The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

  forth from his retreat.

  'I hope I haven't hurried you, George,' said his mistress, who

  appeared to have a great sympathy with his late pursuit.

  'If you have,' returned the follower, wisely reserving himself

  for any favourable contingency that might occur, 'we must make up

  for it next time, that's all.'

  'We are not a heavy load, George?'

  'That's always what the ladies say,' replied the man, looking a

  long way round, as if he were appealing to Nature in general

  against such monstrous propositions. 'If you see a woman a

  driving, you'll always perceive that she never will keep her whip

  still; the horse can't go fast enough for her. If cattle have got

  their proper load, you never can persuade a woman that they'll not

  bear something more. What is ' the cause of this here?'

  'Would these two travellers make much difference to the horses, if

  we took them with us?' asked his mistress, offering no reply to the

  philosophical inquiry, and pointing to Nell and the old man, who

  were painfully preparing to resume their journey on foot.

  'They'd make a difference in course,' said George doggedly.

  'Would they make much difference?' repeated his mistress. 'They

  can't be very heavy.'

  'The weight o' the pair, mum,' said George, eyeing them with the

  look of a man who was calculating within half an ounce or so,

  'would be a trifle under that of Oliver Cromwell."

  Nell was very much surprised that the man should be so accurately

  acquainted with the weight of one whom she had read of in books as

  having lived considerably before their time, but speedily forgot

  the subject in the joy of hearing that they were to go forward in

  the caravan, for which she thanked its lady with unaffected

  earnestness. She helped with great readiness and alacrity to put

  away the tea-things and other matters that were lying about, and,

  the horses being by that time harnessed, mounted into the vehicle,

  followed by her delighted grandfather. Their patroness then shut

  the door and sat herself down by her drum at an open window; and,

  the steps being struck by George and stowed under the carriage,

  away they went, with a great noise of flapping and creaking and

  straining, and the bright brass knocker, which nobody ever knocked

  at, knocking one perpetual double knock of its own accord as they

  jolted heavily along.

  CHAPTER 27

  When they had travelled slowly forward for some short distance,

  Nell ventured to steal a look round the caravan and observe it more

  closely. One half of it--that moiety in which the comfortable

  proprietress was then seated--was carpeted, and so partitioned off

  at the further end as to accommodate a sleeping-place, constructed

  after the fashion of a berth on board ship, which was shaded, like

  the little windows, with fair white curtains, and looked

  comfortable enough, though by what kind of gymnastic exercise the

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  lady of the caravan ever contrived to get into it, was an

  unfathomable mystery. The other half served for a kitchen, and was

  fitted up with a stove whose small chimney passed through the roof.

  It held also a closet or larder, several chests, a great pitcher of

  water, and a few cooking-utensils and articles of crockery. These

  latter necessaries hung upon the walls, which, in that portion of

  the establishment devoted to the lady of the caravan, were

  ornamented with such gayer and lighter decorations as a triangle

  and a couple of well-thumbed tambourines.

  The lady of the caravan sat at one window in all the pride and

  poetry of the musical instruments, and little Nell and her

  grandfather sat at the other in all the humility of the kettle and

  saucepans, while the machine jogged on and shifted the darkening

  prospect very slowly. At first the two travellers spoke little,

  and only in whispers, but as they grew more familiar with the place

  they ventured to converse with greater freedom, and talked about

  the country through which they were passing, and the different

  objects that presented themselves, until the old man fell asleep;

  which the lady of the caravan observing, invited Nell to come and

  sit beside her.

  'Well, child,' she said, 'how do you like this way of travelling?'

  Nell replied that she thought it was very pleasant indeed, to which

  the lady assented in the case of people who had their spirits. For

  herself, she said, she was troubled with a lowness in that respect

  which required a constant stimulant; though whether the aforesaid

  stimulant was derived from the suspicious bottle of which mention

  has been already made or from other sources, she did not say.

  'That's the happiness of you young people,' she continued. 'You

  don't know what it is to be low in your feelings. You always have

  your appetites too, and what a comfort that is.'

  Nell thought that she could sometimes dispense with her own

  appetite very conveniently; and thought, moreover, that there was

  nothing either in the lady's personal appearance or in her manner

  of taking tea, to lead to the conclusion that her natural relish

  for meat and drink had at all failed her. She silently assented,

  however, as in duty bound, to what the lady had said, and waited

  until she should speak again.

  Instead of speaking, however, she sat looking at the child for a

  long time in silence, and then getting up, brought out from a

  corner a large roll of canvas about a yard in width, which she laid

  upon the floor and spread open with her foot until it nearly

  reached from one end of the caravan to the other.

  'There, child,' she said, 'read that.'

  Nell walked down it, and read aloud, in enormous black letters, the

  inscription, 'Jarley's WAX-WORK.'

  'Read it again,' said the lady, complacently.

  'Jarley's Wax-Work,' repeated Nell.

  'That's me,' said the lady. 'I am Mrs Jarley.'

  Giving the child an encouraging look, intended to reassure her and

  let her know, that, although she stood in the presence of the

  original Jarley, she must not allow herself to be utterly

  overwhelmed and borne down, the lady of the caravan unfolded

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  another scroll, whereon was the inscription, 'One hundred figures

  the full size of life,' and then another scroll, on which was

  written, 'The only stupendous collection of real wax-work in the

  world,' and then several smaller scrolls with such inscriptions as

  'Now exhibiting within'--'The genuine and only Jarley'--'Jarley's

  unrivalled collection'--'Jarley is the delight of the Nobility and

  Gentry'--'The Royal Family are the patrons of Jarley.' When she

  had exhibited these leviathans of public announcement to the

  astonished child, she brought forth specimens of the lesser fry in

  the shape of hand-bills, some of which were couched in the form of

  parodies on popular melodies, as 'Believe me if all Jarley's

  wax-work so rare'--'I saw thy show in youthful prim
e'--'Over the

  water to Jarley;' while, to consult all tastes, others were

  composed with a view to the lighter and more facetious spirits, as

  a parody on the favourite air of 'If I had a donkey,' beginning

  If I know'd a donkey wot wouldn't go

  To see Mrs JARLEY'S wax-work show,

  Do you think I'd acknowledge him? Oh no no!

  Then run to Jarley's--

  --besides several compositions in prose, purporting to be dialogues

  between the Emperor of China and an oyster, or the Archbishop of

  Canterbury and a dissenter on the subject of church-rates, but all

  having the same moral, namely, that the reader must make haste to

  Jarley's, and that children and servants were admitted at

  half-price. When she had brought all these testimonials of her

  important position in society to bear upon her young companion, Mrs

  Jarley rolled them up, and having put them carefully away, sat down

  again, and looked at the child in triumph.

  'Never go into the company of a filthy Punch any more,' said Mrs

  Jarley, 'after this.'

  'I never saw any wax-work, ma'am,' said Nell. 'Is it funnier than Punch?'

  'Funnier!' said Mrs Jarley in a shrill voice. 'It is not funny at all.'

  'Oh!' said Nell, with all possible humility.

  'It isn't funny at all,' repeated Mrs Jarley. 'It's calm and--

  what's that word again--critical? --no--classical, that's it--

  it's calm and classical. No low beatings and knockings about, no

  jokings and squeakings like your precious Punches, but always the

  same, with a constantly unchanging air of coldness and gentility;

  and so like life, that if wax-work only spoke and walked about,

  you'd hardly know the difference. I won't go so far as to say,

  that, as it is, I've seen wax-work quite like life, but I've

  certainly seen some life that was exactly like wax-work.'

  'Is it here, ma'am?' asked Nell, whose curiosity was awakened by

  this description.

  'Is what here, child?'

  'The wax-work, ma'am.'

  'Why, bless you, child, what are you thinking of? How could such

  a collection be here, where you see everything except the inside of

  one little cupboard and a few boxes? It's gone on in the other

  wans to the assembly-rooms, and there it'll be exhibited the day

  after to-morrow. You are going to the same town, and you'll see it

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  I dare say. It's natural to expect that you'll see

  it, and I've no doubt you will. I suppose you couldn't stop away

  if you was to try ever so much.'

  'I shall not be in the town, I think, ma'am,' said the child.

  'Not there!' cried Mrs Jarley. 'Then where will you be?'

  'I--I--don't quite know. I am not certain.'

  'You don't mean to say that you're travelling about the country

  without knowing where you're going to?' said the lady of the

  caravan. 'What curious people you are! What line are you in? You

  looked to me at the races, child, as if you were quite out of your

  element, and had got there by accident.'

  'We were there quite by accident,' returned Nell, confused by this

  abrupt questioning. 'We are poor people, ma'am, and are only

  wandering about. We have nothing to do;--I wish we had.'

  'You amaze me more and more,' said Mrs Jarley, after remaining for

  some time as mute as one of her own figures. 'Why, what do you

  call yourselves? Not beggars?'

  'Indeed, ma'am, I don't know what else we are,' returned the child.

  'Lord bless me,' said the lady of the caravan. 'I never heard of

  such a thing. Who'd have thought it!'

  She remained so long silent after this exclamation, that Nell

  feared she felt her having been induced to bestow her protection

  and conversation upon one so poor, to be an outrage upon her

  dignity that nothing could repair. This persuasion was rather

  confirmed than otherwise by the tone in which she at length broke

  silence and said,

  'And yet you can read. And write too, I shouldn't wonder?'

  'Yes, ma'am,' said the child, fearful of giving new offence by the

  confession.

  'Well, and what a thing that is,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'I can't!'

  Nell said 'indeed' in a tone which might imply, either that she was

  reasonably surprised to find the genuine and only Jarley, who was

  the delight of the Nobility and Gentry and the peculiar pet of the

  Royal Family, destitute of these familiar arts; or that she

  presumed so great a lady could scarcely stand in need of such

  ordinary accomplishments. In whatever way Mrs Jarley received the

  response, it did not provoke her to further questioning, or tempt

  her into any more remarks at the time, for she relapsed into a

  thoughtful silence, and remained in that state so long that Nell

  withdrew to the other window and rejoined her grandfather, who was

  now awake.

  At length the lady of the caravan shook off her fit of meditation,

  and, summoning the driver to come under the window at which she was

  seated, held a long conversation with him in a low tone of voice,

  as if she were asking his advice on an important point, and

  discussing the pros and cons of some very weighty matter. This

  conference at length concluded, she drew in her head again, and

  beckoned Nell to approach.

  'And the old gentleman too,' said Mrs Jarley; 'for I want to have

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  a word with him. Do you want a good situation for your

  grand-daughter, master? If you do, I can put her in the way of

  getting one. What do you say?'

  'I can't leave her,' answered the old man. 'We can't separate.

  What would become of me without her?'

  'I should have thought you were old enough to take care of

  yourself, if you ever will be,' retorted Mrs Jarley sharply.

  'But he never will be,' said the child in an earnest whisper. 'I

  fear he never will be again. Pray do not speak harshly to him. We

  are very thankful to you,' she added aloud; 'but neither of us

  could part from the other if all the wealth of the world were

  halved between us.'

  Mrs Jarley was a little disconcerted by this reception of her

  proposal, and looked at the old man, who tenderly took Nell's hand

  and detained it in his own, as if she could have very well

  dispensed with his company or even his earthly existence. After an

  awkward pause, she thrust her head out of the window again, and had

  another conference with the driver upon some point on which they

  did not seem to agree quite so readily as on their former topic of

  discussion; but they concluded at last, and she addressed the

  grandfather again.

  'If you're really disposed to employ yourself,' said Mrs Jarley,

  'there would be plenty for you to do in the way of helping to dust

  the figures, and take the checks, and so forth. What I want your

  grand-daughter for, is to point 'em out to the company; they would

  be soon learnt, and she has a way with her that people wouldn't

  think unpleasant, though she does come after me; for I've been

  always accustomed to go
round with visitors myself, which I should

  keep on doing now, only that my spirits make a little ease

  absolutely necessary. It's not a common offer, bear in mind,' said

  the lady, rising into the tone and manner in

  which she was accustomed to address her audiences; 'it's Jarley's

  wax-work, remember. The duty's very light and genteel, the company

  particularly select, the exhibition takes place in assembly-rooms,

  town-halls, large rooms at inns, or auction galleries. There is

  none of your open-air wagrancy at Jarley's, recollect; there is no

  tarpaulin and sawdust at Jarley's, remember. Every expectation

  held out in the handbills is realised to the utmost, and the whole

  forms an effect of imposing brilliancy hitherto unrivalled in this

  kingdom. Remember that the price of admission is only sixpence,

  and that this is an opportunity which may never occur again!'

  Descending from the sublime when she had reached this point, to the

  details of common life, Mrs Jarley remarked that with reference to

  salary she could pledge herself to no specific sum until she had

  sufficiently tested Nell's abilities, and narrowly watched her in

  the performance of her duties. But board and lodging, both for her

  and her grandfather, she bound herself to provide, and she

  furthermore passed her word that the board should always be good in

  quality, and in quantity plentiful.

  Nell and her grandfather consulted together, and while they were so

  engaged, Mrs Jarley with her hands behind her walked up and down

  the caravan, as she had walked after tea on the dull earth, with

  uncommon dignity and self-esteem. Nor will this appear so slight

  a circumstance as to be unworthy of mention, when it is remembered

  that the caravan was in uneasy motion all the time, and that none

  but a person of great natural stateliness and acquired grace could

  have forborne to stagger.

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  'Now, child?' cried Mrs Jarley, coming to a halt as Nell turned

  towards her.

  'We are very much obliged to you, ma'am,' said Nell, 'and

  thankfully accept your offer.'

  'And you'll never be sorry for it,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'I'm

  pretty sure of that. So as that's all settled, let us have a bit

  of supper.'

  In the meanwhile, the caravan blundered on as if it too had been

  drinking strong beer and was drowsy, and came at last upon the