while these events, which so closely concerned esther, were occurring in london, life at bleak house went quietly on. ada and esther had become bosom friends, and both loved and respected mr. jarndyce above every one. harold skimpole, as charming and careless as ever, and as willing as ever that some one else should pay his debts for him, was often there, and whenever they went to the city they saw miss flite and mrs. jellyby, the latter still busily sending letters about the growing of coffee and the education of the natives of borrioboola-gha.
esther grew especially to like caddy, the slipshod daughter to whom mrs. jellyby dictated her[pg 399] letters. the poor girl had much good in her, and esther encouraged and helped her all she could. caddy finally fell in love with prince turveydrop, a blue-eyed, flaxen-haired young man whose father kept a dancing school.
old mr. turveydrop, his father, was a fat man with a false complexion, false teeth, false whiskers, a wig and a padded chest. he always carried a cane, eye-glass and snuff-box and was so tightly buttoned up that when he bowed you could almost see creases come into the whites of his eyes. he thought himself a model of politeness and stood about to show off his clothes while he made his son, prince, do all the teaching.
caddy was so tired of hearing about africa that at last she married prince and moved into the turveydrop dancing school, and mrs. jellyby had to hire a boy to help her with her great plans for the education of the natives of borrioboola-gha.
once esther and ada went with mr. jarndyce to visit mr. boythorn—the man with the tremendous laugh and the pet canary—at his country house where he lived in one perpetual quarrel with his neighbor, sir leicester dedlock. esther had often heard of the beauty of lady dedlock, and one sunday in the village church she saw her. there was something strangely familiar in her look that reminded esther of her godmother. an odd sensation came over her then and she felt her heart beat quickly. but this was before lady dedlock had[pg 400] guessed the truth, and esther and she did not meet.
richard carstone had soon begun to be a source of great anxiety to all at bleak house. it was plainly to be seen that he loved ada dearly, and that she loved him as well, but to mr. jarndyce's regret he had begun to think and dream of the famous chancery suit and of the fortune that would be his when it ended. mr. jarndyce, from his own bitter experience, hated the chancery court and everything connected with it, and saw with grief that richard was growing to be a ne'er-do-well, who found it easier to trust in the future than to labor in the present.
in spite of all advice richard went from bad to worse. he began the study of medicine, soon changed this for law, and lastly decided to enter the army. he was naturally a spendthrift, and as long as his money lasted harold skimpole found him a very fine friend and helped him spend it.
skimpole also introduced to him a knavish lawyer named vholes, who made him believe the great chancery suit must soon end in his favor, and who (when richard had put the case in his hands) proceeded to rob him of all he had. he poisoned his mind, too, against mr. jarndyce, so that richard began to think his truest friend deceitful.
ada saw this with pain, but she loved richard above all else, and the more so when she saw him so wretched and deceived; and at last, without telling[pg 401] either mr. jarndyce or esther what she was going to do, she went to richard one day and married him, so that, as her husband, he could take the little fortune she possessed to pay vholes to go on with the chancery suit.
a great misfortune befell esther about this time—a misfortune that came to her, strangely enough, through little joe, the crossing sweeper.
half-starved, ragged and homeless all his life, joe had never known kindness save that given to him by the poor copyist who had lived above krook's rag-and-bottle shop. he lived (if having a corner to sleep in can be called living) in a filthy alley called "tom-all-alone's." it seemed to him that every one he met told him to "move on." the policeman, the shopkeepers at whose doors he stopped for warmth, all told him to "move on," till the wretched lad wondered if there was any spot in london where he could rest undisturbed.
mr. tulkinghorn, in his search to find out the woman who had hired joe to show her the cemetery, had dogged him so with his detective that at length the lad had become frightened and left london for the open country. there he was taken very ill, and on the highway near bleak house one evening esther found him helpless and delirious with fever.
touched by his condition she had him taken at once to bleak house and put to bed, intending when morning came to send for a doctor.[pg 402]
but in the morning little joe was missing. though they searched high and low he was not to be found, and they decided that in his delirium he had taken to the road again. it was not till long after that esther found his leaving had been brought about by harold skimpole, who was then visiting bleak house, and who, in his selfishness, feared the boy might be the bearer of some contagious disease.
this unfortunately proved to be the case. joe's illness was smallpox, and a few days later a maid of esther's fell ill with it. esther nursed her day and night, and just as she was recovering was stricken with it herself.
in her unselfishness and love for the rest, before unconsciousness came, she made the maid promise faithfully to allow no one (particularly neither mr. jarndyce nor her beloved ada) to enter the room till all danger was past.
for many days esther hovered between life and death and all the time the maid kept her word. caddy came from the turveydrop dancing school early and late, and little miss flite walked the twenty miles from london in thin shoes to inquire for her. and at length, slowly, she began to grow well again.
but the disease had left its terrible mark. when she first looked in a mirror she found that her beauty was gone and her face strangely altered.
this was a great grief to her at first, but on the[pg 403] day when mr. jarndyce came into her sick-room and held her in his arms and said, "my dear, dear girl!" she thought, "he has seen me and is fonder of me than before. so what have i to mourn for?" she thought of allan woodcourt, too, the young surgeon somewhere on the sea, and she was glad that, if he had loved her before he sailed away, he had not told her so. now, she told herself, when they met again and he saw her so sadly changed he would have given her no promise he need regret.
when she was able to travel, esther went for a short stay at the house of mr. boythorn, and there, walking under the trees she grew stronger.
one day, as she sat in the park that surrounded the house, she saw lady dedlock coming toward her, and seeing how pale and agitated she was, esther felt the same odd sensation she had felt in the church. lady dedlock threw herself sobbing at her feet, and put her arms around her and kissed her, as she told her that she was her unhappy mother, who must keep her secret for the sake of her husband, sir leicester.
esther thought her heart must break with both grief and joy at once. but she comforted lady dedlock, and told her nothing would ever change her love for her, and they parted with tears and kisses.
another surprise of a different sort awaited esther on her return to bleak house. mr. jarndyce told her that he loved her and asked her if[pg 404] she would marry him. and, remembering how tender he had always been, and knowing that he loved her in spite of her disfigured face, she said yes.
but one day—the very day he returned—esther saw allan woodcourt on the street. somehow at the first glimpse of him she knew that she had loved him all along. then she remembered that she had promised to marry mr. jarndyce, and she began to tremble and ran away without speaking to woodcourt at all.
but they soon met, and this time it was joe the crossing sweeper who brought them together. woodcourt found the poor ragged wanderer in the street, so ill that he could hardly walk. he had recovered from smallpox, but it had left him so weak that he had become a prey to consumption. the kind-hearted surgeon took the boy to little miss flite and they found him a place to stay in mr. george's shooting-gallery, where they did what they could for him, and where esther and mr. jarndyce came to see him.
joe was greatly troubled when he learned he had brought the smallpox to bleak house, and one day he got some one to write out for him in very large letters that he was sorry and hoped esther and all the others would forgive him. and this was his will.
on the last day allan woodcourt sat beside him, "joe, my poor fellow," he said.[pg 405]
"i hear you, sir, but it's dark—let me catch your hand."
"joe, can you say what i say?"
"i'll say anything as you do, sir, for i know it's good."
"our father."
"our father; yes, that's very good, sir."
"which art in heaven."
"art in heaven. is the light a-comin', sir?"
"hallowed be thy name."
"hallowed be—thy——"
but the light had come at last. little joe was dead.
