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Charles Dickens
Chapter 50
Charles Dickens
 
 
1       I received one morning by the post, the following letter, dated
2  Canterbury, and addressed to me at Doctor's Commons; which I read
3  with some surprise:

4       'MY DEAR SIR,

5       'Circumstances beyond my individual control have, for a
6  considerable lapse of time, effected a severance of that intimacy
7  which, in the limited opportunities conceded to me in the midst of
8  my professional duties, of contemplating the scenes and events of
9  the past, tinged by the prismatic hues of memory, has ever afforded
10  me, as it ever must continue to afford, gratifying emotions of no
11  common description. This fact, my dear sir, combined with the
12  distinguished elevation to which your talents have raised you,
13  deters me from presuming to aspire to the liberty of addressing the
14  companion of my youth, by the familiar appellation of Copperfield!
15  It is sufficient to know that the name to which I do myself the
16  honour to refer, will ever be treasured among the muniments of our
17  house (I allude to the archives connected with our former lodgers,
18  preserved by Mrs. Micawber), with sentiments of personal esteem
19  amounting to affection.

20       'It is not for one, situated, through his original errors and a
21  fortuitous combination of unpropitious events, as is the foundered
22  Bark (if he may be allowed to assume so maritime a denomination),
23  who now takes up the pen to address you - it is not, I repeat, for
24  one so circumstanced, to adopt the language of compliment, or of
25  congratulation. That he leaves to abler and to purer hands.

26       'If your more important avocations should admit of your ever
27  tracing these imperfect characters thus far - which may be, or may
28  not be, as circumstances arise - you will naturally inquire by what
29  object am I influenced, then, in inditing the present missive?
30  Allow me to say that I fully defer to the reasonable character of
31  that inquiry, and proceed to develop it; premising that it is not
32  an object of a pecuniary nature.

33       'Without more directly referring to any latent ability that may
34  possibly exist on my part, of wielding the thunderbolt, or
35  directing the devouring and avenging flame in any quarter, I may be
36  permitted to observe, in passing, that my brightest visions are for
37  ever dispelled - that my peace is shattered and my power of
38  enjoyment destroyed - that my heart is no longer in the right place
39  - and that I no more walk erect before my fellow man. The canker
40  is in the flower. The cup is bitter to the brim. The worm is at
41  his work, and will soon dispose of his victim. The sooner the
42  better. But I will not digress.
43  'Placed in a mental position of peculiar painfulness, beyond the
44  assuaging reach even of Mrs. Micawber's influence, though exercised
45  in the tripartite character of woman, wife, and mother, it is my
46  intention to fly from myself for a short period, and devote a
47  respite of eight-and-forty hours to revisiting some metropolitan
48  scenes of past enjoyment. Among other havens of domestic
49  tranquillity and peace of mind, my feet will naturally tend towards
50  the King's Bench Prison. In stating that I shall be (D. V.) on the
51  outside of the south wall of that place of incarceration on civil
52  process, the day after tomorrow, at seven in the evening,
53  precisely, my object in this epistolary communication is
54  accomplished.

55       'I do not feel warranted in soliciting my former friend Mr.
56  Copperfield, or my former friend Mr. Thomas Traddles of the Inner
57  Temple, if that gentleman is still existent and forthcoming, to
58  condescend to meet me, and renew (so far as may be) our past
59  relations of the olden time. I confine myself to throwing out the
60  observation, that, at the hour and place I have indicated, may be
61  found such ruined vestiges as yet
62  

'Remain,

63       

'Of

64       

'A

65       

'Fallen Tower,

66       

'WILKINS MICAWBER.

67       'P.S. It may be advisable to superadd to the above, the statement
68  that Mrs. Micawber is not in confidential possession of my
69  intentions.'

70       I read the letter over several times. Making due allowance for Mr.
71  Micawber's lofty style of composition, and for the extraordinary
72  relish with which he sat down and wrote long letters on all
73  possible and impossible occasions, I still believed that something
74  important lay hidden at the bottom of this roundabout
75  communication. I put it down, to think about it; and took it up
76  again, to read it once more; and was still pursuing it, when
77  Traddles found me in the height of my perplexity.

78       'My dear fellow,' said I, 'I never was better pleased to see you.
79  You come to give me the benefit of your sober judgement at a most
80  opportune time. I have received a very singular letter, Traddles,
81  from Mr. Micawber.'

82       'No?' cried Traddles. 'You don't say so? And I have received one
83  from Mrs. Micawber!'

84       With that, Traddles, who was flushed with walking, and whose hair,
85  under the combined effects of exercise and excitement, stood on end
86  as if he saw a cheerful ghost, produced his letter and made an
87  exchange with me. I watched him into the heart of Mr. Micawber's
88  letter, and returned the elevation of eyebrows with which he said
89  "'Wielding the thunderbolt, or directing the devouring and avenging
90  flame!" Bless me, Copperfield!'- and then entered on the perusal of
91  Mrs. Micawber's epistle.

92       It ran thus:

93       'My best regards to Mr. Thomas Traddles, and if he should still
94  remember one who formerly had the happiness of being well
95  acquainted with him, may I beg a few moments of his leisure time?
96  I assure Mr. T. T. that I would not intrude upon his kindness, were
97  I in any other position than on the confines of distraction.

98       'Though harrowing to myself to mention, the alienation of Mr.
99  Micawber (formerly so domesticated) from his wife and family, is
100  the cause of my addressing my unhappy appeal to Mr. Traddles, and
101  soliciting his best indulgence. Mr. T. can form no adequate idea
102  of the change in Mr. Micawber's conduct, of his wildness, of his
103  violence. It has gradually augmented, until it assumes the
104  appearance of aberration of intellect. Scarcely a day passes, I
105  assure Mr. Traddles, on which some paroxysm does not take place.
106  Mr. T. will not require me to depict my feelings, when I inform him
107  that I have become accustomed to hear Mr. Micawber assert that he
108  has sold himself to the D. Mystery and secrecy have long been his
109  principal characteristic, have long replaced unlimited confidence.
110  The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he
111  would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a
112  separation. Last night, on being childishly solicited for
113  twopence, to buy 'lemon-stunners' - a local sweetmeat - he
114  presented an oyster-knife at the twins!

115       'I entreat Mr. Traddles to bear with me in entering into these
116  details. Without them, Mr. T. would indeed find it difficult to
117  form the faintest conception of my heart-rending situation.

118       'May I now venture to confide to Mr. T. the purport of my letter?
119  Will he now allow me to throw myself on his friendly consideration?
120  Oh yes, for I know his heart!

121       'The quick eye of affection is not easily blinded, when of the
122  female sex. Mr. Micawber is going to London. Though he studiously
123  concealed his hand, this morning before breakfast, in writing the
124  direction-card which he attached to the little brown valise of
125  happier days, the eagle-glance of matrimonial anxiety detected, d,
126  o, n, distinctly traced. The West-End destination of the coach, is
127  the Golden Cross. Dare I fervently implore Mr. T. to see my
128  misguided husband, and to reason with him? Dare I ask Mr. T. to
129  endeavour to step in between Mr. Micawber and his agonized family?
130  Oh no, for that would be too much!

131       'If Mr. Copperfield should yet remember one unknown to fame, will
132  Mr. T. take charge of my unalterable regards and similar
133  entreaties? In any case, he will have the benevolence to consider
134  this communication strictly private, and on no account whatever to
135  be alluded to, however distantly, in the presence of Mr. Micawber.
136  If Mr. T. should ever reply to it (which I cannot but feel to be
137  most improbable), a letter addressed to M. E., Post Office,
138  Canterbury, will be fraught with less painful consequences than any
139  addressed immediately to one, who subscribes herself, in extreme
140  distress,

141       'Mr. Thomas Traddles's respectful friend and suppliant,

142       

'EMMA MICAWBER.'

143       'What do you think of that letter?' said Traddles, casting his eyes
144  upon me, when I had read it twice.

145       'What do you think of the other?' said I. For he was still reading
146  it with knitted brows.

147       'I think that the two together, Copperfield,' replied Traddles,
148  'mean more than Mr. and Mrs. Micawber usually mean in their
149  correspondence - but I don't know what. They are both written in
150  good faith, I have no doubt, and without any collusion. Poor
151  thing!' he was now alluding to Mrs. Micawber's letter, and we were
152  standing side by side comparing the two; 'it will be a charity to
153  write to her, at all events, and tell her that we will not fail to
154  see Mr. Micawber.'

155       I acceded to this the more readily, because I now reproached myself
156  with having treated her former letter rather lightly. It had set
157  me thinking a good deal at the time, as I have mentioned in its
158  place; but my absorption in my own affairs, my experience of the
159  family, and my hearing nothing more, had gradually ended in my
160  dismissing the subject. I had often thought of the Micawbers, but
161  chiefly to wonder what 'pecuniary liabilities' they were
162  establishing in Canterbury, and to recall how shy Mr. Micawber was
163  of me when he became clerk to Uriah Heep.

164       However, I now wrote a comforting letter to Mrs. Micawber, in our
165  joint names, and we both signed it. As we walked into town to post
166  it, Traddles and I held a long conference, and launched into a
167  number of speculations, which I need not repeat. We took my aunt
168  into our counsels in the afternoon; but our only decided conclusion
169  was, that we would be very punctual in keeping Mr. Micawber's
170  appointment.

171       Although we appeared at the stipulated place a quarter of an hour
172  before the time, we found Mr. Micawber already there. He was
173  standing with his arms folded, over against the wall, looking at
174  the spikes on the top, with a sentimental expression, as if they
175  were the interlacing boughs of trees that had shaded him in his
176  youth.

177       When we accosted him, his manner was something more confused, and
178  something less genteel, than of yore. He had relinquished his
179  legal suit of black for the purposes of this excursion, and wore
180  the old surtout and tights, but not quite with the old air. He
181  gradually picked up more and more of it as we conversed with him;
182  but, his very eye-glass seemed to hang less easily, and his
183  shirt-collar, though still of the old formidable dimensions, rather
184  drooped.

185       'Gentlemen!' said Mr. Micawber, after the first salutations, 'you
186  are friends in need, and friends indeed. Allow me to offer my
187  inquiries with reference to the physical welfare of Mrs.
188  Copperfield in esse, and Mrs. Traddles in posse, - presuming, that
189  is to say, that my friend Mr. Traddles is not yet united to the
190  object of his affections, for weal and for woe.'

191       We acknowledged his politeness, and made suitable replies. He then
192  directed our attention to the wall, and was beginning, 'I assure
193  you, gentlemen,' when I ventured to object to that ceremonious form
194  of address, and to beg that he would speak to us in the old way.

195       'My dear Copperfield,' he returned, pressing my hand, 'your
196  cordiality overpowers me. This reception of a shattered fragment
197  of the Temple once called Man - if I may be permitted so to express
198  myself - bespeaks a heart that is an honour to our common nature.
199  I was about to observe that I again behold the serene spot where
200  some of the happiest hours of my existence fleeted by.'

201       'Made so, I am sure, by Mrs. Micawber,' said I. 'I hope she is
202  well?'

203       'Thank you,' returned Mr. Micawber, whose face clouded at this
204  reference, 'she is but so-so. And this,' said Mr. Micawber,
205  nodding his head sorrowfully, 'is the Bench! Where, for the first
206  time in many revolving years, the overwhelming pressure of
207  pecuniary liabilities was not proclaimed, from day to day, by
208  importune voices declining to vacate the passage; where there was
209  no knocker on the door for any creditor to appeal to; where
210  personal service of process was not required, and detainees were
211  merely lodged at the gate! Gentlemen,' said Mr. Micawber, 'when the
212  shadow of that iron-work on the summit of the brick structure has
213  been reflected on the gravel of the Parade, I have seen my children
214  thread the mazes of the intricate pattern, avoiding the dark marks.
215  I have been familiar with every stone in the place. If I betray
216  weakness, you will know how to excuse me.'

217       'We have all got on in life since then, Mr. Micawber,' said I.

218       'Mr. Copperfield,' returned Mr. Micawber, bitterly, 'when I was an
219  inmate of that retreat I could look my fellow-man in the face, and
220  punch his head if he offended me. My fellow-man and myself are no
221  longer on those glorious terms!'

222       Turning from the building in a downcast manner, Mr. Micawber
223  accepted my proffered arm on one side, and the proffered arm of
224  Traddles on the other, and walked away between us.

225       'There are some landmarks,' observed Mr. Micawber, looking fondly
226  back over his shoulder, 'on the road to the tomb, which, but for
227  the impiety of the aspiration, a man would wish never to have
228  passed. Such is the Bench in my chequered career.'

229       'Oh, you are in low spirits, Mr. Micawber,' said Traddles.

230       'I am, sir,' interposed Mr. Micawber.

231       'I hope,' said Traddles, 'it is not because you have conceived a
232  dislike to the law - for I am a lawyer myself, you know.'

233       Mr. Micawber answered not a word.

234       'How is our friend Heep, Mr. Micawber?' said I, after a silence.

235       'My dear Copperfield,' returned Mr. Micawber, bursting into a state
236  of much excitement, and turning pale, 'if you ask after my employer
237  as your friend, I am sorry for it; if you ask after him as MY
238  friend, I sardonically smile at it. In whatever capacity you ask
239  after my employer, I beg, without offence to you, to limit my reply
240  to this - that whatever his state of health may be, his appearance
241  is foxy: not to say diabolical. You will allow me, as a private
242  individual, to decline pursuing a subject which has lashed me to
243  the utmost verge of desperation in my professional capacity.'

244       I expressed my regret for having innocently touched upon a theme
245  that roused him so much. 'May I ask,' said I, 'without any hazard
246  of repeating the mistake, how my old friends Mr. and Miss Wickfield
247  are?'

248       'Miss Wickfield,' said Mr. Micawber, now turning red, 'is, as she
249  always is, a pattern, and a bright example. My dear Copperfield,
250  she is the only starry spot in a miserable existence. My respect
251  for that young lady, my admiration of her character, my devotion to
252  her for her love and truth, and goodness! - Take me,' said Mr.
253  Micawber, 'down a turning, for, upon my soul, in my present state
254  of mind I am not equal to this!'

255       We wheeled him off into a narrow street, where he took out his
256  pocket-handkerchief, and stood with his back to a wall. If I
257  looked as gravely at him as Traddles did, he must have found our
258  company by no means inspiriting.

259       'It is my fate,' said Mr. Micawber, unfeignedly sobbing, but doing
260  even that, with a shadow of the old expression of doing something
261  genteel; 'it is my fate, gentlemen, that the finer feelings of our
262  nature have become reproaches to me. My homage to Miss Wickfield,
263  is a flight of arrows in my bosom. You had better leave me, if you
264  please, to walk the earth as a vagabond. The worm will settle my
265  business in double-quick time.'

266       Without attending to this invocation, we stood by, until he put up
267  his pocket-handkerchief, pulled up his shirt-collar, and, to delude
268  any person in the neighbourhood who might have been observing him,
269  hummed a tune with his hat very much on one side. I then mentioned
270  - not knowing what might be lost if we lost sight of him yet - that
271  it would give me great pleasure to introduce him to my aunt, if he
272  would ride out to Highgate, where a bed was at his service.

273       'You shall make us a glass of your own punch, Mr. Micawber,' said
274  I, 'and forget whatever you have on your mind, in pleasanter
275  reminiscences.'

276       'Or, if confiding anything to friends will be more likely to
277  relieve you, you shall impart it to us, Mr. Micawber,' said
278  Traddles, prudently.

279       'Gentlemen,' returned Mr. Micawber, 'do with me as you will! I am
280  a straw upon the surface of the deep, and am tossed in all
281  directions by the elephants - I beg your pardon; I should have said
282  the elements.'

283       We walked on, arm-in-arm, again; found the coach in the act of
284  starting; and arrived at Highgate without encountering any
285  difficulties by the way. I was very uneasy and very uncertain in
286  my mind what to say or do for the best - so was Traddles,
287  evidently. Mr. Micawber was for the most part plunged into deep
288  gloom. He occasionally made an attempt to smarten himself, and hum
289  the fag-end of a tune; but his relapses into profound melancholy
290  were only made the more impressive by the mockery of a hat
291  exceedingly on one side, and a shirt-collar pulled up to his eyes.

292       We went to my aunt's house rather than to mine, because of Dora's
293  not being well. My aunt presented herself on being sent for, and
294  welcomed Mr. Micawber with gracious cordiality. Mr. Micawber
295  kissed her hand, retired to the window, and pulling out his
296  pocket-handkerchief, had a mental wrestle with himself.

297       Mr. Dick was at home. He was by nature so exceedingly
298  compassionate of anyone who seemed to be ill at ease, and was so
299  quick to find any such person out, that he shook hands with Mr.
300  Micawber, at least half-a-dozen times in five minutes. To Mr.
301  Micawber, in his trouble, this warmth, on the part of a stranger,
302  was so extremely touching, that he could only say, on the occasion
303  of each successive shake, 'My dear sir, you overpower me!' Which
304  gratified Mr. Dick so much, that he went at it again with greater
305  vigour than before.

306       'The friendliness of this gentleman,' said Mr. Micawber to my aunt,
307  'if you will allow me, ma'am, to cull a figure of speech from the
308  vocabulary of our coarser national sports - floors me. To a man
309  who is struggling with a complicated burden of perplexity and
310  disquiet, such a reception is trying, I assure you.'

311       'My friend Mr. Dick,' replied my aunt proudly, 'is not a common
312  man.'

313       'That I am convinced of,' said Mr. Micawber. 'My dear sir!' for
314  Mr. Dick was shaking hands with him again; 'I am deeply sensible of
315  your cordiality!'

316       'How do you find yourself?' said Mr. Dick, with an anxious look.

317       'Indifferent, my dear sir,' returned Mr. Micawber, sighing.

318       'You must keep up your spirits,' said Mr. Dick, 'and make yourself
319  as comfortable as possible.'

320       Mr. Micawber was quite overcome by these friendly words, and by
321  finding Mr. Dick's hand again within his own. 'It has been my
322  lot,' he observed, 'to meet, in the diversified panorama of human
323  existence, with an occasional oasis, but never with one so green,
324  so gushing, as the present!'

325       At another time I should have been amused by this; but I felt that
326  we were all constrained and uneasy, and I watched Mr. Micawber so
327  anxiously, in his vacillations between an evident disposition to
328  reveal something, and a counter-disposition to reveal nothing, that
329  I was in a perfect fever. Traddles, sitting on the edge of his
330  chair, with his eyes wide open, and his hair more emphatically
331  erect than ever, stared by turns at the ground and at Mr. Micawber,
332  without so much as attempting to put in a word. My aunt, though I
333  saw that her shrewdest observation was concentrated on her new
334  guest, had more useful possession of her wits than either of us;
335  for she held him in conversation, and made it necessary for him to
336  talk, whether he liked it or not.

337       'You are a very old friend of my nephew's, Mr. Micawber,' said my
338  aunt. 'I wish I had had the pleasure of seeing you before.'

339       'Madam,' returned Mr. Micawber, 'I wish I had had the honour of
340  knowing you at an earlier period. I was not always the wreck you
341  at present behold.'

342       'I hope Mrs. Micawber and your family are well, sir,' said my aunt.

343       Mr. Micawber inclined his head. 'They are as well, ma'am,' he
344  desperately observed after a pause, 'as Aliens and Outcasts can
345  ever hope to be.'

346       'Lord bless you, sir!' exclaimed my aunt, in her abrupt way. 'What
347  are you talking about?'

348       'The subsistence of my family, ma'am,' returned Mr. Micawber,
349  'trembles in the balance. My employer -'

350       Here Mr. Micawber provokingly left off; and began to peel the
351  lemons that had been under my directions set before him, together
352  with all the other appliances he used in making punch.

353       'Your employer, you know,' said Mr. Dick, jogging his arm as a
354  gentle reminder.

355       'My good sir,' returned Mr. Micawber, 'you recall me, I am obliged
356  to you.' They shook hands again. 'My employer, ma'am - Mr. Heep
357  - once did me the favour to observe to me, that if I were not in
358  the receipt of the stipendiary emoluments appertaining to my
359  engagement with him, I should probably be a mountebank about the
360  country, swallowing a sword-blade, and eating the devouring
361  element. For anything that I can perceive to the contrary, it is
362  still probable that my children may be reduced to seek a livelihood
363  by personal contortion, while Mrs. Micawber abets their unnatural
364  feats by playing the barrel-organ.'

365       Mr. Micawber, with a random but expressive flourish of his knife,
366  signified that these performances might be expected to take place
367  after he was no more; then resumed his peeling with a desperate
368  air.

369       My aunt leaned her elbow on the little round table that she usually
370  kept beside her, and eyed him attentively. Notwithstanding the
371  aversion with which I regarded the idea of entrapping him into any
372  disclosure he was not prepared to make voluntarily, I should have
373  taken him up at this point, but for the strange proceedings in
374  which I saw him engaged; whereof his putting the lemon-peel into
375  the kettle, the sugar into the snuffer-tray, the spirit into the
376  empty jug, and confidently attempting to pour boiling water out of
377  a candlestick, were among the most remarkable. I saw that a crisis
378  was at hand, and it came. He clattered all his means and
379  implements together, rose from his chair, pulled out his
380  pocket-handkerchief, and burst into tears.

381       'My dear Copperfield,' said Mr. Micawber, behind his handkerchief,
382  'this is an occupation, of all others, requiring an untroubled
383  mind, and self-respect. I cannot perform it. It is out of the
384  question.'

385       'Mr. Micawber,' said I, 'what is the matter? Pray speak out. You
386  are among friends.'

387       'Among friends, sir!' repeated Mr. Micawber; and all he had
388  reserved came breaking out of him. 'Good heavens, it is
389  principally because I AM among friends that my state of mind is
390  what it is. What is the matter, gentlemen? What is NOT the
391  matter? Villainy is the matter; baseness is the matter; deception,
392  fraud, conspiracy, are the matter; and the name of the whole
393  atrocious mass is - HEEP!'

394       MY aunt clapped her hands, and we all started up as if we were
395  possessed.

396       'The struggle is over!' said Mr. Micawber violently gesticulating
397  with his pocket-handkerchief, and fairly striking out from time to
398  time with both arms, as if he were swimming under superhuman
399  difficulties. 'I will lead this life no longer. I am a wretched
400  being, cut off from everything that makes life tolerable. I have
401  been under a Taboo in that infernal scoundrel's service. Give me
402  back my wife, give me back my family, substitute Micawber for the
403  petty wretch who walks about in the boots at present on my feet,
404  and call upon me to swallow a sword tomorrow, and I'll do it. With
405  an appetite!'

406       I never saw a man so hot in my life. I tried to calm him, that we
407  might come to something rational; but he got hotter and hotter, and
408  wouldn't hear a word.

409       'I'll put my hand in no man's hand,' said Mr. Micawber, gasping,
410  puffing, and sobbing, to that degree that he was like a man
411  fighting with cold water, 'until I have - blown to fragments - the
412  - a - detestable - serpent - HEEP! I'll partake of no one's
413  hospitality, until I have - a - moved Mount Vesuvius - to eruption
414  - on - a - the abandoned rascal - HEEP! Refreshment - a -
415  underneath this roof - particularly punch - would - a - choke me -
416  unless - I had - previously - choked the eyes - out of the head -
417  a - of - interminable cheat, and liar - HEEP! I - a- I'll know
418  nobody - and - a - say nothing - and - a - live nowhere - until I
419  have crushed - to - a - undiscoverable atoms - the - transcendent
420  and immortal hypocrite and perjurer - HEEP!'

421       I really had some fear of Mr. Micawber's dying on the spot. The
422  manner in which he struggled through these inarticulate sentences,
423  and, whenever he found himself getting near the name of Heep,
424  fought his way on to it, dashed at it in a fainting state, and
425  brought it out with a vehemence little less than marvellous, was
426  frightful; but now, when he sank into a chair, steaming, and looked
427  at us, with every possible colour in his face that had no business
428  there, and an endless procession of lumps following one another in
429  hot haste up his throat, whence they seemed to shoot into his
430  forehead, he had the appearance of being in the last extremity. I
431  would have gone to his assistance, but he waved me off, and
432  wouldn't hear a word.

433       'No, Copperfield! - No communication - a - until - Miss Wickfield
434  - a - redress from wrongs inflicted by consummate scoundrel -
435  HEEP!' (I am quite convinced he could not have uttered three words,
436  but for the amazing energy with which this word inspired him when
437  he felt it coming.) 'Inviolable secret - a - from the whole world
438  - a - no exceptions - this day week - a - at breakfast-time - a -
439  everybody present - including aunt - a - and extremely friendly
440  gentleman - to be at the hotel at Canterbury - a - where - Mrs.
441  Micawber and myself - Auld Lang Syne in chorus - and - a - will
442  expose intolerable ruffian - HEEP! No more to say - a - or listen
443  to persuasion - go immediately - not capable - a - bear society -
444  upon the track of devoted and doomed traitor - HEEP!'

445       With this last repetition of the magic word that had kept him going
446  at all, and in which he surpassed all his previous efforts, Mr.
447  Micawber rushed out of the house; leaving us in a state of
448  excitement, hope, and wonder, that reduced us to a condition little
449  better than his own. But even then his passion for writing letters
450  was too strong to be resisted; for while we were yet in the height
451  of our excitement, hope, and wonder, the following pastoral note
452  was brought to me from a neighbouring tavern, at which he had
453  called to write it: -

454       

'Most secret and confidential.

455       'MY DEAR SIR,

456       'I beg to be allowed to convey, through you, my apologies to your
457  excellent aunt for my late excitement. An explosion of a
458  smouldering volcano long suppressed, was the result of an internal
459  contest more easily conceived than described.

460       'I trust I rendered tolerably intelligible my appointment for the
461  morning of this day week, at the house of public entertainment at
462  Canterbury, where Mrs. Micawber and myself had once the honour of
463  uniting our voices to yours, in the well-known strain of the
464  Immortal exciseman nurtured beyond the Tweed.

465       'The duty done, and act of reparation performed, which can alone
466  enable me to contemplate my fellow mortal, I shall be known no
467  more. I shall simply require to be deposited in that place of
468  universal resort, where

469       

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

470       

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep,

471       

'- With the plain Inscription,

472       

'WILKINS MICAWBER.'

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