David Copperfield

Chapter 124 Two Interesting Confessors (1)
Chapter 61 Two Funny Confessors (1)
For a period of time, I lived in my aunt's house in Dou Fo, where I quietly engaged in my writing.

From time to time I went to London, to experience the hustle and bustle of life there, or to consult with Traddles on some business matter.While I was abroad, Traddles worked for me with the clearest mind, and made my fortune flourish.When I became famous, many people I didn't know, began to write me a lot of letters, most of which were irrelevant and the most difficult to answer.I consented to Traddles' proposal, and had my name painted on his door, where the postman brought a great deal of letters addressed to me, and I used to deal with them there.

Among these letters, there are often people who want to use my name to carry out attorney affairs and pay me a certain percentage of the profits, but I refuse.

The girls had gone back to Devon, and the quick-witted young man seemed unaware of Sophie.Sophie stayed and worked in a corner of a house every day, while looking down at a long narrow garden with an artesian well.But we see the ever-happy housewife, who now and then hums a Devonshire tune, whose sweet voice softens the quick-witted young man.

I've often seen Sophie writing in a copybook, which she would hastily put away in a drawer whenever I appeared.At first I didn't know what was going on, but before long, the secret was out.One day Traddles brought out a folder and asked me how the calligraphy was on it.

"Oh, come on, Tom!" cried Sophie.

"My dear!" said Tom, "why not? What do you think of the calligraphy, Copperfield?"

"The writing is very in line with the format of the document, very regular," I said, "This is the first time I have seen such sophisticated handwriting!"

"Like a woman's handwriting?" said Traddles.

"Women's handwriting?" I repeated, "Masonry is more like it!"

Traddles laughed, and said it was Sophy's; she wanted to be his secretary; and Sophie was very ashamed that Traddles had revealed her secret to me.

"What a respectable and lovable lady she is, Traddles!" said I, as she went away.

"Copperfield," said Traddles, "is without a doubt the sweetest girl! How punctual and quick she is in running the house, with such austerity, method, and contentment! "

"You can't praise her too much, it is true," I said. "You are very happy, and you have made yourselves, and each other, the happiest people in the world."

"At any rate," said Traddles, "I don't deny it. Why! She's up these days with a candle lighted, and busy with the affairs of the day. She always adorns herself so neatly and so Gorgeous, she always sits with me no matter how late the night is, always so gentle and so pleasant, and it's all for me, and I sometimes can't believe it when she does it, Copperfield!

"I can't believe it sometimes," said Traddles. "It's our treat! Well, it's cheap, but it's wonderful! What better place than home? We're out walking in the evening. Sometimes, the streets are full of things for us to enjoy. We look at the pearly window of the jewelry store. If I can afford it, I must buy her the diamond-eyed serpent; Sophie also said, if If she could afford it, she would buy me the gold watch with jewels, and things like that, and when we wandered into the squares and streets and saw houses for sale, we said, If I were a judge, this house would be sold again. What is it? I say, Copperfield, if I were Lord Chancellor, we wouldn't do it!"

"Whatever you do, my dear Traddles," thought I, "you will do something pleasant and lovely."

"I've got a letter from that old scoundrel," I said.

"Written by Headmaster Crigul?" cried Traddles. "There is such a thing!"

I turned the pages of my letters and said: "Among those who feel concerned about me because of my popularity, there is that Crigul. He's a justice of the peace in Middlesex now."

Traddles was not at all surprised by this.

"How do you reckon he got to be a justice of the peace in Middlesex?" I asked.

"Oh!" replied Traddles, "that's not easy to answer. Perhaps he has elected someone, or threatened someone, or someone as a broker, and this person knows someone, and that person made the local magistrate put This errand was entrusted to him."

"Anyway, he got the job," I said. "He said he was happy to show me the prison system, which is solitary confinement. What do you think of that?"

"For that system?" asked Traddles.

"Yes. Do you want to go with me?"

"I would," said Traddles.

"I'll write him right now. You haven't forgotten that Cricur who drove his son out of the house and made his wife and daughter poor?"

"Exactly," said Traddles.

"Though," I said, "his messengers give the impression that he has sympathy with felons of all kinds."

Traddles and I went at the appointed time to the prison where Mr. Crigul was in power.It was a large, solid, and expensive building.

In a magnificently constructed office that seemed to be in the lower level of the Silie Tower, we met the old headmaster, who received us like a man who had shaped my thinking in the past and had always loved me.Our majestic teacher has aged a great deal, but has not changed much in appearance, and his eyes are as small as ever, and more sunken.His thin, wet white hair had all fallen out, and the thick veins in his bald spot looked unflattering.

After talking among these gentlemen for a while, we began our inspection.Because it was meal time, we first entered the kitchen, where the prisoners were served food.I whispered to Traddles, I don't know if it ever occurred to anyone that there was a difference between the rich food of the convicts and the food of the soldiers, sailors, laborers, and most of the honest working people. What a contrast! Not one of the 500 men of the latter category ever ate half as good as the prisoner's diet. "The system" removes all doubts and solves all problems.

As we passed through some stately passages, I asked Mr. Krigul and his colleagues what they felt to be the chief advantage of the system. These advantages were the complete isolation of the prisoners--so that, in confinement, No one of these people knows anything about another, and the imprisoned are bound to restore their health to a healthy state of mind, and thus to pious repentance.

I have seen a large number of confessions, and there is no difference in the nature of the confessions, and even the difference in wording and sentence construction is very small.

As we walked back and forth between the cells, I repeatedly heard about a prisoner number 27, so I paused my critique of the confession until I saw this prisoner number 27 later.Prisoner No. 28, I've heard, was also a brilliant prison star, but his brilliance was overshadowed by the extraordinary brilliance of No. 27, so he looked dim.I heard so much about how No. 27 counseled all the people around him, and how he kept writing beautifully worded letters to his mother, I was very eager to meet him.

We at last came to the door of his cell, and Mr. Crigul, peering in through a small aperture, reported to us, with great admiration, that the 27th was reading a book of "Psalm set".

Traddles and I were amazed when Kerry Gulling released No. 27 for the convenience of viewing: the reformed No. 27 was Julia Heep.

He also recognized us immediately.

"Hello, Mr. Copperfield! Hello, Mr. Traddles!"

(End of this chapter)