Charles Dickens
Hard Times For These Times
Book the First
Sowing
Chapter I
The One Thing Needful
»Now what I want is Facts Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts Facts
alone are wanted in life Plant nothing else and root out everything else You
can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts nothing else will ever
be of any service to them This is the principle on which I bring up my own
children and this is the principle on which I bring up these children Stick to
Facts sir«
The scene was a plain bare monotonous vault of a schoolroom and the
speakers square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every
sentence with a line on the schoolmasters sleeve The emphasis was helped by
the speakers square wall of a forehead which had his eyebrows for its base
while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves overshadowed by the
wall The emphasis was helped by the speakers mouth which was wide thin and
hard set The emphasis was helped by the speakers voice which was inflexible
dry and dictatorial The emphasis was helped by the speakers hair which
bristled on the skirts of his bald head a plantation of firs to keep the wind
from its shining surface all covered with knobs like the crust of a plum pie
as if the head had scarcely warehouseroom for the hard facts stored inside The
speakers obstinate carriage square coat square legs square shoulders nay
his very neckcloth trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating
grasp like a stubborn fact as it was all helped the emphasis
»In this life we want nothing but Facts sir nothing but Facts«
The speaker and the schoolmaster and the third grown person present all
backed a little and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels
then and there arranged in order ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured
into them until they were full to the brim
Chapter II
Murdering the Innocents
Thomas Gradgrind sir A man of realities A man of facts and calculations A
man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four and nothing over
and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over Thomas Gradgrind
sir peremptorily Thomas Thomas Gradgrind With a rule and a pair of scales
and the multiplication table always in his pocket sir ready to weigh and
measure any parcel of human nature and tell you exactly what it comes to It is
a mere question of figures a case of simple arithmetic You might hope to get
some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind or Augustus
Gradgrind or John Gradgrind or Joseph Gradgrind all supposititious
nonexistent persons but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind no sir
In such terms Mr Gradgrind always mentally introduced himself whether to
his private circle of acquaintance or to the public in general In such terms
no doubt substituting the words boys and girls for sir Thomas Gradgrind now
presented Thomas Gradgrind to the little pitchers before him who were to be
filled so full of facts
Indeed as he eagerly sparkled at them from the cellarage before mentioned
he seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts and prepared to blow
them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge He seemed a
galvanizing apparatus too charged with a grim mechanical substitute for the
tender young imaginations that were to be stormed away
»Girl number twenty« said Mr Gradgrind squarely pointing with his square
forefinger »I dont know that girl Who is that girl«
»Sissy Jupe sir« explained number twenty blushing standing up and
curtseying
»Sissy is not a name« said Mr Gradgrind »Dont call yourself Sissy Call
yourself Cecilia«
»Its father as calls me Sissy sir« returned the young girl in a trembling
voice and with another curtsey
»Then he has no business to do it« said Mr Gradgrind »Tell him he
mustnt Cecilia Jupe Let me see What is your father«
»He belongs to the horseriding if you please sir«
Mr Gradgrind frowned and waved off the objectionable calling with his
hand
»We dont want to know anything about that here You mustnt tell us about
that here Your father breaks horses dont he«
»If you please sir when they can get any to break they do break horses in
the ring sir«
»You mustnt tell us about the ring here Very well then Describe your
father as a horsebreaker He doctors sick horses I dare say«
»Oh yes sir«
»Very well then He is a veterinary surgeon a farrier and horsebreaker
Give me your definition of a horse«
Sissy Jupe thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand
»Girl number twenty unable to define a horse« said Mr Gradgrind for the
general behoof of all the little pitchers »Girl number twenty possessed of no
facts in reference to one of the commonest of animals Some boys definition of
a horse Bitzer yours«
The square finger moving here and there lighted suddenly on Bitzer
perhaps because he chanced to sit in the same ray of sunlight which darting in
at one of the bare windows of the intensely whitewashed room irradiated Sissy
For the boys and girls sat on the face of the inclined plane in two compact
bodies divided up the centre by a narrow interval and Sissy being at the
corner of a row on the sunny side came in for the beginning of a sunbeam of
which Bitzer being at the corner of a row on the other side a few rows in
advance caught the end But whereas the girl was so darkeyed and darkhaired
that she seemed to receive a deeper and more lustrous colour from the sun when
it shone upon her the boy was so lighteyed and lighthaired that the selfsame
rays appeared to draw out of him what little colour he ever possessed His cold
eyes would hardly have been eyes but for the short ends of lashes which by
bringing them into immediate contrast with something paler than themselves
expressed their form His shortcropped hair might have been a mere continuation
of the sandy freckles on his forehead and face His skin was so unwholesomely
deficient in the natural tinge that he looked as though if he were cut he
would bleed white
»Bitzer« said Thomas Gradgrind »Your definition of a horse«
»Quadruped Graminivorous Forty teeth namely twentyfour grinders four
eyeteeth and twelve incisive Sheds coat in the spring in marshy countries
sheds hoofs too Hoofs hard but requiring to be shod with iron Age known by
marks in mouth« Thus and much more Bitzer
»Now girl number twenty« said Mr Gradgrind »You know what a horse is«
She curtseyed again and would have blushed deeper if she could have
blushed deeper than she had blushed all this time Bitzer after rapidly
blinking at Thomas Gradgrind with both eyes at once and so catching the light
upon his quivering ends of lashes that they looked like the antennæ of busy
insects put his knuckles to his freckled forehead and sat down again
The third gentleman now stepped forth A mighty man at cutting and drying
he was a government officer in his way and in most other peoples too a
professed pugilist always in training always with a system to force down the
general throat like a bolus always to be heard of at the bar of his little
Publicoffice ready to fight all England To continue in fistic phraseology he
had a genius for coming up to the scratch wherever and whatever it was and
proving himself an ugly customer He would go in and damage any subject whatever
with his right follow up with his left stop exchange counter bore his
opponent he always fought All England to the ropes and fall upon him neatly
He was certain to knock the wind out of common sense and render that unlucky
adversary deaf to the call of time And he had it in charge from high authority
to bring about the great publicoffice Millennium when Commissioners should
reign upon earth
»Very well« said this gentleman briskly smiling and folding his arms
»Thats a horse Now let me ask you girls and boys Would you paper a room with
representations of horses«
After a pause one half of the children cried in chorus »Yes sir« Upon
which the other half seeing in the gentlemans face that Yes was wrong cried
out in chorus »No sir« as the custom is in these examinations
»Of course No Why wouldnt you«
A pause One corpulent slow boy with a wheezy manner of breathing ventured
the answer Because he wouldnt paper a room at all but would paint it
»You must paper it« said the gentleman rather warmly
»You must paper it« said Thomas Gradgrind »whether you like it or not
Dont tell us you wouldnt paper it What do you mean boy«
»Ill explain to you then« said the gentleman after another and a dismal
pause »why you wouldnt paper a room with representations of horses Do you
ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality in fact Do
you«
»Yes sir« from one half »No sir« from the other
»Of course no« said the gentleman with an indignant look at the wrong
half »Why then you are not to see anywhere what you dont see in fact you
are not to have anywhere what you dont have in fact What is called Taste is
only another name for Fact«
Thomas Gradgrind nodded his approbation
»This is a new principle a discovery a great discovery« said the
gentleman »Now Ill try you again Suppose you were going to carpet a room
Would you use a carpet having a representation of flowers upon it«
There being a general conviction by this time that »No sir« was always the
right answer to this gentleman the chorus of No was very strong Only a few
feeble stragglers said Yes among them Sissy Jupe
»Girl number twenty« said the gentleman smiling in the calm strength of
knowledge
Sissy blushed and stood up
»So you would carpet your room or your husbands room if you were a grown
woman and had a husband with representations of flowers would you« said the
gentleman »Why would you«
»If you please sir I am very fond of flowers« returned the girl
»And is that why you would put tables and chairs upon them and have people
walking over them with heavy boots«
»It wouldnt hurt them sir They wouldnt crush and wither if you please
sir They would be the pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant and I
would fancy «
»Ay ay ay But you mustnt fancy« cried the gentleman quite elated by
coming so happily to his point »Thats it You are never to fancy«
»You are not Cecilia Jupe« Thomas Gradgrind solemnly repeated »to do
anything of that kind«
»Fact fact fact« said the gentleman And »Fact fact fact« repeated
Thomas Gradgrind
»You are to be in all things regulated and governed« said the gentleman
»by fact We hope to have before long a board of fact composed of
commissioners of fact who will force the people to be a people of fact and of
nothing but fact You must discard the word Fancy altogether You have nothing
to do with it You are not to have in any object of use or ornament what would
be a contradiction in fact You dont walk upon flowers in fact you cannot be
allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets You dont find that foreign birds and
butterflies come and perch upon your crockery you cannot be permitted to paint
foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery You never meet with quadrupeds
going up and down walls you must not have quadrupeds represented upon walls
You must use« said the gentleman »for all these purposes combinations and
modifications in primary colours of mathematical figures which are susceptible
of proof and demonstration This is the new discovery This is fact This is
taste«
The girl curtseyed and sat down She was very young and she looked as if
she were frightened by the matteroffact prospect the world afforded
»Now if Mr MChoakumchild« said the gentleman »will proceed to give his
first lesson here Mr Gradgrind I shall be happy at your request to observe
his mode of procedure«
Mr Gradgrind was much obliged »Mr MChoakumchild we only wait for you«
So Mr MChoakumchild began in his best manner He and some one hundred and
forty other schoolmasters had been lately turned at the same time in the same
factory on the same principles like so many pianoforte legs He had been put
through an immense variety of paces and had answered volumes of headbreaking
questions Orthography etymology syntax and prosody biography astronomy
geography and general cosmography the sciences of compound proportion
algebra landsurveying and levelling vocal music and drawing from models
were all at the ends of his ten chilled fingers He had worked his stony way
into Her Majestys most Honourable Privy Councils Schedule B and had taken the
bloom off the higher branches of mathematics and physical science French
German Latin and Greek He knew all about all the Water Sheds of all the world
whatever they are and all the histories of all the peoples and all the names
of all the rivers and mountains and all the productions manners and customs
of all the countries and all their boundaries and bearings on the two and
thirty points of the compass Ah rather overdone MChoakumchild If he had
only learnt a little less how infinitely better he might have taught much more
He went to work in this preparatory lesson not unlike Morgiana in the Forty
Thieves looking into all the vessels ranged before him one after another to
see what they contained Say good MChoakumchild When from thy boiling store
thou shalt fill each jar brim full byandby dost thou think that thou wilt
always kill outright the robber Fancy lurking within or sometimes only maim
him and distort him
Chapter III
A Loophole
Mr Gradgrind walked homeward from the school in a state of considerable
satisfaction It was his school and he intended it to be a model He intended
every child in it to be a model just as the young Gradgrinds were all models
There were five young Gradgrinds and they were models every one They had
been lectured at from their tenderest years coursed like little hares Almost
as soon as they could run alone they had been made to run to the lectureroom
The first object with which they had an association or of which they had a
remembrance was a large black board with a dry Ogre chalking ghastly white
figures on it
Not that they knew by name or nature anything about an Ogre Fact forbid
I only use the word to express a monster in a lecturing castle with Heaven
knows how many heads manipulated into one taking childhood captive and
dragging it into gloomy statistical dens by the hair
No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon it was up in the moon
before it could speak distinctly No little Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly
jingle Twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are No little
Gradgrind had ever known wonder on the subject each little Gradgrind having at
five years old dissected the Great Bear like a Professor Owen and driven
Charless Wain like a locomotive enginedriver No little Gradgrind had ever
associated a cow in a field with that famous cow with the crumpled horn who
tossed the dog who worried the cat who killed the rat who ate the malt or with
that yet more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb it had never heard of those
celebrities and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous ruminating
quadruped with several stomachs
To his matteroffact home which was called Stone Lodge Mr Gradgrind
directed his steps He had virtually retired from the wholesale hardware trade
before he built Stone Lodge and was now looking about for a suitable
opportunity of making an arithmetical figure in Parliament Stone Lodge was
situated on a moor within a mile or two of a great town called Coketown in the
present faithful guidebook
A very regular feature on the face of the country Stone Lodge was Not the
least disguise toned down or shaded off that uncompromising fact in the
landscape A great square house with a heavy portico darkening the principal
windows as its masters heavy brows overshadowed his eyes A calculated cast
up balanced and proved house Six windows on this side of the door six on
that side a total of twelve in this wing a total of twelve in the other wing
fourandtwenty carried over to the back wings A lawn and garden and an infant
avenue all ruled straight like a botanical accountbook Gas and ventilation
drainage and waterservice all of the primest quality Iron clamps and girders
fireproof from top to bottom mechanical lifts for the housemaids with all
their brushes and brooms everything that heart could desire
Everything Well I suppose so The little Gradgrinds had cabinets in
various departments of science too They had a little conchological cabinet and
a little metallurgical cabinet and a little mineralogical cabinet and the
specimens were all arranged and labelled and the bits of stone and ore looked
as though they might have been broken from the parent substances by those
tremendously hard instruments their own names and to paraphrase the idle
legend of Peter Piper who had never found his way into their nursery If the
greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at more than this what was it for good
gracious goodness sake that the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped it
Their father walked on in a hopeful and satisfied frame of mind He was an
affectionate father after his manner but he would probably have described
himself if he had been put like Sissy Jupe upon a definition as an eminently
practical father He had a particular pride in the phrase eminently practical
which was considered to have a special application to him Whatsoever the public
meeting held in Coketown and whatsoever the subject of such meeting some
Coketowner was sure to seize the occasion of alluding to his eminently practical
friend Gradgrind This always pleased the eminently practical friend He knew it
to be his due but his due was acceptable
He had reached the neutral ground upon the outskirts of the town which was
neither town nor country and yet was either spoiled when his ears were invaded
by the sound of music The clashing and banging band attached to the
horseriding establishment which had there set up its rest in a wooden pavilion
was in full bray A flag floating from the summit of the temple proclaimed to
mankind that it was Slearys Horseriding which claimed their suffrages Sleary
himself a stout modern statue with a moneybox at its elbow in an
ecclesiastical niche of early Gothic architecture took the money Miss
Josephine Sleary as some very long and very narrow strips of printed bill
announced was then inaugurating the entertainments with her graceful equestrian
Tyrolean floweract Among the other pleasing but always strictly moral wonders
which must be seen to be believed Signor Jupe was that afternoon to »elucidate
the diverting accomplishments of his highly trained performing dog Merrylegs«
He was also to exhibit »his astounding feat of throwing seventyfive
hundredweight in rapid succession backhanded over his head thus forming a
fountain of solid iron in midair a feat never before attempted in this or any
other country and which having elicited such rapturous plaudits from
enthusiastic throngs it cannot be withdrawn« The same Signor Jupe was to
»enliven the varied performances at frequent intervals with his chaste
Shaksperean quips and retorts« Lastly he was to wind them up by appearing in
his favourite character of Mr William Button of Tooley Street in »the highly
novel and laughable hippocomedietta of The Tailors Journey to Brentford«
Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities of course but passed on
as a practical man ought to pass on either brushing the noisy insects from his
thoughts or consigning them to the House of Correction But the turning of the
road took him by the back of the booth and at the back of the booth a number of
children were congregated in a number of stealthy attitudes striving to peep in
at the hidden glories of the place
This brought him to a stop »Now to think of these vagabonds« said he
»attracting the young rabble from a model school«
A space of stunted grass and dry rubbish being between him and the young
rabble he took his eyeglass out of his waistcoat to look for any child he knew
by name and might order off Phenomenon almost incredible though distinctly
seen what did he then behold but his own metallurgical Louisa peeping with all
her might through a hole in a deal board and his own mathematical Thomas
abasing himself on the ground to catch but a hoof of the graceful equestrian
Tyrolean floweract
Dumb with amazement Mr Gradgrind crossed to the spot where his family was
thus disgraced laid his hand upon each erring child and said
»Louisa Thomas«
Both rose red and disconcerted But Louisa looked at her father with more
boldness than Thomas did Indeed Thomas did not look at him but gave himself
up to be taken home like a machine
»In the name of wonder idleness and folly« said Mr Gradgrind leading
each away by a hand »what do you do here«
»Wanted to see what it was like« returned Louisa shortly
»What it was like«
»Yes father«
There was an air of jaded sullenness in them both and particularly in the
girl yet struggling through the dissatisfaction of her face there was a light
with nothing to rest upon a fire with nothing to burn a starved imagination
keeping life in itself somehow which brightened its expression Not with the
brightness natural to cheerful youth but with uncertain eager doubtful
flashes which had something painful in them analogous to the changes on a
blind face groping its way
She was a child now of fifteen or sixteen but at no distant day would seem
to become a woman all at once Her father thought so as he looked at her She
was pretty Would have been selfwilled he thought in his eminently practical
way but for her bringingup
»Thomas though I have the fact before me I find it difficult to believe
that you with your education and resources should have brought your sister to
a scene like this«
»I brought him father« said Louisa quickly »I asked him to come«
»I am sorry to hear it I am very sorry indeed to hear it It makes Thomas
no better and it makes you worse Louisa«
She looked at her father again but no tear fell down her cheek
»You Thomas and you to whom the circle of the sciences is open Thomas and
you who may be said to be replete with facts Thomas and you who have been
trained to mathematical exactness Thomas and you here« cried Mr Gradgrind
»In this degraded position I am amazed«
»I was tired father I have been tired a long time« said Louisa
»Tired Of what« asked the astonished father
»I dont know of what of everything I think«
»Say not another word« returned Mr Gradgrind »You are childish I will
hear no more« He did not speak again until they had walked some halfamile in
silence when he gravely broke out with »What would your best friends say
Louisa Do you attach no value to their good opinion What would Mr Bounderby
say«
At the mention of this name his daughter stole a look at him remarkable
for its intense and searching character He saw nothing of it for before he
looked at her she had again cast down her eyes
»What« he repeated presently »would Mr Bounderby say« All the way to
Stone Lodge as with grave indignation he led the two delinquents home he
repeated at intervals »What would Mr Bounderby say« as if Mr Bounderby had
been Mrs Grundy
Chapter IV
Mr Bounderby
Not being Mrs Grundy who was Mr Bounderby
Why Mr Bounderby was as near being Mr Gradgrinds bosom friend as a man
perfectly devoid of sentiment can approach that spiritual relationship towards
another man perfectly devoid of sentiment So near was Mr Bounderby or if
the reader should prefer it so far off
He was a rich man banker merchant manufacturer and what not A big loud
man with a stare and a metallic laugh A man made out of a coarse material
which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him A man with a great
puffed head and forehead swelled veins in his temples and such a strained skin
to his face that it seemed to hold his eyes open and lift his eyebrows up A
man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon and
ready to start A man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a selfmade
man A man who was always proclaiming through that brassy speakingtrumpet of a
voice of his his old ignorance and his old poverty A man who was the Bully of
humility
A year or two younger than his eminently practical friend Mr Bounderby
looked older his seven or eight and forty might have had the seven or eight
added to it again without surprising anybody He had not much hair One might
have fancied he had talked it off and that what was left all standing up in
disorder was in that condition from being constantly blown about by his windy
boastfulness
In the formal drawingroom of Stone Lodge standing on the hearthrug
warming himself before the fire Mr Bounderby delivered some observations to
Mrs Gradgrind on the circumstance of its being his birthday He stood before
the fire partly because it was a cool spring afternoon though the sun shone
partly because the shade of Stone Lodge was always haunted by the ghost of damp
mortar partly because he thus took up a commanding position from which to
subdue Mrs Gradgrind
»I hadnt a shoe to my foot As to a stocking I didnt know such a thing by
name I passed the day in a ditch and the night in a pigsty Thats the way I
spent my tenth birthday Not that a ditch was new to me for I was born in a
ditch«
Mrs Gradgrind a little thin white pinkeyed bundle of shawls of
surpassing feebleness mental and bodily who was always taking physic without
any effect and who whenever she showed a symptom of coming to life was
invariably stunned by some weighty piece of fact tumbling on her Mrs Gradgrind
hoped it was a dry ditch
»No As wet as a sop A foot of water in it« said Mr Bounderby
»Enough to give a baby cold« Mrs Gradgrind considered
»Cold I was born with inflammation of the lungs and of everything else I
believe that was capable of inflammation« returned Mr Bounderby »For years
maam I was one of the most miserable little wretches ever seen I was so
sickly that I was always moaning and groaning I was so ragged and dirty that
you wouldnt have touched me with a pair of tongs«
Mrs Gradgrind faintly looked at the tongs as the most appropriate thing
her imbecility could think of doing
»How I fought through it I dont know« said Bounderby »I was determined
I suppose I have been a determined character in later life and I suppose I was
then Here I am Mrs Gradgrind anyhow and nobody to thank for my being here
but myself«
Mrs Gradgrind meekly and weakly hoped that his mother
»My mother Bolted maam« said Bounderby
Mrs Gradgrind stunned as usual collapsed and gave it up
»My mother left me to my grandmother« said Bounderby »and according to
the best of my remembrance my grandmother was the wickedest and the worst old
woman that ever lived If I got a little pair of shoes by any chance she would
take em off and sell em for drink Why I have known that grandmother of mine
lie in her bed and drink her fourteen glasses of liquor before breakfast«
Mrs Gradgrind weakly smiling and giving no other sign of vitality looked
as she always did like an indifferently executed transparency of a small
female figure without enough light behind it
»She kept a chandlers shop« pursued Bounderby »and kept me in an eggbox
That was the cot of my infancy an old eggbox As soon as I was big enough to
run away of course I ran away Then I became a young vagabond and instead of
one old woman knocking me about and starving me everybody of all ages knocked
me about and starved me They were right they had no business to do anything
else I was a nuisance an incumbrance and a pest I know that very well«
His pride in having at any time of his life achieved such a great social
distinction as to be a nuisance an incumbrance and a pest was only to be
satisfied by three sonorous repetitions of the boast
»I was to pull through it I suppose Mrs Gradgrind Whether I was to do it
or not maam I did it I pulled through it though nobody threw me out a rope
Vagabond errandboy vagabond labourer porter clerk chief manager small
partner Josiah Bounderby of Coketown Those are the antecedents and the
culmination Josiah Bounderby of Coketown learnt his letters from the outsides
of the shops Mrs Gradgrind and was first able to tell the time upon a
dialplate from studying the steeple clock of St Giless Church London under
the direction of a drunken cripple who was a convicted thief and an
incorrigible vagrant Tell Josiah Bounderby of Coketown of your district
schools and your model schools and your training schools and your whole
kettleoffish of schools and Josiah Bounderby of Coketown tells you plainly
all right all correct he hadnt such advantages but let us have
hardheaded solidfisted people the education that made him wont do for
everybody he knows well such and such his education was however and you may
force him to swallow boiling fat but you shall never force him to suppress the
facts of his life«
Being heated when he arrived at this climax Josiah Bounderby of Coketown
stopped He stopped just as his eminently practical friend still accompanied by
the two young culprits entered the room His eminently practical friend on
seeing him stopped also and gave Louisa a reproachful look that plainly said
»Behold your Bounderby«
»Well« blustered Mr Bounderby »whats the matter What is young Thomas in
the dumps about«
He spoke of young Thomas but he looked at Louisa
»We were peeping at the circus« muttered Louisa haughtily without lifting
up her eyes »and father caught us«
»And Mrs Gradgrind« said her husband in a lofty manner »I should as soon
have expected to find my children reading poetry«
»Dear me« whimpered Mrs Gradgrind »How can you Louisa and Thomas I
wonder at you I declare youre enough to make one regret ever having had a
family at all I have a great mind to say I wish I hadnt Then what would you
have done I should like to know«
Mr Gradgrind did not seem favourably impressed by these cogent remarks He
frowned impatiently
»As if with my head in its present throbbing state you couldnt go and
look at the shells and minerals and things provided for you instead of
circuses« said Mrs Gradgrind »You know as well as I do no young people have
circus masters or keep circuses in cabinets or attend lectures about circuses
What can you possibly want to know of circuses then I am sure you have enough
to do if thats what you want With my head in its present state I couldnt
remember the mere names of half the facts you have got to attend to«
»Thats the reason« pouted Louisa
»Dont tell me thats the reason because it can be nothing of the sort«
said Mrs Gradgrind »Go and be somethingological directly« Mrs Gradgrind was
not a scientific character and usually dismissed her children to their studies
with this general injunction to choose their pursuit
In truth Mrs Gradgrinds stock of facts in general was woefully defective
but Mr Gradgrind in raising her to her high matrimonial position had been
influenced by two reasons Firstly she was most satisfactory as a question of
figures and secondly she had no nonsense about her By nonsense he meant
fancy and truly it is probable she was as free from any alloy of that nature
as any human being not arrived at the perfection of an absolute idiot ever was
The simple circumstance of being left alone with her husband and Mr
Bounderby was sufficient to stun this admirable lady again without collision
between herself and any other fact So she once more died away and nobody
minded her
»Bounderby« said Mr Gradgrind drawing a chair to the fireside »you are
always so interested in my young people particularly in Louisa that I make
no apology for saying to you I am very much vexed by this discovery I have
systematically devoted myself as you know to the education of the reason of my
family The reason is as you know the only faculty to which education should
be addressed And yet Bounderby it would appear from this unexpected
circumstance of today though in itself a trifling one as if something had
crept into Thomass and Louisas minds which is or rather which is not I
dont know that I can express myself better than by saying which has never
been intended to be developed and in which their reason has no part«
»There certainly is no reason in looking with interest at a parcel of
vagabonds« returned Bounderby »When I was a vagabond myself nobody looked
with any interest at me I know that«
»Then comes the question« said the eminently practical father with his
eyes on the fire »in what has this vulgar curiosity its rise«
»Ill tell you in what In idle imagination«
»I hope not« said the eminently practical »I confess however that the
misgiving has crossed me on my way home«
»In idle imagination Gradgrind« repeated Bounderby »A very bad thing for
anybody but a cursed bad thing for a girl like Louisa I should ask Mrs
Gradgrinds pardon for strong expressions but that she knows very well I am not
a refined character Whoever expects refinement in me will be disappointed I
hadnt a refined bringing up«
»Whether« said Gradgrind pondering with his hands in his pockets and his
cavernous eyes on the fire »whether any instructor or servant can have
suggested anything Whether Louisa or Thomas can have been reading anything
Whether in spite of all precautions any idle storybook can have got into the
house Because in minds that have been practically formed by rule and line
from the cradle upwards this is so curious so incomprehensible«
»Stop a bit« cried Bounderby who all this time had been standing as
before on the hearth bursting at the very furniture of the room with explosive
humility »You have one of those strollers children in the school«
»Cecilia Jupe by name« said Mr Gradgrind with something of a stricken
look at his friend
»Now stop a bit« cried Bounderby again »How did she come there«
»Why the fact is I saw the girl myself for the first time only just now
She specially applied here at the house to be admitted as not regularly
belonging to our town and yes you are right Bounderby you are right«
»Now stop a bit« cried Bounderby once more »Louisa saw her when she
came«
»Louisa certainly did see her for she mentioned the application to me But
Louisa saw her I have no doubt in Mrs Gradgrinds presence«
»Pray Mrs Gradgrind« said Bounderby »what passed«
»Oh my poor health« returned Mrs Gradgrind »The girl wanted to come to
the school and Mr Gradgrind wanted girls to come to the school and Louisa and
Thomas both said that the girl wanted to come and that Mr Gradgrind wanted
girls to come and how was it possible to contradict them when such was the
fact«
»Now I tell you what Gradgrind« said Mr Bounderby »Turn this girl to the
right about and theres an end of it«
»I am much of your opinion«
»Do it at once« said Bounderby »has always been my motto from a child
When I thought I would run away from my eggbox and my grandmother I did it at
once Do you the same Do this at once«
»Are you walking« asked his friend »I have the fathers address Perhaps
you would not mind walking to town with me«
»Not the least in the world« said Mr Bounderby »as long as you do it at
once«
So Mr Bounderby threw on his hat he always threw it on as expressing a
man who had been far too busily employed in making himself to acquire any
fashion of wearing his hat and with his hands in his pockets sauntered out
into the hall »I never wear gloves« it was his custom to say »I didnt climb
up the ladder in them Shouldnt be so high up if I had«
Being left to saunter in the hall a minute or two while Mr Gradgrind went
upstairs for the address he opened the door of the childrens study and looked
into that serene floorclothed apartment which notwithstanding its bookcases
and its cabinets and its variety of learned and philosophical appliances had
much of the genial aspect of a room devoted to haircutting Louisa languidly
leaned upon the window looking out without looking at anything while young
Thomas stood sniffing revengefully at the fire Adam Smith and Malthus two
younger Gradgrinds were out at lecture in custody and little Jane after
manufacturing a good deal of moist pipeclay on her face with slatepencil and
tears had fallen asleep over vulgar fractions
»Its all right now Louisa its all right young Thomas« said Mr
Bounderby »you wont do so any more Ill answer for its being all over with
father Well Louisa thats worth a kiss isnt it«
»You can take one Mr Bounderby« returned Louisa when she had coldly
paused and slowly walked across the room and ungraciously raised her cheek
towards him with her face turned away
»Always my pet aint you Louisa« said Mr Bounderby »Goodbye Louisa«
He went his way but she stood on the same spot rubbing the cheek he had
kissed with her handkerchief until it was burning red She was still doing
this five minutes afterwards
»What are you about Loo« her brother sulkily remonstrated »Youll rub a
hole in your face«
»You may cut the piece out with your penknife if you like Tom I wouldnt
cry«
Chapter V
The KeyNote
Coketown to which Messrs Bounderby and Gradgrind now walked was a triumph of
fact it had no greater taint of fancy in it than Mrs Gradgrind herself Let us
strike the keynote Coketown before pursuing our tune
It was a town of red brick or of brick that would have been red if the
smoke and ashes had allowed it but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural
red and black like the painted face of a savage It was a town of machinery and
tall chimneys out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves
for ever and ever and never got uncoiled It had a black canal in it and a
river that ran purple with illsmelling dye and vast piles of building full of
windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long and where the
piston of the steamengine worked monotonously up and down like the head of an
elephant in a state of melancholy madness It contained several large streets
all very like one another and many small streets still more like one another
inhabited by people equally like one another who all went in and out at the
same hours with the same sound upon the same pavements to do the same work
and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow and every year
the counterpart of the last and the next
These attributes of Coketown were in the main inseparable from the work by
which it was sustained against them were to be set off comforts of life which
found their way all over the world and elegancies of life which made we will
not ask how much of the fine lady who could scarcely bear to hear the place
mentioned The rest of its features were voluntary and they were these
You saw nothing in Coketown but what was severely workful If the members of
a religious persuasion built a chapel there as the members of eighteen
religious persuasions had done they made it a pious warehouse of red brick
with sometimes but this is only in highly ornamental examples a bell in a
birdcage on the top of it The solitary exception was the New Church a stuccoed
edifice with a square steeple over the door terminating in four short pinnacles
like florid wooden legs All the public inscriptions in the town were painted
alike in severe characters of black and white The jail might have been the
infirmary the infirmary might have been the jail the townhall might have been
either or both or anything else for anything that appeared to the contrary in
the graces of their construction Fact fact fact everywhere in the material
aspect of the town fact fact fact everywhere in the immaterial The
MChoakumchild school was all fact and the school of design was all fact and
the relations between master and man were all fact and everything was fact
between the lyingin hospital and the cemetery and what you couldnt state in
figures or show to be purchaseable in the cheapest market and saleable in the
dearest was not and never should be world without end Amen
A town so sacred to fact and so triumphant in its assertion of course got
on well Why no not quite well No Dear me
No Coketown did not come out of its own furnaces in all respects like gold
that had stood the fire First the perplexing mystery of the place was Who
belonged to the eighteen denominations Because whoever did the labouring
people did not It was very strange to walk through the streets on a Sunday
morning and note how few of them the barbarous jangling of bells that was
driving the sick and nervous mad called away from their own quarter from their
own close rooms from the corners of their own streets where they lounged
listlessly gazing at all the church and chapel going as at a thing with which
they had no manner of concern Nor was it merely the stranger who noticed this
because there was a native organization in Coketown itself whose members were
to be heard of in the House of Commons every session indignantly petitioning
for acts of parliament that should make these people religious by main force
Then came the Teetotal Society who complained that these same people would get
drunk and showed in tabular statements that they did get drunk and proved at
tea parties that no inducement human or Divine except a medal would induce
them to forego their custom of getting drunk Then came the chemist and
druggist with other tabular statements showing that when they didnt get
drunk they took opium Then came the experienced chaplain of the jail with
more tabular statements outdoing all the previous tabular statements and
showing that the same people would resort to low haunts hidden from the public
eye where they heard low singing and saw low dancing and mayhap joined in it
and where A B aged twentyfour next birthday and committed for eighteen
months solitary had himself said not that he had ever shown himself
particularly worthy of belief his ruin began as he was perfectly sure and
confident that otherwise he would have been a tiptop moral specimen Then came
Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby the two gentlemen at this present moment
walking through Coketown and both eminently practical who could on occasion
furnish more tabular statements derived from their own personal experience and
illustrated by cases they had known and seen from which it clearly appeared
in short it was the only clear thing in the case that these same people were
a bad lot altogether gentlemen that do what you would for them they were never
thankful for it gentlemen that they were restless gentlemen that they never
knew what they wanted that they lived upon the best and bought fresh butter
and insisted on Mocha coffee and rejected all but prime parts of meat and yet
were eternally dissatisfied and unmanageable In short it was the moral of the
old nursery fable
There was an old woman and what do you think
She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink
Victuals and drink were the whole of her diet
And yet this old woman would NEVER be quiet
Is it possible I wonder that there was any analogy between the case of the
Coketown population and the case of the little Gradgrinds Surely none of us in
our sober senses and acquainted with figures are to be told at this time of
day that one of the foremost elements in the existence of the Coketown working
had been for scores of years deliberately set at nought That there was any
Fancy in them demanding to be brought into healthy existence instead of
struggling on in convulsions That exactly in the ratio as they worked long and
monotonously the craving grew within them for some physical relief some
relaxation encouraging good humour and good spirits and giving them a vent
some recognized holiday though it were but for an honest dance to a stirring
band of music some occasional light pie in which even MChoakumchild had no
finger which craving must and would be satisfied aright or must and would
inevitably go wrong until the laws of the Creation were repealed
»This man lives at Pods End and I dont quite know Pods End« said Mr
Gradgrind »Which is it Bounderby«
Mr Bounderby knew it was somewhere down town but knew no more respecting
it So they stopped for a moment looking about
Almost as they did so there came running round the corner of the street at
a quick pace and with a frightened look a girl whom Mr Gradgrind recognized
»Halloa« said he »Stop Where are you going Stop« Girl number twenty stopped
then palpitating and made him a curtsey
»Why are you tearing about the streets« said Mr Gradgrind »in this
improper manner«
»I was I was run after sir« the girl panted »and I wanted to get away«
»Run after« repeated Mr Gradgrind »Who would run after you«
The question was unexpectedly and suddenly answered for her by the
colourless boy Bitzer who came round the corner with such blind speed and so
little anticipating a stoppage on the pavement that he brought himself up
against Mr Gradgrinds waistcoat and rebounded into the road
»What do you mean boy« said Mr Gradgrind »What are you doing How dare
you dash against everybody in this manner«
Bitzer picked up his cap which the concussion had knocked off and backing
and knuckling his forehead pleaded that it was an accident
»Was this boy running after you Jupe« asked Mr Gradgrind
»Yes sir« said the girl reluctantly
»No I wasnt sir« cried Bitzer »Not till she run away from me But the
horseriders never mind what they say sir theyre famous for it You know the
horseriders are famous for never minding what they say« addressing Sissy
»Its as well known in the town as please sir as the multiplication table
isnt known to the horseriders« Bitzer tried Mr Bounderby with this
»He frightened me so« said the girl »with his cruel faces«
»Oh« cried Bitzer »Oh Ant you one of the rest Ant you a horserider I
never looked at her sir I asked her if she would know how to define a horse
tomorrow and offered to tell her again and she ran away and I ran after her
sir that she might know how to answer when she was asked You wouldnt have
thought of saying such mischief if you hadnt been a horserider«
»Her calling seems to be pretty well known among em« observed Mr
Bounderby »Youd have had the whole school peeping in a row in a week«
»Truly I think so« returned his friend »Bitzer turn you about and take
yourself home Jupe stay here a moment Let me hear of your running in this
manner any more boy and you will hear of me through the master of the school
You understand what I mean Go along«
The boy stopped in his rapid blinking knuckled his forehead again glanced
at Sissy turned about and retreated
»Now girl« said Mr Gradgrind »take this gentleman and me to your
fathers we are going there What have you got in that bottle you are
carrying«
»Gin« said Mr Bounderby
»Dear no sir Its the nine oils«
»The what« cried Mr Bounderby
»The nine oils sir To rub father with« Then said Mr Bounderby with a
loud short laugh »What the devil do you rub your father with nine oils for«
»Its what our people always use sir when they get any hurts in the ring«
replied the girl looking over her shoulder to assure herself that her pursuer
was gone »They bruise themselves very bad sometimes«
»Serve em right« said Mr Bounderby »for being idle« She glanced up at
his face with mingled astonishment and dread
»By George« said Mr Bounderby »when I was four or five years younger than
you I had worse bruises upon me than ten oils twenty oils forty oils would
have rubbed off I didnt get em by posturemaking but by being banged about
There was no ropedancing for me I danced on the bare ground and was larruped
with the rope«
Mr Gradgrind though hard enough was by no means so rough a man as Mr
Bounderby His character was not unkind all things considered it might have
been a very kind one indeed if he had only made some round mistake in the
arithmetic that balanced it years ago He said in what he meant for a
reassuring tone as they turned down a narrow road »And this is Pods End is
it Jupe«
»This is it sir and if you wouldnt mind sir this is the house«
She stopped at twilight at the door of a mean little public house with
dim red lights in it As haggard and as shabby as if for want of custom it
had itself taken to drinking and had gone the way all drunkards go and was
very near the end of it
»Its only crossing the bar sir and up the stairs if you wouldnt mind
and waiting there for a moment till I get a candle If you should hear a dog
sir its only Merrylegs and he only barks«
»Merrylegs and nine oils eh« said Mr Bounderby entering last with his
metallic laugh »Pretty well this for a selfmade man«
Chapter VI
Slearys Horsemanship
The name of the publichouse was the Pegasuss Arms The Pegasuss legs might
have been more to the purpose but underneath the winged horse upon the
signboard the Pegasuss Arms was inscribed in Roman letters Beneath that
inscription again in a flowing scroll the painter had touched off the lines
Good malt makes good beer
Walk in and theyll draw it here
Good wine makes good brandy
Give us a call and youll find it handy
Framed and glazed upon the wall behind the dingy little bar was another Pegasus
a theatrical one with real gauze let in for his wings golden stars stuck on
all over him and his ethereal harness made of red silk
As it had grown too dusky without to see the sign and as it had not grown
light enough within to see the picture Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby received
no offence from these idealities They followed the girl up some steep
cornerstairs without meeting any one and stopped in the dark while she went on
for a candle They expected every moment to hear Merrylegs give tongue but the
highly trained performing dog had not barked when the girl and the candle
appeared together
»Father is not in our room sir« she said with a face of great surprise
»If you wouldnt mind walking in Ill find him directly«
They walked in and Sissy having set two chairs for them sped away with a
quick light step It was a mean shabbily furnished room with a bed in it The
white nightcap embellished with two peacocks feathers and a pigtail bolt
upright in which Signor Jupe had that very afternoon enlivened the varied
performances with his chaste Shaksperean quips and retorts hung upon a nail
but no other portion of his wardrobe or other token of himself or his pursuits
was to be seen anywhere As to Merrylegs that respectable ancestor of the
highly trained animal who went aboard the ark might have been accidentally shut
out of it for any sign of a dog that was manifest to eye or ear in the
Pegasuss Arms
They heard the doors of rooms above opening and shutting as Sissy went from
one to another in quest of her father and presently they heard voices
expressing surprise She came bounding down again in a great hurry opened a
battered and mangy old hair trunk found it empty and looked round with her
hands clasped and her face full of terror
»Father must have gone down to the Booth sir I dont know why he should go
there but he must be there Ill bring him in a minute« She was gone directly
without her bonnet with her long dark childish hair streaming behind her
»What does she mean« said Mr Gradgrind »Back in a minute Its more than
a mile off«
Before Mr Bounderby could reply a young man appeared at the door and
introducing himself with the words »By your leaves gentlemen« walked in with
his hands in his pockets His face closeshaven thin and sallow was shaded
by a great quantity of dark hair brushed into a roll all round his head and
parted up the centre His legs were very robust but shorter than legs of good
proportions should have been His chest and back were as much too broad as his
legs were too short He was dressed in a Newmarket coat and tightfitting
trousers wore a shawl round his neck smelt of lampoil straw orangepeel
horses provender and sawdust and looked a most remarkable sort of Centaur
compounded of the stable and the playhouse Where the one began and the other
ended nobody could have told with any precision This gentleman was mentioned
in the bills of the day as Mr EWB Childers so justly celebrated for his
daring vaulting act as the Wild Huntsman of the North American Prairies in
which popular performance a diminutive boy with an old face who now
accompanied him assisted as his infant son being carried upside down over his
fathers shoulder by one foot and held by the crown of his head heels
upwards in the palm of his fathers hand according to the violent paternal
manner in which wild huntsmen may be observed to fondle their offspring Made up
with curls wreaths wings white bismuth and carmine this hopeful young
person soared into so pleasing a Cupid as to constitute the chief delight of the
maternal part of the spectators but in private where his characteristics were
a precocious cutaway coat and an extremely gruff voice he became of the Turf
turfy
»By your leaves gentlemen« said Mr EWB Childers glancing round the
room »It was you I believe that were wishing to see Jupe«
»It was« said Mr Gradgrind »His daughter has gone to fetch him but I
cant wait therefore if you please I will leave a message for him with you«
»You see my friend« Mr Bounderby put in »we are the kind of people who
know the value of time and you are the kind of people who dont know the value
of time«
»I have not« retorted Mr Childers after surveying him from head to foot
»the honour of knowing you but if you mean that you can make more money of
your time than I can of mine I should judge from your appearance that you are
about right«
»And when you have made it you can keep it too I should think« said
Cupid
»Kidderminster stow that« said Mr Childers Master Kidderminster was
Cupids mortal name
»What does he come here cheeking us for then« cried Master Kidderminster
showing a very irascible temperament »If you want to cheek us pay your ochre
at the doors and take it out«
»Kidderminster« said Mr Childers raising his voice »stow that Sir«
to Mr Gradgrind »I was addressing myself to you You may or you may not be
aware for perhaps you have not been much in the audience that Jupe has missed
his tip very often lately«
»Has what has he missed« asked Mr Gradgrind glancing at the potent
Bounderby for assistance
»Missed his tip«
»Offered at the Garters four times last night and never done em once«
said Master Kidderminster »Missed his tip at the banners too and was loose in
his ponging«
»Didnt do what he ought to do Was short in his leaps and bad in his
tumbling« Mr Childers interpreted
»Oh« said Mr Gradgrind »that is tip is it«
»In a general way thats missing his tip« Mr EWB Childers answered
»Nine oils Merrylegs missing tips garters banners and Ponging eh«
ejaculated Bounderby with his laugh of laughs »Queer sort of company too for
a man who has raised himself«
»Lower yourself then« retorted Cupid »Oh Lord if youve raised yourself
so high as all that comes to let yourself down a bit«
»This is a very obtrusive lad« said Mr Gradgrind turning and knitting
his brows on him
»Wed have had a young gentleman to meet you if we had known you were
coming« retorted Master Kidderminster nothing abashed »Its a pity you dont
have a bespeak being so particular Youre on the TightJeff aint you«
»What does this unmannerly boy mean« asked Mr Gradgrind eyeing him in a
sort of desperation »by TightJeff«
»There Get out get out« said Mr Childers thrusting his young friend
from the room rather in the prairie manner »TightJeff or SlackJeff it dont
much signify its only tightrope and slackrope You were going to give me a
message for Jupe«
»Yes I was«
»Then« continued Mr Childers quickly »my opinion is he will never
receive it Do you know much of him«
»I never saw the man in my life«
»I doubt if you ever will see him now Its pretty plain to me hes off«
»Do you mean that he has deserted his daughter«
»Ay I mean« said Mr Childers with a nod »that he has cut He was goosed
last night he was goosed the night before last he was goosed today He has
lately got in the way of being always goosed and he cant stand it«
»Why has he been so very much Goosed« asked Mr Gradgrind forcing the
word out of himself with great solemnity and reluctance
»His joints are turning stiff and he is getting used up« said Childers
»He has his points as a Cackler still but he cant get a living out of them«
»A Cackler« Bounderby repeated »Here we go again«
»A speaker if the gentleman likes it better« said Mr EWB Childers
superciliously throwing the interpretation over his shoulder and accompanying
it with a shake of his long hair which all shook at once »Now its a
remarkable fact sir that it cut that man deeper to know that his daughter
knew of his being goosed than to go through with it«
»Good« interrupted Mr Bounderby »This is good Gradgrind A man so fond
of his daughter that he runs away from her This is devilish good Ha ha Now
Ill tell you what young man I havent always occupied my present station of
life I know what these things are You may be astonished to hear it but my
mother ran away from me«
EWB Childers replied pointedly that he was not at all astonished to hear
it
»Very well« said Bounderby »I was born in a ditch and my mother ran away
from me Do I excuse her for it No Have I ever excused her for it Not I What
do I call her for it I call her probably the very worst woman that ever lived
in the world except my drunken grandmother Theres no family pride about me
theres no imaginative sentimental humbug about me I call a spade a spade and
I call the mother of Josiah Bounderby of Coketown without any fear or any
favour what I should call her if she had been the mother of Dick Jones of
Wapping So with this man He is a runaway rogue and a vagabond thats what he
is in English«
»Its all the same to me what he is or what he is not whether in English or
whether in French« retorted Mr EWB Childers facing about »I am telling
your friend whats the fact if you dont like to hear it you can avail
yourself of the open air You give it mouth enough you do but give it mouth in
your own building at least« remonstrated EWB with stern irony »Dont give
it mouth in this building till youre called upon You have got some building
of your own I dare say now«
»Perhaps so« replied Mr Bounderby rattling his money and laughing
»Then give it mouth in your own building will you if you please« said
Childers »Because this isnt a strong building and too much of you might bring
it down«
Eyeing Mr Bounderby from head to foot again he turned from him as from a
man finally disposed of to Mr Gradgrind
»Jupe sent his daughter out on an errand not an hour ago and then was seen
to slip out himself with his hat over his eyes and a bundle tied up in a
handkerchief under his arm She will never believe it of him but he has cut
away and left her«
»Pray« said Mr Gradgrind »why will she never believe it of him«
»Because those two were one Because they were never asunder Because up to
this time he seemed to dote upon her« said Childers taking a step or two to
look into the empty trunk Both Mr Childers and Master Kidderminster walked in
a curious manner with their legs wider apart than the general run of men and
with a very knowing assumption of being stiff in the knees This walk was common
to all the male members of Slearys company and was understood to express that
they were always on horseback
»Poor Sissy He had better have apprenticed her« said Childers giving his
hair another shake as he looked up from the empty box »Now he leaves her
without anything to take to«
»It is creditable to you who have never been apprenticed to express that
opinion« returned Mr Gradgrind approvingly
»I never apprenticed I was apprenticed when I was seven year old«
»Oh Indeed« said Mr Gradgrind rather resentfully as having been
defrauded of his good opinion »I was not aware of its being the custom to
apprentice young persons to «
»Idleness« Mr Bounderby put in with a loud laugh »No by the Lord Harry
Nor I«
»Her father always had it in his head« resumed Childers feigning
unconsciousness of Mr Bounderbys existence »that she was to be taught the
deuceandall of education How it got into his head I cant say I can only
say that it never got out He has been picking up a bit of reading for her here
and a bit of writing for her there and a bit of ciphering for her
somewhere else these seven years«
Mr EWB Childers took one of his hands out of his pockets stroked his
face and chin and looked with a good deal of doubt and a little hope at Mr
Gradgrind From the first he had sought to conciliate that gentleman for the
sake of the deserted girl
»When Sissy got into the school here« he pursued »her father was as
pleased as Punch I couldnt altogether make out why myself as we were not
stationary here being but comers and goers anywhere I suppose however he had
this move in his mind he was always halfcracked and then considered her
provided for If you should happen to have looked in tonight for the purpose
of telling him that you were going to do her any little service« said Mr
Childers stroking his face again and repeating his look »it would be very
fortunate and welltimed very fortunate and welltimed«
»On the contrary« returned Mr Gradgrind »I came to tell him that her
connections made her not an object for the school and that she must not attend
any more Still if her father really has left her without any connivance on
her part Bounderby let me have a word with you«
Upon this Mr Childers politely betook himself with his equestrian walk
to the landing outside the door and there stood stroking his face and softly
whistling While thus engaged he overheard such phrases in Mr Bounderbys
voice as »No I say no I advise you not I say by no means« While from Mr
Gradgrind he heard in his much lower tone the words »But even as an example to
Louisa of what this pursuit which has been the subject of a vulgar curiosity
leads to and ends in Think of it Bounderby in that point of view«
Meanwhile the various members of Slearys company gradually gathered
together from the upper regions where they were quartered and from standing
about talking in low voices to one another and to Mr Childers gradually
insinuated themselves and him into the room There were two or three handsome
young women among them with their two or three husbands and their two or three
mothers and their eight or nine little children who did the fairy business
when required The father of one of the families was in the habit of balancing
the father of another of the families on the top of a great pole the father of
a third family often made a pyramid of both those fathers with Master
Kidderminster for the apex and himself for the base all the fathers could
dance upon rolling casks stand upon bottles catch knives and balls twirl
handbasins ride upon anything jump over everything and stick at nothing All
the mothers could and did dance upon the slack wire and the tightrope and
perform rapid acts on barebacked steeds none of them were at all particular in
respect of showing their legs and one of them alone in a Greek chariot drove
six in hand into every town they came to They all assumed to be mighty rakish
and knowing they were not very tidy in their private dresses they were not at
all orderly in their domestic arrangements and the combined literature of the
whole company would have produced but a poor letter on any subject Yet there
was a remarkable gentleness and childishness about these people a special
inaptitude for any kind of sharp practice and an untiring readiness to help and
pity one another deserving often of as much respect and always of as much
generous construction as the everyday virtues of any class of people in the
world
Last of all appeared Mr Sleary a stout man as already mentioned with one
fixed eye and one loose eye a voice if it can be called so like the efforts
of a broken old pair of bellows a flabby surface and a muddled head which was
never sober and never drunk
»Thquire« said Mr Sleary who was troubled with asthma and whose breath
came far too thick and heavy for the letter s »Your thervant Thith ith a bad
piethe of bithnith thith ith Youve heard of my Clown and hith dog being
thuppothed to have morrithed«
He addressed Mr Gradgrind who answered »Yes«
»Well Thquire« he returned taking off his hat and rubbing the lining
with his pockethandkerchief which he kept inside for the purpose »Ith it your
intenthion to do anything for the poor girl Thquire«
»I shall have something to propose to her when she comes back« said Mr
Gradgrind
»Glad to hear it Thquire Not that I want to get rid of the child any more
than I want to thtand in her way Im willing to take her prentith though at
her age ith late My voithe ith a little huthky Thquire and not eathy heard by
them ath dont know me but if youd been chilled and heated heated and
chilled chilled and heated in the ring when you wath young ath often ath I
have been your voithe wouldnt have lathted out Thquire no more than mine«
»I dare say not« said Mr Gradgrind
»What thall it be Thquire while you wait Thall it be Therry Give it a
name Thquire« said Mr Sleary with hospitable ease
»Nothing for me I thank you« said Mr Gradgrind
»Dont thay nothing Thquire What doth your friend thay If you havent
took your feed yet have a glath of bitterth«
Here his daughter Josephine a pretty fairhaired girl of eighteen who had
been tied on a horse at two years old and had made a will at twelve which she
always carried about with her expressive of her dying desire to be drawn to the
grave by the two piebald ponies cried »Father hush she has come back« Then
came Sissy Jupe running into the room as she had run out of it And when she
saw them all assembled and saw their looks and saw no father there she broke
into a most deplorable cry and took refuge on the bosom of the most
accomplished tightrope lady herself in the familyway who knelt down on the
floor to nurse her and to weep over her
»Ith an infernal thame upon my thoul it ith« said Sleary
»O my dear father my good kind father where are you gone You are gone to
try to do me some good I know You are gone away for my sake I am sure And
how miserable and helpless you will be without me poor poor father until you
come back« It was so pathetic to hear her saying many things of this kind with
her face turned upward and her arms stretched out as if she were trying to stop
his departing shadow and embrace it that no one spoke a word until Mr
Bounderby growing impatient took the case in hand
»Now good people all« said he »this is wanton waste of time Let the girl
understand the fact Let her take it from me if you like who have been run
away from myself Here whats your name Your father has absconded deserted
you and you mustnt expect to see him again as long as you live«
They cared so little for plain Fact these people and were in that advanced
state of degeneracy on the subject that instead of being impressed by the
speakers strong common sense they took it in extraordinary dudgeon The men
muttered »Shame« and the women »Brute« and Sleary in some haste communicated
the following hint apart to Mr Bounderby
»I tell you what Thquire To thpeak plain to you my opinion ith that you
had better cut it thort and drop it Theyre a very good naturd people my
people but theyre accuthtomed to be quick in their movementh and if you dont
act upon my advithe Im damned if I dont believe theyll pith you out o
winder«
Mr Bounderby being restrained by this mild suggestion Mr Gradgrind found
an opening for his eminently practical exposition of the subject
»It is of no moment« said he »whether this person is to be expected back
at any time or the contrary He is gone away and there is no present
expectation of his return That I believe is agreed on all hands«
»Thath agreed Thquire Thick to that« From Sleary
»Well then I who came here to inform the father of the poor girl Jupe
that she could not be received at the school any more in consequence of there
being practical objections into which I need not enter to the reception there
of the children of persons so employed am prepared in these altered
circumstances to make a proposal I am willing to take charge of you Jupe and
to educate you and provide for you The only condition over and above your
good behaviour I make is that you decide now at once whether to accompany me
or remain here Also that if you accompany me now it is understood that you
communicate no more with any of your friends who are here present These
observations comprise the whole of the case«
»At the thame time« said Sleary »I mutht put in my word Thquire tho that
both thides of the banner may be equally theen If you like Thethilia to be
prentitht you know the natur of the work and you know your companionth Emma
Gordon in whothe lap youre a lying at prethent would be a mother to you and
Jothphine would be a thithter to you I dont pretend to be of the angel breed
myself and I dont thay but what when you mithd your tip youd find me cut
up rough and thwear an oath or two at you But what I thay Thquire ith that
good tempered or bad tempered I never did a horthe a injury yet no more than
thwearing at him went and that I dont expect I thall begin otherwithe at my
time of life with a rider I never wath much of a Cackler Thquire and I have
thed my thay«
The latter part of this speech was addressed to Mr Gradgrind who received
it with a grave inclination of his head and then remarked
»The only observation I will make to you Jupe in the way of influencing
your decision is that it is highly desirable to have a sound practical
education and that even your father himself from what I understand appears
on your behalf to have known and felt that much«
The last words had a visible effect upon her She stopped in her wild
crying a little detached herself from Emma Gordon and turned her face full
upon her patron The whole company perceived the force of the change and drew a
long breath together that plainly said »she will go«
»Be sure you know your own mind Jupe« Mr Gradgrind cautioned her »I say
no more Be sure you know your own mind«
»When father comes back« cried the girl bursting into tears again after a
minutes silence »how will he ever find me if I go away«
»You may be quite at ease« said Mr Gradgrind calmly he worked out the
whole matter like a sum »you may be quite at ease Jupe on that score In such
a case your father I apprehend must find out Mr «
»Thleary Thath my name Thquire Not athamed of it Known all over England
and alwayth paythe ith way«
»Must find out Mr Sleary who would then let him know where you went I
should have no power of keeping you against his wish and he would have no
difficulty at any time in finding Mr Thomas Gradgrind of Coketown I am well
known«
»Well known« assented Mr Sleary rolling his loose eye »Youre one of the
thort Thquire that keepth a prethiouth thight of money out of the houthe But
never mind that at prethent«
There was another silence and then she exclaimed sobbing with her hands
before her face »Oh give me my clothes give me my clothes and let me go away
before I break my heart«
The women sadly bestirred themselves to get the clothes together it was
soon done for they were not many and to pack them in a basket which had often
travelled with them Sissy sat all the time upon the ground still sobbing and
covering her eyes Mr Gradgrind and his friend Bounderby stood near the door
ready to take her away Mr Sleary stood in the middle of the room with the
male members of the company about him exactly as he would have stood in the
centre of the ring during his daughter Josephines performance He wanted
nothing but his whip
The basket packed in silence they brought her bonnet to her and smoothed
her disordered hair and put it on Then they pressed about her and bent over
her in very natural attitudes kissing and embracing her and brought the
children to take leave of her and were a tenderhearted simple foolish set of
women altogether
»Now Jupe« said Mr Gradgrind »If you are quite determined come«
But she had to take her farewell of the male part of the company yet and
every one of them had to unfold his arms for they all assumed the professional
attitude when they found themselves near Sleary and give her a parting kiss
Master Kidderminster excepted in whose young nature there was an original
flavour of the misanthrope who was also known to have harboured matrimonial
views and who moodily withdrew Mr Sleary was reserved until the last Opening
his arms wide he took her by both her hands and would have sprung her up and
down after the ridingmaster manner of congratulating young ladies on their
dismounting from a rapid act but there was no rebound in Sissy and she only
stood before him crying
»Goodbye my dear« said Sleary »Youll make your fortun I hope and none
of our poor folkth will ever trouble you Ill pound it I with your father
hadnt taken hith dog with him ith a illconwenienth to have the dog out of the
billth But on thecond thoughth he wouldnt have performed without hith
mathter tho ith ath broad ath ith long«
With that he regarded her attentively with his fixed eye surveyed his
company with his loose one kissed her shook his head and handed her to Mr
Gradgrind as to a horse
»There the ith Thquire« he said sweeping her with a professional glance
as if she were being adjusted in her seat »and thell do you juthtithe
Goodbye Thethilia«
»Goodbye Cecilia« »Goodbye Sissy« »God bless you dear« In a variety
of voices from all the room
But the ridingmaster eye had observed the bottle of the nine oils in her
bosom and he now interposed with »Leave the bottle my dear ith large to
carry it will be of no uthe to you now Give it to me«
»No no« she said in another burst of tears »Oh no Pray let me keep it
for father till he comes back He will want it when he comes back He had never
thought of going away when he sent me for it I must keep it for him if you
please«
»Tho be it my dear You thee how it ith Thquire Farewell Thethilia My
latht wordth to you ith thith Thtick to the termth of your engagement be
obedient to the Thquire and forget uth But if when youre grown up and
married and well off you come upon any hortheriding ever dont be hard upon
it dont be croth with it give it a Bethpeak if you can and think you might
do wurth People mutht be amuthed Thquire thomehow« continued Sleary
rendered more pursy than ever by so much talking »they cant be alwayth a
working nor yet they cant be alwayth a learning Make the betht of uth not
the wurtht Ive got my living out of the hortheriding all my life I know but
I conthider that I lay down the philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you
Thquire make the betht of uth not the wurtht«
The Sleary philosophy was propounded as they went downstairs and the fixed
eye of Philosophy and its rolling eye too soon lost the three figures and
the basket in the darkness of the street
Chapter VII
Mrs Sparsit
Mr Bounderby being a bachelor an elderly lady presided over his establishment
in consideration of a certain annual stipend Mrs Sparsit was this ladys name
and she was a prominent figure in attendance on Mr Bounderbys car as it
rolled along in triumph with the Bully of humility inside
For Mrs Sparsit had not only seen different days but was highly
connected She had a great aunt living in these very times called Lady Scadgers
Mr Sparsit deceased of whom she was the relict had been by the mothers side
what Mrs Sparsit still called a Powler Strangers of limited information and
dull apprehension were sometimes observed not to know what a Powler was and
even to appear uncertain whether it might be a business or a political party
or a profession of faith The better class of minds however did not need to be
informed that the Powlers were an ancient stock who could trace themselves so
exceedingly far back that it was not surprising if they sometimes lost
themselves which they had rather frequently done as respected horseflesh
blindhookey Hebrew monetary transactions and the Insolvent Debtors Court
The late Mr Sparsit being by the mothers side a Powler married this
lady being by the fathers side a Scadgers Lady Scadgers an immensely fat old
woman with an inordinate appetite for butchers meat and a mysterious leg
which had now refused to get out of bed for fourteen years contrived the
marriage at a period when Sparsit was just of age and chiefly noticeable for a
slender body weakly supported on two long slim props and surmounted by no head
worth mentioning He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle but owed it all
before he came into it and spent it twice over immediately afterwards Thus
when he died at twentyfour the scene of his decease Calais and the cause
brandy he did not leave his widow from whom he had been separated soon after
the honeymoon in affluent circumstances That bereaved lady fifteen years
older than he fell presently at deadly feud with her only relative Lady
Scadgers and partly to spite her ladyship and partly to maintain herself
went out at a salary And here she was now in her elderly days with the
Coriolanian style of nose and the dense black eyebrows which had captivated
Sparsit making Mr Bounderbys tea as he took his breakfast
If Bounderby had been a Conqueror and Mrs Sparsit a captive Princess whom
he took about as a feature in his stateprocessions he could not have made a
greater flourish with her than he habitually did Just as it belonged to his
boastfulness to depreciate his own extraction so it belonged to it to exalt
Mrs Sparsits In the measure that he would not allow his own youth to have
been attended by a single favourable circumstance he brightened Mrs Sparsits
juvenile career with every possible advantage and showered waggonloads of early
roses all over that ladys path »And yet sir« he would say »how does it turn
out after all Why here she is at a hundred a year I give her a hundred which
she is pleased to term handsome keeping the house of Josiah Bounderby of
Coketown«
Nay he made this foil of his so very widely known that third parties took
it up and handled it on some occasions with considerable briskness It was one
of the most exasperating attributes of Bounderby that he not only sang his own
praises but stimulated other men to sing them There was a moral infection of
claptrap in him Strangers modest enough elsewhere started up at dinners in
Coketown and boasted in quite a rampant way of Bounderby They made him out
to be the Royal arms the UnionJack Magna Charta John Bull Habeas Corpus
the Bill of Rights An Englishmans house is his castle Church and State and
God save the Queen all put together And as often and it was very often as an
orator of this kind brought into his peroration
»Princes and lords may flourish or may fade
A breath can make them as a breath has made«
it was for certain more or less understood among the company that he had
heard of Mrs Sparsit
»Mr Bounderby« said Mrs Sparsit »you are unusually slow sir with your
breakfast this morning«
»Why maam« he returned »I am thinking about Tom Gradgrinds whim« Tom
Gradgrind for a bluff independent manner of speaking as if somebody were
always endeavouring to bribe him with immense sums to say Thomas and he
wouldnt »Tom Gradgrinds whim maam of bringing up the tumblinggirl«
»The girl is now waiting to know« said Mrs Sparsit »whether she is to go
straight to the school or up to the Lodge«
»She must wait maam« answered Bounderby »till I know myself We shall
have Tom Gradgrind down here presently I suppose If he should wish her to
remain here a day or two longer of course she can maam«
»Of course she can if you wish it Mr Bounderby«
»I told him I would give her a shakedown here last night in order that he
might sleep on it before he decided to let her have any association with
Louisa«
»Indeed Mr Bounderby Very thoughtful of you«
Mrs Sparsits Coriolanian nose underwent a slight expansion of the
nostrils and her black eyebrows contracted as she took a sip of tea
»Its tolerably clear to me« said Bounderby »that the little puss can get
small good out of such companionship«
»Are you speaking of young Miss Gradgrind Mr Bounderby«
»Yes maam Im speaking of Louisa«
»Your observation being limited to little puss« said Mrs Sparsit »and
there being two little girls in question I did not know which might be
indicated by that expression«
»Louisa« repeated Mr Bounderby »Louisa Louisa«
»You are quite another father to Louisa sir« Mrs Sparsit took a little
more tea and as she bent her again contracted eyebrows over her steaming cup
rather looked as if her classical countenance were invoking the infernal gods
»If you had said I was another father to Tom young Tom I mean not my
friend Tom Gradgrind you might have been nearer the mark I am going to take
young Tom into my office Going to have him under my wing maam«
»Indeed Rather young for that is he not sir« Mrs Sparsits »sir« in
addressing Mr Bounderby was a word of ceremony rather exacting consideration
for herself in the use than honouring him
»Im not going to take him at once he is to finish his educational cramming
before then« said Bounderby »By the Lord Harry hell have enough of it first
and last Hed open his eyes that boy would if he knew how empty of learning
my young maw was at his time of life« Which by the by he probably did know
for he had heard of it often enough »But its extraordinary the difficulty I
have on scores of such subjects in speaking to any one on equal terms Here
for example I have been speaking to you this morning about tumblers Why what
do you know about tumblers At the time when to have been a tumbler in the mud
of the streets would have been a godsend to me a prize in the lottery to me
you were at the Italian Opera You were coming out of the Italian Opera maam
in white satin and jewels a blaze of splendour when I hadnt a penny to buy a
link to light you«
»I certainly sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with a dignity serenely mournful
»was familiar with the Italian Opera at a very early age«
»Egad maam so was I« said Bounderby » with the wrong side of it A
hard bed the pavement of its Arcade used to make I assure you People like you
maam accustomed from infancy to lie on Down feathers have no idea how hard a
pavingstone is without trying it No no its of no use my talking to you
about tumblers I should speak of foreign dancers and the West End of London
and May Fair and lords and ladies and honourables«
»I trust sir« rejoined Mrs Sparsit with decent resignation »it is not
necessary that you should do anything of that kind I hope I have learnt how to
accommodate myself to the changes of life If I have acquired an interest in
hearing of your instructive experiences and can scarcely hear enough of them I
claim no merit for that since I believe it is a general sentiment«
»Well maam« said her patron »perhaps some people may be pleased to say
that they do like to hear in his own unpolished way what Josiah Bounderby of
Coketown has gone through But you must confess that you were born in the lap
of luxury yourself Come maam you know you were born in the lap of luxury«
»I do not sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with a shake of her head »deny it«
Mr Bounderby was obliged to get up from table and stand with his back to
the fire looking at her she was such an enhancement of his position
»And you were in crack society Devilish high society« he said warming his
legs
»It is true sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with an affectation of humility
the very opposite of his and therefore in no danger of jostling it
»You were in the tiptop fashion and all the rest of it« said Mr
Bounderby
»Yes sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with a kind of social widowhood upon her
»It is unquestionably true«
Mr Bounderby bending himself at the knees literally embraced his legs in
his great satisfaction and laughed aloud Mr and Miss Gradgrind being then
announced he received the former with a shake of the hand and the latter with
a kiss
»Can Jupe be sent here Bounderby« asked Mr Gradgrind
Certainly So Jupe was sent there On coming in she curtseyed to Mr
Bounderby and to his friend Tom Gradgrind and also to Louisa but in her
confusion unluckily omitted Mrs Sparsit Observing this the blustrous
Bounderby had the following remarks to make
»Now I tell you what my girl The name of that lady by the teapot is Mrs
Sparsit That lady acts as mistress of this house and she is a highly connected
lady Consequently if ever you come again into any room in this house you will
make a short stay in it if you dont behave towards that lady in your most
respectful manner Now I dont care a button what you do to me because I dont
affect to be anybody So far from having high connections I have no connections
at all and I come of the scum of the earth But towards that lady I do care
what you do and you shall do what is deferential and respectful or you shall
not come here«
»I hope Bounderby« said Mr Gradgrind in a conciliatory voice »that this
was merely an oversight«
»My friend Tom Gradgrind suggests Mrs Sparsit« said Bounderby »that this
was merely an oversight Very likely However as you are aware maam I dont
allow of even oversights towards you«
»You are very good indeed sir« returned Mrs Sparsit shaking her head
with her State humility »It is not worth speaking of«
Sissy who all this time had been faintly excusing herself with tears in
her eyes was now waved over by the master of the house to Mr Gradgrind She
stood looking intently at him and Louisa stood coldly by with her eyes upon
the ground while he proceeded thus
»Jupe I have made up my mind to take you into my house and when you are
not in attendance at the school to employ you about Mrs Gradgrind who is
rather an invalid I have explained to Miss Louisa this is Miss Louisa the
miserable but natural end of your late career and you are to expressly
understand that the whole of that subject is past and is not to be referred to
any more From this time you begin your history You are at present ignorant
I know«
»Yes sir very« she answered curtseying
»I shall have the satisfaction of causing you to be strictly educated and
you will be a living proof to all who come into communication with you of the
advantages of the training you will receive You will be reclaimed and formed
You have been in the habit now of reading to your father and those people I
found you among I dare say« said Mr Gradgrind beckoning her nearer to him
before he said so and dropping his voice
»Only to father and Merrylegs sir At least I mean to father when
Merrylegs was always there«
»Never mind Merrylegs Jupe« said Mr Gradgrind with a passing frown »I
dont ask about him I understand you to have been in the habit of reading to
your father«
»O yes sir thousands of times They were the happiest O of all the
happy times we had together sir«
It was only now when her sorrow broke out that Louisa looked at her
»And what« asked Mr Gradgrind in a still lower voice »did you read to
your father Jupe«
»About the Fairies sir and the Dwarf and the Hunchback and the Genies«
she sobbed out »and about «
»Hush« said Mr Gradgrind »that is enough Never breathe a word of such
destructive nonsense any more Bounderby this is a case for rigid training and
I shall observe it with interest«
»Well« returned Mr Bounderby »I have given you my opinion already and I
shouldnt do as you do But very well very well Since you are bent upon it
very well«
So Mr Gradgrind and his daughter took Cecilia Jupe off with them to Stone
Lodge and on the way Louisa never spoke one word good or bad And Mr
Bounderby went about his daily pursuits And Mrs Sparsit got behind her
eyebrows and meditated in the gloom of that retreat all the evening
Chapter VIII
Never Wonder
Let us strike the keynote again before pursuing the tune
When she was half a dozen years younger Louisa had been overheard to begin
a conversation with her brother one day by saying »Tom I wonder« upon which
Mr Gradgrind who was the person overhearing stepped forth into the light and
said »Louisa never wonder«
Herein lay the spring of the mechanical art and mystery of educating the
reason without stooping to the cultivation of the sentiments and affections
Never wonder By means of addition subtraction multiplication and division
settle everything somehow and never wonder Bring to me says MChoakumchild
yonder baby just able to walk and I will engage that it shall never wonder
Now besides very many babies just able to walk there happened to be in
Coketown a considerable population of babies who had been walking against time
towards the infinite world twenty thirty forty fifty years and more These
portentous infants being alarming creatures to stalk about in any human society
the eighteen denominations incessantly scratched one anothers faces and pulled
one anothers hair by way of agreeing on the steps to be taken for their
improvement which they never did a surprising circumstance when the happy
adaptation of the means to the end is considered Still although they differed
in every other particular conceivable and inconceivable especially
inconceivable they were pretty well united on the point that these unlucky
infants were never to wonder Body number one said they must take everything on
trust Body number two said they must take everything on political economy
Body number three wrote leaden little books for them showing how the good
grownup baby invariably got to the Savingsbank and the bad grownup baby
invariably got transported Body number four under dreary pretences of being
droll when it was very melancholy indeed made the shallowest pretences of
concealing pitfalls of knowledge into which it was the duty of these babies to
be smuggled and inveigled But all the bodies agreed that they were never to
wonder
There was a library in Coketown to which general access was easy Mr
Gradgrind greatly tormented his mind about what the people read in this library
a point whereon little rivers of tabular statements periodically flowed into the
howling ocean of tabular statements which no diver ever got to any depth in and
came up sane It was a disheartening circumstance but a melancholy fact that
even these readers persisted in wondering They wondered about human nature
human passions human hopes and fears the struggles triumphs and defeats the
cares and joys and sorrows the lives and deaths of common men and women They
sometimes after fifteen hours work sat down to read mere fables about men and
women more or less like themselves and about children more or less like their
own They took De Foe to their bosoms instead of Euclid and seemed to be on
the whole more comforted by Goldsmith than by Cocker Mr Gradgrind was for ever
working in print and out of print at this eccentric sum and he never could
make out how it yielded this unaccountable product
»I am sick of my life Loo I hate it altogether and I hate everybody
except you« said the unnatural young Thomas Gradgrind in the haircutting
chamber at twilight
»You dont hate Sissy Tom«
»I hate to be obliged to call her Jupe And she hates me« said Tom
moodily
»No she does not Tom I am sure«
»She must« said Tom »She must just hate and detest the whole setout of
us Theyll bother her head off I think before they have done with her
Already shes getting as pale as wax and as heavy as I am«
Young Thomas expressed these sentiments sitting astride of a chair before
the fire with his arms on the back and his sulky face on his arms His sister
sat in the darker corner by the fireside now looking at him now looking at the
bright sparks as they dropped upon the hearth
»As to me« said Tom tumbling his hair all manner of ways with his sulky
hands »I am a Donkey thats what I am I am as obstinate as one I am more
stupid than one I get as much pleasure as one and I should like to kick like
one«
»Not me I hope Tom«
»No Loo I wouldnt hurt you I made an exception of you at first I dont
know what this jolly old Jaundiced Jail« Tom had paused to find a
sufficiently complimentary and expressive name for the parental roof and seemed
to relieve his mind for a moment by the strong alliteration of this one »would
be without you«
»Indeed Tom Do you really and truly say so«
»Why of course I do Whats the use of talking about it« returned Tom
chafing his face on his coatsleeve as if to mortify his flesh and have it in
unison with his spirit
»Because Tom« said his sister after silently watching the sparks awhile
»as I get older and nearer growing up I often sit wondering here and think
how unfortunate it is for me that I cant reconcile you to home better than I am
able to do I dont know what other girls know I cant play to you or sing to
you I cant talk to you so as to lighten your mind for I never see any amusing
sights or read any amusing books that it would be a pleasure or a relief to you
to talk about when you are tired«
»Well no more do I I am as bad as you in that respect and I am a Mule
too which youre not If father was determined to make me either a Prig or a
Mule and I am not a Prig why it stands to reason I must be a Mule And so I
am« said Tom desperately
»Its a great pity« said Louisa after another pause and speaking
thoughtfully out of her dark corner »its a great pity Tom Its very
unfortunate for both of us«
»Oh You« said Tom »you are a girl Loo and a girl comes out of it better
than a boy does I dont miss anything in you You are the only pleasure I have
you can brighten even this place and you can always lead me as you like«
»You are a dear brother Tom and while you think I can do such things I
dont so much mind knowing better Though I do know better Tom and am very
sorry for it« She came and kissed him and went back into her corner again
»I wish I could collect all the Facts we hear so much about« said Tom
spitefully setting his teeth »and all the Figures and all the people who found
them out and I wish I could put a thousand barrels of gunpowder under them and
blow them all up together However when I go to live with old Bounderby Ill
have my revenge«
»Your revenge Tom«
»I mean Ill enjoy myself a little and go about and see something and
hear something Ill recompense myself for the way in which I have been brought
up«
»But dont disappoint yourself beforehand Tom Mr Bounderby thinks as
father thinks and is a great deal rougher and not half so kind«
»Oh« said Tom laughing »I dont mind that I shall very well know how to
manage and smooth old Bounderby«
Their shadows were defined upon the wall but those of the high presses in
the room were all blended together on the wall and on the ceiling as if the
brother and sister were overhung by a dark cavern Or a fanciful imagination
if such treason could have been there might have made it out to be the shadow
of their subject and of its lowering association with their future
»What is your great mode of smoothing and managing Tom Is it a secret«
»Oh« said Tom »if it is a secret its not far off Its you You are his
little pet you are his favourite hell do anything for you When he says to me
what I dont like I shall say to him My sister Loo will be hurt and
disappointed Mr Bounderby She always used to tell me she was sure you would
be easier with me than this Thatll bring him about or nothing will«
After waiting for some answering remark and getting none Tom wearily
relapsed into the present time and twined himself yawning round and about the
rails of his chair and rumpled his head more and more until he suddenly looked
up and asked
»Have you gone to sleep Loo«
»No Tom I am looking at the fire«
»You seem to find more to look at in it than ever I could find« said Tom
»Another of the advantages I suppose of being a girl«
»Tom« enquired his sister slowly and in a curious tone as if she were
reading what she asked in the fire and it were not quite plainly written there
»do you look forward with any satisfaction to this change to Mr Bounderbys«
»Why theres one thing to be said of it« returned Tom pushing his chair
from him and standing up »it will be getting away from home«
»There is one thing to be said of it« Louisa repeated in her former curious
tone »it will be getting away from home Yes«
»Not but what I shall be very unwilling both to leave you Loo and to
leave you here But I must go you know whether I like it or not and I had
better go where I can take with me some advantage of your influence than where
I should lose it altogether Dont you see«
»Yes Tom«
The answer was so long in coming though there was no indecision in it that
Tom went and leaned on the back of her chair to contemplate the fire which so
engrossed her from her point of view and see what he could make of it
»Except that it is a fire« said Tom »it looks to me as stupid and blank as
everything else looks What do you see in it Not a circus«
»I dont see anything in it Tom particularly But since I have been
looking at it I have been wondering about you and me grown up«
»Wondering again« said Tom
»I have such unmanageable thoughts« returned his sister »that they will
wonder«
»Then I beg of you Louisa« said Mrs Gradgrind who had opened the door
without being heard »to do nothing of that description for goodness sake you
inconsiderate girl or I shall never hear the last of it from your father And
Thomas it is really shameful with my poor head continually wearing me out
that a boy brought up as you have been and whose education has cost what yours
has should be found encouraging his sister to wonder when he knows his father
has expressly said that she is not to do it«
Louisa denied Toms participation in the offence but her mother stopped her
with the conclusive answer »Louisa dont tell me in my state of health for
unless you had been encouraged it is morally and physically impossible that you
could have done it«
»I was encouraged by nothing mother but by looking at the red sparks
dropping out of the fire and whitening and dying It made me think after all
how short my life would be and how little I could hope to do in it«
»Nonsense« said Mrs Gradgrind rendered almost energetic »Nonsense Dont
stand there and tell me such stuff Louisa to my face when you know very well
that if it was ever to reach your fathers ears I should never hear the last of
it After all the trouble that has been taken with you After the lectures you
have attended and the experiments you have seen After I have heard you myself
when the whole of my right side has been benumbed going on with your master
about combustion and calcination and calorification and I may say every kind
of ation that could drive a poor invalid distracted to hear you talking in this
absurd way about sparks and ashes I wish« whimpered Mrs Gradgrind taking a
chair and discharging her strongest point before succumbing under these mere
shadows of facts »yes I really do wish that I had never had a family and then
you would have known what it was to do without me«
Chapter IX
Sissys Progress
Sissy Jupe had not an easy time of it between Mr MChoakumchild and Mrs
Gradgrind and was not without strong impulses in the first months of her
probation to run away It hailed facts all day long so very hard and life in
general was opened to her as such a closely ruled cipheringbook that assuredly
she would have run away but for only one restraint
It is lamentable to think of but this restraint was the result of no
arithmetical process was selfimposed in defiance of all calculation and went
dead against any table of probabilities that any Actuary would have drawn up
from the premises The girl believed that her father had not deserted her she
lived in the hope that he would come back and in the faith that he would be
made the happier by her remaining where she was
The wretched ignorance with which Jupe clung to this consolation rejecting
the superior comfort of knowing on a sound arithmetical basis that her father
was an unnatural vagabond filled Mr Gradgrind with pity Yet what was to be
done MChoakumchild reported that she had a very dense head for figures that
once possessed with a general idea of the globe she took the smallest
conceivable interest in its exact measurements that she was extremely slow in
the acquisition of dates unless some pitiful incident happened to be connected
therewith that she would burst into tears on being required by the mental
process immediately to name the cost of two hundred and fortyseven muslin caps
at fourteenpence halfpenny that she was as low down in the school as low
could be that after eight weeks of induction into the elements of Political
Economy she had only yesterday been set right by a prattler three feet high
for returning to the question »What is the first principle of this science«
the absurd answer »To do unto others as I would that they should do unto me«
Mr Gradgrind observed shaking his head that all this was very bad that
it showed the necessity of infinite grinding at the mill of knowledge as per
system schedule blue book report and tabular statements A to Z and that
Jupe »must be kept to it« So Jupe was kept to it and became lowspirited but
no wiser
»It would be a fine thing to be you Miss Louisa« she said one night when
Louisa had endeavoured to make her perplexities for next day something clearer
to her
»Do you think so«
»I should know so much Miss Louisa All that is difficult to me now would
be so easy then«
»You might not be the better for it Sissy«
Sissy submitted after a little hesitation »I should not be the worse Miss
Louisa« To which Miss Louisa answered »I dont know that«
There had been so little communication between these two both because life
at Stone Lodge went monotonously round like a piece of machinery which
discouraged human interference and because of the prohibition relative to
Sissys past career that they were still almost strangers Sissy with her
dark eyes wonderingly directed to Louisas face was uncertain whether to say
more or to remain silent
»You are more useful to my mother and more pleasant with her than I can
ever be« Louisa resumed »You are pleasanter to yourself than I am to myself«
»But if you please Miss Louisa« Sissy pleaded »I am O so stupid«
Louisa with a brighter laugh than usual told her she would be wiser
byandby
»You dont know« said Sissy half crying »what a stupid girl I am All
through school hours I make mistakes Mr and Mrs MChoakumchild call me up
over and over again regularly to make mistakes I cant help them They seem to
come natural to me«
»Mr and Mrs MChoakumchild never make any mistakes themselves I suppose
Sissy«
»O no« she eagerly returned »They know everything«
»Tell me some of your mistakes«
»I am almost ashamed« said Sissy with reluctance »But today for
instance Mr MChoakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity«
»National I think it must have been« observed Louisa
»Yes it was But isnt it the same« she timidly asked
»You had better say National as he said so« returned Louisa with her dry
reserve
»National Prosperity And he said Now this schoolroom is a Nation And in
this nation there are fifty millions of money Isnt this a prosperous nation
Girl number twenty isnt this a prosperous nation and ant you in a thriving
state«
»What did you say« asked Louisa
»Miss Louisa I said I didnt know I thought I couldnt know whether it was
a prosperous nation or not and whether I was in a thriving state or not unless
I knew who had got the money and whether any of it was mine But that had
nothing to do with it It was not in the figures at all« said Sissy wiping her
eyes
»That was a great mistake of yours« observed Louisa
»Yes Miss Louisa I know it was now Then Mr MChoakumchild said he would
try me again And he said This schoolroom is an immense town and in it there
are a million of inhabitants and only fiveandtwenty are starved to death in
the streets in the course of a year What is your remark on that proportion
And my remark was for I couldnt think of a better one that I thought it
must be just as hard upon those who were starved whether the others were a
million or a million million And that was wrong too«
»Of course it was«
»Then Mr MChoakumchild said he would try me once more And he said Here
are the stutterings «
»Statistics« said Louisa
»Yes Miss Louisa they always remind me of stutterings and thats another
of my mistakes of accidents upon the sea And I find Mr MChoakumchild said
that in a given time a hundred thousand persons went to sea on long voyages and
only five hundred of them were drowned or burnt to death What is the
percentage And I said Miss« here Sissy fairly sobbed as confessing with
extreme contrition to her greatest error »I said it was nothing«
»Nothing Sissy«
»Nothing Miss to the relations and friends of the people who were killed
I shall never learn« said Sissy »And the worst of all is that although my
poor father wished me so much to learn and although I am so anxious to learn
because he wished me to I am afraid I dont like it«
Louisa stood looking at the pretty modest head as it drooped abashed before
her until it was raised again to glance at her face Then she asked
»Did your father know so much himself that he wished you to be well taught
too Sissy«
Sissy hesitated before replying and so plainly showed her sense that they
were entering on forbidden ground that Louisa added »No one hears us and if
any one did I am sure no harm could be found in such an innocent question«
»No Miss Louisa« answered Sissy upon this encouragement shaking her
head »father knows very little indeed Its as much as he can do to write and
its more than people in general can do to read his writing Though its plain
to me«
»Your mother«
»Father says she was quite a scholar She died when I was born She was«
Sissy made the terrible communication nervously »she was a dancer«
»Did your father love her« Louisa asked these questions with a strong
wild wandering interest peculiar to her an interest gone astray like a
banished creature and hiding in solitary places
»O yes As dearly as he loves me Father loved me first for her sake He
carried me about with him when I was quite a baby We have never been asunder
from that time«
»Yet he leaves you now Sissy«
»Only for my good Nobody understands him as I do nobody knows him as I do
When he left me for my good he never would have left me for his own I know
he was almost brokenhearted with the trial He will not be happy for a single
minute till he comes back«
»Tell me more about him« said Louisa »I will never ask you again Where
did you live«
»We travelled about the country and had no fixed place to live in Fathers
a« Sissy whispered the awful word »a clown«
»To make the people laugh« said Louisa with a nod of intelligence
»Yes But they wouldnt laugh sometimes and then father cried Lately they
very often wouldnt laugh and he used to come home despairing Fathers not
like most Those who didnt know him as well as I do and didnt love him as
dearly as I do might believe he was not quite right Sometimes they played
tricks upon him but they never knew how he felt them and shrunk up when he
was alone with me He was far far timider than they thought«
»And you were his comfort through everything«
She nodded with the tears rolling down her face »I hope so and father
said I was It was because he grew so scared and trembling and because he felt
himself to be a poor weak ignorant helpless man those used to be his words
that he wanted me so much to know a great deal and be different from him I
used to read to him to cheer his courage and he was very fond of that They
were wrong books I am never to speak of them here but we didnt know there
was any harm in them«
»And he liked them« said Louisa with a searching gaze on Sissy all this
time
»O very much They kept him many times from what did him real harm And
often and often of a night he used to forget all his troubles in wondering
whether the Sultan would let the lady go on with the story or would have her
head cut off before it was finished«
»And your father was always kind To the last« asked Louisa contravening
the great principle and wondering very much
»Always always« returned Sissy clasping her hands »Kinder and kinder
than I can tell He was angry only one night and that was not to me but
Merrylegs Merrylegs« she whispered the awful fact »is his performing dog«
»Why was he angry with the dog« Louisa demanded
»Father soon after they came home from performing told Merrylegs to jump
up on the backs of the two chairs and stand across them which is one of his
tricks He looked at father and didnt do it at once Everything of fathers
had gone wrong that night and he hadnt pleased the public at all He cried out
that the very dog knew he was failing and had no compassion on him Then he
beat the dog and I was frightened and said Father father Pray dont hurt
the creature who is so fond of you O Heaven forgive you father stop And he
stopped and the dog was bloody and father lay down crying on the floor with
the dog in his arms and the dog licked his face«
Louisa saw that she was sobbing and going to her kissed her took her
hand and sat down beside her
»Finish by telling me how your father left you Sissy Now that I have asked
you so much tell me the end The blame if there is any blame is mine not
yours«
»Dear Miss Louisa« said Sissy covering her eyes and sobbing yet »I came
home from the school that afternoon and found poor father just come home too
from the booth And he sat rocking himself over the fire as if he was in pain
And I said Have you hurt yourself father as he did sometimes like they all
did and he said A little my darling And when I came to stoop down and look
up at his face I saw that he was crying The more I spoke to him the more he
hid his face and at first he shook all over and said nothing but My darling
and My love«
Here Tom came lounging in and stared at the two with a coolness not
particularly savouring of interest in anything but himself and not much of that
at present
»I am asking Sissy a few questions Tom« observed his sister »You have no
occasion to go away but dont interrupt us for a moment Tom dear«
»Oh very well« returned Tom »Only father has brought old Bounderby home
and I want you to come into the drawingroom Because if you come theres a
good chance of old Bounderbys asking me to dinner and if you dont theres
none«
»Ill come directly«
»Ill wait for you« said Tom »to make sure«
Sissy resumed in a lower voice »At last poor father said that he had given
no satisfaction again and never did give any satisfaction now and that he was
a shame and disgrace and I should have done better without him all along I
said all the affectionate things to him that came into my heart and presently
he was quiet and I sat down by him and told him all about the school and
everything that had been said and done there When I had no more left to tell
he put his arms round my neck and kissed me a great many times Then he asked
me to fetch some of the stuff he used for the little hurt he had had and to
get it at the best place which was at the other end of town from there and
then after kissing me again he let me go When I had gone downstairs I turned
back that I might be a little bit more company to him yet and looked in at the
door and said Father dear shall I take Merrylegs Father shook his head and
said No Sissy no take nothing thats known to be mine my darling and I
left him sitting by the fire Then the thought must have come upon him poor
poor father of going away to try something for my sake for when I came back
he was gone«
»I say Look sharp for old Bounderby Loo« Tom remonstrated
»Theres no more to tell Miss Louisa I keep the nine oils ready for him
and I know he will come back Every letter that I see in Mr Gradgrinds hand
takes my breath away and blinds my eyes for I think it comes from father or
from Mr Sleary about father Mr Sleary promised to write as soon as ever
father should be heard of and I trust to him to keep his word«
»Do look sharp for old Bounderby Loo« said Tom with an impatient whistle
»Hell be off if you dont look sharp«
After this whenever Sissy dropped a curtsey to Mr Gradgrind in the
presence of his family and said in a faltering way »I beg your pardon sir
for being troublesome but have you had any letter yet about me« Louisa
would suspend the occupation of the moment whatever it was and look for the
reply as earnestly as Sissy did And when Mr Gradgrind regularly answered »No
Jupe nothing of the sort« the trembling of Sissys lip would be repeated in
Louisas face and her eyes would follow Sissy with compassion to the door Mr
Gradgrind usually improved these occasions by remarking when she was gone that
if Jupe had been properly trained from an early age she would have remonstrated
to herself on sound principles the baselessness of these fantastic hopes Yet it
did seem though not to him for he saw nothing of it as if fantastic hope
could take as strong a hold as Fact
This observation must be limited exclusively to his daughter As to Tom he
was becoming that not unprecedented triumph of calculation which is usually at
work on number one As to Mrs Gradgrind if she said anything on the subject
she would come a little way out of her wrappers like a feminine dormouse and
say
»Good gracious bless me how my poor head is vexed and worried by that girl
Jupes so perseveringly asking over and over again about her tiresome letters
Upon my word and honour I seem to be fated and destined and ordained to live
in the midst of things that I am never to hear the last of It really is a most
extraordinary circumstance that it appears as if I never was to hear the last of
anything«
At about this point Mr Gradgrinds eye would fall upon her and under the
influence of that wintry piece of fact she would become torpid again
Chapter X
Stephen Blackpool
I entertain a weak idea that the English people are as hardworked as any people
upon whom the sun shines I acknowledge to this ridiculous idiosyncrasy as a
reason why I would give them a little more play
In the hardest working part of Coketown in the innermost fortifications of
that ugly citadel where Nature was as strongly bricked out as killing airs and
gases were bricked in at the heart of the labyrinth of narrow courts upon
courts and close streets upon streets which had come into existence piecemeal
every piece in a violent hurry for some one mans purpose and the whole an
unnatural family shouldering and trampling and pressing one another to death
in the last close nook of this great exhausted receiver where the chimneys for
want of air to make a draught were built in an immense variety of stunted and
crooked shapes as though every house put out a sign of the kind of people who
might be expected to be born in it among the multitude of Coketown generically
called the Hands a race who would have found more favour with some people if
Providence had seen fit to make them only hands or like the lower creatures of
the seashore only hands and stomachs lived a certain Stephen Blackpool forty
years of age
Stephen looked older but he had had a hard life It is said that every life
has its roses and thorns there seemed however to have been a misadventure or
mistake in Stephens case whereby somebody else had become possessed of his
roses and he had become possessed of the same somebody elses thorns in
addition to his own He had known to use his words a peck of trouble He was
usually called Old Stephen in a kind of rough homage to the fact
A rather stooping man with a knitted brow a pondering expression of face
and a hardlooking head sufficiently capacious on which his irongrey hair lay
long and thin Old Stephen might have passed for a particularly intelligent man
in his condition Yet he was not He took no place among those remarkable
»Hands« who piecing together their broken intervals of leisure through many
years had mastered difficult sciences and acquired a knowledge of most
unlikely things He held no station among the Hands who could make speeches and
carry on debates Thousands of his compeers could talk much better than he at
any time He was a good powerloom weaver and a man of perfect integrity What
more he was or what else he had in him if anything let him show for himself
The lights in the great factories which looked when they were illuminated
like Fairy palaces or the travellers by expresstrain said so were all
extinguished and the bells had rung for knocking off for the night and had
ceased again and the Hands men and women boy and girl were clattering home
Old Stephen was standing in the street with the old sensation upon him which
the stoppage of the machinery always produced the sensation of its having
worked and stopped in his own head
»Yet I dont see Rachael still« said he
It was a wet night and many groups of young women passed him with their
shawls drawn over their bare heads and held close under their chins to keep the
rain out He knew Rachael well for a glance at any one of these groups was
sufficient to show him that she was not there At last there were no more to
come and then he turned away saying in a tone of disappointment »Why then I
ha missed her«
But he had not gone the length of three streets when he saw another of the
shawled figures in advance of him at which he looked so keenly that perhaps its
mere shadow indistinctly reflected on the wet pavement if he could have seen
it without the figure itself moving along from lamp to lamp brightening and
fading as it went would have been enough to tell him who was there Making his
pace at once much quicker and much softer he darted on until he was very near
this figure then fell into his former walk and called »Rachael«
She turned being then in the brightness of a lamp and raising her hood a
little showed a quiet oval face dark and rather delicate irradiated by a pair
of very gentle eyes and further set off by the perfect order of her shining
black hair It was not a face in its first bloom she was a woman five and
thirty years of age
»Ah lad Tis thou« When she had said this with a smile which would have
been quite expressed though nothing of her had been seen but her pleasant eyes
she replaced her hood again and they went on together
»I thought thou wast ahind me Rachael«
»No«
»Early t night lass«
»Times Im a little early Stephen times a little late Im never to be
counted on going home«
»Nor going tother way neither t seems to me Rachael«
»No Stephen«
He looked at her with some disappointment in his face but with a respectful
and patient conviction that she must be right in whatever she did The
expression was not lost upon her she laid her hand lightly on his arm a moment
as if to thank him for it
»We are such true friends lad and such old friends and getting to be such
old folk now«
»No Rachael thourt as young as ever thou wast«
»One of us would be puzzled how to get old Stephen without t other
getting so too both being alive« she answered laughing »but anyways were
such old friends that t hide a word of honest truth fro one another would be
a sin and a pity Tis better not to walk too much together Times yes
Twould be hard indeed if twas not to be at all« she said with a
cheerfulness she sought to communicate to him
»Tis hard anyways Rachael«
»Try to think not and twill seem better«
»Ive tried a long time and tant got better But thourt right t might
mak fok talk even of thee Thou hast been that to me Rachael through so many
year thou hast done me so much good and heartened of me in that cheering way
that thy word is a law to me Ah lass and a bright good law Better than some
real ones«
»Never fret about them Stephen« she answered quickly and not without an
anxious glance at his face »Let the laws be«
»Yes« he said with a slow nod or two »Let em be Let everything be Let
all sorts alone Tis a muddle and thats aw«
»Always a muddle« said Rachael with another gentle touch upon his arm as
if to recall him out of the thoughtfulness in which he was biting the long ends
of his loose neckerchief as he walked along The touch had its instantaneous
effect He let them fall turned a smiling face upon her and said as he broke
into a goodhumoured laugh »Ay Rachael lass awlus a muddle Thats where I
stick I come to the muddle many times and agen and I never get beyond it«
They had walked some distance and were near their own homes The womans
was the first reached It was in one of the many small streets for which the
favourite undertaker who turned a handsome sum out of the one poor ghastly pomp
of the neighbourhood kept a black ladder in order that those who had done
their daily groping up and down the narrow stairs might slide out of this
working world by the windows She stopped at the corner and putting her hand in
his wished him good night
»Good night dear lass good night«
She went with her neat figure and her sober womanly step down the dark
street and he stood looking after her until she turned into one of the small
houses There was not a flutter of her coarse shawl perhaps but had its
interest in this mans eyes not a tone of her voice but had its echo in his
innermost heart
When she was lost to his view he pursued his homeward way glancing up
sometimes at the sky where the clouds were sailing fast and wildly But they
were broken now and the rain had ceased and the moon shone looking down the
high chimneys of Coketown on the deep furnaces below and casting Titanic
shadows of the steamengines at rest upon the walls where they were lodged The
man seemed to have brightened with the night as he went on
His home in such another street as the first saving that it was narrower
was over a little shop How it came to pass that any people found it worth their
while to sell or buy the wretched little toys mixed up in its window with cheap
newspapers and pork there was a leg to be raffled for tomorrownight matters
not here He took his end of candle from a shelf lighted it at another end of
candle on the counter without disturbing the mistress of the shop who was
asleep in her little room and went upstairs into his lodging
It was a room not unacquainted with the black ladder under various tenants
but as neat at present as such a room could be A few books and writings were
on an old bureau in a corner the furniture was decent and sufficient and
though the atmosphere was tainted the room was clean
Going to the hearth to set the candle down upon a round threelegged table
standing there he stumbled against something As he recoiled looking down at
it it raised itself up into the form of a woman in a sitting attitude
»Heavens mercy woman« he cried falling farther off from the figure
»Hast thou come back again«
Such a woman A disabled drunken creature barely able to preserve her
sitting posture by steadying herself with one begrimed hand on the floor while
the other was so purposeless in trying to push away her tangled hair from her
face that it only blinded her the more with the dirt upon it A creature so
foul to look at in her tatters stains and splashes but so much fouler than
that in her moral infamy that it was a shameful thing even to see her
After an impatient oath or two and some stupid clawing of herself with the
hand not necessary to her support she got her hair away from her eyes
sufficiently to obtain a sight of him Then she sat swaying her body to and fro
and making gestures with her unnerved arm which seemed intended as the
accompaniment to a fit of laughter though her face was stolid and drowsy
»Eigh lad What yor there« Some hoarse sounds meant for this came
mockingly out of her at last and her head dropped forward on her breast
»Back agen« she screeched after some minutes as if he had that moment
said it »Yes And back agen Back agen ever and ever so often Back Yes back
Why not«
Roused by the unmeaning violence with which she cried it out she scrambled
up and stood supporting herself with her shoulders against the wall dangling
in one hand by the string a dunghillfragment of a bonnet and trying to look
scornfully at him
»Ill sell thee off again and Ill sell thee off again and Ill sell thee
off a score of times« she cried with something between a furious menace and an
effort at a defiant dance »Come awa from th bed« He was sitting on the side
of it with his face hidden in his hands »Come awa from t Tis mine and
Ive a right to t«
As she staggered to it he avoided her with a shudder and passed his face
still hidden to the opposite end of the room She threw herself upon the bed
heavily and soon was snoring hard He sunk into a chair and moved but once all
that night It was to throw a covering over her as if his hands were not enough
to hide her even in the darkness
Chapter XI
No Way Out
The Fairy palaces burst into illumination before pale morning showed the
monstrous serpents of smoke trailing themselves over Coketown A clattering of
clogs upon the pavement a rapid ringing of bells and all the melancholy mad
elephants polished and oiled up for the days monotony were at their heavy
exercise again
Stephen bent over his loom quiet watchful and steady A special contrast
as every man was in the forest of looms where Stephen worked to the crashing
smashing tearing piece of mechanism at which he laboured Never fear good
people of an anxious turn of mind that Art will consign Nature to oblivion Set
anywhere side by side the work of GOD and the work of man and the former
even though it be a troop of Hands of very small account will gain in dignity
from the comparison
So many hundred Hands in this Mill so many hundred horse Steam Power It is
known to the force of a single pound weight what the engine will do but not
all the calculators of the National Debt can tell me the capacity for good or
evil for love or hatred for patriotism or discontent for the decomposition of
virtue into vice or the reverse at any single moment in the soul of one of
these its quiet servants with the composed faces and the regulated actions
There is no mystery in it there is an unfathomable mystery in the meanest of
them for ever Supposing we were to reverse our arithmetic for material
objects and to govern these awful unknown quantities by other means
The day grew strong and showed itself outside even against the flaming
lights within The lights were turned out and the work went on The rain fell
and the Smokeserpents submissive to the curse of all that tribe trailed
themselves upon the earth In the wasteyard outside the steam from the escape
pipe the litter of barrels and old iron the shining heaps of coals the ashes
everywhere were shrouded in a veil of mist and rain
The work went on until the noonbell rang More clattering upon the
pavements The looms and wheels and Hands all out of gear for an hour
Stephen came out of the hot mill into the damp wind and cold wet streets
haggard and worn He turned from his own class and his own quarter taking
nothing but a little bread as he walked along towards the hill on which his
principal employer lived in a red house with black outside shutters green
inside blinds a black street door up two white steps BOUNDERBY in letters
very like himself upon a brazen plate and a round brazen doorhandle
underneath it like a brazen fullstop
Mr Bounderby was at his lunch So Stephen had expected Would his servant
say that one of the Hands begged leave to speak to him Message in return
requiring name of such Hand Stephen Blackpool There was nothing troublesome
against Stephen Blackpool yes he might come in
Stephen Blackpool in the parlour Mr Bounderby whom he just knew by
sight at lunch on chop and sherry Mrs Sparsit netting at the fireside in a
sidesaddle attitude with one foot in a cotton stirrup It was a part at once
of Mrs Sparsits dignity and service not to lunch She supervised the meal
officially but implied that in her own stately person she considered lunch a
weakness
»Now Stephen« said Mr Bounderby »whats the matter with you«
Stephen made a bow Not a servile one these Hands will never do that Lord
bless you sir youll never catch them at that if they have been with you
twenty years and as a complimentary toilet for Mrs Sparsit tucked his
neckerchief ends into his waistcoat
»Now you know« said Mr Bounderby taking some sherry »we have never had
any difficulty with you and you have never been one of the unreasonable ones
You dont expect to be set up in a coach and six and to be fed on turtle soup
and venison with a gold spoon as a good many of em do« Mr Bounderby always
represented this to be the sole immediate and direct object of any Hand who
was not entirely satisfied »and therefore I know already that you have not come
here to make a complaint Now you know I am certain of that beforehand«
»No sir sure I ha not coom for nowt o th kind«
Mr Bounderby seemed agreeably surprised notwithstanding his previous
strong conviction »Very well« he returned »Youre a steady Hand and I was
not mistaken Now let me hear what its all about As its not that let me
hear what it is What have you got to say Out with it lad«
Stephen happened to glance towards Mrs Sparsit »I can go Mr Bounderby
if you wish it« said that selfsacrificing lady making a feint of taking her
foot out of the stirrup
Mr Bounderby stayed her by holding a mouthful of chop in suspension before
swallowing it and putting out his left hand Then withdrawing his hand and
swallowing his mouthful of chop he said to Stephen
»Now you know this good lady is a born lady a high lady You are not to
suppose because she keeps my house for me that she hasnt been very high up the
tree ah up at the top of the tree Now if you have got anything to say that
cant be said before a born lady this lady will leave the room If what you
have got to say can be said before a born lady this lady will stay where she
is«
»Sir I hope I never had nowt to say not fitten for a born lady to year
sin I were born mysen« was the reply accompanied with a slight flush
»Very well« said Mr Bounderby pushing away his plate and leaning back
»Fire away«
»I ha coom« Stephen began raising his eyes from the floor after a
moments consideration »to ask yo yor advice I need t overmuch I were
married on Easr Monday nineteen year sin long and dree She were a young lass
pretty enow wi good accounts of herseln Well She went bad soon Not
along of me Gonnows I were not a unkind husband to her«
»I have heard all this before« said Mr Bounderby »She took to drinking
left off working sold the furniture pawned the clothes and played old
Gooseberry«
»I were patient wi her«
»The more fool you I think« said Mr Bounderby in confidence to his
wineglass
»I were very patient wi her I tried to wean her fra t ower and ower agen
I tried this I tried that I tried tother I ha gone home manys the time
and found all vanished as I had in the world and her without a sense left to
bless herseln lying on bare ground I ha dun t not once not twice twenty
time«
Every line in his face deepened as he said it and put in its affecting
evidence of the suffering he had undergone
»From bad to worse from worse to worsen She left me She disgraced herseln
everyways bitter and bad She coom back she coom back she coom back What
could I do t hinder her I ha walked the streets nights long ere ever Id go
home I ha gone t th brigg minded to fling myseln ower and ha no more
ont I ha bore that much that I were owd when I were young«
Mrs Sparsit easily ambling along with her nettingneedles raised the
Coriolanian eyebrows and shook her head as much as to say »The great know
trouble as well as the small Please to turn your humble eye in My direction«
»I ha paid her to keep awa fra me These five year I ha paid her I ha
gotten decent fewtrils about me agen I ha lived hard and sad but not ashamed
and fearfo a the minnits o my life Last night I went home There she lay
upon my harstone There she is«
In the strength of his misfortune and the energy of his distress he fired
for the moment like a proud man In another moment he stood as he had stood all
the time his usual stoop upon him his pondering face addressed to Mr
Bounderby with a curious expression on it half shrewd half perplexed as if
his mind were set upon unravelling something very difficult his hat held tight
in his left hand which rested on his hip his right arm with a rugged
propriety and force of action very earnestly emphasizing what he said not
least so when it always paused a little bent but not withdrawn as he paused
»I was acquainted with all this you know« said Mr Bounderby »except the
last clause long ago Its a bad job thats what it is You had better have
been satisfied as you were and not have got married However its too late to
say that«
»Was it an unequal marriage sir in point of years« asked Mrs Sparsit
»You hear what this lady asks Was it an unequal marriage in point of years
this unlucky job of yours« said Mr Bounderby
»Not een so I were oneandtwenty myseln she were twenty nighbut«
»Indeed sir« said Mrs Sparsit to her Chief with great placidity »I
inferred from its being so miserable a marriage that it was probably an
unequal one in point of years«
Mr Bounderby looked very hard at the good lady in a sidelong way that had
an odd sheepishness about it He fortified himself with a little more sherry
»Well Why dont you go on« he then asked turning rather irritably on
Stephen Blackpool
»I ha coom to ask yo sir how I am to be ridded o this woman« Stephen
infused a yet deeper gravity into the mixed expression of his attentive face
Mrs Sparsit uttered a gentle ejaculation as having received a moral shock
»What do you mean« said Bounderby getting up to lean his back against the
chimneypiece »What are you talking about You took her for better for worse«
»I mun be ridden o her I cannot bear t nommore I ha lived under t so
long for that I ha hadn the pity and comforting words o th best lass living
or dead Haply but for her I should ha gone hottering mad«
»He wishes to be free to marry the female of whom he speaks I fear sir«
observed Mrs Sparsit in an undertone and much dejected by the immorality of
the people
»I do The lady says whats right I do I were a coming to t I ha read
i th papers that great fok fair faw em a I wishes em no hurt are not
bonded together for better for worst so fast but that they can be set free fro
their misfortnet marriages an marry ower agen When they dunnot agree for
that their tempers is illsorted they has rooms o one kind an another in
their houses above a bit and they can live asunders We fok ha only one room
and we cant When that wont do they ha gowd an other cash an they can say
This for yo an that for me an they can go their separate ways We cant
Spite o all that they can be set free for smaller wrongs than mine So I mun
be ridden o this woman and I want t know how«
»No how« returned Mr Bounderby
»If I do her any hurt sir theres a law to punish me«
»Of course there is«
»If I flee from her theres a law to punish me«
»Of course there is«
»If I marry toother dear lass theres a law to punish me«
»Of course there is«
»If I was to live wi her an not marry her saying such a thing could be
which it never could or would an her so good theres a law to punish me in
every innocent child belonging to me«
»Of course there is«
»Now a Gods name« said Stephen Blackpool »show me the law to help me«
»Hem Theres a sanctity in this relation of life« said Mr Bounderby »and
and it must be kept up«
»No no dunnot say that sir Tant kep up that way Not that way Tis
kep down that way Im a weaver I were in a factry when a chilt but I ha
gotten een to see wi and eern to year wi I read in th papers every Sizes
every Sessions and you read too I know it with dismay how th supposed
unpossibility o ever getting unchained from one another at any price on any
terms brings blood upon this land and brings many common married fok to
battle murder and sudden death Let us ha this right understood Mines a
grievous case an I want if yo will be so good t know the law that helps
me«
»Now I tell you what« said Mr Bounderby putting his hands in his
pockets »There is such a law«
Stephen subsiding into his quiet manner and never wandering in his
attention gave a nod
»But its not for you at all It costs money It costs a mint of money«
»How much might that be« Stephen calmly asked
»Why youd have to go to Doctors Commons with a suit and youd have to go
to a court of Common Law with a suit and youd have to go to the House of Lords
with a suit and youd have to get an Act of Parliament to enable you to marry
again and it would cost you if it was a case of very plain sailing I suppose
from a thousand to fifteen hundred pound« said Mr Bounderby »Perhaps twice
the money«
»Theres no other law«
»Certainly not«
»Why then sir« said Stephen turning white and motioning with that right
hand of his as if he gave everything to the four winds »tis a muddle Tis
just a muddle atoogether an the sooner I am dead the better«
Mrs Sparsit again dejected by the impiety of the people
»Pooh pooh Dont you talk nonsense my good fellow« said Mr Bounderby
»about things you dont understand and dont you call the Institutions of your
country a muddle or youll get yourself into a real muddle one of these fine
mornings The institutions of your country are not your piecework and the only
thing you have got to do is to mind your piecework You didnt take your wife
for fast and for loose but for better for worse If she has turned out worse
why all we have got to say is she might have turned out better«
»Tis a muddle« said Stephen shaking his head as he moved to the door
»Tis a a muddle«
»Now Ill tell you what« Mr Bounderby resumed as a valedictory address
»With what I shall call your unhallowed opinions you have been quite shocking
this lady who as I have already told you is a born lady and who as I have
not already told you has had her own marriage misfortunes to the tune of tens
of thousands of pounds tens of Thousands of Pounds« he repeated it with
great relish »Now you have always been a steady Hand hitherto but my opinion
is and so I tell you plainly that you are turning into the wrong road You
have been listening to some mischievous stranger or other theyre always about
and the best thing you can do is to come out of that Now you know« here his
countenance expressed marvellous acuteness »I can see as far into a grindstone
as another man farther than a good many perhaps because I had my nose well
kept to it when I was young I see traces of the turtle soup and venison and
gold spoon in this Yes I do« cried Mr Bounderby shaking his head with
obstinate cunning »By the Lord Harry I do«
With a very different shake of the head and deep sigh Stephen said »Thank
you sir I wish you good day« So he left Mr Bounderby swelling at his own
portrait on the wall as if he were going to explode himself into it and Mrs
Sparsit still ambling on with her foot in her stirrup looking quite cast down
by the popular vices
Chapter XII
The Old Woman
Old Stephen descended the two white steps shutting the black door with the
brazen doorplate by the aid of the brazen fullstop to which he gave a
parting polish with the sleeve of his coat observing that his hot hand clouded
it He crossed the street with his eyes bent upon the ground and thus was
walking sorrowfully away when he felt a touch upon his arm
It was not the touch he needed most at such a moment the touch that could
calm the wild waters of his soul as the uplifted hand of the sublimest love and
patience could abate the raging of the sea yet it was a womans hand too It
was an old woman tall and shapely still though withered by time on whom his
eyes fell when he stopped and turned She was very cleanly and plainly dressed
had country mud upon her shoes and was newly come from a journey The flutter
of her manner in the unwonted noise of the streets the spare shawl carried
unfolded on her arm the heavy umbrella and little basket the loose
longfingered gloves to which her hands were unused all bespoke an old woman
from the country in her plain holiday clothes come into Coketown on an
expedition of rare occurrence Remarking this at a glance with the quick
observation of his class Stephen Blackpool bent his attentive face his face
which like the faces of many of his order by dint of long working with eyes
and hands in the midst of a prodigious noise had acquired the concentrated look
with which we are familiar in the countenances of the deaf the better to hear
what she asked him
»Pray sir« said the old woman »didnt I see you come out of that
gentlemans house« pointing back to Mr Bounderbys »I believe it was you
unless I have had the bad luck to mistake the person in following«
»Yes missus« returned Stephen »it were me«
»Have you youll excuse an old womans curiosity have you seen the
gentleman«
»Yes missus«
»And how did he look sir Was he portly bold outspoken and hearty« As
she straightened her own figure and held up her head in adapting her action to
her words the idea crossed Stephen that he had seen this old woman before and
had not quite liked her
»O yes« he returned observing her more attentively »he were all that«
»And healthy« said the old woman »as the fresh wind«
»Yes« returned Stephen »He were ettn and drinking as large and as loud
as a Hummobee«
»Thank you« said the old woman with infinite content »Thank you«
He certainly never had seen this old woman before Yet there was a vague
remembrance in his mind as if he had more than once dreamed of some old woman
like her
She walked along at his side and gently accommodating himself to her
humour he said Coketown was a busy place was it not To which she answered
»Eigh sure Dreadful busy« Then he said she came from the country he saw To
which she answered in the affirmative
»By Parliamentary this morning I came forty mile by Parliamentary this
morning and Im going back the same forty mile this afternoon I walked nine
mile to the station this morning and if I find nobody on the road to give me a
lift I shall walk the nine mile back tonight Thats pretty well sir at my
age« said the chatty old woman her eye brightening with exultation
»Deed tis Dont dot too often missus«
»No no Once a year« she answered shaking her head »I spend my savings
so once every year I come regular to tramp about the streets and see the
gentlemen«
»Only to see em« returned Stephen
»Thats enough for me« she replied with great earnestness and interest of
manner »I ask no more I have been standing about on this side of the way to
see that gentleman« turning her head back towards Mr Bounderbys again »come
out But hes late this year and I have not seen him You came out instead
Now if I am obliged to go back without a glimpse of him I only want a glimpse
well I have seen you and you have seen him and I must make that do« Saying
this she looked at Stephen as if to fix his features in her mind and her eye
was not so bright as it had been
With a large allowance for difference of tastes and with all submission to
the patricians of Coketown this seemed so extraordinary a source of interest to
take so much trouble about that it perplexed him But they were passing the
church now and as his eye caught the clock he quickened his pace
He was going to his work the old woman said quickening hers too quite
easily Yes time was nearly out On his telling her where he worked the old
woman became a more singular old woman than before
»Ant you happy« she asked him
»Why theres awmost nobbody but has their troubles missus« He answered
evasively because the old woman appeared to take it for granted that he would
be very happy indeed and he had not the heart to disappoint her He knew that
there was trouble enough in the world and if the old woman had lived so long
and could count upon his having so little why so much the better for her and
none the worse for him
»Ay ay You have your troubles at home you mean« she said
»Times Just now and then« he answered slightly
»But working under such a gentleman they dont follow you to the Factory«
No no they didnt follow him there said Stephen All correct there
Everything accordant there He did not go so far as to say for her pleasure
that there was a sort of Divine Right there but I have heard claims almost as
magnificent of late years
They were now in the black byroad near the place and the Hands were
crowding in The bell was ringing and the Serpent was a Serpent of many coils
and the Elephant was getting ready The strange old woman was delighted with the
very bell It was the beautifullest bell she had ever heard she said and
sounded grand
She asked him when he stopped goodnaturedly to shake hands with her before
going in how long he had worked there
»A dozen year« he told her
»I must kiss the hand« said she »that has worked in this fine factory for
a dozen year« And she lifted it though he would have prevented her and put it
to her lips What harmony besides her age and her simplicity surrounded her
he did not know but even in this fantastic action there was a something neither
out of time nor place a something which it seemed as if nobody else could have
made as serious or done with such a natural and touching air
He had been at his loom full half an hour thinking about this old woman
when having occasion to move round the loom for its adjustment he glanced
through a window which was in his corner and saw her still looking up at the
pile of building lost in admiration Heedless of the smoke and mud and wet and
of her two long journeys she was gazing at it as if the heavy thrum that
issued from its many stories were proud music to her
She was gone by and by and the day went after her and the lights sprung up
again and the Express whirled in full sight of the Fairy Palace over the arches
near little felt amid the jarring of the machinery and scarcely heard above
its crash and rattle Long before then his thoughts had gone back to the dreary
room above the little shop and to the shameful figure heavy on the bed but
heavier on his heart
Machinery slackened throbbing feebly like a fainting pulse stopped The
bell again the glare of light and heat dispelled the factories looming heavy
in the black wet night their tall chimneys rising up into the air like
competing Towers of Babel
He had spoken to Rachael only last night it was true and had walked with
her a little way but he had his new misfortune on him in which no one else
could give him a moments relief and for the sake of it and because he knew
himself to want that softening of his anger which no voice but hers could
effect he felt he might so far disregard what she had said as to wait for her
again He waited but she had eluded him She was gone On no other night in the
year could he so ill have spared her patient face
O Better to have no home in which to lay his head than to have a home and
dread to go to it through such a cause He ate and drank for he was exhausted
but he little knew or cared what and he wandered about in the chill rain
thinking and thinking and brooding and brooding
No word of a new marriage had ever passed between them but Rachael had
taken great pity on him years ago and to her alone he had opened his closed
heart all this time on the subject of his miseries and he knew very well that
if he were free to ask her she would take him He thought of the home he might
at that moment have been seeking with pleasure and pride of the different man
he might have been that night of the lightness then in his now heavyladen
breast of the then restored honour selfrespect and tranquillity all torn to
pieces He thought of the waste of the best part of his life of the change it
made in his character for the worse every day of the dreadful nature of his
existence bound hand and foot to a dead woman and tormented by a demon in her
shape He thought of Rachael how young when they were first brought together in
these circumstances how mature now how soon to grow old He thought of the
number of girls and women she had seen marry how many homes with children in
them she had seen grow up around her how she had contentedly pursued her own
lone quiet path for him and how he had sometimes seen a shade of melancholy
on her blessed face that smote him with remorse and despair He set the picture
of her up beside the infamous image of last night and thought Could it be
that the whole earthly course of one so gentle good and selfdenying was
subjugate to such a wretch as that
Filled with these thoughts so filled that he had an unwholesome sense of
growing larger of being placed in some new and diseased relation towards the
objects among which he passed of seeing the iris round every misty light turn
red he went home for shelter
Chapter XIII
Rachael
A candle faintly burned in the window to which the black ladder had often been
raised for the sliding away of all that was most precious in this world to a
striving wife and a brood of hungry babies and Stephen added to his other
thoughts the stern reflection that of all the casualties of this existence upon
earth not one was dealt out with so unequal a hand as Death The inequality of
Birth was nothing to it For say that the child of a King and the child of a
Weaver were born tonight in the same moment what was that disparity to the
death of any human creature who was serviceable to or beloved by another
while this abandoned woman lived on
From the outside of his home he gloomily passed to the inside with
suspended breath and with a slow footstep He went up to his door opened it
and so into the room
Quiet and peace were there Rachael was there sitting by the bed
She turned her head and the light of her face shone in upon the midnight of
his mind She sat by the bed watching and tending his wife That is to say he
saw that some one lay there and he knew too well it must be she but Rachaels
hands had put a curtain up so that she was screened from his eyes Her
disgraceful garments were removed and some of Rachaels were in the room
Everything was in its place and order as he had always kept it the little fire
was newly trimmed and the hearth was freshly swept It appeared to him that he
saw all this in Rachaels face and looked at nothing besides While looking at
it it was shut out from his view by the softened tears that filled his eyes
but not before he had seen how earnestly she looked at him and how her own eyes
were filled too
She turned again towards the bed and satisfying herself that all was quiet
there spoke in a low calm cheerful voice
»I am glad you have come at last Stephen You are very late«
»I ha been walking up an down«
»I thought so But tis too bad a night for that The rain falls very heavy
and the wind has risen«
The wind True It was blowing hard Hark to the thundering in the chimney
and the surging noise To have been out in such a wind and not to have known it
was blowing
»I have been here once before today Stephen Landlady came round for me
at dinnertime There was some one here that needed looking to she said And
deed she was right All wandering and lost Stephen Wounded too and bruised«
He slowly moved to a chair and sat down drooping his head before her
»I came to do what little I could Stephen first for that she worked with
me when we were girls both and for that you courted her and married her when I
was her friend «
He laid his furrowed forehead on his hand with a low groan
»And next for that I know your heart and am right sure and certain that
tis far too merciful to let her die or even so much as suffer for want of
aid Thou knowest who said Let him who is without sin among you cast the first
stone at her There have been plenty to do that Thou art not the man to cast
the last stone Stephen when she is brought so low«
»O Rachael Rachael«
»Thou hast been a cruel sufferer Heaven reward thee« she said in
compassionate accents »I am thy poor friend with all my heart and mind«
The wounds of which she had spoken seemed to be about the neck of the
selfmade outcast She dressed them now still without showing her She steeped
a piece of linen in a basin into which she poured some liquid from a bottle
and laid it with a gentle hand upon the sore The threelegged table had been
drawn close to the bedside and on it there were two bottles This was one
It was not so far off but that Stephen following her hands with his eyes
could read what was printed on it in large letters He turned of a deadly hue
and a sudden horror seemed to fall upon him
»I will stay here Stephen« said Rachael quietly resuming her seat »till
the bells go Three Tis to be done again at three and then she may be left
till morning«
»But thy rest agen tomorrows work my dear«
»I slept sound last night I can wake many nights when I am put to it Tis
thou who art in need of rest so white and tired Try to sleep in the chair
there while I watch Thou hadst no sleep last night I can well believe
Tomorrows work is far harder for thee than for me«
He heard the thundering and surging out of doors and it seemed to him as if
his late angry mood were going about trying to get at him She had cast it out
she would keep it out he trusted to her to defend him from himself
»She dont know me Stephen she just drowsily mutters and stares I have
spoken to her times and again but she dont notice Tis as well so When she
comes to her right mind once more I shall have done what I can and she never
the wiser«
»How long Rachael is t looked for that shell be so«
»Doctor said she would haply come to her mind tomorrow«
His eyes fell again on the bottle and a tremble passed over him causing
him to shiver in every limb She thought he was chilled with the wet »No« he
said »it was not that He had had a fright«
»A fright«
»Ay ay coming in When I were walking When I were thinking When I « It
seized him again and he stood up holding by the mantelshelf as he pressed
his dank cold hair down with a hand that shook as if it were palsied
»Stephen«
She was coming to him but he stretched out his arm to stop her
»No Dont please dont Let me see thee setten by the bed Let me see
thee a so good and so forgiving Let me see thee as I see thee when I coom
in I can never see thee better than so Never never never«
He had a violent fit of trembling and then sunk into his chair After a
time he controlled himself and resting with an elbow on one knee and his head
upon that hand could look towards Rachael Seen across the dim candle with his
moistened eyes she looked as if she had a glory shining round her head He
could have believed she had He did believe it as the noise without shook the
window rattled at the door below and went about the house clamouring and
lamenting
»When she gets better Stephen tis to be hoped shell leave thee to
thyself again and do thee no more hurt Anyways we will hope so now And now I
shall keep silence for I want thee to sleep«
He closed his eyes more to please her than to rest his weary head but by
slow degrees as he listened to the great noise of the wind he ceased to hear
it or it changed into the working of his loom or even into the voices of the
day his own included saying what had been really said Even this imperfect
consciousness faded away at last and he dreamed a long troubled dream
He thought that he and some one on whom his heart had long been set but
she was not Rachael and that surprised him even in the midst of his imaginary
happiness stood in the church being married While the ceremony was
performing and while he recognized among the witnesses some whom he knew to be
living and many whom he knew to be dead darkness came on succeeded by the
shining of a tremendous light It broke from one line in the table of
commandments at the altar and illuminated the building with the words They
were sounded through the church too as if there were voices in the fiery
letters Upon this the whole appearance before him and around him changed and
nothing was left as it had been but himself and the clergyman They stood in
the daylight before a crowd so vast that if all the people in the world could
have been brought together into one space they could not have looked he
thought more numerous and they all abhorred him and there was not one pitying
or friendly eye among the millions that were fastened on his face He stood on a
raised stage under his own loom and looking up at the shape the loom took
and hearing the burial service distinctly read he knew that he was there to
suffer death In an instant what he stood on fell below him and he was gone
Out of what mystery he came back to his usual life and to places that he
knew he was unable to consider but he was back in those places by some means
and with this condemnation upon him that he was never in this world or the
next through all the unimaginable ages of eternity to look on Rachaels face
or hear her voice Wandering to and fro unceasingly without hope and in
search of he knew not what he only knew that he was doomed to seek it he was
the subject of a nameless horrible dread a mortal fear of one particular shape
which everything took Whatsoever he looked at grew into that form sooner or
later The object of his miserable existence was to prevent its recognition by
any one among the various people he encountered Hopeless labour If he led them
out of rooms where it was if he shut up drawers and closets where it stood if
he drew the curious from places where he knew it to be secreted and got them
out into the streets the very chimneys of the mills assumed that shape and
round them was the printed word
The wind was blowing again the rain was beating on the housetops and the
larger spaces through which he had strayed contracted to the four walls of his
room Saving that the fire had died out it was as his eyes had closed upon it
Rachael seemed to have fallen into a doze in the chair by the bed She sat
wrapped in her shawl perfectly still The table stood in the same place close
by the bedside and on it in its real proportions and appearance was the shape
so often repeated
He thought he saw the curtain move He looked again and he was sure it
moved He saw a hand come forth and grope about a little Then the curtain moved
more perceptibly and the woman in the bed put it back and sat up
With her woful eyes so haggard and wild so heavy and large she looked all
round the room and passed the corner where he slept in his chair Her eyes
returned to that corner and she put her hand over them as a shade while she
looked into it Again they went all round the room scarcely heeding Rachael if
at all and returned to that corner He thought as she once more shaded them
not so much looking at him as looking for him with a brutish instinct that he
was there that no single trace was left in those debauched features or in the
mind that went along with them of the woman he had married eighteen years
before But that he had seen her come to this by inches he never could have
believed her to be the same
All this time as if a spell were on him he was motionless and powerless
except to watch her
Stupidly dozing or communing with her incapable self about nothing she sat
for a little while with her hands at her ears and her head resting on them
Presently she resumed her staring round the room And now for the first time
her eyes stopped at the table with the bottles on it
Straightway she turned her eyes back to his corner with the defiance of
last night and moving very cautiously and softly stretched out her greedy
hand She drew a mug into the bed and sat for a while considering which of the
two bottles she should choose Finally she laid her insensate grasp upon the
bottle that had swift and certain death in it and before his eyes pulled out
the cork with her teeth
Dream or reality he had no voice nor had he power to stir If this be
real and her allotted time be not yet come wake Rachael wake
She thought of that too She looked at Rachael and very slowly very
cautiously poured out the contents The draught was at her lips A moment and
she would be past all help let the whole world wake and come about her with its
utmost power But in that moment Rachael started up with a suppressed cry The
creature struggled struck her seized her by the hair but Rachael had the cup
Stephen broke out of his chair »Rachael am I wakin or dreamin this
dreadfo night«
»Tis all well Stephen I have been asleep myself Tis near three Hush
I hear the bells«
The wind brought the sounds of the church clock to the window They
listened and it struck three Stephen looked at her saw how pale she was
noted the disorder of her hair and the red marks of fingers on her forehead
and felt assured that his senses of sight and hearing had been awake She held
the cup in her hand even now
»I thought it must be near three« she said calmly pouring from the cup
into the basin and steeping the linen as before »I am thankful I stayed Tis
done now when I have put this on There And now shes quiet again The few
drops in the basin Ill pour away for tis bad stuff to leave about though
ever so little of it« As she spoke she drained the basin into the ashes of the
fire and broke the bottle on the hearth
She had nothing to do then but to cover herself with her shawl before
going out into the wind and rain
»Thoult let me walk wi thee at this hour Rachael«
»No Stephen Tis but a minute and Im home«
»Thourt not fearfo« he said it in a low voice as they went out at the
door »to leave me alone wi her«
As she looked at him saying »Stephen« he went down on his knee before
her on the poor mean stairs and put an end of her shawl to his lips
»Thou art an Angel Bless thee bless thee«
»I am as I have told thee Stephen thy poor friend Angels are not like
me Between them and a working woman fu of faults there is a deep gulf set
My little sister is among them but she is changed«
She raised her eyes for a moment as she said the words and then they fell
again in all their gentleness and mildness on his face
»Thou changest me from bad to good Thou makst me humbly wishfo to be more
like thee and fearfo to lose thee when this life is ower and a the muddle
cleared awa Thourt an Angel it may be thou hast saved my soul alive«
She looked at him on his knee at her feet with her shawl still in his
hand and the reproof on her lips died away when she saw the working of his
face
»I coom home desprate I coom home wiout a hope and mad wi thinking that
when I said a word o complaint I was reckoned a onreasonable Hand I told thee
I had had a fright It were the Poisonbottle on table I never hurt a livin
creetur but happenin so suddenly upon t I thowt How can I say what I might
ha done to myseln or her or both«
She put her two hands on his mouth with a face of terror to stop him from
saying more He caught them in his unoccupied hand and holding them and still
clasping the border of her shawl said hurriedly
»But I see thee Rachael setten by the bed I ha seen thee aw this night
In my troublous sleep I ha known thee still to be there Evermore I will see
thee there I nevermore will see her or think o her but thou shalt be beside
her I nevermore will see or think o anything that angers me but thou so much
better than me shalt be by th side ont And so I will try t look t th
time and so I will try t trust t th time when thou and me at last shall
walk together far awa beyond the deep gulf in th country where thy little
sister is«
He kissed the border of her shawl again and let her go She bade him good
night in a broken voice and went out into the street
The wind blew from the quarter where the day would soon appear and still
blew strongly It had cleared the sky before it and the rain had spent itself
or travelled elsewhere and the stars were bright He stood bareheaded in the
road watching her quick disappearance As the shining stars were to the heavy
candle in the window so was Rachael in the rugged fancy of this man to the
common experiences of his life
Chapter XIV
The Great Manufacturer
Time went on in Coketown like its own machinery so much material wrought up so
much fuel consumed so many powers worn out so much money made But less
inexorable than iron steel and brass it brought its varying seasons even into
that wilderness of smoke and brick and made the only stand that ever was made
in the place against its direful uniformity
»Louisa is becoming« said Mr Gradgrind »almost a young woman«
Time with his innumerable horsepower worked away not minding what
anybody said and presently turned out young Thomas a foot taller than when his
father had last taken particular notice of him
»Thomas is becoming« said Mr Gradgrind »almost a young man«
Time passed Thomas on in the mill while his father was thinking about it
and there he stood in a longtailed coat and a stiff shirtcollar
»Really« said Mr Gradgrind »the period has arrived when Thomas ought to
go to Bounderby«
Time sticking to him passed him on into Bounderbys Bank made him an
inmate of Bounderbys house necessitated the purchase of his first razor and
exercised him diligently in his calculations relative to number one
The same great manufacturer always with an immense variety of work on hand
in every stage of development passed Sissy onward in his mill and worked her
up into a very pretty article indeed
»I fear Jupe« said Mr Gradgrind »that your continuance at the school any
longer would be useless«
»I am afraid it would sir« Sissy answered with a curtsey
»I cannot disguise from you Jupe« said Mr Gradgrind knitting his brow
»that the result of your probation there has disappointed me has greatly
disappointed me You have not acquired under Mr and Mrs MChoakumchild
anything like that amount of exact knowledge which I looked for You are
extremely deficient in your facts Your acquaintance with figures is very
limited You are altogether backward and below the mark«
»I am sorry sir« she returned »but I know it is quite true Yet I have
tried hard sir«
»Yes« said Mr Gradgrind »yes I believe you have tried hard I have
observed you and I can find no fault in that respect«
»Thank you sir I have thought sometimes« Sissy very timid here »that
perhaps I tried to learn too much and that if I had asked to be allowed to try
a little less I might have «
»No Jupe no« said Mr Gradgrind shaking his head in his profoundest and
most eminently practical way »No The course you pursued you pursued according
to the system the system and there is no more to be said about it I can
only suppose that the circumstances of your early life were too unfavourable to
the development of your reasoning powers and that we began too late Still as
I have said already I am disappointed«
»I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment sir of your kindness to
a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you and of your protection of her«
»Dont shed tears« said Mr Gradgrind »Dont shed tears I dont complain
of you You are an affectionate earnest good young woman and and we must
make that do«
»Thank you sir very much« said Sissy with a grateful curtsey
»You are useful to Mrs Gradgrind and in a generally pervading way you
are serviceable in the family also so I understand from Miss Louisa and
indeed so I have observed myself I therefore hope« said Mr Gradgrind »that
you can make yourself happy in those relations«
»I should have nothing to wish sir if «
»I understand you« said Mr Gradgrind »you still refer to your father I
have heard from Miss Louisa that you still preserve that bottle Well If your
training in the science of arriving at exact results had been more successful
you would have been wiser on these points I will say no more«
He really liked Sissy too well to have a contempt for her otherwise he held
her calculating powers in such very slight estimation that he must have fallen
upon that conclusion Somehow or other he had become possessed by an idea that
there was something in this girl which could hardly be set forth in a tabular
form Her capacity of definition might be easily stated at a very low figure
her mathematical knowledge at nothing yet he was not sure that if he had been
required for example to tick her off into columns in a parliamentary return
he would have quite known how to divide her
In some stages of his manufacture of the human fabric the processes of Time
are very rapid Young Thomas and Sissy being both at such a stage of their
working up these changes were effected in a year or two while Mr Gradgrind
himself seemed stationary in his course and underwent no alteration
Except one which was apart from his necessary progress through the mill
Time hustled him into a little noisy and rather dirty machinery in a bycorner
and made him Member of Parliament for Coketown one of the respected members for
ounce weights and measures one of the representatives of the multiplication
table one of the deaf honourable gentlemen dumb honourable gentlemen blind
honourable gentlemen lame honourable gentlemen dead honourable gentlemen to
every other consideration Else wherefore live we in a Christian land eighteen
hundred and odd years after our Master
All this while Louisa had been passing on so quiet and reserved and so
much given to watching the bright ashes at twilight as they fell into the grate
and became extinct that from the period when her father had said she was almost
a young woman which seemed but yesterday she had scarcely attracted his
notice again when he found her quite a young woman
»Quite a young woman« said Mr Gradgrind musing »Dear me«
Soon after this discovery he became more thoughtful than usual for several
days and seemed much engrossed by one subject On a certain night when he was
going out and Louisa came to bid him goodbye before his departure as he was
not to be home until late and she would not see him again until the morning he
held her in his arms looking at her in his kindest manner and said
»My dear Louisa you are a woman«
She answered with the old quick searching look of the night when she was
found at the Circus then cast down her eyes »Yes father«
»My dear« said Mr Gradgrind »I must speak with you alone and seriously
Come to me in my room after breakfast tomorrow will you«
»Yes father«
»Your hands are rather cold Louisa Are you not well«
»Quite well father«
»And cheerful«
She looked at him again and smiled in her peculiar manner »I am as
cheerful father as I usually am or usually have been«
»Thats well« said Mr Gradgrind So he kissed her and went away and
Louisa returned to the serene apartment of the haircutting character and
leaning her elbow on her hand looked again at the shortlived sparks that so
soon subsided into ashes
»Are you there Loo« said her brother looking in at the door He was quite
a young gentleman of pleasure now and not quite a prepossessing one
»Dear Tom« she answered rising and embracing him »how long it is since
you have been to see me«
»Why I have been otherwise engaged Loo in the evenings and in the
daytime old Bounderby has been keeping me at it rather But I touch him up with
you when he comes it too strong and so we preserve an understanding I say Has
father said anything particular to you today or yesterday Loo«
»No Tom But he told me tonight that he wished to do so in the morning«
»Ah Thats what I mean« said Tom »Do you know where he is tonight«
with a very deep expression
»No«
»Then Ill tell you Hes with old Bounderby They are having a regular
confab together up at the Bank Why at the Bank do you think Well Ill tell
you again To keep Mrs Sparsits ears as far off as possible I expect«
With her hand upon her brothers shoulder Louisa still stood looking at the
fire Her brother glanced at her face with greater interest than usual and
encircling her waist with his arm drew her coaxingly to him
»You are very fond of me ant you Loo«
»Indeed I am Tom though you do let such long intervals go by without
coming to see me«
»Well sister of mine« said Tom »when you say that you are near my
thoughts We might be so much oftener together mightnt we Always together
almost mightnt we It would do me a great deal of good if you were to make up
your mind to I know what Loo It would be a splendid thing for me It would be
uncommonly jolly«
Her thoughtfulness baffled his cunning scrutiny He could make nothing of
her face He pressed her in his arm and kissed her cheek She returned the
kiss but still looked at the fire
»I say Loo I thought Id come and just hint to you what was going on
though I supposed youd most likely guess even if you didnt know I cant
stay because Im engaged to some fellows tonight You wont forget how fond
you are of me«
»No dear Tom I wont forget«
»Thats a capital girl« said Tom »Goodbye Loo«
She gave him an affectionate goodnight and went out with him to the door
whence the fires of Coketown could be seen making the distance lurid She stood
there looking steadfastly towards them and listening to his departing steps
They retreated quickly as glad to get away from Stone Lodge and she stood
there yet when he was gone and all was quiet It seemed as if first in her own
fire within the house and then in the fiery haze without she tried to discover
what kind of woof Old Time that greatest and longestestablished Spinner of
all would weave from the threads he had already spun into a woman But his
factory is a secret place his work is noiseless and his Hands are mutes
Chapter XV
Father and Daughter
Although Mr Gradgrind did not take after Blue Beard his room was quite a blue
chamber in its abundance of blue books Whatever they could prove which is
usually anything you like they proved there in an army constantly
strengthening by the arrival of new recruits In that charmed apartment the
most complicated social questions were cast up got into exact totals and
finally settled if those concerned could only have been brought to know it As
if an astronomical observatory should be made without any windows and the
astronomer within should arrange the starry universe solely by pen ink and
paper so Mr Gradgrind in his Observatory and there are many like it had no
need to cast an eye upon the teeming myriads of human beings around him but
could settle all their destinies on a slate and wipe out all their tears with
one dirty little bit of sponge
To this Observatory then a stern room with a deadly statistical clock in
it which measured every second with a beat like a rap upon a coffinlid Louisa
repaired on the appointed morning A window looked towards Coketown and when
she sat down near her fathers table she saw the high chimneys and the long
tracts of smoke looming in the heavy distance gloomily
»My dear Louisa« said her father »I prepared you last night to give me
your serious attention in the conversation we are now going to have together
You have been so well trained and you do I am happy to say so much justice to
the education you have received that I have perfect confidence in your good
sense You are not impulsive you are not romantic you are accustomed to view
everything from the strong dispassionate ground of reason and calculation From
that ground alone I know you will view and consider what I am going to
communicate«
He waited as if he would have been glad that she said something But she
said never a word
»Louisa my dear you are the subject of a proposal of marriage that has
been made to me«
Again he waited and again she answered not one word This so far surprised
him as to induce him gently to repeat »a proposal of marriage my dear« To
which she returned without any visible emotion whatever
»I hear you father I am attending I assure you«
»Well« said Mr Gradgrind breaking into a smile after being for the
moment at a loss »you are even more dispassionate than I expected Louisa Or
perhaps you are not unprepared for the announcement I have it in charge to
make«
»I cannot say that father until I hear it Prepared or unprepared I wish
to hear it all from you I wish to hear you state it to me father«
Strange to relate Mr Gradgrind was not so collected at this moment as his
daughter was He took a paperknife in his hand turned it over laid it down
took it up again and even then had to look along the blade of it considering
how to go on
»What you say my dear Louisa is perfectly reasonable I have undertaken
then to let you know that in short that Mr Bounderby has informed me that
he has long watched your progress with particular interest and pleasure and has
long hoped that the time might ultimately arrive when he should offer you his
hand in marriage That time to which he has so long and certainly with great
constancy looked forward is now come Mr Bounderby has made his proposal of
marriage to me and has entreated me to make it known to you and to express his
hope that you will take it into your favourable consideration«
Silence between them The deadly statistical clock very hollow The distant
smoke very black and heavy
»Father« said Louisa »do you think I love Mr Bounderby«
Mr Gradgrind was extremely discomfited by this unexpected question »Well
my child« he returned »I really cannot take upon myself to say«
»Father« pursued Louisa in exactly the same voice as before »do you ask me
to love Mr Bounderby«
»My dear Louisa no No I ask nothing«
»Father« she still pursued »does Mr Bounderby ask me to love him«
»Really my dear« said Mr Gradgrind »it is difficult to answer your
question «
»Difficult to answer it Yes or No father«
»Certainly my dear Because« here was something to demonstrate and it set
him up again »because the reply depends so materially Louisa on the sense in
which we use the expression Now Mr Bounderby does not do you the injustice
and does not do himself the injustice of pretending to anything fanciful
fantastic or I am using synonymous terms sentimental Mr Bounderby would
have seen you grow up under his eyes to very little purpose if he could so far
forget what is due to your good sense not to say to his as to address you from
any such ground Therefore perhaps the expression itself I merely suggest
this to you my dear may be a little misplaced«
»What would you advise me to use in its stead father«
»Why my dear Louisa« said Mr Gradgrind completely recovered by this
time »I would advise you since you ask me to consider this question as you
have been accustomed to consider every other question simply as one of tangible
Fact The ignorant and the giddy may embarrass such subjects with irrelevant
fancies and other absurdities that have no existence properly viewed really
no existence but it is no compliment to you to say that you know better Now
what are the Facts of this case You are we will say in round numbers twenty
years of age Mr Bounderby is we will say in round numbers fifty There is
some disparity in your respective years but in your means and positions there
is none on the contrary there is a great suitability Then the question
arises Is this one disparity sufficient to operate as a bar to such a marriage
In considering this question it is not unimportant to take into account the
statistics of marriage so far as they have yet been obtained in England and
Wales I find on reference to the figures that a large proportion of these
marriages are contracted between parties of very unequal ages and that the
elder of these contracting parties is in rather more than threefourths of
these instances the bridegroom It is remarkable as showing the wide prevalence
of this law that among the natives of the British possessions in India also in
a considerable part of China and among the Calmucks of Tartary the best means
of computation yet furnished us by travellers yield similar results The
disparity I have mentioned therefore almost ceases to be disparity and
virtually all but disappears«
»What do you recommend father« asked Louisa her reserved composure not in
the least affected by these gratifying results »that I should substitute for
the term I used just now For the misplaced expression«
»Louisa« returned her father »it appears to me that nothing can be
plainer Confining yourself rigidly to Fact the question of Fact you state to
yourself is Does Mr Bounderby ask me to marry him Yes he does The sole
remaining question then is Shall I marry him I think nothing can be plainer
than that«
»Shall I marry him« repeated Louisa with great deliberation
»Precisely And it is satisfactory to me as your father my dear Louisa to
know that you do not come to the consideration of that question with the
previous habits of mind and habits of life that belong to many young women«
»No father« she returned »I do not«
»I now leave you to judge for yourself« said Mr Gradgrind »I have stated
the case as such cases are usually stated among practical minds I have stated
it as the case of your mother and myself was stated in its time The rest my
dear Louisa is for you to decide«
From the beginning she had sat looking at him fixedly As he now leaned
back in his chair and bent his deepset eyes upon her in his turn perhaps he
might have seen one wavering moment in her when she was impelled to throw
herself upon his breast and give him the pentup confidences of her heart But
to see it he must have overleaped at a bound the artificial barriers he had for
many years been erecting between himself and all those subtle essences of
humanity which will elude the utmost cunning of algebra until the last trumpet
ever to be sounded shall blow even algebra to wreck The barriers were too many
and too high for such a leap With his unbending utilitarian matteroffact
face he hardened her again and the moment shot away into the plumbless depths
of the past to mingle with all the lost opportunities that are drowned there
Removing her eyes from him she sat so long looking silently towards the
town that he said at length »Are you consulting the chimneys of the Coketown
works Louisa«
»There seems to be nothing there but languid and monotonous smoke Yet when
the night comes Fire bursts out father« she answered turning quickly
»Of course I know that Louisa I do not see the application of the remark«
To do him justice he did not at all
She passed it away with a slight motion of her hand and concentrating her
attention upon him again said »Father I have often thought that life is very
short« This was so distinctly one of his subjects that he interposed
»It is short no doubt my dear Still the average duration of human life
is proved to have increased of late years The calculations of various life
assurance and annuity offices among other figures which cannot go wrong have
established the fact«
»I speak of my own life father«
»O indeed Still« said Mr Gradgrind »I need not point out to you Louisa
that it is governed by the laws which govern lives in the aggregate«
»While it lasts I would wish to do the little I can and the little I am
fit for What does it matter«
Mr Gradgrind seemed rather at a loss to understand the last four words
replying »How matter What matter my dear«
»Mr Bounderby« she went on in a steady straight way without regarding
this »asks me to marry him The question I have to ask myself is shall I marry
him That is so father is it not You have told me so father Have you not«
»Certainly my dear«
»Let it be so Since Mr Bounderby likes to take me thus I am satisfied to
accept his proposal Tell him father as soon as you please that this was my
answer Repeat it word for word if you can because I should wish him to know
what I said«
»It is quite right my dear« retorted her father approvingly »to be exact
I will observe your very proper request Have you any wish in reference to the
period of your marriage my child«
»None father What does it matter«
Mr Gradgrind had drawn his chair a little nearer to her and taken her
hand But her repetition of these words seemed to strike with some little
discord on his ear He paused to look at her and still holding her hand said
»Louisa I have not considered it essential to ask you one question because
the possibility implied in it appeared to me to be too remote But perhaps I
ought to do so You have never entertained in secret any other proposal«
»Father« she returned almost scornfully »what other proposal can have
been made to me Whom have I seen Where have I been What are my hearts
experiences«
»My dear Louisa« returned Mr Gradgrind reassured and satisfied »You
correct me justly I merely wished to discharge my duty«
»What do I know father« said Louisa in her quiet manner »of tastes and
fancies of aspirations and affections of all that part of my nature in which
such light things might have been nourished What escape have I had from
problems that could be demonstrated and realities that could be grasped« As
she said it she unconsciously closed her hand as if upon a solid object and
slowly opened it as though she were releasing dust or ash
»My dear« assented her eminently practical parent »quite true quite
true«
»Why father« she pursued »what a strange question to ask me The
babypreference that even I have heard of as common among children has never
had its innocent restingplace in my breast You have been so careful of me
that I never had a childs heart You have trained me so well that I never
dreamed a childs dream You have dealt so wisely with me father from my
cradle to this hour that I never had a childs belief or a childs fear«
Mr Gradgrind was quite moved by his success and by this testimony to it
»My dear Louisa« said he »you abundantly repay my care Kiss me my dear
girl«
So his daughter kissed him Detaining her in his embrace he said »I may
assure you now my favourite child that I am made happy by the sound decision
at which you have arrived Mr Bounderby is a very remarkable man and what
little disparity can be said to exist between you if any is more than
counterbalanced by the tone your mind has acquired It has always been my object
so to educate you as that you might while still in your early youth be if I
may so express myself almost any age Kiss me once more Louisa Now let us go
and find your mother«
Accordingly they went down to the drawingroom where the esteemed lady
with no nonsense about her was recumbent as usual while Sissy worked beside
her She gave some feeble signs of returning animation when they entered and
presently the faint transparency was presented in a sitting attitude
»Mrs Gradgrind« said her husband who had waited for the achievement of
this feat with some impatience »allow me to present to you Mrs Bounderby«
»Oh« said Mrs Gradgrind »so you have settled it Well Im sure I hope
your health may be good Louisa for if your head begins to split as soon as you
are married which was the case with mine I cannot consider that you are to be
envied though I have no doubt you think you are as all girls do However I
give you joy my dear and I hope you may now turn all your ological studies to
good account I am sure I do I must give you a kiss of congratulation Louisa
but dont touch my right shoulder for theres something running down it all day
long And now you see« whimpered Mrs Gradgrind adjusting her shawls after the
affectionate ceremony »I shall be worrying myself morning noon and night to
know what I am to call him«
»Mrs Gradgrind« said her husband solemnly »what do you mean«
»Whatever I am to call him Mr Gradgrind when he is married to Louisa I
must call him something Its impossible« said Mrs Gradgrind with a mingled
sense of politeness and injury »to be constantly addressing him and never
giving him a name I cannot call him Josiah for the name is insupportable to
me You yourself wouldnt hear of Joe you very well know Am I to call my own
soninlaw Mister Not I believe unless the time has arrived when as an
invalid I am to be trampled upon by my relations Then what am I to call him«
Nobody present having any suggestion to offer in the remarkable emergency
Mrs Gradgrind departed this life for the time being after delivering the
following codicil to her remarks already excuted
»As to the wedding all I ask Louisa is and I ask it with a fluttering
in my chest which actually extends to the soles of my feet that it may take
place soon Otherwise I know it is one of those subjects I shall never hear the
last of«
When Mr Gradgrind had presented Mrs Bounderby Sissy had suddenly turned
her head and looked in wonder in pity in sorrow in doubt in a multitude of
emotions towards Louisa Louisa had known it and seen it without looking at
her From that moment she was impassive proud and cold held Sissy at a
distance changed to her altogether
Chapter XVI
Husband and Wife
Mr Bounderbys first disquietude on hearing of his happiness was occasioned by
the necessity of imparting it to Mrs Sparsit He could not make up his mind how
to do that or what the consequences of the step might be Whether she would
instantly depart bag and baggage to Lady Scadgers or would positively refuse
to budge from the premises whether she would be plaintive or abusive tearful
or tearing whether she would break her heart or break the lookingglass Mr
Bounderby could not at all foresee However as it must be done he had no
choice but to do it so after attempting several letters and failing in them
all he resolved to do it by word of mouth
On his way home on the evening he set aside for this momentous purpose he
took the precaution of stepping into a chemists shop and buying a bottle of the
very strongest smellingsalts »By George« said Mr Bounderby »if she takes it
in the fainting way Ill have the skin off her nose at all events« But in
spite of being thus forearmed he entered his own house with anything but a
courageous air and appeared before the object of his misgivings like a dog who
was conscious of coming direct from the pantry
»Good evening Mr Bounderby«
»Good evening maam good evening« He drew up his chair and Mrs Sparsit
drew back hers as who should say »Your fireside sir I freely admit it It is
for you to occupy it all if you think proper«
»Dont go to the North Pole maam« said Mr Bounderby
»Thank you sir« said Mrs Sparsit and returned though short of her
former position
Mr Bounderby sat looking at her as with the points of a stiff sharp pair
of scissors she picked out holes for some inscrutable ornamental purpose in a
piece of cambric An operation which taken in connexion with the bushy eyebrows
and the Roman nose suggested with some liveliness the idea of a hawk engaged
upon the eyes of a tough little bird She was so steadfastly occupied that many
minutes elapsed before she looked up from her work when she did so Mr
Bounderby bespoke her attention with a hitch of his head
»Mrs Sparsit maam« said Mr Bounderby putting his hands in his pockets
and assuring himself with his right hand that the cork of the little bottle was
ready for use »I have no occasion to say to you that you are not only a lady
born and bred but a devilish sensible woman«
»Sir« returned the lady »this is indeed not the first time that you have
honoured me with similar expressions of your good opinion«
»Mrs Sparsit maam« said Mr Bounderby »I am going to astonish you«
»Yes sir« returned Mrs Sparsit interrogatively and in the most tranquil
manner possible She generally wore mittens and she now laid down her work and
smoothed those mittens
»I am going maam« said Bounderby »to marry Tom Gradgrinds daughter«
»Yes sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »I hope you may be happy Mr Bounderby
Oh indeed I hope you may be happy sir« And she said it with such great
condescension as well as with such great compassion for him that Bounderby
far more disconcerted than if she had thrown her workbox at the mirror or
swooned on the hearthrug corked up the smellingsalts tight in his pocket
and thought »Now confound this woman who could have even guessed that she
would take it in this way«
»I wish with all my heart sir« said Mrs Sparsit in a highly superior
manner somehow she seemed in a moment to have established a right to pity him
ever afterwards »that you may be in all respects very happy«
»Well maam« returned Bounderby with some resentment in his tone which
was clearly lowered though in spite of himself »I am obliged to you I hope I
shall be«
»Do you sir« said Mrs Sparsit with great affability »But naturally you
do of course you do«
A very awkward pause on Mr Bounderbys part succeeded Mrs Sparsit
sedately resumed her work and occasionally gave a small cough which sounded
like the cough of conscious strength and forbearance
»Well maam« resumed Bounderby »under these circumstances I imagine it
would not be agreeable to a character like yours to remain here though you
would be very welcome here«
»Oh dear no sir I could on no account think of that« Mrs Sparsit shook
her head still in her highly superior manner and a little changed the small
cough coughing now as if the spirit of prophecy rose within her but had
better be coughed down
»However maam« said Bounderby »there are apartments at the Bank where a
born and bred lady as keeper of the place would be rather a catch than
otherwise and if the same terms «
»I beg your pardon sir You were so good as to promise that you would
always substitute the phrase annual compliment«
»Well maam annual compliment If the same annual compliment would be
acceptable there why I see nothing to part us unless you do«
»Sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »The proposal is like yourself and if the
position I shall assume at the Bank is one that I could occupy without
descending lower in the social scale «
»Why of course it is« said Bounderby »If it was not maam you dont
suppose that I should offer it to a lady who has moved in the society you have
moved in Not that I care for such society you know But you do«
»Mr Bounderby you are very considerate«
»Youll have your own private apartments and youll have your coals and
your candles and all the rest of it and youll have your maid to attend upon
you and youll have your light porter to protect you and youll be what I take
the liberty of considering precious comfortable« said Bounderby
»Sir« rejoined Mrs Sparsit »say no more In yielding up my trust here I
shall not be freed from to the necessity of eating the bread of dependence« she
might have said the sweetbread for that delicate article in a savoury brown
sauce was her favourite supper »and I would rather receive it from your hand
than from any other Therefore sir I accept your offer gratefully and with
many sincere acknowledgements for past favours And I hope sir« said Mrs
Sparsit concluding in an impressively compassionate manner »I fondly hope that
Miss Grandgrind may be all you desire and deserve«
Nothing moved Mrs Sparsit from that position any more It was in vain for
Bounderby to bluster or to assert himself in any of his explosive ways Mrs
Sparsit was resolved to have compassion on him as a Victim She was polite
obliging cheerful hopeful but the more polite the more obliging the more
cheerful the more hopeful the more exemplary altogether she the forlorner
Sacrifice and Victim he She had that tenderness for his melancholy fate that
his great red countenance used to break out into cold perspirations when she
looked at him
Meanwhile the marriage was appointed to be solemnized in eight weeks time
and Mr Bounderby went every evening to Stone Lodge as an accepted wooer Love
was made on these occasions in the form of bracelets and on all occasions
during the period of betrothal took a manufacturing aspect Dresses were made
jewellery was made cakes and gloves were made settlements were made and an
extensive assortment of Facts did appropriate honour to the contract The
business was all Fact from first to last The Hours did not go through any of
those rosy performances which foolish poets have ascribed to them at such
times neither did the clocks go any faster or any slower than at other
seasons The deadly statistical recorder in the Gradgrind observatory knocked
every second on the head as it was born and buried it with his accustomed
regularity
So the day came as all other days come to people who will only stick to
reason and when it came there were married in the church of the florid wooden
legs that popular order of architecture Josiah Bounderby Esquire of
Coketown to Louisa eldest daughter of Thomas Gradgrind Esquire of Stone Lodge
MP for that borough And when they were united in holy matrimony they went
home to breakfast at Stone Lodge aforesaid
There was an improving party assembled on the auspicious occasion who knew
what everything they had to eat and drink was made of and how it was imported
or exported and in what quantities and in what bottoms whether native or
foreign and all about it The bridesmaids down to little Jane Gradgrind were
in an intellectual point of view fit helpmates for the calculating boy and
there was no nonsense about any of the company
After breakfast the bridegroom addressed them in the following terms
»Ladies and gentlemen I am Josiah Bounderby of Coketown Since you have
done my wife and myself the honour of drinking our healths and happiness I
suppose I must acknowledge the same though as you all know me and know what I
am and what my extraction was you wont expect a speech from a man who when
he sees a Post says thats a Post and when he sees a Pump says thats a Pump
and is not to be got to call a Post a Pump or a Pump a Post of either of them
a Toothpick If you want a speech this morning my friend and fatherinlaw Tom
Gradgrind is a Member of Parliament and you know where to get it I am not
your man However if I feel a little independent when I look around this table
today and reflect how little I thought of marrying Tom Gradgrinds daughter
when I was a ragged streetboy who never washed his face unless it was at a
pump and that not oftener than once a fortnight I hope I may be excused So I
hope you like my feeling independent if you dont I cant help it I do feel
independent Now I have mentioned and you have mentioned that I am this day
married to Tom Gradgrinds daughter I am very glad to be so It has long been
my wish to be so I have watched her bringingup and I believe she is worthy of
me At the same time not to deceive you I believe I am worthy of her So I
thank you on both our parts for the goodwill you have shown towards us and
the best wish I can give the unmarried part of the present company is this I
hope every bachelor may find as good a wife as I have found And I hope every
spinster may find as good a husband as my wife has found«
Shortly after which oration as they were going on a nuptial trip to Lyons
in order that Mr Bounderby might take the opportunity of seeing how the Hands
got on in those parts and whether they too required to be fed with gold
spoons the happy pair departed for the railroad The bride in passing
downstairs dressed for her journey found Tom waiting for her flushed
either with his feelings or the vinous part of the breakfast
»What a game girl you are to be such a firstrate sister Loo« whispered
Tom
She clung to him as she should have clung to some far better nature that
day and was a little shaken in her reserved composure for the first time
»Old Bounderbys quite ready« said Tom »Times up Goodbye I shall be on
the lookout for you when you come back I say my dear Loo ANT it uncommonly
jolly now«
Book the Second
Reaping
Chapter I
Effects in the Bank
A sunny midsummer day There was such a thing sometimes even in Coketown
Seen from a distance in such weather Coketown lay shrouded in a haze of its
own which appeared impervious to the suns rays You only knew the town was
there because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch upon the
prospect without a town A blur of soot and smoke now confusedly tending this
way now that way now aspiring to the vault of Heaven now murkily creeping
along the earth as the wind rose and fell or changed its quarter a dense
formless jumble with sheets of cross light in it that showed nothing but
masses of darkness Coketown in the distance was suggestive of itself though
not a brick of it could be seen
The wonder was it was there at all It had been ruined so often that it
was amazing how it had borne so many shocks Surely there never was such fragile
chinaware as that of which the millers of Coketown were made Handle them never
so lightly and they fell to pieces with such ease that you might suspect them
of having been flawed before They were ruined when they were required to send
labouring children to school they were ruined when inspectors were appointed to
look into their works they were ruined when such inspectors considered it
doubtful whether they were quite justified in chopping people up with their
machinery they were utterly undone when it was hinted that perhaps they need
not always make quite so much smoke Besides Mr Bounderbys gold spoon which
was generally received in Coketown another prevalent fiction was very popular
there It took the form of a threat Whenever a Coketowner felt he was illused
that is to say whenever he was not left entirely alone and it was proposed
to hold him accountable for the consequences of any of his acts he was sure to
come out with the awful menace that he would »sooner pitch his property into
the Atlantic« This had terrified the Home Secretary within an inch of his life
on several occasions
However the Coketowners were so patriotic after all that they never had
pitched their property into the Atlantic yet but on the contrary had been
kind enough to take mighty good care of it So there it was in the haze yonder
and it increased and multiplied
The streets were hot and dusty on the summer day and the sun was so bright
that it even shone through the heavy vapour drooping over Coketown and could
not be looked at steadily Stokers emerged from low underground doorways into
factory yards and sat on steps and posts and palings wiping their swarthy
visages and contemplating coals The whole town seemed to be frying in oil
There was a stifling smell of hot oil everywhere The steamengines shone with
it the dresses of the Hands were soiled with it the mills throughout their
many stories oozed and trickled it The atmosphere of those Fairy palaces was
like the breath of the simoom and their inhabitants wasting with heat toiled
languidly in the desert But no temperature made the melancholy mad elephants
more mad or more sane Their wearisome heads went up and down at the same rate
in hot weather and cold wet weather and dry fair weather and foul The
measured motion of their shadows on the walls was the substitute Coketown had
to show for the shadows of rustling woods while for the summer hum of insects
it could offer all the year round from the dawn of Monday to the night of
Saturday the whirr of shafts and wheels
Drowsily they whirred all through this sunny day making the passenger more
sleepy and more hot as he passed the humming walls of the mills Sunblinds and
sprinklings of water a little cooled the main streets and the shops but the
mills and the courts and alleys baked at a fierce heat Down upon the river
that was black and thick with dye some Coketown boys who were at large a rare
sight there rowed a crazy boat which made a spumous track upon the water as
it jogged along while every dip of an oar stirred up vile smells But the sun
itself however beneficent generally was less kind to Coketown than hard
frost and rarely looked intently into any of its closer regions without
engendering more death than life So does the eye of Heaven itself become an
evil eye when incapable or sordid hands are interposed between it and the
things it looks upon to bless
Mrs Sparsit sat in her afternoon apartment at the Bank on the shadier side
of the frying street Officehours were over and at that period of the day in
warm weather she usually embellished with her genteel presence a managerial
boardroom over the public office Her own private sittingroom was a story
higher at the window of which post of observation she was ready every morning
to greet Mr Bounderby as he came across the road with the sympathizing
recognition appropriate to a Victim He had been married now a year and Mrs
Sparsit had never released him from her determined pity a moment
The Bank offered no violence to the wholesome monotony of the town It was
another red brick house with black outside shutters green inside blinds a
black streetdoor up two white steps a brazen doorplate and a brazen
doorhandle full stop It was a size larger than Mr Bounderbys house as other
houses were from a size to halfadozen sizes smaller in all other particulars
it was strictly according to pattern
Mrs Sparsit was conscious that by coming in the eveningtide among the
desks and writing implements she shed a feminine not to say also aristocratic
grace upon the office Seated with her needlework or netting apparatus at the
window she had a selflaudatory sense of correcting by her ladylike
deportment the rude business aspect of the place With this impression of her
interesting character upon her Mrs Sparsit considered herself in some sort
the Bank Fairy The townspeople who in their passing and repassing saw her
there regarded her as the Bank Dragon keeping watch over the treasures of the
mine
What those treasures were Mrs Sparsit knew as little as they did Gold and
silver coin precious paper secrets that if divulged would bring vague
destruction upon vague persons generally however people whom she disliked
were the chief items in her ideal catalogue thereof For the rest she knew that
after officehours she reigned supreme over all the office furniture and over
a lockedup iron room with three locks against the door of which strong chamber
the light porter laid his head every night on a truckle bed that disappeared
at cockcrow Further she was lady paramount over certain vaults in the
basement sharply spiked off from communication with the predatory world and
over the relics of the current days work consisting of blots of ink wornout
pens fragments of wafers and scraps of paper torn so small that nothing
interesting could ever be deciphered on them when Mrs Sparsit tried Lastly
she was guardian over a little armoury of cutlasses and carbines arrayed in
vengeful order above one of the official chimneypieces and over that
respectable tradition never to be separated from a place of business claiming to
be wealthy a row of firebuckets vessels calculated to be of no physical
utility on any occasion but observed to exercise a fine moral influence almost
equal to bullion on most beholders
A deaf servingwoman and the light porter completed Mrs Sparsits empire
The deaf servingwoman was rumoured to be wealthy and a saying had for years
gone about among the lower orders of Coketown that she would be murdered some
night when the Bank was shut for the sake of her money It was generally
considered indeed that she had been due some time and ought to have fallen
long ago but she had kept her life and her situation with an illconditioned
tenacity that occasioned much offence and disappointment
Mrs Sparsits tea was just set for her on a pert little table with its
tripod of legs in an attitude which she insinuated after officehours into the
company of the stern leatherntopped long boardtable that bestrode the middle
of the room The light porter placed the teatray on it knuckling his forehead
as a form of homage
»Thank you Bitzer« said Mrs Sparsit
»Thank you maam« returned the light porter He was a very light porter
indeed as light as in the days when he blinkingly defined a horse for girl
number twenty
»All is shut up Bitzer« said Mrs Sparsit
»All is shut up maam«
»And what« said Mrs Sparsit pouring out her tea »is the news of the day
Anything«
»Well maam I cant say that I have heard anything particular Our people
are a bad lot maam but that is no news unfortunately«
»What are the restless wretches doing now« asked Mrs Sparsit
»Merely going on in the old way maam Uniting and leaguing and engaging
to stand by one another«
»It is much to be regretted« said Mrs Sparsit making her nose more Roman
and her eyebrows more Coriolanian in the strength of her severity »that the
united masters allow of any such classcombinations«
»Yes maam« said Bitzer
»Being united themselves they ought one and all to set their faces against
employing any man who is united with any other man« said Mrs Sparsit
»They have done that maam« returned Bitzer »but it rather fell through
maam«
»I do not pretend to understand these things« said Mrs Sparsit with
dignity »my lot having been signally cast in a widely different sphere and Mr
Sparsit as a Powler being also quite out of the pale of any such dissensions
I only know that these people must be conquered and that its high time it was
done once for all«
»Yes maam« returned Bitzer with a demonstration of great respect for
Mrs Sparsits oracular authority »You couldnt put it clearer I am sure
maam«
As this was his usual hour for having a little confidential chat with Mrs
Sparsit and as he had already caught her eye and seen that she was going to ask
him something he made a pretence of arranging the rulers inkstands and so
forth while that lady went on with her tea glancing through the open window
down into the street
»Has it been a busy day Bitzer« asked Mrs Sparsit
»Not a very busy day my lady About an average day« He now and then slided
into my lady instead of maam as an involuntary acknowledgment of Mrs
Sparsits personal dignity and claims to reverence
»The clerks« said Mrs Sparsit carefully brushing an imperceptible crumb
of bread and butter from her lefthand mitten »are trustworthy punctual and
industrious of course«
»Yes maam pretty fair maam With the usual exception«
He held the respectable office of general spy and informer in the
establishment for which volunteer service he received a present at Christmas
over and above his weekly wage He had grown into an extremely clearheaded
cautious prudent young man who was safe to rise in the world His mind was so
exactly regulated that he had no affections or passions All his proceedings
were the result of the nicest and coldest calculation and it was not without
cause that Mrs Sparsit habitually observed of him that he was a young man of
the steadiest principle she had ever known Having satisfied himself on his
fathers death that his mother had a right of settlement in Coketown this
excellent young economist had asserted that right for her with such a steadfast
adherence to the principle of the case that she had been shut up in the
workhouse ever since It must be admitted that he allowed her half a pound of
tea a year which was weak in him first because all gifts have an inevitable
tendency to pauperise the recipient and secondly because his only reasonable
transaction in that commodity would have been to buy it for as little as he
could possibly give and sell it for as much as he could possibly get it having
been clearly ascertained by philosophers that in this is comprised the whole
duty of man not a part of mans duty but the whole
»Pretty fair maam With the usual exception maam« repeated Bitzer
»Ah h« said Mrs Sparsit shaking her head over her teacup and taking a
long gulp
»Mr Thomas maam I doubt Mr Thomas very much maam I dont like his
ways at all«
»Bitzer« said Mrs Sparsit in a very impressive manner »do you recollect
my having said anything to you respecting names«
»I beg your pardon maam Its quite true that you did object to names
being used and theyre always best avoided«
»Please to remember that I have a charge here« said Mrs Sparsit with her
air of state »I hold a trust here Bitzer under Mr Bounderby However
improbable both Mr Bounderby and myself might have deemed it years ago that he
would ever become my patron making me an annual compliment I cannot but regard
him in that light From Mr Bounderby I have received every acknowledgment of my
social station and every recognition of my family descent that I could
possibly expect More far more Therefore to my patron I will be scrupulously
true And I do not consider I will not consider I cannot consider« said Mrs
Sparsit with a most extensive stock on hand of honour and morality »that I
should be scrupulously true if I allowed names to be mentioned under this roof
that are unfortunately most unfortunately no doubt of that connected with
his«
Bitzer knuckled his forehead again and again begged pardon
»No Bitzer« continued Mrs Sparsit »say an individual and I will hear
you say Mr Thomas and you must excuse me«
»With the usual exception maam« said Bitzer trying back »of an
individual«
»Ah h« Mrs Sparsit repeated the ejaculation the shake of the head over
her teacup and the long gulp as taking up the conversation again at the point
where it had been interrupted
»An individual maam« said Bitzer »has never been what he ought to have
been since he first came into the place He is a dissipated extravagant idler
He is not worth his salt maam He wouldnt get it either if he hadnt a
friend and relation at court maam«
»Ah h« said Mrs Sparsit with another melancholy shake of her head
»I only hope maam« pursued Bitzer »that his friend and relation may not
supply him with the means of carrying on Otherwise maam we know out of whose
pocket that money comes«
»Ah h« sighed Mrs Sparsit again with another melancholy shake of her
head
»He is to be pitied maam The last party I have alluded to is to be
pitied maam« said Bitzer
»Yes Bitzer« said Mrs Sparsit »I have always pitied the delusion
always«
»As to an individual maam« said Bitzer dropping his voice and drawing
nearer »he is as improvident as any of the people in this town And you know
what their improvidence is maam No one could wish to know it better than a
lady of your eminence does«
»They would do well« returned Mrs Sparsit »to take example by you
Bitzer«
»Thank you maam But since you do refer to me now look at me maam I
have put by a little maam already That gratuity which I receive at
Christmas maam I never touch it I dont even go the length of my wages
though theyre not high maam Why cant they do as I have done maam What
one person can do another can do«
This again was among the fictions of Coketown Any capitalist there who
had made sixty thousand pounds out of sixpence always professed to wonder why
the sixty thousand nearest Hands didnt each make sixty thousand pounds out of
sixpence and more or less reproached them every one for not accomplishing the
little feat What I did you can do Why dont you go and do it
»As to their wanting recreations maam« said Bitzer »its stuff and
nonsense I dont want recreations I never did and I never shall I dont like
em As to their combining together there are many of them I have no doubt
that by watching and informing upon one another could earn a trifle now and
then whether in money or good will and improve their livelihood Then why
dont they improve it maam Its the first consideration of a rational
creature and its what they pretend to want«
»Pretend indeed« said Mrs Sparsit
»I am sure we are constantly hearing maam till it becomes quite nauseous
concerning their wives and families« said Bitzer »Why look at me maam I
dont want a wife and family Why should they«
»Because they are improvident« said Mrs Sparsit
»Yes maam« returned Bitzer »thats where it is If they were more
provident and less perverse maam what would they do They would say While my
hat covers my family or while my bonnet covers my family as the case might
be maam I have only one to feed and thats the person I most like to feed«
»To be sure« assented Mrs Sparsit eating muffin
»Thank you maam« said Bitzer knuckling his forehead again in return for
the favour of Mrs Sparsits improving conversation »Would you wish a little
more hot water maam or is there anything else that I could fetch you«
»Nothing just now Bitzer«
»Thank you maam I shouldnt wish to disturb you at your meals maam
particularly tea knowing your partiality for it« said Bitzer craning a little
to look over into the street from where he stood »but theres a gentleman been
looking up here for a minute or so maam and he has come across as if he was
going to knock That is his knock maam no doubt«
He stepped to the window and looking out and drawing in his head again
confirmed himself with »Yes maam Would you wish the gentleman to be shown
in maam«
»I dont know who it can be« said Mrs Sparsit wiping her mouth and
arranging her mittens
»A stranger maam evidently«
»What a stranger can want at the Bank at this time of the evening unless he
comes upon some business for which he is too late I dont know« said Mrs
Sparsit »but I hold a charge in this establishment from Mr Bounderby and I
will never shrink from it If to see him is any part of the duty I have
accepted I will see him Use your own discretion Bitzer«
Here the visitor all unconscious of Mrs Sparsits magnanimous words
repeated his knock so loudly that the light porter hastened down to open the
door while Mrs Sparsit took the precaution of concealing her little table
with all its appliances upon it in a cupboard and then decamped upstairs
that she might appear if needful with the greater dignity
»If you please maam the gentleman would wish to see you« said Bitzer
with his light eye at Mrs Sparsits keyhole So Mrs Sparsit who had improved
the interval by touching up her cap took her classical features downstairs
again and entered the boardroom in the manner of a Roman matron going outside
the city walls to treat with an invading general
The visitor having strolled to the window and being then engaged in looking
carelessly out was as unmoved by this impressive entry as man could possibly
be He stood whistling to himself with all imaginable coolness with his hat
still on and a certain air of exhaustion upon him in part arising from
excessive summer and in part from excessive gentility For it was to be seen
with half an eye that he was a thorough gentleman made to the model of the
time weary of everything and putting no more faith in anything than Lucifer
»I believe sir« quoth Mrs Sparsit »you wished to see me«
»I beg your pardon« he said turning and removing his hat »pray excuse
me«
»Humph« thought Mrs Sparsit as she made a stately bend »Five and thirty
goodlooking good figure good teeth good voice good breeding welldressed
dark hair bold eyes« All which Mrs Sparsit observed in her womanly way like
the Sultan who put his head in the pail of water merely in dipping down and
coming up again
»Please to be seated sir« said Mrs Sparsit
»Thank you Allow me« He placed a chair for her but remained himself
carelessly lounging against the table »I left my servant at the railway looking
after the luggage very heavy train and vast quantity of it in the van and
strolled on looking about me Exceedingly odd place Will you allow me to ask
you if its always as black as this«
»In general much blacker« returned Mrs Sparsit in her uncompromising way
»Is it possible Excuse me you are not a native I think«
»No sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »It was once my good or ill fortune as it
may be before I became a widow to move in a very different sphere My
husband was a Powler«
»Beg your pardon really« said the stranger »Was «
Mrs Sparsit repeated »A Powler«
»Powler Family« said the stranger after reflecting a few moments Mrs
Sparsit signified assent The stranger seemed a little more fatigued than
before
»You must be very much bored here« was the inference he drew from the
communication
»I am the servant of circumstances sir« said Mrs Sparsit »and I have
long adapted myself to the governing power of my life«
»Very philosophical« returned the stranger »and very exemplary and
laudable and « It seemed to be scarcely worth his while to finish the
sentence so he played with his watchchain wearily
»May I be permitted to ask sir« said Mrs Sparsit »to what I am indebted
for the favour of «
»Assuredly« said the stranger »Much obliged to you for reminding me I am
the bearer of a letter of introduction to Mr Bounderby the banker Walking
through this extraordinarily black town while they were getting dinner ready at
the hotel I asked a fellow whom I met one of the working people who appeared
to have been taking a showerbath of something fluffy which I assume to be the
raw material «
Mrs Sparsit inclined her head
» Raw material where Mr Bounderby the banker might reside Upon which
misled no doubt by the word Banker he directed me to the Bank Fact being I
presume that Mr Bounderby the Banker does not reside in the edifice in which I
have the honour of offering this explanation«
»No sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »he does not«
»Thank you I had no intention of delivering my letter at the present
moment nor have I But strolling on to the Bank to kill time and having the
good fortune to observe at the window« towards which he languidly waved his
hand then slightly bowed »a lady of a very superior and agreeable appearance
I considered that I could not do better than take the liberty of asking that
lady where Mr Bounderby the Banker does live Which I accordingly venture with
all suitable apologies to do«
The inattention and indolence of his manner were sufficiently relieved to
Mrs Sparsits thinking by a certain gallantry at ease which offered her
homage too Here he was for instance at this moment all but sitting on the
table and yet lazily bending over her as if he acknowledged an attraction in
her that made her charming in her way
»Banks I know are always suspicious and officially must be« said the
stranger whose lightness and smoothness of speech were pleasant likewise
suggesting matter far more sensible and humorous than it ever contained which
was perhaps a shrewd device of the founder of this numerous sect whosoever may
have been that great man »therefore I may observe that my letter here it is
is from the member for this place Gradgrind whom I have had the pleasure of
knowing in London«
Mrs Sparsit recognized the hand intimated that such confirmation was quite
unnecessary and gave Mr Bounderbys address with all needful clues and
directions in aid
»Thousand thanks« said the stranger »Of course you know the Banker well«
»Yes sir« rejoined Mrs Sparsit »In my dependent relation towards him I
have known him ten years«
»Quite an eternity I think he married Gradgrinds daughter«
»Yes« said Mrs Sparsit suddenly compressing her mouth »he had that
honour«
»The lady is quite a philosopher I am told«
»Indeed sir« said Mrs Sparsit »Is she«
»Excuse my impertinent curiosity« pursued the stranger fluttering over
Mrs Sparsits eyebrows with a propitiatory air »but you know the family and
know the world I am about to know the family and may have much to do with
them Is the lady so very alarming Her father gives her such a portentously
hardheaded reputation that I have a burning desire to know Is she absolutely
unapproachable Repellently and stunningly clever I see by your meaning smile
you think not You have poured balm into my anxious soul As to age now Forty
Five and thirty«
Mrs Sparsit laughed outright »A chit« said she »Not twenty when she was
married«
»I give you my honour Mrs Powler« returned the stranger detaching
himself from the table »that I never was so astonished in my life«
It really did seem to impress him to the utmost extent of his capacity of
being impressed He looked at his informant for full a quarter of a minute and
appeared to have the surprise in his mind all the time »I assure you Mrs
Powler« he then said much exhausted »that the fathers manner prepared me for
a grim and stony maturity I am obliged to you of all things for correcting so
absurd a mistake Pray excuse my intrusion Many thanks Good day«
He bowed himself out and Mrs Sparsit hiding in the window curtain saw
him languishing down the street on the shady side of the way observed of all
the town
»What do you think of the gentleman Bitzer« she asked the light porter
when he came to take away
»Spends a deal of money on his dress maam«
»It must be admitted« said Mrs Sparsit »that its very tasteful«
»Yes maam« returned Bitzer »if thats worth the money«
»Besides which maam« resumed Bitzer while he was polishing the table
»he looks to me as if he gamed«
»Its immoral to game« said Mrs Sparsit
»Its ridiculous maam« said Bitzer »because the chances are against the
players«
Whether it was that the heat prevented Mrs Sparsit from working or whether
it was that her hand was out she did no work that night She sat at the window
when the sun began to sink behind the smoke she sat there when the smoke was
burning red when the colour faded from it when darkness seemed to rise slowly
out of the ground and creep upward upward up to the housetops up the church
steeple up to the summits of the factory chimneys up to the sky Without a
candle in the room Mrs Sparsit sat at the window with her hands before her
not thinking much of the sounds of evening the whooping of boys the barking of
dogs the rumbling of wheels the steps and voices of passengers the shrill
street cries the clogs upon the pavement when it was their hour for going by
the shuttingup of shopshutters Not until the light porter announced that her
nocturnal sweetbread was ready did Mrs Sparsit arouse herself from her
reverie and convey her dense black eyebrows by that time creased with
meditation as if they needed ironing out upstairs
»O you Fool« said Mrs Sparsit when she was alone at her supper Whom she
meant she did not say but she could scarcely have meant the sweetbread
Chapter II
Mr James Harthouse
The Gradgrind party wanted assistance in cutting the throats of the Graces They
went about recruiting and where could they enlist recruits more hopefully than
among the fine gentlemen who having found out everything to be worth nothing
were equally ready for anything
Moreover the healthy spirits who had mounted to this sublime height were
attractive to many of the Gradgrind school They liked fine gentlemen they
pretended that they did not but they did They became exhausted in imitation of
them and they yawyawed in their speech like them and they served out with an
enervated air the little mouldy rations of political economy on which they
regaled their disciples There never before was seen on earth such a wonderful
hybrid race as was thus produced
Among the fine gentlemen not regularly belonging to the Gradgrind school
there was one of a good family and a better appearance with a happy turn of
humour which had told immensely with the House of Commons on the occasion of his
entertaining it with his and the Board of Directors view of a railway
accident in which the most careful officers ever known employed by the most
liberal managers ever heard of assisted by the finest mechanical contrivances
ever devised the whole in action on the best line ever constructed had killed
five people and wounded thirtytwo by a casualty without which the excellence
of the whole system would have been positively incomplete Among the slain was a
cow and among the scattered articles unowned a widows cap And the honourable
member had so tickled the House which has a delicate sense of humour by
putting the cap on the cow that it became impatient of any serious reference to
the Coroners Inquest and brought the railway off with Cheers and Laughter
Now this gentleman had a younger brother of still better appearance than
himself who had tried life as a Cornet of Dragoons and found it a bore and
had afterwards tried it in the train of an English minister abroad and found it
a bore and had then strolled to Jerusalem and got bored there and had then
gone yachting about the world and got bored everywhere To whom this honourable
and jocular member fraternally said one day »Jem theres a good opening among
the hard Fact fellows and they want men I wonder you dont go in for
statistics« Jem rather taken by the novelty of the idea and very hard up for
a change was as ready to go in for statistics as for anything else So he went
in He coached himself up with a bluebook or two and his brother put it about
among the hard Fact fellows and said »If you want to bring in for any place
a handsome dog who can make you a devilish good speech look after my brother
Jem for hes your man« After a few dashes in the public meeting way Mr
Gradgrind and a council of political sages approved of Jem and it was resolved
to send him down to Coketown to become known there and in the neighbourhood
Hence the letter Jem had last night shown to Mrs Sparsit which Mr Bounderby
now held in his hand superscribed »Josiah Bounderby Esquire Banker
Coketown Specially to introduce James Harthouse Esquire Thomas Gradgrind«
Within an hour of the receipt of this dispatch and Mr James Harthouses
card Mr Bounderby put on his hat and went down to the Hotel There he found
Mr James Harthouse looking out of window in a state of mind so disconsolate
that he was already halfdisposed to go in for something else
»My name sir« said his visitor »is Josiah Bounderby of Coketown«
Mr James Harthouse was very happy indeed though he scarcely looked so to
have a pleasure he had long expected
»Coketown sir« said Bounderby obstinately taking a chair »is not the
kind of place you have been accustomed to Therefore if you will allow me or
whether you will or not for I am a plain man Ill tell you something about it
before we go any further«
Mr Harthouse would be charmed
»Dont be too sure of that« said Bounderby »I dont promise it First of
all you see our smoke Thats meat and drink to us Its the healthiest thing
in the world in all respects and particularly for the lungs If you are one of
those who want us to consume it I differ from you We are not going to wear the
bottoms of our boilers out any faster than we wear em out now for all the
humbugging sentiment in Great Britain and Ireland«
By way of going in to the fullest extent Mr Harthouse rejoined »Mr
Bounderby I assure you I am entirely and completely of your way of thinking On
conviction«
»I am glad to hear it« said Bounderby »Now you have heard a lot of talk
about the work in our mills no doubt You have Very good Ill state the fact
of it to you Its the pleasantest work there is and its the lightest work
there is and its the bestpaid work there is More than that we couldnt
improve the mills themselves unless we laid down Turkey carpets on the floors
Which were not agoing to do«
»Mr Bounderby perfectly right«
»Lastly« said Bounderby »as to our Hands Theres not a Hand in this town
sir man woman or child but has one ultimate object in life That object is
to be fed on turtle soup and venison with a gold spoon Now theyre not going
none of em ever to be fed on turtle soup and venison with a gold spoon And
now you know the place«
Mr Harthouse professed himself in the highest degree instructed and
refreshed by this condensed epitome of the whole Coketown question
»Why you see« replied Mr Bounderby »it suits my disposition to have a
full understanding with a man particularly with a public man when I make his
acquaintance I have only one thing more to say to you Mr Harthouse before
assuring you of the pleasure with which I shall respond to the utmost of my
poor ability to my friend Tom Gradgrinds letter of introduction You are a man
of family Dont you deceive yourself by supposing for a moment that I am a man
of family I am a bit of dirty riffraff and a genuine scrap of tag rag and
bobtail«
If anything could have exalted Jems interest in Mr Bounderby it would
have been this very circumstance Or so he told him
»So now« said Bounderby »we may shake hands on equal terms I say equal
terms because although I know what I am and the exact depth of the gutter I
have lifted myself out of better than any man does I am as proud as you are I
am just as proud as you are Having now asserted my independence in a proper
manner I may come to how do you find yourself and I hope youre pretty well«
The better Mr Harthouse gave him to understand as they shook hands for
the salubrious air of Coketown Mr Bounderby received the answer with favour
»Perhaps you know« said he »or perhaps you dont know I married Tom
Gradgrinds daughter If you have nothing better to do than to walk up town with
me I shall be glad to introduce you to Tom Gradgrinds daughter«
»Mr Bounderby« said Jem »you anticipate my dearest wishes«
They went out without further discourse and Mr Bounderby piloted the new
acquaintance who so strongly contrasted with him to the private red brick
dwelling with the black outside shutters the green inside blinds and the
black street door up the two white steps In the drawingroom of which mansion
there presently entered to them the most remarkable girl Mr James Harthouse had
ever seen She was so constrained and yet so careless so reserved and yet so
watchful so cold and proud and yet so sensitively ashamed of her husbands
braggart humility from which she shrunk as if every example of it were a cut
or a blow that it was quite a new sensation to observe her In face she was no
less remarkable than in manner Her features were handsome but their natural
play was so locked up that it seemed impossible to guess at their genuine
expression Utterly indifferent perfectly selfreliant never at a loss and
yet never at her ease with her figure in company with them there and her mind
apparently quite alone it was of no use going in yet awhile to comprehend this
girl for she baffled all penetration
From the mistress of the house the visitor glanced to the house itself
There was no mute sign of a woman in the room No graceful little adornment no
fanciful little device however trivial anywhere expressed her influence
Cheerless and comfortless boastfully and doggedly rich there the room stared
at its present occupants unsoftened and unrelieved by the least trace of any
womanly occupation As Mr Bounderby stood in the midst of his household gods
so those unrelenting divinities occupied their places around Mr Bounderby and
they were worthy of one another and well matched
»This sir« said Bounderby »is my wife Mrs Bounderby Tom Gradgrinds
eldest daughter Loo Mr James Harthouse Mr Harthouse has joined your
fathers musterroll If he is not Tom Gradgrinds colleague before long I
believe we shall at least hear of him in connexion with one of our neighbouring
towns You observe Mr Harthouse that my wife is my junior I dont know what
she saw in me to marry me but she saw something in me I suppose or she
wouldnt have married me She has lots of expensive knowledge sir political
and otherwise If you want to cram for anything I should be troubled to
recommend you to a better adviser than Loo Bounderby«
To a more agreeable adviser or one from whom he would be more likely to
learn Mr Harthouse could never be recommended
»Come« said his host »If youre in the complimentary line youll get on
here for youll meet with no competition I have never been in the way of
learning compliments myself and I dont profess to understand the art of paying
em In fact despise em But your bringingup was different from mine mine
was a real thing by George Youre a gentleman and I dont pretend to be one
I am Josiah Bounderby of Coketown and thats enough for me However though I
am not influenced by manners and station Loo Bounderby may be She hadnt my
advantages disadvantages you would call em but I call em advantages so
youll not waste your power I dare say«
»Mr Bounderby« said Jem turning with a smile to Louisa »is a noble
animal in a comparatively natural state quite free from the harness in which a
conventional hack like myself works«
»You respect Mr Bounderby very much« she quietly returned »It is natural
that you should«
He was disgracefully thrown out for a gentleman who had seen so much of the
world and thought »Now how am I to take this«
»You are going to devote yourself as I gather from what Mr Bounderby has
said to the service of your country You have made up your mind« said Louisa
still standing before him where she had first stopped in all the singular
contrariety of her selfpossession and her being obviously very ill at ease
»to show the nation the way out of all its difficulties«
»Mrs Bounderby« he returned laughing »upon my honour no I will make no
such pretence to you I have seen a little here and there up and down I have
found it all to be very worthless as everybody has and as some confess they
have and some do not and I am going in for your respected fathers opinions
really because I have no choice of opinions and may as well back them as
anything else«
»Have you none of your own« asked Louisa
»I have not so much as the slightest predilection left I assure you I
attach not the least importance to any opinions The result of the varieties of
boredom I have undergone is a conviction unless conviction is too industrious
a word for the lazy sentiment I entertain on the subject that any set of ideas
will do just as much good as any other set and just as much harm as any other
set Theres an English family with a charming Italian motto What will be will
be Its the only truth going«
This vicious assumption of honesty in dishonesty a vice so dangerous so
deadly and so common seemed he observed a little to impress her in his
favour He followed up the advantage by saying in his pleasantest manner a
manner to which she might attach as much or as little meaning as she pleased
»The side that can prove anything in a line of units tens hundreds and
thousands Mrs Bounderby seems to me to afford the most fun and to give a man
the best chance I am quite as much attached to it as if I believed it I am
quite ready to go in for it to the same extent as if I believed it And what
more could I possibly do if I did believe it«
»You are a singular politician« said Louisa
»Pardon me I have not even that merit We are the largest party in the
state I assure you Mrs Bounderby if we all fell out of our adopted ranks and
were reviewed together«
Mr Bounderby who had been in danger of bursting in silence interposed
here with a project for postponing the family dinner till halfpast six and
taking Mr James Harthouse in the meantime on a round of visits to the voting
and interesting notabilities of Coketown and its vicinity The round of visits
was made and Mr James Harthouse with a discreet use of his blue coaching
came off triumphantly though with a considerable accession of boredom
In the evening he found the dinnertable laid for four but they sat down
only three It was an appropriate occasion for Mr Bounderby to discuss the
flavour of the haporth of stewed eels he had purchased in the streets at eight
years old and also of the inferior water specially used for laying the dust
with which he had washed down that repast He likewise entertained his guest
over the soup and fish with the calculation that he Bounderby had eaten in
his youth at least three horses under the guise of polonies and saveloys These
recitals Jem in a languid manner received with »charming« every now and
then and they probably would have decided him to go in for Jerusalem again
tomorrow morning had he been less curious respecting Louisa
»Is there nothing« he thought glancing at her as she sat at the head of
the table where her youthful figure small and slight but very graceful
looked as pretty as it looked misplaced »is there nothing that will move that
face«
Yes By Jupiter there was something and here it was in an unexpected
shape Tom appeared She changed as the door opened and broke into a beaming
smile
A beautiful smile Mr James Harthouse might not have thought so much of it
but that he had wondered so long at her impassive face She put out her hand a
pretty little soft hand and her fingers closed upon her brothers as if she
would have carried them to her lips
»Ay ay« thought the visitor »This whelp is the only creature she cares
for So so«
The whelp was presented and took his chair The appellation was not
flattering but not unmerited
»When I was your age young Tom« said Bounderby »I was punctual or I got
no dinner«
»When you were my age« returned Tom »you hadnt a wrong balance to get
right and hadnt to dress afterwards«
»Never mind that now« said Bounderby
»Well then« grumbled Tom »Dont begin with me«
»Mrs Bounderby« said Harthouse perfectly hearing this understrain as it
went on »your brothers face is quite familiar to me Can I have seen him
abroad Or at some public school perhaps«
»No« she returned quite interested »he has never been abroad yet and was
educated here at home Tom love I am telling Mr Harthouse that he never saw
you abroad«
»No such luck sir« said Tom
There was little enough in him to brighten her face for he was a sullen
young fellow and ungracious in his manner even to her So much the greater must
have been the solitude of her heart and her need of some one on whom to bestow
it »So much the more is this whelp the only creature she has ever cared for«
thought Mr James Harthouse turning it over and over »So much the more So
much the more«
Both in his sisters presence and after she had left the room the whelp
took no pains to hide his comtempt for Mr Bounderby whenever he could indulge
it without the observation of that independent man by making wry faces or
shutting one eye Without responding to these telegraphic communications Mr
Harthouse encouraged him much in the course of the evening and showed an
unusual liking for him At last when he rose to return to his hotel and was a
little doubtful whether he knew the way by night the whelp immediately
proffered his services as guide and turned out with him to escort him thither
Chapter III
The Whelp
It was very remarkable that a young gentleman who had been brought up under one
continuous system of unnatural restraint should be a hypocrite but it was
certainly the case with Tom It was very strange that a young gentleman who had
never been left to his own guidance for five consecutive minutes should be
incapable at last of governing himself but so it was with Tom It was
altogether unaccountable that a young gentleman whose imagination had been
strangled in his cradle should be still inconvenienced by its ghost in the form
of grovelling sensualities but such a monster beyond all doubt was Tom
»Do you smoke« asked Mr James Harthouse when they came to the hotel
»I believe you« said Tom
He could do no less than ask Tom up and Tom could do no less than go up
What with a cooling drink adapted to the weather but not so weak as cool and
what with a rarer tobacco than was to be bought in those parts Tom was soon in
a highly free and easy state at his end of the sofa and more than ever disposed
to admire his new friend at the other end
Tom blew his smoke aside after he had been smoking a little while and took
an observation of his friend »He dont seem to care about his dress« thought
Tom »and yet how capitally he does it What an easy swell he is«
Mr James Harthouse happening to catch Toms eye remarked that he drank
nothing and filled his glass with his own negligent hand
»Thankee« said Tom »Thankee Well Mr Harthouse I hope you have had
about a dose of old Bounderby tonight« Tom said this with one eye shut up
again and looking over his glass knowingly at his entertainer
»A very good fellow indeed« returned Mr James Harthouse
»You think so dont you« said Tom And shut up his eye again
Mr James Harthouse smiled and rising from his end of the sofa and
lounging with his back against the chimneypiece so that he stood before the
empty firegrate as he smoked in front of Tom and looking down at him
observed
»What a comical brotherinlaw you are«
»What a comical brotherinlaw old Bounderby is I think you mean« said
Tom
»You are a piece of caustic Tom« retorted Mr James Harthouse
There was something so very agreeable in being so intimate with such a
waistcoat in being called Tom in such an intimate way by such a voice in
being on such offhand terms so soon with such a pair of whiskers that Tom was
uncommonly pleased with himself
»Oh I dont care for old Bounderby« said he »if you mean that I have
always called old Bounderby by the same name when I have talked about him and I
have always thought of him in the same way I am not going to begin to be polite
now about old Bounderby It would be rather late in the day«
»Dont mind me« returned James »but take care when his wife is by you
know«
»His wife« said Tom »My sister Loo O yes« And he laughed and took a
little more of the cooling drink
James Harthouse continued to lounge in the same place and attitude smoking
his cigar in his own easy way and looking pleasantly at the whelp as if he
knew himself to be a kind of agreeable demon who had only to hover over him and
he must give up his whole soul if required It certainly did seem that the whelp
yielded to this influence He looked at his companion sneakingly he looked at
him admiringly he looked at him boldly and put up one leg on the sofa
»My sister Loo« said Tom »She never cared for old Bounderby«
»Thats the past tense Tom« returned Mr James Harthouse striking the ash
from his cigar with his little finger »We are in the present tense now«
»Verb neuter not to care Indicative mood present tense First person
singular I do not care second person singular thou dost not care third
person singular she does not care« returned Tom
»Good Very quaint« said his friend »Though you dont mean it«
»But I do mean it« cried Tom »Upon my honour Why you wont tell me Mr
Harthouse that you really suppose my sister Loo does care for old Bounderby«
»My dear fellow« returned the other »what am I bound to suppose when I
find two married people living in harmony and happiness«
Tom had by this time got both his legs on the sofa If his second leg had
not been already there when he was called a dear fellow he would have put it up
at that great stage of the conversation Feeling it necessary to do something
then he stretched himself out at greater length and reclining with the back
of his head on the end of the sofa and smoking with an infinite assumption of
negligence turned his common face and not too sober eyes towards the face
looking down upon him so carelessly yet so potently
»You know our governor Mr Harthouse« said Tom »and therefore you
neednt be surprised that Loo married old Bounderby She never had a lover and
the governor proposed old Bounderby and she took him«
»Very dutiful in your interesting sister« said Mr James Harthouse
»Yes but she wouldnt have been as dutiful and it would not have come off
as easily« returned the whelp »if it hadnt been for me«
The tempter merely lifted his eyebrows but the whelp was obliged to go on
»I persuaded her« he said with an edifying air of superiority »I was
stuck into old Bounderbys bank where I never wanted to be and I knew I
should get into scrapes there if she put old Bounderbys pipe out so I told
her my wishes and she came into them She would do anything for me It was very
game of her wasnt it«
»It was charming Tom«
»Not that it was altogether so important to her as it was to me« continued
Tom coolly »because my liberty and comfort and perhaps my getting on depended
on it and she had no other lover and staying at home was like staying in jail
especially when I was gone It wasnt as if she gave up another lover for old
Bounderby but still it was a good thing in her«
»Perfectly delightful And she gets on so placidly«
»Oh« returned Tom with contemptuous patronage »shes a regular girl A
girl can get on anywhere She has settled down to the life and she dont mind
It does just as well as another Besides though Loo is a girl shes not a
common sort of girl She can shut herself up within herself and think as I
have often known her sit and watch the fire for an hour at a stretch«
»Ay ay Has resources of her own« said Harthouse smoking quietly
»Not so much of that as you may suppose« returned Tom »for our governor
had her crammed with all sorts of dry bones and sawdust Its his system«
»Formed his daughter on his own model« suggested Harthouse
»His daughter Ah and everybody else Why he formed Me that way« said
Tom
»Impossible«
»He did though« said Tom shaking his head »I mean to say Mr Harthouse
that when I first left home and went to old Bounderbys I was as flat as a
warmingpan and knew no more about life than any oyster does«
»Come Tom I can hardly believe that A jokes a joke«
»Upon my soul« said the whelp »I am serious I am indeed« He smoked with
great gravity and dignity for a little while and then added in a highly
complacent tone »Oh I have picked up a little since I dont deny that But I
have done it myself no thanks to the governor«
»And your intelligent sister«
»My intelligent sister is about where she was She used to complain to me
that she had nothing to fall back upon that girls usually fall back upon and I
dont see how she is to have got over that since But she dont mind« he
sagaciously added puffing at his cigar again »Girls can always get on
somehow«
»Calling at the Bank yesterday evening for Mr Bounderbys address I found
an ancient lady there who seems to entertain great admiration for your sister«
observed Mr James Harthouse throwing away the last small remnant of the cigar
he had now smoked out
»Mother Sparsit« said Tom »What you have seen her already have you«
His friend nodded Tom took his cigar out of his mouth to shut up his eye
which had grown rather unmanageable with the greater expression and to tap
his nose several times with his finger
»Mother Sparsits feeling for Loo is more than admiration I should think«
said Tom »Say affection and devotion Mother Sparsit never set her cap at
Bounderby when he was a bachelor Oh no«
These were the last words spoken by the whelp before a giddy drowsiness
came upon him followed by complete oblivion He was roused from the latter
state by an uneasy dream of being stirred up with a boot and also of a voice
saying »Come its late Be off«
»Well« he said scrambling from the sofa »I must take my leave of you
though I say Yours is very good tobacco But its too mild«
»Yes its too mild« returned his entertainer
»Its its ridiculously mild« said Tom »Wheres the door Good night«
He had another odd dream of being taken by a waiter through a mist which
after giving him some trouble and difficulty resolved itself into the main
street in which he stood alone He then walked home pretty easily though not
yet free from an impression of the presence and influence of his new friend as
if he were lounging somewhere in the air in the same negligent attitude
regarding him with the same look
The whelp went home and went to bed If he had had any sense of what he had
done that night and had been less of a whelp and more of a brother he might
have turned short on the road might have gone down to the illsmelling river
that was dyed black might have gone to bed in it for good and all and have
curtained his head for ever with its filthy waters
Chapter IV
Men and Brothers
»Oh my friends the downtrodden operatives of Coketown Oh my friends and
fellowcountrymen the slaves of an ironhanded and a grinding despotism Oh my
friends and fellowsufferers and fellowworkmen and fellowmen I tell you
that the hour is come when we must rally round one another as One united power
and crumble into dust the oppressors that too long have battened upon the
plunder of our families upon the sweat of our brows upon the labour of our
hands upon the strength of our sinews upon the Godcreated glorious rights of
Humanity and upon the holy and eternal privileges of Brotherhood«
»Good« »Hear hear hear« »Hurrah« and other cries arose in many voices
from various parts of the densely crowded and suffocatingly close Hall in which
the orator perched on a stage delivered himself of this and what other froth
and fume he had in him He had declaimed himself into a violent heat and was as
hoarse as he was hot By dint of roaring at the top of his voice under a flaring
gaslight clenching his fists knitting his brows setting his teeth and
pounding with his arms he had taken so much out of himself by this time that
he was brought to a stop and called for a glass of water
As he stood there trying to quench his fiery face with his drink of water
the comparison between the orator and the crowd of attentive faces turned
towards him was extremely to his disadvantage Judging him by Natures
evidence he was above the mass in very little but the stage on which he stood
In many great respects he was essentially below them He was not so honest he
was not so manly he was not so goodhumoured he substituted cunning for their
simplicity and passion for their safe solid sense An illmade highshouldered
man with lowering brows and his features crushed into an habitually sour
expression he contrasted most unfavourably even in his mongrel dress with the
great body of his hearers in their plain working clothes Strange as it always
is to consider any assembly in the act of submissively resigning itself to the
dreariness of some complacent person lord or commoner whom threefourths of it
could by no human means raise out of the slough of inanity to their own
intellectual level it was particularly strange and it was even particularly
affecting to see this crowd of earnest faces whose honesty in the main no
competent observer free from bias could doubt so agitated by such a leader
Good Hear hear Hurrah The eagerness both of attention and intention
exhibited in all the countenances made them a most impressive sight There was
no carelessness no languor no idle curiosity none of the many shades of
indifference to be seen in all other assemblies visible for one moment there
That every man felt his condition to be somehow or other worse than it might
be that every man considered it incumbent on him to join the rest towards the
making of it better that every man felt his only hope to be in his allying
himself to the comrades by whom he was surrounded and that in this belief
right or wrong unhappily wrong then the whole of that crowd were gravely
deeply faithfully in earnest must have been as plain to any one who chose to
see what was there as the bare beams of the roof and the whitened brick walls
Nor could any such spectator fail to know in his own breast that these men
through their very delusions showed great qualities susceptible of being
turned to the happiest and best account and that to pretend on the strength of
sweeping axioms howsoever cut and dried that they went astray wholly without
cause and of their own irrational wills was to pretend that there could be
smoke without fire death without birth harvest without seed anything or
everything produced from nothing
The orator having refreshed himself wiped his corrugated forehead from left
to right several times with his handkerchief folded into a pad and concentrated
all his revived forces in a sneer of great disdain and bitterness
»But oh my friends and brothers Oh men and Englishmen the downtrodden
operatives of Coketown What shall we say of that man that workingman that I
should find it necessary so to libel the glorious name who being practically
and well acquainted with the grievances and wrongs of you the injured pith and
marrow of this land and having heard you with a noble and majestic unanimity
that will make Tyrants tremble resolve for to subscribe to the funds of the
United Aggregate Tribunal and to abide by the injunctions issued by that body
for your benefit whatever they may be what I ask you will you say of that
workingman since such I must acknowledge him to be who at such a time
deserts his post and sells his flag who at such a time turns a traitor and a
craven and a recreant who at such a time is not ashamed to make to you the
dastardly and humiliating avowal that he will hold himself aloof and will not
be one of those associated in the gallant stand for Freedom and for Right«
The assembly was divided at this point There were some groans and hisses
but the general sense of honour was much too strong for the condemnation of a
man unheard »Be sure youre right Slackbridge« »Put him up« »Lets hear
him« Such things were said on many sides Finally one strong voice called out
»Is the man heer If the mans heer Slackbridge lets hear the man himseln
stead o yo« Which was received with a round of applause
Slackbridge the orator looked about him with a withering smile and
holding out his right hand at arms length as the manner of all Slackbridges
is to still the thundering sea waited until there was a profound silence
»Oh my friends and fellowmen« said Slackbridge then shaking his head
with violent scorn »I do not wonder that you the prostrate sons of labour are
incredulous of the existence of such a man But he who sold his birthright for a
mess of pottage existed and Judas Iscariot existed and Castlereagh existed
and this man exists«
Here a brief press and confusion near the stage ended in the man himself
standing at the orators side before the concourse He was pale and a little
moved in the face his lips especially showed it but he stood quiet with his
left hand at his chin waiting to be heard There was a chairman to regulate the
proceedings and this functionary now took the case into his own hands
»My friends« said he »by virtue o my office as your president I askes o
our friend Slackbridge who may be a little over hetter in this business to
take his seat whiles this man Stephen Blackpool is heern You all know this man
Stephen Blackpool You know him awlung o his misfortns and his good name«
With that the chairman shook him frankly by the hand and sat down again
Slackbridge likewise sat down wiping his hot forehead always from left to
right and never the reverse way
»My friends« Stephen began in the midst of a dead calm »I ha hed whats
been spokn o me and tis lickly that I shant mend it But Id liefer youd
hearn the truth concernin myseln fro my lips than fro onny other mans though
I never cudn speak afore so monny wiout bein moydert and muddled«
Slackbridge shook his head as if he would shake it off in his bitterness
»Im th one single Hand in Bounderbys mill o a the men theer as dont
coom in wi th proposed reglations I canna coom in wi em My friends I
doubt their doin yo onny good Licker theyll do yo hurt«
Slackbridge laughed folded his arms and frowned sarcastically
»But t ant sommuch for that as I stands out If that were aw Id coom in
wi th rest But I ha my reasons mine yo see for being hindered not ony
now but awlus awlus life long«
Slackbridge jumped up and stood beside him gnashing and tearing »Oh my
friends what but this did I tell you Oh my fellowcountrymen what warning
but this did I give you And how shows this recreant conduct in a man on whom
unequal laws are known to have fallen heavy Oh you Englishmen I ask you how
does this subornation show in one of yourselves who is thus consenting to his
own undoing and to yours and to your childrens and your childrens
childrens«
There was some applause and some crying of Shame upon the man but the
greater part of the audience were quiet They looked at Stephens worn face
rendered more pathetic by the homely emotions it evinced and in the kindness
of their nature they were more sorry than indignant
»Tis this Delegates trade for t speak« said Stephen »an hes paid for
t an he knows his work Let him keep to t Let him give no heed to what I ha
hadn to bear Thats not for him Thats not for nobbody but me«
There was a propriety not to say a dignity in these words that made the
hearers yet more quiet and attentive The same strong voice called out
»Slackbridge let the man be heern and howd thee tongue« Then the place was
wonderfully still
»My brothers« said Stephen whose low voice was distinctly heard »and my
fellowworkmen for that yo are to me though not as I knows on to this
delegate here I ha but a word to sen and I could sen nommore if I was to
speak till Strike o day I know weel aw whats afore me I know weel that yo
aw resolve to ha nommore ado wi a man who is not wi yo in this matther I know
weel that if I was a lyin parisht i th road yod feel it right to pass me by
as a forrenner and stranger What I ha getn I mun mak th best on«
»Stephen Blackpool« said the chairman rising »think on t agen Think on
t once agen lad afore thourt shunned by aw owd friends«
There was an universal murmur to the same effect though no man articulated
a word Every eye was fixed on Stephens face To repent of his determination
would be to take a load from all their minds He looked around him and knew
that it was so Not a grain of anger with them was in his heart he knew them
far below their surface weaknesses and misconceptions as no one but their
fellowlabourer could
»I ha thowt on t above a bit sir I simply canna coom in I mun go th
way as lays afore me I mun tak my leave o aw heer«
He made a sort of reverence to them by holding up his arms and stood for
the moment in that attitude not speaking until they slowly dropped at his
sides
»Monnys the pleasant word as soom heer has spokn wi me monnys the face
I see heer as I first seen when I were yoong and lighter heartn than now I ha
never had no fratch afore sin ever I were born wi any o my like Gonnows I
ha none now thats o my makin Yoll ca me traitor and that yo I mean t
say« addressing Slackbridge »but tis easier to ca than mak out So let be«
He had moved away a pace or two to come down from the platform when he
remembered something he had not said and returned again
»Haply« he said turning his furrowed face slowly about that he might as
it were individually address the whole audience those both near and distant
»haply when this question has been takn up and discoosed therell be a threat
to turn out if Im let to work among yo I hope I shall die ere ever such a time
cooms and I shall work solitary among yo unless it cooms truly I mun do t
my friends not to brave yo but to live I ha nobbut work to live by and
wheerever can I go I who ha worked sin I were no heighth at aw in Coketown
heer I mak no complaints o bein turned to the wa o being outcasten and
overlooken fro this time forrard but hope I shall be let to work If there is
any right for me at aw my friends I think tis that«
Not a word was spoken Not a sound was audible in the building but the
slight rustle of men moving a little apart all along the centre of the room to
open a means of passing out to the man with whom they had all bound themselves
to renounce companionship Looking at no one and going his way with a lowly
steadiness upon him that asserted nothing and sought nothing Old Stephen with
all his troubles on his head left the scene
Then Slackbridge who had kept his oratorical arm extended during the going
out as if he were repressing with infinite solicitude and by a wonderful moral
power the vehement passions of the multitude applied himself to raising their
spirits Had not the Roman Brutus oh my British countrymen condemned his son
to death and had not the Spartan mothers oh my soon to be victorious friends
driven their flying children on the points of their enemies swords Then was it
not the sacred duty of the men of Coketown with forefathers before them an
admiring world in company with them and a posterity to come after them to hurl
out traitors from the tents they had pitched in a sacred and a Godlike cause
The winds of heaven answered Yes and bore Yes east west north and south
And consequently three cheers for the United Aggregate Tribunal
Slackbridge acted as fugleman and gave the time The multitude of doubtful
faces a little consciencestricken brightened at the sound and took it up
Private feeling must yield to the common cause Hurrah The roof yet vibrated
with the cheering when the assembly dispersed
Thus easily did Stephen Blackpool fall into the loneliest of lives the life
of solitude among a familiar crowd The stranger in the land who looks into ten
thousand faces for some answering look and never finds it is in cheering
society as compared with him who passes ten averted faces daily that were once
the countenances of friends Such experience was to be Stephens now in every
waking moment of his life at his work on his way to it and from it at his
door at his window everywhere By general consent they even avoided that side
of the street on which he habitually walked and left it of all the working
men to him only
He had been for many years a quiet silent man associating but little with
other men and used to companionship with his own thoughts He had never known
before the strength of the want in his heart for the frequent recognition of a
nod a look a word or the immense amount of relief that had been poured into
it by drops through such small means It was even harder than he could have
believed possible to separate in his own conscience his abandonment by all his
fellows from a baseless sense of shame and disgrace
The first four days of his endurance were days so long and heavy that he
began to be appalled by the prospect before him Not only did he see no Rachael
all the time but he avoided every chance of seeing her for although he knew
that the prohibition did not yet formally extend to the women working in the
factories he found that some of them with whom he was acquainted were changed
to him and he feared to try others and dreaded that Rachael might be even
singled out from the rest if she were seen in his company So he had been quite
alone during the four days and had spoken to no one when as he was leaving
his work at night a young man of a very light complexion accosted him in the
street
»Your names Blackpool aint it« said the young man
Stephen coloured to find himself with his hat in his hand in his gratitude
for being spoken to or in the suddenness of it or both He made a feint of
adjusting the lining and said »Yes«
»You are the Hand they have sent to Coventry I mean« said Bitzer the very
light young man in question
Stephen answered »Yes« again
»I supposed so from their all appearing to keep away from you Mr
Bounderby wants to speak to you You know his house dont you«
Stephen said »Yes« again
»Then go straight up there will you« said Bitzer »Youre expected and
have only to tell the servant its you I belong to the Bank so if you go
straight up without me I was sent to fetch you youll save me a walk«
Stephen whose way had been in the contrary direction turned about and
betook himself as in duty bound to the red brick castle of the giant Bounderby
Chapter V
Men and Masters
»Well Stephen« said Bounderby in his windy manner »whats this I hear What
have these pests of the earth been doing to you Come in and speak up«
It was into the drawingroom that he was thus bidden A teatable was set
out and Mr Bounderbys young wife and her brother and a great gentleman from
London were present To whom Stephen made his obeisance closing the door and
standing near it with his hat in his hand
»This is the man I was telling you about Harthouse« said Mr Bounderby
The gentleman he addressed who was talking to Mrs Bounderby on the sofa got
up saying in an indolent way »Oh really« and dawdled to the hearthrug where
Mr Bounderby stood
»Now« said Bounderby »speak up«
After the four days he had passed this address fell rudely and discordantly
on Stephens ear Besides being a rough handling of his wounded mind it seemed
to assume that he really was the selfinterested deserter he had been called
»What were it sir« said Stephen »as yo were pleased to want wi me«
»Why I have told you« returned Bounderby »Speak up like a man since you
are a man and tell us about yourself and this Combination«
»Wi yor pardon sir« said Stephen Blackpool »I ha nowt to sen about it«
Mr Bounderby who was always more or less like a Wind finding something in
his way here began to blow at it directly
»Now look here Harthouse« said he »heres a specimen of em When this
man was here once before I warned this man against the mischievous strangers
who are always about and who ought to be hanged wherever they are found and
I told this man that he was going in the wrong direction Now would you believe
it that although they have put this mark upon him he is such a slave to them
still that hes afraid to open his lips about them«
»I sed as I had nowt to sen sir not as I was fearfo o openin my lips«
»You said Ah I know what you said more than that I know what you mean
you see Not always the same thing by the Lord Harry Quite different things
You had better tell us at once that that fellow Slackbridge is not in the town
stirring up the people to mutiny and that he is not a regular qualified leader
of the people that is a most confounded scoundrel You had better tell us so
at once you cant deceive me You want to tell us so Why dont you«
»Im as sooary as yo sir when the peoples leaders is bad« said Stephen
shaking his head »They taks such as offers Haply tis na the smaest o their
misfortuns when they can get no better«
The wind began to get boisterous
»Now youll think this pretty well Harthouse« said Mr Bounderby »Youll
think this tolerably strong Youll say upon my soul this is a tidy specimen of
what my friends have to deal with but this is nothing sir You shall hear me
ask this man a question Pray Mr Blackpool« wind springing up very fast
»may I take the liberty of asking you how it happens that you refused to be in
this Combination«
»How t happens«
»Ah« said Mr Bounderby with his thumbs in the arms of his coat and
jerking his head and shutting his eyes in confidence with the opposite wall
»how it happens«
»Id leefer not coom to t sir but sin you put th question an not
wantn t be illmannern Ill answer I ha passed a promess«
»Not to me you know« said Bounderby Gusty weather with deceitful calms
One now prevailing
»O no sir Not to yo«
»As for me any consideration for me has had just nothing at all to do with
it« said Bounderby still in confidence with the wall »If only Josiah
Bounderby of Coketown had been in question you would have joined and made no
bones about it«
»Why yes sir Tis true«
»Though he knows« said Mr Bounderby now blowing a gale »that there are a
set of rascals and rebels whom transportation is too good for Now Mr
Harthouse you have been knocking about in the world some time Did you ever
meet with anything like that man out of this blessed country« And Mr Bounderby
pointed him out for inspection with an angry finger
»Nay maam« said Stephen Blackpool staunchly protesting against the words
that had been used and instinctively addressing himself to Louisa after
glancing at her face »Not rebels nor yet rascals Nowt o th kind maam
nowt o th kind Theyve not doon me a kindness maam as I know and feel But
theres not a dozen men amoong em maam a dozen Not six but what believes
as he has doon his duty by the rest and by himseln God forbid as I that ha
known and hadn experience o these men aw my life I that ha ettn an
droonken wi em at seetn wi em and toiln wi em and lovn em should
fail fur to stan by em wi the truth let em ha doon to me what they may«
He spoke with the rugged earnestness of his place and character deepened
perhaps by a proud consciousness that he was faithful to his class under all
their mistrust but he fully remembered where he was and did not even raise his
voice
»No maam no Theyre true to one another faithfo to one another
fectionate to one another een to death Be poor amoong em be sick amoong
em grieve amoong em for onny o th monny causes that carries grief to the
poor mans door an theyll be tender wi yo gentle wi yo comfortable wi
yo Chrisen wi yo Be sure o that maam Theyd be riven to bits ere ever
theyd be different«
»In short« said Mr Bounderby »its because they are so full of virtues
that they have turned you adrift Go through with it while you are about it Out
with it«
»How tis maam« resumed Stephen appearing still to find his natural
refuge in Louisas face »that what is best in us fok seems to turn us most to
trouble an misfortn an mistake I dunno But tis so I know tis as I know
the heavens is over me ahint the smoke Were patient too an wants in general
to do right An I canna think the fawt is aw wi us«
»Now my friend« said Mr Bounderby whom he could not have exasperated
more quite unconscious of it though he was than by seeming to appeal to any
one else »if you will favour me with your attention for half a minute I should
like to have a word or two with you You said just now that you had nothing to
tell us about this business You are quite sure of that before we go any
further«
»Sir I am sure on t«
»Heres a gentleman from London present« Mr Bounderby made a backhanded
point at Mr James Harthouse with his thumb »a Parliament gentleman I should
like him to hear a short bit of dialogue between you and me instead of taking
the substance of it for I know precious well beforehand what it will be
nobody knows better than I do take notice instead of receiving it on trust
from my mouth«
Stephen bent his head to the gentleman from London and showed a rather more
troubled mind than usual He turned his eyes involuntarily to his former refuge
but at a look from that quarter expressive though instantaneous he settled
them on Mr Bounderbys face
»Now what do you complain of« asked Mr Bounderby
»I ha not coom here sir« Stephen reminded him »to complain I coom for
that I were sent for«
»What« repeated Mr Bounderby folding his arms »do you people in a
general way complain of«
Stephen looked at him with some little irresolution for a moment and then
seemed to make up his mind
»Sir I were never good at showin o t though I ha hadn my share in
feeling o t Deed we are in a muddle sir Look round town so rich as tis
and see the numbers o people as has been broughten into bein heer fur to
weave an to card an to piece out a livin aw the same one way somehows
twixt their cradles and their graves Look how we live an wheer we live an
in what numbers an by what chances and wi what sameness and look how the
mills is awlus a goin and how they never works us no nigher to ony disant
object ceptin awlus Death Look how you considers of us and writes of us
and talks of us and goes up wi yor deputations to Secretaries o State bout
us and how yo are awlus right and how we are awlus wrong and never hadn no
reason in us sin ever we were born Look how this ha growen an growen sir
bigger an bigger broader an broader harder an harder fro year to year fro
generation unto generation Who can look on t sir and fairly tell a man tis
not a muddle«
»Of course« said Mr Bounderby »Now perhaps youll let the gentleman know
how you would set this muddle as youre so fond of calling it to rights«
»I donno sir I canna be expecten to t Tis not me as should be looken to
for that sir Tis them as is put ower me and ower aw the rest of us What do
they tak upon themseln sir if not to do t«
»Ill tell you something towards it at any rate« returned Mr Bounderby
»We will make an example of half a dozen Slackbridges Well indict the
blackguards for felony and get em shipped off to penal settlements«
Stephen gravely shook his head
»Dont tell me we wont man« said Mr Bounderby by this time blowing a
hurricane »because we will I tell you«
»Sir« returned Stephen with the quiet confidence of absolute certainty
»if yo was t tak a hundred Slackbridges aw as there is and aw the number ten
times towd an was t sew em up in separate sacks an sink em in the
deepest ocean as were made ere ever dry land coom to be yod leave the muddle
just wheer tis Mischeevous strangers« said Stephen with an anxious smile
»when ha we not heern I am sure sin ever we can call to mind o th
mischeevous strangers Tis not by them the troubles made sir Tis not wi
them t commences I ha no favour for em I ha no reason to favour em but
tis hopeless and useless to dream o takin them fro their trade stead o
takin their trade fro them Aw thats now about me in this room were heer afore
I coom an will be heer when I am gone Put that clock aboard a ship an pack
it off to Norfolk Island an the time will go on just the same So tis wi
Slackbridge every bit«
Reverting for a moment to his former refuge he observed a cautionary
movement of her eyes towards the door Stepping back he put his hand upon the
lock But he had not spoken out of his own will and desire and he felt it in
his heart a noble return for his late injurious treatment to be faithful to the
last to those who had repudiated him He stayed to finish what was in his mind
»Sir I canna wi my little learning an my common way tell the genelman
what will better aw this though some working men o this town could above my
powers but I can tell him what I know will never do t The strong hand will
never do t Victry and triumph will never do t Agreeing fur to mak one side
unnatrally awlus and for ever right and toother side unnatrally awlus and for
ever wrong will never never do t Nor yet lettin alone will never do t Let
thousands upon thousands alone aw leading the like lives and aw fawen into the
like muddle and they will be as one and yo will be as anoother wi a black
unpassable world betwixt yo just as long or short a time as sitchlike misery
can last Not drawin nigh to fok wi kindness and patience an cheery ways
that so draws nigh to one another in their monny troubles and so cherishes one
another in their distresses wi what they need themseln like I humbly
believe as no people the genelman ha seen in aw his travels can beat will
never do t till th Sun turns t ice Most o aw rating em as so much Power
and reglatin em as if they was figures in a soom or machines wiout loves
and likens wiout memories and inclinations wiout souls to weary and souls to
hope when aw goes quiet draggin on wi em as if theyd nowt o th kind and
when aw goes onquiet reproachin em for their want o sitch humanly feelins in
their dealins wi yo this will never do t sir till Gods work is onmade«
Stephen stood with the open door in his hand waiting to know if anything
more were expected of him
»Just stop a moment« said Mr Bounderby excessively red in the face »I
told you the last time you were here with a grievance that you had better turn
about and come out of that And I also told you if you remember that I was up
to the gold spoon lookout«
»I were not up to t myseln sir I do assure yo«
»Now its clear to me« said Mr Bounderby »that you are one of those chaps
who have always got a grievance And you go about sowing it and raising crops
Thats the business of your life my friend«
Stephen shook his head mutely protesting that indeed he had other business
to do for his life
»You are such a waspish raspish illconditioned chap you see« said Mr
Bounderby »that even your own Union the men who know you best will have
nothing to do with you I never thought those fellows could be right in
anything but I tell you what I so far go along with them for a novelty that
Ill have nothing to do with you either«
Stephen raised his eyes quickly to his face
»You can finish off what youre at« said Mr Bounderby with a meaning nod
»and then go elsewhere«
»Sir yo know well« said Stephen expressively »that if I canna get work
wi yo I canna get it elsewheer«
The reply was »What I know I know and what you know you know I have no
more to say about it«
Stephen glanced at Louisa again but her eyes were raised to his no more
therefore with a sigh and saying barely above his breath »Heaven help us aw
in this world« he departed
Chapter VI
Fading Away
It was falling dark when Stephen came out of Mr Bounderbys house The shadows
of night had gathered so fast that he did not look about him when he closed the
door but plodded straight along the street Nothing was further from his
thoughts than the curious old woman he had encountered on his previous visit to
the same house when he heard a step behind him that he knew and turning saw
her in Rachaels company
He saw Rachael first as he had heard her only
»Ah Rachael my dear Missus thou wi her«
»Well and now you are surprised to be sure and with reason I must say«
the old woman returned »Here I am again you see«
»But how wi Rachael« said Stephen falling into their step walking
between them and looking from the one to the other
»Why I come to be with this good lass pretty much as I came to be with
you« said the old woman cheerfully taking the reply upon herself »My
visiting time is later this year than usual for I have been rather troubled
with shortness of breath and so put it off till the weather was fine and warm
For the same reason I dont make all my journey in one day but divide it into
two days and get a bed tonight at the Travellers Coffee House down by the
railroad a nice clean house and go back Parliamentary at six in the morning
Well but what has this to do with this good lass says you Im going to tell
you I have heard of Mr Bounderby being married I read it in the paper where
it looked grand oh it looked fine« the old woman dwelt on it with strange
enthusiasm »and I want to see his wife I have never seen her yet Now if
youll believe me she hasnt come out of that house since noon today So not
to give her up too easily I was waiting about a little last bit more when I
passed close to this good lass two or three times and her face being so
friendly I spoke to her and she spoke to me There« said the old woman to
Stephen »you can make all the rest out for yourself now a deal shorter than I
can I dare say«
Once again Stephen had to conquer an instinctive propensity to dislike this
old woman though her manner was as honest and simple as a manner possibly could
be With a gentleness that was as natural to him as he knew it to be to Rachael
he pursued the subject that interested her on her old age
»Well missus« said he »I ha seen the lady and she were young and hansom
Wi fine dark thinkin eyes and a still way Rachael as I ha never seen the
like on«
»Young and handsome Yes« cried the old woman quite delighted »As bonny
as a rose And what a happy wife«
»Aye missus I suppose she be« said Stephen But with a doubtful glance at
Rachael
»Suppose she be She must be Shes your masters wife« returned the old
woman
Stephen nodded assent »Though as to master« said he glancing again at
Rachael »not master onny more Thats aw enden twixt him and me«
»Have you left his work Stephen« asked Rachael anxiously and quickly
»Why Rachael« he replied »whether I ha lefn his work or whether his
work ha lefn me cooms t th same His work and me are parted Tis as weel so
better I were thinkin when yo coom up wi me It would ha broughtn trouble
upon trouble if I had stayed theer Haply tis a kindness to monny that I go
haply tis a kindness to myseln anyways it mun be done I mun turn my face fro
Coketown fur th time and seek a fortn dear by beginnin fresh«
»Where will you go Stephen«
»I donno tnight« said he lifting off his hat and smoothing his thin hair
with the flat of his hand »But Im not goin tnight Rachael nor yet tmorrow
Tant easy overmuch t know wheer t turn but a good heart will coom to me«
Herein too the sense of even thinking unselfishly aided him Before he had
so much as closed Mr Bounderbys door he had reflected that at least his being
obliged to go away was good for her as it would save her from the chance of
being brought into question for not withdrawing from him Though it would cost
him a hard pang to leave her and though he could think of no similar place in
which his condemnation would not pursue him perhaps it was almost a relief to
be forced away from the endurance of the last four days even to unknown
difficulties and distresses
So he said with truth »Im more leetsome Rachael under t than I
couldn ha believed« It was not her part to make his burden heavier She
answered with her comforting smile and the three walked on together
Age especially when it strives to be selfreliant and cheerful finds much
consideration among the poor The old woman was so decent and contented and
made so light of her infirmities though they had increased upon her since her
former interview with Stephen that they both took an interest in her She was
too sprightly to allow of their walking at a slow pace on her account but she
was very grateful to be talked to and very willing to talk to any extent so
when they came to their part of the town she was more brisk and vivacious than
ever
»Coom to my poor place missus« said Stephen »and tak a coop o tea
Rachael will coom then and arterwards Ill see thee safe t thy Travellers
lodgin T may be long Rachael ere ever I ha th chance o thy coompany agen«
They complied and the three went on to the house where he lodged When they
turned into a narrow street Stephen glanced at his window with a dread that
always haunted his desolate home but it was open as he had left it and no one
was there The evil spirit of his life had flitted away again months ago and
he had heard no more of her since The only evidence of her last return now
were the scantier moveables in his room and the grayer hair upon his head
He lighted a candle set out his little teaboard got hot water from below
and brought in small portions of tea and sugar a loaf and some butter from the
nearest shop The bread was new and crusty the butter fresh and the sugar
lump of course in fulfilment of the standard testimony of the Coketown
magnates that these people lived like princes sir Rachael made the tea so
large a party necessitated the borrowing of a cup and the visitor enjoyed it
mightily It was the first glimpse of sociality the host had had for many days
He too with the world a wide heath before him enjoyed the meal again in
corroboration of the magnates as exemplifying the utter want of calculation on
the part of these people sir
»I ha never thowt yet missus« said Stephen »o askin thy name«
The old lady announced herself as »Mrs Pegler«
»A widder I think« said Stephen
»Oh many long years« Mrs Peglers husband one of the best on record was
already dead by Mrs Peglers calculation when Stephen was born
»Twere a bad job too to lose so good a one« said Stephen »Onny
children«
Mrs Peglers cup rattling against her saucer as she held it denoted some
nervousness on her part »No« she said »Not now not now«
»Dead Stephen« Rachael softly hinted
»Im sooary I ha spokn on t« said Stephen »I ought t hadn in my mind as
I might touch a sore place I I blame myseln«
While he excused himself the old ladys cup rattled more and more »I had a
son« she said curiously distressed and not by any of the usual appearances of
sorrow »and he did well wonderfully well But he is not to be spoken of if you
please He is « Putting down her cup she moved her hands as if she would have
added by her action »dead« Then she said aloud »I have lost him«
Stephen had not yet got the better of his having given the old lady pain
when his landlady came stumbling up the narrow stairs and calling him to the
door whispered in his ear Mrs Pegler was by no means deaf for she caught a
word as it was uttered
»Bounderby« she cried in a suppressed voice starting up from the table
»Oh hide me Dont let me be seen for the world Dont let him come up till Ive
got away Pray pray« She trembled and was excessively agitated getting
behind Rachael when Rachael tried to reassure her and not seeming to know what
she was about
»But hearken missus hearken« said Stephen astonished »Tisnt Mr
Bounderby tis his wife Yor not fearfo o her Yo was heygomad about her
but an hour sin«
»But are you sure its the lady and not the gentleman« she asked still
trembling
»Certain sure«
»Well then pray dont speak to me nor yet take any notice of me« said the
old woman »Let me be quite to myself in this corner«
Stephen nodded looking to Rachael for an explanation which she was quite
unable to give him took the candle went downstairs and in a few moments
returned lighting Louisa into the room She was followed by the whelp
Rachael had risen and stood apart with her shawl and bonnet in her hand
when Stephen himself profoundly astonished by this visit put the candle on the
table Then he too stood with his doubled hand upon the table near it waiting
to be addressed
For the first time in her life Louisa had come into one of the dwellings of
the Coketown Hands for the first time in her life she was face to face with
anything like individuality in connection with them She knew of their existence
by hundreds and by thousands She knew what results in work a given number of
them would produce in a given space of time She knew them in crowds passing to
and from their nests like ants or beetles But she knew from her reading
infinitely more of the ways of toiling insects than of these toiling men and
women
Something to be worked so much and paid so much and there ended something
to be infallibly settled by laws of supply and demand something that blundered
against those laws and floundered into difficulty something that was a little
pinched when wheat was dear and overate itself when wheat was cheap something
that increased at such a rate of percentage and yielded such another percentage
of crime and such another percentage of pauperism something wholesale of
which vast fortunes were made something that occasionally rose like a sea and
did some harm and waste chiefly to itself and fell again this she knew the
Coketown Hands to be But she had scarcely thought more of separating them into
units than of separating the sea itself into its component drops
She stood for some moments looking round the room From the few chairs the
few books the common prints and the bed she glanced to the two women and to
Stephen
»I have come to speak to you in consequence of what passed just now I
should like to be serviceable to you if you will let me Is this your wife«
Rachael raised her eyes and they sufficiently answered no and dropped
again
»I remember« said Louisa reddening at her mistake »I recollect now to
have heard your domestic misfortunes spoken of though I was not attending to
the particulars at the time It was not my meaning to ask a question that would
give pain to any one here If I should ask any other question that may happen to
have that result give me credit if you please for being in ignorance how to
speak to you as I ought«
As Stephen had but a little while ago instinctively addressed himself to
her so she now instinctively addressed herself to Rachael Her manner was short
and abrupt yet faltering and timid
»He has told you what has passed between himself and my husband You would
be his first resource I think«
»I have heard the end of it young lady« said Rachael
»Did I understand that being rejected by one employer he would probably
be rejected by all I thought he said as much«
»The chances are very small young lady next to nothing for a man who
gets a bad name among them«
»What shall I understand that you mean by a bad name«
»The name of being troublesome«
»Then by the prejudices of his own class and by the prejudices of the
other he is sacrificed alike Are the two so deeply separated in this town
that there is no place whatever for an honest workman between them«
Rachael shook her head in silence
»He fell into suspicion« said Louisa »with his fellowweavers because he
had made a promise not to be one of them I think it must have been to you that
he made that promise Might I ask you why he made it«
Rachael burst into tears »I didnt seek it of him poor lad I prayed him
to avoid trouble for his own good little thinking hed come to it through me
But I know hed die a hundred deaths ere ever hed break his word I know that
of him well«
Stephen had remained quietly attentive in his usual thoughtful attitude
with his hand at his chin He now spoke in a voice rather less steady than
usual
»No one excepting myseln can ever know what honour an what love an
respect I bear to Rachael or wi what cause When I passed that promess I
towd her true she were th Angel o my life Twere a solemn promess Tis gone
fro me for ever«
Louisa turned her head to him and bent it with a deference that was new in
her She looked from him to Rachael and her features softened »What will you
do« she asked him And her voice had softened too
»Weel maam« said Stephen making the best of it with a smile »when I ha
finished off I mun quit this part and try another Fortnet or misfortnet a
man can but try theres nowt to be done wiout tryin cept laying down and
dying«
»How will you travel«
»Afoot my kind ledy afoot«
Louisa coloured and a purse appeared in her hand The rustling of a
banknote was audible as she unfolded one and laid it on the table
»Rachael will you tell him for you know how without offence that this
is freely his to help him on his way Will you entreat him to take it«
»I canna do that young lady« she answered turning her head aside »Bless
you for thinking o the poor lad wi such tenderness But tis for him to know
his heart and what is right according to it«
Louisa looked in part incredulous in part frightened in part overcome
with quick sympathy when this man of so much selfcommand who had been so
plain and steady through the late interview lost his composure in a moment and
now stood with his hand before his face She stretched out hers as if she would
have touched him then checked herself and remained still
»Not een Rachael« said Stephen when he stood again with his face
uncovered »could mak sitch a kind offerin by onny words kinder T show that
Im not a man wiout reason and gratitude Ill tak two pound Ill borrow t
for t pay t back Twill be the sweetest work as ever I ha done that puts it
in my power t acknowledge once more my lastin thankfulness for this present
action«
She was fain to take up the note again and to substitute the much smaller
sum he had named He was neither courtly nor handsome nor picturesque in any
respect and yet his manner of accepting it and of expressing his thanks
without more words had a grace in it that Lord Chesterfield could not have
taught his son in a century
Tom had sat upon the bed swinging one leg and sucking his walkingstick
with sufficient unconcern until the visit had attained this stage Seeing his
sister ready to depart he got up rather hurriedly and put in a word
»Just wait a moment Loo Before we go I should like to speak to him a
moment Something comes into my head If youll step out on the stairs
Blackpool Ill mention it Never mind a light man« Tom was remarkably
impatient of his moving towards the cupboard to get one »It dont want a
light«
Stephen followed him out and Tom closed the room door and held the lock in
his hand
»I say« he whispered »I think I can do you a good turn Dont ask me what
it is because it may not come to anything But theres no harm in my trying«
His breath fell like a flame of fire on Stephens ear it was so hot
»That was our light porter at the Bank« said Tom »who brought you the
message tonight I call him our light porter because I belong to the Bank
too«
Stephen thought »What a hurry he is in« He spoke so confusedly
»Well« said Tom »Now look here When are you off«
»T days Monday« replied Stephen considering »Why sir Friday or
Saturday nigh bout«
»Friday or Saturday« said Tom »Now look here I am not sure that I can do
you the good turn I want to do you thats my sister you know in your room
but I may be able to and if I should not be able to theres no harm done So I
tell you what Youll know our light porter again«
»Yes sure« said Stephen
»Very well« returned Tom »When you leave work of a night between this and
your going away just hang about the Bank an hour or so will you Dont take
on as if you meant anything if he should see you hanging about there because
I shant put him up to speak to you unless I find I can do you the service I
want to do you In that case hell have a note or a message for you but not
else Now look here You are sure you understand«
He had wormed a finger in the darkness through a buttonhole of Stephens
coat and was screwing that corner of the garment tight up round and round in
an extraordinary manner
»I understand sir« said Stephen
»Now look here« repeated Tom »Be sure you dont make any mistake then and
dont forget I shall tell my sister as we go home what I have in view and
shell approve I know Now look here Youre all right are you You understand
all about it Very well then Come along Loo«
He pushed the door open as he called to her but did not return into the
room or wait to be lighted down the narrow stairs He was at the bottom when
she began to descend and was in the street before she could take his arm
Mrs Pegler remained in her corner until the brother and sister were gone
and until Stephen came back with the candle in his hand She was in a state of
inexpressible admiration of Mrs Bounderby and like an unaccountable old
woman wept »because she was such a pretty dear« Yet Mrs Pegler was so
flurried lest the object of her admiration should return by chance or anybody
else should come that her cheerfulness was ended for that night It was late
too to people who rose early and worked hard therefore the party broke up and
Stephen and Rachael escorted their mysterious acquaintance to the door of the
Travellers Coffee House where they parted from her
They walked back together to the corner of the street where Rachael lived
and as they drew nearer and nearer to it silence crept upon them When they
came to the dark corner where their unfrequent meetings always ended they
stopped still silent as if both were afraid to speak
»I shall strive t see thee agen Rachael afore I go but if not «
»Thou wilt not Stephen I know Tis better that we make up our minds to be
open wi one another«
»Thourt awlus right Tis bolder and better I ha been thinkin then
Rachael that as tis but a day or two that remains twere better for thee my
dear not t be seen wi me T might bring thee into trouble fur no good«
»Tis not for that Stephen that I mind But thou knowst our old
agreement Tis for that«
»Well well« said he »Tis better onnyways«
»Thoult write to me and tell me all that happens Stephen«
»Yes What can I say now but Heaven be wi thee Heaven bless thee Heaven
thank thee and reward thee«
»May it bless thee Stephen too in all thy wanderings and send thee peace
and rest at last«
»I towd thee my dear« said Stephen Blackpool »that night that I would
never see or think o onnything that angered me but thou so much better than
me shouldst be beside it Thourt beside it now Thou makst me see it wi a
better eye Bless thee Good night Goodbye«
It was but a hurried parting in a common street yet it was a sacred
remembrance to these two common people Utilitarian economists skeletons of
schoolmasters Commissioners of Fact genteel and usedup infidels gabblers of
many little dogseared creeds the poor you will have always with you
Cultivate in them while there is yet time the utmost graces of the fancies and
affections to adorn their lives so much in need of ornament or in the day of
your triumph when romance is utterly driven out of their souls and they and a
bare existence stand face to face Reality will take a wolfish turn and make an
end of you
Stephen worked the next day and the next uncheered by a word from any one
and shunned in all his comings and goings as before At the end of the second
day he saw land at the end of the third his loom stood empty
He had overstayed his hour in the street outside the Bank on each of the
two first evenings and nothing had happened there good or bad That he might
not be remiss in his part of the engagement he resolved to wait full two hours
on this third and last night
There was the lady who had once kept Mr Bounderbys house sitting at the
firstfloor window as he had seen her before and there was the light porter
sometimes talking with her there and sometimes looking over the blind below
which had BANK upon it and sometimes coming to the door and standing on the
steps for a breath of air When he first came out Stephen thought he might be
looking for him and passed near but the light porter only cast his winking
eyes upon him slightly and said nothing
Two hours were a long stretch of lounging about after a long days labour
Stephen sat upon the step of a door leaned against a wall under an archway
strolled up and down listened for the church clock stopped and watched
children playing in the street Some purpose or other is so natural to every
one that a mere loiterer always looks and feels remarkable When the first hour
was out Stephen even began to have an uncomfortable sensation upon him of being
for the time a disreputable character
Then came the lamplighter and two lengthening lines of light all down the
long perspective of the street until they were blended and lost in the
distance Mrs Sparsit closed the firstfloor window drew down the blind and
went upstairs Presently a light went upstairs after her passing first the
fanlight of the door and afterwards the two staircase windows on its way up
By and by one corner of the secondfloor blind was disturbed as if Mrs
Sparsits eye were there also the other corner as if the light porters eye
were on that side Still no communication was made to Stephen Much relieved
when the two hours were at last accomplished he went away at a quick pace as a
recompense for so much loitering
He had only to take leave of his landlady and lie down on his temporary bed
upon the floor for his bundle was made up for tomorrow and all was arranged
for his departure He meant to be clear of the town very early before the Hands
were in the streets
It was barely daybreak when with a parting look round his room mournfully
wondering whether he should ever see it again he went out The town was as
entirely deserted as if the inhabitants had abandoned it rather than hold
communication with him Everything looked wan at that hour Even the coming sun
made but a pale waste in the sky like a sad sea
By the place where Rachael lived though it was not in his way by the red
brick streets by the great silent factories not trembling yet by the railway
where the dangerlights were waning in the strengthening day by the railways
crazy neighbourhood half pulled down and half built up by scattered red brick
villas where the besmoked evergreens were sprinkled with a dirty powder like
untidy snufftakers by coaldust paths and many varieties of ugliness Stephen
got to the top of the hill and looked back
Day was shining radiantly upon the town then and the bells were going for
the morning work Domestic fires were not yet lighted and the high chimneys had
the sky to themselves Puffing out their poisonous volumes they would not be
long in hiding it but for half an hour some of the many windows were golden
which showed the Coketown people a sun eternally in eclipse through a medium of
smoked glass
So strange to turn from the chimneys to the birds So strange to have the
roaddust on his feet instead of the coalgrit So strange to have lived to his
time of life and yet to be beginning like a boy this summer morning With these
musings in his mind and his bundle under his arm Stephen took his attentive
face along the high road And the trees arched over him whispering that he left
a true and loving heart behind
Chapter VII
Gunpowder
Mr James Harthouse going in for his adopted party soon began to score With
the aid of a little more coaching for the political sages a little more genteel
listlessness for the general society and a tolerable management of the assumed
honesty in dishonesty most effective and most patronized of the polite deadly
sins he speedily came to be considered of much promise The not being troubled
with earnestness was a grand point in his favour enabling him to take to the
hard Fact fellows with as good a grace as if he had been born one of the tribe
and to throw all other tribes overboard as conscious hypocrites
»Whom none of us believe my dear Mrs Bounderby and who do not believe
themselves The only difference between us and the professors of virtue or
benevolence or philanthropy never mind the name is that we know it is all
meaningless and say so while they know it equally and will never say so«
Why should she be shocked or warned by this reiteration It was not so
unlike her fathers principles and her early training that it need startle
her Where was the great difference between the two schools when each chained
her down to material realities and inspired her with no faith in anything else
What was there in her soul for James Harthouse to destroy which Thomas
Gradgrind had nurtured there in its state of innocence
It was even the worse for her at this pass that in her mind implanted
there before her eminently practical father began to form it a struggling
disposition to believe in a wider and nobler humanity than she had ever heard
of constantly strove with doubts and resentments With doubts because the
aspiration had been so laid waste in her youth With resentments because of the
wrong that had been done her if it were indeed a whisper of the truth Upon a
nature long accustomed to selfsuppression thus torn and divided the Harthouse
philosophy came as a relief and justification Everything being hollow and
worthless she had missed nothing and sacrificed nothing What did it matter
she had said to her father when he proposed her husband What did it matter
she said still With a scornful selfreliance she asked herself What did
anything matter and went on
Towards what Step by step onward and downward towards some end yet so
gradually that she believed herself to remain motionless As to Mr Harthouse
whither he tended he neither considered nor cared He had no particular design
or plan before him no energetic wickedness ruffled his lassitude He was as
much amused and interested at present as it became so fine a gentleman to be
perhaps even more than it would have been consistent with his reputation to
confess Soon after his arrival he languidly wrote to his brother the
honourable and jocular member that the Bounderbys were great fun and further
that the female Bounderby instead of being the Gorgon he had expected was
young and remarkably pretty After that he wrote no more about them and
devoted his leisure chiefly to their house He was very often in their house in
his flittings and visitings about the Coketown district and was much encouraged
by Mr Bounderby It was quite in Mr Bounderbys gusty way to boast to all his
world that he didnt care about your highly connected people but that if his
wife Tom Gradgrinds daughter did she was welcome to their company
Mr James Harthouse began to think it would be a new sensation if the face
which changed so beautifully for the whelp would change for him
He was quick enough to observe he had a good memory and did not forget a
word of the brothers revelations He interwove them with everything he saw of
the sister and he began to understand her To be sure the better and
profounder part of her character was not within his scope of perception for in
natures as in seas depth answers unto depth but he soon began to read the
rest with a students eye
Mr Bounderby had taken possession of a house and grounds about fifteen
miles from the town and accessible within a mile or two by a railway striding
on many arches over a wild country undermined by deserted coalshafts and
spotted at night by fires and black shapes of stationary engines at pits
mouths This country gradually softening towards the neighbourhood of Mr
Bounderbys retreat there mellowed into a rustic landscape golden with heath
and snowy with hawthorn in the spring of the year and tremulous with leaves and
their shadows all the summer time The bank had foreclosed a mortgage effected
on the property thus pleasantly situated by one of the Coketown magnates who
in his determination to make a shorter cut than usual to an enormous fortune
overspeculated himself by about two hundred thousand pounds These accidents did
sometimes happen in the best regulated families of Coketown but the bankrupts
had no connexion whatever with the improvident classes
It afforded Mr Bounderby supreme satisfaction to instal himself in this
snug little estate and with demonstrative humility to grow cabbages in the
flowergarden He delighted to live barrackfashion among the elegant
furniture and he bullied the very pictures with his origin »Why sir« he
would say to a visitor »I am told that Nickits« the late owner »gave seven
hundred pound for that Seabeach Now to be plain with you if I ever in the
whole course of my life take seven looks at it at a hundred pound a look it
will be as much as I shall do No by George I dont forget that I am Josiah
Bounderby of Coketown For years upon years the only pictures in my possession
or that I could have got into my possession by any means unless I stole em
were the engravings of a man shaving himself in a boot on the blacking bottles
that I was overjoyed to use in cleaning boots with and that I sold when they
were empty for a farthing apiece and glad to get it«
Then he would address Mr Harthouse in the same style
»Harthouse you have a couple of horses down here Bring half a dozen more
if you like and well find room for em Theres stabling in this place for a
dozen horses and unless Nickits is belied he kept the full member A round
dozen of em sir When that man was a boy he went to Westminster School Went
to Westminster School as a Kings Scholar when I was principally living on
garbage and sleeping in market baskets Why if I wanted to keep a dozen horses
which I dont for ones enough for me I couldnt bear to see em in their
stalls here and think what my own lodging used to be I couldnt look at em
sir and not order em out Yet so things come round You see this place you
know what sort of a place it is you are aware that theres not a completer
place of its size in this kingdom or elsewhere I dont care where and here
got into the middle of it like a maggot into a nut is Josiah Bounderby While
Nickits as a man came into my office and told me yesterday Nickits who used
to act in Latin in the Westminster School plays with the chiefjustices and
nobility of this country applauding him till they were black in the face is
drivelling at this minute drivelling sir in a fifth floor up a narrow
dark back street in Antwerp«
It was among the leafy shadows of this retirement in the long sultry summer
days that Mr Harthouse began to prove the face which had set him wondering
when he first saw it and to try if it would change for him
»Mrs Bounderby I esteem it a most fortunate accident that I find you alone
here I have for some time had a particular wish to speak to you«
It was not by any wonderful accident that he found her the time of day
being that at which she was always alone and the place being her favourite
resort It was an opening in a dark wood where some felled trees lay and where
she would sit watching the fallen leaves of last year as she had watched the
falling ashes at home
He sat down beside her with a glance at her face
»Your brother My young friend Tom «
Her colour brightened and she turned to him with a look of interest »I
never in my life« he thought »saw anything so remarkable and so captivating as
the lighting of those features« His face betrayed his thoughts perhaps
without betraying him for it might have been according to its instructions so
to do
»Pardon me The expression of your sisterly interest is so beautiful Tom
should be so proud of it I know this is inexcusable but I am so compelled to
admire«
»Being so impulsive« she said composedly
»Mrs Bounderby no you know I make no pretence with you You know I am a
sordid piece of human nature ready to sell myself at any time for any
reasonable sum and altogether incapable of any Arcadian proceeding whatever«
»I am waiting« she returned »for your further reference to my brother«
»You are rigid with me and I deserve it I am as worthless a dog as you
will find except that I am not false not false But you surprised and started
me from my subject which was your brother I have an interest in him«
»Have you an interest in anything Mr Harthouse« she asked half
incredulously and half gratefully
»If you had asked me when I first came here I should have said no I must
say now even at the hazard of appearing to make a pretence and of justly
awakening your incredulity yes«
She made a slight movement as if she were trying to speak but could not
find voice at length she said »Mr Harthouse I give you credit for being
interested in my brother«
»Thank you I claim to deserve it You know how little I do claim but I
will go that length You have done so much for him you are so fond of him your
whole life Mrs Bounderby expresses such charming selfforgetfulness on his
account pardon me again I am running wide of the subject I am interested in
him for his own sake«
She had made the slightest action possible as if she would have risen in a
hurry and gone away He had turned the course of what he said at that instant
and she remained
»Mrs Bounderby« he resumed in a lighter manner and yet with a show of
effort in assuming it which was even more expressive than the manner he
dismissed »it is no irrevocable offence in a young fellow of your brothers
years if he is heedless inconsiderate and expensive a little dissipated in
the common phrase Is he«
»Yes«
»Allow me to be frank Do you think he games at all«
»I think he makes bets« Mr Harthouse waiting as if that were not her
whole answer she added »I know he does«
»Of course he loses«
»Yes«
»Everybody does lose who bets May I hint at the probability of your
sometimes supplying him with money for these purposes«
She sat looking down but at this question raised her eyes searchingly
and a little resentfully
»Acquit me of impertinent curiosity my dear Mrs Bounderby I think Tom may
be gradually falling into trouble and I wish to stretch out a helping hand to
him from the depths of my wicked experience Shall I say again for his sake
Is that necessary«
She seemed to try to answer but nothing came of it
»Candidly to confess everything that has occurred to me« said James
Harthouse again gliding with the same appearance of effort into his more airy
manner »I will confide to you my doubt whether he has had many advantages
Whether forgive my plainness whether any great amount of confidence is
likely to have been established between himself and his most worthy father«
»I do not« said Louisa flushing with her own great remembrance in that
wise »think it likely«
»Or between himself and I may trust to your perfect understanding of my
meaning I am sure and his highly esteemed brotherinlaw«
She flushed deeper and deeper and was burning red when she replied in a
fainter voice »I do not think that likely either«
»Mrs Bounderby« said Harthouse after a short silence »may there be a
better confidence between yourself and me Tom has borrowed a considerable sum
of you«
»You will understand Mr Harthouse« she returned after some indecision
she had been more or less uncertain and troubled throughout the conversation
and yet had in the main preserved her selfcontained manner »you will
understand that if I tell you what you press to know it is not by way of
complaint or regret I would never complain of anything and what I have done I
do not in the least regret«
»So spirited too« thought James Harthouse
»When I married I found that my brother was even at that time heavily in
debt Heavily for him I mean Heavily enough to oblige me to sell some
trinkets They were no sacrifice I sold them very willingly I attached no
value to them They were quite worthless to me«
Either she saw in his face that he knew or she only feared in her
conscience that he knew that she spoke of some of her husbands gifts She
stopped and reddened again If he had not known it before he would have known
it then though he had been a much duller man than he was
»Since then I have given my brother at various times what money I could
spare in short what money I have had Confiding in you at all on the faith of
the interest you profess for him I will not do so by halves Since you have
been in the habit of visiting here he has wanted in one sum as much as a
hundred pounds I have not been able to give it to him I have felt uneasy for
the consequences of his being so involved but I have kept these secrets until
now when I trust them to your honour I have held no confidence with any one
because you anticipated my reason just now« She abruptly broke off
He was a ready man and he saw and seized an opportunity here of
presenting her own image to her slightly disguised as her brother
»Mrs Bounderby though a graceless person of the world worldly I feel the
utmost interest I assure you in what you tell me I cannot possibly be hard
upon your brother I understand and share the wise consideration with which you
regard his errors With all possible respect both for Mr Gradgrind and for Mr
Bounderby I think I perceive that he has not been fortunate in his training
Bred at a disadvantage towards the society in which he has his part to play he
rushes into these extremes for himself from opposite extremes that have long
been forced with the very best intentions we have no doubt upon him Mr
Bounderbys fine bluff English independence though a most charming
characteristic does not as we have agreed invite confidence If I might
venture to remark that it is the least in the world deficient in that delicacy
to which a youth mistaken a character misconceived and abilities misdirected
would turn for relief and guidance I should express what it presents to my own
view«
As she sat looking straight before her across the changing lights upon the
grass into the darkness of the wood beyond he saw in her face her application
of his very distinctly uttered words
»All allowance« he continued »must be made I have one great fault to find
with Tom however which I cannot forgive and for which I take him heavily to
account«
Louisa turned her eyes to his face and asked him what fault was that
»Perhaps« he returned »I have said enough Perhaps it would have been
better on the whole if no allusion to it had escaped me«
»You alarm me Mr Harthouse Pray let me know it«
»To relieve you from needless apprehension and as this confidence
regarding your brother which I prize I am sure above all possible things has
been established between us I obey I cannot forgive him for not being more
sensible in every word look and act of his life of the affection of his best
friend of the devotion of his best friend of her unselfishness of her
sacrifice The return he makes her within my observation is a very poor one
What she has done for him demands his constant love and gratitude not his
illhumour and caprice Careless fellow as I am I am not so indifferent Mrs
Bounderby as to be regardless of this vice in your brother or inclined to
consider it a venial offence«
The wood floated before her for her eyes were suffused with tears They
rose from a deep well long concealed and her heart was filled with acute pain
that found no relief in them
»In a word it is to correct your brother in this Mrs Bounderby that I
must aspire My better knowledge of his circumstances and my direction and
advice in extricating them rather valuable I hope as coming from a
scapegrace on a much larger scale will give me some influence over him and
all I gain I shall certainly use towards this end I have said enough and more
than enough I seem to be protesting that I am a sort of good fellow when upon
my honour I have not the least intention to make any protestation to that
effect and openly announce that I am nothing of the sort Yonder among the
trees« he added having lifted up his eyes and looked about for he had watched
her closely until now »is your brother himself no doubt just come down As he
seems to be loitering in this direction it may be as well perhaps to walk
towards him and throw ourselves in his way He has been very silent and doleful
of late Perhaps his brotherly conscience is touched if there are such things
as consciences Though upon my honour I hear of them much too often to believe
in them«
He assisted her to rise and she took his arm and they advanced to meet the
whelp He was idly beating the branches as he lounged along or he stooped
viciously to rip the moss from the trees with his stick He was startled when
they came upon him while he was engaged in this latter pastime and his colour
changed
»Halloa« he stammered »I didnt know you were here«
»Whose name Tom« said Mr Harthouse putting his hand upon his shoulder
and turning him so that they all three walked towards the house together »have
you been carving on the trees«
»Whose name« returned Tom »Oh You mean what girls name«
»You have a suspicious appearance of inscribing some fair creatures on the
bark Tom«
»Not much of that Mr Harthouse unless some fair creature with a slashing
fortune at her own disposal would take a fancy to me Or she might be as ugly as
she was rich without any fear of losing me Id carve her name as often as she
liked«
»I am afraid you are mercenary Tom«
»Mercenary« repeated Tom »Who is not mercenary Ask my sister«
»Have you so proved it to be a failing of mine Tom« said Louisa showing
no other sense of his discontent and illnature
»You know whether the cap fits you Loo« returned her brother sulkily »If
it does you can wear it«
»Tom is misanthropical today as all bored people are now and then« said
Mr Harthouse »Dont believe him Mrs Bounderby He knows much better I shall
disclose some of his opinions of you privately expressed to me unless he
relents a little«
»At all events Mr Harthouse« said Tom softening in his admiration of his
patron but shaking his head sullenly too »you cant tell her that I ever
praised her for being mercenary I may have praised her for being the contrary
and I should do it again if I had as good reason However never mind this now
its not very interesting to you and I am sick of the subject«
They walked on to the house where Louisa quitted her visitors arm and went
in He stood looking after her as she ascended the steps and passed into the
shadow of the door then put his hand upon her brothers shoulder again and
invited him with a confidential nod to a walk in the garden
»Tom my fine fellow I want to have a word with you«
They had stopped among a disorder of roses it was part of Mr Bounderbys
humility to keep Nickitss roses on a reduced scale and Tom sat down on a
terraceparapet plucking buds and picking them to pieces while his powerful
Familiar stood over him with a foot upon the parapet and his figure easily
resting on the arm supported by that knee They were just visible from her
window Perhaps she saw them
»Tom whats the matter«
»Oh Mr Harthouse« said Tom with a groan »I am hard up and bothered out
of my life«
»My good fellow so am I«
»You« returned Tom »You are the picture of independence Mr Harthouse I
am in a horrible mess You have no idea what a state I have got myself into
what a state my sister might have got me out of if she would only have done
it«
He took to biting the rosebuds now and tearing them away from his teeth
with a hand that trembled like an infirm old mans After one exceedingly
observant look at him his companion relapsed into his lightest air
»Tom you are inconsiderate you expect too much of your sister You have
had money of her you dog you know you have«
»Well Mr Harthouse I know I have How else was I to get it Heres old
Bounderby always boasting that at my age he lived upon twopence a month or
something of that sort Heres my father drawing what he calls a line and tying
me down to it from a baby neck and heels Heres my mother who never has
anything of her own except her complaints What is a fellow to do for money
and where am I to look for it if not to my sister«
He was almost crying and scattered the buds about by dozens Mr Harthouse
took him persuasively by the coat
»But my dear Tom if your sister has not got it «
»Not got it Mr Harthouse I dont say she has got it I may have wanted
more than she was likely to have got But then she ought to get it She could
get it Its of no use pretending to make a secret of matters now after what I
have told you already you know she didnt marry old Bounderby for her own sake
or for his sake but for my sake Then why doesnt she get what I want out of
him for my sake She is not obliged to say what she is going to do with it she
is sharp enough she could manage to coax it out of him if she chose Then why
doesnt she choose when I tell her of what consequence it is But no There she
sits in his company like a stone instead of making herself agreeable and
getting it easily I dont know what you may call this but I call it unnatural
conduct«
There was a piece of ornamental water immediately below the parapet on the
other side into which Mr James Harthouse had a very strong inclination to
pitch Mr Thomas Gradgrind Junior as the injured men of Coketown threatened to
pitch their property into the Atlantic But he preserved his easy attitude and
nothing more solid went over the stone balustrades than the accumulated rosebuds
now floating about a little surfaceisland
»My dear Tom« said Harthouse »let me try to be your banker«
»For Gods sake« replied Tom suddenly »dont talk about bankers« And
very white he looked in contrast with the roses Very white
Mr Harthouse as a thoroughly wellbred man accustomed to the best
society was not to be surprised he could as soon have been affected but he
raised his eyelids a little more as if they were lifted by a feeble touch of
wonder Albeit it was as much against the precepts of his school to wonder as
it was against the doctrines of the Gradgrind College
»What is the present need Tom Three figures Out with them Say what they
are«
»Mr Harthouse« returned Tom now actually crying and his tears were
better than his injuries however pitiful a figure he made »its too late the
money is of no use to me at present I should have had it before to be of use to
me But I am very much obliged to you youre a true friend«
A true friend »Whelp whelp« thought Mr Harthouse lazily »what an Ass
you are«
»And I take your offer as a great kindness« said Tom grasping his hand
»As a great kindness Mr Harthouse«
»Well« returned the other »it may be of more use by and by And my good
fellow if you will open your bedevilments to me when they come thick upon you
I may show you better ways out of them than you can find for yourself«
»Thank you« said Tom shaking his head dismally and chewing rosebuds »I
wish I had known you sooner Mr Harthouse«
»Now you see Tom« said Mr Harthouse in conclusion himself tossing over
a rose or two as a contribution to the island which was always drifting to the
wall as if it wanted to become a part of the mainland »every man is selfish in
everything he does and I am exactly like the rest of my fellowcreatures I am
desperately intent« the languor of his desperation being quite tropical »on
your softening towards your sister which you ought to do and on your being a
more loving and agreeable sort of brother which you ought to be«
»I will be Mr Harthouse«
»No time like the present Tom Begin at once«
»Certainly I will And my sister Loo shall say so«
»Having made which bargain Tom« said Harthouse clapping him on the
shoulder again with an air which left him at liberty to infer as he did poor
fool that this condition was imposed upon him in mere careless good nature to
lessen his sense of obligation »we will tear ourselves asunder until
dinnertime«
When Tom appeared before dinner though his mind seemed heavy enough his
body was on the alert and he appeared before Mr Bounderby came in »I didnt
mean to be cross Loo« he said giving her his hand and kissing her »I know
you are fond of me and you know I am fond of you«
After this there was a smile upon Louisas face that day for some one
else Alas for some one else
»So much the less is the whelp the only creature that she cares for«
thought James Harthouse reversing the reflection of his first days knowledge
of her pretty face »So much the less so much the less«
Chapter VIII
Explosion
The next morning was too bright a morning for sleep and James Harthouse rose
early and sat in the pleasant bay window of his dressingroom smoking the rare
tobacco that had had so wholesome an influence on his young friend Reposing in
the sunlight with the fragrance of his eastern pipe about him and the dreamy
smoke vanishing into the air so rich and soft with summer odours he reckoned
up his advantages as an idle winner might count his gains He was not at all
bored for the time and could give his mind to it
He had established a confidence with her from which her husband was
excluded He had established a confidence with her that absolutely turned upon
her indifference towards her husband and the absence now and at all times of
any congeniality between them He had artfully but plainly assured her that he
knew her heart in its last most delicate recesses he had come so near to her
through its tenderest sentiment he had associated himself with that feeling
and the barrier behind which she lived had melted away All very odd and very
satisfactory
And yet he had not even now any earnest wickedness of purpose in him
Publicly and privately it were much better for the age in which he lived that
he and the legion of whom he was one were designedly bad than indifferent and
purposeless It is the drifting icebergs setting with any current anywhere that
wreck the ships
When the Devil goeth about like a roaring lion he goeth about in a shape by
which few but savages and hunters are attracted But when he is trimmed
smoothed and varnished according to the mode when he is aweary of vice and
aweary of virtue used up as to brimstone and used up as to bliss then
whether he take to the serving out of red tape or to the kindling of red fire
he is the very Devil
So James Harthouse reclined in the window indolently smoking and reckoning
up the steps he had taken on the road by which he happened to be travelling The
end to which it led was before him pretty plainly but he troubled himself with
no calculations about it What will be will be
As he had rather a long ride to take that day for there was a public
occasion to do at some distance which afforded a tolerable opportunity of going
in for the Gradgrind men he dressed early and went down to breakfast He was
anxious to see if she had relapsed since the previous evening No He resumed
where he had left off There was a look of interest for him again
He got through the day as much or as little to his own satisfaction as
was to be expected under the fatiguing circumstances and came riding back at
six oclock There was a sweep of some halfmile between the lodge and the
house and he was riding along at a foot pace over the smooth gravel once
Nickitss when Mr Bounderby burst out of the shrubbery with such violence as
to make his horse shy across the road
»Harthouse« cried Mr Bounderby »Have you heard«
»Heard what« said Harthouse soothing his horse and inwardly favouring Mr
Bounderby with no good wishes
»Then you havent heard«
»I have heard you and so has this brute I have heard nothing else«
Mr Bounderby red and hot planted himself in the centre of the path before
the horses head to explode his bombshell with more effect
»The Banks robbed«
»You dont mean it«
»Robbed last night sir Robbed in an extraordinary manner Robbed with a
false key«
»Of much«
Mr Bounderby in his desire to make the most of it really seemed mortified
by being obliged to reply »Why no not of very much But it might have been«
»Of how much«
»Oh as a sum if you stick to a sum of not more than a hundred and fifty
pound« said Bounderby with impatience »But its not the sum its the fact
Its the fact of the Bank being robbed thats the important circumstance I am
surprised you dont see it«
»My dear Bounderby« said James dismounting and giving his bridle to his
servant »I do see it and am as overcome as you can possibly desire me to be
by the spectacle afforded to my mental view Nevertheless I may be allowed I
hope to congratulate you which I do with all my soul I assure you on your
not having sustained a greater loss«
»Thankee« replied Bounderby in a short ungracious manner »But I tell
you what It might have been twenty thousand pound«
»I suppose it might«
»Suppose it might By the Lord you may suppose so By George« said Mr
Bounderby with sundry menacing nods and shakes of his head »It might have been
twice twenty Theres no knowing what it would have been or wouldnt have been
as it was but for the fellows being disturbed«
Louisa had come up now and Mrs Sparsit and Bitzer
»Heres Tom Gradgrinds daughter knows pretty well what it might have been
if you dont« blustered Bounderby »Dropped sir as if she was shot when I
told her Never knew her do such a thing before Does her credit under the
circumstances in my opinion«
She still looked faint and pale James Harthouse begged her to take his arm
and as they moved on very slowly asked her how the robbery had been committed
»Why I am going to tell you« said Bounderby irritably giving his arm to
Mrs Sparsit »If you hadnt been so mighty particular about the sum I should
have begun to tell you before You know this lady for she is a lady Mrs
Sparsit«
»I have already had the honour «
»Very well And this young man Bitzer you saw him too on the same
occasion« Mr Harthouse inclined his head in assent and Bitzer knuckled his
forehead
»Very well They live at the Bank You know they live at the Bank perhaps
Very well Yesterday afternoon at the close of business hours everything was
put away as usual In the iron room that this young fellow sleeps outside of
there was never mind how much In the little safe in young Toms closet the
safe used for petty purposes there was a hundred and fifty odd pound«
»A hundred and fiftyfour seven one« said Bitzer
»Come« retorted Bounderby stopping to wheel round upon him »lets have
none of your interruptions Its enough to be robbed while youre snoring
because youre too comfortable without being put right with your four seven
ones I didnt snore myself when I was your age let me tell you I hadnt
victuals enough to snore And I didnt four seven one Not if I knew it«
Bitzer knuckled his forehead again in a sneaking manner and seemed at once
particularly impressed and depressed by the instance last given of Mr
Bounderbys moral abstinence
»A hundred and fifty odd pound« resumed Mr Bounderby »That sum of money
young Tom locked in his safe not a very strong safe but thats no matter now
Everything was left all right Some time in the night while this young fellow
snored Mrs Sparsit maam you say you have heard him snore«
»Sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »I cannot say that I have heard him precisely
snore and therefore must not make that statement But on winter evenings when
he has fallen asleep at his table I have heard him what I should prefer to
describe as partially choke I have heard him on such occasions produce sounds
of a nature similar to what may be sometimes heard in Dutch clocks Not« said
Mrs Sparsit with a lofty sense of giving strict evidence »that I would convey
any imputation on his moral character Far from it I have always considered
Bitzer a young man of the most upright principle and to that I beg to bear my
testimony«
»Well« said the exasperated Bounderby »while he was snoring or choking
or Dutchclocking or something or other being asleep some fellows somehow
whether previously concealed in the house or not remains to be seen got to
young Toms safe forced it and abstracted the contents Being then disturbed
they made off letting themselves out at the main door and doublelocking it
again it was doublelocked and the key under Mrs Sparsits pillow with a
false key which was picked up in the street near the Bank about twelve oclock
today No alarm takes place till this chap Bitzer turns out this morning
and begins to open and prepare the offices for business Then looking at Toms
safe he sees the door ajar and finds the lock forced and the money gone«
»Where is Tom by the by« asked Harthouse glancing round
»He has been helping the police« said Bounderby »and stays behind at the
Bank I wish these fellows had tried to rob me when I was at his time of life
They would have been out of pocket if they had invested eighteenpence in the
job I can tell em that«
»Is anybody suspected«
»Suspected I should think there was somebody suspected Egod« said
Bounderby relinquishing Mrs Sparsits arm to wipe his heated head »Josiah
Bounderby of Coketown is not to be plundered and nobody suspected No thank
you«
Might Mr Harthouse inquire Who was suspected
»Well« said Bounderby stopping and facing about to confront them all
»Ill tell you Its not to be mentioned everywhere its not to be mentioned
anywhere in order that the scoundrels concerned theres a gang of em may be
thrown off their guard So take this in confidence Now wait a bit« Mr
Bounderby wiped his head again »What should you say to« here he violently
exploded »to a Hand being in it«
»I hope« said Harthouse lazily »not our friend Blackpot«
»Say Pool instead of Pot sir« returned Bounderby »and thats the man«
Louisa faintly uttered some word of incredulity and surprise
»O yes I know« said Bounderby immediately catching at the sound »I know
I am used to that I know all about it They are the finest people in the world
these fellows are They have got the gift of the gab they have They only want
to have their rights explained to them they do But I tell you what Show me a
dissatisfied Hand and Ill show you a man thats fit for anything bad I dont
care what it is«
Another of the popular fictions of Coketown which some pains had been taken
to disseminate and which some people really believed
»But I am acquainted with these chaps« said Bounderby »I can read em off
like books Mrs Sparsit maam I appeal to you What warning did I give that
fellow the first time he set foot in the house when the express object of his
visit was to know how he could knock Religion over and floor the Established
Church Mrs Sparsit in point of high connexions you are on a level with the
aristocracy did I say or did I not say to that fellow you cant hide the
truth from me you are not the kind of fellow I like youll come to no good«
»Assuredly sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »you did in a highly impressive
manner give him such an admonition«
»When he shocked you maam« said Bounderby »when he shocked your
feelings«
»Yes sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with a meek shake of her head »he
certainly did so Though I do not mean to say but that my feelings may be weaker
on such points more foolish if the term is preferred than they might have
been if I had always occupied my present position«
Mr Bounderby stared with a bursting pride at Mr Harthouse as much as to
say »I am the proprietor of this female and shes worth your attention I
think« Then resumed his discourse
»You can recall for yourself Harthouse what I said to him when you saw
him I didnt mince the matter with him I am never mealy with em I KNOW em
Very well sir Three days after that he bolted Went off nobody knows where
as my mother did in my infancy only with this difference that he is a worse
subject than my mother if possible What did he do before he went What do you
say« Mr Bounderby with his hat in his hand gave a beat upon the crown at
every little division of his sentences as if it were a tambourine »to his
being seen night after night watching the Bank to his lurking about there
after dark To its striking Mrs Sparsit that he could be lurking for no
good To her calling Bitzers attention to him and their both taking notice of
him And to its appearing on inquiry today that he was also noticed by the
neighbours« Having come to the climax Mr Bounderby like an oriental dancer
put his tambourine on his head
»Suspicious« said James Harthouse »certainly«
»I think so sir« said Bounderby with a defiant nod »I think so But
there are more of em in it Theres an old woman One never hears of these
things till the mischiefs done all sorts of defects are found out in the
stable door after the horse is stolen theres an old woman turns up now An old
woman who seems to have been flying into town on a broomstick every now and
then She watches the place a whole day before this fellow begins and on the
night when you saw him she steals away with him and holds a council with him
I suppose to make her report on going off duty and be damned to her«
There was such a person in the room that night and she shrunk from
observation thought Louisa
»This is not all of em even as we already know em« said Bounderby with
many nods of hidden meaning »But I have said enough for the present Youll
have the goodness to keep it quiet and mention it to no one It may take time
but we shall have em Its policy to give em line enough and theres no
objection to that«
»Of course they will be punished with the utmost rigour of the law as
noticeboards observe« replied James Harthouse »and serve them right Fellows
who go in for Banks must take the consequences If there were no consequences
we should all go in for Banks« He had gently taken Louisas parasol from her
hand and had put it up for her and she walked under its shade though the sun
did not shine there
»For the present Loo Bounderby« said her husband »heres Mrs Sparsit to
look after Mrs Sparsits nerves have been acted upon by this business and
shell stay here a day or two So make her comfortable«
»Thank you very much sir« that discreet lady observed »but pray do not
let My comfort be a consideration Anything will do for Me«
It soon appeared that if Mrs Sparsit had a failing in her association with
that domestic establishment it was that she was so excessively regardless of
herself and regardful of others as to be a nuisance On being shown her
chamber she was so dreadfully sensible of its comforts as to suggest the
inference that she would have preferred to pass the night on the mangle in the
laundry True the Powlers and the Scadgerses were accustomed to splendour »but
it is my duty to remember« Mrs Sparsit was fond of observing with a lofty
grace particularly when any of the domestics were present »that what I was I
am no longer Indeed« said she »if I could altogether cancel the remembrance
that Mr Sparsit was a Powler or that I myself am related to the Scadgers
family or if I could even revoke the fact and make myself a person of common
descent and ordinary connexions I would gladly do so I should think it under
existing circumstances right to do so« The same Hermitical state of mind led
to her renunciation of made dishes and wines at dinner until fairly commanded
by Mr Bounderby to take them when she said »Indeed you are very good sir«
and departed from a resolution of which she had made rather formal and public
announcement to »wait for the simple mutton« She was likewise deeply
apologetic for wanting the salt and feeling amiably bound to bear out Mr
Bounderby to the fullest extent in the testimony he had borne to her nerves
occasionally sat back in her chair and silently wept at which periods a tear of
large dimensions like a crystal earring might be observed or rather must be
for it insisted on public notice sliding down her Roman nose
But Mrs Sparsits greatest point first and last was her determination to
pity Mr Bounderby There were occasions when in looking at him she was
involuntarily moved to shake her head as who would say »Alas poor Yorick«
After allowing herself to be betrayed into these evidences of emotion she would
force a lambent brightness and would be fitfully cheerful and would say »You
have still good spirits sir I am thankful to find« and would appear to hail
it as a blessed dispensation that Mr Bounderby bore up as he did One
idiosyncrasy for which she often apologized she found it excessively difficult
to conquer She had a curious propensity to call Mrs Bounderby Miss Gradgrind
and yielded to it some three or four score times in the course of the evening
Her repetition of this mistake covered Mrs Sparsit with modest confusion but
indeed she said it seemed so natural to say Miss Gradgrind whereas to
persuade herself that the young lady whom she had had the happiness of knowing
from a child could be really and truly Mrs Bounderby she found almost
impossible It was a further singularity of this remarkable case that the more
she thought about it the more impossible it appeared the differences she
observed being such
In the drawingroom after dinner Mr Bounderby tried the case of the
robbery examined the witnesses made notes of the evidence found the suspected
persons guilty and sentenced them to the extreme punishment of the law That
done Bitzer was dismissed to town with instructions to recommend Tom to come
home by the mailtrain
When candles were brought Mrs Sparsit murmured »Dont be low sir Pray
let me see you cheerful sir as I used to do« Mr Bounderby upon whom these
consolations had begun to produce the effect of making him in a bullheaded
blundering way sentimental sighed like some large seaanimal »I cannot bear
to see you so sir« said Mrs Sparsit »Try a hand at backgammon sir as you
used to do when I had the honour of living under your roof« »I havent played
backgammon maam« said Mr Bounderby »since that time« »No sir« said Mrs
Sparsit soothingly »I am aware that you have not I remember that Miss
Gradgrind takes no interest in the game But I shall be happy sir if you will
condescend«
They played near a window opening on the garden It was a fine night not
moonlight but sultry and fragrant Louisa and Mr Harthouse strolled out into
the garden where their voices could be heard in the stillness though not what
they said Mrs Sparsit from her place at the backgammon board was constantly
straining her eyes to pierce the shadows without »Whats the matter maam«
said Mr Bounderby »you dont see a Fire do you« »Oh dear no sir« returned
Mrs Sparsit »I was thinking of the dew« »What have you got to do with the
dew maam« said Mr Bounderby »Its not myself sir« returned Mrs Sparsit
»I am fearful of Miss Gradgrinds taking cold« »She never takes cold« said Mr
Bounderby »Really sir« said Mrs Sparsit And was affected with a cough in
her throat
When the time drew near for retiring Mr Bounderby took a glass of water
»Oh sir« said Mrs Sparsit »Not your sherry warm with lemonpeel and
nutmeg« »Why I have got out of the habit of taking it now maam« said Mr
Bounderby »The mores the pity sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »you are losing
all your good old habits Cheer up sir If Miss Gradgrind will permit me I
will offer to make it for you as I have often done«
Miss Gradgrind readily permitting Mrs Sparsit to do anything she pleased
that considerate lady made the beverage and handed it to Mr Bounderby »It
will do you good sir It will warm your heart It is the sort of thing you
want and ought to take sir« And when Mr Bounderby said »Your health
maam« she answered with great feeling »Thank you sir The same to you and
happiness also« Finally she wished him good night with great pathos and Mr
Bounderby went to bed with a maudlin persuasion that he had been crossed in
something tender though he could not for his life have mentioned what it was
Long after Louisa had undressed and lain down she watched and waited for
her brothers coming home That could hardly be she knew until an hour past
midnight but in the country silence which did anything but calm the trouble of
her thoughts time lagged wearily At last when the darkness and stillness had
seemed for hours to thicken one another she heard the bell at the gate She
felt as though she would have been glad that it rang on until daylight but it
ceased and the circles of its last sound spread out fainter and wider in the
air and all was dead again
She waited yet some quarter of an hour as she judged Then she arose put
on a loose robe and went out of her room in the dark and up the staircase to
her brothers room His door being shut she softly opened it and spoke to him
approaching his bed with a noiseless step
She kneeled down beside it passed her arm over his neck and drew his face
to hers She knew that he only feigned to be asleep but she said nothing to
him
He started by and by as if he were just then awakened and asked who that
was and what was the matter
»Tom have you anything to tell me If ever you loved me in your life and
have anything concealed from every one besides tell it to me«
»I dont know what you mean Loo You have been dreaming«
»My dear brother« she laid her head down on his pillow and her hair flowed
over him as if she would hide him from every one but herself »is there nothing
that you have to tell me Is there nothing you can tell me if you will You can
tell me nothing that will change me O Tom tell me the truth«
»I dont know what you mean Loo«
»As you lie here alone my dear in the melancholy night so you must lie
somewhere one night when even I if I am living then shall have left you As I
am here beside you barefoot unclothed undistinguishable in darkness so must
I lie through all the night of my decay until I am dust In the name of that
time Tom tell me the truth now«
»What is it you want to know«
»You may be certain« in the energy of her love she took him to her bosom as
if he were a child »that I will not reproach you You may be certain that I
will be compassionate and true to you You may be certain that I will save you
at whatever cost O Tom have you nothing to tell me Whisper very softly Say
only yes and I shall understand you«
She turned her ear to his lips but he remained doggedly silent
»Not a word Tom«
»How can I say Yes or how can I say No when I dont know what you mean
Loo you are a brave kind girl worthy I begin to think of a better brother
than I am But I have nothing more to say Go to bed go to bed«
»You are tired« she whispered presently more in her usual way
»Yes I am quite tired out«
»You have been so hurried and disturbed today Have any fresh discoveries
been made«
»Only those you have heard of from him«
»Tom have you said to any one that we made a visit to those people and
that we saw those three together«
»No Didnt you yourself particularly ask me to keep it quiet when you asked
me to go there with you«
»Yes But I did not know then what was going to happen«
»Nor I neither How could I«
He was very quick upon her with this retort
»Ought I to say after what has happened« said his sister standing by the
bed she had gradually withdrawn herself and risen »that I made that visit
Should I say so Must I say so«
»Good Heavens Loo« returned her brother »you are not in the habit of
asking my advice Say what you like If you keep it to yourself I shall keep it
to myself If you disclose it theres an end of it«
It was too dark for either to see the others face but each seemed very
attentive and to consider before speaking
»Tom do you believe the man I gave the money to is really implicated in
this crime«
»I dont know I dont see why he shouldnt be«
»He seemed to me an honest man«
»Another person may seem to you dishonest and yet not be so«
There was a pause for he had hesitated and stopped
»In short« resumed Tom as if he had made up his mind »if you come to
that perhaps I was so far from being altogether in his favour that I took him
outside the door to tell him quietly that I thought he might consider himself
very well off to get such a windfall as he had got from my sister and that I
hoped he would make good use of it You remember whether I took him out or not
I say nothing against the man he may be a very good fellow for anything I
know I hope he is«
»Was he offended by what you said«
»No he took it pretty well he was civil enough Where are you Loo« He
sat up in bed and kissed her »Good night my dear good night«
»You have nothing more to tell me«
»No What should I have You wouldnt have me tell you a lie«
»I wouldnt have you do that tonight Tom of all the nights in your life
many and much happier as I hope they will be«
»Thank you my dear Loo I am so tired that I am sure I wonder I dont say
anything to get to sleep Go to bed go to bed«
Kissing her again he turned round drew the coverlet over his head and lay
as still as if that time had come by which she had adjured him She stood for
some time at the bedside before she slowly moved away She stopped at the door
looked back when she had opened it and asked him if he had called her But he
lay still and she softly closed the door and returned to her room
Then the wretched boy looked cautiously up and found her gone crept out of
bed fastened his door and threw himself upon his pillow again tearing his
hair morosely crying grudgingly loving her hatefully but impenitently
spurning himself and no less hatefully and unprofitably spurning all the good
in the world
Chapter IX
Hearing the Last of It
Mrs Sparsit lying by to recover the tone of her nerves in Mr Bounderbys
retreat kept such a sharp lookout night and day under her Coriolanian
eyebrows that her eyes like a couple of lighthouses on an ironbound coast
might have warned all prudent mariners from that bold rock her Roman nose and
the dark and craggy region in its neighbourhood but for the placidity of her
manner Although it was hard to believe that her retiring for the night could be
anything but a form so severely wide awake were those classical eyes of hers
and so impossible did it seem that her rigid nose could yield to any relaxing
influence yet her manner of sitting smoothing her uncomfortable not to say
gritty mittens they were constructed of a cool fabric like a meatsafe or of
ambling to unknown places of destination with her foot in her cotton stirrup
was so perfectly serene that most observers would have been constrained to
suppose her a dove embodied by some freak of nature in the earthly tabernacle
of a bird of the hookbeaked order
She was a most wonderful woman for prowling about the house How she got
from story to story was a mystery beyond solution A lady so decorous in
herself and so highly connected was not to be suspected of dropping over the
banisters or sliding down them yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion
suggested the wild idea Another noticeable circumstance in Mrs Sparsit was
that she was never hurried She would shoot with consummate velocity from the
roof to the hall yet would be in full possession of her breath and dignity on
the moment of her arrival there Neither was she ever seen by human vision to go
at a great pace
She took very kindly to Mr Harthouse and had some pleasant conversation
with him soon after her arrival She made him her stately curtsey in the garden
one morning before breakfast
»It appears but yesterday sir« said Mrs Sparsit »that I had the honour
of receiving you at the Bank when you were so good as to wish to be made
acquainted with Mr Bounderbys address«
»An occasion I am sure not to be forgotten by myself in the course of
Ages« said Mr Harthouse inclining his head to Mrs Sparsit with the most
indolent of all possible airs
»We live in a singular world sir« said Mrs Sparsit
»I have had the honour by a coincidence of which I am proud to have made a
remark similar in effect though not so epigrammatically expressed«
»A singular world I would say sir« pursued Mrs Sparsit after
acknowledging the compliment with a drooping of her dark eyebrows not
altogether so mild in its expression as her voice was in its dulcet tones »as
regards the intimacies we form at one time with individuals we were quite
ignorant of at another I recall sir that on that occasion you went so far as
to say you were actually apprehensive of Miss Gradgrind«
»Your memory does me more honour than my insignificance deserves I availed
myself of your obliging hints to correct my timidity and it is unnecessary to
add that they were perfectly accurate Mrs Sparsits talent for in fact for
anything requiring accuracy with a combination of strength of mind and
Family is too habitually developed to admit of any question« He was almost
falling asleep over this compliment it took him so long to get through and his
mind wandered so much in the course of its execution
»You found Miss Gradgrind I really cannot call her Mrs Bounderby its
very absurd of me as youthful as I described her« asked Mrs Sparsit
sweetly
»You drew her portrait perfectly« said Mr Harthouse »Presented her dead
image«
»Very engaging sir« said Mrs Sparsit causing her mittens slowly to
revolve over one another
»Highly so«
»It used to be considered« said Mrs Sparsit »that Miss Gradgrind was
wanting in animation but I confess she appears to me considerably and
strikingly improved in that respect Ay and indeed here is Mr Bounderby«
cried Mrs Sparsit nodding her head a great many times as if she had been
talking and thinking of no one else »How do you find yourself this morning
sir Pray let us see you cheerful sir«
Now these persistent assuagements of his misery and lightenings of his
load had by this time begun to have the effect of making Mr Bounderby softer
than usual towards Mrs Sparsit and harder than usual to most other people from
his wife downward So when Mrs Sparsit said with forced lightness of heart
»You want your breakfast sir but I dare say Miss Gradgrind will soon be here
to preside at the table« Mr Bounderby replied »If I waited to be taken care
of by my wife maam I believe you know pretty well I should wait till
Doomsday so Ill trouble you to take charge of the teapot« Mrs Sparsit
complied and assumed her old position at table
This again made the excellent woman vastly sentimental She was so humble
withal that when Louisa appeared she rose protesting she never could think of
sitting in that place under existing circumstances often as she had had the
honour of making Mr Bounderbys breakfast before Mrs Gradgrind she begged
pardon she meant to say Miss Bounderby she hoped to be excused but she
really could not get it right yet though she trusted to become familiar with it
by and by had assumed her present position It was only she observed because
Miss Gradgrind happened to be a little late and Mr Bounderbys time was so
very precious and she knew it of old to be so essential that he should
breakfast to the moment that she had taken the liberty of complying with his
request long as his will had been a law to her
»There Stop where you are maam« said Mr Bounderby »stop where you are
Mrs Bounderby will be very glad to be relieved of the trouble I believe«
»Dont say that sir« returned Mrs Sparsit almost with severity »because
that is very unkind to Mrs Bounderby And to be unkind is not to be you sir«
»You may set your mind at rest maam You can take it very quietly cant
you Loo« said Mr Bounderby in a blustering way to his wife
»Of course It is of no moment Why should it be of any importance to me«
»Why should it be of any importance to any one Mrs Sparsit maam« said
Mr Bounderby swelling with a sense of slight »You attach too much importance
to these things maam By George youll be corrupted in some of your notions
here You are oldfashioned maam You are behind Tom Gradgrinds childrens
time«
»What is the matter with you« asked Louisa coldly surprised »What has
given you offence«
»Offence« repeated Bounderby »Do you suppose if there was any offence
given me I shouldnt name it and request to have it corrected I am a
straightforward man I believe I dont go beating about for sidewinds«
»I suppose no one ever had occasion to think you too diffident or too
delicate« Louisa answered him composedly »I have never made that objection to
you either as a child or as a woman I dont understand what you would have«
»Have« returned Mr Bounderby »Nothing Otherwise dont you Loo
Bounderby know thoroughly well that I Josiah Bounderby of Coketown would have
it«
She looked at him as he struck the table and made the teacups ring with a
proud colour in her face that was a new change Mr Harthouse thought »You are
incomprehensible this morning« said Louisa »Pray take no further trouble to
explain yourself I am not curious to know your meaning What does it matter«
Nothing more was said on this theme and Mr Harthouse was soon idly gay on
indifferent subjects But from this day the Sparsit action upon Mr Bounderby
threw Louisa and James Harthouse more together and strengthened the dangerous
alienation from her husband and confidence against him with another into which
she had fallen by degrees so fine that she could not retrace them if she tried
But whether she ever tried or no lay hidden in her own closed heart
Mrs Sparsit was so much affected on this particular occasion that
assisting Mr Bounderby to his hat after breakfast and being then alone with
him in the hall she imprinted a chaste kiss upon his hand murmured »My
benefactor« and retired overwhelmed with grief Yet it is an indubitable fact
within the cognizance of this history that five minutes after he had left the
house in the selfsame hat the same descendant of the Scadgerses and connexion
by matrimony of the Powlers shook her righthand mitten at his portrait made a
contemptuous grimace at that work of art and said »Serve you right you Noodle
and I am glad of it«
Mr Bounderby had not been long gone when Bitzer appeared Bitzer had come
down by train shrieking and rattling over the long line of arches that bestrode
the wild country of past and present coalpits with an express from Stone
Lodge It was a hasty note to inform Louisa that Mrs Gradgrind lay very ill
She had never been well within her daughters knowledge but she had declined
within the last few days had continued sinking all through the night and was
now as nearly dead as her limited capacity of being in any state that implied
the ghost of an intention to get out of it allowed
Accompanied by the lightest of porters fit colourless servitor at Deaths
door when Mrs Gradgrind knocked Louisa rumbled to Coketown over the coalpits
past and present and was whirled into its smoky jaws She dismissed the
messenger to his own devices and rode away to her old home
She had seldom been there since her marriage Her father was usually sifting
and sifting at his parliamentary cinderheap in London without being observed
to turn up many precious articles among the rubbish and was still hard at it
in the national dustyard Her mother had taken it rather as a disturbance than
otherwise to be visited as she reclined upon her sofa young people Louisa
felt herself all unfit for Sissy she had never softened to again since the
night when the strollers child had raised her eyes to look at Mr Bounderbys
intended wife She had no inducements to go back and had rarely gone
Neither as she approached her old home now did any of the best influences
of old home descend upon her The dreams of childhood its airy fables its
graceful beautiful humane impossible adornments of the world beyond so good
to be believed in once so good to be remembered when outgrown for then the
least among them rises to the stature of a great Charity in the heart suffering
little children to come into the midst of it and to keep with their pure hands
a garden in the stony ways of this world wherein it were better for all the
children of Adam that they should oftener sun themselves simple and trustful
and not worldlywise what had she to do with these Remembrances of how she
had journeyed to the little that she knew by the enchanted roads of what she
and millions of innocent creatures had hoped and imagined of how first coming
upon Reason through the tender light of Fancy she had seen it a beneficent god
deferring to gods as great as itself not a grim Idol cruel and cold with its
victims bound hand to foot and its big dumb shape set up with a sightless
stare never to be moved by anything but so many calculated tons of leverage
what had she to do with these Her remembrances of home and childhood were
remembrances of the drying up of every spring and fountain in her young heart as
it gushed out The golden waters were not there They were flowing for the
fertilization of the land where grapes are gathered from thorns and figs from
thistles
She went with a heavy hardened kind of sorrow upon her into the house and
into her mothers room Since the time of her leaving home Sissy had lived with
the rest of the family on equal terms Sissy was at her mothers side and Jane
her sister now ten or twelve years old was in the room
There was great trouble before it could be made known to Mrs Gradgrind that
her eldest child was there She reclined propped up from mere habit on a
couch as nearly in her old usual attitude as anything so helpless could be
kept in She had positively refused to take to her bed on the ground that if
she did she would never hear the last of it
Her feeble voice sounded so far away in her bundle of shawls and the sound
of another voice addressing her seemed to take such a long time in getting down
to her ears that she might have been lying at the bottom of a well The poor
lady was nearer Truth than she ever had been which had much to do with it
On being told that Mrs Bounderby was there she replied at crosspurposes
that she had never called him by that name since he married Louisa that pending
her choice of an objectionable name she had called him J and that she could
not at present depart from that regulation not being yet provided with a
permanent substitute Louisa had sat by her for some minutes and had spoken to
her often before she arrived at a clear understanding who it was She then
seemed to come to it all at once
»Well my dear« said Mrs Gradgrind »and I hope you are going on
satisfactorily to yourself It was all your fathers doing He set his heart
upon it And he ought to know«
»I want to hear of you mother not of myself«
»You want to hear of me my dear Thats something new I am sure when
anybody wants to hear of me Not at all well Louisa Very faint and giddy«
»Are you in pain dear mother«
»I think theres a pain somewhere in the room« said Mrs Gradgrind »but I
couldnt positively say that I have got it«
After this strange speech she lay silent for some time Louisa holding her
hand could feel no pulse but kissing it could see a slight thin thread of
life in fluttering motion
»You very seldom see your sister« said Mrs Gradgrind »She grows like you
I wish you would look at her Sissy bring her here«
She was brought and stood with her hand in her sisters Louisa had
observed her with her arm round Sissys neck and she felt the difference of
this approach
»Do you see the likeness Louisa«
»Yes mother I should think her like me But «
»Eh Yes I always say so« Mrs Gradgrind cried with unexpected quickness
»And that reminds me I I want to speak to you my dear Sissy my good girl
leave us alone a minute«
Louisa had relinquished the hand had thought that her sisters was a better
and brighter face than hers had ever been had seen in it not without a rising
feeling of resentment even in that place and at that time something of the
gentleness of the other face in the room the sweet face with the trusting eyes
made paler than watching and sympathy made it by the rich dark hair
Left alone with her mother Louisa saw her lying with an awful lull upon her
face like one who was floating away upon some great water all resistance over
content to be carried down the stream She put the shadow of a hand to her lips
again and recalled her
»You were going to speak to me mother«
»Eh Yes to be sure my dear You know your father is almost always away
now and therefore I must write to him about it«
»About what mother Dont be troubled About what«
»You must remember my dear that whenever I have said anything on any
subject I have never heard the last of it and consequently that I have long
left off saying anything«
»I can hear you mother« But it was only by dint of bending down to her
ear and at the same time attentively watching the lips as they moved that she
could link such faint and broken sounds into any chain of connexion
»You learnt a great deal Louisa and so did your brother Ologies of all
kinds from morning to night If there is any Ology left of any description
that has not been worn to rags in this house all I can say is I hope I shall
never hear its name«
»I can hear you mother when you have strength to go on« This to keep her
from floating away
»But there is something not an Ology at all that your father has missed
or forgotten Louisa I dont know what it is I have often sat with Sissy near
me and thought about it I shall never get its name now But your father may
It makes me restless I want to write to him to find out for Gods sake what
it is Give me a pen give me a pen«
Even the power of restlessness was gone except from the poor head which
could just turn from side to side
She fancied however that her request had been complied with and that the
pen she could not have held was in her hand It matters little what figures of
wonderful nomeaning she began to trace upon her wrappers The hand soon stopped
in the midst of them the light that had always been feeble and dim behind the
weak transparency went out and even Mrs Gradgrind emerged from the shadow in
which man walketh and disquieteth himself in vain took upon her the dread
solemnity of the sages and patriarchs
Chapter X
Mrs Sparsits Staircase
Mrs Sparsits nerves being slow to recover their tone the worthy woman made a
stay of some weeks in duration at Mr Bounderbys retreat where
notwithstanding her anchorite turn of mind based upon her becoming consciousness
of her altered station she resigned herself with noble fortitude to lodging as
one may say in clover and feeding on the fat of the land During the whole
term of this recess from the guardianship of the Bank Mrs Sparsit was a
pattern of consistency continuing to take such pity on Mr Bounderby to his
face as is rarely taken on man and to call his portrait a Noodle to its face
with the greatest acrimony and contempt
Mr Bounderby having got it into his explosive composition that Mrs
Sparsit was a highly superior woman to perceive that he had that general cross
upon him in his deserts for he had not yet settled what it was and further
that Louisa would have objected to her as a frequent visitor if it had comported
with his greatness that she should object to anything he chose to do resolved
not to lose sight of Mrs Sparsit easily So when her nerves were strung up to
the pitch of again consuming sweetbreads in solitude he said to her at the
dinnertable on the day before her departure »I tell you what maam you
shall come down here of a Saturday while the fine weather lasts and stay till
Monday« To which Mrs Sparsit returned in effect though not of the Mahomedan
persuasion »To hear is to obey«
Now Mrs Sparsit was not a poetical woman but she took an idea in the
nature of an allegorical fancy into her head Much watching of Louisa and much
consequent observation of her impenetrable demeanour which keenly whetted and
sharpened Mrs Sparsits edge must have given her as it were a lift in the way
of inspiration She erected in her mind a mighty Staircase with a dark pit of
shame and ruin at the bottom and down those stairs from day to day and hour to
hour she saw Louisa coming
It became the business of Mrs Sparsits life to look up at her staircase
and to watch Louisa coming down Sometimes slowly sometimes quickly sometimes
several steps at one bout sometimes stopping never turning back If she had
once turned back it might have been the death of Mrs Sparsit in spleen and
grief
She had been descending steadily to the day and on the day when Mr
Bounderby issued the weekly invitation recorded above Mrs Sparsit was in good
spirits and inclined to be conversational
»And pray sir« said she »if I may venture to ask a question appertaining
to any subject on which you show reserve which is indeed hardy in me for I
well know you have a reason for everything you do have you received
intelligence respecting the robbery«
»Why maam no not yet Under the circumstances I didnt expect it yet
Rome wasnt built in a day maam«
»Very true sir« said Mrs Sparsit shakinge her head
»Nor yet in a week maam«
»No indeed sir« returned Mrs Sparsit with a gentle melancholy upon her
»In a similar manner maam« said Bounderby »I can wait you know If
Romulus could wait Josiah Bounderby can wait They were better off in their
youth than I was however They had a shewolf for a nurse I had only a
shewolf for a grandmother She didnt give any milk maam she gave bruises
She was a regular Alderney at that«
»Ah« Mrs Sparsit sighed and shuddered
»No maam« continued Bounderby »I have not heard anything more about it
Its in hand though and young Tom who rather sticks to business at present
something new for him he hadnt the schooling I had is helping My injunction
is Keep it quiet and let it seem to blow over Do what you like under the
rose but dont give a sign of what youre about or half a hundred of em will
combine together and get this fellow who has bolted out of reach for good Keep
it quiet and the thieves will grow in confidence by little and little and we
shall have em«
»Very sagacious indeed sir« said Mrs Sparsit »Very interesting The old
woman you mentioned sir «
»The old woman I mentioned maam« said Bounderby cutting the matter
short as it was nothing to boast about »is not laid hold of but she may take
her oath she will be if that is any satisfaction to her villainous old mind In
the mean time maam I am of opinion if you ask me my opinion that the less
she is talked about the better«
That same evening Mrs Sparsit in her chamber window resting from her
packing operations looked towards her great staircase and saw Louisa still
descending
She sat by Mr Harthouse in an alcove in the garden talking very low he
stood leaning over her as they whispered together and his face almost touched
her hair »If not quite« said Mrs Sparsit straining her hawks eyes to the
utmost Mrs Sparsit was too distant to hear a word of their discourse or even
to know that they were speaking softly otherwise than from the expression of
their figures but what they said was this
»You recollect the man Mr Harthouse«
»Oh perfectly«
»His face and his manner and what he said«
»Perfectly And an infinitely dreary person he appeared to me to be Lengthy
and prosy in the extreme It was knowing to hold forth in the humblevirtue
school of eloquence but I assure you I thought at the time My good fellow
you are overdoing this«
»It has been very difficult to me to think ill of that man«
»My dear Louisa as Tom says« Which he never did say »You know no good of
the fellow«
»No certainly«
»Nor of any other such person«
»How can I« she returned with more of her first manner on her than he had
lately seen »when I know nothing of them men or women«
»My dear Louisa then consent to receive the submissive representation of
your devoted friend who knows something of several varieties of his excellent
fellowcreatures for excellent they are I am quite ready to believe in spite
of such little foibles as always helping themselves to what they can get hold
of This fellow talks Well every fellow talks He professes morality Well
all sorts of humbugs profess morality From the House of Commons to the House of
Correction there is a general profession of morality except among our people
it really is that exception which makes our people quite reviving You saw and
heard the case Here was one of the fluffy classes pulled up extremely short by
my esteemed friend Mr Bounderby who as we know is not possessed of that
delicacy which would soften so tight a hand The member of the fluffy classes
was injured exasperated left the house grumbling met somebody who proposed to
him to go in for some share in this Bank business went in put something in his
pocket which had nothing in it before and relieved his mind extremely Really
he would have been an uncommon instead of a common fellow if he had not
availed himself of such an opportunity Or he may have originated it altogether
if he had the cleverness«
»I almost feel as though it must be bad in me« returned Louisa after
sitting thoughtful awhile »to be so ready to agree with you and to be so
lightened in my heart by what you say«
»I only say what is reasonable nothing worse I have talked it over with my
friend Tom more than once of course I remain on terms of perfect confidence
with Tom and he is quite of my opinion and I am quite of his Will you walk«
They strolled away among the lanes beginning to be indistinct in the
twilight she leaning on his arm and she little thought how she was going
down down down Mrs Sparsit staircase
Night and day Mrs Sparsit kept it standing When Louisa had arrived at the
bottom and disappeared in the gulf it might fall in upon her if it would but
until then there it was to be a Building before Mrs Sparsits eyes And
there Louisa always was upon it And always gliding down down down
Mrs Sparsit saw James Harthouse come and go she heard of him here and
there she saw the changes of the face he had studied she too remarked to a
nicety how and when it clouded how and when it cleared she kept her black eyes
wide open with no touch of pity with no touch of compunction all absorbed in
interest In the interest of seeing her ever drawing with no hand to stay her
nearer and nearer to the bottom of this new Giants Staircase
With all her deference for Mr Bounderby as contradistinguished from his
portrait Mrs Sparsit had not the smallest intention of interrupting the
descent Eager to see it accomplished and yet patient she waited for the last
fall as for the ripeness and fulness of the harvest of her hopes Hushed in
expectancy she kept her wary gaze upon the stairs and seldom so much as darkly
shook her right mitten with her fist in it at the figure coming down
Chapter XI
Lower and Lower
The figure descended the great stairs steadily steadily always verging like
a weight in deep water to the black gulf at the bottom
Mr Gradgrind apprised of his wifes decease made an expedition from
London and buried her in a businesslike manner He then returned with
promptitude to the national cinderheap and resumed his sifting for the odds
and ends he wanted and his throwing of the dust about into the eyes of other
people who wanted other odds and ends in fact resumed his parliamentary
duties
In the meantime Mrs Sparsit kept unwinking watch and ward Separated from
her staircase all the week by the length of iron road dividing Coketown from
the country house she yet maintained her catlike observation of Louisa
through her husband through her brother through James Harthouse through the
outsides of letters and packets through everything animate and inanimate that
at any time went near the stairs »Your foot on the last step my lady« said
Mrs Sparsit apostrophizing the descending figure with the aid of her
threatening mitten »and all your art shall never blind me«
Art or nature though the original stock of Louisas character or the graft
of circumstances upon it her curious reserve did baffle while it stimulated
one as sagacious as Mrs Sparsit There were times were Mr James Harthouse was
not sure of her There were times when he could not read the face he had studied
so long and when this lonely girl was a greater mystery to him than any woman
of the world with a ring of satellites to help her
So the time went on until it happened that Mr Bounderby was called away
from home by business which required his presence elsewhere for three or four
days It was on a Friday that he intimated this to Mrs Sparsit at the Bank
adding »But youll go down tomorrow maam all the same Youll go down just
as if I was there It will make no difference to you«
»Pray sir« returned Mrs Sparsit reproachfully »let me beg you not to
say that Your absence will make a vast difference to me sir as I think you
very well know«
»Well maam then you must get on in my absence as well as you can« said
Mr Bounderby not displeased
»Mr Bounderby« retorted Mrs Sparsit »your will is to me a law sir
otherwise it might be my inclination to dispute your kind commands not feeling
sure that it will be quite so agreeable to Miss Gradgrind to receive me as it
ever is to your own munificent hospitality But you shall say no more sir I
will go upon your invitation«
»Why when I invite you to my house maam« said Bounderby opening his
eyes »I should hope you want no other invitation«
»No indeed sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »I should hope not Say no more
sir I would sir I could see you gay again«
»What do you mean maam« blustered Bounderby
»Sir« rejoined Mrs Sparsit »there was wont to be an elasticity in you
which I sadly miss Be buoyant sir«
Mr Bounderby under the influence of this difficult adjuration backed up
by her compassionate eye could only scratch his head in a feeble and ridiculous
manner and afterwards assert himself at a distance by being heard to bully the
small fry of business all the morning
»Bitzer« said Mrs Sparsit that afternoon when her patron was gone on his
journey and the Bank was closing »present my compliments to young Mr Thomas
and ask him if he would step up and partake of a lamb chop and walnut ketchup
with a glass of India ale« Young Mr Thomas being usually ready for anything in
that way returned a gracious answer and followed on its heels »Mr Thomas«
said Mrs Sparsit »these plain viands being on table I thought you might be
tempted«
»Thankee Mrs Sparsit« said the whelp And gloomily fell to
»How is Mr Harthouse Mr Tom« asked Mrs Sparsit
»Oh hes all right« said Tom
»Where may he be at present« Mrs Sparsit asked in a light conversational
manner after mentally devoting the whelp to the Furies for being so
uncommunicative
»He is shooting in Yorkshire« said Tom »Sent Loo a basket half as big as a
church yesterday«
»The kind of gentleman now« said Mrs Sparsit sweetly »whom one might
wager to be a good shot«
»Crack« said Tom
He had long been a downlooking young fellow but this characteristic had so
increased of late that he never raised his eyes to any face for three seconds
together Mrs Sparsit consequently had ample means of watching his looks if
she were so inclined
»Mr Harthouse is a great favourite of mine« said Mrs Sparsit »as indeed
he is of most people May we expect to see him again shortly Mr Tom«
»Why I expect to see him tomorrow« returned the whelp
»Good news« cried Mrs Sparsit blandly
»I have got an appointment with him to meet him in the evening at the
station here« said Tom »and I am going to dine with him afterwards I believe
He is not coming down to the country house for a week or so being due somewhere
else At least he says so but I shouldnt wonder if he was to stop here over
Sunday and stray that way«
»Which reminds me« said Mrs Sparsit »Would you remember a message to your
sister Mr Tom if I was to charge you with one«
»Well Ill try« returned the reluctant whelp »if it isnt a long un«
»It is merely my respectful compliments« said Mrs Sparsit »and I fear I
may not trouble her with my society this week being still a little nervous and
better perhaps by my poor self«
»Oh If thats all« observed Tom »it wouldnt much matter even if I was
to forget it for Loos not likely to think of you unless she sees you«
Having paid for his entertainment with this agreeable compliment he
relapsed into a hangdog silence until there was no more India ale left when he
said »Well Mrs Sparsit I must be off« and went off
Next day Saturday Mrs Sparsit sat at her window all day long looking at
the customers coming in and out watching the postmen keeping an eye on the
general traffic of the street revolving many things in her mind but above
all keeping her attention on her staircase The evening come she put on her
bonnet and shawl and went quietly out having her reasons for hovering in a
furtive way about the station by which a passenger would arrive from Yorkshire
and for preferring to peep into it round pillars and corners and out of ladies
waitingroom windows to appearing in its precincts openly
Tom was in attendance and loitered about until the expected train came in
It brought no Mr Harthouse Tom waited until the crowd had dispersed and the
bustle was over and then referred to a posted list of trains and took counsel
with porters That done he strolled away idly stopping in the street and
looking up it and down it and lifting his hat off and putting it on again and
yawning and stretching himself and exhibiting all the symptoms of mortal
weariness to be expected in one who had still to wait until the next train
should come in an hour and forty minutes hence
»This is a device to keep him out of the way« said Mrs Sparsit starting
from the dull office window whence she had watched him last »Harthouse is with
his sister now«
It was the conception of an inspired moment and she shot off with her
utmost swiftness to work it out The station for the country house was at the
opposite end of the town the time was short the road not easy but she was so
quick in pouncing on a disengaged coach so quick in darting out of it
producing her money seizing her ticket and diving into the train that she was
borne along the arches spanning the land of coalpits past and present as if
she had been caught up in a cloud and whirled away
All the journey immovable in the air though never left behind plain to the
dark eyes of her mind as the electric wires which ruled a colossal strip of
musicpaper out of the evening sky were plain to the dark eyes of her body
Mrs Sparsit saw her staircase with the figure coming down Very near the
bottom now Upon the brink of the abyss
An overcast September evening just at nightfall saw beneath its drooping
eyelids Mrs Sparsit glide out of her carriage pass down the wooden steps of
the little station into a stony road cross it into a green lane and become
hidden in a summergrowth of leaves and branches One or two late birds sleepily
chirping in their nests and a bat heavily crossing and recrossing her and the
reek of her own tread in the thick dust that felt like velvet were all Mrs
Sparsit heard or saw until she very softly closed a gate
She went up to the house keeping within the shrubbery and went round it
peeping between the leaves at the lower windows Most of them were open as they
usually were in such warm weather but there were no lights yet and all was
silent She tried the garden with no better effect She thought of the wood and
stole towards it heedless of long grass and briers of worms snails and
slugs and all the creeping things that be With her dark eyes and her hook nose
warily in advance of her Mrs Sparsit softly crushed her way through the thick
undergrowth so intent upon her object that she probably would have done no
less if the wood had been a wood of adders
Hark
The smaller birds might have tumbled out of their nests fascinated by the
glittering of Mrs Sparsits eyes in the gloom as she stopped and listened
Low voices close at hand His voice and hers The appointment was a device
to keep the brother away There they were yonder by the felled tree
Bending low among the dewy grass Mrs Sparsit advanced closer to them She
drew herself up and stood behind a tree like Robinson Crusoe in his ambuscade
against the savages so near to them that at a spring and that no great one
she could have touched them both He was there secretly and had not shown
himself at the house He had come on horseback and must have passed through the
neighbouring fields for his horse was tied to the meadow side of the fence
within a few paces
»My dearest love« said he »what could I do Knowing you were alone was it
possible that I could stay away«
»You may hang your head to make yourself the more attractive I dont know
what they see in you when you hold it up« thought Mrs Sparsit »but you little
think my dearest love whose eyes are on you«
That she hung her head was certain She urged him to go away she commanded
him to go away but she neither turned her face to him nor raised it Yet it
was remarkable that she sat as still as ever the amiable woman in ambuscade had
seen her sit at any period in her life Her hands rested in one another like
the hands of a statue and even her manner of speaking was not hurried
»My dear child« said Harthouse Mrs Sparsit saw with delight that his arm
embraced her »will you not bear with my society for a little while«
»Not here«
»Where Louisa«
»Not here«
»But we have so little time to make so much of and I have come so far and
am altogether so devoted and distracted There never was a slave at once so
devoted and illused by his mistress To look for your sunny welcome that has
warmed me into life and to be received in your frozen manner is
heartrending«
»Am I to say again that I must be left to myself here«
»But we must meet my dear Louisa Where shall we meet«
They both started The listener started guiltily too for she thought
there was another listener among the trees It was only rain beginning to fall
fast in heavy drops
»Shall I ride up to the house a few minutes hence innocently supposing that
its master is at home and will be charmed to receive me«
»No«
»Your cruel commands are implicitly to be obeyed though I am the most
unfortunate fellow in the world I believe to have been insensible to all other
women and to have fallen prostrate at last under the foot of the most
beautiful and the most engaging and the most imperious My dearest Louisa I
cannot go myself or let you go in this hard abuse of your power«
Mrs Sparsit saw him detain her with his encircling arm and heard him then
and there within her Mrs Sparsits greedy hearing tell her how he loved
her and how she was the stake for which he ardently desired to play away all
that he had in life The objects he had lately pursued turned worthless beside
her such success as was almost in his grasp he flung away from him like the
dirt it was compared with her Its pursuit nevertheless if it kept him near
her or its renunciation if it took him from her or flight if she shared it or
secrecy if she commanded it or any fate or every fate all was alike to him
so that she was true to him the man who had seen how cast away she was whom
she had inspired at their first meeting with an admiration an interest of
which he had thought himself incapable whom she had received into her
confidence who was devoted to her and adored her All this and more in his
hurry and in hers in the whirl of her own gratified malice in the dread of
being discovered in the rapidly increasing noise of heavy rain among the
leaves and a thunderstorm rolling up Mrs Sparsit received into her mind set
off with such an unavoidable halo of confusion and indistinctness that when at
length he climbed the fence and led his horse away she was not sure where they
were to meet or when except that they had said it was to be that night
But one of them yet remained in the darkness before her and while she
tracked that one she must be right »Oh my dearest love« thought Mrs Sparsit
»you little think how well attended you are«
Mrs Sparsit saw her out of the wood and saw her enter the house What to
do next It rained now in a sheet of water Mrs Sparsits white stockings were
of many colours green predominating prickly things were in her shoes
caterpillars slung themselves in hammocks of their own making from various
parts of her dress rills ran from her bonnet and her Roman nose In such
condition Mrs Sparsit stood hidden in the density of the shrubbery
considering what next
Lo Louisa coming out of the house Hastily cloaked and muffled and
stealing away She elopes She falls from the lowermost stair and is swallowed
up in the gulf
Indifferent to the rain and moving with a quick determined step she struck
into a sidepath parallel with the ride Mrs Sparsit followed in the shadow of
the trees at but a short distance for it was not easy to keep a figure in view
going quickly through the umbrageous darkness
When she stopped to close the sidegate without noise Mrs Sparsit stopped
When she went on Mrs Sparsit went on She went by the way Mrs Sparsit had
come emerged from the green lane crossed the stony road and ascended the
wooden steps to the railroad A train for Coketown would come through presently
Mrs Sparsit knew so she understood Coketown to be her first place of
destination
In Mrs Sparsits limp and streaming state no extensive precautions were
necessary to change her usual appearance but she stopped under the lee of the
station wall tumbled her shawl into a new shape and put it on over her bonnet
So disguised she had no fear of being recognized when she followed up the
railroad steps and paid her money to the small office Louisa sat waiting in a
corner Mrs Sparsit sat waiting in another corner Both listened to the
thunder which was loud and to the rain as it washed off the roof and
pattered on the parapets of the arches Two or three lamps were rained out and
blown out so both saw the lightning to advantage as it quivered and zigzagged
on the iron tracks
The seizure of the station with a fit of trembling gradually deepening to a
complaint of the heart announced the train Fire and steam and smoke and red
light a hiss a crash a bell and a shriek Louisa put into one carriage Mrs
Sparsit put into another the little station a desert speck in the thunderstorm
Though her teeth chattered in her head from wet and cold Mrs Sparsit
exulted hugely The figure had plunged down the precipice and she felt herself
as it were attending on the body Could she who had been so active in the
getting up of the funeral triumph do less than exult »She will be at Coketown
long before him« thought Mrs Sparsit »though his horse is never so good
Where will she wait for him And where will they go together Patience We shall
see«
The tremendous rain occasioned infinite confusion when the train stopped at
its destination Gutters and pipes had burst drains had overflowed and streets
were under water In the first instant of alighting Mrs Sparsit turned her
distracted eyes towards the waiting coaches which were in great request »She
will get into one« she considered »and will be away before I can follow in
another At all risks of being run over I must see the number and hear the
order given to the coachman«
But Mrs Sparsit was wrong in her calculation Louisa got into no coach
and was already gone The black eyes kept upon the railroadcarriage in which
she had travelled settled upon it a moment too late The door not being opened
after several minutes Mrs Sparsit passed it and repassed it saw nothing
looked in and found it empty Wet through and through with her feet squelching
and squashing in her shoes whenever she moved with a rash of rain upon her
classical visage with a bonnet like an overripe fig with all her clothes
spoiled with damp impressions of every button staring and hookandeye she
wore printed off upon her highly connected back with a stagnant verdure on her
general exterior such as accumulates on an old park fence in a mouldy lane
Mrs Sparsit had no resource but to burst into tears of bitterness and say »I
have lost her«
Chapter XII
Down
The national dustmen after entertaining one another with a great many noisy
little fights among themselves had dispersed for the present and Mr Gradgrind
was at home for the vacation
He sat writing in the room with the deadly statistical clock proving
something no doubt probably in the main that the Good Samaritan was a Bad
Economist The noise of the rain did not disturb him much but it attracted his
attention sufficiently to make him raise his head sometimes as if he were
rather remonstrating with the elements When it thundered very loudly he
glanced towards Coketown having it in his mind that some of the tall chimneys
might be struck by lightning
The thunder was rolling into distance and the rain was pouring down like a
deluge when the door of his room opened He looked round the lamp upon his
table and saw with amazement his eldest daughter
»Louisa«
»Father I want to speak to you«
»What is the matter How strange you look And good Heaven« said Mr
Gradgrind wondering more and more »have you come here exposed to this storm«
She put her hands to her dress as if she hardly knew »Yes« Then she
uncovered her head and letting her cloak and hood fall where they might stood
looking at him so colourless so dishevelled so defiant and despairing that
he was afraid of her
»What is it I conjure you Louisa tell me what is the matter«
She dropped into a chair before him and put her cold hand on his arm
»Father you have trained me from my cradle«
»Yes Louisa«
»I curse the hour in which I was born to such a destiny«
He looked at her in doubt and dread vacantly repeating »Curse the hour
Curse the hour«
»How could you give me life and take from me all the inappreciable things
that raise it from the state of conscious death Where are the graces of my
soul Where are the sentiments of my heart What have you done O father what
have you done with the garden that should have bloomed once in this great
wilderness here«
She struck herself with both her hands upon her bosom
»If it had ever been here its ashes alone would save me from the void in
which my whole life sinks I did not mean to say this but father you remember
the last time we conversed in this room«
He had been so wholly unprepared for what he heard now that it was with
difficulty he answered »Yes Louisa«
»What has risen to my lips now would have risen to my lips then if you had
given me a moments help I dont reproach you father What you have never
nurtured in me you have never nurtured in yourself but O if you had only done
so long ago or if you had only neglected me what a much better and much
happier creature I should have been this day«
On hearing this after all his care he bowed his head upon his hand and
groaned aloud
»Father if you had known when we were last together here what even I
feared while I strove against it as it has been my task from infancy to strive
against every natural prompting that has arisen in my heart if you had known
that there lingered in my breast sensibilities affections weaknesses capable
of being cherished into strength defying all the calculations ever made by man
and no more known to his arithmetic than his Creator is would you have given
me to the husband whom I am now sure that I hate«
He said »No No my poor child«
»Would you have doomed me at any time to the frost and blight that have
hardened and spoiled me Would you have robbed me for no ones enrichment
only for the greater desolation of this world of the immaterial part of my
life the spring and summer of my belief my refuge from what is sordid and bad
in the real things around me my school in which I should have learned to be
more humble and more trusting with them and to hope in my little sphere to make
them better«
»O no no No Louisa«
»Yet father if I had been stone blind if I had groped my way by my sense
of touch and had been free while I knew the shapes and surfaces of things to
exercise my fancy somewhat in regard to them I should have been a million
times wiser happier more loving more contented more innocent and human in
all good respects than I am with the eyes I have Now hear what I have come to
say«
He moved to support her with his arm She rising as he did so they stood
close together she with a hand upon his shoulder looking fixedly in his face
»With a hunger and thirst upon me father which have never been for a
moment appeased with an ardent impulse towards some region where rules and
figures and definitions were not quite absolute I have grown up battling
every inch of my way«
»I never knew you were unhappy my child«
»Father I always knew it In this strife I have almost repulsed and crushed
my better angel into a demon What I have learned has left me doubting
misbelieving despising regretting what I have not learned and my dismal
resource has been to think that life would soon go by and that nothing in it
could be worth the pain and trouble of a contest«
»And you so young Louisa« he said with pity
»And I so young In this condition father for I show you now without
fear or favour the ordinary deadened state of my mind as I know it you
proposed my husband to me I took him I never made a pretence to him or you
that I loved him I knew and father you knew and he knew that I never did
I was not wholly indifferent for I had a hope of being pleasant and useful to
Tom I made that wild escape into something visionary and have slowly found out
how wild it was But Tom had been the subject of all the little tenderness of my
life perhaps he became so because I knew so well how to pity him It matters
little now except as it may dispose you to think more leniently of his errors«
As her father held her in his arms she put her other hand upon his other
shoulder and still looking fixedly in his face went on
»When I was irrevocably married there rose up into rebellion against the
tie the old strife made fiercer by all those causes of disparity which arise
out of our two individual natures and which no general laws shall ever rule or
state for me father until they shall be able to direct the anatomist where to
strike his knife into the secrets of my soul«
»Louisa« he said and said imploringly for he well remembered what had
passed between them in their former interview
»I do not reproach you father I make no complaint I am here with another
object«
»What can I do child Ask me what you will«
»I am coming to it Father chance then threw into my way a new
acquaintance a man such as I had had no experience of used to the world
light polished easy making no pretences avowing the low estimate of
everything that I was half afraid to form in secret conveying to me almost
immediately though I dont know how or by what degrees that he understood me
and read my thoughts I could not find that he was worse than I There seemed to
be a near affinity between us I only wondered it should be worth his while who
cared for nothing else to care so much for me«
»For you Louisa«
Her father might instinctively have loosened his hold but that he felt her
strength departing from her and saw a wild dilating fire in the eyes
steadfastly regarding him
»I say nothing of his plea for claiming my confidence It matters very
little how he gained it Father he did gain it What you know of the story of
my marriage he soon knew just as well«
Her fathers face was ashy white and he held her in both his arms
»I have done no worse I have not disgraced you But if you ask me whether I
have loved him or do love him I tell you plainly father that it may be so I
dont know«
She took her hands suddenly from his shoulders and pressed them both upon
her side while in her face not like itself and in her figure drawn up
resolute to finish by a last effort what she had to say the feelings long
suppressed broke loose
»This night my husband being away he has been with me declaring himself
my lover This minute he expects me for I could release myself of his presence
by no other means I do not know that I am sorry I do not know that I am
ashamed I do not know that I am degraded in my own esteem All that I know is
your philosophy and your teaching will not save me Now father you have
brought me to this Save me by some other means«
He tightened his hold in time to prevent her sinking on the floor but she
cried out in a terrible voice »I shall die if you hold me Let me fall upon the
ground« And he laid her down there and saw the pride of his heart and the
triumph of his system lying an insensible heap at his feet
Book the Third
Garnering
Chapter I
Another Thing Needful
Louisa awoke from a torpor and her eyes languidly opened on her old bed at
home and her old room It seemed at first as if all that had happened since
the days when these objects were familiar to her were the shadows of a dream
but gradually as the objects became more real to her sight the events became
more real to her mind
She could scarcely move her head for pain and heaviness her eyes were
strained and sore and she was very weak A curious passive inattention had such
possession of her that the presence of her little sister in the room did not
attract her notice for some time Even when their eyes had met and her sister
had approached the bed Louisa lay for minutes looking at her in silence and
suffering her timidly to hold her passive hand before she asked
»When was I brought to this room«
»Last night Louisa«
»Who brought me here«
»Sissy I believe«
»Why do you believe so«
»Because I found her here this morning She didnt come to my bedside to
wake me as she always does and I went to look for her She was not in her own
room either and I went looking for her all over the house until I found her
here taking care of you and cooling your head Will you see father Sissy said I
was to tell him when you woke«
»What a beaming face you have Jane« said Louisa as her young sister
timidly still bent down to kiss her
»Have I I am very glad you think so I am sure it must be Sissys doing«
The arm Louisa had begun to twine around her neck unbent itself »You can
tell father if you will« Then staying her for a moment she said »It was you
who made my room so cheerful and gave it this look of welcome«
»Oh no Louisa it was done before I came It was «
Louisa turned upon her pillow and heard no more When her sister had
withdrawn she turned her head back again and lay with her face towards the
door until it opened and her father entered
He had a jaded anxious look upon him and his hand usually steady trembled
in hers He sat down at the side of the bed tenderly asking how she was and
dwelling on the necessity of her keeping very quiet after her agitation and
exposure to the weather last night He spoke in a subdued and troubled voice
very different from his usual dictatorial manner and was often at a loss for
words
»My dear Louisa My poor daughter« He was so much at a loss at that place
that he stopped altogether He tried again
»My unfortunate child« The place was so difficult to get over that he
tried again
»It would be hopeless for me Louisa to endeavour to tell you how
overwhelmed I have been and still am by what broke upon me last night The
ground on which I stand has ceased to be solid under my feet The only support
on which I leaned and the strength of which it seemed and still does seem
impossible to question has given way in an instant I am stunned by these
discoveries I have no selfish meaning in what I say but I find the shock of
what broke upon me last night to be very heavy indeed«
She could give him no comfort herein She had suffered the wreck of her
whole life upon the rock
»I will not say Louisa that if you had by any happy chance undeceived me
some time ago it would have been better for us both better for your peace and
better for mine For I am sensible that it may not have been a part of my system
to invite any confidence of that kind I had proved my my system to myself
and I have rigidly administered it and I must bear the responsibility of its
failures I only entreat you to believe my favourite child that I have meant
to do right«
He said it earnestly and to do him justice he had In gauging fathomless
deeps with his little mean exciserod and in staggering over the universe with
his rusty stifflegged compasses he had meant to do great things Within the
limits of his short tether he had tumbled about annihilating the flowers of
existence with greater singleness of purpose than many of the blatant personages
whose company he kept
»I am well assured of what you say father I know I have been your
favourite child I know you have intended to make me happy I have never blamed
you and I never shall«
He took her outstretched hand and retained it in his
»My dear I have remained all night at my table pondering again and again
on what has so painfully passed between us When I consider your character when
I consider that what has been known to me for hours has been concealed by you
for years when I consider under what immediate pressure it has been forced from
you at last I come to the conclusion I that I cannot but mistrust myself«
He might have added more than all when he saw the face now looking at him
He did add it in effect perhaps as he softly moved her scattered hair from her
forehead with his hand Such little actions slight is another man were very
noticeable in him and his daughter received them as if they had been words of
contrition
»But« said Mr Gradgrind slowly and with hesitation as well as with a
wretched sense of helplessness »if I see reason to mistrust myself for the
past Louisa I should also mistrust myself for the present and the future To
speak unreservedly to you I do I am far from feeling convinced now however
differently I might have felt only this time yesterday that I am fit for the
trust you repose in me that I know how to respond to the appeal you have come
home to make to me that I have the right instinct supposing it for the moment
to be some quality of that nature how to help you and to set you right my
child«
She had turned upon her pillow and lay with her face upon her arm so that
he could not see it All her wildness and passion had subsided but though
softened she was not in tears Her father was changed in nothing so much as in
the respect that he would have been glad to see her in tears
»Some persons hold« he pursued still hesitating »that there is a wisdom
of the Head and that there is a wisdom of the Heart I have not supposed so
but as I have said I mistrust myself now I have supposed the head to be
allsufficient It may not be allsufficient how can I venture this morning to
say it is If that other kind of wisdom should be what I have neglected and
should be the instinct that it wanted Louisa «
He suggested it very doubtfully as if he were half unwilling to admit it
even now She made him no answer lying before him on her bed still
halfdressed much as he had seen her lying on the floor of his room last night
»Louisa« and his hand rested on her hair again »I have been absent from
here my dear a good deal of late and though your sisters training has been
pursued according to the system« he appeared to come to that word with grate
reluctance always »it has necessarily been modified by daily associations
begun in her case at an early age I ask you ignorantly and humbly my
daughter for the better do you think«
»Father« she replied without stirring »if any harmony has been awakened
in her young breast that was mute in mine until it turned to discord let her
thank Heaven for it and go upon her happier way taking it as her greatest
blessing that she has avoided my way«
»O my child my child« he said in a forlorn manner »I am an unhappy man
to see you thus What avails it to me that you do not reproach me if I so
bitterly reproach myself« He bent his head and spoke low to her »Louisa I
have a misgiving that some change may have been slowly working about me in this
house by mere love and gratitude that what the Head had left undone and could
not do the Heart may have been doing silently Can it be so«
She made him no reply
»I am not too proud to believe it Louisa How could I be arrogant and you
before me Can it be so Is it so my dear«
He looked upon her once more lying cast away there and without another
word went out of the room He had not been long gone when she heard a light
tread near the door and knew that some one stood beside her
She did not raise her head A dull anger that she should be seen in her
distress and that the involuntary look she had so resented should come to this
fulfilment smouldered within her like an unwholesome fire All closely
imprisoned forces rend and destroy The air that would be healthful to the
earth the water that would enrich it the heat that would ripen it tear it
when caged up So in her bosom even now the strongest qualities she possessed
long turned upon themselves became a heap of obduracy that rose against a
friend
It was well that soft touch came upon her neck and that she understood
herself to be supposed to have fallen asleep The sympathetic hand did not claim
her resentment Let it lie there let it lie
It lay there warming into life a crowd of gentler thoughts and she rested
As she softened with the quiet and the consciousness of being so watched some
tears made their way into her eyes The face touched hers and she knew that
there were tears upon it too and she the cause of them
As Louisa feigned to rouse herself and sat up Sissy retired so that she
stood placidly near the bedside
»I hope I have not disturbed you I have come to ask if you would let me
stay with you«
»Why should you stay with me My sister will miss you You are everything to
her«
»Am I« returned Sissy shaking her head »I would be something to you if I
might«
»What« said Louisa almost sternly
»Whatever you want most if I could be that At all events I would like to
try to be as near it as I can And however far off that may be I will never
tire of trying Will you let me«
»My father sent you to ask me«
»No indeed« replied Sissy »He told me that I might come in now but he
sent me away from the room this morning or at least « She hesitated and
stopped
»At least what« said Louisa with her searching eyes upon her
»I thought it best myself that I should be sent away for I felt very
uncertain whether you would like to find me here«
»Have I always hated you so much«
»I hope not for I have always loved you and have always wished that you
should know it But you changed to me a little shortly before you left home
Not that I wondered at it You knew so much and I knew so little and it was so
natural in many ways going as you were among other friends that I had nothing
to complain of and was not at all hurt«
Her colour rose as she said it modestly and hurriedly Louisa understood the
loving pretence and her heart smote her
»May I try« said Sissy emboldened to raise her hand to the neck that was
insensibly drooping towards her
Louisa taking down the hand that would have embraced her in another moment
held it in one of hers and answered
»First Sissy do you know what I am I am so proud and so hardened so
confused and troubled so resentful and unjust to every one and to myself that
everything is stormy dark and wicked to me Does not that repel you«
»No«
»I am so unhappy and all that should have made me otherwise is so laid
waste that if I had been bereft of sense to this hour and instead of being as
learned as you think me had to begin to acquire the simplest truths I could
not want a guide to peace contentment honour all the good of which I am quite
devoid more abjectly than I do Does not that repel you«
»No«
In the innocence of her brave affection and the brimming up of her old
devoted spirit the once deserted girl shone like a beautiful light upon the
darkness of the other
Louisa raised the hand that it might clasp her neck and join its fellow
there She fell upon her knees and clinging to this strollers child looked up
at her almost with veneration
»Forgive me pity me help me Have compassion on my great need and let me
lay this head of mine upon a loving heart«
»O lay it here« cried Sissy »Lay it here my dear«
Chapter II
Very Ridiculous
Mr James Harthouse passed a whole night and a day in a state of so much hurry
that the World with its best glass in its eye would scarcely have recognized
him during that insane interval as the brother Jem of the honourable and
jocular member He was positively agitated He several times spoke with an
emphasis similar to the vulgar manner He went in and went out in an
unaccountable way like a man without an object He rode like a highwayman In a
word he was so horribly bored by existing circumstances that he forgot to go
in for boredom in the manner prescribed by the authorities
After putting his horse at Coketown through the storm as if it were a leap
he waited up all night from time to time ringing his bell with the greatest
fury charging the porter who kept watch with delinquency in withholding letters
or messages that could not fail to have been entrusted to him and demanding
restitution on the spot The dawn coming the morning coming and the day
coming and neither message nor letter coming with either he went down to the
country house There the report was Mr Bounderby away and Mrs Bounderby in
town Left for town suddenly last evening Not even known to be gone until
receipt of message importing that her return was not to be expected for the
present
In these circumstances he had nothing for it but to follow her to town He
vent to the house in town Mrs Bounderby not there He looked in at the Bank
Mr Bounderby and Mrs Sparsit away Mrs Sparsit away Who could have been
reduced to sudden extremity for the company of that griffin
»Well I dont know« said Tom who had his own reasons for being uneasy
about it »She was off somewhere at daybreak this morning Shes always full of
mystery I hate her So I do that white chap hes always got his blinking eyes
upon a fellow«
»Where were you last night Tom«
»Where was I last night« said Tom »Come I like that I was waiting for
you Mr Harthouse till it came down as I never saw it come down before Where
was I too Where were you you mean«
»I was prevented from coming detained«
»Detained« murmured Tom »Two of us were detained I was detained looking
for you till I lost every train but the mail It would have been a pleasant job
to go down by that on such a night and have to walk home through a pond I was
obliged to sleep in town after all«
»Where«
»Where Why in my own bed at Bounderbys«
»Did you see your sister«
»How the deuce« returned Tom staring »could I see my sister when she was
fifteen miles off«
Cursing these quick retorts of the young gentleman to whom he was so true a
friend Mr Harthouse disembarrassed himself of that interview with the smallest
conceivable amount of ceremony and debated for the hundredth time what all this
could mean He made only one thing clear It was that whether she was in town
or out of town whether he had been premature with her who was so hard to
comprehend or she had lost courage or they were discovered or some mischance
or mistake at present incomprehensible had occurred he must remain to
confront his fortune whatever it was The hotel where he was known to live when
condemned to that region of blackness was the stake to which he was tied As to
all the rest What will be will be
»So whether I am waiting for a hostile message or an assignation or a
penitent remonstrance or an impromptu wrestle with my friend Bounderby in the
Lancashire manner which would seem as likely as anything else in the present
state of affairs Ill dine« said Mr James Harthouse »Bounderby has the
advantage in point of weight and if anything of a British nature is to come off
between us it may be as well to be in training«
Therefore he rang the bell and tossing himself negligently on a sofa
ordered »Some dinner at six with a beafsteak in it« and got through the
intervening time as well as he could That was not particularly well for he
remained in the greatest perplexity and as the hours went on and no kind of
explanation offered itself his perplexity augmented at compound interest
However he took affairs as coolly as it was in human nature to do and
entertained himself with the facetious idea of the training more than once »It
wouldnt be bad« he yawned at one time »to give the waiter five shillings and
throw him« At another time it occurred to him »Or a fellow of about thirteen
or fourteen stone might be hired by the hour« But these jests did not tell
materially on the afternoon or his suspense and sooth to say they both
lagged fearfully
It was impossible even before dinner to avoid often walking about in the
pattern of the carpet looking out of the window listening at the door for
footsteps and occasionally becoming rather hot when any steps approached that
room But after dinner when the day turned to twilight and the twilight
turned to night and still no communication was made to him it began to be as
he expressed it »like the Holy Office and slow torture« However still true to
his conviction that indifference was the genuine highbreeding the only
conviction he had he seized this crisis as the opportunity for ordering
candles and a newspaper
He had been trying in vain for half an hour to read this newspaper when
the waiter appeared and said at once mysteriously and apologetically
»Beg your pardon sir Youre wanted sir if you please«
A general recollection that this was the kind of thing the Police said to
the swell mob caused Mr Harthouse to ask the waiter in return with bristling
indignation what the Devil he meant by »wanted«
»Beg your pardon sir Young lady outside sir wishes to see you«
»Outside Where«
»Outside this door sir«
Giving the waiter to the personage before mentioned as a blockhead duly
qualified for that consignment Mr Harthouse hurried into the gallery A young
woman whom he had never seen stood there Plainly dressed very quiet very
pretty As he conducted her into the room and placed a chair for her he
observed by the light of the candles that she was even prettier than he had at
first believed Her face was innocent and youthful and its expression
remarkably pleasant She was not afraid of him or in any way disconcerted she
seemed to have her mind entirely preoccupied with the occasion of her visit and
to have substituted that consideration for herself
»I speak to Mr Harthouse« she said when they were alone
»To Mr Harthouse« He added in his mind »And you speak to him with the
most confiding eyes I ever saw and the most earnest voice though so quiet I
ever heard«
»If I do not understand and I do not sir« said Sissy »what your honour
as a gentleman binds you to in other matters« the blood really rose in his
face as she began in these words »I am sure I may rely upon it to keep my visit
secret and to keep secret what I am going to say I will rely upon it if you
will tell me I may so far trust «
»You may I assure you«
»I am young as you see I am alone as you see In coming to you sir I
have no advice or encouragement beyond my own hope«
He thought »But that is very strong« as he followed the momentary upward
glance of her eyes He thought besides »This is a very odd beginning I dont
see where we are going«
»I think« said Sissy »you have already guessed whom I left just now«
»I have been in the greatest concern and uneasiness during the last
fourandtwenty hours which have appeared as many years« he returned »on a
ladys account The hopes I have been encouraged to form that you come from that
lady do not deceive me I trust«
»I left her within an hour«
»At «
»At her fathers«
Mr Harthouses face lengthened in spite of his coolness and his perplexity
increased »Then I certainly« he thought »do not see where we are going«
»She hurried there last night She arrived there in great agitation and was
insensible all through the night I live at her fathers and was with her You
may be sure sir you will never see her again as long as you live«
Mr Harthouse drew a long breath and if ever man found himself in the
position of not knowing what to say made the discovery beyond all question that
he was so circumstanced The childlike ingenuousness with which his visitor
spoke her modest fearlessness her truthfulness which put all artifice aside
her entire forgetfulness of herself in her earnest quiet holding to the object
with which she had come all this together with her reliance on his easily
given promise which in itself shamed him presented something in which he was
so inexperienced and against which he knew any of his usual weapons would fall
so powerless that not a word could he rally to his relief
At last he said
»So startling an announcement so confidently made and by such lip is
really disconcerting in the last degree May I be permitted to inquire if you
are charged to convey that information to me in those hopeless words by the
lady of whom we speak«
»I have no charge from her«
»The drowning man catches at the straw With no disrespect for your
judgment and with no doubt of your sincerity excuse my saying that I cling to
the belief that there is yet hope that I am not condemned to perpetual exile
from that ladys presence«
»There is not the least hope The first object of my coming here sir is to
assure you that you must believe that there is no more hope of your ever
speaking with her again than there would be if she had died when she came home
last night«
»Must believe But if I cant or if I should by infirmity of nature be
obstinate and wont «
»It is still true There is no hope«
James Harthouse looked at her with an incredulous smile upon his lips but
her mind looked over and beyond him and the smile was quite thrown away
He bit his lip and took a little time for consideration
»Well If it should unhappily appear« he said »after due pains and duty on
my part that I am brought to a position so desolate as this banishment I shall
not become the ladys persecutor But you said you had no commission from her«
»I have only the commission of my love for her and her love for me I have
no other trust than that I have been with her since she came home and that she
has given me her confidence I have no further trust than that I know something
of her character and her marriage O Mr Harthouse I think you had that trust
too«
He was touched in the cavity where his heart should have been in that nest
of addled eggs where the birds of heaven would have lived if they had not been
whistled away by the fervour of this reproach
»I am not a moral sort of fellow« he said »and I never make any
pretensions to the character of a moral sort of fellow I am as immoral as need
be At the same time in bringing any distress upon the lady who is the subject
of the present conversation or in unfortunately compromising her in any way or
in committing myself by any expression of sentiments towards her not perfectly
reconcilable with in fact with the domestic hearth or in taking any
advantage of her fathers being a machine or of her brothers being a whelp or
of her husbands being a bear I beg to be allowed to assure you that I have had
no particularly evil intentions but have glided on from one step to another
with a smoothness so perfectly diabolical that I had not the slightest idea the
catalogue was half so long until I began to turn it over Whereas I find« said
Mr James Harthouse in conclusion »that it is really in several volumes«
Though he said all this in his frivolous way the way seemed for that once
a conscious polishing of but an ugly surface He was silent for a moment and
then proceeded with a more selfpossessed air though with traces of vexation
and disappointment that would not be polished out
»After what has been just now represented to me in a manner I find it
impossible to doubt I know of hardly any other source from which I could have
accepted it so readily I feel bound to say to you in whom the confidence you
have mentioned has been reposed that I cannot refuse to contemplate the
possibility however unexpected of my seeing the lady no more I am solely to
blame for the thing having come to this and and I cannot say« he added
rather hard up for a general peroration »that I have any sanguine expectation
of ever becoming a moral sort of fellow or that I have any belief in any moral
sort of fellow whatever«
Sissys face sufficiently showed that her appeal to him was not finished
»You spoke« he resumed as she raised her eyes to him again »of your first
object I may assume that there is a second to be mentioned«
»Yes«
»Will you oblige me by confiding it«
»Mr Harthouse« returned Sissy with a blending of gentleness and
steadiness that quite defeated him and with a simple confidence in his being
bound to do what she required that held him at a singular disadvantage »the
only reparation that remains with you is to leave here immediately and finally
I am quite sure that you can mitigate in no other way the wrong and harm you
have done I am quite sure that it is the only compensation you have left it in
your power to make I do not say that it is much or that it is enough but it
is something and it is necessary Therefore though without any other authority
than I have given you and even without the knowledge of any other person than
yourself and myself I ask you to depart from this place tonight under an
obligation never to return to it«
If she had asserted any influence over him beyond her plain faith in the
truth and right of what she said if she had concealed the least doubt or
irresolution or had harboured for the best purpose any reserve or pretence if
she had shown or felt the lightest trace of any sensitiveness to his ridicule
or his astonishment or any remonstrance he might offer he would have carried
it against her at this point But he could as easily have changed a clear sky by
looking at it in surprise as affect her
»But do you know« he asked quite at a loss »the extent of what you ask
You probably are not aware that I am here on a public kind of business
preposterous enough in itself but which I have gone in for and sworn by and
am supposed to be devoted to in quite a desperate manner You probably are not
aware of that but I assure you its the fact«
It had no effect on Sissy fact or no fact
»Besides which« said Mr Harthouse taking a turn or two across the room
dubiously »its so alarmingly absurd It would make a man so ridiculous after
going in for these fellows to back out in such an incomprehensible way«
»I am quite sure« repeated Sissy »that it is the only reparation in your
power sir I am quite sure or I would not have come here«
He glanced at her face and walked about again »Upon my soul I dont know
what to say So immensely absurd«
It fell to his lot now to stipulate for secrecy
»If I were to do such a very ridiculous thing« he said stopping again
presently and leaning against the chimneypiece »it could only be in the most
inviolable confidence«
»I will trust to you sir« returned Sissy »and you will trust to me«
His leaning against the chimneypiece reminded him of the night with the
whelp It was the selfsame chimneypiece and somehow he felt as if he were the
whelp tonight He could make no way at all
»I suppose a man never was placed in a more ridiculous position« he said
after looking down and looking up and laughing and frowning and walking off
and walking back again »But I see no way out of it What will be will be This
will be I suppose I must take off myself I imagine in short I engage to do
it«
Sissy rose She was not surprised by the result but she was happy in it
and her face beamed brightly
»You will permit me to say« continued Mr James Harthouse »that I doubt if
any other ambassador or ambassadress could have addressed me with the same
success I must not only regard myself as being in a very ridiculous position
but as being vanquished at all points Will you allow me the privilege of
remembering my enemys name«
»My name« said the ambassadress
»The only name I could possibly care to know tonight«
»Sissy Jupe«
»Pardon my curiosity at parting Related to the family«
»I am only a poor girl« returned Sissy »I was separated from my father
he was only a stroller and taken pity on by Mr Gradgrind I have lived in the
house ever since«
She was gone
»It wanted this to complete the defeat« said Mr James Harthouse sinking
with a resigned air on the sofa after standing transfixed a little while »The
defeat may now be considered perfectly accomplished Only a poor girl only a
stroller only James Harthouse made nothing of only James Harthouse a Great
Pyramid of failure«
The Great Pyramid put it into his head to go up the Nile He took a pen upon
the instant and wrote the following note in appropriate hieroglyphics to his
brother
Dear Jack All up at Coketown Bored out of the place and going in
for camels
Affectionately
JEM
He rang the bell
»Send my fellow here«
»Gone to bed sir«
»Tell him to get up and pack up«
He wrote two more notes One to Mr Bounderby announcing his retirement
from that part of the country and showing where he would be found for the next
fortnight The other similar in effect to Mr Gradgrind Almost as soon as the
ink was dry upon their superscriptions he had left the tall chimneys of
Coketown behind and was in a railway carriage tearing and glaring over the
dark landscape
The moral sort of fellows might suppose that Mr James Harthouse derived
some comfortable reflections afterwards from this prompt retreat as one of his
few actions that made any amends for anything and as a token to himself that he
had escaped the climax of a very bad business But it was not so at all A
secret sense of having failed and been ridiculous a dread of what other
fellows who went in for similar sorts of things would say at his expense if
they knew it so oppressed him that what was about the very best passage in
his life was the one of all others he would not have owned to on any account
and the only one that made him ashamed of himself
Chapter III
Very Decided
The indefatigable Mrs Sparsit with a violent cold upon her her voice reduced
to a whisper and her stately frame so racked by continual sneezes that it
seemed in danger of dismemberment gave chase to her patron until she found him
in the metropolis and there majestically sweeping in upon him at his hotel in
St Jamess Street exploded the combustibles with which she was charged and
blew up Having executed her mission with infinite relish this highminded
woman then fainted away on Mr Bounderbys coatcollar
Mr Bounderbys first procedure was to shake Mrs Sparsit off and leave her
to progress as she might through various stages of suffering on the floor He
next had recourse to the administration of potent restoratives such as screwing
the patients thumbs smiting her hands abundantly watering her face and
inserting salt in her mouth When these attentions had recovered her which they
speedily did he hustled her into a fast train without offering any other
refreshment and carried her back to Coketown more dead than alive
Regarded as a classical ruin Mrs Sparsit was an interesting spectacle on
her arrival at her journeys end but considered in any other light the amount
of damage she had by that time sustained was excessive and impaired her claims
to admiration Utterly heedless of the wear and tear of her clothes and
constitution and adamant to her pathetic sneezes Mr Bounderby immediately
crammed her into a coach and bore her off to Stone Lodge
»Now Tom Gradgrind« said Bounderby bursting into his fatherinlaws room
late at night »heres a lady here Mrs Sparsit you know Mrs Sparsit who
has something to say to you that will strike you dumb«
»You have missed my letter« exclaimed Mr Gradgrind surprised by the
apparition
»Missed your letter sir« bawled Bounderby »The present time is no time
for letters No man shall talk to Josiah Bounderby of Coketown about letters
with his mind in the state its in now«
»Bounderby« said Mr Gradgrind in a tone of temperate remonstrance »I
speak of a very special letter I have written to you in reference to Louisa«
»Tom Gradgrind« replied Bounderby knocking the flat of his hand several
times with great vehemence on the table »I speak of a very special messenger
that has come to me in reference to Louisa Mrs Sparsit maam stand
forward«
That unfortunate lady hereupon essaying to offer testimony without any
voice and with painful gestures expressive of an inflamed throat became so
aggravating and underwent so many facial contortions that Mr Bounderby unable
to bear it seized her by the arm and shook her
»If you cant get it out maam« said Bounderby »leave me to get it out
This is not a time for a lady however highly connected to be totally
inaudible and seemingly swallowing marbles Tom Gradgrind Mrs Sparsit
latterly found herself by accident in a situation to overhear a conversation
out of doors between your daughter and your precious gentlemanfriend Mr James
Harthouse«
»Indeed« said Mr Gradgrind
»Ah Indeed« cried Bounderby »And in that conversation «
»It is not necessary to repeat its tenor Bounderby I know what passed«
»You do Perhaps« said Bounderby staring with all his might at his so
quiet and assuasive fatherinlaw »you know where your daughter is at the
present time«
»Undoubtedly She is here«
»Here«
»My dear Bounderby let me beg you to restrain these loud outbreaks on all
accounts Louisa is here The moment she could detach herself from that
interview with the person of whom you speak and whom I deeply regret to have
been the means of introducing to you Louisa hurried here for protection I
myself had not been at home many hours when I received her here in this
room She hurried by the train to town she ran from town to this house through
a raging storm and presented herself before me in a state of distraction Of
course she has remained here ever since Let me entreat you for your own sake
and for hers to be more quiet«
Mr Bounderby silently gazed about him for some moments in every direction
except Mrs Sparsits direction and then abruptly turning upon the niece of
Lady Scadgers said to that wretched woman
»Now maam We shall be happy to hear any little apology you may think
proper to offer for going about the country at express pace with no other
luggage than a CockandaBull maam«
»Sir« whispered Mrs Sparsit »my nerves are at present too much shaken
and my health is at present too much impaired in your service to admit of my
doing more than taking refuge in tears«
Which she did
»Well maam« said Bounderby »without making any observation to you that
may not be made with propriety to a woman of good family what I have got to add
to that is that there is something else in which it appears to me you may take
refuge namely a coach And the coach in which we came here being at the door
youll allow me to hand you down to it and pack you home to the Bank where the
best course for you to pursue will be to put your feet into the hottest water
you can bear and take a glass of scalding rum and butter after you get into
bed« With these words Mr Bounderby extended his right hand to the weeping
lady and escorted her to the conveyance in question shedding many plaintive
sneezes by the way He soon returned alone
»Now as you showed me in your face Tom Gradgrind that you wanted to speak
to me« he resumed »here I am But I am not in a very agreeable state I tell
you plainly not relishing this business even as it is and not considering
that I am at any time as dutifully and submissively treated by your daughter as
Josiah Bounderby of Coketown ought to be treated by his wife You have your
opinion I dare say and I have mine I know If you mean to say anything to me
tonight that goes against this candid remark you had better let it alone«
Mr Gradgrind it will be observed being much softened Mr Bounderby took
particular pains to harden himself at all points It was his amiable nature
»My dear Bounderby« Mr Gradgrind began in reply
»Now youll excuse me« said Bounderby »but I dont want to be too dear
That to start with When I begin to be dear to a man I generally find that his
intention is to come over me I am not speaking to you politely but as you are
aware I am not polite If you like politeness you know where to get it You
have your gentlemanfriends you know and theyll serve you with as much of the
article as you want I dont keep it myself«
»Bounderby« urged Mr Gradgrind »we are all liable to mistakes «
»I thought you couldnt make em« interrupted Bounderby
»Perhaps I thought so But I say we are all liable to mistakes and I
should feel sensible of your delicacy and grateful for it if you would spare
me these references to Harthouse I shall not associate him in our conversation
with your intimacy and encouragement pray do not persist in connecting him with
mine«
»I never mentioned his name« said Bounderby
»Well well« returned Mr Gradgrind with a patient even a submissive
air And he sat for a little while pondering »Bounderby I see reason to doubt
whether we have ever quite understood Louisa«
»Who do you mean by We«
»Let me say I then« he returned in answer to the coarsely blurted
question »I doubt whether I have understood Louisa I doubt whether I have been
quite right in the manner of her education«
»There you hit it« returned Bounderby »There I agree with you You have
found it out at last have you Education Ill tell you what education is To
be tumbled out of doors neck and crop and put upon the shortest allowance of
everything except blows Thats what I call education«
»I think your good sense will perceive« Mr Gradgrind remonstrated in all
humility »that whatever the merits of such a system may be it would be
difficult of general application to girls«
»I dont see it at all sir« returned the obstinate Bounderby
»Well« sighed Mr Gradgrind »we will not enter into the question I assure
you I have no desire to be controversial I seek to repair what is amiss if I
possibly can and I hope you will assist me in a good spirit Bounderby for I
have been very much distressed«
»I dont understand you yet« said Bounderby with determined obstinacy
»and therefore I wont make any promises«
»In the course of a few hours my dear Bounderby« Mr Gradgrind proceeded
in the same depressed and propitiatory manner »I appear to myself to have
become better informed as to Louisas character than in previous years The
enlightenment has been painfully forced upon me and the discovery is not mine
I think there are Bounderby you will be surprised to hear me say this I
think there are qualities in Louisa which which have been harshly neglected
and and a little perverted And and I would suggest to you that that if
you would kindly meet me in a timely endeavour to leave her to her better nature
for a while and to encourage it to develop itself by tenderness and
consideration it it would be the better for the happiness of all of us
Louisa« said Mr Gradgrind shading his face with his hand »has always been my
favourite child«
The blustrous Bounderby crimsoned and swelled to such an extent on hearing
these words that he seemed to be and probably was on the brink of a fit With
his very ears a bright purple shot with crimson he pent up his indignation
however and said
»Youd like to keep her here for a time«
»I I had intended to recommend my dear Bounderby that you should allow
Louisa to remain here on a visit and be attended by Sissy I mean of course
Cecilia Jupe who understands her and in whom she trusts«
»I gather from all this Tom Gradgrind« said Bounderby standing up with
his hands in his pockets »that you are of opinion that theres what people call
some incompatibility between Loo Bounderby and myself«
»I fear there is at present a general incompatibility between Louisa and
and and almost all the relations in which I have placed her« was her fathers
sorrowful reply
»Now look you here Tom Gradgrind« said Bounderby the flushed confronting
him with his legs wide apart his hands deeper in his pockets and his hair like
a hayfield wherein his windy anger was boisterous »You have said your say I am
going to say mine I am a Coketown man I am Josiah Bounderby of Coketown I
know the bricks of this town and I know the works of this town and I know the
chimneys of this town and I know the smoke of this town and I know the Hands
of this town I know em all pretty well Theyre real When a man tells me
anything about imaginative qualities I always tell that man whoever he is
that I know what he means He means turtle soup and venison with a gold spoon
and that he wants to be set up with a coach and six Thats what your daughter
wants Since you are of opinion that she ought to have what she wants I
recommend you to provide it for her Because Tom Gradgrind she will never have
it from me«
»Bounderby« said Mr Gradgrind »I hoped after my entreaty you would have
taken a different tone«
»Just wait a bit« retorted Bounderby »you have said your say I believe I
heard you out hear me out if you please Dont make yourself a spectacle of
unfairness as well as inconsistency because although I am sorry to see Tom
Gradgrind reduced to his present position I should be doubly sorry to see him
brought so low as that Now theres an incompatibility of some sort or another
I am given to understand by you between your daughter and me Ill give you to
understand in reply to that that there unquestionably is an incompatibility of
the first magnitude to be summed up in this that your daughter dont
properly know her husbands merits and is not impressed with such a sense as
would become her by George of the honour of his alliance Thats plain
speaking I hope«
»Bounderby« urged Mr Gradgrind »this is unreasonable«
»Is it« said Bounderby »I am glad to hear you say so Because when Tom
Gradgrind with his new lights tells me that what I say is unreasonable I am
convinced at once it must be devilish sensible With your permission I am going
on You know my origin and you know that for a good many years of my life I
didnt want a shoeinghorn in consequence of not having a shoe Yet you may
believe or not as you think proper that there are ladies born ladies
belonging to families Families who next to worship the ground I walk on«
He discharged this like a Rocket at his fatherinlaws head
»Whereas your daughter« proceeded Bounderby »is far from being a born
lady That you know yourself Not that I care a pinch of candlesnuff about
such things for you are very well aware I dont but that such is the fact and
you Tom Gradgrind cant change it Why do I say this«
»Not I fear« observed Mr Gradgrind in a low voice »to spare me«
»Hear me out« said Bounderby »and refrain from cutting in till your turn
comes round I say this because highly connected females have been astonished
to see the way in which your daughter has conducted herself and to witness her
insensibility They have wondered how I have suffered it And I wonder myself
now and I wont suffer it«
»Bounderby« returned Mr Gradgrind rising »the less we say tonight the
better I think«
»On the contrary Tom Gradgrind the more we say tonight the better I
think That is« the consideration checked him »till I have said all I mean to
say and then I dont care how soon we stop I come to a question that may
shorten the business What do you mean by the proposal you made just now«
»What do I mean Bounderby«
»By your visiting proposition« said Bounderby with an inflexible jerk of
the hayfield
»I mean that I hope you may be induced to arrange in a friendly manner for
allowing Louisa a period of repose and reflection here which may tend to a
gradual alteration for the better in many respects«
»To a softening down of your ideas of the incompatibility« said Bounderby
»If you put it in those terms«
»What made you think of this« said Bounderby
»I have already said I fear Louisa has not been understood Is it asking
too much Bounderby that you so far her elder should aid in trying to set her
right You have accepted a great charge of her for better for worse for «
Mr Bounderby may have been annoyed by the repetition of his own words to
Stephen Blackpool but he cut the quotation short with an angry start
»Come« said he »I dont want to be told about that I know what I took her
for as well as you do Never you mind what I took her for thats my look out«
»I was merely going on to remark Bounderby that we may all be more or less
in the wrong not even excepting you and that some yielding on your part
remembering the trust you have accepted may not only be an act of true
kindness but perhaps a debt incurred towards Louisa«
»I think differently« blustered Bounderby »I am going to finish this
business according to my own opinions Now I dont want to make a quarrel of it
with you Tom Gradgrind To tell you the truth I dont think it would be worthy
of my reputation to quarrel on such a subject As to your gentlemanfriend he
may take himself off wherever he likes best If he falls in my way I shall
tell him my mind if he dont fall in my way I shant for it wont be worth my
while to do it As to your daughter whom I made Loo Bounderby and might have
done better by leaving Loo Gradgrind if she dont come home tomorrow by
twelve oclock at noon I shall understand that she prefers to stay away and I
shall send her wearing apparel and so forth over here and youll take charge of
her for the future What I shall say to people in general of the
incompatibility that led to my so laying down the law will be this I am Josiah
Bounderby and I had my bringingup shes the daughter of Tom Gradgrind and
she had her bringingup and the two horses wouldnt pull together I am pretty
well known to be rather an uncommon man I believe and most people will
understand fast enough that it must be a woman rather out of the common also
who in the long run would come up to my mark«
»Let me seriously entreat you to reconsider this Bounderby« urged Mr
Gradgrind »before you commit yourself to such a decision«
»I always come to a decision« said Bounderby tossing his hat on »and
whatever I do I do at once I should be surprised at Tom Gradgrinds addressing
such a remark to Josiah Bounderby of Coketown knowing what he knows of him if
I could be surprised by anything Tom Gradgrind did after his making himself a
party to sentimental humbug I have given you my decision and I have got no
more to say Good night«
So Mr Bounderby went home to his town house to bed At five minutes past
twelve oclock next day he directed Mrs Bounderbys property to be carefully
packed up and sent to Tom Gradgrinds advertised his country retreat for sale
by private contract and resumed a bachelor life
Chapter IV
Lost
The robbery at the Bank had not languished before and did not cease to occupy a
front place in the attention of the principal of that establishment now In
boastful proof of his promptitude and activity as a remarkable man and a
selfmade man and a commercial wonder more admirable than Venus who had risen
out of the mud instead of the sea he liked to show how little his domestic
affairs abated his business ardour Consequently in the first few weeks of his
resumed bachelorhood he even advanced upon his usual display of bustle and
every day made such a rout in renewing his investigations into the robbery that
the officers who had it in hand almost wished it had never been committed
They were at fault too and off the scent Although they had been so quiet
since the first outbreak of the matter that most people really did suppose it
to have been abandoned as hopeless nothing new occurred No implicated man or
woman took untimely courage or made a selfbetraying step More remarkable yet
Stephen Blackpool could not be heard of and the mysterious old woman remained a
mystery
Things having come to this pass and showing no latent signs of stirring
beyond it the upshot of Mr Bounderbys investigations was that he resolved to
hazard a bold burst He drew up a placard offering Twenty Pounds reward for the
apprehension of Stephen Blackpool suspected of complicity in the robbery of
Coketown Bank on such a night he described the said Stephen Blackpool by dress
complexion estimated height and manner as minutely as he could he recited
how he had left the town and in what direction he had been last seen going he
had the whole printed in great black letters on a staring broadsheet and he
caused the walls to be posted with it in the dead of night so that it should
strike upon the sight of the whole population at one blow
The factorybells had need to ring their loudest that morning to disperse
the groups of workers who stood in the tardy daybreak collected round the
placards devouring them with eager eyes Not the least eager of the eyes
assembled were the eyes of those who could not read These people as they
listened to the friendly voice that read aloud there was always some such
ready to help them stared at the characters which meant so much with a vague
awe and respect that would have been half ludicrous if any aspect of public
ignorance could ever be otherwise than threatening and full of evil Many ears
and eyes were busy with a vision of the matter of these placards among turning
spindles rattling looms and whirling wheels for hours afterwards and when
the Hands cleared out again into the streets there were still as many readers
as before
Slackbridge the delegate had to address his audience too that night and
Slackbridge had obtained a clean bill from the printer and had brought it in
his pocket Oh my friends and fellowcountrymen the downtrodden operatives of
Coketown oh my fellowbrothers and fellowworkmen and fellowcitizens and
fellowmen what a todo was there when Slackbridge unfolded what he called
that damning document and held it up to the gaze and for the execration of the
workingman community »Oh my fellowmen behold of what a traitor in the camp
of those great sprits who are enrolled upon the holy scroll of Justice and of
Union is appropriately capable Oh my prostrate friends with the galling yoke
of tyrants on your necks and the iron foot of despotism treading down your
fallen forms into the dust of the earth upon which right glad would your
oppressors be to see you creeping on your bellies all the days of your lives
like the serpent in the garden oh my brothers and shall I as a man not add
my sisters too what do you say now of Stephen Blackpool with a slight stoop
in his shoulders and about five foot seven in height as set forth in this
degrading and disgusting document this blighting bill this pernicious placard
this abominable advertisement and with what majesty of denouncement will you
crush the viper who would bring this stain and shame upon the Godlike race
that happily has cast him out for ever Yes my compatriots happily cast him
out and sent him forth For you remember how he stood here before you on this
platform you remember how face to face and foot to foot I pursued him through
all his intricate windings you remember how he sneaked and slunk and sidled
and splitted of straws until with not an inch of ground to which to cling I
hurled him out from amongst us an object for the undying finger of scorn to
point at and for the avenging fire of every free and thinking mind to scorch
and sear And now my friends my labouring friends for I rejoice and triumph
in that stigma my friends whose hard but honest beds are made in toil and
whose scanty but independent pots are boiled in hardship and now I say my
friends what appellation has that dastard craven taken to himself when with
the mask torn from his features he stands before us in all his native
deformity a What A thief A plunderer A proscribed fugitive with a price
upon his head a fester and a wound upon the noble character of the Coketown
operative Therefore my band of brothers in a sacred bond to which your
children and your childrens children yet unborn have set their infant hands and
seals I propose to you on the part of the United Aggregate Tribunal ever
watchful for your welfare ever zealous for your benefit that this meeting does
Resolve That Stephen Blackpool weaver referred to in this placard having
been already solemnly disowned by the community of Coketown Hands the same are
free from the shame of his misdeeds and cannot as a class be reproached with
his dishonest actions«
Thus Slackbridge gnashing and perspiring after a prodigious sort A few
stern voices called out »No« and a score or two hailed with assenting cries of
»Hear hear« the caution from one man »Slackbridge yor over hetter int
yor a goen too fast« But these were pigmies against an army the general
assemblage subscribed to the gospel according to Slackbridge and gave three
cheers for him as he sat demonstratively panting at them
These men and women were yet in the streets passing quietly to their homes
when Sissy who had been called away from Louisa some minutes before returned
»Who is it« asked Louisa
»It is Mr Bounderby« said Sissy timid of the name »and your brother Mr
Tom and a young woman who says her name is Rachael and that you know her«
»What do they want Sissy dear«
»They want to see you Rachael has been crying and seems angry«
»Father« said Louisa for he was present »I cannot refuse to see them for
a reason that will explain itself Shall they come in here«
As he answered in the affirmative Sissy went away to bring them She
reappeared with them directly Tom was last and remained standing in the
obscurest part of the room near the door
»Mrs Bounderby« said her husband entering with a cool nod »I dont
disturb you I hope This is an unseasonable hour but here is a young woman who
has been making statements which render my visit necessary Tom Gradgrind as
your son young Tom refuses for some obstinate reason or other to say anything
at all about those statements good or bad I am obliged to confront her with
your daughter«
»You have seen me once before young lady« said Rachael standing in front
of Louisa
Tom coughed
»You have seen me young lady« repeated Rachael as she did not answer
»once before«
Tom coughed again
»I have«
Rachael cast her eyes proudly towards Mr Bounderby and said »Will you
make it known young lady where and who was there«
»I went to the house where Stephen Blackpool lodged on the night of his
discharge from his work and I saw you there He was there too and an old woman
who did not speak and whom I could scarcely see stood in a dark corner My
brother was with me«
»Why couldnt you say so young Tom« demanded Bounderby
»I promised my sister I wouldnt« Which Louisa hastily confirmed »And
besides« said the whelp bitterly »she tells her own story so precious well
and so full that what business had I to take it out of her mouth«
»Say young lady if you please« pursued Rachael »why in an evil hour
you ever came to Stephens that night«
»I felt compassion for him« said Louisa her colour deepening »and I
wished to know what he was going to do and wished to offer him assistance«
»Thank you maam« said Bounderby »Much flattered and obliged«
»Did you offer him« asked Rachael »a banknote«
»Yes but he refused it and would only take two pounds in gold«
Rachael cast her eyes towards Mr Bounderby again
»Oh certainly« said Bounderby »If you put the question whether your
ridiculous and improbable account was true or not I am bound to say its
confirmed«
»Young lady« said Rachael »Stephen Blackpool is now named as a thief in
public print all over this town and where else There have been a meeting
tonight where he have been spoken of in the same shameful way Stephen The
honestest lad the truest lad the best« Her indignation failed her and she
broke off sobbing
»I am very very sorry« said Louisa
»Oh young lady young lady« returned Rachael »I hope you may be but I
dont know I cant say what you may ha done The like of you dont know us
dont care for us dont belong to us I am not sure why you may ha come that
night I cant tell but what you may ha come wi some aim of your own not
mindin to what trouble you brought such as the poor lad I said then Bless you
for coming and I said it of my heart you seemed to take so pitifully to him
but I dont know now I dont know«
Louisa could not reproach her for her unjust suspicions she was so faithful
to her idea of the man and so afflicted
»And when I think« said Rachael through her sobs »that the poor lad was so
grateful thinkin you so good to him when I mind that he put his hand over his
hardworken face to hide the tears that you brought up there Oh I hope you
may be sorry and ha no bad cause to be it but I dont know I dont know«
»Youre a pretty article« growled the whelp moving uneasily in his dark
corner »to come here with these precious imputations You ought to be bundled
out for not knowing how to behave yourself and you would be by rights«
She said nothing in reply and her low weeping was the only sound that was
heard until Mr Bounderby spoke
»Come« said he »you know what you have engaged to do You had better give
your mind to that not this«
»Deed I am loath« returned Rachael drying her eyes »that any here
should see me like this but I wont be seen so again Young lady when I had
read whats put in print of Stephen and what has just as much truth in it as
if it had been put in print of you I went straight to the Bank to say I knew
where Stephen was and to give a sure and certain promise that he should be here
in two days I couldnt meet wi Mr Bounderby then and your brother sent me
away and I tried to find you but you was not to be found and I went back to
work Soon as I come out of the Mill tonight I hastened to hear what was said
of Stephen for I know wi pride he will come back to shame it and then I
went again to seek Mr Bounderby and I found him and I told him every word I
knew and he believed no word I said and brought me here«
»So far thats true enough« assented Mr Bounderby with his hands in his
pockets and his hat on »But I have known you people before today youll
observe and I know you never die for want of talking Now I recommend you not
so much to mind talking just now as doing You have undertaken to do something
all I remark upon that at present is do it«
»I have written to Stephen by the post that went out this afternoon as I
have written to him once before sin he went away« said Rachael »and he will
be here at furthest in two days«
»Then Ill tell you something You are not aware perhaps« retorted Mr
Bounderby »that you yourself have been looked after now and then not being
considered quite free from suspicion in this business on account of most people
being judged according to the company they keep The postoffice hasnt been
forgotten either What Ill tell you is that no letter to Stephen Blackpool has
ever got into it Therefore what has become of yours I leave you to guess
Perhaps youre mistaken and never wrote any«
»He hadnt been gone from here young lady« said Rachael turning
appealingly to Louisa »as much as a week when he sent me the only letter I
have had from him saying that he was forced to seek work in another name«
»Oh by George« cried Bounderby shaking his head with a whistle »he
changes his name does he Thats rather unlucky too for such an immaculate
chap Its considered a little suspicious in Courts of Justice I believe when
an Innocent happens to have many names«
»What« said Rachael with the tears in her eyes again »what young lady
in the name of Mercy was left the poor lad to do The masters against him on
one hand the men against him on the other he only wantin to work hard in
peace and do what he felt right Can a man have no soul of his own no mind of
his own Must he go wrong all through wi this side or must he go wrong all
through wi that or else be hunted like a hare«
»Indeed indeed I pity him from my heart« returned Louisa »and I hope
that he will clear himself«
»You need have no fear of that young lady He is sure«
»All the surer I suppose« said Mr Bounderby »for your refusing to tell
where he is Eh«
»He shall not through any act of mine come back wi the unmerited reproach
of being brought back He shall come back of his own accord to clear himself
and put all those that have injured his good character and he not here for its
defence to shame I have told him what has been done against him« said
Rachael throwing off all distrust as a rock throws off the sea »and he will be
here at furthest in two days«
»Notwithstanding which« added Mr Bounderby »if he can be laid hold of any
sooner he shall have an earlier opportunity of clearing himself As to you I
have nothing against you what you came and told me turns out to be true and I
have given you the means of proving it to be true and theres an end of it I
wish you good night all I must be off to look a little further into this«
Tom came out of his corner when Mr Bounderby moved moved with him kept
close to him and went away with him The only parting salutation of which he
delivered himself was a sulky »Good night father« With a brief speech and a
scowl at his sister he left the house
Since his sheetanchor had come home Mr Gradgrind had been sparing of
speech He still sat silent when Louisa mildly said
»Rachael you will not distrust me one day when you know me better«
»It goes against me« Rachael answered in a gentler manner »to mistrust
any one but when I am so mistrusted when we all are I cannot keep such
things quite out of my mind I ask your pardon for having done you an injury I
dont think what I said now Yet I might come to think it again wi the poor
lad so wronged«
»Did you tell him in your letter« inquired Sissy »that suspicion seemed to
have fallen upon him because he had been seen about the Bank at night He would
then know what he would have to explain on coming back and would be ready«
»Yes dear« she returned »but I cant guess what can have ever taken him
there He never used to go there It was never in his way His way was the same
as mine and not near it«
Sissy had already been at her side asking her where she lived and whether
she might come tomorrow night to inquire if there were news of him
»I doubt« said Rachael »if he can be here till next day«
»Then I will come next night too« said Sissy
When Rachael assenting to this was gone Mr Gradgrind lifted up his head
and said to his daughter
»Louisa my dear I have never that I know of seen this man Do you
believe him to be implicated«
»I think I have believed it father though with great difficulty I do not
believe it now«
»That is to say you once persuaded yourself to believe it from knowing him
to be suspected His appearance and manner are they so honest«
»Very honest«
»And her confidence not to be shaken I ask myself« said Mr Gradgrind
musing »does the real culprit know of these accusations Where is he Who is
he«
His hair had latterly began to change its colour As he leaned upon his hand
again looking gray and old Louisa with a face of fear and pity hurriedly
went over to him and sat close at his side Her eyes by accident met Sissys at
the moment Sissy flushed and started and Louisa put her finger on her lip
Next night when Sissy returned home and told Louisa that Stephen was not
come she told it in a whisper Next night again when she came home with the
same account and added that he had not been heard of she spoke in the same low
frightened tone From the moment of that interchange of looks they never
uttered his name or any reference to him aloud nor ever pursued the subject
of the robbery when Mr Gradgrind spoke of it
The two appointed days ran out three days and nights ran out and Stephen
Blackpool was not come and remained unheard of On the fourth day Rachael
with unabated confidence but considering her despatch to have miscarried went
up to the Bank and showed her letter from him with his address at a working
colony one of many not upon the main road sixty miles away Messengers were
sent to that place and the whole town looked for Stephen to be brought in next
day
During this whole time the whelp moved about with Mr Bounderby like his
shadow assisting in all the proceedings He was greatly excited horribly
fevered bit his nails down to the quick spoke in a hard rattling voice and
with lips that were black and burnt up At the hour when the suspected man was
looked for the whelp was at the station offering to wager that he had made off
before the arrival of those who were sent in quest of him and that he would not
appear
The whelp was right The messengers returned alone Rachaels letter had
gone Rachaels letter had been delivered Stephen Blackpool had decamped in that
same hour and no soul knew more of him The only doubt in Coketown was whether
Rachael had written in good faith believing that he really would come back or
warning him to fly On this point opinion was divided
Six days seven days far on into another week The wretched whelp plucked
up a ghastly courage and began to grow defiant »Was the suspected fellow the
thief A pretty question If not where was the man and why did he not come
back«
Where was the man and why did he not come back In the dead of night the
echoes of his own words which had rolled Heaven knows how far away in the
daytime came back instead and abided by him until morning
Chapter V
Found
Day and night again day and night again No Stephen Blackpool Where was the
man and why did he not come back
Every night Sissy went to Rachaels lodging and sat with her in her small
neat room All day Rachael toiled as such people must toil whatever their
anxieties The smokeserpents were indifferent who was lost or found who turned
out bad or good the melancholy mad elephants like the Hard Fact men abated
nothing of their set routine whatever happened Day and night again day and
night again The monotony was unbroken Even Stephen Blackpools disappearance
was falling into the general way and becoming as monotonous a wonder as any
piece of machinery in Coketown
»I misdoubt« said Rachael »if there is as many as twenty left in all this
place who have any trust in the poor dear lad now«
She said it to Sissy as they sat in her lodging lighted only by the lamp
at the street corner Sissy had come there when it was already dark to await
her return from work and they had since sat at the window where Rachael had
found her wanting no brighter light to shine on their sorrowful talk
»If it hadnt been mercifully brought about that I was to have you to speak
to« pursued Rachael »times are when I think my mind would not have kept
right But I get hope and strength through you and you believe that though
appearances may rise against him he will be proved clear«
»I do believe so« returned Sissy »with my whole heart I feel so certain
Rachael that the confidence you hold in yours against all discouragement is
not like to be wrong that I have no more doubt of him than if I had known him
through as many years of trial as you have«
»And I my dear« said Rachael with a tremble in her voice »have known him
through them all to be according to his quiet ways so faithful to everything
honest and good that if he was never to be heard of more and I was to live to
be a hundred years old I could say with my last breath God knows my heart I
have never once left trusting Stephen Blackpool«
»We all believe up at the Lodge Rachael that he will be freed from
suspicion sooner or later«
»The better I know it to be so believed there my dear« said Rachael »and
the kinder I feel it that you come away from there purposely to comfort me and
keep me company and be seen wi me when I am not yet free from all suspicion
myself the more grieved I am that I should ever have spoken those mistrusting
words to the young lady And yet «
»You dont mistrust her now Rachael«
»Now that you have brought us more together no But I cant at all times
keep out of my mind «
Her voice so sunk into a low and slow communing with herself that Sissy
sitting by her side was obliged to listen with attention
»I cant at all times keep out of my mind mistrustings of some one I cant
think who tis I cant think how or why it may be done but I mistrust that
some one has put Stephen out of the way I mistrust that by his coming back of
his own accord and showing himself innocent before them all some one would be
confounded who to prevent that has stopped him and put him out of the
way«
»That is a dreadful thought« said Sissy turning pale
»It is a dreadful thought to think he may be murdered«
Sissy shuddered and turned paler yet
»When it makes its way into my mind dear« said Rachael »and it will come
sometimes though I do all I can to keep it out wi counting on to high numbers
as I work and saying over and over again pieces that I knew when I were a child
I fall into such a wild hot hurry that however tired I am I want to walk
fast miles and miles I must get the better of this before bedtime Ill walk
home wi you«
»He might fall ill upon the journey back« said Sissy faintly offering a
wornout scrap of hope »and in such a case there are many places on the road
where he might stop«
»But he is in none of them He has been sought for in all and hes not
there«
»True« was Sissys reluctant admission
»Hed walk the journey in two days If he was footsore and couldnt walk I
sent him in the letter he got the money to ride lest he should have none of
his own to spare«
»Let us hope that tomorrow will bring something better Rachael Come into
the air«
Her gentle hand adjusted Rachaels shawl upon her shining black hair in the
usual manner of her wearing it and they went out The night being fine little
knots of Hands were here and there lingering at street corners but it was
suppertime with the greater part of them and there were but few people in the
streets
»Youre not so hurried now Rachael and your hand is cooler«
»I get better dear if I can only walk and breathe a little fresh Times
when I cant I turn weak and confused«
»But you must not begin to fail Rachael for you may be wanted at any time
to stand by Stephen Tomorrow is Saturday If no news comes tomorrow let us
walk in the country on Sunday morning and strengthen you for another week Will
you go«
»Yes dear«
They were by this time in the street where Mr Bounderbys house stood The
way to Sissys destination led them past the door and they were going straight
towards it Some train had newly arrived in Coketown which had put a number of
vehicles in motion and scattered a considerable bustle about the town Several
coaches were rattling before them and behind them as they approached Mr
Bounderbys and one of the latter drew up with such briskness as they were in
the act of passing the house that they looked round involuntarily The bright
gaslight over Mr Bounderbys steps showed them Mrs Sparsit in the coach in an
ecstasy of excitement struggling to open the door Mrs Sparsit seeing them at
the same moment called to them to stop
»Its a coincidence« exclaimed Mrs Sparsit as she was released by the
coachman »Its a Providence Come out maam« then said Mrs Sparsit to some
one inside »come out or well have you dragged out«
Hereupon no other than the mysterious old woman descended Whom Mrs
Sparsit incontinently collared
»Leave her alone everybody« cried Mrs Sparsit with great energy »Let
nobody touch her She belongs to me Come in maam« then said Mrs Sparsit
reversing her former word of command »Come in maam or well have you dragged
in«
The spectacle of a matron of classical deportment seizing an ancient woman
by the throat and hauling her into a dwellinghouse would have been under any
circumstances sufficient temptation to all true English stragglers so blest as
to witness it to force a way into that dwellinghouse and see the matter out
But when the phenomenon was enhanced by the notoriety and mystery by this time
associated all over the town with the Bank robbery it would have lured the
stragglers in with an irresistible attraction though the roof had been
expected to fall upon their heads Accordingly the chance witnesses on the
ground consisting of the busiest of the neighbours to the number of some
fiveandtwenty closed in after Sissy and Rachael as they closed in after Mrs
Sparsit and her prize and the whole body made a disorderly irruption into Mr
Bounderbys diningroom where the people behind lost not a moments time in
mounting on the chairs to get the better of the people in front
»Fetch Mr Bounderby down« cried Mrs Sparsit »Rachael young woman you
know who this is«
»Its Mrs Pegler« said Rachael
»I should think it is« cried Mrs Sparsit exulting »Fetch Mr Bounderby
Stand away everybody« Here old Mrs Pegler muffling herself up and shrinking
from observation whispered a word of entreaty »Dont tell me« said Mrs
Sparsit aloud »I have told you twenty times coming along that I will not
leave you till I have handed you over to him myself«
Mr Bounderby now appeared accompanied by Mr Gradgrind and the whelp with
whom he had been holding conference upstairs Mr Bounderby looked more
astonished than hospitable at sight of this uninvited party in his diningroom
»Why whats the matter now« said he »Mrs Sparsit maam«
»Sir« explained that worthy woman »I trust it is my good fortune to
produce a person you have much desired to find Stimulated by my wish to relieve
your mind sir and connecting together such imperfect clues to the part of the
country in which that person might be supposed to reside as have been afforded
by the young woman Rachael fortunately now present to identify I have had the
happiness to succeed and to bring that person with me I need not say most
unwillingly on her part It has not been sir without some trouble that I have
effected this but trouble in your service is to me a pleasure and hunger
thirst and cold a real gratification«
Here Mrs Sparsit ceased for Mr Bounderbys visage exhibited an
extraordinary combination of all possible colours and expressions of
discomfiture as old Mrs Pegler was disclosed to his view
»Why what do you mean by this« was his highly unexpected demand in great
warmth »I ask you what do you mean by this Mrs Sparsit maam«
»Sir« exclaimed Mrs Sparsit faintly
»Why dont you mind your own business maam« roared Bounderby »How dare
you go and poke your officious nose into my family affairs«
This allusion to her favourite feature overpowered Mrs Sparsit She sat
down stiffly in a chair as if she were frozen and with a fixed stare at Mr
Bounderby slowly grated her mittens against one another as if they were frozen
too
»My dear Josiah« cried Mrs Pegler trembling »My darling boy I am not to
blame Its not my fault Josiah I told this lady over and over again that I
knew she was doing what would not be agreeable to you but she would do it«
»What did you let her bring you for Couldnt you knock her cap off or her
tooth out or scratch her or do something or other to her« asked Bounderby
»My own boy She threatened me that if I resisted her I should be brought
by constables and it was better to come quietly than make that stir in such a«
Mrs Pegler glanced timidly but proudly round the walls »such a fine house
as this Indeed indeed it is not my fault My dear noble stately boy I have
always lived quiet and secret Josiah my dear I have never broken the
condition once I have never said I was your mother I have admired you at a
distance and if I have come to town sometimes with long times between to take
a proud peep at you I have done it unbeknown my love and gone away again«
Mr Bounderby with his hands in his pockets walked in impatient
mortification up and down at the side of the long diningtable while the
spectators greedily took in every syllable of Mrs Peglers appeal and at each
succeeding syllable became more and more roundeyed Mr Bounderby still walking
up and down when Mrs Pegler had done Mr Gradgrind addressed that maligned old
lady
»I am surprised madam« he observed with severity »that in your old age
you have the face to claim Mr Bounderby for your son after your unnatural and
inhuman treatment of him«
»Me unnatural« cried poor old Mrs Pegler »Me inhuman To my dear boy«
»Dear« repeated Mr Gradgrind »Yes dear in his selfmade prosperity
madam I dare say Not very dear however when you deserted him in his infancy
and left him to the brutality of a drunken grandmother«
»I deserted my Josiah« cried Mrs Pegler clasping her hands »Now Lord
forgive you sir for your wicked imaginations and for your scandal against the
memory of my poor mother who died in my arms before Josiah was born May you
repent of it sir and live to know better«
She was so very earnest and injured that Mr Gradgrind shocked by the
possibility which dawned upon him said in a gentler tone
»Do you deny then madam that you left your son to to be brought up in
the gutter«
»Josiah in the gutter« exclaimed Mrs Pegler »No such a thing sir Never
For shame on you My dear boy knows and will give you to know that though he
come of humble parents he come of parents that loved him as dear as the best
could and never thought it hardship on themselves to pinch a bit that he might
write and cipher beautiful and Ive his books at home to show it Aye have I«
said Mrs Pegler with indignant pride »And my dear boy knows and will give
you to know sir that after his beloved father died when he was eight years
old his mother too could pinch a bit as it was her duty and her pleasure and
her pride to do it to help him out in life and put him prentice And a steady
lad he was and a kind master he had to lend him a hand and well he worked his
own way forward to be rich and thriving And Ill give you to know sir for
this my dear boy wont that though his mother kept but a little village shop
he never forgot her but pensioned me on thirty pound a year more than I want
for I put by out of it only making the condition that I was to keep down in my
own part and make no boasts about him and not trouble him And I never have
except with looking at him once a year when he has never knowed it And its
right« said poor old Mrs Pegler in affectionate championship »that I should
keep down in my own part and I have no doubts that if I was here I should do a
many unbefitting things and I am well contented and I can keep my pride in my
Josiah to myself and I can love for loves own sake And I am ashamed of you
sir« said Mrs Pegler lastly »for your slanders and suspicions And I never
stood here before nor never wanted to stand here when my dear son said no And
I shouldnt be here now if it hadnt been for being brought here And for shame
upon you oh for shame to accuse me of being a bad mother to my son with my
son standing here to tell you so different«
The bystanders on and off the diningroom chairs raised a murmur of
sympathy with Mrs Pegler and Mr Gradgrind felt himself innocently placed in a
very distressing predicament when Mr Bounderby who had never ceased walking
up and down and had every moment swelled larger and larger and grown redder
and redder stopped short
»I dont exactly know« said Mr Bounderby »how I come to be favoured with
the attendance of the present company but I dont inquire When theyre quite
satisfied perhaps theyll be so good as to disperse whether theyre satisfied
or not perhaps theyll be so good as to disperse Im not bound to deliver a
lecture on my family affairs I have not undertaken to do it and Im not a
going to do it Therefore those who expect any explanation whatever upon that
branch of the subject will be disappointed particularly Tom Gradgrind and he
cant know it too soon In reference to the Bank robbery there has been a
mistake made concerning my mother If there hadnt been overofficiousness it
wouldnt have been made and I hate overofficiousness at all times whether or
no Good evening«
Although Mr Bounderby carried it off in these terms holding the door open
for the company to depart there was a blustering sheepishness upon him at once
extremely crestfallen and superlatively absurd Detected as the Bully of
humility who had built his windy reputation upon lies and in his boastfulness
had put the honest truth as far away from him as if he had advanced the mean
claim there is no meaner to tack himself on to a pedigree he cut a most
ridiculous figure With the people filing off at the door he held who he knew
would carry what had passed to the whole town to be given to the four winds he
could not have looked a Bully more shorn and forlorn if he had had his ears
cropped Even that unlucky female Mrs Sparsit fallen from her pinnacle of
exultation into the Slough of Despond was not in so bad a plight as that
remarkable man and selfmade Humbug Josiah Bounderby of Coketown
Rachael and Sissy leaving Mrs Pegler to occupy a bed at her sons for that
night walked together to the gate of Stone Lodge and there parted Mr
Gradgrind joined them before they had gone very far and spoke with much
interest of Stephen Blackpool for whom he thought this signal failure of the
suspicions against Mrs Pegler was likely to work well
As to the whelp throughout this scene as on all other late occasions he
had stuck close to Bounderby He seemed to feel that as long as Bounderby could
make no discovery without his knowledge he was so far safe He never visited
his sister and had only seen her once since she went home that is to say on
the night when he still stuck close to Bounderby as already related
There was one dim unformed fear lingering about his sisters mind to which
she never gave utterance which surrounded the graceless and ungrateful boy with
a dreadful mystery The same dark possibility had presented itself in the same
shapeless guise this very day to Sissy when Rachael spoke of some one who
would be confounded by Stephens return having put him out of the way Louisa
had never spoken of harbouring any suspicion of her brother in connexion with
the robbery she and Sissy had held no confidence on the subject save in that
one interchange of looks when the unconscious father rested his gray head on his
hand but it was understood between them and they both knew it This other fear
was so awful that it hovered about each of them like a ghostly shadow neither
daring to think of its being near herself far less of its being near the other
And still the forced spirit which the whelp had plucked up throve with him
If Stephen Blackpool was not the thief let him show himself Why didnt he
Another night Another day and night No Stephen Blackpool Where was the
man and why did he not come back
Chapter VI
The Starlight
The Sunday was a bright Sunday in autumn clear and cool when early in the
morning Sissy and Rachael met to walk in the country
As Coketown cast ashes not only on its own head but on the neighbourhoods
too after the manner of those pious persons who do penance for their own sins
by putting other people into sackcloth it was customary for those who now and
then thirsted for a draught of pure air which is not absolutely the most wicked
among the vanities of life to get a few miles away by the railroad and then
begin their walk or their lounge in the fields Sissy and Rachael helped
themselves out of the smoke by the usual means and were put down at a station
about midway between the town and Mr Bounderbys retreat
Though the green landscape was blotted here and there with heaps of coal it
was green elsewhere and there were trees to see and there were larks singing
though it was Sunday and there were pleasant scents in the air and all was
overarched by a bright blue sky In the distance one way Coketown showed as a
black mist in another distance hills began to rise in a third there was a
faint change in the light of the horizon where it shone upon the faroff sea
Under their feet the grass was fresh beautiful shadows of branches flickered
upon it and speckled it hedgerows were luxuriant everything was at peace
Engines at pits mouths and lean old horses that had worn the circle of their
daily labour into the ground were alike quiet wheels had ceased for a short
space to turn and the great wheel of earth seemed to revolve without the
shocks and noises of another time
They walked on across the fields and down the shady lanes sometimes getting
over a fragment of a fence so rotten that it dropped at a touch of the foot
sometimes passing near a wreck of bricks and beams overgrown with grass marking
the site of deserted works They followed paths and tracks however slight
Mounds where the grass was rank and high and where brambles dockweed and
suchlike vegetation were confusedly heaped together they always avoided for
dismal stories were told in that country of the old pits hidden beneath such
indications
The sun was high when they sat down to rest They had seen no one near or
distant for a long time and the solitude remained unbroken »It is so still
here Rachael and the way is so untrodden that I think we must be the first
who have been here all the summer«
As Sissy said it her eyes were attracted by another of those rotten
fragments of fence upon the ground She got up to look at it »And yet I dont
know This has not been broken very long The wood is quite fresh where it gave
way Here are footstep too O Rachael«
She ran back and caught her round the neck Rachael had already started up
»What is the matter«
»I dont know There is a hat lying in the grass«
They went forward together Rachael took it up shaking from head to foot
She broke into a passion of tears and lamentations Stephen Blackpool was
written in his own hand on the inside
»O the poor lad the poor lad He has been made away with He is lying
murdered here«
»Is there has the hat any blood upon it« Sissy faltered
They were afraid to look but they did examine it and found no mark of
violence inside or out It had been lying there some days for rain and dew had
stained it and the mark of its shape was on the grass where it had fallen They
looked fearfully about them without moving but could see nothing more
»Rachael« Sissy whispered »I will go on a little by myself«
She had unclasped her hand and was in the act of stepping forward when
Rachael caught her in both arms with a scream that resounded over the wide
landscape Before them at their very feet was the brink of a black ragged
chasm hidden by the thick grass They sprang back and fell upon their knees
each hiding her face upon the others neck
»O my good Lord Hes down there Down there« At first this and her
terrific screams were all that could be got from Rachael by any tears by any
prayers by any representations by any means It was impossible to hush her
and it was deadly necessary to hold her or she would have flung herself down
the shaft
»Rachael dear Rachael good Rachael for the love of Heaven not these
dreadful cries Think of Stephen think of Stephen think of Stephen«
By an earnest repetition of this entreaty poured out in all the agony of
such a moment Sissy at last brought her to be silent and to look at her with a
tearless face of stone
»Rachael Stephen may be living You wouldnt leave him lying maimed at the
bottom of this dreadful place a moment if you could bring help to him«
»No no no«
»Dont stir from here for his sake Let me go and listen«
She shuddered to approach the pit but she crept towards it on her hands and
knees and called to him as loud as she could call She listened but no sound
replied She called again and listened still no answering sound She did this
twenty thirty times She took a little clod of earth from the broken ground
where he had stumbled and threw it in She could not hear it fall
The wide prospect so beautiful in its stillness but a few minutes ago
almost carried despair to her brave heart as she rose and looked all round her
seeing no help »Rachael we must lose not a moment We must go in different
directions seeking aid You shall go by the way we have come and I will go
forward by the path Tell any one you see ant every one what has happened
Think of Stephen think of Stephen«
She knew by Rachaels face that she might trust her now And after standing
for a moment to see her running wringing her hands as she ran she turned and
went upon her own search she stopped at the hedge to tie her shawl there as a
guide to the place then threw her bonnet aside and ran as she had never run
before
Run Sissy run in Heavens name Dont stop for breath Run run
Quickening herself by carrying such entreaties in her thoughts she ran from
field to field and lane to lane and place to place as she had never run
before until she came to a shed by an engine where two men lay in the shade
asleep on straw
First to wake them and next to tell them all so wild and breathless as she
was what had brought her there were difficulties but they no sooner
understood her than their spirits were on fire like hers One of the men was in
a drunken slumber but on his comrades shouting to him that a man had fallen
down the Old Hell Shaft he started out to a pool of dirty water put his head
in it and came back sober
With these two men she ran to another halfamile further and with that one
to another while they ran elsewhere Then a horse was found and she got
another man to ride for life or death to the railroad and send a message to
Louisa which she wrote and gave him By this time a whole village was up and
windlasses ropes poles candles lanterns all things necessary were fast
collecting and being brought into one place to be carried to the Old Hell
Shaft
It seemed now hours and hours since she had left the lost man lying in the
grave where he had been buried alive She could not bear to remain away from it
any longer it was like deserting him and she hurried swiftly back
accompanied by halfadozen labourers including the drunken man whom the news
had sobered and who was the best man of all When they came to the Old Hell
Shaft they found it as lonely as she had left it The men called and listened
as she had done and examined the edge of the chasm and settled how it had
happened and then sat down to wait until the implements they wanted should come
up
Every sound of insects in the air every stirring of the leaves every
whisper among these men made Sissy tremble for she thought it was a cry at the
bottom of the pit But the wind blew idly over it and no sound arose to the
surface and they sat upon the grass waiting and waiting After they had waited
some time straggling people who had heard of the accident began to come up
then the real help of implements began to arrive In the midst of this Rachael
returned and with her party there was a surgeon who brought some wine and
medicines But the expectation among the people that the man would be found
alive was very slight indeed
There being now people enough present to impede the work the sobered man
put himself at the head of the rest or was put there by the general consent
and made a large ring round the Old Hell Shaft and appointed men to keep it
Besides such volunteers as were accepted to work only Sissy and Rachael were at
first permitted within this ring but later in the day when the message
brought an express from Coketown Mr Gradgrind and Louisa and Mr Bounderby
and the whelp were also there
The sun was four hours lower than when Sissy and Rachael had first sat down
upon the grass before a means of enabling two men to descend securely was
rigged with poles and ropes Difficulties had arisen in the construction of this
machine simple as it was requisites had been found wanting and messages had
had to go and return It was five oclock in the afternoon of the bright
autumnal Sunday before a candle was sent down to try the air while three or
four rough faces stood crowded close together attentively watching it the men
at the windlass lowering as they were told The candle was brought up again
feebly burning and then some water was cast in Then the bucket was hooked on
and the sobered man and another got in with lights giving the word »Lower
away«
As the rope went out tight and strained and the windlass creaked there
was not a breath among the one or two hundred men and women looking on that
came as it was wont to come The signal was given and the windlass stopped with
abundant rope to spare Apparently so long an interval ensued with the men at
the windlass standing idle that some women shrieked that another accident had
happened But the surgeon who held the watch declared five minutes not to have
elapsed yet and sternly admonished them to keep silence He had not well done
speaking when the windlass was reversed and worked again Practised eyes knew
that it did not go as heavily as it would if both workmen had been coming up
and that only one was returning
The rope came in tight and strained and ring after ring was coiled upon the
barrel of the windlass and all eyes were fastened on the pit The sobered man
was brought up and leaped out briskly on the grass There was an universal cry
of »Alive or dead« and then a deep profound hush
When he said »Alive« a great shout arose and many eyes had tears in them
»But hes hurt very bad« he added as soon as he could make himself heard
again »Wheres doctor Hes hurt so very bad sir that we donno how to get him
up«
They all consulted together and looked anxiously at the surgeon as he
asked some questions and shook his head on receiving the replies The sun was
setting now and the red light in the evening sky touched every face there and
caused it to be distinctly seen in all its rapt suspense
The consultation ended in the men returning to the windlass and the pitman
going down again carrying the wine and some other small matters with him Then
the other man came up In the meantime under the surgeons directions some men
brought a hurdle on which others made a thick bed of spare clothes covered with
loose straw while he himself contrived some bandages and slings from shawls and
handkerchiefs As these were made they were hung upon an arm of the pitman who
had last come up with instructions how to use them and as he stood shown by
the light he carried leaning his powerful loose hand upon one of the poles and
sometimes glancing down the pit and sometimes glancing round upon the people
he was not the least conspicuous figure in the scene It was dark now and
torches were kindled
It appeared from the little this man said to those about him which was
quickly repeated all over the circle that the lost man had fallen upon a mass
of crumbled rubbish with which the pit was half choked up and that his fall had
been further broken by some jagged earth at the side He lay upon his back with
one arm doubled under him and according to his own belief had hardly stirred
since he fell except that he had moved his free hand to a side pocket in which
he remembered to have some bread and meat of which he had swallowed crumbs
and had likewise scooped up a little water in it now and then He had come
straight away from his work on being written to and had walked the whole
journey and was on his way to Mr Bounderbys country house after dark when he
fell He was crossing that dangerous country at such a dangerous time because
he was innocent of what was laid to his charge and couldnt rest from coming
the nearest way to deliver himself up The Old Hell Shaft the pitman said with
a curse upon it was worthy of its bad name to the last for though Stephen
could speak now he believed it would soon be found to have mangled the life out
of him
When all was ready this man still taking his last hurried charges from his
comrades and the surgeon after the windlass had begun to lower him disappeared
into the pit The rope went out as before the signal was made as before and
the windlass stopped No man removed his hand from it now Every one waited with
his grasp set and his body bent down to the work ready to reverse and wind in
At length the signal was given and all the ring leaned forward
For now the rope came in tightened and strained to its utmost as it
appeared and the men turned heavily and the windlass complained It was
scarcely endurable to look at the rope and think of its giving way But ring
after ring was coiled upon the barrel of the windlass safely and the connecting
chains appeared and finally the bucket with the two men holding on at the sides
a sight to make the head swim and oppress the heart and tenderly supporting
between them slung and tied within the figure of a poor crushed human
creature
A low murmur of pity went round the throng and the women wept aloud as
this form almost without form was moved very slowly from its iron deliverance
and laid upon the bed of straw At first none but the surgeon went close to it
He did what he could in its adjustment on the couch but the best that he could
do was to cover it That gently done he called to him Rachael and Sissy And at
that time the pale worn patient face was seen looking up at the sky with the
broken right hand lying bare on the outside of the covering garments as if
waiting to be taken by another hand
They gave him drink moistened his face with water and administered some
drops of cordial and wine Though he lay quite motionless looking up at the sky
he smiled and said »Rachael«
She stooped down on the grass at his side and bent over him until her eyes
were between his and the sky for he could not so much as turn them to look at
her
»Rachael my dear«
She took his hand He smiled again and said »Dont let t go«
»Thourt in great pain my own dear Stephen«
»I ha been but not now I ha been dreadful and dree and long my dear
but tis ower now Ah Rachael aw a muddle Fro first to last a muddle«
The spectre of his old look seemed to pass as he said the word
»I ha fell into th pit my dear as have cost wiin the knowledge o old
fok now livin hundreds and hundreds o mens lives fathers sons brothers
dear to thousands an thousands an keeping em fro want and hunger I ha
fell into a pit that ha been wi th Firedamp crueller than battle I ha read
on t in the public petition as onny one may read fro the men that works in
pits in which they ha prayn and prayn the lawmakers for Christs sake not to
let their work be murder to em but to spare em for th wives and children
that they loves as well as gentlefok loves theirs When it were in work it
killed wiout need when tis let alone it kills wiout need See how we die
an no need one way an another in a muddle every day«
He faintly said it without any anger against any one Merely as the truth
»Thy little sister Rachael thou hast not forgot her Thourt not like to
forget her now and me so nigh her Thou knowst poor patient suffrin dear
how thou didst work for her seetn all day long in her little chair at thy
winder and how she died young and misshapen awlung o sickly air as hadn no
need to be an awlung o working peoples miserable homes A muddle Aw a
muddle«
Louisa approached him but he could not see her lying with his face turned
up to the night sky
»If aw th things that tooches us my dear was not so muddled I shouldn
ha hadn need to coom heer If we was not in a muddle among ourseln I shouldn
ha been by my own fellow weavers and workin brothers so mistook If Mr
Bounderby had ever knowd me right if hed ever knowd me at aw he wouldn
ha tookn offence wi me He wouldn ha suspectn me But look up yonder
Rachael Look aboove«
Following his eyes she saw that he was gazing at a star
»It ha shined upon me« he said reverently »in my pain and trouble down
below It ha shined into my mind I ha lookn at t and thowt o thee
Rachael till the muddle in my mind have cleared awa above a bit I hope If
soom ha been wantin in unnerstanin me better I too ha been wantin in
unnerstanin them better When I got thy letter I easily believen that what the
yoong ledy sen and done to me and what her brother sen and done to me was one
and that there were a wicked plot betwixt em When I fell I were in anger wi
her an hurryin on t be as onjust t her as oothers was t me But in our
judgments like as in our doins we mun bear and forbear In my pain an
trouble lookin up yonder wi it shinin on me I ha seen more clear and
ha made it my dyin prayer that aw th world may ony coom toogether more an
get a better unnerstanin o one another than when I were in t my own weak
seln«
Louisa hearing what he said bent over him on the opposite side to Rachael
so that he could see her
»You ha heard« he said after a few moments silence »I ha not forgot
you ledy«
»Yes Stephen I have heard you And your prayer is mine«
»You ha a father Will yo tak a message to him«
»He is here« said Louisa with dread »Shall I bring him to you«
»If yo please«
Louisa returned with her father Standing handinhand they both looked
down upon the solemn countenance
»Sir yo will clear me an mak my name good wi aw men This I leave to yo«
Mr Gradgrind was troubled and asked how
»Sir« was the reply »yor son will tell yo how Ask him I mak no charges
I leave none ahint me not a single word I ha seen an spokn wi yor son one
night I ask no more o yo than that yo clear me an I trust to yo to do t«
The bearers being now ready to carry him away and the surgeon being anxious
for his removal those who had torches or lanterns prepared to go in front of
the litter Before it was raised and while they were arranging how to go he
said to Rachael looking upward at the star
»Often as I coom to myseln and found it shinin on me down there in my
trouble I thowt it were the star as guided to Our Saviours home I awmust
think it be the very star«
They lifted him up and he was overjoyed to find that they were about to
take him in the direction whither the star seemed to him to lead
»Rachael beloved lass Dont let go my hand We may walk toogether tnight
my dear«
»I will hold thy hand and keep beside thee Stephen all the way«
»Bless thee Will soombody be pleased to coover my face«
They carried him very gently along the fields and down the lanes and over
the wide landscape Rachael always holding the hand in hers Very few whispers
broke the mournful silence It was soon a funeral procession The star had shown
him where to find the God of the poor and through humility and sorrow and
forgiveness he had gone to his Redeemers rest
Chapter VII
WhelpHunting
Before the ring formed round the Old Hell Shaft was broken one figure had
disappeared from within it Mr Bounderby and his shadow had not stood near
Louisa who held her fathers arm but in a retired place by themselves When
Mr Gradgrind was summoned to the couch Sissy attentive to all that happened
slipped behind that wicked shadow a sight in the horror of his face if there
had been eyes there for any sight but one and whispered in his ear Without
turning his head he conferred with her a few moments and vanished Thus the
whelp had gone out of the circle before the people moved
When the father reached home he sent a message to Mr Bounderbys desiring
his son to come to him directly The reply was that Mr Bounderby having missed
him in the crowd and seeing nothing of him since had supposed him to be at
Stone Lodge
»I believe father« said Louisa »he will not come back to town tonight«
Mr Gradgrind turned away and said no more
In the morning he went down to the Bank himself as soon as it was opened
and seeing his sons place empty he had not the courage to look in at first
went back along the street to meet Mr Bounderby on his way there To whom he
said that for reasons he would soon explain but entreated not then to be asked
for he had found it necessary to employ his son at a distance for a little
while Also that he was charged with the duty of vindicating Stephen
Blackpools memory and declaring the thief Mr Bounderby quite confounded
stood stockstill in the street after his fatherinlaw had left him swelling
like an immense soapbubble without its beauty
Mr Gradgrind went home locked himself in his room and kept it all that
day When Sissy and Louisa tapped at his door he said without opening it »Not
now my dears in the evening« On their return in the evening he said »I am
not able yet tomorrow« He ate nothing all day and had no candle after dark
and they heard him walking to and fro late at night
But in the morning he appeared at breakfast at the usual hour and took his
usual place at the table Aged and bent he looked and quite bowed down and yet
he looked a wiser man and a better man than in the days when in this life he
wanted nothing but Facts Before he left the room he appointed a time for them
to come to him and so with his gray head drooping went away
»Dear father« said Louisa when they kept their appointment »you have
three young children left They will be different I will be different yet with
Heavens help«
She gave her hand to Sissy as if she meant with her help too
»Your wretched brother« said Mr Gradgrind »Do you think he had planned
this robbery when he went with you to the lodging«
»I fear so father I know he had wanted money very much and had spent a
great deal«
»The poor man being about to leave the town it came into his evil brain to
cast suspicion on him«
»I think it must have flashed upon him while he sat there father For I
asked him to go there with me The visit did not originate with him«
»He had some conversation with the poor man Did he take him aside«
»He took him out of the room I asked him afterwards why he had done so
and he made a plausible excuse but since last night father and when I
remember the circumstances by its light I am afraid I can imagine too truly
what passed between them«
»Let me know« said her father »if your thoughts present your guilty
brother in the same dark view as mine«
»I fear father« hesitated Louisa »that he must have made some
representation to Stephen Blackpool perhaps in my name perhaps in his own
which induced him to do in good faith and honesty what he had never done
before and to wait about the Bank those two or three nights before he left the
town«
»Too plain« returned the father »Too plain«
He shaded his face and remained silent for some moments Recovering
himself he said
»And now how is he to be found How is he to be saved from justice In the
few hours that I can possibly allow to elapse before I publish the truth how is
he to be found by us and only by us Ten thousand pounds could not effect it«
»Sissy has effected it father«
He raised his eyes to where she stood like a good fairy in his house and
said in a tone of softened gratitude and grateful kindness »It is always you
my child«
»We had our fears« Sissy explained glancing at Louisa »before yesterday
and when I saw you brought to the side of the litter last night and heard what
passed being close to Rachael all the time I went to him when no one saw and
said to him Dont look at me See where your father is Escape at once for his
sake and your own He was in a tremble before I whispered to him and he started
and trembled more then and said Where can I go I have very little money and
I dont know who will hide me I thought of fathers old circus I have not
forgotten where Mr Sleary goes at this time of year and I read of him in a
paper only the other day I told him to hurry there and tell his name and ask
Mr Sleary to hide him till I came Ill get to him before the morning he said
And I saw him shrink away among the people«
»Thank Heaven« exclaimed his father »He may be got abroad yet«
It was the more hopeful as the town to which Sissy had directed him was
within three hours journey of Liverpool whence he could be swiftly dispatched
to any part of the world But caution being necessary in communicating with him
for there was a greater danger every moment of his being suspected now and
nobody could be sure at heart but that Mr Bounderby himself in a bullying vein
of public zeal might play a Roman part it was consented that Sissy and Louisa
should repair to the place in question by a circuitous course alone and that
the unhappy father setting forth in an opposite direction should get round to
the same bourne by another and wider route It was further agreed that he should
not present himself to Mr Sleary lest his intentions should be mistrusted or
the intelligence of his arrival should cause his son to take flight anew but
that the communication should be left to Sissy and Louisa to open and that they
should inform the cause of so much misery and disgrace of his fathers being at
hand and of the purpose for which they had come When these arrangements had
been well considered and were fully understood by all three it was time to
begin to carry them into execution Early in the afternoon Mr Gradgrind walked
direct from his own house into the country to be taken up on the line by which
he was to travel and at night the remaining two set forth upon their different
course encouraged by not seeing any face they knew
The two travelled all night except when they were left for odd numbers of
minutes at branchplaces up illimitable flights of steps or down wells
which was the only variety of those branches and early in the morning were
turned out on a swamp a mile or two from the town they sought From this dismal
spot they were rescued by a savage old postilion who happened to be up early
kicking a horse in a fly and so were smuggled into the town by all the back
lanes where the pigs lived which although not a magnificent or even savoury
approach was as is usual in such cases the legitimate highway
The first thing they saw on entering the town was the skeleton of Slearys
Circus The company had departed for another town more than twenty miles off
and had opened there last night The connection between the two places was by a
hilly turnpikeroad and the travelling on that road was very slow Though they
took but a hasty breakfast and no rest which it would have been in vain to
seek under such anxious circumstances it was noon before they began to find
the bills of Slearys Horseriding on barns and walls and one oclock when they
stopped in the marketplace
A Grand Morning Performance by the Riders commencing at that very hour was
in course of announcement by the bellman as they set their feet upon the stones
of the street Sissy recommended that to avoid making inquiries and attracting
attention in the town they should present themselves to pay at the door If Mr
Sleary were taking the money he would be sure to know her and would proceed
with discretion If he were not he would be sure to see them inside and
knowing what he had done with the fugitive would proceed with discretion still
Therefore they repaired with fluttering hearts to the wellremembered
booth The flag with the inscription SLEARYS HORSERIDING was there and the
Gothic niche was these but Mr Sleary was not there Master Kidderminster
grown too maturely turfy to be received by the wildest credulity as Cupid any
more had yielded to the invincible force of circumstances and his beard and
in the capacity of a man who made himself generally useful presided on this
occasion over the exchequer having also a drum in reserve on which to expend
his leisure moments and superfluous forces In the extreme sharpness of his look
out for base coin Mr Kidderminster as at present situated never saw anything
but money so Sissy passed him unrecognised and they went in
The Emperor of Japan on a steady old white horse stencilled with black
spots was twirling five washhand basins at once as it is the favourite
recreation of that monarch to do Sissy though well acquainted with his Royal
line had no personal knowledge of the present Emperor and his reign was
peaceful Miss Josephine Sleary in her celebrated graceful Equestrian Tyrolean
Flower Act was then announced by a new clown who humorously said Cauliflower
Act and Mr Sleary appeared leading her in
Mr Sleary had only made one cut at the Clown with his long whiplash and
the Clown had only said »If you do it again Ill throw the horse at you« when
Sissy was recognised both by father and daughter But they got through the Act
with great selfpossession and Mr Sleary saving for the first instant
conveyed no more expression into his locomotive eye than into his fixed one The
performance seemed a little long to Sissy and Louisa particularly when it
stopped to afford the Clown an opportunity of telling Mr Sleary who said
»Indeed sir« to all his observations in the calmest way and with his eye on
the house about two legs sitting on three legs looking at one leg when in came
four legs and laid hold of one leg and up got two legs caught hold of three
legs and threw em at four legs who ran away with one leg For although an
ingenious Allegory relating to a butcher a threelegged stool a dog and a leg
of mutton this narrative consumed time and they were in great suspense At
last however little fairhaired Josephine made her curtsey amid great
applause and the Clown left alone in the ring had just warmed himself and
said »Now Ill have a turn« when Sissy was touched on the shoulder and
beckoned out
She took Louisa with her and they were received by Mr Sleary in a very
little private apartment with canvas sides a grass floor and a wooden ceiling
all aslant on which the box company stamped their approbation as if they were
coming through »Thethilia« said Mr Sleary who had brandy and water at hand
»it doth me good to thee you You wath alwayth a favourite with uth and youve
done uth credith thinth the old timeth Im thure You mutht thee our people my
dear afore we thpeak of bithnith or theyll break their hearth ethpethially
the women Hereth Jothphine hath been and got married to EWB Childerth and
thee hath got a boy and though heth only three yearth old he thtickth on to
any pony you can bring againtht him Heth named The Little Wonder of
Thcolathtic Equitation and if you dont hear of that boy at Athleyth youll
hear of him at Parith And you recollect Kidderminthter that wath thought to be
rather thweet upon yourthelf Well Heth married too Married a widder Old
enough to be hith mother Thee wath Tightrope thee wath and now theeth
nothing on accounth of fat Theyve got two children tho were thtrong in the
Fairy bithnith and the Nurthery dodge If you wath to thee our Children in the
Wood with their father and mother both a dyin on a horthe their uncle a
retheiving of em ath hith wardth upon a horthe themthelvth both a goin a
blackberryin on a horthe and the Robinth a coming in to cover em with
leavth upon a horthe youd thay it wath the completetht thing ath ever you
thet your eyeth on And you remember Emma Gordon my dear ath wath amotht a
mother to you Of courthe you do I neednt athk Well Emma thee lotht her
huthband He wath throwd a heavy backfall off a Elephant in a thort of a
Pagoda thing ath the Thultan of the Indieth and he never got the better of it
and thee married a thecond time married a Cheethemonger ath fell in love with
her from the front and heth a Overtheer and makin a fortun«
These various changes Mr Sleary very short of breath now related with
great heartiness and with a wonderful kind of innocence considering what a
bleary and brandyandwatery old veteran he was Afterwards he brought in
Josephine and EWB Childers rather deeply lined in the jaws by daylight
and the Little Wonder of Scholastic Equitation and in a word all the company
Amazing creatures they were in Louisas eyes so white and pink of complexion
so scant of dress and so demonstrative of leg but it was very agreeable to see
them crowding about Sissy and very natural in Sissy to be unable to refrain
from tears
»There Now Thethilia hath kithd all the children and hugged all the women
and thaken handth all round with all the men clear every one of you and ring
in the band for the thecond part«
As soon as they were gone he continued in a low tone »Now Thethilia I
dont athk to know any thecreth but I thuppothe I may conthider thith to be
Mith Thquire«
»This is his sister Yes«
»And tother onth daughter Thath what I mean Hope I thee you well mith
And I hope the Thquireth well«
»My father will be here soon« said Louisa anxious to bring him to the
point »Is my brother safe«
»Thafe and thound« he replied »I want you jutht to take a peep at the
Ring mith through here Thethilia you know the dodgeth find a thpyhole for
yourthelf«
They each looked through a chink in the boards
»Thath Jack the Giant Killer piethe of comic infant bithnith« said
Sleary »Thereth a propertyhouthe you thee for Jack to hide in thereth my
Clown with a thauthepanlid and a thpit for Jackth thervant thereth little
Jack himthelf in a thplendid thoot of armour thereth two comic black thervanth
twithe ath big ath the houthe to thtand by it and to bring it in and clear it
and the Giant a very ecthpenthive bathket one he ant on yet Now do you
thee em all«
»Yes« they both said
»Look at em again« said Sleary »look at em well You thee em all Very
good Now mith« he put a form for them to sit on »I have my opinionth and
the Thquire your father hath hith I dont want to know what your brotherth
been up to ith better for me not to know All I thay ith the Thquire hath
thtood by Thethilia and Ill thtand by the Thquire Your brother ith one o
them black thervanth«
Louisa uttered an exclamation partly of distress partly of satisfaction
»Ith a fact« said Sleary »and even knowin it you couldnt put your
finger on him Let the Thquire come I thall keep your brother here after the
performanth I thant undreth him nor yet wath hith paint off Let the Thquire
come here after the performanth or come here yourthelf after the performanth
and you thall find your brother and have the whole plathe to talk to him in
Never mind the lookth of him ath long ath heth well hid«
Louisa with many thanks and with a lightened load detained Mr Sleary no
longer then She left her love for her brother with her eyes full of tears and
she and Sissy went away until later in the afternoon
Mr Gradgrind arrived within an hour afterwards He too had encountered no
one whom he knew and was now sanguine with Slearys assistance of getting his
disgraced son to Liverpool in the night As neither of the three could be his
companion without almost identifying him under any disguise he prepared a
letter to a correspondent whom he could trust beseeching him to ship the bearer
off at any cost to North or South America or any distant part of the world to
which he could be the most speedily and privately dispatched
This done they walked about waiting for the Circus to be quite vacated
not only by the audience but by the company and by the horses After watching
it a long time they saw Mr Sleary bring out a chair and sit down by the
sidedoor smoking as if that were his signal that they might approach
»Your thervant Thquire« was his cautious salutation as they passed in »If
you want me youll find me here You muthnt mind your thon having a comic
livery on«
They all three went in and Mr Gradgrind sat down forlorn on the Clowns
performing chair in the middle of the ring On one of the back benches remote
in the subdued light and the strangeness of the place sat the villainous whelp
sulky to the last whom he had the misery to call his son
In a preposterous coat like a beadles with cuffs and flaps exaggerated to
an unspeakable extent in an immense waistcoat kneebreeches buckled shoes
and a mad cocked hat with nothing fitting him and everything of coarse
material motheaten and full of holes with seams in his black face where fear
and heat had started through the greasy composition daubed all over it anything
so grimly detestably ridiculously shameful as the whelp in his comic livery
Mr Gradgrind never could by any other means have believed in weighable and
measurable fact though it was And one of his model children had come to this
At first the whelp would not draw any nearer but persisted in remaining up
there by himself Yielding at length if any concession so sullenly made can be
called yielding to the entreaties of Sissy for Louisa he disowned altogether
he came down bench by bench until he stood in the sawdust on the verge of
the circle as far as possible within its limits from where his father sat
»How was this done« asked the father
»How was what done« moodily answered the son
»This robbery« said the father raising his voice upon the word
»I forced the safe myself over night and shut it up ajar before I went
away I had had the key that was found made long before I dropped it that
morning that it might be supposed to have been used I didnt take the money
all at once I pretended to put my balance away every night but I didnt Now
you know all about it«
»If a thunderbolt had fallen on me« said the father »it would have shocked
me less than this«
»I dont see why« grumbled the son »So many people are employed in
situations of trust so many people out of so many will be dishonest I have
heard you talk a hundred times of its being a law How can I help laws You
have comforted others with such things father Comfort yourself«
The father buried his face in his hands and the son stood in his
disgraceful grotesqueness biting straw his hands with the black partly worn
away inside looking like the hands of a monkey The evening was fast closing
in and from time to time he turned the whites of his eyes restlessly and
impatiently towards his father They were the only parts of his face that showed
any life or expression the pigment upon it was so thick
»You must be got to Liverpool and sent abroad«
»I suppose I must I cant be more miserable anywhere« whimpered the whelp
»than I have been here ever since I can remember Thats one thing«
Mr Gradgrind went to the door and returned with Sleary to whom he
submitted the question How to get this deplorable object away
»Why Ive been thinking of it Thquire Thereth not muth time to lothe
tho you muth thay yeth or no Ith over twenty mileth to the rail Thereth a
coath in half an hour that goeth to the rail purpothe to cath the mail train
That train will take him right to Liverpool«
»But look at him« groaned Mr Gradgrind »Will any coach «
»I dont mean that he thould go in the comic livery« said Sleary »Thay the
word and Ill make a Jothkin of him out of the wardrobe in five minutes«
»I dont understand« said Mr Gradgrind
»A Jothkin a Carter Make up your mind quick Thquire Therell be beer to
feth Ive never met with nothing but beer athll ever clean a comic
blackamoor«
Mr Gradgrind rapidly assented Mr Sleary rapidly turned out from a box a
smock frock a felt hat and other essentials the whelp rapidly changed clothes
behind a screen of baize Mr Sleary rapidly brought beer and washed him white
again
»Now« said Sleary »come along to the coath and jump up behind Ill go
with you there and theyll thuppothe you one of my people Thay farewell to
your family and tharpth the word« With which he delicately retired
»Here is your letter« said Mr Gradgrind »All necessary means will be
provided for you Atone by repentance and better conduct for the shocking
action you have committed and the dreadful consequences to which it has led
Give me your hand my poor boy and may God forgive you as I do«
The culprit was moved to a few abject tears by these words and their
pathetic tone But when Louisa opened her arms he repulsed her afresh
»Not you I dont want to have anything to say to you«
»O Tom Tom do we end so after all my love«
»After all your love« he returned obdurately »Pretty love Leaving old
Bounderby to himself and packing my best friend Mr Harthouse off and going
home just when I was in the greatest danger Pretty love that Coming out with
every word about our having gone to that place when you saw the net was
gathering round me Pretty love that You have regularly given me up You never
cared for me«
»Tharpth the word« said Sleary at the door
They all confusedly went out Louisa crying to him that she forgave him and
loved him still and that he would one day be sorry to have left her so and
glad to think of these her last words far away when some one ran against them
Mr Gradgrind and Sissy who were both before him while his sister yet clung to
his shoulder stopped and recoiled
For there was Bitzer out of breath his thin lips parted his thin
nostrils distended his white eyelashes quivering his colourless face more
colourless than ever as if he ran himself into a white heat when other people
ran themselves into a glow There he stood panting and heaving as if he had
never stopped since the night now long ago when he had run them down before
»Im sorry to interfere with your plans« said Bitzer shaking his head
»but I cant allow myself to be done by horseriders I must have young Mr Tom
he mustnt be got away by horseriders here he is in a smock frock and I must
have him«
By the collar too it seemed For so he took possession of him
Chapter VIII
Philosophical
They went back into the booth Sleary shutting the door to keep intruders out
Bitzer still holding the paralyzed culprit by the collar stood in the Ring
blinking at his old patron through the darkness of the twilight
»Bitzer« said Mr Gradgrind broken down and miserably submissive to him
»have you a heart«
»The circulation sir« returned Bitzer smiling at the oddity of the
question »couldnt be carried on without one No man sir acquainted with the
facts established by Harvey relating to the circulation of the blood can doubt
that I have a heart«
»Is it accessible« cried Mr Gradgrind »to any compassionate influence«
»It is accessible to Reason sir« returned the excellent young man »And to
nothing else«
They stood looking at each other Mr Gradgrinds face as white as the
pursuers
»What motive even what motive in reason can you have for preventing the
escape of this wretched youth« said Mr Gradgrind »and crushing his miserable
father See his sister here Pity us«
»Sir« returned Bitzer in a very businesslike and logical manner »since
you ask me what motive I have in reason for taking young Mr Tom back to
Coketown it is only reasonable to let you know I have suspected young Mr Tom
of tins bankrobbery from the first I had had my eye upon him before that time
for I knew his ways I have kept my observations to myself but I have made
them and I have got ample proofs against him now besides his running away and
besides his own confession which I was just in time to overhear I had the
pleasure of watching your house yesterday morning and following you here I am
going to take young Mr Tom back to Coketown in order to deliver him over to
Mr Bounderby Sir I have no doubt whatever that Mr Bounderby will then
promote me to young Mr Toms situation And I wish to have his situation sir
for it will be a rise to me and will do me good«
»If this is solely a question of selfinterest with you « Mr Gradgrind
began
»I beg your pardon for interrupting you sir« returned Bitzer »but I am
sure you know that the whole social system is a question of selfinterest What
you must always appeal to is a persons selfinterest Its your only hold We
are so constituted I was brought up in that catechism when I was very young
sir as you are aware«
»What sum of money« said Mr Gradgrind »will you set against your expected
promotion«
»Thank you sir« returned Bitzer »for hinting at the proposal but I will
not set any sum against it Knowing that your clear head would propose that
alternative I have gone over the calculations in my mind and I find that to
compound a felony even on very high terms indeed would not be as safe and good
for me as my improved prospects in the Bank«
»Bitzer« said Mr Gradgrind stretching out his hands as though he would
have said See how miserable I am »Bitzer I have but one chance left to soften
you You were many years at my school If in remembrance of the pains bestowed
upon you there you can persuade yourself in any degree to disregard your
present interest and release my son I entreat and pray you to give him the
benefit of that remembrance«
»I really wonder sir« rejoined the old pupil in an argumentative manner
»to find you taking a position so untenable My schooling was paid for it was a
bargain and when I came away the bargain ended«
It was a fundamental principle of the Gradgrind philosophy that everything
was to be paid for Nobody was ever on any account to give anybody anything or
render anybody help without purchase Gratitude was to be abolished and the
virtues springing from it were not to be Every inch of the existence of
mankind from birth to death was to be a bargain across a counter And if we
didnt get to Heaven that way it was not a politicoeconomical place and we
had no business there
»I dont deny« added Bitzer »that my schooling was cheap But that comes
right sir I was made in the cheapest market and have to dispose of myself in
the dearest«
He was a little troubled here by Louisa and Sissy crying
»Pray dont do that« said he »its of no use doing that it only worries
You seem to think that I have some animosity against young Mr Tom whereas I
have none at all I am only going on the reasonable grounds I have mentioned
to take him back to Coketown If he was to resist I should set up the cry of
Stop thief But he wont resist you may depend upon it«
Mr Sleary who with his mouth open and his rolling eye as immovably jammed
in his head as his fixed one had listened to these doctrines with profound
attention here stepped forward
»Thquire you know perfectly well and your daughter knowth perfectly well
better than you becauthe I thed it to her that I didnt know what your thon
had done and that I didnt want to know I thed it wath better not though I
only thought then it wath thome thkylarking However thith young man having
made it known to be a robbery of a bank why thath a theriouth thing muth too
theriouth a thing for me to compound ath thith young man hath very properly
called it Conthequently Thquire you muthnt quarrel with me if I take thith
young manth thide and thay heth right and thereth no help for it But I tell
you what Ill do Thquire Ill drive your thon and thith young man over to the
rail and prevent expothure here I cant conthent to do more but Ill do
that«
Fresh lamentations from Louisa and deeper affliction on Mr Gradgrinds
part followed this desertion of them by their last friend But Sissy glanced
at him with great attention nor did she in her own breast misunderstand him As
they were all going out again he favoured her with one slight roll of his
movable eye desiring her to linger behind As he locked the door he said
excitedly
»The Thquire thtood by you Thethilia and Ill thtand by the Thquire More
than that thith ith a prethiouth rathcal and belongth to that bluthtering Cove
that my people nearly pitht out o winder Itll be a dark night Ive got a
horthe thatll do anything but thpeak Ive got a pony thatll go fifteen mile
an hour with Childerth driving of him Ive got a dog thatll keep a man to one
plathe fourandtwenty hourth Get a word with the young Thquire Tell him when
he theeth our horthe begin to danthe not to be afraid of being thpilt but to
look out for a ponygig coming up Tell him when he theeth that gig clothe by
to jump down and itll take him off at a rattling pathe If my dog leth thith
young man thtir a peg on foot I give him leave to go And if my horthe ever
thtirth from that thpot where he beginth a danthing till the morning I dont
know him Tharpth the word«
The word was so sharp that in ten minutes Mr Childers sauntering about
the marketplace in a pair of slippers had his cue and Mr Slearys equipage
was ready It was a fine sight to behold the learned dog barking round it and
Mr Sleary instructing him with his one practicable eye that Bitzer was the
object of his particular attentions Soon after dark they all three got in and
started the learned dog a formidable creature already pinning Bitzer with his
eye and sticking close to the wheel on his side that he might be ready for him
in the event of his showing the slightest disposition to alight
The other three sat up at the inn all night in great suspense At eight
oclock in the morning Mr Sleary and the dog reappeared both in high spirits
»All right Thquire« said Mr Sleary »your thon may be aboardathip by
thith time Childerth took him off an hour and a half after we left there latht
night The horthe danthed the polka till he wath dead beat he would have
walthed if he hadnt been in harneth and then I gave him the word and he went
to thleep comfortable When that prethiouth young Rathcal thed hed go forard
afoot the dog hung on to hith neckhankercher with all four legth in the air
and pulled him down and rolled him over Tho he come back into the drag and
there he that till I turned the hortheth head at halfpatht thixth thith
morning«
Mr Gradgrind overwhelmed him with thanks of course and hinted as
delicately as he could at a handsome remuneration in money
»I dont want money mythelf Thquire but Childerth ith a family man and if
you wath to like to offer him a fivepound note it mightnt be unactheptable
Likewithe if you wath to thtand a collar for the dog or a thet of bellth for
the horthe I thould be very glad to take em Brandy and water I alwayth take«
He had already called for a glass and now called for another »If you wouldnt
think it going too far Thquire to make a little thpread for the company at
about three and thixth ahead not reckoning Luth it would make em happy«
All these little tokens of his gratitude Mr Gradgrind very willingly
undertook to render Though he thought them far too slight he said for such a
service
»Very well Thquire then if youll only give a Hortheriding a bethpeak
whenever you can youll more than balanthe the account Now Thquire if your
daughter will ethcuthe me I thould like one parting word with you«
Louisa and Sissy withdrew into an adjoining room Mr Sleary starring and
drinking his brandy and water as he stood went on
»Thquire you dont need to be told that dogth ith wonderful animalth«
»Their instinct« said Mr Gradgrind »is surprising«
»Whatever you call it and Im bletht if I know what to call it« said
Sleary »it ith athtonithing The way in whith a dogll find you the
dithtanthe hell come«
»His scent« said Mr Gradgrind »being so fine«
»Im bletht if I know what to call it« repeated Sleary shaking his head
»but I have had dogth find me Thquire in a way that made me think whether that
dog hadnt gone to another dog and thed You dont happen to know a perthon of
the name of Thleary do you Perthon of the name of Thleary in the
HortheRiding way thtout man game eye And whether that dog mightnt have
thed Well I cant thay I know him mythelf but I know a dog that I think would
be likely to be acquainted with him And whether that dog mightnt have thought
it over and thed Thleary Thleary O yeth to be thure A friend of mine
menthioned him to me at one time I can get you hith addreth directly In
conthequenth of my being afore the public and going about tho muth you thee
there mutht be a number of dogth acquainted with me Thquire that I dont
know«
Mr Gradgrind seemed to be quite confounded by this speculation
»Any way« said Sleary after putting his lips to his brandy and water »ith
fourteen month ago Thquire thinthe we wath at Chethter We wath getting up our
Children in the Wood one morning when there cometh into our Ring by the thtage
doors a dog He had travelled a long way he wath in very bad condithon he
wath lame and pretty well blind He went round to our children one after
another as if he wath a theeking for a child he knowd and then he come to me
and throwd hithelf up behind and thtood on hith two forelegth weak ath he
wath and then he wagged hith tail and died Thquire that dog wath Merrylegth«
»Sissys fathers dog«
»Thethiliath fatherth old dog Now Thquire I can take my oath from my
knowledge of that dog that that man wath dead and buried afore that dog
come back to me Jothphine and Childerth and me talked it over a long time
whether I thould write or not But we agreed No Thereth nothing comfortable
to tell why unthettle her mind and make her unhappy Tho whether her father
bathely detherted her or whether he broke hith own heart alone rather than
pull her down along with him never will be known now Thquire till no not
till we know how the dogth findth uth out«
»She keeps the bottle that he sent her for to this hour and she will
believe in his affection to the last moment of her life« said Mr Gradgrind
»It theemth to prethent two thingth to a perthon dont it Thquire« said
Mr Sleary musing as he looked down into the depths of his brandy and water
»one that there ith a love in the world not all Thelfinteretht after all but
thomething very different tother that it hath a way of ith own of calculating
or not calculating whith thomehow or another ith at leatht ath hard to give a
name to ath the wayth of the dogth ith«
Mr Gradgrind looked out of window and made no reply Mr Sleary emptied
his glass and recalled the ladies
»Thethilia my dear kith me and goodbye Mith Thquire to thee you treating
of her like a thithter and a thithter that you trutht and honour with all your
heart and more ith a very pretty thight to me I hope your brother may live to
be better detherving of you and a greater comfort to you Thquire thake
handth firtht and latht Dont be croth with uth poor vagabondth People mutht
be amuthed They cant be alwayth a learning nor yet they cant be alwayth a
working they ant made for it You mutht have uth Thquire Do the withe thing
and the kind thing too and make the betht of uth not the wurtht
And I never thought before« said Mr Sleary putting his head in at the
door again to say it »that I wath tho muth of a Cackler«
Chapter IX
Final
It is a dangerous thing to see anything in the sphere of a vain blusterer
before the vain blusterer sees it himself Mr Bounderby felt that Mrs Sparsit
had audaciously anticipated him and presumed to be wiser than he Inappeasably
indignant with her for her triumphant discovery of Mrs Pegler he turned this
presumption on the part of a woman in her dependent position over and over in
his mind until it accumulated with turning like a great snowball At last he
made the discovery that to discharge this highly connected female to have it
in his power to say »She was a woman of family and wanted to stick to me but
I wouldnt have it and got rid of her« would be to get the utmost possible
amount of crowning glory out of the connection and at the same time to punish
Mrs Sparsit according to her deserts
Filled fuller than ever with this great idea Mr Bounderby came in to
lunch and sat himself down in the diningroom of former days where his
portrait was Mrs Sparsit sat by the fire with her foot in her cotton stirrup
little thinking whither she was posting
Since the Pegler affair this gentlewoman had covered her pity for Mr
Bounderby with a veil of quiet melancholy and contrition In virtue thereof it
had become her habit to assume a woful look which woful look she now bestowed
upon her patron
»Whats the matter now maam« said Mr Bounderby in a very short rough
way
»Pray sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »do not bite my nose off«
»Bite your nose off maam« repeated Mr Bounderby »Your nose« meaning
as Mrs Sparsit conceived that it was too developed a nose for the purpose
After which offensive implication he cut himself a crust of bread and threw
the knife down with a noise
Mrs Sparsit took her foot out of her stirrup and said »Mr Bounderby
sir«
»Well maam« retorted Mr Bounderby »What are you staring at«
»May I ask sir« said Mrs Sparsit »have you been ruffled this morning«
»Yes maam«
»May I inquire sir« pursued the injured woman »whether I am the
unfortunate cause of your having lost your temper«
»Now Ill tell you what maam« said Bounderby »I am not come here to be
bullied A female may be highly connected but she cant be permitted to bother
and badger a man in my position and I am not going to put up with it« Mr
Bounderby felt it necessary to get on foreseeing that if he allowed of details
he would be beaten
Mrs Sparsit first elevated then knitted her Coriolanian eyebrows
gathered up her work into its proper basket and rose
»Sir« said she majestically »It is apparent to me that I am in your way
at present I will retire to my own apartment«
»Allow me to open the door maam«
»Thank you sir I can do it for myself«
»You had better allow me maam« said Bounderby passing her and getting
his hand upon the lock »because I can take the opportunity of saying a word to
you before you go Mrs Sparsit maam I rather think you are cramped here do
you know It appears to me that under my humble roof theres hardly opening
enough for a lady of your genius in other peoples affairs«
Mrs Sparsit gave him a look of the darkest scorn and said with great
politeness »Really sir«
»I have been thinking it over you see since the late affairs have
happened maam« said Bounderby »and it appears to my poor judgment «
»Oh Pray sir« Mrs Sparsit interposed with sprightly cheerfulness
»dont disparage your judgment Everybody knows how unerring Mr Bounderbys
judgment is Everybody has had proofs of it It must be the theme of general
conversation Disparage anything in yourself but your judgment sir« said Mrs
Sparsit laughing
Mr Bounderby very red and uncomfortable resumed
»It appears to me maam I say that a different sort of establishment
altogether would bring out a lady of your powers Such an establishment as your
relation Lady Scadgerss now Dont you think you might find some affairs
there maam to interfere with«
»It never occurred to me before sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »but now you
mention it I should think it highly probable«
»Then suppose you try maam« said Bounderby laying an envelope with a
cheque in it in her little basket »You can take your own time for going maam
but perhaps in the meanwhile it will be more agreeable to a lady of your powers
of mind to eat her meals by herself and not to be intruded upon I really
ought to apologise to you being only Josiah Bounderby of Coketown for having
stood in your light so long«
»Pray dont name it sir« returned Mrs Sparsit »If that portrait could
speak sir but it has the advantage over the original of not possessing the
power of committing itself and disgusting others it would testify that a
long period has elapsed since I first habitually addressed it as the picture of
a Noodle Nothing that a Noodle does can awaken surprise or indignation the
proceedings of a Noodle can only inspire contempt«
Thus saying Mrs Sparsit with her Roman features like a medal struck to
commemorate her scorn of Mr Bounderby surveyed him fixedly from head to foot
swept disdainfully past him and ascended the staircase Mr Bounderby closed
the door and stood before the fire projecting himself after his old explosive
manner into his portrait and into futurity
Into how much of futurity He saw Mrs Sparsit fighting out a daily fight at the
points of all the weapons in the female armoury with the grudging smarting
peevish tormenting Lady Scadgers still laid up in bed with her mysterious leg
and gobbling her insufficient income down by about the middle of every quarter
in a mean little airless lodging a mere closet for one a mere crib for two
but did he see more Did he catch any glimpse of himself making a show of Bitzer
to strangers as the rising young man so devoted to his masters great merits
who had won young Toms place and had almost captured young Tom himself in the
times when by various rascals he was spirited away Did he see any faint
reflection of his own image making a vainglorious will whereby fiveandtwenty
Humbugs past fiveandfifty years of age each taking upon himself the name
Josiah Bounderby of Coketown should for ever dine in Bounderby Hall for ever
lodge in Bounderby buildings for ever attend a Bounderby chapel for ever go to
sleep under a Bounderby chaplain for ever be supported out of a Bounderby
estate and for ever nauseate all healthy stomachs with a vast amount of
Bounderby balderdash and bluster Had he any prescience of the day five years
to come when Josiah Bounderby of Coketown was to die of a fit in the Coketown
street and this same precious will was to begin its long career of quibble
plunder false pretences vile example little service and much law Probably
not Yet the portrait was to see it all out
Here was Mr Gradgrind on the same day and in the same hour sitting
thoughtful in his own room How much of futurity did he see Did he see himself
a whitehaired decrepit man bending his hitherto inflexible theories to
appointed circumstances making his facts and figures subservient to Faith
Hope and Charity and no longer trying to grind that Heavenly trio in his dusty
little mills Did he catch sight of himself therefore much despised by his late
political associates Did he see them in the era of its being quite settled
that the national dustmen have only to do with one another and owe no duty to
an abstraction called a People taunting the honourable gentleman with this and
with that and with what not five nights aweek until the small hours of the
morning Probably he had that much foreknowledge knowing his men
Here was Louisa on the night of the same day watching the fire as in days of
yore though with a gentler and a humbler face How much of the future might
arise before her vision Broadsides in the streets signed with her fathers
name exonerating the late Stephen Blackpool weaver from misplaced suspicion
and publishing the guilt of his own son with such extenuation as his years and
temptation he could not bring himself to add his education might beseech
were of the Present So Stephen Blackpools tombstone with her fathers record
of his death was almost of the Present for she knew it was to be These things
she could plainly see But how much of the Future
A working woman christened Rachael after a long illness once again
appearing at the ringing of the Factory bell and passing to and fro at the set
hours among the Coketown Hands a woman of pensive beauty always dressed in
black but sweettempered and serene and even cheerful who of all the people
in the place alone appeared to have compassion on a degraded drunken wretch of
her own sex who was sometimes seen in the town secretly begging of her and
crying to her a woman working ever working but content to do it and
preferring to do it as her natural lot until she should be too old to labour
any more Did Louisa see this Such a thing was to be
A lonely brother many thousands of miles away writing on paper blotted
with tears that her words had too soon come true and that all the treasures in
the world would be cheaply bartered for a sight of her dear face At length this
brother coming nearer home with hope of seeing her and being delayed by
illness and then a letter in a strange hand saying »he died in hospital of
fever such a day and died in penitence and love of you his last word being
your name« Did Louisa see these things Such things were to be
Herself again a wife a mother lovingly watchful of her children ever
careful that they should have a childhood of the mind no less than a childhood
of the body as knowing it to be even a more beautiful thing and a possession
any hoarded scrap of which is a blessing and happiness to the wisest Did
Louisa see this Such a thing was never to be
But happy Sissys happy children loving her all children loving her she
grown learned in childish lore thinking no innocent and pretty fancy ever to be
despised trying hard to know her humbler fellowcreatures and to beautify
their lives of machinery and reality with those imaginative graces and delights
without which the heart of infancy will wither up the sturdiest physical
manhood will be morally stark death and the plainest national prosperity
figures can show will be the Writing on the Wall she holding this course as
part of no fantastic vow or bond or brotherhood or sisterhood or pledge or
covenant or fancy dress or fancy fair but simply as a duty to be done did
Louisa see these things of herself These things were to be
Dear reader It rests with you and me whether in our two fields of action
similar things shall be or not Let them be We shall sit with lighter bosoms on
the hearth to see the ashes of our fires turn gray and cold