Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 219: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

=> y si i : ey 44+ 7 : ‘PICKWICK ABROAD. .s 203 . vet , i. #3 a » | * ‘ ° * ’ e ‘ ante wa or poisons, or stabs himself four or five times | Mr. Pickwick, “ which strike even a super- every week.—‘ Good G—d! said I; ‘ what | ficial observer. In the first place there is _ “ This snuff-box is for you, Trundle,” cried | her.” does he do that for? Is he mad ?—‘ Mad!| not near so much poverty and want in — no, returned the man; ‘ he is a devilish cle- | France, as there is in this country, because ver fellow on the contrary, and picks up a | the taxes are far less oppressive, and much good deal of money inthis way. It’s an ex- | more just—the principal taxes being a pro-. cellent business. He lives better by dying | perty and a poll-tax ; and hence there is less five or six times a week than I do by work- | necessity to commit crime for the purpose .—* What! is he an imposter, then,’ | of obtaining the means of existence. In the cried I, naturally indignant at the gross man- | second place, the system of passports Jeads ner in which 1 had beeu imposed upon.— | to an almost certain detection of the male- man: ‘ but he’s something like it though’— | added to that which the law of course in- _ I walked bg vy, determined never to do an- | spires. But let us not discuss serious mat- other good action” = ters now: the distribution of my little pres- “ That was really infamous,” said Mrs. | ents is not quite terminated. Sam! Snodgrass, sae, : “ Sir,” said Mr. Weller, stepping forward. “ Of course it was,” coincided her hus-| “Call your wife, Sam,” returned Mr. d Hm Pickwick. “ Tell Mary I want to speak to « a Mr. Pickwick, addressing himself to Mr.| | In a few minutes Mary made her appear- Wardle’s son-in-law. “I bought it on the | ance, blushing and looking as modest as the Quai des Orfevres—a street occupied almost | first day of her marriage As she ap- — entirely by jewellers and silver-smiths, As | proached her master, she curtseyed, and home, when accidentally putting my hand I came out of the shop, I saw a venerable | then cast a timid glance round the room. and gentlemanly old man, with long white | “Here are some stuffs to make frocks for hair, suddenly slip down by the parapet that | your children, Mary,” said Mr. Pickwick, overlooks the river. I immediately hasten- | “ and a pair of ear-rings for yourself. And ed to his assistance, and raised him from the | this time,” added Mr. Pickwick, glancing to- stones on which he had fallen. He appear- | wards the friends that surrounded him, and ed very weak and feeble, and leant heavily upon me as I helped him to get up. But when he was once more on his legs, he thanked me very sincerely, asked me my name and address, called a hackney-coach, and departed, assuring me that I should ere long have cause toremember him. I thought I had probably been of some service to a nobleman in disguise, and was felicitating myself upon the occurrence as I walked smiling, “ there is no anecdote attached to my present,” | “Thank’ee kindly, Sir,’ said Mary, and with another curtsey, she retired from the room, “T have only one regret,” observed Mr. the various presents which I have now dis- tributed ; and that is—Iam sorry I did not bring home the dancing-bear for the Zool- ogical Society. A finer bear I never saw in my life, and the keeper declared that a more affectionate animal he never had had to deal with.” “ Wery right he wos too, Sir,” remarked Mr. Weller; “for to my certin knowledge Me | this same wery affectionate hanimal hugged _ “ Extraordinary !” exclaimed old Wardle. | a old lady to death von mornin’ in the streets, “ Then it appears that there are thieves and | and was then a-goin’ to pay his attentions rogues in that Paris which you love so much, | to a young child, ven aJohnny Darmy put as well as elsewhere.” | an end to his perliteness, by tellin’ him an’ “There are dishonest men everywhere,” | his mas’er not to interfere vith other people’s answered Mr, Pickwick ; “ but-this I can safe-' bisness, but to go about their own.” ly say, that there ismuchless crime in France, « Then, everything considered,” said Mr. than there is in England.” | Pickwick, after a moment’s deep reflection, “ And how do you account for that?” de- «jt is perhaps as well that the dancing: manded Mr. Wardle: te bear should remain where he is.” “There are two direct causes,” answered = « Quite,” exclaimed Mr. Wardle. into my Bi wstie found that my wey was gone. The rogue was a practised thief no doubt; and had the snufi-box not been in another pocket, I dare say that I should not have had the pleasure of giving it to you to-day.” | —_ ————— * oe Ce EEEEEEEn : That’s a harsh word; Su, answered the | factor, and thus another kind of dread is » Pickwick very seriously, “in reference to- GON (9) LA@O|KS.CO