As the coach rolls swiftly past the fields and orchards which skirt the road, groups of women and children, piling the fruit in sieves, or gathering the scattered ears of corn, pause for an instant from their labour, and shading the sunburned face with a still browner hand, gaze upon the passengers with curious eyes, while some stout urchin, too small to work, but too mischievous to be left at home, scrambles over the side of the basket in which he has been deposited for security, and kicks and screams with delight. The reaper stops in his work, and stands with folded arms, looking at the vehicle as it whirls past; and the rough carthorses bestow a sleepy glance upon the smart coach team, which says as plainly as a horse’s glance can, “It’s all very fine to look at, but slow going, over a heavy field, is better than warm work like that, upon a dusty road, after all.” You cast a look behind you, as you turn a corner of the road. The women and children have resumed their labour; the reaper once more stoops to his work; the carthorses have moved on; and all are again in motion.
The influence of a scene like this, was not lost upon the well-regulated mind of Mr. Pickwick. Intent upon the resolution he had formed, of exposing the real character of the nefarious Jingle, in any quarter in which he might be pursuing his fraudulent designs, he sat at first taciturn and contemplative, brooding over the means by which his purpose could be best attained. By degrees his attention grew more and more attracted by the objects around him; and at last he derived as much enjoyment from the ride, as if it had been undertaken for the pleasantest reason in the world.
“Delightful prospect, Sam,” said Mr. Pickwick.
“Beats the chimbley-pots, Sir,” replied Mr. Weller, touching his hat.
“I suppose you have hardly seen anything but chimney-pots and bricks and mortar all your life, Sam,” said Mr. Pickwick, smiling.
“I worn’t always a boots, sir,” said Mr. Weller, with a shake of the head. “I wos a vaginer’s boy, once.”
“When was that?” inquired Mr. Pickwick.
“When I wos first pitched neck and crop into the world, to play at leapfrog with its troubles,” replied Sam. “I wos a carrier’s boy at startin’; then a vaginer’s, then a helper, then a boots. Now I’m a gen’l’m’n’s servant. I shall be a gen’l’m’n myself one of these days, perhaps, with a pipe in my mouth, and a summerhouse in the back-garden. Who knows? I shouldn’t be surprised for one.”
“You are quite a philosopher, Sam,” said Mr. Pickwick.
“It runs in the family, I b’lieve, sir,” replied Mr. Weller. “My father’s wery much in that line now. If my mother-in-law blows him up, he whistles. She flies in a passion, and breaks his pipe; he steps out, and gets another. Then she screams wery loud, and falls into ’sterics; and he smokes wery comfortably till she comes to agin. That’s philosophy, Sir, ain’t it?”
“A very good substitute for it, at all events,” replied Mr. Pickwick, laughing. “It must have been of great service to you, in the course of your rambling life, Sam.”
“Service, sir,” exclaimed Sam. “You may say that. Arter I run away from the carrier, and afore I took up with the vaginer, I had unfurnished lodgin’s for a fortnight.”
“Unfurnished lodgings?” said Mr. Pickwick.
“Yes—the dry arches of Waterloo Bridge. Fine sleeping-place—vithin ten minutes’ walk of all the public offices—only if there is any objection to it, it is that the sitivation’s rayther too airy. I see some queer sights there.”
“Ah, I suppose you did,” said Mr. Pickwick, with an air of considerable interest.
“Sights, sir,” resumed Mr. Weller, “as ’ud penetrate your benevolent heart, and come out on the other side. You don’t see the reg’lar wagrants there; trust ’em, they knows better than that. Young beggars, male and female, as hasn’t made a rise in their profession, takes up their quarters there sometimes; but it’s generally the worn-out, starving, houseless creeturs as roll themselves in the dark corners o’ them lonesome places—poor creeturs as ain’t up to the twopenny rope.”
“And pray, Sam, what is the twopenny rope?” inquired Mr. Pickwick.
“The twopenny rope, sir,” replied Mr. Weller, “is just a cheap lodgin’ house, where the beds is twopence a night.”
“What do they call a bed a rope for?” said Mr. Pickwick.
“Bless your innocence, sir, that ain’t it,” replied Sam. “Ven the lady and gen’l’m’n as keeps the hot-el first begun business, they used to make the beds on the floor; but this wouldn’t do at no price, ’cos instead o’ taking a moderate twopenn’orth o’ sleep, the lodgers used to lie there half the day. So now they has two ropes, ’bout six foot apart, and three from the floor, which goes right down
