Summary Chapter 35




It is decided that David’s aunt will take David’s bedroom while David takes the couch in the sitting room, and that Mr. Dick will take Mr. Peggotty’s vacated room in Peggotty’s apartment above the chandler’s. To that end, David escorts Mr. Dick to Peggotty’s apartment to get him settled there with regards his luggage.

Presently, as Mr. Dick gets himself settled, David can’t help but to probe Mr. Dick who seems insensible to David’s aunt’s changed circumstances. David asks Mr. Dick if he understands what it means to be destitute and to be without financial means at which point Mr. Dick breaks down and begins to cry. Subsequently, David takes great pains to cheer Mr. Dick up, and having cheered him up, they return to David’s apartment for supper.

After supper, Mr. Dick and Peggotty repair to Peggotty’s apartment for the night, while David goes out to buy ale for his aunt who has decided that having her usual wine for a nightcap is an expense she could do without.

While having her nightcap of ale and toast, David’s aunt praises Peggotty, telling David of how Peggotty had offered to give David’s aunt a good portion of her—Peggotty’s—inherited money. She then asks David if his feeling for Dora is indeed love and not a boyhood infatuation. David avers that his feeling for Dora is indeed love

Not surprisingly, both David and David’s aunt have a hard time falling asleep, David because of his sense of unworthiness (he wonders when he’ll ever be financially solvent, which would allow him to marry Dora) and David’s aunt because of her conviction that all high rises in London are fire hazards. When morning arrives, David, who has hardly gotten a wink of sleep, decides to refresh himself by going for a walk after going to a Roman bath.

Having made up his mind to give up his articles at the Doctors’ Commons (the articles is a sort of internship, I think; David will continue working as a proctor there) and to ask his superiors to take on the task of recovering his aunt’s money, David has breakfast before going to the Doctors’ Commons to speak with Mr. Spenlow. Though sorry to hear that David would be giving up his internship, Mr. Spenlow accedes to David’s determination to give up his internship. As to the task of recovering David’s aunt money, Mr. Spenlow denies David’s request and tells David that though he is welcome to apply to his partner Mr. Jorkins that Mr. Jorkins would also deny David’s request. Alas, true to Mr. Spenlow’s words, Mr. Jorkins, who is a mild looking man contrary to his reputation, likewise denies David’s request.

On his way home, David is waylaid by a passenger in a passing coach who turns out to be Agnes. David could not be happier and learns that Agnes is on her way to see David’s aunt who has informed the Wickfields of her misfortune. On a more depressing note, David learns that Uriah Heep, who is now Agnes’ father’s business partner, has claimed David’s old room, and that Uriah’s mother has moved in.

Subsequently, at David’s apartment, David’s aunt, who is exceedingly glad to see Agnes, tells David and Agnes of how she had lost her fortune: Formerly, David’s aunt had relied on Agnes’ father Mr. Wickfield for investment advice. But as Mr. Wickfield’s business acumen had declined, David’s aunt had ceased to look to Mr. Wickfield, investing on her own with the result she had lost everything except her cottage which she has bequeathed onto her former housemaid, Janet, who is letting rooms for her livelihood. When David grieves of his inability to help, Agnes mentions that Doctor Strong, David’s former schoolmaster at Canterbury, is looking for a secretary. Consequently, David writes a Doctor Strong a letter, offering his services; goes out to mail the letter; and returns to find his aunt in the best of spirits.

It isn’t long when the door knocks, and Mr. Wickfield and Uriah Heep join David, Agnes, and David’s aunt. David is startled to see the change wrought on Mr. Wickfield whose forlorn aspect and servile attitude made it seem as if he and Uriah Heep had exchanged places. Presently, David’s aunt berates Uriah Heep who is his usual writhing, insinuating self. Indeed, only when Uriah leaves, does Mr. Wickfield regain some of his old genial, cheerful disposition. David observes how caring Agnes is toward her father.



Art of Worldly Wisdom Daily
In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.
Email:
Sonnet-a-Day Newsletter
Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets! Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time.
Email: