Chapter 31

The Old Curiosity Shop

by Charles Dickens

With steps more faltering and unsteady than those with which she
had approached the room, the child withdrew from the door, and groped
her way back to her own chamber. The terror she had lately felt was
nothing compared with that which now oppressed her. No strange
robber, no treacherous host conniving at the plunder of his guests,
or stealing to their beds to kill them in their sleep, no nightly
prowler, however terrible and cruel, could have awakened in her bosom
half the dread which the recognition of her silent visitor inspired.
The grey-headed old man gliding like a ghost into her room and acting
the thief while he supposed her fast asleep, then bearing off his
prize and hanging over it with the ghastly exultation she had
witnessed, was worse--immeasurably worse, and far more dreadful, for
the moment, to reflect upon-- than anything her wildest fancy could
have suggested. If he should return--there was no lock or bolt upon
the door, and if, distrustful of having left some money yet behind,
he should come back to seek for more--a vague awe and horror
surrounded the idea of his slinking in again with stealthy tread, and
turning his face toward the empty bed, while she shrank down close at
his feet to avoid his touch, which was almost insupportable. She sat
and listened. Hark! A footstep on the stairs, and now the door was
slowly opening. It was but imagination, yet imagination had all the
terrors of reality; nay, it was worse, for the reality would have
come and gone, and there an end, but in imagination it was always
coming, and never went away.

The feeling which beset the child was one of dim uncertain
horror. She had no fear of the dear old grandfather, in whose love
for her this disease of the brain had been engendered; but the man
she had seen that night, wrapt in the game of chance, lurking in her
room, and counting the money by the glimmering light, seemed like
another creature in his shape, a monstrous distortion of his image, a
something to recoil from, and be the more afraid of, because it bore
a likeness to him, and kept close about her, as he did. She could
scarcely connect her own affectionate companion, save by his loss,
with this old man, so like yet so unlike him. She had wept to see him
dull and quiet. How much greater cause she had for weeping now!

The child sat watching and thinking of these things, until the
phantom in her mind so increased in gloom and terror, that she felt
it would be a relief to hear the old man's voice, or, if he were
asleep, even to see him, and banish some of the fears that clustered
round his image. She stole down the stairs and passage again. The
door was still ajar as she had left it, and the candle burning as
before.

She had her own candle in her hand, prepared to say, if he were
waking, that she was uneasy and could not rest, and had come to see
if his were still alight. Looking into the room, she saw him lying
calmly on his bed, and so took courage to enter.

Fast asleep. No passion in the face, no avarice, no anxiety, no
wild desire; all gentle, tranquil, and at peace. This was not the
gambler, or the shadow in her room; this was not even the worn and
jaded man whose face had so often met her own in the grey morning
light; this was her dear old friend, her harmless fellow- traveller,
her good, kind grandfather.

She had no fear as she looked upon his slumbering features, but
she had a deep and weighty sorrow, and it found its relief in
tears.

'God bless him!' said the child, stooping softly to kiss his
placid cheek. 'I see too well now, that they would indeed part us if
they found us out, and shut him up from the light of the sun and sky.
He has only me to help him. God bless us both!'

Lighting her candle, she retreated as silently as she had come,
and, gaining her own room once more, sat up during the remainder of
that long, long, miserable night.

At last the day turned her waning candle pale, and she fell
asleep. She was quickly roused by the girl who had shown her up to
bed; and, as soon as she was dressed, prepared to go down to her
grandfather. But first she searched her pocket and found that her
money was all gone--not a sixpence remained.

The old man was ready, and in a few seconds they were on their
road. The child thought he rather avoided her eye, and appeared to
expect that she would tell him of her loss. She felt she must do
that, or he might suspect the truth.

'Grandfather,' she said in a tremulous voice, after they had
walked about a mile in silence, 'do you think they are honest people
at the house yonder?'

'Why?' returned the old man trembling. 'Do I think them
honest-- yes, they played honestly.'

'I'll tell you why I ask,' rejoined Nell. 'I lost some money
last night--out of my bedroom, I am sure. Unless it was taken by
somebody in jest--only in jest, dear grandfather, which would make me
laugh heartily if I could but know it--'

'Who would take money in jest?' returned the old man in a
hurried manner. 'Those who take money, take it to keep. Don't talk
of jest.'

'Then it was stolen out of my room, dear,' said the child, whose
last hope was destroyed by the manner of this reply.

'But is there no more, Nell?' said the old man; 'no more
anywhere? Was it all taken--every farthing of it--was there nothing
left?'

'Nothing,' replied the child.

'We must get more,' said the old man, 'we must earn it, Nell,
hoard it up, scrape it together, come by it somehow. Never mind this
loss. Tell nobody of it, and perhaps we may regain it. Don't ask
how;--we may regain it, and a great deal more;--but tell nobody, or
trouble may come of it. And so they took it out of thy room, when
thou wert asleep!' he added in a compassionate tone, very different
from the secret, cunning way in which he had spoken until now. 'Poor
Nell, poor little Nell!'

The child hung down her head and wept. The sympathising tone in
which he spoke, was quite sincere; she was sure of that. It was not
the lightest part of her sorrow to know that this was done for
her.

'Not a word about it to any one but me,' said the old man, 'no,
not even to me,' he added hastily, 'for it can do no good. All the
losses that ever were, are not worth tears from thy eyes, darling.
Why should they be, when we will win them back?'

'Let them go,' said the child looking up. 'Let them go, once
and for ever, and I would never shed another tear if every penny had
been a thousand pounds.'

'Well, well,' returned the old man, checking himself as some
impetuous answer rose to his lips, 'she knows no better. I ought to
be thankful of it.'

'But listen to me,' said the child earnestly, 'will you listen
to me?'

'Aye, aye, I'll listen,' returned the old man, still without
looking at her; 'a pretty voice. It has always a sweet sound to me.
It always had when it was her mother's, poor child.'

'Let me persuade you, then--oh, do let me persuade you,' said
the child, 'to think no more of gains or losses, and to try no
fortune but the fortune we pursue together.'

'We pursue this aim together,' retorted her grandfather, still
looking away and seeming to confer with himself. 'Whose image
sanctifies the game?'

'Have we been worse off,' resumed the child, 'since you forgot
these cares, and we have been travelling on together? Have we not
been much better and happier without a home to shelter us, than ever
we were in that unhappy house, when they were on your mind?'

'She speaks the truth,' murmured the old man in the same tone as
before. 'It must not turn me, but it is the truth; no doubt it
is.'

'Only remember what we have been since that bright morning when
we turned our backs upon it for the last time,' said Nell, 'only
remember what we have been since we have been free of all those
miseries--what peaceful days and quiet nights we have had--what
pleasant times we have known--what happiness we have enjoyed. If we
have been tired or hungry, we have been soon refreshed, and slept the
sounder for it. Think what beautiful things we have seen, and how
contented we have felt. And why was this blessed change?'

He stopped her with a motion of his hand, and bade her talk to
him no more just then, for he was busy. After a time he kissed her
cheek, still motioning her to silence, and walked on, looking far
before him, and sometimes stopping and gazing with a puckered brow
upon the ground, as if he were painfully trying to collect his
disordered thoughts. Once she saw tears in his eyes. When he had
gone on thus for some time, he took her hand in his as he was
accustomed to do, with nothing of the violence or animation of his
late manner; and so, by degrees so fine that the child could not
trace them, he settled down into his usual quiet way, and suffered
her to lead him where she would.

When they presented themselves in the midst of the stupendous
collection, they found, as Nell had anticipated, that Mrs Jarley was
not yet out of bed, and that, although she had suffered some
uneasiness on their account overnight, and had indeed sat up for them
until past eleven o'clock, she had retired in the persuasion, that,
being overtaken by storm at some distance from home, they had sought
the nearest shelter, and would not return before morning. Nell
immediately applied herself with great assiduity to the decoration
and preparation of the room, and had the satisfaction of completing
her task, and dressing herself neatly, before the beloved of the
Royal Family came down to breakfast.

'We haven't had,' said Mrs Jarley when the meal was over, 'more
than eight of Miss Monflathers's young ladies all the time we've been
here, and there's twenty-six of 'em, as I was told by the cook when I
asked her a question or two and put her on the free-list. We must try
'em with a parcel of new bills, and you shall take it, my dear, and
see what effect that has upon 'em.'

The proposed expedition being one of paramount importance, Mrs
Jarley adjusted Nell's bonnet with her own hands, and declaring that
she certainly did look very pretty, and reflected credit on the
establishment, dismissed her with many commendations, and certain
needful directions as to the turnings on the right which she was to
take, and the turnings on the left which she was to avoid. Thus
instructed, Nell had no difficulty in finding out Miss Monflathers's
Boarding and Day Establishment, which was a large house, with a high
wall, and a large garden-gate with a large brass plate, and a small
grating through which Miss Monflathers's parlour-maid inspected all
visitors before admitting them; for nothing in the shape of a
man--no, not even a milkman--was suffered, without special license,
to pass that gate. Even the tax-gatherer, who was stout, and wore
spectacles and a broad-brimmed hat, had the taxes handed through the
grating. More obdurate than gate of adamant or brass, this gate of
Miss Monflathers's frowned on all mankind. The very butcher
respected it as a gate of mystery, and left off whistling when he
rang the bell.

As Nell approached the awful door, it turned slowly upon its
hinges with a creaking noise, and, forth from the solemn grove
beyond, came a long file of young ladies, two and two, all with open
books in their hands, and some with parasols likewise. And last of
the goodly procession came Miss Monflathers, bearing herself a
parasol of lilac silk, and supported by two smiling teachers, each
mortally envious of the other, and devoted unto Miss Monflathers.

Confused by the looks and whispers of the girls, Nell stood with
downcast eyes and suffered the procession to pass on, until Miss
Monflathers, bringing up the rear, approached her, when she curtseyed
and presented her little packet; on receipt whereof Miss Monflathers
commanded that the line should halt.

'You're the wax-work child, are you not?' said Miss
Monflathers.

'Yes, ma'am,' replied Nell, colouring deeply, for the young
ladies had collected about her, and she was the centre on which all
eyes were fixed.

'And don't you think you must be a very wicked little child,'
said Miss Monflathers, who was of rather uncertain temper, and lost
no opportunity of impressing moral truths upon the tender minds of
the young ladies, 'to be a wax-work child at all?'

Poor Nell had never viewed her position in this light, and not
knowing what to say, remained silent, blushing more deeply than
before.

'Don't you know,' said Miss Monflathers, 'that it's very naughty
and unfeminine, and a perversion of the properties wisely and
benignantly transmitted to us, with expansive powers to be roused
from their dormant state through the medium of cultivation?'

The two teachers murmured their respectful approval of this
home-thrust, and looked at Nell as though they would have said that
there indeed Miss Monflathers had hit her very hard. Then they
smiled and glanced at Miss Monflathers, and then, their eyes meeting,
they exchanged looks which plainly said that each considered herself
smiler in ordinary to Miss Monflathers, and regarded the other as
having no right to smile, and that her so doing was an act of
presumption and impertinence.

'Don't you feel how naughty it is of you,' resumed Miss
Monflathers, 'to be a wax-work child, when you might have the proud
consciousness of assisting, to the extent of your infant powers, the
manufactures of your country; of improving your mind by the constant
contemplation of the steam-engine; and of earning a comfortable and
independent subsistence of from two-and-ninepence to three shillings
per week? Don't you know that the harder you are at work, the
happier you are?'

'"How doth the little--"' murmured one of the teachers, in
quotation from Doctor Watts.

'Eh?' said Miss Monflathers, turning smartly round. 'Who said
that?'

Of course the teacher who had not said it, indicated the rival
who had, whom Miss Monflathers frowningly requested to hold her
peace; by that means throwing the informing teacher into raptures of
joy.

'The little busy bee,' said Miss Monflathers, drawing herself
up, 'is applicable only to genteel children.

"In books, or work, or healthful play"

is quite right as far as they are concerned; and the work means
painting on velvet, fancy needle-work, or embroidery. In such cases
as these,' pointing to Nell, with her parasol, 'and in the case of
all poor people's children, we should read it thus:

"In work, work, work. In work alway Let my first years be past,
That I may give for ev'ry day Some good account at last."'

A deep hum of applause rose not only from the two teachers, but
from all the pupils, who were equally astonished to hear Miss
Monflathers improvising after this brilliant style; for although she
had been long known as a politician, she had never appeared before as
an original poet. Just then somebody happened to discover that Nell
was crying, and all eyes were again turned towards her.

There were indeed tears in her eyes, and drawing out her
handkerchief to brush them away, she happened to let it fall. Before
she could stoop to pick it up, one young lady of about fifteen or
sixteen, who had been standing a little apart from the others, as
though she had no recognised place among them, sprang forward and put
it in her hand. She was gliding timidly away again, when she was
arrested by the governess.

'It was Miss Edwards who did that, I know,' said Miss
Monflathers predictively. 'Now I am sure that was Miss Edwards.'

It was Miss Edwards, and everybody said it was Miss Edwards, and
Miss Edwards herself admitted that it was.

'Is it not,' said Miss Monflathers, putting down her parasol to
take a severer view of the offender, 'a most remarkable thing, Miss
Edwards, that you have an attachment to the lower classes which
always draws you to their sides; or, rather, is it not a most
extraordinary thing that all I say and do will not wean you from
propensities which your original station in life have unhappily
rendered habitual to you, you extremely vulgar-minded girl?'

'I really intended no harm, ma'am,' said a sweet voice. 'It was
a momentary impulse, indeed.'

'An impulse!' repeated Miss Monflathers scornfully. 'I wonder
that you presume to speak of impulses to me'--both the teachers
assented-- 'I am astonished'--both the teachers were astonished--'I
suppose it is an impulse which induces you to take the part of every
grovelling and debased person that comes in your way'--both the
teachers supposed so too.

'But I would have you know, Miss Edwards,' resumed the governess
in a tone of increased severity, 'that you cannot be permitted--if it
be only for the sake of preserving a proper example and decorum in
this establishment--that you cannot be permitted, and that you shall
not be permitted, to fly in the face of your superiors in this
exceedingly gross manner. If you have no reason to feel a becoming
pride before wax-work children, there are young ladies here who have,
and you must either defer to those young ladies or leave the
establishment, Miss Edwards.'

This young lady, being motherless and poor, was apprenticed at
the school--taught for nothing--teaching others what she learnt, for
nothing--boarded for nothing--lodged for nothing--and set down and
rated as something immeasurably less than nothing, by all the
dwellers in the house. The servant-maids felt her inferiority, for
they were better treated; free to come and go, and regarded in their
stations with much more respect. The teachers were infinitely
superior, for they had paid to go to school in their time, and were
paid now. The pupils cared little for a companion who had no grand
stories to tell about home; no friends to come with post-horses, and
be received in all humility, with cake and wine, by the governess; no
deferential servant to attend and bear her home for the holidays;
nothing genteel to talk about, and nothing to display. But why was
Miss Monflathers always vexed and irritated with the poor
apprentice--how did that come to pass?

Why, the gayest feather in Miss Monflathers's cap, and the
brightest glory of Miss Monflathers's school, was a baronet's
daughter--the real live daughter of a real live baronet--who, by some
extraordinary reversal of the Laws of Nature, was not only plain in
features but dull in intellect, while the poor apprentice had both a
ready wit, and a handsome face and figure. It seems incredible.
Here was Miss Edwards, who only paid a small premium which had been
spent long ago, every day outshining and excelling the baronet's
daughter, who learned all the extras (or was taught them all) and
whose half-yearly bill came to double that of any other young lady's
in the school, making no account of the honour and reputation of her
pupilage. Therefore, and because she was a dependent, Miss
Monflathers had a great dislike to Miss Edwards, and was spiteful to
her, and aggravated by her, and, when she had compassion on little
Nell, verbally fell upon and maltreated her as we have already
seen.

'You will not take the air to-day, Miss Edwards,' said Miss
Monflathers. 'Have the goodness to retire to your own room, and not
to leave it without permission.'

The poor girl was moving hastily away, when she was suddenly, in
nautical phrase, 'brought to' by a subdued shriek from Miss
Monflathers.

'She has passed me without any salute!' cried the governess,
raising her eyes to the sky. 'She has actually passed me without the
slightest acknowledgment of my presence!'

The young lady turned and curtsied. Nell could see that she
raised her dark eyes to the face of her superior, and that their
expression, and that of her whole attitude for the instant, was one
of mute but most touching appeal against this ungenerous usage. Miss
Monflathers only tossed her head in reply, and the great gate closed
upon a bursting heart.

'As for you, you wicked child,' said Miss Monflathers, turning
to Nell, 'tell your mistress that if she presumes to take the liberty
of sending to me any more, I will write to the legislative
authorities and have her put in the stocks, or compelled to do
penance in a white sheet; and you may depend upon it that you shall
certainly experience the treadmill if you dare to come here again.
Now ladies, on.'

The procession filed off, two and two, with the books and
parasols, and Miss Monflathers, calling the Baronet's daughter to
walk with her and smooth her ruffled feelings, discarded the two
teachers-- who by this time had exchanged their smiles for looks of
sympathy-- and left them to bring up the rear, and hate each other a
little more for being obliged to walk together.