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I brave’ a sqiiire, liad: you no duty to society, before the
. “Penny, “. and the sooner that is past, the better. Mr.
. of hurry, and I willnot doit ; for I am,” said Mr. Peck-
. lief‘-‘3 Of ‘picking it up again. '
JIIARTIN 0HUZZLE'WIT;x'-T"
ricks were blazing and the mob were mad; or did it
spring up, armed and booted from the earth,-a corps of
yeoinanry fulbgrown ! ' . . . : .
-‘Mr. Pecksniff’s duty to society could not be paid till
Torn came back. .The interval which preceded the re-
- turn of that young man, he occupied in, a close confer-
ence with his friend ; so that when Tom did arrive, he
found the two uite ready to receive him. Mary was in
her own -room dlrove,’ whither Mr. Pecksniff, always con-
siderate, had -besouglit old Martin to entreat her to re-
main some half-hour longer,’ that her feelings might be
spared. . . . g. .. .
lVlien Torn came back, he found old Martin sitting by
the window‘, and Mr. Pecksniff inan. imposing. attitude
at -the table. On one side of him was his. pocket-liand-
kerchief; and on the other a little heap (a very little
hcap)'of gold"and‘si1ver, and ‘odd pence. Tom saw, ‘at
a glance, that itwas his own salary for the current quar-
ter. . .f
' “ Have you fastened the vestry-window, Mr. Pinch? ”
said Pecksniff. ‘f "; . ‘ : in . V
“Yes sir.” ‘ ‘ r ' . 4 ,
‘f Thank you.‘ Put down the keys if you please, Mr.
Pinch.” . - .2 . . : '
' Tom placed them on the table. ". He held the bunch by
the key ‘of the or an-loft (though it was one of the
smallest) and looke hard at it as he laid it down. It had
been an old, old friend of Tom’s ; aikind companion to
him. many and manyaday. ' i ' . . ’ ‘
i “‘ Mr. Pinch,” said 'Pe'cksniif, shaking his head : “ Oh
Mr.'.Pinch l I wonder you can look me in the face l” '
Tom did it though : and notwithstanding that he has
been described as stooping generally, he stood as upright
then as man could stand. . . ‘
1 “Mr. Pincli,”.‘said Pecksniff, takingiip his handker-
chief, as if ‘he felt that he should want it soon, “ I will
not dwell u on the past. Iiwill spare you’, and‘I will
SI’?-T0'myscl ,‘ that.,pain at least.’.’ ‘ .. . 3 ’ - '
Tomfs was not a very bri ht eye, but it was every ex-
Pressive one when he lookeld at Mr. Pecksniff, and said :
“ Thank you, sir. - I am very glad. you will not refer
to the past." .. ' . ’ .
“ The present is enough.” said Mr. Pecksnilf, dropping
Ifincli, I will not dismiss you without a word of explana-
t10n. - Even such it course wouldbe quite justifiable un-
dcr the circumstances ;.but it might wear an appearance
51"”. knocking down another penny, “ perfectly self-pos-
Sessed. 'l‘herefore.I will say to you, What UWVC “h"C“‘1Y
Said to Mr. Chuzzlewit.” - I ' , ‘
Tom glanced at the old entleman,‘ who nodded now
and then as approving of fit? . Pecksniffs ;sentences and
Smtiments, but interposed between them in no other way.
, " From frarrments of a conversation .which I overheard
In the church” just now Mr. Pinch,” said Pecksniif, -“ be-
tween vourself and Miss Graham-I. say .fragments,- be-
9111150 I was sluinhering at a':considerable distance from
5'0“; when I was roused ‘by your voices-and 'from what
saw, I n.scertained‘(I‘would have given a. good deal not
0 have ascertained. Mr. Pinch) that you. f‘-‘rgetful 0f
311 ties of (lut andfoft honour, sir ;" regardless of the
Sacred laws of iospitality, to which you were pledged ‘as
an inmate of this house ; have presuinetl to address Miss
raliain with nn-returned ‘professions of -attachmentand
llyoposals ofi iamw ‘ V i ' " ' ' j
I 0m looked athim steadily. ‘ ' - i , r , " ”
" D0 youdeny it, sir?” asked Mr. Pecksnlff. dT0PD1‘lf3
0110 pound two and fourpence, and making .3 g"‘1"'1t bus"
N0. 831'," replied Torn. “ I donot." - ' I I
“You do not,” saidrMr. Pecksniff, ‘glancing at the old
ggnueman. ".-‘.0blige me by counting this m0Y1‘3)': M’-
Inch, and puttinn-you]-.n11m9 to tliisreceipt. You do
Ii0t?”‘j .‘ ,....
N0.-Tom did not. 'He scorned to deny.it. ‘Ila saw
that Mr. Pecksniff having overheard -his own disgrace.
c“T0d.not ‘a jot for sinking loweryet in his conterript.
'3, Saw tliatlie had-devised this fiction as the readiest
ineans offgetting rid of him at once, but thutit must end
on his not denying it, because his doing so iandexplainv‘.
ing would incense the old man more than ever.-against-'
Martin, and against Mary : while Pecksniff himself a
would only have been mistaken in his “fragments."u
Deny it! No. ' v v . ,, V. .
“You find the amount correct, do you, Mr. Pinch?".
said Pecksniif. . . . N i
“ Quite correct, sir,” answered Tom. X - .. -' ;i..
“ A person is waiting in the kitchen,” said Mr. Peck-'>
sniff, “to carry your luggage wherever youplease. ‘ VVe:
p-art,”liIr. Pinch, at once, and are strangers from this
ime. I V 1 .
Something without a name; COIllpaSSlOI),v sorrow, told.
tenderness, mistaken gratitude, habit: none of these,r
and yet all of them : smote upon Tom’s gentle heart, at
parting. There was no such soul as Pecksniff’s in that
carcass; and yet, though his speaking out had not ins-
volved the compromise of one he loved, he couldn’t have’
denounced the VCl‘)"SIl9.p(.’ and-figure of the man.‘ Not:
even then. . . . t , .
' “I will not say," cried Mr. Pecksnifl’, shedding fears,.
“ what a blow this is. . I will not say how much it tries -
me ; how it works upon my nature ; how it grates upon’
my feelings.“ I do not care forrthat. I can endure as
well as another man. But wliatl have to hope, and what-.
you have to hope, Mr.‘ Pinch, (otherwise a greatrespon-w
sibility rests upon you), is, that this deception may not
alter my ideas ofliunianity ; that it may not impair my "
freshness or contract, if Imay use the expression, my.’
Pinions. I hope it will not; I don’t think it will.: It!
maybe a comfort to you : if not now, at some future time,
tween us. Farewell.” . . . . .-.- -
Tom had meant to spareliim one little puncturatiou:
with a liincet, which he had it in his power to adminis-
ter, but he changed his mind on hearing this, and said 2'.
“ I think you left something in the church. sir.” . .t
“ Thank you, Mr. Pinch," said Mr. Pccksniif. i ‘f I am
not aware thatl did.” ‘ ' '
“Oh I” cried Peclrsnii‘E,witl1 some -degree of . confu-J
“ I found it,” said Tom slowly-“ when I went to bolt ’
the vestr .window-in the Pew.” > . - . ,
So he iad. Mr. Pecksniti had taken it off when hev
was bobbing up and-down, lest it’ should strike against-
the panelling: and had ‘forgotten it. Going back to tho.
church with his mind full of having been watched, and
wondering very much from-what .part, Tom’s.attentiou
was caught by the door of the state pew standing opm. '
Looking into it he found the glass. And thus he knew,-.
and by returning it-gave Mr. Pecksnitf the information
that he knew, where tlielistener had been; and that in- .
stead of overbearing fragments of the conversation, he-
must have rejoiced in every word of i ' i :
“I am glad he's gone," said‘,Mart1n, drawing a long‘
breath when Tom had left the room.‘ . V .. : . . .
“ It is a relief,” assented Mr. Pecksniff. . “It is a great‘:
relief.‘ But having discharged-I hope with tolerable’
firinness-the duty which I owed to society, I will ,now, .
my dear sir, if you will give me leave, ‘retire t.o..slied'a
few tears inthe back garden, "as an humble'individual.";’
'I‘o'in'went up-stairs ; cleared his shelf of books: packed
tlieni up with his music and an old fiddle in his trunk ;-
got om; ]1is'c1o‘thes (they were-notzso -many that -they
made liislieadache) ; put them on thc.top of his books‘:'.
and went into the workroom for.his- case of instruments. '
There was a raggedstool .'there, with the horsehair all.-.
sticking out of the top like a wig :-a very Beast of a stoof.
in itself : on which he had taken up his duilyxseat, year‘:
after year, durin‘g‘the whole period of his service.‘ They
had grown older and shabbier in company. ’ Pupils had’:
served theintime ; seasonshad come and gone ;.’I'om and.
the worn-out stool-had heldtogetlier through it all.‘ That‘
part of the room was-traditionally called “Tom’s Cor-f
ner.” -It.had'heen assigned to him at first becauseof its-
being.sit1iat.ed in it strong draught, and a great wayfronr;
the fire : and he had occupied it ever since. There werorf
portraits of him on 'the wall, with -all his weak points,
monstronsly pourtrayed. Diabolical sentimonts,‘foreign.
‘K1-1thzi‘t'any.way.. .IIe.saw that ‘Mr. Pecksniff Teckdned
‘ VoL.L-$9
to his character, were represented as issttingfrbnl-lii&;.
>
1089's
to know, that I shall endeavour not to think the worse of “
my fellow-creatures in general, for what has passed be-v
“This is your double eye-glass, believe‘2"’.said‘Toin. i .
sion. “ I am obliged to you. Put it down if you please.”.'