Page 1063 - david-copperfield

His was not a lazy trustfulness that hoped, and did no
more. He had been a man of sturdy action all his life, and
he knew that in all things wherein he wanted help he must
do his own part faithfully, and help himself. I have known
him set out in the night, on a misgiving that the light might
not be, by some accident, in the window of the old boat, and
walk to Yarmouth. I have known him, on reading some-
thing in the newspaper that might apply to her, take up his
stick, and go forth on a journey of three- or four-score miles.
He made his way by sea to Naples, and back, after hearing
the narrative to which Miss Dartle had assisted me. All his
journeys were ruggedly performed; for he was always stead-
fast in a purpose of saving money for Emily’s sake, when
she should be found. In all this long pursuit, I never heard
him repine; I never heard him say he was fatigued, or out
of heart.
Dora had often seen him since our marriage, and was
quite fond of him. I fancy his figure before me now, stand-
ing near her sofa, with his rough cap in his hand, and the
blue eyes of my child-wife raised, with a timid wonder, to
his face. Sometimes of an evening, about twilight, when he
came to talk with me, I would induce him to smoke his pipe
in the garden, as we slowly paced to and fro together; and
then, the picture of his deserted home, and the comfortable
air it used to have in my childish eyes of an evening when
the fire was burning, and the wind moaning round it, came
most vividly into my mind.
One evening, at this hour, he told me that he had found
Martha waiting near his lodging on the preceding night

10 David Copperfield