David Copperfield

Chapter 63 Auspicious God and Fierce God (3)
Chapter 25 Lucky Gods and Bad Gods (3)
I lead him up the dark stairs.Lest he bump his head against something, I took him by the hand, and I led him to the fire, and when I lit the candle he expressed tame pleasure in the candlelit room.When I used an ordinary tin pot that Mrs. Crupp liked to use (I think, it was originally used as a washbasin, maybe the coffee pot is a patented invention, and the expensive ones will rot in the pantry). During coffee, he was so excited that I really wanted to scald him with boiling water.

"Oh, really, Master Copperfield, I mean Mr. Copperfield," said Julia, "I never thought you could treat me like this! But you don't know that in my humble position , and such a good thing, I really thought happiness fell from the sky. I reckon you've heard I've been promoted, Master Copperfield—oh, I mean, Mr. Copperfield."

He sat on my sofa, his long legs arched under his coffee cup, his hat and gloves on the floor beside him, and he stirred and stirred the coffee cup with a teaspoon; The red eyes turned to me, but did not look at me; he still had the disgusting dimples in the nostrils I had described before; his whole body, from jaw to boot, twisted like a snake move.I decided then that I hated him so much.I was apprehensive about having him as a guest, for I was inexperienced and unaccustomed to concealing such strong feelings.

"I suppose you've heard of my promotion, Master Copperfield, oh, I mean, Mr. Copperfield?" said Julia.

"Yes, hear a little."

"Oh, I thought Miss Agnes would know about it!" he went on. "It seems that Miss Agnes knows about it, and I'm glad. Oh, thank you, Master Copperfield." —Oh, sir."

I wanted to throw my shoe last at him (it was on the carpet) because he had tricked me into giving away about Agnes.But I just drink coffee.

"You have shown yourself to be a prophet, Mr. Copperfield," said he. "Indeed, you have shown it already. Last time you said to me that perhaps I would partner with Wakefield. So, perhaps it will become Wakefield--Heap & Associates, do you remember? You may not. But when a man is mean, Master Copperfield, he takes these words to heart. "

"I said so," I said, "but it really didn't occur to me at the time."

"Oh, who would have thought of the possibility, Mr. Copperfield!" said Julia cheerfully. "I believe it, I said myself that I was too low, and I did not think of the possibility myself. I did think so at the time."

He looked at the fire with a hard smile on his face, and I looked at him.

"But the humblest man, Master Copperfield," he went on presently, "may be a good helper, and I am glad to think that I have been a good helper to Mr. Wickfield, and I may be able to do better." Well, oh, what a man he is, Mr Copperfield; but how negligent he is!"

"I'm sorry to hear that." I couldn't help adding another sentence.

"Indeed, Mr. Copperfield," he replied, "especially from Agnes' side. You don't remember the touching things you said, Master Copperfield. But I do. I thank you once for saying that there is no one who does not admire her. I don't think you have forgotten, Master Copperfield?"

"Yes!" I said coldly.

"Oh, how glad I am that you do not forget!" cried Yulia, "think that you were the first to kindle a spark of hope in me, a lowly man, and that you did not forget! Oh !—will you give me another cup of coffee?"

When he rekindled the spark of hope, when he turned to me as he spoke, something alarmed me, and I seemed to see a fire illuminating him.I remember him begging me in a different tone, so I served him with that shaving cup.But my hands trembled a little as I poured the coffee, and I suddenly felt that I was no match for him. I was thinking wildly for a while, anxious to know what he would say next, and I felt that I could not escape his gaze.

He just stirred the coffee and sipped it in small sips; he stroked his chin with his thin hand; The respectful mean, stirs and drinks coffee again and again; but he stops talking, and waits for me to speak.

"Then, Mr. Wickfield," I said at last, "I thought it was worth five hundred—you or me—Mr. Wickfields." Gotta split that sentence too, "The past was negligent, wasn't it, Mr. Heep?"

"Oh, indeed, Master Copperfield," said Julia modestly, "yes, very negligent! But I wish you would call me Julia, if you like, that would be like the old days."

"Yes, Yulia." I said the name with difficulty.

"Oh, yes," said Julia, "very negligent, Master Copperfield. It is a subject which I do not speak of to anyone but you. Even to you I shall only mention it, and say nothing more." .If anyone else had been in my place during the past few years, he would have knocked Mr. Wakefield (oh, what a man, Master Copperfield) down at this moment." Julia said, He stretched out his terrible ghost hand on my table, so hard that the table was shaken, and the room was shaken.

I think I'm almost too annoyed to bear it.

"Alas, Master Copperfield," he said softly, the softness of his voice in sharp contrast to the unrelenting movement of his hand. "No doubt there must have been loss, and disgrace, and all that I didn't know. Mr. Wakefield knew it too. I was a humble assistant working for him, and he raised me to a level I never thought How can I thank him!" After he finished speaking, he turned his face to me, but did not look at me.He shaves his slender jaw thoughtfully with his hands, as if shaving his face.

I gazed at his sullen face illuminated by the fire, and was about to say something else, and with what a fury my heart beat.

"Master Copperfield," said he, "did I disturb your sleep?"

"No, I always go to bed late."

"Thank you, Master Copperfield. It is true that I have risen from my humble station since you first greeted me, but I am still humble. I talk to you so openly that you will not Think me low, Master Copperfield? Do you?"

"No." I said.

"Thank you," he wiped his palms with his handkerchief, "Miss Agnes, Master Copperfield—"

"Oh?"

He shook like a fish, and exclaimed: "Do you think she is pretty to-night, Master Copperfield?"

"I think she's always been like that, she's outshone everyone around her in every way," I said.

"Oh, thank you, that's right!" he cried. "Thanks a lot."

"No need," I said haughtily, "you have no reason to thank me."

"Ah, Master Copperfield," said Julia, "that's exactly what I dare to say to you, in spite of my humbleness, to tell you the truth." He wiped his hands more vigorously, looking at them and the fire in turn, "In spite of my mother, in spite of our humble home, the image of Agnes (I am not afraid to tell you my secret, Master Copperfield, from the first time I saw you in the pony-drawn carriage, I I just wanted to tell you what I wanted) and it has stuck with me. Oh, Master Copperfield, with what holy love I love where Agnes walked!"

At that time, I suddenly had a crazy idea, I would grab the red fire chopsticks in the stove and pierce this guy.The thought passed through my brain at once, like a shot from a musket.Then I saw him sitting there crookedly (as if his filthy soul was playing tricks on his body) looking at me, he seemed to swell before my eyes, and the room was filled with the echo of his words.A strange feeling (probably everyone experiences it), a strange feeling that I knew what he was going to say, took hold of me.

Immediately I saw the feeling of power on his face, which reminded me more of Agnes' request, and I asked him, with a calmer expression than a minute ago, if he had expressed this to Agnes emotion.

"Oh, no, Master Copperfield," he replied, "oh, no, I have never confessed to any one but you. I have only just risen from my humble station. Most of my wishes are placed in her See how I am useful to her father (because I think I am useful to him, Master Copperfield), how to clear the obstacles for him, how to reduce his mistakes, how much she admires her father, Master Copperfield (oh , such a rare daughter!), I think she will treat me well because of her father."

I understood all the tricks of the villain, and why he was so frank.

"If you keep the secret, Master Copperfield," he went on, "as a rule, leave me alone, I regard you as the greatest benefactor, and you will not wish to be in trouble. How kind you are, I know that. But you know me only when I was humble (I should say I was the humblest), and it is possible to oppose me in my love for Agnes. I call her my Agnes, Master Copperfield. There's a song that says 'I'd rather give up the crown and call her mine!' I hope one day I'll be able to do that for sure."

Dear Agnes, how could such a lovely, noble person be the wife of this rascal!

"Don't be busy just now, Master Copperfield," he went on, while I was thinking thus; "my Agnes is still young, and I am not of high rank, and there are still many things to do before the time is right." So many new possibilities. So I have to tell her little by little what I think. Oh, I will tell you this secret, and I trust you will not hinder me (because you must not want troubles in this family) , you can't imagine how much I thank you."

He held the hand that I dare not hold out, and shook it stickily, then he took out the gray-white watch and looked at it.

"Why," said he, "it's a little bit past, and time flies so fast when talking of old times, Master Copperfield."

I replied that I thought it would be too late, not that I really thought so, and that I really wanted the conversation to end as soon as possible.

"Why," he said hesitantly, "where I am staying--a private hotel, Master Copperfield--they went to bed two hours ago."

"I'm sorry," I said, "I only have one bed here, and I—"

"If that is necessary," I said, "you sleep in my bed, and I lie before the fire."

In an expression of astonishment and condescension he rebuffed my proposal in a voice so high that Mrs. Crupp, who was at a distance, could almost hear him.Since in my distress it was useless to argue, I obliged him to lie down before the fire.I made him a bedding with sofa cushions (too short for his long, thin body), cushions, a blanket, a tablecloth, a breakfast tablecloth, a coat, and he was very grateful for it.I lent him a nightcap (he looked so ugly in it and I never wore one again) and he went to sleep.

I tossed and turned about Agnes that night.Think what I should do.In the end it was decided that I'd better do nothing for her sake and just take to heart what I had heard.During the few minutes I fell asleep, I saw her tender eyes, and her father's tearful eyes looking at her pitifully (as I had often seen him look at her), pleading with me, and filling me with terror.When I awoke, I remembered that Yulia was sleeping next door, which bothered me more and made me feel heavy, as if I had lodged with someone worse than a demon.

The torch also entered my sleep, and I couldn't get rid of it.In my half-dream, I felt that the thing was still red, and that I was going to take it out of the fire and pierce him through.Later, I was troubled by this idea, and although I knew it was fantasy, I quietly ran to the next door to see him.I saw him lying on his back, with his long legs stretched out, and a grunting sound coming from his throat.His actual appearance was uglier than I imagined, but later I was attracted by his appearance, so I ran to see him after a while.The long night seemed as gloomy and sluggish as before, and there was no hope of dawn in the dark sky.

As I watched him come downstairs that morning (for, thank God, he would not stay for breakfast), it seemed to me that the gloom passed away with him.When I went to the Ph.D., I specifically told Mrs. Crupp to open the window so that my living room could be aired and his breath removed.

(End of this chapter)