 Chapter 71 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 71 The dull, red glow of a wood fire, for no lamp or candle burnt within the room, showed him a figure seated on the hearth with its back towards him, bending over the fitful light. The attitude was that of one who sought the heat. It was, and yet was not. The stooping posture and the covering form were there, but no hands were stretched out to meet the grateful warmth. No shrug or shiver compared its luxury with the piercing cold outside. With limbs huddled together, head bowed down, arms crossed upon the breast, and fingers tightly clenched. It rocked to and fro upon its seat without a moment's pause, accompanying the action with the mournful sound he had heard. The heavy door had closed behind him on his entrance, with a crash that made him start. The figure neither spoke nor turned to look, nor gave in any other way the faintest sign of having heard the noise. The form was that of an old man, his white-head akin in colour to the mouldering embers upon which he gazed. He, and a failing light and dying fire, the time-worn room, the solitude, the wasted life and gloom were all in fellowship, ashes and dust and ruin. He tried to speak, and it pronounced some words, though what they were he scarcely knew. Still the same terrible low cry went on, still the same rocking in the chair, the same stricken figure was there, unchanged and heedless of his presence. He had his hand upon the latch, when something in the form, distinctly seen as one log broke and fell, and as it fell blazed up, arrested it. He returned to where he had stood before, advanced a pace, another, another still, another. And he saw the face. Yes, changed as it was, he knew it well. Master! he cried, stooping on one knee and catching at his hand. Dear master, speak to me! The old man turned slowly towards him, and muttered in a hollow voice. This is another. How many of these spirits there have been tonight? No spirit master, no one but your old servant. You know me now, I am sure. Miss Nell, where is she? Where is she? They all say that, cried the old man. They all ask the same question, a spirit. Where is she? demanded kid, oh tell me but that, but that dear master. She is asleep, yonder, in there. Thank God! I, thank God, returned the old man. I have prayed to him many and many and many a live long night, when she has been asleep he knows. Dark, did she call? I had no voice. You did, you hear her now, do you tell me that you don't hear that? He started up and listened again. Nor that? He cried with a triumphant smile. Can anybody know that voice so well as I? Hush, hush! Motioning to him to be silent, he stole away into another chamber. After a short silence, during which he could be heard to speak in a soft and soothing tone, he returned, bearing in his hand a lamp. She is still asleep. He whispered, you were right. She did not call, unless she did so in her slumber. She has called to me in her sleep before now sir. As I sat by watching, I have seen her lips move and have known, though no sound came from them, that she spoke of me. I feared the light might dazzle her eyes and wake her, so I brought it here. He spoke rather to himself than to the visitor, but when he had put the lamp upon the table, he took it up as if impelled by some momentary recollection or curiosity and held it near his face. Then, as if forgetting his motive in the very action, he turned away and put it down again. She is sleeping soundly, he said, but no wonder. Angel hands have strewn the ground deep with snow, that the lightest footstep may be lighter yet. And the very birds are dead, that they may not wake her. She used to feed them, sir. Though never so cold and hungry, the timid things would fly from us. They never flew from her. Again, he stopped to listen, and, scarcely drawing breath, listened for a long, long time. That fancy past, he opened an old chest, took out some clothes as fondly as if they had been living things, and began to smooth and brush them with his hand. Why does thou lie so idle there, dear Nell? He murmured, when there are bright red berries out of doors waiting for thee to pluck them. Why does thou lie so idle there? When thy little friends come creeping to the door, crying, where is Nell, sweet Nell, and sob and weep, because they do not see thee. She was always gentle with children. The wildest would do her bidding. She had a tender way with them, indeed she had. He had no power to speak. His eyes were filled with tears. Her little homely dress, her favourite! Cried the old man, pressing it to his breast and patting it with his shriveled hand. She will miss it when she wakes. They have hid it here in sport, but she shall have it. She shall have it. I would not vex my darling for the wide world's riches. See here, these shoes? How warm they are! She kept them to remind her of our last long journey. You see where the little feet were bare upon the ground. They told me afterwards that the stones had cut and bruised them. She never told me that. No, no, God bless her! And I have remembered since she walked behind me, sir, that I might not see how lame she was. But yet she had my hand in hers and seemed to lead me still. He pressed them to his lips and having carefully put them back again, went on communing with himself, looking wistfully from time to time towards the chamber he had lately visited. She was not wont to be a liar bed, but she was well then. We must have patience. When she is well again she will rise early as she used to do and ramble abroad in the healthy morning time. I often tried to track the way she had gone, but her small fairy footstep left no print upon the dewy ground to guide me. Who is that? Shut the door, quick! Have we not enough to do to drive away that marble cold and keep her warm? The door was indeed opened for the entrance of Mr. Garland and his friend accompanied by two other persons. These were the schoolmaster and the bachelor. The former held a light in his hand. He had it seemed, but gone to his own cottage to replenish the exhausted lamp at the moment when Kit came up and found the old man alone. He softened again at sight of these two friends and laying aside the angry manor if to anything so feeble and so sad the term can be applied, in which he had spoken when the door opened, resumed his former seat and subsided by little and little into the old action and the old, dull, wandering sound. Of the strangers he took no heed whatever. He had seen them, but appeared quite incapable of interest or curiosity. The younger brother stood apart. The bachelor drew a chair towards the old man and sat down close beside him. After a long silence, he ventured to speak. Another night and not in bed, he said softly. I hoped you would be more mindful of your promise to me. Why do you not take some rest? Sleep has left me, returned the old man. It is all with her. It would pain her very much to know that you were watching thus, said the bachelor. You would not give her pain? I am not so sure of that if it would only rouse her. She has slept so very long and yet I am rash to say so. It is a good and happy sleep, eh? Indeed it is, returned the bachelor. Indeed, indeed it is. That's well and the waking, faltered the old man. Happy too, happier than tongue and tail or heart of man can save. They watched him as he rose and stole on tiptoe to the other chamber where the lamp had been replaced. They listened as he spoke again within its silent walls. They looked into the faces of each other and no man's cheek was free from tears. He came back whispering that she was still asleep, but that he thought she had moved. It was her hand, he said, a little, a very, very little, but he was pretty sure she had moved it, perhaps in seeking his. He had known her do that before now, though in the deepest sleep the while. And when he had said this, he dropped into his chair again and, clasping his hands above his head, uttered a cry never to be forgotten. The poor schoolmaster motioned to the bachelor that he would come upon the other side and speak to him. They gently unlocked his fingers, which he had twisted in his grey hair and pressed them in their own. He will hear me, said the schoolmaster. I am sure. He will hear either me or you if we besiege him. She would at all times. I will hear any voice she liked to hear, cried the old man. I love all she loved. I know you do, returned the schoolmaster. I am certain of it. Think of her. Think of all the sorrows and afflictions you have shared together, of all the trials and all the peaceful pleasures you have jointly known. I do. I do. I think of nothing else. I would have you think of nothing else tonight, of nothing but those things which will soften your heart, dear friend, and open it to all the affections and old times. It is so that she would speak to you herself, and in her name it is that I speak now. You do well to speak softly, said the old man. We will not wake her. I should be glad to see her eyes again and to see her smile. There is a smile upon her young face now, but it is fixed and changeless. I would have it come and go. That shall be in heaven's good time. We will not wake her. Let us not talk of her in her sleep, but as she used to be when you were journeying together, far away, as she was at home, in the old house from which you fled together, as she was in the old cheerful time, said the schoolmaster. She was always cheerful. Very cheerful, cried the old man, looking steadfast at him. There was ever something mild and quiet about her I remember from the first, but she was of a happy nature. We have heard you say, pursued the schoolmaster, that in this and in all goodness she was like her mother. You can think of and remember her. He maintained his steadfast look, but gave no answer. Or even one before her, said the bachelor. It is many years ago, and affliction makes the time longer, but you have not forgotten her, whose death contributed to make this child so dear to you, even before you knew her worth or could read her heart. Say, that you could carry back your thoughts to very distant days, to the time of your early life, when, unlike this fair flower, you did not pass your youth alone. Say, that you could remember long ago another child who loved you dearly, you being but a child yourself. Say, that you had a brother, long forgotten, long unseen, long separated from you, who now at last in your atmost need came back to comfort and console you. To be to you what you are once to him, cried the younger, falling on his knee before him. To repay your old affection, brother dear, by constant care, solicitude and love. To be at your right hand, what he never ceased to be when oceans rolled between us. To call, to witness his unchanging truth and mindfulness of bygone days, whole ears of desolation. Give me but one word of recognition, brother, and never, no never, in the brightest moment of your youngest days, when poor silly boys we thought to pass our lives together, have we been half as dear and precious to each other as we shall be from this time hence. The old man looked from face to face, and his lips moved, but no sound came from them in reply. If we were knit together then, pursued the younger brother, what will be the bond between us now? Our love and fellowship began in childhood, when life was all before us, and will be resumed when we have proved it, and harboured children at the last. As many restless spirits who have hunted fortune, fame or pleasure through the world, retire in their decline to where they first drew breath, vainly seeking to be children once again before they die, so we, less fortunate than they in early life, but happier in its closing scenes will set up our rest again among our boyish haunts, and going home with no hope realized, that had its growth in manhood, carrying back nothing that we brought away, but our old yearnings to each other, saving no fragment from the wreck of life but that which first endeared it, maybe indeed but children as at first, and even, he added in an altered voice, even if what I dread to name has come to pass, even if that be so, or is to be, which heaven forbid unspare us. Still, dear brother, we are not apart, and have that comfort in our great affliction. By little and little, the old man had drawn back towards the inner chamber, while these words were spoken. He pointed there, as he replied with trembling lips, you plot among you to wean my heart from her, you never will do that, never while I have life, I have no relative or friend but her, I never had, I never will have, she is all in all to me, it is too late to part us now. Waving them off with his hand, and calling softly to her as he went, he stole into the room. They who were left behind drew close together, and after a few whispered words, not unbroken by emotion, or easily uttered, followed him. They moved so gently, that their footsteps made no noise, but there were sobs from among the group, and sounds of grief and mourning, for she was dead. There, upon her little bed, she lay at rest. The solemn stillness was no marvel now. She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of God, and waiting for the breath of life, not one who had lived and suffered death. Her couch was dressed with hair and there some winter berries and green leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. When I die, put near me something that has loved the light, and had the sky above it always. Those were her words. She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell, was dead. Her little bird, a poor slight thing the pressure of a finger would have crushed, was stirring nimbly in its cage, and the strong heart of its child mistress was mute and motionless forever. Where were the traces of her early cares, her sufferings, and fatigues? All gone. Sorrow was dead indeed in her, but peace and perfect happiness were born, imaged in her tranquil beauty and profound repose. And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes. The old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face. It had passed like a dream through haunts of misery and care. At the door of the poor schoolmaster on the summer evening, before the furnace fire upon the cold wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had been the same mild lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their majesty after death. The old man held one languid arm in his, and had the small hand tight folded to his breast for warmth. It was the hand she had stretched out to him with her last smile, the hand that had let him on through all their wanderings. Ever and unknown he pressed it to his lips, then hugged it to his breast again, murmuring that it was warmer now. And as he said it, he looked in agony to those who stood around, as if imploring them to help her. She was dead, and passed all help or need of it. The ancient rooms she had seemed to fill with life, even while her own was waning fast, the garden she had tended, the ice she had gladdened, the noiseless haunts of many a thoughtful hour, the paths she had trodden as it were but yesterday, could know her no more. It is not, said the schoolmaster as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek, and gave his tears free vent. It is not on earth that heaven's justice ends. Think what it is compared with the world to which her young spirit has winged its early flight, and say, if one deliberate wish expressed in solemn terms above this bed could call her back to life, which of us would utter it? End of Chapter 71 Chapter 72 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 72 When morning came, and they could speak more calmly on the subject of their grief, they heard how her life had closed. She had been dead two days. They were all about her at the time, knowing that the end was drawing on. She died soon after daybreak. They had read and talked to her in the earlier portion of the night, but as the hours crept on, she sang to sleep. They could tell by what she faintly uttered in her dreams, that they were of her journeys with the old man. They were of no painful scenes, but of those who had helped and used them kindly, for she often said, God bless you, with great fervor. Waking, she never wandered in her mind but once, and that was of beautiful music which she said was in the air. God knows. It may have been. Opening her eyes at last, from a very quiet sleep, she begged that they would kiss her once again. That done, she turned to the old man with a lovely smile upon her face. Such, they said, as they had never seen and never could forget, and clank with both her arms about his neck. They did not know that she was dead at first. She had spoken very often of the two sisters, who, she said, were like dear friends to her. She wished they could be told how much she thought about them, and how she had watched them as they walked together by the riverside at night. She would like to see poor kid, she had often said of late, she wished there was somebody to take her love to kid. And even then, she never thought or spoke about him, but with something of her old, clear, merry laugh. For the rest, she had never murmured or complained. But with a quiet mind and manner quite unaltered, save that she every day became more earnest and more grateful to them, faded like the light upon a summer's evening. The child who had been her little friend came there almost as soon as it was day, with an offering of dried flowers which he begged them to lay upon her breast. It was he who had come to the window overnight and spoken to the sexton, and they saw in the snow traces of small feet where he had been lingering near the room in which she lay before he went to bed. He had a fancy, it seemed, that they had left her there alone and could not bear the thought. He told them of his dream again and that it was of her being restored to them, just as she used to be. He begged hard to see her, saying that he would be very quiet and that they need not fear his being alarmed, for he had sat alone by his young brother all day long when he was dead and had felt glad to be so near him. They let him have his wish, and indeed he kept his word and was in his childish way a lesson to them all. Up to that time, the old man had not spoken once except to her, or stirred from the bedside. But when he saw her little favorite, he was moved as they had not seen him yet and made as though he would have him come nearer. Then, pointing to the bed, he burst into tears for the first time, and they who stood by knowing that the sight of this child had done him good left them alone together. Soothing him with his artless talk of her, the child persuaded him to take some rest to walk abroad, to do almost as he desired him, and when the day came on which must remove her in her earthly shape from earthly eyes forever, he led him away that he might not know when she was taken from him. There were together fresh leaves and berries for her bed. It was Sunday, a bright, clear, wintry afternoon, and as they traversed the village street, those who were walking in their path drew back to make way for them and gave them a softened greeting. Some shook the old man kindly by the hand, some stood uncovered while he tottered by, and many cried, God help him as he passed along. Neighbor, said the old man stopping at the cottage where his young guide's mother dwelt. How is it that the folks are nearly all in black today? I have seen a morning ribbon or a piece of crepe on almost everyone. She could not tell, the woman said. Why, you yourself, you wear the color too? He cried. Windows are closed that never used to be by day. What does this mean? Again the woman said she could not tell. We must go back, said the old man hurriedly. We must see what this is. No, no! cried the child detaining him. Remember what you promised. Our ways to the old green lane where she and I so often were and where you found us more than once making those garlands for her garden do not turn back. Where is she now? said the old man. Tell me that. Do you not know? returned the child. Did we not leave her but just now? True, true. It was her we left, was it? He pressed his hand upon his brow, looked vacantly round, and as if impelled by a sudden thought, crossed the road and entered the sextant's house. He and his deaf assistant were sitting before the fire. Both rose up on seeing who it was. The child made a hasty sign to them with his hand. It was the action of an instant, but that and the old man's look were quite enough. Do you, do you bury anyone today? he said eagerly. No, no, who should we bury, sir? returned the sextant. I, who indeed, I say with you, who indeed? It is a holiday with our scouts, sir. returned the sextant mildly. We have no work to do today. Why then, I'll go where you will? said the old man turning to the child. You're sure of what you tell me? You would not deceive me? I am changed even in the little time since you last saw me. Go thy ways with him, sir, cried the sextant, and heaven be with ye both. I am quite ready, said the old man meekly. Come, boy, come. and so submitted to be led away. And now the bell. The bell she had so often heard by night and day, and listened to with solemn pleasure almost as a living voice, wrung its remorseless toll for her, so young, so beautiful, so good. decrepit age and vigorous life and blooming youth and helpless infancy poured forth on crutches in the pride of strength and health, in the full blush of promise, in the mere dawn of life, to gather round her tomb. Old men were there, whose eyes were dim and senses failing. Grandmothers, who might have died ten years ago and still been old, the death, the blind, the lame, the palsy, the living dead in many shapes and forms to see the closing of that early grave. What was the death it would shut in to that which still could crawl and creep above it? Along the crowded path they bore her now, pure as the newly fallen snow that covered it, whose day on earth had been as fleeting. Under that porch where she had sat when heaven in its mercy brought her to that peaceful spot, she passed again, and the old church received her in its quiet shade. They carried her to one old nook where she had many and many a time sat musing and laid their burden softly on the pavement. The light streamed on it through the coloured window, a window where the boughs of trees were ever rustling in the summer and where the birds sang sweetly all day long. With every breath of air that stirred among those branches in the sunshine, some trembling, changing light would fall upon her grave. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Many a young hand dropped in its little wreath, many a stifled sob was heard, some, and they were not a few, knelt down, all were sincere and truthful in their sorrow. The service done, the mourners stood apart, and the villagers closed round to look into the grave before the pavement stone should be replaced. One called to mind how he had seen her sitting on that very spot and how her book had fallen on her lap and she was gazing with a pensive face upon the sky. Another told how she had wondered much that one so delicate as she should be so bold, how she had never feared to enter the church alone at night but had loved to linger there when all was quiet and even to climb the tower stair with no more light than that of the moon rays stealing through the loopholes in the thick old wall. A whisper went about, among the oldest there, that she had seen and talked with angels and when they called to mind how she had looked and spoken and her early death some thought it might be so indeed. Thus coming to the grave in little knots and glancing down and giving place to others and falling off in whispering groups of three or four the church was cleared in time of all but the sexton and the mourning friends. They saw the vault covered and the stone fixed down. Then when the dusk of evening had come on and not a sound disturbed the sacred stillness of the place when the bright moon poured in her light on tomb and monument on pillar, wall and arch and most of all it seemed to them upon her quiet grave. In that calm time when all outward things and inward thoughts team with assurances of immortality and worldly hopes and fears are humbled in the dusk before them then with tranquil and submissive hearts they turned away and left the child with God. Oh, it is hard to take to heart the lesson that such deaths will teach but let no man reject it for it is one that all must learn and is a mighty universal truth. When death strikes down the innocent and young for every fragile form from which he lets the panting spirit free a hundred virtues rise in shapes of mercy, charity and love to walk the world and bless it. Of every tear that sorrowing mortals shed on such green graves some good is born, some gentler nature comes. In the destroyer's step there spring up bright creations that defy his power and his dark path becomes a way of light to heaven. It was late when the old man came home. The boy had led him to his own dwelling under some pretense on their way back and rendered drowsy by his long ramble and late want of rest. He had sunk into a deep sleep by the fireside. He was perfectly exhausted and they were careful not to rouse him. The slumber held him a long time and when he at length awoke the moon was shining. The younger brother, uneasy at his protracted absence was watching at the door for his coming when he appeared in the pathway with his little guide. He advanced to meet them and tenderly obliging the old man to lean upon his arm conducted him with slow and trembling steps towards the house. He repaired to her chamber straight, not finding what he had left there. He returned with distracted looks to the room in which they were assembled. From that he rushed into the schoolmaster's cottage calling her name. They followed close upon him and when he had vainly searched it brought him home. With such persuasive words as pity and affection could suggest they prevailed upon him to sit among them and hear what they should tell him. Then, endeavouring by every little artifice to prepare his mind for what must come and dwelling with many fervent words upon the happy lot to which he had been removed they told him at last the truth. The moment it had passed their lips he fell down among them like a murdered man. For many hours they had little hope of his surviving but grief is strong and he recovered. If there be any who have never known the blank that follows death the weary void, the sense of desolation that will come upon the strongest minds when something familiar and beloved is missed at every turn the connection between inanimate and senseless things and the object of recollection when every household god becomes a monument and every room a grave if there be any who have not known this and proved it by their own experience they can never faintly guess how for many days the old man pined and moved away the time and wandered here and there seeking something and had no comfort. Whatever power of thought or memory he retained was all bound up in her he never understood or seemed to care to understand about his brother to every endearment and attention he continued listless if they spoke to him on this or any other theme save one he would hear them patiently for a while then turn away and go on seeking as before on that one theme which was in his and all their minds it was impossible to touch dead he could not hear or bear the word the slightest hint of it would throw him into a paroxysm like that he had had when it was first spoken in what hope he lived no man could tell but that he had some hope of finding her again some faint and shadowy hope deferred from day to day and making him from day to day more sick and sore at heart was plain to all they bethought them of a removal from the scene of this last sorrow of trying whether change of place would rouse or cheer him his brother sought the advice of those who were accounted skillful in such matters and they came and saw him some of the numbers stayed upon the spot conversed with him when he would converse and watched him as he wandered up and down alone and silent move him where they might they said he would ever seek to get back there his mind would run upon that spot if they can find him closely and kept a strict guard upon him they might hold him prisoner but if he could by any means escape he would surely wander back to that place or die upon the road the boy to whom he had submitted at first had no longer any influence with him at times he would suffer the child to walk by his side or would even take such notice of his presence as giving him his hand or would stop to kiss his cheek or pat him on the head at other times he would entreat him not unkindly to be gone and would not brook him near but whether alone or with this pliant friend or with those who would have given him at any cost or sacrifice some consolation or some peace of mind if happily the means could have been devised he was at all times the same with no love or care for anything in life a broken hearted man at length they found one day that he had risen early and with his knapsack on his back his staff in hand, her own straw hat and little basket full of such things as she had been used to carry was gone as they were making ready to pursue him far and wide a frightened schoolboy came who had seen him at a moment before sitting in the church upon her grave he said they hastened there and going softly to the door aspired him in the attitude of one who waited patiently they did not disturb him then but kept a watch upon him all that day when it grew quite dark he rose and returned home and went to bed murmuring to himself she will come tomorrow upon the morrow he was there again from sunrise until night and still at night he laid him down to rest and muttered she will come tomorrow and thenceforth, every day and all day long he waited at her grave for her how many pictures of new journeys over pleasant country of resting places under the free broad sky of rambles in the fields and woods and paths not often trod how many tones of that one well remembered voice how many glimpses of the form the flattering dress the hair that waved so gaily in the wind how many visions of what had been and what he hoped was yet to be rose up before him in the old, dull, silent church he never told them what he thought or where he went he would sit with them at night pondering with a secret satisfaction they could see upon the flight that he and she would take before night came again and still they would hear him whispering his prayers oh let her come tomorrow the last time was on a genial day in spring he did not return at the usual hour and they went to seek him he was lying dead upon the stone they laid him by the side of her whom he had loved so well and in the church where they had often prayed and mused and lingered hand in hand the child and the old man slept together end of chapter 72 chapter 73 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 73 the last the magic reel which rolling on before has led the chronicler thus far now slackens in its pace and stops it lies before the coal the pursuit is at an end it remains but to dismiss the leaders of the little crowd who have borne a company upon the road and so to close the journey foremost among them smooth Samson brass and sally arm in arm claim our polite attention Mr. Samson then being detained as already has been shown by the justice upon whom he called and being so strongly pressed to protract his stay that he could by no means refuse remained under his protection for a considerable time during which the great attention of his entertainer kept him so extremely close that he was quite lost to society and never even went abroad for exercise saving into a small paved yard so well indeed was his modest and retiring temper understood by those with whom he had to deal and so jealous were they of his absence that they required a kind of friendly bond to be entered into by two substantial housekeepers in the sum of 1500 pounds a piece before they would suffer him to quit their hospitable roof doubting it appeared that he would return if once let loose on any other terms Mr. Brass struck with the humor of this jest and carrying out its spirit to the utmost sought from his white connection a pair of friends whose joint possessions fell some happens short of 15 pence and preferred them as bail for that was the merry word agreed upon on both sides these gentlemen being rejected after 24 hours' pleasantry Mr. Brass consented to remain and did remain until a club of choice spirits called a grand jury who were in the joke summoned him to a trial before 12 other wags for perjury and fraud who in their turn found him guilty with a most facetious joy nay the very populace entered into the whim and when Mr. Brass was moving in a hackney coach towards the building where these wags assembled saluted him with rotten eggs and carcasses of kittens and feigned to wish to tear him into shreds which greatly increased the comicality of the thing and made him relish it the more no doubt to work this sportive vein still further Mr. Brass by his counsel moved in a rest of judgement that he had been led to criminate himself by assurances of safety and promises of pardon and claimed the leniency which the law extends to such confiding natures as are thus deluded after solemn argument this point with others of a technical nature whose humorous extravagance it would be difficult to exaggerate was referred to the judges for their decision Samson being mean time removed to his former quarters finally some of the points were given in Samson's favor and some against him and the upshot was that instead of being desired to travel for a time in foreign parts he was permitted to grace the mother country under certain insignificant restrictions these were that he should for a term of years reside in a spacious mansion where several other gentlemen were lodged at the public charge who went clad in a sober uniform of grey turned up with yellow had their hair cut extremely short and chiefly lived on gruel and blight soup it was also required of him that he should partake their exercise of constantly ascending an endless flight of stairs and lest his legs and used to such exertion should be weakened by it that he should wear upon one ankle an amulet or charm of iron these conditions being arranged he was removed one evening to his new abode and enjoyed in common with nine other gentlemen and two ladies the privilege of being taken to his place of retirement in one of royalty's own carriages over and above these trifling penalties his name was erased and blotted out from the role of attorneys which Eurasia has been always held in these latter times to be a great degradation and reproach and to imply the commission of some amazing villainy as indeed would seem to be the case when so many worthless names remain among its better records un molested of Sally Brass conflicting rumours went abroad some said with confidence that she had gone down to the doxin male attire and had become a female sailor others darkly whispered that she had enlisted as a private in the second regiment of food guards and had been seen in uniform and on duty to it leaning over her musket and looking out of a sentry box in St. James's Park one evening there were many such whispers as these in circulation but the truth appears to be that after a lapse of some five years during which there is no direct evidence of her having been seen at all two wretched people were more than once observed to crawl at dusk from the inmost recesses of St. Giles's and to take their way along the streets with shuffling steps and cowering shivering forms looking into the roads and kennels as they went in search of refuse food or disregarded awful these forms were never beheld but in those nights of cold and gloom when the terrible specters who lie at all other times in the obscene hiding places of London in archways, dark vaults and cellars ventured to creep into the streets and eat spirits of disease and vice and famine it was whispered by those who should have known that these were Samson and his sister Sally and to this day it is said they sometimes pass on bad nights in the same loathsome guise close at the elbow of the shrinking passengers the body of Quilpe being found though not until some days had elapsed was held on it near the spot where it had been washed ashore the general supposition was that he had committed suicide and disappearing to be favoured by all the circumstances of his death the verdict was to that effect he was left to be buried with a stake through his heart in the centre of four lonely roads it was rumoured afterwards that this horrible and barbarous ceremony had been dispensed with and that the remains had been secretly given up to Tom Scott but even here, opinion was divided for some said that Tom had dug them up at midnight and carried them to a place indicated to him by the widow it is probable that both these stories may have had their origin in the simple fact of Tom's shedding tears upon the inquest which he certainly did, extraordinary as it may appear he manifested besides a strong desire to assault the jury and being restrained and conducted out of court darkened its only window by standing on his head upon the sill until he was dexterously tilted upon his feet again by a cautious beetle being cast upon the world by his master's death he determined to go through it upon his head and hands and accordingly began to tumble for his bread finding however his English birth an insurmountable obstacle to his advancement in this pursuit notwithstanding that his art was in high repute and favour he assumed the name of an Italian image lad with whom he had become acquainted and afterwards tumbled with extraordinary success and to overflowing audiences little Mrs. Quillp never quite forgave herself the one deceit that lay so heavy on her conscience and never spoke or thought of it but with bitter tears her husband had no relations and she was rich he had made no will or she would probably have been poor having married the first time at her mother's instigation she consulted in her second choice nobody but herself it fell upon a smart young fellow enough and as he made it preliminary condition that Mrs. Ginnewin should be then s'forth an outpensioner they lived together after marriage with no more than the average amount of quarrelling and led a merry life upon the dead dwarves money Mr. and Mrs. Garland and Mr. Abel went on as usual except that there was a change in their household as will be seen presently and in due time the latter went into partnership with his friends the notary on which occasion there was a dinner and a bowl and a great extent of dissipation and to this bowl there happened to be invited the most bashful young lady that was ever seen with whom Mr. Abel happened to fall in love how it happened or how they found it out or which of them first communicated the discovery to the other nobody knows but certainties that in cause of time they were married and equally certainties that they were the happiest of the happy and no less certainties that they deserved to be so and it is pleasant to write down that they reared a family because any propagation of goodness and benevolence is no small addition to the aristocracy of nature and no small subject of rejoicing for mankind at large the pony preserved his character for independence and principle down to the last moment of his life which was an unusually long one and caused him to be looked upon indeed as the very old part of ponies he often went to and fro with a little fate in between Mr. Garlands and his sons and as the old people and the young were frequently together had a stable of his own at the new establishment into which he would walk of himself with surprising dignity he condescended to play with the children as they grew old enough to cultivate his friendship and would run up and down the little paddock with them like a dog but though he relaxed so far and allowed them such small freedoms as caresses or even to look at his shoes or hang on by his tail he never permitted anyone among them to mount his back or drive him thus showing that even their familiarity must have its limits and that there were points between them far too serious for traveling he was not unsusceptible of warm attachments in his later life for when the good bachelor came to live with Mr. Garland upon the clergyman's disease he conceived a great friendship for him and amably submitted to be driven by his hands without the least resistance he did no work for two or three years before he died but lived in clover and his last act like a choleric old gentleman was to kick his doctor Mr. Suivala, recovering very slowly from his illness and entering into the receipt of his annuity bought for the margin as a handsome stock of clothes and put her to school forthwith in redemption of the vow he had made upon his fevered bed after casting about for some time for a name which should be worthy of her he decided in favour of sofronious things as being euphonious and genteel and furthermore indicative of mystery under this title the margin is repaired in tears to the school of his selection from which as she soon distanced all competitors she was removed before the lapse of many quarters to one of a higher grade it is but bare justice to Mr. Suivala to say that although the expenses of her education kept him in straightened circumstances for half a dozen years he never slackened in his zeal and always held himself sufficiently repaid by the accounts he heard with great gravity of her advancement on his monthly visits to the governess who looked upon him as a literary gentleman of eccentric habits and have a most prodigious talent in quotation in a word Mr. Suivala kept the margin as at his establishment until she was, at a moderate guess full 19 years of age, good-looking, clever and good-humoured when he began to consider seriously what was to be done next on one of his periodical visits while he was revolving this question in his mind the margin is came down to him alone looking more smiling and more fresh than ever then it occurred to him but not for the first time that if she would marry him how comfortable they might be so Richard asked her whatever she said it wasn't no and they were married in good earnest that day week which gave Mr. Suivala frequent occasion to remark at diverse subsequent periods that there had been a young lady saving up for him after all a little cottage at Hampstead being to let which had in its garden a smoking box the envy of the civilised world they agreed to become its tenants and when the honeymoon was over entered upon its occupation to this retreat Mr. Chakstra repaired regularly every Sunday to spend the day usually beginning with breakfast and here he was the great purveyor of general news and fashionable intelligence for some years he continued a deadly foe to Kit protesting that he had a better opinion of him when he was supposed to have stolen the five pound note then when he was shown to be perfectly free of the crime inasmuch as his guilt would have had in its something daring and bold whereas his innocence was but another proof of a sneaking and crafty disposition by slow degrees however he was reconciled to him in the end and even went so far as to honour him with his patronage as one who had in some measure reformed and was therefore to be forgiven but he never forgot or pardoned that circumstance of the shilling holding that if he had come back to get another he would have done well enough but that his returning to work out the former gift was a stain upon his moral character which no penitence or contrition could ever wash away Mr. Swivola, having always been in some measure of a philosophic and reflective turn grew immensely contemplative at times in the smoking box and was accustomed at such periods to debate in his own mind the mysterious question of Sofronius' parentage Sofronia herself supposed she was an orphan but Mr. Swivola, putting various slight circumstances together often thought Ms. Brass must know better than that and having heard from his wife of her strange interview with Quilp entertained Sandra Missgivings whether that person, in his lifetime might not also have been able to solve the riddle had he chosen these speculations however gave him no uneasiness for Sofronia was ever a most cheerful, affectionate and provident wife to him and Dick, accepting for an occasional outbreak with Mr. Chuckster which she had the good sense rather to encourage than oppose was to her an attached and domesticated husband and they played many hundred thousand games of cribbage together and let it be added to Dick's honour that though we have called her Sofronia he called her the Marginus from first to last and that upon every anniversary of the day on which he found her in his sick room Mr. Chuckster came to dinner and there was great glorification the gamblers, Isaac List and Jowl with their trusty confederate Mr. James Groves of unimpeachable memory pursued their course with varying success until the failure of a spirited enterprise in the way of their profession dispersed them in different directions and caused their career to receive a sudden check from the long and strong arm of the law this defeat had its origin in the untoward detection of a new associate young Frederick Trent who thus became the unconscious instrument of their punishment and his own for the young man himself he rioted abroad for a brief term living by his wits which means by the abuse of every faculty that worthily employed racist man above the beasts and so degraded sings him far below them it was not long before his body was recognized by a stranger who chanced to visit that hospital in Paris where the drowned are laid out to be owned despite the bruises and disfigurements which were said to have been occasioned by some previous scuffle but the stranger kept his own counsel until he returned home and it was never claimed or cared for the younger brother or the single gentleman for that designation is more familiar would have drawn the poor school master from his lone retreat and made him his companion and friend but the humble village teacher was timid of venturing into the noisy world and had become fond of his dwelling in the old churchyard calmly happy in his school and in the spot and in the attachment of her little mourner he pursued his quiet cause in peace and was through the righteous gratitude of his friend let this brief mention suffice for that a poor school master no more that friend single gentleman or younger brother which you will had at his heart a heavy sorrow but it bred in him no misanthropy or monastic gloom he went forth into the world a lover of his kind for a long long time it was his chief delight to travel in the steps of the old man and the child so far as he could trace them from her last narrative to hold where they had halted sympathize where they had suffered and rejoice where they had been made glad those who had been kind to them did not escape his search the sisters at the school they who were her friends became themselves so friendless mrs. jolly of the waxwork codlin short he found them all and trust me that the man who fed the furnace fire was not forgotten kid's story having got abroad raised him up a host of friends and many offers of provision for his future life he had no idea at first of ever quitting mr. garland service but after serious remonstrance and advice from that gentleman began to contemplate the possibility of such a change being brought about in time a good post was procured for him with the rapidity which took away his breath by some of the gentlemen who had believed him guilty of the offense laid to his charge and who had acted upon that belief through the same kind agency his mother was secured from want and made quite happy thus, as kid often said his great misfortune turned out to be the source of all his subsequent prosperity did kid live a single man all his days or did he marry of course he married and who should be his wife but Barbara and the best of it was he married so soon that little jacob was an uncle before the calves of his legs already mentioned in this history had ever been encased in broad-cloth pantaloons though that was not quite the best either for of necessity the baby was an uncle too the delight of kid's mother and of Barbara's mother upon the great occasion is past all telling finding they agreed so well on that and on all other subjects they took up their abode together and were a most harmonious pair of friends from that time forth and hadn't asked his cause to bless itself for they're all going together once a quarter to the pit and didn't kid's mother always say when they painted the outside that kid's last treat had helped to that and wonder what the manager would feel if he but knew it as they passed his house when kid had children six and seven years old there was a Barbara among them and a pretty Barbara she was nor was there wanting an exact facsimile in copy of little Jacob as he appeared in those remote times when they taught him what oysters meant of course there was an able own godson to the Mr. Garland of that name and there was a dick who Mr. Swivelard did especially favor the little group would often gather round him of a night and beg him to tell again that story of good Miss Nell who died this kid would do and when they cried to hear it wishing it longer too he would teach them how she had gone to heaven as all good people did and how if they were good like her they might hope to be there too one day and to see and know her as he had done when he was quite a boy then he would relate to them how needy he used to be and how she had taught him what he was otherwise too poor to learn and how the old man had been used to say she always laughs at kid at which they would brush away their tears and laugh themselves to think that she had done so and be again quite merry he sometimes took them to the street where she had lived but new improvements had altered it so much it was not like the same the old house had been long ago pulled down and a fine broad road was in its place at first he would draw with his sticker square upon the ground to show them where it used to stand but he soon became uncertain of the spot and could only say it was thereabouts he thought and that these alterations were confusing such are the changes which a few years bring about and so do things pass away like a tale that is told End of chapter 73 End of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens