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; ‘LITTLE
in from the hotel at six), but his son was so .good,as to
take the head of. the.principal table, and who very.;free
and enga iug. ..He himself went about, among the, com-
pany, an ‘ took notice ofindividuals, and saw that .the
yiands were of the quality he had ordered, and,that all
were served. On the whole, he was like a baron of. the
.olden'time,;inr a rare good.humour.,- At the conclusion
-of therepast, he pledged.-his iuests in a. bumper of‘ old
Madeira ; and told them that e hoped they had enjoyed
-themselves; and what was more, that theyywouldg enjoy
themselves for the rest of the evening, that .he.fwished
fthetn well ; and that he bade them welcome. .His health
.being drunk with acclamations, he :,Wt1S'n0t ‘so baronial
after all but that in. trying to. return..thanks,he broke
down,.in a.’ manner. of a mere serf with a, heartjinlhis
breastyaud wept before them all. .,After;this great suc-
cess, which'he supposed ftO‘ be a failure, he ‘gave, them
“ Mr..Ghivery and his brother. otiicers ; ”. whom, he had
rbeforehand. presentedwith ten pounds, each, and who
were all in attendance. . Mr. Chivery spoke to the toast,
vsaying, VVhat you undertake to lock up; look up ;=but re-
‘member that you are, in the v,W'0l‘dS, of the fettered‘ Afri-
can, amau and a brother ever. The list of toasts disposed
.of, Mr. :Dorrity urbanelyuwent .through.the, motions. of
playing a game at skittles with. the Collegian,who ,Was
the nextroldest inl1abitant.,to himself; and left, the
tenantry to their diversions.
- 'But, all these occurrences preceded the final day. And
norvthe day arrived when he and his family were to
leave the prison for ever, and when the stones of its
much trodden pavement were to know tlieriiTi6"m6re. '
Noon was the hour appointed for the departure. As
it approached, there was not a Collegian within doors,
nor a turnkey absent. The latter classyof gentlemen
appeared in their Sunday clothes, and thofgreateripart
ofthe Collegians were brightened up as much as cir-
cumstances allowed. Two or three iiags were even.dis-
‘ played, and the children put ‘on odds and ends of ribbon.
.Mr.;Dorrit himself, at; this trying timenpreserved a. seri-
.ous but,gracet‘ul, dignity. ‘Much of his ‘attention was
‘ given to his brother, as‘ to whose bearing on, the great
'occasion he felt anxious. -. ’.- , w . 1
.‘.‘ My dear Frederick,”.,said l1e,"‘if.-you will give me
'your arm,‘ we will pass among our friends .together.rv I
think it is right that we should go,out arm‘ in arm,.my
dear Frederick.” . A. .. r : x Q . , ,, l
. ,‘.‘.Hah“!”:said Frederick. - “Yes, yes, yes,,yes.’f,r. ..
“And if, mydear Frederick,-ifyou could, without’
putting any great constraintupon yourself, throw a little
(pray,exc'use .me, Frederick), 11- little polish into your
usualdemeanour-” w .- . ,r -' ‘5. j '1t 4"
, .4-‘.‘ ‘Villiam, X,Villiam,’,.’ said the other, shaking his head,
-."lt’s:fo1'.yourt0 do’-all.that.. ‘I don’t knowhow. All
'fCrrgotten,.forgotten ii’. . , ; .7 . . i V ‘
' ‘.‘.But, my dear fellow,T’ returnedWVilliam, ;".for,that
.very reason; if.- for no other,.you must positively.try to
.rouse: yourself. r‘Vhat youhave forgotten you must now
-begin to recall, my dear.Frederick. . Your position-” .
-- ;.“Eh?f’ said Frederick. .“ ‘ y , '2 .- . - . 3
in ‘-‘.‘. Your position, my dear Frederick”; ' > . ' ,
“Mine ‘Z”:. Helookedtirst at his own figure, and then
.at his brother’s, and then, drawing a long breath, cried,
5‘Hah,,to.be surel .Yes, yes, ycs.’,’ 1-, r .; “Q; ;
“Your position, my dear Frederick, is now a fine one.
‘Your position as my brother isvarvery, fine one.-' And I
:know that it belongs to your conscientious nature, totry
.tobecomo worthy. of it, my dear Frederick, and.to try
.a- .
to adorn it..-..To be no discredit to it,,but to adorn it.’.’f a I
-. r‘-“Villiam,’.,’, said the other weekly, andswithn sigh,
.‘fI will do anything you wish, rny.brother, rovide(l,it
lies in my power- Pray be so kind as torecol ectwhat a
limited-power mine is,‘ .1Vha't‘ would youzwishnme. to
‘$10; to-dayybrother? - Say :what it is,.only say what..1t
is.’ ‘ .; ,.
-“lilytdearest Frederick, nothing..- It,is not worth
-tmubling so gooda heart as yours with.’.’: :,. . 1 . --
- “-Pray-trouble it,’T returned. the other. . .,“lt ,tinds,1t
.-I10 trouble, .William, to do anything it can for. you.’,’.. .
, x ‘Villiam passed his hand across his eyes, and murmured
with august satisfaction, ,“Blcssings on. youriattaclx.
-rnent, my poor dear fellow!” Then he said aloud.
"-Well, my dear Frederick, if you will only try, as we
D.0RRI:.m..;;... . it 18.35
.walk.out, to show,thatyou, are alive to the occasion-
that youthink aboutlit-’f .. g . ,' 3 .7 7 ’ ;j,'.,,r '
“ VVhat would you advise mepto think“ about it?” re-
turned his submissive -brother. . . 3 ' ,1 J H, g
“ Oh ! my dear Fredericl:,,how,can Inns M ryou ‘.7, - I
can only say.what,vin leaving these good people, I" think
myself.’.’,, 7 at w- - ..,,;, M ;, K .,g ,1:
. I f‘. That.’ s it If’; “cried his brother. 3. 1‘ That will help me.’.’
.j.‘.KI'find=that Ivtliink,.',yny dear, Fre‘(lerick',.' nndfwitli
mixed emotions in Jvhich a softened. compassion predom-
inates,.‘Vhatjwill the ' do withoutme l '7 W; .,. .
“ 'I‘rue,”’i-‘eturned his brother. “ Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I’ll think that asvwe go. .What will theypdo without my
brother I , Poor: things 1- ,VVhat jwill.’ they do .without
lllllll" 7,,, V in ’
‘ Twelve o’clock having, just struck, and the, carriage
being reported readyin the outer courtyard, thebrotlie1's
proceeded down stairs arm-in-arm. ' Edward Dorrit,
Esquire (once Tip), and his sister Fanny followed,-‘also
armin arm ; Mr. Plornish and Maggy, to whom had been
‘entrusted the removal ofigsuch of tthefamilyleiiects as
were considered worth re1noving,' followed, hearing bun-
dles and burdens to ‘be packed in avcart- H A. , , ,‘ ‘ff
;.,.,In;thc yard, ;were.the Collegians and turnkeys. In the
.yard,.were Mr..Pancks.and, Mr. Ru g, come,to' see the
.last.toucl1 given to theirwork. . In t e yard, was Young
John making a new epitaph for himself, on the "occasion
of his dying of a broken heart. In the yard, was the
Patriarchal Casby, looking so tremendously benevolent
that many enthusiastic Collegians grasped him fervently
by the"hantl, and the wives and female relatives of many
more Collegians kissed his hand, nothing doubting that
he had done it all. I In the yard, was the usual chorus of
people proper to such a place. In the yard, was" the
man with the shadow ' grievance respecting the Fund
which the Marshal em ezzled who had got up at five in
the morning to complete the copying of a perfectly unin-
telligible history of that transaction, which he had com-
mitted to Mr. Dorrit’s.care as a document of the last im-
portance, calculated to stun the‘Government and effect
the Marshal’s downfall. In thepyard, was the insolvent
whose utmost energies were always set on getting into
debt, who broke.into prison with as much pains as other
men have broken out lofpit,‘ and who was always being
cleared and complimented i while the, insolvent at his
elbow-a mere: little, .'snivellin'g,. striving‘ tradesman,
half dead of anxious efforts"to7, keep out,of, debt-,-found
it a hard matter, indeed, to g'et,a Co1nmissioncr'to release
him with much reproof and .reproach.,‘ ;In the yard, was
the man,of‘man ;children,,and ,rnany,burdens, whose '
,t'ailuro astonishe, everybody ; in the yard, was the man
of no children and large resources, whose failure. aston-
ished, nobody. , , There, were the‘. peoplefwho were always
going out,to-morrow, and always 'puttin'g,it off ; there,
were the’; eople‘ ‘who, had,'cornef, in yesterday, and ‘wlio
were nine trnore .jealous:‘ andrcsentful ‘of this, freak, of
fortune 'tl1an"tl1e fseasoued‘ ,birds.'. ..Th ere, were f some,
who, in pure meanuessgof spirit,- cringed and bowed .be-
fore the enriched Collegian and hbffamily ;’there, were
others who did so really because. their eyes, accustomed
to the gloom .of their .imprisonn1ent and ' overty, could
not support the light‘ of such bright .'sunsliin'e.’. -There,
were,man)j VVh0S6,,SllilllY)gS ,had gone into his pocket
.to.‘buy.him meat and ‘ftlrink ;, butnone who were now
obtrusively ,Hail' ;fellow'well”trictl, with him, on the
strength ‘of that assistance. ,1 It was rather to be remarked
of the ca ed ,birds,‘ that they,‘ werea little shy of the bird
about to e'so grandly free, and that they had a tenden-
cy to,-withdraw themselves towards the bars,;aud seeinhn.
little tiuttered'as'.lre passed. ,‘ .' . - ' I '.
- Through‘ these spectator's,‘.the.little pr.ocessAion,,headed
by,the,two brothers,‘ n1oved,,sloivly, to, the gate. Mr.
Dorrit, yielding to the vast spejculation how .the,.poor
creaturesywerefto get on‘,,witl1o11t,him.,w‘as great, and
sad,‘ but not absorbed.’ IIe,pftltCd,'ClllldI0n on tliehead
like Sir Roger. de Covcrlcy goingto church, he spoke to
people in the ,b'?lcl:ground,.,by ,their. Christian names, he
condescended to all present, and scemedfor their conso-
lation to walk encircleddby tlielegend in golden charac-
ters, ‘.‘ Bo comforted, rnypeoplo in. Bear it 1".‘ nl ‘f ' ;
. At last three honest rc ieers ‘announcedtlmt he had
passed the gate, and that the hfarshalsca was anprphan.