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GIFT or
Yoshi S. Kuno
THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT,
BY
CHARLES DICKENS
WITH ILLUSTRA TIONS.
NEW YORK
JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY
150 Worth Street, corner Mission Place
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PREFACE.
What is exaggeration to one class of minds and percep- tions, is plain truth to another. That which is commonly called a long-sight, perceives in a prospect innumerable features and bearings non-existent to a short-sighted person. I sometimes ask myself whether there may occasionally be a difference of this kind between some writers and some readers ; whether it is always the writer who colors highly, or whether it is now and then the reader whose eye for color is a little dull ?
On this head of exaggeration I have a positive experience more curious than the speculation I have just set down. It is this : — I have never touched a character precisely from the life, but some counterpart of that character has incredulously asked me : " Now really, did I ever really, see one like it ? "
All the Pecksniff family upon earth are quite agreed, I believe, that Mr. Pecksniff is an exaggeration, and that no such character ever existed. I will not offer any plea on his behalf to so powerful and genteel a body, but will make a remark on the character of Jonas Chuzzlewit.
I conceive that the sordid coarseness and brutality of Jonas would be unnatural, if there had been nothing in his early education, and in the precept and example always before him, to engender and develop the vices that make him odious. But, so born and so bred — admired for that which made him hateful, and justified from his cradle in cunning, treachery, and avarice; I claim him as the legitimate issue of the father upon whom those vices are seen to recoil. And I submit that their recoil upon that old man, in his un- honored age, is not a mere piece of poetical justice, but is the extreme exposition of a direct truth.
I make this comment and solicit the reader's attention to it in his or her consideration of this tale, because nothing is more common in real life than a want of profitable reflec- tion on the causes of many vices and crimes that awaken general horror. What is substantially true of families in this respect, is true of a whole commonwealth. As we sow, we
iw 194476
iv PREFACE.
reap. Let the reader go into the children's side of any prison in England, or, I grieve to add, of many work houses, and judge whether those are monsters who disgrace our streets, people our hulks and penitentiaries, and overcrowd our penal colonies, or are creatures whom we have deliber- ately suffered to be bred for misery and ruin.
The American portion of this story is in no other respect a caricature, than as it is an exhibition, for the most part (Mr. Bevan excepted), of a ludicrous side, onl}\ of the Ameri- can character — of that side which was, four-and-twenty years ago, from its nature, the most obtrusive, and the most likely to be seen by such travelers as young Martin and Mark Tapley. As I had never, in writing fiction, had any disposi- tion to soften what is ridiculous or wrong at home, so I then hoped that the good-humored people of the United States would not be generally disposed to quarrel with me for carry- ing the same usage abroad. I am happy to believe that my confidence in that great nation was not misplaced.
When this book was first published, I was given to under- stand, by some authorities, that the Watertoast Association and eloquence were beyond all bounds of belief. Therefore I record the fact that all that portion of Martin Chuzzlewit's experiences is a literal paraphrase of some reports of public proceedings in the United States (especially of the proceed- ings of a certain Brandywine Association), which were printed in the Times newspaper in June and July, 1843, at about the time when I was engaged in writing those parts of the book ; and which remain on the file of the Times newspaper, of course.
In all my writings, I hope I have taken every available op- portunity of showing the want of sanitary improvements in the neglected dwellings of the poor. Mrs. Sarah Gamp was, four-and-twenty years ago, a fair representation of the hired attendant on the poor in sickness. The hospitals of London were, in many respects, noble institutions ; in others, very defective. I think it not the least among the instances of their mismanagement, that Mrs. Betsy Prig was a fair speci- men of a hospital nurse ; and that the hospitals, with their means and funds, should have left it to jjrivatc humanity and enterprise to enter on an attempt to improve that class of persons — since greatly improved through the agency of good women.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I. Introductory, concerning the f>edigTee of the Chuzelewit
family, ............ 9
CHAPTER n. Wherein certain persons are presented to the reader,
with whom he may, if he pleases, become better acquainted, . . 15
CHAPTER HI. In which certahi other persons are introduced ; on the
same terms as in the last chapter, ^
CHAPTER IV. From which it will appear that if union be strength, and family affection be pleasant to contemplate, the Chuzzlewits were the strongest and most agreeable family in the world, . . .51
CHAPTER V. Containing a full account of the installation of Mr. Pecksniff's new pupil into the bosom of Mr. Pecksniffs family, v.-ith all the festivities held on that occasion, and the great enjoyment of Mr. Pinch, 71
CHAPTER VI. Comprises, among other important matters, Peck- sniffian and architectural, an exact relation of the progress made by Mr. Pinch in the confidence and friendship of the new pupil, . . 93
CHAPTER VII. In which Mr. Chevy Slyme asserts the independence
of his spirit, and the Blue Dragon loses a limb, .... 108
CHAPTER VIII. Accompanies Mr. Pecksniff and his charming daugh- ters to the city of London ; and relates what fell out, upon their way thither, 124
CHAPTER IX. Town and Todgers's 135
CHAPTER X. Containing strange matter ; on which many evenly in
this historv- may, for their good or evil influence, chiefly depend, , 162
CHAPTER XI. Wherein a certain gentleman becomes particular in his attentions to a certain lady ; and more coming events than one, cast their shadows before, 177
CHAPTER XII. Will be seen in the long run, if not in the short ^one, to concern Mr. Pinch and others, nearly. Mr. Pecksniff asserts the dignity of outraged virtue. Young Martin Chuzzlewit forms a des- perate resolution, 199
VI CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XIII. Showing what became of Martin and his desperate resolve after he left Mr. Pecksniff's house; what persons he encount- ered ; what anxieties he suffered ; and what news he heard, . . 219
CHAPTER XIV. In which Martin bids adieu to the lady of his love ; and honors an obscure individual whose fortune he intends to make, by commending her to his protection, 241
CHAPTER XV. The burden whereof is, Hail, Columbia ! . . .252
CHAPTER XVI. Martin disembarks from that noble and fast-sailing- line-of-packet ship, the Screw, at the port of New York, in the United States of America. He makes some acquaintances, and dines at a boarding-house. The particulars of those transactions, . 261
CHAPTER XVII. Martin enlarges his circle of acquaintance ; increases his stock of wisdom ; and has an excellent opportunity of comparing his own experiences with those of Lummy Ned of the Light Salis- bury, as related by his friend, Mr. William Simmons, . . . 283
CHAPTER XVIII. Does business with the house of Anthony Chuzzle-
wit and Son, from which one of the partners retires unexpectedly, . 303
CHAPTER XIX. The reader is brought into communication with some professional persons, and sheds a tear over the filial piety of good Mr. Jonas, 314
CHAPTER XX. Is a chapter of love, 330
CHAPTER XXI. More American experiences. Martin takes a partner, and makes a purchase. Some account of Eden, as it appeared on paper. Also of the British Lion. Also of the kind of sympathy professed and entertained by the Watertoast Association of United Sympathizers, 345
CHAPTER XXII. From which it will be seen that Martin became a
lion on his own account. Together with the reason why, . . 366
CHAPTER XXIII. Martin and his partner take possession of their
estate. The joyful occasion involves some further account of Eden, 377
CHAPTER XXIV. Reports progress in certain homely matters of love,
hatred, jealousy, and revenge, . . . . * . . . . 387
CHAPTER XXV. Is in part professional; and furnishes the reader
with some valuable hints in relation to the management of a sick .
chamber, 403
CHAPTER XXVI. An unexpected meeting, and a promising prospect, 420
CHAPTER XXVII. Showing that old friends may not only appear with new faces, but in false colors. That people are prone to bite ; and that bijers may sometimes be bitten, 428
CHAPTER XXVIII. Mr. Montague at home. And Mr. Jonas Chuz-
zlewit at home, 4C0
CONTENTS. vn
PAGE.
CHAPTER XXIX. In which some people are precocious, others profes- sional, and others mysterious ; all in their several ways, . . . 461
CHAPTER XXX. Proves that changes may be rung in the best-regu- lated families, and that Mr. Pecksniff was a special hand at a triple- bob-major, . 471
CHAPTER XXXI. Mr. Pinch is discharged of duty which he never owed to any body ; and Mr. Pecksniff discharges a duty which he owes to society, 488
CHAPTER XXXII. Treats of Todgers's again , and of another blight- ed plant besides the plants upon the leads, 506
CHAPTER XXXIII. Further proceedings in Eden, and a proceeding
out of it. Martin makes a discovery of some importance, . .513
CHAPTER XXXIV. In which the travelers move homeward, and
encounter some distinguished characters upon the way, . . . 430
CHAPTER XXXV. Arriving in England, Martin witnesses a cere- mony, from which he derives the cheering information that he has not been forgotten in his absence, 547
CHAPTER XXXVI. Tom Pinch departs to seek his fortune. What
he finds at starting, 554
CHAPTER XXXVII. Tom Pinch, going astray, finds that he is not the only person in that predicament. He retaliates upon a fallen foe, 576
CHAPTER XXXVIII. Secret service, 586
CHAPTER XXXIX. Containing some further particulars of the domestic economy of the Pinches ; with strange news from the city, narrowly concerning Tom, ........ 596
CHAPTER XL. The Pinches make a new acquaintance, and have
fresh occasion for surprise and wonder, ...... 614
CHAPTER XLI. Mr. Jonas and his friend arriving at a pleasant under- standing, set forth upon an enterprise, 629
CHAPTER XLII. Continuation of the enterprise of Mr. Jonas and his
friend, 639
CHAPTER XLIIl. Has an influence on the fortunes of several people.
Mr. Pecksniff is exhibited in the plenitude of power, and wields the same with fortitude and magnanimity. ...... 649
CHAPTER XLIV. Further continuation of the enterprise of Mr.
Jonas and his friend, 671
CHAPTER XLV. In which Tom Pinch and his sister take a little pleasure ; but quite in a domestic way, and with no ceremony about it, 680
CHAPTER XLVI. In which Miss Pecksniff makes love, Mr. Jonas makes wrath, Mrs. Gamp makes tea, and Mr. Chilffey makes busi- ness, ............. 690
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER XLVII. Conclusion of the enterprise of Mr. Jonas and his
friend, . 713
CHAPTER XLVni. Bears tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as well as of a third person not quite unknown to the reader. Exhibits filial piety in an ugly aspect ; and casts a doubtful ray of light upon a very dark place, 722
CHAPTER XLIX, In which Mrs, Harris, assisted by a tea-pot, is the
cause of a division between friends, ....... 740
CHAPTER L. Surprises Tom Pinch very much, and shows how cer- tain confidences passed between him and his sister, .... 754
CHAPTER LI. Sheds new and- brighter light upon the very dark place ; and contains the sequel of the enterprise of Mr. Jonas and his friend, ............ 765
CHAPTER LII. In which the tables are turned completely upside
down, ............ 787
CHAPTER LIII. What John Westlock said to Tom Pinch's sister ; what Tom Pinch's sister said to John Westlock ; what Tom Pinch said to both of them ; and how they all passed the remainder of the day, 807
CHAPTER LIV. Gives the author great concern. For it is the last
in the book, 816
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY, CONCERNING THE PEDIGREE OF THE CHUZZLEWIT FAMILY.
As no lady or gentleman, with any claims to polite breed- ing, can possibly sympathize with the Chuzzlewit Family without being first assured of the extreme antiquity of the race, it is a great satisfaction to know that it undoubtedly descended in a direct line from Adam and Eve ; and was, in the very earliest times, closely connected with the agricultural interest. If it should ever be urged by grudging and malicious persons, that a Chuz- zlewit, in any period of the family history, displayed an overweening amount of family pride, surely the weakness will be considered not only pardonable but laudable, when the immense superiority of the house to the rest of man- kind, in respect of this its ancient origin, is taken into account.
It is remarkable that as there was, in the oldest family of which we have any record, a murderer and a vagabond, so we never fail to meet, in the records of all old families, with innumerable repetitions of the same phase of character. Indeed, it may be laid down as a general principle, that the more extended the ancestry, the greater the amount of vio- lence and vagabondism ; for in ancient days, those two amusements, combining a wholesome excitement with a promising means of repairing shattered fortunes, were at once the ennobling pursuit and the healthful recreation of the quality of this land.
Consequently, it is a source of inexpressible comfort and happiness to find, that in various periods of our history, the Chuzzl^wits were actively connected with divers slaughterous conspiracies and bloody frays. It is further recorded of
. 10 . . MAK'l IN CHUZZLEWIT.
'tVem, that being cla'd'Tfo'ni head to heel in steel of proof, they did on many occasions lead their leather-jerkined soldiers to the death, with invincible courage, and after- ward return home gracefully to their relations and friends.
There can be no doubt that at least one Chuzzlewit came over with William the Conqueror. It does not appear that this illustrious ancestor " came over " that monarch, to employ the vulgar phrase, at any subsequent period ; inas- much as the family do not seem to have been ever greatly distinguished by the possession of landed estate. And it is well known that for the bestowal of that kind of property upon his favorites, the liberality and gratitude of the Nor- man were as remarkable, as those virtues are usually found to be in great men when they give away what belongs to other people.
Perhaps in this place the history may pause to congratu- late itself upon the enormous amount of bravery, wisdom, eloquence, virtue, gentle birth, and true nobility, that appears to have come into England with the Norman invasion ; an amount which the genealogy of every ancient family lends its aid to swell, and which would beyond all question have been found to be just as great, and to the full as prolific in giving birth to long lines of chivalrous descend- ants, boastful of their origin, even though William the Conqueror had been William the Conquered, a change of circumstances which, it is quite certain, would have made no manner of difference in this respect.
There was unquestionably a Chuzzlewit in the Gunpowder Plot, if indeed the arch-traitor, Fawkes himself, were not a scion of this remarkable stock, as he might easily have been, supposing another Chuzzlewit to have emigrated to Spain in the previous generation, and there intermarried with a Spanish lady, by whom he had issue, one olive-complex- ioned son. This probable conjecture is strengthened, if not absolutely confirmed, by a fact which can not fail to be interesting to those who are curious in tracing the progress of hereditary tastes through the lives of their unconscious inheritors. It is a notable circumstance that in these later times, many Chuzzlewits, being unsuccessful in other pur- suits, have, without the smallest rational hope of enriching themselves, or any conceivable reason, set up as coal-mer- chants ; and have, month after month, continued gloomily to watch a small stock of coals without in any one instance negotiating with a purchaser. The remarkable similarity
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. ii
between this course of proceeding and that adopted by their great ancestor beneath the vauks of the parliament house at Westminster, is too obvious and too full of interest, to stand in need of comment.
It is also clearly proved by the oral traditions of the family, that there existed, at some one period of its history which is not distinctly stated, a matron of such destructive principles, and so familiarized to the use and composition of inflammatory and combustible engines, that she was called " The Match Maker ; " by which nickname and by-word she is recognized in the family legends to this day. Surely ther,e can be no reasonable doubt that this was the Spanish lady, the mother of Chuzzlewit Fawkes.
But there is one other piece of evidence, bearing immedi- ate reference to their close connection with this memorable event in English history, which must carry conviction, even to a mind (if such a mind there be) remaining unconvinced by these presumptive proofs.
There was, within a few years, in the possession of a highly respectable and in every way credible and unim- peachable member of the Chuzzlewit family (for his bitterest enemy never dared to hint at his being otherwise than a wealthy man), a dark lantern of undoubted antiquity ; ren- dered still more interesting by being, in shape and pattern, extremely like such as are in use at the present day. Now this gentleman, since deceased, was at all times ready to make oath, and did again and again set forth upon his solemn asseveration, that he had frequently heard his grand- mother say, when contemplating this venerable relic, " Ay, ay ! This was carried by my fourth son on the fifth of November, when he was a Guy Fawkes." These remark- able words wrought (as well they might) a strong impres- sion on his mind, and he was in the habit of repeating them very often. The just interpretation which they bear, and the conclusion to which they lead, are triumphant and irre- sistible. The old lady, naturally strong-minded, was never- theless frail and fading ; she was notoriously subject to that confusion of ideas, or, to say the least, of speech, to which age and garrulity are liable. The slight, the very slight confusion, apparent in these expressions, is manifest and is ludicrously easy of correction. ''Ay, ay," quoth she, and it will be observed that no emendation whatever is necessarv to be made in these two initiative remarks, " Ay, ay ! This lantern was carried by my forefather "—not fourth son,
\2 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
which is preposterous — " on the fifth of November. And he was Guy Fawkes." Here we have a remark at once con- sistent, clear, natural, and in strict accordance with the character of the speaker. Indeed the anecdote is so plainly susceptible of this meaning, and no other, that it would be hardly worth recording in its original state, were it not a proof of what may be (and very often is) affected not only in historical prose but in imaginative poetry, by the exercise of a little ingenious labor on the part of a commentator.
It has been said that there is no instance in modern times, of a Chuzzlewit having been found on terms of intimacy with the great. But here again the sneering detractors who weave such miserable figments from their malicious brains, are stricken dumb by evidence. For letters are yet in the possession of various branches of the family, from which it distinctly appears, being stated in so many words, that one Diggory Chuzzlewit was in the habit of perpetually dining with Duke Humphrey. So constantly was he a guest at that nobleman's table, indeed, and so unceasingly were his grace's hospitality and companionship forced, as it were, upon him, that we find him uneasy, and full of con- straint and reluctance ; writing his friends to the effect that if they fail to do so and so by bearer, he will have no choice but to dine again with Duke Humphrey ; and expressing himself in a very marked and extraordinary manner as one surfeited of high life and gracious company.
It has been rumored, and it is needless to say the rumor originated in the same base quarters, that a certain male Chuzzlewit, whose birth must be admitted to be involved in some obscurity, was of very mean and low descent. How stands the proof ? When the son of that individual, to whom the secret of his father's birth was supposed to have been communicated by his father in his lifetime, lay upon his deathbed, this question was put to him in a distinct, solemn and formal Avay : Toby Chuzzlewit, who was your grandfather ? To which he, with his last breath, no less distinctly, solemnly, and formally replied — and his words were taken down at the time, and signed by six witnesses each with his name and address in full — " The Lord No Zoo." It may be said — it has been said, for human wickedness has no limits — that there is no lord of that name, and that among the titles which have become extinct, none at all resembling this, in sound even, is to be discovered. But what is the irresistible inference ? Rejecting a theory broached by some
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 13
well-meaning but mistaken persons, that this Mr. Toby Chuz- zlewit's grandfather, to judge from his name, must surely have been a mandarin (which is wholly insupportable, for there is no pretense of his grandmother ever having been out of this country^ or of any mandarin having been in it within some years of his father's birth, except those in the tea-shops, which can not for a moment be regarded as having any bear- ing on the question, one way or other), rejecting this hypothe- sis, is it not manifest that Mr. Toby Chuzzlewit had either received the name imperfectly from his father, or that he had forgotten it, or that he had mispronounced it? and that even at the recent period in question, the Chuzzlewits were connected by a bend sinister, or kind of heraldic over-the- left, with some unknown noble and illustrious house ?
From documentary evidence, yet preserved in the family, the fact is clearly established that in the comparatively modern days of the Diggory Chuzzlewit before mentioned, one of its members had attained to very great wealth and influence. Throughout such fragments of his correspond- ence as have escaped the ravages of the moths (who, in right of their extensive absorption of the contents of deeds and papers, may be called the general registers of the insect world), we find him making constant reference to an uncle, in respect of whom he would seem to have entertained great expectations, as he was in the habit of seeking to propitiate his favor by presents of plate, jewels, books, watches, ano other valuable articles. Thus, he writes on one occasioa to his brother in reference to a gravy-spoon, the brother's prop- erty, which he (Diggory) would appear to have borrowed 01 otherwise possessed himself of: '' Do not be angry, I have parted with it — to my uncle." On another occasion he expresses himself in a similar manner with regard to a child's lAug which had been entrusted to him to get repaired. On another occasion he says: '* I have bestowed upon that irresistible uncle of mine every thing I ever possessed." And that he was in the habit of paying long and constant visits to this gentleman at his mansion, if, indeed, he did not wholly reside there, is manifest from the following sentence: " With the exception of the suit of clothes I carry about with me, the whole of my wearing apparel is at present at my uncle's." This gentleman's patronage and influence must have been very extensive, for his nephew writes: "His interest is too high" — **it is too much" — "it is tremendous" — and the like. Still it does not appear (which is strange) to have
14 MARTIN CHUZZLEWiT.
procured for him any lucrative post at court or elsewhere, or to have conferred upon him any other distinction than that which was necessarily included in the countenance of so great a man, and the being invited by him to certain entertainments, so splendid and costly in their nature that he calls them " golden balls."
It is needless to multiply instances of the high and lofty station, and the vast importance of the Chuzzlewits, at dif- ferent periods. If it came within the scope of reasonable probability that further proofs were required, they might be heaped upon each other until they formed an Alps of tes- timony, beneath which the boldest skepticism should be crushed and beaten fiat. As a goodly tumulus is already collected, and decently battened up above the family grave, the present chapter is content to leave it as it is; merely adding, by way of a final spadeful, that many Chuzzlewits, both male and female, are proved to demonstration, on the faith of letters written by their own mothers, to have chis- eled noses, undeniable chins, forms that might have served the sculptor for a model, exquisitely-turned limbs, and pol- ished foreheads of so transparent a texture that the blue veins might be seen branching off in various directions, like so many roads on an ethereal map. This fact in itself, though it had been a solitary one, would have utterly set- tled and clenched the business in hand; for it is well known, on the authority of all the books which treat of such mat- ters, that every one of these phenomena, but especially that of the chiseling, are invariably peculiar to, and only make themselves apparent in, persons of the very best condition.
This history, having, to its own perfect satisfaction (and, consequently, to the full contentment of all its readers), proved the Chuzzlewits to have had an origin, and to have been at one time or other of an importance which can not fail to render them highly improving and acceptable acquaint- ance to all right-minded individuals, may now proceed in earnest with its task. And having shown that they must have had, by reason of their ancient birth, a pretty large share in the foundation and increase of the human family, it will one day become its province to submit, that such of its members as shall be introduced in these pages, have still many counterparts and prototypes in the great world about us. At present it contents itself with remarking, in a general way, on this head : Firstly, that it may be safely asserted and yet without implying any direct
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 15
participation in the Monboddo doctrine touching the prob- ability of the human race having once been monkeys, that men do play very strange and extraordinary tricks. Sec- ondly, and yet without trenching on the Blumenbach theory as to the descendant of Adam having a vast number of quali- ties which belong more particularly to swine than to any other class of animals in the creation, that some men cer- tainly are remarkable for taking uncommon good care of themselves.
CHAPTER II.
WHEREIN CERTAIN PERSONS ARE PRESENTED TO THE READER, WITH WHOM HE MAY, IF HE PLEASES, BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED.
It was pretty late in the autumn of the year, when the declining sun, struggling through the mist which had obscured it all day, looked brightly down upon a little Wilt- shire village within an easy journey of the fair old town of Salisbury.
Like a sudden flash of memory or spirit kindling up the mind of an old man, it shed a glory upon the scene, in which its departed youth and freshness seemed to live again. The wet grass sparkled in the light ; the scanty patches of ver- dure in the hedges — where a few green twigs yet stood together bravely, resisting to the last the tyranny of nipping winds and early frosts — took heart and brightened up ; the stream, which had been dull and sullen all day long, broke out into a cheerful smile ; the birds began to chirp and twitter on the naked boughs, as though the hopeful creat- ures half believed that winter had gone by, and spring had come already. The vane upon the tapering spire of the old church glistened from its lofty station in sympathy with the general gladness ; and from the ivy-shaded windows such gleams of light shone back upon the glowing sky, that it seemed as if the quiet buildings were the hoarding-place of twenty summers, and all their ruddiness and warmth were stored within.
Even those tokens of the season which emphatically whis- pered of the coming winter, graced the landscape, and, for the moment, tinged its livelier features with no oppressive air of sadness. The fallen leaves, with which the ground was strewn, gave forth a pleasant fragrance, and subduing
i6 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
all harsh sounds of distant feet and wheels, created a repose in gentle unison with the light scattering of seed hither and thither by the distant husbandman, and with the noiseless passage of the plow as it turned up the rich brown earth, and wrought a graceful pattern in the stubbled fields On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fal)led orchards where the fruits were jewels ; others, stripped of all their garniture, stood each the center of its little heap of bright red leaves, watching their slow decay ; others again, still wearing theirs, had them all crunched and crackled up, as chough they had been burned ; about the stems of some were piled, -in ruddy mounds, the apples they had borne that year ; while others (hardly evergreens this class) showed somewhat stern and gloomy in their vigor, as charged by nature with the admoni- tion that it is not to her more sensitive and joyous favorites she grants the longest term of life. Still athwart their darker boughs, the sunbeams struck out paths of deeper gold ; and the red light, mantling in among their swarthy branches, used them as foils to set its brightness off, and aid the luster of the dying day.
A moment, and its glory was no more. The sun went down beneath the long dark lines of hill and cloud which piled up in the west an airy city, wall heaped on wall, and l)attlement on battlement ; the light was all withdrawn ; the shining church turned cold and dark ; the stream forgot to to smile ; the birds were silent ; and the gloom of winter dwelt on every thing.
An evening wind uprose too, and the slighter branches cracked and rattled as they moved, in skeleton dances, to its moaning music. The withering leaves no longer quiet, hur- ried to and fro in search of shelter from its chill pursuit ; the laborer unyoked horses, and with his head bent down trudged briskly home beside them ; and from the cottage windows lights began to glance and wink upon the darken- ing fields.
Then the village forge came out in all its bright import- ance. The lusty bellows roared ha ha ! to the clear fire, which roared in turn, and bade the shining sparks dance gayly to the merry clinking of the hammers on the anvil. The gleaming iron, in its emulation, sparkled too, and shed its red hot gems around profusely. The strong smith and his men dealt such strokes upon their work, as made even the melancholy night rejoice, and brought a glow into its dark face
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 17
as it hovered about the door and windows, peeping curiously in above the shoulders of a dozen loungers. As to this idle company, there they stood, spell-bound by the place, and, casting now and then a glance upon the darkness in their rear, settled their lazy elbows more at ease upon the sill, and leaned a little further in, no more disposed to tear themselves away than if they had been born to cluster round the blaz- ing hearth like so many crickets.
Out upon the angry wind I how from sighing, it began to bluster round the merry forge, banging at the wicket, and grumbling in the chimney, as if it bullied the jolly bellows for doing %ny thing to order. And what an impotent swag- gerer it was too, for all its noise ; for if it had any influence on that hoarse companion, it was but to make him roar his cheerful song the louder, and by consequence to make the fire burn the brighter, and the sparks to dance more gayly yet ; at length, they whizzed so madly round and round, that it was too much for such a surly wind to bear ; so off it flew with a howl, giving the old sign before the ale-house door such a cuff as it went, that the blue dragon was more ram- pant than usual ever afterward, and indeed, before Christ- mas reared clean out of its crazy frame.
It was sm.all tyranny for a respectable wind to go wreaking its vengeance on such poor creatures as the fallen leaves, but this wind happening to come up with a great heap of them just after venting its hum.or on the insulted dragon, did so disperse and scatter them that they fled away, pell-mell, some here, some there, rolling over each other, whirling round and round upon their thin edges, taking fi antic flights into the air, and playing all manner of extraordmary gambols in the extremity of their distress. Xor was this enough for its malicious fury ; for not content with driving them abroad, it charged small parties of them and hunted them into the w^heelwright's saw pit, and below the planks and timbers in the yard, and scattering the sawdust in the air, it looked for them underneath, and when it did m.eet with any, whew ! how it drove them, on and followed at their heels !
The scared leaves only flew the faster for all this, and a giddy chase it was ; for they got into unfrequented places, where there was no outlet, and where their pursuer kept them eddying round and round at his pleasure ; and they crept under the eaves of houses, and clung tightly to the sides of hay ricks, like bats ; and tore in at open chamber windows, and cowered close to hedges, and in short went
i8 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
anywhere for safety. But the oddest feat they achieved was, to take advantage of the sudden opening of Mr. Pecksniff's front door, to dash wildly into his passage ; whither the wind following close upon them, and finding the back door open, incontinently blew out the lighted candle held by Miss Pecksniff, and slammed the front door against Mr. Pecksniff who was at that moment entering, with such vio- lence, that in the twinkling of an eye he lay on his back at the bottom of the steps. Being by this time weary of such trifling performances, the boisterous rover hurried away rejoicing, roaring over moor and meadow, hill and flat, until it got out to sea, where it met with other winds similarly dis- posed, and made a night of it.
In the meantime Mr. Pecksniff, having received from a sharp angle in the bottom step but one that sort of knock on the head which lights up, for the patient's entertainment, an imaginary general illumination of very bright short sixes, lay placidly staring at his own street door. And it would seem to have been more suggestive in its aspect than street doors usually are ; for he continued to lie there, rather ^ lengthy and unreasonable time, without so much as wondering whether he was hurt or no ; neither, when Miss Pecksniff inquired through the key-hole in a shrill voice, which might have belonged to a wind in its teens, " Who's there ? " did he make any reply ; nor, when Miss Pecksniff opened the door again, and shading the candle with her hand, peered out, and looked provokingly round him, and about him, and over him, and everywhere but at him, did he offer my remark, or indicate in any manner the least hint of a desire to be picked up.
" / see you," cried Miss Pecksniff, to the ideal inflicter of a runaway knock. " You'll catch it, sir ! "
Still Mr. Pecksniff, perhaps from having caught it already, said nothing.
" You're round the corner now," cried Miss Pecksniff. She said it at a venture, but there was appropriate matter in it too ; for Mr. Pecksniff, being in the act of extinguishing the candles before mentioned pretty rapidly, and of reducing the number of brass knobs on his street-door from four or five hundred (which had previously been juggling of their own accord before his eyes in a very novel manner) to a dozen or so, might in one sense have been said to be coming round the corner, and just turning it.
With a sharply-delivered warning relative to the cage and
MARTliN CHUZ2LEWIT. 19
the constable and the stocks and the gallows, Miss Peck- sniff was about to close the door again, when Mr. Pecksniff (being still at the bottom of the steps) raised himself up on one elbow and sneezed.
" That voice ! " cried Miss Pecksniff. " My parent ! "
At this exclamation, another Miss Pecksniff bounced out of the parlor, and the two Miss Pecksniffs, with many inco- herent expressions, dragged Mr. Pecksniff into an upright posture.
" Pa ! " they cried in concert. " Pa ! Speak, pa ! Do not look so wild, my dearest pa ! "
But as the gentleman's looks, in such a case of all others, are by no means under his own control, Mr. Pecksniff con- tinued to keep his mouth and his eyes very wide open, and to drop his lower jaw, somewhat after the manner of a toy nut-cracker ; and as his hat had fallen off, and his face was pale, and his hair erect, and his coat muddy, the spectacle he presented was so very doleful, that neither of the Miss Pecksniffs could repress an involuntary screech.
" That'll do," said Mr. Pecksniff. " I'm better. "^
** He's come to himself ! " cried the youngest Miss Peck- sniff.
" He speaks again ! " exclaimed the eldest.
With these joyful words they kissed Mr. Pecksniff on either cheek, and bore him into the house. Presently, the youngest Miss Pecksniff ran out again to pick up his hat, his brown paper parcel, his umbrella, his gloves, and other small articles ; and that done and the door closed, both young ladies applied themselves to tending Mr. Pecksniff's wounds in the back parlor.
They were not very serious in their nature, being limited to abrasions on what the eldest Miss Pecksniff called " the knobby parts " of her parent's anatomy, such as his knees and elbows, and to the development of an entirely new organ, unknown to phrenologists, on the back of his head. These injuries having been comforted externally, with patches of pickled brown paper, and Mr. Pecksniff having been comforted internally, with some stiff brandy and water, the eldest Miss Pecksniff sat down to make the tea which was all ready. In the meantime, the youngest Miss Pecksniff brought from the kitchen a smoking dish of ham and eggs, and, setting the same before her father, took up her station on a low stool at his feet, thereby bringing her eyes on a level with the teaboard.
20 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
It must not be inferred from this position of humility, that the youngest Miss Pecksniff was so young as to be, as one may say, forced to sit upon a stool, by reason of the shortness of her legs. Miss Pecksniff sat upon a stool, because of her simplicity and innocence, which were very great — very great. Miss Pecksniff sat upon a stool, because she was all girlish- ness, and playfulness, and wildness, and kittenish buoyancy. She was the most arch and at the same time, the most artless creature, was the youngest Miss Pecksniff, that you can possi- bly image. It was her great charm. She was to© fresh and guileless, and too full of child-like vivacity, was the youngest Miss Pecksniff, to wear combs in her hair, or to turn it up, or to frizzle it or braid it. She wore it in a crop, a loosely flowing crop, which had so many rows of curls in it, that the top row was only one curl. Moderately buxom was her shape, and quite womanly too ; but sometimes — yes, some- times— she even wore a pinafore ; and how charming that was ! Oh ! she was indeed " a gushing thing " (as a young gentleman had observed in verse, in the poet's-corner of a provincial newspaper), was the youngest Miss Pecksniff !
Mr. Pecksniff was a moral man — a grave man, a man of noble sentiments, and speech ; and he had had her christened Mercy. Mercy ! oh, what a charming name for such a pure- souled being as the youngest Miss Pecksniff ! Her sister's name was Charity. There was a good thing ! Mercy and Charity ! And Charity with her fine strong sense, and her mild, yet not reproachful gravity, was so well named, and did so well set off and illustrate her sister ! What a pleasant sight was that, the contrast they presented : to each love and loving one sympathizing with and devoted to, and leaning on, and yet correcting and counter-checking, and, as it were, antidoting the other ! To behold each damsel in her very ad- miration of her sister, setting up in business for herself on an entirely different principle, and announcing no connection with over-the-way, and if the quality of goods at that estab- lishment don't please you, you are respectfully invited to favor ME with a call ! And the crowning circumstance of the whole delightful catalogue was, that both the fair creatures were so utterly unconscious of all this ! They had no idea of it. They no more thought or dreamed of it, than Mr. Pecksniff did. Nature played them off against each other ; they had no hand in it, the two Miss Pecksniffs.
It has been remarked that Mr. Pecksniff was a moral man. So he was. Perhaps there never was a more moral
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 21
man than Mr. Pecksniff, especially in his conversation and correspondence. It was once said of him by a homely admirer, that he had a Fortunatus's purse of gold sentiments in his inside. In this particular he was like the girl in the fairy tale, except that if they were not actual diamonds which fell from his lips, they were the very brightest paste and shone prodigiously. He was a most exemplary man ; fuller of virtuous precept than a copy-book. Some people likened him to a direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there ; but these were his enemies — the shadows cast by his brightness — that was all. His very throat was moral. You saw a good deal of it. You looked over a very low fence of white cravat (whereof no man had ever beheld the tie, for he fastened it behind), and there it lay, a valley between two jutting heights of col- lar, serene and whiskerless before you. It seemeii to say, on the part of Mr. Pecksniff, ''There is no deception, ladies and gentleman, all is peace, a holy calm pervades me." So did his hair, just grizzled with an iron-gray, which was all brushed off his forehead, and stood bolt upright, or slightly drooped in kindred action with his heavy eyelids. So did his person, which was sleek though free from corpulency. So did his manner, which was soft and oily. In a word, even his plain black suit, and state of widower, and dangling double eye-glass, all tended to the same purpose, and cried aloud, " Behold the moral Pecksniff ! "
The brazen plate upon the door (which being Mr. Peck- sniff's, could not lie) bore this inscription, '' Pecksniff, Architect," to which Mr. Pecksniff, on his cards of busi- ness added, '' and Land Surveyor." In one sense, and only one, he may be said to have been a land surveyor on a pretty large scale, as an extensive prospect lay stretched out before the windows of his house. Of his architectural doings, nothing was clearly known, except that he had never designed or built any thing ; but it was generally understood that his knowledge of the science was almost awful in its profundity.
Mr. Pecksniff's professional engagements, indeed, were almost, if not entirely, confined to the reception of pupils ; for the collection of rents, with which pursuit he occasionally varied and relieved his graver toils, can hardly be said to be a strictly architectural employment. His genius lay in ensnaring parents and guardians, and pocketing premiums. A young gentleman's premium being paid, and the young
22 MAP.TIN CHUZZLEVVIT.
gentleman come to Mr. Pecksniff's house, Mr. Pecksniff bor- rowed his case of mathematical instrum_ents (if silver- mounted or otherwise valuable) ; entreated him, from that moment, to consider himself one of the family ; compli- mented him highly on his parents or guardians, as the case might be, and turned him loose in a spacious room on the two-pair front, where, in the company of certain drawing- Doards, parallel rulers, very stiff-legged compasses, and two, or perhaps three, other young gentlemen, he improved him- self, for three or five years, according to his articles, in mak- ing elevations of Salisbury Cathedral from every possible point of sight ; and in constructmg in the air a vast quantity of castles, houses of parliament, and other public buildings. Perhaps in no place in the world were so many gorgeous edifices of this class erected as under Mr. Pecksniff's auspices ; and if but one-twentieth part of the churches which were built in that front room, with one or the other of the Miss Pecksniffs at the altar in the act of marrying the architect, could only be made available by the parliamentary commissioners, no more churches would be wanted for at least five centuries.
" Even the worldly goods of which we have just disposed," said Mr. Pecksniff glancing round the table when he had finished, " even cream, sugar, tea, toast, ham, — "
*' And eggs," suggested Charity in a low voice.
" And eggs," said Mr. Pecksniff, " even they have their moral. See how they come and go ! Every pleasure is transitory. We can't even eat, long. If we indulge in harmless fluids, we get the dropsy ; if in exciting liquids, we get drunk. What a soothing reflection is that ! "
*' Don't say we get drunk, pa," urged the eldest Miss Pecksniff.
^' When I say we, my dear," returned her father, ** I mean mankind in general ; the human race, considered as a body, and not as individuals. There is nothing per- sonal in morality, my love. Even such a thing as this," said Mr. Pecksniff, laying the fore-finger of his left hand upon the brown paper patch on the top of his head, " slight casual baldness though it be, reminds us that we are but " — he was going to say *' worms," but rec- ollecting that worms were not remarkable for heads of hair, he substituted " flesh and blood."
*' Which," cried Mr. Pecksniff after a pause, during \\ hich he seemed to have been casting about for a new moral, and
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 23
not quite successfully, *' which is also very soothing. Mercy, my dear, stir the fire and throw up the cinders."
The young lady obeyed, and having done so, resumed her stool, reposed one arm upon her father's knee, and laid her blooming cheek upon it. Miss Charity drew her chair nearer the fire as one prepared for conversation, and looked toward her father.
" Yes," said Mr. Pecksniff, after a short pause, during which he had been silently smiling, and shaking his head at the fire ; " I have again been fortunate in the attainment of my object. A new mmate will very shortly conie among us."
" A youth, papa ? " asked Charity. •
*^Ye-es, a youth," said Mr. Pecksniff. ''He will avail himself of the eligible opportunity which now offers, for uniting the advantages of the best practical architectural education, with the comforts of a home, and the constant association with some who (however humble their sphere, and limited their capacity) are not unmindful of their moral responsibilities."
" Oh pa ! " cried Mercy, holding up her finger archly. *' See advertisement ! "
*' Playful — playful warbler," said Mr. Pecksniff. It may be observed in connection with his calling his daughter " a warbler," that she was not at all vocal, but that Mr. Peck- sniff was in the frequent habit of using any word that occurred to him as having a good sound, and rounding a sentence well, without mucli care for its meaning. And he did this so boldly, and in such an imposing manner, that he would sometimes stagger the wisest people with his elo- quence, and make them gasp again.
His enemies asserted, by the way, that a strong trustful- ness in sounds and forms, was the master-key to Mr. Peck- sniff's character.
" Is he handsome, pa ? " inquired the younger daughter.
" Silly Merry ! " said the eldest — Merry being fond for Mercy. " What is the premium, pa ? tell us that."
" Oh good gracious, Cherry ! " cried Miss Mercy, hold- ing up her hands with the most winning giggle in the world, *' what a mercenary girl you are ! oh you naughty, thought- ful, prudent thing ! "
It was perfectly charming, and worthy of the pastoral age, to see how the two Miss Pecksniffs slapped each other after this, and then subsided into an embrace expressive of their different dispositions.
24 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" He is well looking," said Mr. Pecksniff, slowly and dis- tinctly ; " well looking enough. I do not positively expect any immediate premium with him."
Notwithstanding their different natures, both Charity and Mercy concurred in opening their eyes uncommonly wide at this announcement, and in looking for the moment as blank as if their thoughts had actually had a direct bearing on the main-chance.
'' But what of that ! " said Mr. Pecksniff, still smiling at the fire. " There is disinterestedness in the world, I hope ? We are not all arrayed in two opposite ranks ; the o/iensive and the rt'^fensive. Some few there are who walk between ; who help the needy as they go ; and take no part with either side ? Umph ? "
There was something in these morsels of philanthropy which reassured the sisters. They exchanged glances, and brightened very much.
" Oh ! let us not be forever calculating, devising, and plotting for the future," said Mr. Pecksniff, smiling more and more, and looking at the fire as a man might, who was cracking a joke with it ; "I am weary of such arts. If our inclinations are but good and open-hearted, let us gratify them boldly, though they bring upon us, loss instead of profit. Eh, Charity ? "
Glancing toward his daughters for the first time since he had begun these reflections, and seeing that they both smiled, Mr. Pecksniff eyed them for an instant so jocosely (though still with a kind of saintly waggishness) that the younger one was moved to sit upon his knee forthwith, put her fair arms round liis neck, and kiss him twenty times. During the whole of this affectionate display she laughed to a most immoderate extent ; in which hilarious indulgence even the prudent Cherry joined.
" Tut, tut," said Mr. Pecksniff, pushing his latest-born away and running his fingers through his hair, as he resumed his tranquil face. " What folly is this ! Let us take heed how we laugh without reason, lest we cry with it. What is the domestic news since yesterday ? John West- lock is gone, I hope ? "
'* Indeed no," said Charity.
*' And why not ? " returned her father. " His term expired yesterday. And his box was packed, I know ; for I saw it in the morning, standing in the hall."
*' He slept last night at the Dragon," returned \hi
MARTIN CHUZZLEWJT. 25
young lady, " and had Mr. Pinch to dine with him. They spent the evening together, and Mr. Pinch was not home till very late."
" And when I saw him on the stairs this morning, pa," said Mercy with her usual sprightliness, " he looked, oh good- ness, such a monster ! with his face all manner of colors, and his eyes as dull as if they had been boiled, and his head aching dreadfully, I am sure from the look of it, and his clothes smelling, oh it's impossible to say how strong of " — here the young lady shuddered — "of smoke and punch."
" Now I think," said Mr. Pecksniff with his accustomed gentleness, though still with the air of one who suffered under injur}' without complaint, " I think Mr. Pinch might have done better than choose for his companion one who, at the close of a long intercourse, had endeavored, as he knew, to wound my feelings. I am not quite sure that this was deli- cate in Mr. Pinch. I am not quite sure that this was kind in Mr. Pinch. I will go further and say, I am not quite sure that this was even ordinarily grateful in Mr. Pinch."
" But what can anyone expect from Mr. Pinch ! " cried Charity, with as strong and scornful an emphasis on the name as if it would have given her unspeakable pleasure to express it, in an acted charade, on the calf of that gentle- man's leg.
" Ay, ay," returned her father, raising his hand mildly ; " it is very well to say what can we expect from Mr, Pinch, but Mr. Pinch is a fellow-creature, my dear ; Mr. Pinch is an item in the vast total of humanity, my love; and we have a right, it is our duty, to expect in Mr. Pinch some devel- opment of those better qualities, the possession of which in our own persons inspires our humble self-respect. No," continued Mr. Pecksniff. " No! Heaven forbid that I should say, nothing can be expected from Mr. Pinch ; or that I should say, nothing can be expected from any man alive (even the most degraded, which Mr. Pinch is not, no really); but Mr, Pinch has disappointed me ; I think a little the worse of him on this account, but not of human nature. Oh no, no ! "
Hark ! " said Miss Charity, holding up her finger, as a gentle rap was heard at the street-door. '' There is the creat- ure ! Now mark my words, he has come back with John Westlock for his box, and is going to help him to take it to the mail. Only mark my words, if that isn't his inten- tion!"
26 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
Even as she spoke, the box appeared to be in progress of conveyance from the house, but after a brief murmuring of question and answer, it was put down again, and some- body knocked at the parlor door.
*' Come in ! " cried Mr. Pecksniff — not severely ; only virtuously. " Come in ! "
An ungainly, awkward-looking man, extremely short- sighted, and prematurely bald, availed himself of this per- mission ; and seeing that Mr. Pecksniff sat with his back toward him, gazing at the fire, stood hesitating, with the door in his hand. He was far from handsome certainly ; and was dressed in a snuff-colored suit, of an uncouth make at the best, which being shrunk with long wear, was twisted and tortured into all kinds of shapes ; but notwithstanding his attire, and his clumsy figure, which a great stoop in his shoulders, and a ludicrous habit he had of thrusting his head forward, by no means redeemed, one would not have been disposed (unless Mr. Pecksniff said so) to consider him a bad fellow by any means. He was perhaps about thirty, but he might have been almost any age between sixteen and sixty; being one of those strange creatures who never decline into an ancient appearance, but look their oldest when they are very young, and get it over at once.
Keeping his hand upon the lock of the door, he glanced from Mr. Pecksniff to Mercy, from Mercy to Charity, and from Charity to Mr. Pecksniff again, several times ; but the young ladies being as intent upon the fire as their father was, and neither of the three taking any notice of him, he was fain to say, at last,
'' Oh ! I beg your pardon, Mr. Pecksniff ; I beg your pardon for intruding ; but — "
" No intrusion, Mr. Pinch,'* said the gentleman very sweetly, but without looking round. " Pray be seated, Mr. Pinch. Have the goodness to shut the door, Mr. Pinch, if you please."
*' Certainly, sir," said Pinch ; not doing so, however, but holding it rather wider open than before, and beckoning ner- vously to somebody without ; *' Mr. Westlock, sir, hearing that you were coming home — "
*' Mr. Pinch, Mr. Pinch ! " said Pecksniff, wheeling his chair about, and looking at him with an aspect of the decp- esLmelancholy, " I did not expect this from you. I ha\e not deserved this from you ! "
" No, but upon my word, sir " — urged Pinch,
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 27
" The less you say, Mr. Pinch," interposed the other, " the better. I utter no complaint. Make no defense."
" No, but do have the goodness, sir," cried Mr. Pinch, with great earnestness, *' if you please. Mr. Westlock, sir, going away for good and all, wishes to leave none but friends behind him. Mr. Westlock and you, sir, had a little difference the other day ; you have had many little differences."
" Little differences ! " cried Charity.
*' Little differences ! " echoed Mercy.
" My loves ! " said Mr. Pecksniff, with the same serene upraising of his hand ; " my dears ! " After a solemn pause he meekly bowed to Mr. Pinch, as who should say, " Pro- ceed ; " but Mr. Pinch was so very much at a loss how to resume, and looked so helplessly at the two Miss Pecksniffs, that the conversation would most probably have terminated there, if a good-looking youth, newly arrived at man's estate, had not stepped forward from the doorway and taken up the thread of the discourse.
" Come, Mr. Pecksniff," he said, with a smile, " don't let there be any ill-blood between us, pray. I am sorry we have ever differed, and extremely sorry I have ever given you offense. Bear me no ill-will at parting, sir."
"I bear," answered Mr. Pecksniff, mildly, "no ill will to any man on earth."
" I told you he didn't," said Mr. Pinch, in an undertone ; *' I knew he didn't ! He always says he don't."
" Then you will shake hands, sir ? " cried Westlock, advancing a step or two, and bespeaking Mr. Pmch's clos^ attention by a glance.
'' Umph !" said Mr. Pecksniff, in his most winning tone.
" You will shake hands, sir."
" No, John," said Mr. Pecksniff, with a calmness quite ethereal ; " no, I will not shake hands, John. I have for- given you. I had already forgiven you, even before you ceased to reproach and taunt me. I have embraced you in the spirit, John, which is better than shaking hands."
'^ Pinch," said the youth turning toward him, with a hearty disgust of his late master, " what did I tell you ? "
Poor Pinch looked down uneasily, at Mr. Pecksniff, whose eye was fixed upon him as it had been from the first.
"As to your forgiveness, Mr. Pecksniff," said the youth. ** I'll not have it upon such terms. I won't be forgiven."
*' Won't you, John ? " retorted Mr. Pecksniff, with a
2^ MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
smile. " You must. You can't help it. Forgiveness is a high quality ; an exalted virtue ; far above your control or influence, John. I im'// forgive you. You can not move me to remember any wrong you have ever done me, John."
" Wrong ! " cried the other, with all the heat and impetu- osity of his age. " Here's a pretty fellow ! Wrong ! Wrong I have done him ! He'll not even remember the five hund- red pounds he had with me under false pretenses ; or the seventy pounds a-year for board and lodging that would have been dear at seventeen ! Here's a martyr ! "
" Money, John," said Mr. Pecksniff, " is the root of all evil. I grieve to see that it is already bearing evil fruit in you. But I will not remember its existence. 1 will not even remember the conduct of that misguided person " — and here, although he spoke like one at peace with all the world, he used emphasis that plainly said *' I have my eye on the rascal now" — " that misguided person that has brought you here to-night, seeking to disturb (it is a happiness to say, in vain) the heart's repose and peace of one who would have shed his dearest blood to serve him."
The voice of Mr. Pecksniff trembled as he spoke, and sobs were heard from his daughters. Sounds floated on the air, moreover, as if two spirit voices had exclaimed ; one " beast ! " and the other " savage ! "
" Forgiveness," said Mr. Pecksniff, " entire and pure for- giveness is not incompatible with a wounded heart ; per- chance when the lieart is wounded, it becomes a greater vir- tue. With my breast still wrung and grieved to its inmost core by the ingratitude of that person, I am proud and glad to say, that I forgive him. Nay ! I beg," cried Mr. Peck- sniff, raising his voice, as Pinch appeared about to speak, " I beg that individual not to offer a remark ; he will truly oblige me by not uttering one word, just now. 1 am not sure that I am equal to the trial. In a very short space of time, I shall have sufficient fortitude, I trust, to converse with him as if these events had never happened. Put not," said Mr. Pecksniff, turning round again toward the fire, and waving his hand in the direction of the door, ''not now."
" Bah ! " cried John Westlock, with the utmost disgust and disdain the monosyllable is cai)able of ex})ressing. '* Ladies, good evening. Come, Pinch, it's not worth think- ing of. I was right and you were wrong. That's a small matter; you'll be wiser another time."
So saying, he clapped that dejected companion on the
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 29
shoulder, turned upon his heel, and walked out into the pas- sage whither poor Mr. Pinch, after lingering irresolutely in the parlor for a few seconds, expressing in his countenance the deepest mental misery and gloom, followed him. Then they took up the box between them, and sallied out to meet the mail.
That fleet conveyance passed, every night, the corner of a lane at some distance; toward which point they bent their steps. For some minutes they walked along in silence, until at length young Westlock burst into a loud laugh, and at intervals into another, and another. Still there was no response from his companion.
" I'll tell you what. Pinch! " he said abruptly, after another lengthened silence, " you haven't half enough of the devil in you. Half enough! You haven't any."
"Well!" said Pinch, with a sigh, "I don't know, I'm sure. It's a compliment to say so. If I haven't, I suppose, I'm all the better for it."
"All the better! " repeated his companion tartly; **all the worse, you mean to say."
"And yet," said Pinch, pursuing his own thoughts and not this last remark on the part of his friend, " I must have a good deal of what you call the devil in me, too, or how could I make Pecksniff so uncomfortable ? I wouldn't have occasioned him so much distress — don't laugh, please — for a mine of money; and heaven knows I could find good use for it, too, John. How grieved he was! "
^^ He grieved! " returned the other.
" Why, didn't you observe that the tears were almost start- ing out of his eyes! " cried Pinch. " Bless my soul, John, is it nothing to see a man moved to that extent and know one's self to be the cause! and did you hear him say that he could have shed his blood for me ? "
" Do you 2£/«/// any blood shed for you?" returned his friend, with considerable irritation. " Does he shed any thing for you that you do want ? Does he shed employment for you, instruction for you, pocket-money for you ? Does he shed even legs of mutton for you in any decent propor- tion to potatoes and garden stuff?"
" I am afraid," said Pinch, sighing again, " that I am a great eater; I can't disguise from myself that I'm a great eater. Now, you know that, John."
" You a great eater! " retorted his companion, with no less indignation than before. " How do you know you are ? "
30 , MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
There appeared to be forcible matter in this inquiry, for Mr. Pinch only repeated in an undertone that he had a strong misgiving on the subject, and that he greatly feared he was.
" Besides, whether I am or no," he added, " that has little or nothing to do with his thinking me ungrateful. John, there is scarcely a sin in the world that is in my eyes such a crying one as ingratitude; and whefi he taxes me with that, and believes me to be guilty of it, he makes me miserable and wretched."
" Do you think he don't know that ? " returned the other scornfully. " But come, Pinch, before I say any thing more to you, just run over the reasons you have for being grateful to him at all, will you ? Change hands first, for the box is heavy. That'll do. Now, go on."
" In the first place," said Pinch, " he took me as his pupil for much less than he asked."
'' Well," rejoined his friend, perfectly unmoved by this instance of generosity. '' What in the second place ? "
" What in the second place! " cried Pinch, in a sort of desperation, " why, every thing in the second place. My poor old grandmother died happy to think that she had put me with such an excellent man. I have grown up in his house, I am in his confidence, I am his assistant, he allows me a salary; when his business improves, my prospects are to improve, too. All this, and a great deal more, is in the second place. And in the very prologue and preface to the first place, John, you must consider this, which nobody knows better than I; that I was born for much plainer and poorer things, that I am not a good hand for this kind of business, and have no talent for it, or indeed for any thing else but odds and ends that are of no use or service to any body."
He said this with so much earnestness, and in a tone so full of feeling, that his companion instinctively changed his manner as he sat down on the box (they had by this time reached the finger-post at the end of the lane); motioned him to sit down beside him; and laid his hand upon his shoulder.
" I believe you are one of the best fellows in the world," he said, "Tom Pinch."
" Not at all," rejoined Tom. "If you only knew Peck- sniff as well as I do, you might say it of him, indeed, and say it truly."
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 31
" I'll say any thing of him, you like," returned the other, *• and not another word to his disparagement."
" It's for my sake, then ; not his, I am afraid," said Pinch shaking his head gravely.
" For whose you please, Tom, so that it does please you. Oh ! He's a famous fellow ! jie never scraped and clawed into his pouch all your poor grandmother's hard savings — she was a housekeeper, wasn't she, Tom ? "
"Yes," said Mr. Pinch, nursing one of his large knees, and nodding his head; ^* a gentleman's housekeeper."
" He never scraped and clawed into his pouch all her hard savings; dazzling her with prospects of your happiness and advancement, which he knew (and no man better) never would be realized ! He never speculated and traded on her pride in you, and her having educated you, and on her desire that you at least should live to be a gentleman. Not he, Tom ! "
" No," said Tom, looking into his friend's face, as if he were a little doubtful of his meaning ; '' of course not."
" So I say," returned the youth, " of course he never did. He didn't take less than he had asked, because that less was all she had, and more than he expected ; not he, Tom ! He doesn't keep you as his assistant because you are of any use to him ; because your wonderful faith in his pretensions is of inestimable service in all his mean disputes ; because your honesty reflects honesty on him ; because your wander- ing about this little place all your spare hours, reading in ancient books and foreign tongues, gets noised abroad, even as far as Salisbury, m^aking of him, Pecksniff the master, a man of learning and of vast importance. He gets no credit from you, Tom, not he."
'' Why, of course he don't," said Pinch, gazing at his friend with a more troubled aspect than before. " Peck- sniff get credit from me ! Well ! "
'' Don't I say that it's ridiculous," rejoined the other, " even to think of such a thing ? "
** Why, it's madness," said Tom.
" Madness ! " returned young Westlock. '' Certainly, it's madness. Who but a madman would suppose he cares to hear it said on Sundays, that the volunteer who plays the organ in the church, and practices on summer evenings in the dark is Mr. Pecksniff's young man, eh, Tom ? Who but a madman would suppose it is the game of such a man as he, to have his name in every body's mouth, connected with the
3^ MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
thousand useless odds and ends you do (and which, ot course, he taught you), eh, Tom ? Who but a madman would suppose you advertised him hereabouts, much cheaper and much better than a chalker on the walls could, eh, Tom ? As well might one suppose that he doesn't on all occasions pour out his whole, heart and soul to you ; that he doesn't make you a very liberal and indeed rather an extrav- agant allowance; or, to be more wild and monstrous still, if that be possible, as well might one suppose," and here, at every word, he struck him lightly on the breast, ^' that Peck- sniff traded in your nature, and that your nature was, to be timid and distrustful of yourself, and trustful of all other men, but most of all, of him who least deserves it. There would be madness, Tom ! "
Mr. Pinch had listened to all this with looks of bewilder- ment, which seemed to be in part occasioned by the matter of his companion's speech, and in part by his rapid and vehement manner. Now that he had come to a close, he drew a very long breath ; and gazing wistfully in his face as if he were unable to settle in his own mind what expres- sion it wore, and were desirous to draw from it as good a clew to his real meaning as it was possible to obtain in the dark, was about to answer, when the sound of the mail guard's horn came cheerily upon their ears, putting an immediate end to the conference : greatly as it seemed to the satisfaction of the younger man, who jumped up briskly, and gave his hand to his companion.
" Both hands, Tom. I shall write to you from London, mind ! "
" Yes," said Pinch. '' Yes. " Yes. Do, please. Good- by. I can hardly believe you're going. It seems, now, but yesterday that you came. Good-by ! my dear old fellow ! " John Westlock returned his parting words with no less hearti- ness of manner, and sprung up to his seat upon the roof. Off went the mail at a canter down the dark road ; the lamps gleaming brightly, and the horn awakening all the echoes, far and wide.
" Go your way," said Pinch, apostrophizing the coach; *' I can hardly persuade myself but you're alive, and are some great monster who visits this place at certain intervals, to bear my friends away into the world. You're more exulting and rampant than usual to-night, I think; and you may well crow over your prize ; for he is a fine lad, an ingenuous lad, and has but one fault that I know of; he don't mean it, but be is most cruelly unjust to Pecksniff ! "
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 33
CHAPTER HI.
IN WHICH CERTAIN OTHER PERSONS ARE INTRODUCED : ON THE SAME TERMS AS IN THE LAST CHAPTER.
Mention has been already made more than once of a cer- tain dragon who swung and creaked complainingly before the village ale-house door. A faded, and an ancient dragon he was ; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail had changed his color from a gaudy blue to a faint lack- luster shade of gray. But there he hung, rearing, in a state of monstrous imbecility, on his hind legs ; waxing, with every month that passed, so much more dim and shapeless, that as you gazed at him on one side of the sign-board it seemed as if he must be gradually melting through it, and coming out upon the other. He was a courteous and con- siderate dragon too ; or had been in his distincter days ; for in the midst of his rampant feebleness, he kept one of his fore paws near his nose, as though he would say, " Don't mind me — it's only my fun; " while he held out the other, in polite and hospitable entreaty. Indeed it must be conceded to the whole brood of dragons of modern times, that they have made a great advance in civilization and refinement. They no longer demand a beautiful virgin for breakfast every morning, with as much regularity as any tame single gentleman expects his hot roll, but rest content with the society of idle bachelors and roving married men ; and they are now remarkable rather for holding aloof irom the softer sex and discouraging their visits (especially on Saturday nights), than for rudely insisting on their company without any reference to their inclinations, as they are known to have done in days of yore.
Nor is this tribute to the reclaimed animals in question so wide a digression into the realms of natural history, as it may, at first sight, appear to be ; for the present business of these pages is with the dragon who had his retreat in Mr. Pecksniff's neighborhood, and that courteous animal being already on the carpet, there is nothing in the way of its immediate transaction.
For many years, then, he had swung and creaked, and flapped himself about, before the two windows of the best bed-room in that house of entertainment to which he lent his name ; but never in all his swinging, creaking and flap-
34 MARTIN CHU^ZLEWIT.
ping, had there been such a stir within its dingy precincts, as on the evening next after that upon which the incidents, detailed in the last chapter, occurred ; when there was such a hurrying up and down stairs of feet, such a glancing of lights, such a whispering of voices, such a smoking and sputtering of wood newly lighted in a damp chimney, such an airing of linen, such a scorching smell of hot warming- pans, such a domestic bustle and to-do, in short, as never dragon, griffin, unicorn or other animal of that species pre- sided over, since they first began to interest themselves in household affairs.
An old gentleman and a young lady, traveling, unattended, in a rusty old chariot with post-horses ; coming nobody knew whence, and going nobody knew whither ; had turned out of the high road, and driven unexpectedly to the Blue Dragon ; and here was the old gentleman, who had taken this step by reason of his sudden illness in the carriage, suf- fering the most horrible cramps and spasms, yet protesting and vowing in the very midst of his pain that he wouldn't have a doctor sent for, and wouldn't take any remedies but those which the young lady administered from a small medi- cine-chest, and wouldn't, in a word, do any thing but terrify the landlady out of her five wits, and obstinately refuse compliance with every suggestion that was made to him.
Of all the five hundred proposals for his relief which the good woman poured out in less than half an hour, he would entertain but one. That was, that he should go to bed. And it was in the preparation of his bed, and the arrange- ment of his chamber, that all the stir was made in the room behind the dragon.
He was, beyond all question, very ill, and suffered ex- ceedingly ; not the less, perhaps, because he was a strong and vigorous old man, with a will of iron, and a voice of brass. But neither the apprehensions which he plainly entertained, at times, for his life, nor the great pain he underwent, influenced his resolution in the least degree. He would have no person sent for. The worse he grew, the more rigid and inflexible he became in his determination. If they sent for any person to attend him. man, woman, or child, he would leave the house directly (so he told them), though he quitted it on foot, and died upon the threshold of the door.
Now, there being no medical practitioner actually resi- dent in the village but a poor apothecary, who was also a
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 35
grocer and general dealer, the landlady had, upon her own responsibility, sent for him, in the very first burst and out- set of the disaster. Of course it followed, as a necessary result of his being wanted, that he was not at home. He had gone some miles away, and was not expected home until late at night ; so, the landlady, bemg by this time pretty well beside herself, dispatched the same messenger in all haste for Mr. Pecksniff, as a learned man who could bear a deal of responsibility, and a moral man who could adminis- ter a word of comfort to a troubled mind. That her guest had need of some efficient services under the latter head was obvious enough from the restless expressions, importing, however, rather a worldly than a spiriting 1 anxiety, to which he gave frequent utterance.
From this last-mentioned secret errand the messenger returned with no better news than from the first ; Mr. Peck- sniff was not at home. However, they got the patient into bed without him ; and in the course of two ho?irs, he grad- ually became so far better that there were much longer inter- vals than at first between his terms of suffering. By degrees, he ceased to suffer at all, though his exhaustion was occa- sionally so great, that it suggested hardly less alarm than his actual endurance had done.
It was in one of his intervals of repose, when, looking round with great caution, and reaching uneasily cut of his nest of pillows, he endeavored, with a strange air of secrecy and distrust, to make use of the writing materials which he had ordered to be placed on a table beside him, that the young lady and the mistress of the Blue Dragon, found themselves sitting side by side before the fire in the sick chamber.
This mistress of the Blue Dragon was in outward appear- ance just what a landlady should be ; broad, buxom, com- fortable, and good-looking, with a face of clear red and white, which, by its jovial aspect, at once bore testimony to her hearty participation in the good things of the larder and cellar, and to their thriving and healthful influences. She was a widow, but years ago had passed through her state of weeds, and burst into flower again ; and in full bloom she had continued ever since ; and in full bloom she was now ; with roses on her ample skirts, and roses on her bodice, roses in her cap, roses in her cheeks — ay, and roses worth the gathering too, on her lips, for that matter. She had still a bright black eye, and jet black hair ; was comely,
36 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
dimpled, plump, and tight as a gooseberry ; and though she was not exactly what the world calls young, you may make an affidavit, on trust, before any mayor or magistrate in Christendom, that there are a great many young ladies in the world (blessings on them, one and all !) whom you wouldn't like half as well, or admire half as much, as the beaming hostess of the Blue Dragon.
As this fair matron sat beside the fire, she glanced occa- sionally, with all the pride of ownership, about the room ; which was a large apartment, such as one may see in country places, with a low roof and a sunken flooring, all down-hill from the door, and a descent of two steps on the inside so exquisitely unexpected, that strangers, despite the most elab- orate cautioning, usually dived in head-first, as into a plung- ing bath. It was none of your frivolous and preposterously bright bed-rooms, where nobody can close an eye with any kind of propriety or decent regard to the association of ideas ; but it was a good, dull, leaden, drowsy place, where every article of furniture reminded you that you came there to sleep, and that you were expected to go to sleep. There w^as no wakeful reflection of the fire there, as in your mod- ern chambers, which upon the darkest nights have a watch- ful consciousness of French polish ; the old Spanish mahog- any winked at it now and then, as a dozing cat or dog might, nothing more. The very size and shape, and hopeless immovability, of the bedstead, and wardrobe, and in a minor degree of even the chairs and tables, provoked sleep ; they were plainly apoplectic and disposed to snore. There were no staring portraits to remonstrate with you for being lazy ; no round-eyed birds upon the curtains, disgustingly wide awake, and insufferably prying. The thick neutral hang- ings, and the dark blinds, and the heavy heap of bed-clothes, were all designed to hold in sleep, and act as non-conduct- ors to the day and getting up. Even the old stuffed fox upon the top of the wardrobe was devoid of any spark of vigilance, for his glass eye had fallen out, and he slumbered as he stood.
The wandering attention of the mistress of the Blue Drag- on roved to these things but twice or thrice, and then for but an instant at a time. It soon deserted them, and even the distant bed with its strange burden, for the young creat- ure immediately before her, who, with her downcast eyes intently fixed upon the fire, sat wrapped in silent meditation.
§he was very young, apparently no more than seventeen j
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 37
timid and shrinking in her manner, and yet with a greater share of self-possession and control over her emotions than usually belongs to a far more advanced period of female life. This she had abundantly shown, but now, in her tending of the sick gentleman. She was short in stature ; and her figure was slight, as became her years ; but all the charms of youth and maidenhood set it off, and clustered on her gentle brow. Her face was very pale, in part no doubt from recent agita- tion. Her dark brown hair, disordered from the same cause, had fallen negligently from its bonds, and hung upon her neck ; for which instance of its waywardness, no male observer would have had the heart to blame it.
Her attire was that of a lady, but extremely plain ; and in her manner, even when she sat as still as she did then, there was an indefinable something which appeared to be in kin- dred with her scrupulously unpretending dress. She had sat, at first looking anxiously toward the bed ; but seeing that the patient remained quiet, and was busy with his writing, she had softly moved her chair into its present place ; partly, as it seemed, from an instinctive consciousness that he desired to avoid observation ; and partly that she might, unseen by him, give some vent to the natural feelings she had hitherto suppressed.
Of all this, and much more, the rosy landlady of the Blue Dragon took as accurate note and observation as only woman can take of woman. And at length she said, in a voice too low, she knew, to reach the bed :
*' You have seen the gentleman in this way before, miss ? Is he used to these attacks ? "
" I have seen him very ill before, but not so ill as he has been to-night."
'* What a providence ! " said the landlady of the Dragon, " that you had the prescriptions and the medicines with you, miss ? "
" They are intended for such an emergency. We never travel without them."
" Oh ! " thought the hostess, " then we are in the habit of traveling, and of traveling together."
She was so conscious of expressing this in her face, that meeting the young lady's eyes immediately afterward, and being a very honest hostess, she was rather confused.
" The gentleman — your grandpapa " — she resumed, after a short pause, '* being so bent on having no assistance, must terrify you very much, miss ? "
38 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" I have been very much alarmed to-night. He — he is not my grandfather."
'* Father, I should have said," returned the hostess, sensi- ble of having made an awkward mistake.
" Nor my father," said the young lady. *' Nor," she added, slightly smiling with a quick perception of what the landlady was going to add, " Nor my uncle. We are not related."
" Oh dear me ! " returned the landlady, still more embar- rassed than before ; *' how could I be so very much mis- taken ; knowing, as any body in their proper senses might, that when a gentleman is ill he looks so much older than he really is ? That I should have called you ' miss,' too, ma'am ! " But when she had proceeded thus far, she glanced involuntarily at the third finger of the young lady's left hand, and faltered again ; for there was no ring upon it.
'' When I told you we were not related," said the other mildly, but not without confusion on her own part, ** I meant not in any way. Not even by marriage. Did you call me, Martin ? " •
" Call you ?" cried the old man, looking quickly up, and hurriedly drawing beneath the coverlet the paper on which he had been writing. *' No."
She had moved a pace or two toward the bed, but stopped immediately, and went no further.
"No," he repeated, with a petulant emphasis. *' Why do you ask me ? If I had called you, what need for such a question ?"
" It was the creaking of the sign outside, sir, I dare say," observed the landlady ; a suggestion, by the way (as she felt a moment after she had made it), not at all complimentary to the voice of the old gentleman.
"No matter what, ma'am," he rejoined; "it wasn't I. Why how you stand there, Mary, as if I had the plague ! But they're all afraid of me,'-' he added, leaning helplessly back- ward on his pillow ; " even she ! There is a curse upon me. What else have I to look for ? "
"Oh dear, no. Oh no, I'm sure," said the good-tempered landlady, rising, and going toward him. " Be of better cheer, sir. These are only sick fancies."
" What are only sick fancies ? " he retorted. " What do you know about fancies ? Who told j^.v about fancies ? The old story ! Fancies ! "
'" Oniv see again there, liow you take one up ! " said the
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 39
mistress of the Blue Dragon, with unimpaired good humor. " Dear heart alive, there is no harm in the word, sir, if it is an old one. Folks in good health have their fancies too, and strange ones, every day."
Harmless as this speech appeared to be, it acted on the traveler's distrust, like oil on fire. He raised his head up in the bed, and, fixing on her two dark eyes whose bright- ness was exaggerated by the paleness of his hollow cheeks, as they in turn, together with his straggling locks of long gray hair, were rendered whiter by the tight black velvet skull-cap which he wore, he searched her face intently.
" Ah ! you begin too soon," he said, in so low a voice that he seemed to be thinking it, rather than addressing her. *' But you lose no time. You do your errand, and you earn your fee. Now, who may he yoi/r client ? "
The landlady looked in great astonishment at her whom he called Mary, and finding no rejoinder in the drooping face, looked back again at him. At first she had recoiled involuntarily, supposing him disordered in his mind ; but the slow composure of his manner, and the settled purpose announced in his strong features, and gathering, most of all, about his puckered mouth, forbade the supposition.
" Come," he said, *' tell me who is it ? Being here, it is not very hard for me to guess, you may suppose."
" Martin," interposed the young lady, laying her hand upon his arm ; " reflect how short a time we have been in this house, and that even your name is unknown here."
" Unless," he said, '' you — " He was evidently tempted to express a suspicion of her having broken his confidence in favor of the landlady, but either remembering her tender nursing, or being moved in some sort, by her face, he checked himself, and changing his uneasy posture in the bed, was silent.
" There ! " said Mrs. Lupin ; for in that name the Blue Dragon was licensed to furnish entertainment, both to man and beast. " Now, you will be well again, sir. You for- got, for the moment, that there were none but friends here."
" Oh ! " cried the old man, moaning impatiently, as he tossed one restless arm upon the coverlet ; " why do you talk to me of friends ! Can you or any body teach me to know who are my friends, and who my enemies ?"
" At least," urged Mrs. Lupin, gently, " this young lady is your friend, I am sure."
** She has no temptation to be otherwise," cried the old
fo MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
man, like one whose hope and confidence were utterly exhausted. *' I suppose she is. Heaven knows. There ; let me try to sleep. Leave the candle where it is."
As they retired from the bed, he drew forth the writing which had occupied him so long, and holding it in the flame of the taper burned it to ashes. That done, he extinguished the light, and turning his face away with a heavy sigh, drew the coverlet about his head, and lay quite still.
This destruction of the paper, both as being strangely inconsistent with the labor he had devoted to it and as involving considerable danger of fire to the Dragon, occa- sioned Mrs. Lupin not a little consternation. But the young lady evincing no surprise, curiosity, or alarm, whispered her, with many thanks for her solicitude and company, that she would remain there some time longer ; and that she begged her not to share her watch, as she was well used to being alone, and would pass the time in reading.
Mrs. Lupin had her full share and dividend of that large capital of curiosity which is inherited by her sex, and at another time it might have been difficult so to impress this hint upon her a: to induce her to take it. But now, in sheer wonder and amazement at these mysteries, she with- drew at once, and repairing straightway to her own little parlor below-stairs, sat down in her easy-chair with unnatural composure. At this very crisis, a step was heard in the entry, and Mr. Pecksniff, looking sweetly over the half-door of the bar, and into the vista of snug privacy beyond, mur- mured :
" Good evening ]\Irs. Lupin ! "
" Oh dear me, sir ! " she cried advancing to receive him, " I am so very glad you have come."
" And / am very glad I have come," said Mr. Pecksniff, " if I can be of service. I am very glad I have come. \Miat is the matter, Mrs. Lupin ? "
"A gentleman taken ill upon the road has been so very bad up-stairs, sir," said the tearful hostess.
*' A gentleman taken ill upon the road has been so very bad up-stairs, has he ? " repeated Mr. Pecksniff. *' Well, well! "
Now there was nothing that one may call decidedly original in this remark, nor can it be exactly said to have contained any wise precept theretofore unknown to mankind, or to have opened any hidden source of consolation ; but Mr. Pecksniff's manner was so bland, and he nodded his head so soothingly, and showed in every thing such an affable sense of his own
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 41
excellence, that anybody would have been, as Mrs. Lupin was, comforted by the mere voice and presence of such a man ; and, though he had merely said '* a verb must agree with its nominative case in number and person, my good friend," or " eight times eight are sixty-four, my worthy soul," must have felt deeply grateful to him for his humanity and wis- dom.
'* And how," asked Mr. Pecksniff, drawing off his gloves and warming his hands before the fire, as benevolently as if they were somebody else's, not his ; " and how is he now ?"
" He is better, and quite tranquil," answered Mrs. Lupin.
** He is better, and quite tranquil," said Mr. Pecksniff. " Very well ! ve-ry well ! "
Here again, though the statement was Mrs. Lupin's and not Mr. Pecksniff's, Mr. Pecksniff made it his own and con- soled her with it. It was not much when Mrs. Lupin said it, but it was a whole book when Mr. Pecksniff said it. "/ observe," he seemed to say, "and through me, morality in general remarks, that he is better and quite tranquil."
" There must be weighty matters on his mind though," said the hostess, shaking her head, " for he talks, sir, in the strangest way you ever heard. He is far from easy in his thoughts, and wants some proper advice from those whose goodness makes it worth his having."
"Then," said Mr. Pecksniff, "he is the sort of customer for me." But though he said this in the plainest language, he didn't speak a word. He only shook his head ; disparag- ingly of himself too.
" I am afraid, sir," continued the landlady, first looking round to assure herself that there was nobody within hearing, and then looking down upon the floor. " I am very much afraid, sir, that his conscience is troubled by his not being related to — or — or even married to — a very young lady — "
" Mrs. Lupin ! " said Mr. Pecksniff, holding up his hand with something in his manner as nearly approaching to severity, as any expression of his, mild being' that he was, could ever do. " Person ! Young person ?"
" A very young person," said Mrs. Lupiu, courtesying and blushing ; " — I beg your pardon, sir, but I have been so hurried to-night, that I don't know what I say — who is with him now."
" Who is with him now," ruminated Mr. Pecksniff, warm- ing his back (as he had warmed his hands) as if it were a widow's back, or an orphan's back, or an enemy's back, or a
42 MARTIN CnUZZLEWIT.
back that any less excellent man would have suffered to be cold. " Oh dear me, dear me! "
'' At the same time I am bound to say. and I do say with all my heart," observed the hostess, earnestly, " that her looks and manner almost disarm suspicion."
" Your suspicion, Mrs. Lupin," said Mr. Pecksniff gravely, " is very natural."
Touching which remark, let it be written down to their confusion, that the enemies of this worthy man unblushingly maintained that he always said ci what was very bad, that it was very natural; and that he unconsciously betrayed his own nature in doing so.
*' Your suspicion, Mrs. Lupin," he repeated, " is very natural, and I have no doubt correct. I will wait upon these travelers."
With that he took off his great-coat, and having run his fingers though his hair, thrust one hand gently in the bosom of his waistcoat and meekly signed to her to lead the way.
" Shall I knock ? " asked Mrs. Lupin, when they reached the chamber door.
" No," said Mr. Pecksniff, " enter if you please."
They went in on tiptoe ; or rather the hostess took that precaution, for Mr. Pecksniff always walked softly. The old gentleman was still asleep, and his young companion still sat reading by the fire.
" I am afraid," said Mr. Pecksniff, pausing at the door, and giving his head a melancholy roll, " I am afraid that this looks artful. I am afraid, Mrs. Lupin, do you know, that this looks very artful ! "
As he finished this whisper, he advanced, before the host- ess ; and at the same time the young lady, hearing footsteps, rose. Mr. Pecksniff glanced at the volume she held, and whispered Mrs. Lupin again ; if possible, with increased despondency.
" Yes, ma'am," he said, " it is a good book. I was fearful of that beforehand. I am apprehensive that this is a very deep thing indeed ! "
" What gentleman is this ? " inquired the object of his virtuous doubts.
*' Hush I don't trouble yourself, ma'am," said Mr. Peck- sniff, as the landlady was about to answer. " This young " — in spite of himself he hesitated when "person " rose to his lips, and substituted another word: "this young stranger,
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 43
Mrs. Lupin, will excuse me for replying briefly, that I reside in this village; it may be in an influential manner, however undeserved; and that I have been summoned here, by you. I am here, as I am everywhere, I hope, in sympathy for the sick and sorry."
With these impressive words, Mr. Pecksniff passed over to the bedside, where, after patting the counterpane once or twice in a very solemn manner, as if by that means he gained a clear insight into the patient's disorder, he took a seat in a large arm-chair, and in an attitude of some thoughtfulness and much comfort, waited for his waking. Whatever objec- tion the young lady urged to ]Mrs. Lupin went no further, for nothing more was said to Mr. Pecksniff, and Mr. Peck- sniff said nothing more to any body else.
Full half an hour elapsed before the old man stirred, but at length he turned himself in bed, and, though not yet awake, gave tokens that his sleep was drawing to an end. By little and little he removed the bed-clothes from about his head, and turned still more toward the side where Mr. Pecksniff sat. In course of time his eyes opened; and he lay for a few moments as people newly roused sometimes will, gazing indolently at his visitor, without any distinct consciousness of his presence.
There was nothing remarkable in these proceedings, except the influence they worked on Mr. Pecksniff, which could hardly have been surpassed by the most marvelous of natural phenomena. Gradually his hands became tightly clasped upon the elbows of his chair, his eyes dilated with surprise, his mouth opened, his hair stood more erect upon his forehead than its custom was, until, at length, when the old mxan rose in bed, and stared at him with scarcely less emotion than he showed himself, the Pecksniff doubts were all resolved, and he exclaimed aloud:
*' You aj-e Martin Chuzzlewit! "
His consternation of surprise was so genuine that the old man, with all the disposition that he clearly entertained to believe it assumed, was convinced of its reality.
" I am Martin Chuzzlewit," he said; "and Martin Chuz- zlewit wishes you had been hanged before you had come here to disturb him in his sleep. Why, I dreamed of this fellow!" he said, lying down again, and turning away his face, '* before that I knew he was near me!"
" My good cousin — " said Mr. Pecksniff.
" There! His very first words! " cried the old man, shak-
44 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
ing his gray head to and fro upon the pillow, and throwing up his hands. " In his very first words he asserts his rela- tionship! I knew he would; they all do it! Near or distant, blood or water, it's all one. Ugh! What a calendar of deceit, and lying, and false-witnessing, the sound of any word of kindred opens before me! "
" Pray do not be hasty, Mr. Chuzzlewit," said Pecksniff, in a tone that was at once in the sublimest degree compas- sionate and dispassionate; for he had by this time recovered from his surprise, and was in full possession of his virtuous self. " You will regret being hasty, I know you will."
" Vou know! " said Martin, contemptuously,
"Yes," retorted Mr. Pecksniff. ''Ay, ay, Mr. Chuzzlewit; and don't imagine that I mean to court or flatter you, for nothing is further from my intention. Neither, sir, need you entertain the least misgiving that I shall repeat that obnoxious word which has given you so much offense already. Why should I ? What do I expect or want from you ? There is nothing in your possession that / know of, Mr. Chuzzlewit, which is much to be coveted for the happiness it brings you."
*' That's true enough," muttered the old man.
" Apart from that consideration," said Mr. Pecksniff, watchful of the effect he made, " it must be plain to you (I am sure) by this time, that if I had wished to insinuate myself into your good opinion, I should have been, of all things, careful not to address you as a relative, knowing your humor, and being quite certain beforehand that I could not have a worse letter of recommendation."
Martin made not any verbal answer; but he as clearly implied, though only by a motion of his legs beneath the bedclothes, that there was reason m this, and that he could not dispute it, as if he had said as much in good set terms.
" No," said Mr. Pecksniff, keeping his hand in his waist- coat as though he were ready, on the shortest notice, to produce his heart for Martin Chuzzlewit's inspection, " I came here to offer my services to a stranger. I make no offer of them to you, because I know you would distrust me if I did. But lying on that bed, sir, I regard you as a stranger, and I have just that amount of interest in you which I hope I should feel in any stranger, circumstanced as you are. Beyond that, I am quite as indifferent to you, Mr. Chuzzlewit, as you are to me."
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 45
Having said which, Mr. Pecksniff threw himself back in the easy-chair ; so radiant with ingenuous honesty, that Mrs. Lupin almost wondered not to see a stained-glass glory, such as the saint wore in the church, shining about his head.
A long pause succeeded. The old man, with increased restlessness, changed his posture several times. Mrs. Lupin and the young lady gazed in silence at the counter- pane. Mr. Pecksniff toyed abstractedly with his eye- glass, and kept his eyes shut, that he might ruminate the better.
** Eh ?" he said at last, opening them suddenly, and looking toward the bed. " I beg your pardon. I thought you spoke. Mrs. Lupin," he continued, slowly rising, *' I am not aware that I can be of any service to you here. The gentle- man is better, and you are as good a nurse as he can have. Eh?"
This last note of interrogation bore reference to another change of posture on the old man's part, which brought his face toward Mr. Pecksniff for the first time since he had turned away from him.
" If you desire to speak to me before I go, sir," continued that gentleman, after another pause, " you may command my leisure-^ but I must stipulate, in justice to myself, that that you do so as to a stranger ; strictly as to a stranger."
Now if Mr. Pecksniff knew, from any thing Martin Chuz- zlewit had expressed in gestures, that he wanted to speak to him, he could only have found it out on some such principle as prevails in melodramas, and in virtue of which the elderly farmer with the comic son always knows what the dumb-girl means when she takes refuge in his garden, and relates her personal memoirs in incomprehensible pantomime. But without stopping to make any inquiry on this point, Martin Chuzzlewit signed to his young companion to withdraw, which she immediately did, along with the landlady, leaving him and Mr. Pecksniff alone together. For some time they looked at each other in silence ; or rather the old man looked at Mr. Pecksniff, and Mr. Pecksniff, again closing his eyes on all outward objects, took an inward survey of his own breast. That it amply repaid him for his trouble, and afforded a delicious and enchanting prospect, was clear from the expression of his face.
" You wish me to speak to you as to a total stranger," said the old man, '* do you ? "
46 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
Mr. Pecksniff replied, by a shrug of his shoulders and an apparent turning-round of his eyes in their sockets before he opened them, that he was still reduced to the necessity of entertaining that desire.
" You shall be gratified," said Martin. " Sir, I am a rich man. Not so rich as some suppose, perhaps, but yet wealthy. I am not a miser, sir, though even that charge is made against me, as I hear, and currently believed. I have no pleasure in hoarding. I have no pleasure in the posses- sion of money. The devil that we call by that name can give me nothing but unhappiness."
It would be no description of Mr, Pecksniff's gentleness of manner to adopt the common parlance, and say, that he looked at this moment as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He rather looked as if any quantity of butter might have been made out of him, by churning the milk of human kindness, as it spouted upward from his heart.
" For the same reason that I am not a hoarder of money," said the old man, " I am not lavish of it. Some people find their gratification in storing it up ; and others theirs in part- ting with it ; but I have no gratification connected with the thing. Pain and bitterness are the only goods it ever could procure for me. I hate it. It is a specter walking before me through the world, and making every social pleas- ure hideous."
A thought arose in Mr. Pecksniff's mind, which must have instantly mounted to his face, or Martin Chuzzlewit could not have resumed as quickly and as sternly as he did :
*' You would advise me for my peace of mind, to get rid of this source of misery, and traJisfer it to some one who could bear it better. Even you, perhaps, would rid me of a burden under which I suffer so grievously. But, kind stranger," said the old man, whose every feature darkened as he spoke, "good Christian stranger, that is a main part of my trouble. In other hands I have known money do good; in other hands I have known it triumphed in, and boasted of with reason, as the master-key to all the brazen gates that close upon the paths to worldly honor, fortune, and enjoyment. To what man or woman ; to what worthy, honest, incorruptible creature ; shall I confide such a talis- man, either now or when I die ? Do you know any such person } Your virtues are of course inestimable, but can you tell me of any other living creature who will bear the test of contact with myself ? "
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 47
"Of contact with yourself, sir?" echoed Mr, Peck- sniff.
*' Ay," returned the old man, *' the test of contact with me — with me. You have heard of him whose misery (the gratifi- cation of his own foolish wish) was, that he turned every thing he touched into gold. The curse of my existence, and the realization of my own mad desire, is that by the golden standard which I bear above me, I am doomed to try the mettle of all other men, and find it false and hollow."
Mr. Pecksniff shook his head, and said, " You think so."
" Oh yes," cried the old man, '' I think so ! and in your tell- ing me, ' I think so,' I recognize the true unworldly ring of your metal. I tell you, man," he added, with increasing bitter- ness, " that I have gone, a rich man, among people of all grades and kinds ; relatives, friends, and strangers ; among people in whom, when I was poor, I had confidence, and justly, for they never once deceived me then, or, to me, wronged each other. But I have never found one nature, no, not one, in which, being wealthy and alone, I was not forced to detect the latent corruption that lay hid within it, waiting for such as I to bring it forth. Treachery, deceit, and low design ; hatred of competitors, real or fancied, for my favor; meanness, falsehood, baseness, and servility ; or," and here he looked closely in his cousin's eyes, " or an assumption of honest independence, almost worse than all ; these are the beauties which my wealth has brought to light. Brother against brother, child against parent, friends treading on the faces of friends, this is the social company by whom my way has been attended. There are stories told — they may be true or false — of rich men, who, in the garb of poverty, have found out virtue and rewarded it. They were dolts and idiots for their pains. They should have made the search in their own characters. They should have shown themselves fit objects to be robbed and preyed upon and plotted against and adulated by any knaves, who, but for joy, would have spat upon their cof^ns when they died their dupes ; and then their search would have ended as mine has done, and they would be what I am."
Mr. Pecksniff, not at all knowing what it might be best to say in the momentary pause which ensued upon these remarks, made an elaborate demonstration of intending to deliver something very oracular indeed ; trusting to the certainty of the old man interrupting him, before he should utter a word. Nor was he mistaken, for Martin Chuz-^lewit, having taken breath, went on to say :
48 * MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
*' Hear me to an end ; judge what profit you are like to gain from any repetition of this visit ; and leave me. I have so corrupted and changed the nature of all those who have ever attended on me, by breeding avaricious plots and hopes within them ; I have engendered such domestic strife and discord, by tarrying even with members of my own family ; I have been such a lighted torch in peaceful homes, kindling up all the inflammable gases and vapors in their moral atmosphere, which, but for me, might have proved harmless to the end ; that I have, I may say, fled from all who knew me, and taking refuge in secret places, have lived, of late, the life of one who is hunted. The young girl whom you just now saw — what ! your eye lightens when I talk of her ! You hate her already, do you ? "
" Upon my word, sir ! " said Mr. Pecksniff, laying his hand upon his breast and dropping his eyelids.
'* I forgot," cried the old man, looking at him with a keen- ness which the other seemed to feel, although he did not raise his eyes so as to see it ; "I ask your pardon. I forgot you were a stranger. For the moment you reminded me of one Pecksniff, a cousin of mine. As I was saying — the young girl whom you just now saw, is an orphan child, whom, with one steady purpose, I have bred and educated, or, if you prefer the word, adopted. For a year or more she has been my constant companion, and she is my only one. I have taken, as she knows, a solemn oath never to leave her sixpence when I die, but while I live, I make her an annual allowance ; not extravagant in its amount and yet not stinted. There is a compact between us that no term of affectionate cajolery shall ever be addressed by either to the other, but that she shall call me always by my Christian name ; I her, by hers. She is bound to me in life by ties of interest, and losing by my death, and having no expectation disappointed, will mourn it, perhaps ; though for that I care little. This is the only kind of friend I have or will have. Judge from such premises what a profitable hour you have spent in coming here, and leave me ; to return no more."
With these words, the old man fell slowly back upon his pillow. Mr. Pecksniff as slowly rose, and, with a prefatory hem, began as follows :
" Mr. Chuzzlewit."
" There. Go ! " interposed the other. " Enough of this. I am weary of you."
*' lam sorry for that, sir," rejoined Mr. Pecksniff, " because
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 49
I have a duty to discharge, from which, depend upon it, I shall not shrink. No, sir, I shall not shrink."
It is a lamentable fact, that as Mr. Pecksniff stood erect beside the bed, in all the dignity of goodness, and addressed him thus, the old man cast an angry glance toward the candlestick, as if he were possessed by a strong inclination to launch it at his cousin's head. But he constrained him- self, and pointing with his finger to the door, informed him that his road lay there.
" Thank you," said Mr. Pecksniff, " I am aware of that ; I am going. But before I go, I crave your leave to speak, and more than that, Mr. Chuzzlewit, I must and will — yes indeed, I repeat it, must and will — be heard. I am not surprised, sir, at any thing you have told me to-night. It is natural, very natural, and the greater part of it was known to me before. I will not say," continued Mr. Pecksniff, drawing out his pocket-handkerchief, and winking with both eyes at once, as it were, against his will, " I will not say that you are mistaken in me. While you are in your present mood I would not say so for the world, I alm.ost wish, indeed, that I had a different nature, that I might repress even this slight confession of weakness; which I can not disguise from you; which I feel is humiliating; but which you will have the goodness to excuse. We will say, if you please," added Mr. Pecksniff, with great tenderness of manner, " that it arises from a cold in the head, or is attributable to snuff, or smell- ing-salts, or onions, or any thing but the real cause."
Here he paused for an instant, and concealed his face behind his pocket-handkerchief. Then, smiling faintly, and holding the bed-furniture with one hand, he resumed :
** But, Mr. Chuzzlewit, while I am forgetful of myself, I owe it to myself, and to my character — ay, sir, and I have a character which is very dear to me, and will be the best inheritance of my two daughters — to tell you, on behalf of another, that your conduct is wrong, unnatural, indefensible, monstrous. And I tell you, sir," said Mr. Pecksniff, tower- ing on tiptoe among the curtains, as if he were literally ris- ing above all worldly considerations, and were fain to hold on tight, to keep himself from darting skyward like a rocket, " I tell you without fear or favor, that it will not do for you to be unmindful of your grandson, young Martin, who has the strongest natural claim upon you. It will not do, sir," repeated Mr. Pecksniff, shaking his head. ''You may think it will do, but it won't. Yuu must provide for that young
50 MARTIN CHUZZLEVVTT.
man, you shall provide for him; you will provide for him. I believe," said Mr. Pecksniff, glancing at the pen and ink, " that in secret you have already done so. Bless you for doing so. Bless you for doing right, sir. Bless you for hating me. And good-night ! "
So saying, Mr. Pecksniff waved his right hand with much solemnity ; and once more inserting it in his waistcoat, departed. There was emotion in his manner, but his step was firm. Subject to human weaknesses, he was upheld by conscience.
Martin lay for some time, with an expression on his face of silent wonder, not unmixed with rage; at length he mut- tered in a whisper :
" What does this mean ? Can the false-hearted boy have chosen such a tool as yonder fellow who has just gone out ? Why not ! He has conspired against me, like the rest, and they are but birds of one feather. A new plot ; a new plot ! Oh self, self, self ! At every turn nothing but self ! "
He fell to trifling, as he ceased to speak, with the ashes of the burned paper in the candlestick. He did so, at first, in pure abstraction, but they presently became the subject of his thoughts.
" Another will made and destroyed," he said, " nothing determined on, nothing done, and I might have died to- night ! I plainly see to what foul uses all this money will be put at last," he cried, almost writhing in the bed; " after filling me with cares and miseries all my life, it will perpetuate discord and bad passions when I am dead. So it always is. What lawsuits grow out of the graves of rich men, every day; sowing perjury, hatred, and lies among near kindred, where there should be nothing but love! Heaven help us, we have much to answer for! Oh self, self^ self! Every man for himself, and no creature for me! "
Universal self! Was there nothing of its shadow in these reflections, and in the history of Martin Chuzzlewit, on his own showing?
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 51
CHAPTER IV.
FROM WHICH IT WILL APPEAR THAT IF UNION BE STRENGTH, AND FAMILY AFFECTION BE PLEASANT TO CONTEMPLATE, THE CHUZZLEWITS WERE THE STRONGEST AND MOST AGREEABLE FAMILY IN THE WORLD.
That worthy man, Mr. Pecksniff, having taken leave of his cousin in the solemn terms recited in the last chapter, with- drew to his own home, and remained there, three whole days; not so much as going out for a walk beyond the boundaries of his own garden, lest he should be hastily summoned to the bedside of his penitent and remorseful relative, whom, in his ample benevolence, he had made up his mind to forgive unconditionally, and to love on ^y terms. But, such was the obstinacy and such the bitter nature of that stern old man, that no repentant summons came ; and the fourth day found Mr. Pecksniff apparently much further from his Chris- tian object than the first.
During the whole of this interval, he haunted the Dragon at all times and seasons in the day and night, and returning good for evil, evinced the deepest solicitude in the progress of the obdurate invalid ; insomuch that Mrs. Lupin was fairly melted by his disinterested anxiety (for he often par- ticularly required her to take notice that he would do the same by any stranger or pauper in the like condition), and shed many tears of admiration and delight.
Meantime, old Martin Chuzzlewit remained shut up in his own chamber, and saw no person but his young companion, saving the hostess of the Blue Dragon, who was, at certain times, admitted to his presence. So surely as she came into the room, however, Martin feigned to fall asleep. It was only when he and the young lady were alone, that he would utter a word, even in answe'i* to the simplest inquiry ; though Mr. Pecksniff could make out, by hard listening at the door, that they two being left together, he was talkative enough.
It happened on the fourth evening, that Mr. Pecksniff walking, as usual, into the bar of the Dragon and finding no Mrs. Lupin there, went straight up-stairs ; purposing, in the fervor of his affectionate zeal, to apply his ear once more to the keyhole, and quiet his mind by assuring himself that the hard-hearted patient was going on well. It happened that
52 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
Mr. Pecksniff, coming softly upon the dark passage into which a spiral ray of light usually darted through the same keyhole, was astonished to find no such ray visible; and it happened that Mr Pecksniff, when he had felt his way to the chamber door, stooping hurriedly down to ascertain by personal inspection whether the jealousy of the old man had caused this keyhole to be stopped on the inside, brought his head into such violent contact with another head, that he could not help uttering in an audible voice the monosyllable '* Oh ! " which was, as it were, sharply unscrewed and jerked out of him by very anguish. It happened then, and lastly, that Mr. Pecksniff found himself immediately collared by something which smelt like several damp unbrellas, a bar- rel of beer, a cask of warm brandy and water, and a small parlor-full of stale tobacco smoke, mixed; and was straight- way led down stairs into the bar from which he had lately come, where he found himself standing opposite to, and in the grasp of a perfectly strange gentleman of still stranger appearance, who, with his disengaged hand, rubbed his own head very hard, and looked at him, Pecksniff, with an evil countenance.
The gentleman was of that order of appearance, which is currently termed shabby-genteel, though in respect of his dress he can hardly be said to have been in any extremities, as his fingers were a long way out of his gloves, and the soles of his feet were at an inconvenient distance from the upper leather of his boots. His nether garments were of a bluish gray — violent in its colors once, but sobered now by age and dinginess — and were so stretched and strained in a tough conflict between his braces and his straps, that they appeared every moment in danger of flying asunder at the knees. His coat, in color blue and of a military cut, was buttoned and frogged, up to his chin. His cravat was, in hue and pattern, like one of those mantles which hair-dressers are accustomed to wrap about their clients, during the progress of the professional mysteries. His hat had arrived at such a pass that it would have been hard to determine whether it was originally white or black. But he wore a mustache — a shaggy mustache too; nothing in the meek and merciful way, but quite in the fierce and scornful style; the regular Satanic sort of thing — and he wore, besides, a vast quantity of unbrushed hair. He was very dirty and very jaunty; very bold and very mean; very swaggering and very slinking; very much like a man who might have been something better.
1
MARTIN CHUZZLEVVIT. 53
and unspeakably like a man who deserved to be something
worse
You were eaves-dropping at the door, you vagabond ! " said this gentleman.
Mr. Pecksniff cast him "off, as Saint George might have repudiated the dragon i!i that animal's last moments and said:
" Where is Mrs. Lupin, I wonder ! can the good woman possibly be aware that there is a person here who — "
*' Stay ! " said the gentleman. " Wait a bit. She does know. What then ? "
" What then, sir ? " cried Mr. Pecksniff. '' What then ? Do you know, sir, that I am the friend and relative of that sick gentleman ? That I am his protector, his guardian, his—"
" Not his niece's husband," interposed the stranger, " I'll be sworn ; for he was there before you."
" What do you mean ? " said Mr. Pecksniff, with indignant surprise. *' Vv'hat do you tell me, sir ? "
" Wait a bit! " cried the other. " Perhaps you are a cous- in— the cousin who lives in this place ? "
" I am the cousin who lives in this place," replied the man of worth.
*' Your name is Pecksniff ? " said the gentleman.
"It is."
*' 1 am proud to know you, and I ask your pardon," said the man, touching his hat, and subsequently diving behind his cravat for a shirt-collar, which however he did not suc- ceed in bringing to the surface. " You behold in me, sir, one who has also an interest in that gentleman up-stairs. Wait a bit."
As he said this, he touched the tip of his high nose, by way of intimation that he would let Mr. Pecksniff into a secret presently ; and pulling off his hat, began to search inside the crown among a mass of crumpled documents and small pieces of what may be called the bark of broken cigars, whence he presently selected the cover of an old letter, begrimed with dirt and redolent of tobacco.
" Read that," he cried, giving it to Mr. Pecksniff.
" This is addressed to Chevy Slyme, Esquire," said that gentleman.
" You know Chevy Slyme, Esquire, I believe ? " returned the stranger.
Mr. Pecksniff shrugged his shoulders as though he would say, "I know there is such a person, and am sorry for it."
54 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" Very good," remarked the gentleman. " That is my business here." With that he made another dive for. his shirt collar, and brought up a string.
" Now this is very distressing, my friend," said Mr. Peck- sniff, shaking his head and smiling composedly. ** It is very distressing to me, to be compelled to say that you are rot the person you claim to be. I know Mr. Slyme, my friend ; this will not do ; honesty is the best policy ; you had better not ; you had indeed."
** Stop ! " cried the gentleman, stretching forth his right arm, which was so tightly wedged into his threadbare sleeve that it looked like a cloth sausage. *' Wait a bit I "
He paused to establish himself immediately in front of the fire, with his back toward it. Then gathering the skirts of his coat under his left arm, and smoothing his mustache with his right thumb and forefinger,' he resumed :
" I understand your mistake, and I am not offended. Why? Because it's complimentary. You suppose I would set myself up for Chevy Slyme. Sir, if there is a man on earth whom a gentleman would feel proud and honored to be mistaken for, that man is my friend Slyme. For he is, without an exception, the highest-minded, the most inde- pendent-spirited, most original, spiritual, classical, talented, the most thoroughly Shakespearian, if not Miltonic, and at the same time the most disgustingly-unappreciated dog 1 know. But, sir, I have not the vanity to attempt to pass for Slyme. Any other man in the wide world, I am equal to ; but Slyme is, I frankly confess, a great many cuts above me. Therefore you are wrong."
" I judged from this," said Mr. Pecksniff, holding out the cover of the letter.
*' No doubt you did," returned the gentleman. "But, Mr. Pecksniff, the whole thing resolves itself into an instance of the peculiarities of genius. Every man ot true genius has his peculiarity. Sir, the peculiarity of my friend Slyme is, that he is always waiting around the corner. He is perpetu- ally around the corner, sir. He is around the corner at this instant. Now," said the gentleman, shaking his forefinger before his nose, and planting his legs wider apart as he looked attentively in Mr. Pecksniffs face, " that is a remarkably curious and interesting trait in Mr. Slyme's character ; and whenever Slyme's life comes to be written, that trait must be thoroughly worked out by his biographer, or society will not be satisfied. Observe me, society will not be satisfied ! "
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 55
Mr. Pecksniff coughed.
** Slyme's biographer, sir, whoever he may be," resumed the gentleman, " must apply to me ; or, if I am gone to that what's-his-name from which no thingumbob comes back he must apply to my executors for leave to search among my papers. I have taken a few notes in my poor way, of some of that man's proceedings — my adopted brother, sir, — which would amaze you. He made use of an expression, sir, only on the fifteenth of last month when he couldn't meet a little bill and the other party wouldn't renew, which would have done honor to Napoleon Bonaparte in addressing the French army."
" And pray," asked Mr. Pecksniff, obviously not quite at his ease, " what may be Mr. Slyme's business here, if 1 may be permitted to inquire, who am compelled by a regard for my own character to disavow all interest in his proceed- mgs ?
" In the first place," returned the gentleman, " you will permit me to say, that I object to that remark, and that I strongly and indignantly protest against it on behalf of my friend Slyme. In the next place, you will give me leave to introduce myself. My name, sir, is Tigg. The name of Montague Tigg will perhaps be familiar to you in connection with the most remarkable events of the Peninsular War ? "
Mr. Pecksniff gently shook his head.
" No matter," said the gentleman. " That man was my father and I bear his name. I am consequently proud — proud as Lucifer. Excuse me one moment. I desire my friend Slyme to be present at the remainder of this confer- ence."
With this announcement he hurried awav to the outer door of the Blue Dragon, and almost immediately returned with a companion shorter than himself, who was wrapped in an old blue camlet cloak with a lining of faded scarlet. His sharp features being much pinched and nipped by long wait- ing in the cold, and his straggling red whiskers and frowzy hair being more than usually disheveled from the same cause, he certainly looked rather unwholesome and uncom- fortable than Shakespearian or Miltonic.
" Now," said Mr. Tigg, clapping one hand on the shoul- der of his prepossessing friend, and calling Mr. Pecksniff's attention to him with the other, " you two are related ; and relations never did agree, and never will ; which is a wise dispensation and an inevitable thing, r^r there would be none
50 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
but family parties, and every body in the world would bore every body else to death. If you were on good terms I should consider you a most confoundedly unnatural pair ; but standing toward each other as you do, I look upon you as a couple of devilish deep-thoughted fellows, who may be reasoned with to any extent."
Here Mr. Chevy Slyme, whose great abilities seemed one and all to point toward the sneaking quarter of the moral compass, nudged his friend steadily with his elbow, and whispered in his ear.
" Chiv," said Mr. Tigg aloud, in the high tone of one who was not to be tampered with. " I shall come to that pres- ently. I act upon my own responsibility, or not at all. To the extent of such a trifling loan as a crownpiece to a man of your talents, I look upon Mr. Pecksniff as certain;" and seeing at this juncture that the expression of Mr. Pecksniff's face by no means betokened that he shared this certainty, Mr. Tigg laid his finger on his nose again for that gentleman's private and especial behoof ; calling upon him thereby to take notice, that the requisition of small loans was another instance of the peculiarities of genius as developed in his friend Slyme ; that he, Tigg, winked at the same because of the strong metaphysical interest which these weaknesses possessed ; and that in reference to his own personal advo- cacy of such small advances, he merely consulted the humor of his friend, without the least regard to his own advantage or necessities.
" Oh, Chiv, Chiv ! " added Mr. Tigg, surveying his adopted brother with an air of profound contemplation after dismissing this piece of pantomime. "You are, upon my life, a strange instance of the little frailties that beset a mighty mind. If there had never been a telescope in the world, I should have been quite certain from my observation of you, Chiv, that there were spots on the sun ! I wish I may die if this isn't the queerest state of existence that we find ourselves forced into, without know- ing why or wherefore, Mr. Pecksniff ! Well, never mind ! Moralize as we will, the world goes on. As Hamlet says, Hercules may lay about him with his club in every possible direction, but he can't prevent the cats from making a most intolerable row on the roofs of houses, or the dogs from being shot in the hot weather if they nm about the streets unmuzzled. Life's a riddle; a most infernally hard riddle to guess, Mr. Pecksniff, My own opinion is.
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 57
that like that celebrated conundrum, * Why's a man in jail like a man out of jail ? ' there's no answer to it. Upon my soul and body, it's the queerest sort of thing altogether — but there's no use in talking about it. Ha ! ha ! "
With which consolatory deduction from the gloomy prem- ises recited, Mr. Tigg roused himself by a great effort, and proceeded in his former strain.
" Now I'll tell you what it is. I'm a most confoundedly soft-hearted kind of fellow in my way, and I can not stand by, and see you two blades cutting each other's throats when there's nothing to be got by it. Mr. Pecksniff, you're the cousin of the testator up-stairs and we're the nephew — I say we, meaning Chiv. Perhaps in all essential points, you are more nearly related to him than we are. Very good. If so, so be it. But you can't get at him, neither can we. I give you my brightest word of honor, sir, that I've been looking through that keyhole, with short intervals of rest, ever since nine o'clock this morning, in expectation of receiving an answer to one of the most moderate and gentlemanly appli- cations for a little temporary assistance — only fifteen pounds, and 7ny security — that the mind of man can conceive. In the meantime, sir, he is perpetually closeted with, and pouring his whole confidence into the bosom of a stranger. Now, I say decisively, with regard to this state of circumstances, that it won't do ; that it won't act ; that it can't be ; and that it must not be suffered to continue."
*' Every man," said Mr. Pecksniff, " has a right, an undoubted right (which I, for one, would not call in ques- tion for an earthly consideration; oh no!), to regulate his own proceedings by his likings and dislikings, supposing they are not immoral and not irreligious. I may feel in my own breast, that Mr. Chuzzlewit does not regard — me, for instance: say me — with exactly that am.ount of Christian love which should subsist between us; I may feel grieved and hurt at the circumstance; still I may not rush to the conclusion that Mr. Chuzzlewit is wholly without a justifica- tion in all his coldnesses. Heaven forbid! Besides, how, Mr. Tigg," continued Pecksniff even more gravely and impressively than he had spoken yet, " how could Mr. Chuz- zlewit be prevented from having these peculiar and most extraordinary confidences of which you speak ; the exist- ence of which I must admit ; and which I can not but deplore — for his sake? Consider, my good sir — " and here Mr. Pecksniff eyed him wistfully — " how very much at ran- dom you are talking."
58 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" Why as to that," rejoined Tigg, " it certainly is a difficult question,"
" Undoubtedly it is a difficult question," Mr. Pecksniff answered. As he spoke he drew himself aloft, and seemed to grow more mindful, suddenly, of the moral gulf between himself and the creature he addressed. " Undoubtedly it is a very difficult question. And I am far from feeling sure that it is a question any one is authorized to discuss. Good evening to you."
" You don't know that the Spottletoes are here, I sup- pose ? " said Mr, Tigg.
" What do you mean, sir? what Spottletoes ? " asked Pecksniff, stopping abruptly on his way to the door.
" Mr. and Mrs. Spottletoe," said Chevy Slyme, Esquire, speaking aloud for the first time, and speaking very sulkily; shambling with his legs the while. *' Spottletoe married my father's brother's child, didn't he? And Mrs. Spottletoe is Chuzzlewit's own niece, isn't she? She was his favorite once. You may well ask what Spottletoes."
" Now, upon my sacred word! " cried Mr. Pecksniff, look- ing upward. *' This is dreadful. The rapacity of these people is absolutely frightful ! "
*'It's not only the Spottletoes either, Tigg," said Slyme, looking at that gentleman and speaking at Mr. Pecksniff. " Anthony Chuzzlewit and his son have got wind of it, and have come down this afternoon. I saw 'em not five minutes ago, when I was waiting round the corner."
" Oh, mammon, mammon! " cried Mr. Pecksniff, smiting his forehead.
** So there," said Slyme, regardless of the interruption, "are his brother and another nephew for you, already."
" This is the whole thing, sir," said Mr. Tigg; "this is the point and purpose at which I was gradually arriving, when my friend Slyme here, with six words, hit it full. Mr. Pecksniff, now that your cousin (and Chiv's uncle) has turned up, some steps must be taken to prevent his disappearing again; and if possible to counteract the influence which is exercised over him now, by this designing favorite. Every body who is inter- ested feels it, sir. The whole family is pouring down to this place. The time has come when individual jealousies and interests must be forgotten for a time, sir, and union must be made against the common enemy. When the common enemy is routed, you will all set up for yourselves again ; every lady and gentleman who has a part in the game will
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 59
go in on their own account and bowl away, to the best of their ability, at the testator's wicket ; and nobody will be in a worse position than before. Think of it. Don't commit yourself now. You'll find usatthe Half Moon and Seven Stars in this village, at any time, and open to any reasonable proposition. Hem ! Chiv, my dear fellow, go out and see what sort of a night it is."
Mr. Slyme lost no time in disappearing, and, it is to be presumed, in going round the corner. Mr. Tigg, planting his legs as wide apart as he could be reasonably expected by the most sanguine man to keep them, shook his head at Mr. Pecksniff and smiled.
" We must not be too hard," he said, " upon the little eccentricities of our friend Slyme. You saw him whisper me?"
Mr. Pecksniff had seen him.
" You heard my answer, I think ? "
Mr. Pecksniff had heard it.
** Five shillings, eh ? " said Mr. Tigg, thoughtfully. " Ah ! what an extraordinary fellow ? Very moderate too ! "
Mr. Pecksniff made no answer.
** Five shillings ! " pursued Mr. Tigg, musing ; " and to be punctually repaid next week ; that's the best of it. You heard that ? "
Mr. Pecksniff had not heard that.
" No ! You surprise me ! " cried Tigg. " That's the cream of the thing, sir. I never knew that man fail to redeem a promise in my life. You're not in want of change, are you ? "
" No," said Mr. Pecksniff, " thank you. Not at all." . " Just so," returned Mr. Tigg. '' If you had been, I'd have got it for you." With that he began to whistle ; but a dozen seconds had not elapsed when he stopped short, and, looking earnestly at Mr. Pecksniff, said :
" Perhaps you'd rather not lend Slyme five shillings ? "
" I would much rather not," Mr. Pecksniff rejoined,
" Egad ! " cried Tigg, gravely nodding his head as if some ground of objection occurred to him at that moment for the first time, " it's very possible you may be right. Would you entertain the same sort of objection to lending vie five shillings, now ?"
"Yes, I couldn't do it. Indeed," said Mr. Pecksniff.
** Not even half a crown, perhaps ? " urged Mr. Tigg,
" Not even half a crown."
6o MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" Why then we come," said Mr. Tigg, " to the ridiculously small amount of eighteen pence. Ha ! ha ! "
" And that," said Mr. Pecksniff, ** would be equally objec- tionable."
On receipt of this assurance, Mr. Tigg shook him heartily by both hands, protesting with much earnestness that he was one of the most consistent and remarkable men he had ever met, and that he desired the honor of his better acquaint- ance. He moreover observed that there were many little characteristics about his friend Slyme, of which he could by no means, as a man of strict honor, approve ; but that he was prepared to forgive him all these slight drawbacks, and much more, in consideration of the great pleasure he him- self had that day enjoyed in his social intercourse with Mr. Pecksniff, which had given him a far higher and more enduring delight than the successful negotiation of any small loan on the part of his friend could possibly have imparted. With which remarks he would beg leave, he said, to wish Mr. Pecksniff a very good evening. And so he took himself off ; as little abashed by his recent failure as any gentleman would desire to be.
The meditations of Mr. Pecksniff that evening at the bar of the Dragon, and that night in his own house, were very serious and grave indeed ; the more especially as the intel- ligence he had received from Messrs. Tigg and Slyme touch- ing the arrival of other members of the family, were fully confirmed on more particular inquiry. For the Spottletoes had actually gone straight to the Dragon, where they were at that moment housed and mounting guard, and where their appearance had occasioned such a vast sensation that Mrs Lupin, scenting their errand before they had been under her roof half an hour, carried the news herself with all possible secrecy straight to Mr. Pecksniff's house ; indeed it was her great caution in doing so which occasioned her to miss that gentleman who entered at the front door of the Dragon, just as she emerged from the back one. Moreover,Mr. Anthony Chuz- zlewit and his son Jonas were economically quartered at the Half Moon and Seven Stars, which was an obscure ale-house ; and by the very next coach there came posting to the scene of action, so many other affectionate members of the family (who quarreled with each other, inside and out, all the way down, to the utter distraction of the coachman), that in less then four-and-twenty hours the scanty tavern accommoda- tion was at a premium, and al] the private lodgings in the
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 61
place amounting to full four beds and a sofa, rose cent, per cent, in the market.
In a word, things came to that pass that nearly the whole family sat down before the Blue Dragon, and formally invested it ; and Martin Chuzzlewit was in a state of siege. But he resisted bravely ; refusing to receive all letters, mes- sages, and parcels ; obstinately declining to treat with any body ; and holding out no hope or promise of capitulation. Meantime the family forces were perpetually encountering each other in divers parts of the neighborhood ; and, as no one branch of the Chuzzlewit tree had ever been known to agree with another within the memory of man, there was such a skirmishing, and flouting, and snapping off of heads, in the metaphorical sense of that expression ; such a bandy- ing of words and calling of names ; such an upturning of noses and wrinkling of brows ; such a formal interment of good feelings and violent resurrection of ancient grievances; as had never been known in those quiet parts since the ear- liest record of their civilized existence.
At length, in utter despair and hopelessness, some few of the belligerents began to speak to each other in only moder- ate terms of mutual aggravation ; and nearly all addressed themselves with a show of tolerable decency to Mr. Peck- sniff, in recognition of his high character and influential posi- tion. Thus, by little and little they made common cause of Martin Chuzzlewit's obduracy, until it was agreed (if such a word can be used in connection with the Chuzzlewits) that there should be a general council and conference held at Mr. Pecksniff's house upon a certain day at noon ; which all mem- bers of the family who had brought themselves within reach of the summons, were forthwith bidden and invited, solemnly, to attend.
If ever ISIr. Pecksniff wore an apostolic look, he wore it on this memorable day. If ever his unruffled smile proclaimed the words, " I am a messenger of peace ! " that was its mis- sion now. If ever man combined within himself all the mild qualities of the lamb with a considerable touch of the dove, and not a dash of the crocodile, or the least possible sugges- tion of the very mildest seasoning of the serpent, that man was he. And, oh, the two Miss Pecksniffs ! Oh, the serene expression on the face of Charity, which seemed to say, " I knovv' that all my family have injured me beyond the possi- bility of reparation, but I forgive them, for it is my duty so to do I " And, oh, the gay simplicity of Mercy ; so charming,
62 MARTIN CHU2ZLEWIT.
innocent, and infant-like, that if she had gone out walking by herself, and it had been a little earlier in the season, the robin-redbreasts might have covered her with leaves against her will, believing her to be one of the sweet children in the wood, come out of it, and issuing forth once more to look for blackberries in the young freshness of her heart ! What words can paint the Pecksniffs in that trying hour ? Oh, none ; for words have naughty company among them, and the Pecksniffs were all goodness.
But when the company arrived! That was the time. When Mr. Pecksniff, rising from his seat at the table's head, with a daughter on either hand, received his guests in the best par- lor and motioned them to chairs, with eyes so overflowing and countenance so damp with gracious perspiration, that he may be said to have been in a kind of moist meekness ! And the company ; the jealous, stony-hearted, distrustful com- pany, who were all shut up in themselves, and had no faith in any body, and wouldn't believe any thing, and would no more allow themselves to be softened or lulled asleep by the Pecksniffs than if they had been so many hedgehogs or por- cupines !
First, there was Mr. Spottletoe, who was so bald and had such big whiskers, that he seemed to have stopped his hair, by the sudden application of some powerful remedy, in the very act of falling off his head, and to have fastened it irrevo- cably on his face. Then there was Mrs. Spottletoe, who being much too slim for her years, and of a poetical constitution, was accustomed to inform her more intimate friends that the said whiskers were " the lodestar of her existence;" and who could now, by reason of her strong affection for her Uncle Chuzzlewit, and the shock it gave her to be suspected of testamentary designs upon him, do nothing but cry — except moan. Then there were Anthony Chuzzlewit, and his son Jonas ; the face of the old man so sharpened by the wariness and cunning of his life, that it seemed to cut him a passage through the crowded room, as he edged away behind the remotest chairs; while the son had so well profited by the pre- cept and example of the father, that he looked a year or two the elder of the twain, as they stood winking iheir red eyes side by side, and whispering to each other, softly. Then there was the widow of a deceased brother of Mr. Martin Chuzzle- wit, who being almost supernaturally disagreeable, and having a dreary face and a bony figure and a masculine voice, was, in right of these qualities, what is commonly called a strong-
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, 03
minded woman; and who, if she could, would have established her claim to the title, and have shown herself mentally speaking, a perfect Samson, by shutting up her brother-in- law in a private mad-house, until he proved his complete sanity by loving her very much. Beside her sat her spinster daughters, three in number, and of gentlewomanly deport- ment, who had so mortified themselves with tight stays, that their tempers were reduced to something less than their waists, and sharp lacing was expressed in their very noses. Then there was a young gentleman, grand-nephew of Mr. Martin Chuzzlewit, very dark and very hairy, and appar- ently born for no particular purpose but to save looking- glasses the trouble of reflecting more than just the first idea and sketchy notion of a face, which had never been carried out. Then there was a solitary female cousin who was remarkable for nothing but being very deaf, and living by herself, and always having the toothache. Then there was George Chuzzlewit, a gay bachelor cousin, who claimed to be young but had been younger, and was inclined to corpulency, and rather over-fed himself; to that extent, indeed, that his eyes were strained in their sockets, as if with constant surprise; and he had such an obvious disposition to pimples, that the bright spots on his cravat, the rich pattern on his waistcoat, and even his glittering trinkets, seemed to have broken out upon him, and not to have come into existence comfortably. Last of all there were present Mr. Chevy Slyme and his friend Tigg. And it is worthy of remark, that although each person present disliked the other mainly because he or she did belong to the family, they one and all concurred in hating Mr. Tigg because he didn't.
Such was the pleasant little family circle now assembled in Mr. Pecksniff's best parlor, agreeably prepared to fall foul of Mr. Pecksniff or any body else who might venture to say any thing whatever upon any subject.
" This," said Mr. Pecksniff rising, and looking round upon them, with folded hands, " does me good. It does my daughters good. We thank you for assembling here. We are grateful to you with our whole hearts. It is a blessed distinction that you have conferred upon us, and believe me; " it is impossible to conceive how he smiled here; " we shall not easily forget it."
" I am sorry to interrupt you, Pecksniff," remarked Mr. Spottletoe, with his whiskers in a very portentous state; '' but you are assuming toe much to yourself, sir. Who do
64 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
you imagine has it in contemplation to confer a distinction upon you, sir ? "
A general murmur echoed this inquiry, and applauded it.
" If you are about to pursue the course with which you have begun, sir," pursued Mr. Spottletoe in a great heat, and giving a violent rap on the table with his knuckles, " the sooner you desist, and this assembly separates, the better. I am no stranger, sir, to your preposterous desire to be regarded as the head of this family, but I can tell yoi/, sir — "
Oh yes indeed! I/e tell. JJ'e / What? He was the head, was he? From the strong-minded woman downwards every body fell, that instant, upon Mr. Spottletoe, who after vainly attempting to be heard in silence w^as fain to sit down again, folding his arms and shaking his head, most wrath - fully, and giving Mrs. Spottletoe to understand in dumb show, that that scoundrel Pecksniff might go on for the present, but he would cut in presently, and annihilate him.
" I am not sorry," said Mr. Pecksniff in resumption of his address, *' I am really not sorry that this little incident has happened. It is good to feel that we are met here without disguise. It is good to know that we have no reserve before each other, but are appearing freely in our own characters."
Here, the eldest daughter of the strong-minded woman rose a little way from her seat, and trembling violently from head to foot, more as it seemed with passion than timidity, expressed a general hope that some people would appear in their own characters, if it were only for such a proceeding having the attraction of novelty to recommend it: and that when they (meaning the some people before mentioned) talked about their relations, they would be careful to observe who was present in company at the time; otherwise it might come round to those relations' ears, in a way they little expected; and as to red noses (she observed) she had yet to learn that a red nose was any disgrace, inasmuch as people neither made nor colored their own noses, but had that feature provided for them without being first consulted; though even upon that branch of the subject she had great doubts whether certain noses were redder than other noses, or indeed half as red as some. This remark being received with a shrill titter by the two sisters of the speaker. Miss Charity Pecksniff begged with much politeness to be informed whether any of those very low observations were leveled at her ; and receiv-
MARTIN CHU2ZLEWIT. 65
ing no more explanatory answer than was conveyed in the adage " Those the cap fits, let them wear it," immediately commenced a somewhat acrimonious and personal retort, wherein she was much comforted and abetted by her sister Mercy, who laughed at the same with great heartiness ; indeed far more naturally than life. And it being cpiite impossible that any difference of opinion can take place among women without every woman who is within hearing taking active part in it, the strong-minded lady and her two daughters, and Mrs. Spottletoe, and the deaf cousin (who was not at all disqualified from joining in the dispute by reason of being perfectly unacquainted with its merits), one and all plunged into the quarrel directly.
The two Miss Pecksniffs being a pretty good match for the three Miss Chuzzlewits, and all five young ladies having, in the figurative language of the day, a great amount of steam to dispose of, the altercation would no doubt have been a long one but for the high valor and prowess of the strong-minded woman, who, in right of her reputation for powers of sarcasm, did so belabor and pummel Mrs. Spottletoe with taunting words that that poor lady, before the engagement was two minutes old, had no refuge but in tears. These she shed so plentifully, and so much to the agitation and grief of Mr. Spottletoe, that that gentleman, after holding his clenched fist close to Mr. Pecksniff's eyes, as if it were some natural curiosity from the near inspection whereof he was likely to derive high gratification and improvement, and after offering (for no particular reason that any body could discover) to kick Mr. George Chuzzle- wit for, and in consideration of, the trifling sum of sixpence, took his wife under his arm, and indignantly withdrew. This diversion, by distracting the attention of the combat- ants, put an end to the strife, which, after breaking out afresh some twice or thrice in certain inconsiderable spirts and dashes, died away in silence.
It was then that Mr. Pecksniff once more rose from his chair. It v\'as then that the two Miss Pecksniffs composed themselves to look as if there were no such beings — not to say present, but in the whole compass of the world, as the three Miss Chuzzlewits ; while the three Miss Chuzzlewits became equally unconscious of the existence of the two Miss Pecksniffs.
" It is to be lamented," said Mr. Pecksniff with a forgiving recollection of Mr. Spottletoe's fist, " that our friend should
^^ MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
have withdrawn himself so very hastily, though we have cause for mutual congratulations even in that, since we are assured that he is not distrustful of us in regard to any thing we may say or do, while he is absent. Now, that is very soothing, is it not ? "
" Pecksniff," said Anthony, who had been watching the whole party with peculiar keenness from the first : *^ don't you be a hypocrite."
" A what, my good sir ? " demanded Mr. Pecksniff.
" A hypocrite."
" Charity, my dear," said Mr. Pecksniff, " when I take my chamber candlestick to-night, remind me to be more than usually particular in praying for Mr. Anthony Chuzzle- wit ; who has done me an injustice."
This was said in a very bland voice, and aside, as being addressed to his daughter's private ear. With a cheerful- ness of conscience, prompting almost a sprightly demeanor, he then resumed :
" All our thoughts centering in our very dear, but unkind relative, and he being as it were beyond our reach, we are met to-day, really as if we were a funeral party, except — a blessed exception — that there is no body in the house."
The strong-minded lady was not at all sure that this was a blessed exception. Quite the contrary.
" Well, my dear madam ! " said Mr. Pecksniff. " Be that as it may, here we are ; and being here, we are to consider whether it is possible by any justifiable means — "
" Why, you know as well as I," said ^the strong-minded lady, " that any means are justifiable in such a case, don't you?"
" Very good, my dear madam, very good ; whether it is possible by any means, we will say by any means, to open the eyes of our valued relative to his present infatuation. Whether it is possible to make him acquainted by any means with the real character and purpose of that young female whose strange position, in reference to himself," here Mr. Pecksniff sunk his voice to an impressive whisper, " really casts a shadow of disgrace and shame upon this family ; and who, we know," here he raised his voice again, '' else why is she his companion ? harbors the very basest designs upon his weakness and his property."
In their strong feeling on this point, they, who agreed in nothing else, all concurred as one mind. Good heavens, that she should harbor designs upon his property ! The
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 67
strong-minded lady was for poison, her three daughters were for Bridewell and bread and water, the cousin with the toothache advocated Botany Bay, the two Miss Pecksniffs suggested flogging. Nobody but Mr. Tigg, who, notwithstand- ing his extreme shabbiness, was still understood to be in some sort a lady's man, in right of his upper lip and his frogs, indicated a doubt of the justifiable nature of these meas- ures ; and he only ogled the three Miss Chuzzlewits with the least admixture of banter in his admiration, as though he would observe, '' You are positively down upon her to too great an extent, my sweet creatures, upon my soul you are ! "
** Now," said Mr. Pecksniff, crossing his two fore-fingers in a manner which was at once conciliatory and argumenta- tive ; " I will not, upon the one hand, go so far as to say that she deserves all the inflictions which have been so very forci- bly and hilariously suggested ;" one of his ornamental sen- tences ; " nor will I, upon the other, on any account com- promise my common understanding as a man by making the assertion that she does not. What I should observe is, that I think some practical means might be devised of inducing our respected, shall I say our revered — ? "
*' No ! " interposed the strong-minded woman in a loud voice,
*' Then I will not," said Mr. Pecksniff. "You are quite right, my dear madam, and I appreciate and thank you for your discriminating objection — our respected relative, to dis- pose himself to listen to the promptings of nature, and not to the—"
" Go on, pa ! " cried Mercy.
'* Why, the truth is, my dear," said Mr. Pecksniff, smiling upon his assembled kindred, " that I am at a loss for a word. The name of those fabulous animals (pagan, I regret to say) who used to sing in the water has quite escaped me."
Mr. George Chuzzlewit suggested " swans."
"No," said Mr. Pecksniff. ''Not swans. Very like swans, too. Thank you,"
The nephew with the outlme of a countenance, speaking for the first and last time on that occasion, propounded " oysters."
" No," said Mr. Pecksniff, with his own peculiar urbanity, ** nor oysters. But by no means unlike oysters ; a very excellent idea ; thank you, my dear sir, very much. Wait ! Sirens. Dear me ! sirens, of course. I think, I say, that
6S MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
means might be devised of disposing our respected relative to listen to the promptings of nature, and not to the siren- like delusions of art. Now we must not lose sight of the fact that our esteemed friend has a grandson, to whom he was, until lately, very much attached, and whom I could have wished to see here to-day, for I have a real and deep regard for him. A fine young man ; a very fine young man ! I would submit to you, whether we might not remove Mr. Chuzzlewit's distrust of us, and Aindieate our own disinterest- edness by — "
** If Mr. George Chuzzlewit has any thing to say to ;;/^," interposed the strong-minded woman, sternly, " I beg him to speak out like a man ; and not to look at me and my daugh- ters as if he could eat us."
" As to looking, I have heard it said, Mrs. Ned," returned j\Ir. George, angrily, " that a cat is free to con- template a monarch ; and therefore I hope I have some right, having been born a member of this family, to look at a person who only came into it by marriage. As to eating, I beg to say, whatever bitterness your jealousies and disap- pointed expectations may suggest to you, that I am not a cannibal, ma'am."
" I don't know that !" cried the strong-minded woman.
" At all events, if I was a cannibal," said Mr. George Chuzzlewit, greatly stimulated by this retort, " I think it would occur to me that a lady who had out-lived three hus- bands and suffered so very little from their loss, must be most uncommonly tough." 'The strong-minded woman immediately rose.
" And I will further add," said Mr. George, nodding his head violently at every second syllable ; " naming no names, and therefore hurting nobody but those whose consciences tell them they are alluded to, that I think it v\-ould be much more decent and becoming, if those who hooki.d and crooked themselves into this family by getting on the blind side of some of its members before marriage, and manslaugh- tering them afterward by crowing over them to that strong pitch that they were glad to die, would refrain from acting the part of vultures in regard to other members of the fam- ily who are living. I think it would be full as well, if not better, if those individuals would keep at home, contenting themselves with what they have got (luckily for them) already ; instead of hovering about, and thrusting their fingers into a family pie, which they flavor much more
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 69
than enough, I can tell them, when they are fifty miles away."
'' I might have been prepared for this ! " cried the strong- minded woman, looking about her with a disdainful smile as she moved toward the door, followed by her three daugh- ters ; " indeed I was fully prepared for it, from the first. What else could I expect in such an atmosphere as this ! "
'' Don't direct your half-pay-officer's gaze at me, ma'am, if you please," interposed Miss Charity ; '* for I won't bear it."
This was a smart stab at a pension enjoyed by the strong- minded woman, during her second widowhood and before her last coverture. It told immensely.
" I passed from the memory of a grateful country, you very miserable minx," said Mrs. Ned, "when I entered this family ; and I feel now, though I did not feel then, that it served me right, and that I lost my claim upon the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when I so degraded myself. Now, my dears, if you're quite ready, and have suf- ficiently improved yourselves by taking to heart the genteel exam. pie of these two young ladies, I think we'll go. Mr. Pecksniff, we are very much obliged to you, reall}^ We came to be entertained, and you have far surpassed our utmost expectations, in the amusement you have provided for us. Thank you. Good-by ! "
With such departing words, did this strong-minded female paralyze the Pecksniffian energies ; and so she swept out of the room, and out of the house, attended by her daughters, who, as with one accord, elevated their three noses in the air, and joined in a contemptuous titter. As they passed the parlor window on the outside, they were seen to coun- terfeit a perfect transport of delight among themselves; and with this final blow and great discouragement for those within, they vanished.
Before Mr. Pecksniff or any of his remaining visitors could offer a remark, another figure passed this w^indow, coming, at a great rate, in the opposite direction, and immediately afterward Mr. Spottletoe burst into the chamber. Com- pared with his present state of heat, he had gone out a man of snow or ice. His head distilled such oil upon his whiskers, that they were rich and clogged with unctuous drops ; his face was violently inflamed, his limbs trembled ; and he gasped and strove for breath.
70 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" My good sir ! ** cried Mr. Pecksniff.
**0h yes !" returned the other. " Oh yes, certainly! Oh to be sure ! Oh of course! You hear him? You hear him ? all of you ! "
" What's the matter ! " cried several voices.
** Oh nothing ! " cried Spottletoe, still gasping. " Nothing at all ! It's of no consequence ! Ask him ! Z^^ 7/ tell you ! '"
**I do not understand our friend," said Mr. Pecksniff, looking about him in utter amazement. " I assure you thi '■ he is quite unintelligible to me."
" Unintelligible, sir ! " cried the other. ** Unintelligible . Do you mean to say, sir, that you don't know what has hap- pened ? That you haven't decoyed us here, and laid a plot and a plan against us ? Will you venture to say that you didn't know Mr. Chuzzlewit was going, sir, and that you don't know he's gone, sir ? "
" Gone ! " was the general cry.
** Gone," echoed Mr. Spottletoe. " Gone while we were sitting here. Gone. Nobody knows where he's gone. Oh of course not ! Nobody knew he v/as going. Oh of course not ! The landlady thought up to the very last moment that they were merely going for a ridtj ; she had no otlier suspicion. Oh of course not ! She's not this fellow's creat- ure. Oh of course not ! "
Adding to these exclamations a kind of ironical howl, and gazing upon the company for one brief instant afterward, in a sudden silence, the irritated gentleman started off again at the same tremendous pace, and was seen no more.
It was in vain for Mr. Pecksniff to assure them that this new and opportune evasion of the family was at least as great a shock and surprise to him, as to any body else. Of all the bullying and denunciations that were ever heaped on one unlucky head, none can ever have exceeded in energy and heartiness those with which he was complimented by each of his remaining relatives, singly, upon bidding him farewell.
The moral position taken by Mr. Tigg was something quite tremendous ; and the deaf cousin, who had the com- plicated aggravation of seeing all the proceedings and hear- ing nothing but the catastrophe, actually scraped her shoes upon the scraper, and afterward distributed impressions of them all over the top step, in token that she shook the dust from her feet before quitting that dissembling and perfidious mansion.
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 71
Mr. Pecksniff had, in short, but one comfort, and that was the knowledge that all these his relations and friends had hated him to the very utmost extent before; and that he, for his part, had not distributed among them any more love, than, with his ample capital in that respect, he could com- fortably afford to part with. This view of his affairs yielded him great consolation; and the fact deserves to be noted, aa showing with what ease a good man may be consoled undei circumstances of failure and disappointment.
CHAPTER V.
CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OP THE INSTALLATION OF
MR. Pecksniff's new pupil into the bosom of mr. Pecksniff's family. with all the festivities held on that occasion, and the great enjoyment of MR. pinch.
The best of architects and land surveyors kept a horse, in whom the enemies already mentioned more than once in these pages, pretended to detect a fanciful resemblance to his master. Not in his outward person, for he was a raw- boned, haggard horse, always on a much shorter allowance of corn than Mr. Pecksniff; but in his moral character, wherein, said they, he was full of promise, but of no performance. He was always, in a manner, going to go, and never going. When at his slowest rate of traveling, he would sometimes lift up his legs so high, and display such mighty action, that it was difficult to believe he was doing less than fourteen miles an hour; and he was forever so perfectly satisfied with his own speed, and so little disconcerted by opportunities of comparing himself with the fastest trotters, that the illusion was the more difficult of resistance. He was a kind of animal who infused into the breasts of strangers a lively sense of hope, and possessed all those who knew him better with a grim despair. In what respect, having these points of character, he might be fairly likened to his master, that good man's slanderers only can explain. But it is a melan- choly truth, and a deplorable instance of the uncharitable- ness of the world, that they made the comparison.
In this horse, and the hooded vehicle, whatever its proper name might be, to which he was usually harnessed — it was more like a gig with a tumor, than any thing else — all Mr.
72 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
Pinch's thoughts and wishes centred, one bright, frosty morning; for, with this gallant equipage, he was about to drive to Salisbury alone, there to meet with the new pupil, and thence to bring him home in triumph- Blessings on thy simple heart, Tom Pinch, how proudly dost thou button up that scanty coat, called by a sad misno- mer, for these many years, a "great" one; and how thor- oughly as with thy cheerful voice thou pleasantly abjurest Sam the hostler "not to let him go yet," dost thou believe that quadruped desires to go, and would go if he might ! Who could repress a smile — of love for thee, Tom Pinch, and not in jest at thy expense, for thou art poor enough already, heaven knows — to think that such a holiday as lies before thee, should awaken that quick How and hurry of the s[)irits, in which thou settest down again, almost untasted, on the kitchen window-sill, the greet white mug (put by, by thy own hands, last night, that breaKiasi mignt not hold thee late), and layest yonder crust u|)on the seat beside thee, to be eaten on the road, when thou art calmer in thy high rejoicing ! Who, as thou drivest off, a happy man, and noddest with a grateful lovingness to Pecksniff in his night- cap at his chamber window, would not cry: " Heaven speed thee, Tom, and send that thou wert going off forever to some quiet home where thou mightst live at peace, and sor- row should not touch thee ! "
What better time for driving, riding, walking, moving through the air by any means, than a fresh, frosty morning when hope runs cheerily through the veins with the brisk blood, and tingles in the frame from head to foot ! This was the glad commencement of a bracing day in early winter, such as may put the languid summer season (speak- ing of it when it can't be had) to the blush, and shame the spring for being sometimes cold by halves. The sheep-bells rang as clearly in the vigorous air, as if they felt its whole- some influence like living creatures; the trees, in lieu of leaves or blossoms, shed upon the ground a frosty rime that sparkled as it fell, and might have been the dust of diamonds. So it was, to Tom. From cottage chimneys, smoke went streaming up higli, high, as if the earth had lost its gross- ness, being so fair, and must not be oppressed by heavy vapor. The crust of ice on the else rippling brook was so transparent and so tliin in texture, tliat the lively water might, of its own free will have stopped — in Tom's glad mind it had — to look uj)()n the lovely morning. And lest
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 73
the sun should break this charm too eagerly, there moved between him and the ground, a mist like that which waits upon the moon on summer nights — the very same to Tom — and wooed him to dissolve it gently.
Tom Pinch went on; not fast, but with a sense of rapid motion, which did just as well; and as he went, all kinds of things occurred to keep him happy. Thus when he came within sight of the turnpike, and was — oh, a long way off! — he saw the tollman's wife, who had that moment checked a wagon, run back into the little house again like mad, to say (she knew) that Mr. Pinch was coming up. And she was right, for when he drew within hail of the gate, forth rushed the tollman's children, shrieking in tiny chorus, " Mr. Pinch! " to Tom's intense delight. The very tollman, though an ugly chap in general, and one whom folks were rather shy of handling, came out himself to take the toll, and give him rough good morning ; and that with all this, and a glimpse of the family breakfast on a little round table before the fire, the crust Tom Pinch had brought away with him acquired as rich a flavor as though it had been cut from a fairy loaf.
But there was more than this. It was not only the mar- ried people and the children who gave Tom Pinch a wel- come as he passed. No, no. Sparkling eyes and snowy breasts came hurriedly to many an upper casement as he clattered by, and gave him back his greeting ; not stinted, either, but sevenfold, good measure. They were all merry. They all laughed. And some ^f the wickedest among them even kissed their hanas as rom looked back. For who minded poor Mr. Pinch. There was no harm in him.
And now the morning grew so fair, and all things were so wide awake and gay, that the sun seeming to say — Tom had no doubt he said — " I can't stand it any longer ; I must have a look," streamed out in radiant majesty. The mist, too shy and gentle for such lusty company, fled off, quite scared, before it; and as it swept away, the hills and mounds and distant pasture lands, teeming with placid sheep and noisy crows, came out as bright as though they were unrolled brand new for the occasion. In compliment to which discovery, the brook stood still no longer, but ran briskly off to bear the tidings to the water-mill, three miles away.
Mr. Pinch was jogging along, full of pleasant thoughts and cheerful influences, when he saw, upon the path before him, going in the same direction with himself, a traveler on foot,
74 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
who walked with a light, quick step, and sang as he went; for certain in a very loud voice, but not unmusically. He was a young fellow, of some five or six-and-twenty, perhaps, and was dressed in such a free and fly-away fashion, that the long ends of his loose red neck-cloth were streaming out behind him quite as often as before; and the bunch of bright winter berries in the buttonhole of his velveteen coat, was as visible to Mr. Pinch's rearward observation, as if he had worn that garment wrong side foremost. He continued to sing with so much energy, that he did not hear the sound of wheels until it was close behind him; when he turned a whimsical face and a very merry pair of blue eyes on Mr. Pinch, and checked himsell "iirectly.
'* Why, Mark " said Tom Pinch, stopping. " Who'd have thought of seeing you here ? Well! this is surprising! "
Mark touched his hat, and said, with a very sudden decrease of vivacity, that he was going to Salisbury.
" And how spruce you are, too! " said Mr. Pinch, surveying him with great pleasure. " Really, I didn't think you were half such a tight-made fellow, Mark! "
" Thankc'S, Mr. Pinch. Pretty well for that, I believe. It's not my fault, you know. With regard to being spruce, sir, that's where it is, you see." And here he looked partic- ularly gloomy.
''Where what is?" Mr. Pinch demanded.
" Where the aggravation of it is. Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed. There ain't much credit in that. If I was very ragged and very jolly, then I should begin to feel I had gained a point, Mr. Pinch."
"So you were singing just now, to bear up, as it were, against being well dressed, eh, Mark ? " said Pinch.
*' Your conversation's always equal to print, sir," rejoined Mark, with a broad grin. '' That was it."
" Well! " cried Pinch, *' you are the strangest young man, Mark, I ever knew in my life. I always thought so; but now I am quite certain of it. I am going to SaUsbury, too. Will you get in ? I shall be very glad of your company."
The young fellow made his acknowledgments and accepted the offer; stepping into the carriage directly, and seating him- self on the very edge of the seat with his body half out of it, to express his being there on sufferance, and by the polite- ness of Mr. Pinch. As they went along, the conversation proceeded after this manner.
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 75
** I more than half believed, just now, seeing you so very smart," said Pinch, '' that you must be going to be married, Mark."
" Well, sir, I've thought of that, too," he replied. " There might be some credit in being jolly with a wife, 'specially if the children had the measles and that, and was very frac- tious'indeed. But I'm a'most afraid to try it. I don't see my way clear."
" You're not very fond of any body, perhaps ? " said Pinch.
'' Not particular, sir, I think."
" But the way would be, you know, Mark, according to your views of things," said Mr. Pinch, '' to marry somebody you didn't like, and who was very disagreeable."
" So it would, sir ; but that might be carrying out a prin- ciple a little too far, mightn't it ? "
'' Perhaps it might," said Mr. Pinch. At which they both laughed gayly.
'' Lord bless you, sir," said Mark, '^ you don't half know me, though. I don't believe there ever was a man as could come out so strong under circumstances that would make other meh miserable, as I could, if I could only get a chance. But I can't get a chance. It's my opinion that nobody nev^** will know half of what's in me, unless something very unex- pected turns up. And I don't see any prospect of that. I'm a-going to leave the Dragon, sir."
" Going to leave the Dragon ! " cried Mr. Pinch, looking at him with great astonishment. '* Why, Mark, you take my breath away ! "
" Yes, sir," he rejoined, looking straight before him and a long way off, as men do sometimes when they cogitate pro- foundly. " What's the use of my stopping at the Dragon .'* It ain't at all the sort of place for me. When I left London (I'm a Kentish man by birth, though), and took that sitiva- tion here, I quite made up my mind that it was the dullest little out-of-the-way corner in England, and that there would be some credit in being jolly under such circiimstances. But, Lord, there's no dullness at the Dragon ! Skittles, cricket, quoits, nine-pins, comic songs, choruses, company round the chimney corner every winter's evening. Any man could be jolly at the Dragon, There's no credit in thaty
''But if common report be true for once, Mark, as I think it is, being able to confirm it by what I know myself," said Mr. Pinch, " you are the cause of half this merriment, and set it going."
70 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" There may be something in that, too, sir," answered Mark. '' But that's no consolation."
" Well ! " said Mr. Pinch, after a short silence, his usually subdued tone being even more subdued than ever. '^ I can hardly think enough of what you tell me. Why, what will become of Mrs. Lupin, Mark ? "
Mark looked more fixedly before him, and further off still, as he ansvv-ered that he didn't suppose it would be much of an object to her. There were plenty of smart young fellows as would be glad of the place. He knew a dozen himself.
" That's probably enough," said Mr. Pinch, ^'but I am not at all sure that Mrs. Lupin would be glad of them. Why, I always supposed that Mrs. Lupin and you would make a match of it, Mark ; and so did every one, as far as I know."
** I never," Mark replied, in some confusion, " said nothing as was in a direct way courting-like to her, nor she to me, but I don't know what I mightn't do one of these odd times, and what she mightn't say in answer. Well, sir, that wouldn't suit."
"" Not to be landlord of the Dragon, Mark ? " cried Mr. Pinch.
" No, sir, certainly not," returned the other, withdrawing his gaze from the horizon, and looking at his fellow-traveler. " Why, that would be the ruin of a man like me. I go and sit down comfortably for life, and no man never finds me out. What would be the credit of the landlord of the Dragon's being jolly? Why he couldn't help it, if he tried."
*' Does Mrs. Lupin know you are going to leave her ? " Mr. Pinch inquired.
'' I haven't broke it to her yet, sir, but I must. I'm look- ing out this morning for something new and suitable," he said, nodding toward the city.
*' What kind of thing now ? " Mr. Pinch demanded.
*' I was thinking," Mark replied, " of something in the grave-digging way."
" Good gracious, Mark ! " cried Mr. Pinch.
*' It's a good, damp, wormy sort of business, sir," said Mark, shaking his head, argumcntatively, '' r.nd there might be some credit in being jolly, with one's mind in that ])ur- ' suit, unless grave-diggers is usually given that way ; which would be a draw]:)ack. You don't happen to know how that is, in general, do you, sir ? "
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 77
"No," said Mr. Pinch, "I don't indeed. I never thought upon the subject."
" In case of that not turning out as well as one could wish, you know," said Mark, musing again, " there's other businesses. Undertaking now. That's gloomy. There might be credit to be gained there. A broker's man in a poor neighborhood wouldn't be bad perhaps. A jailor sees a deal of misery. A doctor's man is in the very midst of murder. A bailiff's ain't a lively office nat'rally. Even a tax-gatherer must find his feelings rather worked upon at times. There's lots of trades, in which I should have an opportunity, I think."
Mr. Pinch was so perfectly overwhelmed by these remarks that he could do nothing but occasionally exchange a word or two on some indifferent subject, and cast sidelong glances at the bright face of his odd friend (who seemed quite unconscious of his observation), until they reached a certain corner of the road, close upon the outskirts of the city, when Mark said he would jump down there, if he pleased.
" But bless my soul, Mark, said Mr. Pinch, who in the progress of his observation just then made the discovery that the bosom of his companion's shirt was as much exposed as if it were midsummer, and was ruffled by every breath of air, " why don't you wear a waistcoat ? "
" What's the good of one, sir ? " asked Mark.
*' Good of one ? " said Mr. Pinch. *' Why, to keep your chest warm."
" Lord love you, sir ! " cried Mark, *' you don't know me. My chest don't want no warming. Even if it did, what would no waistcoat bring it to ? Inflammation of the lungs, perhaps ? Well, there'd be some credit in being jolly, with a inflammation of the lungs."
As Mr. Pinch returned no other answer than such as was conveyed in his drawing his breath very hard, and opening his eyes very wide and nodding his head very much, Mark thanked him for his ride, and without troubling him to stop, jumped lightly down. And away he fluttered, with his red neckerchief, and his open coat, dov.n a cross-lane ; turning, back from time to time to nod to Mr. Pinch, and looking one of the most careless, good-humored, comical fellows in life. His late companion, with a thoughtful face, pursued his way to Salisbury.
Mr. Pinch had a shrewd notion that Salisbury was a very desperate sort of place, an exceeding wild and dissipated
78 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
city ; and when he had put up the horse, and given the hostler to understand that he would look in again in the course of an hour or two to see him take his corn, he set forth on a stroll about the streets with a vague and not unpleasant idea that they teemed with all kinds of mystery and bedevil- ment. To one of his quiet habits this little delusion was greatly assisted by the circumstance of its being market-day, and the thoroughfares about the market-place being filled with carts, horses, donkeys, baskets, wagons, garden stuff, meat, tripe, pies, poultry, and huckster's wares of every opposite description and possible variety of character. Then there were young farmers and old farmers, with smock- frocks, brown great-coats, drab great-coats, red worsted comforters, leather leggings, wonderful shaped hats, hunt- ing-whips, and rough sticks, standing about in groups, or talking noisily together on the tavern steps, or paying and receiving huge amounts of greasy wealth, with the assistance of such bulky pocket-books that when they were in their pockets it was apoplexy to get them cut, and when they were out it was spasms to get them in again. Also there were farmers' wives in beaver bonnets and red cloaks, riding shaggy horses purged of all earthly passions, who went soberly into all manner of places without desiring to know why, and who, if required, would have stood stock still in a china-shop, with a complete dinner-service at each hoof. Also a great many dogs, who were strongly interested in the state of the market and the bargains of their masters ; and a great confusion of tongues, both brute and human.
Mr. Pinch regarded every thing exposed for sale with great delight, and was particularly struck by the itinerant cutlery, which he considered of the very keenest kind, insomuch that he purchased a pocket knife with seven blades in it, and not a cut (as he afterward found out) among them. When he had exhausted the market-place, and watched the farmers safe into the market dinner, he went back to look after the horse. Having seen him eat unto his heart's con- tent, he issued forth again to wander round the town and regale himself with the shop windows ; previously taking a long stare at the bank, and wondering in what direction underground, the caverns might be, where they kept the money ; and turning to look back at one or two young men who passed him, whom he knew to be articled to solicitors in the town ; and who had a sort of fearful interest in his eyes, as jolly dogs who knew a thing or two, and kept it up tiemcuduuiily.
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 79
But the shops. First of all, there were the jewelers* shops, with all their treasures of earth displayed therein, and such large silver watches hanging up in every pane of glass, that if they were any thing but first-rate goers it cer- tainly was not because the works could decently complain of want of room. In good sooth they were big enough, and perhaps, as the saying is, ugly enough, to be the most correct of all mechanical performers ; in Mr. Pinch's eyes, however, they were smaller than Geneva ware ; and when he saw one very bloated watch announced as a repeater, gifted with the uncommon power of striking every quarter of an hour inside the pocket of its happy owner, he almost wished that he was rich enough to buy it.
But what were even gold and silver, precious stones and clockwork, to the book shops, whence a pleasant smell of paper freshly pressed came issuing forth, awakening instant recollections of some new grammar had at school, long time ago, with, " Master Pinch, Grove House Academy," inscribed in faultless writing on the fly-leaf. That whiff of Russia leather, too, and all those rows on rows of volumes, neatly ranged within ; what happiness did they suggest! And in the window were the spick and span new works from London, with the title pages and sometimes even the first page of the first chapter, laid wide open ; tempting unwary men to begin to read the book, and then, in the impossibility of turning over, to rush blindly in and buy it ! Here too were the dainty frontispiece and trim vignette, pointing like hand- posts on the outskirts of great cities, to the rich stock of incident beyond ; and stores of books with many a grave portrait and time-honored name, whose matter he knew well, and would have given mines to have, in any form, upon the narrov/ shelf beside his bed at Mr. Pecksniff's. What a heart- breaking shop it was!
There was another ; not quite so bad at first, but still a trying shop ; where children's books were sold, and where poor Robinson Crusoe stood alone in his might, with dog and hatchet, goat-skin cap and fowling-pieces ; calmly sur- veying Philip Quarll and a host of imitators round him, and calling Mr. Pinch to witness that he, of all the crowd, impressed one solitary foot-print on the shore of boyish memory, whereof the tread of generations should not stir the lightest grain of sand. And there too were the Persian tales, with flying chests, and students of enchanted books shut up for years in caverns ; and there too was Abudah,
^o MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
the merchant, with a terrible little woman hobbling out of ^he box in his bedroom ; and there the mighty talisman, the rare Arabian Nights, with Cassim Baba, divided by four, (ike the ghost of a dreadful sum, hanging up, all gor}-, in the vobbers' cave. Which matchless wonders, coming fast on Mr. Pinch's mind, did so rub up and chafe that wonderful (amp within him, that Vv^hen he turned his face toward the busy street, a crowd of phantoms waited on his pleasure, and he lived again, with new delight, the happy days before the Pecksniff era.
He had less interest now in the chemists' shops, with their great glowing bottles (with smaller repositories of brightness in their very stoppers); and in their agreeable compromises between medicine and perfumery, in the shape of toothsome lozenges and virgin honey. Neither had he the least regard (but he never had much) for the tailors', where the newest metropolitan waistcoat patterns were hanging up, which by some strange transformation always looked amazing there, and never appeared at all like the same thing anywhere else. But he stopped to read the playbill at the theater, and surveyed the doorway with a kind of awe, which was not diminished when a sallow gentleman with long dark hair came out, and told a boy to run home to his lodging and bring down his broadsword. Mr. Pinch stood rooted to the spot on hearing this, and might have stood there until dark, but that the old cathedral bell began to ring for vesper serv- ice, on which he tore himself away.
Now, the organist's assistant was a friend of Mr. Pinch's, which was a good thing, for he too was a very quiet gentle soul, and had been, like Tom, a kind of old-fashioned boy at school, though well-liked by the noisy fellows too. As good luck would have it (Tom always said he had great good luck) the assistant chanced that very afternoon to be on duty by himself, with no one in the dusty organ loft but .Tom ; so while he played, Tom helped him with the stops ; and finally, the service being just over, Tom took the organ himself. It was then turning dark, and the yellow light that streamed in through the ancient windows in the choir was mingled with a murky red. As the grand tones resounded through the church they seemed, to Tom, to find an echo in the depth of every ancient tomb, no less than in the deep mystery of his own heart. Great thouglits and hopes came crowding on his mind as the rich music rolled upon the air, and yet among them — something more grave and solemn in their purpose, but the
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 8i
same — were all the images of that day, down to its very light- est recollection of childhood. The feeling that the sounds awakened, in the moment of their existence, seemed to include his whole life and being; and as the surrounding realities of stone and wood and glass grew dimmer in the darkness, these visions grew so much the brighter tliat Tom might have forgotten the new pupil and the expectant mas- ter, and have sat there pouring out his grateful heart till mid- night, but for a very earthly old verger insisting on locking up the cathedral forthwith. So he took leave of his friend, with many thanks, groped his way out, as well as he could, into the now lamp-lighted streets, and hurried off to get his dinner.
All the farmers being by this time jogging homewards, there was nobody in the sanded parlor of the tavern where he had left the horse: so he had his little table drawn out close before the fire, and fell to work on a well-cooked steak and smoking hot potatoes, with a strong appreciation of their excellence, and a very keen sense of enjoyment. Beside him too, there stood a jug of most stupendous Wiltshire beer; and the effect of the Avhole was so transcendant, that he was obliged every now and then to lay down his knife and fork, rub his hands, and think about it. By the time the cheese and celery came, Mr. Pinch had taken a book out of his pocket, and could afford to trifle with the viands; now eating a little, now drinking a little, now reading a little, and now stopping to wonder what sort of a young man the new pupil would turn out to be. He had passed from this latter theme and was deep in his book again, when the door opened, and another guest came in, bringing with him such a quantity of cold air, that he positively seemed at first to put the fire out.
" Very hard frost to-night, sir," said the new-comer, cour- teously acknowledging Mr. Pinch's withdrawal of the little table, that he might have place. " Don't disturb yourself, I
beg-"
Though he said this with a vast amount of consideration
for Mr. Pinch's comfort, he dragged one of the great leather- bottomed chairs to the very center of the hearth, notwith- standing; and sat down in front of the fire, with a foot on each hob.
*' My feet are quite numbed. Ah! Bitter ccld to be sure." " You have been in the air some considerable time, I dare say? " said Mr. Pinch.
82 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
" All day. Outside a coach, too."
" That accounts for his making the room so cool," thouglxt Mr. Pinch. '^ Poor fellow! How thoroughly chilled he must be! "
The stranger became thoughtful likewise, and sat for five or ten minutes looking at the fire in silence. At length he rose and divested himself of his shawl and great coat, which (far different from Mr. Pinch's) was a very warm and thick one ; but he was not a whit more conversational out of his great coat than in it, for he sat down again in the same place and attitude, and leaning back in his chair began to bite his nails. He was young — one-and twenty — perhaps — handsome, with a keen dark eye, and a quickness of look and manner which made Tom sensible of a great contrast in his own bearing, and caused him to be even more shy than usual.
There was a clock in the room which the stranger often turned to look at. Tom made frequent reference to it also; partly from a nervous sympathy with its taciturn compan- ion and partly because the new pupil was to inquire for him at half after six, and the hands were getting on toward that hour. Whenever the stranger caught him looking at this clock, a kind of confusion came upon Tom as if he had been found out at something; and it was a perception of his uneasiness which caused the younger man to say, perhaps, with a smile :
'' We both appear to be rather particular about the time. The fact is, I have an engagement to meet a gentleman here."
" So have I," said Mr. Pinch.
"At half-past six," said the stranger.
" At half-past six," said Tom in the very same breath; whereupon the other looked at him with some surprise.
*" The young gentleman I expect," remarked Tom, timidly, " was to inquire at that time for a person by the name of Pinch."
" Dear me ! " cried the other, jumping up. " And I have been keeping the fire from you all this while! I had no idea you were Mr. Pinch. I am the Mr. Martin for whom you were to inquire. Pray excuse me. How do you do? Oh, do draw nearer, pray! "
" Thank you," said Tom, *' thank you. I am not at all cold; and you are; and we have a cold ride before us. Well, if you wish it, I will. I — I am very glad," said Tom, smiling
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 83
with an embarrassed frankness peculiarly his, and which was as plainly a confession of his own imperfections, and an appeal to the kindness of the person he addressed, as if he had drawn one up in simple language and committed it tt) paper; " I am very glad, indeed, that you turn out to be the party I expected. I was thinking, but a minute ago, that I could wish him to be like you."
" I am very glad to hear it," returned Martin, shaking hands with him again ; '^ for I assure you, I was thinking there could be no such luck as Mr. Pinch's turning out like you."
** No really ! " said Tom, with great pleasure. " Are you serious ? "
" Upon my word I am," replied his new acquaintance. " You and I will get on excellently well, I know ; which it's no small relief to me to feel, for to tell you the truth, I am not at all the sort of fellow who could get on with every body, and that's the point on VN^hich I had the greatest doubts. But they're quite relieved now. — Do me the favor to ring the bell, will you?"
Mr. Pinch rose, and complied with great alacrity — the handle hung just over Martin's head, as he warmed himself — and listened with a smiling face to what his friend went on to say. It was:
" If you like punch, you'll allow me to order a glass a-piece as hot as it can be made, that we may usher in our friendship in a becoming manner. To let you into a secret, Mr. Pinch, I never was so much in want of something warm and cheering in my life ; but I didn't like to run the chance of being found drinking it, without knowing what kind of person you were ; for first impressions, you know, often go a long way, and last a long time."
Mr. Pinch assented, and the punch was ordered. In due course it came ; hot and strong. After drinking to each other in the steaming mixture, they became quite confi- dential.
" I'm a sort of relation of Pecksniff's, you know," said the young man.
" Indeed ! " cried Mr. Pinch.
" Yes. My grandfather is his cousin, so he's kith and kin to me, somehow, if you can make that out. / can't."
" Then Martin is your Christian name ? " said Mr. Pinch, thoughtfully. " Oh ! "
*' Of course it is," returned his friend; " I wish it was my
84 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
surname, for my own is not a very pretty one, and it takes a long time to sign. Chuzzlewit is rny name."
" Dear me ! " cried Mr. Pinch, with an involuntary start.
" You're not surprised at my having two names, I sup- pose ?" returned the other, setting his glass to his lips. " Most people have."
" Oh, no," said Mr Pinch, '' not at all. Oh dear no ! Well ! " And then remembering tlu^t Mr. Pecksniff had pri- vately cautioned him to say nothing in reference to the old gentleman of the same name who had lodged at the Dragon, but to reserve all mention of that person for lum, iie had no better means of hiding his confusion, than by raising his own glass to his mouth. They looked at each other out of their respective tumblers for a few seconds, and then put them down empty.
" I told them in the stable to be ready for us ten minutes ago," said Mr. Pinch, glancing at the clock again. *' Shall we go ? "
" If you please," returned the other.
*' Would you like to drive ? " said Mr. Pinch ; his whole face beaming with a consciousness of the splendor of his offer. " You shall, if you wish."
" Why, that depends, Mr. Pinch," said Martin, laughing, " upon what sort of horse you have. Because if he's a bad one, I would rather keep my hands warm by holding them comfortably in my great coat pockets."
He appeared to think this such a good joke, that Mr. PincVi was quite sure it must be a capital one. Accordingly he laughed too, and was fully pursuaded that he enjoyed it very much. Then he settled his bill, and Mr. Chuzzlewit paid for the punch; and having wrapped themselves up, to the extent of their respective means, they went out together to the front door, where Mr. Pecksniff's property stopped the way.
" I won't drive, thank you, Mr. Pinch," said Martin get- ting into the sitter's place. " By-the-by, there's a box of mine. Can we manage to take it ? "
'' Oh, certainly," said Tom. " Put it in, Dick, any- where ! "
It was not precisely of that convenient size which would admit of its being squeezed into an odd corner, but Dick the hostler got it in someliow, and Mr. Chuzzlewit helped him. It was all on Mr. Pinch's side, and Mr. Chuzzlewit said he was very much afraid it would encumber him ; to which Tom
MARTIN CHUZZLEVVIT. 85
said, '' Not at all ; " though it forced him into such an awkward position that he had much ado to see any thing but his own knees. But it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good; and the wisdom of the saying was verified in this in- stance ; for the cold air came from Mr. Pinch's side of the carriage, and by interposing a perfect w^all of box and man between it and the new pupil, he shielded that young gentle- man effectually; which was a great comfort.
It was a clear evening, with a bright moon. The whole landscape was silvered by its light and by the hoar-frost; and every thing looked exquisitely beautiful. At first the great serenity and peace through which they traveled dis- posed them both to silence; but in a very short time the punch within them and the healthful air without made them loquacious, and they talked incessantly. When they were half-way home, and stopped to give the horse some water, Martin (who was very generous v/ith his money) ordered another glass of punch, which they drank between them, and which had not the effect of making them less conversa- tional than before. Their principal topic of discourse was naturally Mr. Pecksniff and his family; of whom, and of the great obligations they had heaped upon him, Tom Pinch, with the tears standing in his eyes, drew such a picture as v/ould have inclined any one of common feeling almost to revere them ; and of which Mr. Pecksniff had not the slight- est foresight or preconceived idea, or he certainly (being very humble) would not have sent Tom Pinch to bring the pupil home.
In this way they went on, and on, and on — in the lan- guage of the story-books — until at last the village lights appeared before them, and the church spire cast a long reflection on the grave-yard grass; rs if it were a dial (alas, the truest in the vv'orld!) marking, whatever light shone out of heaven, the flight of days and weeks and years, by some new shadow on that solemn ground.
"A pretty church! " said Martin, observing that his com- panion slackened the slack pace of the horse as they approached.
" Is it not ? " cried Tom, with great pride. '' There's the sweetest little organ there vou ever heard. I play it for them."
** Indeed ? " said Martin. " It's hardly worth the trouble, i should think. What do you get for that, now ? "
" Nothing," answered Tom.
S6 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
"Well," returned his friend, "you are a very strange fel- low! "
To which remark there succeeded a brief silence.
" When I say nothing," observed Mr, Pinch, cheerfully, " I am wrong, and don't say what I mean, because I get a great deal of pleasure from it, and the means of passing some of the happiest hours I know. It led to something else the other day; but you will not care to hear about that, I dare say ? **
" Oh, yes, I shall. What ? "
" It led to my seeing," said Tom, in a lower voice, *'one of the loveliest and most beautiful faces you can possibly picture to yourself."
"And yet I am able to picture a beautiful one," said his friend, thoughtfully, '' or should be, if I have any mem- ory."
" She came," said Tom, laying his hand upon the other's arm, " for the first time, very early in the morning, when it was hardly light; and when I saw her, over my shoulder, standing just within the porch, I turned quite cold, almost believing her to be a spirit. A moment's reflection got the better of that, of course, and fortunately it came to my relief so soon, that I didn't leave off playing."
" Why fortunately ? "
" Why ? Because she stood there, listening. I had my spectacles on, and saw her through the chinks in the cur- tains as