Todgers' Page #2

"Todgers'" is a lesser-known work by Charles Dickens that explores the bustling life of 19th-century London, centering around a fictional tavern and the diverse characters who frequent it. Through vivid storytelling and keen social commentary, Dickens delves into themes of poverty, class, and the human condition, showcasing his signature blend of humor and pathos. The narrative captures the lively atmosphere of the era while highlighting the struggles and triumphs of everyday people, making it a rich reflection of Victorian society.

• Children

								


"It's a speaking likeness!" cried the two Misses Pecksniff.

"It was considered so once," said Mrs. Todgers, warming herself in a
gentlemanly manner at the fire: "but I hardly thought you would have
known it, my loves."

They would have known it anywhere. If they could have met with it in the
street or seen it in a shop-window, they would have cried, "Good
gracious! Mrs. Todgers!"

"Being in charge of a boarding-house like this makes sad havoc with the
features, my dear Misses Pecksniff," said Mrs. Todgers. "The gravy alone
is enough to add twenty years to one's age, I do assure you."

"Lor!" cried the two Misses Pecksniff.

"The anxiety of that one thing, my dears," said Mrs. Todgers, "keeps the
mind continually upon the stretch. There is no such passion in human
nature as the passion for gravy among business men. It's nothing to say
a joint won't yield--a whole animal wouldn't yield--the amount of gravy
they expect each day at dinner. And what I have undergone in
consequence," cried Mrs. Todgers, raising her eyes and shaking her head,
"no one would believe!"

"Just like Mr. Pinch, Mercy!" said Charity. "We have always noticed it
in him, you remember?"

"Yes, my dear," giggled Mercy, "but we have never given it him, you
know."

Mr. Pecksniff kept what was called a school for architects, and Tom
Pinch was one of his students.

"You, my dears, having to deal with your pa's pupils who can't help
themselves, are able to take your own way," said Mrs. Todgers, "but in a
boarding-house, where any gentleman may say, any Saturday evening, 'Mrs.
Todgers, this day week we part, in consequence of the cheese,' it is not
so easy to preserve a pleasant understanding. Your pa was kind enough,"
added the good lady, "to invite me to take a ride with you to-day; and I
think he mentioned that you were going to call upon Miss Pinch. Any
relation to the gentleman you were speaking of just now, Miss
Pecksniff?"

"For goodness' sake, Mrs. Todgers," interposed the lively Mercy, "don't
call him a gentleman. My dear Cherry, Pinch a gentleman! The idea!"

"What a wicked girl you are!" cried Mrs. Todgers, embracing her with
great affection. "You are quite a joker, I do declare! My dear Miss
Pecksniff, what a happiness your sister's spirits must be to your pa and
self!"

"That Pinch is the most hideous, goggle-eyed creature, Mrs. Todgers, in
existence," resumed Mercy: "quite an ogre. The ugliest, awkwardest,
frightfullest being, you can imagine. This is his sister, so I leave you
to suppose what she is. I shall be obliged to laugh outright, I know
I shall!" cried the charming girl. "I never shall be able to keep my
face straight. The notion of a Miss Pinch really living at all is
sufficient to kill one, but to see her--oh my stars!"

Mrs. Todgers laughed immensely at the dear love's humor, and declared
she was quite afraid of her, that she was. She was so very severe.

"Who is severe?" cried a voice at the door. "There is no such thing as
severity in our family, I hope!" And then Mr. Pecksniff peeped smilingly
into the room, and said, "May I come in, Mrs. Todgers?"

Mrs. Todgers almost screamed, for the little door between that room and
the inner one being wide open, there was a full showing of the
sofa-bedstead open as a bed, and not closed as a sofa. But she had the
presence of mind to close it in the twinkling of an eye; and having done
so, said, though not without confusion, "Oh yes, Mr. Pecksniff, you can
come in if you please."

"How are we to-day," said Mr. Pecksniff, jocosely; "and what are our
plans? Are we ready to go and see Tom Pinch's sister? Ha, ha, ha! Poor
Thomas Pinch!"

"Are we ready," returned Mrs. Todgers, nodding her head in a mysterious
manner, "to send a favorable reply to Mr. Jinkins' round-robin?[D]
That's the first question, Mr. Pecksniff."

"Why Mr. Jinkins' robin, my dear madam?" asked Mr. Pecksniff, putting
one arm round Mercy and the other round Mrs. Todgers, whom he seemed for
the moment, to mistake for Charity. "Why Mr. Jinkins'?"

"Because he began to get it up, and indeed always takes the lead in the
house," said Mrs. Todgers, playfully. "That's why, sir."

"Jinkins is a man of superior talents," observed Mr. Pecksniff. "I have
formed a great regard for Jinkins. I take Jinkins' desire to pay polite
attention to my daughters as an additional proof of the friendly
feelings of Jinkins, Mrs. Todgers."

"Well now," returned the lady, "having said so much, you must say the
rest, Mr. Pecksniff: so tell the dear young ladies all about it."

With these words, she gently drew away from Mr. Pecksniff's grasp, and
took Miss Charity into her own embrace; though whether she was led to
this act solely by the affection she had conceived for that young lady,
or whether it had any reference to a lowering, not to say distinctly
spiteful expression which had been visible in her face for some
moments, has never been exactly ascertained. Be this as it may, Mr.
Pecksniff went on to inform his daughters of the purpose and history of
the round-robin aforesaid, which was, in brief, that the young men who
helped to make up the sum and substance of that company, called
Todgers', desired the honor of their presence at the general table so
long as they remained in the house, and besought that they would grace
the board at dinner-time next day, the same being Sunday. He further
said that, Mrs. Todgers having consented to this invitation, he was
willing, for his part, to accept it; and so left them that he might
write his gracious answer, the while they armed themselves with their
best bonnets for the utter defeat and overthrow of Miss Pinch.

Tom Pinch's sister was governess in a family, a lofty family; perhaps
the wealthiest brass and copper founder's family known to mankind. They
lived at Camberwell; in a house so big and fierce that its mere outside,
like the outside of a giant's castle, struck terror into vulgar minds
and made bold persons quail. There was a great front gate, with a great
bell, whose handle was in itself a note of admiration; and a great
lodge, which, being close to the house, rather spoiled the look-out
certainly, but made the look-in tremendous. At this entry, a great
porter kept constant watch and ward; and when he gave the visitor high
leave to pass, he rang a second great bell, answering to whose notes a
great footman appeared in due time at the great hall-door with such
great tags upon his liveried shoulders that he was perpetually
entangling and hooking himself among the chairs and tables and led a
life of torment which could scarcely have been surpassed if he had been
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