Page 928 - david-copperfield

marvellous performance, the Dictionary, to him; he was
now quite miserable unless the Doctor pulled it out of his
pocket, and began. When the Doctor and I were engaged,
he now fell into the custom of walking up and down with
Mrs. Strong, and helping her to trim her favourite flowers,
or weed the beds. I dare say he rarely spoke a dozen words
in an hour: but his quiet interest, and his wistful face, found
immediate response in both their breasts; each knew that
the other liked him, and that he loved both; and he became
what no one else could be - a link between them.
When I think of him, with his impenetrably wise face,
walking up and down with the Doctor, delighted to be bat-
tered by the hard words in the Dictionary; when I think
of him carrying huge watering-pots after Annie; kneeling
down, in very paws of gloves, at patient microscopic work
among the little leaves; expressing as no philosopher could
have expressed, in everything he did, a delicate desire to be
her friend; showering sympathy, trustfulness, and affection,
out of every hole in the watering-pot; when I think of him
never wandering in that better mind of his to which un-
happiness addressed itself, never bringing the unfortunate
King Charles into the garden, never wavering in his grate-
ful service, never diverted from his knowledge that there
was something wrong, or from his wish to set it right- I re-
ally feel almost ashamed of having known that he was not
quite in his wits, taking account of the utmost I have done
with mine.
‘Nobody but myself, Trot, knows what that man is!’ my
aunt would proudly remark, when we conversed about it.