One thing more, I had to do, before yielding myself to the shock ofthese emotions. It was, to conceal what had occurred, from those whowere going away; and to dismiss them on their voyage in happy ignorance.In this, no time was to be lost.

I took Mr. Micawber aside that same night, and confided to him thetask of standing between Mr. Peggotty and intelligence of the latecatastrophe. He zealously undertook to do so, and to intercept anynewspaper through which it might, without such precautions, reach him.

'If it penetrates to him, sir,' said Mr. Micawber, striking himself onthe breast, 'it shall first pass through this body!'

Mr. Micawber, I must observe, in his adaptation of himself to a newstate of society, had acquired a bold buccaneering air, not absolutelylawless, but defensive and prompt. One might have supposed him a childof the wilderness, long accustomed to live out of the confines ofcivilization, and about to return to his native wilds.

He had provided himself, among other things, with a complete suit ofoilskin, and a straw hat with a very low crown, pitched or caulked onthe outside. In this rough clothing, with a common mariner's telescopeunder his arm, and a shrewd trick of casting up his eye at the skyas looking out for dirty weather, he was far more nautical, after hismanner, than Mr. Peggotty. His whole family, if I may so express it,were cleared for action. I found Mrs. Micawber in the closest and mostuncompromising of bonnets, made fast under the chin; and in a shawlwhich tied her up (as I had been tied up, when my aunt first receivedme) like a bundle, and was secured behind at the waist, in a strongknot. Miss Micawber I found made snug for stormy weather, in the samemanner; with nothing superfluous about her. Master Micawber was hardlyvisible in a Guernsey shirt, and the shaggiest suit of slops I eversaw; and the children were done up, like preserved meats, in imperviouscases. Both Mr. Micawber and his eldest son wore their sleeves looselyturned back at the wrists, as being ready to lend a hand in anydirection, and to 'tumble up', or sing out, 'Yeo--Heave--Yeo!' on theshortest notice.

Thus Traddles and I found them at nightfall, assembled on the woodensteps, at that time known as Hungerford Stairs, watching the departureof a boat with some of their property on board. I had told Traddles ofthe terrible event, and it had greatly shocked him; but there could beno doubt of the kindness of keeping it a secret, and he had come to helpme in this last service. It was here that I took Mr. Micawber aside, andreceived his promise.

The Micawber family were lodged in a little, dirty, tumble-downpublic-house, which in those days was close to the stairs, and whoseprotruding wooden rooms overhung the river. The family, as emigrants,being objects of some interest in and about Hungerford, attracted somany beholders, that we were glad to take refuge in their room. It wasone of the wooden chambers upstairs, with the tide flowing underneath.My aunt and Agnes were there, busily making some little extra comforts,in the way of dress, for the children. Peggotty was quietly assisting,with the old insensible work-box, yard-measure, and bit of wax-candlebefore her, that had now outlived so much.

It was not easy to answer her inquiries; still less to whisper Mr.Peggotty, when Mr. Micawber brought him in, that I had given the letter,and all was well. But I did both, and made them happy. If I showed anytrace of what I felt, my own sorrows were sufficient to account for it.

'And when does the ship sail, Mr. Micawber?' asked my aunt.

Mr. Micawber considered it necessary to prepare either my aunt or hiswife, by degrees, and said, sooner than he had expected yesterday.

'The boat brought you word, I suppose?' said my aunt.

'It did, ma'am,' he returned.

'Well?' said my aunt. 'And she sails--'

'Madam,' he replied, 'I am informed that we must positively be on boardbefore seven tomorrow morning.'

'Heyday!' said my aunt, 'that's soon. Is it a sea-going fact, Mr.Peggotty?' ''Tis so, ma'am. She'll drop down the river with that theertide. If Mas'r Davy and my sister comes aboard at Gravesen', arternoono' next day, they'll see the last on us.'

'And that we shall do,' said I, 'be sure!'

'Until then, and until we are at sea,' observed Mr. Micawber, with aglance of intelligence at me, 'Mr. Peggotty and myself will constantlykeep a double look-out together, on our goods and chattels. Emma, mylove,' said Mr. Micawber, clearing his throat in his magnificent way,'my friend Mr. Thomas Traddles is so obliging as to solicit, in my ear,that he should have the privilege of ordering the ingredients necessaryto the composition of a moderate portion of that Beverage which ispeculiarly associated, in our minds, with the Roast Beef of Old England.I allude to--in short, Punch. Under ordinary circumstances, I shouldscruple to entreat the indulgence of Miss Trotwood and Miss Wickfield,but-'

'I can only say for myself,' said my aunt, 'that I will drink allhappiness and success to you, Mr. Micawber, with the utmost pleasure.'

'And I too!' said Agnes, with a smile.

Mr. Micawber immediately descended to the bar, where he appeared to bequite at home; and in due time returned with a steaming jug. I couldnot but observe that he had been peeling the lemons with his ownclasp-knife, which, as became the knife of a practical settler, wasabout a foot long; and which he wiped, not wholly without ostentation,on the sleeve of his coat. Mrs. Micawber and the two elder membersof the family I now found to be provided with similar formidableinstruments, while every child had its own wooden spoon attached to itsbody by a strong line. In a similar anticipation of life afloat, and inthe Bush, Mr. Micawber, instead of helping Mrs. Micawber and his eldestson and daughter to punch, in wine-glasses, which he might easily havedone, for there was a shelf-full in the room, served it out to them in aseries of villainous little tin pots; and I never saw him enjoy anythingso much as drinking out of his own particular pint pot, and putting itin his pocket at the close of the evening.

'The luxuries of the old country,' said Mr. Micawber, with an intensesatisfaction in their renouncement, 'we abandon. The denizens of theforest cannot, of course, expect to participate in the refinements ofthe land of the Free.'

Here, a boy came in to say that Mr. Micawber was wanted downstairs.

'I have a presentiment,' said Mrs. Micawber, setting down her tin pot,'that it is a member of my family!'

'If so, my dear,' observed Mr. Micawber, with his usual suddenness ofwarmth on that subject, 'as the member of your family--whoever he, she,or it, may be--has kept us waiting for a considerable period, perhapsthe Member may now wait MY convenience.'

'Micawber,' said his wife, in a low tone, 'at such a time as this--'

'"It is not meet,"' said Mr. Micawber, rising, '"that every nice offenceshould bear its comment!" Emma, I stand reproved.'

'The loss, Micawber,' observed his wife, 'has been my family's, notyours. If my family are at length sensible of the deprivation to whichtheir own conduct has, in the past, exposed them, and now desire toextend the hand of fellowship, let it not be repulsed.'

'My dear,' he returned, 'so be it!'

'If not for their sakes; for mine, Micawber,' said his wife.

'Emma,' he returned, 'that view of the question is, at such a moment,irresistible. I cannot, even now, distinctly pledge myself to fallupon your family's neck; but the member of your family, who is now inattendance, shall have no genial warmth frozen by me.'

Mr. Micawber withdrew, and was absent some little time; in the course ofwhich Mrs. Micawber was not wholly free from an apprehension that wordsmight have arisen between him and the Member. At length the same boyreappeared, and presented me with a note written in pencil, and headed,in a legal manner, 'Heep v. Micawber'. From this document, I learnedthat Mr. Micawber being again arrested, 'Was in a final paroxysm ofdespair; and that he begged me to send him his knife and pint pot, bybearer, as they might prove serviceable during the brief remainder ofhis existence, in jail. He also requested, as a last act of friendship,that I would see his family to the Parish Workhouse, and forget thatsuch a Being ever lived.

Of course I answered this note by going down with the boy to pay themoney, where I found Mr. Micawber sitting in a corner, looking darkly atthe Sheriff 's Officer who had effected the capture. On his release,he embraced me with the utmost fervour; and made an entry of thetransaction in his pocket-book--being very particular, I recollect,about a halfpenny I inadvertently omitted from my statement of thetotal.

This momentous pocket-book was a timely reminder to him of anothertransaction. On our return to the room upstairs (where he accounted forhis absence by saying that it had been occasioned by circumstances overwhich he had no control), he took out of it a large sheet of paper,folded small, and quite covered with long sums, carefully worked. Fromthe glimpse I had of them, I should say that I never saw such sumsout of a school ciphering-book. These, it seemed, were calculations ofcompound interest on what he called 'the principal amount of forty-one,ten, eleven and a half', for various periods. After a carefulconsideration of these, and an elaborate estimate of his resources,he had come to the conclusion to select that sum which represented theamount with compound interest to two years, fifteen calendar months, andfourteen days, from that date. For this he had drawn a note-of-handwith great neatness, which he handed over to Traddles on the spot,a discharge of his debt in full (as between man and man), with manyacknowledgements.

'I have still a presentiment,' said Mrs. Micawber, pensively shaking herhead, 'that my family will appear on board, before we finally depart.'

Mr. Micawber evidently had his presentiment on the subject too, but heput it in his tin pot and swallowed it.

'If you have any opportunity of sending letters home, on your passage,Mrs. Micawber,' said my aunt, 'you must let us hear from you, you know.'

'My dear Miss Trotwood,' she replied, 'I shall only be too happyto think that anyone expects to hear from us. I shall not fail tocorrespond. Mr. Copperfield, I trust, as an old and familiar friend,will not object to receive occasional intelligence, himself, from onewho knew him when the twins were yet unconscious?'

I said that I should hope to hear, whenever she had an opportunity ofwriting.

'Please Heaven, there will be many such opportunities,' said Mr.Micawber. 'The ocean, in these times, is a perfect fleet of ships; andwe can hardly fail to encounter many, in running over. It is merelycrossing,' said Mr. Micawber, trifling with his eye-glass, 'merelycrossing. The distance is quite imaginary.'

I think, now, how odd it was, but how wonderfully like Mr. Micawber,that, when he went from London to Canterbury, he should have talked asif he were going to the farthest limits of the earth; and, when he wentfrom England to Australia, as if he were going for a little trip acrossthe channel.

'On the voyage, I shall endeavour,' said Mr. Micawber, 'occasionallyto spin them a yarn; and the melody of my son Wilkins will, I trust,be acceptable at the galley-fire. When Mrs. Micawber has hersea-legs on--an expression in which I hope there is no conventionalimpropriety--she will give them, I dare say, "Little Tafflin". Porpoisesand dolphins, I believe, will be frequently observed athwart ourBows; and, either on the starboard or the larboard quarter, objects ofinterest will be continually descried. In short,' said Mr. Micawber,with the old genteel air, 'the probability is, all will be found soexciting, alow and aloft, that when the lookout, stationed in themain-top, cries Land-oh! we shall be very considerably astonished!'

With that he flourished off the contents of his little tin pot, as if hehad made the voyage, and had passed a first-class examination before thehighest naval authorities.

'What I chiefly hope, my dear Mr. Copperfield,' said Mrs. Micawber,'is, that in some branches of our family we may live again in the oldcountry. Do not frown, Micawber! I do not now refer to my own family,but to our children's children. However vigorous the sapling,' said Mrs.Micawber, shaking her head, 'I cannot forget the parent-tree; and whenour race attains to eminence and fortune, I own I should wish thatfortune to flow into the coffers of Britannia.'

'My dear,' said Mr. Micawber, 'Britannia must take her chance. I ambound to say that she has never done much for me, and that I have noparticular wish upon the subject.'

'Micawber,' returned Mrs. Micawber, 'there, you are wrong. You are goingout, Micawber, to this distant clime, to strengthen, not to weaken, theconnexion between yourself and Albion.'

'The connexion in question, my love,' rejoined Mr. Micawber, 'has notlaid me, I repeat, under that load of personal obligation, that I am atall sensitive as to the formation of another connexion.'

'Micawber,' returned Mrs. Micawber. 'There, I again say, you are wrong.You do not know your power, Micawber. It is that which will strengthen,even in this step you are about to take, the connexion between yourselfand Albion.'

Mr. Micawber sat in his elbow-chair, with his eyebrows raised; halfreceiving and half repudiating Mrs. Micawber's views as they werestated, but very sensible of their foresight.

'My dear Mr. Copperfield,' said Mrs. Micawber, 'I wish Mr. Micawber tofeel his position. It appears to me highly important that Mr. Micawbershould, from the hour of his embarkation, feel his position. Your oldknowledge of me, my dear Mr. Copperfield, will have told you that I havenot the sanguine disposition of Mr. Micawber. My disposition is, if Imay say so, eminently practical. I know that this is a long voyage. Iknow that it will involve many privations and inconveniences. I cannotshut my eyes to those facts. But I also know what Mr. Micawber is.I know the latent power of Mr. Micawber. And therefore I consider itvitally important that Mr. Micawber should feel his position.'

'My love,' he observed, 'perhaps you will allow me to remark that it isbarely possible that I DO feel my position at the present moment.'

'I think not, Micawber,' she rejoined. 'Not fully. My dear Mr.Copperfield, Mr. Micawber's is not a common case. Mr. Micawber is goingto a distant country expressly in order that he may be fully understoodand appreciated for the first time. I wish Mr. Micawber to take hisstand upon that vessel's prow, and firmly say, "This country I amcome to conquer! Have you honours? Have you riches? Have you posts ofprofitable pecuniary emolument? Let them be brought forward. They aremine!"'

Mr. Micawber, glancing at us all, seemed to think there was a good dealin this idea.

'I wish Mr. Micawber, if I make myself understood,' said Mrs. Micawber,in her argumentative tone, 'to be the Caesar of his own fortunes. That,my dear Mr. Copperfield, appears to me to be his true position. Fromthe first moment of this voyage, I wish Mr. Micawber to stand uponthat vessel's prow and say, "Enough of delay: enough of disappointment:enough of limited means. That was in the old country. This is the new.Produce your reparation. Bring it forward!"'

Mr. Micawber folded his arms in a resolute manner, as if he were thenstationed on the figure-head.

'And doing that,' said Mrs. Micawber, '--feeling his position--am I notright in saying that Mr. Micawber will strengthen, and not weaken, hisconnexion with Britain? An important public character arising in thathemisphere, shall I be told that its influence will not be felt at home?Can I be so weak as to imagine that Mr. Micawber, wielding the rod oftalent and of power in Australia, will be nothing in England? I am buta woman; but I should be unworthy of myself and of my papa, if I wereguilty of such absurd weakness.'

Mrs. Micawber's conviction that her arguments were unanswerable, gavea moral elevation to her tone which I think I had never heard in itbefore.

'And therefore it is,' said Mrs. Micawber, 'that I the more wish, that,at a future period, we may live again on the parent soil. Mr. Micawbermay be--I cannot disguise from myself that the probability is, Mr.Micawber will be--a page of History; and he ought then to be representedin the country which gave him birth, and did NOT give him employment!'

'My love,' observed Mr. Micawber, 'it is impossible for me not to betouched by your affection. I am always willing to defer to your goodsense. What will be--will be. Heaven forbid that I should grudge mynative country any portion of the wealth that may be accumulated by ourdescendants!'

'That's well,' said my aunt, nodding towards Mr. Peggotty, 'and I drinkmy love to you all, and every blessing and success attend you!'

Mr. Peggotty put down the two children he had been nursing, one on eachknee, to join Mr. and Mrs. Micawber in drinking to all of us in return;and when he and the Micawbers cordially shook hands as comrades, and hisbrown face brightened with a smile, I felt that he would make his way,establish a good name, and be beloved, go where he would.

Even the children were instructed, each to dip a wooden spoon into Mr.Micawber's pot, and pledge us in its contents. When this was done, myaunt and Agnes rose, and parted from the emigrants. It was a sorrowfulfarewell. They were all crying; the children hung about Agnes to thelast; and we left poor Mrs. Micawber in a very distressed condition,sobbing and weeping by a dim candle, that must have made the room look,from the river, like a miserable light-house.

I went down again next morning to see that they were away. They haddeparted, in a boat, as early as five o'clock. It was a wonderfulinstance to me of the gap such partings make, that although myassociation of them with the tumble-down public-house and the woodenstairs dated only from last night, both seemed dreary and deserted, nowthat they were gone.

In the afternoon of the next day, my old nurse and I went down toGravesend. We found the ship in the river, surrounded by a crowdof boats; a favourable wind blowing; the signal for sailing at hermast-head. I hired a boat directly, and we put off to her; and gettingthrough the little vortex of confusion of which she was the centre, wenton board.

Mr. Peggotty was waiting for us on deck. He told me that Mr. Micawberhad just now been arrested again (and for the last time) at the suit ofHeep, and that, in compliance with a request I had made to him, he hadpaid the money, which I repaid him. He then took us down between decks;and there, any lingering fears I had of his having heard any rumours ofwhat had happened, were dispelled by Mr. Micawber's coming out of thegloom, taking his arm with an air of friendship and protection, andtelling me that they had scarcely been asunder for a moment, since thenight before last.

It was such a strange scene to me, and so confined and dark, that, atfirst, I could make out hardly anything; but, by degrees, it cleared, asmy eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, and I seemed to stand ina picture by OSTADE. Among the great beams, bulks, and ringbolts of theship, and the emigrant-berths, and chests, and bundles, and barrels, andheaps of miscellaneous baggage--'lighted up, here and there, by danglinglanterns; and elsewhere by the yellow daylight straying down a windsailor a hatchway--were crowded groups of people, making new friendships,taking leave of one another, talking, laughing, crying, eating anddrinking; some, already settled down into the possession of their fewfeet of space, with their little households arranged, and tiny childrenestablished on stools, or in dwarf elbow-chairs; others, despairing ofa resting-place, and wandering disconsolately. From babies who had but aweek or two of life behind them, to crooked old men and women who seemedto have but a week or two of life before them; and from ploughmen bodilycarrying out soil of England on their boots, to smiths taking awaysamples of its soot and smoke upon their skins; every age and occupationappeared to be crammed into the narrow compass of the 'tween decks.

As my eye glanced round this place, I thought I saw sitting, by an openport, with one of the Micawber children near her, a figure like Emily's;it first attracted my attention, by another figure parting from it witha kiss; and as it glided calmly away through the disorder, remindingme of--Agnes! But in the rapid motion and confusion, and in theunsettlement of my own thoughts, I lost it again; and only knew thatthe time was come when all visitors were being warned to leave the ship;that my nurse was crying on a chest beside me; and that Mrs. Gummidge,assisted by some younger stooping woman in black, was busily arrangingMr. Peggotty's goods.

'Is there any last wured, Mas'r Davy?' said he. 'Is there any oneforgotten thing afore we parts?'

'One thing!' said I. 'Martha!'

He touched the younger woman I have mentioned on the shoulder, andMartha stood before me.

'Heaven bless you, you good man!' cried I. 'You take her with you!'

She answered for him, with a burst of tears. I could speak no more atthat time, but I wrung his hand; and if ever I have loved and honouredany man, I loved and honoured that man in my soul.

The ship was clearing fast of strangers. The greatest trial that I had,remained. I told him what the noble spirit that was gone, had given mein charge to say at parting. It moved him deeply. But when he chargedme, in return, with many messages of affection and regret for those deafears, he moved me more.

The time was come. I embraced him, took my weeping nurse upon my arm,and hurried away. On deck, I took leave of poor Mrs. Micawber. She waslooking distractedly about for her family, even then; and her last wordsto me were, that she never would desert Mr. Micawber.

We went over the side into our boat, and lay at a little distance, tosee the ship wafted on her course. It was then calm, radiant sunset.She lay between us, and the red light; and every taper line and spar wasvisible against the glow. A sight at once so beautiful, so mournful, andso hopeful, as the glorious ship, lying, still, on the flushed water,with all the life on board her crowded at the bulwarks, and thereclustering, for a moment, bare-headed and silent, I never saw.

Silent, only for a moment. As the sails rose to the wind, and the shipbegan to move, there broke from all the boats three resounding cheers,which those on board took up, and echoed back, and which were echoedand re-echoed. My heart burst out when I heard the sound, and beheld thewaving of the hats and handkerchiefs--and then I saw her!

Then I saw her, at her uncle's side, and trembling on his shoulder. Hepointed to us with an eager hand; and she saw us, and waved her lastgood-bye to me. Aye, Emily, beautiful and drooping, cling to him withthe utmost trust of thy bruised heart; for he has clung to thee, withall the might of his great love!

Surrounded by the rosy light, and standing high upon the deck, aparttogether, she clinging to him, and he holding her, they solemnly passedaway. The night had fallen on the Kentish hills when we were rowedashore--and fallen darkly upon me.