"resync by margjakob" "Jo?" " Jo!" " What's happened to him?" " You don't think anyone could have took him?" " Who'd want him, Charley?" " The boy is safely stowed, Mr Tulkinghorn." " You're quite sure?" " Oh, yes, sir." " Acting on information received from a friend of ours..." "It was all done very quiet and discreet, Mr Tulkinghorn." " Hmm." " Perhaps I was being over-cautious, but the interest of one of our oldest English families are involved here." " Will you take a glass of wine, Mr Bucket?" " Thank you, Mr Tulkinghorn, I will." " Morning, Miss." "It's a nice bright day." " Mr Jarndyce!" " Mr Jarndyce, it's Miss Esther!" " I have to tell you that Miss Summerson is gravely ill." " The doctor's told me that she..." ".that she exhibits all the symptoms of the smallpox." " Miss Summerson's maid, Charley, has been kind enough and brave enough to volunteer herself as Miss Summerson's nurse." " No-one else..." "No, no-one else, Ada... is to enter her room, or to handle any dish or cup, or anything else that she has touched." " Is that quite clear to you all?" " Yes, Mr Jarndyce." " I pray to God that she may survive this." " I blame myself, of course I do." " I should have had the boy taken into a hospital immediately." " Damage might still have been done." " I think Esther would have done the same, even if she'd known the consequences." " You mustn't reproach yourself." " I pray to God she may survive this." " But the deuce of it is, if she does live, which is unlikely, she'll be so horridly disfigured that any person of a sensitive disposition, such as myself, will find her too distressing a sight to bear." " She will still be Esther, Mr Skimpole, and her true friends will love her just as much as they ever did." " And for dinner, m'Lady?" " Sir Leicester's partial to lamb." " Lamb, then." " Very good, m'Lady." " Oh, if you please, m'Lady?" " Yes, Mrs Rouncewell?" " You remember the young ladies that were staying with Mr Boythorn a while back?" " What of them?" " One of them's taken very ill..." "with the smallpox." " Like to die, poor girl." " Mr Diggins had it from Mr Boythorn's groom." " Which young lady?" " Oh, not the Jarndyce ward, m'Lady, the other one..." "Miss Summerson." " Jarnuss!" " Kenge-carbuncle." " Puppy." " Guppy." " She's his angel" "First Miss Barbary." " Second Miss Barbary, Captain..." "Captain Hawdon!" " All in here..." "All in here somewhere!" " Oooh." " It's good stuff." " Ah, it's excellent stuff." " There's a fire in me belly." " Never felt so... so full of joy." " Eh, Lady Jane?" " Ooh, warm as toast now." " Hold still!" " Damned twisty letters!" " What's it all?" "" My own..." "" dear-est..." "" dearest..." "James. "" " It's Nemo and the lady." " It's a love letter." " And I can read it." " What's this?" "!" " Lady Jane, I can read." " I can read, I can read." " Ow!" " Oh..." "Oh, that's warm." " It's warmer than toast!" " It's warm as..." "As warm as..." "I say..." "Miss Flite." " This is late to be abroad for you." " I found it very close tonight, Mr Snagsby." " A queer sort of flavour in the air." " Opened the windows, still there." " My poor birds quaking, twittering." " The cook at The Sol's Arms must have burnt the chops tonight, Miss Flite." " And I don't think, not to put too fine a point upon it, that they were quite fresh when they were shown the gridiron." " I dare say that's it, Mr Snagsby." " It's a very tainting sort of weather." " What's this coming down?" " A sort of... soot." " Oh." " Very greasy to the touch." " Oh?" " What's that?" " Who goes there?" " It's only me, Mr Snagsby." " Guppy of Kenge and Carboys, on urgent business, waiting upon Mr Krook." " It's very quiet and dark in there, Mr Guppy." " I think he's shut up shop very early tonight." " He'll see me, Mr Snagsby." " A matter of pressing importance, very much to his advantage." " Krook?" " Are you there?" " Come on, me old friend." " Business." " Business." " There's money to be made for both of us." " Krook?" " Where are you, you old devil?" " What's this?" " What's going on?" " What's all this sooty muck?" " Krook?" " It's Guppy of Kenge and Carboys." " I've come for the letters." " I wish I could go to her and be with her." " Charley is worn to rags sitting up with her night after night." " Oh, she's glad to do it." " She's a good girl, the best of girls." " If anyone can pull Esther through this, she will." " Richard asks constantly about Esther in his letters." " He's so anxious about her." " Yes." " Yes, I know how much he cares for her." " And what else does Richard have to say for himself?" " He has a good deal to say, but I don't think you'd care to hear it." " Oh, come, Ada, I won't be angry with you, nor him for that." " Not now, not at this time." " I have been coming to think I was too hard with the pair of you." " His love for you is as steady and true as anything I ever saw." " And mine for him." " But what he says does worry me, and I think it will worry you too." " Then you had better tell me." " He wants to devote more of his energies to his suit in the Chancery Court." " I feared as much." " And he wishes to break off with Kenge and Carboys, and engage another lawyer to defend his interest." " Please don't be angry with him, or with me for telling you this." " I could never be angry with you, Ada." " Nor will I be angry with him." " He's not to blame." " This accursed lawsuit's warped him out of himself as it's done with others before him and..." "He must do what he think's right." " I bear him no ill will for it." " Make sure he knows that, Ada." " And that there will always be a place for him here at Bleak House and a place in my heart too." " Move along now, please." " Nothing to see here." " Krook won't be opening up today." " I need to recover some property for a client, officer." " Guppy, Kenge and Carboys." " I don't care who you are, sir." " No-one goes in there and nothing comes out, not till after the inquest." " Yes, I know all about the inquest." " I am one of the principal witnesses." " Better get over there, then." " Coroner's gone up already." " Come to order, gentlemen." " Now, we're assembled here to inquire into the extraordinary death of Mr Krook, landlord and proprietor of Krook's Rag and Bottle Warehouse." " The second suspicious death in recent months reported at the same premises, the first being of the law-writer, popularly known as Nemo, recorded as an accidental death brought on as a result of the excessive consumption of opium." " Mr Snagsby." " My Lord, I had occasion to venture abroad outside Mr Krook's business premises, and I remarked upon the greasy odours on the air." " Remarked to whom?" " Yourself?" " To...to me, Your Honour." " I had been complaining about the very same." " And you are?" " Miss Flite." " Tenant to the late departed, and claimant in the Courts of Chancery." " Mr Snagsby and I remarked upon it, and it was then that the young man appeared upon the scene." " What young man?" " Er, that young man there, that fine, handsome young man," "Mr Guppy of Kenge and Carboys." " Ah, yes, Mr Guppy." " Who, as I understand, discovered the remains?" " Is that so, Mr Guppy?" " I had that unfortunate... honour, Your Honour." " Silence in court." " And what, may we ask, was Guppy of Kenge and Carboys doing in Krook's Rag and Bottle Shop after hours?" " Up to no good, Mr Guppy?" " Your Honour, I take grave exception to that insinuation." " Mr Snagsby and Miss Flite will confirm that I was a regular visitor at Mr Krook's establishment." " A trusted friend." " It was my pleasure to perform small services for the deceased." " To read him letters and documents he was unable to himself decipher." " And on this occasion?" " The same, Your Honour." " Mmm." " And to collect a bundle of letters, which he was keeping in safe-holding, for a third party for whom I was acting in a private and confidential capacity." " And you found him?" " Dead, Your Honour." " Mmm." " Burnt." " A small part of him still alight, with blue flame playing round about." " Like a Christmas pudding in a pool of brandy?" " Exactly so, Your Honour." " Except, I believe, in this case it was, in fact, gin." " All right, Mr Guppy, you may stand down." " Gentlemen of the jury, the deceased was an habitual consumer of vast amounts of spirituous liquor which, as we know, is highly flammable." " The condition of the body, we've heard, was such that all the evidence points to it having been consumed by fire." " But not from the outside inwards, as is most usual, but from the inside outwards." " In short, I believe this is an example of that rarest of phenomena, a case of spontaneous combustion." " Give way there!" " Give way there!" " Oh, dear." " Oh, Lord." " Oh, my bones." " Be silent, sir." " Are you aware that you are disturbing a properly convened coroner's court?" " That's what I'm here about." " My property!" " My property!" " Krook's stuff." " Put a guard on it." " No-one to touch it." " Least of all that preening young villain from Kenge and Carboys." " Your property, Mr Smallweed?" " That man Krook was Mrs Smallweed's brother." " She was his only living relative." " We shall make good our title." " Mr Tulkinghorn is my solicitor, and it's a brave man who tries to cross Mr Tulkinghorn." " So, transportation or the gallows for anyone who touches my property!" " Put me down and shake me up, you brimstone black beetle." " Charley?" " Oh, Miss." "You've come back to us." " How long was I away, Charley?" " Two whole weeks nearly, Miss." "The doctors didn't think you'd pull through it, but I knew you would, Miss." "I knew you wouldn't leave us." " It's very dark, isn't it, Charley?" " The doctors thought the light might hurt your eyes." " I think I could bear a little more light now." " Don't, Miss..." "Am I much marked, Charley?" " Not as bad as all that, Miss." "And the marks do fade with time, so you could hardly tell they were there, they say." " Bring me a looking-glass." " I want to see what you see." " Not now, Miss." "Leave it till tomorrow." " Leave it till you're strong enough to get out of bed." " Now, Charley." " I mean it." " Well, I never thought my face would be my fortune, and now I'm quite sure of it." " Oh, Miss..." "Charley, please don't cry for me." " I think I am very lucky to be alive, thanks to you." " I'll run and tell Mr Jarndyce." " He'll be so happy, Miss." "Esther." " Esther, Esther..." "I don't mind you seeing me as I am, but I'm not sure I want Ada to see me like this." " I think it would upset her." " Well, you will have to take your chance on it because I haven't been able to keep her away." " DOOR OPENS" "Esther..." "I've missed you so much." " Come on." " Sshhh." " Mr Guppy of Kenge and Carboys on a matter of personal business with Her Ladyship." " Her Ladyship is going out directly." " Don't you see the carriage here?" " Yes, I do see the carriage." " But I want to see my Lady too, and I think she will see me." " If you'd be so good as to wait there, Mr Guppy..." "Your Ladyship, a thousand apologies." " Circumstances beyond my control." " Oh, Lord." " Well, Mr Guppy?" " I, I..." "I have to beg Your Ladyship's pardon for arriving at such an inconvenient time." " I told you you could arrive at any time." " Sit down, or stay standing, if you please." " Your Ladyship is very affable." " As for sitting down, I hardly know whether it's worth your while to be detained for so long as it would take." " The fact is, Your Ladyship, I have not got the letters that I mentioned when I had the honour of waiting upon Your Ladyship." " And you have come here merely to say that?" " It is not impossible, Your Ladyship, that I will be able to obtain them at a future date." " There were very unusual circumstances." " The person of whom I was to have the letters, came to a very sudden end." " What sort of sudden end?" " Fire, m'Lady." " And were the letters destroyed with the person?" " Impossible to say for certain, m'Lady, but I will do my utmost to try and..." "All right, Mr Guppy." " You have said all that you can usefully say at present?" " Yes, my Lady." " Then I wish you good day." " Oh, I beg your pardon, Lady Dedlock." " I had some business of Sir Leicester's to attend to and I supposed that this room would be empty." " A thousand pardons, my Lady." " Excuse me." " No, stay." " The room is at your disposal." " I am going out, and I have nothing more to say to this young man." " Good day." " Excuse me, Mr Tulkinghorn." " Do we know you, young man?" " Are you not from Kenge and Carboys?" " Yes, sir." " My name is Guppy." " Mr Guppy of Kenge and Carboys." " I understood that I had the honour of conducting Her Ladyship's legal business." " May I ask what brought you here, Mr Guppy?" " You may, sir." " But I am not at liberty to answer." " Indeed." " Very good, Mr Guppy." " Beyond saying it was business of a private and confidential nature." " Oh, I see." " Thank you, Mr Guppy." " I am much obliged to you." " Good day." " So, what has been happening?" " What have I missed?" " You have been missed, very much." " One strange thing." " One day when I walked up to the village, I met Jenny from the brickfields." " She was so sorry to hear you were ill." " Blamed herself over it." " Did she have any news of that poor boy Jo?" " No." " But what she did say was very strange." " She told me that a lady with a veil had and asked after your health." " What lady?" " She couldn't say." " A stranger." " But this lady had taken a handkerchief of yours as a keepsake, and left her some money for it." " Do you remember that handkerchief, Esther?" " Oh, the day her baby died." " I used it to cover his face." " Yes." " Jenny had kept it with the baby's things." " But the lady with the veil had been so particular about wanting it." " What a strange thing." " I hope you're not tiring her, Ada?" " No, indeed." " I feel stronger with every day." " Then perhaps you'll feel well enough to see someone who's been anxious to hear about your progress?" " My physician, Mr Woodcourt, you remember him?" " Yes, very well." " But have you heard what happened?" " No, what?" " Oh, my dear, there was a terrible shipwreck." " Oh!" " Oh, don't be agitated." " He's safe." " Hundreds of dead and dying." " Numbers of drowning thrown upon the rocks, but through it all my physician was a hero." " Saved many lives." " The whole country rings with it." " He should have a title bestowed upon him, and no doubt he will." " No-one could deserve it better, I am sure." " And he is well?" " You are sure of it?" " Quite." " Quite well, my dear." " Guppy, Clamb." " What do we know of Guppy?" " Guppy." " Young Mr Guppy, of Kenge and Carboys?" " Yes." " Not a lot, Mr Tulkinghorn." " Not much is known against him, at any event." " A keen, respectable young clerk." " Ambitious is the word they use for Mr Guppy." " Looking to rise in the world." " Hmm." " Were you thinking to employ Mr Guppy, sir, in some capacity?" " No." " I sent for Smallweed." " Is he come?" " He's waiting in the outer office, sir." " Have him carried in." " If you'd care to come through, Mr Smallweed, Mr Tulkinghorn is expecting you." " Oh, have a care, you slaughterhouse ruffians." " Oh..." "Oh, my bones and sockets!" " Mr Tulkinghorn, I'd take it very kindly if you'd wait upon ME once in a while instead of causing me to be posted all over London like a box of tripes!" " Very kind of you to attend, Mr Smallweed." " I should be at Krook's, guarding my property." " And what is there to guard especially?" " I don't know, but that old brimstone beast had something worth snaffling." " Guppy's after something there, I know that." " Guppy, you say?" " Yeah." " Very full of himself he was at the inquest." " Was the name of Hawdon mentioned there?" " Hawdon?" " No." " But he's at the heart of it, I believe." " I think we should speak to Sergeant George again, Mr Smallweed." " Call in his debts." " Squeeze him dry." " Smash him to sawdust!" " If need be, Mr Smallweed." " It may come to that." " So it's come to this, has it, Sergeant?" " You're ready to be ruined for the sake of showing, or not showing, a piece of paper with some handwriting on it?" " For myself, sir, it counts very little either way." " It counts very little, does it?" " Let's see you smashed to sawdust, see how that counts with you." " For yourself, Sergeant." " But you have at least one other who depends on you for everything." " Would you bring him down with you to serve your own pride?" " Your friend Captain Hawdon's dead and gone." " But what's poor Phil Squod to do if you lose your establishment?" " Starve, I suppose." " That's nothing to me, nor Mr Smallweed." " But how will it rest with your conscience, Sergeant?" " If I show the letter, no harm will come to anyone from it?" " I offer no guarantees, but if you don't show it, I think you understand the consequences." " Then I have no choice." " You have the document with you?" " No." " But I will bring it." " Well, make sure that you do." " But take care, Mr Tulkinghorn." " You hold the lives of others very cheap, I think." " If I were you, I should be fearful for my own." " Do you threaten me, sir?" " I have been threatened before, and those who made the threats had reason to regret it." " I think I have little to fear from such as you." " Clamb!" " Show the gentleman out."