James Harthouse,
sinking, with a resigned air, on the sofa, after standing
transfixed a little while. 'The defeat may now be considered
perfectly accomplished. Only a poor girl - only a stroller - only
James Harthouse made nothing of - only James Harthouse a Great
Pyramid of failure.'
The Great Pyramid put it into his head to go up the Nile. He took
a pen upon the instant, and wrote the following note (in
appropriate hieroglyphics) to his brother:
Dear Jack, - All up at Coketown. Bored out of the place, and going
in for camels. Affectionately, JEM,
He rang the bell.
'Send my fellow here.'
'Gone to bed, sir.'
'Tell him to get up, and pack up.'
He wrote two more notes. One, to Mr. Bounderby, announcing his
retirement from that part of the country, and showing where he
would be found for the next fortnight. The other, similar in
effect, to Mr. Gradgrind. Almost as soon as the ink was dry upon
their superscriptions, he had left the tall chimneys of Coketown
behind, and was in a railway carriage, tearing and glaring over the
dark landscape.
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