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I ENLARGE MY CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE
I HAD led this life about a month, when the man with the wooden
leg began to stump about with a mop and a bucket of water, from
which I inferred that preparations were making to receive Mr. Creakle
and the boys. I was not mistaken; for the mop came into the schoolroom
before long, and turned out Mr. Mell and me, who lived where we
could, and got on how we could, for some days, during which we were
always in the way of two or three young women, who had rarely shown
themselves before, and were so continually in the midst of dust
that I sneezed almost as much as if Salem House had been a great
snuff-box.
One day I was informed by Mr. Mell that Mr. Creakle would be
home that evening. In the evening, after tea, I heard that he was
come. Before bedtime, I was fetched by the man with the wooden leg
to appear before him.
Mr. Creakle's part of the house was a good deal more comfortable
than ours, and he had a snug bit of garden that looked pleasant
after the dusty playground, which was such a desert in miniature,
that I thought no one but a camel, or a dromedary, could have felt
at home in it. It seemed to me a bold thing even to take notice
that the passage looked comfortable, as I went on my way, trembling,
to Mr. Creakle's presence: which so abashed me, when I was ushered
into it, that I hardly saw Mrs. Creakle or Miss Creakle (who were
both there, in the parlour), or anything but Mr. Creakle, a stout
gentleman with a bunch of watch-chain and seals, in an arm-chair,
with a tumbler and bottle beside him.
'So!' said Mr. Creakle. 'This is the young gentleman whose teeth
are to be filed! Turn him round.'
The wooden-legged man turned me about so as to exhibit the placard;
and having afforded time for a full survey of it, turned me about
again, with my face to Mr. Creakle, and posted himself at Mr. Creakle's
side. Mr. Creakle's face was fiery, and his eyes were small, and
deep in his head; he had thick veins in his forehead, a little nose,
and a large chin. He was bald on the top of his head; and had some
thin wet-looking hair that was just turning grey, brushed across
each temple, so that the two sides interlaced on his forehead. But
the circumstance about him which impressed me most, was, that he
had no voice, but spoke in a whisper. The exertion this cost him,
or the consciousness of talking in that feeble way, made his angry
face so much more angry, and his thick veins so much thicker, when
he spoke, that I am not surprised, on looking back, at this peculiarity
striking me as his chief one. 'Now,' said Mr. Creakle. 'What's the
report of this boy?'
'There's nothing against him yet,' returned the man with the
wooden leg. 'There has been no opportunity.'
I thought Mr. Creakle was disappointed. I thought Mrs. and Miss
Creakle (at whom I now glanced for the first time, and who were,
both, thin and quiet) were not disappointed.
'Come here, sir!' said Mr. Creakle, beckoning to me.
'Come here!' said the man with the wooden leg, repeating the
gesture.
'I have the happiness of knowing your father-in-law,' whispered
Mr. Creakle, taking me by the ear; 'and a worthy man he is, and
a man of a strong character. He knows me, and I know him. Do YOU
know me? Hey?' said Mr. Creakle, pinching my ear with ferocious
playfulness.
'Not yet, sir,' I said, flinching with the pain.
'Not yet? Hey?' repeated Mr. Creakle. 'But you will soon. Hey?'
'You will soon. Hey?' repeated the man with the wooden leg. I
afterwards found that he generally acted, with his strong voice,
as Mr. Creakle's interpreter to the boys.
I was very much frightened, and said, I hoped so, if he pleased.
I felt, all this while, as if my ear were blazing; he pinched it
so hard.
'I'll tell you what I am,' whispered Mr. Creakle, letting it
go at last, with a screw at parting that brought the water into
my eyes. 'I'm a Tartar.'
'A Tartar,' said the man with the wooden leg.
'When I say I'll do a thing, I do it,' said Mr. Creakle; 'and
when I say I will have a thing done, I will have it done.'
'- Will have a thing done, I will have it done,' repeated the
man with the wooden leg.
'I am a determined character,' said Mr. Creakle. 'That's what
I am. I do my duty. That's what I do. My flesh and blood' - he looked
at Mrs. Creakle as he said this - 'when it rises against me, is
not my flesh and blood. I discard it. Has that fellow' - to the
man with the wooden leg -'been here again?'
'No,' was the answer.
'No,' said Mr. Creakle. 'He knows better. He knows me. Let him
keep away. I say let him keep away,' said Mr. Creakle, striking
his hand upon the table, and looking at Mrs. Creakle, 'for he knows
me. Now you have begun to know me too, my young friend, and you
may go. Take him away.'
I was very glad to be ordered away, for Mrs. and Miss Creakle
were both wiping their eyes, and I felt as uncomfortable for them
as I did for myself. But I had a petition on my mind which concerned
me so nearly, that I couldn't help saying, though I wondered at
my own courage:
'If you please, sir -'
Mr. Creakle whispered, 'Hah! What's this?' and bent his eyes
upon me, as if he would have burnt me up with them.
'If you please, sir,' I faltered, 'if I might be allowed (I am
very sorry indeed, sir, for what I did) to take this writing off,
before the boys come back -'
Whether Mr. Creakle was in earnest, or whether he only did it
to frighten me, I don't know, but he made a burst out of his chair,
before which I precipitately retreated, without waiting for the
escort Of the man with the wooden leg, and never once stopped until
I reached my own bedroom, where, finding I was not pursued, I went
to bed, as it was time, and lay quaking, for a couple of hours.
Next morning Mr. Sharp came back. Mr. Sharp was the first master,
and superior to Mr. Mell. Mr. Mell took his meals with the boys,
but Mr. Sharp dined and supped at Mr. Creakle's table. He was a
limp, delicate-looking gentleman, I thought, with a good deal of
nose, and a way of carrying his head on one side, as if it were
a little too heavy for him. His hair was very smooth and wavy; but
I was informed by the very first boy who came back that it was a
wig (a second-hand one HE said), and that Mr. Sharp went out every
Saturday afternoon to get it curled.
It was no other than Tommy Traddles who gave me this piece of
intelligence. He was the first boy who returned. He introduced himself
by informing me that I should find his name on the right- hand corner
of the gate, over the top-bolt; upon that I said, 'Traddles?' to
which he replied, 'The same,' and then he asked me for a full account
of myself and family.
It was a happy circumstance for me that Traddles came back first.
He enjoyed my placard so much, that he saved me from the embarrassment
of either disclosure or concealment, by presenting me to every other
boy who came back, great or small, immediately on his arrival, in
this form of introduction, 'Look here! Here's a game!' Happily,
too, the greater part of the boys came back low-spirited, and were
not so boisterous at my expense as I had expected. Some of them
certainly did dance about me like wild Indians, and the greater
part could not resist the temptation of pretending that I was a
dog, and patting and soothing me, lest I should bite, and saying,
'Lie down, sir!' and calling me Towzer. This was naturally confusing,
among so many strangers, and cost me some tears, but on the whole
it was much better than I had anticipated.
I was not considered as being formally received into the school,
however, until J. Steerforth arrived. Before this boy, who was reputed
to be a great scholar, and was very good-looking, and at least half-a-dozen
years my senior, I was carried as before a magistrate. He inquired,
under a shed in the playground, into the particulars of my punishment,
and was pleased to express his opinion that it was 'a jolly shame';
for which I became bound to him ever afterwards.
'What money have you got, Copperfield?' he said, walking aside
with me when he had disposed of my affair in these terms. I told
him seven shillings.
'You had better give it to me to take care of,' he said. 'At
least, you can if you like. You needn't if you don't like.'
I hastened to comply with his friendly suggestion, and opening
Peggotty's purse, turned it upside down into his hand.
'Do you want to spend anything now?' he asked me.
'No thank you,' I replied.
'You can, if you like, you know,' said Steerforth. 'Say the word.'
'No, thank you, sir,' I repeated.
'Perhaps you'd like to spend a couple of shillings or so, in
a bottle of currant wine by and by, up in the bedroom?' said Steerforth.
'You belong to my bedroom, I find.'
It certainly had not occurred to me before, but I said, Yes,
I should like that.
'Very good,' said Steerforth. 'You'll be glad to spend another
shilling or so, in almond cakes, I dare say?'
I said, Yes, I should like that, too.
'And another shilling or so in biscuits, and another in fruit,
eh?' said Steerforth. 'I say, young Copperfield, you're going it!'
I smiled because he smiled, but I was a little troubled in my
mind, too.
'Well!' said Steerforth. 'We must make it stretch as far as we
can; that's all. I'll do the best in my power for you. I can go
out when I like, and I'll smuggle the prog in.' With these words
he put the money in his pocket, and kindly told me not to make myself
uneasy; he would take care it should be all right. He was as good
as his word, if that were all right which I had a secret misgiving
was nearly all wrong - for I feared it was a waste of my mother's
two half-crowns - though I had preserved the piece of paper they
were wrapped in: which was a precious saving. When we went upstairs
to bed, he produced the whole seven shillings'worth, and laid it
out on my bed in the moonlight, saying:
'There you are, young Copperfield, and a royal spread you've
got.'
I couldn't think of doing the honours of the feast, at my time
of life, while he was by; my hand shook at the very thought of it.
I begged him to do me the favour of presiding; and my request being
seconded by the other boys who were in that room, he acceded to
it, and sat upon my pillow, handing round the viands - with perfect
fairness, I must say - and dispensing the currant wine in a little
glass without a foot, which was his own property. As to me, I sat
on his left hand, and the rest were grouped about us, on the nearest
beds and on the floor.
How well I recollect our sitting there, talking in whispers;
or their talking, and my respectfully listening, I ought rather
to say; the moonlight falling a little way into the room, through
the window, painting a pale window on the floor, and the greater
part of us in shadow, except when Steerforth dipped a match into
a phosphorus-box, when he wanted to look for anything on the board,
and shed a blue glare over us that was gone directly! A certain
mysterious feeling, consequent on the darkness, the secrecy of the
revel, and the whisper in which everything was said, steals over
me again, and I listen to all they tell me with a vague feeling
of solemnity and awe, which makes me glad that they are all so near,
and frightens me (though I feign to laugh) when Traddles pretends
to see a ghost in the corner.
I heard all kinds of things about the school and all belonging
to it. I heard that Mr. Creakle had not preferred his claim to being
a Tartar without reason; that he was the sternest and most severe
of masters; that he laid about him, right and left, every day of
his life, charging in among the boys like a trooper, and slashing
away, unmercifully. That he knew nothing himself, but the art of
slashing, being more ignorant (J. Steerforth said) than the lowest
boy in the school; that he had been, a good many years ago, a small
hop-dealer in the Borough, and had taken to the schooling business
after being bankrupt in hops, and making away with Mrs. Creakle's
money. With a good deal more of that sort, which I wondered how
they knew.
I heard that the man with the wooden leg, whose name was Tungay,
was an obstinate barbarian who had formerly assisted in the hop
business, but had come into the scholastic line with Mr. Creakle,
in consequence, as was supposed among the boys, of his having broken
his leg in Mr. Creakle's service, and having done a deal of dishonest
work for him, and knowing his secrets. I heard that with the single
exception of Mr. Creakle, Tungay considered the whole establishment,
masters and boys, as his natural enemies, and that the only delight
of his life was to be sour and malicious. I heard that Mr. Creakle
had a son, who had not been Tungay's friend, and who, assisting
in the school, had once held some remonstrance with his father on
an occasion when its discipline was very cruelly exercised, and
was supposed, besides, to have protested against his father's usage
of his mother. I heard that Mr. Creakle had turned him out of doors,
in consequence; and that Mrs. and Miss Creakle had been in a sad
way, ever since.
But the greatest wonder that I heard of Mr. Creakle was, there
being one boy in the school on whom he never ventured to lay a hand,
and that boy being J. Steerforth. Steerforth himself confirmed this
when it was stated, and said that he should like to begin to see
him do it. On being asked by a mild boy (not me) how he would proceed
if he did begin to see him do it, he dipped a match into his phosphorus-box
on purpose to shed a glare over his reply, and said he would commence
by knocking him down with a blow on the forehead from the seven-and-sixpenny
ink-bottle that was always on the mantelpiece. We sat in the dark
for some time, breathless.
I heard that Mr. Sharp and Mr. Mell were both supposed to be
wretchedly paid; and that when there was hot and cold meat for dinner
at Mr. Creakle's table, Mr. Sharp was always expected to say he
preferred cold; which was again corroborated by J. Steerforth, the
only parlour-boarder. I heard that Mr. Sharp's wig didn't fit him;
and that he needn't be so 'bounceable' - somebody else said 'bumptious'
- about it, because his own red hair was very plainly to be seen
behind.
I heard that one boy, who was a coal-merchant's son, came as
a set-off against the coal-bill, and was called, on that account,
'Exchange or Barter' - a name selected from the arithmetic book
as expressing this arrangement. I heard that the table beer was
a robbery of parents, and the pudding an imposition. I heard that
Miss Creakle was regarded by the school in general as being in love
with Steerforth; and I am sure, as I sat in the dark, thinking of
his nice voice, and his fine face, and his easy manner, and his
curling hair, I thought it very likely. I heard that Mr. Mell was
not a bad sort of fellow, but hadn't a sixpence to bless himself
with; and that there was no doubt that old Mrs. Mell, his mother,
was as poor as job. I thought of my breakfast then, and what had
sounded like 'My Charley!' but I was, I am glad to remember, as
mute as a mouse about it.
The hearing of all this, and a good deal more, outlasted the
banquet some time. The greater part of the guests had gone to bed
as soon as the eating and drinking were over; and we, who had remained
whispering and listening half-undressed, at last betook ourselves
to bed, too. 'Good night, young Copperfield,' said Steerforth. 'I'll
take care of you.' 'You're very kind,' I gratefully returned. 'I
am very much obliged to you.'
'You haven't got a sister, have you?' said Steerforth, yawning.
'No,' I answered. 'That's a pity,' said Steerforth. 'If you had
had one, I should think she would have been a pretty, timid, little,
bright-eyed sort of girl. I should have liked to know her. Good
night, young Copperfield.'
'Good night, sir,' I replied.
I thought of him very much after I went to bed, and raised myself,
I recollect, to look at him where he lay in the moonlight, with
his handsome face turned up, and his head reclining easily on his
arm. He was a person of great power in my eyes; that was, of course,
the reason of my mind running on him. No veiled future dimly glanced
upon him in the moonbeams. There was no shadowy picture of his footsteps,
in the garden that I dreamed of walking in all night.
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