Chapter LV

Mr Solomon Pell, Assisted By A Select Committee Of Coachmen,

Arranges The Affairs Of The Elder Mr Weller

'Samivel,' said Mr Weller, accosting his son on the morning after the

funeral, 'I've found it, Sammy. I thought it wos there.'

Thought wot wos there?' inquired Sam.

Your mother-in-law's vill, Sammy,' replied Mr Weller. 'In wirtue o'

vich, them arrangements is to be made as I told you on, last night,

respectin' the funs.'

'Wot, didn't she tell you were it wos?' inquired Sam.

Not a bit on it, Sammy,' replied Mr Weller. 'We wos a adjestin' our

little differences, and I wos a-cheerin' her spirits and bearin' her up,

so that I forgot to ask anythin' about it. I don't know as I should ha'

done it, indeed, if I had remembered it,' added Mr Weller, 'for it's a

rum sort o' thing, Sammy, to go a-hankerin' arter anybody's property,

ven you're assistin' 'em in illness. It's like helping an outside

passenger up, ven he's been pitched off a coach, and puttin' your

hand in his pocket, vile you ask him, vith a sigh, how he finds his-self,

Sammy.'

With this figurative illustration of his meaning, Mr Weller unclasped

his pocket-book, and drew forth a dirty sheet of letter-paper, on which

were inscribed various characters crowded together in remarkable

confusion.

This here is the dockyment, Sammy,' said Mr Weller. 'I found it in the

little black tea-pot, on the top shelf o' the bar closet. She used to keep

bank-notes there, 'fore she vos married, Samivel. I've seen her take

the lid off, to pay a bill, many and many a time. Poor creetur, she

might ha' filled all the tea-pots in the house vith vills, and not have

inconwenienced herself neither, for she took wery little of anythin' in

that vay lately, 'cept on the temperance nights, ven they just laid a

foundation o' tea to put the spirits atop on!'

What does it say?' inquired Sam.

Jist vot I told you, my boy,' rejoined his parent. 'Two hundred pound

vurth o' reduced counsels to my son-in-law, Samivel, and all the rest

o' my property, of ev'ry kind and description votsoever, to my

husband, Mr Tony Veller, who I appint as my sole eggzekiter.'

That's all, is it?' said Sam.

The Pickwick Papers