monument of Chancery practice,
and--in a good many words--that the case was over because the whole
estate was found to have been absorbed in costs.

We hurried away, first to my guardian, and then to Ada and Richard.

Richard was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed when I went in. When
he opened them, I fully saw, for the first time, how worn he was. But he
spoke cheerfully, and said how glad he was to think of our intended
marriage.

In the evening my guardian came in and laid his hand softly on
Richard's.

"Oh, sir," said Richard, "you are a good man, a good man!" and burst
into tears.

My guardian sat down beside him, keeping his hand on Richard's.

"My dear Rick," he said, "the clouds have cleared away, and it is bright
now. We can see now. And how are you, my dear boy?"

"I am very weak, sir, but I hope I shall be stronger. I have to begin
the world."

He sought to raise himself a little.

"Ada, my darling!" Allan raised him, so that she could hold him on her
bosom. "I have done you many wrongs, my own. I have married you to
poverty and trouble, I have scattered your means to the winds. You will
forgive me all this, my Ada, before I begin the world?"

A smile lit up his face as she bent to kiss him. He slowly laid his face
upon her bosom, drew his arms closer round her neck, and with one
parting sob began the world. Not this--oh, not this! The world that sets
this right.

* * * * *

David Copperfield

"David Copperfield"--published in 1849-50--will always be
acclaimed by many as the best of all Dickens's books. It was
its author's favourite, and its universal and lasting
popularity is entirely deserved. "David Copperfield" is
especially remarkable for the autobiographical element, not
only in the wretched days of childhood at the wine merchant's,
but in the shorthand-reporting in the House of Commons.
Dickens never forgot his early degradation, as it seemed to
him, in the blacking warehouse at Hungerford Stairs, or quite
forgave those who sent him to an occupation he so loathed.
Much of "David Copperfield" is familiar in our mouths as
household words, and Swinburne has maintained that Micawber
ranks with Dick Swiveller as one of the greatest characters in
all Dickens's novels. "Copperfield" comes midway in the great
list of works by Charles Dickens.

_I.--My Early Childhood_