor what a person would term correctly dosing I was more what a person would strictly call watching with my eyes closed without entering upon an inquiring to this curious abnormal condition Clenham said exactly well well sir proceeded Mrs. Ticket I was thinking of one thing and thinking of another just as you yourself might just as anybody might precisely so said Clenham well and when I do think of one thing and do think of another pursued Mrs. Ticket I hardly need to tell you Mr. Clenham that I think of the family because dear me a person's thoughts Mrs. Ticket said this with an argumentative and philosophic here however they may stray will go more or less on what is uppermost in their minds they will do it sir and a person can't prevent them Arthur subscribed to this discovery with a nod you find it so yourself sir I'll be bold to say said Mrs. Ticket and we all find it so it aren't our stations in life that changes us Mr. Clenham thoughts is free as I was saying I was thinking of one thing and thinking of another and thinking very much of the family not of the family in the present times only but in the past times too for when a person does begin thinking of one thing and thinking of another in that manner as it's getting dark what I say is that all times seem to be present and a person must get out of that state and consider before they can say which is which he nodded again afraid to utter a word lest it should present any new opening to Mrs. Ticket's conversational powers in consequence of which said Mrs. Ticket when I quivered my eyes and saw her actual form and figure looking in at the gate I let them close again without so much as starting for that actual form and figure came so bad to the time when it belonged to the house as much as mine or your own that I never thought at the moment of its having gone away but sir when I quivered my eyes again I saw that it wasn't there then it all flooded upon me with a fright and I jumped up you ran out directly said Clenham I ran out, assented Mrs. Ticket as fast as ever my feet would carry me and if you credited Mr. Clenham there wasn't in the whole shining heavens no not so much as a finger of that young woman passing over the absence from the firmament of this novel constellation Arthur inquired of Mrs. Ticket if she herself went beyond the gate went to and fro and high and low said Mrs. Ticket and so no sign of her he then asked Mrs. Ticket how long a space of time she supposed there might have been between the two sets of ocular quiverings she had experienced Mrs. Ticket though minutely circumstantial in her reply had no settled opinion between 5 seconds and 10 minutes she was so plainly at sea on this part of the case and had so clearly been startled out of slumber that Clenham was matched disposed to regard the appearance as a dream without hurting Mrs. Ticket's feelings with that infiddle solution of her mystery he took it away from the cottage with him and probably would have retained it ever afterwards if a circumstance could not soon happened to change his opinion he was passing at nightfall along the strand and the lamp lighter was going on before him under whose hand the street lamps blurred by the foggy air burst out one after another like so many blazing sunflowers coming into full blow all at once when a stoppage on the pavement caused by a train of coal wagons toiling up from the wharves at the riverside brought him to a standstill he had been walking quickly and going with some current of thought and the sudden check given to both operations caused him to look freshly about him as people under such circumstances usually do immediately he saw in advance a few people intervening but still so near to him that he could have touched them by stretching out his arm Tati Korum and a strange man of a remarkable appearance a swaggering man with a high nose and a black moustache as falls in its color as his eyes were false in their expression who wore his heavy cloak with the air of a foreigner his dress and general appearance were those of a man on travel and he seemed to have very recently joined the girl in bending down being much taller than she was listening to whatever she said to him he looked over his shoulder with a suspicious glance of one who was not unused to be mistrustful that his footsteps might be dogged it was then that Klenom saw his face as his eyes lowered on the people behind him in the aggregate without particularly resting upon Klenom's face or any other he had scarcely turned his head about again and it was still bent down listening to the girl when the stoppage seized and the abstracted stream of people flowed on still bending his head and listening to the girl he went on at her side and Klenom followed them resolving to play this unexpected play out and see where they went he had hardly made the determination though he was not long about it when he was again as suddenly brought up as he had been by the stoppage they turned short into the Adelphi the girl evidently leading and went straight on as if they were going to the terrace which overhangs the river there is always, to this day a sudden pause in that place to the roar of the great thoroughfare the many sounds became so deadened that the change is like putting cotton in the ears or having the head thickly muffled at that time the contrast was far greater there being no small steamboats on the river no landing places but slippery wooden stairs and foot causeways no railroad on the opposite bank no hanging bridge or fish market near at hand no traffic on the nearest bridge of stone nothing moving on the stream but water manswearies and coal lighters long and broad black tears of the latter moored fast in the mud as if they were never to move again made the shore funerial and silent after dark and kept what little water movement there was far out toward midstream at any hour later than sunset and not least at that hour when most of the people who have anything to eat at home are going home to eat it and when most of those who have nothing have hardly had slunk out to beg or steal and when most of those who have nothing have hardly had slunk out to beg or steal it was a deserted place and looked on a deserted scene such was the hour when Glenham stopped at the corner observing the girl and the strange man as they went down the street the mans footsteps were so nosy on the echoing stones that he was unwilling to add the sound of his own but when they had passed the turning and were in the darkness of the dark corner leading to the terrace he made after them with such indifferent appearance being a casual passenger on his way as he could assume when he rounded the dark corner they were walking along the terrace towards a figure which was coming towards them if he had seen it by itself under such conditions of gas lamp mist and distance he might not have known it at first sight but with the figure of the girl to prompt him he had once recognized Miss Wade he stopped at the corner seeming to look back expectantly up the street as if he had made an appointment with someone to meet him there but he kept a careful eye on the three when they came together the man took off his hat and made Miss Wade a bow the girl appeared to say a few words as though she presented him or accounted for his being late or early or what not and then fell a pace or so behind by herself Miss Wade and the man then began to walk up and down the man having the appearance of being extremely courteous and complimentary in manner Miss Wade having the appearance of being extremely haughty when they came down to the corner and turned she was saying if I pinch myself for it sir that is my business confine yourself to yours and ask me no question by heaven ma'am he replied making her another bow it was my profound respect for the strength of your character and the ambition of your beauty I want neither the one nor the other from anyone said she and certainly not from you of all creatures go on with your report am I pardoned he asked with an air of half a bashed gallantry you are paid she said and that is all you want whether the girl hung behind because she was not to hear the business or as already knowing enough about it Glenham could not determine what happened and she turned she looked away at the river as she walked with her hands folded before her and that was all he could make of her without showing his face there happened by good fortune to be a lounger really waiting for someone and he sometimes looked over the railing at the water and sometimes came to the dark corner and looked up the street rendering Arthur Leskin's pictures when Miss Wade and the man came back again she was saying you must wait until tomorrow a thousand pardons he returned my faith then it's not convenient tonight no I tell you I must get it before I can give it to you she stopped in the roadway as if to put an end to the conference he of course stopped too and the girl stopped it's a little inconvenient said the man a little but holy blue that's nothing in such a service I am without money tonight by chance I have a good banker in this city but I would not wish to drop on the house until the time when I shall draw for a round sum Harriet said Miss Wade arrange with him this gentleman here for sending him some money tomorrow she said it with a slur of the word gentleman which was more contemptuous than any emphasis and walked slowly on the man bent his head again and the girl spoke to him as they both followed her Glennon ventured to look at the girl as they moved away he could note that her rich black eyes were fastened upon the man with a scrutinizing expression and that she kept at a little distance from him as they walked side by side to the further end of the terrace a loud and altered clank upon the pavement warned him before he could discern what was passing there that the man was coming back alone Glennon lounged into the road towards the railing and the man passed at a quick swing with the end of his cloak thrown over his shoulder singing a scrap of a French song the whole vista had no one in it now but himself the lounger had lounged out of view and Miss Wade and Taticorum were gone more than ever bent on seeing what became of them and on having some information to give his good friend Mr Meagles he went out at the further end of the terrace looking cautiously about him he rightly judged that at first at all events they would go in a contrary direction from their late companion he soon saw them in a neighboring by street which was not a thoroughfare evidently allowing time for the man to get well out of their way they walked leisurely arm in arm down one side of the street and returned on the opposite side when they came back to the street corner they changed their pace for the pace of people with an object and a distance before them and walked steadily away Clenham, no less steadily kept them in sight they crossed the strand and passed through Covent Garden under the windows of his old lodging where dear little Dorit had come that night and slanted away northeast until they passed a great building when Taticorum derived her name and turned into the Grey's Inn Road Clenham was quite at home here in Rite of Flora not to mention the patriarch and Panks and kept them in view with ease he was beginning to wonder where they might be going next when that wonder was lost in the greater wonder with which he saw them turn into the patriarchal street that wonder was in its turn swallowed up on the greater wonder with which he saw them stop at the patriarchal door a low double knock at the bright brass knocker a gleam of light into the road from the open door a brief pause for inquiry and answer and the door was shut and they were housed after looking at the surrounding objects for assurance that he was not in an odd dream and after pacing a little while before the house Arthur knocked at the door it was opened by the usual maid servant and she showed him up at once with her usual alacrity to Flora's sitting room there was no one with Flora but Mr. Ed's aunt which respectable gentle woman basking in a barmy atmosphere of tea and toast was ensconced in an easy chair by the fireside with a little table at her elbow and a clean white handkerchief spread over her lap on which two pieces of toast at that moment awaited consumption bending over a steaming vessel of tea and looking through the steam and breathing forth the steam like a malignant Chinese enchantress engaged in the performance of unholy rites Mr. Ed's aunt put down her great tea cup and exclaimed Drat him if he and come back again it would seem from the foregoing exclamation that this uncompromising relative of the lamented Mr. Ed measured time by the acuteness of her sensations and not by the clock supposed Clenum to have lately gone away whereas at least a quarter of a year had elapsed since he had had the temerity to present himself before her my goodness Arthur cried Flora rising to give him a cordial reception Dois and Clenum what a start and a surprise for though not far from the machinery and foundry business and surely might be taken sometimes if at no other time about midday when a glass of sherry and a humble sandwich of whatever cold meat in the larder might not come amiss nor taste the worse for being friendly for you know you bite somewhere and wherever bought a profit must be made or they would never keep the place it stands to reason without a motive still never seen and learned now not to be expected for as Mr. F himself said if seeing is believing not seeing is believing too and when you don't see you may fully believe you're not remembered not that I expect you Arthur Dois and Clenum to remember me why should I for the days are gone but bring another tea cup here directly fresh toast and praise it near the fire Arthur was in the greatest anxiety to explain the object of his visit but was put off for the moment in spite of himself by what he understood of the reproachful purport of these words and by the genuine pleasure she testified in seeing him and now pray tell me something all you know said Flora drawing her chair near to his about the good dear quiet little thing and all the changes of her fortunes carriage people now no doubt on horses without number most romantic a coat of arms of course and wild beasts on their hind legs showing it as if it was a copy they had done with mouths from ear to ear good gracious and has she her health which is the first consideration after all for what is wealth without it Mr. F himself so often saying when he strangest game that's expensive day and find yourself a no gout so much preferable not that he could have lived on anything like it in the last man or that the previous little things though far too familiar an expression now had any tendency of that sort much too slight and small but looked so fragile bless her Mr. F Sand who had eaten a piece of toast down to the crust he has solemnly handed the crust to Flora who ate it for her as a matter of business Mr. F Sand then moistened her ten fingers in slow succession at her lips and wiped them in exactly the same order on the handkerchief then took the other piece of toast and fell to work upon it while pursuing this routine she looked at Glenham with an expression of such intense severity that he felt obliged to look at her in return against his personal inclinations she is in Italy with all her family Flora said when the dreaded lady was occupied again in Italy she really said Flora with the grapes growing everywhere and lava necklaces and bracelets too that land of poetry with burning mountains picturesque beyond belief though if the organ boys come away from the neighborhood not to be scorched nobody can wonder being so young and bringing their white mice with them most humane and is she really in that favoured land with nothing but blue about her and dying gladiators and Belvedere's though Mr. F himself did not believe for his objection when in spirits was that the images could not be true there being no medium between expensive quantities of linen badly got up and all increases and none whatever which certainly does not seem probable though perhaps in consequence of the extremes of rich and poor which may account for it Arthur tried to edge a word in but Flora hurried on again then he's preserved too said she I think you have been there it is well or ill preserved for people so and macaroni if they really eat it like the conjurers why not cut it shorter you are acquainted Arthur dear doys and clenum at least not dear and most assuredly not doys for I have not the pleasure but pray excuse me acquainted I believe with Mantua what has it got to do with Mantua making for I never have been able to conceive I believe there is no connection Flora between the two Arthur was beginning when she caught him up again upon your word no isn't there I never did but that's like me I run away with an idea and having none to spare I keep it alas there was a time dear Arthur that is to say decidedly not dear nor Arthur neither but you understand me when one bright idea gilded that what's his name a horizoner etc but it is darkly clouded now and all is over Arthur's increasing wish to speak of something very different was by this time so plainly written on his face that Flora stopped in a tender look and asked him what it was I have the greatest desire Flora to speak to someone who is now in this house with Mr. Caspino doubt someone whom I saw coming and who in a misguided and deplorable way has deserted the house of a friend of mine Papasi so many and such old people said Flora rising that I shouldn't venture to go down for anyone but you Arthur but for you I would willingly go down in a diving bell much more a dining room and we'll come back directly if you will mind and at the same time not mind Mr. Efsant while I'm gone with those words and a parting glance Flora bustled out leaving Glenamon the dreadful apprehension of this terrible charge the first variation which manifested itself in Mr. Efsant demeanor when she had finished her piece of toast was a loud and prolonged sniff finding it impossible to avoid construing this demonstration into a defiance of himself its gloomy significance being unmistakable Glenamon looked plaintively at the excellent though prejudiced lady from whom it emanated in the hope that she might be disarmed by a meek submission none of your rise at me said Mr. Efsant shivering with hostility take that that was the crust of the piece of toast Glenamon accepted the boon with a look of gratitude and held it in his hand under the pressure of a little embarrassment which was not relieved when Mr. Efsant elevating her voice into a cry of considerable power exclaimed he has a proud stomach this chap he's too proud a chap to eat it and coming out of her chair her venerable fists so very close to his nose as to tickle the surface but for the timely return of Flora to find him in this difficult situation further consequences might have ensued Flora without the least discomposure or surprise but congratulating the old lady in an approving manner on being very lively tonight and at her back to her chair he has a proud stomach this chap said Mr. Efs' relation on being receded give him a meal of chaff oh I don't think you would like that aunt return Flora give him a meal of chaff I tell you said Mr. Efsant glaring round Flora on her enemy it's the only thing for a proud stomach let him eat up every morsel drat him give him a meal of chaff under a general pretence of helping him to this refreshment Flora got him out on the staircase Mr. Efsant even then constantly reiterating with inexpressible bitterness that he was a chap and had a proud stomach and over and over again insisting on that equine provision being made for him which he had already so strongly prescribed such an inconvenient staircase in so many corner stairs Arthur whispered Flora would you object to putting your arm round me under my pelarine with a sense of going downstairs in a highly ridiculous manner Clenum descended in the required attitude and only released his fair burden at the dining room door indeed even there she was rather difficult to be got rid of remaining in his embrace to murmur Arthur for mercy's sake don't breathe it to papa she accompanied Arthur into the room where the patriarch sat alone with his list shoes on the fender twirling his thumbs as if he had never left off the youthful patriarch aged ten looked out of his picture frame above him with no karma rare than he both smooth heads were alike beaming blundering and bumpy Mr. Clenum I am glad to see you I hope you are well sir I hope you are well please to sit down I had hoped sir said Clenum doing so a blank disappointment not to find you alone ah indeed said the patriarch sweetly ah indeed I told you so you know papa cried flora ah to be sure returned the patriarch yes just so ah to be sure praise her demanded clenum anxiously is Miss Wade gone miss oh you call her Wade Mr. Caspy highly proper Arthur quickly returned what do you call her Wade said Mr. Caspy oh always Wade after looking at the philanthropic visage and the long silky white hair for a few seconds during which Mr. Caspy twirled his thumbs and smiled at the fire as if he were benevolently wishing it to burn him that he might forgive it Arthur began Mr. Caspy not so not so said the patriarch not so but miss Wade had an attendant with her a young woman brought up by friends of mine over whom her influence is not considered very salutary and to whom I should be glad to have the opportunity of giving the assurance that she has not yet forfeited the interest of those protectors really really returned the patriarch to give me the address of miss Wade dear dear dear said the patriarch how very unfortunate if you had only sent in to me when they were here I observed the young woman Mr. Clenham a fine full-colored young woman Mr. Clenham with very dark hair and very dark eyes if I mistake not if I mistake not Arthur assented and said once more with new expression he would be so good as to give me the address dear dear dear exclaimed the patriarch in sweet regret what a pity what a pity I have no address sir miss Wade mostly lives abroad Mr. Clenham she has done so for some years and she is if I may say so of a fellow creature and a lady pitiful and uncertain to fault Mr. Clenham I may not see her again for a long long time I may never see her again what a pity what a pity clenham saw now that he had as much hope of getting assistance out of the portrait as out of the patriarch but he said nevertheless Mr. Caspi could you for the satisfaction of the friends I have mentioned and under any obligation of secrecy that you may consider it your duty to impose give me any information at all touching miss Wade I have seen her abroad and I have seen her at home but I know nothing of her could you give me any account of her whatever none return the patriarch shaking his big head with his at most benevolence none at all dear dear dear what a real pity that she stayed so short a time and you delayed as confidential agency business agency business I have occasionally paid this lady money but what satisfaction is it to you sir to know that truly none at all said clenham truly ascended the patriarch with a shining face as he philanthropically smiled at the fire none at all sir you hit the wise answer Mr. Clenham truly none at all sir his turning of his smooth thumbs over one another as he sat there was so typical to clenham of the way in which he would make the subject evolve if it were pursued never showing any new part of it nor allowing it to make the smallest advance but it did much to help to convince him of his labor having been in vain he might have taken any time to think about it for Mr. Caspy while accustomed to get on anywhere by leaving everything to his bumps and his white hair knew his strength to lie in silence so there Caspy sat twirling and twirling his polished head and forehead looked largely benevolent in every knob with this spectacle before him Arthur had risen to go when from the inner dock where the good ship Panks was hoeved down when out in no cruising ground the noise was heard of that steam are laboring towards him it struck Arthur that the noise began demonstratively far off as though Mr. Panks sought to impress on anyone who might happen to think about it that he was working on from out of hearing Mr. Panks and he shook hands and the former brought his employer a letter or two to sign Mr. Panks in shaking hands merely scratched his eyebrow with his left forefinger and snorted once but Clenum who understood him better now than of old comprehended that he had almost done for the evening and wished to say a word to him outside therefore when he had taken his leave of Mr. Caspy and which was a more difficult process of flora he sauntered in the neighborhood on Mr. Panks' line of road he had waited but a short time when Mr. Panks appeared Mr. Panks shaking hands again with another expressive snort and taking off his hat to put his hair up Arthur thought he received his cue to speak to him as one who knew pretty well what had just now passed therefore he said without any preface I suppose they were really gone Panks Yes, replied Panks There were really gone Does he know where to find that lady? Can't say I should think so Mr. Panks did not No Mr. Panks did not Did Mr. Panks know anything about her? I expect rejoin that worthy I know as much about her as she knows about herself She is somebody's child Anybody's Nobody's Put her in a room in London here with any six people old enough parents and her parents may be there for anything she knows They may be in any house she sees They may be in any churchyard she passes She may run against them in any street She may make chance acquaintance of them at any time and never know it She knows nothing about them She knows nothing about any relative whatever Never did, never will Mr. Caspi could enlighten her perhaps? Maybe said Panks I expect so but I don't know He has long had money Not over much as I make out Interest to dole out to her when she can't do without it Sometimes she's proud and won't touch it for a length of time Sometimes she's so poor that she must have it She rides under her life A woman more angry, passionate reckless and revengeful never lived She came for money tonight Said she had peculiar occasion for it I think Observed clen amusingly I by chance know what occasion I mean into whose pocket the money is to go Indeed Said Panks If it's a compact I recommend that party to be exact in it I wouldn't trust myself to that woman young and handsome as she is if I had wronged her No, not for twice my proprietor's money Unless Panks had it as a saving clause I had a lingering illness on me and wanted to get it over Arthur, hurriedly reviewing his own observation of her found it to tally pretty nearly with Mr. Panks' view The wonder is to me pursued Panks that she has never done for my proprietor as the only person connected with her story she can lay hold of mentioning that I may tell you between ourselves that I am sometimes tempted to do for him myself Arthur started and said Dear me, Panks, don't say that Understand me Said Panks, extending five cropped coley fingernails on Arthur's arm I don't mean cut his throat but by all that's precious if he goes too far I'll cut his hair Having exhibited himself in the new light of enunciating this tremendous threat Mr. Panks, with a countenance of grave import, snorted several times and steamed away End of chapter 9 Book II This recording is in the public domain