David Copperfield

Chapter 39 I am a new student in more than one sense (2)
Chapter No.16 I am a new student in more than one sense (2)
"Oh, I'm afraid, my boy, our life is a little dull here," said he.

"Sir, Agnes doesn't feel monotonous, and I definitely don't."

"To Agnes," he said, walking slowly towards the fireplace, and leaning on it, "to Agnes!"

He drank (or thought so) that night until his eyes were bloodshot.I didn't see his eyes then, because they were downcast and covered with his hands; I just saw them.

"I don't know," he murmured, "whether I've bored Agnes, or my Agnes has bored me! But that's another thing—another thing."

He was silent, and after a while he said: "I can't let her go. If I should die away from my darling, or my darling should die away from me, if this thought haunts my happy hour like a ghost, Just—”

He didn't finish speaking, but just clumsily picked up the empty wine bottle to make a gesture of pouring wine, and then put down the wine bottle.

"What if she finds it unbearable," he said, "and she goes outside? No, no, no. I must never do that."

He leaned on the fireplace and meditated for a long time. I don't know whether to stay quietly and wait for him to wake up from the dream, or leave at the risk of disturbing him? He finally woke up from the dream and looked around the room , saw me.

"Would you like to live with us, Trowood, will you?" he said in his usual manner. "I'm glad. You're our two companions. It's a pleasure for us to have you here, and it will do you good." , good for Agnes, and probably good for all of us."

"No doubt, sir, it will do me good," said I, "and it is my great honor to stay here."

"My boy!" said Mr. Wakefield, "you can live here if you like." He shook my hand as he spoke, and told me that when Agnes left us in the evening , when I want to read, I can just go to his place (if he is there and I like company), and be with him.I am deeply grateful for his concern.After a while he left, I didn't feel tired, so I took a book and went down for about half an hour.

But the light in Madoka's office made me feel something pulling me to Julia Heep (I think he had a charm over me), so I turned to his house instead of Wakefield in Mr.'s house.I saw Yulia studying a large heavy book with special effort, his index finger following every line he read, leaving a sticky imprint on it like a snail, maybe I was very convinced at the time That's it.

"Yulia, you've been busy so late," I said.

"Yes." Julia said.

I sat on the stool opposite him so that it would be easier to talk.I noticed at the time that he didn't smile, just grinned and two hard creases under his cheeks to show a smile.

"I'm not doing office work, Master Copperfield," Yulia said.

"So, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Master Copperfield, I'm studying the law," said Julia, "and I'm finishing Teed's Procedure. Oh, Master Copperfield, Mr. Teed is a wonderful writer." !"

I sat high on the stool, as if on a watchtower. When I observed him who continued to read after saying those words of praise, I found that his nostrils were not thick and pointed, but that there was a depression in the middle, which gave people a feeling. An uncomfortable feeling that seemed to replace his eyes that never quite turned.

"You must be a very great lawyer?" I asked, looking at him for a while.

"I am a great lawyer, Master Copperfield?" said Julia. "No! I am a low man!"

I saw that his hand was not my fantasy.Because he was always rubbing his palms against each other, and was constantly wiping them with a small handkerchief, as if he wanted to squeeze them dry and rub them to warm them.

"Whatever others may be, I am quite aware of my position," said Julia Heep modestly, "as was my mother, and so is our lodgings, Master Copperfield, but there may be much to be thankful for, My father used to be a caretaker of the church."

"And now?" I asked.

"He's with God now, Master Copperfield," said Julia Heep, "but we have much to be thankful for."

I asked them if they had been together for a long time.

"Nearly four years, Master Copperfield," said Yuriah, marking carefully where he had read, and closing the book, "I have been with Wick since my father died a year ago. Mr. Fell. How fortunate Mr. Wakefield has kindly accepted me as his apprentice! Otherwise my mother and I would not know what to do."

"Then, when you're done, you'll be a lawyer," I said.

"If God is just, Master Copperfield," replied Julia.

"Perhaps someday you will be able to do business with Mr. Wakefield," I added, to please him, "that would be Wakefield-Heap & Associates, or Heap-Wakefield & Associates." .”

"Oh, no, Master Copperfield," Yulia replied, taking the lead, "how can I do that in my position!"

He looked at me, grinning wide, with wrinkled cheeks, sitting humbly, exactly like the prim face I saw on the beams outside the window.

"Mr. Wickfield is a great man, Master Copperfield," said Julia, "and I think you know him better than I can tell you, as time goes on."

I said, I thought he was like that too, but although he and my aunt had been friends for many years, we had just met.

"Oh, indeed, Master Copperfield," said Yuriah, "your aunt is a kind person, Master Copperfield!"

When Yulia expressed her sincerity, her crooked body was annoying.So, instead of listening to his compliments, I watched his throat and body wriggle like a snake.

"Your aunt is a very kind person indeed, Master Copperfield," said Julia Heep. "I think she must be very fond of Miss Agnes, Master Copperfield?"

I worked up the courage to say, "I don't know, God forgive me!"

"I think, Master Copperfield, you like her just as much," said Julia, "and I can assure you that you will."

"Everyone is like that," I replied.

"Oh, Master Copperfield," said Julia Heep, "thank you, it is true. I know you're right, though I'm low! Oh, thank you, Copperfield Master!"

He writhed so much in his excitement that he left the stool, and began to prepare to go home.

"Mother is waiting for me." He said, looking at a gray and faceless pocket watch he took out from his pocket, "she may be worried about me, Master Copperfield, we lowly people love and take care of each other Mother would be as flattered as I am if you should come and sit in our humble lodgings some afternoon."

I said, I'm happy to go.

"Thank you, Master Copperfield," said Julia, putting the book back on the shelf. "I think you intend to stay here for a while, Master Copperfield?"

I said, I think that every day I am in school, I will live here one day.

"Oh, really," cried Yulia, "I think you'll be doing it after all, Master Copperfield!"

I said solemnly that I had no such intention, and no one else had any intention of it for me, but no matter how I explained it, Julia said with the utmost politeness: "Oh, yes, Master Copperfield." , I think you will." He finally left the office to go home and rest, he asked me if I wanted to turn off the lights, would it be a hindrance to me; I answered "yes", he immediately turned off the lights, and we We shook hands—I felt like his hand was a fish in the dark—he opened the door a crack, slid out sideways, and closed it, leaving me alone in the office: it was pitch black, and I felt it was not easy, And I tripped over his stool.I dreamed of him at night, perhaps for this reason.I dreamed that he was driving Mr. Peggotty's house to rob, and there was a black flag on the mast, which read "Ted's Proceedings", and under that vicious flag, he was going to kill me and little love. Mirri was transported to the Spanish Sea and drowned.

When I went to school the next day, my sense of inferiority decreased a lot, and after another day, it decreased even more, and this continued. In less than half a month, the feeling of strangeness between me and my new partner disappeared completely. I felt very at ease and very happy. I was still clumsy in their games, and I was still behind in their studies. However, I hoped that studying hard could improve me in the first aspect, and that hard work could improve me. Make me improve on the second aspect.So, in terms of play and study, I worked very hard and got a lot of praise for it.And, it didn't take long for me to feel that life at Mog & Co. was so alien to me that I could hardly believe it ever had; I became so used to my present life that it seemed to me that it had been a long time.

Dr. Strong's school is excellent, but it is as different from Mr. Crigul's as good and evil.Its rules are very serious and neat, and its system is also very sound.In all things it depends on the goodwill and honor of the pupils, and there is an evident disposition to trust in the possession of such qualities in the pupils, and this trust has achieved wonderful results in maintaining the dignity of the school.So, each of us soon becomes one with it.During my time at the school, I knew that everyone did it - worked hard and fought for the honor of the school.We had a lot of free time to play games, but at that time, even if we played games, people in the town would not be disrespectful, and our attitude or appearance rarely affected Dr. Strong himself and his school. .

Some senior students lived in the doctor's home, and I got some introductions about the doctor's life experience from them.For example, he was not long married to the pretty girl I saw in the study, and their marriage was the crystallization of love.She doesn't even have sixpence, but has countless poor relatives (according to our classmates), and she almost wants to crowd out the doctor.Also, the doctor's pensive look is due to his constant search for Greek roots.In my ignorance I thought the Doctor had a special interest in plants, especially since he always looked at the ground when he walked, and I did not know until later that he was looking for the relevant root in the new dictionary.Others said that Adams, our class leader who is good at mathematics, once estimated the time needed to complete this dictionary according to the doctor's plan and the degree of progress. His conclusion was that this dictionary can be counted from the doctor's 62nd birthday. It was completed six years later in 640.

But the doctor himself is the idol of the whole school.If not, the style of study in that school must be bad.For the Doctor is the kindest man whose faith can move the stone urn on the wall.As he wandered about the school, the crows and burrowing birds that flew nearby looked at him slyly from behind, sideways, as if they knew they were much more worldly-savvy than the Doctor.If any rascal could get close enough to his squeaky shoes to draw his attention to a story of poverty, those rascals would have a good few days to come.The incident was well known in the school, and the teachers and class prefects had to take pains to drive out the bandits lurking around corners, or jump out of windows, and push them out of the yard before they came to the doctor's attention.

Even if such a thing were going on a few yards from him, he would be ignorant of it.Outside his own domain, he is the sheep being sheared.He would take off his leggings and give them to others.In fact, there is such a thing among us (I don't know the veracity of this story, but I have believed it for many years, and I think it must be true): One winter, it was extremely cold, and he really told His leggings were given to a beggar woman, who used them to wrap a fat baby and showed them from house to house, thus causing some rumors in the neighbourhood.The Doctor's leggings were hung in a junk shop and everyone knew them.It is said that only the Doctor himself does not recognize his leggings.Not long after, when the doctor saw the leg wraps hanging in that small shop (these things can be exchanged for wine there), he fiddled with them approvingly, as if admiring the novelty of these things, and even thought that they were better than his own. Even better.

It was delightful to see the Doctor with his pretty young wife.His love for her is like a father's love for his own children.This attitude in itself can say that he is a good person.I have often seen them walk for a while in the garden full of peach trees, and sometimes I can see them more carefully in the study or drawing room.I think she cares about the Doctor and loves him very much, but I don't think she has much affection for that dictionary.The doctor always kept the difficult phrases in the dictionary manuscript in his pocket, tucked in the lining of his cap, and explained them to her during their walks.

I saw Mrs. Strong very often, partly because she took care of me when I first met the Doctor, and has been kind to me ever since, and partly because she was very fond of Agnes, and often walked between our two houses.Between her and Mr. Wakefield, I perceived a strange bond which I could not shake.When she came to Mr. Wakefield's house at night, she would not let Mr. Wakefield take her home, but insisted that I accompany her. Often, we wandered through the church yard, we did not expect to meet Anyone, but often met Mr. Jack Melton, who was very surprised to see us.

I thought Mrs. Strong's mother was a pleasant old woman.Her name was Mrs. Ma Kan; but we students used to call her "Old Soldier" because of her commanding talents, and she was good at leading a large number of relatives to lay siege to Dr. Strong.She was a small, shrewd woman.When she dressed she was accustomed to wear her only hat, which was decorated with some fake flowers and two fake butterflies that seemed to be flying over the flowers.There is a superstition among us that this hat comes from France and can only be made in that country of handiness.However, I learned that wherever Mrs. Makan appeared, the hat followed her; she put it in a basket and took it to gatherings of relatives and friends.Those two butterflies had a strange quality of trembling; they took advantage of the opportunity to lick the doctor's oil like industrious bees.

One evening, a rare opportunity, to get to know "The Veteran" thoroughly (no disrespect).It is an event that I will never forget, and I describe it.In the evening, the doctor's house held a small party to see Mr. Jack Melton off to India.He was placed in India as a junior clerk or something of the sort, which Mr. Wickfield finally managed to do.It was also the doctor's birthday that day.We had a day off, and gave the doctor a gift in the morning, and the monitor representative gave a speech, and then everyone cheered him warmly, and it was over when the doctor shed tears.Meanwhile, Mr. Wakefield, Agnes, and I were going to a dinner in his honor.

(End of this chapter)