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" . It was time":shewhad,aeyei:vspokonlkindlygito
, 'I‘om in.all‘ theumany years they] had passedwtogctlier.
' ' it with the many former occasions on which he had given
" with Mary Graham. -
. .g,tion,, began a. new and ‘deified existence. -
r -V‘ after hours of labour, for.,the.sound.of one incorrigible
,'-‘for, no common touch,,but,one that smote, though gently’-
- as an angel's hand, upon" the deepest ‘chord within thee.l
w change ;-aand.-thou,'. sitting apart-'at ,the,,opcn window,
1060
me the 'l"lieLre"‘vas:s'omTe:‘quarr‘el
between ‘you, and you,struck,,;him,‘l ' I‘ am ‘sure of
lie was stupified with amazement. ‘ . . 4
“VVas it so, or not?”, she eagerly demanded. j "
-t.“.I was verymuch proyok,ed,’.f., said.'I",orn...' ‘H: .1 v
: “Then itwas?’,’, cried Charity, with sparklin eyes.
4‘ Ye-yes. , VVe had ,a stru glo‘ for thewpat ,” said
Tom.’ “But I didn't mean to iurt him so much,’’‘
A.‘.‘ Not Esof much I’’ sherrepeatcd, clenching her hand
and stamping her foot, to Tom's reat ,wonder. f‘. Don’t
‘say’ that.’ It was brave of you. . lionour you. for It. If
you should ever quarrel again, don’t spare him for the
world, but beat him down and set your shoe upon him.
iNot a word ofjthis to anybody...‘ Dear Mr.’ .P.incb,. ‘am
your- friend. from tonight. I am, always your frlcntl
from this time.’f ; ", , y .
‘ .' She turned her flushed face upon, Tom to confirm her
words by its kindling expression ; andlseizing hisyright
l1and,'pressed it to her ‘breast, and kissed it.. And there
‘was nothing personal in this to ‘render’ it at all pembar-I
rassing, for even Tom, whose power of observation was
by no means‘ remarkable, knew from the energy with
which she did it that she would have fondled any hand,
,no matter how. bedaubed or, dyed, that had broken the
‘head of Jonas Chuzzlewit. , .
' 0 Tom went into his room and went to bed full of uncom-
fortable thoughts.,, That there should‘ be any such tre-
Juendous division in the family as he knew‘ ITlu'SI4vl1EJ.V0
taken place to convert Charity Pecksniff into his friend,
' for any reason, but, above all, for that which was clearly
the real one ; that Jonas, who had assailed him with such
exceeding coarseness, should have been suiliciently mag-
nanimous to keep the secret of their quarrel; and that
any trainofcircumstances‘should have led ‘to the com-
-missiouof an assault and ‘battery by Thomas ‘Pinch upon
any man calling himself the friend of Seth Pecksnifi‘;
iwere matters of such deep and painful cogitation, that he '
could not close his eyes. , His own violence, in particular,
so preyed upon theigenerous mind of Tom,‘ that coupling
Mr. Pecksniff pain andhnxlety (occasions of which that
‘ gentleman often reminded him), he ‘really began to re-
: gard himself, as destined by a. mysterious‘ fate to"be the
,evil genius and bad angel of’-his patron.‘ But he fell
5 asleep at last and dreainedfnew sourceof waking un-
easiness-that he had betrayedphis. trust, and run away
‘ It must.,be acknowledged that, asleep or alwake, 'I'om’s
;position in reference totlris young lady was’ full‘of un.
l< easiness. I The more he saw,of,her, the morerlieadmircd
herbcauty, her intelligence, theamiable qualitiesthat
- oven won on the dividedhouse of Pecksniff, and in a few
;days-restored at all events,.t,he semblance of, harmony ;
’ and kindness between the angry sisters. ,VVhen she spoke, ,
r Tom heldhis breath,,so eagerly l1e.1iste'ned;'.whcl1 she
;sang, he sat like one entranced. She touched his organ,
and from that bright epoch even it, the old companion of
:’ his happiest hours,.incapable as he had thought of eleva-‘
God’s love upon thy,,patiencc,;Tpm. ' VVhd”tliat"liad
r, beheld: thee, for three summer,‘ weeks, ,poring.'through
‘half the‘ deadlong ni ht over the‘ jin ling anatomyof ’
that inscrutable old iarpsichordin tie back parlour,
could have missed the entrance to thy secret heart‘:
. albeitit was dimly known, to then ‘I. 1 ‘V110 that had seen‘
f the glow upon thy check when leaning down to listen,
note,’ " thou foundest that it -had a ‘voice at last, and
; wheezed out a ilat something distantly akin to what it
ought to be,-,would not liave known that it was destined
I‘ And if ,a, friendly glance,-ay, even though it were‘ as
.5 guileless as thine own, Dear Tom,-‘-could but have pierced"
7: the twilight of that evening, pvlien, in ‘as voice‘ well tern-’
.‘ pered.to thowtime, sad, sweet,-and low, yet.hopeful, she
= first sang toztho altered instrument, and wondered atthe
011:4 isms ‘ii1o]rENs"VW0RKs.
glance liave read perforce the dawning of a story,-.'1‘om,
that it were wellfor thee had never been begun.’ 1 1 .-u.
' Tom Pinch’s situation was not’ made ‘the less; danger-
ous'or'difIicult; by the fact ofino one word assing.be-
tween them in reference to Martin. - llonoura ly mindful
of his promise. Tom‘ gave her opportunities of all kinds.
Early and late hewas in the’ church ; lI1'l1CI“ favourite
walks ; in the village, in the garden, in the meadows ; and
in any or all of these places ie might have spoken freely.
But no : at allsuch times she carefully avoided hirn,'or
never came in his way unaccompanied. 'It could tnotbe
little delicate means,’too'slight for any‘ noticobut his
own, she singled him out whcnothers were prcsenhand
showed herselfthe very soulof kindness. ;:Could"it.bo
that she had broken with Martin,‘ or had-never returned
his affection, save in” his own bold and heightened fancy!
Tom's‘ cheek grew red with self-reproach,‘ as he .= dis-
misscd the thought. " " -I ‘ “XL . 3 ’r‘ > ’ ::-f ,',-lr.n ,
“ All this time old Martin came and went in‘his,own
strange manner, or sat among the:rest absorbcddvithin
himself, and holding little, intercourse 3 with nnyione.
Although he was unsocial;ho was not wilful in other things
or troublesome, or morose: being never betterjpleased
than when they left’ him,‘ quite‘ unnoticedut hislbook,
and pursued their own amusements invhis:prescnce,.un-
reserved. It was‘ impossible to discern in':whotn heftool:
an interest," or whether he had an interest in anylof them.
Unless they spoke to him directly,’hc never showed that
he had ears or eyes for anything that passed. yr; 3: J. ;
Oneday the lively Merry. sitting withdowncast:ey.cs
under a shady tree in the churchyard. whither she had
retired after fatiguing herself by thefimposition of ;‘sun-
dry, trials on the tempexfof Mr. Jonas, felt that:a?new
shadow-' came between her and‘. the sun; 0 Raising her
eyes iu'tl1e'cxpectation’of seeing her betrothed, she (was
not a littlesurprised to see old Martin instead.‘ Her. sur-
prise was notxdiminished when he took his seat upon the
turf beside her,‘ and opened a conversationrthus 2-1‘ ‘'
“XVhen areyou to‘ be married?" ’- 5;.’ . : ,
f‘Oh ! dear Mr.‘ Cliuzzlewit; my oodncss me It
sure" I don’t know. Not yet awhile, fhope." v
,“ You hope ‘I ” said the old man; I . .> -. 4 n;..
" "It was very gravely ' said, but 'sho took“ it .for banter
and iggled excessively.5 7‘ 1 ‘: 2‘ sfii .‘ 1'.Li,::"
' “ ome !” said the old man, with unusual kindness,
“ you are youngpgood-loolring, and I think good-natured l
Frivolous you are, and love to be, undoubtcdly;;but you
must have some heart.” ' " Ji ‘'1 ' In 7' .
“I have‘ not given it all away, I can tell. you,’.’. said
Merry, nodding her head shrewdly, and plucking up the
grass. " “
“ Have you parted with any of it ‘I.’’‘:-, i.";."' '1 , .
She throw the grass about,-‘and looked. another: way,
but said nothing. ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ' ' : I :3 '
:I'm
Mnlsriliy
TV"; ‘
Martin repeated his question.‘ ' "
cuso mo ! :IIow"very odd you are." . a . . . x f v.r..-.
“ If it be odd in me to desire to know.whether you
love ‘the, young man whom I understand you ‘arc to
marry,‘I am very odd,”- said Martin.‘ ‘ f.‘ For, that is‘cer-
tainlymy wish."' 1 ‘I " 1' at
2“ He’s such a. monster, you know,” said.Merry,upout-
. --,v,‘.,,,A.v ..
mg. " I -r I. N V
“ Then you’ don’t love him?” returned the oldzman.
“Is that your'meaning?” ‘ " W . ‘ . . g,'.,
1 ‘f XVhy. my dear'Mr. Chuzzlewit, I'm sure I tellhim a
hundred times a-day‘ that I hate him:‘.“xYou‘must'have
heard me tell hinttl1at.” ‘ " ’ ‘ ‘ “ --41 if
‘,“Often‘,” said Martin. , f 7'7-5; 0 1-we .7). V
" And so I do,” cried Merry.’ 3“ I doxpositively.’.'. :11
1‘ Being at the same tim engaged to .1narry:him,’.’ ob-
served the old man. 7 ' < I 2.. -.1"?
"‘ Oh yes,” said Merry. ' “ But I told the wrctch-my
dear Mr. Chuzzlewit, I told him when he uskc(1:me-
that if I eyer did marry him; it should only ‘bcithat I
‘avg .
‘might hate and teaze him allmy life." 9:: -‘ 'n:.l;‘. '
, She had a suspicion that the old man- re arded'.Jonas
,w.ith'a.nytl1ing butifavour,‘ and intended t iese remarks
to be extremely captivatin . 4 He didnot appear, how-
OW-‘,1'..t0 regard, them in;t mt light-byiany means; for
‘kept a glad silence and a swelling heart-'-’mu‘st”not "that
when he spoke again; itwas iua tone ofscverity. " -
that she disliked-ordistrusted him,’ for bya thousand ,
“ Lor, my dear Mr.’ Chuzzlewit l Jrca1ly."you‘;rn1nst:cx- I
H!“
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