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‘1042 j
one hand and a crook in: the ether, scraping all. sorts-of
valuable odds and ends into his pouch. Now, there be-
ing a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow, it fol-
lows (so ’Mr. Pecksniif, and only such admirable.men,
would have reasoned), that there must also be a special
Providence in the alighting of the stone, 0’ Stlck. 01' 03119‘
substance which is aimed at the sparrow.. And Ml‘.
PeeksnifE’s. 110015,-01' crook, having invariably knocked
the sparrow on -the head and brought him down, that
gentleman may have been led to consider himself as
specially licensed to bag sparrows, and as being specially
seised and possessed of all:the birds he had got ;I0gqt11e1‘-
That many undertakings, national as well as individual
..but,- especiaiiy ‘he. former-are , held. to -be specially
brought to a glorious and. successful issue, which never
could beso regarded on- any other process of reasoning,
mpst‘ be. clear to’ all men. Tlierefore. the. precedents
would seem to show that Mr. l?ecksniE had (315 thing"-9 30)
good argument for what he.said, and might be permitted
to say it, and-did not say it presuniptuously, vainly,.or
arrogantly, but in a spirit of high faith and great wis-
m.' ..>.'r." . ’ ' V,-V .
don;-', Jam, not being inuch accustomed to perplex his
mind witlrtheoi-ies of.this nature, expressed n0..0p’1Ii10Il
- on the subject. . Nor did he receive his companion s an-
nouncement with one, solitary syllable, goo(l,'bad, or in-
different. He preserved this taciturnity for a quarter of
an hour at least, and during the whole of that time. ap-
peared to be steadily engaged in subjecting some.‘ given
amount to, the operation of every -known rule in ‘fig-
ures ; adding to it, taking from it, multiplying it; reduc-
ing it by long and short division ; working it. by the rule-
of-three direct and in versed ; exchange or barter ; practice;
simple interest ; compound interest ; and other means of
arithmetical calculation. The result: of these. labours
appeared to‘ be, satisfactory,- for when- he‘ did break
silence, it was as one who.had arrivedzat somcspecifie
result, and freed himself from a state of distressing un-
certainty. .. K r i ., fr ,3 .
“ Come, old Pecksniff I ”-sucli was his jocose address,
as he slapped that gentleman on the back, at the end of
the stage-" let's have something 1”‘ - ,., .-
‘ ‘ VVith all my heart,” said Mr. Pecksniff. I
. “ Let's treat the driver,”’. cried J onus. . ; .= . =
“If you think it .won’t hurt the man, or render him
-discontented with his station-certainly,” faltered Mr.
Pecksnift. . - . . . . . , , t <
. Jonas only laughed at this, and getting down from the
-coach-top with great alacrity, cut a cumbersome kind of
vcaper in the road. V Afterwliieli, he went into the public-
house, and there ordered spirituous drink to such an ex-
tent that Mr. Pecksniil had some doubts of his perfect
sanity, until J ouas set them quite at rest bysaying, ivlieii
the coach couldwait no longer : . - V
.i'
:
. “I've been standing treat for a whole week and.more, .
. and'letting youhave all the delicacies of the season.
You shall-pay for this, Pecksniff.” .It was: not a joke
either, as Mr. Pecksniff at first.supposcd ;.for.he .went
' -off to the CDf1Cll'tVltil0l1t further ceremony, andleftv his
respected victim tofsottle the bill. ' i . . ‘
.But Mr. Pecksniii was a man ofiiieek endurance,.and
Mr. Jonas was his friend. ‘ Moreover, his regard for that
gentleman was founded; aswe know, on pure.esteem,
and a knowledge of theexcellence otlhis character;-. He
came outfrom the tavern with ii. smiling face, and even’
went so far as torepeat the perforinance, on a less ex-
pensive scale, at tlie“'next ale-house. v There" was a cer-
tain wildness in the spirits of -Mr. Jonas (not usually a
part of his character) which wasfar. from being subdued
by these means, and,,for the rest of the journey, he was
so very buoyant-it may .be,said, boisterous-that Mr.
Pecksnifi had some difficulty in keeping pace with him.
- They were not expected-oh dear, no 1 Mr. Pccksniff
had proposed in London to give the girls a surprise, and
had said he wouldn't write a word to prepare them on
any account, in order that he and Mr. Jonas might take
them unawares, and just see what they were doing,
when theytliouglit their dear papa was miles and miles
away. As a consequence of this playful device,’ there
was nobody to meet them at the finger-post, but that was
of small conse uence, for they had come down by the
-day coach, an Mr. Pccksnilf had only a carpet-bag,
CHARLES ‘DI0l('E’N;S" WORIFS. A
while Mr. Jonas had onlyaportmanteau. They took the
portmanteau between .theui,put the bag upon it, and
walked off up the lane without delay : liir. Pecksniff
already going on tiptoe, as lf,‘1VlillQlltVi.lllS precaution,
hisfond children, being then at a distance of a couple
of miles or so,‘would have soniefilial sense of-his ap-
proach.m. . r.‘ . .. '
.It was. a lovely. evening, in the spring-time of the
year ;'and in the soft stillness of the twili ht, all nature
was:very calm andbeautiful. :,Tlie.day ad been fine
and warm ; but at the coming on of night, the air grew
cool, and in the mellowing distance, sinokewas rising
gently from the cottage chimneys. There were a thou-
sandpleasant scents diffused around, from young leaves
and fresh buds ;- the cuckoo had been singing all oay long,
and was butjust nowhuslied ; the smell of earth, newly
upturned’-ylirstbrcatli of hope to the first labourer, after
his; garden withered-was fragrant in the evening
breeze. i It was a time when most men cherish good rc-
solves, and sorrow for the wasted past ; when most men,
looking on the shadows as they gather, think of that
evening which must close on all, and that, to-morrow
which has none beyond... , i . -, . ,
“ Precious dull,” said Mr.,Jonas, looking about. “ Its
enough to make a man go melancholy mad.” .
“ We shall have lights and a fire soon," observed Mr.
Pecksniff. ‘ . ’ 4 I
“ W'e shall need ’em by the time we get there,” said
Jonas. “ Why the devil don’t you talk? VVhat are you
thinking of ? ” . . . ,
“ To tell you the truth, Mr; Jonas,” said Pecksnifi with
great solemnity, “ my mind was running at that moment
on our late dear friend, your departed father.” ‘
, Mr. Jonas immediately let his 2 burden fall, and said,
threatening him with hisvhaind 2
1 “Drop,that, Pecksniif l” -- . , ' - ,
--Mr. Pccksniffmot exactly. knowing whether alIIIS10l1
was made to the subject or the vportmanteau, stared at
hispfriend in unaffected surprise. - 4 A ,
“ Drop it, I‘ say l” cried Jonas, fiercely. “ D0 Y0“
hear? [Drop it-now andfor ever. You-had better. I
give younotice!’,’- .. .u ' . '
“It was quite. a mistake,” urged Mr. Pecksniff, very
much dismayed ; “ though I adinit it was foolish.
might’ have known it was a tender string..’.’. 1 . -
“ Don't talk to me about tender strings," said Jon9-f-
“ I'm notgoing to be crowed over by you, because I don 3
like dead company.” ' 4 ' i . -
Mr. Pccksniff liadgot out the words “ Crowcd over,
Mr. Jonas I ?’ when that young man; with a dark expres-
sion in his countenance, cut him short once more :
“ Mind I ” he. said, ,“.I won't have it. I advise you not
to revive the subject, neither to ineiior anybody 0156-
You can take aliint, if you choose, as well as another
man. There's enough saidabout it. . Come along 1” " .
Takingup his part of the load again, when he had Silld
these words, he hurried on so fast that Mr. Pecksnid. 3‘
the other [end of the portmanteau, found himself dragge
forward in alvcryinconvcnient and ungraceful rnanner,
to the detriment of what is .,called by. fancy geiitlenieii
“the bark ”.upon his shins, which were most ' numeral-
fully :buinped’ against ‘the hard leather and the ITO“
buckles. In the course of a. few minutes, howevei’; M’-
Joiias relaxed his speed, and suffered his companion 10
I
come up with him, and to bring the portmanteaii into 9- V
tolerably straight position. , A
.It was pretty clear that he regretted his late outbreak, V
and that he mistrusted its effect on Mr. Pecksnifi ; fol
as often as that gentleman glanced towards Mr. Jonas:
he found Mr. Jonas glancing at him, which was :1 new
source of embarrassnient. It was but ashort-lived 0110
though, for Mr. Jonas soon began to whistle, Wh9T011P0“
Mr. Pecksnid, taking his cue from his friend, began to
hum a tune rxielodiously. , = > i
-“ Pretty nearly there, ain't wo‘2”. said Jonas, when
this had lasted some time.- . ,
" C1058. my dear friend,’f said Mr. Pecksniif. ” V d
“lVhat’ll they be doing, do you suppose? 9-51”
Jonas. ‘ . i . ' , (1
“lnlpossible to Sa)'.”r cried Mr. Pecksniii “Gld 3’
truantsl They may be away i. from home, pe1'113l’5- ,,
was going to-he! he I be 2-1 was going t0.P1T0I’.05"'