 Chapter 43, Part 2 of Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. Chapter 43, Part 2. Martin could hardly be a mortal man and not express in his face something of the anger and disdain with which Mr. Pexnip inspired him. But beyond this he evinced no knowledge whatever of that gentleman's presence or existence. True, he had once and that at first glanced at him involuntarily and with supreme contempt. But for any other heed he took of him there might have been nothing in his place save empty air. As Mr. Pexnip withdrew from between them agreeably to the wish just now expressed, which he did during the delivery of the observations last recorded, Old Martin, who had taken Mary Graham's hand in his and whispered kindly to her as telling her she had no cause to be alarmed, gently pushed her from him behind his chair and looked steadily at his grandson. And that, he said, is he. Ah, that is he. Say what you wish to say, but come no nearer. His sense of justice is so fine, said Mr. Pexnip, that he will hear even him, although he knows beforehand that nothing can come of it, in a genuine mind. Mr. Pexnip did not address himself immediately to any person in saying this, but assuming the position of the chorus in a Greek tragedy delivered his opinion as a commentary on the proceedings. Grandfather, said Martin with great earnestness, From a painful journey, from a hard life, from a sick bed, from privation and distress, from gloom and disappointment, from almost hopelessness and despair, I have come back to you. Rovers of this sort, observed Mr. Pexnip as chorus, very commonly come back when they find they don't meet with the success they expected in their marauding ravages. But for this faithful man, said Martin, turning towards Mark, whom I first knew in this place and who went away with me voluntarily as a servant, but has been throughout my zealous and devoted friend, but for him I must have died abroad, far from home, far from any help or consolation, far from the probability even of my wretched fate being ever known to anyone who cared to hear it. Oh, that you would let me say of being known to you. The old man looked at Mr. Pexnip, Mr. Pexnip looked at him. Did you speak, my worthy sir, said Mr. Pexnip with a smile? The old man answered in the negative. I know what you thought, said Mr. Pexnip with another smile. Let him go on, my friend. The development of self-interest in the human mind is always a curious study. Let him go on, sir. Go on, observed the old man, in a mechanical obedience it appeared to Mr. Pexnip's suggestion. I have been so wretched and so poor, said Martin, that I am indebted to the charitable help of a stranger in a land of strangers for the means of returning here. All this tells against me in your mind, I know. I have given you cause to think I have been driven here wholly by want and have not been let on in any degree by affection or regret. When I parted from you, grandfather, I deserved that suspicion, but I do not now. I do not now. The chorus put its hand in its waistcoat and smiled. Let him go on, my worthy sir, it said. I know what you are thinking of, but don't express it prematurely. Old Martin raised his eyes to Mr. Pexnip's face and, appearing to derive renewed instruction from his looks and words, said, once again, go on. I have little more to say, returned Martin, and as I say it now with little or no hope, grandfather, whatever dawn of hope I had on entering the room, believe it to be true, at least believe it to be true. Beautiful truth exclaimed the chorus, looking upward. How was your name profaned by vicious persons? You don't live in a well, my holy principal, but on the lips of false mankind. It is hard to bear with mankind, dear sir, addressing the elder, Mr. Cheslowit, but let us do so meekly, it is our duty to do so. Let us be among the few who do their duty. If, pursued the chorus, soaring up into a lofty flight, as the poet informs us, England expects every man to do his duty, England is the most sanguine country on the face of the earth, and will find itself continually disappointed. Upon that subject, said Martin, looking calmly at the old man as he spoke, but glancing once at Mary, whose face was now buried in her hands, upon the back of his easy chair. Upon that subject, which first occasioned a division between us, my mind and heart are incapable of change. Whatever influence they have undergone since that unhappy time has not been one to weaken but to strengthen me. I cannot profess sorrow for that, nor irresolution in that, nor shame in that. Nor would you wish me, I know, but that I might have trusted to your love if I had thrown myself manfully upon it, that I might have won you over with ease if I had been more yielding and more considerate, that I should have best remembered myself and forgetting myself and recollecting you. Reflection, solitude, and misery have taught me. I came resolved to say this and to ask your forgiveness, not so much in hope for the future as in regret for the past. For all that I would ask of you is that you would aid me to live. Help me to get honest work to do, and I would do it. My condition places me at the disadvantage of seeming to have only my selfish ends to serve, but try if that be so or not. Try if I be self-willed, obdurate, and haughty as I was, or have been disciplined in a rough school. Let the voice of nature and association plead between us, grandfather, and do not for one fault. However thankless quite reject me. As he ceased, the gray head of the old man drooped again, and he concealed his face behind his outspread fingers. My dear sir, cried Mr. Pexnip, bending over him, you must not give way to this. It is very natural and very amiable, but you must not allow the shameless conduct of one whom you long ago cast off to move you so far. Rouse yourself. Think, said Pexnip. Think of me, my friend. I will, returned old Martin, looking up into his face. You recall me to myself. I will. Why what, said Mr. Pexnip, sitting down beside him in a chair which he drew up for the purpose, and tapping him playfully on the arm. What is the matter with my strong-minded compatriot? If I may venture to take the liberty of calling him by that endearing expression, shall I have to scold my co-adjuder, or to reason with an intellect like this? I think not. No, no, there is no occasion, said the old man, a momentary feeling, nothing more. Indignation, observed Mr. Pexnip, will bring the scalding tear into the honest eye, I know. He wiped his own elaborately. But we have higher duties to perform than that. Rouse yourself, Mr. Chuzzawit. Shall I give expression to your thoughts, my friend? Yes, said old Martin, leaning back in his chair and looking at him, half in vacancy and half in admiration, as if he were fascinated by the man. Speak for me, Pexnip. Thank you. You are true to me. Thank you. Do not unman me, sir, said Mr. Pexnip, shaking his hand vigorously, or I shall be unequal to the task. It is not agreeable to my feelings, my good sir, to address the person who is now before us, for when I ejected him from this house, after hearing of his unnatural conduct from your lips, I renounced communication with him forever. But you desire it and that is sufficient. Young man, the door is immediately behind the companion of your infamy. Blush if you can, be gone without a blush if you can't. Martin looked as steadily at his grandfather as if there had been a dead silence all this time. The old man looked no less steadily at Mr. Pexnip. When I ordered you to leave this house upon the last occasion of your being dismissed from it with disgrace, said Mr. Pexnip, when stung and stimulated beyond endurance by your shameless conduct to this extraordinarily noble-minded individual, I exclaimed, go forth. I told you that I wept for your depravity. Do not suppose that the tear which stands in my eye at this moment is shed for you. It is shed for him, sir. It is shed for him. Here, Mr. Pexnip, accidentally dropping the tear in question on a bald part of Mr. Chuzzlewood's head, wiped the place with his pocket-hankerchief and begged pardon. It is shed for him, sir, whom you seek to make the victim of your arts, said Mr. Pexnip, whom you seek to plunder, to deceive, and to mislead. It is shed in sympathy with him and admiration of him, not in pity for him, for happily he knows what you are. You shall not wrong him further, sir, in any way, said Mr. Pexnip, quite transported with enthusiasm. While I have life, you may be stride my senseless course, sir. That is very likely. I can imagine a mind like yours deriving great satisfaction from any measure of that kind. But while I continue to be called upon to exist, sir, you must strike at him through me. Ah, said Mr. Pexnip, shaking his head at Martin with indignant jocularity, and in such a cause you will find me, my young sir, an ugly customer. Still, Martin looked steadily and mildly at his grandfather. Will you give me no answer, he said at length? Not a word. You hear what has been said, replied the old man, without averting his eyes from the face of Mr. Pexnip, who nodded encouragingly. I have not heard your voice. I have not heard your spirit, returned Martin. Tell him again, said the old man, still gazing up at Mr. Pexnip's face. I only hear, replied Martin, strong in his purpose from the first, and stronger in it as he felt how Pexnip winced and shrunk beneath his contempt. I only hear what you say to me, grandfather. Perhaps it was well for Mr. Pexnip that his venerable friend found in his, Mr. Pexnip's features, an exclusive and engrossing object of contemplation. For if his eyes had gone astray and he had compared young Martin's bearing with that of his zealous defender, the latter disinterested gentleman would scarcely have shown to greater advantage than on the memorable afternoon when he took Tom Pinch's last recede in full of all demands. One really might have thought there was some quality in Mr. Pexnip, an emanation from the brightness and purity within him, perhaps, which set off and adorned his foes. They looked so gallant and so manly beside him. Not a word, said Martin for the second time. I remember that I have a word to say, Pexnip, observed the old man, but a word. You spoke of being indebted to the charitable help of some stranger for the means of returning to England? Who is he, and what help and money did he render you? Although he asked this question of Martin, he did not look towards him, but kept his eyes on Mr. Pexnip as before. It appeared to have become a habit with him, both in a literal and figurative sense to look to Mr. Pexnip alone. Martin took out his pencil, tore a leaf from his pocketbook, and hastily wrote down the particulars of his debt to Mr. Bevin. The old man stretched out his hand for the paper and took it, but his eyes did not wander from Mr. Pexnip's face. It would be a poor pride and a false humility, said Martin in a low voice, to say I did not wish that to be paid, or that I have any present hope of being able to pay it, but I never felt my poverty so deeply as I feel it now. Read it to me, Pexnip, said the old man. Mr. Pexnip, after approaching the perusal of the paper as if it were a manuscript confession of a murder, complied. I think, Pexnip, said old Martin, I could wish that to be discharged. I should not like the lender who was abroad who had no opportunity of making inquiry and who did, as he thought, a kind action to suffer. An honorable sentiment, my dear sir, your own entirely but a dangerous precedent, said Mr. Pexnip, permit me to suggest. It shall not be a precedent, return to the old man. It is the only recognition of him, but we will talk of it again, you shall advise me. There is nothing else, nothing else, said Mr. Pexnip buoyantly, but for you to recover this intrusion, this cowardly and indefensible outrage on your feelings with all possible dispatch and smile again. You have nothing more to say, inquired the old man, laying his hand with unusual earnestness on Mr. Pexnip's sleeve. Mr. Pexnip would not say what rose to his lips for reproaches he observed were useless. You have nothing at all to urge, you are sure of that. If you have, no matter what it is, speak freely, I will oppose nothing that you ask of me, said the old man. The tears rose in such abundance to Mr. Pexnip's eyes at this proof of unlimited confidence on the part of his friend that he was feigned to clasp the bridge of his nose convulsively before he could at all compose himself. When he had the power of utterance again, he said with great emotion that he hoped he should live to deserve this and added that he had no other observation whatever to make. For a few moments the old man sat looking at him with that blank and motionless expression which is not uncommon in the faces of those whose faculties are on the wane in age, but he rose up firmly too and walked towards the door from which Mark withdrew to make way for him. The obsequious Mr. Pexnip proffered his arm. The old man took it. Turning at the door he said to Martin, waving him off with his hand, you have heard him, go away, it is all over, go. Mr. Pexnip murmured certain cheering expressions of sympathy and encouragement as they retired, and Martin, awakening from the stupor into which the closing portion of this scene had plunged him to the opportunity afforded by their departure, caught the innocent cause of all in his embrace and pressed her to his heart. Dear girl, said Martin, he has not changed you why what an impotent and harmless naïve the fellow is. You have restrained yourself so nobly, you have borne so much. Restrained myself, cried Martin cheerfully, you were by and were unchanged. I knew what more advantage did I want. The sight of me was such a bitterness to the dog that I had my triumph in his being forced to endure it. But tell me, love, for the few hasty words we can exchange now are precious. What is this which has been rumored to me? Is it true that you are persecuted by this naïve's addresses? I was, dear Martin, and to some extent am now, but my chief source of unhappiness has been anxiety for you. Why did you leave us in such terrible suspense? Sickness, distance, the dread of hinting at our real condition, the impossibility of concealing it except in perfect silence, the knowledge that the truth would have pained you infinitely more than uncertainty and doubt, said Martin hurriedly, as indeed everything else was done and said in those few hurried moments, were the causes of my writing only once. But, Pexnip, you need in fear to tell me the whole tale, for you saw me with him face to face, hearing him speak and not taking him by the throat. What is the history of his pursuit of you? Is it known to my grandfather? Yes. And he assists him in it? No, she answered eagerly. Thank heaven, cried Martin, that it leaves his mind unclouded in that one respect. I do not think, said Mary, it was known to him at first. When this man had sufficiently prepared his mind, he revealed it to him by degrees. I think so, but I only know it from my own impression, not from anything they told me. Then he spoke to me alone. My grandfather did, said Martin. Yes, spoke to me alone and told me what the hound had said, cried Martin, don't repeat it. And said I knew well what qualities he possessed, that he was moderately rich in good repute and high in his favor and confidence, but seeing me very much distressed, he said that he would not control or force my inclinations but would content himself with telling me the fact. He would not pain me by dwelling on it or reverting to it, nor has he ever done so since, but has truly kept his word. The man himself, asked Martin, he has had few opportunities of pursuing his suit. I have never walked out alone or remained alone an instant in his presence. Dear Martin, I must tell you, she continued, that the kindness of your grandfather to me remains unchanged. I am his companion still. An indescribable tenderness and compassion seem to have mingled themselves with his old regard. And if I were his only child, I could not have a gentler father. What former fancy or old habit survives in this when his heart has turned so cold to you is a mystery I cannot penetrate. But it has been, and it is, a happiness to me that I remain true to him, that if he should wake from his delusion, even at the point of death, I am here, love, to recall you to his thoughts. Martin looked with admiration on her glowing face and pressed his lips to hers. I have sometimes heard and read, she said, that those whose powers had been enfeebled long ago and whose lives had faded, as it were, into a dream have been known to rouse themselves before death and inquire for familiar faces once very dear to them. But forgotten, unrecognized, hated even in the meantime. Think, if with his old impressions of this man he should suddenly resume his former self and find in him his only friend. I would not urge you to abandon him, said Martin, though I could count the years we are to wear out asunder. But the influence this fellow exercises over him has steadily increased, I fear. She could not help admitting that. Steadily, imperceptibly, and surely, until it was paramount and supreme, she herself had none, and yet he treated her with more affection than at any previous time. Martin thought the inconsistency a part of his weakness and decay. Does the influence extend to fear, said Martin? Is he timid of asserting his own opinion in the presence of this infatuation? I fancied so just now. I have thought so often, even when we are sitting alone, almost as we used to do, and I have been reading a favorite book to him, or he has been talking quite cheerfully, I have observed that the entrance of Mr. Pexnip has changed his whole demeanor. He has broken off immediately and become what you have seen today. When we first came here he had his impetuous outbreaks in which it was not easy for Mr. Pexnip with his utmost plausibility to appease him. But these have long since dwindled away. He defers to him in everything and has no opinion upon any question, but that which is forced upon him by this treacherous man. Such was the account rapidly furnished in whispers and interrupted brief as it was by many false alarms of Mr. Pexnip's return, which Martin received of his grandfather's decline and of that good gentleman's ascendancy. He heard of Tom Pinch II and Jonas II with not a little about himself into the bargain for though lovers are remarkable for leaving a great deal unsaid on all occasions and very properly desiring to come back and say it. They are remarkable also for a wonderful power of condensation and can, in one way or other, give utterance to more language, eloquent language, in any given short space of time than all the 658 members in the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland who are strong lovers, no doubt, but of their country only, which makes all the difference. For in a passion of that kind, which is not always returned, it is accustomed to use as many words as possible and express nothing whatever. A caution from Mr. Tapley, a hasty interchange of farewells and of something else which the proverb says must not be told of afterwards, a white hand held out to Mr. Tapley himself which he kissed with the devotion of a knight errant, more farewells, more something else's, a parting word from Martin that he would write from London and would do great things there yet. Heaven knows what, but he quite believed it. And Mark and he stood on the outside of the Peck-Sniffian halls. A short interview after such an absence said Martin sorrowfully, but we are well out of the house. We might have placed ourselves in a false position there even so long, Mark. I don't know about ourselves, sir, he returned, but somebody else would have got into a false position if he had happened to come back again while we was there. I had the door already, sir. If Peck-Sniff had showed his head or had only so much as listened behind it, I would have caught him like a walnut. He's the sort of man, added Mr. Tapley, musing as would squeeze soft, I know. A person who was evidently going to Mr. Peck-Sniff's house would have seen him at this moment. He raised his eyes at the mention of the architect's name and when he had gone on a few yards stopped and gazed at them. Mr. Tapley also looked over his shoulder and so did Martin for the stranger as he passed had looked very sharply at them. Who may that be, I wonder, said Martin. The face seems familiar to me, but I don't know the man. He seems to have an amiable desire that his face should be tolerable familiar to us, and Mr. Tapley, for he's a-staring pretty hard. He'd better not waste his beauty for he ain't got much to spare. Coming inside of the dragon they saw a traveling carriage at the door and a Salisbury carriage, eh? said Mr. Tapley. That's what he came in, depend upon it. What's in the wind now? A new pupil, I shouldn't wonder. Perhaps it's an order for another grammar school of the same pattern as the last. Before they could enter at the door Mrs. Lupin came running out and beckoning them to the carriage showed them a portmanteau with the name of Chuzzlewood upon it. Miss Pexniff's husband that was, said the good woman to Martin, I didn't know what terms you might be on and was quite in a worry till you came back. He and I have never interchanged a word yet, observed Martin, and as I have no wish to be better or worse acquainted with him I will not put myself in his way. We passed him on the road, I have no doubt. I am glad he timed his coming as he did. Upon my word, Miss Pexniff's husband travels gaily. A very fine looking gentleman with him in the best room now, whispered Mrs. Lupin, glancing up at the window as they went into the house. He has ordered everything that can be got for dinner and has the glossiest mustaches and whiskers ever you saw. Has he, cried Martin, why then will endeavor to avoid him too in the hope that our self-denial is strong enough for the sacrifice? It is only for a few hours, said Martin, dropping wearily into a chair behind the little screen in the bar. Our visit has met with no success, my dear Mrs. Lupin, and I must go to London. Dear, dear, cried the hostess. Yes, one fall wind no more makes a winter than one swallow makes a summer. I'll try it again. Tom Pinch has succeeded. With his advice to guide me, I may do the same. I took Tom under my protection once. God saved the mark, said Martin with a melancholy smile and promised I would make his fortune. Perhaps Tom will take me under his protection now and teach me how to earn my bread. End of Chapter 43 Chapter 44 of Life and Adventures of Martin Cheslowit This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Life and Adventures of Martin Cheslowit by Charles Dickens. Chapter 44 Further continuation of the enterprise of Mr. Jonas and his friend. It was a special quality among the many admirable qualities possessed by Mr. Pexniff that the more he was found out, the more hypocrisy he practiced. Let him be discomforted in one quarter and he refreshed and recompensed himself by carrying the war into another. If his workings and windings were detected by A, so much the greater reason was there for practicing without loss of time on B, if it were only to keep his hand in. He had never been such a saintly and improving spectacle to all about him as after his detection by Thomas Pinch. He had scarcely ever been at once so tender in his humanity and so dignified and exalted in his virtue as when young Martin Scorn was fresh and hot upon him. Having this large stock of superfluous sentiment and morality on hand which must positively be cleared off at any sacrifice, Mr. Pexniff no sooner heard his son-in-law announced than he regarded him as a kind of wholesale or general order to be immediately executed. Descending therefore swiftly to the parlor and clasping the young man in his arms he exclaimed with looks and gestures that denoted the perturbation of his spirit. Jonas, my child, she is well. There's nothing the matter. What? You're at it again, are you? replied his son-in-law, even with me. Get away with you, will you? Tell me she is well then, said Mr. Pexniff. Tell me she is well, my boy. She's well enough. Did Jonas disengaging himself? There's nothing the matter with her. There's nothing the matter with her, cried Mr. Pexniff, sitting down in the nearest chair and rubbing up his hair. Fie upon my weakness. I cannot help it, Jonas. Thank you, I am better now. How is my other child, my eldest? My cherry-weary chigo, said Mr. Pexniff, inventing a playful little name for her in the restored lightness of his heart. She's much about the same as usual, like returned Jonas. She sticks pretty close to the vinegar bottle. You know she's got a sweetheart, I suppose. I have heard of it, said Mr. Pexniff, from headquarters, from my child herself. I will not deny that it moved me to contemplate the loss of my remaining daughter, Jonas. I am afraid we parents are selfish. I am afraid we are. But it has ever been the study of my life to qualify them for the domestic hearth. And it is a sphere which cherry will adorn. She need adorn some sphere or other, observed the son-in-law, for she ain't very ornamental in general. My girls are now provided for, said Mr. Pexniff. They are now happily provided for, and I have not labored in vain. This is exactly what Mr. Pexniff would have said if one of his daughters had drawn a prize of 30,000 pounds in the lottery, or if the other had picked up a valuable purse in the street which nobody appeared to claim. In either of these cases he would have invoked a patriarchal blessing on the fortunate head with great solemnity and would have taken immense credit to himself as having meant it from the infant's cradle. Suppose we talk about something else now, observed Jonas dryly, just for a change. Are you quite agreeable? Quite, said Mr. Pexniff. Ah, you wag, you naughty wag. You laugh at poor old fond papa. Well, he deserves it, and he don't mind it either for his feelings are their own reward. You have come to stay with me, Jonas? No, I've got a friend with me, said Jonas. Bring your friend, cried Mr. Pexniff, in a gush of hospitality. Bring any number of your friends. This ain't the sort of man to be brought, said Jonas contemptuously. I think I see myself bringing him to your house for a treat. Thank you all the same, but he's a little too near the top of the tree for that, Pexniff. The good man pricked up his ears. His interest was awakened. A position near the top of the tree was greatness, virtue, goodness, sense, genius. Or, it should rather be said, a dispensation from all and in itself something immeasurably better than all. With Mr. Pexniff, a man who was able to look down upon Mr. Pexniff could not be looked up at by that gentleman with too great an amount of deference or from a position of too much humility. So it always is with great spirits. I'll tell you what you may do, if you like, said Jonas. You may come and dine with us at the dragon. We were forced to come down to Salisbury last night on some business, and I got him to bring me over here this morning in his carriage. At least not his own carriage, for we had a breakdown in the night, but one we hired instead. It's all the same. Mind what you're about, you know. He's not used to all sorts. He only mixes with the best. Some young nobleman who has been borrowing money of you for a good interest, eh? Said Mr. Pexniff, shaking his forefinger facetiously, I shall be delighted to know the gay spring. Borrowing, echoed Jonas. Borrowing. When you're a 20th part as rich as he is, you may shut up shop. We should be pretty well off if we could buy his furniture and plate and pictures by clubbing together. A likely man to borrow. Mr. Montague, why, since I was lucky enough, come, and I'll say sharp enough, too, to get a share in the Assurance Office that he's president of, I've made, never mind what I've made, said Jonas, seeming to recover all at once his usual caution. You know me pretty well, and I don't laugh about such things, but he, God, I've made a trifle. Really, my dear Jonas, cried Mr. Pexniff with much warmth. A gentleman like this should receive some attention. Would he like to see the church, or if he has a taste for the fine arts, which I have no doubt he has, from the description you give and the circumstances, I can send him down a few portfolios. Salisbury Cathedral, my dear Jonas, said Mr. Pexniff. The mention of the portfolios and his anxiety to display himself to advantage, suggesting his usual phraseology in that regard, is an edifice replete with venerable associations and strikingly suggestive of the loftiest emotions. It is here we contemplate the work of bygone ages. It is here we listen to the swelling organ stroll through the reverberating aisles. We have drawings of this celebrated structure from the north, from the south, from the east, from the west, from the southeast, from the northwest. During this digression, and indeed during the whole dialogue, Jonas had been rocking on his chair with his hands in his pockets and his head thrown cunningly on one side. He looked at Mr. Pexniff now with such shrewd meaning twinkling in his eyes that Mr. Pexniff stopped and asked him what he was going to say. He cod, he answered, Pexniff, if I knew how you meant to leave your money, I could put you in the way of doubling at a no time. It wouldn't be bad to keep a chance like this snug in the family, but you're such a deep one. Jonas, cried Mr. Pexniff, much affected. I am not a diplomatical character. My heart is in my hand. By far the greater part of the inconsiderable savings I have accumulated in the course of, I hope, a not dishonorable or useless career is already given devised and bequeathed, correct me, my dear Jonas, if I am technically wrong with expressions of confidence which I will not repeat, and insecurities which it is unnecessary to mention to a person whom I cannot, whom I will not, whom I need not name. Here he gave the hand of his son-in-law a fervent squeeze as if he would have added, and he would be very grateful of it when you get it. Mr. Jonas only shook his head and laughed and seemed to think better of what he had had in his mind said, no, he would keep his own counsel. But as he observed that he would take a walk, Mr. Pexniff insisted on accompanying him, remarking that he could leave a card for Mr. Montague as he went along by way of gentlemen ushered to himself at dinnertime, which he did. In the course of their walk, he wanted to maintain that close reserve which had operated as a timely check upon him during the foregoing dialogue. And as he made no attempt to conciliate Mr. Pexniff, but on the contrary, was more boorish and rude to him than usual, that gentleman, so far from suspecting his real design, laid himself out to be attacked with advantage. For it is in the nature of a knave to think the tools with which he worked indispensable to navery. And knowing what he would do himself in such a case, Mr. Pexniff argued if this young man wanted anything of me for his own ends, he would be polite and deferential. The more Jonas repelled him in his hints and inquiries, the more solicitous, therefore, Mr. Pexniff became to be initiated into the golden mysteries at which he had obscurely glanced. Why should there be cold and worldly secrets he observed between relations? With the chosen husband of his daughter, the man to whom he had delivered her was so much pride and hope, such bounding and such beaming joy. If he were not a green spot in the barren waste of life, where was that oasis to be found? Little did Mr. Pexniff think on what a very green spot he planted one foot at that moment. Little did he foresee when he said, all is but dust, how very shortly he would come down with his own. Inch by inch in his grudging and ill-conditioned way sustained to the life for the hope of making Mr. Pexniff suffer in that tender place, the pocket, where Jonas smarted so terribly himself, gave him an additional and malicious interest in the wiles he was set on to practice. Inch by inch and bit by bit, Jonas rather allowed the dazzling prospects of the Anglo-Bengali establishment to escape him than paraded them before and in the same niggardly spirit he left Mr. Pexniff to infer, if he chose, which he did choose, of course, that a consciousness of not having any great natural gifts of speech and manner himself rendered him desirous to have the credit of introducing to Mr. Montague someone who was well endowed in those respects and so atoned for his own deficiencies. Otherwise he muttered discontentedly he would have seen his beloved father himself off before he would have taken him into his confidence. Primed in this artful manner Mr. Pexniff presented himself at dinner time in such a state of suavity, benevolence, cheerfulness, politeness and cordiality as even he had perhaps never attained before. The frankness of the country gentlemen, the refinement of the artist, the good-humored allowance of the man of the world, philanthropy, forbearance, admiration, all blended together in a flexible adaptability to anything and everything were expressed in Mr. Pexniff as he shook hands with the great speculator and capitalist. Welcome, respected sir, said Mr. Pexniff, to our humble village. We are simple people, primitive clods Mr. Montague, but we can appreciate the honor of your visit as my dear son-in-law can testify. It is very strange, said Mr. Pexniff, pressing his hand reverentially, but I seem to know you, that towering forehead my dear Jonas, said Mr. Pexniff aside, and those clustering masses of rich hair I must have seen you, my dear sir, in the sparkling throng. Nothing was more probable, they all agreed. I could have wished, said Mr. Pexniff, to have had the honor of introducing you to an elderly inmate of our house, to the uncle of our friend. Mr. Chesowitz, sir, would have been proud of taking you by the hand. Mr. Gentleman here now, asked Montague, turning deeply red. He is, said Mr. Pexniff. You said nothing about that, Chesowitz. I didn't suppose you'd care to hear of it, returned Jonas. You wouldn't care to know him, I can promise you. Jonas, my dear Jonas, remonstrated Mr. Pexniff, really. Oh, it's all very well for you to speak up for him, said Jonas. You have nailed him. You're not questioned by him. Oh, ho, is the wind in that quarter, cried Montague. Ha, ha, ha. And here they all laughed, especially Mr. Pexniff. No, no, said that gentleman, clapping his son-in-law playfully upon the shoulder. You must not believe all that my young relative says, Mr. Montague. You may believe him in official business, and trust him in official business, but you must not attach importance to his flights of fancy. And, Mr. Pexniff, I attach the greatest importance to that last observation of his. I trust and hope it's true. Money cannot be turned and turned again quickly enough in the ordinary course, Mr. Pexniff. There is nothing like building our fortune on the weaknesses of mankind. Oh, fie, oh, fie for shame, cried Mr. Pexniff, but they all laughed again, especially Mr. Pexniff. I give you my honor that I cry, cried Mr. Pexniff. You are very pleasant. That I am sure you don't. That I am sure you don't. How can you, you know? Again they all laughed in concert, and again Mr. Pexniff laughed especially. This was very agreeable indeed. It was confidential, easy, straightforward, and still left Mr. Pexniff in the position of being in a gentle way the mentor of the party. The greatest achievements in the article that the dragon had ever performed were set before them. The oldest and best wines in the dragon's cellar saw the light on that occasion. A thousand bubbles indicative of the wealth and station of Mr. Montague and the depths of his pursuits were constantly rising to the surface of the conversation, and they were as frank and merry as three honest men could be. Mr. Pexniff thought at a pity, he said so, that Mr. Montague should think lightly of mankind and their weaknesses. He was anxious upon this subject. His mind ran upon it. In one way or another he was constantly coming back to it. He must make a convert of him, he said. And as often as Mr. Montague repeated his sentiment about building fortunes on the weaknesses of mankind, and added frankly, we do it. Just as often Mr. Pexniff repeated oh, fi, oh, fi for shame, I am sure you don't. You know, laying a greater stress each time on those last words. The frequent repetition of this playful inquiry on the part of Mr. Pexniff led at last to playful answers on the part of Mr. Montague. But after some little sharpshooting on both sides, Mr. Pexniff became grave, almost to tears, observing that if Mr. Montague would give him leave, he would drink the health of his young kinsman, Mr. Jonas, congratulating him on his valuable and distinguished friendship he had formed. But envying him, he would confess his usefulness to his fellow creatures. For if he understood the objects of that institution, with which he was newly and advantageously connected, knowing them but imperfectly, they were calculated to do good. And for his, Mr. Pexniff's part, if he could in any way promote them, he thought he would be able to lay his head upon his pillow every night with an absolute certainty at once. The transition from this accidental remark for it was quite accidental and had fallen from Mr. Pexniff in the openness of his soul to the discussion of the subject as a matter of business was easy. Books, papers, statements, tables, calculations of various kinds were soon spread out before them. And as they were all framed with one object it is not surprising that they should all have tended to one end. But still, whenever Montague enlarged upon the profits of the office and said that as long as there were gulls upon the wing it must succeed, Mr. Pexniff mildly said, oh, fine, and might indeed have remonstrated with him, but that he knew he was joking. Mr. Pexniff did know he was joking because he said so. There never had been before, and there never would be again such an opportunity for the investment of a considerable sum, the rate and proportion to the amount invested as at that moment. The only time that had it all approached it was the time when Jonas had come into the concern, which made him ill-natured now and inclined him to pick out a doubt in this place and a flaw in that, and grumbling to advise Mr. Pexniff to think better of it. The sum which would complete the proprietorship in this snug concern was nearly equal to Mr. Pexniff's whole horde, not counting Mr. Pexniff with that is to say whom he looked upon as money in the bank, the possession of which inclined him the more to make a dash with his own private sprouts for the capture of such a whale as Mr. Montague described. The returns began almost immediately and were immense. The end of it was that Mr. Pexniff agreed to become the last partner and proprietor in the Anglo-Bengali, and made an appointment to dine with Mr. Montague at Salisbury on the next day, then and there to complete the negotiation. It took so long to bring the subject to this head that it was nearly midnight when they parted. When Mr. Pexniff walked downstairs to the door, he found Mrs. Lupin standing there looking out. Ah, my good friend, he said. Not a bed yet? Contemplating the stars, Mrs. Lupin? It's a beautiful starlight night, sir. A beautiful starlight night, said Mr. Pexniff looking up. Behold the planets, how they shine. Behold the— Those two persons who were here this morning have left your house, I hope, Mrs. Lupin. Yes, sir, they are gone. I am glad to hear it, said Mr. Pexniff. Behold the wonders of the firmament, Mrs. Lupin, how glorious is the scene. When I look up at those shining orbs, I think that each of them is winking to the other to take notice of the vanity of men's pursuits. My fellow men, cried Mr. Pexniff, shaking his head in pity, you are much mistaken, my wormy relatives, you are much deceived. The stars are perfectly contented, I suppose so, in their several spheres. Why are not you? Oh, do not strive and struggle to enrich yourselves, or to get the better of each other, my deluded friends, but look up there with me. Mrs. Lupin shook her head and heaved a sigh. It was very affecting. Look up there with me, repeated Mr. Pexniff, stretching out his hand, with me, a humble individual who is also an insect like yourselves. Can silver, gold, or precious stones sparkle like those constellations? I think not. Then do not thirst for silver, gold, or precious stones, but look up there with me. With those words, the good man padded Mrs. Lupin's hand between his own, as if he would have added, think of a woman, and walked away in a sort of ecstasy or rapture with his hat under his arm. Jonas sat in the attitude in which Mr. Pexniff had left him, gazing moodily at his friend, who, surrounded by a heap of documents, was writing something on an oblong slip of paper. You mean to wait at Salisbury over the day after tomorrow, do you then, said Jonas? You heard our appointment, returned Montague without raising his eyes. In any case, we should have waited to see after the boy. They appeared to have changed places again. Montague being in high spirits, Jonas gloomy and lowering. You don't want me, I suppose, said Jonas. I want you to put your name here, he returned, glancing at him with a smile. As soon as I have filled up the stamp, I may as well have your note of hand for that extra capital. That's all I want. If you wish to go home, I can manage Mr. Pexniff now alone. There is a perfect understanding between us. Jonas sat scowling at him as he wrote, in silence. When he had finished his writing and had dried it on the blotting paper in his traveling desk, he looked up and tossed the pen towards him. What, not a day's grace, not a day's trust, eh? said Jonas bitterly, not after the pains I have taken with tonight's work. Tonight's work was a part of our bargain, replied Montague, and so was this. You drive a hard bargain, said Jonas, advancing to the table. You know best, give it here. Montague gave him the paper. After pausing as if he could not make up his mind to put his name to it, Jonas dipped his pen hastily in the nearest ink stand and began to write. But he had scarcely marked the paper when he started back in a panic. Why, what the devil's this, he said, it's bloody. He had dipped the pen as another moment showed into red ink. But he attached a strange degree of importance to the mistake. He asked how it had come there, who had brought it, why it had been brought, and looked at Montague at first as if he thought he had put a trick upon him. Even when he used a different pen and the right ink he made some scratches on another paper first, as half believing they would turn red also. Black enough this time, he said, handing the note to Montague, going now, how do you mean to get away from here? I shall cross early in the morning to the high road before you are out of bed and catch the day coach going up. Goodbye. You are in a hurry. I have something to do, said Jonas, goodbye. His friend looked after him as he went out in surprise, which gradually gave place to an air of satisfaction and relief. It happens all the better. I am not worried about what I wanted without any difficulty. I shall travel home alone. End of chapter 44. Chapter 45 of Life and Adventures of Martin Chuselwit. This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings during the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Life and Adventures of Martin Chuselwit by Charles Dickens. Chapter 45 in which Tom Pinch and his sister take a little pleasure, but quite in a domestic way and with no ceremony about it. Tom Pinch and his sister having depart for the dispatch of the morning's business immediately after the dispersion of the other actors in the scene upon the wharf with which the reader has been already made acquainted, had no opportunity of discussing the subject at that time, but Tom was very office and Ruth in the triangular parlor thought about nothing else all day and when their hour of meeting in the afternoon approached they were very full of it to be sure. There was a little plot between them that Tom should always come out of the temple by one way and that was past the fountain. Coming through the fountain court he was just to glance down the steps leading into Garden Court and to look once all around him you would see her, not sauntering you understand on account of the clerks but coming briskly up with the best little laugh upon her face that ever played in opposition to the fountain and beat it all to nothing. For fifty to one Tom had been looking for her in the wrong direction and had quite given her up while she had been tripping towards him from the first, jingling that little ridicule of hers with all the keys in it to attract his wandering observation. Whether there was life enough left in the slow vegetation of fountain court for the smoky shrubs to have any consciousness of the brightest and purest hearted little woman in the world is a question for gardeners and those who are learned in the loves of plants but that it was a good thing for that same paved yard to have such a delicate little figure flitting through it that it passed like a smile from the grimy old houses and the worn flagstones that were darker, sterner than before there is no sort of doubt. The temple fountain might have leaped up twenty feet to greet the spring of hopeful maidenhood that in her person stole on sparkling through the dry and dusty channels of the law. The chirping sparrows, bred in temple chinks and crannies might have held their peace to listen to imaginary skylarks as so fresh a little creature passed. The dingy boughs unused to droop otherwise than in their puny growth might have bent down in a kindred gracefulness to shed their benedictions on her graceful head. Old love letters shut up in iron boxes in the neighboring offices and made of no account among the heaps of family papers into which they had strayed and of which in their degeneracy they formed apart might have stirred and flooded with a moment's recollection of their ancient tenderness as she went lightly by. Anything might have happened that did not happen and never will for the love of Ruth. Something happened too upon the afternoon of which the history treats not for her love, oh no, quite by accident and without the least reference to her at all. Either she was a little too soon or Tom was a little too late she was so precise in general that she timed it to half a minute but no Tom was there. Well, but was anybody else there that she blushed so deeply after looking round and tripped off down the steps with such unusual expedition? Well, the fact is that Mr. Westlock was passing at that moment. The temple is a public thoroughfare. They may write up on the gates that it is not but so long as the gates are left open it is and will be and Mr. Westlock had as good a right to be there as anybody else. But why did she run away then? She was very ill dressed for she was much too neat for that why did she run away? The brown hair that had fallen down beneath her bonnet and had one impertinent imp of a false flower cleaning to it boastful of its license before all men that could not have been the cause for it looked charming. Oh foolish panting frightened little heart why did she run away? Merrily the tiny fountain played and merrily the dimples sparkled and Mr. Westlock hurried after her softly the whispering water broke and fell as roguishly the dimples twinkled as he stole upon her footsteps. Oh foolish panting timid little heart why did she feign to be unconscious of his coming? Why wish herself so far away yet be so fluttering happy there? I felt sure it was you said John when he overtook her in the sanctuary of Garden Court I knew I couldn't be mistaken he was so surprised you are waiting for your brother said John let me bear you company so light was the touch of the coy little hand that he glanced down to assure himself he had it on his arm but his glance stopping for an instant at the bright eyes forgot its first design and went no farther they walked up and down three or four times speaking about Tom and his mysterious employment now that was a very natural and innocent subject surely then why whenever Ruth lifted up her eyes did she let them fall again immediately and seek the uncongenial pavement of the court they were not such eyes as shun the light they were not such eyes as required to be hoarded to enhance their value they were much too precious and too genuine to stand in need of arts like those somebody must have been looking at them they found out Tom though quickly enough this pair of eyes described him in the distance the moment he appeared he was staring about him as usual in all directions but the right one and was as obstinate in not looking towards them as if he had intended it as it was plain that being left to himself he would walk away home John Westlock darted off to stop him this made the approach of poor little Ruth by herself one of the most embarrassing of circumstances there was Tom manifesting extreme surprise he had no presence of mind that Tom on small occasions there was John making as light of it as he could but explaining at the same time with most unnecessary elaboration and here was she coming towards them with both of them looking at her conscious of blushing to a terrible extent but trying to throw up her eyebrows carelessly and pout her rosy lips as if she were the coolest and most unconcerned of little women merrily the fountain flashed and flashed until the dimples merging into one another swelled into a general smile that covered the whole surface of the basin what an extraordinary meeting said Tom I should never have dreamed of seeing you two together here quite accidental John was heard to murmur exactly cried Tom that's what I mean you know if it wasn't accidental there would be nothing remarkable in it to be sure said John such an out of the way place for you to have met in pursued Tom quite delighted such an unlikely spot John rather disputed that on the contrary he considered at a very likely spot indeed he was constantly passing to and fro there he said he shouldn't wonder if it were to happen again his only wonder was that it had never happened before by this time Ruth had got round on the farther side of her brother and had taken his arm she was squeezing it now as much as to say are you going to stop here all day you dear old blundering Tom Tom answered the squeeze as if it had been a speech John he said if you'll give my sister your arm we'll take her between us and walk on I have a curious circumstance to relate to you our meeting could not have happened better merrily the fountain leaped and danced and merrily the smiling dimples twinkled and expanded more and more until they broke into a laugh against the basin's rim and vanished Tom said his friend as they turned into the noisy street I have a proposition to make it is that you and your sister if she will so far honor a poor bachelor's dwelling give me a great pleasure and come and dine with me what today? cried Tom yes today it's close by you know Premise pinch and cyst upon it it will be very disinterested to give you oh you must not believe that Ruth said Tom he is the most tremendous fellow in his house keeping that I ever heard of for a single man he ought to be Lord Mayor well what do you say shall we go if you please Tom rejoin just dutiful little sister but I mean said Tom regarding her smiling admiration is there anything you ought to wear and haven't got I am sure I don't know John can you take her bonnet off for anything I can tell there was a great deal of laughing at this and there were diverse compliments from John Westlock not compliments he said at least and really he was right but good plain honest truth which no one could deny Ruth laughed and all that but she made no objection so it was an engagement if I had known it a little sooner said John I would have tried another pudding not that famous one I wouldn't on any account have had it made with suet why not because that cookery book advises suet said John Westlock and ours was made with flour and eggs oh good gracious cried Tom ours was made with flour and eggs was it a beef steak pudding made with flour and eggs why anybody knows better than that I know better than that it is unnecessary to say Tom had been present at the making of the pudding and had been a devoted believer in it all through but he was so delighted to have this joke against his busy little sister and was tickled to that degree having found her out that he stopped in Temple Bar to laugh and it was no more to Tom that he was anathematized and knocked about by the surly passengers than it would have been to a post for he continued to exclaim with unabated good humor flour and eggs made with flour and eggs until John Westlock and his sister fairly ran away from him and left him to have his laugh out by himself which he had and then came dodging across the crowded street to them with such sweet temper and tenderness it was quite a tender joke of Tom's beaming in his face God bless it that it might have purified the air though Temple Bar had been as in the golden days gone by embellished with a row of rotting human heads there are snug chambers in those inns where the bachelors live and for the desolate fellows they pretend to be it is quite surprising how well they get on John was very pathetic on the subject of his dreary life and the deplorable makeshifts and apologetic contrivances it involved but he really seemed to make himself pretty comfortable his rooms were the perfection of neatness and convenience at any rate and if he were anything but comfortable certainly not theirs he had no sooner ushered Tom and his sister into the best room where there was a beautiful little vase of fresh flowers on the table all ready for Ruth just as if he had expected her Tom said then seizing his hat he bustled out again in his most energetically bustling way and presently came hurrying back as they saw through the half open door attended by a fiery-faced matron attired in a crunched bonnet with really long strings to it hanging down her back in conjunction with whom he instantly began to lay the cloth for dinner polishing up the wine glasses with his own hands brightening the silver top of the pepper caster on his coat sleeve drawing corks and filling decanters with a skill and expedition that were quite dazzling and as if in the course of this rubbing and polishing he had rubbed an enchanted lamp or a magic ring obedient to for twenty thousand supernatural slaves at least suddenly there appeared a being in a white waistcoat carrying under his arm a napkin and attended by another being with an oblong box upon his head from which a banquet piping hot was taken out and set upon the table salmon, lamb, peas innocent young potatoes a cool salad, sliced cucumber a tender duckling and a tart all there they all came at the right time where they came from didn't appear but the oblong box was constantly going and coming and making its arrival known to the man in the white waistcoat by bumping modestly against the outside of the door for after its first appearance it entered the room no more he was never surprised this man he never seemed to wonder at the extraordinary things he found in the box but took them out with a face expressive of a steady purpose and a triple character and put them on the table he was a kind man gentle in his manners and much interested in what they ate and drank he was a learned man and knew the flavor of John Westlock's private sauces which he softly and feelingly described as he handed the little bottles round he was a grave man and a noiseless for dinner being done and wine and fruit arranged upon the board he vanished box and all had never been didn't I say he was a tremendous fellow in his house keeping cried Tom bless my soul it's wonderful I'm as pinch said John this is the bright side of the life we lead in such a place it would be a dismal life indeed if it didn't brighten up today don't believe a word he says cried Tom he lives here like a monarch and wouldn't change his mode of life for any consideration he only pretends to grumble no John really did not appear to pretend for he was uncommonly earnest in his desire to have it understood that he was as dull solitary and uncomfortable on ordinary occasions as an unfortunate young man could in reason be it was a wretched life he said a miserable life he thought of getting rid of the chambers as soon as possible and meant in fact to put a bill up very shortly well said Tom Pinch and go John to be more comfortable that's all I can say what do you say Ruth Ruth trifled with the cherries on her plate and said that she thought Mr. Westlock ought to be quite happy and that she had no doubt he was ah foolish panting frightened little heart how timidly she said it but you are forgetting what you had to tell Tom what occurred this morning she added in the same breath so I am said Tom look at it on other topics that I declare I have not had time to think of it I'll tell it you at once John in case I should forget it all together on Tom's relating what had passed upon the wharf his friend was very much surprised and took such a great interest in the narrative as Tom could not quite understand he believed he knew the old lady whose acquaintance they had made he said that he might venture to say from their description of her that her name was Gamp but of what nature the communication could have been which Tom had borne so unexpectedly why its delivery had been entrusted to him how it happened that the parties were involved together and what secret lay at the bottom of the whole affair perplexed him very much Tom had been sure of his taking some interest in the matter but was not prepared for the strong interest he showed it held John Westlock to the subject even after Ruth had left the room and evidently made him anxious to pursue it further than as a mere subject of conversation I shall remonstrate with my landlord of course said Tom though he is a very singular secret sort of man and not likely to afford me much satisfaction even if he knew what was in the letter which you may swear he did John interposed you think so? I am certain of it well said Tom I shall remonstrate with him when I see him he goes in and out in a strange way but I will try to catch him tomorrow morning on his having asked me to execute such an unpleasant commission and I have been thinking John that if I went down to Mrs. Watson's names in the city where I was before you know Mrs. Todgers' tomorrow morning I might find poor Mercy Peck sniffed there perhaps and be able to explain to her how I came to have any hand in the business you are perfectly right Tom returned his friend after a short interval of reflection you cannot do better it is quite clear to me that whatever the business is there is little good in it and it is so desirable for you to disentangle yourself from any appearance of willful connection with it that I would counsel you to see her husband if you can and wash your hands of it by a plain statement of the facts I have a misgiving that there is something dark at work here Tom I will tell you why at another time when I have made an inquiry or to myself all this sounded very mysterious to Tom Pinch but as he knew he could rely upon his friend he resolved to follow this advice ah, but it would have been a good thing to have had a coat of invisibility wherein to have watched little Ruth when she was left to herself in John Westlock's chambers and John and her brother were talking thus over their wine the gentle way in which she tried to get up a little conversation with the fiery-faced matron who was waiting to attend her after making a desperate rally in regard of her dress and attiring herself in a washed-out yellow gown with sprigs of the same upon it so that it looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter that would have been pleasant the grim and griffin-like inflexibility with which the fiery-faced matron repelled these engaging advances as proceeding from a hostile and dangerous power who could have no business there unless it were to deprive her of a customer or suggest what became of the self-consuming tea and sugar and other general trifles that would have been agreeable the bashful, winning, glorious curiosity with which little Ruth when fiery-faced was gone peeped into the books and knacks that were lying about and had a particular interest in some delicate paper matches on the chimney piece wondering who could have made them that would have been worth seeing the faltering hand with which she tied those flowers together with which almost blushing at her own fair self as imaged in the glass she arranged them in her breast and looking at them with her head aside now half resolved to take them out again now half resolved to leave them where they were that would have been delightful John seemed to think it all delightful for coming in with Tom to tea he took his seat beside her like a man enchanted and when the tea service had been removed and Tom, sitting down at the piano became absorbed in some of his old organ tunes he was still beside her at the open window looking out upon the twilight there was little enough to see in Fernival's inn it is a shady quiet place echoing to the footsteps of the stragglers who have business there and rather monotonous and gloomy on summer evenings what gave it such a charm to them that they remained at the window as unconscious of the flight of time as Tom himself the dreamer while the melodies which had so often soothed his spirit were hovering again about him what power infused into the fading light the gathering darkness the stars that here and there appeared the evening air the city's home and stir the very chiming of the old church clocks such exquisite enthrallment that the divinest regions of the earth spread out before their eyes could not have held them captive the shadows deepened deepened and the room became quite dark still Tom's fingers wandered over the keys of the piano and still the window had its pair of tenants at length her hand upon his shoulder and her breath upon his forehead roused Tom from his reverie dear me he cried desisting with a start I'm afraid I have been very inconsiderate and unpolite Tom little thought how much consideration and politeness he had shown sing something to us my dear said Tom let us hear your voice come John Westlock added his entreaties with such earnestness that a flinty heart alone could have resisted them hers was not a flinty heart oh dear no quite another thing so down she sat and in a pleasant voice began to sing the ballads Tom loved well old rhyming stories with here and there for a few simple chords such as a harper might have sounded in the ancient time while looking upward for the current of some half remembered legend words of old poets wedded to such measures that the strain of music might have been the poet's breath giving utterance and expression to his thoughts and now a melody so joyous and lighthearted that the singer seemed incapable of sadness until in her inconstancy a wicked little singer collapsed and broke the listener's hearts again these were the simple means she used to please them and that these simple means prevailed and she did please them let the still darkened chamber and its long deferred illumination witness the candles came at last and it was time for moving homeward cutting paper carefully and rolling it about the stalks of those same flowers occasioned some delay but even this was done in time and this was ready good night said Tom a memorable and delightful visit John good night John thought he would walk with them no no don't said Tom what nonsense we can get home very well alone I couldn't think of taking you out but John said he would rather are you sure you would rather said Tom I am afraid you only say so out of politeness John being quite sure gave his arm to Ruth and led her out fiery face who was again in attendance acknowledged her departure with so cold a curtsy that it was hardly visible and cut Tom dead their host was bent on walking the whole distance and would not listen to Tom's dissuasion happy time, happy walk happy parting, happy dreams but there are some sweet daydreams so there are that put the visions of the night to shame Visually the temple fountain murmured the moonlight while Ruth lay sleeping with her flowers beside her and John Westlock sketched a portrait who's from memory end of chapter 45 chapter 46 part 1 of life and adventures of Martin Chuzzlewitt this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org life and adventures of Martin Chuzzlewitt by Charles Dickens chapter 46 in which Miss Pexniff makes love Mr. Jonas makes wrath Mrs. Gamp makes tea and Mr. Chuffy makes business part 1 on the next day's official duties coming to a close Tom hurried home without losing any time by the way and after dinner and a short rest sallied out again accompanied by Ruth to pay his projected visit to Todgers's Tom took Ruth with him not only because it was a great pleasure to him to have her for his companion whenever he could but because he wished her to cherish and comfort poor Mary which she for her own part having heard the wretched history of that young wife from Tom was all eagerness to do she was so glad to see me said Tom she will be glad to see you your sympathy is certain to be much more delicate and acceptable than mine I am very far from being certain of that Tom she replied and indeed you do yourself an injustice indeed you do but I hope she may like me Tom oh she is sure to do that cried Tom confidently what a number of friends I should have if everybody was of your way of thinking shouldn't I Tom dear said his little sister and then he came upon the cheek Tom laughed and said that with reference to this particular case he had no doubt at all of finding a disciple in Mary for you women said Tom you women my dear are so kind and in your kindness have such nice perception you know so well how to be affectionate and full of solicitude without appearing to be your gentleness of feeling is like your touch so light and easy that the one enables you to deal with your mind as tenderly as the other enables you to deal with wounds of the body you are such my goodness Tom his sister interposed you want to fall in love immediately Tom put this observation off good humordly but somewhat gravely too and they were soon very chatty again on some other subject as they were passing through a street in the city not very far from Mrs. Todgers this place of residence and before the window of a large upholstery and furniture warehouse to call his attention to something very magnificent and ingenious displayed there to the best advantage for the admiration and temptation of the public Tom had hazarded some most erroneous and extravagantly wrong guess in relation to the price of this article and had joined his sister in laughing heartily at his mistake when he pressed her arm in his and pointed to two persons at a little distance who were looking in at the same window with a deep interest in the chests of drawers and tables hush Tom whispered Miss Peck sniffing the young gentleman to whom she is going to be married why does he look as if he was going to be buried Tom inquired his little sister why he is naturally a dismal young gentleman I believe said Tom but he is very civil and inoffensive I suppose they are furnishing their house Ruth yes I suppose they are replied Tom we had better avoid speaking to them they could not very well avoid looking at them however especially as some obstruction on the pavement at a little distance happened to detain them where they were for a few moments Miss Peck sniff had quite the air of having taken the unhappy model captive and brought him up to the contemplation of the furniture like a lamb to the altar he offered no resistance but was perfectly resigned and quiet the melancholy depicted in the turn of his languishing head and in his dejected attitude was extreme and though there was a full-sized four-post bedstead in the window such a tear stood trembling in his eyes seemed to blot it out Augustus my love said Miss Peck sniff asked the price of the eight rosewood chairs in the loo table perhaps they are ordered already said Augustus perhaps there are others they can make more like them if they are rejoined Miss Peck sniff no no they can't said model it's impossible he appeared for the moment to be quite overwhelmed and stupefied by the prospect of his approaching happiness but recovering entered the shop he returned immediately saying in a tone of despair twenty four pound ten Miss Peck sniff turning to receive this announcement became conscious of the observation of Tom Pinch and his sister oh really cried Miss Peck sniff glancing about her as if for some convenient means of sinking into the earth upon my word there never was such a to think that one should be so very Mr. Augustus modeled Miss Pinch Miss Peck sniff was quite gracious to Miss Pinch in this triumphant introduction exceedingly gracious she was more than gracious she was kind and cordial whether the recollection of the old service Tom had rendered her and knocking Mr. Jonas on the head had wrought this change in her opinions or whether her separation from her parent had reconciled her to all humankind or to all that interesting portion of humankind which was not friendly to him or whether the delight of having some new female acquaintance to whom to communicate her interesting prospects was paramount to every other consideration cordial and kind Miss Peck sniff was and twice Miss Peck sniff kissed Miss Pinch upon the cheek Augustus, Mr. Pinch you know my dear girl said Miss Peck sniff aside I never was so ashamed of my life Ruth begged her not to think of it I mined your brother less than anybody else simpered Miss Peck sniff but the indelicacy of meeting any gentleman under such circumstances Augustus my child did you Miss Peck sniff whispered in his ear the suffering model repeated twenty four pound ten oh you silly man I didn't mean them said Miss Peck sniff I am speaking of the here she whispered him again if it's the same pattern chances that in the window thirty two twelve six said model with a sigh and very dear Miss Peck sniff stopped him from giving any further explanation by laying her hand upon his lips and betraying a soft embarrassment she then asked Tom Pinch which way he was going I was going to see if I could find your sister answered Tom to whom I wished to say a few words we were going to Mrs. Tadges where I had the pleasure of seeing her before it's of no use you're going on then said Cherry for we have not long left there and I know she is not at home but I'll take you to my sister's house if you please Augustus, Mr. Model I mean and myself are on our way to tea there now you needn't think of him she added nodding her head as she observed some hesitation on Tom's part he is not at home are you sure asked Tom oh I am quite sure of that I don't want any more revenge said Miss Peck sniff expressively but really I must beg you two gentlemen to walk on and allow me to follow with Miss Pinch my dear I never was so taken by surprise in furtherance of this bashful arrangement Model gave his arm to Tom and Miss Peck sniff linked her own in Ruth's of course my love said Miss Peck sniff it would be useless for me to disguise after what you have seen that I am about to be united to the gentleman who was walking with your brother it would be in vain to conceal it what do you think of him pray let me have your candid opinion Ruth intimated that as far as she could judge I am curious to know I am curious to know said Miss Peck sniff with loquacious frankness whether you have observed or fancied in this very short space of time that he is of a rather melancholy term so very short a time Ruth pleaded no no but don't let that interfere with your answer returned Miss Peck sniff I am curious to hear what you say Ruth acknowledged that he had impressed her at first sight as looking rather low no really said Miss Peck sniff well that is quite remarkable everybody says the same Mrs. Tajers says the same and Augustus informs me that it is quite a joke among the gentleman in the house indeed but for the positive commands I have laid upon him I believe it would have been the occasion of loaded firearms being resorted to more than once what do you think is the cause of his appearance of depression Ruth thought of several things such as his digestion his tailor his mother and the like but hesitating to give utterance to any one of them she refrained from expressing an opinion my dear said Miss Peck sniff I shouldn't wish it to be known but I don't mind mentioning it to you having known your brother for so many years I refused Augustus three times he is of a most amiable and sensitive nature always ready to shed tears if you look at him he is extremely charming and he has never recovered the effect of that cruelty for it was cruel said Miss Peck sniff with a self-conviction candor that might have adorned the diadem of her own papa there is no doubt of it I look back upon my conduct now with blushes I always liked him I felt that he was not to me with the crowd of young men who had made proposals had been but something very different than what right had I to refuse him three times it was a severe trial of his fidelity no doubt said Ruth my dear returned Miss Peck sniff it was wrong but such is the caprice and thoughtlessness of our sex let me be a warning to you don't try the feelings of anyone who makes you an offer as I have tried the feelings of Augustus but if you ever feel towards a person as I really felt towards him at the very time when I was driving him to distraction let that feeling find expression if that person throws himself at your feet as Augustus model did at mine think said Miss Peck sniff what my feelings would have been if I had goaded him to suicide and it had got into the papers Ruth observed that she would have been full of remorse no doubt remorse cried Miss Peck sniff in a sort of snug and comfortable penitence what my remorse is at this moment even after making reparation by accepting him it would be impossible to tell you looking back upon my giddy self my dear now that I am sober down and made thoughtful by treading on the very brink of matrimony and contemplating myself as I was when I was like what you are now I shudder I shudder what is the consequence of my past conduct until Augustus leads me to the altar he is not sure of me I have blighted and withered the affections of his heart to that extent I see that praying on his mind and feeding on his vitals what are the reproaches of my conscience when I see this in the man I love Ruth endeavored to express some sense of her unbounded and flattering confidence and presumed that she was going to be married soon very soon indeed returned Miss Peck sniff as soon as our house is ready we are furnishing now as fast as we can in the same vein of confidence Miss Peck sniff ran through a general inventory of the articles that were already bought with the articles that remained to be purchased what garments she intended to be married in and where the ceremony was to be performed and gave Miss Pinch in short as she told her early and exclusive information on all points of interest connected with the event while this was going forward in the rear Tom and Mr. Model walked on in a state of profound silence which Tom at last broke after thinking for a long time what he could say that should refer to an indifferent topic in respect of which he might rely with some degree of certainty on Mr. Model's bosom being unruffled I wonder, said Tom that in these crowded streets the foot passengers are not often are run over Mr. Model with a dark look replied, the drivers won't do it do you mean Tom began that there are some men interrupted Model with the hollow laugh who can't get run over they live a charmed life coal wagons recoil from them and even cabs refuse to run them down ah said Augustus marking Tom's astonishment there are such men one of them is a friend of mine upon my word and honor thought Tom this young gentleman made a mind which is very serious indeed abandoning all idea of conversation he did not venture to say another word but he was careful to keep a tight hold upon Augustus's arm lest he should fly into the road and making another and a more successful attempt should get up a private little juggernaut before the eyes of his betrothed Tom was so afraid of his committing this rash act that he had scarcely ever experienced such mental relief as when they arrived in safety at Mrs. Jonas Cheslowitz House walk up pray Mr. Pinch said Miss Pexniff for Tom halted irresolutely at the door I am doubtful whether I should be welcome replied Tom or I ought rather to say I have no doubt about it I will send up a message I think but what nonsense that is returned Miss Pexniff speaking apart to Tom he is not at home I am certain I know he is not and Mary hasn't the least idea that you ever know interrupted Tom nor would I have her know it on any account I am not so proud of that scuffle I assure you ah but then you are so modest you see returned Miss Pexniff with a smile but pray walk up if you don't wish her to know it and do wish to speak to her pray walk up pray walk up Miss Pinch don't stand here Tom still hesitated for he felt that he was in an awkward position but Cherry passing him at this juncture and leading his sister upstairs and the house door being at the same time shut behind them he followed without quite knowing whether it was well or ill judged to do so Mary my darling said the fair Miss Pexniff opening the door of the usual sitting room here are Mr. Pinch and his sister come to see you I thought we should find you here Mrs. Todgers how do you do Mrs. Gamp how do you do Mr. Chuffy though it's of no use asking you the question I am well aware honoring each of these parties as she severally addressed them with an acid smile Miss Charity presented Mr. Model I believe you have seen him before she pleasantly observed Augustus my sweet child bring me a chair the sweet child did as he was told and was then about to retire into a corner to mourn in secret Miss Charity calling him in an audible whisper a little pet gave him leave to come and sit beside her it is to be hoped for the general cheerfulness of mankind that such a doleful little pet was never seen as Mr. Model looked when he complied so despondent was his temper that he showed no outward thrill of ecstasy when Miss Pexniff placed her lily hand in his and concealed this mark of her favor from the vulgar gaze by covering it of her shawl indeed he was infinitely more rueful then than he had been before and sitting uncomfortably upright in his chair surveyed the company with watery eyes which seemed to say without the aid of language oh good gracious look here won't some kind Christian help me but the ecstasies of Mrs. Gamp were sufficient to have furnished for the score of young lovers and they were chiefly awakened by the sight of Tom Pinch Mr. Mrs. Gamp was a lady of that happy temperament which can be ecstatic without any other stimulating cause than her general desire to establish a large and profitable connection she added daily so many strings to her bow that she made a perfect harp of it and upon that instrument she now began to perform an extemporaneous concerto why goodness me she said Mrs. Chuzzlewit to think as I should see beneath this individual roof identically common Mr. Pinch I take the liberty though almost unbeknown and do assure you of it sir the smile on this and sweetest faces ever Mrs. Chuzzlewit I see accepted I take the liberty though almost unbeknown and do assure you of it sir the smile on this and sweetest faces ever Mrs. Chuzzlewit I see accept and yearn my dear good lady and your good ladies too sir Mr. Model if I may make so bold speak so plain of what is plain enough to them as needn't look through millstones Mrs. Todgers to find out what is rode upon the wall behind which no offences meant ladies and gentlemen none be untook I hope to think as I should see that smile on this and sweetest face which me and another friend of mine took notice of among the packages down London Bridge in this promiscuous place is a surprise indeed having contrived in this happy manner to invest every member of her audience with an individual share and immediate personal interest in her address Mrs. Gamp dropped several curches to Ruth and smilingly shaking her head a great many times pursued the threat of her discourse now ain't we rich in beauty this here joyful Ardenoun I'm sure I know the lady which her name I'll not deceive you Mrs. Chazowit is Harris her husband's brother being six foot three and marked with a mad bull in Wellington boots upon his left arm on account of his precious mother having been worded by one into a shoemaker's shop when in a situation which blessed is the man as has his quiver full of such as many times I've said to Gamp when words has roged between us on account of the expense and often have I said to Mrs. Harris oh Mrs. Harris ma'am the countenance is quite an angel's which but for pimples it would be no sary Gamp says she you best of hard working and industrious creeders as ever was underpaid at any price which underpaid you are quite different Harris had it done before marriage at ten and six she says and wore it faithful next to his heart till the color run when the money was declined to be give back and no arrangement could become to but he never said it was an angel he might have thought if Mrs. Harris's husband was here now said Mrs. Gamp looking round and chuckling as she dropped a general curtsy he'd speak out plain he would and his dear wife would be the last to blame him for if ever a woman lived is no not what it was to form a wish to pison them as had good looks and had no region given her by the best of husbands Mrs. Harris is that heavenly disposition with these words the worthy woman who appeared to have dropped in to take he is a delicate little attention rather than to have any engagement on the premises in an official capacity crossed to Mr. Chuffy who was seated in the same corner as of old and shook him by the shoulder roud yourself and look up come said Mrs. Gamp here's company Mr. Chuffy I am sorry for it cried the old man looking humbly round the room I know I'm in the way I ask pardon but I know where else to go to where is she Mary went to him ah said the old man patting her on the cheek here she is here she is she's never hard on poor old Chuffy poor old Chuff as she took her seat upon a low chair by the old man's side and put herself within the reach of his hand she looked up once at Tom it was a sad look that she cast upon him though there was a faint smile trembling on her face it was a speaking look and Tom knew what it said you see how misery has changed me I can feel for a dependent now and set some value on his attachment I I cried Chuffy in a soothing tone I I I never mind him it's hard to hear but never mind him he'll die one day there are 365 days in the year 366 in leap year and he may die on any one of them you're a wearing old soul and that's the sacred truth said Mrs. Gamp contemplating him from a little distance with anything but favor as he continued to mutter to himself it's a pity that you don't know what you say for you'd tire your own patients out if you did and fret yourself into a happy relage for all as knows you his son murmured the old man lifting up his hand his son well I'm sure said Mrs. Gamp Mr. Chuffy to your savage factions sir I hope but I wouldn't lay a new pin cushion on it myself sir though you are so well informed draft the old creator he's a laying down the law tolerable confident too a deal he knows of sons or darters either suppose you was to favor us with some remarks on twins sir would you be so good the bitter and indignant sarcasm which Mrs. Gamp conveyed into these taunts was altogether lost by the unconscious Chuffy who appeared to be as little cognizant of their delivery as of his having given Mrs. Gamp a fence but that high-minded woman being sensitively alive to any invasion of her professional province and imagining that Mr. Chuffy had given utterance to some prediction on the subject of sons which ought to have emanated in the first instance from herself as the only lawful authority or which should at least have been in the first instance was not so easily appeased she continued to sidle it Mr. Chuffy with looks of sharp hostility and to defy him with many other ironical remarks uttered in that low key which commonly denotes suppressed indignation until the entrance of the teaboard and a request from Mrs. Jonas that she would make tea at a side table for the party that had unexpectedly assembled restored her to herself she smiled again and entered on her ministration with her own particular urbanity and quite a family it is to make tea for said Mrs. Gamp and what a happiness to do it my good omen to the servant girl perhaps somebody would like to try a new laid egg or two not biled too hard likewise a few rounds of buttered toast first cutting off the crust and consequence of tender teeth and not too many of them which Gamp himself Mrs. Chuzzle with at one blow being in a liquor two single and two double as was took by Mrs. Harris for a keepsake and is carried in her pocket at this present hour along with two cramp bones a bit of ginger and a grater like a blessed infant's shoe in tin with a little heel to put the nutmeg in as many times I've seen and said and used for candle when required within the month as the privileges of the side table besides including the small prerogatives of sitting next to toast and taking two cups of tea to other people's one and always taking them at a crisis that is to say before putting fresh water into the teapot and after it had been standing for some time also comprehended a full view of the company and an opportunity of addressing them as from a rostrum Mrs. Gamp discharged the functions entrusted to her with extreme good humor and affability sometimes resting her saucer on the palm of her outspread hand and supporting her elbow on the table she stopped between her sips of tea to favor the circle with a smile a wink a roll of the head or some other mark of notice and at those periods her countenance was lighted up with a degree of intelligence and vivacity which was almost impossible to separate from the benign influence of distilled waters but for Mrs. Gamp it would have been a curiously silent party Miss Pexniff only spoke to her Augustus and to him in whispers she spoke to nobody but sighed for everyone and occasionally gave himself such a sounding slap upon the forehead as would make Mrs. Todgers who was rather nervous start in her chair with an involuntary exclamation Mrs. Todgers was occupied in knitting and seldom spoke poor Mary held the hand of cheerful little Ruth between her own and listening with evident pleasure to all she said but rarely speaking herself sometimes smiled missed her on the cheek and sometimes turned aside to hide the tears that trembled in her eyes Tom felt this change in her so much and was so glad to see how tenderly Ruth dealt with her and how she knew and answered to it that he had not the heart to make any movement towards their departure although he had long since given utterance to all he came to say the old clerks subsiding into his usual state remained profoundly silent the little assembly were thus occupied intent upon the dreams whatever they might be which hardly seemed to stir the surface of his sluggish thoughts the bent of these dull fancies combining probably with the silent feasting that was going on about him and some struggling recollection of the last approach to revelry he had witnessed suggested a strange question to his mind he looked round upon a sudden and said who's lying dead upstairs no one said Mary turning to him what is the matter we are all here all here cried the old man all here where is he then my old master Mr. Cheslowit who had the only son where is he hush hush said Mary speaking kindly to him that happened long ago don't you recollect recollect rejoined the old man with a cry of grief as if I could forget as if I ever could forget he put his hand up to his face for a moment and then repeated turning round exactly as before who's lying dead upstairs no one said Mary end of chapter 46 part 1