The Lovely Woman has her Fortune told

Marcus Stone

Wood engraving by W. T. Green

13.7 cm high x 9.3 cm wide, framed (facing p. 536).

Stone's illustration for Book 3, "A Long Lane," Chapter 16, ""The Feast of the Three Hobgoblins," appeared in the July, 1865, instalment. The scene, however, is not R. W.'s office, where earlier in the day Bella and John Rokesmith announced their engagement and celebrated in the "hobgoblins'" feast of penny-loaves and milk with Bella's father. Rather, the scene realised occurs towards the end of the chapter when, Bella having announced that she has left the Boffins on a matter of principle, she returns to the family dining room after her sister Lavvy and her mother have gone to bed. There she promises her father that he will always have a place in their modest, middle-class home. The passage which Stone has captured in this second instalment for the July instalment is this:

[See below for commentary and passage illustrated.]

R. W. was left alone among the dilapidations of the supper table, in a melancholy attitude.

But, a light footstep roused him from his meditations, and it was Bella's. Her pretty hair was hanging all about her, and she had tripped down softly, brush in hand, and barefoot, to say good-night to him.

'My dear, you most unquestionably are a lovely woman,' said the cherub, taking up a tress in his hand.

'Look here, sir,' said Bella; 'when your lovely woman marries, you shall have that piece if you like, and she'll make you a chain of it. Would you prize that remembrance of the dear creature?'

'Yes, my precious.'

'Then you shall have it if you're good, sir. I am very, very sorry, dearest Pa, to have brought home all this trouble.'

'My pet,' returned her father, in the simplest good faith, 'don't make yourself uneasy about that. It really is not worth mentioning, because things at home would have taken pretty much the same turn any way. If your mother and sister don't find one subject to get at times a little wearing on, they find another. We're never out of a wearing subject, my dear, I assure you. I am afraid you find your old room with Lavvy, dreadfully inconvenient, Bella?'

'No I don't, Pa; I don't mind. Why don't I mind, do you think, Pa?'

'Well, my child, you used to complain of it when it wasn't such a contrast as it must be now. Upon my word, I can only answer, because you are so much improved.'

'No, Pa. Because I am so thankful and so happy!'

Here she choked him until her long hair made him sneeze, and then she laughed until she made him laugh, and then she choked him again that they might not be overheard.

'Listen, sir,' said Bella. 'Your lovely woman was told her fortune to night on her way home. It won't be a large fortune, because if the lovely woman's Intended gets a certain appointment that he hopes to get soon, she will marry on a hundred and fifty pounds a year. But that's at first, and even if it should never be more, the lovely woman will make it quite enough. But that's not all, sir. In the fortune there's a certain fair man — a little man, the fortune-teller said — who, it seems, will always find himself near the lovely woman, and will always have kept, expressly for him, such a peaceful corner in the lovely woman's little house as never was. Tell me the name of that man, sir.'

'Is he a Knave in the pack of cards?' inquired the cherub, with a twinkle in his eyes.

'Yes!' cried Bella, in high glee, choking him again. 'He's the Knave of Wilfers! Dear Pa, the lovely woman means to look forward to this fortune that has been told for her, so delightfully, and to cause it to make her a much better lovely woman than she ever has been yet. [534-535]

Although Stone is accurate and consistent in his depiction of R. W., his figure of Bella does not resemble stronger representations of the "Boofer Lady" and he has failed to capture either the touching sentimentality or the father-daughter playfulness of Dickens's deftly written scene. There is no "twinkle" in the eyes of this R. W., and no sportiveness in the expression of this Bella, whose triumph over her former mercenary principles should be evident here. Despite the fact that we cannot see her toes, however, Stone has given us a fetching profile of Bella in her nightgown, with her hair (rather lighter than in previous illustration) down and a brush in her left hand as her father tenderly holds her right.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

References

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Il. Marcus Stone. Volume 14 of the Authentic Edition. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1901.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1998.

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Last modified 19 July 2011