But Human Natur' is in a conspiracy again'
me; I can't get on. I shall have to leave it in my will, sir, to be
wrote upon my tomb: "He was a man as might have come out strong if he
could have got a chance. But it was denied him."'
Mr Tapley took this occasion of looking about him with a grin, and
subsequently attacking the breakfast, with an appetite not at all
expressive of blighted hopes, or insurmountable despondency.
In the meanwhile, Martin drew his chair a little nearer to Tom and his
sister, and related to them what had passed at Mr Pecksniff's
house; adding in few words a general summary of the distresses and
disappointments he had undergone since he left England.
'For your faithful stewardship in the trust I left with you, Tom,' he
said, 'and for all your goodness and disinterestedness, I can never
thank you enough. When I add Mary's thanks to mine--'
Ah, Tom! The blood retreated from his cheeks, and came rushing back, so
violently, that it was pain to feel it; ease though, ease, compared with
the aching of his wounded heart.
'When I add Mary's thanks to mine,' said Martin, 'I have made the only
poor acknowledgment it is in our power to offer; but if you knew how
much we feel, Tom, you would set some store by it, I am sure.
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