Dickens' Stories About Children Every Child Can Read

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Чарльз Диккенс. Dickens' Stories About Children Every Child Can Read

PREFACE

I. TROTTY VECK AND HIS DAUGHTER MEG

II. TINY TIM

III. THE RUNAWAY COUPLE

IV. LITTLE DORRIT

V. THE TOY-MAKER AND HIS BLIND DAUGHTER

VI. LITTLE NELL

VII. LITTLE DAVID COPPERFIELD

VIII. JENNY WREN

IX. PIP'S ADVENTURE

X. TODGERS'

XI. DICK SWIVELLER AND THE MARCHIONESS

XII. MR. WARDLE'S SERVANT JOE

XIII. A BRAVE AND HONEST BOY, OLIVER TWIST

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"TROTTY" seems a strange name for an old man, but it was given to Toby Veck because of his always going at a trot to do his errands; for he was a ticket porter or messenger and his office was to take letters and messages for people who were in too great a hurry to send them by post, which in those days was neither so cheap nor so quick as it is now. He did not earn very much, and had to be out in all weathers and all day long. But Toby was of a cheerful disposition, and looked on the bright side of everything, and was grateful for any small mercies that came in his way; and so was happier than many people who never knew what it is to be hungry or in want of comforts. His greatest joy was his dear, bright, pretty daughter Meg, who loved him dearly.

One cold day, near the end of the year, Toby had been waiting a long time for a job, trotting up and down in his usual place before the church, and trying hard to keep himself warm, when the bells chimed twelve o'clock, which made Toby think of dinner.

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"Stay! The New Year never can be happy to me if I see the child and you go wandering away without a shelter for your heads. Come home with me. I'm a poor man, living in a poor place; but I can give you lodging for one night, and never miss it. Come home with me! Here! I'll take her!" cried Trotty, lifting up the child. "A pretty one! I'd carry twenty times her weight and never know I'd got it. Tell me if I go too quick for you. I'm very fast. I always was!" Trotty said this, taking about six of his trotting paces to one stride of his tired companion, and with his thin legs quivering again beneath the load he bore.

"Why, she's as light," said Trotty, trotting in his speech as well as in his gait – for he couldn't bear to be thanked, and dreaded a moment's pause – "as light as a feather. Lighter than a peacock's feather – a great deal lighter. Here we are and here we go!" And, rushing in, he set the child down before his daughter. The little girl gave one look at Meg's sweet face and ran into her arms at once, while Trotty ran round the room, saying, "Here we are and here we go. Here, Uncle Will, come to the fire. Meg, my precious darling, where's the kettle? Here it is and here it goes, and it'll bile in no time!"

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