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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 twilightshe 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,
166
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 Giants Staircase.
With all her deference for Mr Bounderby as contra-distinguished
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.
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CHAPTER 11
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 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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