It was not so easy as it had appeared at first to arrange forRichard's making a trial of Mr. Kenge's office. Richard himselfwas the chief impediment. As soon as he had it in his power toleave Mr. Badger at any moment, he began to doubt whether he wantedto leave him at all. He didn't know, he said, really. It wasn't abad profession; he couldn't assert that he disliked it; perhaps heliked it as well as he liked any other--suppose he gave it one morechance! Upon that, he shut himself up for a few weeks with somebooks and some bones and seemed to acquire a considerable fund ofinformation with great rapidity. His fervour, after lasting abouta month, began to cool, and when it was quite cooled, began to growwarm again. His vacillations between law and medicine lasted solong that midsummer arrived before he finally separated from Mr.
Badger and entered on an experimental course of Messrs. Kenge andCarboy. For all his waywardness, he took great credit to himselfas being determined to be in earnest "this time." And he was sogood-natured throughout, and in such high spirits, and so fond ofAda, that it was very difficult indeed to be otherwise than pleasedwith him.
"As to Mr. Jarndyce," who, I may mention, found the wind muchgiven, during this period, to stick in the east; "As to Mr.
Jarndyce," Richard would say to me, "he is the finest fellow in theworld, Esther! I must be particularly careful, if it were only forhis satisfaction, to take myself well to task and have a regularwind-up of this business now."The idea of his taking himself well to task, with that laughingface and heedless manner and with a fancy that everything couldcatch and nothing could hold, was ludicrously anomalous. However,he told us between-whiles that he was doing it to such an extentthat he wondered his hair didn't turn grey. His regular wind-up ofthe business was (as I have said) that he went to Mr. Kenge's aboutmidsummer to try how he liked it.
All this time he was, in money affairs, what I have described himin a former illustration--generous, profuse, wildly careless, butfully persuaded that he was rather calculating and prudent. Ihappened to say to Ada, in his presence, half jestingly, halfseriously, about the time of his going to Mr. Kenge's, that heneeded to have Fortunatus' purse, he made so light of money, whichhe answered in this way, "My jewel of a dear cousin, you hear thisold woman! Why does she say that? Because I gave eight pounds odd(or whatever it was) for a certain neat waistcoat and buttons a fewdays ago. Now, if I had stayed at Badger's I should have beenobliged to spend twelve pounds at a blow for some heart-breakinglecture-fees. So I make four pounds--in a lump--by thetransaction!"It was a question much discussed between him and my guardian whatarrangements should be made for his living in London while heexperimented on the law, for we had long since gone back to BleakHouse, and it was too far off to admit of his coming there oftenerthan once a week. My guardian told me that if Richard were tosettle down at Mr. Kenge's he would take some apartments orchambers where we too could occasionally stay for a few days at atime; "but, little woman," he added, rubbing his head verysignificantly, "he hasn't settled down there yet!" The discussionsended in our hiring for him, by the month, a neat little furnishedlodging in a quiet old house near Queen Square. He immediatelybegan to spend all the money he had in buying the oddest littleornaments and luxuries for this lodging; and so often as Ada and Idissuaded him from making any purchase that he had in contemplationwhich was particularly unnecessary and expensive, he took creditfor what it would have cost and made out that to spend anythingless on something else was to save the difference.
While these affairs were in abeyance, our visit to Mr. Boythorn'swas postponed. At length, Richard having taken possession of hislodging, there was nothing to prevent our departure. He could havegone with us at that time of the year very well, but he was in thefull novelty of his new position and was making most energeticattempts to unravel the mysteries of the fatal suit. Consequentlywe went without him, and my darling was delighted to praise him forbeing so busy.
We made a pleasant journey down into Lincolnshire by the coach andhad an entertaining companion in Mr. Skimpole. His furniture hadbeen all cleared off, it appeared, by the person who tookpossession of it on his blue-eyed daughter's birthday, but heseemed quite relieved to think that it was gone. Chairs and table,he said, were wearisome objects; they were monotonous ideas, theyhad no variety of expression, they looked you out of countenance,and you looked them out of countenance. How pleasant, then, to bebound to no particular chairs and tables, but to sport like abutterfly among all the furniture on hire, and to flit fromrosewood to mahogany, and from mahogany to walnut, and from thisshape to that, as the humour took one!
"The oddity of the thing is," said Mr. Skimpole with a quickenedsense of the ludicrous, "that my chairs and tables were not paidfor, and yet my landlord walks off with them as composedly aspossible. Now, that seems droll! There is something grotesque init. The chair and table merchant never engaged to pay my landlordmy rent. Why should my landlord quarrel with HIM? If I have apimple on my nose which is disagreeable to my landlord's peculiarideas of beauty, my landlord has no business to scratch my chairand table merchant's nose, which has no pimple on it. Hisreasoning seems defective!""Well," said my guardian good-humouredly, "it's pretty clear thatwhoever became security for those chairs and tables will have topay for them.""Exactly!" returned Mr. Skimpole. "That's the crowning point ofunreason in the business! I said to my landlord, 'My good man, youare not aware that my excellent friend Jarndyce will have to payfor those things that you are sweeping off in that indelicatemanner. Have you no consideration for HIS property?' He hadn't theleast.""And refused all proposals," said my guardian.
"Refused all proposals," returned Mr. Skimpole. "I made himbusiness proposals. I had him into my room. I said, 'You are aman of business, I believe?' He replied, 'I am,' 'Very well,'
said I, 'now let us be business-like. Here is an inkstand, hereare pens and paper, here are wafers. What do you want? I haveoccupied your house for a considerable period, I believe to ourmutual satisfaction until this unpleasant misunderstanding arose;let us be at once friendly and business-like. What do you want?'
In reply to this, he made use of the figurative expression--whichhas something Eastern about it--that he had never seen the colourof my money. 'My amiable friend,' said I, 'I never have any money.
I never know anything about money.' 'Well, sir,' said he, 'what doyou offer if I give you time?' 'My good fellow,' said I, 'I haveno idea of time; but you say you are a man of business, andwhatever you can suggest to be done in a business-like way withpen, and ink, and paper--and wafers--I am ready to do. Don't payyourself at another man's expense (which is foolish), but bebusiness-like!' However, he wouldn't be, and there was an end ofit."If these were some of the inconveniences of Mr. Skimpole'schildhood, it assuredly possessed its advantages too. On thejourney he had a very good appetite for such refreshment as came inour way (including a basket of choice hothouse peaches), but neverthought of paying for anything. So when the coachman came roundfor his fee, he pleasantly asked him what he considered a very goodfee indeed, now--a liberal one--and on his replying half a crownfor a single passenger, said it was little enough too, all thingsconsidered, and left Mr. Jarndyce to give it him.
It was delightful weather. The green corn waved so beautifully,the larks sang so joyfully, the hedges were so full of wildflowers, the trees were so thickly out in leaf, the bean-fields,with a light wind blowing over them, filled the air with such adelicious fragrance! Late in the afternoon we came to the market-town where we were to alight from the coach--a dull little townwith a church-spire, and a marketplace, and a market-cross, and oneintensely sunny street, and a pond with an old horse cooling hislegs in it, and a very few men sleepily lying and standing about innarrow little bits of shade. After the rustling of the leaves andthe waving of the corn all along the road, it looked as still, ashot, as motionless a little town as England could produce.
At the inn we found Mr. Boythorn on horseback, waiting with an opencarriage to take us to his house, which was a few miles off. Hewas over-joyed to see us and dismounted with great alacrity.
"By heaven!" said he after giving us a courteous greeting. This amost infamous coach. It is the most flagrant example of anabominable public vehicle that ever encumbered the face of theearth. It is twenty-five minutes after its time this afternoon.
The coachman ought to be put to death!""IS he after his time?" said Mr. Skimpole, to whom he happened toaddress himself. "You know my infirmity.""Twenty-five minutes! Twenty-six minutes!" replied Mr. Boythorn,referring to his watch. "With two ladies in the coach, thisscoundrel has deliberately delayed his arrival six and twentyminutes. Deliberately! It is impossible that it can beaccidental! But his father--and his uncle--were the mostprofligate coachmen that ever sat upon a box."While he said this in tones of the greatest indignation, he handedus into the little phaeton with the utmost gentleness and was allsmiles and pleasure.
"I am sorry, ladies," he said, standing bare-headed at thecarriage-door when all was ready, "that I am obliged to conduct younearly two miles out of the way. But our direct road lies throughSir Leicester Dedlock's park, and in that fellow's property I havesworn never to set foot of mine, or horse's foot of mine, pendingthe present relations between us, while I breathe the breath oflife!" And here, catching my guardian's eye, he broke into one ofhis tremendous laughs, which seemed to shake even the motionlesslittle market-town.
"Are the Dedlocks down here, Lawrence?" said my guardian as wedrove along and Mr. Boythorn trotted on the green turf by theroadside.
"Sir Arrogant Numskull is here," replied Mr. Boythorn. "Ha ha ha!
Sir Arrogant is here, and I am glad to say, has been laid by theheels here. My Lady," in naming whom he always made a courtlygesture as if particularly to exclude her from any part in thequarrel, "is expected, I believe, daily. I am not in the leastsurprised that she postpones her appearance as long as possible.
Whatever can have induced that transcendent woman to marry thateffigy and figure-head of a baronet is one of the most impenetrablemysteries that ever baffled human inquiry. Ha ha ha ha!""I suppose, said my guardian, laughing, "WE may set foot in thepark while we are here? The prohibition does not extend to us,does it?""I can lay no prohibition on my guests," he said, bending his headto Ada and me with the smiling politeness which sat so gracefullyupon him, "except in the matter of their departure. I am onlysorry that I cannot have the happiness of being their escort aboutChesney Wold, which is a very fine place! But by the light of thissummer day, Jarndyce, if you call upon the owner while you staywith me, you are likely to have but a cool reception. He carrieshimself like an eight-day clock at all times, like one of a race ofeight-day clocks in gorgeous cases that never go and never went--Haha ha!--but he will have some extra stiffness, I can promise you,for the friends of his friend and neighbour Boythorn!""I shall not put him to the proof," said my guardian. "He is asindifferent to the honour of knowing me, I dare say, as I am to thehonour of knowing him. The air of the grounds and perhaps such aview of the house as any other sightseer might get are quite enoughfor me.""Well!" said Mr. Boythorn. "I am glad of it on the whole. It's inbetter keeping. I am looked upon about here as a second Ajaxdefying the lightning. Ha ha ha ha! When I go into our littlechurch on a Sunday, a considerable part of the inconsiderablecongregation expect to see me drop, scorched and withered, on thepavement under the Dedlock displeasure. Ha ha ha ha! I have nodoubt he is surprised that I don't. For he is, by heaven, the mostself-satisfied, and the shallowest, and the most coxcombical andutterly brainless ass!"Our coming to the ridge of a hill we had been ascending enabled ourfriend to point out Chesney Wold itself to us and diverted hisattention from its master.
It was a picturesque old house in a fine park richly wooded. Amongthe trees and not far from the residence he pointed out the spireof the little church of which he had spoken. Oh, the solemn woodsover which the light and shadow travelled swiftly, as if heavenlywings were sweeping on benignant errands through the summer air;the smooth green slopes, the glittering water, the garden where theflowers were so symmetrically arranged in clusters of the richestcolours, how beautiful they looked! The house, with gable andchimney, and tower, and turret, and dark doorway, and broadterrace-walk, twining among the balustrades of which, and lyingheaped upon the vases, there was one great flush of roses, seemedscarcely real in its light solidity and in the serene and peacefulhush that rested on all around it. To Ada and to me, that aboveall appeared the pervading influence. On everything, house,garden, terrace, green slopes, water, old oaks, fern, moss, woodsagain, and far away across the openings in the prospect to thedistance lying wide before us with a purple bloom upon it, thereseemed to be such undisturbed repose.
When we came into the little village and passed a small inn withthe sign of the Dedlock Arms swinging over the road in front, Mr.
Boythorn interchanged greetings with a young gentleman sitting on abench outside the inn-door who had some fishing-tackle lying besidehim.
"That's the housekeeper's grandson, Mr. Rouncewell by name," said,he, "and he is in love with a pretty girl up at the house. LadyDedlock has taken a fancy to the pretty girl and is going to keepher about her own fair person--an honour which my young friendhimself does not at all appreciate. However, he can't marry justyet, even if his Rosebud were willing; so he is fain to make thebest of it. In the meanwhile, he comes here pretty often for a dayor two at a time to--fish. Ha ha ha ha!""Are he and the pretty girl engaged, Mr. Boythorn?" asked Ada.
"Why, my dear Miss Clare," he returned, "I think they may perhapsunderstand each other; but you will see them soon, I dare say, andI must learn from you on such a point--not you from me."Ada blushed, and Mr. Boythorn, trotting forward on his comely greyhorse, dismounted at his own door and stood ready with extended armand uncovered head to welcome us when we arrived.
He lived in a pretty house, formerly the parsonage house, with alawn in front, a bright flower-garden at the side, and a well-stocked orchard and kitchen-garden in the rear, enclosed with avenerable wall that had of itself a ripened ruddy look. But,indeed, everything about the place wore an aspect of maturity andabundance. The old lime-tree walk was like green cloisters, thevery shadows of the cherry-trees and apple-trees were heavy withfruit, the gooseberry-bushes were so laden that their branchesarched and rested on the earth, the strawberries and raspberriesgrew in like profusion, and the peaches basked by the hundred onthe wall. Tumbled about among the spread nets and the glass framessparkling and winking in the sun there were such heaps of droopingpods, and marrows, and cucumbers, that every foot of groundappeared a vegetable treasury, while the smell of sweet herbs andall kinds of wholesome growth (to say nothing of the neighbouringmeadows where the hay was carrying) made the whole air a greatnosegay. Such stillness and composure reigned within the orderlyprecincts of the old red wall that even the feathers hung ingarlands to scare the birds hardly stirred; and the wall had such aripening influence that where, here and there high up, a disusednail and scrap of list still clung to it, it was easy to fancy thatthey had mellowed with the changing seasons and that they hadrusted and decayed according to the common fate.
The house, though a little disorderly in comparison with thegarden, was a real old house with settles in the chimney of thebrick-floored kitchen and great beams across the ceilings. On oneside of it was the terrible piece of ground in dispute, where Mr.
Boythorn maintained a sentry in a smock-frock day and night, whoseduty was supposed to be, in cases of aggression, immediately toring a large bell hung up there for the purpose, to unchain a greatbull-dog established in a kennel as his ally, and generally to dealdestruction on the enemy. Not content with these precautions, Mr.
Boythorn had himself composed and posted there, on painted boardsto which his name was attached in large letters, the followingsolemn warnings: "Beware of the bull-dog. He is most ferocious.
Lawrence Boythorn." "The blunderbus is loaded with slugs.
Lawrence Boythorn." "Man-traps and spring-guns are set here at alltimes of the day and night. Lawrence Boythorn." "Take notice.
That any person or persons audaciously presuming to trespass onthis property will be punished with the utmost severity of privatechastisement and prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the law.
Lawrence Boythorn." These he showed us from the drawing-roomwindow, while his bird was hopping about his head, and he laughed,"Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!" to that extent as he pointed them outthat I really thought he would have hurt himself.
"But this is taking a good deal of trouble," said Mr. Skimpole inhis light way, "when you are not in earnest after all.""Not in earnest!" returned Mr. Boythorn with unspeakable warmth.
"Not in earnest! If I could have hoped to train him, I would havebought a lion instead of that dog and would have turned him looseupon the first intolerable robber who should dare to make anencroachment on my rights. Let Sir Leicester Dedlock consent tocome out and decide this question by single combat, and I will meethim with any weapon known to mankind in any age or country. I amthat much in earnest. Not more!"We arrived at his house on a Saturday. On the Sunday morning weall set forth to walk to the little church in the park. Enteringthe park, almost immediately by the disputed ground, we pursued apleasant footpath winding among the verdant turf and the beautifultrees until it brought us to the church-porch.
The congregation was extremely small and quite a rustic one withthe exception of a large muster of servants from the house, some ofwhom were already in their seats, while others were yet droppingin. There were some stately footmen, and there was a perfectpicture of an old coachman, who looked as if he were the officialrepresentative of all the pomps and vanities that had ever been putinto his coach. There was a very pretty show of young women, andabove them, the handsome old face and fine responsible portlyfigure of the housekeeper towered pre-eminent. The pretty girl ofwhom Mr. Boythorn had told us was close by her. She was so verypretty that I might have known her by her beauty even if I had notseen how blushingly conscious she was of the eyes of the youngfisherman, whom I discovered not far off. One face, and not anagreeable one, though ............