The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

'I do,' returned the old woman. 'I mean it all. If he hadn't been

  poring over his books out of fear of you, he would have been well

  and merry now, I know he would.'

  The schoolmaster looked round upon the other women as if to entreat

  some one among them to say a kind word for him, but they shook

  their heads, and murmured to each other that they never thought

  there was much good in learning, and that this convinced them.

  Without saying a word in reply, or giving them a look of reproach,

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  he followed the old woman who had summoned him (and who had now

  rejoined them) into another room, where his infant friend,

  half-dressed, lay stretched upon a bed.

  He was a very young boy; quite a little child. His hair still hung

  in curls about his face, and his eyes were very bright; but their

  light was of Heaven, not earth. The schoolmaster took a seat beside

  him, and stooping over the pillow, whispered his name. The boy

  sprung up, stroked his face with his hand, and threw his wasted

  arms round his neck, crying out that he was his dear kind friend.

  'I hope I always was. I meant to be, God knows,' said the poor

  schoolmaster.

  'Who is that?' said the boy, seeing Nell. 'I am afraid to kiss her,

  lest I should make her ill. Ask her to shake hands with me.' The

  sobbing child came closer up, and took the little languid hand in

  hers. Releasing his again after a time, the sick boy laid him

  gently down.

  'You remember the garden, Harry,' whispered the schoolmaster,

  anxious to rouse him, for a dulness seemed gathering upon the

  child, 'and how pleasant it used to be in the evening time? You

  must make haste to visit it again, for I think the very flowers

  have missed you, and are less gay than they used to be. You will

  come soon, my dear, very soon now--won't you?'

  The boy smiled faintly--so very, very faintly--and put his hand

  upon his friend's grey head. He moved his lips too, but no voice

  came from them; no, not a sound.

  In the silence that ensued, the hum of distant voices borne upon

  the evening air came floating through the open window. 'What's

  that?' said the sick child, opening his eyes.

  'The boys at play upon the green.'

  He took a handkerchief from his pillow, and tried to wave it above

  his head. But the feeble arm dropped powerless down.

  'Shall I do it?' said the schoolmaster.

  'Please wave it at the window,' was the faint reply. 'Tie it to the

  lattice. Some of them may see it there. Perhaps they'll think of

  me, and look this way.'

  He raised his head, and glanced from the fluttering signal to his

  idle bat, that lay with slate and book and other boyish property

  upon a table in the room. And then he laid him softly down once more,

  and asked if the little girl were there, for he could not see her.

  She stepped forward, and pressed the passive hand that lay upon the

  coverlet. The two old friends and companions--for such they were,

  though they were man and child--held each other in a long embrace,

  and then the little scholar turned his face towards the wall, and

  fell asleep.

  The poor schoolmaster sat in the same place, holding the small cold

  hand in his, and chafing it. It was but the hand of a dead child.

  He felt that; and yet he chafed it still, and could not lay it down.

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  CHAPTER 26

  Almost broken-hearted, Nell withdrew with the schoolmaster from the

  bedside and returned to his cottage. In the midst of her grief and

  tears she was yet careful to conceal their real cause from the old

  man, for the dead boy had been a grandchild, and left but one aged

  relative to mourn his premature decay.

  She stole away to bed as quickly as she could, and when she was

  alone, gave free vent to the sorrow with which her breast was

  overcharged. But the sad scene she had witnessed, was not without

  its lesson of content and gratitude; of content with the lot which

  left her health and freedom; and gratitude that she was spared to

  the one relative and friend she loved, and to live and move in a

  beautiful world, when so many young creatures--as young and full

  of hope as she--were stricken down and gathered to their graves.

  How many of the mounds in that old churchyard where she had lately

  strayed, grew green above the graves of children! And though she

  thought as a child herself, and did not perhaps sufficiently

  consider to what a bright and happy existence those who die young

  are borne, and how in death they lose the pain of seeing others die

  around them, bearing to the tomb some strong affection of their

  hearts (which makes the old die many times in one long life), still

  she thought wisely enough, to draw a plain and easy moral from what

  she had seen that night, and to store it, deep in her mind.

  Her dreams were of the little scholar: not coffined and covered up,

  but mingling with angels, and smiling happily. The sun darting his

  cheerful rays into the room, awoke her; and now there remained but

  to take leave of the poor schoolmaster and wander forth once more.

  By the time they were ready to depart, school had begun. In the

  darkened room, the din of yesterday was going on again: a little

  sobered and softened down, perhaps, but only a very little, if at

  all. The schoolmaster rose from his desk and walked with them to

  the gate.

  It was with a trembling and reluctant hand, that the child held out

  to him the money which the lady had given her at the races for her

  flowers: faltering in her thanks as she thought how small the sum

  was, and blushing as she offered it. But he bade her put it up,

  and stooping to kiss her cheek, turned back into his house.

  They had not gone half-a-dozen paces when he was at the door again;

  the old man retraced his steps to shake hands, and the child did

  the same.

  'Good fortune and happiness go with you!' said the poor

  schoolmaster. 'I am quite a solitary man now. If you ever pass

  this way again, you'll not forget the little village-school.'

  'We shall never forget it, sir,' rejoined Nell; 'nor ever forget to

  be grateful to you for your kindness to us.'

  'I have heard such words from the lips of children very often,'

  said the schoolmaster, shaking his head, and smiling thoughtfully,

  'but they were soon forgotten. I had attached one young friend to

  me, the better friend for being young--but that's over--God bless

  you!'

  They bade him farewell very many times, and turned away, walking

  slowly and often looking back, until they could see him no more.

  At length they had left the village far behind, and even lost sight

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  of the smoke among the trees. They trudged onward now, at a

  quicker pace, resolving to keep the main road, and go wherever it

  might lead them.

  But main roads stretch a long, long way. With the exception of two

 
or three inconsiderable clusters of cottages which they passed,

  without stopping, and one lonely road-side public-house where they

  had some bread and cheese, this highway had led them to nothing--

  late in the afternoon--and still lengthened out, far in the

  distance, the same dull, tedious, winding course, that they had

  been pursuing all day. As they had no resource, however, but to go

  forward, they still kept on, though at a much slower pace, being

  very weary and fatigued.

  The afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening, when they

  arrived at a point where the road made a sharp turn and struck

  across a common. On the border of this common, and close to the

  hedge which divided it from the cultivated fields, a caravan was

  drawn up to rest; upon which, by reason of its situation, they came

  so suddenly that they could not have avoided it if they would.

  It was not a shabby, dingy, dusty cart, but a smart little house

  upon wheels, with white dimity curtains festooning the windows, and

  window-shutters of green picked out with panels of a staring red,

  in which happily-contrasted colours the whole concern shone

  brilliant. Neither was it a poor caravan drawn by a single donkey

  or emaciated horse, for a pair of horses in pretty

  good condition were released from the shafts and grazing on the

  frouzy grass. Neither was it a gipsy caravan, for at the open door

  (graced with a bright brass knocker) sat a Christian lady, stout

  and comfortable to look upon, who wore a large bonnet trembling

  with bows. And that it was not an unprovided or destitute caravan

  was clear from this lady's occupation, which was the very pleasant

  and refreshing one of taking tea. The tea-things, including a

  bottle of rather suspicious character and a cold knuckle of ham,

  were set forth upon a drum, covered with a white napkin; and there,

  as if at the most convenient round-table in all the world, sat

  this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the prospect.

  It happened that at that moment the lady of the caravan had her cup

  (which, that everything about her might be of a stout and

  comfortable kind, was a breakfast cup) to her lips, and that having

  her eyes lifted to the sky in her enjoyment of the full flavour of

  the tea, not unmingled possibly with just the slightest

  dash or gleam of something out of the suspicious bottle--but this

  is mere speculation and not distinct matter of history--it

  happened that being thus agreeably engaged, she did not see the

  travellers when they first came up. It was not until she was in

  the act of getting down the cup, and drawing a long breath after

  the exertion of causing its contents to disappear, that the lady of

  the caravan beheld an old man and a young child walking slowly by,

  and glancing at her proceedings with eyes of modest but hungry

  admiration.

  'Hey!' cried the lady of the caravan, scooping the crumbs out of

  her lap and swallowing the same before wiping her lips. 'Yes, to

  be sure--Who won the Helter-Skelter Plate, child?'

  'Won what, ma'am?' asked Nell.

  'The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child--the plate that was

  run for on the second day.'

  'On the second day, ma'am?'

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  'Second day! Yes, second day,' repeated the lady with an air of

  impatience. 'Can't you say who won the Helter-Skelter Plate when

  you're asked the question civilly?'

  'I don't know, ma'am.'

  'Don't know!' repeated the lady of the caravan; 'why, you were

  there. I saw you with my own eyes.'

  Nell was not a little alarmed to hear this, supposing that the lady

  might be intimately acquainted with the firm of Short and Codlin;

  but what followed tended to reassure her.

  'And very sorry I was,' said the lady of the caravan, 'to see you

  in company with a Punch; a low, practical, wulgar wretch, that

  people should scorn to look at.'

  'I was not there by choice,' returned the child; 'we didn't know

  our way, and the two men were very kind to us, and let us travel

  with them. Do you--do you know them, ma'am?'

  'Know 'em, child!' cried the lady of the caravan in a sort of

  shriek. 'Know them! But you're young and inexperienced, and

  that's your excuse for asking sich a question. Do I look as if I

  know'd 'em, does the caravan look as if it know'd 'em?'

  'No, ma'am, no,' said the child, fearing she had committed some

  grievous fault. 'I beg your pardon.'

  It was granted immediately, though the lady still appeared much

  ruffled and discomposed by the degrading supposition. The child

  then explained that they had left the races on the first day, and

  were travelling to the next town on that road, where they purposed

  to spend the night. As the countenance of the stout lady began to

  clear up, she ventured to inquire how far it was. The reply--which

  the stout lady did not come to, until she had thoroughly explained

  that she went to the races on the first day in a gig, and as an

  expedition of pleasure, and that her presence there had no

  connexion with any matters of business or profit--was, that the

  town was eight miles off.

  This discouraging information a little dashed the child, who could

  scarcely repress a tear as she glanced along the darkening road.

  Her grandfather made no complaint, but he sighed heavily as he

  leaned upon his staff, and vainly tried to pierce the dusty

  distance.

  The lady of the caravan was in the act of gathering her tea

  equipage together preparatory to clearing the table, but noting the

  child's anxious manner she hesitated and stopped. The child

  curtseyed, thanked her for her information, and giving her hand to

  the old man had already got some fifty yards or so away, when the

  lady of the caravan called to her to return.

  'Come nearer, nearer still,' said she, beckoning to her to ascend

  the steps. 'Are you hungry, child?'

  'Not very, but we are tired, and it's--it IS a long way.'

  'Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea,' rejoined her

  new acquaintance. 'I suppose you are agreeable to that, old

  gentleman?'

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  The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat and thanked her. The

  lady of the caravan then bade him come up the steps likewise, but

  the drum proving an inconvenient table for two, they descended

  again, and sat upon the grass, where she handed down to them the

  tea-tray, the bread and butter, the knuckle of ham, and in short

  everything of which she had partaken herself, except the bottle

  which she had already embraced an opportunity of slipping into her

  pocket.

  'Set 'em out near the hind wheels, child, that's the best place,'

  said their friend, superintending the arrangements from above.

  'Now hand up the teapot for a little more hot water, and a pinch of

  fresh tea, and then both of you eat and drink as much as you can,

  and don't spare anything; that's all I ask of you.'

  Th
ey might perhaps have carried out the lady's wish, if it had been

  less freely expressed, or even if it had not been expressed at all.

  But as this direction relieved them from any shadow of delicacy or

  uneasiness, they made a hearty meal and enjoyed it to the utmost.

  While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan alighted

  on the earth, and with her hands clasped behind her, and her large

  bonnet trembling excessively, walked up and down in a measured

  tread and very stately manner, surveying the caravan from time to

  time with an air of calm delight, and deriving particular

  gratification from the red panels and the brass knocker. When she

  had taken this gentle exercise for some time, she sat down upon the

  steps and called 'George'; whereupon a man in a carter's frock, who

  had been so shrouded in a hedge up to this time as to see

  everything that passed without being seen himself, parted the twigs

  that concealed him, and appeared in a sitting attitude, supporting

  on his legs a baking-dish and a half-gallon stone bottle, and

  bearing in his right hand a knife, and in his left a fork.

  'Yes, Missus,' said George.

  'How did you find the cold pie, George?'

  'It warn't amiss, mum.'

  'And the beer,' said the lady of the caravan, with an appearance of

  being more interested in this question than the last; 'is it

  passable, George?'

  'It's more flatterer than it might be,' George returned, 'but it

  an't so bad for all that.'

  To set the mind of his mistress at rest, he took a sip (amounting

  in quantity to a pint or thereabouts) from the stone bottle, and

  then smacked his lips, winked his eye, and nodded his head. No

  doubt with the same amiable desire, he immediately resumed his

  knife and fork, as a practical assurance that the beer had wrought

  no bad effect upon his appetite.

  The lady of the caravan looked on approvingly for some time, and

  then said,

  'Have you nearly finished?'

  'Wery nigh, mum.' And indeed, after scraping the dish all round

  with his knife and carrying the choice brown morsels to his mouth,

  and after taking such a scientific pull at the stone bottle that,

  by degrees almost imperceptible to the sight, his head went further

  and further back until he lay nearly at his full length upon the

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  ground, this gentleman declared himself quite disengaged, and came