Chapter 39 of Dombe and Son. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Cynthia Lyons. Dombe and Son by Charles Dickens. Chapter 39, Further Adventures of Captain Edward Cuddle. Mariner. Time sure of foot and strong of will had so pressed onward that the year enjoined by the old instrument maker as the term during which his friend should refrain from opening the sealed packet accompanying the letter he had left for him was now nearly expired and Captain Cuddle began to look at it. Of an evening with feelings of mystery and uneasiness the Captain in his honor would as soon have thought of opening the parcel one hour before the expiration of the term as he would have thought of opening himself to study his own anatomy. He merely brought it out at a certain stage of his first evening pipe laid it on the table and sat gazing at the outside of it through the smoke in silent gravity for two or three hours at a spell. Sometimes when he had contemplated it thus for a pretty long while the Captain would hitch his chair by degrees farther and farther off as if to get beyond the range of its fascination. But if this were his design he never succeeded for even when he was brought up by the parlor wall the packet still attracted him or if his eyes in thoughtful wandering rove to the ceiling or the fire its image immediately followed and posted itself conspicuously among the coals or took up an advantageous position on the whitewash. In respect of heart's delight the Captain's parental regard and admiration knew no change. But since his last interview with Mr. Corker Captain Cuddle had come to entertain doubts whether his former intervention in behalf of that young lady and her dear boy Walter had proved altogether so favorable as he could have wished and as he at the time believed. The Captain was troubled with a serious misgiving that he had done more harm than good in short and in his remorse and modesty he made the best atonement he could think of by putting himself out of the way of doing any harm to anyone and as it were throwing himself overboard for a dangerous person. Self-buried therefore among the instruments the Captain never went near Mr. Dombie's house or reported himself in any way to Florence or Miss Nipper. He even severed himself from Mr. Perch on the occasion of his next visit by dryly informing that gentleman that he thanked him for his company but had cut himself adrift from all such acquaintance as he didn't know what magazine he might blow up without meaning of it. In this self-imposed retirement the Captain passed whole days and weeks without interchanging a word with anyone but Rob the Grinder whom he esteemed as a pattern of disinterested attachment and fidelity. In this retirement the Captain, gazing at the packet of an evening would sit smoking and thinking of Florence and poor Walter until they both seemed to his homely fancy to be dead and to have passed away into eternal youth the beautiful and innocent children of his first remembrance. The Captain did not however in his musings neglect his own improvement or the mental culture of Rob the Grinder. That young man was generally required to read out of some book to the Captain for one hour every evening and as the Captain implicitly believed that all books were true he accumulated by this means many remarkable facts. On Sunday nights the Captain always read for himself before going to bed a certain divine sermon once delivered on a mount and although he was accustomed to quote the text without book after his own manner he appeared to read it with as reverent an understanding of its heavenly spirit as if he had got it all by heart in Greek and had been able to write any number of fierce theological disquisitions on its every phrase. Rob the Grinder whose reverence for the inspired writings under the admirable system of the Grinder's school had been developed by a perpetual bruising of his intellectual shins against all the proper names of all the tribes of Judah and by the monotonous repetition of hard verses especially by way of punishment and by the parading of him at six years old in leather britches three times a Sunday very high up in a very hot church with a great organ buzzing against his drowsy head like an exceedingly busy bee Rob the Grinder made a mighty show of being edified when the Captain ceased to read and generally yawned and nodded while the reading was in progress the latter fact being never so much as suspected by the good Captain. Captain Cuddle also as a man of business took to keeping books in these he entered observations on the weather and on the currents of the wagons and other vehicles which he observed in that quarter to set westward in the morning and during the greater part of the day and eastward toward the evening two or three stragglers appearing in one week who spoke him so the Captain entered it on the subject of spectacles and who without positively purchasing said they would look in again the Captain decided that the business was improving and made an entry in the day book to that effect the wind then blowing which he first recorded pretty fresh west and by north having changed in the night one of the Captain's chief difficulties was Mr. Toots who called frequently and who without saying much seemed to have an idea that the little back parlor was an eligible room to chuckle in as he would sit and avail himself of its accommodations in that regard by the half hour together without at all advancing in intimacy with the Captain the Captain rendered cautious by his late experience was unable quite to satisfy his mind whether Mr. Toots was the mild subject he appeared to be or was a profoundly artful and dissimulating hypocrite his frequent reference to Miss Dombie was suspicious but the Captain had a secret kindness for Mr. Toots' apparent reliance on him and for Bore to decide against him for the present merely eyeing him with a sagacity not to be described whenever he approached the subject that was nearest to his heart Captain Gilles blurted out Mr. Toots one day all at once as his manner was do you think you could think favorably of that proposition of mine and give me the pleasure of your acquaintance why I tell you what it is my lad replied the Captain who had at length concluded on a course of action I've been turning that there over Captain Gilles it's very kind of you retorted Mr. Toots I'm much obliged to you upon my word and honor Captain Gilles it would be a charity to give me the pleasure of your acquaintance it really would you see brother argued the Captain slowly I don't know you but you never can know me Captain Gilles replied Mr. Toots steadfast to his point if you don't give me the pleasure of your acquaintance the Captain seemed struck by the originality and power of this remark and looked at Mr. Toots as if he thought there was a great deal more in him than he had expected well said my lad observed the Captain nodding his head thoughtfully and true now looky here you've made some observations to me which gives me to understand as you admire a certain sweet creature hey Captain Gilles said Mr. Toots gesticulating violently with the hand in which he held his hat admiration is not the word upon my honor you have no conception what my feelings are if I could be dyed black and made Miss Dombie's slave I should consider it a compliment if at the sacrifice of all my property I could get transmigrated into Miss Dombie's dog I really think I should never leave off wagging my tail I should be so perfectly happy Captain Gilles Mr. Toots said it with watery eyes and pressed his hat against his bosom with deep emotion my lad returned the Captain moved to compassion if you're in honest Captain Gilles cried Mr. Toots I'm in such a state of mind and am so dreadfully in earnest that if I could swear to it upon a hot piece of iron or a live coal or melted lead or burning ceiling wax or anything of that sort I should be glad to hurt myself as a relief to my feelings and Mr. Toots looked hurriedly about the room as if for some sufficiently painful means of accomplishing his dread purpose the Captain pushed his glazed hat back upon his head stroked his face down with his heavy hand making his nose more mottled in the process and planting himself before Mr. Toots and hooking him by the lapel of his coat addressed him in these words while Mr. Toots looked up into his face with much attention and some wonder if you're in earnest you see my lad said the Captain you're a object of clemency and clemency is the brightest jewel in the crown of a Britain's head for which you'll overhaul the Constitution as laid down in rule Britannia and when found that is the charter as them garden angels was a singing of so many times over stand by this here proposal of yarn takes me a little back and why? because I hold my own only you understand in these here waters and haven't got no concert and maybe don't wish for none steady you hailed me first along of a certain young lady as you was charted by now if you and me is to keep one another's company at all that their young creature's name must never be named nor referred to I don't know what harm man have been done by naming of it too free for now and thereby I brings up short do you make me out pretty clear brother well you'll excuse me Captain Gills replied Mr. Toots if I don't quite follow you sometimes but upon my word I it's a hard thing Captain Gills not to be able to mention Miss Dombie I really have got such a dreadful load here Mr. Toots pathetically touched his shirt front with both hands that I feel night and day exactly if as if somebody was sitting upon me them said the captain is the terms I offer if they're hard upon you brother as may have they are give them a wide berth shear off and part company cheerly Captain Gills returned Mr. Toots I hardly know how it is but after what you told me when I came here for the first time I I feel that I'd rather think about Miss Dombie in your society than talk about her in almost anybody else's therefore Captain Gills if you give me the pleasure of your acquaintance I shall be very happy to accept it on your own conditions I wish to be honorable Captain Gills said Mr. Toots holding back his extended hand for a moment and therefore I am obliged to say that I cannot help thinking about Miss Dombie it's impossible for me to make a promise not to think about her my lads at the captain whose opinion of Mr. Toots was much improved by this candid avowal a man's thoughts is like the winds and nobody can't answer for him for certain any length of time together is it a treaty as to words as to words Captain Gills returned Mr. Toots I think I can bind myself Mr. Toots gave Captain Cuddle his hand upon it then and there and the captain with a pleasant and gracious show of condescension bestowed his acquaintance upon him formally Mr. Toots seemed much relieved and gladdened by the acquisition and chuckled rapturously during the remainder of his visit the captain for his part was not ill pleased to occupy that position of patronage and was exceedingly well satisfied by his own prudence and foresight but rich as Captain Cuddle was in the latter quality he received a surprise that same evening from no less ingenuous and simple youth then robbed the grinder that artless lad drinking tea at the same table and bending meekly over his cup and saucer having taken side long observations of his master for some time who was reading the newspaper with great difficulty but much dignity through his glasses broke silence by saying oh I beg your pardon Captain but you may not be in want of any pigeons may you sir? no my lad replied the captain because I was wishing to dispose of mine Captain said Rob aye aye cried the captain lifting up his bushy eyebrows a little yes I'm going Captain if you please said Rob going where are you going asked the captain looking round at him over the glasses what didn't you know that I was going to leave you Captain asked Rob with a sneaking smile the captain put down the paper took off his spectacles and brought his eyes to bear on the deserter oh yes Captain I am going to give you warning I thought you have known that beforehand perhaps said Rob rubbing his hands and getting up if you could be so good as provide yourself soon Captain it would be a great convenience to me you couldn't provide yourself by tomorrow morning I am afraid Captain could you do you think and you're going to desert your colors are you my lad said the captain after a long examination of his face oh it's very hard upon a cove Captain said the tender Rob injured and indignant in a moment that he can't give lawful warning without being frowned at in this way and called the deserter you haven't any right to call a poor cove names Captain it ain't because I'm a servant and you're a master that you're to go and libel me what wrong have I done come Captain let me know what my crime is will you the stricken grinder wept and put his coat cuff in his eye come Captain cried the injured youth give my crime a name what have I been and done have I stolen any of the property have I set the house a fire if I have why don't you give me in charge and try it but to take away the character of a lad that's been a good servant to you because he can't afford to stand in his own light for your good what an injury it is and what a bad return for faithful service this is the way young coves is spilled and drove wrong I wonder at you Captain I do all of which the grinder howled forth in a lacrimose wine and backing carefully towards the door and so you've got another birth have you my lad said the Captain eyeing him intently yes Captain since you put it in that shape I have got another birth cried Rob backing more and more a better birth than I've got here and one where I don't so much as want your good word Captain which is fortunate for me after all the dirt you've thrown at me because I'm poor and can't afford to stand in my own light for your good yes I have got another birth and if wasn't for leaving you unprovided Captain I'd go to it now sooner than I take them names from you because I'm poor and can't afford to stand in my own light for your good why do you reproach me for being poor and not standing in my own light for your good Captain how can you so demean yourself looky here my boy replied the peaceful Captain don't you pay out no more of them words well then don't you pay in no more of your words Captain retorted the roused innocent getting louder in his wine and backing into the shop I'd sooner you took my blood than my character because pursued the Captain calmly you have heard maybe of such a thing as a rope's end oh have I though Captain cried the taunting grinder no I haven't I never heard of any such article well said the Captain it's my belief as you'll know more about it pretty soon if you don't keep a bright look out I can read your signals my lad you may go oh I may go at once may I Captain cried Robb exulting in his success but mind I never asked to go at once Captain you are not to take away my character again because you send me off of your own accord and you are not to stop any of my wages Captain his employer settled the last point by producing the tin canister and telling the grinder's money out in full upon the table Robb sniveling and sobbing and grievously wounded in his feelings took up the pieces one by one with a sob and a snivel for each and tied them up separately in knots in his pocket handkerchief then he ascended to the roof of the house and filled his hat and pockets with pigeons then came down to his bed under the counter and made up his bundle sniveling and sobbing louder as if he were cut to the heart by old associations then he wind good night Captain I leave you without malice and then going out upon the doorstep pulled the little midshipman's nose as a parting indignity and went away down the street grinning triumph the Captain left to himself resumed his perusal of the news as if nothing unusual or unexpected had taken place and went reading on with the greatest assiduity but never a word did Captain Cuddle understand though he read a vast number for Robb the grinder was scampering up one column and down another all through the newspaper it is doubtful whether the worthy Captain had ever felt himself quite abandoned until now but now old Saul Gills, Walter, and Hart's delight were lost to him indeed and now Mr. Carker deceived and jeered him cruelly they were all represented in the false Robb to whom he had held forth many a time on the recollections that were warm within him he had believed in the false Robb and had been glad to believe in him he had made a companion of him as the last of the old ship's company he had taken the command of the little midshipman with him at his right hand he had meant to do his duty by him and had felt almost as kindly towards the boy as if they had been shipwrecked and cast upon a desert place together and now that the false Robb had brought distrust treachery and meanness into the very parlor which was a kind of sacred place Captain Cuddle felt as if the parlor might have gone down next and not surprised him much by its sinking or given him any very great concern therefore Captain Cuddle read the newspaper with profound attention and no comprehension and therefore Captain Cuddle said nothing whatever about Robb to himself or admitted to himself that he was thinking about him or would recognize in the most distant manner that Robb had anything to do with his feeling as lonely as Robinson Crusoe in the same composed business like way the captain stepped over to Leaden Hall Market in the dusk and affected an arrangement with a private watchman on duty there to come and put up and take down the shutters of the wooden midshipman every night and morning he then called in at the eating house to diminish by one half the daily rations there to force applied to the midshipman and at the public house to stop the trader's beer my young man said the captain in explanation to the young lady at the bar my young man having bettered himself miss lastly the captain resolved to take possession of the bed under the counter and to turn in their anites instead of upstairs as the sole guardian of the property from this bed Captain Cuddle daily rose thence forth and clapped on his glazed hat at six o'clock in the morning with the solitary air of Crusoe finishing his toilet with his goat skin cap and although his fears of a visitation from the savage tribe Mech Stinger were somewhat cooled as similar apprehensions on the part of that lone mariner used to be by the lapse of a long interval without any symptoms of the cannibals he still observed a regular routine of defensive operations and never encountered a bonnet without previous survey from his castle or retreat in the meantime during which he received no call from Mr. Toots who wrote to say he was out of town his own voice began to have a strange sound in his ears and he acquired such habits of profound meditation from much polishing and stowing away of the stock and from much sitting behind the counter reading or looking out of the window that the red rim made on his forehead by the hard glazed hat sometimes arched again with excess of reflection the year being now expired Captain Cuddle deemed it expedient to open the packet but as he had always designed doing this in the presence of Rob the Grinder who had brought it to him and as he had an idea that it would be regular and ship shaped to open it in the presence of somebody he was sadly put to it for want of a witness in this difficulty he hailed one day with unusual delight an announcement in the shipping intelligence of the arrival of the cautious Clara Captain John Bunsby from a coasting voyage and to that philosopher immediately dispatched a letter by post in joining in viable secrecy as to his place of residence and requesting to be favoured with an early visit in the evening season Bunsby, who was one of those sages who act upon conviction took some days to get the conviction thoroughly into his mind that he had received a letter to this effect but when he had grappled with the fact and mastered it he promptly sent his boy with a message he's a coming tonight who being instructed to deliver those words and disappear fulfilled his mission with a terry spirit charged with a mysterious warning the captain, well pleased to receive it made preparation of pipes and rum and water and awaited his visitor in the back parlor at the hour of eight a deep lowing as of a nautical bull outside the shop door succeeded by the knocking of a stick on the panel announced to the listening ear of Captain Cuddle that Bunsby was alongside whom he instantly admitted shaggy and loose and with his stolid mahogany visage as usual appearing to have no consciousness of anything before it but to be attentively observing something that was taking place in quite another part of the world Bunsby, said the captain, grasping him by the hand what cheer, my lad, what cheer shipment, replied the voice within Bunsby unaccompanied by any sign on the part of the commander himself hearty hearty Bunsby, said the captain, rendering irrepressible homage to his genius here you are a man as can give an opinion as is brighter than diamonds and give me the lad with the tarry trousers as shines to me like diamonds bright for which you'll overhaul the Stanfels budget and when found make a note here you are a man as gave an opinion in this here very place that has come true every letter on it which the captain sincerely believed aye aye, growl Bunsby every letter said the captain for why growl Bunsby looking at his friend for the first time which way if so why not therefore with these oracular words they seemed almost to make the captain giddy they launched him upon such a sea of speculation and conjecture the sage submitted to be helped off with his pilot coat and accompanied his friend into the back parlor where his hand presently alighted on the rum bottle from which he brewed a stiff glass of grog and presently afterwards on a pipe which he filled, lighted, and began to smoke captain Cuddle imitating his visitor in the matter of these particulars though the rapt and imperturbable manner of the great commander was far above his powers sat in the opposite corner of the fireside observing him respectfully and as if he waited for some encouragement or expression of curiosity on Bunsby's part which should lead him to his own affairs but as the mahogany philosophy gave no evidence of being sentient or anything but warmth and tobacco except once when taking his pipe from his lips to make room for his glass he incidentally remarked with exceeding gruffness that his name was Jack Bunsby a declaration that presented but small opening for conversation the captain bespeaking his attention in a short complimentary exordium narrated the whole history of Uncle Sol's departure with the change it had produced in his own life and fortunes and concluded by placing the packet on the table after a long pause Mr. Bunsby nodded his head open said the captain Bunsby nodded again the captain accordingly broke the seal and disclosed to view two folded papers of which he severally read the endorsements thus last will and testament of Solomon Gill's letter for Ned Cuddle Bunsby with his eye on the coast of Greenland seemed to listen for the contents the captain therefore hemmed to clear his throat and read the letter out loud my dear Ned Cuddle when I left home for the West Indies here the captain stopped and looked hard at Bunsby who looked fixedly at the coast of Greenland in forlorn search of intelligence of my dear boy I knew that if you were acquainted with my design you would thwart it or accompany me and therefore I kept it secret if you ever read this letter Ned I am likely to be dead you will easily forgive an old friend's folly then and will feel for the restlessness and uncertainty in which he wandered away on such a wild voyage so no more of that I have little hope that my poor boy will ever read these words or gladden your eyes with the sight of his frank face any more no no no more said captain Cuddle sorrowfully meditating no more there he lays all his days Mr. Bunsby who had a musical ear suddenly bellowed in the bays of Biscay-O which so affected the good captain as an appropriate tribute to departed worth that he shook him by the hand in acknowledgement and was feigned to wipe his eyes well well said the captain with a sigh as the lament of Bunsby ceased to ring and vibrate in the skylight affliction soar long time he bore and let us overhaul the volume and there find it physicians observed Bunsby was in vain I I to be sure said the captain what's the good of them in two or three hundred fathoms of water then returning to the letter he read on but if he should be by when it is opened the captain involuntarily look round and shook his head or should know of it at any other time the captain shook his head again my blessing on him in case the accompanying paper is not legally written it matters very little for there is no one interested but you and he and my plain wish is that if he is living he should have what little there may be and if as I fear otherwise that you should have it Ned you will respect my wish I know God bless you for it for all your friendliness besides to Solomon Gills Bunsby said the captain appealing to him solemnly what do you make of this there you sit a man as has had his head broke from infancy upwards and has got a new opinion into it at every seam as has been opened now what do you make of this if so be return Bunsby with unusual promptitude as he's dead my opinion is he won't come back no more if so be as he's alive my opinion is he will do I say he will no why not because the bearings of this observation lays in the application on it Bunsby said captain Cuddle you would seem to have estimated the value of his distinguished friend's opinions in proportion to the immensity of the difficulty he experienced in making anything out of them Bunsby said the captain quite confounded by admiration you carry a weight of mind easy as would swamp one of my tonnage soon but in regard of this here will don't mean to take no steps towards the property lord forbid except to keep it for a more rightful owner and I hope yet as the rightful owner Saul Gilles is living and will come back strange as it is that he ain't forwarded no dispatches now what is your opinion Bunsby as to stowing of these here papers away again and marking outside as they was open such a day in the presence of John Bunsby and Edward Cuddle Bunsby describing no objection on the coast of Greenland or elsewhere to this proposal it was carried into execution and that great man bringing his eye into the present for a moment affixed his sign manual to the cover totally abstaining with characteristic modesty from the use of capital letters Captain Cuddle having attached his own left handed signature and locked up the packet in the iron safe and treated his guests to mix another glass and smoke another pipe and doing the like himself fell amusing over the fire on the possible fortunes of the poor old instrument maker and now a surprise occurred so overwhelming and terrific that Captain Cuddle unsupported by the presence of Bunsby must have sunk beneath it and been a lost man from that fatal hour how the captain even in the satisfaction of admitting such a guest could have only shut the door and not locked it of which negligence he was undoubtedly guilty is one of those questions that must forever remain mere points of speculation or vague charges against destiny but by that unlocked door at this quiet moment did the fell Max Stinger dash into the parlor bringing Alexander Max Stinger in her parental arms and confusion and vengeance not to mention Juliana Max Stinger and the sweet child's brother Charles Max Stinger popularly known about the scenes of his youthful sports as Chowley in her train she came so swiftly and so silently like a rushing air from the neighborhood of East India docks that Captain Cuddle found himself in the very act of sitting looking at her before the calm face with which he had been meditating had changed to one of horror and dismay but the moment Captain Cuddle understood the full extent of his misfortune self-preservation dictated an attempt at flight darting at the little door which opened from the parlor on the steep little range of cellar steps the captain made a rush head foremost at the ladder like a man indifferent to bruises and contusions who only sought to hide himself in the bowels of the earth in this gallant effort he would probably have succeeded but for the affectionate disposition of Juliana and Chowley who pinning him by the legs one of those dear children holding on to each claimed him as their friend with lamentable cries in the meantime Mrs. McStinger who never entered upon any action of importance without previously inverting Alexander McStinger to bring him within the range of a brisk battery of slaps and then sitting him down to cool as the reader first beheld him performed that solemn rite as if on this occasion it were a sacrifice to the furies and having deposited the victim on the floor made at the captain with a strength of purpose that appeared to threaten scratches to the interposing Bunsby the cries of the two elder McStingers and the wailing of young Alexander who may be said to have passed a piebald childhood for as much as he was black in the face during one half of that very period of existence combined to make this visitation the more awful but when silence reigned again and the captain in a violent perspiration stood meekly looking at Mrs. McStinger its terrors were at their height oh Captain Cuddle, Captain Cuddle said Mrs. McStinger making her chin rigid and shaking it in unison with what but for the weakness of her sex might be described as her fist oh Captain Cuddle, Captain Cuddle do you dare to look me in the face and not be struck down in the hearth the captain who looked anything but daring feebly muttered, stand by oh, I was a weak and trusting fool when I took you under my roof, Captain Cuddle I was, cried Mrs. McStinger to think of the benefits I've showered on that man and the way in which I brought my children up to love and honor him as if he was a father to him when there ain't a housekeeper nor a lodger in our street don't know that I lost money by that man and by his guzzlings and his muslings Mrs. McStinger used the last word for the joint sake of alliteration and aggravation rather than for the expression of any idea and when they cried out one and all shame upon him for putting upon an industrious woman up early and late for the good of her young family and keeping her poor place so clean that an individual might have ate his dinner yes and his tea too if he was so disposed of off any one of the floors or stairs in spite of all his guzzlings and his muslings such was the care and pains bestowed upon him Mrs. McStinger stopped to fetch her breath and her face flushed with triumph in this second happy introduction of Captain Cuddle's muslings and he runs away cried Mrs. McStinger with a lengthening out of the last syllable that made the unfortunate captain regard himself as the meanest of men and keeps away a twelve month from a woman such is his conscience he hasn't the courage to meet her high long syllable again but steals away like a felion why if that baby of mine said Mrs. McStinger with sudden rapidity was to offer to go and steal away I do my duty as a mother by him till he was covered with wales the young Alexander interpreting this into a positive promise to be shortly redeemed tumbled over with fear and grief and lay upon the floor exhibiting the soles of his shoes and making such a deafening outcry that Mrs. McStinger found it necessary to take him up in her arms where she quieted him ever and on as he broke out again by a shake that seemed enough to loosen his teeth a pretty sort of man is Captain Cuddle said Mrs. McStinger with a sharp stress on the first syllable of the captain's name to take on for and to lose sleep for and to faint along of and to think dead forsooth and to go up and down the blessed town like a mad woman asking questions after oh a pretty sort of man ha ha ha ha he's worth all that trouble and distress of mind and much more that's nothing bless you ha ha ha Captain Cuddle said Mrs. McStinger with severe reaction in her voice and manner I wish to know if you're a coming home the frightened captain looked into his hat as if he saw nothing for it but to put it on and give himself up Captain Cuddle repeated Mrs. McStinger in the same determined manner I wish to know if you're coming home sir the captain seemed quite ready to go but faintly suggested something to the effect of not making so much noise about it I I I said Bunsby in a soothing voice oh asked my lass oh asked and who may you be if you please retorted Mrs. McStinger with chaste loftiness did you ever lodge at number nine Brigplace sir my memory may be bad but not with me I think there was a Mrs. Cholson lived at number nine before me and perhaps you're mistaking me for her that is my only way of accounting for your familiarity sir come come my lass oh asked oh asked said Bunsby Captain Cuddle could hardly believe it even of this great man though he saw it done with his waking eyes but Bunsby advancing boldly put his shaggy blue arm round Mrs. McStinger and so softened her by his magic way of doing it and by these few words he said no more that she melted into tears after looking upon him for a few moments and observed that a child might conquer her now she was so low in her courage speechless and utterly amazed the captain saw him gradually persuade this inexorable woman into the shop returned for rum and water and a candle take them to her and pacify her without appearing to utter one word he looked in with his pilot coat on and said Cuddle I'm going to act as convoy home and Captain Cuddle more to his confusion than if he had been put in irons himself for safe transport to Brigplace saw the family pacifically filing off with Mrs. McStinger at their head he had scarcely time to take down his canister and stealthily convey some money into the hands of Juliana McStinger his former favorite and Chowley who had the claim upon him that he was naturally of a maritime build before the midshipmen was abandoned by them all and Bunsby whispering that he'd carry on smart and hail Ned Cuddle again before he went aboard shut the door upon himself as the last member of the party some uneasy ideas that he must be walking in his sleep or that he had been troubled with phantoms and not a family of flesh and blood beset the captain at first when he went back to the little parlor and found himself alone illimitable faith in an immeasurable admiration of the commander of the cautious Clara who succeeded and threw the captain into a wondering trance still as time wore on and Bunsby failed to reappear the captain began to entertain uncomfortable doubts of another kind whether Bunsby had been artfully decoyed to Brigplace and was there detained in safe custody as hostage for his friend in which case it would become the captain as a man of honor to release him by the sacrifice of his own liberty whether he had been attacked and defeated by Mrs. McStinger and was ashamed to show himself after his discomforture whether Mrs. McStinger thinking better of it in the uncertainty of her temper had turned back to board the midshipmen again and Bunsby pretending to conduct her by a shortcut was endeavoring to lose the family amid the wilds and savage places of the city above all what it would behoove him captain Cuddle to do in case of his hearing no more either of the McStingers or of Bunsby which in these wonderful and unforeseen conjunctions of events might possibly happen he debated all this until he was tired and still no Bunsby he made up his bed under the counter already for turning in and still no Bunsby at length when the captain had given him up for that night at least and had begun to undress the sound of approaching wheels was heard and stopping at the door was succeeded by Bunsby's hail the captain trembled to think that Mrs. McStinger was not to be got rid of and had been brought back in a coach but no Bunsby was accompanied by nothing but a large box which he hauled into the shop with his own hands and as soon as he had hauled in sat upon captain Cuddle knew it for the chest he had left at Mrs. McStinger's house and looking candle in hand at Bunsby more attentively believed that he was three sheets in the wind or in plain words drunk it was difficult however to be sure of this the commander having no trace of expression in his face when sober Cuddle said the commander getting off the chest and opening the lid are these here your traps captain Cuddle looked in and identified his property done pretty taught and trim ship met said Bunsby the grateful and bewildered captain grasped him by the hand and was launching into a reply expressive of his astonished feelings when Bunsby disengaged himself by a jerk of his wrist and seemed to make an effort to wink with his revolving eye the only effect of which attempt in his condition was nearly to overbalance him he then abruptly opened the door and shot away to rejoin the cautious Clara with all speed supposed to be his invariable custom whenever he considered he had made a point as it was not his humor to be often sought captain Cuddle decided not to go or send to him next day or until he should make his gracious pleasure known in such wise or failing that until some little time should have elapsed the captain therefore renewed his solitary life next morning and thought profoundly many mornings, noons, and nights of old solgills and Bunsby sentiments concerning him and the hopes there were of his return much of such thinking strengthened captain Cuddle's hopes and he humored them and himself by watching for the instrument maker at the door as he ventured to do now in his strange liberty and setting his chair in its place and arranging the little parlor as it used to be in case he should come home unexpectedly he likewise in his thoughtfulness down a certain little miniature of Walter as a schoolboy from its accustomed nail lest it should shock the old man on his return the captain had his presentiments too sometime that he would come on such a day and one particular Sunday even ordered a double allowance of dinner he was so sanguine but come old Solomon did not and still the neighbors noticed how the seafaring man in the glazed hat stood at the shop door of an evening looking up and down the street End of Chapter 39 It was not in the nature of things that a man of Mr. Dombie's mood opposed to such a spirit as he had raised against himself should be softened in the imperious asperity of his temper or that the cold hard armor of pride in which he lived encased should be made more flexible by his temper or that the cold hard armor of pride in which he lived encased should be made more flexible by constant collision with haughty scorn and defiance it is the curse of such a nature it is a main part of the heavy retribution on itself it bears within itself that while deference and concession swell its evil qualities and are the food it grows upon resistance and a questioning of its exacting claims fosters it too no less the evil that is in it finds equally its means of growth and propagation in opposites it draws support and life from sweets and bitters bow down before or unacknowledged it still enslaves the breast in which it has its throne and worshipped or rejected is as hard a master as the devil in dark fables towards his first wife Mr. Dombie in his cold and lofty arrogance had borne himself like the removed being he almost conceived himself to be he had been Mr. Dombie with her when she first saw him and he was Mr. Dombie when she died he had asserted his greatness during their whole married life and she had meekly recognized it he had kept his distant seat of state on the top of his throne and she her humble station on its lowest step and much good it had done him so to live in solitary bondage to his one idea he had imagined that the proud character of his second wife would have been added to his own would have merged into it and exalted his greatness he had pictured himself haughtier than ever with edus haughtiness subservient to his he had never entertained the possibility of its arraying itself against him and now when he found it rising in his path at every step and turn of his daily life fixing its cold defiant and contemptuous face upon him this pride of his instead of withering or hanging down its head beneath the shock put forth new shoots became more concentrated and intense more gloomy, sullen, irksome and unyielding than it had ever been before who wears such armor too bears with him ever another heavy retribution it is of proof against conciliation love and confidence against all gentle sympathy from without all trust, all tenderness, all soft emotion but to deep stabs in the self-love it is as vulnerable as the bare breast to steal and such tormenting fester's wrinkle there as follow on no other wounds no, though dealt with the mailed hand of pride itself on weaker pride, disarmed and thrown down such wounds were his he felt them sharply in the solitude of his old rooms whither he now began often to retire again and pass long solitary hours it seemed his fate to be ever proud and powerful ever humbled and powerless where he would be most strong who seemed fated to work out that doom who, who was it who could win his wife as she had won his boy who was it who had shown him that new victory as he sat in the dark corner who was it whose least word did what his utmost means could not who was it who unaided by his love regard or notice thrived and grew beautiful when those so aided died who could it be but the same child at whom he had often glanced uneasily in her motherless infancy with a kind of dread lest he might come to hate her and of whom his foreboding was fulfilled for he did hate her in his heart yes, and he would have it hatred and he made it hatred though some sparkles of the light in which she had appeared before him on the memorable night of his return home with his Bible occasionally hung about her still he knew now that she was beautiful he did not dispute that she was graceful and winning and that in the bright dawn of her womanhood she had come upon him a surprise but he turned even this against her in his sullen and unwholesome brooding the unhappy man with a dull perception of his alienation from all hearts and a vague yearning for what he had all his life repelled made a distorted picture of his rights and wrongs and justified himself with it against her the worthier she promised to be of him the greater claim he was disposed to antedate upon her duty and submission when had she ever shown him duty and submission did she grace his life or Edith's had her attraction been manifested first to him or Edith's why he and she had never been from her birth like father and child they had always been a strange she had crossed him every way and everywhere she was lead against him now her very beauty softened natures that were obdurate to him and insulted him with an unnatural triumph it may have been that in all this there were mutterings of an awakened feeling in his breast however selfishly aroused by his position of disadvantage in comparison with what she might have made his life but he silenced the distant thunder with the rolling of his sea of pride he would hear nothing but his pride and in his pride a heap of inconsistency misery and self inflicted torment he hated her to the moody stubborn sullen demon that possessed him his wife opposed her different pride in its full force they never could have led a happy life together but nothing could have made it more unhappy than the willful and determined warfare of such elements his pride was set upon maintaining his magnificent supremacy and forcing recognition of it from her she would have been wracked to death and turned but her haughty glance of calm inflexible disdain upon him to the last such recognition from Edith he little knew through what a storm and struggle she had been driven onward to the crowning honor of his hand he little knew how much she thought she had conceded when she suffered him to call her wife Mr. Dombie was resolved to show her that he was supreme there must be no will but his proud he desired that she should be but she must be proud for not against him as he sat alone hardening he would often hear her go out and come home treading the round of London life with no more heed of his liking or disliking pleasure or displeasure than if he had been her groom her cold supreme indifference his own unquestioned attribute usurped stung him more than any other kind of treatment could have done and he determined to bend her to his magnificent and stately will he had been long communing with these thoughts when one night he sought her in her own apartment after he had heard her return home late she was alone in her brilliant dress and had but that moment come from her mother's room her face was melancholy and pensive when he came upon her but it marked him at the door for glancing at the mirror before it he saw immediately as in a picture frame the knitted brow and darkened beauty that he knew so well Mrs. Dombie he said entering I must beg leave to have a few words with you tomorrow she replied there is no time like the present madam he returned you mistake your position I am used to choose my own times not to have them chosen for me I think you scarcely understand who and what I am Mrs. Dombie I think she answered that I understand you very well she looked upon him as she said so and folding her white arm sparkling with golden gems upon her swelling breast turned away her eyes if she had been less handsome and less stately in her cold composure she might not have had the power of impressing him with the sense of disadvantage that penetrated through his utmost pride but she had the power and he felt it keenly he glanced round the room saw how the splendid means of personal adornment and the luxuries of dress were scattered here and there and disregarded not in mere caprice and carelessness for so he thought but in a steadfast, haughty disregard of costly things and felt it more and more chaplets of flowers, plumes of feathers, jewels, laces silks and satins look where he would he saw riches, despised poured out and made of no account the very diamonds a marriage gift that rose and fell impatiently upon her bosom seemed to pant to break the chain that clasped them round her neck and rolled down on the floor where she might tread upon them he felt his disadvantage and he showed it solemn and strange among this wealth of color and voluptuous glitter strange and constrained toward its haughty mistress whose repellent beauty it repeated and presented all around him as in so many fragments of a mirror he was conscious of embarrassment and awkwardness nothing that ministered to her disdainful self-possession could fail to gall him galled and irritated with himself he sat down and went on in no improved humor Mrs. Domby, it is very necessary that there should be some understanding arrived at between us your conduct does not please me, madam she merely glanced at him again and again averted her eyes but she might have spoken for an hour and expressed less I repeat, Mrs. Domby does not please me I have already taken occasion to request that it may be corrected I now insist upon it you chose a fitting occasion for your first remonstrance, sir and you adopt a fitting manner and a fitting word for your second you insist to me madam, said Mr. Domby with his most offensive air of state I have made you my wife you bear my name you are associated with my position and my reputation I will not say that the world in general may be disposed to think you honored by that association but I will say that I am accustomed to insist to my connections and dependence which may you be pleased to consider me she asked possibly I may think that my wife should partake and cannot help herself of both characters Mrs. Domby she bent her eyes upon him steadily and set her trembling lips he saw her bosom throb and saw her face flush and turn white all this he could know and did but he could not know that one word was whispering in the deep recesses of her heart to keep her quiet and that the word was Florence blind idiot rushing to a precipice he thought she stood in awe of him you are too expensive madam said Mr. Domby you are extravagant you waste a great deal of money or what would be a great deal in the pockets of most gentlemen in cultivating a kind of society that is useless to me and indeed that upon the whole is disagreeable to me I have to insist upon a total change in all these respects I know that in the novelty of possessing a tithe of such means as fortune has placed at your disposal ladies are apt to run into a sudden extreme there has been more than enough of that extreme I beg that Mrs. Granger's different experiences may now come to the instruction of Mrs. Domby still the fixed look the trembling lips the throbbing breast the face now crimson and now white and still the deep whisper of Florence Florence speaking to her in the beating of her heart his insolence of self-importance dilated as he saw this alteration in her swollen no less by her scorn of him and his so recent feeling of disadvantage then by her present submission as he took it to be it became too mighty for his breast and burst all bounds why who could long resist his lofty will and pleasure he had resolved to conquer her you will further please madam said Mr. Domby in a tone of sovereign command to understand distinctly that I am to be deferred to and obeyed that I must have a positive show and confession of deference before the world madam I am used to this I require it as my right in short I will have it I consider it no unreasonable return for the worldly advancement that has befallen you and I believe nobody will be surprised either at its being required from you or at your making it to me to me he added with emphasis no word from her no change in her her eyes upon him I have learned from your mother Mrs. Domby said Mr. Domby with magisterial importance what no doubt you know namely that Brighton is recommended for her health Mr. Parker has been so good she changed suddenly her face and bosom glowed as if the red light of an angry sunset had been flung upon them not unobservant of the change and putting his own interpretation on it Mr. Domby resumed Mr. Parker has been so good as to go down and secure a house there for a time on the return of the establishment to London I shall take such steps for its better management as I consider necessary one of these will be the engagement at Brighton if it is to be effected of a very respectable reduced person there the reception formally employed in a situation of trust in my family to act as housekeeper an establishment like this presided over but nominally Mrs. Domby requires a competent head she had changed her attitude before he arrived at these words and now sat still looking at him fixedly turning a bracelet round and round upon her arm not winding it about with a light womanly touch but pressing and dragging it over the smooth skin until the white limb showed a bar of red I observed, said Mr. Domby and this concludes what I deem necessary to say to you at present, Mrs. Domby I observed a moment ago, Madam that my allusion to Mr. Parker was received in a peculiar manner on the occasion of my happening to point out to you before that confidential agent the objection I had to your mode of receiving my visitors you were pleased to object to his presence you will have to get the better of that objection, Madam and to accustom yourself to it very probably on many similar occasions unless you adopt the remedy which is in your own hands of giving me no cause of complaint Mr. Parker said Mr. Domby who after the emotion he had just seen set great store by this means of reducing his proud wife and who was perhaps sufficiently willing to exhibit his power to that gentleman in a new and triumphant aspect Mr. Parker being in my confidence, Mrs. Domby may very well be in yours to such an extent I hope, Mrs. Domby he continued after a few moments during which in his increasing haughtiness he had improved on his idea I may not find it necessary ever to entrust Mr. Parker with any message of objection or remonstrance to you but as it would be derogatory to my position and reputation to be frequently holding trivial disputes with a lady upon whom I have conferred the highest distinction that it is in my power to bestow I shall not scruple to avail myself of his services if I see occasion and now he thought rising in his moral magnificence and rising a stiffer and more impenetrable man than ever she knows me and my resolution the hand that had so pressed the bracelet was laid heavily upon her breast but she looked at him still with an unaltered face and said in a low voice wait for God's sake I must speak to you why did she not and what was the inward struggle that rendered her incapable of doing so for minutes while in a strong constraint she put upon her face it was as fixed as any statues looking upon him with neither yielding nor unyielding liking nor hatred pride nor humility nothing but a searching gaze did I ever tempt you to seek my hand did I ever use any art to win you more conciliating to you when you pursued me than I have been since our marriage was I ever other to you than I am it is wholly unnecessary madam said Mr. Dombie to enter upon such discussions did you think I loved you did you know I did not did you ever care man for my heart opposed yourself to win the worthless thing was there any poor pretense of any in our bargain upon your side or on mine these questions said Mr. Dombie are all wide of the purpose madam she moved between him and the door to prevent his going away and drawing her majestic figure to its height looked steadily upon him still you answer each of them you answer me before I speak I see how can you help it you who know the miserable truth as well as I now tell me if I loved you to devotion could I do more than render up my whole will and being to you as you have just demanded if my heart were pure and all untried and you its idle could I ask more could you have more possibly not madam he returned coolly you know how different I am you see me looking on you now and you can read the warmth of passion for you that is breathing in my face not a curl of the proud lip not a flash of the dark eye nothing but the same intent and searching look I need these words you know my general history you have spoken of my mother do you think you can degrade or bend or break me to submission and obedience Mr. Donby smiled as he might have smiled at an inquiry whether he thought he could raise ten thousand pounds if there is anything unusual here she said with a slight motion of her hand before her brow which did not for a moment flinch from its immovable and otherwise expressionless gaze as I know there are unusual feelings here raising the hand she pressed upon her bosom and heavily returning it consider that there is no common meaning in the appeal I am going to make you yes for I am going she said it as in prompt reply to something in his face appeal to you Mr. Donby with a slightly condescending bend of his chin that rustled and crackled his stiff cravat sat down on a sofa that was near him to hear the appeal if you can believe that I am of such a nature now he fancied he saw tears glistening in her eyes and he thought complacently that he had forced them from her one fell on her cheek and she regarded him as steadily as ever as would make what I now say almost incredible to myself said to any man who had become my husband but above all said to you you may perhaps attach the greater weight to it in the dark end to which we are tending and may come we shall not involve ourselves in that might not be much but others others, others he knew at whom that word pointed and frowned heavily I speak to you for the sake of others also your own sake and for mine since our marriage you have been arrogant to me and I have repaid you in kind you have shown to me you have shown us every day and hour that you think I am graced and distinguished by your alliance I do not think so and have shown that too it seems you do not understand or so far as your power can go intend that each of us shall take a separate course and you expect from me instead an homage you will never have although her face was still the same there was emphatic confirmation of this never in the very breath she drew I feel no tenderness towards you that you know you would care nothing for it if I did or could I know as well that you feel none towards me but we are linked together and in the knot that ties us as I have said others are bound up we must both die we are both connected with the dead already each by a little child let us forbear Mr. Dombie took a long respiration as if he would have said oh was this all there is no wealth she went on turning paler as she watched him her eyes grew yet more lustrous in their earnestness that could buy these words of me and the meaning that belongs to them once cast away as idle breath no wealth or power can bring them back I mean them I have weighed them and I will be true to what I undertake if you will promise to forbear on your part to forbear on mine we are a most unhappy pair in whom from different causes every sentiment that blesses marriage or justifies it is rooted out but in the course of time some friendship or some fitness for each other may arise between us I will try to hope so if you will make the endeavor too and I will look forward to her and happier use of age than I have made of youth or prime throughout she had spoken in a low plain voice that neither rose nor fell ceasing she dropped the hand with which she had enforced herself to be so passionless and distinct but not the eyes with which she had so steadily observed him Madam Mr. Dombie with his utmost dignity I cannot entertain any proposal of this extraordinary nature she looked at him yet without the least change I cannot said Mr. Dombie rising as he spoke consent to temporize or treat with you Mrs. Dombie upon a subject as to which you are in possession of my opinions and expectations I have stated my ultimatum Madam and have only to request your various serious attention to it to see the face change to its old expression deepened in intensity to see the eyes droop as if some from some mean and odious object to see the lightning of the bow to see scorn anger indignation and apparence starting into sight and the pale blank earnestness vanish like a mist he could not choose but look although he looked to his dismay go sir she said pointing with an imperious hand towards the door our first and last lines is at an end nothing can make a stranger to each other then we are henceforth I shall take my rightful course madam said Mr. Dombie undeterred you may be sure by any general declamation she turned her back upon him and without replying sat down before her glass I place my reliance on your improved sense of duty and more correct feeling and better reflection madam said Mr. Dombie she answered not one word he saw no more expression of any heat of him in the mirror than if he had been an unseen spider on the wall or beetle on the floor or rather than if he had been the one or other seen and crushed when she last turned from him and forgotten among the ignominious and dead vermin of the ground he looked back as he went out of the door upon the well lighted and luxurious room the beautiful and glittering objects everywhere displayed the shape of Edith in its rich dress seated before her glass and the face of Edith as the glass presented it to him and betook himself to his old chamber of cogitation carrying away with him a vivid picture in his mind of all these things and a rambling and unaccountable speculation such as sometimes comes into a man's head how they would all look when he saw them next for the rest Mr. Dombie was very taciturn and very dignified and of carrying out his purpose and remained so he did not design accompanying the family to Brighton but he graciously informed Cleopatra at breakfast on the morning of departure which arrived a day or two afterwards that he might be expected down soon there was no time to be lost in getting Cleopatra to any place recommended as being salutary for indeed seemed upon the wane and turning of the earth earthly without having undergone any decided second attack of her malady the old woman seemed to have crawled backward in her recovery from the first she was more lean and shrunken more uncertain in her imbecility and made stranger confusions in her mind and memory she fell into the habit of confounding the names of her two sons-in-law the living and the deceased and in general called Mr. Dombie either Grangeby or Dumber or Indifferently both but she was youthful, very youthful still and in her youthfulness appeared at breakfast before going away in a new bonnet made express and a traveling robe that was embroidered like an old baby's it was not easy to put her into a flyaway bonnet now or to keep the bonnet in its place on the back of her poor nodding head when it was got on in this instance it had not only the extraneous effect of being always on one side but of being perpetually tapped upon the crown by flowers the maid who attended in the background during breakfast to perform that duty ma now my dearest Grangeby said Mrs. Skewton you must positively prompt she cut some words short and cut out others altogether come down very soon I said just now madam return Mr. Dombie loudly and laboriously that I am coming in a day or two bless you Dumber here the major who has come to take leave of the ladies and who is staring through his apoplectic eyes at Mrs. Skewton's face with a disinterested composure of an immortal being said begad ma'am you don't ask old Joe to come stareous wretch who's he? but a tap on the bonnet from flowers seemed to jog her memory she added oh you mean yourself you naughty creature devilish queer sir whispered the major to Mr. Dombie bad case never did wrap up enough the major being buttoned to the chin why who should J.B. mean by Joe but old Joe Backstock Joseph you slave Joe ma'am here here's the man here are the Backstock bellows ma'am cried the major striking himself into a sounding blow on the chest my dear Edith Grangeby it's most extraordinary thing said Cleopatra Pettishly the major Backstock J.B. cried the major seeing that she had faltered for his name well it don't matter said Cleopatra Edith my love you know I never could remember names what was it oh most extraordinary thing that so many people want to come down to see me I'm not going for long I'm coming back surely they can wait till I come back Cleopatra looked all around the table as she said it and appeared very uneasy I won't have visitors really don't want visitors she said little repose and all that sort of thing is what I cryer no odious brutes must approach me till I've shaken off this numbness grisly resumption of her coquettish ways she made a dab at the major with her fan but over set Mr. Dombie's breakfast cup instead which was in quite a different direction then she called for withers and charged him to see particularly that word was left about some trivial alterations in her room which must be all made before she came back and which must be set about immediately as there was no saying how soon she might come back for she had a great many engagements and all sorts of people to call upon withers received these directions with becoming deference and gave guarantee for their execution but when he withdrew a pace or two behind her it appeared as if he couldn't help looking strangely at the major who couldn't help looking strangely at Mr. Dombie who couldn't help looking strangely at Cleopatra who couldn't help nodding her bonnet over one eye and rattling her knife and fork upon her plate in using them as if she were playing castanets Edith alone never lifted her eyes to any face at the table and never seemed dismayed by anything her mother said or did she listened to her disjointed talk or at least turned her head towards her when addressed replied in a few low words when necessary and sometimes stopped her when she was rambling or brought her thoughts back with a monest to the point from which they had strayed the mother however unsteady in other things was constant in this that she was always observant of her she would look beautiful face in its marble stillness and severity now with a kind of fearful admiration now in a giggling foolish effort to move it to a smile now with capricious tears and jealous shakings of her head as imagining herself neglected by it always with an attraction towards it that never fluctuated her ideas but had constant possession of her from Edith she would sometimes look at Florence and back again at Edith in a manner that was wild enough and sometimes she would try to look elsewhere as if to escape from her daughter's face but back to it she seemed forced to come although it never sought hers thought or troubled her with one single glance the breakfast concluded Mrs. Skeuten affecting to lean girlishly upon the major's arms but heavily supported on the other side by flowers the maid and propped up behind by withers the page was conducted to the carriage which was to take her Florence and Edith to Brighton and is Joseph absolutely banished said the major thrusting in his purple face over the steps damn me ma'am is Cleopatra so hard hearted as to forbid her faithful Anthony Backstock to approach the presents go along said Cleopatra I can't bear you you shall see me when I come back if you are very good tell Joseph he may live in hope ma'am said the major or he'll die in despair Cleopatra shuddered and leaned back Edith my dear she said tell him what such dreadful word said Cleopatra he uses such dreadful words Edith signed to him to retire gave the word to go on and left the objectionable major to Mr. Donby to whom he returned whistling I'll tell you what sir said the major with his hands behind him and his legs very wide asunder a fair friend of ours has removed to queer street what do you mean major inquired Mr. Donby I mean to say Donby returned the major that you'll soon be an orphan in law Mr. Donby appeared to relish this waggish description of himself so very little that the major wound up with the horse's cough as an expression of gravity damn me sir said the major there is no use in disguising a fact Joe is blunt that's his nature if you take old Josh at all you take him as you find him and a devilish rusty old rasper of a close tooth JB file you do find him Donby said the major your wife's mother is on the move sir I fear returned Mr. Donby with much philosophy that Mrs. Skeuton is shaken Donby said the major smashed change however pursued Mr. Donby and attention may do much yet don't believe it sir return the major damn me sir she never wrapped up enough if a man don't wrap up said the major taking in another button of his bull waistcoat he has nothing to fall back upon but some people will die they will do it well there obstinate I tell you what donby it may not be ornamental it may not be refined it may be rough and tough but a little of the old genuine old English back stock stamina sir would do all the good in the world to the human breed after imparting this precious piece of information the major who was certainly true blue endowments he may have possessed or wanted coming within the genuine old English classification which has never been exactly ascertained took his lobster eyes and his apoplexy to the club and choked there all day Cleopatra at one time fretful at another self complacent sometimes awake sometimes asleep and at all times juvenile reach brighten the same night fell to pieces as usual and was put away in bed where a gloomy fancy might have pictured a more potent skeleton than the maid who should have been one watching at the rose colored curtains which were carried down to shed their bloom upon her it was settled in high council of medical authority that she should take a carriage every day and that it was important she should get out every day and walk if she could edith was ready to attend her always ready to attend her with the same mechanical attention and immovable beauty and they drove out alone for edith had an uneasiness in the presence of Florence now that her mother was worse and told Florence with a kiss that she would rather they too went alone mrs. scuton on one particular day was in the irresolute exacting jealous temper that had developed itself on her recovery from her first attack after sitting silent in the carriage watching edith for some time she took her hand and kissed it passionately the hand was neither given nor withdrawn but simply yielded to her raising of it and being released dropped down again almost as if it were insensible at this she began to whimper and moan and say what a mother she had been and how she was forgotten this she continued to do at capricious intervals even when they had alighted when she herself was halting along with the joint support of withers and a stick and edith was walking by her side and the carriage slowly following at a little distance it was a bleak lowering windy day and they were out upon the downs with nothing but a bare sweep of the land between them and the sky the mother with a query less satisfaction in the monotony of her complaint was still repeating it in a low voice from time to time and the old form of her daughter moved beside her slowly when there came advancing over a dark ridge before them two other figures which in the distance were so like an exaggerated imitation of their own that edith stopped almost as she stopped the two figures stopped and that one which to edith's thinking was like a distorted shadow of her mother spoke to the edith closely and with a pointing hand towards them that one seemed inclined to turn back but the other in which edith recognized enough that was like herself to strike her with an unusual feeling not quite free from fear came on and then they came on together the greater part of this observation she made while walking towards them for her stoppage had been nearer observation showed her that they were poorly dressed as wanderers about the country that the younger woman carried knitted work or some such goods for sale and that the old one toiled on empty handed and yet however far removed she was in dress indignity in beauty edith could not but compare the younger woman with herself still it may have been that she saw upon her face some traces which she knew were lingering in her own soul if not yet written on that index but as the woman came on returning her gaze fixing her shining eyes upon her undoubtedly presenting something of her own air and stature and appearing to reciprocate her own thoughts she felt a chill creep over her as if the day were darkening and the wind were colder they had now come up the old woman holding out her hand importanately stopped to beg of mrs. skeuten the younger one stopped too and she and edith looked in one another's eyes what is it that you have to sell said edith only this returned the woman holding out her wares without them i sold myself long ago my lady don't believe her croaked the old woman to mrs. skeuten don't believe what she says she loves to talk like that she's my handsome and undutiful daughter she gives me nothing but reproaches my lady for all i have done for her look at her now my lady how she turns upon her poor old mother with her looks as mrs. skeuten her purse out with a trembling hand and eagerly fumbled for some money which the other old woman greedily watched for their heads all but touching in their hurry and decrepitude edith interposed i have seen you addressing the old woman before yes my lady with a curtsy down in warwick shire the morning among the trees when you wouldn't give me nothing but the gentleman he give me something oh bless him bless him mumble the old woman holding up her skinny hand and grinning frightfully at her daughter it's of no use attempting to stay me edith said mrs. skeuten angrily anticipating an objection from her you know nothing about it i won't be dissuaded i am sure this is an excellent woman and a good mother yes chattered the old woman holding out her avaricious hand thank you my lady lord bless you my lady six pence more my pretty lady as a good mother yourself and treated undutifully enough to my good old creature sometimes i assure you said mrs. skeuten whimpering there shake hands with me you're a very good old creature full of what's his name and all that you're all affection et cetera ain't you yes yes my lady yes i am sure you are and so so's that gentlemanly creature grange be i must really shake hands with you again and now you can go you know and i hope addressing the daughter that you'll show more gratitude and natural what's its name and all the rest of it but i never did remember names for there never was a better mother than the good old creatures been to you come edith as the rune of cleopatra tottered off whimpering and wiping its eyes with a gingerly remembrance of rouge in their neighborhood the old woman hobbled another way mumbling and counting her money not one word more nor one other gesture had been exchanged between edith and the younger woman but neither had removed her eyes the other for a moment they had remained confronted until now when edith as awakening from a dream passed slowly on you're a handsome woman muttered her shadow looking after her but good looks won't save us and you're a proud woman but pride won't save us we had need to know each other when we meet again end of chapter 40