Part 1 (2/2)

[Picture: The cause of action]

'I cannot conceive--' said Mr. Pickwick, when his friend returned--'I cannot conceive what has been the matter with that woman. I had merely announced to her my intention of keeping a man servant, when she fell into the extraordinary paroxysm in which you found her.

Very extraordinary thing.'

'Very,' said his three friends.

'Placed me in such an extremely awkward situation,' continued Mr.

Pickwick.

'Very,' was the reply of his followers, as they coughed slightly, and looked dubiously at each other.

This behaviour was not lost upon Mr. Pickwick. He remarked their incredulity. They evidently suspected him.

It may be reasonably supposed that Mr. Pickwick had not been very discreet, or sufficiently cautious in his general behaviour to his landlady. As we know, he was rather too effusive in his relations with the fair s.e.x. One of his weaknesses was _kissing_. He would kiss everybody who was young or good-looking. His maxim was ”Kiss early and kiss often.” Who can forget his _systematic_ method of greeting the engaging Arabella? ”He (1) took off his spectacles, (2) in great haste, and (3) taking both the young lady's hands in his (4) kissed her (5) a great many times (6) perhaps a greater number of times than was absolutely necessary.” Old rogue! I have little doubt that on his return home from his tours he encircled the buxom figure of Mrs.

Bardell--all of course in his own paternal and privileged way.

It should be borne in mind also that Mr. Pickwick was almost invariably drawn into his more serious sc.r.a.pes and embarra.s.sments by this devotion to the s.e.x. The night in the boarding school garden--the affair with the spinster lady--his interview with Arabella from the top of the wall--his devotion to Mrs. Pott and Mrs. Dowler--and much more that we do not hear of, show that he was a gallant elderly gentleman. Oh, he was a ”sly dog, he was.”

There is a curious burst of Mr. Pickwick's which seems to hint at a sort of tender appreciation on his side. When the notice of trial was sent to him, in his first vehemence, he broke out that Mrs. Bardell had nothing to do with the business, ”_She hadn't the heart to do it_.” Mr. Pickwick could not speak with this certainty, unless he knew the lady's feelings pretty well. _Why_ hadn't she the heart to do it? Because she was sincerely attached to him and his interests and was ”a dear creature.”

This, however, was a fond delusion of the worthy gentleman's. Persons of her cla.s.s are not quite so disinterested as they appear to be, especially if they have to interpret the various paternal and comforting advances made to them by their well to do lodgers.

There is another factor which can hardly be left out, when considering Mr. Pickwick's responsibility--that is, his too frequent indulgence in liquor, and the insufficiency of his head to stand its influence. Now this was a very important day for him, the first time he was to set up a man servant. He had to break it to his landlady, who would naturally resent the change. He may have been _priming_ himself with some of those perpetual gla.s.ses of brandy and water to which he was addicted, and who knows but that, in his ardour to propitiate, he may have gone a _little_ too far? This fact too, of the introducing a man servant into her establishment, Mrs. Bardell may have indistinctly a.s.sociated with a general change in his life. If she were to become Mrs. Pickwick her duties might be naturally expected to devolve on a male a.s.sistant.

Next morning he and his friends quitted London on their travels to Eatanswill in pursuit of adventure. He airily dismissed the matter. We may wonder whether he made any remonstrance to his landlady before his departure. Probably he did not, fancying that she had been merely in a slight fit of the ”tantrums.”

At Bury, however, after the boarding-school adventure, he was to be painfully awakened. He was sitting with his friends after dinner at the ”Angel,” in his happiest mood. Winkle had related his quarrel with Pott _in re_ Mrs. Pott, in a humorous fas.h.i.+on when one of the most delightful of humorous scenes followed.

Mr. Pickwick was proceeding with his scathing rebuke, when Sam enters with a letter.

'I don't know this hand,' said Mr. Pickwick, opening the letter.

'Mercy on us! what's this? It must be a jest; it--it--can't be true.'

'What's the matter?' was the general inquiry.

'n.o.body dead, is there?' said Wardle, alarmed at the horror in Mr.

Pickwick's countenance.

Mr. Pickwick made no reply, but, pus.h.i.+ng the letter across the table, and desiring Mr. Tupman to read it aloud, fell back in his chair with a look of vacant astonishment quite alarming to behold.

Mr. Tupman, with a trembling voice, read the letter, of which the following is a copy:--

'_Freeman's Court_, _Cornhill_, _August_ 28_th_, 1827.

_Bardell against Pickwick_.

_Sir_,

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