Philanthropy, Professional and Unprofessional

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seventeen of the Mystery of Edwin Drude. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Allan Chant The Mystery of Edwin Drude, The

(00:24):
Unfinished Novel by Charles Dickens, Chapter seventeen Philanthropy Professional and Unprofessional.
Full half a year had come and gone, and mister
Chris Sparkle sat in a waiting room in the London
Chief Offices of the Haven of Philanthropy until he could

(00:48):
have audience of mister honey Thunder. In his college days
of athletic exercises, mister Chris Sparkle had known professors of
the noble art of fisticuffs, and had attended two or
three of their gloved gatherings. He had now an opportunity
of observing that as to the phrenological formation of the

(01:09):
backs of their heads, the professing philanthropists were uncommonly like
the pugilists in the development of all those organs which
constitute or attend a propensity to pitch in to your
fellow creatures. The philanthropists were remarkably favored. There were several

(01:30):
professors passing in and out with exactly the aggressive air
upon them of being ready for a turn up with
any novice who might happen to be on hand. That
mister Chris Sparkle well remembered in the circles of the fancy,
preparations were in progress for a moral little mill somewhere

(01:51):
on the rural circuit, and other professors were backing this
or that heavy weight as good for such or such speek,
making hits so very much after the manner of the
sporting publicans that the intended resolutions might have been rounds in.
An official manager of these displays, much celebrated for his

(02:12):
platform tactics, mister Chrispartho, recognized in a suit of black,
the counterpart of a deceased benefactor of his species, an
eminent public character, once known to fame as Frosty Faced Fogo,
who in days of yore superintended the formation of the
magic circle with the ropes and stakes. There were only

(02:36):
three conditions of resemblance wanting between these professors and those. Firstly,
the philanthropists were in very bad training, much too fleshy
and presenting both in face and figure, a superabundance of
what is known to pugilistic experts as suet pudding. Secondly,

(02:59):
the philanthropists had not the good temper of the pugilists
and used worst language. Thirdly, their fighting code stood in
great need of revision, as empowering them not only to
bore their man to the ropes, but to bore him
to the confines of distraction. Also to hit him when

(03:20):
he was down, hit him anywhere and anyhow, kick him,
stamp upon him, gouge him, and maul him behind his
back without mercy. In these last particulars, the professors of
the noble art were much nobler than the professors of philanthropy.

(03:42):
Mister Chris Sparkle was so completely lost in musing on
these similarities and dissimilarities at the same time watching the
crowd which came and went by, always as it seemed,
on errands of antagonistically snatching something from somebody and never
giving anything to anybody, that his name was called before

(04:04):
he heard it on his At length responding, he was
shown by miserably shabby and underpaid stipendary philanthropist who could
hardly have done worse if he had taken service with
a declared enemy of the human race to mister honey
Thunder's room, Sir, said mister honey Thunder, in his tremendous voice,

(04:29):
like a schoolmaster issuing orders to a boy of whom
he had a bad opinion. Sit down, mister Chris Sparkle
seated himself, mister honey Thunder, having signed the remaining few
score of a few thousand circulars, calling upon corresponding numbers
of families without means to come forward, stump up instantly

(04:53):
and be philanthropists, or go to the devil another shabby
stipendary philanthropy, highly disinterested if in earnest gathered these into
a basket and walked off with them. Now, mister Crisparkle,
said mister honey Thunder, turning his chair half round towards

(05:15):
him when they were alone, and squaring his arms with
his hands on his knees and his brows knitted as
if he added, I am going to make short work
of you now, mister Chrisparkle. We entertain different views, you
and I, sir, of the sanctity of human life? Do

(05:37):
we returned the minor cannon? We do, sir? Might I
ask you? Said the Minor Canon, what are your views
on that subject? That human life is a thing to
be held sacred? Sir? Might I ask you, pursued the

(05:58):
Minor Cannon as before, what you suppose to be my
views on that subject? By George? Sir, returned the philanthropist,
squaring his arms still more as he frowned. Or, mister
Chris Sparkle, they are best known to yourself, readily admitted.
But you began by saying that we took different views.

(06:21):
You know therefore, or you could not say so, you
must have set up some views as mine. Pray what
views have you set up as mine? Here is a
man and a young man, said mister honey Thunder, as
if that made the matter infinitely worse, And he could

(06:43):
have easily borne the loss of an old one swept
off the face of the earth by her deed of violence?
What do you call that murder? Said the minor Cannon.
And what do you call the doer of that deed, sir?

(07:04):
A murderer, said the Minor Canon. I am glad to
hear you admit, so, sir, retorted mister honey Thunder, in
his most offensive manner. And I candidly tell you that
I didn't expect it here, he lowered heavily at mister Chrisparkle, again,
be so good as to explain what you mean by

(07:26):
those very unjustifiable expressions. I don't sit here, sir, returned
the philanthropist, raising his voice to a roar. To be
browbeaten as the only other person present. No one can
possibly know that better than I do, returned the minor

(07:50):
canon very quietly. But I interrupt your explanation. Murder proceeded
mister honey thunder in a kind of boisterous reverie with
his platform folding of his arms and his platform nod
of a borrent reflection after each short sentiment of a
word bloodshed Abel Caine. I hold no terms with Cain.

(08:18):
I repudiate with a shudder the red hand when it
has offered me. Instead of instantly leaping into his chair
and cheering himself hoarse, as the Brotherhood in Public Meeting
assembled would infallibly have done on this cue, mister Chrisparkle
merely reversed the quiet crossing of his legs and said, mildly,

(08:40):
don't let me interrupt your explanation when you begin it.
The commandment say no murder, No murder, Sir, proceeded mister
honey Thunder, platformally, pausing as if he took mister Chris
Sparkle to task for having disturs asserted that they said

(09:02):
you may do a little murder and then leave off,
and they also say you shall bear no false witness
observed mister Chris Sparkle, enough bellowed mister honey Thunder, with
a solemnity and severity that would have brought the house
down at a meeting. E enough, my late wards being

(09:27):
now of age, and I being released from a trust
which I cannot contemplate without a thrill of horror. There
are the accounts which you have undertaken to accept on
their behalf, and there is a statement of the balance
which you have undertaken to receive, and which you cannot

(09:49):
receive too soon. And let me tell you, sir, I
wish that, as a man and a minor canon, you
are better in employed with a NOD, better employed with
another NOD, better employed with another. And the three nods

(10:09):
added up. Mister Chris Sparkle rose, a little heated in
the face, but with perfect command of himself. Mister honey Thunder,
he said, taking up the papers referred to my being
better or worse employed than I am at present is
a matter of taste and opinion. You might think me

(10:31):
better employed in enrolling myself as a member of your society.
I indeed, sir, retorted mister honey Thunder, shaking his head
in a threatening manner. It would have been better for
you if you had done that long ago. I think otherwise, ah,

(10:53):
said mister honey Thunder, shaking his head again. I might
think one of your professions better employed in devoting himself
to the discovery and punishment of guilt than in leaving
that duty to be undertaken by a layman. I may

(11:14):
regard my profession from a point of view which teaches
me that its first duty is towards those who are
in necessity and tribulation, who are desolate and oppressed, said
mister Chris Sparkle. However, as I have quite clearly satisfied
myself that it is no part of my profession to

(11:36):
make professions, I say no more of that. But I
owe it to mister Neville, and to mister Neville's sister,
and in a much lower degree, to myself, to say
to you that I know I was in the full
possession and understanding of mister Neville's mind and heart at

(11:57):
the time of this occurrence, and that without in the
least coloring or concealing what was to be deplored in
him and required to be corrected. I feel certain that
his tale is true, feeling that certainty, I befriend him.
As long as that certainty shall last, I will befriend him.

(12:22):
And if any consideration could shake me in this resolve,
I should be so ashamed of myself for my meanness,
that no man's good opinion, no nor no woman's so gained,
could compensate me for the loss of my own good fellow,
manly fellow. And he was so modest too. There was

(12:46):
no more self assertion in the minor cannon than in
the schoolboy who had stood in the breezy playing fields
keeping a wicket. He was simply and staunchly true to
his duty. Alike in the large case and in the small,
So all true souls ever are, so, every true soul
ever was, ever is, and ever shall be. There is

(13:10):
nothing little to the truly great in spirit. Then who
do you make out did the deed? Asked mister honey Thunder,
turning on him, abruptly. Heaven forbid, said mister Chris Sparkle
that in my desire to clear one man, I should
lightly criminate another. I accuse no one. Chah ejaculated mister

(13:37):
honey Thunder with great disgust, for this was, by no
means the principle on which the philanthropic brotherhood usually proceeded.
And Sir, you are not a disinterested witness. We must
bear in mind. How am I an interested one? Inquired
mister Chris Sparkle, smiling innocently. At a loss to imagine

(14:01):
there was a certain stipen, Sir, paid to you for
your pupil which may have warped your judgment a bit,
said mister honey Thunder coarsely. Perhaps I expect to retain
it still, mister Chrisparkle returned, enlightened. Do you mean that

(14:24):
too well? Sir, returned the professional philanthropist, getting up and
thrusting his hands down into his trouser pockets. I don't
go about measuring people for caps. If people find I
have any about me that fit em, they come put

(14:44):
'em on and wear em if they like. That's their lookout,
not mine. Mister Chrisparkle eyed him with a just indignation
and took him to task. Thus, mister Honeythunder, I hope
when I came in here that I might be under
no necessity of commenting on the introduction of platform manners

(15:08):
or platform maneuvers among the decent forbearances of private life.
But you have given me such a specimen of both
that I should be a fit subject for both if
I remained silently respecting them. They are detestable. They don't

(15:28):
suit you, I dare say, sir. They are repeated, mister
Chris Sparkle, without noticing the interruption. Detestable. They violate equally
the justice that should belong to Christians and the restraints
that should belong to gentlemen. You assume a great crime

(15:49):
to have been committed by one whom I acquainted with
the attendant circumstances, and, having numerous reasons on my side,
devoutly believe to be innocent of it. Because I differ
from you on that vital point. What is your platform resource?
Instantly to turn upon me, charging that I have no

(16:11):
sense of the enormity of the crime itself, but am
its aider and a better so another time, taking me
as representing your opponent. In other cases, you set up
a platform credulity, a moved and seconded, and carried unanimously
profession of faith in some ridiculous delusion or mischievous imposition.

(16:36):
I decline to believe it, and you fall back upon
your platform resource of proclaiming that I believe nothing that,
because I will not bow down to a false god
of your making, i'd hint ey the true God. Another time,
you make the platform discovery that war is a calamality,

(16:57):
and you propose to abolish it by a string of
twisted resolutions tossed into the air like the tail of
a kite. I do not admit the discovery to be
yours in the least, and I have not a grain
of faith in your remedy. Again, your platform resource of
representing me as reveling in the horrors of a battlefield

(17:21):
like a fiend incarnate. Another time, in another of your
undiscriminating platform rushes, you would punish the sober for the drunken.
I claim consideration for the comfort, convenience, and refreshment of
the sober, and you presently make platform proclamation that I

(17:43):
have a depraved desire to turn Heaven's creatures into swine
and wild beasts. In all such cases, your movers and
your seconders, and your supporters, your regular professors of all degrees,
run amuck like so many mad malaise, habitually attributing the

(18:03):
lowest and basest motives with the utmost recklessness. Let me
call your attention to a recent instance in yourself, for
which you should blush, and quoting figures which you know
to be as wilfully one sided as a statement of
any complicated account that should be all creditor side and

(18:24):
no debtor, or all debtor side and no creditor. Therefore,
it is, mister honey Thunder, that I consider the platform
a sufficiently bad example and a sufficiently bad school, even
in public life. But hold that carried into private life,
it becomes an unendurable nuisance. These are strong words, sir,

(18:51):
exclaimed the philanthropist. I hope, so said mister Chris Sparkle,
good morning. He walked out of the haven at a
great rate, but soon fell into his regular brisk pace,
and soon had a smile upon his face as he
went along, wondering what the China shepherdess would have said

(19:11):
if she had seen him pounding mister honeythunder in the
late little Lively affair. For mister Chris Sparkle had just
enough of harmless vanity to hope that he had hit hard,
and to glow with the belief that he had trimmed
the philanthropic jacket pretty handsomely. He took himself too staple

(19:33):
inn but not to p J T and mister Grugius.
Full many a creaking stair he climbed before he reached
some attic rooms in a corner, turned the latch of
their unbolted door, and stood beside the table of Neville Landless.
An air of retreat and solitude hung about the rooms

(19:55):
and about their inhabitant. He was much worn, and so
were they, their sloping ceilings, cumbrous, rusty locks and grates,
and heavy wooden bins and beams slowly moldering withal. Had
a prisonous look, and he had the haggard face of
a prisoner. Yet the sunshine stole in at the ugly

(20:17):
garret window, which had a penthouse to itself, thrust out
among the tiles, and in the cracked and smoke blackened
parapet beyond some of the deluded sparrows of the place
rheumatically hopped like little feathered cripples who had left their
crutches in their nests. And there was a play of
living leaves at hand that changed the air and made

(20:39):
an imperfect sort of music in it that would have
been melody in the country. The rooms were sparsely furnished,
but with good store of books. Everything expressed the abode
of a poor student. That mister Chris Sparkle had been
either chooser, lender or donor of the books, or that
he combined the three characters might have been easily seen

(21:03):
in the friendly beam of his eyes upon them as
he entered. How goes it? Neville? I am in good heart,
mister Chris Sparkle, and working away. I wish your eyes
were not quite so large and not quite so bright,
said the minor cannon, slowly releasing the hand he had

(21:23):
taken in his. They brighten at the sight of you, returned, Neville.
If you were to fall away from me, they would
soon be dull enough rally rally, urged the other in
a stimulating tone. Fight for it, Neville. If I were dying,
I feel as if a word from you would rally me.

(21:46):
If my pulse had stopped. I feel as if your
touch would make it beat again, said Neville. But I
have rallied and am doing famously. Mister Chris Sparkle turned
him with his face a little more towards the light.
I want to see a ruddier touch here, Neville, he said,

(22:07):
indicating his own healthy cheek by way of pattern. I
want more sun to shine upon you. Neville drooped suddenly,
as he replied in a lowered voice. I am not
hardy enough for that yet. I may become so, but
I cannot bear it yet. If you had gone through

(22:28):
those cloisterrum streets as I did, if you had seen
as I did, those averted eyes and the better sort
of people silently giving me too much room to pass
that I might not touch them or come near them,
you wouldn't think it quite unreasonable that I cannot go
about in the daylight, my poor fellow, said the minor Cannon,

(22:53):
in a tone so purely sympathetic that the young man
caught his hand. I never said it was unreasonable, never
thought so. But I should like you to do it,
and that would give me the strongest motive to do it.
But I cannot yet. I cannot persuade myself that the

(23:15):
eyes of even the stream of strangers I pass in
this vast city look at me without suspicion. I feel
marked and tainted even when I go out, as I
do only at night. But the darkness covers me then,
and I take courage from it. Mister Chris Sparkle laid

(23:38):
a hand upon his shoulder and stood looking down at him.
If I could have changed my name, said Neville, I
would have done so, But as you wisely pointed out
to me, I can't do that, for it would look
like guilt. If I could have gone to some distant place,

(23:59):
I might have found relief in that, but the thing
is not to be thought of for the same reason.
Hiding and escaping would be the construction. In either case,
it seems a little hard to be so tied to
a stake and innocent. But I don't complain, and you

(24:20):
must expect no miracle to help you, Neville, said mister
Chris Sparkle compassionately. No, sir, I know that the ordinary
fullness of time and circumstances is all I have to
trust to. It will right you at last, Neville. So
I believe, and I hope I may live to know it,

(24:45):
but perceiving that the despondent mood into which he was
falling cast a shadow on the Minor Cannon, and it
may be feeling that the broad hand upon his shoulder
was not then quite as steady as its own natural
strength that rendered it when it first touched him. Just
now he brightened and said, excellent circumstances for study, anyhow,

(25:07):
And you know, mister Chris Sparkle, what need I have
of study in all ways, not to mention that you
have advised me to study for the difficult profession of
the law specially, and that, of course I am guiding
myself by the advice of such a friend and helper,
such a good friend and helper. He took the fortifying

(25:29):
hand from his shoulder and kissed it. Mister Chris Sparkle
beamed at the books, but not so brightly as when
he had entered. I gather from your silence on the
subject that my late guardian is adverse, Mister Chris Sparkle,
the Minor Canon answered, your late guardian is a a

(25:53):
most unreasonable person, and it signifies nothing to any reasonable
person whether he is adverse, perverse, or the reverse. Well,
for me, that I have enough with economy to live upon,
sighed Neville, half wearily and half cheerily, while I wait

(26:15):
to be learned and wait to be righted. Else I
might have proved the proverb that while the grass grows,
the steed starves. He opened some books, as he said it,
and was soon immersed in their interleaved and annotated passages,
while mister Chrisparkle sat beside him, expounding, correcting, and advising.

(26:41):
The minor canons. Cathedral duties made these visits of his
difficult to accomplish, and only to be compassed at intervals
of many weeks. But they were as serviceable as they
were precious to Nevill Landless. When they had got through
such studies as they had in hand, they stood leaning
on the window sill and looking down upon the patch

(27:04):
of garden. Next week, said mister Chrisparkle, you will cease
to be alone and will have a devoted companion. And yet,
returned Neville, this seems an uncongenial place to bring my
sister to. I don't think so, said the minor Cannon.

(27:25):
There is duty to be done here, and there are
womanly feelings, sense and courage wanted here. I meant, explained Neville,
that the surroundings are so dull and unwomanly, and that
Helena can have no suitable friend or society here. You
have only to remember, said mister Chrisparkle, that you are

(27:49):
here yourself, and that she has to draw you into
the sunlight. They were silent for a little while, and
then mister Chris Sparkle bean anew. When we first spoke, Neville,
you told me that your sister had risen out of
the disadvantages of your past lives as superior to you

(28:12):
as the tower of Cloisterham Cathedral is higher than the
chimneys of Minor Canon Corner. Do you remember that right? Well?
I was inclined to think it at the time an
enthusiastic flight. No matter what I think it now, what
I would emphasize is that under the head of pride,

(28:34):
your sister is a great and opportune example to you.
Under all heads that are included in the composition of
a fine character, she is say so, but take this one.
Your sister has learnt how to govern what is proud
in her nature. She can dominate it even when it

(28:54):
is wounded. Through her sympathy with you. No doubt she
has suffered deep in those same streets where you suffered deeply.
No doubt her life is darkened by the cloud that
darkens yours, but bending her pride into a grand composure
that is not haughty or aggressive, but is a sustained

(29:16):
confidence in you and in the truth. She has won
her way through those streets until she passes along them
as high in the general respect as any one who
treads them every day and hour of her life. Since
Edwin Drood's disappearance, she has faced malignity and folly for you,

(29:38):
as only a brave nature, well directed can, So it
will be with her to the end. Another and weaker
kind of pride might sink, broken hearted, but never such
a pride as hers, which knows no shrinking and can
get no mastery over her. The pale cheek beside him

(29:59):
flushed under the comparison and the hint implied in it.
I will do all I can to imitate her, said Neville.
Do so, and be a truly brave man, as she
is a truly brave woman, answered missus Chris Sparkle, stoutly.
It is growing dark. Will you go my way with me?

(30:20):
When it is quite dark? Mind, it is not I
who wait for darkness. Nevill replied that he would accompany
him directly, but mister Chris Sparkle said he had a
moment's call to make or mister Grugius as an act
of courtesy, and would run across to that gentleman's chambers

(30:41):
and rejoin Nevill on his own doorstep if he would
come down there to meet him. Mister Grugius bolt upright
as usual, sat taking his wine in the dusk at
his open window, his wine glass and decanter on the
round table at his elbow, himself and his legs on
the window seat, only one hinge in his whole body,

(31:04):
like a boot jack. How do you do reverence, sir,
said mister Grugius, with abundant offers of hospitality which were
as cordially declined as made. And how is your charge
getting on over the way in the set that I
had the pleasure of recommending to you as vacant and eligible,

(31:29):
Mister Chris Sparkle replied suitably. I am glad you approve
of them, said mister Grugius, because I entertain a sort
of fancy for having him under my eye. As mister
Grugius had to turn his eye up considerably before he
could see the chambers. The phrase was to be taken

(31:52):
figuratively and not literally. And how did you leave, mister Jasper,
Reverend Sir, mister Grugius, mister Chris Sparkle had left him
pretty well. And where did you leave, mister Jasper, Reverend Sir.
Mister Chris Sparkle had left him at cloister. And when

(32:15):
did you leave, mister Jasper, reverend Sir that morning, hum,
said mister Grugius. He didn't say he was coming, perhaps
coming where anywhere for instance, said mister Grugius. No, because
here he is, said mister Grugius, who had asked all

(32:38):
these questions with his preoccupied glance directed out at window.
And he don't look agreeable, does he. Mister Chris Sparker
was craning towards the window, where mister Grougius added, if
you would kindly step round here behind me, in the
gloom of the room, and will cast your eye at

(32:59):
the second floor landing window in Yonder house, I think
you will hardly fail to see a slinking individual in
whom I recognize our local friend. You are right, cried
mister Chrisparkle. Humph, said mister Grugius. Then he added, turning

(33:21):
his face so abruptly that his head nearly came into
collision with mister Chris Sparkle's. What should you say that
our local friend was up to the last passage he
had been shown in the diary? Returned on mister Chris
Sparkle's mind with a force of a strong recoil, and
he asked mister Grugeus if he thought it possible that

(33:43):
nevill was to be harassed by the keeping of a
watch upon him? A watch, repeated mister Grugius, musingly. Aye,
which would not only of itself haunt and torture his life,
said mister Chrisparkle warmly, but would expose him to the
torment of a perpetually reviving suspicion, whatever he might do

(34:07):
or wherever he might go. Aye, said mister Grugeus, musingly.
Still do I see him waiting for you? No doubt
you do. Then would you have the goodness to excuse
my getting up to see you out, and to go
out to join him, and to go the way that

(34:30):
you were going, and to take no notice of our
local friend, said mister Grugius. I entertain a sort of
fancy for having him under my eye to night, do
you know? Mister Chris Sparkle, with a significant nod, complied
and rejoining Neville went away with him. They dined together

(34:52):
and parted at the yet unfinished and undeveloped railway station.
Mister Chris Sparkle to get home, Nevill to walk the streets,
crossed the bridges, make a wide round of the city
in the friendly darkness, and tire himself out. It was
midnight when he returned from his solitary expedition and climbed

(35:13):
his staircase. The night was hot, and the windows of
the staircase were all wide open. Coming to the top,
it gave him a passing chill of surprise, there being
no rooms but his up there to find a stranger
sitting on the window sill, more after the manner of
a ventures and glazier than an amateur, ordinarily careful of

(35:34):
his neck, in fact, so much more outside the window
than inside, as to suggest the thought that he must
have come up by the water spout instead of the stairs.
The stranger said nothing until Neville put his key in
his door, then, seeming to make sure of his identity
from the action he spoke. I beg your pardon, he said,

(35:59):
coming from the window, with a frank and smiling air
and a prepossessing a dress the beans. Nevill was quiet
at a loss, runners said the visitor. Scarlet next door
at the back, Oh returned Neville, and the minnonette and
wall Flower the same, said the visitor. Pray walk in

(36:22):
thank you. Neville lighted his candles, and the visitor sat down.
A handsome gentleman with a young face, but with 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 sun burnt, that the contrast between
his brown visage and the white forehead shaded out of

(36:45):
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. I have noticed, said he. My name is Tartar.
Neville inclined his head. I have noticed, excuse me that

(37:08):
you shut yourself up a good deal, and that you
seem to like my garden aloft here. If you would
like a little more of it. I could throw out
a few lines and stays between my window and yours,
which the runners would take too directly. And I have
some boxes, both of mignonette and wool flower, that I
could shove along the gutter with a boat hook. I

(37:30):
have by me to your windows, and draw back again
when they needed watering or gardening, and shove on again
when they were ship shaped, so that they would cause
you no trouble. I couldn't take this liberty without asking
your permission, so I ventured to ask it. Tartar corresponding
set next door. You are very kind, not at all.

(37:54):
I ought to apologize for looking in so late, But
having noticed, excuse me that you generally walk out at night,
I thought I should inconvenience you, least by awaiting your return.
I am always afraid of inconveniencing busy men, being an
idle man, I should not have thought so from your appearance. No,

(38:17):
I take it as a compliment. In fact, I was
bred in the Royal Navy and was first lieutenant when
I quitted it. But an uncle disappointed in the service,
leaving me his property on condition that I left the navy.
I accepted the fortune and resigned my commission. Lately, I
presume well, I had some twelve or fifteen years of

(38:40):
knocking about first. I came here some nine months before you.
I had had one crop before you came. I chose
this place because, having served last in a little corvette,
I knew I should feel more at home where I
had a constant opportunity of knocking my head against the ceiling. Besides,
it would never do for a man who had been

(39:02):
aboard ship from his boyhood to turn luxurious all at once. Besides, again,
having been accustomed to a very short allowance of land
all my life, I thought I'd feel my way to
the command of a landed estate by beginning in boxes. Whimsically.
As this was said, there was a touch of merry

(39:24):
earnestness in it that made it doubly whimsical. However, said
the lieutenant, I have taught quite enough about myself. It
is not my way, I hope it has merely been
to present myself to you. Naturally, if you will allow
me to take the liberty I have described, it will
be a charity, for it will give me something more

(39:46):
to do. And you are not to suppose that it
will entail any interruption or intrusion on you. That is
far from my intention. Nevill replied that he was greatly obliged,
and that he thankfully accepted the kind proposal. I am
very glad to take your windows in tow, said the lieutenant.

(40:08):
From what I have seen of you, when I have
been gardening at mine and you have been looking on,
I have thought you, excuse me, rather too studious and delicate.
May I ask? Is your health at all affected? I
have undergone some mental distress, said Nevill, confused, which has

(40:28):
stood me in the stead of illness? Pardon me, said
mister Tartar, with the greatest delicacy. He shifted his ground
to the windows again and asked if he could look
at one of them. On Neville's opening it, he immediately
sprang out, as if he were going aloft with a
whole watch in an emergency and was setting a bright

(40:50):
example for heaven's sake, cried Neville. Don't do that. Where
are you going, mister Tartar? You'll be dashed to pieces.
All well, said the lieutenant, coolly, looking about him on
the house top, all taut and trim. Here those lines
and stays shall be rigged before you turn out in
the morning, May I take this short cut home and

(41:12):
say good night, mister Tartar urged Neville, pray it makes
me giddy to see you. But mister Tartar, with a
wave of his hand and the deafness of a cat,
had already dipped through his scuttle of scarlet runners without
breaking a leaf, and gone below. Mister Grougius, his bedroom

(41:33):
window blind held aside with his hand, happened at the
moment to have Neville's chambers under his eye for the
last time that night. Fortunately his eye was on the
front of the house and not the back, or this
remarkable appearance and disappearance might have broken his rest as
a phenomenon. But mister Grugius, seeing nothing there, not even

(41:56):
a light in the windows, his gaze wandered from the
wind windows to the stars, as if he would have
read in them something that was hidden from him. Many
of us would if we could, But none of us
so much as know our letters in the stars yet
or seem likely to do it in this state of existence.

(42:17):
And few languages can be read until their alphabets are mastered.
End of Chapter seventeen, Read by all enchant of Tunbridge
in Kent, England, during the summer of two thousand and eight.