David Copperfield

Chapter 78 A Bigger Loss (2)
Chapter 31 A Bigger Loss(2)
"Hullo!" said Mr. Peggotty excitedly. "There, Mrs. Gummidge!" Mrs. Gummidge moaned softly. "It's lighted up, as is the old custom! You don't understand what it is, sir! Why, it's for our little Emily. For after dark the road isn't very bright or disturbing." Pleasant, so when I was here, I put the lamp in the window as soon as the hour she came home. This, yes," said Mr. Peggotty to me with great pleasure, "does two things. . Emily said, 'This is home!' And Emily said, 'My uncle is here!' because if I wasn't here, there would be no light."

"You are a nurse!" said Peggotty, though she thought so, and she admired him for that.

"Ha," said Mr. Peggotty, standing with his legs spread apart, rubbing his hands contentedly, and looking alternately at us and the fire, "I can't think of that. It doesn't look like it."

"Not much," said Peggotty.

"No," said Mr. Peggotty, laughing, "it doesn't look like it, but come to think of it, you know, I never cared, ouch! I'll tell you, when I go to see our pretty Emily at the house," said Mr. Peggotty now emphatically--"that! I can't say much more--I almost thought those little things were her. I picked them up and put them down again, I stroked them softly, As if they were our Emily. Her little hat and things like that. I don't let anyone mess with them--for whatever reason," said Mr. Peggotty, giving vent to him with a fit of laughter. enthusiasm.

We all laughed.

"That's how I see it, you know," said Mr. Peggotty cheerfully, after rubbing his thigh, "because I used to play with her a lot, and we pretended to be Turks, Frenchmen, sharks, whatever. The foreigner—oh, yes, and lions, and whales, and everything I didn't know about!—she was so short then. I'm used to it, you know, well, here's this candle," said Poe Mr Gouty held out his hand cheerfully to the candle, and said, "I've decided that I'll keep the candle here like this after she's married and gone away. I'll put the lamp in the window, and sit before the fire, like Now, pretend I'm waiting for her." Mr Peggotty laughed again, "Well, now, when I see the candle smoking, I say to myself, 'She's looking at it! Emily Here she comes!' said Mr. Peggotty, breaking off his laughter, and clasping his hands, "here she comes!"

Only Ham came, and the night must have become more humid after he came in, because he was wearing a big oil hat that covered his face.

"Where's Emily?" asked Mr Peggotty.

Ham nodded, as if she were outside, and Mr Peggotty took the lamp from the window sill, cut the garland, put it on the table, and then busied himself with poking the fire, when Ham, still still, said: :

"Master Wei, can you come out for a while and take a look at what we are going to show you?"

We went out of the room, and when I passed him in front of the door and saw his pale face, I was so frightened that he pushed me out of the door and closed it.Just the two of us.

"Ham! What's the matter?"

"Master Wei!" - because he broke his broken heart, how he cried miserably!

I was fixed in place by this scene and could not move.I don't know what I'm thinking, and I don't know what I'm afraid of.I just stared blankly at him.

"Ham, you poor good man! Tell me quickly what has happened!"

"My love! Young Master Wei - the pride of my heart and the sustenance of all my expectations - I am willing to die for her, the person who will die for her immediately - she is gone!"

"gone?"

"Emily has escaped! Oh! Master Wei, think how she escaped, and may the good God kill her (lovely as she is) before she is ruined and dishonored!"

He turned his face to the chaotic sky, clenched his trembling hands, twisted his body in pain, until now, with that desolate wilderness—it is always in my heart, there is always darkness, and he is the only creature on the spot.

"You are a learned man," he said hastily. "You know what is good and how to do it right. What should I say in the room? How should I tell you, Master Wei?"

I noticed the door move, and instinctively grasped the latch from the outside, to buy a little time, when it was too late.Mr Peggotty stuck his head out, and even if I lived 500 years, I'll never forget the tremor on his face when he saw us.

I remember a great deal of wailing and shouting, women hovering about him, we all standing in the house; in my hand I had a piece of paper Ham gave me; Scattered, pale face and lips, blood stained on the chest of his clothes (I'm sure it was spurted from his mouth), staring fixedly at me.

"Read it, master," he said in a low trembling voice, "please read it slowly, I don't know if I can understand you."

In the dead silence, I began to read the ink-stained paper.

"By the time you (even when I was innocent and loved me more than I deserved) read this letter, I'm gone."

"I shall be gone," he repeated, "stop! Emily is gone. Come!"

"When I leave my warm home in the morning - my warm home - oh, my warm home! -"

The time to write the letter was the night before.

"If he doesn't let me come back in the name of Mrs., then I will never come back again. In a few hours, you will see this letter, but you will not see me. I hope you understand that my heart is pain Very much. I deserve what I deserve, I don't need to write more. I am so bad, maybe you can comfort your wounded soul. Tell uncle, I love him now more than ever. May the heaven I betrayed have mercy on my uncle! Comfort him! Love A good girl who can take my place in front of my uncle, a good girl who loves you faithfully and is worthy of you. God bless you all! If he doesn't bring me back as a lady, I will pray for everyone but not for myself .with my last love, tears and gratitude to Uncle."

Long after I finished reading, he still stared blankly at me standing there.Later I held his hand and told him to self-control."Thank you, sir!" he said, but he remained motionless.

Ham spoke to him.Mr Peggotty understood his pain.He held his hand, but he remained the same.

Gradually, he took his eyes off my face and looked around.asked in a low voice:

"What's that guy's name?"

Ham gave me a look, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Who is the suspect man?" said Mr. Peggotty.

"Master Wei!" said Ham, "you go outside, and let me tell him what he ought to know."

I wanted to answer something; but my tongue was stiff and my vision was blurred.

"Who is he?" asked Peggotty again.

"It used to be," said Ham, "that the master and servant of the family used to come here."

Mr Peggotty looked at him.

Ham went on: "Last night—he was seen with our poor girl. He was hiding around for about a week."

"Before daylight today, there was a carriage parked on the Norwich Road outside the town," continued Ham. "Emily was beside the servant when he came back to the carriage. The man was in the carriage."

"My God," exclaimed Mr Peggotty, "don't tell me he's Steerforth!"

"Master Weiss," cried Ham, "it's not your fault—I don't blame you in the slightest—but the villain is Steerforth, and he's a damned villain!"

Mr. Peggotty remained motionless for a moment, then awoke suddenly, and picked up his rough coat.

"Help me! I don't have the strength to wear it," he said.When helping him to put on his coat, he said, "Pass me the hat!"

Ham asked where he was going.

"Find my niece. Go, Emily. I'm going to scuttle through that boat first, and drown him!"

"Where can I find it?" asked Ham, stopping him.

"Wherever it is! I will go all over the world to find her. Don't stop me!"

"Don't!" cried Mrs. Gummidge, crying, "Don't do it, Dale. Wait a minute, you can't do it now.—She and Ham are orphans, and I'm a widow, and you took us. ’ she said, ‘This has been our home for years!’

He subdued, and when he cried, I cried too.

(End of this chapter)