 Chapter 48 of The Old Curiosity Shop This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information on to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Chapter 48 Popular rumour concerning the single gentleman and his errand, travelling from mouth to mouth and waxing stronger in the marvellous as it was bandied about. For your popular rumour, unlike the rolling stone of the proverb, is one which gathers a deal of moss in its wanderings up and down, occasioned his dismounting at the indoor to be looked upon as an exciting and attractive spectacle, which could scarcely be enough admired, and drew together a large concourse of idlers, who, having recently been, as it were, thrown out of employment at the closing of the wax work and the completion of the nuptial ceremonies, considered his arrival as little else than a special providence, and hailed it with demonstrations of the liveliest joy. Not at all participating in the general sensation, but wearing the depressed and wearied look of one who sought to meditate on his disappointment in silence and privacy, the single gentleman alighted and handed out kid's mother with a gloomy politeness, which impressed the lookers on extremely. That done, he gave her his arm and escorted her into the house, while several active waiters ran on before as a skirmishing party to clear the way and to show the room which was ready for their reception. Any room will do, said the single gentleman. Let it be near at hand, that's all. Close here, sir, if you're pleased to walk this way. Would the gentleman like this room? Said a voice, as a little out-of-the-way door at the foot of the well staircase flew briskly open and a head popped out. Is quite welcome to it. Is as welcome as flowers in May, or coals at Christmas. Would you like this room, sir? Honour me by walking in. Do me the favour, pray. Goodness gracious me! cried kid's mother, falling back in extreme surprise. Only think of this! She had some reason to be astonished, for the person who preferred the gracious invitation was no other than Daniel Quillpe. The little door out of which he had thrust his head was close to the in-larder, and there he stood, bowing with grotesque politeness, as much at his ease as if the door were that of his own house, blighting all the legs of mutton and cold-roast fowls by his close companionship and looking like the evil genius of the cellars come from underground upon some work of mischief. Would you do me the honour? said Quillpe. I prefer being alone, replied the single gentleman. Oh, said Quillpe. And with that he darted in again with one jerk and clapped the little door to like a figure in a Dutch clock when the hour strikes. Why, it was only last night, sir! Whispered Quillpe's mother that I left him in little battle. Indeed, said her fellow passenger. When did that person come here, waiter? Come down by the night coach this morning, sir. And when is he going? Can't say, sir, really. When the chambermaid asked him just now if he should want a bed, sir, he first made faces at her and then wanted to kiss her. Beg him to walk this way, said the single gentleman. I should be glad to exchange a word with him, tell him. Beg him to come at once, do you hear? The man stared on receiving these instructions. For the single gentleman had not only displayed as much astonishment as Quillpe's mother at sight of the dwarf but standing in no fear of him had been at less pains to conceal his dislike and repugnance. He departed on his errand, however, and immediately returned assuring in it's object. Your servant, sir, said the dwarf. I encountered your messenger halfway. I thought you'd allow me to pay my compliments to you. I hope you're well. I hope you're very well. There was a short pause while the dwarf with half-shut eyes and puckered face stood waiting for an answer. Receiving none, he turned towards his more familiar acquaintance. Christopher's mother. He cried, such a dear lady, such a worthy woman, so blessed in her honest son. How is Christopher's mother? Have changed her and seen improved her? Her little family, too. And Christopher, do they thrive? Do they flourish? Are they growing into worthy citizens, her? Making his voice ascend in the scale with every succeeding question Mr. Quilp finished in a shrill squeak and subsided into the panting look which was customary with him and which, whether it were assumed or natural, had equally the effect of banishing all expression from his face and rendering it, as far as it afforded any index to his mood or meaning, a perfect blank. Mr. Quilp, said the single gentleman, the dwarf put his hand to his great flapped ear and counterfeited the closest attention. We, too, have met before. Surely, cried Quilp nodding his head. Oh, surely, sir, such an honour and pleasure. It's both. Christopher's mother, it's both, is not to be forgotten so soon by no means. You may remember that the day I arrived in London and found the house to which I drove, empty and deserted, I was directed by some of the neighbours to you and waited upon you without stopping for rest or refreshment. How precipitous that was and yet what an earnest and vigorous measure! said Quilp, conferring with himself in imitation of his friend Mr. Samson Brass. I found, said the single gentleman, you, most unaccountably in possession of everything that had so recently belonged to another man and that other man, who up to the time of your entering upon his property had been looked upon as affluent, reduced to sudden beggary and driven from house and home. We had warrant for what we did, my good sir, rejoined Quilp. We had our warrant, don't say driven either. He went of his own accord, vanished in the night, sir. No matter, said the single gentleman angrily, he was gone. Yes, he was gone! said Quilp, with the same exasperating composure. No doubt he was gone. The only question was, where? And it's a question still. Now what am I to think? said the single gentleman sternly regarding him, of you, who, plainly indisposed to give me any information, then, nay, obviously holding back and sheltering yourself with all kinds of cunning, trickery, and evasion, are dogging my footsteps now. I dogging! cried Quilp. Why are you not? returned his questioner, fretted into a state of the utmost irritation. Were you not a few hours since sixty miles off and in the chapel to which this good woman goes to say her prayers? She was there too, I think. Said Quilp, still perfectly unmoved. I might say, if I was inclined to be rude, how do I know but you are dogging my footsteps? Yes, I was at chapel. What then? I've read in books that pilgrims were used to go to chapel before they went on journeys, to put up petitions for their safe return. Wise men. Journeys are very perilous, especially outside the coach. Wheels come off, horses take fright, coachmen drive too fast, coaches overturn. I always go to chapel before I start on journeys. It's the last thing I do on such occasions indeed. That Quilp lied most heartily in this speech. It needed no very great penetration to discover. Although for anything that he suffered to appear in his face, voice, or manner, it have been clinging to the truth with the quiet constancy of a martyr. In the name of all that's calculated to drive one crazy man, said the unfortunate single gentleman, have you not, for some reason of your own, taken upon yourself, my errand? Don't you know with what object I have come here? And if you do know, can you throw no light upon it? You think I'm a conjurer, sir? If I was, I should tell you my own fortune, and make it. Ah, we have said all we need, say I see. Returned the other, throwing himself impatiently upon a sofa. Pray, leave us, if you please. Willingly, returned Quilp. Most willingly. Christopher's mother, my good soul, farewell. A pleasant journey, back, sir. Ahem. With these parting words, and with a grin upon his features altogether indescribable, but which seemed to be compounded of every monstrous grimace of which men or monkeys are capable, the dwarves slowly retreated and closed the door behind him. Oh-ho! He said when he had regained his own room, and sat himself down in a chair with his arms akimbo. Oh-ho! Are you there, my friend? Indeed! Chuckling us, though, in very great glee, and recompensing himself for the restraint he had lately put upon his countenance by twisting it into all imaginable varieties of ugliness, Mr. Quilp, rocking himself to and fro in his chair, and nursing his left leg at the same time, fell into certain meditations, of which it may be necessary to relate the substance. First, he reviewed the circumstances which had led to his repairing to that spot, which were briefly these. Dropping in at Mr. Samston Brass's office on the previous evening, in the absence of that gentleman and his learned sister, he had lighted upon Mr. Swivelar, who chanced at the moment to be sprinkling a glass of warm gin and water on the dust of the law, and to be moistening his clay as the phrase goes rather copiously. But as clay in the abstract, when too much moistened becomes of a weak and uncertain consistency, breaking down in unexpected places, retaining impressions but faintly, and preserving no strength or steadiness of character, so Mr. Swivelar's clay, having imbibed a considerable quantity of moisture, was in a very loose and slippery state, in so much that the various ideas impressed upon it were fast losing their distinctive character, and running into each other. It is not uncommon for human clay in this condition to value itself above all things upon its great prudence and sagacity. And Mr. Swivelar, especially prizing himself upon these qualities, took occasion to remark that he had made strange discoveries in connection with the single gentleman who lodged above, which he had determined to keep within his own bosom, and which neither tortures nor cajolery should ever induce him to reveal. Of this determination Mr. Quilp expressed his high approval, and setting himself in the same breath to goad Mr. Swivelar on to further hints, soon made out that the single gentleman had been seen in communication with Kit, and that this was the secret which was never to be disclosed. Possessed of this piece of information Mr. Quilp directly supposed that the single gentleman above stairs must be the same individual who had waited on him, and having assured himself by further inquiries that this surmise was correct, had no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that the intent and object of his correspondence with Kit was the recovery of his old client and the child. Burning with curiosity to know what proceedings were afoot, he resolved to pounce upon Kit's mother as the person least able to resist his arts, and consequently the most likely to be entrapped into such revelations as he sought. So taking an abrupt leave of Mr. Swivelar, he hurried to her house. The good woman being from home, he made inquiries of a neighbour, as Kit himself did soon afterwards, and being directed to the chapel he took himself there, in order to way-lay her at the conclusion of the service. He had not sat in the chapel more than a quarter of an hour, and with his eyes piously fixed upon the ceiling was chuckling inwardly over the joke of his being there at all, when Kit himself appeared. Watchful as the links, one glass showed the dwarf that he had come on business. Absorbed in appearance, as we have seen, and feigning a profound abstraction, he noted every circumstance of his behaviour, and when he withdrew with his family, shot out after him. In finy, he traced them to the notary's house, learnt the destination of the carriage from one of the postillions, and knowing that a fast night coach started from the same place at the very hour which was on the point of striking, from a street hard by, darted round to the coach office without more ado, and took his seat upon the roof. After passing and repassing the carriage on the road, and being passed and repassed by its hundred times in the course of the night, according as their stoppages were longer or shorter, or their rate of travelling varied, they reached the town almost together. Quilp kept the chaise in sight, mingled with the crowd, learnt the single gentleman's errand and its failure, and having possessed himself of all that it was material to know, hurried off, reached the inn before him, had the interview just now detailed, and shut himself up in the little room in which he hastily reviewed all these occurrences. You are there, are you, my friend? He repeated greedily biting his nails. I am suspected and thrown aside, and kiss the confidential agent, is he? I shall have to dispose of him, I fear. If we had come up with them this morning, he continued after a thoughtful pause. I was ready to prove a pretty good claim. I could have made my profit, but for these counting hypocrites, the lad and his mother, I could get this fiery gentleman as comfortable into my net as our old friend, our mutual friend, ha ha! And chubby, rosy knell. At the worst, it's a golden opportunity not to be lost. Let us find them first, and I'll find means of draining you of some of your superfluous cash, sir, while there are prison bars and bolts and locks to keep your friend or kinsman safely. I hate your virtuous people! Said the dwarf, throwing off a bumper of brandy and smacking his lips. I hate them, everyone! This was not a mere empty vaunt, but a deliberate avowal of his real sentiments. For Mr. Quilp, who loved nobody, had by little and little come to hate everybody nearly or remotely connected with his ruined client. The old man himself, because he had been able to deceive him and elude his vigilance, the child, because she was the object of Mrs. Quilp's commiseration and constant self-reproach, the single gentleman, because of his unconcealed aversion to himself, kid and his mother, most mortally, for the reasons already shown, above and beyond that general feeling of opposition to them, which would have been inseparable from his ravenous desire to enrich himself by these altered circumstances. Daniel Quilp hated them, everyone. In this amiable mood, Mr. Quilp enlivened himself and his hatreds with more brandy, and then, changing his quarters, withdrew to an obscure alehouse, under cover of which seclusion he instituted all possible inquiries that might lead to the discovery of the old man and his grandchild. But all was in vain. Not the slightest trace or clue could be obtained. They had left the town by night. No one had seen them go. No one had met them on the road. The driver of no coach, cart or wagon had seen any travelers answering their description. Nobody had fallen in with them or heard of them. Convinced at last that for the present all such attempts were hopeless, he appointed two or three scouts with promises of large rewards in case of their forwarding him any intelligence, and returned to London by next day's coach. It was some gratification to Mr. Quilp to find, as he took his place upon the roof, that kid's mother was alone inside. From which circumstance he derived in the cause of the journey much cheerfulness of spirit. Inasmuch as her solitary condition enabled him to terrify her with many extraordinary annoyances, such as hanging over the side of the coach at the risk of his life and staring in with his great goggle eyes, which seemed, in hers, the more horrible from his face being upside down. Dodging her in this way from one window to another, getting nimbly down whenever they changed horses and thrusting his head in at the window with a dismal squint, which ingenious tortures had such an effect upon Mrs. Nobles, that she was quite unable for the time to resist the belief that Mr. Quilp did in his own person represent and embodied that evil power, which was so vigorously attacked at little Bethel, and who, by reason of her backslidings in respect of Astles and Oysters, was now frolicsome and rampant. Kit, having been apprised by letter of his mother's intended return, was waiting for her at the coach office, and great was his surprise when he saw, leering over the coachman's shoulder like some familiar demon, invisible to all eyes but his, the well-known face of Quilp. How are you, Christopher? croaked the door from the coach top. All right, Christopher, mother's inside. Why, how did he come here, mother? whispered Kit. I don't know how he came or why, my dear, rejoined Mrs. Nobles dismounting with her son's assistance. But he has been a terrifying of me out of my seven senses all this blessed day. He has, cried Kit. You wouldn't believe it that you wouldn't, replied his mother. But don't say a word to him, for I really don't believe he's human. Hush. Don't turn round as if I was talking of him, but he's squinting at me now in the full blaze of the coach lamp. Quite awful. In spite of his mother's injunction, Kit turned sharply round to look. Mr. Quilp was serenely gazing at the stars, quite absorbed in celestial contemplation. Oh, he's the artful-est creature, cried Mrs. Nobles. But come away, don't speak to him for the world. Yes, I will, mother. What nonsense! I say, sir. Mr. Quilp affected to start, and looked smilingly round. You let my mother alone, will you? said Kit. How dare you tease and pour lone woman like her, making her miserable and melancholy as if she hadn't got enough to make her so without you! Aren't you ashamed of yourself, you little monster? Monster? said Quilp inwardly with a smile. Ugliest dwarf that could be seen anywhere for a penny. Monster, huh? You show her any of your impudence again, resumed Kit shouldering the band box, and I tell you what, Mr. Quilp, I won't bear with you anymore. You have no right to do it. I'm sure we never interfered with you. This isn't the first time. And if ever you worry or frighten her again, you will oblige me, though I should be very sorry to do it on account of your size, to beat you. Quilp said not a word in reply, but walking up so close to Kit as to bring his eyes within two or three inches of his face, looked fixedly at him, retreated a little distance without averting his gaze, approached again, again withdrew, and so on for half a dozen times, like a head in a phantasmagoria. Kit stood his ground as if in expectation of an immediate assault, but finding that nothing came of these gestures, snapped his fingers and walked away, his mother dragging him off as fast as she could, and even in the midst of his news of little Jake upon the baby, looking anxiously over her shoulder to see if Quilp were following. End of Chapter 48 Chapter 49 of the Old Curiosity Shop This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Chapter 49 Kit's mother might have spared herself the trouble of looking back so often, for nothing was further from Mr. Quilp's thoughts than any intention of pursuing her and her son, or renewing the quarrel with which they had parted. He went his way, whistling from time to time some fragments of a tune, and with a face quite tranquil and composed, joked pleasantly towards home, entertaining himself as he went with visions of the fears and terrors of Mrs. Quilp, who, having received no intelligence of him for three whole days and two nights, and having had no previous notice of his absence, was doubtless by that time in a state of distraction and constantly fainting away with anxiety and grief. The facetious probability was so congenial to the dwarf's humour and so exquisitely amusing to him that he laughed as he went along until the tears ran down his cheeks. And more than once, when he found himself in a by-street, vented his delight in a shrill scream, which greatly terrifying any lonely passenger who happened to be walking on before him, expecting nothing so little, increased his mouth and made him remarkably cheerful and light-hearted. In this happy flow of spirits Mr. Quilp reached Tower Hill when, gazing up at the window of his own sitting room, he thought he described more light than is usual in a house of mourning. Drawing nearer and listening attentively, he could hear several voices in earnest conversation, among which he could distinguish not only those of his wife and mother-in-law, but the tongues of men. Ha! cried the jealous dwarf. What's this? Do they entertain such visitors while I'm away? A smothered cough from above was the reply. He felt in his pockets for his latch-key, but had forgotten it. There was no resource but to knock at the door. A light in the passage, said Quilp, peeping through the keyhole. A very soft knock. And by your leave, my lady, I may yet steal upon you unawares. So how? A very low and gentle rap received no answer from within. But after a second application to the knocker, no louder than the first, the door was softly opened by the boy from the wharf, whom Quilp instantly gagged with one hand and dragged into the street with the other. You'll threaten me, master! whispered the boy. Let go, will ya? Who's upstairs, you dog? Retorted Quilp in the same town. Tell me, and don't speak above your breath, or I'll choke you in good honest. The boy could only point to the window and reply with a stifled giggle, expressive of such intense enjoyment that Quilp clutched him by the throat again and might have carried his threat into execution, or at least have made very good progress toward that end. But for the boy's nimbly extricating himself from his grasp and fortifying himself behind the nearest post, at which, after some fruitless attempt to catch him by the hair of his head, his master was obliged to come to a parley. Will you answer me? said Quilp. What's going on above? You won't let one speak, replied the boy. They, ha ha ha! They think you're, you're dead, ha ha ha! Dead, cried Quilp, relaxing into a grim laugh himself. No, do they? Do they really, you dog? They think you're, you're drowned, replied the boy who in his malicious nature had a strong infusion of his master. You was last seen on the brink of the wharf, and they think you tumbled over, ha ha ha! The prospect of playing the spy under such delicious circumstances and of disappointing them all by walking in alive gave more delight to Quilp than the greatest stroke of good fortune could possibly have inspired him with. He was no less tickled than his hopeful assistant, and they both stood for some seconds, grinning and gasping, and wagging their heads at each other on either side of the post, like an unmatchable pair of Chinese idols. Not a word, said Quilp, making towards the door in tiptoe. Not a sound, not so much as a creaking board or a stumble against a cobweb. Drowned, eh, Mrs. Quilp? Drowned! So saying, he blew out the candle, kicked off his shoes, and groped his way upstairs, leaving his delighted young friend in an ecstasy of summer sets on the pavement. The bedroom door on the staircase being unlocked, Mr. Quilp slipped in and planted himself behind the door of communication between that chamber and the sitting room, which, standing ajar to render both more airy and having a very convenient chink, of which he had often availed himself for purposes of a spiral, and had indeed enlarged with his pocket knife, enabled him not only to hear, but to see distinctly what was passing. Applying his eye to this convenient place, he described Mr. Bryce seated at the table with pen, ink, and paper, and the case bottle of rum, his own case bottle, and his own particular Jamaica, convenient to his hand. With hot water, fragrant lemons, white lump sugar, and all things fitting. From which choice materials, Samson, by no means insensible to their claims upon his attention, had compounded a mighty glass of punch-reaking hot, which he was at that very moment stirring up with a teaspoon, and contemplating with looks in which a faint assumption of sentimental regret struggled but weakly with a bland and comfortable joy. At the same table, with both her elbows upon it was Mrs. Ginny-Win. No longer sipping other people's punch feloniously with teaspoons, but taking deep drafts from a jurum of her own. While her daughter, not exactly with ashes on her head or sackcloth on her back, but preserving a very decent and becoming appearance of sorrow nevertheless, was reclining in an easy chair, and soothing her grief with a smaller allowance of the same glib liquid. There were also present a couple of water-side men bearing between them certain machines called drags. Even these fellows were accommodated with a stiff glass apiece, and as they drank with a great relish, and were naturally of a red-nosed, pimple-faced, convivial look, their presence rather increased than detracted from that decided appearance of comfort, which was the great characteristic of the party. If I could poison that dear old lady's rum and water, murmured Quilp, I'd die happy. Ah, said Mr. Brass breaking the silence and raising his eyes to the ceiling with a sigh. Who knows, but he may be looking down upon us now. Who knows, but he may be surveying of us from, from somewheres or another, and contemplating us with a watchful eye. Oh, Lord! Here Mr. Brass stopped to drink half his punch, and then resumed, looking at the other half as he spoke with a dejected smile. I can almost fancy, said the lawyer shaking his head, that I see his eye glistening down at the very bottom of my liquor. When shall we look upon his like again? Never. Never. One minute we are here, holding his tumbler before his eyes. The next we are there, gulping down its contents and striking himself emphatically a little below the chest. In the silent tomb, to think that I should be drinking his very rum, it seems like a dream. With the view, no doubt, of testing the reality of his position, Mr. Brass pushed his tumbler as he spoke towards Mrs. Ginnywin for the purpose of being replenished, and turned towards the attendant Mariners. The search has been quite unsuccessful then. Quite master, but I should say that if it turns up anywhere, you'll come ashore somewhere about Greenwich tomorrow at Eptide Hamite. The other gentleman sent it, hoping that he was expected at the hospital and that several pensioners would be ready to receive him whenever he arrived. Then we have nothing for it but resignation, said Mr. Brass. Nothing but resignation and expectation. It would be a comfort to have his body. It would be a dreary comfort. Oh, beyond a doubt, ascended Mrs. Ginnywin hastily. If we once had that, we should be quite sure. With regard to the descriptive advertisement, said Samson Brass, taking up his pen. It is a melancholy pleasure to recall his traits, respecting his legs now. Crooked certainly, said Mrs. Ginnywin. Do you think they were crooked, said Brass in an insinuating tone. I think I see them now coming up the street very wide apart. In Nanking Pantaloons, a little shrunk and without straps. Ah, what a veil of tears we live in. Do we say crooked? I think they were a little so. Observed Mrs. Quillp with a sob. Legs crooked, said Brass writing as he spoke. Large head, short body, legs crooked. Very crooked, suggested Mrs. Ginnywin. We'll not say very crooked ma'am, said Brass piously. Let us not bear hard upon the weaknesses of the deceased. He is gone, ma'am, to where his legs will never come in question. We will content ourselves with crooked, Mrs. Ginnywin. I thought you wanted the truth, said the old lady. That's all. Bless your eyes how I love you, mother Quillp. There she goes again. Nothing but punch. This is an occupation, said the lawyer laying down his pen and emptying his glass which seems to bring him before my eyes like the ghost of Hamlet's father in the very clothes that he wore on worker's eyes. His coat, his vest kit, his shoes and stockings, his trousers, his hat, his wit and humor, his bathos and his umbrella. All come before me like visions of my youth. His linen said Mr. Brass smiling fondly at the wall. His linen which was always of a particular color for such was his women fancy. How plain I see his linen now. You had better go on, sir, said Mrs. Ginnywin impatiently. True, ma'am, true, cried Mr. Brass. Our faculties must not freeze with grief. I'll trouble you for a little more, that ma'am. A question now arises with relation to his nose. Flat, said Mrs. Ginnywin, Aqueline, cried Quilp thrusting in his head and striking the feature with his fist. Aqueline, you hag, do you say it? Do you call this flat? Do you, eh? Oh, capital, capital, shouted Brass from the force of habit. Excellent! How very good he is! He's a most remarkable man, so extremely whimsical! Such an amazing power of taking people by surprise! Quilp paid no regard whatever to these compliments, nor to the dubious and frightened look, into which the lawyer gradually subsided, nor to the shrieks of his wife and mother-in-law, nor to the lattice running from the room, nor to the formers fainting away. Keeping his eye fixed on Samson Brass, he walked up to the table, and, beginning with his glass, drank off the contents, and went regularly round until he had emptied the other two, when he seized the case-bottle and hugging it under his arm, surveyed him with a most extraordinary leer. Not yet, Samson, said Quilp. Not just yet. Oh, very good indeed! cried Brass, recovering his spirits a little. Ha, ha, ha, oh, exceedingly good! There's not another man alive who could carry it off like that! A most difficult position to carry off, but he has such a flow of good humour, such an amazing flow! Good night! said the dwarf, nodding expressively. Good night, sir! Good night! The lawyer retreating backwards towards the door. This is a joyful occasion indeed! Extremely joyful! Ha, ha, ha, oh, very rich, very rich indeed! Remarkably so! Waiting until Mr Brass' ejaculations died away in the distance, he continued to pour them out, all the way downstairs. Quilp advanced towards the two men, who yet lingered in a kind of stupid amazement. Have you been dragging the river all day, gentlemen? Said the dwarf, holding the door open with great politeness. And yesterday too, master. Dear me, you've had a deal of trouble. Pray consider everything yours that you find upon the... upon the body. Good night! The men looked at each other, but had evidently no inclination to argue the point just then and shuffled out of the room. This speedy clearance affected. Quilp locked the doors and, still embracing the case bottle with shrugged up shoulders and folded arms, stood looking at his insensible wife like a dismounted nightmare. End of Chapter 49 Chapter 50 of the Old Curiosity Shop This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Chapter 50 Matrimonial differences are usually discussed by the parties concerned in the form of dialogue in which the lady bears at least her full half share. Those of Mr. and Mrs. Quilp, however, were an exception to the general rule. The remarks which they occasioned being limited to a long soliloquy on the part of the gentleman with perhaps a few deprecatory observations from the lady, not extending beyond a trembling monosyllable uttered at long intervals and in a very submissive and humble tone. On the present occasion, Mrs. Quilp did not for a long time venture even upon this gentle defence, but when she had recovered from her fainting fit, sat in a tearful silence, meekly listening to the reproaches of her lord and master. Of these, Mr. Quilp delivered himself with the utmost animation and rapidity, and with so many distortions of limp and feature, that even his wife, although tolerably well accustomed to his proficiency in these respects, was well nigh beside herself with alarm. But the Jamaica rum and the joy of having occasioned a heavy disappointment by degrees cooled Mr. Quilp's wrath, which, from being at savage heat, dropped slowly to the bantering or chuckling point, at which it steadily remained. So you thought I was dead and gone, did you? said Quilp. You thought you were a widow, eh? Ha ha ha, you jade. Indeed, Quilp returned his wife, I'm very sorry. Who doubts it? cried the dwarf. You very sorry, to be sure you are. Who doubts that you are very sorry. I don't mean sorry that you have come home again alive and well, said his wife, but sorry that I should have been led into such a belief. I'm glad to see you, Quilp, indeed I am. In truth, Mrs. Quilp did seem a great deal more glad to behold her lord than might have been expected and did evince a degree of interest in his safety which, all things considered, was rather unaccountable. Upon Quilp, however, this circumstance made no impression, further than as it moved him to snap his fingers close to his wife's eyes, with diverse grins of triumph and derision. How could you go away so long without saying a word to me or letting me hear of you or know anything about you? asked the poor little woman sobbing. How could you be so cruel, Quilp? How could I be so cruel? Cruel! cried the dwarf. Because I was in the humour. I am in the humour now. I shall be cruel when I like. I am going away again. Not again! Yes, again! I am going away now. I am off directly. I mean to go and live wherever the fancy seizes me. At the wharf, at the counting house and be a jolly bachelor. You were a widow in anticipation, screamed the dwarf. I'll be a bachelor in earnest. You can't be serious, Quilp, sobbed his wife. I tell you, said the dwarf exulting in his project, that I'll be a bachelor, a devil may care bachelor. And I'll have my bachelor's whole at the counting house and at such times come near it if you dare. And mind, too, that I don't pounce him upon you or I'll be a spy upon you and come and go like a mole or a weasel. Tom Scott, where's Tom Scott? Urea, master! cried the voice of the boy as Quilp threw up the window. Wait there, you dog! returned the dwarf to carry a bachelor's sport mentor. Pack it up, Mrs. Quilp. Knock up the dear old lady to help. Knock her up. Hello there! Hello! With these exclamations Mr. Quilp caught up the porker and hurrying to the door of the good lady's sleeping closet, beat upon it therewith until she awoke in inexpressible terror, thinking that her amiable son-in-law surely intended to murder her in justification of the lakes she had slandered. Impressed with this idea, she was no sooner fairly awake than she screamed violently and would have quickly precipitated herself out of the window through a neighbouring skylight if her daughter had not hastened in to un-deceive her and implore her assistance. Somewhat reassured by her account of the service she was required to render, Mrs. Ginnewin made her appearance in a flannel dressing gown and both mother and daughter trembling with terror and cold for the night was now far advanced, obeyed Mr. Quilp's directions in submissive silence, prolonging his preparations as much as possible for their greater comfort. That eccentric gentleman superintended the packing of his wardrobe and having added to it with his own hands a plate, knife and fork, spoon, tea cup and saucer and other small household matters of that nature, strapped up the portmanteau and took it on his shoulders and actually marched off without another word and with the case bottle which he had never once put down slightly clasped under his arm. Consigning his heavy burden to the care of Tom Scott when he reached the street taking a drum from the bottle for his own encouragement and giving the boy a wrap on the head with it as a small taste for himself, Quilp very deliberately led the way to the wharf and reached it at between three and four o'clock in the morning. Snug said Quilp when he had groped his way to the wooden counting house and opened the door with the key he carried about with him. Beautifully snug. Call me at eight you dog. With no more formal leave taking or explanation he clutched the portmanteau, shut the door upon his attendant and climbing on the desk and rolling himself up as round as a hedgehog in an old boat cloak fell fast asleep. Being roused in the morning at the appointed time with difficulty, after his late fatigues Quilp instructed Tom Scott to make a fire in the yard of sundry pieces of old timber and to prepare some coffee for breakfast. For the better furnishing of which repressed he interested him with certain small monies to be expended in the purchase of hot rolls butter sugar, yarmouth bloaters and other articles of housekeeping. So that in a few minutes a savoury meal was smoking on the board. With this substantial comfort the dwarf regaled himself to his heart's content and being highly satisfied with this free and gypsy mode of life which he had often meditated as offering whenever he chose to avail himself of it, an agreeable freedom from the restraints of matrimony and a choice means of keeping Mrs. Quilp and her mother in a state of incessant agitation and suspense. He asked himself to improve his retreat and render it more commodious and comfortable. With this view he issued forth to a place hard by where such stores were sold purchased a second hand hammock and had its slang in a seaman-like fashion from the ceiling of the counting house. He also caused to be erected in the same moldy cabin an old ship stove with a rusty funnel to carry the smoke through the roof and these arrangements completed surveyed them with ineffable delight. I've got a country house like Robinson Crusoe said the dwarf ogling the accommodations a solitary sequestered desolate island sort of spot where I can be quite alone when I have business on hand and be secure from all spies and listeners nobody near me here but rats and they are fine stealthy secret fellows I shall be as merry as a grig among these gentry I look out for one like Christopher and poison him ha ha ha business though, business we must be mindful of business in the midst of pleasure and the time has flown this morning I declare in joining Tom Scott to await his return and not to stand upon his head or throw a summer set or so much as walk upon his cans meanwhile on pain of lingering torments the dwarf threw himself into a boat and crossing to the other side of the river and then speeding away on foot reached Mr. Swivola's usual house of entertainment in bevy's marks just as that gentleman sat down alone to dinner in its dusky parlour dick said the dwarf thrusting his head in at the door my pet my pupil the apple of my eye hey hey oh you're there are you returned Mr. Swivola how are you how's dick retorted quillp how's the cream of Clarkshire pay why rather sour sir replied Mr. Swivola beginning to border upon cheesiness in fact what's the matter said the dwarf advancing has sally proved unkind of all the girls that are so smart there's none like hey dick certainly not replied Mr. Swivola eating his dinner with great gravity none like her she's the sphinx of private life is sallyby you're out of spirits said quillp drawing up a chair what's the matter the law don't agree with me returned dick it isn't moist enough and there's too much confinement I have been thinking of running away said the dwarf where would you run to dick I don't know Mr. Swivola towards Highgate I suppose perhaps the bells might strike up turn again Swivola Lord Mayor of London Whittington's name was dick I wish cats were scarce quillp looked at his companion with his eyes screwed up into a comical expression of curiosity and patiently awaited his further explanation upon which however Mr. Swivola appeared in no hurry to enter had a very long dinner in profound silence and finally pushed away his plate threw himself back into his chair folded his arms and stared ruefully at the fire in which summons of cigars were smoking on their own account and sending up a fragrant odor perhaps you'd like a bit of cake said dick at last turning to the dwarf you're quite welcome to it you ought to be for its of your making what do you mean said quillp Mr. Swivola replied by taking from his pocket a small and very greasy parcel slowly unfolding it and displaying a little slab of plum cake extremely indigestible in appearance and bordered with a paste of white sugar an inch and a half deep what should you say this was demanded Mr. Swivola it looks like bright cake replied the dwarf grinning and who should you say it was inquired Mr. Swivola rubbing the pastry against his nose with a dreadful calmness who's not yes said dick the same you needn't mention her name there's no such name now her name is Chex now Sophie Chex yet loved I as man never loved that hadn't wooden legs and my heart my heart is breaking for the love of Sophie Chex with this extemporary adaptation of a popular ballot to the distressing circumstances of his own case Mr. Swivola folded up the parcel again beat it very flat between the palms of his hands thrust it into his breast buttoned his coat over it and folded his arms upon the hole now I hope you're satisfied sir said dick and I hope Fred satisfied you went partners in the mischief and I hope you like it this is the triumph I was to have is it it's like the old country dance of that name where there are two gentlemen to one lady and one has her and the other hasn't but comes limping up behind to make out the figure but it's destiny and mine's a crusher disguising his secret joy in Mr. Swivola's defeat Daniel Quill adopted the surest means of soothing him by ringing the bell and ordering a supply of rosy wine that is to say of its usual representative which he put about with great alacrity calling upon Mr. Swivola to pledge him in various toasts derisive of Chex and eulogistic of the happiness of single men such was their impression on Mr. Swivola coupled with a reflection that no man could oppose his destiny that in a very short space of time the spirits rose surprisingly and he was enabled to give the dwarf an account of the receipt of the cake which, it appeared had been brought to Bevis Marks by the two surviving Ms. Wackalus in person and delivered at the office door with much giggling and joyfulness ha! said Quillp it will be our turn to giggle soon and that reminds me you spoke of young Trent where is he Mr. Swivola explained that his respectable friend had recently accepted a responsible situation in a locomotive gaming house and was at that time absent on a professional tour among the adventurous spirits of Great Britain that's unfortunate said the dwarf for I came in fact to ask you about him a thought had occurred to me Dick your friend over the way which friend? yes your friend in the first floor Dick you may know him no he don't said Mr. Swivola shaking his head don't no because he has never seen him rejoined Quillp but if we were to bring them together who knows Dick but Fred properly introduced would serve his turn almost as well as little Nell or her grandfather who knows but it might make the young fellow's fortune and throw him yours eh why the fact is you see said Mr. Swivola that they have been brought together have been cried the dwarf looking suspiciously at his companion through whose means through mine said Dick slightly confused didn't I mention it to you the last time you called over Yonder you know you didn't returned the dwarf I believe you're right said Dick no I didn't I recollect oh yes I brought him together that very day it was Fred's suggestion and what came of it why instead of my friends bursting into tears when he knew who Fred was embracing him kindly and telling him that he was his grandfather or his grandmother in disguise which we fully expected he flew into a tremendous passion called him all manner of names said it was in a great measure his fault that little Nell and the old gentleman had ever been brought to poverty didn't hint at our taking anything to drink and in short rather turned us out of the room than otherwise that's strange said the dwarf musing so we remarked to each other at the time returned Dick Cooley but quite true he was plainly staggered by this intelligence over which he brooded for some time in moody silence often raising his eyes to Mr Swivola's face and sharply scanning its expression as he could read in it however no additional information or anything to lead him to believe he had spoken falsely and as Mr Swivola left to his own meditations sighed deeply and was evidently growing mordling on the subject of Mrs Chegg's soon broke up the conference and took his departure leaving the bereaved one to his melancholy ruminations have been brought together eh said the dwarf as he walked the streets alone my friend has stolen a march upon me it led him to nothing and therefore is no great matter save in the intention I'm glad he has lost his mistress ha ha the blockhead mustn't leave the lord present I'm sure of him where he is whenever I want him for my own purposes and besides he's a good unconscious spy on brass and tells in his cups all that he sees and hears you are useful to me Dick and cost nothing but a little treating now and then I am not sure that it may not be worthwhile before long to take credit with the stranger Dick by discovering your designs upon the child but for the present will remain the best friends in the world with your good leave pursuing these thoughts and gasping as he went along after his own peculiar fashion Mr Quillp once more crossed the Thames and shut himself up in his bachelor's hall which by reason of its newly erected chimney depositing the smoke inside the room and carrying none of it off was not quite so agreeable as more of a studious people might have decided such inconveniences however instead of disgusting the dwarf with his new abode rather suited his humour so after dining luxuriously from the public house he lighted his pipe and smoked against the chimney until nothing of him was visible through the mist but a pair of red and highly inflamed eyes with sometimes a dim vision of his scared and face as in a violent fit of coughing he stirred the smoke and scattered the heavy wreaths by which they were obscured in the midst of this atmosphere which must infallibly have smothered any other man Mr Quillp passed the evening with great cheerfulness solacing himself all the time with the pipe and the case bottle and occasionally entertaining himself with a melodious howl intended for a song but bearing not the faintest resemblance to any scrap of any piece of music local or instrumental ever invented by man thus he amused himself until nearly midnight when he turned into his hammock with the utmost satisfaction the first sound that met his ears in the morning as Quillp opened his eyes and finding himself so unusually near the ceiling entertained a drowsy idea that he must have been transformed into a fly or blue bottle in the course of the night stifled sobbing and weeping in the room peeping cautiously over the side of his hammock he described Mrs Quillp to whom after contemplating her for some time in silence he communicated a violent start by suddenly yelling out hello oh Quillp cried his poor little wife looking up how you frightened me I meant to you Jade returned the dwarf what do you want here can't I oh please come home do come home said Mrs Quillp sobbing will never do so any more Quillp and after all it was only a mistake that grew out of our anxiety out of your anxiety grinned the dwarf yes I know that out of your anxiety for my death I shall come home when I please I tell you I shall come home when I please and go when I please now here now there dancing about you always starting up when you least expect me and keeping you in a constant state of restlessness and irritation will you be gone Mrs Quillp does only make a gesture of entreaty I tell you no cried the dwarf no if you dare to come here again unless you're sent for I'll keep watch docks in the yard that'll growl and bite man traps cunningly altered and improved for catching women I'll have spring guns that shall explode when you tread upon the wires and blow you into little paces will you be gone do forgive me do come back said his wife earnestly no roared Quillp not till my own good time and then I'll return again as often as I choose and be accountable to nobody for my goings or comings will you go Mr Quillp delivered this last command in such a very energetic voice and moreover accompanied it with such a sudden gesture indicative of an intention to spring out of his hammock and night capped as he was bear his wife home again through the public streets that she sped away like an arrow her worthy lord stretched his neck and eyes until she had crossed the yard and then not at all sorry to have had this opportunity of carrying his point and asserting the sanctity of his castle fell into an immoderate fit of laughter and laid himself down to sleep again end of chapter 50 chapter 51 of the old curiosity shop this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the old curiosity shop by Charles Dickens chapter 51 the bland and open-hearted proprietor of Bachelors Hall slept on amidst the congenial accompaniments of rain, mud, dirt, damp, fog and rats until late in the day when summoning his valet Tom Scott to assist him to rise and to prepare breakfast he quitted his couch and made his toilet this duty performed and his repast ended he again betook himself to Bevis Marx this visit was not intended for Mr. Swivola but for his friend and employer Mr. Samson Brass both gentlemen however were from home nor was the life and light of law Miss Sally at her post either the fact of their joint desertion of the office was made known to all comers by a scrap of paper in the handwriting of Mr. Swivola with the bell handle and which giving the reader no clue to the time of day when it was first posted furnished him with the rather vague and unsatisfactory information that that gentleman would return in an hour there is a servant I suppose said the dwarf knocking at the house door she'll do after a sufficiently long interval the door was opened and a small voice immediately accosted him with oh please will you leave a card or message eh? said the dwarf looking down it was something quite new to him upon the small servant to this the child conducting her conversation as upon the occasion of her first interview with Mr. Swivola again replied oh please will you leave a card or message I'll write a note said the dwarf pushing past her into the office and mind your master has it directly he comes home so Mr. Quilp climbed up to the top of a tall stool to write the note and the small servant carefully tutored for such emergencies looked on with her eyes wide open ready if he so much as abstracted away for to rush into the street and give the alarm to the police as Mr. Quilp folded his note which was soon written being a very short one he encountered the gaze of the small servant he looked at her long and earnestly how are you said the dwarf moistening away for with horrible grimaces the small servant perhaps frightened by his looks returned no audible reply but it appeared from the motion of her lips that she was inwardly repeating the same form of expression concerning the note or message do they use you ill here is your mistress a tartar said Quilp with a chuckle in reply to the last interrogation the small servant with a look of infinite cunning mingled with fear screwed up her mouth very tight and round and nodded violently whether there was anything in the peculiar slowness of her action which fascinated Mr. Quilp or anything in the expression of her features at the moment which attracted his attention for some other reason or whether it merely occurred to him as a pleasant whim to stare the small servant out of countenance certain it is that he blanded his elbow square and firmly on the desk and squeezing up his cheeks with his hands looked at her fixedly where do you come from he said after a long pause stroking his chin I don't know what's your name nothing nonsense retorted Quilp what does your mistress call you when she wants you a little devil she added in the same breath as if fearful of any further questioning but please will you leave a card a message these unusual answers might naturally have provoked some further inquiries Quilp however without uttering another word withdrew his eyes from the small servant stroked his chin more thoughtfully than before and then bending over the note as if too directed with scrupulous and hair breathed nicety looked at her covertly but very narrowly from under his bushy eyebrows the result of this secret survey was that he shaded his face with his hands and laughed slyly and noiselessly until every vein in it was swollen almost to bursting pulling his head over his brow to conceal his mirth and its effects he tossed the letter to the child and hastily withdrew once in the street moved by some secret impulse he laughed and held his sights laughed again and tried to peer through the dusty area railings as if to catch another glimpse of the child until he was quite tired out at last he travelled back to the wilderness which was within rifle shot of his bachelor retreat and ordered tea in the wooden summer house that afternoon for three persons an invitation to miss Sally Brass and her brother to partake of that entertainment at that place having been the object both of his journey and his note it was not precisely the kind of weather in which people usually take tea in summer houses far less in summer houses in an advanced state of decay and overlooking the slimy banks of a great river at low water nevertheless it was in this choice retreat that Mr Quilp ordered a cold collation to be prepared and it was beneath its cracker and leaky roof that he in due cause of time received Mr Samson and his sister Sally your fond of the beauties of nature said Quilp with a grin is this charming Brass is it unusual unsophisticated primitive it's delightful indeed sir replied the lawyer cool? said Quilp not particularly so I think sir rejoined Brass with his teeth chattering in his head perhaps a little damp and achish said Quilp just damp enough to be cheerful sir rejoined Brass nothing more sir nothing more and Sally said the delighted dwarf does she like it she'll like it better return the strong-minded lady when she has tea so let us have it and don't bother sweet Sally cried Quilp extending his arms as if about to embrace her gentle charming overwhelming Sally is a very remarkable man indeed Soliloquist Mr Brass is quite a troubadour you know quite a troubadour these complimentary expressions were uttered in a somewhat absent and distracted manner for the unfortunate lawyer besides having a bad cold in his head and got wet and coming and would have willingly borne some pecuniary sacrifice if he could have shifted his present raw quarters to a warm room and have dried himself at a fire Quilp however who, beyond the gratification of his demon whims owed Samson some acknowledgement of the part he had played in the morning scene of which he had been a hidden witness marked these symptoms of uneasiness with a delight past all expression and arrived from them a secret joy which the costliest bankit could never have afforded him it is worthy of remark too illustrating a little feature in the character of Miss Sally Brass that although on her own account she would have borne the discomforts of the wilderness with a very ill grace and would probably indeed have walked off before the tea appeared she no sooner beheld the latent uneasiness and misery of her brother then she developed a grim satisfaction and began to enjoy herself after her own manner though the wet came stealing through the roof and trickling down upon their heads Miss Brass uttered no complaint but presided over the tea equipped with imperturbable composure while Mr Quilp in his uproarious hospitality seated himself upon an empty beer barrel wanted the place as the most beautiful and comfortable in the three kingdoms and elevating his glass drank to their next merry meeting in that jovial spot and Mr Brass without splashing down into his tea cup made a dismal attempt to pluck up his spirits and appear at his ease and Tom Scott who was in waiting at the door under an old umbrella exalted in his agonies and bad fare to split his sights with laughing while all this was passing Miss Sally Brass unmindful of the wet which dripped down upon her own feminine person and fair apparel sat placidly behind the tea board erect and grisly contemplating the unhappiness of her brother with a minded ease and content in her amiable disregard of self to sit there all night witnessing the torments which his avaricious and groveling nature compelled him to endure and forbade him to resent and this it must be observed or the illustration would be incomplete although in a business point of view she had the strongest sympathy with Mr Samson who would have been beyond measure indignant if he had thwarted their client in any one respect in the height of his boisterous merriment Mr Quillp having on some pretense dismissed his attendant sprite for the moment resumed his usual manner all at once dismounted from his cask and laid his hand upon the lawyer's sleeve a word said the dwarf before we go further Sally I give for a minute Miss Sally drew closer as if accustomed to business conferences with their host which were the better for not having air business said the dwarf glancing from brother to sister very private business lay your heads together when you're by yourselves certainly sir returned press taking out his pocketbook and pencil I'll take down the heads if you please sir remarkable documents I did the lawyer raising his eyes to the ceiling most remarkable documents he states his point so clearly that it's a treat to have him I don't know any act of parliament that's equal to him in clearness I shall deprive you of a treat said quillp dryly put up your book we don't want any documents so there's a lad named Kit Miss Sally nodded implying that she knew of him Kit said Mr Samson I've heard the name before but I don't exactly call to mind I don't exactly you're as slow as a tortoise and more thick-headed than a rhinoceros returned his obliging client with an impatient gesture he's extremely pleasant cried the obsequious Samson his acquaintance with natural history too is surprising quite a buffoon quite there is no doubt that Mr Brass intended some compliment or other and it has been argued with show of reason that he would have said buffoon but made use of a superfluous vowel be this as it may quillp gave him no time for correction as he performed that office himself by more than tapping him on the head with the handle of his umbrella don't let's have any wrangling said Miss Sally staying his hand I've showed you that I know him and that's enough she's always foremost said the dwarf patting her on the back and looking contemptuously at Samson I don't like Kit Sally nor I rejoined Miss Brass nor I said Samson why? that's right half our work is done already this Kit is one of your honest people one of your fair characters calling prying hound a hypocrite a double-faced white-liverted sneaking spy a crouching cur to those that feed and coax him and a barking helping dog to all besides fearfully eloquent cried Brass with a sneeze quite a pulling come to the point said Miss Sally and don't talk so much right again exclaimed quillp with another contemptuous look at Samson she's always foremost I say Sally he is a helping, insolent dog to all besides and most of all to me in short I owe him a grudge that's enough sir said Samson no, it's not enough sir sneered quillp will you hear me out besides that I owe him a grudge on that account it thwarts me at this minute and stands between me and an end which might otherwise prove a golden one to us all apart from that I repeat that he crosses my humour and I hate him now you know the lad and can guess the rest devise your own means of putting him out of my way and execute them shall it be done it shall sir said Samson then give me your hand retorted quillp Sally girl yours I realize much or more on you than him I'm not going back lantern, pipes, moor grog and a jolly night of it no other word was spoken no other look exchanged which had the slightest reference to this the relocation of their meeting the trio were well accustomed to act together and were linked to each other by ties of mutual interest and advantage and nothing more was needed resuming his boisterous manner with the same ease with which he had thrown it off quillp was in an instant the same uproarious reckless little savage he had been a few seconds before it was ten o'clock at night before the amiable Sally supported her beloved and loving brother from the wilderness by which time he needed the utmost support her tender frame could render his walk being for some unknown reason anything but steady and his legs constantly doubling up in unexpected places overpowered notwithstanding his late prolonged slumbers by the fatigues of the last few days the dwarf lost no time in creeping to his dainty house and was soon dreaming in his hammock leaving him to visions in which perhaps the quiet figures we quitted in the old church porch were not without their share beat our task to rejoin them as they sat and watched end of chapter 51 chapter 52 of the old curiosity shop this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the old curiosity shop by Charles Dickens chapter 52 after a long time the schoolmaster appeared at the wicked gate of the churchyard and hurried towards them jingling in his hand as he came along a bundle of rusty keys he was quite breathless with pleasure and haste when he reached the porch and at first could only point towards the old building which the child had been contemplating so earnestly you see those two old houses he said at last yes surely replied Nell I have been looking at them nearly all the time you have been away and you would have looked at them more curiously yet if you could have guessed what I have to tell you said her friend one of those houses is mine without saying anymore or giving the child time to reply the schoolmaster took her hand and his honest face quite radiant with exaltation led her to the place of which he spoke they stopped before its low arch door after trying several of the keys in vain the schoolmaster found one to fit the huge lock which turned back creaking and admitted them into the house the room into which they entered was a vaulted chamber once nobly ornamented by cunning architects and still retaining in its beautiful groined roof and rich stone tracery choice remnants of its ancient splendor foliage carved in the stone and emulating the mastery of nature scanned yet remained to tell how many times the leaves outside had come and gone while it lived on and changed the broken figures supporting the burden of the chimney piece though mutilated were still distinguishable for what they had been far different from the dust without and showed sadly by the empty hearth like creatures who had outlived their kind and mourned their own too slow decay in some old time for even change was old in that old place a wooden partition had been constructed in one part of the chamber to form a sleeping closet into which the light was admitted at the same period by a rude window or rather niche cut in the solid wall this screen together with two seats in the broad chimney had at some forgotten date been part of the church or convent for the oak hastily appropriated to its present purpose had been little altered from its former shape and presented to the eye a pile of fragments of rich carving from old monkish stalls an open door leading to a small room or cell dim with the light that came through leaves of ivy completed the interior of this portion of the ruin it was not quite destitute of furniture a few strange chairs whose arms and legs looked as though they had dwindled away with age a table the very specter of its race a great old chest that had once held records in the church with other quaintly fashioned domestic necessaries and store of firewood for the winter was scattered around and gave evident tokens of its occupation as a dwelling place at no very distant time the child looked around her with that solemn feeling with which we contemplate the work of ages that have become but drops of water in the great ocean of eternity the old man had followed them but they were all three hushed for a space and drew their breath softly as if they feared to break the silence even by so slight a sound it is a very beautiful place said the child in a low voice I almost feared you thought otherwise returned the school master you shivered when we first came in as if you felt it cold or gloomy it was not that said Nell glancing round with a slight shudder indeed I cannot tell you what it was but when I saw the outside from the church porch the same feeling came over me it is its being so old and gray perhaps a peaceful place to live in don't you think so said her friend oh yes rejoined the child clasping her hands earnestly a quiet happy place to live and learn to die in she would have said more but that the energy of her thoughts caused her voice to falter and come in trembling whispers from her lips her place to live and learn to live and gather health of mind and body in said the school master for this old house is yours hours cried the child I returned the school master gaily for many a merry year to come I hope I shall be a close neighbor only next door but this house is yours having now dispernt himself of his great surprise the school master sat down and drawing Nell to his side told her how he had learned that that ancient tenement had been occupied for a very long time by an old person nearly a hundred years of age he used it for the services and showed it to strangers how she had died not many weeks ago and nobody had yet been found to fill the office how learning all this in an interview with the sexton who was confined to his bed by rheumatism he had been bold to make mention of his fellow traveler which had been so favorably received by that high authority that he had taken courage acting on his advice and found the matter to the clergyman in a word the result of his exertions was that Nell and her grandfather were to be carried before the last name gentleman next day and his approval of their conduct and appearance reserved as a matter of form that they were already appointed to the vacant post there is a small allowance of money said the school master it is not much but still enough to live upon in this retired spot by clubbing our funds together we shall do bravely no fear of that heaven bless and prosper you sopt the child amen my dear returned her friend cheerfully and all of us as it will and has in leading us through sorrow and trouble to this tranquil life but we must look at my house now come they repaired to the other tenement tried the rustic keys as before but length found the right one and opened the worm-eaten door it led into a chamber vaulted and old like that from which they had come but not so spacious and having only one other little room attached it was not difficult to divine that the other house was of right the school masters and that he had chosen for himself the least commodious care and regard for them like the adjoining habitation it held such old articles of furniture as were absolutely necessary and had its stack of firewood to make these dwellings as habitable and full of comfort as they could was now their pleasant care in a short time each had its cheerful fire glowing and crackling on the hearth and dreadening the pale old walls with a hail and healthy blush Nell, still implying her needle repaired the tattered window hangings drew together the rents that time had worn in the threadbare scraps of carpet and made them whole and decent the school master swept and smoothed the ground before the door trimmed the long grass trained the ivy and creeping plants which hung their drooping heads in melancholy neglect and gave to the outer walls a cheery air of home the old man sometimes by his side and sometimes with the child lent his aid to both went here and there in little patient services and was happy neighbors too as they came from work proffered their help or sent their children with such small presents or loans as the strangers needed most it was a busy day and night came on and found them wondering that there was yet so much to do and that it should be dark so soon they took their supper together in the house which may be henceforth called the child's and when they had finished their meal drew around the fire and almost in whispers their hearts were too quiet and glad for loud expression discussed their future plans before they separated the school master read some prayers aloud and then full of gratitude and happiness they parted for the night at that silent hour when her grandfather was sleeping peacefully in his bed and every sound was hushed the child lingered before the dying embers and thought of her past fortunes as if they had been a dream and she only now awoke the glare of the sinking flame reflected in the oaken panels whose carved tops were dimly seen in the gloom of the dusky roof the aged walls where strange shadows came and went with every flickering of the fire the solemned presence within of that a decay which falls on senseless things the most enduring in their nature and without and round about on every side of death filled her with deep and thoughtful feelings but with none of terror or alarm a change had been gradually stealing over her in the time of her loneliness and sorrow with failing strength and heightening resolution there had sprung up a purified and altered mind there had grown in her bosom blessed thoughts and hopes which are the portion of few but the weak and drooping there were none to see the frail perishable figure as it glided from the fire and leaned pensively at the open casement none but the stars to look into the upturned face and read its history the old church bell rang out the hour with a mournful sound as if it had grown sad from so much communing with the dead and an heated warning to the living the fallen leaves rustled the grass stirred upon the graves all else was still and sleeping some of those dreamless sleepers lay close within the shadow of the church touching the wall as if they clung to it for comfort and protection others had chosen to lie beneath the changing shade of trees others by the path that footsteps might come near them others among the graves of little children some had desired to rest beneath the very ground they had trodden in their daily walks some where the setting sun might shine upon their beds some where its light would fall upon them and it rose perhaps not one of the unprisoned souls had been able quite to separate itself in living thought from its old companion if any had it had still felt for it a love like that which captives have been known to bear towards the cell in which they have been long confined and even at parting hung upon its narrow bounds affectionately it was long before the child closed the window and approached her bed again something of the same sensation as before an involuntary chill a momentary feeling akin to fear but vanishing directly and leaving no alarm behind again too dreams of the little scholar of the roof opening and a column of bright faces rising far away into the sky as she had seen in some old scriptural picture once looking down on her asleep it was a sweet and happy dream the quiet spot outside seemed to remain the same save that there was music in the air and a sound of angels wings after a time the sisters came there hand in hand and stood among the graves and then the dream grew dim and faded with the brightness and joy of morning came the renewal of yesterday's labours the revival of its pleasant thoughts the restoration of its energies cheerfulness and hope they worked gaily in ordering and arranging their houses until noon and then went to visit the clergyman he was a simple hearted old gentleman of a shrinking subdued spirit accustomed to retirement and very little acquainted with the world which he had left many years before to come and settle in that place his wife had died in the house in which he still lived and he had long since lost sight of any earthly cares or hopes beyond it he received them very kindly and at once showed an interest in Nell asking her name and age her birthplace the circumstances which had led her there and so forth the schoolmaster had already told her story they had no other friends at home to leave he said and had come to share his fortunes he loved the child as though she were his own well well said the clergyman let it be as you desire she is very young old in adversity and trials her replied the schoolmaster God help her let her rest and forget them said the old gentleman your church is a dull and gloomy place for one so young as you my child oh no sir returned Nell I have no such thoughts indeed I would rather see her dancing on the green at night said the old gentleman laying his hand upon her head and smiling sadly then have her sitting in the shadow of our mouldering archers you must look to this and see that her heart does not grow heavy among these solemn ruins your request is granted friend after more kind words they withdrew and repaired to the child's house where they were yet in conversation on their happy fortune when another friend appeared this was a little old gentleman who lived in the parsonage house and had resided there so they learned soon afterwards ever since the death of the clergyman's wife which had happened 15 years before he had been his college friend and always his close companion in the first shock of his grief had come to console and comfort him and from that time they had never parted company the little old gentleman was the active spirit of the place the adjuster of all differences the promoter of all merry makings the dispenser of his friends bounty and of no small charity of his own besides the universal mediator comforter and friend none of the simple villagers had cared to ask his name or when they knew it to store it in their memory perhaps from some vague rumour of his college owners which had been whispered abroad upon his first arrival perhaps because he was an unmarried unencumbered gentleman he had been called the bachelor the name pleased him or suited him as well as any other and the bachelor he had ever since remained and the bachelor it was it may be added who with his own hands had laid in the stock of fuel which the wanderers had found in their new habitations the bachelor then to call him by his usual appellation lifted the latch showed his little round mild face for a moment at the door and stepped into the room like one who was no stranger to it you are Mr. Martin the new school master he said greeting Nell's kind friend I am sir you come well recommended and I am glad to see you I should have been in the way yesterday expecting you but I rode across the country to carry a message from a sick mother to her daughter in service some miles off she has just now returned this is our young church keeper oh you are not the less welcome friend for her sake or for this old man's nor the worst teacher for having learned humanity she has been ill sir very lately said the school master in answer to the look with which their visitor regarded Nell when he had kissed her cheek yes yes I know she has rejoined there have been suffering and heartache here indeed they have sir the little old gentleman glanced at the grandfather and back again at the child whose hand he took tenderly in his and held you will be happier here he said we will try at least to make you so you have made great improvements here already are they the work of your hands yes sir we may make some others not better in themselves but with better means perhaps said the bachelor let us see now let us see Nell accompanied him into the other little rooms and over both the houses in which he found various small comforts wanting which he engaged to supply from a certain collection of odds and ends he had at home and which must have been a very miscellaneous and extensive one as it comprehended the most opposite articles imaginable they all came however and came without loss of time for the little old gentleman disappearing for some 5 or 10 minutes presently returned laden with old shelves rags, blankets and other household gear and followed by a boy bearing a similar load these being cast on the floor in a promiscuous heap yielded a quantity of occupation in arranging, erecting and putting away the superintendence of which task evidently afforded the old gentleman extreme delight and engaged him for some time with great bristness and activity when nothing more was left to be done he charged the boy to run off and bring his schoolmates to be marshaled before their new master and solemnly reviewed as good as had a fellow smarten as you'd wish to see he said turning to the school master when the boy was gone but I don't let him know I think so that wouldn't do at all the messenger soon returned at the head of a long row of archins great and small who being confronted by the bachelor at the house door fell into various convulsions of politeness clutching their hats and caps squeezing them into the smallest possible dimensions and making all manner of bows and scrapes which the little old gentleman contemplated with excessive satisfaction and expressed his approval of by great many nods and smiles indeed his approbation of the boys was by no means so scrupulously disguised as he had led the school master to suppose in as much as it broke out in sundry loud whispers and confidential remarks which were perfectly audible to them everyone this first boy school master said the bachelor is John Owen a lot of good parts sir and frank honest temper but too thoughtless too playful too light headed by far that boy my good sir would break his neck with pleasure and deprive his parents of their chief comfort and between ourselves when you come to see him at hair and hounds taking the fence and ditch by the finger post and sliding down the face of the little quarry you'll never forget it it's beautiful John Owen having been thus rebuked and being in perfect possession of the speech aside the bachelor singled out another boy now look at that lad sir said the bachelor you see that fellow Richard Evans his name is sir an amazing boy to learn blessed with a good memory and a ready understanding and burrowed with a good voice and ear for psalm singing in which he is the best among us yet sir that boy will come to a bad end he'll never die in his bed is always falling asleep in church in sermon time and to tell you the truth I always did the same at his age and feel quite certain that it was natural to my constitution that I wouldn't help it this hopeful pupil edified by the above terrible reproval the bachelor turned to another but if we talk of examples to be shunned if we come to boys that should be a warning and a beacon to all their fellows here's the one and I hope you won't spare him this is the lad sir this one with the blue eyes and light hair this fellow a diver lord save us this is a boy sir who had a fancy for plunging into 18 feet of water with his clothes on and bringing up a blind man's dog who was being drowned by the weight of his chain and collar while his master stood ringing his hands upon the bank bewailing the loss of his guide and friend I sent the boy to guineas anonymously sir in his peculiar whisper directly I heard of it but never mention it on any account for he hasn't the least idea that it came from me having disposed of this culprit the bachelor turned to another and from him to another and so on through the whole array laying for their wholesome restriction within due bounds the same cutting emphasis on such of their propensities as were dearest to his heart and were unquestionably referable to his own precept and example thoroughly persuaded in the end that he had made them miserable by his severity he dismissed them with a small present and an admonition to walk quietly home without any leapings, scufflings or turnings out of the way which in junction he informed the school master in the same audible confidence he did not think he could have obeyed when he was a boy had his life depended on it healing these little tokens of the bachelor's disposition as so many assurances of his own welcome course from that time the school master parted from him with a light heart and joyous spirits and deemed himself one of the happiest men on earth the windows of the two old houses were already again that night with the reflection of the cheerful fires that burned within and the bachelor and his friend posing to look upon them as they returned from their evening walk spoke softly together of the beautiful child and looked around upon the churchyard with a sigh end of chapter 52 chapter 53 of the old curiosity shop this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information on to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the old curiosity shop by Charles Dickens chapter 53 Neil was stirring early in the morning and having discharged her household tasks and put everything in order for the good school master though sorely against his will for he would have spared her the pains took down from its nail by the fireside a little bundle of keys with which the bachelor had formally invested her on the previous day and went out alone to visit the old church the sky was serene and bright the air clear perfumed with the fresh scent of newly fallen leaves and grateful to every sense the neighbouring stream sparkled and rolled onward with a tuneful sound the dew glistened on the green mounds like tears shed by good spirits over the dead some young children sported among the tombs and hid from each other with laughing faces they had an infant with them and had laid it down asleep upon a child's grave in a little bed of leaves it was a new grave the resting place perhaps of some little creature who meek and patient in its illness had often sat and watched them and now seemed to their minds scarcely changed she drew near and asked one of them whose grave it was the child answered that that was not its name it was a garden his brothers it was greener he said than all the other gardens and the birds loved it better because he had been used to feed them when he had done speaking he looked at her with a smile and kneeling down and nestling for a moment with his cheek against the turf bounded merrily away she passed the church gazing upward at its old tower went through the wicked gate and so into the village the old sexton leaning on a crutch was staking the air at his cottage door and gave her a good morrow you are better said the child stopping to speak with him I surely return the old man I'm thankful to say much better you will be quite well soon with heaven's leave and a little patience but come in come in the old man limped on before and warning her of the downward step which he achieved himself with no small difficulty let the way into his little cottage it is but one room you see there is another up above but the stair has got harder to climb all eight years and I never use it I'm thinking of taking to it again next summer though the child wondered how a grey-headed man like him one of his straight two could talk of time so easily he saw her eyes wandering to the tools that hung upon the wall and smiled I warrant now he said did you think all those are used in making graves indeed I wondered that you wanted so many and well you might I am a gardener I dig the ground and plant things that are to live and grow my works don't all moulder away and rot in the earth do you see that spade in the centre the very old one so nudged and worn yes that's the sexton spade and it's a well used one as you see we're a healthy people here but it has done a power of work if it could speak now that spade it would tell you of many unexpected job that it and I have done together but I forget him for my memory is a poor one that's nothing new but it's tasty it always was there are flowers and traps to speak to your other work said the child oh yes and tall trees but they're not so separated from the sexton slabers as you think no not in my mind and recollection such as it is said the old man indeed they often help it but it stands to remind me that he died when I look at its broad shadow and remember that it was in his time it helps me to the age of my other work and I can tell you pretty nearly when I made his grave but it may remind you of one who is still alive said the child of twenty that are dead in connection with that one who lives then rejoined the old man wife, husband, parents brothers, sisters, children friends, a score at least so it happens that the sexton spade gets worn and battered I shall need a new one next summer the child looked quickly towards him thinking that he gested with his age and infirmity but the unconscious sexton was quite an honest ah, he said after a brief silence people never learn they never learn it's only we who turn up the ground where nothing grows and everything decays who think of such things as these who think of them properly I mean you have been into the church I am going there now the child replied there's an old well there said the sexton right underneath the belfry a deep dark echoing well forty years ago you had only to let down the bucket while the first knot in the rope was free of the wind less and you heard it splashing in the cold dull water by little and little the water fell away saw that in ten years after that a second knot was made and you must unwind so much rope or the bucket swung tight and empty at the end in ten years time the water fell again and the third knot was made in ten years more the well dried up and now, if you lower the bucket your arms are tired and let out nearly all the cord you'll hear it of a sudden clanking and rattling on the ground below with the sound of being so deep and so far down that your heart leaps into your mouth and you start away as if you were falling in a dreadful place to come on in the dark exclaimed the child who had followed the old man's looks and words until she seemed to stand upon its brink what is it but a grave said the sexton what else and which of our old forks knowing all this thought as the springs subsided of their own failing strength and lessening life not one are you very old yourself asked the child involuntarily I shall be seventy-nine next summer you still work when you're well work to be sure you shall see my gardens here about look at the window there I made and have kept that plot of ground entirely with my own hands by this time next year I shall hardly see the sky the boughs will have grown so thick I have my winter work at night besides he opened as he spoke a cupboard close to where he sat and produced some miniature boxes carved in a homely manner and made of old wood some gentle forks who are fond of ancient days and what belongs to them he said like to buy these keepsakes from our church and ruins sometimes I make them of scraps of oak that turn up here and there sometimes of bits of coffins which the vaults have long preserved see here this is a little chest of the last kind clasped at the edges with fragments of brass plates that had writing on them once though it would be hard to read it now I haven't many by me at this time of year but these shelves will be full next summer the child admired and praised his work and shortly afterwards departed thinking as she went how strange it was that this old man drawing from his pursuits and everything around him once turn moral never contemplated its application to himself and while he dwelt upon the uncertainty of human life seemed both in word and deed to deem himself immortal but her musings did not stop here for she was wise enough to think that by a good and merciful adjustment this must be human nature and that the old sexton with his plans for next summer was but a type of all mankind full of these meditations she reached the church it was easy to find the key belonging to the outer door for each was labelled on a scrap of yellow parchment it's very turning in the locker awoke a hollow sound and when she entered with a faltering step the echoes that it raised in closing made her start everything in our lives, whether of good or evil affects us most by contrast if the peace of the simple village had moved the child more strongly because of the dark and troubled ways that lay beyond and through which she had journeyed with such failing feet what was the deep impression of finding herself alone in that solemn building where the very light coming through sunken windows seemed old and grey and the air, redolent of earth and mould seemed laden with decay purified by time of all its grosser particles and sight through arch and isle and clustered pillars like the breath of ages gone here was the broken pavement worn so long ago by pious feet that time, stealing on the pilgrim steps had trodden out their track and left but crumbling stones here were the rotten beam, the sinking arch the sap and mouldering wall the lowly trench of earth the stately tomb on which no epitaph remained all marble, stone, iron, wood and dust one common monument of ruin the best work and the worst the plainest and the richest the stateliest and the least imposing both of heaven's work and man's all found one common level here and told one common tale some part of the edifice had been a baronial chapel and here were refugees of warriors stretched upon their beds of stone with folded hands, cross-legged those who had fought in the holy wars with their swords and cased in armour as they had lived some of these knights had their own weapons, helmets coats of mail, hanging upon the walls hard-buy and dangling from rusty hooks broken and dilapidated as they were they yet retained their ancient form and something of their ancient aspect thus violent deeds live after men upon the earth and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves the child sat down in this old silent place among the stark figures on the tombs they made it more quiet there than elsewhere to her fancy and gazing round with a feeling of awe tempered with a calm delight felt that now she was happy and at rest she took a bible from the shelf and read then, laying it down, thought of the summer days and the bright spring time that would come of the rays of sun that would fall in a slant upon the sleeping forms of the leaves that would flutter at the window and play in glistening shadows on the pavement of the songs of birds and growth of buds and blossoms out of doors of the sweet air that would steal in and gently wave the tattered banners overhead what if the spot awakened thoughts of death die who would it would still remain the same these sights and sounds would still go on as happily as ever it would be no pain to sleep amidst them she left the chapel very slowly and often turning back to gaze again and coming to a low door which plainly led into the tower opened it and climbed the winding stair in darkness save where she looked down through narrow loop holes on the place she had left or caught a glimmering vision of the dusty bells at length, she gained the end of the ascent and stood upon the turret top oh, the glory of the sudden burst of light the freshness of the fields and woods stretching away on every side and meeting the bright blue sky the cattle grazing in the pasture edge the smoke that coming from among the trees seemed to rise upward from the green earth the children, yet as they had gambles down below all, everything, so beautiful and happy it was like passing from death to life it was drawing nearer heaven the children were gone by the time she emerged into the porch and locked the door as she passed the school house she could hear the busy hum of voices her friend had begun his labours only that day the noise grew louder and looking back she saw the boys come drooping out and disperse themselves with merry shouts and play it's a good thing, thought the child I am very glad they passed the church and then she stopped to fancy how the noise would sound inside and how gently it would seem to die away upon the ear again that day yes, twice again she stole back to the old chapel and in her former seed read from the same book or indulged the same quiet train of thought even when it had grown dusk and the shadows of coming night made it more solemn still the child remained like one rooted to the spot and had no fear or thought of stirring they found her there at last and took her home with pale but very happy until they separated for the night and then as the poor schoolmaster stooped down to kiss her cheek he thought he felt a tear upon his face End of chapter 53