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Don’t tremble! Mrs. Rachael, our young friend has no doubt
heard of—the—a— Jarndyce and Jarndyce.’
‘Never,’ said Mrs. Rachael.
‘Is it possible,’ pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-
glasses, ‘that our young friend—I BEG you won’t distress
yourself!—never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce!’
I shook my head, wondering even what it was.
‘Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?’ said Mr. Kenge, looking
over his glasses at me and softly turning the case about and
about as if he were petting something. ‘Not of one of the
greatest Chancery suits known? Not of Jarndyce and Jarn-
dyce—the—a—in itself a monument of Chancery practice.
In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency,
every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in
that court, is represented over and over again? It is a cause
that could not exist out of this free and great country. I
should say that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarn-
dyce, Mrs. Rachael’—I was afraid he addressed himself to
her because I appeared inattentive’—amounts at the present
hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!’
said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair.
I felt very ignorant, but what could I do? I was so entirely
unacquainted with the subject that I understood nothing
about it even then.
‘And she really never heard of the cause!’ said Mr. Kenge.
‘Surprising!’
‘Miss Barbary, sir,’ returned Mrs. Rachael, ‘who is now
among the Seraphim—‘
‘I hope so, I am sure,’ said Mr. Kenge politely.

36 Bleak House