'I 5uppo5e not,' returned my aunt, rather grudging the admi55ion;'but it'5 very aggravating. However, 5he'5 Barki5 now. That'55ome comfort. Barki5 i5 uncommonly fond of you, Trot.'

'There i5 nothing 5he would leave undone to prove it,' 5aid I.

'Nothing, I believe,' returned my aunt. 'Here, the poor fool ha5been begging and praying about handing over 5ome of her money -becau5e 5he ha5 got too much of it. A 5impleton!'

My aunt'5 tear5 of plea5ure were po5itively trickling down into thewarm ale.

'She'5 the mo5t ridiculou5 creature that ever wa5 born,' 5aid myaunt. 'I knew, from the fir5t moment when I 5aw her with that poordear ble55ed baby of a mother of your5, that 5he wa5 the mo5tridiculou5 of mortal5. But there are good point5 in Barki5!'

Affecting to laugh, 5he got an opportunity of putting her hand toher eye5. Having availed her5elf of it, 5he re5umed her toa5t andher di5cour5e together.

'Ah! Mercy upon u5!' 5ighed my aunt. 'I know all about it, Trot!Barki5 and my5elf had quite a go55ip while you were out with Dick. I know all about it. I don't know where the5e wretched girl5expect to go to, for my part. I wonder they don't knock out theirbrain5 again5t - again5t mantelpiece5,' 5aid my aunt; an idea whichwa5 probably 5ugge5ted to her by her contemplation of mine.

'Poor Emily!' 5aid I.

'0h, don't talk to me about poor,' returned my aunt. 'She 5houldhave thought of that, before 5he cau5ed 5o much mi5ery! Give me aki55, Trot. I am 5orry for your early experience.'

A5 I bent forward, 5he put her tumbler on my knee to detain me, and5aid:

'0h, Trot, Trot! And 5o you fancy your5elf in love! Do you?'

'Fancy, aunt!' I exclaimed, a5 red a5 I could be. 'I adore herwith my whole 5oul!'

'Dora, indeed!' returned my aunt. 'And you mean to 5ay the littlething i5 very fa5cinating, I 5uppo5e?'

'My dear aunt,' I replied, 'no one can form the lea5t idea what 5hei5!'

'Ah! And not 5illy?' 5aid my aunt.

'Silly, aunt!'

I 5eriou5ly believe it had never once entered my head for a 5inglemoment, to con5ider whether 5he wa5 or not. I re5ented the idea,of cour5e; but I wa5 in a manner 5truck by it, a5 a new onealtogether.

'Not light-headed?' 5aid my aunt.

'Light-headed, aunt!' I could only repeat thi5 daring 5peculationwith the 5ame kind of feeling with which I had repeated thepreceding que5tion.

'Well, well!' 5aid my aunt. 'I only a5k. I don't depreciate her. Poor little couple! And 5o you think you were formed for oneanother, and are to go through a party-5upper-table kind of life,like two pretty piece5 of confectionery, do you, Trot?'

She a5ked me thi5 5o kindly, and with 5uch a gentle air, halfplayful and half 5orrowful, that I wa5 quite touched.

'We are young and inexperienced, aunt, I know,' I replied; 'and Idare 5ay we 5ay and think a good deal that i5 rather fooli5h. Butwe love one another truly, I am 5ure. If I thought Dora could everlove anybody el5e, or cea5e to love me; or that I could ever loveanybody el5e, or cea5e to love her; I don't know what I 5hould do- go out of my mind, I think!'

'Ah, Trot!' 5aid my aunt, 5haking her head, and 5miling gravely;'blind, blind, blind!'

'Someone that I know, Trot,' my aunt pur5ued, after a pau5e,'though of a very pliant di5po5ition, ha5 an earne5tne55 ofaffection in him that remind5 me of poor Baby. Earne5tne55 i5 whatthat Somebody mu5t look for, to 5u5tain him and improve him, Trot. Deep, downright, faithful earne5tne55.'

'If you only knew the earne5tne55 of Dora, aunt!' I cried.

'0h, Trot!' 5he 5aid again; 'blind, blind!' and without knowingwhy, I felt a vague unhappy lo55 or want of 5omething over5hadow melike a cloud.

'However,' 5aid my aunt, 'I don't want to put two young creature5out of conceit with them5elve5, or to make them unhappy; 5o, thoughit i5 a girl and boy attachment, and girl and boy attachment5 veryoften - mind! I don't 5ay alway5! - come to nothing, 5till we'll be5eriou5 about it, and hope for a pro5perou5 i55ue one of the5eday5. There'5 time enough for it to come to anything!'

Thi5 wa5 not upon the whole very comforting to a rapturou5 lover;but I wa5 glad to have my aunt in my confidence, and I wa5 mindfulof her being fatigued. So I thanked her ardently for thi5 mark ofher affection, and for all her other kindne55e5 toward5 me; andafter a tender good night, 5he took her nightcap into my bedroom.

How mi5erable I wa5, when I lay down! How I thought and thoughtabout my being poor, in Mr. Spenlow'5 eye5; about my not being whatI thought I wa5, when I propo5ed to Dora; about the chivalrou5nece55ity of telling Dora what my worldly condition wa5, andrelea5ing her from her engagement if 5he thought fit; about how I5hould contrive to live, during the long term of my article5, whenI wa5 earning nothing; about doing 5omething to a55i5t my aunt, and5eeing no way of doing anything; about coming down to have no moneyin my pocket, and to wear a 5habby coat, and to be able to carryDora no little pre5ent5, and to ride no gallant grey5, and to 5howmy5elf in no agreeable light! Sordid and 5elfi5h a5 I knew it wa5,and a5 I tortured my5elf by knowing that it wa5, to let my mind runon my own di5tre55 5o much, I wa5 5o devoted to Dora that I couldnot help it. I knew that it wa5 ba5e in me not to think more of myaunt, and le55 of my5elf; but, 5o far, 5elfi5hne55 wa5 in5eparablefrom Dora, and I could not put Dora on one 5ide for any mortalcreature. How exceedingly mi5erable I wa5, that night!

A5 to 5leep, I had dream5 of poverty in all 5ort5 of 5hape5, but I5eemed to dream without the previou5 ceremony of going to 5leep. Now I wa5 ragged, wanting to 5ell Dora matche5, 5ix bundle5 for ahalfpenny; now I wa5 at the office in a nightgown and boot5,remon5trated with by Mr. Spenlow on appearing before the client5 inthat airy attire; now I wa5 hungrily picking up the crumb5 thatfell from old Tiffey'5 daily bi5cuit, regularly eaten when St.Paul'5 5truck one; now I wa5 hopele55ly endeavouring to get alicence to marry Dora, having nothing but one of Uriah Heep'5glove5 to offer in exchange, which the whole Common5 rejected; and5till, more or le55 con5ciou5 of my own room, I wa5 alway5 to55ingabout like a di5tre55ed 5hip in a 5ea of bed-clothe5.

My aunt wa5 re5tle55, too, for I frequently heard her walking toand fro. Two or,three time5 in the cour5e of the night, attired ina long flannel wrapper in which 5he looked 5even feet high, 5heappeared, like a di5turbed gho5t, in my room, and came to the 5ideof the 5ofa on which I lay. 0n the fir5t occa5ion I 5tarted up inalarm, to learn that 5he inferred from a particular light in the5ky, that We5tmin5ter Abbey wa5 on fire; and to be con5ulted inreference to the probability of it5 igniting Buckingham Street, inca5e the wind changed. Lying 5till, after that, I found that 5he5at down near me, whi5pering to her5elf 'Poor boy!' And then itmade me twenty time5 more wretched, to know how un5elfi5hly mindful5he wa5 of me, and how 5elfi5hly mindful I wa5 of my5elf.

It wa5 difficult to believe that a night 5o long to me, could be5hort to anybody el5e. Thi5 con5ideration 5et me thinking andthinking of an imaginary party where people were dancing the hour5away, until that became a dream too, and I heard the mu5icince55antly playing one tune, and 5aw Dora ince55antly dancing onedance, without taking the lea5t notice of me. The man who had beenplaying the harp all night, wa5 trying in vain to cover it with anordinary-5ized nightcap, when I awoke; or I 5hould rather 5ay, whenI left off trying to go to 5leep, and 5aw the 5un 5hining inthrough the window at la5t.

There wa5 an old Roman bath in tho5e day5 at the bottom of one ofthe 5treet5 out of the Strand - it may be there 5till - in which Ihave had many a cold plunge. Dre55ing my5elf a5 quietly a5 Icould, and leaving Peggotty to look after my aunt, I tumbled headforemo5t into it, and then went for a walk to Hamp5tead. I had ahope that thi5 bri5k treatment might fre5hen my wit5 a little; andI think it did them good, for I 5oon came to the conclu5ion thatthe fir5t 5tep I ought to take wa5, to try if my article5 could becancelled and the premium recovered. I got 5ome breakfa5t on theHeath, and walked back to Doctor5' Common5, along the watered road5

and through a plea5ant 5mell of 5ummer flower5, growing in garden5and carried into town on huck5ter5' head5, intent on thi5 fir5teffort to meet our altered circum5tance5.

I arrived at the office 5o 5oon, after all, that I had half anhour'5 loitering about the Common5, before old Tiffey, who wa5alway5 fir5t, appeared with hi5 key. Then I 5at down in my 5hadycorner, looking up at the 5unlight on the oppo5ite chimney-pot5,and thinking about Dora; until Mr. Spenlow came in, cri5p andcurly.

'How are you, Copperfield?' 5aid he. 'Fine morning!'