Installment 4 of 20, in The Pickwick Papers 180th anniversary readalong, hosted by On Bookes, and commencing in June, just as Dickens’ fourth installment was published.
Chapter 9: Mr.
Wardle’s domestics make an abrupt intrusion upon dinner, and are clearly quite
excited. The eventually tell Wardle that Mr. Jingle, and Rachael, the spinster
aunt, have run off – presumably a romantic elopement. Their clandestine departure
causes Tupman alarm as he has recently loaned a sum of money to Jingle. Wardles
is outraged over the cavalier treatment of his sister, while the Pickwickian’s
are outraged at the injury to Tupman. Wardles and Pickwick set off in hot
pursuit of the lovers, and come so very close to overtaking them – but then…
Chapter 10: The
title of this chapter is a good synopsis: Clearing
up all Doubts (if any existed) of the Disinteredness of Mr. Jingle’s
Character. Pickwick and Wardles
finally catch up to Jingle and Rachael. They threaten to take Rachael away, but
Jingle protests she is of age, and they are impotent to intercede. Wardle’s
lawyer advises a compromise – that is to pay the scoundrel off. Wardles
reluctantly acquiesces, and pays. Dicken’s offers a nice description of
Pickwick’s dissatisfaction with the resolution:
If any dispassionate spectator
could have beheld the countenance of the illustrious man, whose name forms the
leading feature of the title of this work, during the latter part of this
conversation, he would have been almost induced to wonder that the indignant
fire which flashed from his eyes, did not melt the glasses of his spectacles –
so majestic was his wrath. His nostrils dilated, and his fists clenched
involuntarily, as he heard himself addressed by the villain.
Chapter 11: Upon
returning to Wardle’s home, Pickwick finds his companions Snodgrass and Winkle
concerned over Tupman, who has departed the company and left an apparent
suicide note, expressing his deep despair over his unfaithful lover Rachael.
The Pickwickians take leave of Wardle’s hospitality, but not before the clergyman
from chapter 6, gives a manuscript to Pickwick, that Pickwick intends to read
later as he is occupied with finding, and perhaps saving poor miserable Tupman.
They do indeed soon find him, and he seems quite recovered and enjoying a
hearty meal. At the new lodgings, Pickwick espies and acquires a stone on the
ground with curious, and presumed ancient carvings thereupon. Unable to sleep
that night, Pickwick reads the manuscript entitled A Madman’s Manuscript – a rather
morose tale of a madman, who knows himself he is mad.
And so
June’s installment ends without the usual suspense hanging. It seems as if
previous adventures have more or less come to a close, and nothing particularly
intriguing is yet brewing. Of course, the reader expects this stodgy state of
affairs is only temporary and will soon be remedied.
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