Hard Times

by Dickens, Charles

  magnificent or even savoury approach, was, as is usual in such

  cases, the legitimate highway.

  The first thing they saw on entering the town was the skeleton of

  Sleary's Circus. The company had departed for another town more

  than twenty miles off, and had opened there last night. The

  connection between the two places was by a hilly turnpike-road, and

  the travelling on that road was very slow. Though they took but a

  hasty breakfast, and no rest (which it would have been in vain to

  seek under such anxious circumstances), it was noon before they

  began to find the bills of Sleary's Horse-riding on barns and

  walls, and one o'clock when they stopped in the market-place.

  A Grand Morning Performance by the Riders, commencing at that very

  hour, was in course of announcement by the bellman as they set

  their feet upon the stones of the street. Sissy recommended that,

  to avoid making inquiries and attracting attention in the town,

  they should present themselves to pay at the door. If Mr. Sleary

  were taking the money, he would be sure to know her, and would

  proceed with discretion. If he were not, he would be sure to see

  them inside; and, knowing what he had done with the fugitive, would

  proceed with discretion still.

  Therefore, they repaired, with fluttering hearts, to the wellremembered

  booth. The flag with the inscription SLEARY'S HORSEPage

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  RIDING was there; and the Gothic niche was there; but Mr. Sleary

  was not there. Master Kidderminster, grown too maturely turfy to

  be received by the wildest credulity as Cupid any more, had yielded

  to the invincible force of circumstances (and his beard), and, in

  the capacity of a man who made himself generally useful, presided

  on this occasion over the exchequer - having also a drum in

  reserve, on which to expend his leisure moments and superfluous

  forces. In the extreme sharpness of his look out for base coin,

  Mr. Kidderminster, as at present situated, never saw anything but

  money; so Sissy passed him unrecognised, and they went in.

  The Emperor of Japan, on a steady old white horse stencilled with

  black spots, was twirling five wash-hand basins at once, as it is

  the favourite recreation of that monarch to do. Sissy, though well

  acquainted with his Royal line, had no personal knowledge of the

  present Emperor, and his reign was peaceful. Miss Josephine

  Sleary, in her celebrated graceful Equestrian Tyrolean Flower Act,

  was then announced by a new clown (who humorously said Cauliflower

  Act), and Mr. Sleary appeared, leading her in.

  Mr. Sleary had only made one cut at the Clown with his long whiplash,

  and the Clown had only said, 'If you do it again, I'll throw

  the horse at you!' when Sissy was recognised both by father and

  daughter. But they got through the Act with great self-possession;

  and Mr. Sleary, saving for the first instant, conveyed no more

  expression into his locomotive eye than into his fixed one. The

  performance seemed a little long to Sissy and Louisa, particularly

  when it stopped to afford the Clown an opportunity of telling Mr.

  Sleary (who said 'Indeed, sir!' to all his observations in the

  calmest way, and with his eye on the house) about two legs sitting

  on three legs looking at one leg, when in came four legs, and laid

  hold of one leg, and up got two legs, caught hold of three legs,

  and threw 'em at four legs, who ran away with one leg. For,

  although an ingenious Allegory relating to a butcher, a threelegged

  stool, a dog, and a leg of mutton, this narrative consumed

  time; and they were in great suspense. At last, however, little

  fair-haired Josephine made her curtsey amid great applause; and the

  Clown, left alone in the ring, had just warmed himself, and said,

  'Now I'll have a turn!' when Sissy was touched on the shoulder, and

  beckoned out.

  She took Louisa with her; and they were received by Mr. Sleary in a

  very little private apartment, with canvas sides, a grass floor,

  and a wooden ceiling all aslant, on which the box company stamped

  their approbation, as if they were coming through. 'Thethilia,'

  said Mr. Sleary, who had brandy and water at hand, 'it doth me good

  to thee you. You wath alwayth a favourite with uth, and you've

  done uth credith thinth the old timeth I'm thure. You mutht thee

  our people, my dear, afore we thpeak of bithnith, or they'll break

  their hearth - ethpethially the women. Here'th Jothphine hath been

  and got married to E. W. B. Childerth, and thee hath got a boy, and

  though he'th only three yearth old, he thtickth on to any pony you

  can bring againtht him. He'th named The Little Wonder of

  Thcolathtic Equitation; and if you don't hear of that boy at

  Athley'th, you'll hear of him at Parith. And you recollect

  Kidderminthter, that wath thought to be rather thweet upon

  yourthelf? Well. He'th married too. Married a widder. Old

  enough to be hith mother. Thee wath Tightrope, thee wath, and now

  thee'th nothing - on accounth of fat. They've got two children,

  tho we're thtrong in the Fairy bithnith and the Nurthery dodge. If

  you wath to thee our Children in the Wood, with their father and

  mother both a dyin' on a horthe - their uncle a retheiving of 'em

  ath hith wardth, upon a horthe - themthelvth both a goin' a blackberryin'

  on a horthe - and the Robinth a coming in to cover 'em

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  with leavth, upon a horthe - you'd thay it wath the completetht

  thing ath ever you thet your eyeth on! And you remember Emma

  Gordon, my dear, ath wath a'motht a mother to you? Of courthe you

  do; I needn't athk. Well! Emma, thee lotht her huthband. He wath

  throw'd a heavy back-fall off a Elephant in a thort of a Pagoda

  thing ath the Thultan of the Indieth, and he never got the better

  of it; and thee married a thecond time - married a Cheethemonger

  ath fell in love with her from the front - and he'th a Overtheer

  and makin' a fortun.'

  These various changes, Mr. Sleary, very short of breath now,

  related with great heartiness, and with a wonderful kind of

  innocence, considering what a bleary and brandy-and-watery old

  veteran he was. Afterwards he brought in Josephine, and E. W. B.

  Childers (rather deeply lined in the jaws by daylight), and the

  Little Wonder of Scholastic Equitation, and in a word, all the

  company. Amazing creatures they were in Louisa's eyes, so white

  and pink of complexion, so scant of dress, and so demonstrative of

  leg; but it was very agreeable to see them crowding about Sissy,

  and very natural in Sissy to be unable to refrain from tears.

  'There! Now Thethilia hath kithd all the children, and hugged all

  the women, and thaken handth all round with all the men, clear,

  every one of you, and ring in the band for the thecond part!'

  As soon as they were gone, he continued in a low tone. 'Now,

  Thethilia, I don't athk to know any thecreth, but I thuppothe I may

  conthider thith to be Mith Thquire.'

  'This is his sister
. Yes.'

  'And t'other on'th daughter. That'h what I mean. Hope I thee you

  well, mith. And I hope the Thquire'th well?'

  'My father will be here soon,' said Louisa, anxious to bring him to

  the point. 'Is my brother safe?'

  'Thafe and thound!' he replied. 'I want you jutht to take a peep

  at the Ring, mith, through here. Thethilia, you know the dodgeth;

  find a thpy-hole for yourthelf.'

  They each looked through a chink in the boards.

  'That'h Jack the Giant Killer - piethe of comic infant bithnith,'

  said Sleary. 'There'th a property-houthe, you thee, for Jack to

  hide in; there'th my Clown with a thauthepan-lid and a thpit, for

  Jack'th thervant; there'th little Jack himthelf in a thplendid

  thoot of armour; there'th two comic black thervanth twithe ath big

  ath the houthe, to thtand by it and to bring it in and clear it;

  and the Giant (a very ecthpenthive bathket one), he an't on yet.

  Now, do you thee 'em all?'

  'Yes,' they both said.

  'Look at 'em again,' said Sleary, 'look at 'em well. You thee em

  all? Very good. Now, mith;' he put a form for them to sit on; 'I

  have my opinionth, and the Thquire your father hath hith. I don't

  want to know what your brother'th been up to; ith better for me not

  to know. All I thay ith, the Thquire hath thtood by Thethilia, and

  I'll thtand by the Thquire. Your brother ith one them black

  thervanth.'

  Louisa uttered an exclamation, partly of distress, partly of

  satisfaction.

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  'Ith a fact,' said Sleary, 'and even knowin' it, you couldn't put

  your finger on him. Let the Thquire come. I thall keep your

  brother here after the performanth. I thant undreth him, nor yet

  wath hith paint off. Let the Thquire come here after the

  performanth, or come here yourthelf after the performanth, and you

  thall find your brother, and have the whole plathe to talk to him

  in. Never mind the lookth of him, ath long ath he'th well hid.'

  Louisa, with many thanks and with a lightened load, detained Mr.

  Sleary no longer then. She left her love for her brother, with her

  eyes full of tears; and she and Sissy went away until later in the

  afternoon.

  Mr. Gradgrind arrived within an hour afterwards. He too had

  encountered no one whom he knew; and was now sanguine with Sleary's

  assistance, of getting his disgraced son to Liverpool in the night.

  As neither of the three could be his companion without almost

  identifying him under any disguise, he prepared a letter to a

  correspondent whom he could trust, beseeching him to ship the

  bearer off at any cost, to North or South America, or any distant

  part of the world to which he could be the most speedily and

  privately dispatched.

  This done, they walked about, waiting for the Circus to be quite

  vacated; not only by the audience, but by the company and by the

  horses. After watching it a long time, they saw Mr. Sleary bring

  out a chair and sit down by the side-door, smoking; as if that were

  his signal that they might approach.

  'Your thervant, Thquire,' was his cautious salutation as they

  passed in. 'If you want me you'll find me here. You muthn't mind

  your thon having a comic livery on.'

  They all three went in; and Mr. Gradgrind sat down forlorn, on the

  Clown's performing chair in the middle of the ring. On one of the

  back benches, remote in the subdued light and the strangeness of

  the place, sat the villainous whelp, sulky to the last, whom he had

  the misery to call his son.

  In a preposterous coat, like a beadle's, with cuffs and flaps

  exaggerated to an unspeakable extent; in an immense waistcoat,

  knee-breeches, buckled shoes, and a mad cocked hat; with nothing

  fitting him, and everything of coarse material, moth-eaten and full

  of holes; with seams in his black face, where fear and heat had

  started through the greasy composition daubed all over it; anything

  so grimly, detestably, ridiculously shameful as the whelp in his

  comic livery, Mr. Gradgrind never could by any other means have

  believed in, weighable and measurable fact though it was. And one

  of his model children had come to this!

  At first the whelp would not draw any nearer, but persisted in

  remaining up there by himself. Yielding at length, if any

  concession so sullenly made can be called yielding, to the

  entreaties of Sissy - for Louisa he disowned altogether - he came

  down, bench by bench, until he stood in the sawdust, on the verge

  of the circle, as far as possible, within its limits from where his

  father sat.

  'How was this done?' asked the father.

  'How was what done?' moodily answered the son.

  'This robbery,' said the father, raising his voice upon the word.

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  'I forced the safe myself over night, and shut it up ajar before I

  went away. I had had the key that was found, made long before. I

  dropped it that morning, that it might be supposed to have been

  used. I didn't take the money all at once. I pretended to put my

  balance away every night, but I didn't. Now you know all about

  it.'

  'If a thunderbolt had fallen on me,' said the father, 'it would

  have shocked me less than this!'

  'I don't see why,' grumbled the son. 'So many people are employed

  in situations of trust; so many people, out of so many, will be

  dishonest. I have heard you talk, a hundred times, of its being a

  law. How can I help laws? You have comforted others with such

  things, father. Comfort yourself!'

  The father buried his face in his hands, and the son stood in his

  disgraceful grotesqueness, biting straw: his hands, with the black

  partly worn away inside, looking like the hands of a monkey. The

  evening was fast closing in; and from time to time, he turned the

  whites of his eyes restlessly and impatiently towards his father.

  They were the only parts of his face that showed any life or

  expression, the pigment upon it was so thick.

  'You must be got to Liverpool, and sent abroad.'

  'I suppose I must. I can't be more miserable anywhere,' whimpered

  the whelp, 'than I have been here, ever since I can remember.

  That's one thing.'

  Mr. Gradgrind went to the door, and returned with Sleary, to whom

  he submitted the question, How to get this deplorable object away?

  'Why, I've been thinking of it, Thquire. There'th not muth time to

  lothe, tho you muth thay yeth or no. Ith over twenty mileth to the

  rail. There'th a coath in half an hour, that goeth to the rail,

  'purpothe to cath the mail train. That train will take him right

  to Liverpool.'

  'But look at him,' groaned Mr. Gradgrind. 'Will any coach - '

  'I don't mean that he thould go in the comic livery,' said Sleary.

  'Thay the word, and I'll make a Jothkin of him, out of the

  wardrobe, in five minutes.'

  'I don't understand,' said Mr. Gradgrind.

  'A Jothkin - a Carter. Make up your mind quick, Thquire. There'll

  be beer
to feth. I've never met with nothing but beer ath'll ever

  clean a comic blackamoor.'

  Mr. Gradgrind rapidly assented; Mr. Sleary rapidly turned out from

  a box, a smock frock, a felt hat, and other essentials; the whelp

  rapidly changed clothes behind a screen of baize; Mr. Sleary

  rapidly brought beer, and washed him white again.

  'Now,' said Sleary, 'come along to the coath, and jump up behind;

  I'll go with you there, and they'll thuppothe you one of my people.

  Thay farewell to your family, and tharp'th the word.' With which

  he delicately retired.

  'Here is your letter,' said Mr. Gradgrind. 'All necessary means

  will be provided for you. Atone, by repentance and better conduct,

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  for the shocking action you have committed, and the dreadful

  consequences to which it has led. Give me your hand, my poor boy,

  and may God forgive you as I do!'

  The culprit was moved to a few abject tears by these words and

  their pathetic tone. But, when Louisa opened her arms, he repulsed

  her afresh.

  'Not you. I don't want to have anything to say to you!'

  'O Tom, Tom, do we end so, after all my love!'

  'After all your love!' he returned, obdurately. 'Pretty love!

  Leaving old Bounderby to himself, and packing my best friend Mr.

  Harthouse off, and going home just when I was in the greatest

  danger. Pretty love that! Coming out with every word about our

  having gone to that place, when you saw the net was gathering round

  me. Pretty love that! You have regularly given me up. You never

  cared for me.'

  'Tharp'th the word!' said Sleary, at the door.

  They all confusedly went out: Louisa crying to him that she

  forgave him, and loved him still, and that he would one day be

  sorry to have left her so, and glad to think of these her last

  words, far away: when some one ran against them. Mr. Gradgrind

  and Sissy, who were both before him while his sister yet clung to

  his shoulder, stopped and recoiled.

  For, there was Bitzer, out of breath, his thin lips parted, his

  thin nostrils distended, his white eyelashes quivering, his

  colourless face more colourless than ever, as if he ran himself

  into a white heat, when other people ran themselves into a glow.

  There he stood, panting and heaving, as if he had never stopped

  since the night, now long ago, when he had run them down before.