good fortune was with david now. his aunt wrote to mr. murdstone, and he and his sister came, fully expecting to take the boy back with them, but, instead, miss betsy told mr. murdstone plainly that he was a stony-hearted hypocrite, who had broken his wife's heart and tortured her son, and she ordered him and his sister from the house. david was so delighted at this that he threw his arms around her neck and kissed her, and from that moment miss betsy trotwood began to love him as if he had been her own son.
david loved her in return. he drove out with her and helped mr. dick fly his kites and was very grateful. and at length his aunt placed him in a school in dover and found him pleasant lodgings there in the house of her lawyer, mr. wickfield.
it was a different sort of school from what his first had been. his teacher was a doctor strong, and the school-boys were not the frightened, ill-treated lot he had known at mr. creakle's house. he was happy there, but his happiest hours of all were those spent, after school was out, at mr. wickfield's. the lawyer had an only daughter,[pg 116] agnes, just david's age, a sweet, gentle girl, who seemed to live for her father, and whom david came to consider before long almost as a sister.
one person connected with the lawyer's household whom he did not like so well was uriah heep. heep was a high-shouldered, red-headed, bony young man, with no eyebrows or eyelashes, and with long skeleton fingers. he dressed all in black, and his hands were clammy and cold, like a fish, so that it chilled one to touch them. he never smiled—the nearest he could come to it was to make two creases down his cheeks. he was always cringing and pretending to be humble, but really he was a sneak and a scoundrel at heart. david detested him without knowing why, the more so when he came to see that heep was gaining an influence over agnes's father. all the while, too, heep pretended to like david, though david knew very well he did not.
so time went on. david studied hard and was a favorite with both pupils and teachers. at length he was head boy himself, and at seventeen his school life was finished.
he parted regretfully from doctor strong and from agnes, and after paying his aunt, miss betsy trotwood, a visit, he started off to yarmouth to see his old nurse, now the wife of barkis, the driver, and just as fond of david as ever. on his way through london, as it happened, david met the old school-fellow whom he had so liked, james[pg 117] steerforth, and, loath to part with him so quickly, he proposed that the latter accompany him to yarmouth.
steerforth agreed and they went together. they took dinner at peggotty's and spent the first evening in the old house-boat, where mr. peggotty still lived with ham and mrs. gummidge and little em'ly, the latter now grown to be a lovely girl and engaged to marry ham. they spent some weeks there, each amusing himself in his own way, and soon steerforth was as popular as david had always been, for he sang beautifully and talked entertainingly, and all, from mr. peggotty to little em'ly, thought they had never seen so brilliant and handsome a lad.
if david could have read the thoughts that were in steerforth's mind he would have grieved that he had ever brought him to that peaceful, innocent spot. for steerforth had changed since the old school-days when david had been so fond of him. he had learned wickedness, and now, while he was exerting himself in every way to make the peggottys like and admire him, in his heart he was trying to fascinate little em'ly and to steal her love that she had given to ham, till she would leave her home and run away with him to a foreign country. this, however, david could not guess, nor could any of the others, who regretted when the two friends' visit was over.
now that his school-days were finished david's[pg 118] aunt had planned for him to study law in an office in london, and accordingly david began his new life there, very near the street where he had once toiled, a wretched, friendless helper, in the dirty warehouse on the dock. he found tommy traddles, who had stood his friend at mr. creakle's school, studying now to be a lawyer also, and boarding, curiously enough, at the house of mr. micawber, who had drifted back to london, still as poor and as hopeful as ever and still "waiting for something to turn up."
in spite of these and all his new acquaintances, david was very lonely at first and missed agnes, who all through his life at doctor strong's school had been his friend and adviser.
he saw her once when she was visiting in london, and then she had bad news to tell him; her father had been steadily failing in health and business, and little by little uriah heep, his red-headed clerk with the clammy hands, had got him and his affairs into his power and made himself a partner in the firm. david guessed that heep had planned to entrap her father so as to compel agnes herself to marry him, and this suspicion made david despise the clerk more and more. but he knew of no way to help.
all this time he often saw steerforth, but never guessed how often the latter had been secretly to see little em'ly or of the wicked part he was playing. but one day david heard that barkis, peggotty's[pg 119] husband (whose early courtship he himself had aided when he took her the message "barkis is willin'") had died, and david went at once to yarmouth to try to comfort his old nurse in her loss.
while he was there the blow came which caused such sorrow to all who lived in the old house-boat. little em'ly, the pride and joy of mr. peggotty's tender heart, ran away with steerforth.
she left a letter, begging them to forgive her, especially her uncle, mr. peggotty—and bidding them all good-by. it broke mr. peggotty's heart, and ham's, too. and david was scarcely less sorrowful. because, for what he had done, steerforth, whose friendship had been so much to him, could never be his friend again.
but nothing could change mr. peggotty's love for little em'ly. he determined to start out and search throughout the world for her; and, meantime, ham and mrs. gummidge were to stay there in the old home, to keep it looking just the same, with a lighted candle in the window every night, so that if little em'ly by any chance came back it would be bright and warm to welcome her. mr. peggotty's parting words to david were:
"i'm a-going to seek her far and wide. if any hurt should come to me, remember that the last word i left for her was, 'my unchanged love is with my darling child, and i forgive her.'"
