"Is there anything you want, m'lady?" "No... thankyou,Rosa." "Nothing at all." "KNOCKING AT DOOR" "Esther?" "Are you well?" "Yes, well enough now, Ada." "But you were upset." "Don't deny it." "I saw you as you ran into the house." "I was a little upset." "But now I'm fine." "It was Lady Dedlock, wasn't it?" "What did she say?" "Was she very angry with us for trespassing?" "No." "What, then?" "I can't tell you, Ada." "It's a secret?" "Yes, it's... it'sasecret." "So secret you can't tell your best friend in all the world?" "Well, I gave my word." "Perhaps one day I shall be able to tell you." "But for now, you must promise to never ask me about it." "I thought we would never have secrets from each other, Esther." "I hope that this will be the only one." "I was going to tell you one of mine, but now I'm not sure that I shall." "Esther!" "Ada!" "Later." "Mm-hm." "My dear, young ladies, what can I say?" "What a wretched dog I am to be sure." "Invite you to stay, then abandon you to your fate like the babes in the wood." "Yet it must be done." "And my friend Jarndyce says you will forgive me." "Mr Boythorn, whatever is it?" "My friend has been called away urgently, and I'm to accompany him to witness a document." "I have assured him you will be able to survive our absence very well." "It'll only be for a day or two." "Yes, indeed." "Being as you are, two very sensible and competent young women." "I hope we are, sir." "Well, I am most prodigiously obliged to you both." "There, what a bit of luck." "I couldn't think how I was going to manage it." "Manage what, Ada?" "Ladies." "This way." "Now, you mustn't be cross." "There's someone staying here that wants to see you." "Wants to see me?" "Here we are, ladies." "Richard." "Esther." "Come, let me see you." "Much changed, as you see." "No." "No, still our same, dear Esther." "What a joy it is to be together again, all three of us." "Let's sit down." "HORSES THUNDER PAST" "So, let's say those two young people marry." "What about Esther?" "She has been Ada's companion..." "Will she go with Ada when Ada is Mrs Carstone?" "I would hope that she will want to stay on at Bleak House." "As your housekeeper?" "Not necessarily as my housekeeper." "Then as what, man?" "Ah." "Of course." "Why didn't I think of it before?" "You mean to marry her." "BOYTHORN LAUGHS" "You mean to marry her." "Is it so very ridiculous, Boythorn?" "Ridiculous?" "No, of course not." "One hears of such things every day." "Old men marrying their young housekeepers." "Tell me, if you don't think I'm being over-curious, when did you first conceive this plan?" "When you first put her to school?" "No." "Was that what it was all along?" "Were you bringing her up to be your bride?" "No." "It..." "Boythorn,Ibeg ofyou..." "No, no, she knows nothing of this." "Not yet." "Now, I've spoken more than I meant to." "You will respect my confidence, old friend." "Absolutely." "Though I were dragged apart by horses, until I was torn in pieces, I wouldn't breathe a word of it." "So this was your secret?" "Do you think it's very bad of us?" "To see each other in secret?" "No." "But you could have come to the house, Richard." "You'd have been very welcome." "I'm not so sure of that." "Things are a little awkward at present between our guardian and me." "All my fault, I dare say, but... herewe allare ." "I hope you'll both stay for supper." "Mr Grubble has engaged to do his best for us." "Fowl, chops, cutlets and I don't know what." "Esther, it's so good to see you again." "I, um..." "I came as soon as I could." "And how does Army life suit?" "Oh, well enough, I suppose." "But..." "I find it hard to settle." "Esther, it's very difficult to settle to anything until our Chancery suit is decided." "But our... ourguardiansaysthe case could run on for years and years without ever seeing a settlement." "He says it's the family curse, Richard." "What Mr John Jarndyce says and what might be the case, can be two very different things." "Besides, I'm not accountable to Mr Jarndyce or to Mr Anybody." "But..." "we won't go into that now." "He and I must agree to differ, that's all." "So... areyoulookingafter your own legal affairs now?" "No, no." "Vholes is the man." "And what a man for putting his shoulder to the wheel." "Er, Mr Skimpole introduced us, you know?" "I'm eternally grateful to him for doing so." "You won't be joining your friend for supper, Mr Skimpole?" "Not this evening, Mr Grubble." "Best not." "Ah." "Right you are, sir." "Um..." "Fresh glass, Mr Grubble?" "Right you are, sir." "Is Mr Skimpole the best person to advise on matters of business, do you think?" "Well, I was surprised myself at first, but if you met Vholes, you'd set all doubt aside." "We're all action now." "There's more expense, of course, but that's only to be expected if we're to see results." "Ada understands all that." "Don't you, Ada?" "And it's for your sake as much as mine, you know?" "But Richard, what if nothing were to come of it, after all?" "What if you've been wearing yourself out with waiting and anxiety, and false hopes and expense?" "I never wanted to be rich and I'm sure you didn't either." "No, of course not." "Then why not give it up?" "Give it up?" "Then we could be poor and happy." "Ada, I would." "I'd do it like a shot." "The..." "the money's nothing to me." "Then?" "Justice." "Justice for me and for Ada, that's all I want." "I won't be done out of my rights by Mr John Jarndyce, or by anybody." "Let's leave all that." "Seize the moment." "I can't tell you how happy I am to be with you both again." "And he will spend all day with us tomorrow." "You see, what I was thinking, if we can keep him here, away from all his cares in London, then he will remember himself." "The old Richard, who never really went away." "He certainly loves you as much as he ever did." "Do you think so?" "Mm-hm." "I think he does." "And I shall never give him up, no matter what happens." "Do you think we could persuade him to stay here until Mr Jarndyce comes back?" "Then we could all be friends again." "We could try." "Now, pay heed." "That's for the rag and bone man." "Those are for the rag and bone man." "Grandfather." "You're for the rag and bone man if you give me back answers." "What's that?" "I thought they might be what Kenge's boy was talking about." "Pink ribbons." "They was under your chair." "It's them." "The letters to Captain Hawdon from a lady." "There's money in this." "DOOR OPENS Who's that?" "Who's there?" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Trespassers." "Spies." "Mr Smallweed, I reside in this house and I have a perfect right to be here." "Only on my say so." "Who's the landlord here?" "Me!" "And we're putting the rents up." "Get some proper tenants in, eh?" "Queen's Counsels, Members of Parliament, younger sons of the aristocracy." "Oh!" "Younger sons of the aristocracy, here?" "I don't think so, Mr Smallweed." "Good day to you." "Don't you turn your nose up at me." "I'll see you in the gutter!" "Oh, Ada, if only life could be like this all the time." "Well, it could, couldn't it?" "One day..." ". perhaps." "Ah, Miss Summerson." "How delightful." "A thousand pardons for this intrusion upon the sylvan scene." "And this..." "Oh,canitbe..." "poor Mr Coavins's eldest daughter?" "Yes, sir, if you please, sir." "It's Charley, sir." "Charley." "And grown so fine." "Why, you're a credit to your poor father, my dear." "Thank you, sir." "I was able to give him a good deal of employment while he lived, and if one of your little brothers should set up in the same profession, I dare say I could do the same for him." "Yes, very likely." "Miss Summerson, always so sharp." "Oh, dear." "Oh, dear." "I'm so..." "If only Jarndyce had heeded my advice." "The, er, the... the..." "Not still contagious, I hope?" "Not in the least, Mr Skimpole." "You needn't fear." "May I ask who your friend is, Mr Skimpole?" "Why, you may indeed, Miss Summerson." "This is Mr Vholes." "Mr Carstone's indefatigable attorney, just come down from London on urgent business for his client." "And now you understand the reason for our visit." "I hope we don't disturb you, Miss Summerson." "Mr Carstone gave express instructions that he was to be informed whenever his case is up before the Chancellor." "And as I find it is in the paper for tomorrow, I am come down by the express coach to confer with him." "I expect he will want to go straight back to London." "Is his presence really necessary tomorrow, sir?" "Well, no." "Can it do any good?" "No, I'm not aware that it can." "Then why all this travelling up and down, which I suppose is at Mr Carstone's expense?" "You suppose correctly, Miss Summerson." "But Mr Carstone has laid down the principle of watching his own interests." "And when a client lays down his own principle," "I am obliged to carry it out." "Am I not?" "Of course I am." "My conscience is quite clear." "Ah, I believe I see my client now." "Excuse me, Miss Summerson." "There you are, Miss Summerson." "Common sense, responsibility and respectability all united." "What a man he is, to be sure." "And what a pleasure to be able to introduce him to our young friend." "And how did that come about?" "Why, Vholes asked for the introduction and I, er..." "I gaveit ." "Did any money change hands, Mr Skimpole?" "Why, now you mention it, yes, I believe it did." "Hmm." "Indeed..." "I thinkyoumightsay that Vholes bribed me." "Well, he gave me something, at any rate." "Called it "commission"." "Was it a five pound note?" "Do you know, I think it must have been." "I understand." "Ah, Miss Summerson, you understand everything." "So young." "Whereas I..." "I understand nothing." "A child." "A child." "Mr Smallweed?" "Shop's shut." "No admittance!" "Get out before I set the dogs on you." "HE BARKS" "Down, sir, down." "Better get out quick, I can't hold 'em." "Mr Smallweed, it's me." "Guppy." "Kenge and Carboys." "Guppy, is it?" "All right, come forward." "Stand to be recognised." "Shake me up, Judy." "Ooh." "What do you want?" "I was wondering whether you'd come across those letters I was mentioning." "Letters?" "What letters?" "We're up to our throats in letters here!" "Tied with pink ribbon?" "In a lady's hand?" "Addressed to a Captain Hawdon?" "Ah, those letters." "Now I recall." "So what if I had found 'em?" "Then my client would be very interested in purchasing 'em." "Your lady client?" "That's right." "For a nominal sum?" "That's right." "What sort of sum?" "Ten pounds?" "Ten pounds?" "Do you think I'm a new born baby, Mr Guppy of Kenge and Carboys?" "If I was to have a sight of 'em, Mr Smallweed," "I may be able to offer something a little bit more handsome." "So, have you got 'em or not?" "Mr Guppy." "Oh." "Mr Tulkinghorn, sir." "How do you do, sir?" "Here on business, Mr Guppy?" "I am, sir." "Kenge and Carboys' business?" "No, sir." "Oh." "Set up chambers of your own, have you, Mr Guppy?" "No, sir." "I am here on behalf of a private client." "In Kenge and Carboys' time." "Mr Kenge will be interested to hear of it when I tell him." "Really, sir, begging you wouldn't." "Name of your private client?" "Not at liberty to disclose it, sir." "Quite sure about that?" "Wild horses wouldn't drag it from me, Mr Tulkinghorn." "Wouldn't they, now?" "All right, Mr Guppy, take yourself off." "But I was talking to Mr Smallweed, though..." "Good day, Mr Guppy." "Right." "He was after them letters." "Did you let him see them?" "No, Mr Tulkinghorn." "Or let him know that you had 'em?" "No, Mr Tulkinghorn." "Soon as I saw the name Hawdon," "I thought, "Mr Tulkinghorn will wanna see these. "" "Hmm, quite right." "I shall want something for 'em, Mr Tulkinghorn." "I will pay you £250 for these letters, on condition that you deny ever having seen them, or any knowledge of Captain Hawdon in connection with a lady, or with anything else." "Do you agree?" "Yes." "Then that concludes our business." "My clerk will bring you the money before close of business today." "Good day to you." "And then the search fees, and the attendance fees, and the various disbursements, and attending upon your good self..." "Yes, yes, of course, but we are making progress?" "We are very active, Mr Carstone." "We have our shoulders to the wheel." "No stone is left unturned." "Yes." "Good." "Good." "If it weren't all so deuced expensive." "That is the way of things, Mr Carstone." "Nothing is for nothing, as they say." "Are Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock still in town, Clamb?" "Er, no, sir." "They've returned to Chesney Wold." "Then I shall have to visit them there." "You have a gentle touch, Rosa." "Thank you, milady." "I find it soothing." "And I am in need of soothing." "We are all out of sorts today, Rosa." "Sir Leicester is out of sorts because his candidate has lost the election." "Are you interested in politics, Rosa?" "No, milady." "Nor am I." "But it seems he was defeated by Mr Rouncewell's candidate." "Sir Leicester is very angry with Mr Rouncewell." "He thinks Mr Rouncewell is trying to bring down the aristocracy." "I don't care tuppence about it..." "but I am sorry to see Sir Leicester so distressed." "Is that why you're out of sorts, milady?" "That, and the fact that Mr Tulkinghorn is coming to dinner." "You don't care for Mr Tulkinghorn, milady?" "No, I do not." "I care for you, though, Rosa." "Very much." "Home again, home again, jiggety jig." "And I find my house in very good order." "No robbers, then?" "No ghosts." "No hobgoblins?" "We did have one visitor." "Richard." "Mr Carstone came to see us." "Rick?" "Was Rick here?" "You're not angry?" "No, indeed." "I'm only sorry that I missed him." "I do not think he would have come to the house if he had known you were here." "Still on that tack, is he?" "The wind is in the east there." "Oh, Rick, Rick." "We tried to persuade him to stay..." ". but he was called away." "Army business?" "Unfortunately not." "Court business?" "Yes." "He has a new lawyer, a Mr Vholes." "Introduced to him by Mr Skimpole." "And they are making a meal of him, I have no doubt." "Poor Rick." "Ada, I believe I have done you wrong and done Rick wrong." "No, I don't think that." "Even if Richard does." "And he doesn't believe you've done him wrong, exactly." "Only that his interests conflict with yours in the Chancery Court." "I gave up all my claims to an interest in that case many years ago." "When I say " did you wrong"," "I mean when I refused my consent to your engagement." "It would have been better if I had consented." "Well..." "I consent now." "Rick's love for you is the best and steadiest thing about him." "You are his best hope now, Ada." "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." "All right, Mr Bunce." "In the matter of Jarndyce and Jarndyce..." "Yes,Mr Brownlow?" "Application for costs, m'lud." "Yes, I dare say." "Any more?" "GENERAL AGREEMENT Very well, I'll hear them now." "As for the rest..." "the several depositions and representations waiting to be heard, the meat of the matter, as one might say, postponed till Wednesday fortnight." "And this man..." "Rouncewell, who has been a guest in my house, a guest under my roof, Tulkinghorn, has sided against me, with the rabble." "Most regrettable." "And this was the man who wanted to take my lady's maid away and educate her, if you please." "As if Chesney Wold were not good enough for her." "I have no intention of parting with her." "But these people are very proud, in their way." "If they felt the girl..." "Rosa, is it?" ". . had been tainted by the association..." "Tainted?" "Ridiculous." "I heard a story, very lately, of a townsman of Mr Rouncewell's whose daughter attracted the attention of a great lady." "Yes?" "Yes, go on." "The great lady I speak of treated the girl with great kindness" "Kept her always near her." "So far, so good." "But the great lady had a secret." "She had, in early life, been engaged to marry a young rake..." "A captain in the Army." "She never did marry him, but she gave birth to a child of which he was the father." "Shocking." "Shocking." "Years later, the truth emerged." "And when Mr Rouncewell's townsman heard of it, he took his daughter away from the great lady saying that she had been tainted by the disgrace of the association." "Mmm." "Well, in such circumstances, of course, if such a thing were possible, one could understand it." "But the fact of the matter is that such a set of circumstances could not possibly happen." "The behaviour you speak of would never have taken place." "Well, yes, quite, exactly." "The story must, I suppose, be apocryphal." "Mmm." "How long have you known?" "I have suspected for a long while." "Fully known it, a little while." "Months?" "Days." "And now you are going to expose me?" "I have not yet decided what I'm going to do." "You can save yourself the trouble." "I shall leave Chesney Wold tonight, and forever." "No, you will not." "You will hear what I have to say." "Go on." "You must understand, Lady Dedlock, that my sole consideration in this unhappy case is Sir Leicester." "Then why do you keep me from going away?" "Because your flight would spread the whole truth far and wide." "It would be impossible to save the family credit for a day." "It is not to be thought of." "When I speak of Sir Leicester being the sole consideration, he and the family credit are one." "Sir Leicester and the baronetcy," "Sir Leicester and his ancestors, Sir Leicester and Chesney Wold." "So..." "This is to be hushed up, if it can be." "And how can it be if Sir Leicester is driven out of his wits or laid on his death-bed?" "Go on." "My experience teaches me that most people would do far better to leave marriage alone." "So I thought when Sir Leicester married, so I have always thought since." "And, well..." "what's done is done." "I must now ask you to keep your own counsel for the time being about what we both know." "And I will keep mine." "I am to drag my present life out, holding its pains at your pleasure, day by day?" "I am afraid so, Lady Dedlock." "I am not sure that I could do that, Mr Tulkinghorn." "You must, Lady Dedlock." "For your husband's sake." "For the sake of the family honour..." "you must."