Summary Chapter 13




Lamenting the loss of his half guinea and luggage, David, who is currently on Kent Road, resolves to sell his waistcoat to a Mr. Dolloby who runs a second hand clothing shop. David’s asking price is 18 pence, but Mr. Dolloby claims that to give David 9 pence would be to rob his own family. Desperate, David settles for 9 pence. As he anticipates selling his jacket next, David reckons that he would be lucky if, by the end of his journey, he was still attired in his shirt and trousers.

As night falls, David arrives at Blackheath. His plan is to spend the night at the premises of Salem House. To that end, avoiding detection, David finds a haystack in the premises and there, with no roof over his head, falls asleep. When dawn approaches, David, who has been prematurely awake, creeps away. He would’ve liked to make contact with Steerforth, but David knows that Steerforth has long left Salem House. As for Traddles, though he is yet at Salem House and though he is a reliable friend, his penchant for engendering bad luck deters David from making contact.

In the vicinity of Rochester, David, who has traveled 23 miles, looks for a suitable place to sell his jacket. As all of the shops he passes seem to deal with costly items, David settles for a modest little place only to be virtually assaulted at the premises by an ugly, old man who demands to know what David wants. Startled, David is unable to answer at first, but by and by he tells the old man that he wants to sell his jacket for 18 pence. The old man shows interest in acquiring the jacket but he offers to barter it as opposed to buying it for money. David insists on being paid money, and to make his point, he waits for the old man to come around, waiting outside the shop for hours on end.

During the wait, David is abused by the neighborhood boys, whose pastime is to tease the old, ugly man. Still, David waits, turning down each of the old man’s offers, which includes a fishing-rod then a fiddle, etc. Eventually, the old man concedes to David, paying him by increments. Still, the old man’s tactics of wearing down David by attrition proves to be effective: David settles for a shilling and four pence. Subsequently, having refreshed himself with food and drink at the cost of three pence, David travels 7 weary miles before finding a haystack and falling instantly asleep.

The next day David is accosted by a tramp who is accompanied by a woman with a black eye. The tramp tries to extort money from David to no avail; he settles for David’s handkerchief. After a night spent in a field of hops, David arrives at Dover. Alas, David’s inquiries as to Miss Betsey Trotwood’s location are in vain. Contemptuous of David’s ragged appearance, no one takes David seriously, offering him only facetious replies.

However, one kind looking hackney driver takes pity on David and directs him to some houses facing the sea, giving him a penny into the bargain. Grateful, David uses the penny to refresh himself with a loaf of bread before repairing himself to the vicinity of the houses facing the sea. There he asks a shop owner of Miss Trotwood’s whereabouts when David is addressed by a shopper who David infers is his great-aunt’s handmaid, which she is. The handmaid agrees to take David to Miss Trotwood’s residence.

At Miss Trotwood’s residence, David is left to stand and wait outside when a tall, dignified lady emerges and shoos away David. She attends to her garden only to be addressed by David who identifies himself and begins to weep. Presently, Miss Trotwood takes David inside where he is administered with a variety of liquids before he is given a sofa to lie on. Then Miss Trotwood summons Mr. Dick, a pleasant, eccentric man who is a lodger in Miss Trotwood’s house, and confers with him as to what they should do about her nephew David Copperfield. Mr. Dick contemplates before replying that they should give David a bath. Subsequently, Janet the handmaid is commissioned to prepare a bath for David when the presence of donkeys in a patch of grass outside the cottage interrupts the proceedings. Indeed, Miss Trotwood and Janet go outside to shoo away the donkeys and the boys riding them.

Eventually David has his bath. He then falls asleep. When he awakes, dinner is served. At dinner, after a prolonged silence, Miss Betsey speaks of David’s mother’s foolishness in having a son instead of a daughter and in marrying for a second time. When she mentions Peggotty’s foolishness in getting married, David comes to Peggotty’s defense, arguing Peggotty is the most loving and devoted servant that there is and that he—David—would’ve ran away to Peggotty but for Peggotty’s penury. Presently, the presence of donkeys outside in the patch of grass again occupies Janet and Miss Trotwood. As the night wears on, Miss Trotwood asks Mr. Dick what they should do about David. Mr. Dick replies that he should be sent to bed. Ergo David is given a room upstairs. Miss Trotwood locks the doors from the outside fearful that David might run away.



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: