"I'll call it after her."
W. H. C. Groome
1900
12 x 8.2 cm, framed
Lithograph
Dickens's Dombey and Son (pp. 426 + 422), facing p. 256.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Passage Illustrated: Carkers encounters Edith Granger and Mrs. Brown
A withered and very ugly old woman, dressed not so much like a gipsy as like any of that medley race of vagabonds who tramp about the country, begging, and stealing, and tinkering, and weaving rushes, by turns, or all together, had been observing the lady, too; for, as she rose, this second figure strangely confronting the first, scrambled up from the ground — out of it, it almost appeared — and stood in the way.
"Let me tell your fortune, my pretty lady," said the old woman, munching with her jaws, as if the Death’s Head beneath her yellow skin were impatient to get out.
"I can tell it for myself," was the reply.
"Ay, ay, pretty lady; but not right. You didn’t tell it right when you were sitting there. I see you! Give me a piece of silver, pretty lady, and I’ll tell your fortune true. There’s riches, pretty lady, in your face."
"I know," returned the lady, passing her with a dark smile, and a proud step. "I knew it before."
"What! You won’t give me nothing?’ cried the old woman. "You won’t give me nothing to tell your fortune, pretty lady? How much will you give me to tell it, then? Give me something, or I’ll call it after you!" croaked the old woman, passionately.
Mr. Carker, whom the lady was about to pass close, slinking against his tree as she crossed to gain the path, advanced so as to meet her, and pulling off his hat as she went by, bade the old woman hold her peace. The lady acknowledged his interference with an inclination of the head, and went her way.
"You give me something then, or I’ll call it after her!" screamed the old woman, throwing up her arms, and pressing forward against his outstretched hand. "Or come," she added, dropping her voice suddenly, looking at him earnestly, and seeming in a moment to forget the object of her wrath, "give me something, or I’ll call it after you!"
"After me, old lady!" returned the Manager, putting his hand in his pocket.
"Yes," said the woman, steadfast in her scrutiny, and holding out her shrivelled hand. "I know!" [Chapter XXVII, "Deeper Shadows," 375]
Comment
With so few illustrations to provide for the Collins Pocket Edition, why did Groome select an apparently minor incident for one of the eight lithographs? One possible explanation is that this incident has given Groome to depict Florence's devoted servant, Susan Nipper, with Paul's fatuous but good-hearted friend at Dr. Blimber's Academy, Mr. Toots. Discharged by Diombey for criticising his lack of empathy for his daughter, Susan has nowhere to go.
Parallel Scenes from The Household and Charles Dickens Library Editions (1877 & 1910)
Left: Fred Barnard's realistic, panoramic composite woodblock-engraving of
Carker's encountering Good Mrs. Brown on the heath outside Warwick,
Related Material
- Dombey and Son (homepage)
- Phiz's 40 Illustrations for Dombey and Son (1846-48)
- Felix Octavius Carr Darley's Captain Cuttle . . . too his own [watch] down from the mantel-shelf for Volume 4 of Dombey and Son, Wholesale Retail & for Exportation, 1862
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 61 Illustrations for Dombey and Son, 1877
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
- Harry Furniss's illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
- Harold Copping's Captain Cuttle's Bright Idea, 1924.
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.
Created 23 January 2021