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";'5XXllv '
DA 'V1D CTOPPERFIELD.’ f r
enough "of disappointment : enough of limited means.
That was in the old country. ‘,.This is the new; Produce
your reparation. ‘ Bring it forward if ” . y ,
-- Mr. Micawber folded his arms in a resolute manner, as
if he were then stationed on the figure-head.
v-w“<And doing .that,”said Mrs. Micawber, "--feelinghis
‘position,-am I not right in saying that Mr. Micawber
‘will strengthen,gand not weaken, his connexion with
‘Britain?’ 'An important public character arising in that
hemisphere,-shall,I‘be told v‘ that .its infiuence will
not ,be.felt at home? Canl be so' weak as to imagine
,II11l.t“I‘Il‘.’hI'lCiI.tVi)el‘, wielding the rod of talent ‘and of
. . power in Australia, will be nothing in,England?
I am
but. a woman; but Ishould‘ be unworthy of myself,
and of -my papa, if I were guilty of such absurd weak-
ness.”5i ,’ ., V ;.r1,, , ’
' .Mrs. '-Micawber’s conviction that her arguments were
unanswei-able, gave a moral elevation to her tone which
I think I’ had never heard in it before. . ' -
“ -“ And therefore it is,” said Mrs. Micawber, “that I the
more wish, that; at a future period, we may live again on
the parent soil. Mr. Micawber may be-I cannot disguise
from. myself that the probability is, Mr. lificawher will
be--a page of History;' and he ought then to be represent-
ed in the country which gave him birth, and did not give
him employment i.” - - -
, “My love,” observed Mr. Micawber, F; it is impossible.
for me not to be touched by your affection. I am always
willing to defer to your ood sense. SVhat will be-Vwillbe.
Heaven forbid that I s iouldv grudge my native country
any portion of the wealth that may be accumulated by
our descendants!" ' . ,. L ‘ ‘ . ; ’ R
‘-,“ That’s well,” said my aunt, noddingrtowardsrlifr.
Peggotty ” " and I drink my love to you all, and every
blessing and success attend you l” , . . . ,
; ‘Mr. Peggotty put down the two children he had been
nursing, one on each knee, to join‘ Mr. and Mrs. Micawber
in drinking to all of us in return ; and when he and the
Micawberscordially shook hands as comrades, and his
- brown face brightened with a smile, I felt that he would
make his ,way, establish a good‘ name, and be beloved,
go where he would. ‘ , . , p ‘ p ,
Even the children were instructed, each to jdip‘a
;
wooden spoon into Mr. Micawber’s pot, and plcd e us in 7
its contentssn VVhen' this was done, my aunt an Agnes
rose, and parted from the emigrants. It was a sorrowful
farewell.- ’ They were all crying ; the children hung
about Agnes to the last ; and we left poor Mrs. Micaw-
ber in a very distressed condition, sobbing and weeping
by a dim candle, that must havemade the room, look,
from theriver, like aimiserable lighthouse. ' H .
" I went down again next morning to see that they were
V away, They had departed, in a boat, as early as five
o'clock. : It was a wonderful instance to me ofvtlie gap
such jpartings make, -that although my association of
them with the tumble-down public-Iiouse and the wooden
stairs dated only from last‘-night, both seemed dreary
and deserted, now that they, were gone. . ‘ w
< In the afternoon of the ,next. day, my old nursefand I
Went down to Gravesend. “re found the ship in the
river, surrounded by a crowd of boats,'a favourable wind
blowing; the signa.l'for sailing at her mast head.‘ I
hired a boat directly, and we put off to her ; and getting
through the little vortex of confusion of which she was
the centre, went on board. , ,, ' ‘ ‘ 1
‘ Mr. Peggotty was waiting for us on deck. He told Inc
that-Mr. Micawber had just" now been arrested 383,1“
(and for the last, time) at the suit of Heep, andtlmt In
compliance witha request Iliad made to him, he had
paid the. money : which I repaid him. He II]-Ell took us
down between decks; and there, any lingering fears I
had of .his having heard any rumours of what had hap-
pened. were dispelled by Mr. ltIicawber's coming out-‘pf
the gloom, taking his arm with an air of friendship
nudprotection, and telling me thatlthey had scarcely
been asunder for a moment, since the 111311‘ ‘before
V It was such a strange scene to me, ,
dark, that, atfirst,-I could make outhardly anything;
but. by degrees, it cleared,'as my eyes became more ac-
customed to the gloom, and I seemed to stand in 11 Pm‘
turn by 0s'r.iDr:. Among the great beams, bulks, and
and so confined and .
. ,,,,,- N, ..,,,.. . , . , ..,,t.....i.t e -A
337
ringbolts of the ship, and the emigrant-bcrtlis, and
chests, and bundles, and‘barrels,‘and heaps of miscella-
neous baggage-lighted up, here and there, by dangling
lanterns; and elsewhere‘ by the yellow day-light stray-
ing down a windsail or a liatchwa -were crowded
groups of people, making new friends ips, taking leave
of one another, talking, laughing, crying, eating, and
drinking ; some already settled down into the possession
of their few feet of space, with their little households
arranged, and tiny children established on stools, ‘or, in
dwarf elbow-chairs ; others, despairing of a resting-
place, and wandering disconsolately. From babies who
had but a week or two of life behind them, to. crooked
old men and women who seemed to have but a week or
two of life before them; and from ploughmen bodily
carrying out soil of England on their boots, to smiths
taking away samples of its soot and smoke upon their
skins ; every age and occupation appeared to be crammed
into the narrow compass of the ‘tween decks.
As my eye glanced round this place, I thought I saw
sitting, by an open port, with one of the Micawber chil-
dren near her, a figure like Emily's; it first attracted
my‘ attention, by another figure parting from it with a
kiss, and as it glided calmly away through the disorder,
reuiinding me of-Agnes 1 But in the rapid motion and
confusionfand in the unsettlement of my own thoughts,
I lost it again; and only knew that the time was come
when all visitors were being warned to leave the ship;
tliat my nurse was crying on a chest beside me ; and that
Mrs. Giiminidge, assisted by some younger stooping
woman in black, was busily arranging Mr. Pcggotty’s
goods. ‘ ‘ ‘
4.“ Is there any last wured, Mas’r Davy ?" said he. “ Is
there any one forgotten thing aforo we part?"
. “ one‘ thin I” said I. “Martha 1”, ,
He touche the ounger woman I have mentioned on
the sliouldor, and Iartha stood before me. .
. “ Heaven’ bless you, you good man I" cried I. “You
take her with you I " ,
i ‘she answered for him, with a burst of tears. I could
spcakno more, at that time, but I wrung his hand; and
if everj'I have loved and honoured any man I loved and
-honoured that man in my soul. , V
The sliipwas clearing fast of strangers. The greatest
trial that Ihad, remained. I told him what the noble
spirit1that was gone, had given me in char e to say at
partingjf It moved him deeply. But when e charged
me, in return, with man messages of affection, and re-
gret for thosedeaf ears, ie moved me more.
, Tlietiine was, come. I embraced him, took my weep-
ing nurse upon my arm, and hurried away,‘ On deck, I.
took leave of poor Mrs. Micawber. She. was looking
distractedly about for her fainily, even then: and 110;‘
last words to me were, that she never would desert Mr..
Micawber. .
“'9 wentiover the side into our boat, and lay at a.
littledistance to see the ship wafted on her course- It
was then calm, radiant sunset. She lay between us, and’
the red 11 ht’; and every taper line and spar was visible
against the glow.” VA si lit at once so beautiful-,, so
rnournful, and so liopefu , as the glorious Vship,.lying,.
still, on the dashed water, with all the life on boardher
crowded atjthe bulwarks, and there clustering, for pr
moment, hare-headed and silent, I never saw. ,
Silent, only fora moment. As the sails rose to‘ the-
wind, and the ship be an to move, there broke fromalli
the boats three resounding cheers, which those on board.
took.up, andcclioed’ back, and which were echoed and‘.
re-echoed. Myheart burst out when I heard the sound,
and beheld the waving of the hats and handkerchicfs-
and then I saw her! i . ' 7 , ,
Then, I saw her, at licr uncle's side, and trembling on
his shoulder. He pointedito us with an eager hand;
and sliesaw us, andtwaved her last good-bye to me.
Aye, Emily, beautiful and droopling, cling to him with
the utmost trust of thy bruised cart ;: for he has clung
to theo,"with‘ all the iniglit of his greatllove lg . .
Surrounded by the rosy licrht, and. standing high upon
ho clinging to him, and he
beholding her, they solemnl . asscd, away. The night
had fallen on Ill0KCntl5I1 i] s when we were rowed
the deck, apart together, 5
ashore-and fallen darkly upon me.
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