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DA VID UOPPERFIELD. - .,
sideringthat Iknew nothing at all about him; and I in-
quired what Mr. Traddles was by profession. . .. I
‘E .“ ‘T1-addles,”. returned Mr. “fatcrbroolr, ',‘ is, a young
man reading forthe bar. .Yes. He 18 quiteya good fel-
low-nobodyfs enemy but his own.’,’. .. Z V L I
:“ Is he his own enemy?” said I, sorry to hear this. ..
'.‘..‘.Wcll,”.returned Mr.; Vlfaterbrook, parsing ,up his
mouth, and playing with his watch-chain, in’ a comfort-
able, prosperous sort -of 'way.v.' “I should say. he was one
of. those men who standA.in,their .own light. WYCS, I
should sayhe would never, for example, be worth five
hundred pound. . ,’l‘raddles was recommended to me, by
riprofessional friend. ' Oh yes. Yes. A Ile has a kind of
talent, for drmving briefs, and statinia case in writing,
plainly. I am able to throw somet ing in ’l‘raddles’s
way, in theconrso of thoycar; something-for him-
considerable. Oh yes. Yes." . .. G. . .. . . .
I was much impressed by the extremely comfortable
and satisfied manner, in which Mr. VVaterbrook delivered
himself of this little word ‘jYcs,”,every now. and then.
There was wonderful expression in=it. Itcompleteljz
conveyed the idea of a man who had been born, not to
say with a silver spoon, but with a scaling-ladder, and had
gone on mounting all the heights‘ of life one after an-
other, until now he looked. from the top of tho fortifica-
tions, with the eyes of a. philosopher and a patron, on the
pee :10 down in tho trenc res. . .' .
rll yreflections on this theme were still in progress
when dinner was announced. Mr. VVaterbrook went down
with Hamlet's aunt. Mr. Henry Spiker tool; Mrs. .Water-
brook. Agnes, whom I should have liked to take my-
self,‘ was given to a simpering fellow with weak legs.
Uriah, Traddles, and I, as the junior.part of the com-
pany, went down last, how we could. I was not so vexed
at losing Agnes as I might have been, since it gave
me an opportunity of making myself known to Traddles
on the stairs, who greeted n1o with great fervour : while
Uriah writhed with such obtrusive satisfaction and self-
abasemont, that I could gladly have pitched him over the
banlsters. ’ ' . .
-‘-Traddles and I were separated at table, being billeted
in two remote corners 2 he in the glare of a red velvet
lady : I,‘ in the loom of Hamlet's aunt. The dinner was
very long, and t no conversation was about the Aristocracy
-and Blood. Mrs. lVaterbrook repeatedly told us, that
if she had a weakness, it was Blood.
, It occurred to me several times, that we should have
got on better, if we had not been quite so genteel. ‘Ve
were so exceedingly genteel, that our scope was very
limited. AMr. and Mrs. Gulpidgewere of the party,
who had something to do at second-hand (at least, Mr.
Gulpidrre had), with thovlaw business of the Bank. and
what with the Bank, and what with the Treasur ,wo were
as exclusive as the Court Circular. To mend t e matter,
Ham1et’s aunt had the family failing of indulging in so-
liloqny, and held forth in a desnltory manner, by herself,
on every topic that was introduced. These were few
enough, to be sure; but as we always fell back upon
Bloc , she had as wide a tieldfor abstract speculation as
her nephew himself. -
“'0 might have been a party of Ogres, the conversa-
tion assumed such a sanguine complexion.
“I confess I am of Mrs. lVaterbrook’s opinion,” said
Mr. lVatcrbrool;, with his wine- lass at his eye. “ Other
things are all very well in tlheir way, but give me
Blood I“
“ Ol1l There is nothing," observed Hamlet's aunt,
"so satisfactory to one! There is nothin that is so
much ono's beau ideal of-of all that sort oft ing, speak-
ing generally. There are some low minds (not many, I
am happy to believe, but there are some) that would pre-
ferto do what I should call bow down before idols.
Positively Idols I Before services, intellect, and so on,
But these are intangible points. Blood is not so. ‘V0
see Blood in a nose. and we know it. lV'o meet with it
in a chin, and we say, ‘ There it is 1 That's Blood 1’ It
is an actual matter of fact. We point it out. It admits
of no doubt.” V t
The simporing fellow with the weak legs, who had
taken Agnes down, stated the question more decisivel
yet, I thought. i - - l
" Oh, you know, deuco take it,” said this gentleman,
217
looking round the board with an imbecile smile, “ we
can't forego Blood, you know. ‘Va must have Blood, -
011 kI10W.; Some.-young fellows, you know, may, be a
ittle behind. their station, perhaps, in point of education
and behaviour,.a.nd .may go a little wrong, you know, and
get themselves and other people into a variety of fixes-,-:
and all that-but deuce take, it, it’s delightful to reflect
that they’ve ot Blood in ‘cm i Myself, I’d rather at any
tune be knoc ed down by a manwho had. got Blood in
hnn,:.than I’d be picked up by a man who hadn’t 1.’? 2 .:
..,Th1s sentiment, as compressing the general question
into a nutshell, gave the utmost satisfaction, and brought
the gentleman into ‘great notice until‘ the ladies retired.
After that, I observed that Mr. Gulpidge and Mr. Henry
Spiker, who had hitherto been very distant, entered into
a defensive. alliance against us, the commonvenemy, and
exchanged a mysterious dialogue across the table for our
defeat and overthrow. . ' V . . . -. 2
“That affair of the first bond for four thousand five
hundred ‘pounds has not taken the course that was ex-
pected, Spiker,” said Mr. Gulpidge. ‘ a 4 - ‘
“Do you mean the D. of A. ’s ?”' said Mr. Spiker.
“The C. of B.’s‘l" said Mr. Gulpidge. > v i .
Mr. Spiker raised his eyebrows, and looked much con-
cernod. ' ' . . V. . V .-
“ lVhen the question was referred to Lord-I needn’t
name him,” said Mr. Gulpidge, checking himself-v ‘
“ I understand,” said Mr. Spiker, “ N.” .. .
Mr. Gulpidgo darkly nodded--“ was referred to him,
his answer was, ‘ Money, or no release.’ "
“ Lord bless my soul!” cried Mr. Spiker. -
“ ‘ Money, or. no relcase,”‘ repeated Mr. Gulpidgc,
firmly. “ The next in reversion-you understand me i”
“ K.,” said Mr. S iker, with an ominous look. - -
“‘-K. then posrtivelyrefused to sign. He was at--
tended'at Newmarket for that purpose, and he point-
blank refused to do it. ” " I ’ '
Mr. Spiker was so interested, that he became quite
stony. -. -
“ So the matter rests at this hour,” said Mr. Gulpidgo,
throwing himself back in his chair. “ Our friend
llfatcrbrook will oxcuse me if I forbear to explain myself
generally, on account of the magnitude of the interests
involved.” V 2
lllr. llfaterbrook was only too happy, as it appeared to
me, to have such interests, and such names, even hinted
at, across his table. He assumed an expression of gloomy
intelligence (though I am persuaded he knew no more
about the discussion than I did), and highly approved of
the discretion that had been observed. Mr. Spiker, af-
ter the receipt of such a confidence, naturally desired to
favour his friend with a confidence of his own ; therefore
the foregoing dialogue was succeeded by another, in
which it was Mr. Gulpidge’s turn to be surprised, and
that by another in which the surprise came round to Mr.
Spiker’s turn arrain, and so on, turn and turn about. All
this time we, the outsiders, remained oppressed by the
tremendous interests involved in the conversation; and
our host regarded us with pride, as the victims of a
salutary awe and astonishment.
I was very glad indeed to get upstairs to Agnes, and
to talk with herin a corner, and to introduce Traddles to
her, who was shy, but agreeable, and the same good-
natured creature still. Ashe was obliged to leave early,
on account of going away next morning for a month, I
had not nearly so much conversation with him as I could
have wished; but we exchanged addresses, and prom-
iscd ourselves the pleasure of another meeting when he
should come back to town. He was greatly interested to
hear that I knew Steerforth, and spoke of bun Wlth
such warmth that I made him tell Agnes what he thought
of him. But Agnes onl looked at me the while, and
very slightly shook her end when only I observed her.
As she was not among people with whom I believed
she could be very much at home, was “1m05t’P-‘Md W
heat that she was going away VVitI1.ll1 a few days, though
I-was sorry at the prospect of partingfrom her again so
soon. This caused me to-remain until all the company
were gone, conversing wlth her, and hearing her sing,
was such a delightful reminder to me of my '1l1ll’l"Y‘11f9
in the grave old house she had made so beautxful,'thnt I
could have remained there half the night; but, having