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Charles Dickens
Chapter 22
Charles Dickens
 
 
1       Steerforth and I stayed for more than a fortnight in that part of
2  the country. We were very much together, I need not say; but
3  occasionally we were asunder for some hours at a time. He was a
4  good sailor, and I was but an indifferent one; and when he went out
5  boating with Mr. Peggotty, which was a favourite amusement of his,
6  I generally remained ashore. My occupation of Peggotty's
7  spare-room put a constraint upon me, from which he was free: for,
8  knowing how assiduously she attended on Mr. Barkis all day, I did
9  not like to remain out late at night; whereas Steerforth, lying at
10  the Inn, had nothing to consult but his own humour. Thus it came
11  about, that I heard of his making little treats for the fishermen
12  at Mr. Peggotty's house of call, 'The Willing Mind', after I was in
13  bed, and of his being afloat, wrapped in fishermen's clothes, whole
14  moonlight nights, and coming back when the morning tide was at
15  flood. By this time, however, I knew that his restless nature and
16  bold spirits delighted to find a vent in rough toil and hard
17  weather, as in any other means of excitement that presented itself
18  freshly to him; so none of his proceedings surprised me.

19       Another cause of our being sometimes apart, was, that I had
20  naturally an interest in going over to Blunderstone, and revisiting
21  the old familiar scenes of my childhood; while Steerforth, after
22  being there once, had naturally no great interest in going there
23  again. Hence, on three or four days that I can at once recall, we
24  went our several ways after an early breakfast, and met again at a
25  late dinner. I had no idea how he employed his time in the
26  interval, beyond a general knowledge that he was very popular in
27  the place, and had twenty means of actively diverting himself where
28  another man might not have found one.

29       For my own part, my occupation in my solitary pilgrimages was to
30  recall every yard of the old road as I went along it, and to haunt
31  the old spots, of which I never tired. I haunted them, as my
32  memory had often done, and lingered among them as my younger
33  thoughts had lingered when I was far away. The grave beneath the
34  tree, where both my parents lay - on which I had looked out, when
35  it was my father's only, with such curious feelings of compassion,
36  and by which I had stood, so desolate, when it was opened to
37  receive my pretty mother and her baby - the grave which Peggotty's
38  own faithful care had ever since kept neat, and made a garden of,
39  I walked near, by the hour. It lay a little off the churchyard
40  path, in a quiet corner, not so far removed but I could read the
41  names upon the stone as I walked to and fro, startled by the sound
42  of the church-bell when it struck the hour, for it was like a
43  departed voice to me. My reflections at these times were always
44  associated with the figure I was to make in life, and the
45  distinguished things I was to do. My echoing footsteps went to no
46  other tune, but were as constant to that as if I had come home to
47  build my castles in the air at a living mother's side.

48       There were great changes in my old home. The ragged nests, so long
49  deserted by the rooks, were gone; and the trees were lopped and
50  topped out of their remembered shapes. The garden had run wild,
51  and half the windows of the house were shut up. It was occupied,
52  but only by a poor lunatic gentleman, and the people who took care
53  of him. He was always sitting at my little window, looking out
54  into the churchyard; and I wondered whether his rambling thoughts
55  ever went upon any of the fancies that used to occupy mine, on the
56  rosy mornings when I peeped out of that same little window in my
57  night-clothes, and saw the sheep quietly feeding in the light of
58  the rising sun.

59       Our old neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Grayper, were gone to South
60  America, and the rain had made its way through the roof of their
61  empty house, and stained the outer walls. Mr. Chillip was married
62  again to a tall, raw-boned, high-nosed wife; and they had a weazen
63  little baby, with a heavy head that it couldn't hold up, and two
64  weak staring eyes, with which it seemed to be always wondering why
65  it had ever been born.

66       It was with a singular jumble of sadness and pleasure that I used
67  to linger about my native place, until the reddening winter sun
68  admonished me that it was time to start on my returning walk. But,
69  when the place was left behind, and especially when Steerforth and
70  I were happily seated over our dinner by a blazing fire, it was
71  delicious to think of having been there. So it was, though in a
72  softened degree, when I went to my neat room at night; and, turning
73  over the leaves of the crocodile-book (which was always there, upon
74  a little table), remembered with a grateful heart how blest I was
75  in having such a friend as Steerforth, such a friend as Peggotty,
76  and such a substitute for what I had lost as my excellent and
77  generous aunt.

78       MY nearest way to Yarmouth, in coming back from these long walks,
79  was by a ferry. It landed me on the flat between the town and the
80  sea, which I could make straight across, and so save myself a
81  considerable circuit by the high road. Mr. Peggotty's house being
82  on that waste-place, and not a hundred yards out of my track, I
83  always looked in as I went by. Steerforth was pretty sure to be
84  there expecting me, and we went on together through the frosty air
85  and gathering fog towards the twinkling lights of the town.

86       One dark evening, when I was later than usual - for I had, that
87  day, been making my parting visit to Blunderstone, as we were now
88  about to return home - I found him alone in Mr. Peggotty's house,
89  sitting thoughtfully before the fire. He was so intent upon his
90  own reflections that he was quite unconscious of my approach.
91  This, indeed, he might easily have been if he had been less
92  absorbed, for footsteps fell noiselessly on the sandy ground
93  outside; but even my entrance failed to rouse him. I was standing
94  close to him, looking at him; and still, with a heavy brow, he was
95  lost in his meditations.

96       He gave such a start when I put my hand upon his shoulder, that he
97  made me start too.

98       'You come upon me,' he said, almost angrily, 'like a reproachful
99  ghost!'

100       'I was obliged to announce myself, somehow,' I replied. 'Have I
101  called you down from the stars?'

102       'No,' he answered. 'No.'

103       'Up from anywhere, then?' said I, taking my seat near him.

104       'I was looking at the pictures in the fire,' he returned.

105       'But you are spoiling them for me,' said I, as he stirred it
106  quickly with a piece of burning wood, striking out of it a train of
107  red-hot sparks that went careering up the little chimney, and
108  roaring out into the air.

109       'You would not have seen them,' he returned. 'I detest this
110  mongrel time, neither day nor night. How late you are! Where have
111  you been?'

112       'I have been taking leave of my usual walk,' said I.

113       'And I have been sitting here,' said Steerforth, glancing round the
114  room, 'thinking that all the people we found so glad on the night
115  of our coming down, might - to judge from the present wasted air of
116  the place - be dispersed, or dead, or come to I don't know what
117  harm. David, I wish to God I had had a judicious father these last
118  twenty years!'

119       'My dear Steerforth, what is the matter?'

120       'I wish with all my soul I had been better guided!' he exclaimed.
121  'I wish with all my soul I could guide myself better!'

122       There was a passionate dejection in his manner that quite amazed
123  me. He was more unlike himself than I could have supposed
124  possible.

125       'It would be better to be this poor Peggotty, or his lout of a
126  nephew,' he said, getting up and leaning moodily against the
127  chimney-piece, with his face towards the fire, 'than to be myself,
128  twenty times richer and twenty times wiser, and be the torment to
129  myself that I have been, in this Devil's bark of a boat, within the
130  last half-hour!'

131       I was so confounded by the alteration in him, that at first I could
132  only observe him in silence, as he stood leaning his head upon his
133  hand, and looking gloomily down at the fire. At length I begged
134  him, with all the earnestness I felt, to tell me what had occurred
135  to cross him so unusually, and to let me sympathize with him, if I
136  could not hope to advise him. Before I had well concluded, he
137  began to laugh - fretfully at first, but soon with returning
138  gaiety.

139       'Tut, it's nothing, Daisy! nothing!' he replied. 'I told you at
140  the inn in London, I am heavy company for myself, sometimes. I
141  have been a nightmare to myself, just now - must have had one, I
142  think. At odd dull times, nursery tales come up into the memory,
143  unrecognized for what they are. I believe I have been confounding
144  myself with the bad boy who "didn't care", and became food for
145  lions - a grander kind of going to the dogs, I suppose. What old
146  women call the horrors, have been creeping over me from head to
147  foot. I have been afraid of myself.'

148       'You are afraid of nothing else, I think,' said I.

149       'Perhaps not, and yet may have enough to be afraid of too,' he
150  answered. 'Well! So it goes by! I am not about to be hipped
151  again, David; but I tell you, my good fellow, once more, that it
152  would have been well for me (and for more than me) if I had had a
153  steadfast and judicious father!'

154       His face was always full of expression, but I never saw it express
155  such a dark kind of earnestness as when he said these words, with
156  his glance bent on the fire.

157       'So much for that!' he said, making as if he tossed something light
158  into the air, with his hand. "'Why, being gone, I am a man again,"
159  like Macbeth. And now for dinner! If I have not (Macbeth-like)
160  broken up the feast with most admired disorder, Daisy.'

161       'But where are they all, I wonder!' said I.

162       'God knows,' said Steerforth. 'After strolling to the ferry
163  looking for you, I strolled in here and found the place deserted.
164  That set me thinking, and you found me thinking.'

165       The advent of Mrs. Gummidge with a basket, explained how the house
166  had happened to be empty. She had hurried out to buy something
167  that was needed, against Mr. Peggotty's return with the tide; and
168  had left the door open in the meanwhile, lest Ham and little Em'ly,
169  with whom it was an early night, should come home while she was
170  gone. Steerforth, after very much improving Mrs. Gummidge's
171  spirits by a cheerful salutation and a jocose embrace, took my arm,
172  and hurried me away.

173       He had improved his own spirits, no less than Mrs. Gummidge's, for
174  they were again at their usual flow, and he was full of vivacious
175  conversation as we went along.

176       'And so,' he said, gaily, 'we abandon this buccaneer life tomorrow,
177  do we?'

178       'So we agreed,' I returned. 'And our places by the coach are
179  taken, you know.'

180       'Ay! there's no help for it, I suppose,' said Steerforth. 'I have
181  almost forgotten that there is anything to do in the world but to
182  go out tossing on the sea here. I wish there was not.'

183       'As long as the novelty should last,' said I, laughing.

184       'Like enough,' he returned; 'though there's a sarcastic meaning in
185  that observation for an amiable piece of innocence like my young
186  friend. Well! I dare say I am a capricious fellow, David. I know
187  I am; but while the iron is hot, I can strike it vigorously too.
188  I could pass a reasonably good examination already, as a pilot in
189  these waters, I think.'

190       'Mr. Peggotty says you are a wonder,' I returned.

191       'A nautical phenomenon, eh?' laughed Steerforth.

192       'Indeed he does, and you know how truly; I know how ardent you are
193  in any pursuit you follow, and how easily you can master it. And
194  that amazes me most in you, Steerforth- that you should be
195  contented with such fitful uses of your powers.'

196       'Contented?' he answered, merrily. 'I am never contented, except
197  with your freshness, my gentle Daisy. As to fitfulness, I have
198  never learnt the art of binding myself to any of the wheels on
199  which the Ixions of these days are turning round and round. I
200  missed it somehow in a bad apprenticeship, and now don't care about
201  it. - You know I have bought a boat down here?'

202       'What an extraordinary fellow you are, Steerforth!' I exclaimed,
203  stopping - for this was the first I had heard of it. 'When you may
204  never care to come near the place again!'

205       'I don't know that,' he returned. 'I have taken a fancy to the
206  place. At all events,' walking me briskly on, 'I have bought a
207  boat that was for sale - a clipper, Mr. Peggotty says; and so she
208  is - and Mr. Peggotty will be master of her in my absence.'

209       'Now I understand you, Steerforth!' said I, exultingly. 'You
210  pretend to have bought it for yourself, but you have really done so
211  to confer a benefit on him. I might have known as much at first,
212  knowing you. My dear kind Steerforth, how can I tell you what I
213  think of your generosity?'

214       'Tush!' he answered, turning red. 'The less said, the better.'

215       'Didn't I know?' cried I, 'didn't I say that there was not a joy,
216  or sorrow, or any emotion of such honest hearts that was
217  indifferent to you?'

218       'Aye, aye,' he answered, 'you told me all that. There let it rest.
219  We have said enough!'

220       Afraid of offending him by pursuing the subject when he made so
221  light of it, I only pursued it in my thoughts as we went on at even
222  a quicker pace than before.

223       'She must be newly rigged,' said Steerforth, 'and I shall leave
224  Littimer behind to see it done, that I may know she is quite
225  complete. Did I tell you Littimer had come down?'

226       ' No.'

227       'Oh yes! came down this morning, with a letter from my mother.'

228       As our looks met, I observed that he was pale even to his lips,
229  though he looked very steadily at me. I feared that some
230  difference between him and his mother might have led to his being
231  in the frame of mind in which I had found him at the solitary
232  fireside. I hinted so.

233       'Oh no!' he said, shaking his head, and giving a slight laugh.
234  'Nothing of the sort! Yes. He is come down, that man of mine.'

235       'The same as ever?' said I.

236       'The same as ever,' said Steerforth. 'Distant and quiet as the
237  North Pole. He shall see to the boat being fresh named. She's the
238  "Stormy Petrel" now. What does Mr. Peggotty care for Stormy
239  Petrels! I'll have her christened again.'

240       'By what name?' I asked.

241       'The "Little Em'ly".'

242       As he had continued to look steadily at me, I took it as a reminder
243  that he objected to being extolled for his consideration. I could
244  not help showing in my face how much it pleased me, but I said
245  little, and he resumed his usual smile, and seemed relieved.

246       'But see here,' he said, looking before us, 'where the original
247  little Em'ly comes! And that fellow with her, eh? Upon my soul,
248  he's a true knight. He never leaves her!'

249       Ham was a boat-builder in these days, having improved a natural
250  ingenuity in that handicraft, until he had become a skilled
251  workman. He was in his working-dress, and looked rugged enough,
252  but manly withal, and a very fit protector for the blooming little
253  creature at his side. Indeed, there was a frankness in his face,
254  an honesty, and an undisguised show of his pride in her, and his
255  love for her, which were, to me, the best of good looks. I
256  thought, as they came towards us, that they were well matched even
257  in that particular.

258       She withdrew her hand timidly from his arm as we stopped to speak
259  to them, and blushed as she gave it to Steerforth and to me. When
260  they passed on, after we had exchanged a few words, she did not
261  like to replace that hand, but, still appearing timid and
262  constrained, walked by herself. I thought all this very pretty and
263  engaging, and Steerforth seemed to think so too, as we looked after
264  them fading away in the light of a young moon.

265       Suddenly there passed us - evidently following them - a young woman
266  whose approach we had not observed, but whose face I saw as she
267  went by, and thought I had a faint remembrance of. She was lightly
268  dressed; looked bold, and haggard, and flaunting, and poor; but
269  seemed, for the time, to have given all that to the wind which was
270  blowing, and to have nothing in her mind but going after them. As
271  the dark distant level, absorbing their figures into itself, left
272  but itself visible between us and the sea and clouds, her figure
273  disappeared in like manner, still no nearer to them than before.

274       'That is a black shadow to be following the girl,' said Steerforth,
275  standing still; 'what does it mean?'

276       He spoke in a low voice that sounded almost strange to Me.

277       'She must have it in her mind to beg of them, I think,' said I.

278       'A beggar would be no novelty,' said Steerforth; 'but it is a
279  strange thing that the beggar should take that shape tonight.'

280       'Why?' I asked.

281       'For no better reason, truly, than because I was thinking,' he
282  said, after a pause, 'of something like it, when it came by. Where
283  the Devil did it come from, I wonder!'

284       'From the shadow of this wall, I think,' said I, as we emerged upon
285  a road on which a wall abutted.

286       'It's gone!' he returned, looking over his shoulder. 'And all ill
287  go with it. Now for our dinner!'

288       But he looked again over his shoulder towards the sea-line
289  glimmering afar off, and yet again. And he wondered about it, in
290  some broken expressions, several times, in the short remainder of
291  our walk; and only seemed to forget it when the light of fire and
292  candle shone upon us, seated warm and merry, at table.

293       Littimer was there, and had his usual effect upon me. When I said
294  to him that I hoped Mrs. Steerforth and Miss Dartle were well, he
295  answered respectfully (and of course respectably), that they were
296  tolerably well, he thanked me, and had sent their compliments.
297  This was all, and yet he seemed to me to say as plainly as a man
298  could say: 'You are very young, sir; you are exceedingly young.'

299       We had almost finished dinner, when taking a step or two towards
300  the table, from the corner where he kept watch upon us, or rather
301  upon me, as I felt, he said to his master:

302       'I beg your pardon, sir. Miss Mowcher is down here.'

303       'Who?' cried Steerforth, much astonished.

304       'Miss Mowcher, sir.'

305       'Why, what on earth does she do here?' said Steerforth.

306       'It appears to be her native part of the country, sir. She informs
307  me that she makes one of her professional visits here, every year,
308  sir. I met her in the street this afternoon, and she wished to
309  know if she might have the honour of waiting on you after dinner,
310  sir.'

311       'Do you know the Giantess in question, Daisy?' inquired Steerforth.

312       I was obliged to confess - I felt ashamed, even of being at this
313  disadvantage before Littimer - that Miss Mowcher and I were wholly
314  unacquainted.

315       'Then you shall know her,' said Steerforth, 'for she is one of the
316  seven wonders of the world. When Miss Mowcher comes, show her in.'

317       I felt some curiosity and excitement about this lady, especially as
318  Steerforth burst into a fit of laughing when I referred to her, and
319  positively refused to answer any question of which I made her the
320  subject. I remained, therefore, in a state of considerable
321  expectation until the cloth had been removed some half an hour, and
322  we were sitting over our decanter of wine before the fire, when the
323  door opened, and Littimer, with his habitual serenity quite
324  undisturbed, announced:

325       'Miss Mowcher!'

326       I looked at the doorway and saw nothing. I was still looking at
327  the doorway, thinking that Miss Mowcher was a long while making her
328  appearance, when, to my infinite astonishment, there came waddling
329  round a sofa which stood between me and it, a pursy dwarf, of about
330  forty or forty-five, with a very large head and face, a pair of
331  roguish grey eyes, and such extremely little arms, that, to enable
332  herself to lay a finger archly against her snub nose, as she ogled
333  Steerforth, she was obliged to meet the finger half-way, and lay
334  her nose against it. Her chin, which was what is called a double
335  chin, was so fat that it entirely swallowed up the strings of her
336  bonnet, bow and all. Throat she had none; waist she had none; legs
337  she had none, worth mentioning; for though she was more than
338  full-sized down to where her waist would have been, if she had had
339  any, and though she terminated, as human beings generally do, in a
340  pair of feet, she was so short that she stood at a common-sized
341  chair as at a table, resting a bag she carried on the seat. This
342  lady - dressed in an off-hand, easy style; bringing her nose and
343  her forefinger together, with the difficulty I have described;
344  standing with her head necessarily on one side, and, with one of
345  her sharp eyes shut up, making an uncommonly knowing face - after
346  ogling Steerforth for a few moments, broke into a torrent of words.

347       'What! My flower!' she pleasantly began, shaking her large head at
348  him. 'You're there, are you! Oh, you naughty boy, fie for shame,
349  what do you do so far away from home? Up to mischief, I'll be
350  bound. Oh, you're a downy fellow, Steerforth, so you are, and I'm
351  another, ain't I? Ha, ha, ha! You'd have betted a hundred pound
352  to five, now, that you wouldn't have seen me here, wouldn't you?
353  Bless you, man alive, I'm everywhere. I'm here and there, and
354  where not, like the conjurer's half-crown in the lady's
355  handkercher. Talking of handkerchers - and talking of ladies -
356  what a comfort you are to your blessed mother, ain't you, my dear
357  boy, over one of my shoulders, and I don't say which!'

358       Miss Mowcher untied her bonnet, at this passage of her discourse,
359  threw back the strings, and sat down, panting, on a footstool in
360  front of the fire - making a kind of arbour of the dining table,
361  which spread its mahogany shelter above her head.

362       'Oh my stars and what's-their-names!' she went on, clapping a hand
363  on each of her little knees, and glancing shrewdly at me, 'I'm of
364  too full a habit, that's the fact, Steerforth. After a flight of
365  stairs, it gives me as much trouble to draw every breath I want, as
366  if it was a bucket of water. If you saw me looking out of an upper
367  window, you'd think I was a fine woman, wouldn't you?'

368       'I should think that, wherever I saw you,' replied Steerforth.

369       'Go along, you dog, do!' cried the little creature, making a whisk
370  at him with the handkerchief with which she was wiping her face,
371  'and don't be impudent! But I give you my word and honour I was at
372  Lady Mithers's last week - THERE'S a woman! How SHE wears! - and
373  Mithers himself came into the room where I was waiting for her -
374  THERE'S a man! How HE wears! and his wig too, for he's had it
375  these ten years - and he went on at that rate in the complimentary
376  line, that I began to think I should be obliged to ring the bell.
377  Ha! ha! ha! He's a pleasant wretch, but he wants principle.'

378       'What were you doing for Lady Mithers?' asked Steerforth.

379       'That's tellings, my blessed infant,' she retorted, tapping her
380  nose again, screwing up her face, and twinkling her eyes like an
381  imp of supernatural intelligence. 'Never YOU mind! You'd like to
382  know whether I stop her hair from falling off, or dye it, or touch
383  up her complexion, or improve her eyebrows, wouldn't you? And so
384  you shall, my darling - when I tell you! Do you know what my great
385  grandfather's name was?'

386       'No,' said Steerforth.

387       'It was Walker, my sweet pet,' replied Miss Mowcher, 'and he came
388  of a long line of Walkers, that I inherit all the Hookey estates
389  from.'

390       I never beheld anything approaching to Miss Mowcher's wink except
391  Miss Mowcher's self-possession. She had a wonderful way too, when
392  listening to what was said to her, or when waiting for an answer to
393  what she had said herself, of pausing with her head cunningly on
394  one side, and one eye turned up like a magpie's. Altogether I was
395  lost in amazement, and sat staring at her, quite oblivious, I am
396  afraid, of the laws of politeness.

397       She had by this time drawn the chair to her side, and was busily
398  engaged in producing from the bag (plunging in her short arm to the
399  shoulder, at every dive) a number of small bottles, sponges, combs,
400  brushes, bits of flannel, little pairs of curling-irons, and other
401  instruments, which she tumbled in a heap upon the chair. From this
402  employment she suddenly desisted, and said to Steerforth, much to
403  my confusion:

404       'Who's your friend?'

405       'Mr. Copperfield,' said Steerforth; 'he wants to know you.'

406       'Well, then, he shall! I thought he looked as if he did!' returned
407  Miss Mowcher, waddling up to me, bag in hand, and laughing on me as
408  she came. 'Face like a peach!' standing on tiptoe to pinch my
409  cheek as I sat. 'Quite tempting! I'm very fond of peaches. Happy
410  to make your acquaintance, Mr. Copperfield, I'm sure.'

411       I said that I congratulated myself on having the honour to make
412  hers, and that the happiness was mutual.

413       'Oh, my goodness, how polite we are!' exclaimed Miss Mowcher,
414  making a preposterous attempt to cover her large face with her
415  morsel of a hand. 'What a world of gammon and spinnage it is,
416  though, ain't it!'

417       This was addressed confidentially to both of us, as the morsel of
418  a hand came away from the face, and buried itself, arm and all, in
419  the bag again.

420       'What do you mean, Miss Mowcher?' said Steerforth.

421       'Ha! ha! ha! What a refreshing set of humbugs we are, to be sure,
422  ain't we, my sweet child?' replied that morsel of a woman, feeling
423  in the bag with her head on one side and her eye in the air. 'Look
424  here!' taking something out. 'Scraps of the Russian Prince's
425  nails. Prince Alphabet turned topsy-turvy, I call him, for his
426  name's got all the letters in it, higgledy-piggledy.'

427       'The Russian Prince is a client of yours, is he?' said Steerforth.

428       'I believe you, my pet,' replied Miss Mowcher. 'I keep his nails
429  in order for him. Twice a week! Fingers and toes.'

430       'He pays well, I hope?' said Steerforth.

431       'Pays, as he speaks, my dear child - through the nose,' replied
432  Miss Mowcher. 'None of your close shavers the Prince ain't. You'd
433  say so, if you saw his moustachios. Red by nature, black by art.'

434       'By your art, of course,' said Steerforth.

435       Miss Mowcher winked assent. 'Forced to send for me. Couldn't help
436  it. The climate affected his dye; it did very well in Russia, but
437  it was no go here. You never saw such a rusty Prince in all your
438  born days as he was. Like old iron!'
439  'Is that why you called him a humbug, just now?' inquired
440  Steerforth.

441       'Oh, you're a broth of a boy, ain't you?' returned Miss Mowcher,
442  shaking her head violently. 'I said, what a set of humbugs we were
443  in general, and I showed you the scraps of the Prince's nails to
444  prove it. The Prince's nails do more for me in private families of
445  the genteel sort, than all my talents put together. I always carry
446  'em about. They're the best introduction. If Miss Mowcher cuts
447  the Prince's nails, she must be all right. I give 'em away to the
448  young ladies. They put 'em in albums, I believe. Ha! ha! ha!
449  Upon my life, "the whole social system" (as the men call it when
450  they make speeches in Parliament) is a system of Prince's nails!'
451  said this least of women, trying to fold her short arms, and
452  nodding her large head.

453       Steerforth laughed heartily, and I laughed too. Miss Mowcher
454  continuing all the time to shake her head (which was very much on
455  one side), and to look into the air with one eye, and to wink with
456  the other.

457       'Well, well!' she said, smiting her small knees, and rising, 'this
458  is not business. Come, Steerforth, let's explore the polar
459  regions, and have it over.'

460       She then selected two or three of the little instruments, and a
461  little bottle, and asked (to my surprise) if the table would bear.
462  On Steerforth's replying in the affirmative, she pushed a chair
463  against it, and begging the assistance of my hand, mounted up,
464  pretty nimbly, to the top, as if it were a stage.

465       'If either of you saw my ankles,' she said, when she was safely
466  elevated, 'say so, and I'll go home and destroy myself!'

467       'I did not,' said Steerforth.

468       'I did not,' said I.

469       'Well then,' cried Miss Mowcher,' I'll consent to live. Now,
470  ducky, ducky, ducky, come to Mrs. Bond and be killed.'

471       This was an invocation to Steerforth to place himself under her
472  hands; who, accordingly, sat himself down, with his back to the
473  table, and his laughing face towards me, and submitted his head to
474  her inspection, evidently for no other purpose than our
475  entertainment. To see Miss Mowcher standing over him, looking at
476  his rich profusion of brown hair through a large round magnifying
477  glass, which she took out of her pocket, was a most amazing
478  spectacle.

479       'You're a pretty fellow!' said Miss Mowcher, after a brief
480  inspection. 'You'd be as bald as a friar on the top of your head
481  in twelve months, but for me. just half a minute, my young friend,
482  and we'll give you a polishing that shall keep your curls on for
483  the next ten years!'

484       With this, she tilted some of the contents of the little bottle on
485  to one of the little bits of flannel, and, again imparting some of
486  the virtues of that preparation to one of the little brushes, began
487  rubbing and scraping away with both on the crown of Steerforth's
488  head in the busiest manner I ever witnessed, talking all the time.

489       'There's Charley Pyegrave, the duke's son,' she said. 'You know
490  Charley?' peeping round into his face.

491       'A little,' said Steerforth.

492       'What a man HE is! THERE'S a whisker! As to Charley's legs, if
493  they were only a pair (which they ain't), they'd defy competition.
494  Would you believe he tried to do without me - in the Life-Guards,
495  too?'

496       'Mad!' said Steerforth.

497       'It looks like it. However, mad or sane, he tried,' returned Miss
498  Mowcher. 'What does he do, but, lo and behold you, he goes into a
499  perfumer's shop, and wants to buy a bottle of the Madagascar
500  Liquid.'

501       'Charley does?' said Steerforth.

502       'Charley does. But they haven't got any of the Madagascar Liquid.'

503       'What is it? Something to drink?' asked Steerforth.

504       'To drink?' returned Miss Mowcher, stopping to slap his cheek. 'To
505  doctor his own moustachios with, you know. There was a woman in
506  the shop - elderly female - quite a Griffin - who had never even
507  heard of it by name. "Begging pardon, sir," said the Griffin to
508  Charley, "it's not - not - not ROUGE, is it?" "Rouge," said
509  Charley to the Griffin. "What the unmentionable to ears polite, do
510  you think I want with rouge?" "No offence, sir," said the Griffin;
511  "we have it asked for by so many names, I thought it might be." Now
512  that, my child,' continued Miss Mowcher, rubbing all the time as
513  busily as ever, 'is another instance of the refreshing humbug I was
514  speaking of. I do something in that way myself - perhaps a good
515  deal - perhaps a little - sharp's the word, my dear boy - never
516  mind!'

517       'In what way do you mean? In the rouge way?' said Steerforth.

518       'Put this and that together, my tender pupil,' returned the wary
519  Mowcher, touching her nose, 'work it by the rule of Secrets in all
520  trades, and the product will give you the desired result. I say I
521  do a little in that way myself. One Dowager, SHE calls it
522  lip-salve. Another, SHE calls it gloves. Another, SHE calls it
523  tucker-edging. Another, SHE calls it a fan. I call it whatever
524  THEY call it. I supply it for 'em, but we keep up the trick so, to
525  one another, and make believe with such a face, that they'd as soon
526  think of laying it on, before a whole drawing-room, as before me.
527  And when I wait upon 'em, they'll say to me sometimes - WITH IT ON
528  - thick, and no mistake - "How am I looking, Mowcher? Am I pale?"
529  Ha! ha! ha! ha! Isn't THAT refreshing, my young friend!'

530       I never did in my days behold anything like Mowcher as she stood
531  upon the dining table, intensely enjoying this refreshment, rubbing
532  busily at Steerforth's head, and winking at me over it.

533       'Ah!' she said. 'Such things are not much in demand hereabouts.
534  That sets me off again! I haven't seen a pretty woman since I've
535  been here, jemmy.'

536       'No?' said Steerforth.

537       'Not the ghost of one,' replied Miss Mowcher.

538       'We could show her the substance of one, I think?' said Steerforth,
539  addressing his eyes to mine. 'Eh, Daisy?'

540       'Yes, indeed,' said I.

541       'Aha?' cried the little creature, glancing sharply at my face, and
542  then peeping round at Steerforth's. 'Umph?'

543       The first exclamation sounded like a question put to both of us,
544  and the second like a question put to Steerforth only. She seemed
545  to have found no answer to either, but continued to rub, with her
546  head on one side and her eye turned up, as if she were looking for
547  an answer in the air and were confident of its appearing presently.

548       'A sister of yours, Mr. Copperfield?' she cried, after a pause, and
549  still keeping the same look-out. 'Aye, aye?'

550       'No,' said Steerforth, before I could reply. 'Nothing of the sort.
551  On the contrary, Mr. Copperfield used - or I am much mistaken - to
552  have a great admiration for her.'

553       'Why, hasn't he now?' returned Miss Mowcher. 'Is he fickle? Oh,
554  for shame! Did he sip every flower, and change every hour, until
555  Polly his passion requited? - Is her name Polly?'

556       The Elfin suddenness with which she pounced upon me with this
557  question, and a searching look, quite disconcerted me for a moment.

558       'No, Miss Mowcher,' I replied. 'Her name is Emily.'

559       'Aha?' she cried exactly as before. 'Umph? What a rattle I am!
560  Mr. Copperfield, ain't I volatile?'

561       Her tone and look implied something that was not agreeable to me in
562  connexion with the subject. So I said, in a graver manner than any
563  of us had yet assumed:
564  'She is as virtuous as she is pretty. She is engaged to be married
565  to a most worthy and deserving man in her own station of life. I
566  esteem her for her good sense, as much as I admire her for her good
567  looks.'

568       'Well said!' cried Steerforth. 'Hear, hear, hear! Now I'll quench
569  the curiosity of this little Fatima, my dear Daisy, by leaving her
570  nothing to guess at. She is at present apprenticed, Miss Mowcher,
571  or articled, or whatever it may be, to Omer and Joram,
572  Haberdashers, Milliners, and so forth, in this town. Do you
573  observe? Omer and Joram. The promise of which my friend has
574  spoken, is made and entered into with her cousin; Christian name,
575  Ham; surname, Peggotty; occupation, boat-builder; also of this
576  town. She lives with a relative; Christian name, unknown; surname,
577  Peggotty; occupation, seafaring; also of this town. She is the
578  prettiest and most engaging little fairy in the world. I admire
579  her - as my friend does - exceedingly. If it were not that I might
580  appear to disparage her Intended, which I know my friend would not
581  like, I would add, that to me she seems to be throwing herself
582  away; that I am sure she might do better; and that I swear she was
583  born to be a lady.'

584       Miss Mowcher listened to these words, which were very slowly and
585  distinctly spoken, with her head on one side, and her eye in the
586  air as if she were still looking for that answer. When he ceased
587  she became brisk again in an instant, and rattled away with
588  surprising volubility.

589       'Oh! And that's all about it, is it?' she exclaimed, trimming his
590  whiskers with a little restless pair of scissors, that went
591  glancing round his head in all directions. 'Very well: very well!
592  Quite a long story. Ought to end "and they lived happy ever
593  afterwards"; oughtn't it? Ah! What's that game at forfeits? I
594  love my love with an E, because she's enticing; I hate her with an
595  E, because she's engaged. I took her to the sign of the exquisite,
596  and treated her with an elopement, her name's Emily, and she lives
597  in the east? Ha! ha! ha! Mr. Copperfield, ain't I volatile?'

598       Merely looking at me with extravagant slyness, and not waiting for
599  any reply, she continued, without drawing breath:

600       'There! If ever any scapegrace was trimmed and touched up to
601  perfection, you are, Steerforth. If I understand any noddle in the
602  world, I understand yours. Do you hear me when I tell you that, my
603  darling? I understand yours,' peeping down into his face. 'Now
604  you may mizzle, jemmy (as we say at Court), and if Mr. Copperfield
605  will take the chair I'll operate on him.'

606       'What do you say, Daisy?' inquired Steerforth, laughing, and
607  resigning his seat. 'Will you be improved?'

608       'Thank you, Miss Mowcher, not this evening.'

609       'Don't say no,' returned the little woman, looking at me with the
610  aspect of a connoisseur; 'a little bit more eyebrow?'

611       'Thank you,' I returned, 'some other time.'

612       'Have it carried half a quarter of an inch towards the temple,'
613  said Miss Mowcher. 'We can do it in a fortnight.'

614       'No, I thank you. Not at present.'

615       'Go in for a tip,' she urged. 'No? Let's get the scaffolding up,
616  then, for a pair of whiskers. Come!'

617       I could not help blushing as I declined, for I felt we were on my
618  weak point, now. But Miss Mowcher, finding that I was not at
619  present disposed for any decoration within the range of her art,
620  and that I was, for the time being, proof against the blandishments
621  of the small bottle which she held up before one eye to enforce her
622  persuasions, said we would make a beginning on an early day, and
623  requested the aid of my hand to descend from her elevated station.
624  Thus assisted, she skipped down with much agility, and began to tie
625  her double chin into her bonnet.

626       'The fee,' said Steerforth, 'is -'

627       'Five bob,' replied Miss Mowcher, 'and dirt cheap, my chicken.
628  Ain't I volatile, Mr. Copperfield?'

629       I replied politely: 'Not at all.' But I thought she was rather so,
630  when she tossed up his two half-crowns like a goblin pieman, caught
631  them, dropped them in her pocket, and gave it a loud slap.

632       'That's the Till!' observed Miss Mowcher, standing at the chair
633  again, and replacing in the bag a miscellaneous collection of
634  little objects she had emptied out of it. 'Have I got all my
635  traps? It seems so. It won't do to be like long Ned Beadwood,
636  when they took him to church "to marry him to somebody", as he
637  says, and left the bride behind. Ha! ha! ha! A wicked rascal,
638  Ned, but droll! Now, I know I'm going to break your hearts, but I
639  am forced to leave you. You must call up all your fortitude, and
640  try to bear it. Good-bye, Mr. Copperfield! Take care of yourself,
641  jockey of Norfolk! How I have been rattling on! It's all the
642  fault of you two wretches. I forgive you! "Bob swore!" - as the
643  Englishman said for "Good night", when he first learnt French, and
644  thought it so like English. "Bob swore," my ducks!'

645       With the bag slung over her arm, and rattling as she waddled away,
646  she waddled to the door, where she stopped to inquire if she should
647  leave us a lock of her hair. 'Ain't I volatile?' she added, as a
648  commentary on this offer, and, with her finger on her nose,
649  departed.

650       Steerforth laughed to that degree, that it was impossible for me to
651  help laughing too; though I am not sure I should have done so, but
652  for this inducement. When we had had our laugh quite out, which
653  was after some time, he told me that Miss Mowcher had quite an
654  extensive connexion, and made herself useful to a variety of people
655  in a variety of ways. Some people trifled with her as a mere
656  oddity, he said; but she was as shrewdly and sharply observant as
657  anyone he knew, and as long-headed as she was short-armed. He told
658  me that what she had said of being here, and there, and everywhere,
659  was true enough; for she made little darts into the provinces, and
660  seemed to pick up customers everywhere, and to know everybody. I
661  asked him what her disposition was: whether it was at all
662  mischievous, and if her sympathies were generally on the right side
663  of things: but, not succeeding in attracting his attention to these
664  questions after two or three attempts, I forbore or forgot to
665  repeat them. He told me instead, with much rapidity, a good deal
666  about her skill, and her profits; and about her being a scientific
667  cupper, if I should ever have occasion for her service in that
668  capacity.

669       She was the principal theme of our conversation during the evening:
670  and when we parted for the night Steerforth called after me over
671  the banisters, 'Bob swore!' as I went downstairs.

672       I was surprised, when I came to Mr. Barkis's house, to find Ham
673  walking up and down in front of it, and still more surprised to
674  learn from him that little Em'ly was inside. I naturally inquired
675  why he was not there too, instead of pacing the streets by himself?

676       'Why, you see, Mas'r Davy,' he rejoined, in a hesitating manner,
677  'Em'ly, she's talking to some 'un in here.'

678       'I should have thought,' said I, smiling, 'that that was a reason
679  for your being in here too, Ham.'

680       'Well, Mas'r Davy, in a general way, so 't would be,' he returned;
681  'but look'ee here, Mas'r Davy,' lowering his voice, and speaking
682  very gravely. 'It's a young woman, sir - a young woman, that Em'ly
683  knowed once, and doen't ought to know no more.'

684       When I heard these words, a light began to fall upon the figure I
685  had seen following them, some hours ago.

686       'It's a poor wurem, Mas'r Davy,' said Ham, 'as is trod under foot
687  by all the town. Up street and down street. The mowld o' the
688  churchyard don't hold any that the folk shrink away from, more.'

689       'Did I see her tonight, Ham, on the sand, after we met you?'

690       'Keeping us in sight?' said Ham. 'It's like you did, Mas'r Davy.
691  Not that I know'd then, she was theer, sir, but along of her
692  creeping soon arterwards under Em'ly's little winder, when she see
693  the light come, and whispering "Em'ly, Em'ly, for Christ's sake,
694  have a woman's heart towards me. I was once like you!" Those was
695  solemn words, Mas'r Davy, fur to hear!'

696       'They were indeed, Ham. What did Em'ly do?'
697  'Says Em'ly, "Martha, is it you? Oh, Martha, can it be you?" - for
698  they had sat at work together, many a day, at Mr. Omer's.'

699       'I recollect her now!' cried I, recalling one of the two girls I
700  had seen when I first went there. 'I recollect her quite well!'

701       'Martha Endell,' said Ham. 'Two or three year older than Em'ly,
702  but was at the school with her.'

703       'I never heard her name,' said I. 'I didn't mean to interrupt
704  you.'

705       'For the matter o' that, Mas'r Davy,' replied Ham, 'all's told
706  a'most in them words, "Em'ly, Em'ly, for Christ's sake, have a
707  woman's heart towards me. I was once like you!" She wanted to
708  speak to Em'ly. Em'ly couldn't speak to her theer, for her loving
709  uncle was come home, and he wouldn't - no, Mas'r Davy,' said Ham,
710  with great earnestness, 'he couldn't, kind-natur'd, tender-hearted
711  as he is, see them two together, side by side, for all the
712  treasures that's wrecked in the sea.'

713       I felt how true this was. I knew it, on the instant, quite as well
714  as Ham.

715       'So Em'ly writes in pencil on a bit of paper,' he pursued, 'and
716  gives it to her out o' winder to bring here. "Show that," she
717  says, "to my aunt, Mrs. Barkis, and she'll set you down by her
718  fire, for the love of me, till uncle is gone out, and I can come."
719  By and by she tells me what I tell you, Mas'r Davy, and asks me to
720  bring her. What can I do? She doen't ought to know any such, but
721  I can't deny her, when the tears is on her face.'

722       He put his hand into the breast of his shaggy jacket, and took out
723  with great care a pretty little purse.

724       'And if I could deny her when the tears was on her face, Mas'r
725  Davy,' said Ham, tenderly adjusting it on the rough palm of his
726  hand, 'how could I deny her when she give me this to carry for her
727  - knowing what she brought it for? Such a toy as it is!' said Ham,
728  thoughtfully looking on it. 'With such a little money in it, Em'ly
729  my dear.'

730       I shook him warmly by the hand when he had put it away again - for
731  that was more satisfactory to me than saying anything - and we
732  walked up and down, for a minute or two, in silence. The door
733  opened then, and Peggotty appeared, beckoning to Ham to come in.
734  I would have kept away, but she came after me, entreating me to
735  come in too. Even then, I would have avoided the room where they
736  all were, but for its being the neat-tiled kitchen I have mentioned
737  more than once. The door opening immediately into it, I found
738  myself among them before I considered whither I was going.

739       The girl - the same I had seen upon the sands - was near the fire.
740  She was sitting on the ground, with her head and one arm lying on
741  a chair. I fancied, from the disposition of her figure, that Em'ly
742  had but newly risen from the chair, and that the forlorn head might
743  perhaps have been lying on her lap. I saw but little of the girl's
744  face, over which her hair fell loose and scattered, as if she had
745  been disordering it with her own hands; but I saw that she was
746  young, and of a fair complexion. Peggotty had been crying. So had
747  little Em'ly. Not a word was spoken when we first went in; and the
748  Dutch clock by the dresser seemed, in the silence, to tick twice as
749  loud as usual. Em'ly spoke first.

750       'Martha wants,' she said to Ham, 'to go to London.'

751       'Why to London?' returned Ham.

752       He stood between them, looking on the prostrate girl with a mixture
753  of compassion for her, and of jealousy of her holding any
754  companionship with her whom he loved so well, which I have always
755  remembered distinctly. They both spoke as if she were ill; in a
756  soft, suppressed tone that was plainly heard, although it hardly
757  rose above a whisper.

758       'Better there than here,' said a third voice aloud - Martha's,
759  though she did not move. 'No one knows me there. Everybody knows
760  me here.'

761       'What will she do there?' inquired Ham.

762       She lifted up her head, and looked darkly round at him for a
763  moment; then laid it down again, and curved her right arm about her
764  neck, as a woman in a fever, or in an agony of pain from a shot,
765  might twist herself.

766       'She will try to do well,' said little Em'ly. 'You don't know what
767  she has said to us. Does he - do they - aunt?'

768       Peggotty shook her head compassionately.

769       'I'll try,' said Martha, 'if you'll help me away. I never can do
770  worse than I have done here. I may do better. Oh!' with a
771  dreadful shiver, 'take me out of these streets, where the whole
772  town knows me from a child!'

773       As Em'ly held out her hand to Ham, I saw him put in it a little
774  canvas bag. She took it, as if she thought it were her purse, and
775  made a step or two forward; but finding her mistake, came back to
776  where he had retired near me, and showed it to him.

777       'It's all yourn, Em'ly,' I could hear him say. 'I haven't nowt in
778  all the wureld that ain't yourn, my dear. It ain't of no delight
779  to me, except for you!'

780       The tears rose freshly in her eyes, but she turned away and went to
781  Martha. What she gave her, I don't know. I saw her stooping over
782  her, and putting money in her bosom. She whispered something, as
783  she asked was that enough? 'More than enough,' the other said, and
784  took her hand and kissed it.

785       Then Martha arose, and gathering her shawl about her, covering her
786  face with it, and weeping aloud, went slowly to the door. She
787  stopped a moment before going out, as if she would have uttered
788  something or turned back; but no word passed her lips. Making the
789  same low, dreary, wretched moaning in her shawl, she went away.

790       As the door closed, little Em'ly looked at us three in a hurried
791  manner and then hid her face in her hands, and fell to sobbing.

792       'Doen't, Em'ly!' said Ham, tapping her gently on the shoulder.
793  'Doen't, my dear! You doen't ought to cry so, pretty!'

794       'Oh, Ham!' she exclaimed, still weeping pitifully, 'I am not so
795  good a girl as I ought to be! I know I have not the thankful
796  heart, sometimes, I ought to have!'

797       'Yes, yes, you have, I'm sure,' said Ham.

798       'No! no! no!' cried little Em'ly, sobbing, and shaking her head.
799  'I am not as good a girl as I ought to be. Not near! not near!'
800  And still she cried, as if her heart would break.

801       'I try your love too much. I know I do!' she sobbed. 'I'm often
802  cross to you, and changeable with you, when I ought to be far
803  different. You are never so to me. Why am I ever so to you, when
804  I should think of nothing but how to be grateful, and to make you
805  happy!'

806       'You always make me so,' said Ham, 'my dear! I am happy in the
807  sight of you. I am happy, all day long, in the thoughts of you.'

808       'Ah! that's not enough!' she cried. 'That is because you are good;
809  not because I am! Oh, my dear, it might have been a better fortune
810  for you, if you had been fond of someone else - of someone steadier
811  and much worthier than me, who was all bound up in you, and never
812  vain and changeable like me!'

813       'Poor little tender-heart,' said Ham, in a low voice. 'Martha has
814  overset her, altogether.'

815       'Please, aunt,' sobbed Em'ly, 'come here, and let me lay my head
816  upon you. Oh, I am very miserable tonight, aunt! Oh, I am not as
817  good a girl as I ought to be. I am not, I know!'

818       Peggotty had hastened to the chair before the fire. Em'ly, with
819  her arms around her neck, kneeled by her, looking up most earnestly
820  into her face.

821       'Oh, pray, aunt, try to help me! Ham, dear, try to help me! Mr.
822  David, for the sake of old times, do, please, try to help me! I
823  want to be a better girl than I am. I want to feel a hundred times
824  more thankful than I do. I want to feel more, what a blessed thing
825  it is to be the wife of a good man, and to lead a peaceful life.
826  Oh me, oh me! Oh my heart, my heart!'

827       She dropped her face on my old nurse's breast, and, ceasing this
828  supplication, which in its agony and grief was half a woman's, half
829  a child's, as all her manner was (being, in that, more natural, and
830  better suited to her beauty, as I thought, than any other manner
831  could have been), wept silently, while my old nurse hushed her like
832  an infant.

833       She got calmer by degrees, and then we soothed her; now talking
834  encouragingly, and now jesting a little with her, until she began
835  to raise her head and speak to us. So we got on, until she was
836  able to smile, and then to laugh, and then to sit up, half ashamed;
837  while Peggotty recalled her stray ringlets, dried her eyes, and
838  made her neat again, lest her uncle should wonder, when she got
839  home, why his darling had been crying.

840       I saw her do, that night, what I had never seen her do before. I
841  saw her innocently kiss her chosen husband on the cheek, and creep
842  close to his bluff form as if it were her best support. When they
843  went away together, in the waning moonlight, and I looked after
844  them, comparing their departure in my mind with Martha's, I saw
845  that she held his arm with both her hands, and still kept close to
846  him.

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