Bleak House by Charles Dickens (the top 100 crime novels of all time .txt) đ
- Author: Charles Dickens
- Performer: 0141439726
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most afraid ofânext to having any family of my own, Estherâas an
inconvenience to Mr. Turveydrop, the kindness of the old gentleman
to that child is beyond everything. He asks to see him, my dear!
He lets him take the newspaper up to him in bed; he gives him the
crusts of his toast to eat; he sends him on little errands about
the house; he tells him to come to me for sixpences. In short,â
said Caddy cheerily, âand not to prose, I am a very fortunate girl
and ought to be very grateful. Where are we going, Esther?â
âTo the Old Street Road,â said I, âwhere I have a few words to say
to the solicitorâs clerk who was sent to meet me at the coach-office on the very day when I came to London and first saw you, my
dear. Now I think of it, the gentleman who brought us to your
house.â
âThen, indeed, I seem to be naturally the person to go with you,â
returned Caddy.
To the Old Street Road we went and there inquired at Mrs. Guppyâs
residence for Mrs. Guppy. Mrs. Guppy, occupying the parlours and
having indeed been visibly in danger of cracking herself like a nut
in the front-parlour door by peeping out before she was asked for,
immediately presented herself and requested us to walk in. She was
an old lady in a large cap, with rather a red nose and rather an
unsteady eye, but smiling all over. Her close little sitting-room
was prepared for a visit, and there was a portrait of her son in it
which, I had almost written here, was more like than life: it
insisted upon him with such obstinacy, and was so determined not to
let him off.
Not only was the portrait there, but we found the original there
too. He was dressed in a great many colours and was discovered at
a table reading law-papers with his forefinger to his forehead.
âMiss Summerson,â said Mr. Guppy, rising, âthis is indeed an oasis.
Mother, will you be so good as to put a chair for the other lady
and get out of the gangway.â
Mrs. Guppy, whose incessant smiling gave her quite a waggish
appearance, did as her son requested and then sat down in a corner,
holding her pocket handkerchief to her chest, like a fomentation,
with both hands.
I presented Caddy, and Mr. Guppy said that any friend of mine was
more than welcome. I then proceeded to the object of my visit.
âI took the liberty of sending you a note, sir,â said I.
Mr. Guppy acknowledged the receipt by taking it out of his breast-pocket, putting it to his lips, and returning it to his pocket with
a bow. Mr. Guppyâs mother was so diverted that she rolled her head
as she smiled and made a silent appeal to Caddy with her elbow.
âCould I speak to you alone for a moment?â said I.
Anything like the jocoseness of Mr. Guppyâs mother just now, I
think I never saw. She made no sound of laughter, but she rolled
her head, and shook it, and put her handkerchief to her mouth, and
appealed to Caddy with her elbow, and her hand, and her shoulder,
and was so unspeakably entertained altogether that it was with some
difficulty she could marshal Caddy through the little folding-door
into her bedroom adjoining.
âMiss Summerson,â said Mr. Guppy, âyou will excuse the waywardness
of a parent ever mindful of a sonâs appiness. My mother, though
highly exasperating to the feelings, is actuated by maternal
dictates.â
I could hardly have believed that anybody could in a moment have
turned so red or changed so much as Mr. Guppy did when I now put up
my veil.
âI asked the favour of seeing you for a few moments here,â said I,
âin preference to calling at Mr. Kengeâs because, remembering what
you said on an occasion when you spoke to me in confidence, I
feared I might otherwise cause you some embarrassment, Mr. Guppy.â
I caused him embarrassment enough as it was, I am sure. I never
saw such faltering, such confusion, such amazement and apprehension.
âMiss Summerson,â stammered Mr. Guppy, âIâIâbeg your pardon, but
in our professionâweâweâfind it necessary to be explicit. You
have referred to an occasion, miss, when Iâwhen I did myself the
honour of making a declaration whichââ
Something seemed to rise in his throat that he could not possibly
swallow. He put his hand there, coughed, made faces, tried again
to swallow it, coughed again, made faces again, looked all round
the room, and fluttered his papers.
âA kind of giddy sensation has come upon me, miss,â he explained,
âwhich rather knocks me over. Iâerâa little subject to this sort
of thingâerâby George!â
I gave him a little time to recover. He consumed it in putting his
hand to his forehead and taking it away again, and in backing his
chair into the corner behind him.
âMy intention was to remark, miss,â said Mr. Guppy, âdear meâ
something bronchial, I thinkâhem!âto remark that you was so good
on that occasion as to repel and repudiate that declaration. Youâ
you wouldnât perhaps object to admit that? Though no witnesses are
present, it might be a satisfaction toâto your mindâif you was to
put in that admission.â
âThere can be no doubt,â said I, âthat I declined your proposal
without any reservation or qualification whatever, Mr. Guppy.â
âThank you, miss,â he returned, measuring the table with his
troubled hands. âSo far thatâs satisfactory, and it does you
credit. Erâthis is certainly bronchial!âmust be in the tubesâ
erâyou wouldnât perhaps be offended if I was to mentionânot that
itâs necessary, for your own good sense or any personâs sense must
show âem thatâif I was to mention that such declaration on my part
was final, and there terminated?â
âI quite understand that,â said I.
âPerhapsâerâit may not be worth the form, but it might be a
satisfaction to your mindâperhaps you wouldnât object to admit
that, miss?â said Mr. Guppy.
âI admit it most fully and freely,â said I.
âThank you,â returned Mr. Guppy. âVery honourable, I am sure. I
regret that my arrangements in life, combined with circumstances
over which I have no control, will put it out of my power ever to
fall back upon that offer or to renew it in any shape or form
whatever, but it will ever be a retrospect entwinedâerâwith
friendshipâs bowers.â Mr. Guppyâs bronchitis came to his relief
and stopped his measurement of the table.
âI may now perhaps mention what I wished to say to you?â I began.
âI shall be honoured, I am sure,â said Mr. Guppy. âI am so
persuaded that your own good sense and right feeling, miss, willâ
will keep you as square as possibleâthat I can have nothing but
pleasure, I am sure, in hearing any observations you may wish to
offer.â
âYou were so good as to imply, on that occasionââ
âExcuse me, miss,â said Mr. Guppy, âbut we had better not travel
out of the record into implication. I cannot admit that I implied
anything.â
âYou said on that occasion,â I recommenced, âthat you might
possibly have the means of advancing my interests and promoting my
fortunes by making discoveries of which I should be the subject. I
presume that you founded that belief upon your general knowledge of
my being an orphan girl, indebted for everything to the benevolence
of Mr. Jarndyce. Now, the beginning and the end of what I have
come to beg of you is, Mr. Guppy, that you will have the kindness
to relinquish all idea of so serving me. I have thought of this
sometimes, and I have thought of it most latelyâsince I have been
ill. At length I have decided, in case you should at any time
recall that purpose and act upon it in any way, to come to you and
assure you that you are altogether mistaken. You could make no
discovery in reference to me that would do me the least service or
give me the least pleasure. I am acquainted with my personal
history, and I have it in my power to assure you that you never can
advance my welfare by such means. You may, perhaps, have abandoned
this project a long time. If so, excuse my giving you unnecessary
trouble. If not, I entreat you, on the assurance I have given you,
henceforth to lay it aside. I beg you to do this, for my peace.â
âI am bound to confess,â said Mr. Guppy, âthat you express
yourself, miss, with that good sense and right feeling for which I
gave you credit. Nothing can be more satisfactory than such right
feeling, and if I mistook any intentions on your part just now, I
am prepared to tender a full apology. I should wish to be
understood, miss, as hereby offering that apologyâlimiting it, as
your own good sense and right feeling will point out the necessity
of, to the present proceedings.â
I must say for Mr. Guppy that the snuffling manner he had had upon
him improved very much. He seemed truly glad to be able to do
something I asked, and he looked ashamed.
âIf you will allow me to finish what I have to say at once so that
I may have no occasion to resume,â I went on, seeing him about to
speak, âyou will do me a kindness, sir. I come to you as privately
as possible because you announced this impression of yours to me in
a confidence which I have really wished to respectâand which I
always have respected, as you remember. I have mentioned my
illness. There really is no reason why I should hesitate to say
that I know very well that any little delicacy I might have had in
making a request to you is quite removed. Therefore I make the
entreaty I have now preferred, and I hope you will have sufficient
consideration for me to accede to it.â
I must do Mr. Guppy the further justice of saying that he had
looked more and more ashamed and that he looked most ashamed and
very earnest when he now replied with a burning face, âUpon my word
and honour, upon my life, upon my soul, Miss Summerson, as I am a
living man, Iâll act according to your wish! Iâll never go another
step in opposition to it. Iâll take my oath to it if it will be
any satisfaction to you. In what I promise at this present time
touching the matters now in question,â continued Mr. Guppy rapidly,
as if he were repeating a familiar form of words, âI speak the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, soââ
âI am quite satisfied,â said I, rising at this point, âand I thank
you very much. Caddy, my dear, I am ready!â
Mr. Guppyâs mother returned with Caddy (now making me the recipient
of her silent laughter and her nudges), and we took our leave. Mr.
Guppy saw us to the door with the air of one who was either
imperfectly awake or walking in his sleep; and we left him there,
staring.
But in a minute he came after us down the street without any hat,
and with his long hair all blown about, and stopped us, saying
fervently, âMiss Summerson, upon my honour and soul, you may depend
upon me!â
âI do,â said I, âquite confidently.â
âI beg your pardon, miss,â said Mr. Guppy, going with one leg and
staying with the other, âbut this lady being presentâyour own
witnessâit might be a satisfaction
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