The Opening of the Eyes of Mrs. Chick
MISS TOX, all unconscious of any such rare appearances in connexion with Mr.
Dombey's house, as scaffoldings and ladders, and men with their heads tied up in
pocket-handkerchiefs, glaring in at the windows like flying genii or strange
birds,--having breakfasted one morning at about this eventful period of time, on
her customary viands; to wit, one French roll rasped, one egg new laid (or
warranted to be), and one little pot of tea, wherein was infused one little
silver scoopful of that herb on behalf of Miss Tox, and one little silver
scoopful on behalf of the teapot--a flight of fancy in which good housekeepers
delight; went up stairs to set forth the bird waltz on the harpsichord, to water
and arrange the plants, to dust the nick-nacks, and according to her daily
custom, to make her little drawing-room the garland of Princess's Place.
Miss Tox endued herself with a pair of ancient gloves, like dead leaves, in
which she was accustomed to perform these avocations--hidden from human sight at
other times in a table drawer--and went methodically to work; beginning with the
bird waltz; passing, by a natural association of ideas, to her bird--a very
high-shouldered canary, stricken in years, and much rumpled, but a piercing
singer, as Princess's Place well knew; taking, next in order, the little china
ornaments, paper fly-cages, and so forth; and coming round, in good time, to the
plants, which generally required to be snipped here and there with a pair of
scissors, for some botanical reason that was very powerful with Miss Tox.
Miss Tox was slow in coming to the plants, this morning. The weather was
warm, the wind southerly; and there was a sigh of the summer-time in Princess's
Place, that turned Miss Tox's thoughts upon the country. The pot-boy attached to
the Princess's Arms had come out with a can and trickled water, in a flowing
pattern, all over Princess's Place, and it gave the weedy ground a fresh
scent--quite a growing scent, Miss Tox said. There was a tiny blink of sun
peeping in from the great street round the corner, and the smoky sparrows hopped
over it and back again, brightening as they passed: or bathed in it, like a
stream, and became glorified sparrows, unconnected with chimneys. Legends in
praise of Ginger-Beer, with pictorial representations of thirsty customers
submerged in the effervescence, or stunned by the flying corks, were conspicuous
in the window of the Princess's Arms. They were making late hay, somewhere out
of town; and though the fragrance had a long way to come, and many counter
fragrances to contend with among the dwellings of the poor (may God reward the
worthy gentlemen who stickle for the Plague as part and parcel of the wisdom of
our ancestors, and who do their little best to keep those dwellings miserable!),
yet it was wafted faintly into Princess's Place, whispering of Nature and her
wholesome air, as such things will, even unto prisoners and captives, and those
who are desolate and oppressed, in very spite of aldermen and knights to boot:
at whose sage nod--and how they nod!--the rolling world stands still!
Miss Tox sat down upon the widow-seat, and thought of her good papa
deceased--Mr. Tox, of the Customs Department of the public service; and of her
childhood, passed at a seaport, among a considerable quantity of cold tar, and
some rusticity. She fell into a softened remembrance of meadows, in old time,
gleaming with buttercups, like so many inverted firmaments of golden stars; and
how she had made chains of dandelion-stalks for youthful vowers of eternal
constancy, dressed chiefly in nankeen; and how soon those fetters had withered
and broken.
Sitting on the window-seat, and looking out upon the sparrows and the blink
of sun, Miss Tox thought likewise of her good mama deceased--sister to the owner
of the powdered head and pigtail--of her virtues and her rheumatism. And when a
man with bulgy legs, and a rough voice, and a heavy basket on his head that
crushed his hat into a mere black muffin, came crying flowers down Princess's
Place, making his timid little roots of daisies shudder in the vibration of
every yell he gave, as though he had been an ogre, hawking little children,
summer recollections were so strong upon Miss Tox, that she shook her head, and
murmured she would be comparatively old before she knew it--which seemed likely.
In her pensive mood, Miss Tox's thoughts went wandering on Mr. Dombey's
track; probably because the Major had returned home to his lodgings opposite,
and had just bowed to her from his window. What other reason could Miss Tox have
for connecting Mr. Dombey with her summer days and dandelion fetters? Was he
more cheerful? thought Miss Tox. Was he reconciled to the decrees of fate? Would
he ever marry again? and if yes, whom? What sort of person now!
A flush--it was warm weather--overspread Miss Tox's face, as, while
entertaining these meditations, she turned her head, and was surprised by the
reflection of her thoughtful image in the chimney-glass. Another flush succeeded
when she saw a little carriage drive into Princess's Place, and make straight
for her own door. Miss Tox arose, took up her scissors hastily, and so coming,
at last, to the plants, was very busy with them when Mrs. Chick entered the
room.
`How is my sweetest friend!' exclaimed Miss Tox, with open arms.
A little stateliness was mingled with Miss Tox's sweetest friend's demeanour,
but she kissed Miss Tox, and said, `Lucretia, thank you, I am pretty well. I
hope you are the same. Hem!'
Mrs. Chick was labouring under a peculiar little monosyllabic cough; a sort
of primer, or easy introduction to the art of coughing.
`You call very early, and how kind that is, my dear!' pursued Miss Tox. `Now,
have you breakfasted?'
`Thank you, Lucretia,' said Mrs. Chick. `I have. I took an early
breakfast'--the good lady seemed curious on the subject of Princess's Place, and
looked all round it as she spoke--`with my brother, who has come home.'
`He is better, I trust, my love,' faltered Miss Tox.
`He is greatly better, thank you. Hem!'
`My dear Louisa must be careful of that cough,' remarked Miss Tox.
`It's nothing,' returned Mrs. Chick. `It's merely change of weather. We must
expect change.'
`Of weather?' asked Miss Tox, in her simplicity.
`Of everything,' returned Mrs. Chick. `Of course we must. It's a world of
change. Any one would surprise me very much, Lucretia, and would greatly alter
my opinion of their understanding, if they attempted to contradict or evade what
is so perfectly evident. Change!' exclaimed Mrs. Chick, with severe philosophy.
`Why, my gracious me, what is there that does not change! even the silkworm, who
I am sure might be supposed not to trouble itself about such subjects, changes
into all sorts of unexpected things continually.'
`My Louisa,' said the mild Miss Tox, `is ever happy in her illustrations.'
`You are so kind, Lucretia,' returned Mrs. Chick, a little softened, `as to
say so, and to think so, I believe. I hope neither of us may ever have any cause
to lessen our opinion of the other, Lucretia.'
`I am sure of it,' returned Miss Tox.
Mrs. Chick coughed as before, and drew lines on the carpet with the ivory end
of her parasol. Miss Tox, who had experience of her fair friend, and knew that
under the pressure of any slight fatigue or vexation she was prone to a
discursive kind of irritability, availed herself of the pause, to change the
subject.
`Pardon me, my dear Louisa,' said Miss Tox, `but have I caught sight of the
manly form of Mr. Chick in the carriage?'
`He is there,' said Mrs. Chick, `but pray leave him there. He has his
newspaper, and would be quite contented for the next two hours. Go on with your
flowers, Lucretia, and allow me to sit here and rest.'
`My Louisa knows,' observed Miss Tox, `that between friends like ourselves,
any approach to ceremony would be out of the question. Therefore--' Therefore
Miss Tox finished the sentence, not in words but action; and putting on her
gloves again, which she had taken off, and arming herself once more with her
scissors, began to snip and clip among the leaves with microscopic industry.
`Florence has returned home also,' said Mrs. Chick, after sitting silent for
some time, with her head on one side, and her parasol sketching on the floor;
`and really Florence is a great deal too old now, to continue to lead that
solitary life to which she has been accustomed. Of course she is. There can be
no doubt about it. I should have very little respect, indeed, for anybody who
could advocate a different opinion. Whatever my wishes might be, I could not
respect them. We cannot command our feelings to such an extent as that.'
Miss Tox assented, without being particular as to the intelligibility of the
proposition.
`If she's a strange girl,' said Mrs. Chick, `and if my brother Paul cannot
feel perfectly comfortable in her society, after all the sad things that have
happened, and all the terrible disappointments that have been undergone, then,
what is the reply? That he must make an effort. That he is bound to make an
effort. We have always been a family remarkable for effort. Paul is at the head
of the family; almost the only representative of it left--for what am I--I am of
no consequence--'
`My dearest love,' remonstrated Miss Tox.
Mrs. Chick dried her eyes, which were, for the moment, overflowing; and
proceeded:
`And consequently he is more than ever bound to make an effort. And though
his having done so, comes upon me with a sort of shock--for mine is a very weak
and foolish nature; which is anything but a blessing I am sure; I often wish my
heart was a marble slab, or a paving-stone--'
`My sweet Louisa,' remonstrated Miss Tox again.
`Still, it is a triumph to me to know that he is so true to himself, and to
his name of Dombey; although, of course, I always knew he would be. I only
hope,' said Mrs. Chick, after a pause, `that she may be worthy of the name too.'
Miss Tox filled a little green watering-pot from a jug, and happening to look
up when she had done so, was so surprised by the amount of expression Mrs. Chick
had conveyed into her face, and was bestowing upon her, that she put the little
watering-pot on the table for the present, and sat down near it.
`My dear Louisa,' said Miss Tox, `will it be the least satisfaction to you,
if I venture to observe in reference to that remark, that I, as a humble
individual, think your sweet niece in every way most promising?'
`What do you mean, Lucretia?' returned Mrs. Chick, with increased stateliness
of manner. `To what remark of mine, my dear, do you refer?'
`Her being worthy of her name, my love.' replied Miss Tox.
`If,' said Mrs. Chick, with solemn patience, `I have not expressed myself
with clearness, Lucretia, the fault of course is mine. There is, perhaps, no
reason why I should express myself at all, except the intimacy that has
subsisted between us, and which I very much hope, Lucretia--confidently
hope--nothing will occur to disturb. Because, why should I do anything else?
There is no reason; it would be absurd. But I wish to express myself clearly,
Lucretia; and therefore to go back to that remark, I must beg to say that it was
not intended to relate to Florence, in any way.'
`Indeed!' returned Miss Tox.
`No,' said Mrs. Chick shortly and decisively.
`Pardon me, my dear,' rejoined her meek friend; `but I cannot have understood
it. I fear I am dull.'
Mrs. Chick looked round the room and over the way; at the plants, at the
bird, at the watering-pot, at almost everything within view, except Miss Tox;
and finally dropping her glance upon Miss Tox, for a moment, on its way to the
ground, said, looking meanwhile with elevated eyebrows at the carpet:
`When I speak, Lucretia, of her being worthy of the name, I speak of my
brother Paul's second wife. I believe I have already said, in effect, if not in
the very words I now use, that it is his intention to marry a second wife.'
Miss Tox left her seat in a hurry, and returned to her plants; clipping among
the stems and leaves, with as little favour as a barber working at so many
pauper heads of hair.
`Whether she will be fully sensible of the distinction conferred upon her,'
said Mrs. Chick, in a lofty tone, `is quite another question. I hope she may be.
We are bound to think well of one another in this world, and I hope she may be.
I have not been advised with myself. If I had been advised with, I have no doubt
my advice would have been cavalierly received, and therefore it is infinitely
better as it is. I much prefer it as it is.'
Miss Tox, with head bent down, still clipped among the plants. Mrs. Chick,
with energetic shakings of her own head from time to time, continued to hold
forth, as if in defiance of somebody.
`If my brother Paul had consulted with me, which he sometimes does--or
rather, sometimes used to do; for he will naturally do that no more now, and
this is a circumstance which I regard as a relief from responsibility,' said
Mrs. Chick, hysterically, `for I thank Heaven I am not jealous--' here Mrs.
Chick again shed tears: `if my brother Paul had come to me, and had said,
"Louisa, what kind of qualities would you advise me to look out for, in a wife?"
I should certainly have answered, "Paul, you must have family, you must have
beauty, you must have dignity, you must have connexion." Those are the words I
should have used. You might have led me to the block immediately afterwards,'
said Mrs. Chick, as if that consequence were highly probable, `but I should have
used them. I should have said, "Paul! You to marry a second time without family!
You to marry without beauty! You to marry without dignity! You to marry without
connexion!There is nobody in the world, not mad, who could dream of daring to
entertain such a preposterous idea!"'
Miss Tox stopped clipping; and with her head among the plants, listened
attentively. Perhaps Miss Tox thought there was hope in this exordium, and the
warmth of Mrs. Chick.
`I should have adopted this course of argument,' pursued the discreet lady,
`because I trust I am not a fool. I make no claim to be considered a person of
superior intellect--though I believe some people have been extraordinary enough
to consider me so; one so little humoured as I am, would very soon be disabused
of any such notion; but I trust I am not a downright fool. And to tell ME,' said
Mrs. Chick with ineffable disdain, `that my brother Paul Dombey could ever
contemplate the possibility of uniting himself to anybody--I don't care
who'--she was more sharp and emphatic in that short clause than in any other
part of her discourse--`not possessing these requisites, would be to insult what
understanding I have got, as much as if I was to be told that I was born and
bred an elephant, which I may be told next,' said Mrs. Chick, with resignation.
`It wouldn't surprise me at all. I expect it.'
In the moment's silence that ensued, Miss Tox's scissors gave a feeble clip
or two: but Miss Tox's face was still in- visible, and Miss Tox's morning gown
was agitated. Mrs. Chick looked sideways at her, through the intervening plants,
and went on to say, in a tone of bland conviction, and as one dwelling on a
point of fact that hardly required to be stated:
`Therefore, of course my brother Paul has done what was to be expected of
him, and what anybody might have foreseen he would do, if he entered the
marriage state again. I confess it takes me rather by surprise, however
gratifying; because when Paul went out of town I had no idea at all that he
would form any attachment out of town, and he certainly had no attachment when
he left here. However, it seems to be extremely desirable in every point of
view. I have no doubt the mother is a most genteel and elegant creature, and I
have no right whatever to dispute the policy of her living with them: which is
Paul's affair, not mine--and as to Paul's choice, herself, I have only seen her
picture yet, but that is beautiful indeed. Her name is beautiful too,' said Mrs.
Chick, shaking her head with energy, and arranging herself in her chair;`Edith
is at once uncommon, as it strike me, and distinguished. Consequently, Lucretia,
I have no doubt you will be happy to hear that the marriage is to take place
immediately--of course, you will:' great emphasis again: `and that you are
delighted with this change in the condition of my brother, who has shown you a
great deal of pleasant attention at various times.'
Miss Tox made no verbal answer, but took up the little watering-pot with a
trembling hand, and looked vacantly round as if considering what article of
furniture would be improved by the contents. The room door opening at this
crisis of Miss Tox's feelings, she started, laughed aloud, and fell into the
arms of the person entering; happily insensible alike of Mrs. Chick's indignant
countenance and of the Major at his window over the way, who had his
double-barrelled eye-glass in full action, and whose face and figure were
dilated with Mephistophelean joy.
Not so the expatriated Native, amazed supporter of Miss Tox's swooning form,
who, coming straight upstairs, with a polite inquiry touching Miss Tox's health
(in exact pursuance of the Major's malicious instructions), had accidentally
arrived in the very nick of time to catch the delicate burden in his arms, and
to receive the contents of the little watering-pot in his shoe; both of which
circumstances, coupled with his consciousness of being closely watched by the
wrathful Major, who had threatened the usual penalty in regard of every bone in
his skin in case of any failure, combined to render him a moving spectacle of
mental and bodily distress.
For some moments, this afflicted foreigner remained clasping Miss Tox to his
heart, with an energy of action in remarkable opposition to his disconcerted
face, while that poor lady trickled slowly down upon him the very last
sprinklings of the little watering-pot, as if he were a delicate exotic (which
indeed he was), and might be almost expected to blow while the gentle rain
descended. Mrs. Chick, at length recovering sufficient presence of mind to
interpose, commanded him to drop Miss Tox upon the sofa and withdraw; and the
exile promptly obeying, she applied herself to promote Miss Tox's recovery.
But none of that gentle concern which usually characterises the daughters of
Eve in their tending of each other; none of that freemasonry in fainting, by
which they are generally bound together in a mysterious bond of sisterhood; was
visible in Mrs. Chick's demeanour. Rather like the executioner who restores the
victim to sensation previous to proceeding with the torture (or was wont to do
so, in the good old times for which all true men wear perpetual mourning), did
Mrs. Chick administer the smelling-bottle, the slapping on the hands, the
dashing of cold water on the face, and the other proved remedies. And when, at
length, Miss Tox opened her eyes, and gradually became restored to animation and
consciousness, Mrs. Chick drew off as form a criminal, and reversing the
precedent of the murdered king of Denmark, regarded her more in anger than in
sorrow.
`Lucretia!' said Mrs. Chick. `I will not attempt to disguise what I feel. My
eyes are opened, all at once. I wouldn't have believed this, if a Saint had told
it to me.'
`I am foolish to give way to faintness,' Miss Tox faltered. `I shall be
better presently.'
`You will be better presently, Lucretia!' repeated Mrs. Chick, with exceeding
scorn. `Do you suppose I am blind? Do you imagine I am in my second childhood?
No, Lucretia!I am obliged to you!'
Miss Tox directed an imploring, helpless kind of look towards her friend, and
put her handkerchief before her face.
`If any one had told me this yesterday,' said Mrs. Chick, with majesty, `or
even half-an-hour ago, I should have been tempted, I almost believe, to strike
them to the earth, Lucretia Tox, my eyes are opened to you all at once. The
scales:' here Mrs. Chick cast down an imaginary pair, such as are commonly used
in grocers' shops: `have fallen from my sight. The blindness of my confidence is
past, Lucretia. It has been abused and played upon, and evasion is quite out of
the question now, I assure you.'
`Oh! to what do you allude so cruelly, my love?' asked Miss Tox, through her
tears.
`Lucretia,' said Mrs. Chick, `ask your own heart. I must entreat you not to
address me by any such familiar term as you have just used, if you please. I
have some self-respect left, though you may think otherwise.'
`Oh, Louisa!' cried Miss Tox. `How can you speak to me like that?'
`How can I speak to you like that?' retorted Mrs. Chick, who, in default of
having any particular argument to sustain herself upon, relied principally on
such repetitions for her most withering effects. `Like that! You may well say
like that, indeed!'
Miss Tox sobbed pitifully.
`The idea!' said Mrs. Chick, `of your having basked at my brother's fireside,
like a serpent, and would yourself, through me, almost into his confidence,
Lucretia, that you might, in secret, entertain designs upon him, and dare to
aspire to contemplate the possibility of his uniting himself to you! Why, it is
and idea,' said Mrs. Chick, with sarcastic dignity, `the absurdity of which
almost relieves its treachery.'
`Pray, Louisa,' urged Miss Tox, `do not say such dreadful things.'
`Dreadful things!' repeated Mrs. Chick. `Dreadful things!Is it not a fact,
Lucretia, that you have just now been unable to command your feelings even
before me, whose eyes you had so completely closed?'
`I have made no complaint,' sobbed Miss Tox. `I have said nothing. If I have
been a little overpowered by your news, Louisa, and have ever had any lingering
thought that Mr. Dombey was inclined to be particular towards me, surely you
will not condemn me.'
`She is going to say.' said Mrs. Chick, addressing herself to the whole of
the furniture, in a comprehensive glance of resignation and appeal, `She is
going to say--I know it--that I have encouraged her!'
`I don't wish to exchange reproaches, dear Louisa,' sobbed Miss Tox. `Nor do
I wish to complain. But, in my own defence--'
`Yes,' cried Mrs. Chick, looking round the room with a prophetic smile,
`that's what she's going to say. I knew it. You had better say it. Say it
openly! Be open, Lucretia Tox,' said Mrs. Chick, with desperate sternness,
`whatever you are.'
`In my own defence,' faltered Miss Tox, `and only in my own defence against
your unkind words, my dear Louisa, I would merely ask you if you haven't often
favoured such a fancy, and even said it might happen, for anything we could
tell?'
`There is a point,' said Mrs. Chick, rising, not as if she were going to stop
at the floor, but as if she were about to soar up, high, into her native skies,
`beyond which endurance becomes ridiculous, if not culpable. I can bear much;
but not too much. What spell was on me when I came into this house this day, I
don't know; but I had a presentiment--a dark presentiment,' said Mrs. Chick,
with a shiver, `that something was going to happen. Well may I have had that
foreboding, Lucretia, when my confidence of many years is destroyed in an
instant, when my eyes are opened all at once, and when I find you revealed in
your true colours. Lucretia, I have been mistaken in you. It is better for us
both that this subject should end here. I wish you well, and I shall ever wish
you well. But, as an individual who desires to be true to herself in her own
poor position, whatever that position may be, or may not be--and as the sister
of my brother--and as the sister-in-law of my brother's wife--and as a connexion
by marriage of my brother's wife's mother--may I be permitted to add, as a
Dombey?--I can wish you nothing else but good morning.'
These words, delivered with cutting suavity, tempered and chastened by a
lofty air of moral rectitude, carried the speaker to the door. There she
inclined her head in a ghostly and statue-like manner, and so withdrew to her
carriage, to seek comfort and consolation in the arms of Mr. Chick her lord.
Figuratively speaking, that is to say: for the arms of Mr. Chick were full of
his newspaper. Neither did that gentleman address his eyes towards his wife
otherwise than by stealth. Neither did he offer any consolation whatever. In
short, he sat reading, and humming fag ends of tunes, and sometimes glancing
furtively at her without delivering himself of a word, good, bad, or
indifferent.
In the meantime Mrs. Chick sat swelling and bridling, and tossing her head,
as if she were still repeating that solemn formula of farewell to Lucretia Tox.
At length, she said aloud, `Oh the extent to which her eyes had been opened that
day!'
`To which your eyes have been opened,, my dear!' repeated Mr. Chick.
`Oh, don't talk to me!' said Mrs. Chick. `If you can bear to see me in this
state, and not ask me what the matter is, you had better hold your tongue for
ever.'
`What is the matter, my dear?' asked Mr. Chick.
`To think,' said Mrs. Chick, in a state of soliloquy, `that she should ever
have conceived the base idea of connecting herself with our family by a marriage
with Paul! To think that when she was playing at horses with that dear child who
is now in his grave--I never liked it at the time--she should have been hiding
such a double-faced design! I wonder she was never afraid that something would
happen to her. She is fortunate if nothing does.'
`I really thought, my dear,' said Mr. Chick slowly, after rubbing the bridge
of his nose for some time with his newspaper, `that you had gone on the same
tack yourself, all along, until this morning; and had thought it would be a
convenient thing enough, if it could have been brought about.'
Mrs. Chick instantly burst into tears, and told Mr. Chick that if he wished
to trample upon her with his boots, he had better do it.
`But with Lucretia Tox I have done,' said Mrs. Chick, after abandoning
herself to her feelings for some minutes, to Mr. Chick's great terror. `I can
bear to resign Paul's confidence in favour of one who, I hope and trust, may be
deserving of it, and with whom he has a perfect right to replace poor Fanny if
he chooses; I can bear to be informed, in Paul's cool manner, of such a change
in his plans, and never to be consulted until all is settled and determined; but
deceit I can not bear, and with Lucretia Tox I have done. It is better as it
is,' said Mrs. Chick, piously; `much better. It would have been a long time
before I could have accommodated myself comfortably with her, after this; and I
really don't know, as Paul is going to be very grand, and these are people of
condition, that she would have been quite presentable, and might not have
compromised myself. There's a providence in everything; everything works for the
best; I have been tried to-day, but, upon the whole I don't regret it.'
In which Christian spirit, Mrs. Chick dried her eyes, and smoothed her lap,
and sat as became a person calm under a great wrong. Mr. Chick, feeling his
unworthiness no doubt, took an early opportunity of being set down at a street
corner and walking away, whistling, with his shoulders very much raised, and his
hands in his pockets.
While poor excommunicated Miss Tox, who, if she were a fawner and toad-eater,
was at least an honest and a constant one, and had ever borne a faithful
friendship towards her impeacher, and had been truly absorbed and swallowed up
in devotion to the magnificence of Mr. Dombey--while poor excommunicated Miss
Tox watered her plants with her tears, and felt that it was winter in Princess's
Place.
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