you,
Loo
Bounderby
,
know
thoroughly
well
that
I
,
Josiah
Bounderby
of
Coketown
,
would
have
it
?
’
She
looked
at
him
,
as
he
struck
the
table
and
made
the
teacups
ring
,
with
a
proud
colour
in
her
face
that
was
a
new
change
,
Mr.
Harthouse
thought
.
‘You
are
incomprehensible
this
morning
,
’
said
Louisa
.
‘Pray
take
no
further
trouble
to
explain
yourself
.
I
am
not
curious
to
know
your
meaning
.
What
does
it
matter
?
’
Nothing
more
was
said
on
this
theme
,
and
Mr.
Harthouse
was
soon
idly
gay
on
indifferent
subjects
.
But
from
this
day
,
the
Sparsit
action
upon
Mr.
Bounderby
threw
Louisa
and
James
Harthouse
more
together
,
and
strengthened
the
dangerous
alienation
from
her
husband
and
confidence
against
him
with
another
,
into
which
she
had
fallen
by
degrees
so
fine
that
she
could
not
retrace
them
if
she
tried
.
But
whether
she
ever
tried
or
no
,
lay
hidden
in
her
own
closed
heart
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
so
much
affected
on
this
particular
occasion
,
that
,
assisting
Mr.
Bounderby
to
his
hat
after
breakfast
,
and
being
then
alone
with
him
in
the
hall
,
she
imprinted
a
chaste
kiss
upon
his
hand
,
murmured
‘My
benefactor
!
’
and
retired
,
overwhelmed
with
grief
.
Yet
it
is
an
indubitable
fact
,
within
the
cognizance
of
this
history
,
that
five
minutes
after
he
had
left
the
house
in
the
self-same
hat
,
the
same
descendant
of
the
Scadgerses
and
connexion
by
matrimony
of
the
Powlers
,
shook
her
right-hand
mitten
at
his
portrait
,
made
a
contemptuous
grimace
at
that
work
of
art
,
and
said
‘Serve
you
right
,
you
Noodle
,
and
I
am
glad
of
it.’
Mr.
Bounderby
had
not
been
long
gone
,
when
Bitzer
appeared
.
Bitzer
had
come
down
by
train
,
shrieking
and
rattling
over
the
long
line
of
arches
that
bestrode
the
wild
country
of
past
and
present
coal-pits
,
with
an
express
from
Stone
Lodge
.
It
was
a
hasty
note
to
inform
Louisa
that
Mrs.
Gradgrind
lay
very
ill.
She
had
never
been
well
within
her
daughter’s
knowledge
;
but
,
she
had
declined
within
the
last
few
days
,
had
continued
sinking
all
through
the
night
,
and
was
now
as
nearly
dead
,
as
her
limited
capacity
of
being
in
any
state
that
implied
the
ghost
of
an
intention
to
get
out
of
it
,
allowed
.
Accompanied
by
the
lightest
of
porters
,
fit
colourless
servitor
at
Death’s
door
when
Mrs.
Gradgrind
knocked
,
Louisa
rumbled
to
Coketown
,
over
the
coal-pits
past
and
present
,
and
was
whirled
into
its
smoky
jaws
.
She
dismissed
the
messenger
to
his
own
devices
,
and
rode
away
to
her
old
home
.
She
had
seldom
been
there
since
her
marriage
.
Her
father
was
usually
sifting
and
sifting
at
his
parliamentary
cinder-heap
in
London
(
without
being
observed
to
turn
up
many
precious
articles
among
the
rubbish
)
,
and
was
still
hard
at
it
in
the
national
dust-yard
.
Her
mother
had
taken
it
rather
as
a
disturbance
than
otherwise
,
to
be
visited
,
as
she
reclined
upon
her
sofa
;
young
people
,
Louisa
felt
herself
all
unfit
for
;
Sissy
she
had
never
softened
to
again
,
since
the
night
when
the
stroller’s
child
had
raised
her
eyes
to
look
at
Mr.
Bounderby’s
intended
wife
.
She
had
no
inducements
to
go
back
,
and
had
rarely
gone
.
Neither
,
as
she
approached
her
old
home
now
,
did
any
of
the
best
influences
of
old
home
descend
upon
her
.
The
dreams
of
childhood
—
its
airy
fables
;
its
graceful
,
beautiful
,
humane
,
impossible
adornments
of
the
world
beyond
:
so
good
to
be
believed
in
once
,
so
good
to
be
remembered
when
outgrown
,
for
then
the
least
among
them
rises
to
the
stature
of
a
great
Charity
in
the
heart
,
suffering
little
children
to
come
into
the
midst
of
it
,
and
to
keep
with
their
pure
hands
a
garden
in
the
stony
ways
of
this
world
,
wherein
it
were
better
for
all
the
children
of
Adam
that
they
should
oftener
sun
themselves
,
simple
and
trustful
,
and
not
worldly-wise
—
what
had
she
to
do
with
these
?
Remembrances
of
how
she
had
journeyed
to
the
little
that
she
knew
,
by
the
enchanted
roads
of
what
she
and
millions
of
innocent
creatures
had
hoped
and
imagined
;
of
how
,
first
coming
upon
Reason
through
the
tender
light
of
Fancy
,
she
had
seen
it
a
beneficent
god
,
deferring
to
gods
as
great
as
itself
;
not
a
grim
Idol
,
cruel
and
cold
,
with
its
victims
bound
hand
to
foot
,
and
its
big
dumb
shape
set
up
with
a
sightless
stare
,
never
to
be
moved
by
anything
but
so
many
calculated
tons
of
leverage
—
what
had
she
to
do
with
these
?
Her
remembrances
of
home
and
childhood
were
remembrances
of
the
drying
up
of
every
spring
and
fountain
in
her
young
heart
as
it
gushed
out
.
The
golden
waters
were
not
there
.
They
were
flowing
for
the
fertilization
of
the
land
where
grapes
are
gathered
from
thorns
,
and
figs
from
thistles
.
She
went
,
with
a
heavy
,
hardened
kind
of
sorrow
upon
her
,
into
the
house
and
into
her
mother’s
room
.
Since
the
time
of
her
leaving
home
,
Sissy
had
lived
with
the
rest
of
the
family
on
equal
terms
.
Sissy
was
at
her
mother’s
side
;
and
Jane
,
her
sister
,
now
ten
or
twelve
years
old
,
was
in
the
room
.
There
was
great
trouble
before
it
could
be
made
known
to
Mrs.
Gradgrind
that
her
eldest
child
was
there
.
She
reclined
,
propped
up
,
from
mere
habit
,
on
a
couch
:
as
nearly
in
her
old
usual
attitude
,
as
anything
so
helpless
could
be
kept
in
.
She
had
positively
refused
to
take
to
her
bed
;
on
the
ground
that
if
she
did
,
she
would
never
hear
the
last
of
it
.
Her
feeble
voice
sounded
so
far
away
in
her
bundle
of
shawls
,
and
the
sound
of
another
voice
addressing
her
seemed
to
take
such
a
long
time
in
getting
down
to
her
ears
,
that
she
might
have
been
lying
at
the
bottom
of
a
well
.
The
poor
lady
was
nearer
Truth
than
she
ever
had
been
:
which
had
much
to
do
with
it
.
On
being
told
that
Mrs.
Bounderby
was
there
,
she
replied
,
at
cross-purposes
,
that
she
had
never
called
him
by
that
name
since
he
married
Louisa
;
that
pending
her
choice
of
an
objectionable
name
,
she
had
called
him
J
;
and
that
she
could
not
at
present
depart
from
that
regulation
,
not
being
yet
provided
with
a
permanent
substitute
.
Louisa
had
sat
by
her
for
some
minutes
,
and
had
spoken
to
her
often
,
before
she
arrived
at
a
clear
understanding
who
it
was
.
She
then
seemed
to
come
to
it
all
at
once
.
‘Well
,
my
dear
,
’
said
Mrs.
Gradgrind
,
‘and
I
hope
you
are
going
on
satisfactorily
to
yourself
.
It
was
all
your
father’s
doing
.
He
set
his
heart
upon
it
.
And
he
ought
to
know.’
‘I
want
to
hear
of
you
,
mother
;
not
of
myself.’
‘You
want
to
hear
of
me
,
my
dear
?
That’s
something
new
,
I
am
sure
,
when
anybody
wants
to
hear
of
me
.
Not
at
all
well
,
Louisa
.
Very
faint
and
giddy.’
‘Are
you
in
pain
,
dear
mother
?
’
‘I
think
there’s
a
pain
somewhere
in
the
room
,
’
said
Mrs.
Gradgrind
,
‘but
I
couldn’t
positively
say
that
I
have
got
it.’
After
this
strange
speech
,
she
lay
silent
for
some
time
.
Louisa
,
holding
her
hand
,
could
feel
no
pulse
;
but
kissing
it
,
could
see
a
slight
thin
thread
of
life
in
fluttering
motion
.
‘You
very
seldom
see
your
sister
,
’
said
Mrs.
Gradgrind
.
‘She
grows
like
you
.
I
wish
you
would
look
at
her
.
Sissy
,
bring
her
here.’
She
was
brought
,
and
stood
with
her
hand
in
her
sister’s
.
Louisa
had
observed
her
with
her
arm
round
Sissy’s
neck
,
and
she
felt
the
difference
of
this
approach
.
‘Do
you
see
the
likeness
,
Louisa
?
’
‘Yes
,
mother
.
I
should
think
her
like
me
.
But
—
’
‘Eh
!
Yes
,
I
always
say
so
,
’
Mrs.
Gradgrind
cried
,
with
unexpected
quickness
.
‘And
that
reminds
me
.
I
—
I
want
to
speak
to
you
,
my
dear
.
Sissy
,
my
good
girl
,
leave
us
alone
a
minute.’
Louisa
had
relinquished
the
hand
:
had
thought
that
her
sister’s
was
a
better
and
brighter
face
than
hers
had
ever
been
:
had
seen
in
it
,
not
without
a
rising
feeling
of
resentment
,
even
in
that
place
and
at
that
time
,
something
of
the
gentleness
of
the
other
face
in
the
room
;
the
sweet
face
with
the
trusting
eyes
,
made
paler
than
watching
and
sympathy
made
it
,
by
the
rich
dark
hair
.
Left
alone
with
her
mother
,
Louisa
saw
her
lying
with
an
awful
lull
upon
her
face
,
like
one
who
was
floating
away
upon
some
great
water
,
all
resistance
over
,
content
to
be
carried
down
the
stream
.
She
put
the
shadow
of
a
hand
to
her
lips
again
,
and
recalled
her
.
‘You
were
going
to
speak
to
me
,
mother.’
‘Eh
?
Yes
,
to
be
sure
,
my
dear
.
You
know
your
father
is
almost
always
away
now
,
and
therefore
I
must
write
to
him
about
it.’
‘About
what
,
mother
?
Don’t
be
troubled
.
About
what
?
’
‘You
must
remember
,
my
dear
,
that
whenever
I
have
said
anything
,
on
any
subject
,
I
have
never
heard
the
last
of
it
:
and
consequently
,
that
I
have
long
left
off
saying
anything.’
‘I
can
hear
you
,
mother.’
But
,
it
was
only
by
dint
of
bending
down
to
her
ear
,
and
at
the
same
time
attentively
watching
the
lips
as
they
moved
,
that
she
could
link
such
faint
and
broken
sounds
into
any
chain
of
connexion
.
‘You
learnt
a
great
deal
,
Louisa
,
and
so
did
your
brother
.
Ologies
of
all
kinds
from
morning
to
night
.
If
there
is
any
Ology
left
,
of
any
description
,
that
has
not
been
worn
to
rags
in
this
house
,
all
I
can
say
is
,
I
hope
I
shall
never
hear
its
name.’
‘I
can
hear
you
,
mother
,
when
you
have
strength
to
go
on.’
This
,
to
keep
her
from
floating
away
.
‘But
there
is
something
—
not
an
Ology
at
all
—
that
your
father
has
missed
,
or
forgotten
,
Louisa
.
I
don’t
know
what
it
is
.
I
have
often
sat
with
Sissy
near
me
,
and
thought
about
it
.
I
shall
never
get
its
name
now
.
But
your
father
may
.
It
makes
me
restless
.
I
want
to
write
to
him
,
to
find
out
for
God’s
sake
,
what
it
is
.
Give
me
a
pen
,
give
me
a
pen.’
Even
the
power
of
restlessness
was
gone
,
except
from
the
poor
head
,
which
could
just
turn
from
side
to
side
.
She
fancied
,
however
,
that
her
request
had
been
complied
with
,
and
that
the
pen
she
could
not
have
held
was
in
her
hand
.
It
matters
little
what
figures
of
wonderful
no-meaning
she
began
to
trace
upon
her
wrappers
.
The
hand
soon
stopped
in
the
midst
of
them
;
the
light
that
had
always
been
feeble
and
dim
behind
the
weak
transparency
,
went
out
;
and
even
Mrs.
Gradgrind
,
emerged
from
the
shadow
in
which
man
walketh
and
disquieteth
himself
in
vain
,
took
upon
her
the
dread
solemnity
of
the
sages
and
patriarchs
.
CHAPTER
X
MRS.
SPARSIT’S
STAIRCASE
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
nerves
being
slow
to
recover
their
tone
,
the
worthy
woman
made
a
stay
of
some
weeks
in
duration
at
Mr.
Bounderby’s
retreat
,
where
,
notwithstanding
her
anchorite
turn
of
mind
based
upon
her
becoming
consciousness
of
her
altered
station
,
she
resigned
herself
with
noble
fortitude
to
lodging
,
as
one
may
say
,
in
clover
,
and
feeding
on
the
fat
of
the
land
.
During
the
whole
term
of
this
recess
from
the
guardianship
of
the
Bank
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
a
pattern
of
consistency
;
continuing
to
take
such
pity
on
Mr.
Bounderby
to
his
face
,
as
is
rarely
taken
on
man
,
and
to
call
his
portrait
a
Noodle
to
its
face
,
with
the
greatest
acrimony
and
contempt
.
Mr.
Bounderby
,
having
got
it
into
his
explosive
composition
that
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
a
highly
superior
woman
to
perceive
that
he
had
that
general
cross
upon
him
in
his
deserts
(
for
he
had
not
yet
settled
what
it
was
)
,
and
further
that
Louisa
would
have
objected
to
her
as
a
frequent
visitor
if
it
had
comported
with
his
greatness
that
she
should
object
to
anything
he
chose
to
do
,
resolved
not
to
lose
sight
of
Mrs.
Sparsit
easily
.
So
when
her
nerves
were
strung
up
to
the
pitch
of
again
consuming
sweetbreads
in
solitude
,
he
said
to
her
at
the
dinner-table
,
on
the
day
before
her
departure
,
‘I
tell
you
what
,
ma’am
;
you
shall
come
down
here
of
a
Saturday
,
while
the
fine
weather
lasts
,
and
stay
till
Monday.’
To
which
Mrs.
Sparsit
returned
,
in
effect
,
though
not
of
the
Mahomedan
persuasion
:
‘To
hear
is
to
obey.’
Now
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
not
a
poetical
woman
;
but
she
took
an
idea
in
the
nature
of
an
allegorical
fancy
,
into
her
head
.
Much
watching
of
Louisa
,
and
much
consequent
observation
of
her
impenetrable
demeanour
,
which
keenly
whetted
and
sharpened
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
edge
,
must
have
given
her
as
it
were
a
lift
,
in
the
way
of
inspiration
.
She
erected
in
her
mind
a
mighty
Staircase
,
with
a
dark
pit
of
shame
and
ruin
at
the
bottom
;
and
down
those
stairs
,
from
day
to
day
and
hour
to
hour
,
she
saw
Louisa
coming
.
It
became
the
business
of
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
life
,
to
look
up
at
her
staircase
,
and
to
watch
Louisa
coming
down
.
Sometimes
slowly
,
sometimes
quickly
,
sometimes
several
steps
at
one
bout
,
sometimes
stopping
,
never
turning
back
.
If
she
had
once
turned
back
,
it
might
have
been
the
death
of
Mrs.
Sparsit
in
spleen
and
grief
.
She
had
been
descending
steadily
,
to
the
day
,
and
on
the
day
,
when
Mr.
Bounderby
issued
the
weekly
invitation
recorded
above
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
in
good
spirits
,
and
inclined
to
be
conversational
.
‘And
pray
,
sir
,
’
said
she
,
‘if
I
may
venture
to
ask
a
question
appertaining
to
any
subject
on
which
you
show
reserve
—
which
is
indeed
hardy
in
me
,
for
I
well
know
you
have
a
reason
for
everything
you
do
—
have
you
received
intelligence
respecting
the
robbery
?
’
‘Why
,
ma’am
,
no
;
not
yet
.
Under
the
circumstances
,
I
didn’t
expect
it
yet
.
Rome
wasn’t
built
in
a
day
,
ma’am.’
‘Very
true
,
sir
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
shaking
her
head
.
‘Nor
yet
in
a
week
,
ma’am.’
‘No
,
indeed
,
sir
,
’
returned
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
with
a
gentle
melancholy
upon
her
.
‘In
a
similar
manner
,
ma’am
,
’
said
Bounderby
,
‘I
can
wait
,
you
know
.
If
Romulus
and
Remus
could
wait
,
Josiah
Bounderby
can
wait
.
They
were
better
off
in
their
youth
than
I
was
,
however
.
They
had
a
she-wolf
for
a
nurse
;
I
had
only
a
she-wolf
for
a
grandmother
.
She
didn’t
give
any
milk
,
ma’am
;
she
gave
bruises
.
She
was
a
regular
Alderney
at
that.’
‘Ah
!
’
Mrs.
Sparsit
sighed
and
shuddered
.
‘No
,
ma’am
,
’
continued
Bounderby
,
‘I
have
not
heard
anything
more
about
it
.
It’s
in
hand
,
though
;
and
young
Tom
,
who
rather
sticks
to
business
at
present
—
something
new
for
him
;
he
hadn’t
the
schooling
I
had
—
is
helping
.
My
injunction
is
,
Keep
it
quiet
,
and
let
it
seem
to
blow
over
.
Do
what
you
like
under
the
rose
,
but
don’t
give
a
sign
of
what
you’re
about
;
or
half
a
hundred
of
’em
will
combine
together
and
get
this
fellow
who
has
bolted
,
out
of
reach
for
good
.
Keep
it
quiet
,
and
the
thieves
will
grow
in
confidence
by
little
and
little
,
and
we
shall
have
’em.’
‘Very
sagacious
indeed
,
sir
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
.
‘Very
interesting
.
The
old
woman
you
mentioned
,
sir
—
’
‘The
old
woman
I
mentioned
,
ma’am
,
’
said
Bounderby
,
cutting
the
matter
short
,
as
it
was
nothing
to
boast
about
,
‘is
not
laid
hold
of
;
but
,
she
may
take
her
oath
she
will
be
,
if
that
is
any
satisfaction
to
her
villainous
old
mind
.
In
the
mean
time
,
ma’am
,
I
am
of
opinion
,
if
you
ask
me
my
opinion
,
that
the
less
she
is
talked
about
,
the
better.’
The
same
evening
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
in
her
chamber
window
,
resting
from
her
packing
operations
,
looked
towards
her
great
staircase
and
saw
Louisa
still
descending
.
She
sat
by
Mr.
Harthouse
,
in
an
alcove
in
the
garden
,
talking
very
low
;
he
stood
leaning
over
her
,
as
they
whispered
together
,
and
his
face
almost
touched
her
hair
.
‘If
not
quite
!
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
straining
her
hawk’s
eyes
to
the
utmost
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
too
distant
to
hear
a
word
of
their
discourse
,
or
even
to
know
that
they
were
speaking
softly
,
otherwise
than
from
the
expression
of
their
figures
;
but
what
they
said
was
this
:
‘You
recollect
the
man
,
Mr.
Harthouse
?
’
‘Oh
,
perfectly
!
’
‘His
face
,
and
his
manner
,
and
what
he
said
?
’
‘Perfectly
.
And
an
infinitely
dreary
person
he
appeared
to
me
to
be
.
Lengthy
and
prosy
in
the
extreme
.
It
was
knowing
to
hold
forth
,
in
the
humble-virtue
school
of
eloquence
;
but
,
I
assure
you
I
thought
at
the
time
,
“
My
good
fellow
,
you
are
over-doing
this
!
”
’
‘It
has
been
very
difficult
to
me
to
think
ill
of
that
man.’
‘My
dear
Louisa
—
as
Tom
says.’
Which
he
never
did
say
.
‘You
know
no
good
of
the
fellow
?
’
‘No
,
certainly.’
‘Nor
of
any
other
such
person
?
’
‘How
can
I
,
’
she
returned
,
with
more
of
her
first
manner
on
her
than
he
had
lately
seen
,
‘when
I
know
nothing
of
them
,
men
or
women
?
’
‘My
dear
Louisa
,
then
consent
to
receive
the
submissive
representation
of
your
devoted
friend
,
who
knows
something
of
several
varieties
of
his
excellent
fellow-creatures
—
for
excellent
they
are
,
I
am
quite
ready
to
believe
,
in
spite
of
such
little
foibles
as
always
helping
themselves
to
what
they
can
get
hold
of
.
This
fellow
talks
.
Well
;
every
fellow
talks
.
He
professes
morality
.
Well
;
all
sorts
of
humbugs
profess
morality
.
From
the
House
of
Commons
to
the
House
of
Correction
,
there
is
a
general
profession
of
morality
,
except
among
our
people
;
it
really
is
that
exception
which
makes
our
people
quite
reviving
.
You
saw
and
heard
the
case
.
Here
was
one
of
the
fluffy
classes
pulled
up
extremely
short
by
my
esteemed
friend
Mr.
Bounderby
—
who
,
as
we
know
,
is
not
possessed
of
that
delicacy
which
would
soften
so
tight
a
hand
.
The
member
of
the
fluffy
classes
was
injured
,
exasperated
,
left
the
house
grumbling
,
met
somebody
who
proposed
to
him
to
go
in
for
some
share
in
this
Bank
business
,
went
in
,
put
something
in
his
pocket
which
had
nothing
in
it
before
,
and
relieved
his
mind
extremely
.
Really
he
would
have
been
an
uncommon
,
instead
of
a
common
,
fellow
,
if
he
had
not
availed
himself
of
such
an
opportunity
.
Or
he
may
have
originated
it
altogether
,
if
he
had
the
cleverness.’
‘I
almost
feel
as
though
it
must
be
bad
in
me
,
’
returned
Louisa
,
after
sitting
thoughtful
awhile
,
‘to
be
so
ready
to
agree
with
you
,
and
to
be
so
lightened
in
my
heart
by
what
you
say.’
‘I
only
say
what
is
reasonable
;
nothing
worse
.
I
have
talked
it
over
with
my
friend
Tom
more
than
once
—
of
course
I
remain
on
terms
of
perfect
confidence
with
Tom
—
and
he
is
quite
of
my
opinion
,
and
I
am
quite
of
his
.
Will
you
walk
?
’
They
strolled
away
,
among
the
lanes
beginning
to
be
indistinct
in
the
twilight
—
she
leaning
on
his
arm
—
and
she
little
thought
how
she
was
going
down
,
down
,
down
,
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
staircase
.
Night
and
day
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
kept
it
standing
.
When
Louisa
had
arrived
at
the
bottom
and
disappeared
in
the
gulf
,
it
might
fall
in
upon
her
if
it
would
;
but
,
until
then
,
there
it
was
to
be
,
a
Building
,
before
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
eyes
.
And
there
Louisa
always
was
,
upon
it
.
And
always
gliding
down
,
down
,
down
!
Mrs.
Sparsit
saw
James
Harthouse
come
and
go
;
she
heard
of
him
here
and
there
;
she
saw
the
changes
of
the
face
he
had
studied
;
she
,
too
,
remarked
to
a
nicety
how
and
when
it
clouded
,
how
and
when
it
cleared
;
she
kept
her
black
eyes
wide
open
,
with
no
touch
of
pity
,
with
no
touch
of
compunction
,
all
absorbed
in
interest
.
In
the
interest
of
seeing
her
,
ever
drawing
,
with
no
hand
to
stay
her
,
nearer
and
nearer
to
the
bottom
of
this
new
Giant’s
Staircase
.
With
all
her
deference
for
Mr.
Bounderby
as
contradistinguished
from
his
portrait
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
had
not
the
smallest
intention
of
interrupting
the
descent
.
Eager
to
see
it
accomplished
,
and
yet
patient
,
she
waited
for
the
last
fall
,
as
for
the
ripeness
and
fulness
of
the
harvest
of
her
hopes
.
Hushed
in
expectancy
,
she
kept
her
wary
gaze
upon
the
stairs
;
and
seldom
so
much
as
darkly
shook
her
right
mitten
(
with
her
fist
in
it
)
,
at
the
figure
coming
down
.
CHAPTER
XI
LOWER
AND
LOWER
The
figure
descended
the
great
stairs
,
steadily
,
steadily
;
always
verging
,
like
a
weight
in
deep
water
,
to
the
black
gulf
at
the
bottom
.
Mr.
Gradgrind
,
apprised
of
his
wife’s
decease
,
made
an
expedition
from
London
,
and
buried
her
in
a
business-like
manner
.
He
then
returned
with
promptitude
to
the
national
cinder-heap
,
and
resumed
his
sifting
for
the
odds
and
ends
he
wanted
,
and
his
throwing
of
the
dust
about
into
the
eyes
of
other
people
who
wanted
other
odds
and
ends
—
in
fact
resumed
his
parliamentary
duties
.
In
the
meantime
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
kept
unwinking
watch
and
ward
.
Separated
from
her
staircase
,
all
the
week
,
by
the
length
of
iron
road
dividing
Coketown
from
the
country
house
,
she
yet
maintained
her
cat-like
observation
of
Louisa
,
through
her
husband
,
through
her
brother
,
through
James
Harthouse
,
through
the
outsides
of
letters
and
packets
,
through
everything
animate
and
inanimate
that
at
any
time
went
near
the
stairs
.
‘Your
foot
on
the
last
step
,
my
lady
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
apostrophizing
the
descending
figure
,
with
the
aid
of
her
threatening
mitten
,
‘and
all
your
art
shall
never
blind
me.’
Art
or
nature
though
,
the
original
stock
of
Louisa’s
character
or
the
graft
of
circumstances
upon
it
,
—
her
curious
reserve
did
baffle
,
while
it
stimulated
,
one
as
sagacious
as
Mrs.
Sparsit
.
There
were
times
when
Mr.
James
Harthouse
was
not
sure
of
her
.
There
were
times
when
he
could
not
read
the
face
he
had
studied
so
long
;
and
when
this
lonely
girl
was
a
greater
mystery
to
him
,
than
any
woman
of
the
world
with
a
ring
of
satellites
to
help
her
.
So
the
time
went
on
;
until
it
happened
that
Mr.
Bounderby
was
called
away
from
home
by
business
which
required
his
presence
elsewhere
,
for
three
or
four
days
.
It
was
on
a
Friday
that
he
intimated
this
to
Mrs.
Sparsit
at
the
Bank
,
adding
:
‘But
you’ll
go
down
to-morrow
,
ma’am
,
all
the
same
.
You’ll
go
down
just
as
if
I
was
there
.
It
will
make
no
difference
to
you.’
‘Pray
,
sir
,
’
returned
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
reproachfully
,
‘let
me
beg
you
not
to
say
that
.
Your
absence
will
make
a
vast
difference
to
me
,
sir
,
as
I
think
you
very
well
know.’
‘Well
,
ma’am
,
then
you
must
get
on
in
my
absence
as
well
as
you
can
,
’
said
Mr.
Bounderby
,
not
displeased
.
‘Mr
.
Bounderby
,
’
retorted
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘your
will
is
to
me
a
law
,
sir
;
otherwise
,
it
might
be
my
inclination
to
dispute
your
kind
commands
,
not
feeling
sure
that
it
will
be
quite
so
agreeable
to
Miss
Gradgrind
to
receive
me
,
as
it
ever
is
to
your
own
munificent
hospitality
.
But
you
shall
say
no
more
,
sir
.
I
will
go
,
upon
your
invitation.’
‘Why
,
when
I
invite
you
to
my
house
,
ma’am
,
’
said
Bounderby
,
opening
his
eyes
,
‘I
should
hope
you
want
no
other
invitation.’
‘No
,
indeed
,
sir
,
’
returned
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘I
should
hope
not
.
Say
no
more
,
sir
.
I
would
,
sir
,
I
could
see
you
gay
again.’
‘What
do
you
mean
,
ma’am
?
’
blustered
Bounderby
.
‘Sir
,
’
rejoined
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘there
was
wont
to
be
an
elasticity
in
you
which
I
sadly
miss.
Be
buoyant
,
sir
!
’
Mr.
Bounderby
,
under
the
influence
of
this
difficult
adjuration
,
backed
up
by
her
compassionate
eye
,
could
only
scratch
his
head
in
a
feeble
and
ridiculous
manner
,
and
afterwards
assert
himself
at
a
distance
,
by
being
heard
to
bully
the
small
fry
of
business
all
the
morning
.
‘Bitzer
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
that
afternoon
,
when
her
patron
was
gone
on
his
journey
,
and
the
Bank
was
closing
,
‘present
my
compliments
to
young
Mr.
Thomas
,
and
ask
him
if
he
would
step
up
and
partake
of
a
lamb
chop
and
walnut
ketchup
,
with
a
glass
of
India
ale
?
’
Young
Mr.
Thomas
being
usually
ready
for
anything
in
that
way
,
returned
a
gracious
answer
,
and
followed
on
its
heels
.
‘Mr
.
Thomas
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘these
plain
viands
being
on
table
,
I
thought
you
might
be
tempted.’
‘Thank’ee
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
’
said
the
whelp
.
And
gloomily
fell
to
.
‘How
is
Mr.
Harthouse
,
Mr.
Tom
?
’
asked
Mrs.
Sparsit
.
‘Oh
,
he’s
all
right
,
’
said
Tom
.
‘Where
may
he
be
at
present
?
’
Mrs.
Sparsit
asked
in
a
light
conversational
manner
,
after
mentally
devoting
the
whelp
to
the
Furies
for
being
so
uncommunicative
.
‘He
is
shooting
in
Yorkshire
,
’
said
Tom
.
‘Sent
Loo
a
basket
half
as
big
as
a
church
,
yesterday.’
‘The
kind
of
gentleman
,
now
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
sweetly
,
‘whom
one
might
wager
to
be
a
good
shot
!
’
‘Crack
,
’
said
Tom
.
He
had
long
been
a
down-looking
young
fellow
,
but
this
characteristic
had
so
increased
of
late
,
that
he
never
raised
his
eyes
to
any
face
for
three
seconds
together
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
consequently
had
ample
means
of
watching
his
looks
,
if
she
were
so
inclined
.
‘Mr
.
Harthouse
is
a
great
favourite
of
mine
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘as
indeed
he
is
of
most
people
.
May
we
expect
to
see
him
again
shortly
,
Mr.
Tom
?
’
‘Why
,
I
expect
to
see
him
to-morrow
,
’
returned
the
whelp
.
‘Good
news
!
’
cried
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
blandly
.
‘I
have
got
an
appointment
with
him
to
meet
him
in
the
evening
at
the
station
here
,
’
said
Tom
,
‘and
I
am
going
to
dine
with
him
afterwards
,
I
believe
.
He
is
not
coming
down
to
the
country
house
for
a
week
or
so
,
being
due
somewhere
else
.
At
least
,
he
says
so
;
but
I
shouldn’t
wonder
if
he
was
to
stop
here
over
Sunday
,
and
stray
that
way.’
‘Which
reminds
me
!
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
.
‘Would
you
remember
a
message
to
your
sister
,
Mr.
Tom
,
if
I
was
to
charge
you
with
one
?
’
‘Well
?
I’ll
try
,
’
returned
the
reluctant
whelp
,
‘if
it
isn’t
a
long
un.’
‘It
is
merely
my
respectful
compliments
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘and
I
fear
I
may
not
trouble
her
with
my
society
this
week
;
being
still
a
little
nervous
,
and
better
perhaps
by
my
poor
self.’
‘Oh
!
If
that’s
all
,
’
observed
Tom
,
‘it
wouldn’t
much
matter
,
even
if
I
was
to
forget
it
,
for
Loo’s
not
likely
to
think
of
you
unless
she
sees
you.’
Having
paid
for
his
entertainment
with
this
agreeable
compliment
,
he
relapsed
into
a
hangdog
silence
until
there
was
no
more
India
ale
left
,
when
he
said
,
‘Well
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
I
must
be
off
!
’
and
went
off
.
Next
day
,
Saturday
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
sat
at
her
window
all
day
long
looking
at
the
customers
coming
in
and
out
,
watching
the
postmen
,
keeping
an
eye
on
the
general
traffic
of
the
street
,
revolving
many
things
in
her
mind
,
but
,
above
all
,
keeping
her
attention
on
her
staircase
.
The
evening
come
,
she
put
on
her
bonnet
and
shawl
,
and
went
quietly
out
:
having
her
reasons
for
hovering
in
a
furtive
way
about
the
station
by
which
a
passenger
would
arrive
from
Yorkshire
,
and
for
preferring
to
peep
into
it
round
pillars
and
corners
,
and
out
of
ladies’
waiting-room
windows
,
to
appearing
in
its
precincts
openly
.
Tom
was
in
attendance
,
and
loitered
about
until
the
expected
train
came
in
.
It
brought
no
Mr.
Harthouse
.
Tom
waited
until
the
crowd
had
dispersed
,
and
the
bustle
was
over
;
and
then
referred
to
a
posted
list
of
trains
,
and
took
counsel
with
porters
.
That
done
,
he
strolled
away
idly
,
stopping
in
the
street
and
looking
up
it
and
down
it
,
and
lifting
his
hat
off
and
putting
it
on
again
,
and
yawning
and
stretching
himself
,
and
exhibiting
all
the
symptoms
of
mortal
weariness
to
be
expected
in
one
who
had
still
to
wait
until
the
next
train
should
come
in
,
an
hour
and
forty
minutes
hence
.
‘This
is
a
device
to
keep
him
out
of
the
way
,
’
said
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
starting
from
the
dull
office
window
whence
she
had
watched
him
last
.
‘Harthouse
is
with
his
sister
now
!
’
It
was
the
conception
of
an
inspired
moment
,
and
she
shot
off
with
her
utmost
swiftness
to
work
it
out
.
The
station
for
the
country
house
was
at
the
opposite
end
of
the
town
,
the
time
was
short
,
the
road
not
easy
;
but
she
was
so
quick
in
pouncing
on
a
disengaged
coach
,
so
quick
in
darting
out
of
it
,
producing
her
money
,
seizing
her
ticket
,
and
diving
into
the
train
,
that
she
was
borne
along
the
arches
spanning
the
land
of
coal-pits
past
and
present
,
as
if
she
had
been
caught
up
in
a
cloud
and
whirled
away
.
All
the
journey
,
immovable
in
the
air
though
never
left
behind
;
plain
to
the
dark
eyes
of
her
mind
,
as
the
electric
wires
which
ruled
a
colossal
strip
of
music-paper
out
of
the
evening
sky
,
were
plain
to
the
dark
eyes
of
her
body
;
Mrs.
Sparsit
saw
her
staircase
,
with
the
figure
coming
down
.
Very
near
the
bottom
now
.
Upon
the
brink
of
the
abyss
.
An
overcast
September
evening
,
just
at
nightfall
,
saw
beneath
its
drooping
eyelids
Mrs.
Sparsit
glide
out
of
her
carriage
,
pass
down
the
wooden
steps
of
the
little
station
into
a
stony
road
,
cross
it
into
a
green
lane
,
and
become
hidden
in
a
summer-growth
of
leaves
and
branches
.
One
or
two
late
birds
sleepily
chirping
in
their
nests
,
and
a
bat
heavily
crossing
and
recrossing
her
,
and
the
reek
of
her
own
tread
in
the
thick
dust
that
felt
like
velvet
,
were
all
Mrs.
Sparsit
heard
or
saw
until
she
very
softly
closed
a
gate
.
She
went
up
to
the
house
,
keeping
within
the
shrubbery
,
and
went
round
it
,
peeping
between
the
leaves
at
the
lower
windows
.
Most
of
them
were
open
,
as
they
usually
were
in
such
warm
weather
,
but
there
were
no
lights
yet
,
and
all
was
silent
.
She
tried
the
garden
with
no
better
effect
.
She
thought
of
the
wood
,
and
stole
towards
it
,
heedless
of
long
grass
and
briers
:
of
worms
,
snails
,
and
slugs
,
and
all
the
creeping
things
that
be
.
With
her
dark
eyes
and
her
hook
nose
warily
in
advance
of
her
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
softly
crushed
her
way
through
the
thick
undergrowth
,
so
intent
upon
her
object
that
she
probably
would
have
done
no
less
,
if
the
wood
had
been
a
wood
of
adders
.
Hark
!
The
smaller
birds
might
have
tumbled
out
of
their
nests
,
fascinated
by
the
glittering
of
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
eyes
in
the
gloom
,
as
she
stopped
and
listened
.
Low
voices
close
at
hand
.
His
voice
and
hers
.
The
appointment
was
a
device
to
keep
the
brother
away
!
There
they
were
yonder
,
by
the
felled
tree
.
Bending
low
among
the
dewy
grass
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
advanced
closer
to
them
.
She
drew
herself
up
,
and
stood
behind
a
tree
,
like
Robinson
Crusoe
in
his
ambuscade
against
the
savages
;
so
near
to
them
that
at
a
spring
,
and
that
no
great
one
,
she
could
have
touched
them
both
.
He
was
there
secretly
,
and
had
not
shown
himself
at
the
house
.
He
had
come
on
horseback
,
and
must
have
passed
through
the
neighbouring
fields
;
for
his
horse
was
tied
to
the
meadow
side
of
the
fence
,
within
a
few
paces
.
‘My
dearest
love
,
’
said
he
,
‘what
could
I
do
?
Knowing
you
were
alone
,
was
it
possible
that
I
could
stay
away
?
’
‘You
may
hang
your
head
,
to
make
yourself
the
more
attractive
;
I
don’t
know
what
they
see
in
you
when
you
hold
it
up
,
’
thought
Mrs.
Sparsit
;
‘but
you
little
think
,
my
dearest
love
,
whose
eyes
are
on
you
!
’
That
she
hung
her
head
,
was
certain
.
She
urged
him
to
go
away
,
she
commanded
him
to
go
away
;
but
she
neither
turned
her
face
to
him
,
nor
raised
it
.
Yet
it
was
remarkable
that
she
sat
as
still
as
ever
the
amiable
woman
in
ambuscade
had
seen
her
sit
,
at
any
period
in
her
life
.
Her
hands
rested
in
one
another
,
like
the
hands
of
a
statue
;
and
even
her
manner
of
speaking
was
not
hurried
.
‘My
dear
child
,
’
said
Harthouse
;
Mrs.
Sparsit
saw
with
delight
that
his
arm
embraced
her
;
‘will
you
not
bear
with
my
society
for
a
little
while
?
’
‘Not
here.’
‘Where
,
Louisa
?
‘Not
here.’
‘But
we
have
so
little
time
to
make
so
much
of
,
and
I
have
come
so
far
,
and
am
altogether
so
devoted
,
and
distracted
.
There
never
was
a
slave
at
once
so
devoted
and
ill-used
by
his
mistress
.
To
look
for
your
sunny
welcome
that
has
warmed
me
into
life
,
and
to
be
received
in
your
frozen
manner
,
is
heart-rending.’
‘Am
I
to
say
again
,
that
I
must
be
left
to
myself
here
?
’
‘But
we
must
meet
,
my
dear
Louisa
.
Where
shall
we
meet
?
’
They
both
started
.
The
listener
started
,
guiltily
,
too
;
for
she
thought
there
was
another
listener
among
the
trees
.
It
was
only
rain
,
beginning
to
fall
fast
,
in
heavy
drops
.
‘Shall
I
ride
up
to
the
house
a
few
minutes
hence
,
innocently
supposing
that
its
master
is
at
home
and
will
be
charmed
to
receive
me
?
’
‘No
!
’
‘Your
cruel
commands
are
implicitly
to
be
obeyed
;
though
I
am
the
most
unfortunate
fellow
in
the
world
,
I
believe
,
to
have
been
insensible
to
all
other
women
,
and
to
have
fallen
prostrate
at
last
under
the
foot
of
the
most
beautiful
,
and
the
most
engaging
,
and
the
most
imperious
.
My
dearest
Louisa
,
I
cannot
go
myself
,
or
let
you
go
,
in
this
hard
abuse
of
your
power.’
Mrs.
Sparsit
saw
him
detain
her
with
his
encircling
arm
,
and
heard
him
then
and
there
,
within
her
(
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
)
greedy
hearing
,
tell
her
how
he
loved
her
,
and
how
she
was
the
stake
for
which
he
ardently
desired
to
play
away
all
that
he
had
in
life
.
The
objects
he
had
lately
pursued
,
turned
worthless
beside
her
;
such
success
as
was
almost
in
his
grasp
,
he
flung
away
from
him
like
the
dirt
it
was
,
compared
with
her
.
Its
pursuit
,
nevertheless
,
if
it
kept
him
near
her
,
or
its
renunciation
if
it
took
him
from
her
,
or
flight
if
she
shared
it
,
or
secrecy
if
she
commanded
it
,
or
any
fate
,
or
every
fate
,
all
was
alike
to
him
,
so
that
she
was
true
to
him
,
—
the
man
who
had
seen
how
cast
away
she
was
,
whom
she
had
inspired
at
their
first
meeting
with
an
admiration
,
an
interest
,
of
which
he
had
thought
himself
incapable
,
whom
she
had
received
into
her
confidence
,
who
was
devoted
to
her
and
adored
her
.
All
this
,
and
more
,
in
his
hurry
,
and
in
hers
,
in
the
whirl
of
her
own
gratified
malice
,
in
the
dread
of
being
discovered
,
in
the
rapidly
increasing
noise
of
heavy
rain
among
the
leaves
,
and
a
thunderstorm
rolling
up
—
Mrs.
Sparsit
received
into
her
mind
,
set
off
with
such
an
unavoidable
halo
of
confusion
and
indistinctness
,
that
when
at
length
he
climbed
the
fence
and
led
his
horse
away
,
she
was
not
sure
where
they
were
to
meet
,
or
when
,
except
that
they
had
said
it
was
to
be
that
night
.
But
one
of
them
yet
remained
in
the
darkness
before
her
;
and
while
she
tracked
that
one
she
must
be
right
.
‘Oh
,
my
dearest
love
,
’
thought
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘you
little
think
how
well
attended
you
are
!
’
Mrs.
Sparsit
saw
her
out
of
the
wood
,
and
saw
her
enter
the
house
.
What
to
do
next
?
It
rained
now
,
in
a
sheet
of
water
.
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
white
stockings
were
of
many
colours
,
green
predominating
;
prickly
things
were
in
her
shoes
;
caterpillars
slung
themselves
,
in
hammocks
of
their
own
making
,
from
various
parts
of
her
dress
;
rills
ran
from
her
bonnet
,
and
her
Roman
nose
.
In
such
condition
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
stood
hidden
in
the
density
of
the
shrubbery
,
considering
what
next
?
Lo
,
Louisa
coming
out
of
the
house
!
Hastily
cloaked
and
muffled
,
and
stealing
away
.
She
elopes
!
She
falls
from
the
lowermost
stair
,
and
is
swallowed
up
in
the
gulf
.
Indifferent
to
the
rain
,
and
moving
with
a
quick
determined
step
,
she
struck
into
a
side-path
parallel
with
the
ride
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
followed
in
the
shadow
of
the
trees
,
at
but
a
short
distance
;
for
it
was
not
easy
to
keep
a
figure
in
view
going
quickly
through
the
umbrageous
darkness
.
When
she
stopped
to
close
the
side-gate
without
noise
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
stopped
.
When
she
went
on
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
went
on
.
She
went
by
the
way
Mrs.
Sparsit
had
come
,
emerged
from
the
green
lane
,
crossed
the
stony
road
,
and
ascended
the
wooden
steps
to
the
railroad
.
A
train
for
Coketown
would
come
through
presently
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
knew
;
so
she
understood
Coketown
to
be
her
first
place
of
destination
.
In
Mrs.
Sparsit’s
limp
and
streaming
state
,
no
extensive
precautions
were
necessary
to
change
her
usual
appearance
;
but
,
she
stopped
under
the
lee
of
the
station
wall
,
tumbled
her
shawl
into
a
new
shape
,
and
put
it
on
over
her
bonnet
.
So
disguised
she
had
no
fear
of
being
recognized
when
she
followed
up
the
railroad
steps
,
and
paid
her
money
in
the
small
office
.
Louisa
sat
waiting
in
a
corner
.
Mrs.
Sparsit
sat
waiting
in
another
corner
.
Both
listened
to
the
thunder
,
which
was
loud
,
and
to
the
rain
,
as
it
washed
off
the
roof
,
and
pattered
on
the
parapets
of
the
arches
.
Two
or
three
lamps
were
rained
out
and
blown
out
;
so
,
both
saw
the
lightning
to
advantage
as
it
quivered
and
zigzagged
on
the
iron
tracks
.
The
seizure
of
the
station
with
a
fit
of
trembling
,
gradually
deepening
to
a
complaint
of
the
heart
,
announced
the
train
.
Fire
and
steam
,
and
smoke
,
and
red
light
;
a
hiss
,
a
crash
,
a
bell
,
and
a
shriek
;
Louisa
put
into
one
carriage
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
put
into
another
:
the
little
station
a
desert
speck
in
the
thunderstorm
.
Though
her
teeth
chattered
in
her
head
from
wet
and
cold
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
exulted
hugely
.
The
figure
had
plunged
down
the
precipice
,
and
she
felt
herself
,
as
it
were
,
attending
on
the
body
.
Could
she
,
who
had
been
so
active
in
the
getting
up
of
the
funeral
triumph
,
do
less
than
exult
?
‘She
will
be
at
Coketown
long
before
him
,
’
thought
Mrs.
Sparsit
,
‘though
his
horse
is
never
so
good
.
Where
will
she
wait
for
him
?
And
where
will
they
go
together
?
Patience
.
We
shall
see.’
The
tremendous
rain
occasioned
infinite
confusion
,
when
the
train
stopped
at
its
destination
.
Gutters
and
pipes
had
burst
,
drains
had
overflowed
,
and
streets
were
under
water
.
In
the
first
instant
of
alighting
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
turned
her
distracted
eyes
towards
the
waiting
coaches
,
which
were
in
great
request
.
‘She
will
get
into
one
,
’
she
considered
,
‘and
will
be
away
before
I
can
follow
in
another
.
At
all
risks
of
being
run
over
,
I
must
see
the
number
,
and
hear
the
order
given
to
the
coachman.’
But
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
was
wrong
in
her
calculation
.
Louisa
got
into
no
coach
,
and
was
already
gone
.
The
black
eyes
kept
upon
the
railroad-carriage
in
which
she
had
travelled
,
settled
upon
it
a
moment
too
late
.
The
door
not
being
opened
after
several
minutes
,
Mrs.
Sparsit
passed
it
and
repassed
it
,
saw
nothing
,
looked
in
,
and
found
it
empty
.
Wet
through
and
through
:
with
her
feet
squelching
and
squashing
in
her
shoes
whenever
she
moved
;
with
a
rash
of
rain
upon
her
classical
visage
;
with
a
bonnet
like
an
over-ripe
fig
;
with
all
her
clothes
spoiled
;
with
damp
impressions
of
every
button
,
string
,
and
hook-and-eye
she
wore
,
printed
off
upon
her
highly
connected
back
;
with
a
stagnant
verdure
on
her
general
exterior
,
such
as
accumulates
on
an
old
park
fence
in
a
mouldy
lane
;
Mrs.
Sparsit
had
no
resource
but
to
burst
into
tears
of
bitterness
and
say
,
‘I
have
lost
her
!
’
CHAPTER
XII
DOWN
The
national
dustmen
,
after
entertaining
one
another
with
a
great
many
noisy
little
fights
among
themselves
,
had
dispersed
for
the
present
,
and
Mr.
Gradgrind
was
at
home
for
the
vacation
.
He
sat
writing
in
the
room
with
the
deadly
statistical
clock
,
proving
something
no
doubt
—
probably
,
in
the
main
,
that
the
Good
Samaritan
was
a
Bad
Economist
.
The
noise
of
the
rain
did
not
disturb
him
much
;
but
it
attracted
his
attention
sufficiently
to
make
him
raise
his
head
sometimes
,
as
if
he
were
rather
remonstrating
with
the
elements
.
When
it
thundered
very
loudly
,
he
glanced
towards
Coketown
,
having
it
in
his
mind
that
some
of
the
tall
chimneys
might
be
struck
by
lightning
.
The
thunder
was
rolling
into
distance
,
and
the
rain
was
pouring
down
like
a
deluge
,
when
the
door
of
his
room
opened
.
He
looked
round
the
lamp
upon
his
table
,
and
saw
,
with
amazement
,
his
eldest
daughter
.
‘Louisa
!
’
‘Father
,
I
want
to
speak
to
you.’
‘What
is
the
matter
?
How
strange
you
look
!
And
good
Heaven
,
’
said
Mr.
Gradgrind
,
wondering
more
and
more
,
‘have
you
come
here
exposed
to
this
storm
?
’
She
put
her
hands
to
her
dress
,
as
if
she
hardly
knew
.
‘Yes.’
Then
she
uncovered
her
head
,
and
letting
her
cloak
and
hood
fall
where
they
might
,
stood
looking
at
him
:
so
colourless
,
so
dishevelled
,
so
defiant
and
despairing
,
that
he
was
afraid
of
her
.
‘What
is
it
?
I
conjure
you
,
Louisa
,
tell
me
what
is
the
matter.’
She
dropped
into
a
chair
before
him
,
and
put
her
cold
hand
on
his
arm
.
‘Father
,
you
have
trained
me
from
my
cradle
?
’
‘Yes
,
Louisa.’
‘I
curse
the
hour
in
which
I
was
born
to
such
a
destiny.’
He
looked
at
her
in
doubt
and
dread
,
vacantly
repeating
:
‘Curse
the
hour
?
Curse
the
hour
?
’
‘How
could
you
give
me
life
,
and
take
from
me
all
the
inappreciable
things
that
raise
it
from
the
state
of
conscious
death
?
Where
are
the
graces
of
my
soul
?
Where
are
the
sentiments
of
my
heart
?
What
have
you
done
,
O
father
,
what
have
you
done
,
with
the
garden
that
should
have
bloomed
once
,
in
this
great
wilderness
here
!
’
She
struck
herself
with
both
her
hands
upon
her
bosom
.
‘If
it
had
ever
been
here
,
its
ashes
alone
would
save
me
from
the
void
in
which
my
whole
life
sinks
.
I
did
not
mean
to
say
this
;
but
,
father
,
you
remember
the
last
time
we
conversed
in
this
room
?
’
He
had
been
so
wholly
unprepared
for
what
he
heard
now
,
that
it
was
with
difficulty
he
answered
,
‘Yes
,
Louisa.’
‘What
has
risen
to
my
lips
now
,
would
have
risen
to
my
lips
then
,
if
you
had
given
me
a
moment’s
help
.
I
don’t
reproach
you
,
father
.
What
you
have
never
nurtured
in
me
,
you
have
never
nurtured
in
yourself
;
but
O
!
if
you
had
only
done
so
long
ago
,
or
if
you
had
only
neglected
me
,
what
a
much
better
and
much
happier
creature
I
should
have
been
this
day
!
’
On
hearing
this
,
after
all
his
care
,
he
bowed
his
head
upon
his
hand
and
groaned
aloud
.
‘Father
,
if
you
had
known
,
when
we
were
last
together
here
,
what
even
I
feared
while
I
strove
against
it
—
as
it
has
been
my
task
from
infancy
to
strive
against
every
natural
prompting
that
has
arisen
in
my
heart
;
if
you
had
known
that
there
lingered
in
my
breast
,
sensibilities
,
affections
,
weaknesses
capable
of
being
cherished
into
strength
,
defying
all
the
calculations
ever
made
by
man
,
and
no
more
known
to
his
arithmetic
than
his
Creator
is
,
—
would
you
have
given
me
to
the
husband
whom
I
am
now
sure
that
I
hate
?
’
He
said
,
‘No
.
No
,
my
poor
child.’
‘Would
you
have
doomed
me
,
at
any
time
,
to
the
frost
and
blight
that
have
hardened
and
spoiled
me
?
Would
you
have
robbed
me
—
for
no
one’s
enrichment
—
only
for
the
greater
desolation
of
this
world
—
of
the
immaterial
part
of
my
life
,
the
spring
and
summer
of
my
belief
,
my
refuge
from
what
is
sordid
and
bad
in
the
real
things
around
me
,
my
school
in
which
I
should
have
learned
to
be
more
humble
and
more
trusting
with
them
,
and
to
hope
in
my
little
sphere
to
make
them
better
?
’
‘O
no
,
no.
No
,
Louisa.’
‘Yet
,
father
,
if
I
had
been
stone
blind
;
if
I
had
groped
my
way
by
my
sense
of
touch
,
and
had
been
free
,
while
I
knew
the
shapes
and
surfaces
of
things
,
to
exercise
my
fancy
somewhat
,
in
regard
to
them
;
I
should
have
been
a
million
times
wiser
,
happier
,
more
loving
,
more
contented
,
more
innocent
and
human
in
all
good
respects
,
than
I
am
with
the
eyes
I
have
.
Now
,
hear
what
I
have
come
to
say.’
He
moved
,
to
support
her
with
his
arm
.
She
rising
as
he
did
so
,
they
stood
close
together
:
she
,
with
a
hand
upon
his
shoulder
,
looking
fixedly
in
his
face
.
‘With
a
hunger
and
thirst
upon
me
,
father
,
which
have
never
been
for
a
moment
appeased
;
with
an
ardent
impulse
towards
some
region
where
rules
,
and
figures
,
and
definitions
were
not
quite
absolute
;
I
have
grown
up
,
battling
every
inch
of
my
way.’
‘I
never
knew
you
were
unhappy
,
my
child.’
‘Father
,
I
always
knew
it
.
In
this
strife
I
have
almost
repulsed
and
crushed
my
better
angel
into
a
demon
.
What
I
have
learned
has
left
me
doubting
,
misbelieving
,
despising
,
regretting
,
what
I
have
not
learned
;
and
my
dismal
resource
has
been
to
think
that
life
would
soon
go
by
,
and
that
nothing
in
it
could
be
worth
the
pain
and
trouble
of
a
contest.’
‘And
you
so
young
,
Louisa
!
’
he
said
with
pity
.
‘And
I
so
young
.
In
this
condition
,
father
—
for
I
show
you
now
,
without
fear
or
favour
,
the
ordinary
deadened
state
of
my
mind
as
I
know
it
—
you
proposed
my
husband
to
me
.
I
took
him
.
I
never
made
a
pretence
to
him
or
you
that
I
loved
him
.
I
knew
,
and
,
father
,
you
knew
,
and
he
knew
,
that
I
never
did
.
I
was
not
wholly
indifferent
,
for
I
had
a
hope
of
being
pleasant
and
useful
to
Tom
.
I
made
that
wild
escape
into
something
visionary
,
and
have
slowly
found
out
how
wild
it
was
.
But
Tom
had
been
the
subject
of
all
the
little
tenderness
of
my
life
;
perhaps
he
became
so
because
I
knew
so
well
how
to
pity
him
.
It
matters
little
now
,
except
as
it
may
dispose
you
to
think
more
leniently
of
his
errors.’
As
her
father
held
her
in
his
arms
,
she
put
her
other
hand
upon
his
other
shoulder
,
and
still
looking
fixedly
in
his
face
,
went
on
.
‘When
I
was
irrevocably
married
,
there
rose
up
into
rebellion
against
the
tie
,
the
old
strife
,
made
fiercer
by
all
those
causes
of
disparity
which
arise
out
of
our
two
individual
natures
,
and
which
no
general
laws
shall
ever
rule
or
state
for
me
,
father
,
until
they
shall
be
able
to
direct
the
anatomist
where
to
strike
his
knife
into
the
secrets
of
my
soul.’
‘Louisa
!
’
he
said
,
and
said
imploringly
;
for
he
well
remembered
what
had
passed
between
them
in
their
former
interview
.
‘I
do
not
reproach
you
,
father
,
I
make
no
complaint
.
I
am
here
with
another
object.’
‘What
can
I
do
,
child
?
Ask
me
what
you
will.’
‘I
am
coming
to
it
.
Father
,
chance
then
threw
into
my
way
a
new
acquaintance
;
a
man
such
as
I
had
had
no
experience
of
;
used
to
the
world
;
light
,
polished
,
easy
;
making
no
pretences
;
avowing
the
low
estimate
of
everything
,
that
I
was
half
afraid
to
form
in
secret
;
conveying
to
me
almost
immediately
,
though
I
don’t
know
how
or
by
what
degrees
,
that
he
understood
me
,
and
read
my
thoughts
.
I
could
not
find
that
he
was
worse
than
I
.
There
seemed
to
be
a
near
affinity
between
us
.
I
only
wondered
it
should
be
worth
his
while
,
who
cared
for
nothing
else
,
to
care
so
much
for
me.’
‘For
you
,
Louisa
!
’
Her
father
might
instinctively
have
loosened
his
hold
,
but
that
he
felt
her
strength
departing
from
her
,
and
saw
a
wild
dilating
fire
in
the
eyes
steadfastly
regarding
him
.
‘I
say
nothing
of
his
plea
for
claiming
my
confidence
.
It
matters
very
little
how
he
gained
it
.
Father
,
he
did
gain
it
.
What
you
know
of
the
story
of
my
marriage
,
he
soon
knew
,
just
as
well.’
Her
father’s
face
was
ashy
white
,
and
he
held
her
in
both
his
arms
.
‘I
have
done
no
worse
,
I
have
not
disgraced
you
.
But
if
you
ask
me
whether
I
have
loved
him
,
or
do
love
him
,
I
tell
you
plainly
,
father
,
that
it
may
be
so
.
I
don’t
know.’
She
took
her
hands
suddenly
from
his
shoulders
,
and
pressed
them
both
upon
her
side
;
while
in
her
face
,
not
like
itself
—
and
in
her
figure
,
drawn
up
,
resolute
to
finish
by
a
last
effort
what
she
had
to
say
—
the
feelings
long
suppressed
broke
loose
.
‘This
night
,
my
husband
being
away
,
he
has
been
with
me
,
declaring
himself
my
lover
.
This
minute
he
expects
me
,
for
I
could
release
myself
of
his
presence
by
no
other
means
.
I
do
not
know
that
I
am
sorry
,
I
do
not
know
that
I
am
ashamed
,
I
do
not
know
that
I
am
degraded
in
my
own
esteem
.
All
that
I
know
is
,
your
philosophy
and
your
teaching
will
not
save
me
.
Now
,
father
,
you
have
brought
me
to
this
.
Save
me
by
some
other
means
!
’
He
tightened
his
hold
in
time
to
prevent
her
sinking
on
the
floor
,
but
she
cried
out
in
a
terrible
voice
,
‘I
shall
die
if
you
hold
me
!
Let
me
fall
upon
the
ground
!
’
And
he
laid
her
down
there
,
and
saw
the
pride
of
his
heart
and
the
triumph
of
his
system
,
lying
,
an
insensible
heap
,
at
his
feet
.
END
OF
THE
SECOND
BOOK
BOOK
THE
THIRD
GARNERING
CHAPTER
I
ANOTHER
THING
NEEDFUL
Louisa
awoke
from
a
torpor
,
and
her
eyes
languidly
opened
on
her
old
bed
at
home
,
and
her
old
room
.
It
seemed
,
at
first
,
as
if
all
that
had
happened
since
the
days
when
these
objects
were
familiar
to
her
were
the
shadows
of
a
dream
,
but
gradually
,
as
the
objects
became
more
real
to
her
sight
,
the
events
became
more
real
to
her
mind
.
She
could
scarcely
move
her
head
for
pain
and
heaviness
,
her
eyes
were
strained
and
sore
,
and
she
was
very
weak
.
A
curious
passive
inattention
had
such
possession
of
her
,
that
the
presence
of
her
little
sister
in
the
room
did
not
attract
her
notice
for
some
time
.
Even
when
their
eyes
had
met
,
and
her
sister
had
approached
the
bed
,
Louisa
lay
for
minutes
looking
at
her
in
silence
,
and
suffering
her
timidly
to
hold
her
passive
hand
,
before
she
asked
:
‘When
was
I
brought
to
this
room
?
’
‘Last
night
,
Louisa.’
‘Who
brought
me
here
?
’
‘Sissy
,
I
believe.’
‘Why
do
you
believe
so
?
’
‘Because
I
found
her
here
this
morning
.
She
didn’t
come
to
my
bedside
to
wake
me
,
as
she
always
does
;
and
I
went
to
look
for
her
.
She
was
not
in
her
own
room
either
;
and
I
went
looking
for
her
all
over
the
house
,
until
I
found
her
here
taking
care
of
you
and
cooling
your
head
.
Will
you
see
father
?
Sissy
said
I
was
to
tell
