The Old Curiosity Shop

Nell realizes that all the burdens of their lives have now fallen on her shoulders. She feels guilty for leaving Mrs. Jarley without any notice or explanation, but she takes comfort in the fact that her quick action saved her grandfather. As they walk, a man happens upon them. Nell tells him they are traveling from the schoolmaster’s cottage to another town—she makes no mention of Mrs. Jarley and only gestures vaguely to a town on the horizon. The man and his companions are also headed to that same town, and he offers them a ride on his men’s riverboat. They sail down the canal, passing a variety of villages and beautiful country landscapes. At a wharf, one of the men reveals they will not reach their destination until the next day. They stop for food and continue on, and Nell lifts the men’s spirits by leading them in a song. The boat arrives at a busy town. Nell and her grandfather hardly make it a block from the wharf before they become lost.

Nell and her grandfather try to find shelter from the rain. In such busy streets, no one notices them. The grandfather does not understand why they had to leave their last lodging and come here. Nell realizes that they will have to sleep outside in the rain and beg for food, as her money ran out on the boat trip. A smoke-stained man finds them and offers shelter. At the furnace room where he works, Nell talks to their rescuer and learns that his mother died when he was very young. His father tended the furnace nearly all his life and raised him to tend it just the same. In the morning, he gives them directions as best he can, and he gives Nell two “smoke-encrusted penny pieces” (315).

After walking for two days and nights in the manufacturing town, Nell’s feet are sore, and she has pains in her limbs from being out in the cold rain for so long. They finally reach the suburbs and then an area of partially destroyed, uninhabitable buildings. Nell feels weaker and weaker as time passes in the industrial city. She thinks she might be dying, but she is unafraid. Soon, Nell does not even want to eat. She tries to beg for food for her grandfather, but the neighborhood in which they find themselves is destitute. As night falls, Nell sees a man walking the same direction as them. She runs to him, hoping to beg for alms, but collapses in shock at his feet once she sees his face.

The man is the same schoolmaster who helped them before. He picks up Nell and runs with her to the nearest inn, her grandfather following closely behind. The landlady and her servant set to work to revive Nell, and they also send a messenger for a doctor. The doctor’s advice consists mainly of things they already did on their own.

In the morning, Nell regains consciousness, but she remains extremely weak. The schoolmaster waits for her to have enough strength to receive visitors. He tells Nell that he has a new posting, the starting date of which was far enough out that he decided to walk to the village—a stroke of luck, as otherwise he never would have found her. Nell confides in him the truth of their journey, and he decides that they will come with him to his new village as soon as Nell is well enough to travel. They set out the next evening by wagon. When she feels better, Nell walks a couple of miles beside the wagon so her grandfather can ride. They reach the village and locate the school quickly. The schoolmaster asks them to wait on the church’s porch while he makes a couple of inquiries in town. Nell is strangely fascinated with the graves and tombstones in the churchyard.