One part of the Secretary’s conduct, underlying6 all the rest, might have been mistrusted by a man with a better knowledge of men than the Golden Dustman had. The Secretary was as far from being inquisitive7 or intrusive8 as Secretary could be, but nothing less than a complete understanding of the whole of the affairs would content him. It soon became apparent (from the knowledge with which he set out) that he must have been to the office where the Harmon will was registered, and must have read the will. He anticipated Mr Boffin’s consideration whether he should be advised with on this or that topic, by showing that he already knew of it and understood it. He did this with no attempt at concealment10, seeming to be satisfied that it was part of his duty to have prepared himself at all attainable12 points for its utmost discharge.
This might — let it be repeated — have awakened13 some little vague mistrust in a man more worldly-wise than the Golden Dustman. On the other hand, the Secretary was discerning, discreet14, and silent, though as zealous15 as if the affairs had been his own. He showed no love of patronage16 or the command of money, but distinctly preferred resigning both to Mr Boffin. If, in his limited sphere, he sought power, it was the power of knowledge; the power derivable17 from a perfect comprehension of his business.
As on the Secretary’s face there was a nameless cloud, so on his manner there was a shadow equally indefinable. It was not that he was embarrassed, as on that first night with the Wilfer family; he was habitually18 unembarrassed now, and yet the something remained. It was not that his manner was bad, as on that occasion; it was now very good, as being modest, gracious, and ready. Yet the something never left it. It has been written of men who have undergone a cruel captivity19, or who have passed through a terrible strait, or who in self-preservation have killed a defenceless fellowcreature, that the record thereof has never faded from their countenances20 until they died. Was there any such record here?
He established a temporary office for himself in the new house, and all went well under his hand, with one singular exception. He manifestly objected to communicate with Mr Boffin’s solicitor22. Two or three times, when there was some slight occasion for his doing so, he transferred the task to Mr Boffin; and his evasion23 of it soon became so curiously24 apparent, that Mr Boffin spoke25 to him on the subject of his reluctance26.
‘It is so,’ the Secretary admitted. ‘I would rather not.’
Had he any personal objection to Mr Lightwood?
‘I don’t know him.’
Had he suffered from law-suits?
‘Not more than other men,’ was his short answer.
Was he prejudiced against the race of lawyers?
‘No. But while I am in your employment, sir, I would rather he excused from going between the lawyer and the client. Of course if you press it, Mr Boffin, I am ready to comply. But I should take it as a great favour if you would not press it without urgent occasion.’
Now, it could not be said that there WAS urgent occasion, for Lightwood retained no other affairs in his hands than such as still lingered and languished27 about the undiscovered criminal, and such as arose out of the purchase of the house. Many other matters that might have travelled to him, now stopped short at the Secretary, under whose administration they were far more expeditiously28 and satisfactorily disposed of than they would have been if they had got into Young Blight’s domain29. This the Golden Dustman quite understood. Even the matter immediately in hand was of very little moment as requiring personal appearance on the Secretary’s part, for it amounted to no more than this:— The death of Hexam rendering30 the sweat of the honest man’s brow unprofitable, the honest man had shufflingly decided31 to moisten his brow for nothing, with that severe exertion32 which is known in legal circles as swearing your way through a stone wall. Consequently, that new light had gone sputtering33 out. But, the airing of the old facts had led some one concerned to suggest that it would be well before they were reconsigned to their gloomy shelf — now probably for ever — to induce or compel that Mr Julius Handford to reappear and be questioned. And all traces of Mr Julius Handford being lost, Lightwood now referred to his client for authority to seek him through public advertisement.
‘Does your objection go to writing to Lightwood, Rokesmith?’
‘Not in the least, sir.’
‘Then perhaps you’ll write him a line, and say he is free to do what he likes. I don’t think it promises.’
‘I don’t think it promises,’ said the Secretary.
‘Still, he may do what he likes.’
‘I will write immediately. Let me thank you for so considerately yielding to my disinclination. It may seem less unreasonable34, if I avow35 to you that although I don’t know Mr Lightwood, I have a disagreeable association connected with him. It is not his fault; he is not at all to blame for it, and does not even know my name.’
Mr Boffin dismissed the matter with a nod or two. The letter was written, and next day Mr Julius Handford was advertised for. He was requested to place himself in communication with Mr Mortimer Lightwood, as a possible means of furthering the ends of justice, and a reward was offered to any one acquainted with his whereabout who would communicate the same to the said Mr Mortimer Lightwood at his office in the Temple. Every day for six weeks this advertisement appeared at the head of all the newspapers, and every day for six weeks the Secretary, when he saw it, said to himself; in the tone in which he had said to his employer — ‘I don’t think it promises!’
Among his first occupations the pursuit of that orphan36 wanted by Mrs Boffin held a conspicuous37 place. From the earliest moment of his engagement he showed a particular desire to please her, and, knowing her to have this object at heart, he followed it up with unwearying alacrity38 and interest.
Mr and Mrs Milvey had found their search a difficult one. Either an eligible39 orphan was of the wrong sex (which almost always happened) or was too old, or too young, or too sickly, or too dirty, or too much accustomed to the streets, or too likely to run away; or, it was found impossible to complete the philanthropic transaction without buying the orphan. For, the instant it became known that anybody wanted the orphan, up started some affectionate relative of the orphan who put a price upon the orphan’s head. The suddenness of an orphan’s rise in the market was not to be paralleled by the maddest records of the Stock Exchange. He would be at five thousand per cent discount out at nurse making a mud pie at nine in the morning, and (being inquired for) would go up to five thousand per cent premium40 before noon. The market was ‘rigged’ in various artful ways. Counterfeit41 stock got into circulation. Parents boldly represented themselves as dead, and brought their orphans42 with them. Genuine orphan-stock was surreptitiously withdrawn43 from the market. It being announced, by emissaries posted for the purpose, that Mr and Mrs Milvey were coming down the court, orphan scrip would be instantly concealed44, and production refused, save on a condition usually stated by the brokers45 as ‘a gallon of beer’. Likewise, fluctuations46 of a wild and South-Sea nature were occasioned, by orphan-holders keeping back, and then rushing into the market a dozen together. But, the uniform principle at the root of all these various operations was bargain and sale; and that principle could not be recognized by Mr and Mrs Milvey.
At length, tidings were received by the Reverend Frank of a charming orphan to be found at Brentford. One of the deceased parents (late his parishioners) had a poor widowed grandmother in that agreeable town, and she, Mrs Betty Higden, had carried off the orphan with maternal47 care, but could not afford to keep him.
The Secretary proposed to Mrs Boffin, either to go down himself and take a preliminary survey of this orphan, or to drive her down, that she might at once form her own opinion. Mrs Boffin preferring the latter course, they set off one morning in a hired phaeton, conveying the hammer-headed young man behind them.
The abode48 of Mrs Betty Higden was not easy to find, lying in such complicated back settlements of muddy Brentford that they left their equipage at the sign of the Three Magpies49, and went in search of it on foot. After many inquiries50 and defeats, there was pointed51 out to them in a lane, a very small cottage residence, with a board across the open doorway52, hooked on to which board by the armpits was a young gentleman of tender years, angling for mud with a headless wooden horse and line. In this young sportsman, distinguished53 by a crisply curling auburn head and a bluff54 countenance21, the Secretary descried55 the orphan.
It unfortunately happened as they quickened their pace, that the orphan, lost to considerations of personal safety in the ardour of the moment, overbalanced himself and toppled into the street. Being an orphan of a chubby56 conformation, he then took to rolling, and had rolled into the gutter57 before they could come up. From the gutter he was rescued by John Rokesmith, and thus the first meeting with Mrs Higden was inaugurated by the awkward circumstance of their being in possession — one would say at first sight unlawful possession — of the orphan, upside down and purple in the countenance. The board across the doorway too, acting4 as a trap equally for the feet of Mrs Higden coming out, and the feet of Mrs Boffin and John Rokesmith going in, greatly increased the difficulty of the situation: to which the cries of the orphan imparted a lugubrious58 and inhuman59 character.
At first, it was impossible to explain, on account of the orphan’s ‘holding his breath’: a most terrific proceeding60, super-inducing in the orphan lead-colour rigidity61 and a deadly silence, compared with which his cries were music yielding the height of enjoyment62. But as he gradually recovered, Mrs Boffin gradually introduced herself; and smiling peace was gradually wooed back to Mrs Betty Higden’s home.
It was then perceived to be a small home with a large mangle63 in it, at the handle of which machine stood a very long boy, with a very little head, and an open mouth of disproportionate capacity that seemed to assist his eyes in staring at the visitors. In a corner below the mangle, on a couple of stools, sat two very little children: a boy and a girl; and when the very long boy, in an interval64 of staring, took a turn at the mangle, it was alarming to see how it lunged itself at those two innocents, like a catapult designed for their destruction, harmlessly retiring when within an inch of their heads. The room was clean and neat. It had a brick floor, and a window of diamond panes65, and a flounce hanging below the chimney-piece, and strings66 nailed from bottom to top outside the window on which scarlet-beans were to grow in the coming season if the Fates were propitious67. However propitious they might have been in the seasons that were gone, to Betty Higden in the matter of beans, they had not been very favourable68 in the matter of coins; for it was easy to see that she was poor.
She was one of those old women, was Mrs Betty Higden, who by dint69 of an indomitable purpose and a strong constitution fight out many years, though each year has come with its new knock-down blows fresh to the fight against her, wearied by it; an active old woman, with a bright dark eye and a resolute70 face, yet quite a tender creature too; not a logically-reasoning woman, but God is good, and hearts may count in Heaven as high as heads.
‘Yes sure!’ said she, when the business was opened, ‘Mrs Milvey had the kindness to write to me, ma’am, and I got Sloppy72 to read it. It was a pretty letter. But she’s an affable lady.’
The visitors glanced at the long boy, who seemed to indicate by a broader stare of his mouth and eyes that in him Sloppy stood confessed.
‘For I aint, you must know,’ said Betty, ‘much of a hand at reading writing-hand, though I can read my Bible and most print. And I do love a newspaper. You mightn’t think it, but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the Police in different voices.’
The visitors again considered it a point of politeness to look at Sloppy, who, looking at them, suddenly threw back his head, extended his mouth to its utmost width, and laughed loud and long. At this the two innocents, with their brains in that apparent danger, laughed, and Mrs Higden laughed, and the orphan laughed, and then the visitors laughed. Which was more cheerful than intelligible73.
Then Sloppy seeming to be seized with an industrious74 mania75 or fury, turned to at the mangle, and impelled76 it at the heads of the innocents with such a creaking and rumbling77, that Mrs Higden stopped him.
‘The gentlefolks can’t hear themselves speak, Sloppy. Bide78 a bit, bide a bit!’
‘Is that the dear child in your lap?’ said Mrs Boffin.
‘Yes, ma’am, this is Johnny.’
‘Johnny, too!’ cried Mrs Boffin, turning to the Secretary; ‘already Johnny! Only one of the two names left to give him! He’s a pretty boy.’
With his chin tucked down in his shy childish manner, he was looking furtively79 at Mrs Boffin out of his blue eyes, and reaching his fat dimpled hand up to the lips of the old woman, who was kissing it by times.
‘Yes, ma’am, he’s a pretty boy, he’s a dear darling boy, he’s the child of my own last left daughter’s daughter. But she’s gone the way of all the rest.’
‘Those are not his brother and sister?’ said Mrs Boffin. ‘Oh, dear no, ma’am. Those are Minders.’
‘Minders?’ the Secretary repeated.
‘Left to he Minded, sir. I keep a Minding-School. I can take only three, on account of the Mangle. But I love children, and Fourpence a week is Four-pence. Come here, Toddles80 and Poddles.’
Toddles was the pet-name of the boy; Poddles of the girl. At their little unsteady pace, they came across the floor, hand-in-hand, as if they were traversing an extremely difficult road intersected by brooks81, and, when they had had their heads patted by Mrs Betty Higden, made lunges at the orphan, dramatically representing an attempt to bear him, crowing, into captivity and slavery. All the three children enjoyed this to a delightful82 extent, and the sympathetic Sloppy again laughed long and loud. When it was discreet to stop the play, Betty Higden said ‘Go to your seats Toddles and Poddles,’ and they returned hand-in-hand across country, seeming to find the brooks rather swollen83 by late rains.
‘And Master — or Mister — Sloppy?’ said the Secretary, in doubt whether he was man, boy, or what.
‘A love-child,’ returned Betty Higden, dropping her voice; ‘parents never known; found in the street. He was brought up in the —’ with a shiver of repugnance84, ‘— the House.’
‘The Poor-house?’ said the Secretary.
Mrs Higden set that resolute old face of hers, and darkly nodded yes.
‘You dislike the mention of it.’
‘Dislike the mention of it?’ answered the old woman. ‘Kill me sooner than take me there. Throw this pretty child under carthorses feet and a loaded waggon85, sooner than take him there. Come to us and find us all a-dying, and set a light to us all where we lie and let us all blaze away with the house into a heap of cinders86 sooner than move a corpse87 of us there!’
A surprising spirit in this lonely woman after so many years of hard working, and hard living, my Lords and Gentlemen and Honourable88 Boards! What is it that we call it in our grandiose89 speeches? British independence, rather perverted90? Is that, or something like it, the ring of the cant91?
‘Do I never read in the newspapers,’ said the dame92, fondling the child —‘God help me and the like of me! — how the worn-out people that do come down to that, get driven from post to pillar and pillar to post, a-purpose to tire them out! Do I never read how they are put off, put off, put off — how they are grudged93, grudged, grudged, the shelter, or the doctor, or the drop of physic, or the bit of bread? Do I never read how they grow heartsick of it and give it up, after having let themsleves drop so low, and how they after all die out for want of help? Then I say, I hope I can die as well as another, and I’ll die without that disgrace.’
Absolutely impossible my Lords and Gentlemen and Honourable Boards, by any stretch of legislative94 wisdom to set these perverse95 people right in their logic71?
‘Johnny, my pretty,’ continued old Betty, caressing96 the child, and rather mourning over it than speaking to it, ‘your old Granny Betty is nigher fourscore year than threescore and ten. She never begged nor had a penny of the union money in all her life. She paid scot and she paid lot when she had money to pay; she worked when she could, and she starved when she must. You pray that your Granny may have strength enough left her at the last (she’s strong for an old one, Johnny), to get up from her bed and run and hide herself and swown to death in a hole, sooner than fall into the hands of those Cruel Jacks97 we read of that dodge98 and drive, and worry and weary, and scorn and shame, the decent poor.’
A brilliant success, my Lords and Gentlemen and Honourable Boards to have brought it to this in the minds of the best of the poor! Under submission99, might it be worth thinking of at any odd time?
The fright and abhorrence100 that Mrs Betty Higden smoothed out of her strong face as she ended this diversion, showed how seriously she had meant it.
‘And does he work for you?’ asked the Secretary, gently bringing the discourse101 back to Master or Mister Sloppy.
‘Yes,’ said Betty with a good-humoured smile and nod of the head. ‘And well too.’
‘Does he live here?’
‘He lives more here than anywhere. He was thought to be no better than a Natural, and first come to me as a Minder. I made interest with Mr Blogg the Beadle to have him as a Minder, seeing him by chance up at church, and thinking I might do something with him. For he was a weak ricketty creetur then.’
‘Is he called by his right name?’
‘Why, you see, speaking quite correctly, he has no right name. I always understood he took his name from being found on a Sloppy night.’
‘He seems an amiable102 fellow.’
‘Bless you, sir, there’s not a bit of him,’ returned Betty, ‘that’s not amiable. So you may judge how amiable he is, by running your eye along his heighth.’
Of an ungainly make was Sloppy. Too much of him longwise, too little of him broadwise, and too many sharp angles of him anglewise. One of those shambling male human creatures, born to be indiscreetly candid103 in the revelation of buttons; every button he had about him glaring at the public to a quite preternatural extent. A considerable capital of knee and elbow and wrist and ankle, had Sloppy, and he didn’t know how to dispose of it to the best advantage, but was always investing it in wrong securities, and so getting himself into embarrassed circumstances. Full-Private Number One in the Awkward Squad104 of the rank and file of life, was Sloppy, and yet had his glimmering105 notions of standing9 true to the Colours.
‘And now,’ said Mrs Boffin, ‘concerning Johnny.’
As Johnny, with his chin tucked in and lips pouting106, reclined in Betty’s lap, concentrating his blue eyes on the visitors and shading them from observation with a dimpled arm, old Betty took one of his fresh fat hands in her withered107 right, and fell to gently beating it on her withered left.
‘Yes, ma’am. Concerning Johnny.’
‘If you trust the dear child to me,’ said Mrs Boffin, with a face inviting108 trust, ‘he shall have the best of homes, the best of care, the best of education, the best of friends. Please God I will be a true good mother to him!’
‘I am thankful to you, ma’am, and the dear child would be thankful if he was old enough to understand.’ Still lightly beating the little hand upon her own. ‘I wouldn’t stand in the dear child’s light, not if I had all my life before me instead of a very little of it. But I hope you won’t take it ill that I cleave109 to the child closer than words can tell, for he’s the last living thing left me.’
‘Take it ill, my dear soul? Is it likely? And you so tender of him as to bring him home here!’
‘I have seen,’ said Betty, still with that light beat upon her hard rough hand, ‘so many of them on my lap. And they are all gone but this one! I am ashamed to seem so selfish, but I don’t really mean it. It’ll be the making of his fortune, and he’ll be a gentleman when I am dead. I— I— don’t know what comes over me. I— try against it. Don’t notice me!’ The light beat stopped, the resolute mouth gave way, and the fine strong old face broke up into weakness and tears.
Now, greatly to the relief of the visitors, the emotional Sloppy no sooner beheld110 his patroness in this condition, than, throwing back his head and throwing open his mouth, he lifted up his voice and bellowed111. This alarming note of something wrong instantly terrified Toddles and Poddles, who were no sooner heard to roar surprisingly, than Johnny, curving himself the wrong way and striking out at Mrs Boffin with a pair of indifferent shoes, became a prey113 to despair. The absurdity114 of the situation put its pathos115 to the rout116. Mrs Betty Higden was herself in a moment, and brought them all to order with that speed, that Sloppy, stopping short in a polysyllabic bellow112, transferred his energy to the mangle, and had taken several penitential turns before he could be stopped.
‘There, there, there!’ said Mrs Boffin, almost regarding her kind self as the most ruthless of women. ‘Nothing is going to be done. Nobody need be frightened. We’re all comfortable; ain’t we, Mrs Higden?’
‘Sure and certain we are,’ returned Betty.
‘And there really is no hurry, you know,’ said Mrs Boffin in a lower voice. ‘Take time to think of it, my good creature!’
‘Don’t you fear ME no more, ma’am,’ said Betty; ‘I thought of it for good yesterday. I don’t know what come over me just now, but it’ll never come again.’
‘Well, then, Johnny shall have more time to think of it,’ returned Mrs Boffin; ‘the pretty child shall have time to get used to it. And you’ll get him more used to it, if you think well of it; won’t you?’
Betty undertook that, cheerfully and readily.
‘Lor,’ cried Mrs Boffin, looking radiantly about her, ‘we want to make everybody happy, not dismal117! — And perhaps you wouldn’t mind letting me know how used to it you begin to get, and how it all goes on?’
‘I’ll send Sloppy,’ said Mrs Higden.
‘And this gentleman who has come with me will pay him for his trouble,’ said Mrs Boffin. ‘And Mr Sloppy, whenever you come to my house, be sure you never go away without having had a good dinner of meat, beer, vegetables, and pudding.’
This still further brightened the face of affairs; for, the highly sympathetic Sloppy, first broadly staring and grinning, and then roaring with laughter, Toddles and Poddles followed suit, and Johnny trumped118 the trick. T and P considering these favourable circumstances for the resumption of that dramatic descent upon Johnny, again came across-country hand-in-hand upon a buccaneermg expedition; and this having been fought out in the chimney corner behind Mrs Higden’s chair, with great valour on both sides, those desperate pirates returned hand-in-hand to their stools, across the dry bed of a mountain torrent119.
‘You must tell me what I can do for you, Betty my friend,’ said Mrs Boffin confidentially120, ‘if not to-day, next time.’
‘Thank you all the same, ma’am, but I want nothing for myself. I can work. I’m strong. I can walk twenty mile if I’m put to it.’ Old Betty was proud, and said it with a sparkle in her bright eyes.
‘Yes, but there are some little comforts that you wouldn’t be the worse for,’ returned Mrs Boffin. ‘Bless ye, I wasn’t born a lady any more than you.’
‘It seems to me,’ said Betty, smiling, ‘that you were born a lady, and a true one, or there never was a lady born. But I couldn’t take anything from you, my dear. I never did take anything from any one. It ain’t that I’m not grateful, but I love to earn it better.’
‘Well, well!’ returned Mrs Boffin. ‘I only spoke of little things, or I wouldn’t have taken the liberty.’
Betty put her visitor’s hand to her lips, in acknowledgment of the delicate answer. Wonderfully upright her figure was, and wonderfully self-reliant her look, as, standing facing her visitor, she explained herself further.
‘If I could have kept the dear child, without the dread121 that’s always upon me of his coming to that fate I have spoken of, I could never have parted with him, even to you. For I love him, I love him, I love him! I love my husband long dead and gone, in him; I love my children dead and gone, in him; I love my young and hopeful days dead and gone, in him. I couldn’t sell that love, and look you in your bright kind face. It’s a free gift. I am in want of nothing. When my strength fails me, if I can but die out quick and quiet, I shall be quite content. I have stood between my dead and that shame I have spoken of; and it has been kept off from every one of them. Sewed into my gown,’ with her hand upon her breast, ‘is just enough to lay me in the grave. Only see that it’s rightly spent, so as I may rest free to the last from that cruelty and disgrace, and you’ll have done much more than a little thing for me, and all that in this present world my heart is set upon.’
Mrs Betty Higden’s visitor pressed her hand. There was no more breaking up of the strong old face into weakness. My Lords and Gentlemen and Honourable Boards, it really was as composed as our own faces, and almost as dignified122.
And now, Johnny was to be inveigled123 into occupying a temporary position on Mrs Boffin’s lap. It was not until he had been piqued124 into competition with the two diminutive125 Minders, by seeing them successively raised to that post and retire from it without injury, that he could be by any means induced to leave Mrs Betty Higden’s skirts; towards which he exhibited, even when in Mrs Boffin’s embrace, strong yearnings, spiritual and bodily; the former expressed in a very gloomy visage, the latter in extended arms. However, a general description of the toy-wonders lurking126 in Mr Boffin’s house, so far conciliated this worldly-minded orphan as to induce him to stare at her frowningly, with a fist in his mouth, and even at length to chuckle127 when a richly-caparisoned horse on wheels, with a miraculous128 gift of cantering to cake-shops, was mentioned. This sound being taken up by the Minders, swelled129 into a rapturous trio which gave general satisfaction.
So, the interview was considered very successful, and Mrs Boffin was pleased, and all were satisfied. Not least of all, Sloppy, who undertook to conduct the visitors back by the best way to the Three Magpies, and whom the hammer-headed young man much despised.
This piece of business thus put in train, the Secretary drove Mrs Boffin back to the Bower130, and found employment for himself at the new house until evening. Whether, when evening came, he took a way to his lodgings131 that led through fields, with any design of finding Miss Bella Wilfer in those fields, is not so certain as that she regularly walked there at that hour.
And, moreover, it is certain that there she was.
No longer in mourning, Miss Bella was dressed in as pretty colours as she could muster132. There is no denying that she was as pretty as they, and that she and the colours went very prettily133 together. She was reading as she walked, and of course it is to be inferred, from her showing no knowledge of Mr Rokesmith’s approach, that she did not know he was approaching.
‘Eh?’ said Miss Bella, raising her eyes from her book, when he stopped before her. ‘Oh! It’s you.’
‘Only I. A fine evening!’
‘Is it?’ said Bella, looking coldly round. ‘I suppose it is, now you mention it. I have not been thinking of the evening.’
‘So intent upon your book?’
‘Ye-e-es,’ replied Bella, with a drawl of indifference134.
‘A love story, Miss Wilfer?’
‘Oh dear no, or I shouldn’t be reading it. It’s more about money than anything else.’
‘And does it say that money is better than anything?’
‘Upon my word,’ returned Bella, ‘I forget what it says, but you can find out for yourself if you like, Mr Rokesmith. I don’t want it any more.’
The Secretary took the book — she had fluttered the leaves as if it were a fan — and walked beside her.
‘I am charged with a message for you, Miss Wilfer.’
‘Impossible, I think!’ said Bella, with another drawl.
‘From Mrs Boffin. She desired me to assure you of the pleasure she has in finding that she will be ready to receive you in another week or two at furthest.’
Bella turned her head towards him, with her prettily-insolent135 eyebrows136 raised, and her eyelids137 drooping138. As much as to say, ‘How did YOU come by the message, pray?’
‘I have been waiting for an opportunity of telling you that I am Mr Boffin’s Secretary.’
‘I am as wise as ever,’ said Miss Bella, loftily, ‘for I don’t know what a Secretary is. Not that it signifies.’
‘Not at all.’
A covert139 glance at her face, as he walked beside her, showed him that she had not expected his ready assent140 to that proposition.
‘Then are you going to be always there, Mr Rokesmith?’ she inquired, as if that would be a drawback.
‘Always? No. Very much there? Yes.’
‘Dear me!’ drawled Bella, in a tone of mortification141.
‘But my position there as Secretary, will be very different from yours as guest. You will know little or nothing about me. I shall transact2 the business: you will transact the pleasure. I shall have my salary to earn; you will have nothing to do but to enjoy and attract.’
‘Attract, sir?’ said Bella, again with her eyebrows raised, and her eyelids drooping. ‘I don’t understand you.’
Without replying on this point, Mr Rokesmith went on.
‘Excuse me; when I first saw you in your black dress —’
(’There!’ was Miss Bella’s mental exclamation142. ‘What did I say to them at home? Everybody noticed that ridiculous mourning.’)
‘When I first saw you in your black dress, I was at a loss to account for that distinction between yourself and your family. I hope it was not impertinent to speculate upon it?’
‘I hope not, I am sure,’ said Miss Bella, haughtily143. ‘But you ought to know best how you speculated upon it.’
Mr Rokesmith inclined his head in a deprecatory manner, and went on.
‘Since I have been entrusted144 with Mr Boffin’s affairs, I have necessarily come to understand the little mystery. I venture to remark that I feel persuaded that much of your loss may be repaired. I speak, of course, merely of wealth, Miss Wilfer. The loss of a perfect stranger, whose worth, or worthlessness, I cannot estimate — nor you either — is beside the question. But this excellent gentleman and lady are so full of simplicity145, so full of generosity146, so inclined towards you, and so desirous to — how shall I express it? — to make amends147 for their good fortune, that you have only to respond.’
As he watched her with another covert look, he saw a certain ambitious triumph in her face which no assumed coldness could conceal11.
‘As we have been brought under one roof by an accidental combination of circumstances, which oddly extends itself to the new relations before us, I have taken the liberty of saying these few words. You don’t consider them intrusive I hope?’ said the Secretary with deference148.
‘Really, Mr Rokesmith, I can’t say what I consider them,’ returned the young lady. ‘They are perfectly149 new to me, and may be founded altogether on your own imagination.’
‘You will see.’
These same fields were opposite the Wilfer premises150. The discreet Mrs Wilfer now looking out of window and beholding151 her daughter in conference with her lodger152, instantly tied up her head and came out for a casual walk.
‘I have been telling Miss Wilfer,’ said John Rokesmith, as the majestic153 lady came stalking up, ‘that I have become, by a curious chance, Mr Boffin’s Secretary or man of business.’
‘I have not,’ returned Mrs Wilfer, waving her gloves in her chronic154 state of dignity, and vague ill-usage, ‘the honour of any intimate acquaintance with Mr Boffin, and it is not for me to congratulate that gentleman on the acquisition he has made.’
‘A poor one enough,’ said Rokesmith.
‘Pardon me,’ returned Mrs Wilfer, ‘the merits of Mr Boffin may be highly distinguished — may be more distinguished than the countenance of Mrs Boffin would imply — but it were the insanity155 of humility156 to deem him worthy157 of a better assistant.’
‘You are very good. I have also been telling Miss Wilfer that she is expected very shortly at the new residence in town.’
‘Having tacitly consented,’ said Mrs Wilfer, with a grand shrug158 of her shoulders, and another wave of her gloves, ‘to my child’s acceptance of the proffered159 attentions of Mrs Boffin, I interpose no objection.’
Here Miss Bella offered the remonstrance160: ‘Don’t talk nonsense, ma, please.’
‘Peace!’ said Mrs Wilfer.
‘No, ma, I am not going to be made so absurd. Interposing objections!’
‘I say,’ repeated Mrs Wilfer, with a vast access of grandeur161, ‘that I am NOT going to interpose objections. If Mrs Boffin (to whose countenance no disciple162 of Lavater could possibly for a single moment subscribe),’ with a shiver, ‘seeks to illuminate163 her new residence in town with the attractions of a child of mine, I am content that she should be favoured by the company of a child of mine.’
‘You use the word, ma’am, I have myself used,’ said Rokesmith, with a glance at Bella, ‘when you speak of Miss Wilfer’s attractions there.’
‘Pardon me,’ returned Mrs Wilfer, with dreadful solemnity, ‘but I had not finished.’
‘Pray excuse me.’
‘I was about to say,’ pursued Mrs Wilfer, who clearly had not had the faintest idea of saying anything more: ‘that when I use the term attractions, I do so with the qualification that I do not mean it in any way whatever.’
The excellent lady delivered this luminous164 elucidation165 of her views with an air of greatly obliging her hearers, and greatly distinguishing herself. Whereat Miss Bella laughed a scornful little laugh and said:
‘Quite enough about this, I am sure, on all sides. Have the goodness, Mr Rokesmith, to give my love to Mrs Boffin —’
‘Pardon me!’ cried Mrs Wilfer. ‘Compliments.’
‘Love!’ repeated Bella, with a little stamp of her foot.
‘No!’ said Mrs Wilfer, monotonously166. ‘Compliments.’
(’Say Miss Wilfer’s love, and Mrs Wilfer’s compliments,’ the Secretary proposed, as a compromise.)
‘And I shall be very glad to come when she is ready for me. The sooner, the better.’
‘One last word, Bella,’ said Mrs Wilfer, ‘before descending167 to the family apartment. I trust that as a child of mine you will ever be sensible that it will be graceful168 in you, when associating with Mr and Mrs Boffin upon equal terms, to remember that the Secretary, Mr Rokesmith, as your father’s lodger, has a claim on your good word.’
The condescension169 with which Mrs Wilfer delivered this proclamation of patronage, was as wonderful as the swiftness with which the lodger had lost caste in the Secretary. He smiled as the mother retired170 down stairs; but his face fell, as the daughter followed.
‘So insolent, so trivial, so capricious, so mercenary, so careless, so hard to touch, so hard to turn!’ he said, bitterly.
And added as he went upstairs. ‘And yet so pretty, so pretty!’
And added presently, as he walked to and fro in his room. ‘And if she knew!’
She knew that he was shaking the house by his walking to and fro; and she declared it another of the miseries171 of being poor, that you couldn’t get rid of a haunting Secretary, stump172 — stump — stumping173 overhead in the dark, like a Ghost.
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1
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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transacting
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的现在分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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6
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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7
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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9
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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10
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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12
attainable
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| a.可达到的，可获得的 | |
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13
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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14
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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16
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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17
derivable
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| adj.可引出的，可推论的，可诱导的 | |
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18
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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19
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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20
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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22
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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23
evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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24
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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25
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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26
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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27
languished
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| 长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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expeditiously
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| adv.迅速地，敏捷地 | |
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29
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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30
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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32
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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33
sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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34
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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35
avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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36
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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37
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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38
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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39
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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40
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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41
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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42
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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43
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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44
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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45
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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46
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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47
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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48
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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49
magpies
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| 喜鹊（magpie的复数形式） | |
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50
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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51
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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52
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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53
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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54
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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55
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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56
chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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57
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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58
lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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59
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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60
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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61
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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62
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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63
mangle
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| vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布 | |
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64
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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65
panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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66
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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67
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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68
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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69
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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70
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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71
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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72
sloppy
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| adj.邋遢的，不整洁的 | |
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73
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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74
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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75
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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76
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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78
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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79
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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80
toddles
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| v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的第三人称单数 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步 | |
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81
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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82
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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83
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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84
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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85
waggon
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| n.运货马车，运货车；敞篷车箱 | |
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86
cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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87
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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88
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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89
grandiose
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| adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的 | |
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90
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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91
cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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92
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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93
grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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94
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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95
perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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96
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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97
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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98
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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99
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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100
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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101
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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102
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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103
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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104
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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105
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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106
pouting
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的现在分词 ) | |
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107
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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108
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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109
cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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110
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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111
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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112
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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113
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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114
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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115
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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116
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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118
trumped
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| v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造 | |
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119
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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120
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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121
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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122
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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123
inveigled
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| v.诱骗，引诱( inveigle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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125
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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127
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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128
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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129
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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136
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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141
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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142
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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143
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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161
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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illuminate
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| vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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elucidation
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| n.说明，阐明 | |
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166
monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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167
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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168
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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169
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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170
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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171
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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172
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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173
stumping
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| 僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的现在分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说 | |
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