‘In reference to our domestic preparations, madam,’ said Mr. Micawber, with some pride,‘for meeting the destiny to which we are now understood to be self-devoted,I beg to report them.My eldest daughter attends at five every morning in a neighbouring establishment, to acquire the process--if process it may be called--of milking cows. My younger children are instructed to observe, as closely as circumstances will permit, the habits of the pigs and poultry maintained in the poorer parts of this city: a pursuit from which they have, on two occasions, been brought home, within an inch of being run over. I have myself directed some attention, during the past week, to the art of baking; and my son Wilkins has issued forth with a walking-stick and driven cattle, when permitted, by the rugged hirelings who had them in charge, to render any voluntary service in that direction--which I regret to say, for the credit of our nature, was not often; he being generally warned, with imprecations, to desist.’
‘All very right indeed,’ said my aunt, encouragingly.‘Mrs. Micawber has been busy, too, I have no doubt.’
‘My dear madam,’ returned Mrs. Micawber,with her business-like air.‘I am free to confess that I have not been actively engaged in pursuits immediately connected with cultivation or with stock, though well aware that both will claim my attention on a foreign shore. Such opportunities as I have been enabled to alienate from my domestic duties, I have devoted to corresponding at some length with my family. For I own it seems to me, my dear Mr. Copperfield,’ said Mrs. Micawber, who always fell back on me, I suppose from old habit, to whomsoever else she might address her discourse at starting, ‘that the time is come when the past should be buried in oblivion; when my family should take Mr. Micawber by the hand, and Mr. Micawber should take my family by the hand; when the lion should lie down with the lamb, and my family be on terms with Mr. Micawber.’
I said I thought so too.
‘This, at least, is the light, my dear Mr. Copperfield,’ pursued Mrs. Micawber, ‘in which I view the subject.When I lived at home with my papa and mama,my papa was accustomed to ask,when any point was under discussion in our limited circle,“In what light does my Emma view the subject?” That my papa was too partial, I know; still,on such a point as the frigid coldness which has ever subsisted between Mr.Micawber and my family,I necessarily have formed an opinion,delusive though it may be.’
‘No doubt. Of course you have, ma’am,’ said my aunt.
‘Precisely so,’ assented Mrs. Micawber. ‘Now,I may be wrong in my conclusions;it is very likely that I am,but my individual impression is,that the gulf between my family and Mr.Micawber may be traced to an apprehension,on the part of my family, that Mr.Micawber would require pecuniary accommodation.I cannot help thinking,’ said Mrs. Micawber,with an air of deep sagacity,‘that there are members of my family who have been apprehensive that Mr.Micawber would solicit them for their names.---I do not mean to be conferred in Baptism upon our children, but to be inscribed on Bills of Exchange, and negotiated in the Money Market.’
The look of penetration with which Mrs.Micawber announced this discovery,as if no one had ever thought of it before,seemed rather to astonish my aunt;who abruptly replied, ‘Well, ma’am, upon the whole,I shouldn’t wonder if you were right!’
‘Mr. Micawber being now on the eve of casting off the pecuniary shackles that have so long enthralled him,’ said Mrs. Micawber, ‘and of commencing a new career in a country where there is sufficient range for his abilities,--which, in my opinion, is exceedingly important; Mr. Micawber’s abilities peculiarly requiring space,--it seems to me that my family should signalize the occasion by coming forward. What I could wish to see, would be a meeting between Mr. Micawber and my family at a festive entertainment, to be given at my family’s expense; where Mr. Micawber’s health and prosperity being proposed, by some leading member of my family, Mr. Micawber might have an opportunity of developing his views.’
‘My dear,’ said Mr. Micawber, with some heat,‘it may be better for me to state distinctly, at once,that if I were to develop my views to that assembled group,they would possibly be found of an offensive nature:my impression being that your family are,in the aggregate, impertinent Snobs; and, in detail,unmitigated Ruffians.’
‘Micawber,’ said Mrs. Micawber, shaking her head, ‘no!You have never understood them,and they have never understood you.’
Mr. Micawber coughed.
‘They have never understood you, Micawber,’ said his wife. ‘They may be incapable of it. If so,that is their misfortune. I can pity their misfortune.’
‘I am extremely sorry, my dear Emma,’ said Mr. Micawber,relenting, ‘to have been betrayed into any expressions that might,even remotely, have the appearance of being strong expressions.All I would say is,that I can go abroad without your family coming forward to favour me,--in short, with a parting Shove of their cold shoulders;and that, upon the whole,I would rather leave England with such impetus as I possess,than derive any acceleration of it from that quarter.At the same time, my dear,if they should condescend to reply to your communications--which our joint experience renders most improbable--far be it from me to be a barrier to your wishes.’
The matter being thus amicably settled, Mr.Micawber gave Mrs. Micawber his arm,and glancing at the heap of books and papers lying before Traddles on the table, said they would leave us to ourselves; which they ceremoniously did.
‘My dear Copperfield,’ said Traddles,leaning back in his chair when they were gone,and looking at me with an affection that made his eyes red,and his hair all kinds of shapes,‘I don’t make any excuse for troubling you with business,because I know you are deeply interested in it,and it may divert your thoughts. My dear boy,I hope you are not worn out?’
‘I am quite myself,’ said I, after a pause.‘We have more cause to think of my aunt than of anyone.You know how much she has done.’
‘Surely, surely,’ answered Traddles. ‘Who can forget it!’
‘But even that is not all,’ said I.‘During the last fortnight,some new trouble has vexed her;and she has been in and out of London every day.Several times she has gone out early,and been absent until evening. Last night, Traddles,with this journey before her,it was almost midnight before she came home.You know what her consideration for others is.She will not tell me what has happened to distress her. ’
My aunt, very pale, and with deep lines in her face,sat immovable until I had finished;when some stray tears found their way to her cheeks,and she put her hand on mine.
‘It’s nothing, Trot; it’s nothing.There will be no more of it. You shall know by and by.Now Agnes, my dear, let us attend to these affairs.’
‘I must do Mr. Micawber the justice to say,’ Traddles began, ‘that although he would appear not to have worked to any good account for himself, he is a most untiring man when he works for other people. I never saw such a fellow. If he always goes on in the same way, he must be, virtually, about two hundred years old, at present. The heat into which he has been continually putting himself; and the distracted and impetuous manner in which he has been diving, day and night, among papers and books; to say nothing of the immense number of letters he has written me between this house and Mr. Wickfield’s, and often across the table when he has been sitting opposite, and might much more easily have spoken; is quite extraordinary.’
‘Letters!’ cried my aunt. ‘I believe he dreams in letters!’