Charles Dickens' Children Stories Read online

  LITTLE NELL.

  The house was one of those receptacles for old and curious things, whichseem to crouch in odd corners of the town; and in the old, dark, murkyrooms, there lived alone together an old man and a child--hisgrandchild, little Nell. Solitary and monotonous as was her life, theinnocent and cheerful spirit of the child found happiness in all things,and through the dim rooms of the old curiosity shop little Nell wentsinging, moving with gay and lightsome step.

  But gradually over the old man, to whom she was so tenderly attached,there stole a sad change. He became thoughtful, dejected, and wretched.He had no sleep or rest but that which he took by day in his easy chair;for every night, and all night long, he was away from home.

  At last a raging fever seized him, and as he lay delirious or insensiblethrough many weeks, Nell learned that the house which sheltered them wastheirs no longer; that in the future they would be very poor; that theywould scarcely have bread to eat.

  At length the old man began to mend, but his mind was weakened. As thetime drew near when they must leave the house, he made no reference tothe necessity of finding other shelter. But a change came upon him oneevening, as he and Nell sat silently together.

  "Let us speak softly, Nell," he said. "Hush! for if they knew ourpurpose they would say that I was mad, and take thee from me. We willnot stop here another day. We will travel afoot through the fields andwoods, and trust ourselves to God in the places where He dwells."

  The child's heart beat high with hope and confidence. To her it seemedthat they might beg their way from door to door in happiness, so thatthey were together.

  When the day began to glimmer they stole out of the house, and passinginto the street stood still.

  "Which way?" asked the child.

  The old man looked irresolutely and helplessly at her, and shook hishead. It was plain that she was thenceforth his guide and leader. Thechild felt it, but had no doubts or misgivings, and putting her hand inhis, led him gently away.

  They passed through the long, deserted streets, until these streetsdwindled away, and the open country was about them. They walked all day,and slept that night at a small cottage where beds were let totravellers. The sun was setting on the second day of their journey,when, following a path which led to the town where they were to spendthe night, they fell in with two travelling showmen, bound for the racesat a neighboring town.

  They made two long days' journey with their new companions. The men wererough and strange in their ways, but they were kindly, too; and in thebewildering noise and movement of the race-course, where she tried tosell some little nosegays, Nell would have clung to them for protection,had she not learned that these men suspected that she and the old manhad left their home secretly, and that they meant to take steps to havethem sent back and taken care of. Separation from her grandfather wasthe greatest evil Nell could dread. She seized her opportunity to evadethe watchfulness of the two men, and hand in hand she and the old manfled away together.

  That night they reached a little village in a woody hollow. The villageschoolmaster, attracted by the child's sweetness and modesty, gave thema lodging for the night; nor would he let them leave him until two daysmore had passed.

  They journeyed on when the time came that they must wander forth again,by pleasant country lanes. The afternoon had worn away into a beautifulevening, when they came to a caravan drawn up by the road. It was asmart little house upon wheels, and at the door sat a stout andcomfortable lady, taking tea. The tea-things were set out upon a drum,covered with a white napkin. And there, as if at the most convenienttable in the world, sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoyingthe prospect. Of this stout lady Nell ventured to ask how far it was tothe neighboring town. And the lady, noticing that the tired child couldhardly repress a tear at hearing that eight weary miles lay still beforethem, not only gave them tea, but offered to take them on in thecaravan.

  Now this lady of the caravan was the owner of a wax-work show, and hername was Mrs. Jarley. She offered Nell employment in pointing out thefigures in the wax-work show to the visitors who came to see it,promising in return both board and lodging for the child and hergrandfather, and some small sum of money. This offer Nell was thankfulto accept, and for some time her life and that of the poor, vacant, fondold man, passed quietly and almost happily.

  One night Nell and her grandfather went out to walk. A terriblethunder-storm coming on, they were forced to take refuge in a smallpublic-house where men played cards. The old man watched them withincreasing interest and excitement, until his whole appearance underwenta complete change. His face was flushed and eager, his teeth set. Heseized Nell's little purse, and in spite of her entreaties joined in thegame, gambling with such a savage thirst for gain that the distressedand frightened child could almost better have borne to see him dead. Thenight was far advanced before the play came to an end, and they wereforced to remain where they were until the morning. And in the night thechild was awakened from her troubled sleep to find a figure in the room.It was her grandfather himself, his white face pinched and sharpened bythe greediness which made his eyes unnaturally bright, counting themoney of which his hands were robbing her.

  Evening after evening, after that night, the old man would steal away,not to return until the night was far spent, demanding, wildly, money.And at last there came an hour when the child overheard him, temptedbeyond his feeble powers of resistence, undertake to find more money tofeed the desperate passion which had laid hold upon his weakness byrobbing Mrs. Jarley.

  That night the child took her grandfather by the hand and led him forth;sustained by one idea--that they were flying from disgrace and crime,and that her grandfather's preservation must depend solely upon herfirmness; the old man following as though she had been an angelmessenger sent to lead him where she would.

  They slept in the open air that night, and on the following morning somemen offered to take them a long distance on their barge. These men,though they were not unkindly, drank and quarrelled among themselves, toNell's inexpressible terror. It rained, too, heavily, and she was wetand cold. At last they reached the great city whither the barge wasbound, and here they wandered up and down, being now penniless, andwatched the faces of those who passed, to find among them a ray ofencouragement or hope.

  They laid down that night, and the next night too, with nothing betweenthem and the sky; a penny loaf was all they had had that day, and whenthe third morning came, it found the child much weaker, yet she made nocomplaint. Faint and spiritless as they were, the streets wereinsupportable; and the child, throughout the remainder of that hard day,compelled herself to press on, that they might reach the country.Evening was drawing on; they were dragging themselves through the laststreet. Seeing a traveller on foot before them, she shot on before hergrandfather and began in a few faint words to implore the stranger'shelp. He turned his head, the child uttered a wild shriek, and fellsenseless at his feet. It was the village schoolmaster who had been sokind to them before.

  The good man took her in his arms and carried her quickly to a littleinn hard by, where she was tenderly put to bed and where a doctorarrived with all speed. The schoolmaster, as it appeared, was on his wayto a new home. And when the child had recovered somewhat from herexhaustion, it was arranged that she and her grandfather shouldaccompany him to the village whither he was bound, and that he shouldendeavor to find them some humble occupation by which they couldsubsist.

  It was a secluded village, lying among the quiet country scenes Nellloved. And here, her grandfather being tranquil and at rest, a greatpeace fell upon the spirit of the child. Often she would steal into thechurch, and sit down among the quiet figures carved upon the tombs. Whatif the spot awakened thoughts of death? It would be no pain to sleephere. For the time was drawing nearer every day when Nell was to restindeed. She never murmured or complained, but faded like a light upon asummer's evening and died. Day after day and all day long, the old man,broken-hearted and with no love or care for anything in life, would si
tbeside her grave with her straw hat and the little basket she had beenused to carry, waiting till she should come to him again. At last theyfound him lying dead upon the stone. And in the church where they hadoften prayed and mused and lingered, hand in hand, the child and the oldman slept together.