come into possession of a fortune, and has retired from the service.

A handsome gentleman, with a young face, but an older figure in its robustness and its breadth of shoulder, - say a man of eight and twenty, or, at the utmost, thirty,—so extremely sunburnt, that the contrast between his brown visage and the white forehead, shaded out of doors by his hat, and the glimpses of white throat below the neckerchief, would have been almost ludicrous, but for his broad temples, bright blue eyes, clustering brown hair, and laughing teeth. xvii, xxi, xxii.

Tisher, Mrs.

A deferential widow, with a weak back, a chronic sigh, and a suppressed voice, who looks after the young ladies' wardrobes at the Nuns' House, Miss Twinkleton's seminary at Cloisterham. ii, vii, ix, xiii.

Tope, Mr. Chief verger of Cloisterham Cathedral. ii, vi, xii, xiv, xvi, xviii, xxiii.

Tope, Mrs. His wife. ii, xii, xiv, xvi, xviii, xxiii. Twinkleton, Miss. Mistress of a boarding-school for young ladies in Cloisterham, attended by Rosa Bud and Helena Landless.

In the midst of Cloisterham stands the Nuns' House, a venerable brick edifice, whose present appellation is doubtless derived from the legend of its conventual uses. On the trim gate inclosing its old courtyard is a resplendent brass plate, flashing forth the legend, "Seminary for Young Ladies. Miss Twinkleton." The house-front is so old and worn, and the brass plate is so shining and staring, that the general result has reminded imaginative strangers of a battered old beau with a large modern eye-glass stuck in his blind eye.

Miss Twinkleton has two distinct and separate phases of being. Every night, the moment the young ladies have retired to rest, does Miss Twinkleton smarten up her curls a little, brighten up her eyes a little, and become a sprightlier Miss Twinkleton than the young ladies have ever seen. Every night, at the same hour, does Miss Twinkleton resume the topics of the previous night, comprehending the tenderer scandal of Cloisterham, of which she has no knowledge whatever by day, and references to a certain season at Tunbridge Wells (airily called by Miss Twinkleton, in this state of her existence, "The Wells"), notably the season wherein a certain finished gentleman (compassionately called by Miss Twinkleton, in this state of her existence, "Foolish Mr. Porters") revealed a homage of the heart, whereof Miss Twinkleton, in her scholastic state of existence, is as ignorant as a granite pillar. iii, vi, vii, ix, xiii, xxii.

II

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MARTIN

CHUZZLEWIT

OUTLINE

Chapter To record the life and adventures of one Chuzzlewit, it is expedient first to trace the Chuzzlewit race itself from Adam downward, and then, having got them upon their feet, to bring to notice one or two persons who lived in the same world with Martin; as, for example, Mr. Pecksniff, architect and land surveyor, coming home on a gusty night and knocked off his own doorstep by the slamming of his own door in his face. Mr. Pecksniff was rescued from his sudden plight by his two daughters, Charity and Mercy, named, apparently, on the general principle which dubbed Ptolemy Philadelphus, and as the three sat before the fire, and Mr. Pecksniff notified his daughters that a young gentleman was coming as a student in the place of John Westlock, who was going, Westlock himself appeared, preceded by the faithful Tom Pinch, Pecksniff's one constant student and drudge, who tried in vain to make his master recognize with friendliness his dear friend, and his friend to confess the virtues of his master, — virtues which Mr. Pecksniff wore conspicuously, nay, even flaunted.

Now, at the very time when this was going on, there lay at III the Blue Dragon in the village an old man, apparently very low. His attendant was a young girl not more than seventeen, and his landlady, Mrs. Lupin, being at her wits' end, and having tried in vain to get the village apothecary, sent a messenger to summon Mr. Pecksniff, as being a man of learning and of vast morality. Mr. Pecksniff came, and recognized shortly the countenance of a cousin of his, Martin Chuzzlewit, the elder, who proceeded, in the bitterness of his soul, to pour out a general execration on the world, having already, before the entrance of Pecksniff, destroyed what appeared to be his last will and testament. The discovery of the presence of the old gentleman in the village was, however, sufficient to put Mr. Pecksniff very much on the alert. Thenceforth he haunted the Blue Dragon, and in his anxiety not to fail his ancient relative at any moment, he went as far as the keyhole to the door repeatedly. On one of these excursions in the dark he came unex

IV

pectedly in contact with another head, and, on both owners of these heads coming to the light, the one which belonged to the intruder proved to be that of one Montague Tigg, a hanger-on and confidential friend of Chevy Slyme, an impecunious kinsman of Martin Chuzzlewit. Then it transpired that the village was, so to speak, full of the kinsfolk of the dying man. They laid siege to the Blue Dragon, and failing to capture the citadel, they all met at Mr. Pecksniff's house with a view to conferring upon the measures to pursue, especially with reference to the designing young creature who appeared to be the only one in the confidence of old Martin Chuzzlewit. As they sat in conference, held back from tearing each other's hair only by their common greed, a messenger burst in with the news that the old man and the girl had escaped them altogether by actually leaving the Blue Dragon and the village itself for parts unknown.

V

If one Martin Chuzzlewit disappeared, another took his place, for Tom Pinch was sent in a chaise to Salisbury to bring back the new pupil, for whom he was to ask at the inn by the name of Mr. Martin. Tom drove cheerily along, picking up by the way his acquaintance, Mark Tapley, quondam man-of-all-work at the Blue Dragon, - a man of great contrariety, inasmuch as, being a man of great good humor, he was depressed by the consciousness of the want of merit in being good humored when everything favored the virtue, and so studied the art of being jolly under adverse circumstances. At the inn Tom encountered Mr. Martin, who proved to be grandson to the old Martin Chuzzlewit, and bearing the same name. He was a comfortably selfish fellow, and Tom Pinch, in the innocence of his heart, beguiled the journey home by an account of his own adventures as volunteer organist in a little church, where he had had a vision of loveliness in a listener whose name and home he had, in his delicacy, never sought to learn. Arrived at the Pecksniffs', they found that worthy family engaged artlessly in occupations which betrayed their wise and beautiful natures. Mr. Pecksniff initiated Martin into the sanctities of his new home, and Tom Pinch was graciously permitted to share in the frugal festivities.

The next day Mr. Pecksniff took his two daughters with VI him to London for a week, leaving Tom Pinch and Martin Chuzzlewit by themselves. Tom made himself extremely useful in getting the party ready to go, and Martin had a private conference with Mr. Pecksniff on personal business, but when the two young men were left to themselves in the evening, Martin, who was in low spirits, was driven to making a confidant of Tom, and disclosed to him the fact that he had been brought up by his grandfather, that

he had reasonable expectations of inheriting his grandfather's property, and was in love with the young girl who was his grandfather's constant companion, but that the obstinate old gentleman was so selfish, and the young woman so unreasonably governed by a mistaken sense of duty, that he was practically left out in the cold. The young woman, it appears, he had identified as the object of Tom Pinch's silent admiration.

VII

As the two were at work the next morning, for Mr. Pecksniff had set Martin to work designing a grammar school, they were interrupted by the apparition of a most out-at-the-elbows man, who was none other than Montague Tigg, on an errand to see if he could insinuate out of Tom Pinch's pocket enough to pay the score which he and Chevy Slyme had run up at the Blue Dragon, on account of which they were miserably detained by the landlady. At the mention of Chevy Slyme's name Martin was uncomfortably stirred, for he recognized that disreputable man of unacknowledged genius as a kinsman; so he persuaded Tom to stand as a sort of surety for the two men, and the three set off for the Blue Dragon, accompanied by Mark Tapley, who had indeed escorted Mr. Tigg to Mr. Pecksniff's, being unwilling to lose sight of so valuable a piece of portable property as a walking debt. At the Blue Dragon, the landlady, Mrs. Lupin, cheerfully accepted Tom Pinch as security, and Mr. Tigg bound Tom still faster to him by borrowing a sovereign of him in the most elaborate and punctilious fashion. It was after they had all left that Mark Tapley announced his resolution to leave the Blue Dragon in search of his fortunes, after making the parting as difficult as possible by avowing his love for Mrs. Lupin.

VIII

Mr. Pecksniff and his daughters had, as we have seen, got the start of him, and they found when fairly off in the coach for London that they had companions on the journey, old Anthony Chuzzlewit, one of the disappointed kinsfolk, and his sharp-set son Jonas, who had been lingering in the neighborhood looking out for business chances. Jonas devoted himself to the girls, with a keen eye for Mercy, the younger, who had giggled herself into his good graces at an early hour. The two parties separated when they reached London, and Mr. Pecksniff and his daughters made their way in the foggy morning of their arrival to the boardinghouse of M. Todgers. M. Todgers, who was a woman, kept a house for men only, but Mr. Pecksniff, who had formerly resorted to the place, decided on prudential grounds that Todgers would take them all in, and so Todgers did. The conveniences were not great, but it was much to be at Todgers's, which was inscrutably hidden in a very perplexed neighborhood. Here, under the eye of Mrs. Todgers, the young ladies could be secure, and that excellent

IX

landlady treated them with all the indulgence of a prospective stepmother. One day the whole party sallied forth to look up Ruth Pinch, Tom's sister, to whom Mr. Pecksniff bore a letter from Tom. Ruth was governess in the family of a wealthy and haughty brass and copper founder at Camberwell, and there they found her instructing the very knowing young daughter of the establishment. With unspeakable condescension Mr. Pecksniff greeted the grateful sister of his grateful pupil, and kept his eye, as did his daughters and Mrs. Todgers, on the daughter of the house. As they retired at a very decided hint conveyed by the footman, Mr. Pecksniff, in the character of architect, uttered large and discriminating flattery on the mansion; he continued his observations in an audible tone when they were outside, and though he was ordered off the premises by the owner, he managed to retreat in dignified style, reserving his wrath for use a little farther away. The disagreeable incident was wiped out of memory, however, by an affair the next day, Sunday, when at the united request of the boarders at Todgers's, headed by Jinkins the Father of Todgers, the young ladies received the hospitality of the house and were guests at the dinner table. The evening closed with such draughts of gayety that Mr. Pecksniff finally had to be borne off to his chamber, whence he issued time and again with scraps of morality saved from his long-hoarded store, and he was finally reduced to peace only by having his door locked and young Bailey, the vivacious servant boy of the establishment, stationed as sentinel outside.

The business which had brought Mr. Pecksniff to town X appeared when, after a prolonged stay at Todgers's, old Martin Chuzzlewit one day paid a visit. For some reason known to himself he made friends with his kinsfolk and apparently took them into favor, mysteriously hinting that they should be the gainers by doing his bidding, and then insisted upon the dismissal of his grandson from their house.

Scarcely had he left them before sounds in the next room caught their notice. It was the voice of the youngest gentleman of the house, who was bitterly jealous of Mr. Jinkins, and was now engaged in a stormy interview with Mrs. Todgers, who succeeded at last in pacifying him and retaining his allegiance as a boarder. She could scarcely afford to affront eighteen shillings a week, or even to be very particular about the truthfulness of her discourse to him. But the Pecksniff sisters had indeed introduced a new atmosphere at Todgers's. It was shortly before they were to leave that young Bailey one day at noon announced a visitor for Miss PeckXI sniff. On going to the parlor she found Jonas Chuzzlewit, who reproached her for giving him so much trouble in finding his