Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/84

44 44 POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF

dipped into the water with a clear and liquid sound, as their heavy but picturesque boats glided slowly down the stream.

Mr. Pickwick was roused from the agreeable reverie into which he had been led by the objects before him, by a deep sigh, and a touch on his shoulder. He turned round : and the dismal man was at his side.

« Contemplating the scene ? " inquired the dismal man.


 * ' I was," said Mr. Pickwick.

" And congratulating yourself on being up so soon ? " Mr. Pickwick nodded assent.

" Ah I people need to rise early, to see the sun in all his splendour, far his brightness seldom lasts the day through. The morning of day and the morning of life are but too much alike."

" You speak truly, Sir," said Mr. Pickwick.

" How common the saying," continued the dismal man, " * The morning 's too tine to last.' How well might it be applied to our every- day existence. God I what would I forfeit to have the days of my childhood restored, or to be able to forget them for ever! "

" You have seen much trouble, Sir," said Mr. Pickwick, com* passionately.

" I have," said the dismal man, hurriedly ; " I have. More than those who see me now would believe possible." He paused for an instant, and then said, abruptly,

" Did it ever strike you, on such a morning as this, that drowning would be happiness and peace ? "

"God bless me, no!" replied Mr. Pickwick, edging a little from the balustrade, as the possibility of the dismal man's tipping him over, l>y way of experiment, occurred to him rather forcibly.

" / have thought so, often," said the dismal man, without noticing the action. " The calm, cool water seems to me to murngur an invita- tion to repose and rest. A bound, a splash, a brief struggle ; there is an eddy for an instant, it gradually subsides into a gentle ripple ; the Waters have closed above your head, and the world has closed upon your miseries and misfortunes for ever." The sunken eye of the dismal man flashed brightly as he spoke, but the momentary excitement quickly subsided ; and he turned calmly away, as he said —

" There — enough of that. I wished to see you on another subject. You invited me to read that paper, the night before last, and listened attentively while I did so."

" I did," replied Mr. Pickwick ; " and I certainly thought "

" I asked for no opinion," said the dismal man, interrupting him, " and I want none. You are travelling for amusement and instruction. Suppose I forwarded you a curious manuscript — observe, not curious because wild or improbable, but curious as a leaf from the romance of real life. Would you communicate it to the club, of which you have spoken so frequently?"

<* Certainly," replied Mr. Pickwick, " if you wished it ; and it would be entered on their transactions."

" You shall have it," replied the dismal man. " Your address ; " and, Mr. Pickwick having communicated their probable route, the dismal man carefully noted it down in a greasy pocket-book, and,