Bleak House

ed in hisroom, at Mrs. Jellyby's; and then he turned to me

Mr. Carstone--or MissClare--"But no, they knew

th his back to the fireand casting his eyes

g else attracts her)devoted to the subject of Africa, with a view to the generalcultivation of the coffee berry--AND the natives--and the happysettlement, on the banks of the African rivers, of oursuperabundant home population. Mr. J

lyby, sir?" su

andescribe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband

perior man, but he is, so to speak, merged--merged--in themore shining qualities of his wife." Mr. Kenge proceeded to tellus that as the road to Bleak House would have been very long, dark,and tedious on

tle bell, and the yo

oxes and the rest of the baggage had been "sentround." Mr. Guppy said yes, they had

n (good day, Miss Clare!) thearrangement this day concluded and my (GOOD-bye to you, MissSummerson!) lively

of allconcerned! Guppy, see the party safely there.""Where

nge in London.""Only round the corner," said Mr. Guppy. "We just twist upChancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in fourm

very dense i

f for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got uponthe box; and we all three laughed and chatted about ourinexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up underan archway to our destination--a narrow street of hi

been and got his head throughthe area railings!""Oh, poor child," said I; "let me out, if you please

ssion that his skull was compressible by those means. As Ifound (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with anaturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head couldgo, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode ofextrication might be to push him forward. This was so favourablyreceived by the milkm

t home, and was quitesurprised when the person appeared in the passage without thepattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor beforeAda and me, announced us as, "Them two young ladies, MissisJellyby!" We passed several m

stair--Richard afterwardssaid he counted seven, besides one for the landing--received uswith perfect equanimity. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plumpwoman of from forty

acknowledgments and sat down behind the door,where there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Mrs. Jellyby had verygood hair but was too much occupied with her African duties tobrush it. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled droppedonto

notonly very untidy but very dirty. We were obliged to take notice ofthat with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense ofh

staring at us. I suppose nobody everwas in such a state of ink. And from her tumbled hair to herpretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken sat

ars, as usual, very busy; but that you willexcuse. The African project at present employs my whole time. Itinvolves me in correspondence with public bodies and with privateindividuals anxious for the welfare of their species all over thecountry. I am happy to say it is a

re confident of success every day. Do youknow, Miss Summerson, I almost wonder that YOU never turned yourthoughts to Africa."This application of the subject

lborn, without precaution, and be run over. You may go intoHolborn, with precaution,

eneral subject, which have been extensively circulated, while Ifinish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is myam

e finished for the pr

never done. Whereare you, Caddy?""'Presents her c

child who had fallendownstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presentinghimself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit hiswounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know wh

tonished at it and at Ada's kissing him, but soon fellfast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals,until he was quiet. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost theletter in detail, thoug

r rooms. You will like to make some change,perhaps? You will excuse me, I know, being so much occupied. Oh,that very bad child! Pray put him down,

er rooms with a door of

disorderly, and the curtain to my

ou?" said Miss Jellyby,looking round for a j

t being troubl

a marshy smellthat I must confess it was a little miserable, and Ada was halfcrying. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking wh

situations of danger between thehinges of the doors. It was impossible to shut the door of eitherroom, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to bewound up; and though the handle of Ada's went round and round withthe greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatev

ase window with afloating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in aflannel bandage blowing

we all sat coughing andcrying with the wind

ay, a great relief tome, for Richard told us that he had washed his hands in a pie-dishand that they had found

ock we went down to din

excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speakof, but it was almost raw. The young woman with the flannelbandage waited, and dropped everything on the table wherever ithappened to go, and never moved i

corkscrew coming off and striking the youngwoman in the chin--Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of herdisposition. She told us a great deal that wa

ons from people excited in various ways about thecultivation of coffee, and natives; others required answers, andthese she sent her eldest

settlement. As he never spoke a word,he might have been a native but for his complexion. It was notuntil we left the table and he remained alone with Richard that thepossibility of his being Mr. Jellyby ever entered my head. But heWAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man call

onehundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in asingle day, have you not?" or, "If my memory does not deceive me,Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off fivethousand circulars from one post-office at one time?"--alwaysrepeating Mrs. Jellyby's answer to us like an interpreter. Duringthe

aste paper, drank coffeeall the evening and

ever, forPeepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in acorner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat downamong them and told them in whispers "Puss in Boots" and I don'tknow what else until Mrs. Jellyby, acc

d to burn, whichat last it did, quite brightly. On my return downstairs, I feltthat Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me

ng tobed, and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers

Jarndyce to send us here!""My love," said I, "it quite confuses me. I want to unde

neck as I stood looking at thefire, and told me I was a quiet, dear, good creature and had wonher heart. "You are so thoughtful, Esther," she said, "and yet socheerful! And you do so much, so unpretend

?" said I when we had sat b

undred,"

to me?"Shaking her golden hair, Ada turned her eyes upon me with suchlaughing w

er!" sh

y cousin Jarndyce?""My dear, I never saw

, to b

trusted above all earthly things; and Adatrusted it. Her cousin Jarndyce had written to her a few monthsago--"a plain, honest letter," Ada said--proposing the arrangementwe were now to enter on and telling her that

ly once, five years ago

thefire where I found them, that he recollected him as "a bluff

wondering about Bleak House, andwondering and wondering that yesterday morning should seem so l

vering there with abroken candle in a broken ca

t!" she said

night!

rtly and unexpectedly aske

e fire dipping her inkymiddle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smea

was dead!" she

oing to r

I was sorry. I put my hand upon herhead, and touched her forehead, and said it was hot now but wouldbe cool tomorrow. Sh

id with the same knitted brow

nted wit

nce, and play music, andsing? She can talk French, I suppose, and do ge

s to come in this afternoon and see me able todo nothing else. It was like your ill nature. Yet you thinkyourselves very fine, I dare say!"I

isdisgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I'M disgraceful. Pa'

idn'tsmell her today. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting

ssSummerson.""My dear," said I, "as long as you won't hear me out--""I don't want to hear you out.""Oh, yes, I think you do," said I, "because that would be so veryunreasonable. I did

t stillwith the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, shecame softly back and stood by the side of m

ut. "I wish we were all dead. Itwo

e in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. Icomforted her a

rlfell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that itshould rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. The firewent out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashygrate. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to losemyself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. Atlength, by slow degrees, the

e of a dirty-faced little spectre fixedupon me. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in