David Copperfield

Chapter 122 Returning Home (2)
Chapter 59 Homecoming (2)
"Her grief!" replied Traddles, "all her feelings. As I said last time, she was a wonderful woman, but paralyzed. Whatever happened to trouble her, the Most of this pain fell on her legs. But this time it rose to her head. In short, it spread all over the body with alarming speed. But no matter what, they always guarded her with unremitting tenderness. As of yesterday, we were married It's been six weeks. I felt like a man-eating monster when I saw the whole family burst into tears and nearly passed out. Copperfield, you can't imagine the guilt I feel inside! Kruller Madame, for I had taken her child, refused to see me and forgave me till we were gone. But she was kind enough to forgive me soon. I also had a letter from her this morning full of joy. letter."

"My dear friend," said I, "I think you should be very happy."

"You're leaning towards me!" laughed Traddles. "I'm in an enviable stage, I'm sure. I work hard, and I don't sleep and eat and study law. I'm up at five every morning and I'm not at all tired.” To tell you the truth, I'm rather sad to know they're going home on Tuesday, the day before Michael's Day. Look, here comes the girls!" Traddles raised his voice. "Mr. Copperfield , Miss Kruller--Miss Sarah--Miss Louisa--Magret and Lucy!"

They were really a bunch of fresh roses, so healthy and lively, and they were all beautiful, Miss Kruller the prettiest, but there was a gentle, cheerful, Christian quality about Sophie's cheerful face, which was more than beauty. important.This also makes me believe in my friend's eyes.We sat round the fire, and the quick-witted young man who had laid out the papers hastily gathered them up again, and brought up the tea-things.Then he took his leave, and Mrs Traddles's housewife's eyes shone with joy and composure.She silently made tea for us, and sat by the fire to bake bread.

At this time, she said that she had seen Agnes. "Tom" went with her on their honeymoon to Kent, where she met my aunt.My aunt and Agnes were nice people, and the main focus of their conversation was me.She believed that "Tom" was thinking of me while I was away. "Tom" is an authority in every way and an idol in her life, and no matter what happens, his position in her heart will not be shaken.

I was delighted by the admiration both she and Traddles showed for Agnes.I don't think it's appropriate, but I think it's pleasing, and it's part of their character.If his mild-tempered wife had occasional fits, it was only because she was the beauty's sister.

However, their selfless state moved me.They were proud of the girls, they listened to all their whims, and the good qualities that came out of such trivial incidents were what I was most eager to see.His aunts called Traddles "Baby," and called him to and fro no less than a dozen times an hour, and he obeyed them all.Without Sophie, they could do nothing.Which girl's hair is loose, only Sophie can fix it.When a girl forgets a tune, only Sophie can get it right.Which girl can't remember a certain place name in Devon, and only Sophie knows it.No matter who wants to write a letter to the family, it can only be written by Sophie.And if any girl forgot how to weave for a while, only Sophie could tell.They were the masters of the house, and Sophie and Traddles waited on them.I can't imagine how many children Sophie has taken care of in the past 20 years, but she seems to be familiar with all kinds of English nursery rhymes and sings them to the children.She used the clearest voice in the world, and sang songs one by one according to the songs ordered by others. This kind of scene made me ecstatic.Best of all: they shower Sophie and Traddles with a great deal of love and respect.

At any rate, when I said goodbye to Traddles and returned to the café, I was no longer sorry for him.I began to think that he could be smooth sailing.

I was by the fire, thinking silently of him, not seeing a coal fire since I left England three years ago; but I have seen a lot of firewood, the ashes of the firewood, and the feathery ash on the hearth It also made me see dead hope in my depressed mood when the heaps merged into one.

Looking back on the past at this time, although I still hold a serious attitude, I am no longer sad, and I can think about the future with a calm attitude.Home no longer exists for me.The girl to whom I could have poured more love is now only worthy of my brother and sister.She'll marry, she'll have her love again, and when she does, she won't know my new love for her.This is fair, and I deserve to make amends for my mistakes.

I was considering whether this would mature my untroubled heart, whether I could endure with determination and live as peacefully in her home as she had in mine.At this moment, my eyes fell on a face.It rose from the flames, as if connected with my early memories.

Mr. Qillip, my mother's midwife I mentioned in Chapter 1, sat across from me reading the newspaper.By this time he was a little older.

I went up to him and said, "How are you, Mr. Qillip?"

Confused by the stranger's greeting, he said in his drawn tones, "Thank you, sir, I am very kind. I suppose you are too."

"You don't remember me coming?" I said.

"Well, sir," replied Mr. Qillpool, "I have an impression that you are very kind, sir, but I am not sure of your name."

"But in fact, you already knew it long before I knew my name."

"Is that so, sir?" said Mr. Qillippe, "is it my good fortune to take—?"

"Exactly." I said.

"My dear!" cried Mr. Qillpool, "but no doubt you have changed a great deal since, have you not, sir?"

"I think so," I said.

"Well, sir," said Mr. Qillippe, "may I venture to ask your name?"

He was really touched when he learned my name.He held out his hand seriously and shook it with me.

"Well, sir!" said Mr. Qillpool, looking at me, "then you are Mr. Copperfield, and I think I should have recognized you if I had ventured to look at you again. You are very much like your father. gentlemen."

"I didn't have the blessing to meet my late father," I said.

"Of course, sir," said Mr. Qillippe, "it is very painful, anyway! We have heard a little of you in our part, sir. You must be very busy, sir."

"Where do you say your area is?" I sat next to him and asked.

"I live near Bury St. Edmunds, sir," said Mr. Chillpool, "and my wife has inherited a little of her father's property there. I practice medicine there, and you will be pleased to learn that I do well." .My daughter is grown, sir."

He said slowly, "I nursed you when you had your rash, and it seems like it was yesterday. You healed so quickly that time, sir!"

"You have no children, sir?"

I shook my head.

"I heard you were widowed some years ago, sir," said Mr. Qillpool. "I heard it from your stepfather's sister. She was a strong character in that neighborhood, sir?"

"Ah, yes," I said, "that's pretty good. Where did you see her, Mr. Qillip?"

"Don't you know, sir?" said Mr. Qillpool, with a serene smile, "that your stepfather and I are neighbors again."

"I don't know." I said.

Mr. Qillpool said: "He married a very rich young lady of ours, poor thing.—Doesn't all this hard mental work of yours wear you out, sir?"

I avoided the question, and turned the conversation back to the Murdstones. "He's married again. Have you ever been to their house for medical treatment?" I asked.

"Not very often. They have asked me," he answered. "Murdstone and his sister have a well-developed organ of determined character, sir. Why! Remember the old days, Mr. Copperfield!"

"The siblings are still going their old ways, aren't they?" I asked.

"Sir," said Mr. Qillpool, "general practitioners don't pay attention to people outside their profession, but I should say that they are very powerful, sir, whether in this life or in the next life, they are all the same. Very powerful."

"What will happen in the afterlife, I'm sure," I went on, "what are they doing in this life?"

"She's a lovely woman, sir!" said Mr. Qillippe, with sentimentality.

"You mean the present Mrs Murdstone?"

"A pleasant woman indeed, sir," said Mr. Qillip, "very kindly, so to speak! Mrs. Qillip thinks she's been completely out of spirits since she got married, and nearly depressed. Woman You guys," said Mr. Qillip timidly, "are quite observant."

"I'm sure they'll tame her into that nasty pattern. God help her!" I said. "She's dying."

"At first, sir, they quarreled quite a bit," said Mr. Qillpool, "but she is quite a wandering spirit now. If I tell you, the siblings have persecuted her like Like a fool, isn't it too much for me to say that?"

I have no doubts about his words.

"I say in no uncertain terms, sir," said Mr. Qillpool, "that this is where your mother died, and that cruelty, gloom, and melancholy have nearly made Mrs. Murdstone a fool. Before her marriage she was a lively young women, but now ruined by their insidiousness and harshness. They were never far from her when she was out, and were not so much her husband and aunt as her guardians. Mrs. That's right. A woman's eyes are sharp, and Mrs. Qillippe has a penetrating eye for herself!"

"Does he still call himself a devout Christian (I'm ashamed to associate him with that term)?" I asked.

"You are right, sir," said Mr. Qillip, "and that is Mrs. Qillip's deepest sentence. Mrs. Qillip said: 'Mr. Murdstone made himself an idol, and called it 'Holy Nature.'' .It shocked me. Women do see things sharply, sir."

"Born like this," I said.He was very happy to hear that.

"It pleases me to agree with you, sir," he went on, "to confess to you that I seldom say anything that has nothing to do with medicine. Mr. Murdstone sometimes makes public speeches. To say that he has been more aggressive these days makes his claims more brutal."

"I'm convinced Mrs. Qillpool is right," said I.

"Meanwhile, sir," went on Mr. Qillpool, "no one likes them, because they freely curse those who hate them into hell, but, according to Mrs. Qillip, they are punished endlessly because they have no other With no help, but from their hearts. And their hearts are a very bad thing. Is your brain overstretched, sir?"

In the following time, he will talk about his own affairs.

I told him that tomorrow morning I was going to see my aunt, who he had met that night.I also told him that she was the most wonderful and warm-hearted woman, and if he knew her better, he would understand.But the mere mention of the possibility of his meeting with her again terrified him."Is that so, sir?" said he.

Due to the extreme exhaustion, I also fell asleep in the middle of the night.The next day, I spent the night on the Doufo bike.I rushed into my aunt's little drawing-room while she was drinking tea, and she, Mr. Dick, and dear old Peggotty greeted me with cheers and tears.She found it very interesting when I told her, as we sat quietly talking together, that Mr. Qillips still had a considerable fear of her, and that she and Peggotty talked at length about my mother's step-husband and his sister.

(End of this chapter)