The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

  Nell joined us before long, and bringing some needle-work to the

  table, sat by the old man's side. It was pleasant to observe the fresh

  flowers in the room, the pet bird with a green bough shading his

  little cage, the breath of freshness and youth which seemed to rustle

  through the old dull house and hover round the child. It was curious,

  but not so pleasant, to turn from the beauty and grace of the girl, to

  the stooping figure, care-worn face, and jaded aspect of the old man.

  As he grew weaker and more feeble, what would become of this

  lonely litle creature; poor protector as he was, say that he died--what

  we be her fate, then?

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  The old man almost answered my thoughts, as he laid his hand on

  hers, and spoke aloud.

  'I'll be of better cheer, Nell,' he said; 'there must be good fortune in

  store for thee--I do not ask it for myself, but thee. Such miseries

  must fall on thy innocent head without it, that I cannot believe but

  that, being tempted, it will come at last!'

  She looked cheerfully into his face, but made no answer.

  'When I think,' said he, 'of the many years--many in thy short life--

  that thou has lived with me; of my monotonous existence, knowing

  no companions of thy own age nor any childish pleasures; of the

  solitutde in which thou has grown to be what thou art, and in which

  thou hast lived apart from nearly all thy kind but one old man; I

  sometimes fear I have dealt hardly by thee, Nell.'

  'Grandfather!' cried the child in unfeigned surprise.

  'Not in intention--no no,' said he. 'I have ever looked forward to the

  time that should enable thee to mix among the gayest and prettiest,

  and take thy station with the best. But I still look forward, Nell, I

  still look forward, and if I should be forced to leave thee,

  meanwhile, how have I fitted thee for struggles with the world? The

  poor bird yonder is as well qualified to encounter it, and be turned

  adrift upon its mercies--Hark! I hear Kit outside. Go to him, Nell, go

  to him.'

  She rose, and hurrying away, stopped, turned back, and put her arms

  about the old man's neck, then left him and hurried away again--but

  faster this time, to hide her falling tears.

  'A word in your ear, sir,' said the old man in a hurried whisper. 'I

  have been rendered uneasy by what you said the other night, and can

  only plead that I have done all for the best--that it is too late to

  retract, if I could (though I cannot)--and that I hope to triumph yet.

  All is for her sake. I have borne great poverty myself, and would

  spare her the sufferings that poverty carries with it. I would spare

  her the miseries that brought her mother, my own dear child, to an

  early grave. I would leave her--not with resources which could be

  easily spent or squandered away, but with what would place her

  beyond the reach of want for ever. you mark me sir? She shall have

  no pittance, but a fortune--Hush! I can say no more than that, now or

  at any other time, and she is here again!'

  The eagerness with which all this was poured into my ear, the

  trembling of the hand with which he clasped my arm, the strained

  and starting eyes he fixed upon me, the wild vehemence and agitation

  of his manner, filled me with amazement. All that I had heard and

  seen, and a great part of what he had said himself, led me to suppose

  that he was a wealthy man. I could form no comprehension of his

  character, unless he were one of those miserable wretches who,

  having made gain the sole end and object of their lives and having

  succeeded in amassing great riches, are constantly tortured by the

  dread of poverty, and best by fears of loss and ruin. Many things he

  had said which I had been at a loss to understand, were quite

  reconcilable with the idea thus presented to me, and at length I

  concluded that beyond all doubt he was one of this unhappy race.

  The opinion was not the result of hasty consideration, for which

  indeed there was no opportunity at that time, as the child came

  directly, and soon occupied herself in preparations for giving Kit a

  writing lesson, of which it seemed he had a couple every week, and

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  one regularly on that evening, to the great mirth and enjoyment both

  of himself and his instructress. To relate how it was a long time

  before his modesty could be so far prevailed upon as it admit of his

  sitting down in the parlour, in the presence of an unknown

  gentleman--how, when he did set down, he tucked up his sleeves and

  squared his elbows and put his face close to the copy-book and

  squinted horribly at the lines--how, from the very first moment of

  having the pen in his hand, he began to wallow in blots, and to daub

  himself with ink up to the very roots of his hair--how, if he did by

  accident form a letter properly, he immediately smeared it out again

  with his arm in his preparations to make another -- how, at every

  fresh mistake, there was a fresh burst of merriment from the child

  and louder and not less hearty laugh from poor Kit himself--and how

  there was all the way through, notwithstanding, a gentle wish on her

  part to teach, and an anxious desire on his to learn--to relate all these

  particulars would no doubt occupy more space and time than they

  deserve. It will be sufficient to say that the lesson was given--that

  evening passed and night came on--that the old man again grew

  restless and impatient--that he quitted the house secretly at the same

  hour as before--and that the child was once more left alone within its

  gloomy walls.

  And now that I have carried this history so far in my own character

  and introduced these personages to the reader, I shall for the

  convenience of the narrative detach myself from its further course,

  and leave those who have prominent and necessary parts in it to

  speak and act for themselves.

  CHAPTER 4

  Mr and Mrs Quilp resided on Tower Hill; and in her bower on

  Tower Hill. Mrs Quilp was left to pine the absence of her lord, when

  he quitted her on the business which he had already seen to transact.

  Mr Quilp could scarcely be said to be of any particular trade or

  calling, though his pursuits were diversified and his occupations

  numerous. He collected the rents of whole colonies of filthy streets

  and alleys by the waterside, advanced money to the seamen and petty

  officers of merchant vessels, had a share in the ventures of divers

  mates of East Indiamen, smoked his smuggled cigars under the very

  nose of the Custom House, and made appointments on 'Change with

  men in glazed hats and round jackets pretty well every day. On the

  Surrey side of the river was a small rat-infested dreary yard called

  'Quilp's Wharf,' in which were a little wooden counting-house

  burrowing all awry in the dust as if it had fallen from the clouds and

  ploughed into the ground; a few fragments of rusty anchors; several

  large iron rings; some piles of rotten wood; and two or three heaps
<
br />   of old sheet copper, crumpled, cracked, and battered. On Quilp's

  Wharf, Daniel Quilp was a ship-breaker, yet to judge from these

  appearances he must either have been a ship-breaker on a very small

  scale, or have broken his ships up very small indeed. Neither did the

  place present any extraordinary aspect of life or activity, as its only

  human occupant was an amphibious boy in a canvas suit, whose sole

  change of occupation was from sitting on the head of a pile and

  throwing stones into the mud when the tide was out, to standing with

  his hands in his pockets gazing listlessly on the motion and on the

  bustle of the river at high-water.

  The dwarf's lodging on Tower hill comprised, besides the needful

  accommodation for himself and Mrs Quilp, a small sleeping-closet

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  for that lady's mother, who resided with the couple and waged

  perpetual war with Daniel; of whom, notwithstanding, she stood in

  no slight dread. Indeed, the ugly creature contrived by some means

  or other--whether by his ugliness or his ferocity or his natural

  cunning is no great matter--to impress with a wholesome fear of his

  anger, most of those with whom he was brought into daily contact

  and communication. Over nobody had he such complete ascendance

  as Mrs Quilp herself--a pretty little, mild-spoken, blue-eyed woman,

  who having allied herself in wedlock to the dwarf in one of those

  strange infatuations of which examples are by no means scarce,

  performed a sound practical penance for her folly, every day of her

  life.

  It has been said that Mrs Quilp was pining in her bower. In her

  bower she was, but not alone, for besides the old lady her mother of

  whom mention has recently been made, there were present some

  half-dozen ladies of the neighborhood who had happened by a

  strange accident (and also by a little understanding among

  themselves) to drop in one after another, just about tea-time. This

  being a season favourable to conversation, and the room being a

  cool, shady, lazy kind of place, with some plants at the open window

  shutting out the dust, and interposing pleasantly enough between the

  tea table within and the old Tower without, it is no wonder that the

  ladies felt an inclination to talk and linger, especially when there are

  taken into account the additional inducements of fresh butter, new

  bread, shrimps, and watercresses.

  Now, the ladies being together under these circumstances, it was

  extremely natural that the discourse should turn upon the propensity

  of mankind to tyrannize over the weaker sex, and the duty that

  developed upon the weaker sex to resist that tyranny and assert their

  rights and dignity. It was natural for four reasons: firstly, because

  Mrs Quilp being a young woman and notoriously under the dominion

  of her husband ought to be excited to rebel; secondly, because Mrs

  Quilp's parent was known to be laudably shrewish in her disposition

  and inclined to resist male authority; thirdly, because each visitor

  wished to show for herself how superior she was in this respect to

  the generality of her sex; and forthly, because the company being

  accustomed to acandalise each other in pairs, were deprived of their

  usual subject of conversation now that they were all assembled in

  close friendship, and had consequently no better employment than to

  attack the common enemy.

  Moved by these considerations, a stout lady opened the proceedings

  by inquiring, with an air of great concern and sympathy, how Mr

  Quilp was; whereunto Mr Quilp's wife's mother replied sharply,

  'Oh! He was well enough--nothing much was every the matter with

  him--and ill weeds were sure to thrive.' All the ladies then sighed in

  concert, shook their heads gravely, and looked at Mrs Quilp as a martyr.

  'Ah!' said the spokeswoman, 'I wish you'd give her a little of your

  advice, Mrs Jiniwin'--Mrs Quilp had been a Miss Jiniwin it should

  be observed--'nobody knows better than you, ma'am, what us

  women owe to ourselves.'

  'Owe indeed, ma'am!' replied Mrs Jiniwin. 'When my poor husband,

  her dear father, was alive, if he had ever venture'd a cross

  word to me, I'd have--' The good old lady did not finish the

  sentence, but she twisted off the head of a shrimp with a

  vindictiveness which seemed to imply that the action was in some

  degree a substitute for words. In this light it was clearly understood

  by the other party, who immediately replied with great approbation,

  'You quite enter into my feelings, ma'am, and it's jist what I'd do

  myself.'

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  'But you have no call to do it,' said Mrs Jiniwin. 'Luckily for you,

  you have no more occasion to do it than I had.'

  'No woman need have, if she was true to herself,' rejoined the stout

  lady.

  'Do you hear that, Betsy?' said Mrs Jiniwin, in a warning voice.

  'How often have I said the same words to you, and almost gone

  down my knees when I spoke 'em!'

  Poor Mrs Quilp, who had looked in a state of helplessness from one

  face of condolence to another, coloured, smiled, and shook her head

  doubtfully. This was the signal for a general clamour, which

  beginning in a low murmur gradually swelled into a great noise in

  which everybody spoke at once, and all said that she being a young

  woman had no right to set up her opinions against the experiences of

  those who knew so much better; that it was very wrong of her not to

  take the advice of people who had nothing at heart but her good; that

  it was next door to being downright ungrateful to conduct herself in

  that manner; that if she had no respect for herself she ought to have

  some for other women, all of whom she compromised by her

  meekness; and that if she had no respect for other women, the time

  would come when other women would have no respect for her; and

  she would be very sorry for that, they could tell her. Having dealt

  out these admonitions, the ladies fell to a more powerful assault than

  they had yet made upon the mixed tea, new bread, fresh butter,

  shrimps, and watercresses, and said that their vexation was so great

  to see her going on like that, that they could hardly bring themselves

  to eat a single morsel.

  It's all very fine to talk,' said Mrs Quilp with much simplicity, 'but I

  know that if I was to die to-morrow, Quilp could marry anybody he

  pleased--now that he could, I know!'

  There was quite a scream of indignation at this idea. Marry whom he

  pleased! They would like to see him dare to think of marrying any of

  them; they would like to see the faintest approach to such a thing.

  One lady (a widow) was quite certain she should stab him if he

  hinted at it.

  'Very well,' said Mrs Quilp, nodding her head, 'as I said just now,

  it's very easy to talk, but I say again that I know--that I'm sure--Quilp

  has such a way with

  him when he likes, that the best looking

  woman here couldn't refuse him if I was dead, and she was fre
e, and

  he chose to make love to him. Come!'

  Everybody bridled up at this remark, as much as to say, 'I know you

  mean me. Let him try--that's all.' and yet for some hidden reason

  they were all angry with the widow, and each lady whispered in her

  neighbour's ear that it was very plain that said widow thought herself

  the person referred to, and what a puss she was!

  'Mother knows,' said Mrs Quilp, 'that what I say is quite correct,

  for she often said so before we were married. Didn't you say so,

  mother?'

  This inquiry involved the respected lady in rather a delicate position,

  for she certainly had been an active party in making her daughter

  Mrs Quilp, and, besides, it was not supporting the family credit to

  encourage the idea that she had married a man whom nobody else

  would have. On the other hand, to exaggerate the captivating

  qualities of her son-in-law would be to weaken the cause of revolt, in

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  which all her energies were deeply engaged. Beset by these opposing

  considerations, Mrs Jiniwin admitted the powers of insinuation, but

  denied the right to govern, and with a timely compliment to the stout

  lady brought back the discussion to the point from which it had

  strayed.

  'Oh! It's a sensible and proper thing indeed, what Mrs George has

  said,!' exclaimed the old lady. 'If women are only true to

  themselves!--But Betsy isn't, and more's the shame and pity.'

  'Before I'd let a man order me about as Quilp orders her,' said Mrs

  George, 'before I'd consent to stand in awe of a man as she does of

  him, I'd--I'd kill myself, and write a letter first to say he did it!'

  This remark being loudly commended and approved of, another lady

  (from the Minories) put in her word:

  'Mr Quilp may be a very nice man,' said this lady, 'and I supposed

  there's no doubt he is, because Mrs Quilp says he is, and Mrs

  Jiniwin says he is, and they ought to know, or nobody does. But still

  he is not quite a--what one calls a handsome man, nor quite a young

  man neither, which might be a little excuse for him if anything could

  be; whereas his wife is young, and is good-looking, and is a woman--which

  is the greatest

  thing after all.'

  This last clause being delivered with extraordinary pathos, elicited a

  corresponding murmer from the hearers, stimulated by which the