Page 429 (1/2)

'Arthur,

day, 'Mother and I have been talking this over, and we don't feel

coant connection of

ours--that dear lady as here yesterday--'

'I understand,' said Arthur

'Even that affable and condescending ornales, 'reat

deal, Arthur, for her sake; but we think ould rather not bear that,

if it was all the same to her'

'Good,' said Arthur 'Go on'

'You see,' proceeded Mr Meagles 'it ht even put us wrong with our daughter, and it reat deal of domestic trouble You see, don't you?'

'Yes, indeed,' returned Arthur, 'there is les, as always on the good and sensible

side; and a petition had shone out of her honest face that he would

support Mr Meagles in his present inclinings

'So we are very les, 'to

pack up bags and baggage and go aers once

ht through

France into Italy, and see our Pet'

'And I don't think,' replied Arthur, touched by the les (she hter, once), 'that you could do better And if you ask me

for my advice, it is that you set off to-les 'Mother, this is being backed

in an idea!'

Mother, with a look which thanked Clennareeable to

him, answered that it was indeed

'The fact is, besides, Arthur,' said Mr Meagles, the old cloud co

over his face, 'that ain, and that I

suppose I ain It may be as well, even on this account,

that I should step over there, and look hiain, here's Mother foolishly anxious (and yet naturally too) about

Pet's state of health, and that she should not be left to feel loneso way off, Arthur, and a

strange place for the poor love under all the circumstances Let her be

as well cared for as any lady in that land, still it is a long way off

just as Hoh it's never so Ho a new version to the proverb, 'Roh it's

never so Romely'

'All perfectly true,' observed Arthur, 'and all sufficient reasons for

going'

'I aet

ready We have lost our pleasant interpreter (she spoke three foreign

languages beautifully, Arthur; you have heard her h it, Mother, as well as you can

I require a deal of pulling through, Arthur,' said Mr Meagles, shaking

his head, 'a deal of pulling through I stick at everything beyond a

noun-substantive--and I stick at hiht one'

'Now I think of it,' returned Clennao with you, if you like I could not afford to lose hi hied to you,it

over, 'but I think not No, I think I'll be pulled through by Mother

Cavallooro (I stick at his very name to start with, and it sounds like

the chorus to a co) is so necessary to you, that I don't like

the thought of taking hi when

we ain; and it would never do to take hie is not what it was It only holds two

little people less than it ever did, Pet, and her poor unfortunate maid

Tattycora

e h by

Mother'

They would do best by theht;

therefore did not press his proposal

'If you would coe, when it wouldn't

trouble you,' Mr Meagles resulad to think--and so

would Mother too, I know--that you were brightening up the old place

with a bit of life it was used to when it was full, and that the Babies

on the wall there had a kind eye upon the to

the spot, and to them, Arthur, and we should every one of us have been

so happy if it had fallen out--but, let us see--how's the weather for

travelling now?' Mr Meagles broke off, cleared his throat, and got up to

look out of the

They agreed that the weather was of high promise; and Clennam kept the

talk in that safe direction until it had becoently diverted it to Henry Gowan and his quick sense and agreeable

qualities when he was delicately dealt With; he likewise dwelt on the

indisputable affection he entertained for his wife Clennales, whoreatly

cheered; and who took Mother to witness that the single and cordial

desire of his heart in reference to their daughter's husband, was

hare friendship for friendship, and confidence for

confidence Within a few hours the cottage furniture began to be wrapped

up for preservation in the faan to put its hair in papers--and within a few days

Father and Mother were gone, Mrs Tickit and Dr Buchan were posted, as of

yore, behind the parlour blind, and Arthur's solitary feet were rustling

aarden walks

As he had a liking for the spot, he seldo a visit Sometimes, he went down alone from Saturday to Monday;

sometimes his partner accompanied him; sometimes, he arden, saw that all was right, and

returned to London again At all times, and under all circumstances, Mrs

Tickit, with her dark row of curls, and Dr Buchan, sat in the parlour

, looking out for the family return

On one of his visits Mrs Tickit received hi to tell you, Mr Clenna in question, that it actually brought Mrs

Tickit out of the parlourand produced her in the garden walk,

when Clenna opened for him

'What is it, Mrs Tickit?' said he

'Sir,' returned that faithful housekeeper, having taken him into the

parlour and closed the door; 'if ever I saw the led away and deluded

child in my life, I saw her identically in the dusk of yesterday

evening'

'You don'tthe disclosure at a leap

'Where?'

'Mr Clennam,' returned Mrs Tickit, 'I was a little heavy in er than custo by Mary Jane I was not sleeping, nor what a person

would ter I waswithupon an inquiry into this curious abnormal condition,

Clennam said, 'Exactly Well?'

'Well, sir,' proceeded Mrs Tickit, 'I was thinking of one thing and

thinking of another, just as you yourself ht'

'Precisely so,' said Clenna and do think of another,' pursued

Mrs Tickit, 'I hardly need to tell you, Mr Clennam, that I think of the

fahts,' Mrs Tickit said this

with an argumentative and philosophic air, 'however they o more or less on what is uppermost in their minds They will do it,

sir, and a person can't prevent them'

Arthur subscribed to this discovery with a nod

'You find it so yourself, sir, I'll be bold to say,' said Mrs Tickit,

'and we all find it so It an't our stations in life that changes us, Mr

Clenna of one thing

and thinking of another, and thinking very much of the family Not of

the family in the present times only, but in the past ti and thinking of another

in thatdark, what I say is, that all tiet out of that state and consider

before they can say which is which'

He nodded again; afraid to utter a word, lest it should present any new

opening to Mrs Tickit's conversational powers

'In consequence of which,' said Mrs Tickit, 'when I quiveredin at the gate, I let the, for that actual fored to the house as ht at the one away But,

sir, when I quivered ain, and saw that it wasn't there, then

it all flooded upon ht, and I jumped up'

'You ran out directly?' said Clennam

'I ran out,' assented Mrs Tickit, 'as fast as ever my feet would carry

me; and if you'll credit it, Mr Clenna Heavens, no not soover the absence from the firmament of this novel constellation,

Arthur inquired of Mrs Tickit if she herself went beyond the gate?

'Went to and fro, and high and low,' said Mrs Tickit, 'and saw no sign

of her!'

He then asked Mrs Tickit how long a space of tiht have been between the two sets of ocular quiverings she had

experienced? Mrs Tickit, though minutely circumstantial in her reply,

had no settled opinion between five seconds and ten minutes

She was so plainly at sea on this part of the case, and had so clearly

been startled out of sluard

the appearance as a dreas with

that infidel solution of her e

with him; and probably would have retained it ever afterwards if a

circue his opinion He was passing

at nightfall along the Strand, and the la on before

hiy air, burst

out one after another, like sointo

full-blow all at once,--when a stoppage on the pave up froht hi

with soiven to both

operations caused him to look freshly about him, as people under such

circumstances usually do

I, but still

so near to hi out

his are h nose, and a black moustache as false in its

colour as his eyes were false in their expression, ore his heavy

cloak with the air of a foreigner His dress and general appearance were

those of a man on travel, and he see down (being

to whatever she said to hilance of one as not unused to be ed It was then that Clennam saw his face; as

his eyes lowered on the people behind hi upon Clennam's face or any other

He had scarcely turned his head about again, and it was still bent down,

listening to the girl, when the stoppage ceased, and the obstructed

strea to the

girl, he went on at her side, and Clennam followed them, resolved to

play this unexpected play out, and see where they went

He had hardlyabout it),

when he was again as suddenly brought up as he had been by the stoppage

They turned short into the Adelphi,--the girl evidently leading,--and

went straight on, as if they were going to the Terrace which overhangs

the river

There is always, to this day, a sudden pause in that place to the roar

of the great thoroughfare The e is like putting cotton in the ears, or having the head thickly

reater; there being no s places but slippery wooden stairs

and foot-causeways, no railroad on the opposite bank, no hanging bridge

or fish-e of stone,

nothing hters

Long and broad black tiers of the latter, ain, made the shore funereal and silent after

dark; and kept what little water-movement there was, far out towards

mid-stream At any hour later than sunset, and not least at that hour

whenho have hardly yet slunk

out to beg or steal, it was a deserted place and looked on a deserted

scene

Such was the hour when Clennae man as they went down the street Thestones that he was unwilling to add the

sound of his own But when they had passed the turning and were in the

darkness of the dark corner leading to the terrace, hea casual passenger on his way,

as he could assu the terrace

towards a figure which was co towards theas-laht

not have known it at first sight, but with the figure of the girl to

pronised Miss Wade

He stopped at the corner, see to look back expectantly up the street

as if he had made an appointment with some one to meet him there; but he

kept a careful eye on the three When they caether, the irl appeared to say a feords as though she presented hi late, or

early, or what not; and then fell a pace or so behind, by herself Miss

Wade and thethe

appearance of being extre the appearance of being extrehty

When they ca,

'If I pinch myself for it, sir, that is my business Confine yourself to

yours, and askher another bow 'It was th of your character, and my admiration

of your beauty'

'I want neither the one nor the other from any one,' said she, 'and

certainly not from you of all creatures Go on with your report'

'Aallantry

'You are paid,' she said, 'and that is all you want'

Whether the girl hung behind because she was not to hear the business,

or as already knowing enough about it, Clennam could not determine They

turned and she turned She looked away at the river, as she walked

with her hands folded before her; and that was all he could ood fortune, to be a

lounger really waiting for so at the water, and sometimes ca Arthur less conspicuous

When Miss Wade and the , 'You must

wait until to-morrow'

'A thousand pardons?' he returned 'My faith! Then it's not convenient

to-night?'

'No I tell you I ive it to you'

She stopped in the roadway, as if to put an end to the conference He of

course stopped too And the girl stopped

'It's a little inconvenient,' said thein such a service I aood banker in this city, but I would not wish to draw

upon the house until the time when I shall draw for a round suentle him soentleman which was more contemptuous than any eain, and the girl spoke to him as

they both followed her Clennairl as they

Moved away He could note that her rich black eyes were fastened upon

theexpression, and that she kept at a little

distance from him, as they walked side by side to the further end of the

terrace

A loud and altered clank upon the pave there, that the ed into the road, towards the railing; and the , with the end of his cloak thrown over his shoulder,

singing a scrap of a French song

The whole vista had no one in it now but hied out of view, and Miss Wade and Tattycora what becaood friend, Mr Meagles, he went out at the further end of

the terrace, looking cautiously about hied that, at

first at all events, they would go in a contrary direction fro bye-street, which was

not a thoroughfare, evidently allowing tiet well

out of their way They walked leisurely arm-in-arm down one side of the

street, and returned on the opposite side When they caed their pace for the pace of people with an

object and a distance before them, and walked steadily away Clennaht