David Copperfield

Chapter 66 Falling in love (3)
Chapter 26 Falling In Love (3)
It hated me so much it kept barking at me.She held him in her arms - oh my gosh! - and loved him, but he kept barking at me.I want to pet it, but it won't let me pet it.So she hit it.Seeing her patting the bridge of its sunken nose as admonishment while it closed its eyes and touched her hand while still whining like a little double bass added to my distress.He was well at last—he was quiet, of course, because her dimpled jaw was resting on his head—and we went to the conservatory together.

"You're not very near to Miss Murdstone, are you?" said Dora, "my darling?" (The latter was addressed to the dog, if only to me!)

"Yeah," I said, "not at all!"

"She's a nuisance," she said, pursing her lips. "I can't figure out what my father means by finding such a nuisance for me as a companion. Who wants protection, I don't want it." .Kip can protect me much better than Miss Murdstone—can't, Kip, dear?"

It only blinked lazily as she kissed its bulbous head.

"Daddy calls her my chum, but dare I say she isn't—isn't she, Kip? We—Kip and I—wouldn't trust that cranky old monster. We like whoever we like, we Find friends yourself, we don't want them to find them for us, don't we, Kip?"

It answered with a pleasant squeak, a bit like a small teapot when the water boils.As for me, every word is a new pile of shackles to add to the old ones.

"It's sad when we don't have a loving mother and we have to have some weird old boring monster like Miss Murdstone around us all day - isn't it, Kip? But let's not trust her, whatever She, as long as we are happy, we ignore her, make her angry, don't please her--don't we, Kip?"

If this situation continued, I believe I would kneel on the gravel road, get my knee scratched, and be thrown out of the house immediately.Fortunately, however, we are not far from the greenhouse, here we are.

There are lots of geraniums on display in the conservatory and we wandered in front of the flowers.Dora sometimes stopped to praise one or the other, and I stopped to praise the same.Dora laughed and lifted the dog up, and childishly let it smell the flowers.Until now, as soon as I smell the fragrance of geraniums, I feel a strange sense of grandeur and harmony.At that time, I saw in front of layers of flowers and emerald green leaves, a straw hat with emerald blue knots, cloud-like sideburns, and beautiful arms holding a little black dog.

Miss Murdstone was looking for us, and there she found us, holding out her morose cheeks for Dora to kiss.Then she took Dora's arm and took us to breakfast.

Because Dora made the tea, I couldn't stop drinking it.But I remember sitting there, slurping my tea until my whole nervous system (if I had one back then) went bankrupt.Soon we went to church, and in the pews Miss Murdstone sat between me and Dora.But all I heard was her singing, and I couldn't hear all the congregation, and there was a sermon--it was about Dora--and I was afraid, that's all I knew about that service.

The day went smoothly, no guests, just a wander, the four of them had dinner and browsed books and paintings in the evening.Miss Murdstone had a book of sermons in front of her, but stared at us with the utmost care! Ah! Mr. Spenlow sat across from me after dinner that night, with a handkerchief over his head, and he never Thinking about it, I was fantasizing about embracing him warmly as my son-in-law.When I said good night in the evening, he would never think of it, and I fancied that he had promised me to marry Dora, and I was praying to God to bless him.

We set out early the next morning, for the Naval Court was dealing with a salvage case, which requires a fair knowledge of all seamanship.Of course we in the Doctor's College don't know much about such matters, so the judge has hired two old Trinity specialists to help him, purely for the sake of charity.For breakfast, however, it was Dora's tea.I got into the carriage, and she was standing on the steps with the jeep in her arms, and I took off my hat to say goodbye to her in the carriage with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy.

What a naval court was to me that day.How did I mess up the case when I was hearing it.I put them on the table as a sign of High Jurisdiction and saw the name "Dora" on the silver paddle, when Mr. Spenlow came home without me (I had a wild hope that he take me back).And how do I feel that I am a sailor, and that the ship I am sailing has gone away and left me on a deserted island.All this I need not trouble to detail.If the sleepy old court can wake up and express everything that happened that day, then it will be possible to reproduce my true feelings.

Of course, my dreams are not limited to that day, but I dream day after day, week after week, season after season.I think about Dora all day long.I used to get my mind on the cases sometimes when those cases were going slowly, but that was only in marriage cases, wondering how married people can't be sweet.Considering in an estate case, what would be the first steps I would take if all the property were given to me.During the first week of my love affair I bought four gorgeous vests--not for myself, I didn't envy that thing, but specifically for Dora--and when I went out, I wore grass-coloured sheepskin Gloves, also rooted my corns at that time, if you would take the trouble to let me take out the boots I wore in those days again, and compare them with the natural size of my feet, it will show me very eloquently. mentality at that time.

Although I have made myself a poor cripple by falling under her skirt, I still walk many miles every day, hoping to see her.I am not as famous as the postman in that part of the country, but I am everywhere in the streets of London.I wandered the markets where the best women's stores were, and I was haunted like a restless ghost by the displays of wares.I was very tired, but I was still walking around in the park tirelessly.Sometimes, after long intervals, I saw her, perhaps saw her waving her gloves in the car window; perhaps bumped into her, walked a little while with her and Miss Murdstone, and spoke to her.However, I'm sad because I didn't say anything important.Either she has no idea how much I'm obsessed with her, or she doesn't care about me at all.I wish Mr. Spenlow would ask me again (it goes without saying), but I'm always depressed because I'm never asked again.

Mrs. Crupp was a sharp-eyed woman.Since I was only a short time into this love, and when I wrote to Agnes, I only wrote, I had been to Mr. Spenlow's, "He has but one daughter." I did not have the guts to write any more.I say Mrs. Crupp is a sharp-eyed woman, because she saw it from the earliest days of my relationship.One night, when I was very depressed, she came up and asked (she was suffering from the disease I mentioned earlier) if I could give her a little cardamom liquid mixed with rhubarb and seven drops of J essence, which is a cure for her kind. Best cure for sickness--give her brandy if I don't have any around, it's the next best cure.She said she didn't like to drink that stuff, just because it was the next best medicine.Since I never knew about the first and I only had the second in my cupboard, I gave her a glass of the second and she began to drink it in my presence (in case I suspected she was using it for any unreasonable use).

"Cheer up," she said, "I'm sorry to see you like this, sir."

I don't quite know how that applies to me, but I manage to smile at her.

"Well, sir," said Mrs. Crupp, "forgive me, I see, sir. There's a woman's thing going on here."

"Mrs. Crupp," I said blushing.

"Oh, ouch! Be confident, sir!" she said encouragingly, nodding her head. "Don't be disappointed, sir! If she doesn't smile at you, there are others. You're a lovely young gentleman, Copperford. Mr. Er, you should know your identity, sir."

Mrs. Crupp was always called Mr. Copperfall.One, no doubt, because it's not my name; two, I can't help but think, because it's vaguely associated with a laundry day.

"How do you know there's any young lady in here, Mrs. Crupp?" I said.

"Mr. Copperfall," she said affectionately, "I am a mother myself."

For a while, she could only cover her breasts with her hands in the apron wrapped in purple cloth, and drink small sips of medicinal wine to counteract the pain.After a while like this, she said again:

"When your dear aunt ordered the apartment, Mr. Copperfall," said Mrs. Crupp, "I said I now have someone to look after. 'Thank God,' said I, 'I've got someone I can take care of this time!'—you eat too little, sir, and drink too little."

"Is that what you guessed from, Mrs. Crupp?" I said.

"Sir," she said, in a tone almost severe, "I have washed many other young gentlemen besides you. A young gentleman may or may not be particular about his clothes and hats. His hair is combed perhaps Very smooth, maybe not very smooth. He can wear boots that are too big or too small. It all depends on his natural temperament. But if he goes to either extreme, sir, there is always a young lady In both cases."

She shook her head so firmly that I didn't give her the slightest chance.

"The gentleman who died here just before you," said Mrs. Crupp, "had a love affair with a barmaid, and bought some vests right away, though he was full of drink."

"Mrs. Crupp," I said, "I beg your pardon for comparing the young lady I am concerned with with the barmaid."

"Mr. Copperfall," said Mrs. Crupp, "I am a mother myself, and I am by no means in that way. I beg you to excuse me if I disturb you. Wherever I am not welcome, I never Excuse me. But you are a young gentleman, Mr. Copperfall, and I speak kind words. Take heart, hope, and know yourself. If you learn a thing, sir," she said, "if Play skittles, that may divert your mind, and do you good."

Mrs. Crupp said these words, pretending to value the glass of brandy--which was quite drained-- bowed solemnly, and left.As her shadow disappeared into the darkness of the doorway, it struck me that Mrs. Crupp was a little reckless.But at the same time, on the other hand, I am willing to accept her advice as a reminder, a warning, to make me pay more attention to secrecy in the future.

(End of this chapter)