The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

  it's quite extraordinary!'

  'Open the door,' said Quilp, 'I've got him here. Such a clerk for

  you, Brass, such a prize, such an ace of trumps. Be quick and open

  the door, or if there's another lawyer near and he should happen to

  look out of window, he'll snap him up before your eyes, he will.'

  It is probable that the loss of the phoenix of clerks, even to a

  rival practitioner, would not have broken Mr Brass's heart; but,

  pretending great alacrity, he rose from his seat, and going to the

  door, returned, introducing his client, who led by the hand no less

  a person than Mr Richard Swiveller.

  'There she is,' said Quilp, stopping short at the door, and

  wrinkling up his eyebrows as he looked towards Miss Sally; 'there

  is the woman I ought to have married--there is the beautiful Sarah--

  there is the female who has all the charms of her sex and none of

  their weaknesses. Oh Sally, Sally!'

  To this amorous address Miss Brass briefly responded 'Bother!'

  'Hard-hearted as the metal from which she takes her name,' said

  Quilp. 'Why don't she change it--melt down the brass, and take

  another name?'

  'Hold your nonsense, Mr Quilp, do,' returned Miss Sally, with a

  grim smile. 'I wonder you're not ashamed of yourself before a

  strange young man.'

  'The strange young man,' said Quilp, handing Dick Swiveller

  forward, 'is too susceptible himself not to understand me well.

  This is Mr Swiveller, my intimate friend--a gentleman of good

  family and great expectations, but who, having rather involved

  himself by youthful indiscretion, is content for a time to fill the

  humble station of a clerk--humble, but here most enviable. What

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  a delicious atmosphere!'

  If Mr Quilp spoke figuratively, and meant to imply that the air

  breathed by Miss Sally Brass was sweetened and rarefied by that

  dainty creature, he had doubtless good reason for what he said.

  But if he spoke of the delights of the atmosphere of Mr Brass's

  office in a literal sense, he had certainly a peculiar taste, as it

  was of a close and earthy kind, and, besides being frequently

  impregnated with strong whiffs of the second-hand wearing apparel

  exposed for sale in Duke's Place and Houndsditch, had a decided

  flavour of rats and mice, and a taint of mouldiness. Perhaps some

  doubts of its pure delight presented themselves to Mr Swiveller, as

  he gave vent to one or two short abrupt sniffs, and looked

  incredulously at the grinning dwarf.

  'Mr Swiveller,' said Quilp, 'being pretty well accustomed to the

  agricultural pursuits of sowing wild oats, Miss Sally, prudently

  considers that half a loaf is better than no bread. To be out of

  harm's way he prudently thinks is something too, and therefore he

  accepts your brother's offer. Brass, Mr Swiveller is yours.'

  'I am very glad, Sir,' said Mr Brass, 'very glad indeed. Mr

  Swiveller, Sir, is fortunate enough to have your friendship. You

  may be very proud, Sir, to have the friendship of Mr Quilp.'

  Dick murmured something about never wanting a friend or a bottle to

  give him, and also gasped forth his favourite allusion to the wing

  of friendship and its never moulting a feather; but his faculties

  appeared to be absorbed in the contemplation of Miss Sally Brass,

  at whom he stared with blank and rueful looks, which delighted the

  watchful dwarf beyond measure. As to the divine Miss Sally

  herself, she rubbed her hands as men of business do, and took a few

  turns up and down the office with her pen behind her ear.

  'I suppose,' said the dwarf, turning briskly to his legal friend,

  'that Mr Swiveller enters upon his duties at once? It's Monday

  morning.'

  'At once, if you please, Sir, by all means,' returned Brass.

  'Miss Sally will teach him law, the delightful study of the law,'

  said Quilp; 'she'll be his guide, his friend, his companion, his

  Blackstone, his Coke upon Littleton, his Young Lawyer's Best

  Companion.'

  'He is exceedingly eloquent,' said Brass, like a man abstracted,

  and looking at the roofs of the opposite houses, with his hands in

  his pockets; 'he has an extraordinary flow of language. Beautiful,

  really.'

  'With Miss Sally,' Quilp went on, 'and the beautiful fictions of

  the law, his days will pass like minutes. Those charming creations

  of the poet, John Doe and Richard Roe, when they first dawn upon

  him, will open a new world for the enlargement of his mind and the

  improvement of his heart.'

  'Oh, beautiful, beautiful! Beau-ti-ful indeed!' cried Brass.

  'It's a treat to hear him!'

  'Where will Mr Swiveller sit?' said Quilp, looking round.

  'Why, we'll buy another stool, sir,' returned Brass. 'We hadn't

  any thoughts of having a gentleman with us, sir, until you were

  kind enough to suggest it, and our accommodation's not extensive.

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  We'll look about for a second-hand stool, sir. In the meantime, if

  Mr Swiveller will take my seat, and try his hand at a fair copy of

  this ejectment, as I shall be out pretty well all the morning--'

  'Walk with me,' said Quilp. 'I have a word or two to say to you on

  points of business. Can you spare the time?'

  'Can I spare the time to walk with you, sir? You're joking, sir,

  you're joking with me,' replied the lawyer, putting on his hat.

  'I'm ready, sir, quite ready. My time must be fully occupied

  indeed, sir, not to leave me time to walk with you. It's not

  everybody, sir, who has an opportunity of improving himself by the

  conversation of Mr Quilp.'

  The dwarf glanced sarcastically at his brazen friend, and, with a

  short dry cough, turned upon his heel to bid adieu to Miss Sally.

  After a very gallant parting on his side, and a very cool and

  gentlemanly sort of one on hers, he nodded to Dick Swiveller, and

  withdrew with the attorney.

  Dick stood at the desk in a state of utter stupefaction, staring

  with all his might at the beauteous Sally, as if she had been some

  curious animal whose like had never lived. When the dwarf got into

  the street, he mounted again upon the window-sill, and looked into

  the office for a moment with a grinning face, as a man might peep

  into a cage. Dick glanced upward at him, but without any token of

  recognition; and long after he had disappeared, still stood gazing

  upon Miss Sally Brass, seeing or thinking of nothing else, and

  rooted to the spot.

  Miss Brass being by this time deep in the bill of costs, took no

  notice whatever of Dick, but went scratching on, with a noisy pen,

  scoring down the figures with evident delight, and working like a

  steam-engine. There stood Dick, gazing now at the green gown, now

  at the brown head-dress, now at the face, and now at the rapid pen,

  in a state of stupid perplexity, wondering how he got into the

  company of that strange monster, and whether it was a dream and he

  would ever wake. At last he heaved a deep sigh, and be
gan slowly

  pulling off his coat.

  Mr Swiveller pulled off his coat, and folded it up with great

  elaboration, staring at Miss Sally all the time; then put on a blue

  jacket with a double row of gilt buttons, which he had originally

  ordered for aquatic expeditions, but had brought with him that

  morning for office purposes; and, still keeping his eye upon her,

  suffered himself to drop down silently upon Mr Brass's stool. Then

  he underwent a relapse, and becoming powerless again, rested his

  chin upon his hand, and opened his eyes so wide, that it appeared

  quite out of the question that he could ever close them any more.

  When he had looked so long that he could see nothing, Dick took his

  eyes off the fair object of his amazement, turned over the leaves

  of the draft he was to copy, dipped his pen into the inkstand, and

  at last, and by slow approaches, began to write. But he had not

  written half-a-dozen words when, reaching over to the inkstand to

  take a fresh dip, he happened to raise his eyes. There was the

  intolerable brown head-dress--there was the green gown--there, in

  short, was Miss Sally Brass, arrayed in all her charms, and more

  tremendous than ever.

  This happened so often, that Mr Swiveller by degrees began to feel

  strange influences creeping over him--horrible desires to

  annihilate this Sally Brass--mysterious promptings to knock her

  head-dress off and try how she looked without it. There was a very

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  large ruler on the table; a large, black, shining ruler. Mr

  Swiveller took it up and began to rub his nose with it.

  From rubbing his nose with the ruler, to poising it in his hand and

  giving it an occasional flourish after the tomahawk manner, the

  transition was easy and natural. In some of these flourishes it

  went close to Miss Sally's head; the ragged edges of the headdress

  fluttered with the wind it raised; advance it but an inch,

  and that great brown knot was on the ground: yet still the

  unconscious maiden worked away, and never raised her eyes.

  Well, this was a great relief. It was a good thing to write

  doggedly and obstinately until he was desperate, and then snatch up

  the ruler and whirl it about the brown head-dress with the

  consciousness that he could have it off if he liked. It was a good

  thing to draw it back, and rub his nose very hard with it, if he

  thought Miss Sally was going to look up, and to recompense himself

  with more hardy flourishes when he found she was still absorbed.

  By these means Mr Swiveller calmed the agitation of his feelings,

  until his applications to the ruler became less fierce and

  frequent, and he could even write as many as half-a-dozen

  consecutive lines without having recourse to it--which was a

  great victory.

  CHAPTER 34

  In course of time, that is to say, after a couple of hours or so,

  of diligent application, Miss Brass arrived at the conclusion of

  her task, and recorded the fact by wiping her pen upon the green

  gown, and taking a pinch of snuff from a little round tin box which

  she carried in her pocket. Having disposed of this temperate

  refreshment, she arose from her stool, tied her papers into a

  formal packet with red tape, and taking them under her arm, marched

  out of the office.

  Mr Swiveller had scarcely sprung off his seat and commenced the

  performance of a maniac hornpipe, when he was interrupted, in the

  fulness of his joy at being again alone, by the opening of the

  door, and the reappearance of Miss Sally's head.

  'I am going out,' said Miss Brass.

  'Very good, ma'am,' returned Dick. 'And don't hurry yourself on my

  account to come back, ma'am,' he added inwardly.

  'If anybody comes on office business, take their messages, and say

  that the gentleman who attends to that matter isn't in at present,

  will you?' said Miss Brass.

  'I will, ma'am,' replied Dick.

  'I shan't be very long,' said Miss Brass, retiring.

  'I'm sorry to hear it, ma'am,' rejoined Dick when she had shut the

  door. 'I hope you may be unexpectedly detained, ma'am. If you

  could manage to be run over, ma'am, but not seriously, so much the

  better.'

  Uttering these expressions of good-will with extreme gravity, Mr

  Swiveller sat down in the client's chair and pondered; then took a

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  few turns up and down the room and fell into the chair again.

  'So I'm Brass's clerk, am I?' said Dick. 'Brass's clerk, eh? And

  the clerk of Brass's sister--clerk to a female Dragon. Very good,

  very good! What shall I be next? Shall I be a convict in a felt

  hat and a grey suit, trotting about a dockyard with my number

  neatly embroidered on my uniform, and the order of the garter on my

  leg, restrained from chafing my ankle by a twisted belcher

  handkerchief? Shall I be that? Will that do, or is it too

  genteel? Whatever you please, have it your own way, of course.'

  As he was entirely alone, it may be presumed that, in these

  remarks, Mr Swiveller addressed himself to his fate or destiny,

  whom, as we learn by the precedents, it is the custom of heroes to

  taunt in a very bitter and ironical manner when they find

  themselves in situations of an unpleasant nature. This is the more

  probable from the circumstance of Mr Swiveller directing his

  observations to the ceiling, which these bodily personages are

  usually supposed to inhabit--except in theatrical cases, when they

  live in the heart of the great chandelier.

  'Quilp offers me this place, which he says he can insure me,'

  resumed Dick after a thoughtful silence, and telling off the

  circumstances of his position, one by one, upon his fingers; 'Fred,

  who, I could have taken my affidavit, would not have heard of such

  a thing, backs Quilp to my astonishment, and urges me to take it

  also--staggerer, number one! My aunt in the country stops the

  supplies, and writes an affectionate note to say that she has made

  a new will, and left me out of it--staggerer, number two. No

  money; no credit; no support from Fred, who seems to turn steady

  all at once; notice to quit the old lodgings--staggerers, three,

  four, five, and six! Under an accumulation of staggerers, no man

  can be considered a free agent. No man knocks himself down; if his

  destiny knocks him down, his destiny must pick him up again. Then

  I'm very glad that mine has brought all this upon itself, and I

  shall be as careless as I can, and make myself quite at home to

  spite it. So go on my buck,' said Mr Swiveller, taking his leave

  of the ceiling with a significant nod, 'and let us see which of us

  will be tired first!'

  Dismissing the subject of his downfall with these reflections,

  which were no doubt very profound, and are indeed not altogether

  unknown in certain systems of moral philosophy, Mr Swiveller shook

  off his despondency and assumed the cheerful ease of an

  irresponsible clerk.

  As a means
towards his composure and self-possession, he entered

  into a more minute examination of the office than he had yet had

  time to make; looked into the wig-box, the books, and ink-bottle;

  untied and inspected all the papers; carved a few devices on the

  table with a sharp blade of Mr Brass's penknife; and wrote his name

  on the inside of the wooden coal-scuttle. Having, as it were,

  taken formal possession of his clerkship in virtue of these

  proceedings, he opened the window and leaned negligently out of it

  until a beer-boy happened to pass, whom he commanded to set down

  his tray and to serve him with a pint of mild porter, which he

  drank upon the spot and promptly paid for, with the view of

  breaking ground for a system of future credit and opening a

  correspondence tending thereto, without loss of time. Then, three

  or four little boys dropped in, on legal errands from three or four

  attorneys of the Brass grade: whom Mr Swiveller received and

  dismissed with about as professional a manner, and as correct and

  comprehensive an understanding of their business, as would have

  been shown by a clown in a pantomime under similar circumstances.

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  These things done and over, he got upon his stool again and tried

  his hand at drawing caricatures of Miss Brass with a pen and ink,

  whistling very cheerfully all the time.

  He was occupied in this diversion when a coach stopped near the

  door, and presently afterwards there was a loud double-knock. As

  this was no business of Mr Swiveller's, the person not ringing the

  office bell, he pursued his diversion with perfect composure,

  notwithstanding that he rather thought there was nobody else in the

  house.

  In this, however, he was mistaken; for, after the knock had been

  repeated with increased impatience, the door was opened, and

  somebody with a very heavy tread went up the stairs and into the

  room above. Mr Swiveller was wondering whether this might be

  another Miss Brass, twin sister to the Dragon, when there came a

  rapping of knuckles at the office door.

  'Come in!' said Dick. 'Don't stand upon ceremony. The business

  will get rather complicated if I've many more customers. Come in!'

  'Oh, please,' said a little voice very low down in the doorway,

  'will you come and show the lodgings?'

  Dick leant over the table, and descried a small slipshod girl in a