Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings by Charles Dickens (the first e reader TXT) đ
- Author: Charles Dickens
- Performer: -
Book online «Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings by Charles Dickens (the first e reader TXT) đ». Author Charles Dickens
âNow Granâ says he, âoo tit down and donât oo touch ler peopleââfor he saw with every one of those diamonds of his that I was going to give him a squeeze.
âVery well sirâ I says âI am obedient in this good company I am sure.â And I sits down in the easy-chair that was put for me, shaking my sides.
But picture my admiration when the Major going on almost as quick as if he was conjuring sets out all the articles he names, and says âThree saucepans, an Italian iron, a hand-bell, a toasting-fork, a nutmeg-grater, four potlids, a spice-box, two egg-cups, and a chopping-boardâhow many?â and when that Mite instantly cries âTifteen, tut down tive and carry ler âtoppin-boardâ and then claps his hands draws up his legs and dances on his chair.
My dear with the same astonishing ease and correctness him and the Major added up the tables chairs and sofy, the picters fenders and fire-irons their own selves me and the cat and the eyes in Miss Wozenhamâs head, and whenever the sum was done Young Roses and Diamonds claps his hands and draws up his legs and dances on his chair.
The pride of the Major! (âHEREâS a mind Maâam!â he says to me behind his hand.)
Then he says aloud, âWe now come to the next elementary rule,âwhich is calledââ
âUmtraction!â cries Jemmy.
âRight,â says the Major. âWe have here a toasting-fork, a potato in its natural state, two potlids, one egg-cup, a wooden spoon, and two skewers, from which it is necessary for commercial purposes to subtract a sprat-gridiron, a small pickle-jar, two lemons, one pepper-castor, a blackbeetle-trap, and a knob of the dresser-drawer- -what remains?â
âToatin-fork!â cries Jemmy.
âIn numbers how many?â says the Major.
âOne!â cries Jemmy.
(âHEREâS a boy, Maâam!â says the Major to me behind his hand.) Then the Major goes on:
âWe now approach the next elementary rule,âwhich is entitledââ
âTickleicationâ cries Jemmy.
âCorrectâ says the Major.
But my dear to relate to you in detail the way in which they multiplied fourteen sticks of firewood by two bits of ginger and a larding needle, or divided pretty well everything else there was on the table by the heater of the Italian iron and a chamber candlestick, and got a lemon over, would make my head spin round and round and round as it did at the time. So I says âif youâll excuse my addressing the chair Professor Jackman I think the period of the lecture has now arrived when it becomes necessary that I should take a good hug of this young scholar.â Upon which Jemmy calls out from his station on the chair, âGran oo open oor arms and meâll make a âpring into âem.â So I opened my arms to him as I had opened my sorrowful heart when his poor young mother lay a dying, and he had his jump and we had a good long hug together and the Major prouder than any peacock says to me behind his hand, âYou need not let him know it Madamâ (which I certainly need not for the Major was quite audible) âbut he IS a boy!â
In this way Jemmy grew and grew and went to day-school and continued under the Major too, and in summer we were as happy as the days were long, and in winter we were as happy as the days were short and there seemed to rest a Blessing on the Lodgings for they as good as Let themselves and would have done it if there had been twice the accommodation, when sore and hard against my will I one day says to the Major.
âMajor you know what I am going to break to you. Our boy must go to boarding-school.â
It was a sad sight to see the Majorâs countenance drop, and I pitied the good soul with all my heart.
âYes Majorâ I says, âthough he is as popular with the Lodgers as you are yourself and though he is to you and me what only you and me know, still it is in the course of things and Life is made of partings and we must part with our Pet.â
Bold as I spoke, I saw two Majors and half-a-dozen fireplaces, and when the poor Major put one of his neat bright-varnished boots upon the fender and his elbow on his knee and his head upon his hand and rocked himself a little to and fro, I was dreadfully cut up.
âButâ says I clearing my throat âyou have so well prepared him Majorâhe has had such a Tutor in youâthat he will have none of the first drudgery to go through. And he is so clever besides that heâll soon make his way to the front rank.â
âHe is a boyâ says the Majorâhaving sniffedââthat has not his like on the face of the earth.â
âTrue as you say Major, and it is not for us merely for our own sakes to do anything to keep him back from being a credit and an ornament wherever he goes and perhaps even rising to be a great man, is it Major? He will have all my little savings when my work is done (being all the world to me) and we must try to make him a wise man and a good man, mustnât we Major?â
âMadamâ says the Major rising âJemmy Jackman is becoming an older file than I was aware of, and you put him to shame. You are thoroughly right Madam. You are simply and undeniably right.âAnd if youâll excuse me, Iâll take a walk.â
So the Major being gone out and Jemmy being at home, I got the child into my little room here and I stood him by my chair and I took his motherâs own curls in my hand and I spoke to him loving and serious. And when I had reminded the darling how that he was now in his tenth year and when I had said to him about his getting on in life pretty much what I had said to the Major I broke to him how that we must have this same parting, and there I was forced to stop for there I saw of a sudden the well-remembered lip with its tremble, and it so brought back that time! But with the spirit that was in him he controlled it soon and he says gravely nodding through his tears, âI understand GranâI know it MUST be, Granâgo on Gran, donât be afraid of ME.â And when I had said all that ever I could think of, he turned his bright steady face to mine and he says just a little broken here and there âYou shall see Gran that I can be a man and that I can do anything that is grateful and loving to youâand if I donât grow up to be what you would like to have meâI hope it will beâbecause I shall die.â And with that he sat down by me and I went on to tell him of the school of which I had excellent recommendations and where it was and how many scholars and what games they played as I had heard and what length of holidays, to all of which he listened bright and clear. And so it came that at last he says âAnd now dear Gran let me kneel down here where I have been used to say my prayers and let me fold my face for just a minute in your gown and let me cry, for you have been more than fatherâmore than motherâmore than brothers sisters friendsâto me!â And so he did cry and I too and we were both much the better for it.
From that time forth he was true to his word and ever blithe and ready, and even when me and the Major took him down into Lincolnshire he was far the gayest of the party though for sure and certain he might easily have been that, but he really was and put life into us only when it came to the last Good-bye, he says with a wistful look, âYou wouldnât have me not really sorry would you Gran?â and when I says âNo dear, Lord forbid!â he says âI am glad of that!â and ran in out of sight.
But now that the child was gone out of the Lodgings the Major fell into a regularly moping state. It was taken notice of by all the Lodgers that the Major moped. He hadnât even the same air of being rather tall than he used to have, and if he varnished his boots with a single gleam of interest it was as much as he did.
One evening the Major came into my little room to take a cup of tea and a morsel of buttered toast and to read Jemmyâs newest letter which had arrived that afternoon (by the very same postman more than middle-aged upon the Beat now), and the letter raising him up a little I says to the Major:
âMajor you mustnât get into a moping way.â
The Major shook his head. âJemmy Jackman Madam,â he says with a deep sigh, âis an older file than I thought him.â
âMoping is not the way to grow younger Major.â
âMy dear Madam,â says the Major, âis there ANY way of growing younger?â
Feeling that the Major was getting rather the best of that point I made a diversion to another.
âThirteen years! Thirteen years! Many Lodgers have come and gone, in the thirteen years that you have lived in the parlours Major.â
âHah!â says the Major warming. âMany Madam, many.â
âAnd I should say you have been familiar with them all?â
âAs a rule (with its exceptions like all rules) my dear Madamâ says the Major, âthey have honoured me with their acquaintance, and not unfrequently with their confidence.â
Watching the Major as he drooped his white head and stroked his black mustachios and moped again, a thought which I think must have been going about looking for an owner somewhere dropped into my old noddle if you will excuse the expression.
âThe walls of my Lodgingsâ I says in a casual wayâfor my dear it is of no use going straight at a man who mopesââmight have something to tell if they could tell it.â
The Major neither moved nor said anything but I saw he was attending with his shoulders my dearâattending with his shoulders to what I said. In fact I saw that his shoulders were struck by it.
âThe dear boy was always fond of story-booksâ I went on, like as if I was talking to myself. âI am sure this houseâhis own homeâmight write a story or two for his reading one day or another.â
The Majorâs shoulders gave a dip and a curve and his head came up in his shirt-collar. The
Comments (0)