The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

  strange as this may be recorded without being looked upon as a

  wilful and malicious invention--the truth is that neither Mrs Wackles

  nor her eldest daughter had at any time greatly favoured the

  pretensions of Mr Swiveller, being accustomed to make slight

  mention of him as 'a gay young man' and to sigh and shake their

  heads ominously whenever his name was mentioned. Mr Swiveller's

  conduct in respect to Miss Sophy having been of that vague and

  dilitory kind which is usuaully looked upon as betokening no fixed

  matrimonial intentions, the young lady herself began in course of

  time to deem it highly desirable, that it should be brought to an issue

  one way or other. Hence she had at last consented to play off against

  Richard Swiveller a stricken market-gardner known to be ready with

  his offer on the smallest encouragement, and hence--as this occasion

  had been specially assigned for the purpose--that great anxiety on her

  part for Richard Swiveller's presence which had occasioned her to

  leave the note he has ben seen to receive. 'If he has any expectations

  at all or any means of keeping a wife well,' said Mrs Wackles to her

  eldest daughter, 'he'll state 'em to us now or never.'--'If he really

  cares about me,' thought Miss Sophy, 'he must tell me so, to-night.'

  But all these sayings and doings and thinkings being unknown to Mr

  Swiveller, affected him not in the least; he was debating in his mind

  how he could best turn jealous, and wishing that Sophy were for that

  occasion only far less pretty than she was, or that she were her own

  sister, which would have served his turn as well, when the company

  came, and among them the market-gardener, whose name was

  Cheggs. But Mr Cheggs came not alone or unsupported, for he

  prudently brought along with him his sister, Miss Cheggs, who

  making straight to Miss Sophy and taking her by both hands, and

  kissing her on both cheeks, hoped in an audible whisper that they

  had not come too early.

  'Too early, no!' replied Miss Sophy.

  'Oh, my dear,' rejoined Miss Cheggs in the same whisper as before,

  'I've been so tormented, so worried, that it's a mercy we were not

  here at four o'clock in the afternoon. Alick has been in such a state

  of impatience to come! You'd hardly believe that he was dressed

  before dinner-time and has been looking at the clock and teasing me

  ever since. It's all your fault, you naughty thing.'

  Hereupon Miss Sophy blushed, and Mr Cheggs (who was bashful

  before ladies) blushed too, and Miss Sophy's mother and sisters, to

  prevent Mr Cheggs from blushing more, lavished civilities and

  attentions upon him, and left Richard Swiveller to take care of

  himself. Here was the very thing he wanted, here was good cause

  reason and foundation for pretending to be angry; but having this

  cause reason and foundation which he had come expressly to seek,

  not expecting to find, Richard Swiveller was angry in sound earnest,

  and wondered what the devil Cheggs meant by his impudence.

  However, Mr Swiveller had Miss Sophy's hand for the first quadrille

  (country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed) and so gained an

  advantage over his rival, who sat despondingly in a corner and

  contemplated the glorious figure of the young lady as she moved

  through the mazy dance. Nor was this the only start Mr Swiveller

  had of the market-gardener, for determining to show the family what

  quality of man they trifled with, and influenced perhaps by his late

  libations, he performed such feats of agility and such spins and twirls

  as filled the company with astonishment, and in particular caused a

  very long gentleman who was dancing with a very short scholar, to

  stand quite transfixed by wonder and admiration. Even Mrs Wackles

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  Dickens, Charles - The Old Curiosity Shop

  forgot for the moment to snubb three small young ladies who were

  inclined to be happy, and could not repress a rising thought that to

  have such a dancer as that in the family would be a pride indeed.

  At this momentous crisis, Miss Cheggs proved herself a vigourous

  and useful ally, for not confining herself to expressing by scornful

  smiles a contempt for Mr Swiveller's accomplishments, she took

  every opportunity of whispering into Miss Sophy's ear expressions

  of condolence and sympathy on her being worried by such a

  ridiculous creature, declaring that she was frightened to death lest

  Alick should fall upon, and beat him, in the fulness of his wrath, and

  entreating Miss Sophy to observe how the eyes of the said Alick

  gleamed with love and fury; passions, it may be observed, which

  being too much for his eyes rushed into his nose also, and suffused it

  with a crimson glow.

  'You must dance with Miss Chegs,' said Miss Sophy to Dick

  Swiviller, after she had herself danced twice with Mr Cheggs and

  made great show of encouraging his advances. 'She's a nice girl--and

  her brother's quite delightful.'

  'Quite delightful, is he?' muttered Dick. 'Quite delighted too, I

  should say, from the manner in which he's looking this way.'

  Here Miss Jane (previously instructed for the purpose) interposed her

  many curls and whispered her sister to observe how jealous Mr

  Cheggs was.

  'Jealous! Like his impudence!' said Richard Swiviller.

  'His impudence, Mr Swiviller!' said Miss Jane, tossing her head.

  'Take care he don't hear you, sir, or you may be sorry for it.'

  'Oh, pray, Jane --' said Miss Sophy.

  'Nonsense!' replied her sister. 'Why shouldn't Mr Cheggs be jealous

  if he likes? I like that, certainly. Mr Cheggs has a good a right to be

  jealous as anyone else has, and perhaps he may have a better right

  soon if he hasn't already. You know best about that, Sophy!'

  Though this was a concerted plot between Miss Sophy and her sister,

  originating in humane intenions and having for its object the inducing

  Mr Swiviller to declare himself in time, it failed in its effect; for

  Miss Jane being one of those young ladies who are premeturely shrill

  and shrewish, gave such undue importance to her part that Mr

  Swiviller retired in dudgeon, resigning his mistress to Mr Cheggs

  and converying a definance into his looks which that gentleman

  indignantly returned.

  'Did you speak to me, sir?' said Mr Cheggs, following him into a

  corner. 'Have the kindness to smile, sir, in order that we may not be

  suspected. Did you speak to me, sir'?

  Mr Swiviller looked with a supercilious smile at Mr Chegg's toes,

  then raised his eyes from them to his ankles, from that to his shin,

  from that to his knee, and so on very gradually, keeping up his right

  leg, until he reached his waistcoat, when he raised his eyes from

  button to button until he reached his chin, and travelling straight up

  the middle of his nose came at last to his eyes, when he said

  abruptly,

  'No, sir, I didn't.'

  `'Hem!' said Mr Cheggs, glancing over his shoulder, 'have the

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  Dickens, Charles - The Old Curiosity Shop

  goodness to smile again, sir. Perhaps
you wished to speak to me,

  sir.'

  'No, sir, I didn't do that, either.'

  'Perhaps you may have nothing to say to me now, sir,' said Mr

  Cheggs fiercely.

  At these words Richard Swiviller withdrew his eyes from Mr

  Chegg's face, and travelling down the middle of his nose and down

  his waistcoat and down his right leg, reached his toes again, and

  carefully surveyed him; this done, he crossed over, and coming up

  the other legt and thence approaching by the waistcoat as before, said

  when had got to his eyes, 'No sir, I haven't.:'

  'Oh, indeed, sir!' said Mr Cheggs. 'I'm glad to hear it. You know

  where I'm to be found, I suppose, sir, in case you should have

  anything to say to me?'

  'I can easily inquire, sir, when I want to know.'

  'There's nothing more we need say, I believe, sir?'

  'Nothing more, sir'--With that they closed the tremendous dialog by

  frowning mutually. Mr Cheggs hastened to tender his hand to Miss

  Sophy, and Mr Swiviller sat himself down in a corner in a very

  moody state.

  Hard by this corner, Mrs Wackles and Miss Wackles were seated,

  looking on at the dance; and unto Mrs and Miss Wackles, Miss

  Cheggs occasionally darted when her partner was occupied with his

  share of the figure, and made some remark or other which was gall

  and wormword to Richard Swiviller's soul. Looking into the eyes of

  Mrs and Miss Wackles for encouragement, and sitting very upright

  and uncomfortable on a couple of hard stools, were two of the

  day-scholars; and when Miss Wackles smiled, and Mrs Wackles smiled,

  the two little girls on the stools sought to curry favour by smiling

  likewise, in gracious acknowledgement of which attention the old

  lady frowned them down instantly, and said that if they dared to be

  guilty of such an impertinence again, they should be sent under

  convoy to their respective homes. This threat caused one of the

  young ladies, she being of a weak and trembling temperament, to

  shed tears, and for this offense they were both filed off immediately,

  with a dreadful promptitude that struck terror into the souls of all the

  pupils.

  'I've got such news for you,' said Miss Cheggs approaching once

  more, 'Alick has been saying such things to Sophy. Upon my word,

  you know, it's quite serious and in earnest, that's clear.'

  'What's he been saying, my dear?' demanded Mrs Wackles.

  'All manner of things,' replied Miss Cheggs, 'you can't think how

  out he has been speaking!'

  Richard Swiviller considered it advisable to hear no more, but taking

  advantage of a pause in the dancing, and the approach of Mr Cheggs

  to pay his court to the old lady, swaggered with an extremely careful

  assumption of extreme carelessness toward the door, passing on the

  way Miss Jane Wackles, who in all the glory of her curls was

  holding a flirtation, (as good practice when no better was to be had)

  with a feeble old gentleman who lodged in the parlour. Near the door

  sat Miss Sophy, still fluttered and confused by the attentions of Mr

  Cheggs, and by her side Richard Swiveller lingered for a moment to

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  exchange a few parting words.

  'My boat is on the shore and my bark is on the sea, but before I pass

  this door I will say farewell to thee,' murmured Dick, looking

  gloomily upon her.

  'Are you going?' said Miss Sophy, whose heart sank within her at

  the result of her stratagem, but who affected a light indifference

  notwithstanding.

  'Am I going!' echoed Dick bitterly. 'Yes, I am. What then?'

  'Nothing, except that it's very early,' said Miss Sophy; 'but you are

  your own master, of course.'

  'I would that I had been my own mistress too,' said Dick, 'before I

  had ever entertained a thought of you. Miss Wackles, I believed you

  true, and I was blest in so believing, but now I mourn that e'er I

  knew, a girl so fair yet so deceiving.'

  Miss Sophy bit her lip and affected to look with great interest after

  Mr Cheggs, who was quaffing lemonade in the distance.

  'I came here,' said Dick, rather oblivious of the purpose with which

  he had really come, 'with my bosom expanded, my heart dilated, and

  my sentiments of a corresponding description. I go away with

  feelings that may be conceived but cannot be described, feeling

  within myself that desolating truth that my best affections have

  experienced this night a stifler!'

  'I am sure I don't know what you mean, Mr Swiviller,' said Miss

  Sophy with downcast eyes. 'I'm very sorry if--'

  'Sorry, Ma'am!' said Dick, 'sorry in the possession of a Cheegs! But

  I wish you a very good night, concluding with this slight remark,

  that there is a young lady growing up at this present moment for me,

  who has not only great personal attractions but great wealth, and

  who has requested her next of kin to propose for my hand, which,

  having a regard for some members of her family, I have consented to

  promise. It's a gratifying circumstance which you'll be glad to hear,

  that a young and lovely girl is growing into a woman expressly on

  my account, and is now saving up for me. I thought I'd mention it. I

  have now merely to apologize for trespassing so long upon your

  attention. Good night.'

  'There's one good thing springs out of all this,' said Richard

  Swiviller to himself when he had reached home and was hanging

  over the candle with the extinguisher in his hand, 'which is, that I

  now go heart and soul, neck and heels, with Fred in all his scheme

  about little Nelly, and right glad he'll be to find me so strong upon

  it. He shall know all about that to-morrow, and in the mean time, as

  it's rather late, I'll try and get a wink of the balmy.'

  'The balmy' came almost as soon as it was courted. In a very few

  minutes Mr Swiviller was fast asleep, dreaming that he had married

  Nelly Trent and come into the property, and that his first act of

  power was to lay waste the market-garden of Mr Cheggs and turn it

  into a brick-field.

  CHAPTER 9

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  Dickens, Charles - The Old Curiosity Shop

  The child, in her confidence with Mrs Quilp, had but feebly

  described the sadness and sorrow of her thoughts, or the heaviness

  of the cloud which overhung her home, and cast dark shadows on its

  hearth. Besides that it was very difficult to impart to any person

  not intimately acquainted with the life she led, an adequate sense

  of its gloom and loneliness, a constant fear of in some way

  committing or injuring the old man to whom she was so tenderly

  attached, had restrained her, even in the midst of her heart's

  overflowing, and made her timid of allusion to the main cause of

  her anxiety and distress.

  For, it was not the monotonous days unchequered by variety and

  uncheered by pleasant companionship, it was not the dark dreary

  evenings or the long solitary nights, it was not the absence of

  every slight and easy pleasure for which young hearts beat high, or

  the knowing noth
ing of childhood but its weakness and its easily

  wounded spirit, that had wrung such tears from Nell. To see the old

  man struck down beneath the pressure of some hidden grief, to mark

  his wavering and unsettled state, to be agitated at times with a

  dreadful fear that his mind was wandering, and to trace in his

  words and looks the dawning of despondent madness; to watch and

  wait and listen for confirmation of these things day after day, and

  to feel and know that, come what might, they were alone in the

  world with no one to help or advise or care about them--these were

  causes of depression and anxiety that might have sat heavily on an

  older breast with many influences at work to cheer and gladden it,

  but how heavily on the mind of a young child to whom they were ever

  present, and who was constantly surrounded by all that could keep

  such thoughts in restless action!

  And yet, to the old man's vision, Nell was still the same. When he

  could, for a moment, disengage his mind from the phantom that

  haunted and brooded on it always, there was his young companion

  with the same smile for him, the same earnest words, the same merry

  laugh, the same love and care that, sinking deep into his soul,

  seemed to have been present to him through his whole life. And so

  he went on, content to read the book of her heart from the page

  first presented to him, little dreaming of the story that lay

  hidden in its other leaves, and murmuring within himself that at

  least the child was happy.

  She had been once. She had gone singing through the dim rooms, and

  moving with gay and lightsome step among their dusty treasures,

  making them older by her young life, and sterner and more grim by

  her gay and cheerful presence. But, now, the chambers were cold and

  gloomy, and when she left her own little room to while away the

  tedious hours, and sat in one of them, she was still and motionless

  as their inanimate occupants, and had no heart to startle the

  echoes--hoarse from their long silence--with her voice.

  In one of these rooms, was a window looking into the street, where

  the child sat, many and many a long evening, and often far into the

  night, alone and thoughtful. None are so anxious as those who watch

  and wait; at these times, mournful fancies came flocking on her

  mind, in crowds.

  She would take her station here, at dusk, and watch the people as